Molaki's body crashed into the hard packed dirt with a sickening slam, made worse by the absolute silence surrounding them. The weight of his body slamming reverberated hard enough that the wild birds in the trees up above screeched while fleeing upwards like smoke.
Everyone knew the rules of a challenge. They were taught them as soon as they were old enough to know any other etiquette in the pack, and were engrained relentlessly so that even when your heart wanted to split in two, you'd obey them. Every fiber of Hera's being wanted to reach out to her son and make comfort him, her own body launching forward, but her feet staying dug in where they stood like roots.
She couldn't. He had chosen. He was strong, and wise, and she had known since he was a child that she was raising someone special. Whining, the grey wolf leaned into Saba's side, whimpering while she prayed to the idols to see him through.
