The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 182: Seize the long ears

The Great Chamber went deathly silent. The Matriarch’s whiskers were shaking so hard she looked like she was vibrating. She looked at me, then at the two massive killing machines flanking me, and finally understood: she wasn’t a merchant today. She was just prey in a very small room.

I thought I had done a good show. I instilled fear and they all felt it, including the mouse guards that were holding tiny spears.

They thought they could get me down with numbers? They wish.

I will stomp on every single one of them and tear them to pieces. Maybe then we can resolve the grudge of the past, but there’s no guarantee I won’t hunt down more rodents in the future and kill every last one I bump into. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Come to think of it, the reason I probably enjoyed watching the Stone Martens get torn to shreds is that they were rodents as well.

Hm, could be.

"Should we wrap this up now?" I asked, thinking I had gained ground with my threats but the Matriarch’s fear didn’t turn into submission; it curdled into a frantic, ugly desperation.

Her pride was tied to her profession, and she had never—not once in a hundred harvests—lost the initiative. To be called a ’thieving bitch’ in front of her entire court by a ’surface-dweller’ was a sting her ego couldn’t handle, even if it was by predators.

Her beady eyes darted to Fenric’s brawny arms and Damar’s powerful, shimmering coils. The greed in her gaze turned obsessive.

She didn’t just want them for ’lease’ anymore; she wanted to own them, to break them, to show me that in a dark tunnel, the small could pull down the great.

But she seemed to forget that we have night vision as well.

"You speak of wiping us out?" she shrieked, her voice cracking with frantic insult. "You are three! We are a legion! You think your ’beauty’ gives you power here? You are nothing but a gaudy ornament!"

I frowned.

She turned her head sharply toward the rabbits, who were shivering behind the troller.

"Seize the long-ears!" she screamed at her guards. "If the Tiger won’t deal, we will tear the payment out of the ones who brought her! To the pits with the rabbits! Destroy their toy! We take it all!"

The Mouseling guards, fueled by their Queen’s hysteria, surged forward.

"Oh, you did not just go for the rabbits," I whispered, my voice thick with a dark, secondary hum.

I didn’t even have to give the order.

Fenric let out a roar that physically shook the clay ceiling, dust raining down on the Matriarch’s head. In one fluid motion, he snatched a spear out of the air, snapped it like a toothpick, and backhanded three guards across the chamber.

He didn’t even need to use a lot of strength, tossing bodies aside as if he were clearing the wind.

"Damar, look after the rabbits and their goods," I said and he nodded.

In a second, he was a blur of silver-and-black by how fast he moved, whipping away the mice that were trooping in and going after the rabbits. He didn’t make a sound. His tail whipped out, wrapping around the troller and yanking it—and the rabbits clinging to it—into a protective corner. He reared up, his hood flaring as his serpent half towered over the throne.

The Matriarch shrieked, falling back into her feathers. "Kill them! I want the snow tiger! Bring the serpent to heel!"

"Enough!" I screamed.

I lunged forward, jumping onto the dais of her throne. I didn’t use a weapon. I grabbed her by the scruff of her white-furred neck, lifting her off her walnut seat. She was so small, so light—like a handful of dry straw.

If I squeezed just a little bit, she would pop and turn into a puddle of blood in my hand.

She frailed her body.

"Unhand me, you vile creature!" She squeaked.

The guards froze. Their Queen was dangling in the air, her little legs kicking uselessly.

"You want a deal?" I hissed, my face inches from hers. I could see the frantic, pulsing vein in her neck and the way her beady eyes trembled. "Here is the only deal you’re getting today. You tell your guards to open the Eastern Gate now, and trade with the rabbits or I start snapping bones. I’ll start with your tail and work my way up."

"You... you wouldn’t dare..." she gasped, her eyes bulging.

I tightened my grip, my nails sinking into the skin of her neck just enough to draw a bead of red.

I walked towards Damar, shaking her in front of his face. You know, Rats and snakes don’t have a good history either so the fear she felt when right in front of his face was so vivid that she nearly peed herself.

"Try me. I’ve had a very long morning, so I have zero patience left for a greedy old rat who thinks she can touch my men."

I looked out at the thousands of Mouselings hiding in the shadows.

"Open the gate! Or your Queen becomes a snack!"

The Matriarch looked at Fenric, who was currently holding two guards by their ankles, ready to slam them together, and then at Damar, whose fangs were dripping with a clear, terrifying venom just inches from her face.

Her frantic greed finally broke under the weight of her mortality.

"Open it!" she shrieked, her voice a thin, pathetic waver. "Open the Gate of the East! Let them go! Just get her away from me!"

"Ah ah ah? Not yet." I said, my voice echoing with a chilling sweetness. "You’ll have to give the rabbits what they want, and you will swear, right here in front of your people, never to harm them or their village, or stop trade with them. They have nothing to do with my temper, understand?"

The Matriarch’s whiskers throbbed.

"I... I swear! We will not touch the Long-Ears!"

I tilted my head, my eyes narrowing.

Did she take me for a fool? Given the kind of pride and greed she has, this was far too easy.

"I’m not stupid," I said. "Words are cheap when a tiger is holding your throat. I want something more permanent." I turned my gaze to one of the guards. "Is there an oath here? Something blood-binding?"

"W-what?" He looked a bit confused.

"You know something that ensures if she breaks her word, she will puke blood and die. Something like that."