Meanwhile, elsewhere among the chaos. The queen and the princess were swiftly surrounded.
The women who had been tailing them since the hunt began closed ranks, forming a tight, protective formation. No words were wasted. With practiced efficiency, they redirected the queen and princess, guiding them rapidly toward the forest's edge.
Then, Crack.
The sound echoed everywhere at once, sharp and wrong, as if the sky itself had fractured. Every head snapped upward. Magic faltered. Movement stalled.
Above them, space split open.
Reality fractured like glass, jagged lines spreading across the air before tearing wide. From within that broken space, a familiar figure tumbled out, The cub.
Its massive form emerged mid-fall, wings flailing awkwardly as panic drove it. It had teleported randomly, desperately, fleeing danger it could not understand.
And in doing so, it had landed directly above the queen, the princess, and those sworn to protect them.
The women reacted instantly.
