The Barbarian Sage slapped a knee. "That's what I'm talking about!"
Guri just blinked at Zane. "Well," she said at last. "I'll be."
The Sage gave her a bump. "Eh? Didn't you say this'd happen? You saw those flames of yours, didn't you?"
"The flames said he'd do well," said Guri. "I thought he might get Earthbreaker."
Then she wheezed a laugh too.
Chief Nog, meanwhile, squinted at the Bone. He stomped closer, squinted harder, then inspected Zane.
"Hmm."
Then he rounded on the Barbarian Sage. "Did your lad just get that stubborn old horn to take him?"
"You're damned right he did!"
Nog let out a sudden roar of laughter; it was like a fire lit up deep in the old Rhino. It sounded just as fierce as the Barbarian Sage's. Zane got a sense he was getting a glimpse of what Nog must have been like when he was younger.
Then Nog rumbled over and gave Zane a horn-bump.
"I knew it," he said. "Fate's got more in store for the Titan Rhinos just yet—those blasted Monsters'll do their best, no doubt. But they'll never knock the Rhinos down!"
He stuck his horn high and stood taller than Zane had ever seen him.
Ronk and the rest of the Horn looked at each other. So did the healers, gatherers—the rest of the tribe too, like the significance of the moment was slowly dawning on all of them. And a stomping, bellowing, swishing started taking over the tribe.
Zane felt it too. Usually, he wasn't one for this sort of thing, but as he took a look around, he started to smile.
"It's my honor to carry this Bone," he said. He could feel the weight of the words in his chest.
He reached out to the Bone—but its runes flared silver, and it was like his hand hit a wall just a few inches from touching.
He blinked, looked to Guri. "What's up with the runes?"
"That's from the Bone Rites."
"Bone Rites," Zane said, brow furrowing.
"The last step before you can claim the treasure fully, dear. The Bone needs one more thing from you. The sacred rite of the Titan Rhinos."
All around the circle, Rhinos were nodding.
"A Sacred Bone as old as the Forgotten Bone will only accept being carried by a great Rhino," she explained. "You must do something that shows true greatness."
"…Anything?" said Zane.
Guri nodded. "As long as it's done in the name of the Bone."
He scratched his chin as he considered this. The Barbarian Sage, though, seemed ready. His hand shot up. "I've got an idea."
Nog looked over.
"The Horn can't send out hunting patrols right now, can they? Stretched too thin and all? Can't risk it."
Ronk shook his head.
"But you know who can get out there on the hunt?"
And he gave Zane a big ol' slap on the back. "Those three pesky Monster Princes—what if my lad takes 'em out for you? That can be his Bone Rite!"
A moment of silence as the tribe absorbed this.
"That…" rumbled Ronk, brow wrinkling. "The last Monster Prince is a half-step True God—with a pseudo-Reality Distortion Field."
All around them the Rhinos seemed stunned, by how they were blinking. About as stunned as the Sage was confident.
"That sound good to you?" he asked the Elders. Guri nodded.
Nog gave a chortle. "'Course—it ought to be impossible! I'd damned well like to see it."
Zane could tell where the Sage got how he talked from. It might be the other way around, actually, since it was old Nog speaking in the human tongue.
"Are you sure of this?" rumbled Ronk. "The lad is strong. But that is fighting up a full level. And then some."
"Have some faith," laughed the Barbarian Sage. "This is Zane we're talking about!"
Zane was pretty sure the Barbarian Sage had a little too much faith in him. He'd never fought a half-step True God. There was no guarantee. He'd have to take this quite seriously.
But at the same time… he wanted it. The thought of it—wrecking those Princes, taking the Bone—something deep in him had seized on it.
The Barbarian Sage turned to Zane. "What do you say, lad?"
"I'll do it," said Zane without hesitation.
The Sage looked over to the Bone. "So! How's that for greatness, eh?"
There was a moment of silence.
Then the Bone burst with silver light, touching Zane—and he felt a soft chime in the Astral Plane. In that moment a bond was made—a contract.
"It's decided then," chuckled the Barbarian Sage. "These next few days the lad will go on the hunt, take down those pesky Scourge Princes. Get rid of one big threat to the Tribe. In the meantime…"
He scratched his chin. "It's been a while since I got a good work in. Might be I'll go on the hunt too—take one or two of those Monster Kings off your hands. Maybe both, if I can find 'em. How's that sound?"
Nog dipped his horn low to the ground, like a deep bow. By now much of the fire had burned out of the big Rhino. When he sagged, though, Zane got the impression a great load had been taken off him. "You and your lad do a great service to the Tribe, Jogo… this Bone'll be damned well-earned."
So it was decided. In the next three days—just before the next wave hit—Zane would take down the three Princes. The Council of Elders approved, and he got waves of bellows from the Rhinos all around.
Before their gathering ended, though, Ronk took the center.
"We must speak of one more thing." Ronk looked a little tired all of a sudden. "The matter of migration."
"This stuff, again?" said Nog, yawning. "Well—we can't go now. Not with those bastards dogging us wherever we go."
"Not now," said Ronk. "After we get rid of the scourge, though. We must consider what happens next."
The lines on the old Rhino's face seemed to show more and more with each word, though he still spoke it firmly. Determined to put it out there.
"We have lost many Rhinos of late," said Ronk. "The Corruption worsens by the day. Even if we drive the Monsters out, we cannot drive out the Corruption. It poisons more and more. If it poisons our life-blood—the Glacier… the Eastern Wilds will be doomed. If we are still here when the first Galactic Monster-Wave comes, it will be too late."
Ronk looked around, making eye contact with lots of Rhinos. "I do not want to have to do it. But it may be time to join our brethren—the Titan Rhinos of the Western Wilderness. We will be stronger there."
This brought about some rumblings in the Rhino pack. A few unhappy tail-swishes. Zane wasn't sure how he could tell which tail swishes were happy or unhappy, but he'd somehow picked up on it.
Another Elder spoke up—a wrinkly old Horn Rhino whose horn towered like a shield. "I do not like this," said that Rhino. "This is home. I want to fight. Not give it up to a Monster."
Off to the side Mook gave a hop. "Fight," said Mook.
The Horn were all getting a little agitated. The rest of the Rhinos, though, were more subdued—if a bit restless.
These were subtle changes—little lookings-around, tail-swishes, maybe an anxious paw or two.
Ronk looked to Shaman Guri. "What have you seen in the Fire?"
"Claw, piercing hide," said the Shaman. "The poison in the land will only grow stronger… Our new friends will help us drive off the coming dark. But the poison is rooted deeper. It comes from the Galaxy itself."
That brought about more rumblings.
"I don't like it," harrumphed Nog. "I've been here since I was a calf. These old bones don't care to make that long a journey. This is not only our home."
As he spoke Nog seemed to be working himself back up. The fire was coming back a bit; he snorted. "It is the home of our Ancestors. The birthplace of Rhinos—where the First Rhinos unlocked the secrets of strength and resilience, and made themselves divine! I say we take it to the bastards—"
His voice cut off in a hacking fit. The Rhinos all looked around, alarmed.
Guri padded over to him, horn glowing.
A dark energy oozed out of Nog's mouth—an energy that hissed violently as soon as it touched the air, burning, cracking voids in reality. The texture of it was slimy, and just looking at it made Zane's skin crawl. A gross, malevolent thing.
It stood in contrast to the deepest workings of life itself. It bore the aura of peak True God.
Nog looked paler after it went out, but he stopped coughing. "Many thanks, Guri."
The Barbarian Sage frowned. "What the hells happened there?"
"Monster King," said Nog. "Two-tailed Scorpion got me a few days back—don't you look at me like that! It's but a flesh wound."
He drew himself up. "I'm not so old a damned bug'll take me down!" he harrumphed. But there wasn't much heart in it; he seemed too weary for that.
"Scorpion, eh?" The Barbarian Sage crossed his arms. "Might be I'll pay this fellow a visit."
"You show 'em, Jogo," wheezed Nog. He chuckled. "Bah—if only I were a hundred thousand years younger—I'd go nail the bastard myself!"
Then he yawned.
"This matter of migration—we'll speak of it later. For now, let us focus on making sure the tribe is safe."
All the Rhinos nodded at that.
Later in the day Guri came to Zane, holding a little oilskin bag in her mouth. She deposited it at his feet.
"Well done at the Bone Rite," she said, eyes crinkling at the edges.
"Thanks."
She brought out a cracked pink petal stuffed with so much essence it trembled in her mouth, and deposited it in his hand.
𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕚'𝕤 𝕊𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕖𝕕 ℙ𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕝 [ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕟 (𝔹+)]
"What is it?"
"A snack, dear."
His first bite filled up a good quarter-level's worth of essence. It was good stuff—he gave her a thumbs-up as he chewed. She waited patiently as he swallowed.
"Well, I've done some fire-gazing."
She loosened the bag and pulled out a badly rusted link of chain.
"This ought to get you started," she said. "It's taken from the nearest Scourge Prince. I fire-seared it so it'll get hotter the nearer you get."
Zane nodded.
"He's somewhere in the northeast chunks—the Thunderbolt Plateau would be a good place to start, so-called because all its ravines run in thunderbolt lines. That, and the constant thunderbolts. The fellow's name is Ghol the Forbidden One."