Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: So fast? Where did your sadness go?

The smallest gasped.

”Brother!”

He reached for him at once, but Swanly caught his waist.

”He is sleeping. Gently.”

The smallest nodded very seriously, then immediately tried to climb Kael’s leg.

Kael bent and let him touch the sleeping cub’s foot.

The eldest stared at his brother’s face as if making sure every piece was still there.

Then Nahla came through the crowd.

Tilla followed her with her recovering cub holding tightly to her hand.

Both women stopped when they saw Swanly.

Relief crossed Tilla’s face so strongly she almost cried.

Nahla’s face stayed stern, but her eyes went red.

”You returned.”

Swanly smiled tiredly.

”Barely.”

Nahla looked at the second cub.

Her throat moved.

”I am sorry.”

Swanly’s smile faded.

Nahla came closer, each step heavy.

”I checked them after you left. I noticed he was missing quickly. I searched the dens, the paths, the walls. I asked the guards. No one saw him. I did not think he would hide in your things.”

Her voice roughened.

”I should have thought of it.”

Swanly looked at the old healer.

Nahla’s hand was clenched around her walking stick so tightly the old knuckles had gone pale.

This was not a careless woman making excuses.

This was someone who had sat with guilt long enough for it to sink claws into her.

Swanly shook her head.

”He is quiet when he wants to be.”

Nahla’s jaw trembled once.

”He could have died because I did not count fast enough.”

Swanly reached out and touched her arm.

”But he did not.”

Nahla closed her eyes.

Tilla stepped forward too.

”I stayed with the other two after she went searching. They would not eat. They would not play. They were so sad.”

Her recovering cub peeked from behind her leg and looked at Swanly’s cubs with shy hope.

The eldest cub suddenly remembered he was angry.

He pulled away from Swanly and turned his back.

Swanly blinked.

The smallest copied him immediately, crossing his little arms with a dramatic huff.

Swanly stared.

”What is this?”

The eldest did not look back.

”No talk.”

The smallest’s lips wobbled, but he stayed turned away.

”No talk.”

Swanly glanced at Kael.

Kael’s mouth twitched.

Do not laugh, she mouthed.

He looked away.

The eldest sniffed.

”Mama take brother.”

Swanly softened at once.

”I did not take him. He hid and came without permission.”

The smallest looked back just enough to glare.

”Mama no take us.”

”It was scary there.”

”We brave.”

”You are also three bites tall.”

The eldest’s shoulders went stiffer.

Swanly crawled closer on her knees, ignoring the mud on her body and the ache in her ribs.

”I did not leave you because I do not love you. I left you because I love you too much to take you into a death swamp.”

The smallest’s ear twitched.

That meant he was listening.

The eldest still faced away.

Swanly sighed dramatically.

”Fine. I understand. My sons are very angry. My heart is broken. I will go cry in a corner and eat all the sweet fruit alone.”

Two heads turned at once.

Tilla covered her mouth.

Nahla looked away, but her shoulders moved once.

The smallest’s eyes grew round.

”Sweet fruit?”

Swanly reached into her space.

She brought out several small red-gold fruits, soft, sweet and bright enough to look like treasure in the muddy cave entrance.

The betrayal on the eldest’s face wavered.

The smallest abandoned his anger immediately.

”Mama best.”

Swanly gasped.

”So fast? Where did your sadness go?”

The smallest grabbed one fruit with both hands.

”In fruit.”

The eldest hesitated for one more breath, then took a fruit too with great dignity, as if he was accepting tribute from a guilty queen.

Swanly bit her lip to stop smiling.

The recovering cub watched the fruit with shining eyes.

Swanly gave him one too.

His face lit up.

Tilla looked startled.

”You do not need to.”

”He tried to comfort them,” Swanly said. ”He gets fruit.”

The little cub held the fruit with both hands and whispered, ”Thank you.”

The smallest cub slurped juice down his chin within three seconds.

Swanly pointed at him.

”Do not lick me with that mouth.”

He froze with his tongue halfway out.

”Oh.”

The second cub finally stirred against Kael’s shoulder.

His eyes opened slowly.

The other two rushed toward him with fruit still in their hands.

”Brother!”

He blinked, saw them, then lifted his chin with the weak pride of a warrior returning from war.

”I went Mama.”

They immediately started having a conversation.

The eldest’s mouth fell open.

The smallest gasped.

”Big?”

The second cub nodded gravely.

”Very big.”

Swanly stared at him.

Kael stared at him.

Raku, who had followed them in, let out a rough laugh.

The second cub continued, his voice small but serious.

”Bad water. Big monster. Snake save cub. Mama kill big big big ugly.”

The smallest’s eyes became enormous.

”Brother brave?”

The second cub nodded again.

”Cub brave.”

Swanly pressed her lips together.

This child had cried, been bitten, nearly died and spent most of the journey clinging to her like a wet leaf.

Apparently history had already become legend.

The eldest looked wounded.

”I brave too.”

The smallest nodded fast.

”I brave here.”

The recovering cub held up his fruit.

”I brave eating.”

That finally made Swanly laugh.

It came out tired and cracked, but real.

For a few small breaths, the cave entrance felt warm.

The cubs sat together with sticky fingers, whispering about monsters, mothers, snakes and fruit. Tilla relaxed enough to breathe. Nahla wiped her eyes when no one was supposed to notice. Kael stayed close enough that his knee brushed Swanly’s side.

Then Swanly remembered Soren.

He had gone inside.

Too quietly.

Her laughter faded.

She rose slowly.

Kael looked up at once.

”What?”

”Soren.”

Kael’s expression cooled.

”What about him?”

”He looked wrong.”

”He always looks wrong.”

”No. Worse.”

Swanly stepped into the cave.

The light dimmed.

Soren was near the inner wall, half coiled, half fallen. His head was turned to the side, and black blood had spilled from his mouth onto the stone.

He was not resting.

He had collapsed.

Swanly’s stomach dropped.

”Nahla.”

The old healer heard the change in her voice and came at once.

The cubs stopped eating.

Kael stood.

Raku moved to the entrance.

Nahla knelt beside Soren and pressed two fingers to his throat. Then she touched his chest, his wrist, the black blood at his mouth.

Her face changed.

Swanly’s skin went cold.

”What?”

Nahla did not answer immediately.

That was answer enough.

Soren’s fingers twitched once around the remaining half of the Seed.

His breathing hitched.

Nahla looked up.

”This is bad.”

Far behind Riverbone, beyond the side path, beyond the trees that still smelled alive, the Rot Nest sat open.

The giant heart was dead.

The old hold was broken.

And in the black water, things that had not stepped beyond the rotten border for years lifted their heads.

A pale hand gripped a root.

A horned shadow crawled from the mud.

Something with too many arms unfolded beneath a dead tree.

One by one, old trapped things began to move toward the living forest.

The Rot Nest had not only lost its master.

It had opened its cage.

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