Krayzor's Arc

Chapter 14 of 16

The allied picket led Krayzor down a worn path to the meeting ground. He dragged the bloodied shield sled behind him, its red-stained face cutting two dark lines through the frost. Ahead stood a low cave mouth ringed with candles, its arch glowing warm against the dusk. Boar clan watchers waited at the threshold, spears planted, a heavy tusked totem driven into the dirt beside them to mark their claim on the hour. Krayzor stopped at the edge of the candlelight. The kitsune lay curled on the sled, too weak to stand. Without her on her feet beside him, the oath died here. He knelt and spoke close to her ear. He told her he could not lift her through that door. He told her the watchers needed to see her choose it. She lifted one trembling hand. He took it. He braced his shoulder under hers and rose slowly, letting her weight settle across him without taking it from her legs. Her bare feet found the cold stone. One step. Then another. He kept his arm only as a rail, not a crutch. The chieftain of the Boar clan stepped into the candlelight, tusked headdress low, fists open at his sides. His eyes went to her feet. To the gold scale at her throat. To the marks she had chosen to keep. She spoke. Her voice was thin, but it carried in the small stone room. She named the mark her own. She named Krayzor's banner her banner. The chieftain stared a long moment, then drew one tusk from his headdress and laid it on the ground between them. The oath held. The watchers lowered their spears. Krayzor eased her back onto the sled before her knees gave. He had kept his life and his banner. But the chieftain did not leave. He stood over the laid tusk and said the Boar clan would now sit at his council, and they would judge every call he made from this night forward.