Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 123: The Snow Fort

The crisis of the Root Cellar had passed, but the energy in Winter-Hold was still tight. The adults were locked away in strategy meetings, arguing over maps and old grudges.

Which left the children with exactly one directive: "Go play. Don’t freeze. Don’t break anything."

They took this order very seriously.

In the snow-covered training grounds, two mighty empires were rising.

On the left side stood Vali’s Kingdom of Chaos.

It wasn’t a fort. It was a pile. Vali had used his supernatural strength to roll massive, uneven boulders of snow into a lumpy mound. It had three tunnels (two of which had already caved in), a "Watchtower" that leaned dangerously to the left, and a flag made from one of Orion’s spare scarves tied to a stick.

"LOOK AT IT!" Vali yelled, standing on top of his wobbly creation. "IT’S HUGE! NOBODY CAN GET IN!"

On the right side stood Astrid’s Citadel.

It was annoying how perfect it was. Astrid had used a flat piece of wood to pack square bricks of snow into a neat, rectangular bunker. It had smooth walls. It had piles of ammo stacked in pyramids. It looked like she had read a manual on how to build it.

"That’s going to fall on your head," Astrid called out. She popped up from behind her wall, adjusting her helmet. "You didn’t pack the base down. It’s all wobbly."

"It’s not wobbly, it’s... tricky!" Vali shouted back. "It confuses the enemy! Orion! Ammo check!"

Inside the lumpy walls of Vali’s fort, Orion was sitting on a crate, looking miserable. He was dressed in so many layers he looked like a round blue marshmallow, and his breath puffed in the cold air.

"We have twelve," Orion said, poking a pile of loose snow. "But this snow is rubbish. It’s too powdery. It doesn’t stick together, it just explodes into dust."

"Just squash it harder!" Vali ordered, scooping up a handful. "ATTACK!"

The battle began.

It wasn’t a fair fight. Astrid fired with terrifying aim.

THWACK.

A hard-packed snowball hit Vali square in the chest, knocking him backward off his tower.

"I’m hit!" Vali yelled, laughing as he landed in a soft drift. "Man down! Orion, shoot her!"

Orion stood up. He held a snowball. He looked at the distance. He looked at his own skinny arms. He threw it.

It sailed in a weak arc... and landed with a soft plap three feet in front of Astrid’s wall.

"I hate this," Orion sighed, dropping his hands. "I need a catapult. My arms aren’t made for throwing things."

"Forget the catapult!" Vali scrambled up, his face covered in white powder. "We need to rush her! CHARGE!"

He ran across the open ground, dodging Astrid’s rapid-fire shots. He didn’t throw snowballs; he became the snowball. He lowered his shoulder and tackled the wall of her citadel, bringing a whole section of snow bricks crashing down on top of her.

"Hey!" Astrid shrieked, laughing despite herself as she shoved a handful of snow down the back of Vali’s collar. "That’s cheating! You can’t just smash the wall!"

"Cold! Cold!" Vali squealed, rolling away. "I’m a wolf! I smash things!"

Orion watched them from the safety of his bunker. For the first time since they arrived, Astrid didn’t look like a tiny soldier. Her cheeks were bright red, her serious yellow eyes were wide, and she wasn’t checking the corners for assassins. She was just... a kid.

---

While the snow flew outside, the air inside the Keep was thick enough to choke on.

Lord Rurik stood in front of his brother’s desk. The fireplace roared, but it did nothing to melt the ice between them.

Marquis Konrad was staring at a map of the North, refusing to look at Rurik. The silence had stretched for ten minutes.

"Why?" Rurik asked again. His voice wasn’t angry anymore. It was just tired.

Konrad didn’t answer.

"You sent me away," Rurik said, stepping closer. "Five years ago. You told me I was a disgrace. That I was too unruly, too soft. You practically threw me out the gates."

Rurik clenched his fists.

"I believed you," Rurik admitted. "For years, I thought I wasn’t good enough to be a Wolf. I went to the Capital, I became a Warlord, I served the Emperor... all to prove I wasn’t useless. And now I come back, and you treat me like a stranger. Why do you hate me, Konrad?"

Konrad finally looked up.

His face was ravaged by stress. The scar on his jaw looked deeper in the firelight. He looked older than his years.

"I never hated you," Konrad said. His voice was rough, like gravel grinding together.

"Then why?" Rurik demanded. "Why exile me? Why deny me the Shrine?"

Konrad sighed. He walked to the window and looked down at the courtyard. He watched Vali—a blur of grey and white energy—tackle Astrid into a snowbank.

"Because I was protecting you," Konrad whispered.

Rurik blinked. "Protecting me? From what? The cold? I’m a Wolf!"

"From the Shrine," Konrad turned back, his eyes haunted. "From the Prophecy."

Rurik froze. "What prophecy?"

Konrad walked back to his desk and unlocked a drawer. He pulled out an old, weathered scroll made of cured leather. He didn’t open it. He just held it tight.

"Ten years ago," Konrad said quietly, "the Shrine spoke. The Elders tried to hide it, but I heard. It wasn’t a blessing, Rurik. It was a warning."

He looked Rurik dead in the eye.

"The prophecy said that the blood of the Jaeger line would birth the Red Wolf," Konrad said. "The one who bears the Mark of the First. The one who will either save the North... or consume it in endless hunger."

Rurik frowned. "The Mark? You mean the eyes?"

Konrad nodded grimly. "The text speaks of the Crimson Gaze. Red eyes. Uncontrollable rage. A power that eats mana itself."

Rurik went still. He looked at the scroll, then at his brother.

"Konrad," Rurik said slowly. "You should have told me."

"Why?" Konrad snapped. "To scare you?"

"Because," Rurik pointed out the window at Vali. "My son... he already has it."

Konrad dropped the scroll. It hit the floor with a soft thud. "What?"

"Vali," Rurik said, his voice heavy. "When he gets angry... when his pack is threatened... his eyes turn red. Glowing crimson. Primrose calls it his ’Protective Mode’, but..."

"You fool!" Konrad roared, grabbing Rurik by the collar. "You brought him HERE? To the source?"

"I didn’t know!" Rurik shouted back, shoving Konrad off. "You didn’t tell me! I thought it was just... just a quirk! A mutation!"

"It is not a quirk!" Konrad yelled, looking out the window in horror. "It is the Key! If the Void touches him... if the Shadow finds the Vessel..."

---

"I WIN!" Vali screamed.

He was standing on top of Astrid’s ruined fort, waving his scarf-flag. Astrid was lying on her back in the snow, breathless with laughter.

"You cheated," Astrid gasped, wiping snow from her eyelashes. "You jumped over the wall. That’s not how a siege works. You’re supposed to break the gate."

"I am a Wolf!" Vali grinned down at her. "I make my own doors!"

Orion waddled over, inspecting the damage. "He has a point, Astrid. The wall is technically gone."

"Exactly!" Vali hopped down. He offered a hand to Astrid. "See? Playing is fun. You don’t have to be a soldier all the time."

Astrid looked at his hand. She hesitated. For the first time in months, the heavy weight on her shoulders felt a little lighter. She reached up.

"It was... okay," Astrid admitted, grabbing his hand. "Next time, we build the walls with ice."

But before Vali could pull her up, the air changed.

It wasn’t a sound. It was a feeling. Like the static before a lightning strike. The wind died instantly. The snow stopped falling mid-air.

Orion felt it first. His Jioaren senses screamed.

"The mana..." Orion whispered, his eyes going wide. "It’s gone. The air is empty."

A shadow appeared on the white snow.

But there was nothing in the sky to cast it.

It started as a small, inky puddle right next to Astrid’s boot. Then, it stretched. It rose up from the ground like a snake made of oil and smoke. It didn’t have a face, but it felt hungry.

It lunged for Astrid.

"LOOK OUT!" Vali screamed.

He didn’t think. He just moved.

Vali shoved Astrid backward, throwing her clear of the black tendril.

SNATCH.

The shadow didn’t hit the ground. It wrapped around Vali’s waist.

"VALI!" Astrid screamed.

The shadow was cold—colder than the ice, colder than death. It lifted Vali into the air like a ragdoll.

"Let go of him!" Orion yelled.

The frail Merman Prince, who usually avoided running at all costs, threw himself at the shadow. He grabbed Vali’s arm, trying to pull him back.

"Orion, no!" Vali grunted, kicking at the black smoke. "Get back! It burns!"

Astrid scrambled up, drawing her wooden practice sword. She whacked the shadow with all her might.

THWACK.

The wood shattered on impact, as if she had hit a solid iron bar.

The shadow ignored them. It began to sink back into the ground, dragging Vali with it. It was swallowing him whole.

"HELP!" Astrid shrieked, her voice tearing through the silent courtyard. "MOTHER! RURIK! HELP US!"

Vali’s eyes flashed red. He bit the shadow.

But it didn’t bleed. It just tightened.

"Run!" Vali gasped, looking at Orion and Astrid as he was pulled down to his waist in the black slush. "Just run!"

Then, with a sickening shlurp, the ground swallowed him.

Vali was gone.

Orion and Astrid stood alone in the silent, empty courtyard, staring at the patch of undisturbed snow where Vali had just been.