Pride: Fighting Fate
#5 of Pride
:: Part Four of her installment on Lathera's fate, the next one that goes up will be the finale and I'm hoping to get that one up in relatively quick order. For now, read on and enjoy! I'd love to hear thoughts from folks on how they feel about this series criticisms and compliments are both welcome. ::
Lathera stirred in her sleep fitfully, the cold of the cave floor seemed to leech any warmth or benefit that she got from her thick spotted pelt. To all the world she looked like a massive jaguar sprawled out upon the floor, the eerie lights of the mold that grew on the cave walls splashed her in colors of blue and green. The white of her belly seemed to stand out most clearly, not only due to the coloration but the fact that it seemed rounded out and distended as if she were harboring a litter of young cubs. The truth was far more sinister for her.
The form she wore wasn't her natural one, she was a shape shifter who had left her teacher as soon as she had mastered her first form. Brash and confident in her own power and believing herself able to easily conquer the entire world with what little knowledge she had of the world. The truth proved to be harsher the she was ready to deal with. Instead of being master of the air and earth, mistress of all the world she was taken from her resting place by a beast that she had only read of. A magnificent creature with rainbow feathers and flashing scales, the Quetzalcoatl was all she had dreamed of when she studied ancient beasts.
Even in the jaguar's sleep the memories were touched, of being bound by sliding scales and the terrifying pierce of a shaft within her. He had shoved into her body and taking her as if she were nothing more then an animal for him to breed with. A creature she had once read of with a day dream of what the earth had been like before, but instead had found her nightmare. What hope she had that her gryphonic form was infertile had been smashed when he planted his eggs within her, the beast had cared not weather she was willing or no, he only cared that he had a chance of breeding after hundreds of years of silence.
From there she had found her way into a tunnel, she had escaped after changing her shape to that of a jaguar or so she thought. She had found herself in a cave that she had almost despaired in ever reaching the surface, instead she found herself sprawled out and relaxed inside of it. She had found more then she bargained for as the primal magic of a serpent hiding within it had struck her and bound her to the floor as he crawled within her womb to make his home. It hadn't taken long for her to pass out. Hunger. Thirst. Fear. She had no escape but to release herself to sleep, to dream of better days. The ancient series of caverns had a magic of their own, they were not so willing to release her from their bonds.
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Lathera awoke slowly, her body no longer ached and her throat no longer seemed so parched that she couldn't work her throat into swallowing. She pulled her head upwards and turned it around to look around the cavern, but it wasn't as she had once remembered it. It shimmered with lights of blue and purple and yellow, heavy stone baskets hung from rings hammered into the ceiling casting their light around the place. She paused only to blink before she heard a voice that taunted her from her past. Sirana's voice mocked her with the last words she had head.
"Mmm as you wish, Lathera, but once you leave here you will be unwelcome to return here. Ever. "
"I didn't know! I didn't realize!" She called out, her own voice sounded foreign in her ears as the echoes of her teachers words seemed to haunt her.
"You set your feet upon a path that you believed was true, your own stubbornness made you believe that you would face no consequences. You cared nothing for what I taught you." The voice came stronger, the familiar sting of anger that Sirana had often shown when Lathera was being particularly dense.
"Forgive me!" She called out, not the words came bitterly to her tongue, she coughed them up as if they might choke her by admitting she had been wrong.
"Forgive you?" The sound became harsh, her teachers voice hissed out and the girl dropped down into a crouch and twisted her head about. "Forgive you for forsaking our traditions? Foolish child! Whelp!"
"I didn't realize! You are my teacher! Are you not supposed to forgive and guide me back on the path I should be on?!" She shouted the words out, spitting defiance in return before the cave seemed to flare with pale green light that sought out each shadow and dispersed it. The laughter mocked her before the ghostly form of a massive lioness padded into view. Not a true physical being of her teacher, she could see the wall behind the creature and the eyes seemed to be milky blue and blind looking.
"Blind cub! Do you possess such massive hubris as to think that you can change fate? You are a creature of change! Your pride made you try to stray from that path which you would have used to bring the world into a better state of being, and you believe that you can turn back from that as well?" The lioness snarled, the ghostly fangs bared and Lathera drew in a breath and stood back up to glare down at her, somewhere she found the strength to stand up to Sinara.
"Fate? FATE!? You told me we were creatures that were set out to change the world, if shape shifters are change, then what is fate to us but something we can push aside. Nothing that has happened to me is anything more than a series of unfortunate events! Not fate, not change! Animals that captured me, something that I may have been foolish to walk into-"
"SILENCE!" The lioness roared the word so she could hear the large cats cry under that and she lifted one broad paw to swipe towards her. She had the sense to pull back, the claws missed her by just an inch as the lioness paced back and forth in front of her. Waves of anger spilled from her as her teachers disembodied voice rang in the cavern. "We are not fate's masters, we are servants of it. Where we go, change will follow us. A whispered word from one of our kind might stop a war, the stealth of our smallest forms bring information to form treaties, countries. We companion those that are meant to be catalysts, our voices give them strength, our shapes give them knowledge that could not be gotten through normal spies, our magic brings about the change the world needs. Countries founded, kings made and toppled!"
The lioness stopped to stare at her and she felt the milky gaze that seemed to pierce her, the accusation there plain before her head turned to gaze at a lit portion of the wall. Lathera turned to look as well and saw the wall lighten and fade until she could see what she had already learned. The great captain that had spanned the seas and joined countries on his vessel, the massive golden eagle perched nearby. The shapeshifter that had scouted and urged, brought back hope and promise of food and fresh water close at hand. The great war that had sundered the old world and the queen bestride the war horse that had whispered the locations of the cities she needed to overcome to ensure victory. The famous shifters forms blossomed and faded away, each one had only been names in books to her.
"You, and your pride spat at that idea. Left before I could teach you how to not only shift to animal, but back again. Left before I could teach you how to follow your senses to lead you to where you could bring about the changes you were destined too! My brave apprentice! You thought you knew better then I!" The lioness swung her head and let out a bitter laugh. "Do you not understand, girl. Fate has you now, you are no longer protected by my magic. You are ripe game for them to push through the changes that need to be made, and because you do not know how to control them or guide them you are at their mercy."
"What changes! There have been none!" She almost shrilled out those words accusingly, even as the cave wall filled with the shape of the Quetzalcoatl again. She was spared nothing of the beast as it was caught in a pose of mating her. Lathera felt her cheeks burn with anger and shame as she could see the outline of eggs inside of her and she balled up her fists.
"First was him. The last of his kind. You may not know it, but the world misses him and all his kindred. It was meant to feel the weight of his wings on the air and the brightness of his colors. Children still dream of him, the earth still grows plentiful with game during the mating season for him, but he has been gone from the skies for so long that most of us have dismissed his kind as myths." The voice hardened, "He would have cherished you in his way, beast he may be, but he would have fed you and cared for you and from your loins would have sprung his kind anew!"
"What do I care for them? Animals go extinct every day! What does it matter?" She snarled back at the lioness.
"More of that foolish pride, whelp? What does it matter? The people who once worshiped that beasts kind would have taken the renewal of his species as a sign, they would have taken heart that their gods had not forsaken him. In ten years time they would have roused that beast himself and he would have remembered how they fed and worshiped him. In twenty years they would have formed cities and a country of their own, no long dependent on a people who conquered their ancestors! That is what a beast matters."
Lathera stopped and worked her jaw, her fingers balled up into a fist as she let out a shuddered breath and digested that information. She almost winced at the memory of the serpent that shoved his way against her stomach and started to swallow one of those eggs at a time before she hardened her heart. She opened her mouth to reply but Sinara continued berating her.
"So you felt you could change that as well, you left his hold and now you lay here in the midst of a place they punished their enemies. Do you think I can help you? That I will leave my home and drag you out of here? You're wrong. Already fate has you in its grasp, and each time you try to fight against it your situation will turn into more of a punishment. " The lioness turned her head as the light faded within the cave and she found herself looking down at her own body and what it held. "Look at yourself, do you know what's inside of you? It was called the Burrower by the people that first found them. You've found out yourself why it is called that."
"What is it doing to me." She almost kept the note of panic out of her voice as she watched her own sides rise and fall as a tremor ran down her form from the cold.
"Watch." Sinara sounded smug and she felt the lioness pad close to her side, "Fate stirs with you again, striving to set its course in a suitable channel. Searching to make changes despite the way you fight against it."
"But what is it doing to me!" Her voice cracked this time, almost enough to drown out the sound of scales that were scraping against stone. The dry sound of them as they moved down from some point higher in the cave and the ghostly form of her teacher padded forward to look down at the slate grey serpent that slipped from the shadows. Now she could see what it was, the creature was mottled with cross hatchings of lighter blue and darker grey along it's dorsal, an almost perfect match when introduced to the colors of the cave.
Sinara was silent beside her, the ghostly lioness just watched as the snake twisted and turned on the floor and its fluttering tongue extended out past it's wedge shaped head to touch the air. Each time Lathera thought it might be lost, or that it was a random pattern the snake would turn its head right back to her sprawled form and continue closer. She could almost feel a cold weight in her stomach when the snakes head stopped just a handful of inches from her abused folds and the tongue extended and started to touch around the edges. Fear welled up inside of her before she spoke again.
"STOP IT! Don't let it!" She cried out and twisted her head towards her teacher, "How do I turn back, tell me! Please!"
"You chose your path, Lathera, I cannot change the path you've set yourself on."
She turned her head to snap back at the lioness only to find herself looking over a blunt whiskered muzzle. Her body chilled still from the stone beneath it and the entire cave cast back into the dim lights of the cave and the feel of invisible bonds that have locked her down against her stomach. Had she dreamed it? Was it a simply exhaustion, hunger and thirst that had made her imagine her teacher had responded to her plight? It couldn't have been, if she had dreamed or imagined it she would been rescued and returned back to the world above.
Whatever thoughts Lathera had formed were soon pushed from her mind as she felt the slide of a blunt scaled nose pushing against her folds. It wasn't the tentative push and exploration that the former serpent had used; the touch glided back and forth, rubbed up and down against her. She could feel the broadness of the skull that tugged over the tender petals so that she let out a quiet hiss of warning. The serpent didn't stop; her primal mind was locked in the scent of the male pheromones that were left against her folds. A rich scent of her mate, who had been brought into rut by the heat of the jaguar's body, his mark left outside of her like a flag to catch the female's eyes.
Her head bathed in the scent, rubbing it back and forth so Lathera was treated to the horrifying experience of having her body stroked and teased. The outer lips pinched at times between the scales when the head dragged against them, not even realizing the female was reveling in the scent that her mate had left behind. The slender tongue danced it's way back and forth against the outer lips before it started to taste inside of her. To the jaguar's embarrassment, she felt herself start to react to the touch, the foreign feel of the nose that pushed against her and grazed between her outer folds and then brushed against the inner.
Her fur puffed up along her back as the tongue fluttered and then nudged against her folds and her stomach turned. It was going to crawl inside of her as well, even as she managed that thought she felt the head wedging itself into her body. The spread of the muzzle forcing her inner walls to pry open again while she heard herself let out an animalistic yowl from her spread muzzle, the all to familiar feel of the belly scales pulled against her body and made her try to jerk free of unseen bonds that held her in place.
Lathera's entire body was tormented through the penetration, not just because she knew what was coming, but because she could feel the snake within her womb had started to move in reaction to her struggles. The bumps of his coils pushed against her stomach and forced it to show brief outline of the thick coils, the egg pushed about while the female's head pushed its way up her channel. She twisted her head about and watched in horror as the lashing tail of the serpent pinched and pulled against her folds until it started to slip so deeply that she could feel the head nudging right against her cervix.
The snake within her womb pushed his head from the other side, his coils shoved upon her inner body to the point that she wanted to sob out in protest. Yet all that came out was a sudden feline yowl of pain and fear as the females muzzle pushed the bruised opening wider and started to penetrate into her womb. The males body shifted and roiled over itself while the slender muzzle was the first to stretch open the womb and the jaguar yowled out as the head thickened rapidly to strain the tight ring open almost to the point she was sure it would tear.
The female's tail lashed against her sex, the slender tip of it shoved its way inside as the belly scales dragged their way along places that no creature's body should be touching her. Yet despite her protests and struggles against it the feeling persisted until the already swollen state of her belly began to expand more. The males coiled body twisted to make room for his mate as she forced her way through the bowed cervix and drove deeper inside of her, each one of her rippled belly scales pulled and pinched against the ring of flesh that was supposed to keep the jaguar's womb sealed.
As more of the female serpent settled into Lathera's womb, she could see and feel her belly distend just that much more. The final sickening feel of something round pushed against her side as the female's jaws opened up obscenely wide to slide it's way around the one remaining egg that was left to her. Within her the serpent pulled and swallowed with slick red muscles to take the food her mate offered her, her jaws wrapped snugly about it until the mottled shell slid down the ribbed throat. The powerful internal muscles clenched and bloated her narrow scaled form outwards with the shape of the orb.
The heat that wrapped around her quickened her body; a creature that had lived her entire life in the cold stone of the caverns, the heat was like an inferno. The blood in her veins plunged and pumped through her body and the state of half wakefulness was soon pushed back with an alert taste of life and interest. Even as she swallowed the nourishing egg her mate had his mind locked on other thoughts, his coils twisted around her and rubbed against slickened scales. For her part the female started to respond and her body rolled to the side and up and over her mate so they started to twine and form a ball of slippery scales and coils.
Lathera let out sharp cries and hisses; were it not for the fact she was starving she would have lost her lunch. The pair of scaled bodies continuously pushed and scrubbed over her womb as if she carried a litter of restless cubs. The worst part came when she could see how her stomach moved in echo to them, it was sickening! She knew what was in there, how they'd gotten there and all she could do to defend herself was hope that they would choose to leave her in piece rather then make a home inside of her. Her vivid imagination spun a vision that they would use her until she died here on the cave floor with her uterus used as a nesting place for serpents, such a proud ending for a shape shifter.
Inside of her the snakes had tightened together in wanton lust, their coils pushed together until they formed a tight knit ball that made it impossible to figure out where which one started and the other ended. The male gripped around her tail with one of his coils and pushed out the curled and thick red shaft to pry her vent open, soon the slippery tip wedged itself inside of her and began to tighten and loosen his coils. The female twisted herself and bumped her head against the males coils as he started to thrust inside of her, the newly won heat of her body had begun to revive her body. Deep inside ova were soon released from their hold and her internal muscles clenched around the male to feel the water dribbles of semen that spilled from him.
The jaguar's head dropped down, her breath started to quicken and she began to feel a sharp stab of desire that pushed through her. She couldn't pinpoint why, but as her womb was shifted and pushed apart she began to arch and struggle against the bonds for another reason. Her inner channel clenched on itself uselessly, it attempted to lock around something that wasn't there and to her horror she felt the first slick trickle of her arousal escaping folds that had grown swollen with arousal. Another shove rocked inside of her as the snakes started to twist and turn in ways she couldn't describe or fathom.
The female wrapped the male in her coils as they were in constant motion together, their slicked down scales glided together in their erotic display while their tails remain firmly latched around each other. The males shaft rubbed and pulled inside of his mate, he coated himself with her wetness and filled it with his own preseed as she tightened around him. The constrictions of the both of them had started to grow more intense and paid no mind to the way the womb around them seemed to contract.
Lathera cast back her head and yowled out, her jaws spread open wide as she felt another spasm of pleasure hit her spine. She could feel how she had grown wet, her engorged folds hid the fact her clit had grown swollen with her arousal. Each jerk and tug of the snakes inside of her womb seemed to connect directly to that nerve riddled nub, driving her to start rocking her hips forward as if to get the sensation to continue. The jaguar's eyes started to glaze over while her internal muscles massaged and squeezed around an imagined shaft, the cloudy wetness was pushed out to mat down the fur of her inner thighs.
The snakes inside of her were oblivious to her state; the male tightened his coils to restrain his mate in one pleasure shattering moment. His tail ground against her vent before it locked inside of her and the tip opened up to let out a thin hot spray of his seed into the newly sparked womb. His slick sperm rushed inside of the female as she clenched her coils in pulses; inside of her the ova she had released were overcome and penetrated by the male's seed. Not a drop managed to escape from the locked shaft as both male and female were oblivious to all but that shining moment of mating. Not even the contractions that rocked around them and pulled their tails through the spread cervix.
Lathera's scream echoed in the cave, her eyes were tightly shut as she felt the pleasure erupt over her. The orgasm made her body shake and tremble, her claws extended from their sheaths to score down against the stone in a vain attempt to leap free of the magical bonds. Inside of her, her powerful internal muscles started to contract and her cervix spread open to pull at the pair of mating serpents. Without even knowing what was happening she felt her muscles clutch at the twined tails and soon pushed down around them with a powerful contraction.
The jaguar strained and panted as her body did what instinct bid her too, she could feel her cervix was being stretched open again, by not one but two bodies, but it was too late to stop now. The serpents wriggled and struggled against her, but she continued to birth them from her body. Her jaw dropped with each rough breath and she was forced to feel the way that the serpents twisted and arched inside of her. Instead of pain or fear she felt pleasure at finally having those nerves teased and touched again, so that a hot tear rolled down her cheek in humiliation.
Her mound bulged and after a few moments the twined tails of the serpents were forced out of her body in a slippery spill of scales. Her cervix ached as she forced the heads through and felt them almost tear that barrier before they were within her birthing canal. To her shock she felt her legs push under her and her body rise as inch after inch of the mated serpents spilled from her abused flesh. Her upper body sat up as she crouched on her hind legs and after letting out a screeching cry when the heads scraped over her g-spot and forced one last rush of pleasure, she pushed the pair out onto the cold floor of the cage.
Lathera stumbled away; her body trembled in disgust, and worse arousal that still lingered inside of her to spy the snakes. Her fur puffed up along her back as she saw them tied together still and realized they had used her body to mate inside of. Every inch of her form felt tainted, filthy and used by what had been done to her. Even as she watched the glittering snakes retreated deeper into the cavern, a trail of her own wet arousal was left behind them like a stain. She couldn't remove that knowledge from her mind, it would remain with her for the rest of her life. A shame that was added on top of what had happened with the Quetzalcoatl.
She turned her head and it took several moments to compose herself from her ordeal, to think of anything but the fact she had just had serpents penetrate and mate inside of her womb. Would she ever live that down? Could she force it so far back into her mind she could forget it? Her body still pulsed with the after effects of her orgasms, she could feel her walls clenching and pulsing together. Despite the fact she still felt sick by what had happened she found some reserve of strength and peace of mind to change her form once again. She knew what she had to become, they were one of the animals she had considered when she was asked to choose her first shape. Also, it was the only shape that had a hope of getting out of this cave before starvation and thirst killed her.
The dim lights of the cave illuminated the spotted form of the jaguar as it seemed to melt and shift into a creature she knew could dig better then a canine. A creature that could hold its own when matched up with almost any predator, who could locate water and food without wasting time, something she was familiar with. The entire blocky form her body started to change first, the chest deepened and dropped down to hold a pair of powerful lungs and her stomach pulled upwards so that she resembled a greyhound's form more than a cat's.
The form thinned down and grew larger, the fur was replaced with hard broad scales along her back and stomach and her head started to turn into a slender long muzzle and a pair of great ivory horns rose up from the ridge above each eye. The eyes themselves turned into a clear sharp copper color and a series of spikes appeared along either curve of her jaw line. Her neck was plated with broader scales, each one tightly overlapping the next to form a type of armor and her legs ended in broad long toed paws. The feline tail thickened and lengthened as it grew into a whip cord lizard like tail that tapered down to a slender point.
She looked like a dragon in miniature, from the spikes that appeared along her neck to the deep chested and sleek body. Her scaled were a deep midnight blue that lightened to a paler shade along her chest and inner legs and darkened almost to black at her paws. She turned her long curved neck to look over herself critically, making sure that each scale and claw were formed. She'd chosen to turn into a dracine; one of the creatures she had seen for sale in the bazaars as pets and guard animals. They looked like flightless dragons and were renowned for being fierce fighters and powerful diggers and climbers.
She stood up and her dull claws clacked on the stone floor and Lathera resolutely turned her mind from what had been done to her with a force of will. She considered the soft earth that made up a portion of one corner before she reared up on her haunches and set her paws to work. The soil tumbled down and fell over her head and her shoulders so that she was forced to close her inner eye lid to protect them, but at least in a scaled form it just slid right from her and to the ground at her paws. The work was tedious and hard, but it also kept her body warm as she wedges and tunneled her way upwards.
The dracine's paws often found foot holds naturally when she came upon rock embedded inside of the dirt, other times she was forced to chance digging her foot into the packed soil and pray that it would hold her. She didn't tunnel to form a broad space for her body, instead she kept it just wide enough to wrap around her, sometimes it would get so tight that she had to thrash and twist herself back and forth to get one of her paws free so she could press forward. It seemed as if hours passed before she felt her nose hit something packed harder than the loose earth she had worked with.
Lathera's body stilled as she tasted the scents of the earth and brought up a paw to hit against it and dug her claws down to force the earth apart. Another paw and another before her nose shoved up and erupted through the ground. The darkness that greeted her made her want to sob as she twisted her head and used her hind paws to force her serpentine body out of the ground. Her chest came out and then she managed to brace her fore paws to either side and lunged out to fall onto the ground. Her jaws opened to extend a dark purple tongue as she sucked in breath after life giving breath and kept her eyes to the floor.
It was in this state that she felt the first warm breeze slide over her body, humid and heavy with the promise of rain it was like life itself. Her head jerked upwards and refocused as she found herself staring outside. Outside! The darkness of the cave was broken by the rough outline of the night time jungle, the slight movements of overgrown foliage and the bluish cast that the moon and stars cast to the earth. She saw hope, she saw freedom, everything that had happened to her beneath the earth felt as if it had been nothing more than a bad dream. How had she ever taken this beautiful, life filled, lush world for granted?
The dracine's legs shook as she forced herself up onto all fours, her tongue felt swollen and sticky , reminding her sharply that she needed to drink sooner rather than later. The lean midnight blue form slipped from the cave and reveled in being able to look above her at the stars that speckled and peeked from between the ancient giants of the trees. The forest was alive around her and she slid through it like a ghost, silent and untouchable towards the scent of water. She ignored all else besides that desire as she felt light headed and half sick for want of it; she almost fell into the thin creek with a strangled rasping bark of surprise.
Lathera looked down at that crystal water and dropped her head to suck it in greedily, her sides heaved as the liquid rolled over her thick feeling tongue and down her parched throat. She had known banquets that had served wine that cost enough to feed an entire family, had sipped at liquor from crystal glasses and drank the poorest beer fed to the commoners. Why had she ever done this? When sweet clear water rolled down her tongue and gave her a far more intoxicated experience then any spirit. Her stomach rounded out with her greed and she didn't stop until she felt as if she would heard herself slosh when she moved and only then did she look around the area.
She could have done better, but still it was not the worst place she could have landed in. The thick packed foliage was an indication that there would be little large game and at best she could count on the smaller ground dwelling animals. It also meant that there were no other dracine about, most dracine formed closely knit family packs with a few adults and several hatchlings to raise and care for. The idea was both a relief and a worry, relief because had they been about she might have insinuated herself into the pack and found it easier to find food and care for herself. And relief because there was always the chance they would find her an intruder and kill her.
The hunger in her belly was unabated, it continued to rumble and remind her just how long ago it had been since she had last eaten and she sighed. She could at least help that, it would only take a few mouthfuls to calm it and then she could find somewhere to sleep and gain her strength. She needed to find another shape shifter, one who could teach her how to regain her human form before something worse happened. That would be tricky, most shape shifters were a private and jealous lot and were more apt to drive her away then to aid her. Still, it was her best hope for succeeding in changing herself back into a human.
The shape shifter started to stretch herself out to rest when a movement caught her eye and the night keen eyes locked on the movement before she herself could figure out the direction. A dozen paces from her sat another dracine, it sat on his haunches and looked for all the world as stunned as she felt. Its head was turned to one side and its tail curled around the front of its forepaws only to shift when it saw her looking. She froze for a moment and carefully pushed herself up into a similar position as her heart thundered in her chest. Even in the darkness she could tell its scales were some light shade, it positively glowed when set against the dark foliage.
Lathera had just started to form a plan on how to best bolt and use her better coloring to escape and hide when another sound came from her left and a slightly taller dracine padded out. Its head tilted down and its jaws partially opened as it scented towards her. The creature's eyes flared gold in the moonlight while it began to pad closer to her and she took a step back herself. One foot and then the next before a low whining growl came from behind her and she twisted back on herself to face a third dracine that had managed to come within a few feet of her.
The deep chested creature snuffed towards her and gave a strange yelp whine that was echoed by the pale colored one sitting back away from the other pair. Small branches and leaves cracked under three sets of paws as the trio started to creep in closer to her and started to move around. This wasn't right! This territory looked horrible for any dracine pack to set up and it was unlikely that it was just a random space in the midst of a larger one. It made no sense! It made no sense, that was, until she saw the profile of the three beasts and the ridge of spikes that ran down the length of their spines. Each spike stood up nearly four inches and pressed so close together they touched.
They weren't a family pack of dracine that had come upon an interloper; they were a bachelor pack of males that had been driven from their family. She knew that they were often driven off when they reached breeding age and it was common for unmated males to form packs for easier hunting, she even knew that they inevitably got the worst territory. They hadn't found an invader on their land, they had found a potential mate. A lone female.
Dominant males kept their females close by in family units, almost obsessively protective of them and rarely let them leave sight of the group. The females almost never left their family pack and in the rare cases a pack grew too large they might leave with a group to splinter off forming their own family, they never left alone. The reason was simple, bachelor groups had been known to snare females and drive them off. Unable to satisfy the urges of their body, they would rape a captured female and in some cases if the female were a juvenile kill her in their blinded desire for release. She'd read about their habits often enough that she knew what it meant that a trio of them hadn't attacked or challenged her.
Her eyes darted from one to the other, the largest seemed to have several spikes that had been broken off and looked older then two smaller. He snapped his jaws at the pale one when he tried to come in close enough to snuff towards her and it let out a short yelp hiss and backed away. Her breathing started to pick up as her heart was pounding in her ears, she had to escape them. She had to get away! She had little doubt of her fate should she be caught by them.
Lathera tensed her muscles and gave a sudden leap towards an opening between the males and made a bolt for it. Her body slipped through the opening and she dug her paws into the ground and tore through some of the closely packed foliage. The sudden snarls and bark-yelps erupted behind her a moment before she heard their bodies similarly crashing through close behind her and she stretched her legs out into a full on run for her life.
She made it past the creek and through to some of the enormous trees before she made an attempt to leap up and dig her claws into the bark to climb upwards. If she could get into the highest parts of the tree their greater weight couldn't be supported by the thinner branches and she'd be able to make up a plan. She got a few lunges up before she felt the clamp of sharp teeth and powerful jaws around her tail, her scales tearing from the bite and she squealed out as she was pulled down. White gouges were left behind from her claws as she was slammed back onto the ground at its base.
The trio of males snapped and surrounded her, their heavier bodies crowded and the largest male dropped his head to nip at her haunch roughly. She stared up at their dark outlines and snarled back, her teeth flashed as she tried to bite and drive them backwards only to have them come in closer. The stink of male musk stung her nose as the largest kept biting at her hips to force her unsteadily to her feet and to her horror a fourth male came slinking out of the darkness to slip against her side and keep her from the tree.
They acted more like an organized unit then a pack of animals, the two smallest ones flanked her and the largest moved in front of her. The last male moved behind her and snapped at her tail with a snarl until she moved forward and she found herself unable to do anything else. The longer she stood there the harder the bites were and she had little doubt they'd care if they damaged her in getting what they wanted. She swallowed around the feel of her pounding heart and started off trapped in the midst of them while the obvious leader kept his head up and alert for the cries of a full pack that might come to rescue her.
Except Lathera had no pack, she wasn't a true dracine, there would be no rescue or hope unless she was able to fool them. She couldn't shape shift, not in their midst because they would not let her stop. Even as she considered the idea of changing her shape she knew if she tried it they'd attack her to kill, either as an enemy or prey. The only shape that was safe from that was her current one, which they wouldn't kill outright. At least not until they'd used her thoroughly and only then it would by 'accident', a too sharp bite the neck, being taken too roughly, too deeply, starved or neglected under their rough care.
She traveled through the darkness at a pace that was just beneath a run and seemed to be taking her deeper through the thick low growing bushes. Each time she tried to break away snapping jaws and once the slap of a clawed foot forced her back into the middle where it was all she could do to keep her wits about her. They drove her over a wider creek until they came to a roughly carved out den and the largest broke off from the lead to snap at her and used his body to shove and force her into the entrance.
She let out a short cry of panic at the sight of another dark opening and dug her feet into the ground to try and stop herself from being forced into it. The males pushed together and began to gang up on her, teeth snapped at her haunches and heads shoved against her so roughly that the spikes pierced her scales. Inch by inch they forced her into the den, so small that she could barely turn around in it and her claws scraped against the flat stone that formed the ground. It reeked of male scents and musk, every inch of it had been packed and worn away by one body sleeping there day after day.
Lathera stared out to watch the two largest sprawl out at the opening of the den so that their twin bodies blocked it almost completely and even as she thought about them she could dimly hear another pair of paws on the ground above the den as they settled down. She knew she was effectively boxed inside the den, she could try to dig out but she'd run into whoever was laying on the earth above her. She didn't even know how to shift down to a small enough size to sneak past the opening and the other two males that guarded her.
She forced herself to lay down on the warmed stone and stared out at the sliver of light. Freedom had been so close, for a few moments she had had hope that she would be able to escape and find a way back to her human form. Now the shape shifter was forced to examine the realization that come dawn when their bodies warmed the males would scuffle and claim the right to her body. She could only hope she would survive the experience to escape and this time take wing far away from the hell she had found in this jungle.
And like a ghost the words echoed back into her mind.. "Already fate has you in its grasp, and each time you try to fight against it your situation will turn into more of a punishment. "
Lathera could only hope that her teacher had been wrong or that she had dreamed it. That her life would grow better and once again walk unafraid into the world.
-TO BE CONTINUED IN THE FINALE
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