"Veer is a predator," Siss murmured, swirling his wine. "He does not hide behind fake armies. If he is involved, then this distraction is merely a smokescreen for an infiltration. They plan to strike while I am looking the other way. The audacity is almost poetic."
Lord Siss set his goblet down and raised a single, pale hand. From the shadows of the massive obsidian pillars, four elite Snake guards materialized, dropping to one knee in perfect, silent synchronization.
"Send word to the canyon gates," Lord Siss commanded, his voice devoid of all warmth. "I want a token force of archers on the walls. Let them fire a few arrows. Let the enemy believe their little distraction is working. But pull the entire elite inner guard into the shadows of the royal courtyard. Coat every blade in the highest grade of paralytic venom."
The guards bowed their heads.
Lord Siss smiled, his fangs glinting slightly in the dim light. "The human thinks she is a hunter. Let us show her what happens when she steps into a viper’s nest."
Miles away, entirely oblivious to the fact that her psychological warfare had just been unraveled by a three-hundred-year-old serpent, Kaya was experiencing a victory of a completely different kind.
The sun had long since set, casting the dense forest into a deep, chilly darkness. The only source of light was the glowing orange embers of the roasting pit outside their cave. The air was thick with the rich, mouth-watering aroma of roasted meat and savory herbs.
Kaya knelt by the pit, using a thick branch to push away the hot coals and ash. With Cutie’s help, she carefully rolled the three massive, hardened clay balls out of the fire. They were scorching hot, baked into rock-solid gray shells by hours of intense heat.
Veer leaned against the cavern entrance, his arms crossed, watching her with a highly skeptical expression. "I am still struggling to understand how eating dirt is going to revolutionize my palate, wife."
"Just watch, you uncultured bird," Kaya shot back, wiping soot from her forehead.
She took the heavy hilt of her hunting knife and brought it down hard on the top of the first clay ball.
’CRACK.’
The hard, baked shell fractured perfectly down the middle. As Kaya pulled the pieces apart, a thick, billowing cloud of fragrant steam erupted into the cold night air. The intense heat had baked the clay solid, locking every single drop of moisture inside. Kaya carefully peeled back the layers of the giant green lotus leaves, which had wilted and browned, imparting an earthy, sweet aroma into the meat.
As the final leaf was pulled away, the beggar’s chicken was revealed.
It was a masterpiece. The skin was a gorgeous, glistening golden-brown. The meat was so incredibly tender that the moment Kaya prodded it with her knife, it literally slid right off the bone, falling apart in a cascade of rich, savory juices. The scent of the wild garlic, crushed peppercorns, and roasted chicken was so intoxicating that both Veer and Cutie physically leaned forward, their predatory instincts instantly hijacked by the smell.
Kaya ripped off a massive chunk of the steaming meat, blew on it to cool it down, and practically shoved it into Veer’s hands. "Eat it. And then apologize to me."
Veer looked down at the cooked meat. He was a Vulture. He ate raw, bloody meat. He enjoyed the hunt, the tear of flesh, the primal satisfaction of the kill. Cooked food was for weak herbivores and frail humans.
But the smell...
Veer took a tentative bite. His eyes widened slightly. The meat practically melted on his tongue. The flavors exploded in his mouth—a perfect balance of salt, savory fat, and the deep, earthy richness of the lotus leaves. It was, without a single doubt, the greatest thing he had ever tasted in his entire life.
He didn’t say a word. He just aggressively tore into the rest of the meat, finishing the massive chunk in three seconds flat before reaching out for more.
Cutie didn’t even wait for an invitation. The giant bear-rabbit beastman gently cracked open his own clay shell with one massive claw, delicately unwrapped the leaves, and inhaled half the bird in a single, happy bite. He let out a loud, rumbling purr that shook the ground, his ears drooping in absolute culinary bliss.
"Apology accepted," Kaya grinned, cracking open her own portion.
For a brief, quiet hour, the three of them sat by the dying fire, eating the beggar’s chicken under the starlit sky. There was no talk of assassinations, no plotting, no tribal warfare. It was just a rare, fleeting moment of genuine camaraderie. Kaya looked at Veer, who was currently licking his fingers clean of the savory juices, and then at Cutie, who was happily munching on the herb-soaked lotus leaves.
She had transmigrated into a terrifying, unsanitary, violent world. But as she sat there with her two bizarre companions, eating a perfectly cooked meal, she realized that she didn’t entirely hate it.
But the peace couldn’t last.
As the moon reached its peak in the night sky, casting a pale, ghostly glow over the forest, the distant, rhythmic thumping of heavy war drums began to echo through the valley.
The fake Free Clan army was on the move.
Kaya stood up, wiping her hands clean on a cloth. Her relaxed, triumphant smile faded, replaced by the sharp, calculating focus of a tactician. She strapped her knife to her thigh and pulled her dark cloak tightly over her shoulders.
"Time to go to work," she said quietly.
The Venom-tooth Canyons loomed in the distance like a massive, jagged scar on the earth.
Kaya, Veer, and Cutie bypassed the main trade routes entirely, moving silently through the treacherous, bubbling toxic marshes that bordered the rear of the Snake Tribe’s stronghold. The stench of sulfur and decay was overwhelming, but Kaya tied a thick cloth over her nose and mouth, pushing through the thick underbrush with determination.
They arrived at the base of the rear canyon wall exactly one hour before dawn.
This was the coldest, darkest hour of the night. The temperature had plummeted drastically, frosting the edges of the marshland. The towering stone wall above them was sheer, slick with moisture, and impossibly high.
"I’ll take the lead," Veer whispered, his breath pluming in the freezing air. He drew his twin curved blades, the dark steel completely absorbing the faint moonlight. "Cutie, carry her over the difficult stretches."
"I don’t need to be carried," Kaya interjected softly, stepping up to the stone wall. "I can pull my own weight."
Veer looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Wife, it’s a hundred-foot vertical drop."
Kaya didn’t answer. She took a deep breath, focusing on that strange, weightless sensation she had discovered during the fight in the cave. She didn’t understand the biology of this world, and she still didn’t know if she had a "superpower," but she knew her body was no longer bound by the strict laws of human physics.
She bent her knees, channeled her energy, and pushed off the ground.
With a soft rush of displaced air, Kaya launched herself twenty feet straight up the sheer rock face. She landed gracefully on a narrow outcropping, her boots making almost zero sound against the stone. She looked down at Veer and Cutie, offering them a smug, silent salute.
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