Chapter 238: Kaela’s rage inside
The trees thinned out as the three Fiora hunters rode away from the strike team. Midday light filtered through the branches in long, slanted streaks, turning the path into stripes of gold and shadow.
Kaela's horse snorted and tossed its head, picking up on her rider's foul mood. The scarred woman's knuckles stayed white around the reins, her jaw locked tight enough to ache. Every hoofbeat kicked up small clouds of dust that clung to her blood-splattered leather coat.
"Well, it’s not like I don’t get what’s happening," Kaela spat, voice thick with sarcasm that cut through the quiet woods. She didn’t bother keeping it down. "Sure, if the gate isn’t closed, more monsters will come.”
“But that doesn’t mean we have to kneel to that capital puppet. Why? Just because she’s a little stronger than others?"
Shilla rode on her left, wiping dried blood from her forearm with the edge of her cloak. She shifted in the saddle, saddle leather creaking under her weight. "Well… she’s not just a little stronger, Kaela. Did you see what she did back there? That lightning? I think maybe we took it too far by disobeying her like that. Who knows, maybe she knows the danger better than us, and that’s why was like that back then!"
“Hah…haha ha ha ha….”
Kaela let out a harsh laugh that echoed off the nearest trunk. It wasn’t a happy sound. It scraped out raw, full of the anger still boiling in her chest from getting sent back like disobedient pups. Her shoulder burned where a kobold had grazed her earlier, but the real pain sat deeper, grief for the tribesfolk they’d lost just this morning, mixed with the sting of being pulled away from the fight.
"Knows the danger? Please. Make better jokes, Shilla. Who says that little cunt isn’t exaggerating the whole thing just to control us? Have you ever seen a true dungeon break? Well, I haven’t. And let me tell you something, nobody saw it on these outskirts, too. And who’s to say she isn’t taking advantage of just that?”
“And for argument's sake, let's just agree even if monsters do come pouring out, why is it our duty to protect those snooty villagers who’ve never given us a second glance before this?"
She twisted in her saddle to look at Maen and Shilla, eyes sharp and challenging. The dim light caught the old scar running down her arm, making it stand out pale against her skin. "They’re not Fiora. They’re outsiders. If they want to protect their people, shouldn’t they do it themselves? Why drag us into their mess? We, the Fiora Tribe, can just move elsewhere and continue as we always were, couldn’t we? Tell me why we have to follow their orders and risk our lives just to save their village, when their gate has never been opened for us before, huh?"
Maen gave a small, awkward smile from Kaela’s right. She kept her horse steady but didn’t meet Kaela’s gaze for long. The words about Maya, their Niruh, sat uneasily in her gut. She didn’t like hearing it, but she also didn’t shut Kaela down. The day’s fighting had left her tired, bones heavy, and arguing felt like too much effort right now.
Shilla just stayed quiet on the other side, expression guarded after getting her arguments countered like that, reins loose in her hands.
Neither woman added fuel to Kaela’s rage, but they didn’t douse it either. The resentment hung in the air between them like smoke that wouldn’t clear.
Kaela wasn’t done. Her horse surged forward a few steps as she dug her heels in harder than necessary. "We should be thinking about ourselves in this situation. Getting our own people to safety. But here we are, running errands for a woman who can’t even stand up to her own tribe." She paused, then let the next words drop heavier. "Let me tell you this once: Maya’s gotten weak. Attached to that village because of that woman, Tresta. Maybe she fancies her, eh?"
She nudged Maen with her elbow, a mocking grin twisting her lips while riding her horse. "And I don’t get it. What does she even see in her? That woman doesn’t even have enough meat on her bones. And on top of that, got a daughter almost her own age. Ugh… yuck."
Kaela kept going, voice dropping into something crueler. "Oh… well, sorry. Had a daughter. I forgot the girl died two days ago. Haha…"
The last words landed like a slap. Shilla’s shoulders tensed visibly. She stared straight forward at the path, lips pressed thin, but she didn’t call Kaela out. Maen forced another smile.
The joke of Kaela about their Niruha sat wrong in the cooling evening air, too sharp, too soon after everything that had happened. But neither of them pushed back. Kaela’s anger had been building since the morning’s losses, and right now it felt easier to let it spill than to bottle it up.
Maen’s awkward smile faltered for a second. She let out a weak chuckle, more out of habit than agreement, eyes flicking to the darkening trees ahead. The air had cooled fast once they left the thicker part of the forest, carrying the damp smell of moss and open field ahead of them. Her own cuts stung every time the horse shifted, reminding her of the useless fight they’d just left behind.
Kaela felt the silence from her companions, but she didn’t care. Because in her mind, she knew that she wasn’t telling any lies. Everything she said actually happened, or has agreeable logic behind it. And these two beside her also knew about it. They just didn’t want to be on their leader's bad side.
The path widened as they drew closer to the forest edge. Long shadows stretched across the ground, turning roots and rocks into hidden traps for the horses. Distant sounds drifted on the breeze, voices from the walls, the low clang of someone hammering nails on a side of the wooden wall even now.
The three riders continued in uneasy quiet after that, the weight of the day’s failures and the half-spoken resentments riding with them. As they got out of the forest finally, light from the sun overhead shone on them, making their eyes sting a little. And the forest behind them now became a dark wall hiding whatever waited for the strike team that left without them in search of the dungeon gate.