The elder’s dwelling was a large, circular building, with a firepit in the center that was ringed with chairs, stools, and woven mats for visitors to use while consulting the wisest members of the tribe. The elders themselves sat in three ornate wooden thrones at the far end of the room, while Elim stood before them with Kessen kneeling off to the side out of respect for the elders.
Sadly, the tiger was the only one concerned with showing respect at the moment.
“No, I think that my questions should come first,” Elim said icily as he paced around the room. He felt ridiculous dressed in such shabby clothing, but he at least tried to maintain a bit of his dignity by asserting the superiority of his station on the beastmen elders. “For one, I’m a member of the royal family, and for two I’m the one who’s just sprouted a pair of damned animal ears! I think those take precedence over whatever trifling matters you are dealing with.”
One of the elders, a broad-shouldered badger whose fur was nearly all grey, let out a derisive snort at Elim’s protest. The elder to his left, an elk with a huge and intricately decorated pair of antlers, shushed his companion and spoke directly to the prince.
“I’m sorry to say it, but we must disagree. We sympathize with your situation, truly, but we are dealing with a matter of our tribe’s survival,” the elder elk said calmly. “While you were unconscious, our scouts investigated the nearby area, and we have discovered an encampment of these mercenaries that attacked your caravan. No, more than an encampment… A full bivouac for an impressive military force.”
“…And this is my problem? All I’m asking for is an escort to get me and my bodyguard to the nearest village. I can find my way home from there,” Elim replied tersely. The elders had told him about Ferin’s survival, and the prince was honestly quite relieved to know there was another human being that had survived, but he suspected they would both need help if they wanted to make it back to Chasynne safely.
The badger snorted again, and whispered something to the third elder, a slim older vixen with bright red fur flecked with streaks of grey, and Elim was able to make out, “Don’t they teach their royal brats to think?”
“Excuse me, I heard that!“ Elim growled, only to take a step backwards when he saw the anger in the badger’s eyes.
“Fine then, I’ll say it proper,” the badger shot back. “These woods… Our tribe’s land, they are infested by these murderous bastards. We are not prepared to fight them off, and we are not interested in sending any of our tribesmen to escort you and your royal guardsman through such a deadly situation. Do you understand the problem now, little prince?”
The tall ears that had sprouted from Elim’s head began to droop, making his frustration clear to the others no matter how much he tried to keep his face emotionless.
“…I’m trapped here, is that what you’re saying? If I try to leave, I will just be killed by the mercenaries who are waiting to finish the job they started,” Prince Elim replied calmly, even though the elders could easily sense the unease beneath his even tone.
“See? I told you he was smarter than he looked,” the fox elder murmured to her companions, which the prince’s sensitive new rabbit ears could hear easily. Elim’s lip curled in anger, unused to commoners speaking about him like this. How dare these damned animals speak so freely!?, he raged internally, his ears standing on end and twitching furiously. And damn these fucking ears, too! Can’t they just stand still for a second!?
“…Fine. I suppose I am your hostage until the mercenaries are dealt with, then,” Elim spat, clenching his fists and resuming his pacing. “What am I supposed to do until that happens?”
“Whatever you like, prince. You are our guest, not our ‘hostage’, and so long as you cause no trouble for our tribe you shall keep your liberty,” the elk said. “That being said, we are a people of meager means, so we would appreciate it if you earned your keep to the best of your abilities…”
Kessen, still kneeling off to the side, let out a sharp bark of laughter hearing that, earning a glare from Prince Elim.
“You... You do this to me,” Elim raged, pointing to the rabbit-like ears atop his head. “…And then you demand that I pay you for it!? Absurd! No wonder the rest of the kingdom looks down on you beasts!”
The others in the room went silent at that, and the badger looked like he was about to leap from his seat until the other two elders held him by the shoulders. After nearly a full minute of silence, the fox finally spoke.
“Prince Elim,” she said, her tone frosty. “We are a small outpost, far from the rest of our tribal lands. We fish, hunt, and farm these lands as best we can, and we have enough to keep ourselves fed and clothed. But with the pressure being put on us by these mercenaries, our resources are stretched thin, and we did not anticipate having another two mouths to feed being thrust upon us so suddenly. Whether you were a prince or not, we have no intention of letting our tribe starve for the sake of your luxury.”
Elim was speechless. He had never been spoken to like this by anyone outside of his family in his entire lifetime, and here he was being upbraided by a bunch of backwater beasts. And what angered him the most was that he knew they were completely right; his only choice was to stay here and earn his place or to venture out of the village and be killed.
“…I understand, elders,” Elim said as calmly as he could manage. “And I’ll… cooperate any way that I can if it means helping you deal with the people that tried to kill me. That being said, I would appreciate it if you could tell me what the hell happened to my ears?”
“Really putting that courtly charm to good use, aren’t you?” Kessen murmured next to Elim, and the prince just rolled his eyes and ignored the tiger’s comment.
The elk stood from his seat and walked toward Elim, examining the changes to the young man’s head. He gently pushed the prince’s hair aside, seeing that a thin coating of fur had begun to coat his scalp, and the roots of Elim’s hair were changing from jet-black to a sandy brown that matched the color of his new ears.
“It was the stones, young man. That monument that you stumbled upon is a site of power for our people, a nexus of magical energy that is attuned to the wild ones’ bodies,” the elk elder said. “The natural energy has a will of its own, but it can be directed by our people for various purposes. In this case, it was used to heal your body, to pull you out of death’s clutches.”
“I could have told you that,” Elim snapped, gently rubbing his shoulder and feeling only a dull ache where there had once been a mortal wound. “I asked why I sprouted a pair of damned rabbit ears!”
“Patience. As I said, the magic is attuned to our tribe. Only members of our tribe can make use of it easily, so our eager young hunter here…” the elk chuckled, patting Kessen on the back fondly. “…He thought he could get around this by performing a ritual to induct you into our tribe. An offering of blood and a few words of fealty, and the stones immediately saw you as one of our own. For all intents and purposes, you are one of our tribesmen now.”
“Which is why we are offering you our hospitality so freely, I hope you realize,” the badger added.
“Please, may I finish my explanation?” the elk sighed, turning back to Elim. “The magic entered your body and began healing you, but for it to work quickly enough certain changes needed to occur. Your soul, your essence… it has become like one of ours. One of the wild ones. And your body will continue to change further to reflect your new essence.”
Elim’s jaw dropped and his ears went completely limp and fell down over his face. He was a prince, a member of the royalty, one of the most important people in the entire kingdom! And now, he was turning into… into one of the dirty, hairy, savage beasts!? Unthinkable!
“…Change back? C-can I…?” the prince muttered, his face completely blank with shock.
“Not with our people’s magic,” the elk replied quietly. “Perhaps you could find another place of power, one that is attuned to human bodies instead of ours, but…”
Elim turned on his heel and strode toward the building’s exit, pulling the pelt around his shoulders tightly to ward away the chilly air.
“Prince Elim! We can’t overstate how unwise it would be-“ the fox called after him, rising to her feet with concern. But the prince paid no heed to any of the elders’ warnings and nearly dashed outside, leaving the three elders and Kessen behind in silence.
“E-elders, this is my fault,” Kessen said, rising to his feet and bowing one final time to the village elders. “I’ll talk some sense into him.”
“I doubt that, but your free to try,” the badger sighed. “And if you can’t, at least keep him from wandering too far from the village. If those mercenaries figure out that we’re giving him sanctuary… I can’t even imagine what they’ll do.”
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Outside, Elim glanced around the village and tried to come up with a plan. He certainly wasn’t going to wait around until he turned all the way into a savage beast, but he also knew he wasn’t going to make it far on his own. The guardsmen they found, Elim thought to himself. He’ll want to get out of here just as much as me, right? And it’s his job to protect me, so of course he’ll agree to come along. A perfect plan.
Nodding in approval, Elim moved as quickly as he could to try to locate his fellow human. However, while it wasn’t a huge village, there was still plenty of ground to search, so he’d need to move quickly. He darted into an alley between two homes, trying to stay out of sight of the other beastmen villagers as he began his search…