Guild Relations
The sun was setting, shafts of dim light piercing the dense pine forest surrounding the overgrown ruins. It would soon be night, but Hetroth needed to locate what he was looking for fast. It was reckless of him to keep searching at so late an hour. Once it got dark, he would have to employ a torch, and that would betray his position. But he had little choice, knowing that someone else sought the same thing and was not far behind.
The brown spotted hyena trudged through the waist-high foliage, circling the pyramid-like base of the ruin. He swept his black, medium length hair back so as to better seek out a possible downward entrance in the darkening, orange light. These sorts of buildings always held an underground section for burial chambers and such, and the guild seers confirmed the presence of an artefact within. Whatever it was, he needed to get to it first to avoid it getting in the wrong hands. The wrong hands, in the eyes of the guild, meaning anyone other than guild members. They believed that none other than them could truly understand how these artefacts worked and what dangers they carried. Although very few heeded their warnings.
His armour was relatively light. For the most part, he was covered in padded cloth, with steel plates covering his shoulders, elbows, chest and knees, a steel closed helm over his head, shaped to accommodate his hyaenid features, and leather gloves and boots covering their respective parts. Other than that, he kept a backpack for provisions and a long loincloth, mostly as a decorative article common among his guild. While less protected, this allowed him to travel faster, and to avoid creaking between metal parts. Were he dressed in full plate, his stalkers could easily find him in the dark, torch or no torch.
Eventually, he noticed a more heavily overgrown area at the base of the tilted wall. Sure enough, the entrance was there, as he verified nearing it. The final signs of the sun were now fading, and he would require light within the depths of the ruins regardless. He surveyed the area one more time to make sure he wasn't being observed, pulled out a torch and lit it before descending the stairs to the underground, torch in one hand, short sword in the other.
***
Venturing through the cramped corridors, he took testing steps every tile of the way. Traps within such ruins were all but myth. All but. There were reported cases where stepping onto the wrong tile triggered primitive traps, such as falling boulders or darts shot using sheer air pressure. But they were rare enough for most to ignore them. Hetroth, however, had no intention of leaving anything to chance with pursuers on his tracks. He needed to locate the artefact and leave quickly without incident.
He lost some time trying each tile, not finding anything that could slow him, but didn't let that bother him. He scoured through several rooms, each an apparent mass burial chamber, their walls lined with simple stone coffins and braziers long since unlit. Dark stone plaques of engraved, indiscernible writing adorned each and every coffin. The corpses within were most likely pure bones, if not dust.
A certain peculiarity about these ruins was that they seemed to appear out of nowhere. While most would dismiss such claims as errors on part of the explorers, the guild had noted well travelled areas where these structures appeared, some even right on top of paved roads, and each of them cracked and covered in flora as if hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. Often times, the plant life found within proved rare and exotic, types only ever seen at such ruins. It was as if they came from another world entirely.
The ruins he was in were relatively "new", spotted no more than a week ago, at close proximity to the pre-dominantly canine city of Tertium. The Artificer's guild of that city caught wind of this immediately, even before news of it spread through traditional means. Their seers, using powerful artefacts, could gaze into places none others had seen, as well as sense the presence of enchanted items. Hetroth was sent here to locate and bring the artefact as a rite of passage allowing him to join the higher ranks of his guild. What the seers had seen within did not indicate any particularly difficult task. But they hadn't anticipated outside influence.
As he ventured to the designated location, Het detected a presence following him. It was signified mostly by the sounds of metal scraping and clanging, echoing through the otherwise silent forest. At first he thought it was some coincidental mercenary band venturing through a crossing path, but for several days he heard these sounds. He had attempted to cover his tracks, change his route and speed up his pace, but his pursuers seemed directed at his destination rather than himself. He was now in danger of having to face unknown opponents, most likely seeking the same thing as he. Unless he managed to do this quickly.
Eventually, he reached a wide chamber with a geometric, richly engraved sarcophagus in the middle. It was as the seers had described. As he neared the sarcophagus, he picked up a chittering sound farther in the distance. He held out his sword, pointing towards the source of the sound as far as he could tell. The acoustics in the chamber made it difficult to discern its precise location, but he could see faint movements in the dark, as well as what seemed like a few pairs of eyes becoming visible for brief moments before fading into the darkness again.
He continued to approach the sarcophagus, constantly looking out into the darkness in anticipation of whatever might attempt to assault him, but nothing ever came. Whatever it was that made the sound was apparently more scared of him than he was of it. As he finally reached his target, he set his boot on the covering slab and shoved it off, inciting a loud boom as it hit the stone floor, making priorly settled dust drop from the cracks in the ceiling. He heard quick, light footsteps, fleeing in reaction to the sudden noise, then complete silence.
He put aside his sword and looked inside the container. This one contained no body, only a dust covered silver sceptre. He blew at it, causing a gust of centuries worth of dirt to billow out in response. He let the dust resettle before looking down again. The sceptre was engraved with runes and decorated with bands of gold. It was what he sought, sure enough. Rather than take it in hand, however, he pulled out a roll of cloth and carefully lifted the sceptre through the cloth, wrapping it within in the process. It would go through intricate investigations of the guild artificers before any would be allowed to wield it, if at all. He tucked it into his backpack and began his journey back, still looking for any signs of the presence he detected earlier. But it never returned.
***
He sighed with relief as he stepped outside. It went faster than he had anticipated, but it was already quite dark regardless. Only the bright moon, despite being obscured by clouds, illuminated his surroundings. The other moon was nowhere to be seen. He extinguished his torch and stowed it, hoping none had managed to notice, and began to move towards the way he came, when the sound of rustling leaves caught his ear.
He ducked down low, leaving only his head partially sticking above the foliage, and remained still in anticipation. The rustling quickly turned to the now familiar metallic scraping as a figure approached in his direction, becoming clearly visible.
"No use hiding.", the figure calmly called out, his voice clearly male. "Give me the artefact and this'll go over smoothly.", he added, sounding confident. Hetroth flinched at this. He already knew of the artefact. Or perhaps he simply knew Het was an Artificer. Either way, it would make convincing him otherwise impossible.
Het rose from hiding to face the figure as he continued to near. Now closer, the hyena could see that this was some kind of stag, a pair of antlers sticking out from his head. He was taller than him, and of greater musculature, but actually looked more slender than the hyena due to his height. He wore a helmet that covered all but his muzzle, antlers, ears and long, black hair hanging out behind with sparse dark red beads intertwined within them. On his arms he wore steel, segmented armguards, which made a considerable amount of noise for one stalking another. A similar form of armour could be found on his thighs and feet down to his hooves. Other than that he wore only a low-hanging loincloth, not dissimilar to that of Hetroth, except whereas the hyena's was inscribed with Artificer's guild insignia, his was marked with symbols of the All Knowing.
In a way, their guilds were not very unalike in that they both sought arcane knowledge often considered dangerous. Although whereas the Artificers sought to research and withhold all found artefacts in fear of what could be done with them by the ignorant or malicious, the All Knowing sought to research all aspects of the unknown, accumulate knowledge of the arcane, and educate the ignorant masses so that they would embrace and make use of it. Yet for all their respect of the arcane, time and again they fought one another over that knowledge.
Hetroth couldn't help but notice that the deer looked pretty unusual for a member of that particular guild. Normally the All Knowing looked more like scholars and alchemists, dressed in robes, cloaks or coats. Usually it was the Artificers who looked more suited for combat, with their frequent hunts for new artefacts. Closer still, he noticed runes painted in white on his helm and down the middle of his torso. It made him look like some barbaric shaman, and Hetroth couldn't imagine any enchantment that'd work that way.
"The artefact is ours. I've located and secured it. Let me pass.", the hyena replied, brandishing his short sword at the cervine.
The buck simply gave a bemused smirk and in turn, pulled out a studded iron mace from somewhere beyond sight. "So be it.", he said and started moving towards the hyena in long, confident strides.
Hetroth took a few precautionary steps back as the stag approached, careful not to trip over the long strands of weeds. A few steps before him, the deer began to charge, mace flying in a wide arc. The swing was so wild it left the stag wide open, which Het took advantage of, thrusting his sword at the assailant's chest. To his surprise, the buck swatted his sword aside with the armoured part of his arm, knocking the hyena off balance and opening him up for the intended attack.
Stumbling down into the tall grasses, Het barely dodged the mace as it flew sideways right over his head, nearly swatting his earguards. Wanting to regain control of the situation, he swept his sword at the cervid's legs. Sure enough, the buck leapt away, not particularly able to protect the bare parts of his legs. Hetroth scrambled back to his feet, holding his sword out once more.
He considered dropping his backpack, and thus the artefact in his possession, in order to move more swiftly and hold his balance better. But at the same time, he feared that the buck might try to grab the prize and run. Being considerably lighter armoured, he'd leave little chance for the hyena to catch him.
For a while, the deer simply paced around him, as if measuring him and looking for another opening. The previous strategy most likely wouldn't work as well, with the element of surprise gone. As he continued to circle, Hetroth noticed something peculiar about his irises. They were bright and colourless, a sign of a common enchantment used to grant enhanced vision in the dark. Perhaps he could turn this to his advantage.
He gripped the counter-balance of his sword with his free hand and began to murmur an incantation under his breath, maintaining eye contact with the stag. It would release the enchantment stored within the orb at the end of the hilt, and hopefully turn the battle in his favour. However, just as he was near the end of it, he noticed that so was his foe, gripping one of the beads in his hair. He had prepared his own enchantments. The buck began to twitch and fidget, his breath quickening and intensifying. He had clearly used some sort of hastening enchantment. Just as the deer began to charge at him, he held out the sword hilt and said the final word of his own incantation, looking away as he did so.
A blinding flash of intensity greater than that of the sun erupted from the orb. The cervine cried out and recoiled, holding one hand over his sensitive eyes while flailing his mace around with frightening speed with the other. Hetroth decided to use the situation and quickly circled around to get at the deer from behind. However, the cervine heard him all too well with the foliage surrounding them, and readjusted his bearings. Het cursed under his breath, but decided to try and attack regardless.
As he neared the buck, he began to swing the mace around wildly again, but not as fast any more. His blows flew high, and the hyena went for what looked like an opening. He ducked down to his knees and thrust his sword at the deer's groin, hoping to end the fight in one swift move. His opponent noticed this and shifted his leg just in time to turn what could've been a castrating stab to a deflected graze on the cervine's thigh armour. The stag then swung his mace down with an angry snarl at the source of the attack.
Hetroth lowered his stance even more, trying to avoid the blow, but it landed hard on his sword arm's shoulder. His pauldron bent inwards and his shoulder nearly dislocated. He fell flat on his stomach, almost losing his grip on his sword, but held on, knowing that his foe's next attack could very well cave his skull in. With his eyes screwed shut in pain, he swung his sword blindly at the buck. The deer tried to back away again, but this time a wayward slash managed to get a good gash on his shin, making him stumble and fall onto his back.
The hyena rose to his feet and backed away, trying to regain his senses. He found that the bent pauldron now made it difficult to move his arm, so he unstrapped it and let it fall to the ground. His shoulder ached, but not cripplingly so. Meanwhile the stag was slowly getting up himself, still wiping his eyes, yet somehow managing to glare at Het, the last of his hastening magic fading. The wound on his shin didn't look particularly serious, but made him limp, keeping most of his weight on the other leg. Aiming low would be even more desirable to the hyena now, as it would force the buck to try and move away with a bad leg.
Hetroth began to circle around the cervine, now looking for any other weakness. Despite the injury, the deer kept himself facing the hyena, gritting his teeth every time he had to stand on the wounded leg. Suddenly, Hetroth leapt at the stag, sword swinging in an upwards arc towards its mark. Much to Het's surprise, however, the buck did the same, knocking the sword aside with his armoured thigh and bringing the two of them close together.
The cervine took hold of the hyena's shoulder, gripping tightly by the fabric, and brought his mace down upon him, but Hetroth managed to catch the buck's arm before it hit. He tried to knee the buck where it hurt, but managed only to hit the steel of his thigh. Desperate, he ducked and spun around hard, trying to twist out of the stag's grip. Barely aware of it, he managed to plant his sword's hilt right in the deer's unprotected groin in the processs. The buck yelped in pain and his grip loosened, allowing the hyena to dart away from his failed attack. The cervine stumbled back, nearly falling over. Breathing heavily, he gripped his obviously aching nuts with one hand while keeping his mace pointed in Het's general direction. To Hetroth it was a wonder that he kept standing at all, but he decided to try and take advantage of the situation despite this.
Without further delay, he launched himself at the deer and swung his sword at the stag's unprotected muzzle. Time seemed to slow down for the hyena, as the buck ducked and spun around, almost the same as he had a few seconds ago, except the deer swung and planted the head of his mace firmly in Hetroth's soft spot. The world turned into a blur for the hyena as his legs bucked and he fell onto his back with a high-pitched scream reverberating through his helm. Now he was the one gripping his gonads with one hand while trying to maintain a defence with the other. He wanted to roll into a ball, the pain radiating from his groin dimming all other senses, but still he feared for his life more than that.
The buck got up and shuffled stiffly towards the fallen hyena, still rubbing his aching crotch with one hand. With a hard swing, he knocked the sword out of Het's hand, sending it flying into the foliage. Disarmed, Hetroth gave into the pain, assuming the foetal position and awaiting what was to come as the agony from his grapes continued to grow and spread to his abdomen. Rather than strike him down, however, the cervine simply unstrapped his backpack and pulled out the artefact. He smirked at how the artefact was secured and carelessly unwrapped it, taking the sceptre in hand. He rotated it around, examining it and reading the runes. His eyes flared up with understanding, as if he instantly knew the artefact's properties.
He set it aside, however, and now looked towards the downed hyena. "Was it worth it?", the stag asked, clearly bemused. Het managed only to groan and roll onto his other side in response. Smiling, the cervine dropped down to his knees in front of him. Fearing further harm, Hetroth clamped his knees together, trying to bar further access to his jewels, but the buck easily pried them apart with his strong hands and pressed himself up against the hyena. If he wanted to, Het could've then easily taken hold of the cervine's balls and squeezed or even clawed at them. But he didn't, fearing that it would only lead to further retribution.
"Wh- what are you doing?", he finally blurted out.
"Making this worthwhile.", the deer answered with a sly smile as he pulled Het's hands away to the sides and pressed his own crotch against the hyena's.
"What? H-! Hey! Stop it! I'm a male!", he protested as the buck swiftly began to undo the straps of his armour. Hetroth was now squirming and pushing at the bigger male, but to no avail.
"I know.", he answered, his smile broadening to a grin as he now undid the buttons on his padded tunic before yanking it down so that the hyena's hands were partially restrained. Next he unstrapped and pulled off the helmet, revealing Hetroth's unblemished face. "You're a pretty one.", the stag commented with a lustful smile, running his hand through the hyena's hair before moving on below the belt.
Het panicked, not really liking the idea of getting fucked by another male, but realized he couldn't do much against the stronger male in this position. However, as the buck pulled his bottom parts off, he had to rise to hit feet. This freed Het's legs, and just as the stag was about to lower himself again, he sprung one paw outward, nailing the deer in his already excited manhood. The cervine bellowed and grabbed at his balls, but outside of a step backwards, showed no further reaction, much to Hetroth's dismay.
Just as Het began to try and pull off his tunic, the buck immediately regained his composure and walked up to him with obvious fury, grabbing hold of both his legs and spreading them forcefully. Hetroth squealed and tried to retract his legs, knowing what was about to happen. But the cervine held strongly, and stamped down with his hard hoof onto Hetroth's already swollen, naked testicles. The hyena yelped and began to thrash even harder as the deer crashed his hoof into his vulnerable organs once more, and again, before twisting his foot on top of Het's sac, causing him further pain. Just as Hetroth managed to pull his hands free, the buck released his legs and backed away, letting the hyena roll around, clutching his ovals while he attended his own gonads, although in a much more dignified fashion.
After several minutes, the cervine lowered himself onto Hetroth again, now bereft of his armour, and pushed himself in between the hyena's thighs. This time Het did not resist, remembering how each time he had, it only ended worse for him. "I hope you've learned your lesson.", the deer said, still sounding slightly aggrevated.
"Please, I don't-", he managed to plead before being cut off as the buck locked lips with him. His eyes widened in surprise as the cervine now forced his long tongue into his mouth. He shivered as he felt the buck's flaccid length pressing against his own through the deer's silky loincloth. Futilely, Het tried to pull the stag off of himself, but instead ended up just tangling his arms and legs around him. Finally, the deer withdrew, leaving the hyena panting, still staring in shock and uncertainty. His former opponent looked back at him with unrestrained lust, and reached down towards their cocks.
His heart was pounding hard at an accelerated rate, both in fear and excitement, and as the stag's large hand began to fondle his member and still aching nuts, so too did his hardening length begin to throb. The deer reached around his side, unbinding his loincloth and tugging it off, letting his large nuts drape over the hyena's pair, nearly matching those of the stag in size on account of the swelling. Once more they locked lips as the deer took hold of both their rods in one hand and began to gently rub them together, rocking his hips slightly as he did so. Giving into his lusts, Hetroth began to massage the cervine's long tongue with his own, all the while squeezing his shoulder with one hand and his butt with the other.
They occasionally released from their oral embrace, only to kiss and lick other parts. Het's hand eventually drifted downwards, and while the stag continued to fondle their dicks, the hyena began to fondle their ball sacs, rolling their contents around and pressing them together. Despite the still present ache and swelling, he had almost forgotten of what had happened minutes earlier. They continued to pant and sweat, pleasuring each other for minutes more.
The cervine built up momentum in his joint stroking, tugging and thrusting faster and faster, until finally, Hetroth whimpered as his orgasm hit, followed shortly afterwards by that of the buck. They shuddered together as waves of pleasure washed over them and streaks of warm semen spurted out of their rods, coating the hyena's abdomen, chest and even chin. As their climaxes subsided, they remained as they were for a while, breathing heavily and feeling exhausted, but sated.
Eventually, the deer rose to his feet, giving Hetroth one last kiss prior, and ventured off somewhere out of sight, taking his things with him. The hyena remained as he was, lying there with a sizeable mess all over his torso. He wasn't sure what to think of what just happened. Somehow he had never pictured himself doing it with another male, particularly being the one dominated. Yet he enjoyed it. There was something exhilarating about being handled by a bigger male like that. Now, however, he wondered how we was going to get himself clean with no river in the vicinity.
After a while, the deer returned, fully dressed and wearing something extra - a backpack slung across his chest that apparently now contained the artefact. He must've stashed it somewhere before approaching the hyena, giving him an edge in speed and agility. The gash on his shin was now bandaged as well. Hetroth remained on the floor, braced on his elbows, looking in expectation at the cervine.
"I'd advise against following me. But maybe we'll meet again under friendlier circumstances.", he said and turned to leave.
"Wait! I... don't think you've told me your name.", Het said, unexpectedly even to himself.
"Neither have you told me yours.", the deer said with a smile. "I am Varikas.", he added.
"Uh. I'm Hetroth.", he answered back. Varikas simply nodded in response and walked off into the depths of the forest, leaving Hetroth lying there, naked and covered in a mixture of their love fluids.
Het dropped back down onto his back, now breathing lightly and rubbing his injured shoulder, its ache getting to him only now. He could now only wonder how he'd explain his loss of the artefact to an All Knowing while remaining alive and mostly unharmed. And maybe also how he was going to get himself clean.