The Last Promise
Bariya had been born into a hyena family.
She lived there for seven years, and not one of them left her a single good memory. The no-good hyena she could not even bring herself to call Father tormented her mother day after day. For young Bariya's sake her mother endured that suffering for a long time, but the moment the wretch tried to raise a hand against Bariya as well, she could bear it no longer and fled.
Shaking the hyenas' relentless pursuit, however, was no easy thing. In the end, to protect Bariya—to save even just her daughter—she had no choice but to choose an eternal farewell.
That final promise, exchanged with her mother, was still lodged deep inside Bariya.
So I can't die. I have to live on, steadfast. There's still something I have to do.
By a stroke of tremendous luck, she had been born a wildcat like her mother rather than a hyena, and so she knew how to move without making a sound. The tigers would not watch her as relentlessly as the hyenas had. Slipping away ought to be easy enough.
"Here! A special meal the head chef prepared just for our little one!"
Ah—that smell. For all her firm resolve, Bariya melted the instant she caught the scent of the food Tyreen carried in.
S-still, if I'm going to run, I need a full stomach. They might feed me once and then lock me in a cell, just like that bastard did. I have to eat well while I can.
"It's nutritious milk, made just for you!"
"......"
Her hopes shattered in an instant. The milk was snow-white and warm, rich with a savory fragrance, and it did look delicious... but Bariya was a ten-year-old young lady who liked meat.
"Come now, eat up. Milk from the Caliph domain isn't something just anyone gets to taste. You'll see how wonderful it is."
No. Not this. Give me meat I can actually burn for energy. Even the jerky from earlier would do. Please—anything, so long as it's meat!
"Is the baby kitty eating?"
"Mraow!"
Bariya had been glaring at the milk. At the sudden voice she startled and sprang into the air. Sirka was standing behind Tyreen. When on earth had he arrived?
"Young master. Please make a little noise with your footsteps. You've frightened the little one."
"Isn't that rather a lot to ask of a tiger?"
"Then stamp your shoes. Hard."
Tyreen tapped the floor with her foot.
"Raising a baby isn't easy, is it. Still—don't cats walk quietly too?"
Sirka reached a hand toward Bariya.
Come any closer and I'll hit you.
She lifted a front paw in silent warning, and Sirka clicked his tongue.
"How cruel. I saved you from the hyenas, and this is how you reject me."
She was grateful for that, of course. She would have been even more grateful if he had simply killed the hyenas and left her behind.
"Even so, you must not drive the little one out."
At Tyreen's words, Bariya's ears shot straight up of their own accord.
It's fine! Drive me out! Throw me away this instant!
"Mreow! Mreeoow! (Abandon me! Please, abandon me!)"
She caught the hem of Tyreen's clothes in her front paws and cried out with everything she had. So desperate did she look that Tyreen's face went rigid.
"You see? Even the little one is begging so earnestly not to be abandoned."
"Mraak! (No! Just abandon me!)"
"She's still far too young. She could never survive alone in the wild."
"Mwaaah! (I'm ten! I can live by myself!)"
"Crying so heartbroken... Are you that afraid of being cast out? Heavens. Those stupid hyenas must have been dreadful to you."
I'll grant that the hyenas are stupid. Everything else is wrong!
How could not a single word get through?
"Pfft!"
At the utterly blank look on Bariya's face, Sirka clutched his stomach and collapsed face-down onto the bed. The sight was so infuriating that she seriously considered raking him this time—not with a paw, but with her claws.
"She can look thoroughly wronged even with a cat's face. Remarkable, truly. And Tyreen—the ones who got it bad were the hyenas, not this little kitty."
Sirka gently stroked the back of the now-sulky Bariya.
"So why isn't the baby eating?"
"Because you barged in, young master."
At that, Sirka glanced at the bowl of milk as it cooled.
"Bring it again."
"It's already gone cold. I'll warm it and bring it back."
"No. Leave that. Bring something with meat in it."
What?
Bariya, who had been sulking, jerked her head up.
M-meat? Really?
"Look at that face. This is the little one who was fretting herself sick that the knights might steal her jerky. You think a bit of milk is going to fill her up?"
Faced with Bariya's teary eyes, Tyreen felt a stab of guilt, though she had done nothing wrong.
"But the head chef said a kitten this small ought to be drinking milk."
"Small in size, perhaps. Her real age may not be so young."
Is he a ghost? How does he know?
In truth, Bariya was smaller than average. Living in that damned hyena family, she had never been fed when she should have been.
Rotten hyenas. My dream was to become the biggest wildcat in the world.
Just wait. Once she was fully grown, she would have her revenge. Bariya clenched both front paws and swore it.
While Tyreen went to fetch a new meal, she drank the milk in the meantime. Hungry as she was, it really was delicious, just as Tyreen had said.
"Little kitty. You're grateful to me, aren't you?"
She wished he had left with Tyreen. Unfortunately, he stayed glued to her side the entire time she drank, talking at her until it became a nuisance.
"If you're grateful, what should you do?"
Does he want a thank-you that badly?
Well... he isn't wrong. He had saved her life, and far from thanking him, she had slapped his cheek. After a moment's hesitation, Bariya carefully stroked the cheek she had struck.
I'm sorry I hit you. I was startled, too. And thank you for saving me.
Sirka could not hear her. She offered the feeling anyway.
"......"
His eyes went wide at the soft paw pad cautiously caressing his cheek.
"Little one. I've brought your new meal."
Tyreen appeared just then, carrying a bowl that smelled wonderful. Bariya abandoned Sirka on the spot and ran to her. The soup was sour and sweet at once, brimming with finely shredded meat.
"Mnyah-nyah."
Eyes shining, Bariya devoured it. She had never tasted anything so good in her life. The meat was cooked so tender she did not even need to chew; it simply slid down, gulp after gulp. In the hyena family, all they had ever given her was tasteless, dry bread.
"Young master? Why are you smiling like a pervert?"
Bariya had her nose buried so deep in the soup that even her whiskers were coated when Tyreen's displeased voice made her turn. Her eyes met Sirka's. He really was smiling like a pervert.
"......"
"......"
The delicious food had lowered her guard toward the tiger family, if only a very little. One look at that face, and she knew she had better pull herself together. Gratitude was gratitude. Her wariness of beastkin remained unchanged.
So the moment day breaks, I am getting out of here!
"......"
Lying on his side across the bed, Sirka watched the kitten with a look of wonder.
"Prr... grrr..."
Belly round and full, the kitten slept with her limbs flung wide, snoring softly. So much for all that fierce wariness—now she was dead to the world. Anyone who saw her would think this was her own house.
"How did the search go?"
Tyreen answered.
"We found no sign that hyena beastkin sent the animals."
Sirka frowned. He had expected as much. Hyena whelps rarely left a trace.
"We have confirmed, however, that beastkin of the hyena chief's family are moving in secret."
"From Mariner?"
Mariner—the family of the hyena chief. Its head possessed a remarkable talent for infuriating other beastkin, and the Caliph family had been at odds with Mariner for a long time. The hyenas had always coveted the tigers' domain, far richer and warmer than their own lands, and in this generation the conflict had only grown sharper. Mariner's current head was a hardliner, expanding her power by force. Once, at a council of the chiefs, Baden had been provoked past all endurance upon meeting her and had tried to kill her.
Lately, though, they had fallen suddenly quiet, and that quiet had been suspicious enough. And now they were moving again?
"Why?"
"That much, we could not learn. They are so wary that getting close is not easy, I am told."
"Tsk. I'll give them this much—when it comes to foul tempers, they have no equal."
Clicking his tongue, Sirka looked down at the kitten snoring softly in her sleep. As heir of Caliph, his instincts were exceptionally keen, and they were telling him something. This baby was tied to the hyenas. To Mariner, no less.
They had not simply meant to make a meal of her. What connection could there possibly be?