Though I'd only passed through the area once, I found myself serving as guide and mentor to every one of the keelish as we began and continued our path south. That they all had spent the bulk of their lives on the beaches meant that they met every new obstacle with a strange combination of trepidation and confusion.
"It's just a goat." I said as a smaller pack of keelish looked at a small herd of the long-furred, corkscrew-horned goats called Markhor I'd decided to hunt. "They're prey. The horns can hurt if you're not careful, but it's nothing to worry about."
To illustrate my point, I jogged forward. The goats turned to run, but with [Murderous Melody] I let a painfully low roar out that rolled over the goats and set them to shivering and twitching in place. Then, standing in the middle of the goats, I waited for them to recover. As soon as they had, I reached out and started slashing their throats open. Most attempted to flee, but one, presumably the patriarch, fought to drive me away. I grabbed him by the horns and twisted his neck firmly to the side. His neck broke with a crack, though I'd only intended to hold the beast still.
"I don't suggest any of you do that," I said, "but you can see that they're nothing too difficult. Dangerous if you're foolish, but prey."
As soon as they'd seen an example of a successful hunt of the markhor, the keelish and khatif became much more willing to range out further away from me and my pack of ambassadors and guards.
"We thank thee, Lord Ashlani, for thine instruction." Captain Chjell said as he walked forward with a bowed head. "What is thy will?"
"We're going south to New Nievtra." I answered. "I know there are pockets of keelish throughout these mountains, but finding them with just the few in my pack that left the city would be time-intensive and slow. I want to break each of you into individual packs to focus on, first, ensuring we can feed ourselves without consuming everything in our path, and second, locating every individual pack of keelish around here. I doubt that any of them have the sufficient numbers to be considered swarms, so it will take a certain level of luck and hard work to locate them all."
"Very well, our Lord Zaaktif."
As soon as I'd said as much, I started breaking the swarm of one thousand keelish into packs, each under the command of a khatif. I formed each pack around one khatif, with ten keelish under them, and a captain over groups of ten packs. While I established the packs, I quickly realized that there weren't enough khatif in the swarm to provide one hundred and ten khatif to lead. There were, at most, a hair over sixty of them from Tala, and though that was remarkable to find khatif outside of my own swarm, they were far too few in number. Then, there were Brutus and Hrash, who refused to part from me. Brutus's denial made sense, given that he'd focused his entire being around protecting me, but Hrash's insistence was simple.
"These are weak keelish. I look to ascend higher, which is why I'm here."
She remained singleminded, her focus entirely on the act of growing beyond the bounds of a mere keelish, and she'd already left behind the leadership she'd previously seized. I refused to push her away from her path, given that I could feel it would lead her to becoming Keel. As such, my two guards walked alongside me as I made do with what we had.
I was forced to establish packs without a khatif in them, and inevitably, in every one of these packs, at least two would fight over the opportunity to lead. Hrash couldn't help but smile seeing those who did what she once had, though she didn't offer any comment. Of course, I didn't mind and allowed the fights to continue, so long as they didn't devolve into bloodsport. Fortunately, only three of the keelish found themselves so lost in their bloodlust that they attempted to kill their opponents. When that happened, I merely designated them as enemies, according to [Nemesis], and their rage gave way to total submissiveness.
The army of keelish marched through the Shandise, spread out well over a mile as we continued on a sweeping path through the mountains. With such a wide path, as we cut swathes through the forested mountain range, we quickly found a solution to our food problem, though the ants' omnipresence sent a wave of alarm down my spine. The thought of the creatures being a mere additional food source had left my mind, now to be considered a threat. If they could be reasoned with, then our treatment of the insects would change, but until then, they were an enemy.
We continued moving, the ants providing enough opportunity for the keelish to feed until they were full, though we sustained a dozen casualties to unfortunate bites, unlucky ambushes, and worsening wounds. Now, more than ever, I felt Vefir's absence, as the few keelish who slowly succumbed to gut wounds and excessive bleeding looked to me in hopes of being healed. I had nothing to offer except the opportunity to die at my fangs instead. Many took that choice, and I internalized their names as best as I could.
When, on the second day of our gradual journey south, one of the scouting teams returned with news of keelish sign, I felt a wide grin crossing my face. At last, everything was coming together. I led my guards and Farahlia forward, her command over ten leaders set aside for now. The deep scores in the trees spoke to my kins' presence. I stalked through the forest, ready to find another pack, perhaps hundreds of new keelish to bring into the fold.
As I walked into the clearing that seemed to be the home for the keelish, I looked around in confusion, since there was no burrow nor any place that the keelish could conceivably live in. There was nothing to keep them safe, and nowhere to lay their eggs. How had they survived this far? The solution clicked at the same moment that something slammed into my head from above.