A Glorious Wound
Had they fallen into the hands of Sabrina, who loathed hyenas to the bone, not even scraps of the dead informants' corpses would have been left to find.
And of all people, they had caught the eye of that one—the one who spent fewer than ten days a year at the Caliph Estate. Luck that rotten deserved a prize.
"Bariya, you damned thing. Of all the land in the world, why did you have to crawl in there?"
Darius clutched his head.
His daughter, Bariya. The stupid girl wouldn't have known the place belonged to the Caliphs. She didn't have that kind of knowledge. And yet, of all places, she had chosen exactly that one. The thought that those tiger whelps might notice Bariya's ability and set their sights on her left him restless beyond bearing.
Claire Bell. If only it hadn't been for that woman!
The head of the hyenas had to be a woman. Always. So even though Darius had been born the head's own son, he had never even been qualified to enter the fight for succession. That was why he had laid his plans: sire a daughter of exceptional ability, and pull every string from behind her. To that end, he had brought in Claire Bell, a leopard cat unlike any other.
When she bore him a daughter just as he had planned, the joy of it—the feeling that the whole world was his—lasted only a moment. The child Claire gave him was no noble hyena cast in Darius's image. Bariya was a leopard cat beastkin, unfit even to inherit the house!
He had been so furious that he treated Claire and Bariya rather harshly. And over a trifle like that, as he saw it, Claire had nursed a grudge and fled the family with Bariya in tow. Nor was that the end of it. Unable to shake the hyenas on her trail, she had saved Bariya and died in her place, without even leaving a corpse behind.
From that moment, everything began to twist out of shape.
Even a corpse would have had its uses, and she went and died.
The mere thought of it was enough to jolt him out of sleep in a rage. So he would take the price of it out of his daughter, Bariya.
I have to drag Bariya back before Mother finds out.
She was the head of House Mariner, and the leader of every hyena. She did not tolerate failure, and she did not forgive mistakes. He had to haul Bariya back as quickly as he could, by any means necessary.
Of everyone, it was Tyreen who felt the greatest relief at the news that the baby wildcat who had vanished in an instant had been found again. Thank heaven she hadn't been taken by the hyenas.
"Ah..."
But when Sirka actually brought Bariya back, Tyreen could not bring herself to show her joy.
Wheat-gold hair in soft abundance, features already clear despite her youth, and the sharp, fluid line of a cat's eyes. She was breathtakingly pretty, and that was precisely why grief came rushing in. The dress was worn to rags, and through its gaps showed arms and legs thin as sticks. Far from plump, her cheeks were hollow. The sight hit Tyreen like a blow to the head. Only now did she understand why the baby wildcat had gone mad for meat.
"...Our baby. You're every bit as lovely like this, in human form."
She didn't let a hint of it show. She smiled brightly, and Bariya lifted her chin as high as it would go.
"Mhm. Kinda."
That plucky little answer only made Tyreen's heart ache more.
"Shall we start with a bath?"
She led the nodding Bariya toward the bathroom, glancing sidelong at Sirka. He stood with his arms crossed, pouring out a fierce pheromone. He, too, was clearly badly shaken by the child's appearance. Tyreen swallowed a sigh.
"Whoa."
The moment Bariya stepped into the bathroom, the exclamation burst out of her. Yesterday she had washed simply in her room, so this was her first time inside. It was as if a stretch of forest had been carried indoors whole: grass and trees, and at the center a bath sunk deep as a lake.
"Can I get in?"
At the sight of all that water, Bariya's shoulders jumped.
"Of course."
The instant permission fell, Bariya flung off her clothes and plunged in with a splash.
"Ahh, this is the best!"
The warm water pulled the delight out of her on its own.
How long has it been since I splashed around without a care in the world?
In the hyena house, luxury like this had been beyond dreaming. After she fled, fear of the hyenas on her trail meant she could only wet her throat, or dampen her body for a moment and climb straight back out.
The more I think about it, the madder I get.
She would have her revenge on every last one of those hyenas, including the worthless lout she didn't even want to call Father. Bariya swore it again today, and meant it.
"Are you having fun?"
"Mhm, I like it!"
"I'm glad. And I'm glad you came back safe."
At the sigh beneath Tyreen's words, Bariya, who had been swimming with all her might, went a little stiff. Right. She had put Tyreen secretly to sleep and bolted.
"I am curious how you managed it..."
Bariya turned her head and let her eyes roll. The hands that had been splashing so happily fidgeted, suddenly timid. Tyreen swallowed a laugh. Shameless enough in animal form—but the moment she took a human shape, she looked every bit the child she was.
"The lord, the lady, and even the young master didn't ask you why, did they?"
"..."
"So I won't ask either. What does the reason matter? What matters is that you came back safe."
Crouched beside the bath, Tyreen smiled, bright as daylight. Bariya stared at her, dazed.
This place was strange. In the hyena family, people barked and threatened until they got the answer they wanted, or they simply withheld food. Here, there was no one like that. Until now, the only person who had ever been kind to her was her mother. It was strange. It didn't feel bad.
"And I'm truly glad it didn't turn into a blood-splattered chase."
Bariya had been splashing out of sheer awkwardness when Tyreen's next words left her blank.
"Huh?"
A blood-splattered chase? If they're chasing me, why would blood splash?
"Those stupid, greedy hyenas are after you, aren't they? If we're going to keep you safe from them, we'll have to accept a little bloodshed."
"..."
"Theirs, of course."
Tyreen grinned, fangs flashing. Her pupils split long and thin in an instant. Just imagining it seemed to delight her. What on earth had the hyenas done to the tigers, that they hated them this much?
"So stay here with us. For a long, long time."
Bariya understood, then, why the tigers welcomed a stranger they had only just met.
They need me here if they want to rile those hyenas properly.
That, she could cheer on harder than anyone. No—she could even step in herself. A hyena's pain was her pleasure.
"Kyah!"
The moment she pictured teaming up with the tigers to torment the hyenas, laughter burst out of her. Tyreen was a little bewildered to see her splashing merrily again, but she looked happy, and that was enough. Tyreen smiled, content.
When the bath was done, Bariya was dressed in a new gown, pure white and smelling wonderfully clean.
"Whoa, it's so soft."
Bariya was perfectly satisfied. Tyreen was not.
"I had to find it in a hurry, so the size isn't right. You'll be staying here now, so we'll need to buy you lots of new clothes."
"I'm fine with just this one."
It was soft. She could keep wearing it and her skin wouldn't sting. That seemed nice enough.
"I want to dress you in all sorts of clothes."
"Why do I gotta wear lots of clothes?"
You could live just fine in one.
"...I just want to."
That, she understood even less.
"But how long are you gonna keep callin' me a baby?"
Bariya corrected the form of address that had been grating on her.
"I'm ten yea—ugh. Ten! Years! Old. Not a baby."
"...What?"
"Ten! Years! Old is a proper beastkin!"
At that full-throated roar, Tyreen's mind went black.
Ten? Ten years old? Anyone looking at her would have said six or seven at most!
"Young master!"
Tyreen burst out of the dressing room at once. Sirka, waiting in the bedroom, shot to his feet.
"What? What happened—"
"The baby—no, Miss Bariya says she's ten years old. Is that true?!"
"That's what she says."
"Dear God."
Tyreen covered her face with both hands.
"I only thought cat beastkin developed more slowly than tigers."
But ten years old. Even for a cat, she was far too small.
"I know."
Sirka agreed. From the moment he had seen how scrawny Bariya was in human form, he had suspected she was older than she looked. But ten? What in the world had those hyena whelps done to a child this young?
"I ought to wring every last one of those bastards' necks..."
Tyreen muttered it, murderous.
"What's a neck?"
Bariya, who had followed her out of the dressing room, asked it with a perfectly innocent face. Tyreen clapped a hand over her own mouth and hastily turned the subject, insisting it was nothing.
"Baby."
At Sirka's call, Bariya's face scrunched hard.
"I'm not a baby. I said I'm teeen."
"If you're smaller than me, you're a baby."
Shameless as anything, Sirka reached a hand toward her. Bariya shot her fist into the air. Her eyes were fierce, a clear warning that if he petted her again without permission, she would hit him.
"...Hold on, baby."
Sirka stopped on instinct. Then he saw her fist, and his face went hard. The back of the child's hand was covered in scars of every kind.
"These..."
Had the hyena whelps not only starved her, but beaten her too? Rage surged—and in that instant, Bariya cried out, proud and utterly certain.