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To'roc blinked slowly as he woke. The bright sunlight crept in the window like an unwanted intruder. Unhappy to be dragged from blissful dreams, the jruu groaned softly and opened his eyes wider to look up at the small window. A thin hide had been stretched over a hole cut into the wall, allowing a soft fog of sunlight to filter in through the hide.

A slight tickling across his chest brought his hand up reflexively to brush off whatever was touching him, only to find another hand beneath his slender fingers. Slightly startled, he turned his head, looking directly into a gentle blue gaze.

Taiyra smiled and lifted her muzzle to give the agwa a playful lick across the tip of his nose. "Good morning." She greeted him softly. "I hope I didn't wake you up." Beneath his hand, her fingers continued to trace the runes seared into his skin.

To'roc stared in stunned silence as memories from the night before leaked slowly into his thoughts. Remnants of the night's drinking still slowed his own mind as he pieced together what happened. "Uh, no." He replied. "Not uh all."

Taiyra giggled softly at his response, turning over her hand to entwine her fingers with his own. "You look like you're still half asleep." Shifting to press her body tighter against his own, the doe's other hand snaked around the back of his neck to allow her fingertips to lightly trace the shell of his ear. "Feeling alright? If you have a hangover I can help with that."

To'roc purred and melted to her touch, feeling her warmth sinking into his core before spreading outward to the rest of his body. "Yah." He said, reaching out to play with her loose mane. A feeling of peace and contentment settled over him like a blanket as he twirled a strand of her mane around his fingers. "I feel just fine."

Smiling, Taiyra laid her head on his shoulder. Her fingers continued to gently stroke the bare skin of his chest, her thick nails feather light across his sensitive flesh. "To'roc, can I ask you something?" She said meekly.

To'roc felt his breath catch in his lungs for a moment, wondering, hoping, that she was going to ask if she could stay with him. He knew how unlikely it was, but still he hoped. Giving a nod, he said "Yah." His fingers dipping into her soft mane and stroked softly.

"Well," the doe said shyly. "I noticed last night that you have these markings all over your body." Her fingertips again traced one of the runes on his chest. "I've never seen them before. So I was just wondering..."

To'roc let out a disappointed sigh but offered a smile to his doe. "Is magic, yah?" His hand from her mane to trace the length of her arm. "Agwa not meant for dis... land. Too dry. Skin get too dry, we die, yah? Magic keep me 'live."

"Oh, well that makes sense." The doe smiled and began to let her hand travel lower, stroking his belly. To'roc shivered and closed his eyes. Her touch burned fire across his skin and sent sparks through his body. He had never felt so complete as he did at that moment.

"Stay." He said suddenly, wrapping his arms around Taiyra and pulling her closer. "Stay here wit' me, yah?" Before she could answer, he kissed her, his tusks further smearing the paint across her cheeks and leaving a colorful smudge across the sides of her throat. He felt her arms wrapping around his neck, one of her hands traveling down his back as her legs entangled with his own. Arousal and an intense need for closeness flooded over him. She pressed her body tightly against his own and still he needed more. She had been insatiable during the night and her own willing responses gave him hope.

He finally broke the kiss when they both needed air, moving his mouth instead to her throat, his long tusks sliding along the sides of the doe's neck and causing localized shivers in her skin. Taiyra let out a breathy moan, one of her hands grabbing a handful of his mane and tugging upward. "Stay wit me." He muttered into her neck as he kissed and nibbled the soft fur, his hands sliding down her body. "Be my mate, yah? I make yah happy, dis I sweah."

The doe begin to writhe beneath him, and his desire for her flared with each movement. His need for her rose with every moan. But even as he nibbled his way down her throat, he still managed to hold back until she had given her answer. "To'roc," as she groaned out his name, the jruu felt as if he would die if she said no. "To'roc... I..."

To'roc shifted so that he was able to look down into Taiyra's eyes, bringing a hand to rest on the side of her face and lightly caress her chin with his thumb. "Say yes, yah?" He repeated hopefully. "Say yah stay here. Dere plenty ta keep yah busy."

The doe's responding smile was sad. "I can stay for a little while, but unfortunately my orders from Lead were quite clear. I have to leave before the first sun sets tonight. I don't know how long I'll be gone, either. But, I'm sure I can come back eventually."

To'roc nodded and accepted her answer. It wasn't a complete rejection of him, and orders were orders after all. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her again. He vowed to himself that he would wait for her forever. Or at least until the next suitable female wandered into his life. But he would certainly never forget her.

The eagle's call echoed in her wake as she left the fort, circling once to get one last look at the frantically waving agwa below before finally tilting her wings and sailing away. Within moments, the fort was a mere spec on the horizon.

Riding the currents, Taiyra went over her orders in her memory. She had a long way to go, and even flying at her fastest it would take her several days to reach her destination. In the space of a thought, she wished that To'roc could have joined her on her journey, his company would certainly be more than welcome, but then she immediately rejected the selfish idea. She was heading directly into danger. The agwa was much more safe where he was. There was no need to expose him to avoidable threats even if he was more than capable of dealing with them.

She let out a satisfied chitter as she thought about To'roc. He was a jruu of few words, certainly, a habit Taiyra assumed he picked up from the orks he kept company with, but what he lacked in conversation skills he had more than made up for in sensuality.

Fondly she remembered the feel of his smooth grey skin under her fingers and the tickle of his red-tipped tusks as they carved shallow paths through her fur. Even the light prick of his bristly mane on her arms when she hugged his neck.

While her desires to keep him as her traveling companion were indeed selfish, surely, she reasoned to herself, she could be forgiven her occasional longing. He could even make for a good mate, some day.

Suddenly the druid was pulled from her dreamy thoughts by a grizzly vision below. Tilting her wings to circle above, her despairing cry filled the silence. When no obvious dangers made themselves known, Taiyra swooped down, raising a cloud of red dust with the flapping of her wings. The eagle's form softened and began to fade before she had even landed, leaving solid hooves to strike the dry ground.

The doe lifted her head, a frown weighting down her lips. "Sister, who has done this to you?" She asked softly, her voice on the verge of breaking.

The corpse offered her no answer. A nude tarin doe had been pinned to a pair of crossed wooden boards. Daggers had been stuck through the palms and held the lifeless doe to her cross. Covered in blood, the nearly unrecognizable creature had been beaten savagely before being hung as a gory trophy.

"No one deserves this." Taiyra spoke mournfully, her voice soft but heavy with emotion. "Give me a moment to get you down from there and I will give you proper burial rights." The daggers were embedded deeply, but the wood itself was old and released the blades with little resistance when the druid pulled them. She carefully balanced the limp body against her shoulder to keep it from collapsing to the ground. "Strange." She muttered to the corpse as if it could hear her. "These knives look to be of orkish make. Why in the world would orks do this to a tarin? We're supposed to be allies."

The soft groan reached her ears moments before the corpse stirred against her. Surprised at signs of life, Taiyra dropped the daggers and reaffirmed her hold on the other doe to help support her. "You're still alive? Oh my! Sister, let me heal you." The groans grew louder and the still form began to shiver as if from cold, despite the terrible heat of the wasteland. The druid placed her hands flat against the other doe's skin and tried to send healing energy into the tortured body, but nothing happened.

Carefully, Taiyra laid the injured doe onto the ground and tried again to heal her terrible wounds, but for the first time in the young druid's life, the magic refused to flow. "Don't worry, sister, I know a few tricks, yet." She said to the injured doe, her voice filled with a confidence she wished she actually felt. Placing a comforting hand against the other doe's shattered cheek, she once again willed the healing magic to flow, but still to no avail.

The other doe slowly opened her eyes, revealing milky irises lit by a pale yellow glow. A faint dark aura swiftly enveloped the doe's body, making her skin appear to glow. Necromatic magic. Too late, the druid realized her mistake. Before she could pull away, the undead doe turned her head and sunk broken teeth into the druid's wrist, tearing through flesh and fur. The spurting blood coated them both before the MidKnight's parched tongue covered the wound. Hands much stronger than they had any right to be clamped down on the druid's arm, holding it in place as the undead creature began to feed.

Taiyra cried out in fear, shock dulling any pain, and tried to pull away, but the MidKnight's grip was unbreakable. Before the druid's eyes, the MidKnight's injuries began to heal. A wrench of the revenant's head brought forth another cry from the druid as the blocked pain finally made itself known. "Please... Stop." She begged, feeling herself growing weaker as she was steadily drained.

Milky eyes began to clear, and with their clarity came a terrible awareness. Glowing irises turned in the druid's direction and constricted in malignant fury. Suddenly, they rolled up into the MidKnight's head and the iron grip slackened, then fell away before the unholy creature collapsed limply back to the ground and the dark aura faded away.

Taiyra pulled her injured arm to her chest with a gasp. She could already feel the sting of infection. The bites of the undead spread blood born diseases with unnatural speed. Left untreated, her wound would eventually spread and either kill her or transform her into a shambling minion of the undead king. In a few hours, she knew, would come the fever and chills, each rendering her helpless until they passed. A slight tremor began to invade the druid's hand, making her curl her fingers into a tight fist against her chest while she rose to her feet.

Shelter. She had to find shelter and quickly before the illness took her, but she couldn't leave the newly awakened MidKnight alone and unguarded. Already the creature had regained enough strength to flee and infect more victims. And it was all her fault.

Taiyra thought frantically about what she should do. She had no rope to tie up the MidKnight, and the ork stronghold was too far for her to carry the forsaken doe, especially lame as she was about to be. Not knowing what else to do, she reached down to grab one of the MidKnight's legs and began to drag her away.