The Silver Claw River presented itself as an open wound in the earth, where the water current fought not to become a petrified path of ice. It was clear to any living being: the cold advanced day after day, with nothing able to stop its clandestine march.
On the banks, where the mud met the ice sheets, Shal'falah waited. He was not looking for the easy meat of the primates; however, his sight scoured the murky depths in search of Stone-Hide, the crocodile that inhabits the roots of Togan's rivers.
Behind the basalt rocks, a group of young Silver-Claws observed.
They were cubs whose coats looked like mantles worn out by hunger, with eyes that recalled embers about to fade due to the scarcity brought by the coldness. They had followed the Commander in secret, driven by a curiosity that refused to disappear, even in the face of the lightness of an empty belly.
Suddenly, the ice surface, neither too firm nor weak, broke.
Stone-Hide rose with a slowness that barely concealed the violence about to explode. Its shell, covered with algae and sediments, resembled armor forged in the entrails of the world.
The animal was a nightmare of teeth and scales, a creature considered by the Silver-Claws to be the demon of the waters.
Shal'falah did not retreat.
Notwithstanding the size of the beast, he attacked.
The impact of the fight between the feline and the reptile was so intense that it resembled the clash of two mountains.
The crocodile spun its body in a way that sought to crush Shal's bones under the pressure of its jaw. However, the Commander was a storm; his claws did not just cut, they dug into points where life hid beneath the carapace.
The battle extended until the moment the sun escaped from behind the clouds, refusing to give a truce. The reptile's hot blood began to stain the ice.
With a roar that invaded the entire valley, without letting the silence of winter smother it, Shal plunged his claws into the beast's neck and released. The Stone-Hide trembled one last time and fell silent.
Shal'falah, panting, his chest rising and falling at a rhythm that showed the exhaustion of his strength, looked towards the rocks.
— Come out! — he ordered.
His speech possessed the authority of one who apparently masters fear itself.
The young Guardians approached with hesitant steps, but full of an admiration that shone brighter than the ice. The smallest of them, a youth with intense eyes, stopped before the monster's carcass.
— Kee'ilan said you had become weak — the young one whispered, and her words resembled the sound of the wind in the cave crevices. — He said you protected the monkeys because you could no longer kill. But, I saw… you faced what none of us would dare to touch.
The cub stared at Shal and her posture was allied with devotion.
— We want to be like you, Commander. We want the strength that chooses who must die and who must live. If you lead us, we will follow you until the world ends, without ever looking back.
Shal'falah felt a tightness in his chest heavier than the fight. He saw in those youths the seed of a new clan. Furthermore, he knew that hunger does not wait.
— Then, eat! — said Shal, tearing the tough meat of the crocodile with a precision that denied any waste. — This meat does not come from the weakness of those who cannot defend themselves. It comes from a worthy adversary. May this food, likewise, not only strengthen your bodies, but also the determination to be more than mere assassins.
Shal'falah sat among them.
On the red-stained ice, the pact was sealed. They ate together, and the warmth of the freshly killed meat animated them like an internal bonfire that challenged the Eternal Winter.
Although Kee'ilan's supporters still grew in the caves, conversely, on the river bank, a new alliance began to be forged. Moreover, Shal'falah realized that, to save the future, he would first need to win the hearts of those who had not yet surrendered to hatred.
The separation was beginning, and the crocodile's blood was stamping the disorder that would separate the Silver-Claws forever.
- - -
After the feast, the atmosphere on the banks of the Silver Claw River transformed. Where, before, there was only the tension of fear, now a clarity emerged that seemed to come from the very skin of the young Guardians.
Shal'falah stood up with a belly overloaded with meat. His paws no longer left deep tracks; his touch on the snow was subtle because of his retracted silver claws.
The youths, now fed and full of courage, moved with a challenging agility.
The youngest marched beside the Commander, with a firm posture, showing a look finally free from the ghost of hunger. Although the cold remained violent, it no longer held them to the ground; on the contrary, the ice served as a mirror for the flame they carried within.
— Look! — Shal' whispered, pointing his body towards the horizon, where the weak rays of the sun touched the mountains. — Winter tries to make us slow and delayed. But, our will must be sovereign.
They returned to the caves, but they did not walk like the defeated.
The group showed itself as a current of silver figures that moved with a natural ease.
Upon entering the basalt caves, their presence brought a clarity that the clan had not seen for a long time. The other Silver-Claws, observing in the darkness, noticed that the Commander did not bring the fatigue of the fight, but a light and invigorated energy.
Despite Kee'ilan remaining immersed in his thoughts, seeing those young predators moving with such freedom provoked a silence in the galleries.
Even with the persistent hunger among most of the Silver-Claws Guardians, the way Shal'falah and his followers dealt with it demonstrated the calm of those who are no longer dominated by their own instincts.
Shal'falah stalled his walk in the center of one of the caves. He did not need to roar; he just took a deep breath, and the sound of his lungs was like the whisper of a breeze that opens the way.
— The strength we seek — he said, and his words echoed softly, reaching everyone without the need for screams — is not in what we can crush, but in what is necessary to lead the future.