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Last Time: The world is in peril! An unspeakable evil has been let loose on the world of Skarn, and only one woefully under-equipped band of adventurers can hope to thwart it! Unfortunately, said adventurers are a bit worse for wear after a random encounter with a pack of vicious monsters, and they've gone into hiding while they lick their wounds.

_ Meanwhile, other foes are on the move - chief among them the mercenary forces of the aptly-named Dark Wizard, and a pack of very confused lycanthropes led by their would-be queen. Although both of these groups are intent on stopping our heroes dead in their tracks, they have somehow found themselves on a collision course with each other instead..._

The Missing Lynx, Part VII

Meanwhile...

Veridia sighed, absently rubbing at her sore arm with one hand. Her wounds had faded, healed by the noxious potions that the pantherkin had thought to bring with him, but her muscles still ached a little where the flesh had been knitted back together. She switched hands, rubbing at her other arm instead, until the ache had receded some.

The dogkin glanced up, scanning over the other two beasts sharing the tent with her. Kira was laid out on her side, quiet and still but for her labored breathing, but she looked better now. Rhaelyn had cleaned her up, peeled away the silver clinging to her talons, and even brushed out her feathers with a comb he had been keeping somewhere on his person. So yes, she definitely looked better now.

But she was still unconscious.

Veridia's gaze flitted over to the panther now, who was just as unconscious - 'though just a bit less distressingly so than the gryphon. He had been sitting vigil at the hen's side, even after he had finished tending her more obvious wounds, but he had been exhausted after the battle. He was sleeping now, half-curled at Kira's side with his head resting against her shoulder as if she were nothing but a giant, comatose pillow.

The husky allowed herself a faint smile, then slipped out of the tent. She had only gone in there to check on Rhaelyn and Kira anyway, and they seemed fine. Or, ah, relatively fine, all things considered.

Raffina almost immediately materialized from the forest's edge. "How is he?"

Veridia squinted a bit, trying to acclimate herself to the sudden darkness and the sticky humidity that now surrounded her. It was cold and bright in the panther's tent, due to some absurd magics or another, and it was the exact opposite outside. The tent stood alone in a very small clearing that they had hacked into the living forest, but there was little other sign of their camp. They hadn't even risked starting a fire.

"He's..." the dogkin paused, looking to the concerned cheetah. A small part of her wanted to tease the feline for showing so much concern for the wizard's well-being, and another part of her wanted to chastise the cheetah for not asking about Kira first. Neither response seemed appropriate, though. Especially given the circumstances.

"He's sleepin' now," Veridia murmured carefully. "He stayed awake as long as he could, but all that spell-slingin' really takes it out'a him. You know how it is with wizard-types."

Raffina snorted, her arms crossed as she tried to look a bit more nonchalant. She was trying to pretend that she didn't really care, but she did. She really wasn't a very good actor. "Yeah? Well, I wouldn't really know that. Rhae could, like, barely light a candle with his 'magic' back when we were still going out. Only time he ever passed out was after we'd have a tumble, you know?"

"I, uh..." the canine floundered a bit, not really sure what to do with that information.

Fortunately, the cheetah wasn't finished. She twisted about, her eyes set to the woods as she prowled restlessly. "But, uh, that's great and junk, you know? Don't like having my employer get all crazy and injured. Not before I've... hhf, not before I've been paid."

Veridia opened her muzzle to reflexively snap at the feline, but she caught herself. It was obvious that the cheetahkin, so often flippant and judgemental, was actually worried about someone else for once. The canine offered a thin smile, her head bobbing slightly. "Right."

"So..." Raffina paused for a few long seconds, glancing back over her shoulder toward the canine. "How's the, uh, catbird?"

Veri cocked her head, her ears slanting forward. "Kira?"

The cheetah made a little gesture, her head bobbing brusquely. "Yeah, right. How's Kira? She didn't look too good when we set up camp."

"Well," Veridia drawled, her words slow as she tried to collect her thoughts. She was no healer, but she at least knew the basics of anatomy. Granted, that was mostly just because she was particularly proficient in the arts of violence and torture, but still...

"She's doin' better."

Raffina nodded slightly, absently chewing on her lip. "Nnf... good. I-... I mean, I don't really like her, but... but Rhaelyn was pretty upset."

The canine paused, trying to choose her words carefully. "Well, Rhaelyn doesn't like t'see his friends get hurt."

"No," Raff persisted, her voice lowered a little conspiratorially. "Like, REALLY upset. I don't think I've ever seen the guy like that. I mean, he's usually so obsessed with looking all cool and collected, you know?"

Veri cocked her head a little, then shrugged her broad shoulders. "Well, he'd'a been just as upset if it was you or me who'd gotten hurt, hun. Rhae's just like that. It's why he always feels like he needs t'do everything hisself, y'know? So he's the only one who gets hurt, 'nd everyone else stays safe."

"I..." The cheetah paused before her thought had finished, and bit her lip again. "Well, yeah. Rhaelyn is-... he's pretty great like that, I guess. I mean, you know, like... whatever."

"Hn." The dogkin grunted, trying not to smile.

Raffina glanced up again. "But she's going to be okay? Kira, I mean?"

Veridia allowed herself a slight smile now, looking away to find somewhere she might sit. Her eyes fixed on a convenient stump, and she quickly brushed it clear of dirt and leaves before resting her bulk against it. She was tired. "Yeh, well, like I said. She's doin' better. Still passed out, but Rhae fixed her up some. Cleaned out her wounds and gave her one'a those potions."

"Oh," the cheetah nodded uncertainly. "Well, like, that's good."

Veri fixed one eye on the cheetah as the feline paced back and forth, back and forth, just at the edge of the clearing. It was so very obvious that the cheetah was much more accustomed to prowling the woods in stealth and silence, and far less accustomed to with having to actually deal with people. It probably explained a lot about her attitude.

"You know..." Veridia shifted a bit, leaning a little toward the pacing beastkin. "You should prob'ly drink one too. You were pretty beat up after that fight. Arvesk really clocked you pretty good a couple o' times."

"Ugh," Raffina's lip curled in disgust, her ears twitching back as she slowed her step. "Gods, no. Nah, I'm fine. I heal quick. Besides, do you know what kind of shit they put IN those things?"

The dogkin snorted softly, her smile twisting into a weary grin. "Y'don't hafta tell ME that, hun. I had t'get some o' the main ingredient straight from the source, once, right after a real vicious battle. It was kind'a fun, but... y'know... really weird, too."

"I, uh..." Raff blinked a few times, her pacing coming to an abrupt halt. "R-... really? Wow. I didn't actually-... like, from a real dragon?"

Veridia indulged herself with a soft smirk now, absently patting along her belt as she searched for her waterskin. Unhooking it from one of the loops, she drew a long pull from it, before bobbing her head. "Yeh. I mean, it works better when its refined, but the raw stuff still has some pretty good effect."

The cheetahkin thought on this for a few more seconds, then dutifully flopped into a seated position in front of the canine. "You've got to tell me about it."

The warrior arched a brow, looking down at the younger feline. "Er, really? You sure?"

"Come on," Raff snorted. "It's not like we're going anywhere. We're here for the rest of the night at least, and maybe even longer while we wait on those two. We're safe here. We've got plenty of supplies. And even if we run out of food, I can just go hunting-"

"Okay, okay," Veridia held up one hand in surrender, her head tilted back a little as she chuckled. "Well, I guess. 'Though we should really have someone on watch, and I was kind'a hopin' I could finish-"

She paused, one heavy hand fumbling at the other side of her belt. It was empty. "Oh, shoot."

Raff perked an ear, abruptly alert. "What? Did you hear something?"

Veridia sighed, "Nah. I just lost my book. The, uh, one that Rhae let me borrow. Must'a dropped it back durin' the battle. Was kind'a hopin' I'd get a chance to finish it."

The cheetah rolled her eyes. "Gods, that thing? You know all those books are garbage, right? I hear the guy who wrote them is a real scumbag. Like, a lying pervert who just uses those things as some kind of glorified journal to chronicle his sexual conquests."

Veri opened her muzzle to protest, but then closed it again as she smiled. That wasn't an entirely inaccurate assessment of The Alleycat's scrawlings - or at least the early ones. They had come a long way, though, as the little thief had evolved his writing style. It was still a little trashy, but... trashy was nice, sometimes.

"Well," the half-wolf let the word roll off of her tongue, lazily. "Yeah, but there was a romance sub-plot. I was really kind'a hopin'-" She paused, her gaze flitting briefly to the silent tent. "I was... really kind'a hopin' to see how it all turned out. I just-"

Veridia sighed, rolling her broad shoulders in a little shrug. "Sorry, Raff. I guess I sound kind'a stupid. It's just that, readin' about that sorta thing is a nice change o' pace from all the killin' and maimin' I hafta do. It ain't like I get much chance fer the real thing, bein' the way I am."

And Raffina was on her feet, her expression stoic. "Hey, no, I get it. Give me, like, an hour. I'll go find your stupid book."

"What?" The dogkin blinked, then quickly shook her head. "No, wait, that's a bad idea, Raff. No tellin' how many o' those wolfweres are still gonna be-"

"Please," the cheetah grinned smugly. "I'm a fucking ghost, I'll be back in no time."

"Well-" Veridia started, but she stopped just as abruptly. The cheetah was already gone.

Raff flitted back into sight briefly, a smirk on her muzzle. "But when I get back, you're telling me that fucking story about the dragon."

Veridia rolled her eyes, an actual smile on her muzzle for the first time in hours.

"Deal."

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

The hour was near midnight now, and the moon loomed high over the twisted trees of the Blood Wood. Somewhere not far from Rhaelyn's makeshift camp, a much larger one was still being established.

It had been hours now since The Dark Wizard's group had broken out their tents and started warming up the campfires. Hours now, and the camp was still a mess. But honestly, they weren't the most disciplined or coordinated bunch, and most of them seemed content to just do things in their own way.

Food had been a priority for most, and then booze, and even after three hours only two or three tents had been pitched - but The Dark Wizard didn't seem particularly perturbed by that. In fact, the necromancer didn't seem to care at all. He had vanished during the first hour after camp had been struck, and was now nowhere to be found.

"I'm just saying," Royce murmured, "That our companions don't exactly fill me with confidence. None of them are the sorts that I would trust at my back. Ah, present company excepted."

The lion sat near one of three campfires that had been set, and the only one of the three that wasn't perilously close to burning the forest down around them. In fact, there were already two mercenaries on the far side of the camp desperately dousing a tree that had come ablaze after their cooking had gotten a bit out of hand.

Royce sighed, glancing sidelong toward the growing crowd gathered around the burning tree. After a long moment he reluctantly moved as if to rise to his feet, but one of the other more competent beastkin finally came to the rescue. The tree was doused, and the mercs quickly went back to eating and drinking.

"Like that," the warrior murmured. "That right there. That was idiotic. Most of these men are complete fools, more apt to get us killed than to kill an enemy."

Kavah looked up from his own meal - a somewhat unpleasant jerky that the lion had offered to share. It was dry and tasteless, but apparently treated in some kind of chemicals that guaranteed it would sustain life. It wasn't the sort of thing that the foxkin would normally eat, but it was free, and the fox had a hard time arguing with that kind of price. If he could save his own food and eat someone elses, he certainly wasn't going to argue.

"Yeh," he mumbled around a half-chewed bite of dried meat. "I dunno 'bout that."

Kavah swallowed hard, the thick lump of half-chewed jerky making his throat hurt a little. He swallowed a second time, then cleared his throat loudly before speaking again. "They don't seem so bad ta me. Some of'em are kind'a dumb, I guess, but they look like they can fight."

Royce snorted, but it was a third beastkin who spoke now. An unassuming mousekin in a bulky coat and bandanna, whom the lion had apparently deigned as the only other capable sellsword in the entire camp aside from Kavah.

"They're a waste of skin and fur," the mouse rasped. His voice was audible, albeit just barely, and the ugly scar that crossed his throat seemed the likely reason. It was likely why the other mercenaries had dubbed him 'Whisper', and the mousekin hadn't seemed to care enough to correct them. "I wouldn't have even bothered coming, if it weren't for the amount of coin being promised."

"Hn," the lion nodded slightly. "Well, I can certainly sympathize with that. It's the same reason I came along - and I suspect it's the same reason that Kavah here is with us."

Kavah paused, then shrugged, quickly stuffing another piece of jerky into his muzzle to give himself an excuse to remain silent.

"Were this any other job," Whisper hissed, "I would have killed the useless ones in their ssleep, so we wouldn't need to rely on them."

"Righ-" Royce paused, catching himself before he had agreed with that sentiment. "Er, well, I don't know if I would go quite that far, but..."

The mouse turned slightly, glancing sidelong at the larger lion with one glittering red eye. And it really was just the one eye. He had two perfectly good eyes, but for some reason one of them was red and the other black. It was a little unsettling.

Whisper crooked a finger, pointing across the camp at a group of three mercenaries. "Those three are criminals. Two of them are wanted for murder, and the other is a rapist. They only signed on with this group because they were looking to avoid arrest back in Ma'Karach, and they wanted an excuse to hurt people."

Royce furrowed his brow, and both he and the fox peered in the indicated direction. "Er, really? I mean, I knew that they were untrustworthy, but criminals?"

But the mouse had already moved on, pointing to a ratkin and a sandcat who were sharing a bottle. "And those two are thieves. I'm almost certain that the ssandcat is a former bandit, and the rat is just a bully and a thug. Only brave when part of a group, but uselesss one on one."

Kavah nodded slightly. He knew the type. Hell, he WAS the type. He had only been in three fights in his life, and not one of them had ever been to the death. But he still said nothing.

"Hm," Royce grunted with disgust. "I see."

"The lizardman, Dreki, is delusional-" Whisper pointed, but neither of the others could see the lizard in question. Apparently he was already in one of the tents, being one of the few who had gone to sleep before midnight. "And the tiger is simply insane."

"Really? Gange?" Kavah finally spoke, one corner of his mouth quirked downward as he glanced around the camp. The tiger was nowhere in sight either, 'though he had clearly never set up a tent or a bedroll. "I mean, the guy smells like shit 'nd he's ugly as sin, but I dunno about insane."

The fox squinted, peering about the campsite. "Where the hell is he, anyway?"

Whisper slid to his feet quietly, his heavy coat rustling loosely over his lanky and unimposing frame. For a fleeting second the gleaming blades of a dozen knives were visible, but just as quickly they had vanished beneath the folds of his garb again. "He's been burying crude explosive devices around the eastern edge of our camp for the passst two hours. I should probably go sstop him."

The mouse slipped away from the fire, disappearing into the shadows of the chaotic campsite with alarming ease.

"Well," the fox spoke again, grinning as he tried to sound reassuring. "Least that guy seems ta have it together, right? So it ain't all bad."

"What," Royce frowned. "Oh, ah... you mean Whisper?"

Kavah nodded, "Yeh. That guy."

The lion's frown deepened. "He's an assassin. But, ah, yes. At least he's capable, and with a peculiar sense of professionalism."

Kavah faltered, his grin fading. "R-... really? Y'think?"

"Oh yes," Royce nodded, his tone rather matter-of-fact. "You can tell by the blades. All of his knives are curved or hooked, to go beneath the ribs and better pierce the heart or lungs. Those aren't the sort of weapons you might see on a fighter such as myself."

The fox blanched a little, glancing back in the direction that the mouse had disappeared in. "R-... right. That's.. that's just... uh... that's great."

The conversation died down, and the two stared morosely into the flickering fire in silence. Royce offered the foxkin another piece of jerky, but the vulpine quickly declined. He hadn't had much of an appetite to begin with, and now it was thoroughly lost.

Royce frowned a little, and after a moment of thought he looked back to the fox. "Wasn't Gange the one who was supposed to be digging a latrine pit?"

Kavah paused, then groaned. "Ah, damn it. I really gotta take a leak, too."

The lionkin chuckled wryly. "Well, I wouldn't. Not until you're sure you can do it without exploding, at least."

The fox sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yeah."

They sat in silence for a moment longer, until the lion finally felt compelled to speak again. "But you see what I'm saying, yes? This job is absurd. There have been no watches posted, there's no sleep schedule, and our employer is nowhere to be found. You would think that he, at least, would care about this lack of discipline."

"I think..." Kavah slowed, dragging out the word as he tried to decide what to say. He really didn't want to badmouth the other mercenaries. Not when almost every one of them could kill him dead for a single carelessly uttered word, and CERTAINLY not when that damned necromancer was lurking somewhere out of sight. Who knew how much of his mutterings might get back to The Dark Wizard?

Kavah sighed, pushing himself to his feet now. "I think I'm gonna go take a piss."

Royce frowned. "That's not a good idea. Didn't you hear what Whisper said about-?"

The fox rolled his eyes again, grinning a little. "Yeh, well, that's on the east side. That's why I'm gonna go west. Find a tree or a bush or somethin'."

"Well I should probably go with you, then." Royce began pushing himself to his feet aside the fox, one hand set to the hilt of his ornately engraved rapier. "To watch your back."

Kavah quickly held both hands up, palms outward. "Er, woah. Uh, look, Roy."

"Royce," the lion quickly corrected him.

"Uh, right," Kavah nodded. "Royce. Look, I'm glad yer concerned about my safety and all, but I ain't exactly crazy 'bout takin' a piss in front of another guy. How 'bout I just go out there 'nd find a safe spot, 'nd you stay right here, 'nd I'll be back in less'n five minutes?"

Royce frowned, his hand still on the hilt of his blade. "I, ah... well that doesn't sound very safe, Kavah. I really think you should-"

The foxkin rolled his eyes. Honestly, he had repeated the gesture so many times that he was starting to think his eyes might just roll completely out of their sockets. "Fine! Gawds, whatever. Just... I dunno, I guess you can follow me halfway. Right out to the treeline there, 'nd then I'll go a little further out 'nd find a good spot."

The lion hesitated, but then nodded. "Ah, yes, I suppose that sounds a fair compromise."

Kavah nodded wearily, and started moving toward the indicated treeline. He paused, though, glancing back over his shoulder. "And yer gonna be lookin' the other fuckin' way, okay? Like I said, I don't need another guy starin' at me while I'm relievin' myself."

Royce almost seemed offended, his free hand set to his chest. "Kavah, I wouldn't dream of it. I really do have better things to do than watch someone relieve himself. I'm doing this purely to see that you're not snatched up by some foul beast and rent into a thousand bloody pieces."

The fox sighed, and set back to trudging towards the woods. "Fine. Whatever."

Well. This was certainly going to be fun.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

"Oooh," Venn crooned. "This is gonna be fun!"

"Ssh!" Kai hissed in response, and she ducked back into the brush. She loved Venn, really she did, but there was no denying that her younger packmate struggled with her more impulsive side. It was a problem.

But she would worry about that later.

The princess glanced back toward their prey, to make quite certain that the fox-thing hadn't noticed them, and then she looked back to the brush as Draev and Griff slipped into sight.

She was quick to press them for information. "How does it look?"

"Well-" Draev started, but Griff quickly cut him off.

"There's another one about eighty strides that way," the other wolfwere pointed. "The one with the sword."

Draev grumbled, jabbing at Griff with his elbow as he wrestled his way back into the conversation. "But he's, uh, looking the other way. We can't figure out why."

Kai tapped her muzzle thoughtfully. That was peculiar. In fact, it almost sounded like the fox was just bait, and they were walking into a trap. But... that was a worst case scenario. Beastkin probably weren't clever enough to try something like that, and even if they were - she was cleverer by far.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. Her brow furrowed, and she stared daggers at the two. "Wait, where are Varg and Oru?"

Venn appeared behind them, her arms casually draped about the males' shoulders before they could retreat. She was always quick on her feet. That, at least, was one of the things that Kai loved about her.

Draev hesitated, and this time it was Griff who picked up the slack. "They're watching another beastkin on the other side of the camp. He's, uh, some kind of cat-thing, and he smells really bad."

"So bad." Draev eagerly agreed.

Kai frowned. A straggler in either direction? That almost sounded like they were supposed to be guards, or perhaps scouts. Still... "What's he doing?"

Draev and Griff exchanged glances, and then Draev spoke. "Digging holes. Burying things. It's really weird."

Well, that sounded odd. Kai cocked her head, absently stroking her chin as she pondered. "What about the other two directions?"

Griff eagerly shook his head. "Nothing, we checked. Just the smelly cat-thing. So we left Varg and Oru on the other side to watch him. They're waiting for our signal, and then they'll attack."

Kai bobbed her head, then looked back to the small clearing they were hiding near. The fox-thing was still there, just standing around and staring at nothing. It was... strange. Still, it was an opportunity that she knew she really shouldn't be passing up. Not if she was planning on taking out this whole pack of adventurers.

Her flat tongue flicked over one of her long, sharp incisors, and she finally pointed. "Griff, Draev. You two go over to the other side and flank him. I want you ready if we need any help. We can't let him get back to camp, or he'll alert all the other beastkin. We're going to have to use our cunning to trick him-"

"Oooh," Venn beamed. "Can we try 'The Wounded Vixen'?"

Kai paused, "Er... really?"

The other she-wolf nodded eagerly, grinning broadly as she turned back to the brush. She fetched something, then hefted it - it was an old hunter's trap, all rusted metal and a barely functional spring. "I found THIS while we were scouting around. It's perfect!"

Kai glanced back toward the fox-thing, and sniffed lightly at the air. It was true, she could smell at least a half-dozen females on the beastkin's scent. It was faint, and easily overwhelmed by the more recent stench of cheap perfume and the other beastkin he traveled with, but it was there. It was obvious enough that the fox-thing favored the company of women, or had at least been very intimate with some in the recent past.

But she still had her doubts. She looked back to Venn, a brow quirked skeptically. "Do you really think that would work?"

Venn kept grinning, shooting a sly glance sidelong at one of the males. "Ask Draev. He would know."

"I-" the slightly younger wolfwere stammered, then blushed. "Shut up!"

All three of the other wolves snickered. It was true. The entire ploy, 'The Wounded Vixen', had been developed around one of the young lycan's more infamous misadventures. While out hunting the hapless male had stumbled across a gray-furred vixen, wounded by the side of one of the old roads. Eager for a quick meal, he had moved in for the kill, but-

Well, suffice to say, the vixen had desperately played to the wolf's more carnal side. And of course, after Draev had eagerly accepted, the vixen had taken the first chance she got to chomp down on a very, very delicate part of his anatomy. While he had been... incapacitated, she had made good her escape.

And thus, 'The Wounded Vixen' stratagem had been born. Not that they got many chances to use it.

"Okay," Kai agreed reluctantly. She grinned a little, rolling her eyes as Venn uttered an ecstatic squeal. "But don't bite him unless I tell you to. And, uh, you get to be the wounded vixen. I'm going to come up from behind while he's... uh... distracted."

Venn paused, her enthusiasm suddenly dampened. "But I still get to bite him eventually, right? It's just not the same if I don't get to-"

Kai set a finger to the other she-wolf's nose, smirking. "Only if I say so. We have questions for him, first. He can't answer questions if he's bleeding to death."

Venn seemed somewhat mollified, but she still grumbled 'neath her breath. But once it was clear she wasn't going to object out loud, Kai looked to the other two wolves.

"You two, go around and hide in those trees over there. If I call for you I want you to come running, but otherwise you stay down and you stay quiet."

Draev and Griff both nodded, then disappeared back into the brush.

Then she grinned, looking back to Venn. "Right. Get yourself set up, and I'll be waiting for a good opening."

Venn grinned back, her head bobbing so quickly that she almost made herself dizzy. "At once, my queen!"

And Kai chuckled now, even as she smoothly worked her way into a more concealed position. Kai still had her doubts about this particular strategy, but at the very least Venn had been right about one thing.

This WAS going to be fun. She just wasn't sure if it was going to work.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

"Ugh, how the hell was this even suppose'ta work?"

Kavah sighed, his head tilting back as he leaned against a convenient tree. Gods, it had all seemed so straightforward when he had first taken the job. A wizard needed him to do something, and in exchange he'd get... er... fixed. Or no, not fixed in the veterinarian sense - actually, the entirely opposite sense. And hey, the gold he was offering was a bonus.

But this job just kept getting worse.

"Gruh," he grunted. "S'okay, Kavah, you just gotta keep yer eye on the prize. On the, uh, prizes. Couple more days, and we can all get paid."

Gods, he liked the sound of that. Money would be fantastic, of course, but getting some proper magical healing would be even better. And then, once he was whole again, he was going to sleep with SO many femmes. And hot ones, too, not like the insane bitches from Ma'Karach.

Maybe he'd just find some whores. At least whores were less likely to kick him in the balls. Er, as long as they were paid on time, anyway. And after this job, he'd be able to afford to pay for at least a dozen of them.

"Hn," he grumbled to himself. "Maybe I'll go to Whitepalm, instead. Get a nice tiger gal or two. Maybe sisters. Ooh, or twins-"

He paused, a sound catching his attention. His ears perked, his muscles tensing as he forcibly reminded himself that he was standing in the middle of the woods. Despite what he had told Royce, he hadn't actually needed to relieve himself. Rather, he had just wanted a moment to himself so he could think. To that end he had walked a good deal deeper into the forest than he probably should have, just to make sure that the lion wouldn't overhear his one-sided conversation with himself.

In retrospect, it seemed like kind of a dumb thing to do.

"NnnNNnngh..."

Kavah was a ghost, sinking back against the brush as he tried to keep as quiet as he could manage. He wasn't the stealthiest - he usually relied more on his silver tongue than on his grace - but he was quiet enough when he wanted to be. The wavering moan sounded out again, soft and barely audible, but it was coming from somewhere nearby.

The foxkin briefly considered his options, and his curiosity won out. His caution was still alive and well, but it took a backseat - after all, even if it proved to be something dangerous, he was called Kavah the Swift for good reason. Sure it was a self-given title, but he was still fast. Very fast.

You know. When he wasn't being blindsided.

He cautiously eased his way forward, his angular ears twitching and swaying like a pair of fuzzy, hyperactive birds as he tried to pinpoint the source of the sound. Almost as an afterthought, one hand eased down to the knife at his belt - it was the only weapon he had even thought to bring with him on this absurd trek. It wasn't much, but it at least bolstered his nerve a little.

Kavah eased into the shadows, carefully placing each step. For all his bluster and posturing, he really was a decent sneakthief, and he moved with almost complete silence but for the slightest rustle of leaves and occasional snap of an errant twig. He navigated ten paces through the brush, then fifteen, and at his twentieth he slowed to a halt.

There it was, the source of the disturbance. Or more accurately, there SHE was.

The foxkin glanced back over his shoulder, in the direction he had come from. A small part of his brain was telling him to withdraw - to retreat back to camp and tell them what he had found. But that was the pragmatic part of his brain speaking. The cautious part. It was the part of his brain that he usually listened to when it came to matters of business, but when it came to women...

Well, that was something else entirely. His libido might be half-crippled, but it was still more than strong enough to cloud his better judgement.

Kavah exhaled slowly, then slipped from the bushes for a better look. The figure was stretched out across the ground with it's back to him, and it was almost entirely still. From where he stood, he could see that it was almost certainly female - the curves were muted by matted grey fur, but they were there. And it was all the easier to see them, because the fallen wolf-girl was entirely nude.

"Unnh..." the female moaned again, shivering under his gaze.

"Oh, hey!" Kavah moved closer now, without thinking. He quickly stepped around the wolfkin, leaning down to roll her onto her back. "You okay?"

The figure stirred now, her hands planted to the ground as she tried to push herself upright. With some effort she managed to work her way into a sitting position, and her surprisingly sharp eyes flitted to the uncertain foxkin. "Oh," she gasped. "Help me, please!"

Kavah took a step forward without thinking, but then he caught himself. This was... no, something wasn't right. He wasn't an idiot. Stumbling over a nude and disoriented female in the middle of the woods was just too convenient.

"Uh, well..." his head cocked slightly, and Kavah squinted into the darkness as he scanned his surroundings. The wolfkin was at the center of a small, irregularly shaped clearing, but she seemed to be alone. "What's the problem?"

The wolfkin uttered a sob that sounded all too real, and she shifted just slightly to point toward her leg. As she moved, the moonlight glinted off of metal, and the source of her troubles was all too evident.

"Oh, shit." Kavah moved forward in three quick bounds, to the female's side. As he knelt down, his caution dissipated. This wasn't a ruse or a ploy - at least, not unless the wolfkin was willing to break her own ankle just to pull it off. The odds of that were slim. Slim enough that the fox felt comfortable relaxing his guard.

After all, she was rather fetching in a primitive, wild sort of way. And she'd probably be grateful for his assistance. Very grateful.

Kavah sighed, his white-tipped ears twitching forward as he studied the trap that was fixed to the she-wolf's leg. It looked like a simple foothold trap - two serrated iron jaws attached to a trigger plate and spring-loaded hinge. A rusted iron chain dangled off one end, attached to nothing, but the jaws had already done enough damage to immobilize the wolf.

He frowned. "How'd this happen?"

The she-wolf sniffed, her eyes blinking rapidly as if she were doing her best to hold back tears. It wasn't much of a stretch for her, because the trap really did hurt. "I-... I was out hunting, and- AH!"

Kavah jumped a little at the sudden cry, but he quickly recovered. "What!? What's wrong!?"

"Ahn..." the she-wolf whined now, the back of one hand set to her forehead as she turned her gaze away. It was a little melodramatic, but from the expression on the fox's face it was effective. "It hurts! Goddess, I... I think I'm going to die!"

"You're not-" Kavah frowned, glancing back over his shoulder. He was, what, a hundred and sixty feet from camp? A hundred and eighty? He could just push back through the brush and let Royce know that he'd found someone, and then they could come back and help her. "You're not gonna die. Hold on, luv, I'm gonna go get some-"

"No!"

The foxkin skewed an ear, his head jerking back about as he leveled an odd look at the wolf. Her objection was a little too abrupt. A little too eager.

"I mean," the she-wolf choked out another forced sob. "I'm scared! Please don't leave me alone out here in the woods! There are... THINGS in the woods! C-... can't you just...?"

Kavah sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. He had a good survival instinct, and he generally listened to it, but when women were involved... "Right, uh...well... lemme just, uh..."

The she-wolf batted her eyes, one corner of her mouth curling downward as she pouted. It was a bit out of place for a beastkin that was supposedly in agony, but it seemed to work. "Please, I'll do aaanything...!"

"Okay," Kavah grunted. "Fine. But, uh, let's try'n make this quick, yeh?"

"Oh, thank you!" The she-wolf almost grinned at the foxkin's reluctant acceptance, but she managed to keep her expression carefully neutral.

Kavah shifted against the ground. He'd been kneeling for so long that his knees were beginning to ache, and his legs were slowly falling asleep. One hand planted against the ground and he folded his legs more comfortably beneath him, sitting near the she-wolf's feet. His eyes flitted over the old trap, deftly studying the simple mechanism that made it work.

The foxkin's hands settled lightly to the serrated jaws, the rusted metal unpleasant to the touch. It was in such poor shape that it was a miracle the trap had even worked, but light pressure quickly confirmed that the corroded spring still had enough strength to make removal problematic. There was a catch to disengage the spring, but the metal tab had snapped off somewhere along the line and effectively rendered the release mechanism all but unusable.

"Hn, Okay," he grunted again. He braced his hands carefully against either metal jaw, exerting greater pressure as he tried to prise them apart. "Maybe if I-"

"Ow!" The she-wolf yelped, her eyes narrowed viciously as the serrated metal teeth ground against her fractured bone. This time it wasn't an act - it really was unpleasant. "That hurts, you idiot!"

Kavah quickly relented, his hands jerking away from the she-wolf's leg. "Sorry! Sorry, uh... okay. Maybe, er..." He cocked his jaw thoughtfully, then carefully slid his hands beneath the wolfkin's leg. "Take a deep breath, luv."

"What?" The wolfkin quirked a brow, her head lifted as she eyed the foxkin warily. "Why sh- AHH!"

Kavah eased the wolf's foot onto his lap, trap and all. "There we go. Now I can get a better look at this thing. Should just take a couple'a seconds..."

The she-wolf choked back a growl, her ears slicked flat against her skull. Her patience was wearing thin, but she drew in a deep breath and forcibly quashed the rage that was bubbling up in the back of her brain. "RrrrRRrr... j-... just hurrry!"

"Just try not t'think about it, luv." The foxkin's fingers slid lightly over the trap, tracing the contours of the rusted metal and the corroded spring. "Maybe I can help keep yer mind on somethin' else. Like, uh, what's yer name?"

The wolf hesitated. She hadn't planned for this contingency. What was her name? Should she make something up? She was a creature of violence and savage impulse, so subtle improvisation wasn't really her strong point.

Ah, what the hell. They'd just be killing him anyway.

"Venn." She murmured uncertainly.

Kavah's head bobbed slightly, but his eyes never left the trap. Now that he'd had a better look at it, he had a fairly good idea on how to proceed. He retrieved the hunting knife from his belt, but paused as he felt the she-wolf's entire body tense once the blade filled his hand.

"Venn, yeh?" He murmured soothingly. The tip of the knife was wedged into the trap's deceptively simple inner workings, and the wolf relaxed again. He began working at the corroded spring with short, firm sawing motions, his movements gentle enough to avoid further agitating the wolf's injuries. "That's a pretty name."

Venn blinked, her ears twitching forward a bit. Was it? To her it was just a name. The relative prettiness, or lack thereof, had never before come up in conversation. How was she supposed to respond to that. "Rr? Oh, uh... thank you?"

Kavah chuckled, his wrist flexing as he continued to work at the spring. But as he did so, his eyes flitted back upward to trace along that long, toned leg and then over the rest of the she-wolf attached to it. The wolf really was an odd sort - lean, fit, and obviously wild, but at the same time almost charmingly naive. If he had to guess, he'd say she was from some dinky little backwoods village, or possibly a tribal camp.

He grinned a little, his one silver tooth glinting slightly. "Don't mention it, luv. It suits you. A pretty name fer a pretty girl."

"Oh!" Venn shifted a bit, her heartbeat quickening and her ears suddenly burning. It took her a few long seconds to realize she was embarrassed - and she found that rather disconcerting. It wasn't an emotion she was particularly familiar with, given the generally blunt nature of her kin. When it came to interacting with other lycans, she generally stuck with the basic responses - lust, boredom, irritation, and rage. Embarrassment rarely came up.

Her jaw worked silently for a moment as she tried to string together an appropriate response, but she finally just ended up echoing the same words she had already used. "Th-... thank you...!"

"Like I said," Kavah murmured absently, his eyes back on his blade. His wrist flexed one last time, and the thick spring finally snapped. Instantly, the jaws of the trap fell loose. "Don't mention it."

The foxkin tucked his knife back into his belt before precariously extricating Venn's foot from the still-dangerous metal jaws. Tossing the broken trap aside afterwards, he resettled the she-wolf's foot against his lap and turned his attention to her injury. "Ooh," he crooned sympathetically. "Looks pretty bad."

"Hff," Venn snorted faintly. Now that the trap had been removed she could already feel her scored flesh knitting back together, and the cracked bone gluing itself back into place. Like most of her kin she was a remarkably swift healer, and it was important to move the fox's attention elsewhere before he noticed. "It FEELS bad. C-... can you bandage it?"

Kavah hesitated, his head cocking slightly as he studied the wolf's ankle. The injury itself was nasty, but fairly mundane. Rather, it was the actual structure of the female's lower leg that was puzzling him some. Her foot was broad, her clawed toes thick and padded, and the elongated ankle structure made it obvious that she walked on her toes. It was... well, it wasn't the way most wolfkins' legs were built.

Granted, he had only slept with a few wolfkin in the past, but-

Venn shifted her position again, pushing herself further upright until she was sitting fully upright. Her leg twitched, her foot sliding against the foxkin's lap until the calloused pads of her toes were pressed rather unsubtly against the crotch of his pants. "Please?"

Kavah drew in a sharp breath at the pressure, and that cautious part his brain immediately sounded off an alarm. Bad things tended to happen when a foot was that close to his most delicate bits! But he managed to reign back his reflexive panic, and he slowly exhaled. Honestly, it was kind of nice to feel a female's toes pressing against his manhood with something less than sledgehammer force.

Venn allowed herself the faintest smile, blinking slowly as she watched the fox fidget uncertainly. She hadn't been terribly good at the banter, but this part she was familiar with. Oh yes, apparently all males reacted the same way once intimate contact had been established. She lowered her voice some, her ears slanting forward as she repeated herself in a more pleasant rumble. "Pleeease?"

The foxkin swallowed hard, his head jerking slightly. He just needed to, uh- damn it, he didn't have any healing supplies on him. He thought quickly, before loosing the bandana that he wore about his neck. He gingerly wrapped it about the she-wolf's swollen ankle several times, and then carefully knotted two corners together to hold it in place. The injury would still need to be properly splinted, but at least it would staunch the bleeding-

No, wait, that wasn't right. There really hadn't BEEN any bleeding, had there? But that didn't make any sense, because the wound had looked quite vicious. Kavah's eyes twitched to one side, playing over the saw-toothed blades of the discarded foothold trap-

"Nnh!" Kavah swallowed again, almost choking on his tongue as Venn flexed her freshly bandaged ankle - stroking and grinding the pads of her toes against the male's flaccid length with even less subtlety than before.

Venn smirked now, but she quickly twisted the expression into something a bit more coy. "Ohh," she gasped softly. "It feels so much better already!"

And, to be entirely honest, that much was true. She was thankful that her ankle had been covered so swiftly, because from the feel of it she had already fully recovered from her self-inflicted injury.

Kavah grunted softly, his eyes half-closed for a split second before he forced himself back on-task. His hands set gingerly to the wolf's calf as if to still her foot. "C-... careful, luv. You shouldn't move it 'round so much, 'cuz I'm pretty sure you've got a broken ankle-"

"Noooo," Venn crooned playfully. Her ankle flexed again, her toes spreading as she deftly caught the cloth-outlined bulge of the foxkin's shaft between two of them. Squeezing about it, her foot rocked back upward as she 'accidentally' stroked it far more directly. It had only been a moment, but that little bit of anatomy was already a good deal more... attentive to her teasing. "I don't think it's brrooken. Just... mnn... bruised."

Kavah twitched a little at that - the wolf's comment had hit just a little too close to home. Not, of course, that she had any way of knowing about HIS injuries. It was, er... well it HAD to be simple coincidence, so he tried to quell his reflexive suspicion.

Besides, it really did feel good, and given his recent history that was something he rather felt he really needed.

He exhaled softly, his eyes flicking shut as he briefly savoring the clumsy stroke of Venn's thick toes. But after an agonizingly long moment his eyes twitched back open, and he firmly but gingerly moved the wolf's foot from his lap. "J- just, uh, try'n keep yer weight off it, yeh? I might not be around later, if you injure yerself again."

"Oh," Venn murmured throatily. She shifted now, suddenly bolder than before, and her legs folded at the knees to slide her closer to the foxkin. "You won't? Then I should take advantage of you now, while you're still here."

"I, uh-" the she-wolf paused demurely, her gaze averted as if embarassed. She didn't actually blush, but she at least pretended to. "I mean, I should take advantage of your... rrr... kindness."

Kavah chuckled, his shoulders rolling in a more casual shrug. Something clicked in his brain, and he was suddenly far more relaxed. He'd had many a femme smitten with him in the past, and after the last few hellish weeks it was nice to finally be back in a more familiar situation. Er, relatively speaking. "Heh, well, I dunno what else I can do for ya, luv. I mean, I've already gotten you out'a the trap and patched up yer ankle. Only thing for ya now is to sleep it off, and wait ta heal up."

Venn shifted again, even closer to the foxkin now. One hand settled to the male's closer thigh, and her muzzle hovered so near that her hot breath washed across one side of Kavah's neck. Her posture shifted with surprising subtlety, her thighs parting just enough to remind the fox that she was still very, very naked. "Mmn, well... I do get terribly lonely out here in the woods. So... maybe there IS one more thing you could do for me..."

Kavah hesitated, his breathing quickened just a tad. His eyes briefly flitted across the wolf's thighs, and across the more intimate region that was just barely visible against the shadow and moonlight, but then he forced himself to avert his gaze. It was easy enough to ignore the view, but it wasn't quite as easy to ignore the warmth of the wolf's body near his own. Or the strangely compelling scent about her heated body. Or that hand that was pressed to his leg.

That hand...

It wasn't so much that he noticed how oddly built Venn's hand was. True, the joints were slightly wrong and the claws a little too pronounced. And granted, the black pads at her palm and fingertips were far more calloused and rough than a proper beastkin's might be. But really, it was the... intent behind that unsubtle caress that gave him pause.

There was an old adage that applied here, although Kavah had no idea where it originated. Loosely translated, it meant: Don't con a con man. And there was something very wrong here, even if he was only dimly aware of it beyond his suddenly surging hormones.

"I, errf..." the foxkin shifted now, his legs twisting beneath him as he quickly began to rise. "I can't, luv. Sorry. I've, uh, got some guys waitin' on me. Don't really have time to, uh... not fer that, anyway. But you could come back to camp with-"

Venn uttered a plaintive whine, more beast than beastkin, and her fingers curled some as she grabbed at the cloth of Kavah's pants. He was already on his feet, but her claws gouged deep enough into the fabric to halt the foxkin's hasty retreat. "W-... well we can be quick!"

Kavah chuffed softly, a wry grin on his muzzle. "Call it a point o' pride, luv, but I'm never quick when it comes to THAT-"

"You don't have to lay with me," Venn protested, her tone just a bit more desperate. "But I can still properly thank you if you'll just give me a chance!"

The foxkin hesitated at that, but he still moved to reluctantly prise the she-wolf's fingers from his pant leg. "Errf, yer makin' this kind'a hard on me, luv, but... uh..." And he sighed, his hand moving upward instead as he rubbed lightly at his eyes. "Look, yer injured."

"Only my foot!" She protested again. "I have other parts, too!"

Kavah grunted, trying to suppress his faint smile. If nothing else, he had to appreciate the wolf's bluntness. "But still, you shouldn't be up 'nd about-"

Venn grinned, showing an unsettling number of teeth. "I can stay on my back. Or my knees."

Kavah paused again, his voice faltering and his resolve wavering. But he still put up at least a token resistance. "Y-... yeh? Er, I mean, uh, there's not much y'can do from... uh... all the way down there."

"I can still use my hands from down here," Venn rumbled playfully. "And my tongue."

And the foxkin's half-hearted retreat slowed to a halt now, or at least a very sluggish crawl. Gods, when was the last time he had gotten that kind of offer? Well, there had been that lovely young leopardess back in Ma'Karach just the other week, but that suddenly seemed a lifetime ago. Besides, he hadn't even gotten to finish, that time.

"Er," Kavah grunted softly, his normally clever tongue suddenly tied. "Y-yeh?"

"Besides," Venn almost purred now, her posture shifting far less subtly as she worked herself onto her knees. Her fingers relaxed against the male's leg, sliding upward to caress from his thigh up to his hip. "Are you rrreally going to go back to yourr camp with your... rrr... weapon bulging from it's sheath like that? Do you have someone waiting there for you, ready to take care of it?"

"I-" Kavah's eyes twitched downward again, this time to his belt. Had he lost his knife already? Well, no, there it was, still safely in its sheath. So what had-? He quickly followed the wolf's gaze, and realization sank in.

"Aw," he groaned. "Fuck."

Venn chuckled, the sound coming out as a throaty growl. "I thought you didn't have time forr that?"

Kavah snorted out a laugh, his ears twitched back. "No, I didn't mean-" And then a grunt, as he clipped off the thought before finishing it. But really, at least one thing was for certain - he couldn't go back camp with an erection threatening to burst the buttons right off of his trousers. Gods only knew what the other mercs would think about THAT.

"Hhh," he sighed, but he had already made up his mind before he spoke again. "Fine. You, uh... you can 'thank' me. Just, uh, not here. Let's go a little deeper into the woods where they won't hear us, so I don't have one'a those assholes gettin' too curious and wanderin' by 'fore we're finished."

And a pause, as Kavah glanced back to Venn's bandaged ankle. "Er, I mean, if you think you can walk a bit...?"

"Oh," the she-wolf shuddered a bit, her shoulders quaking as she barely suppressed a laugh. The corners of her mouth curled upward some, her muzzle splitting into a jagged grin - but the foxkin was just a tad too distracted to really find it odd.

"I'll manage."

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

"Oh, gods!" Kavah moaned.

Venn just smiled, her head tilting slightly to one side as she languidly dragged her broad tongue along one side of the male's rigid length. She had been a little put off at first - the foxkin was built a bit differently than she was used to - but she was quick to adapt. Among her own kind she had gotten used to the distinctly tapered tip and knotted bulge, but the fox had neither. Hell, he didn't even have a sheathe to keep his length tucked safely out of the way when he wasn't using it.

Suddenly, the concept of 'pants' made a lot more sense to her.

Venn lingered at the head of the male's length, her tongue curling wetly about its tip. One clawed hand shifted from the fox's hip, curling loosely about his cock. It was long and symmetrically smooth, like a thick twig or carved branch, but with a ridged head - different, but still somehow similar to what she was accustomed to. She gave it an experimental stroke, and the fox let out another moan.

The wolf grinned anew, her ears twitching forward as she stroked along that length more firmly. It was good to know that even with the differences, the basic principles of foreplay were the same. And really, she found the newness of it all quite... appealing. It meant that she got to experiment a little.

Her fingers slid back down along the male's rigid cock, and toyed with the tufted white fur at its base. He really did have the prettiest fur - not like the thick, coarse coat that the other wolves had. And without a sheath, his length was all pink smoothness and delicate contours. She nipped gently at its tip, eliciting a squeal from the fox.

She rumbled happily, her tongue soothing over the nipped spot. The male shuddered now, some indignant warning dying before it had properly left his muzzle. Oh yes, she rather liked this. His length was different than what she was used to, but every part of it was still so very sensitive.

Venn's tongue rolled outward once more as she probed over that warm shaft. This time she curled it upward along the underside of his length, dragging her tongue from base to tip in one fluid motion, and she couldn't help but smirk as she heard the foxkin utter an almost desperate whine. Honestly, she was beginning to think that it might be a shame to castrate this one, but-

She perked a bit, one ear twitching forward as a thought occurred to her. Her tongue curled back into her elongated muzzle, briefly tapping against each of her elongated canine teeth in turn. The wolf's head cocked thoughtfully, her eyes tracing up and down along the outline of Kavah's manhood as she tried to gauge its width.

Kavah panted softly, his own ears slicked back as he was given a moment to recover his breath. Gods, he'd gotten oral attention before, but this was different. Honestly, Venn had seemed hesitant at first, but now she seemed as enthusiastic as a pup who'd just been given a new toy. He drew in a deep breath, just savoring the lingering bliss that was crawling along his nerves - and it was only after almost half a minute that he realized the wolf had stopped.

He slanted his ears forward, slowly releasing the breath that he hadn't realized he was holding, and his gaze dipping back downward. "Er... luv?"

"Hm?" Venn was still there, and she seemed a bit startled by the foxkin's prompting. Her muzzle split into a crooked grin, and she patted the male's still-hard cock with one hand. "Oh, uh, sorry. Just wanted to try something."

Kavah balked, his eyes narrowed slightly as he suddenly felt equal parts cautious and curious. "Yeh? Like wh-?"

"Shut up." Venn growled playfully, but her tone made it clear that it was more an order than a request. That said, she leaned back in, her muzzle parting just wide enough to capture the tip of the foxkin's length. Her long, sharp incisors just barely grazed the flanged ridge that ran about the head of his cock, but it otherwise fit almost perfectly.

Kavah shivered just a bit, but otherwise held very, very still. "C-... careful down there, luv. Don't want you to-"

But she ignored him, of course. Venn kept her jaw just slightly relaxed, her long fangs effectively 'framing' the male's length as she flicked her tongue back upward and over the captured tip of his manhood. It had the desired effect, and the foxkin's protests quickly choked off into another pleasured moan.

Venn leaned forward slightly, moving her head forward steadily as she carefully tested the clearance. Sure, she was probably just going to end up biting his cock off in the long run, but that was no reason to keep her from having a bit of fun beforehand. She was sure the beastkin wouldn't complain about it, at least.

The, ah, 'fun' part, anyway. Not the biting part.

Her muzzle bobbed playfully, and to her delight she found that the smooth length slid neatly between her fangs until her nose was planted against the fur just below his navel. Her tongue writhed beneath it, against the sensitive underside of his neatly captured length, and from the sounds that Kavah was suddenly uttering she could only guess that he approved.

Venn held there for a moment, inhaling slowly as she savored the male's scent. It was... odd. Her kin all smelled more or less the same - like musk and dirt and blood - but the fox smelled different. Oh, sure there was some dirt, but there was also something else. The delicate scent of oils and spices - maybe soap or perfume? Certainly nothing that her kin would use.

It was... exotic.

She sighed happily, her head sliding backward as she exhaled. Again, her longer teeth dragged against the sides as she pulled away, her tightly clamped lips dragging more delicately at the flesh caught between them. She pulled away until she could feel the edges of the foxkin's bulbous tip bumping against the back of her incisors, and then she stopped.

Yes, this would work nicely.

Venn settled into a slow rhythm, her muzzle bobbing forward and backward lazily as she methodically took the foxkin's length into her maw over and over again. One hand stayed at his hip to keep him steady, more to keep him from ruining her fun than anything else, and the other was kept at the base of his length to better 'guide' it as she moved. It really was perfect. She was a wolf, and her muzzle was long enough that she could take him in fully without his tip reaching the back of her throat.

Above her she could hear the fox moaning blissfully, and she could feel the soft, apprehensive tremble that ran through his body every time her teeth dragged just a bit too closely along his manhood. It was an odd mix of blissful lust and raw fear, and she found it more than a little arousing. Her breathing quickened some as she worked, and soon his saliva-slicked member was twitching eagerly against her tongue. As she grew more confident in her movements her lower-placed hand slipped away from the base of his cock , instead cradling between his thighs as she roughly curled her padded fingers about his white-furred sac.

She could feel the male tensing again as her claws brushed at that tender, furred flesh, but she wasn't about to be dissuaded so easily. Instead, she simply slowed the drag of her muzzle as she pulled backward, her tongue curling nimbly about his shaft to add another layer of orgasmic sensation - and Kavah relaxed again. Venn couldn't help but smile at that. Males were always so trusting, once she had her tongue against their delicate parts.

The wolf continued to work in smooth, firm motions, but her attention was turned downward now. Her fingers, admittedly a bit clumsy, probed and stroked against his scrotum as she explored over every inch of it. This was more familiar territory, not too different from the men of her pack. The foxkin's sac was a smooth, soft pouch of skin and fur - absurdly flimsy for something that was supposed to protect the precious cargo within.

Her fingers pinched down some, firmly but carefully probing for the even more familiar lumps that she knew were the core of the foxkin's masculinity. Before long she had captured one of his orbs between the pads of her fingers, and she gingerly kneaded over it. It was smaller than the ones her packmates sported, but... softer, too. And from the male's sudden gasp, she could only imagine that it was far more sensitive as well.

A rumble welled up at the back of her throat, and the male calmed again as the vibrations ran through her muzzle and along his captured length. She curled her fingers, pressing his plump little ball against the palm of her hand as she probed about for its twin... but after several long seconds she came to a rather curious conclusion.

Venn's head pulled back, her jaws parting slightly as she released the foxkin's heated cock. It fell away from her lips with an almost audible 'plop' of flesh against saliva-slicked flesh, and a long string of sticky pre-cum traced from its tip to her lips as she peeked up at the male.

"Ohh," she murmured throatily, an odd sparkle in her eyes. "You only have one-?"

Kavah swallowed hard, his ecstasy fading some as the cool night air brought him back to the present. His ears twitched slightly, a fleeting expression of irritation flashing across his normally handsome features. Why was she-?

He quickly calmed himself. She probably just didn't know any better, and it was natural that she'd be curious. Ugh, now that he thought about it, pretty much every woman he slept with from now on would be curious about it. Er, assuming he couldn't get it fixed, that is. But still, in the meantime he was going to need to think of a good excuse for his... condition.

"Rrf," he grunted breathlessly. He was eager to just get back to the part where the she-wolf was going down on him, so his pleasure-soaked brain ground reluctantly into action. He obviously wasn't going to tell the truth, so he needed something suitably heroic and impressive. "Yeh, I was... hf... there was this orphanage that was burnin' down, and I was... hf... savin' all these kids. 'Nd then this big beam fell, 'nd hit me right b'tween-"

"That's so..." Venn growled lustily, her other hand sliding down from the male's hip to instead curl tightly about his briefly neglected length. She stroked at it firmly, tilting it upward as her tongue slipped out to languidly wash over the bead of cum that was welling up at his tip. "... hot!"

Kavah twitched slightly, one ear quirking forward quizzically. He almost wanted to ask - which part was hot? The part where he was supposedly saving orphans, or the part where he was supposedly half-castrated by a falling beam of wood? He opened his muzzle, the question already at the tip of his tongue, but-

"Mmnnrrr," Venn moaned as she tipped her muzzle downward now. One hand guided the foxkin's relaxed pouch toward her muzzle, and her tongue lolled out to gently cradle his one intact egg into her maw. She suckled on it gently, her tongue stroking slickly about it as she rolled that lone orb back and forth against the rigged roof of her mouth.

"Ahn...!" Kavah almost went cross-eyed, his question forgotten in an instant. This was... well, it was certainly different. He'd never had anything quite like THIS done to him before. And really, it wasn't at all unpleasant. In fact, it was.... "Oh... Gods..."

Venn rumbled contently, her eyes half-closed as she continued to suckle on that one nugget of tender, priceless flesh. Her sharper teeth occasionally pricked at the soft flesh of the foxkin's sac, but she kept him quiet by setting her paws back into motion. One stayed at his inner thigh, caressing along his smooth fur while simultaneously making sure he kept his legs spread, and the other kept tugging and stroking along his achingly hard shaft.

"Hsst!"

Venn kept working at the male's nethers, her ears slicking back as she tried to ignore the sudden, insistent hiss coming from the nearby brush. Her muzzle yawned open, her tongue curling as she hefted the male's testicle against it. It was so light - so small and vulnerable, and yet also so sensitive to both pleasure and pain. She curled her tongue, tugging it closer to one of her sharp fangs, and she 'nipped' at the nugget playfully-

"Hk!" Kavah tensed, his toes curling hard enough to gouge furrows into the dirt. But he relaxed again as the wolf quickly relented, her muzzle pulling away from his moistened scrotum entirely. Instead, Venn's attention wandered back to his reddened length, and she-

"Hsssst!"

Venn scowled a little, her gaze flitting sidelong. She kept her calloused fingers dancing along the foxkin's manhood to keep him distracted, but her own attention was turned elsewhere. Honestly, she had almost forgotten what she was SUPPOSED to be doing, but now it was all coming back to her.

Kai frowned back at her from where she was concealed in the brush behind the two. The would-be queen's expression was one of impatience, and as she finally managed to catch Venn's gaze she made a few quick gestures with her fingers. The message was clear - to hurry up, and move the male into a better position. A position where she could more easily creep up behind him.

Venn briefly considered that, but then flicked her tongue out lightly between her teeth in response. The hell with it. She was having fun, so the other lycans could wait a few more minutes until she was finished. She gestured back with her one free hand, her fingers flattened out in a dismissive wave, and then her muzzle promptly returned to the tip of the foxkin's length.

Thankfully, the male hadn't seemed to notice the brief pause at all. His breathing was almost labored now, his ears slicked flat and his eyes closed to gleaming slits. Now that was an expression that Venn was more than passingly familiar with - it was the look of a male who was oh-so-close to release. It was a look she savored, and one that she always tried to extend for as long as possible.

"Rrmm," she rumbled happily. The tug of her paw slowed, her fingers settling into a snug embrace about the foxkin's shaft as she bumped her nose against the tip. "I think you're almost ready..."

"Hff," Kavah gasped softly. His hips bucked a bit, but were quickly steadied as one of the she-wolf's surprisingly strong hands set back against them. "J-... just a little more, luv. Nnh... c'mon, I'm almost there...!"

Venn leaned in, exhaling softly to send her warm breath over the male's moistened length. She was light now. Teasing. The fingers of her one hand played lightly at the base of Kavah's length, but she was careful not to squeeze or tug too firmly. He might not have a knot, but she could at least guess at his anatomy well enough to avoid accidentally goading him to full-blown orgasm.

This was HER time. It was important to remind the male that she was the one in control, even if she was the one doing all the work.

Her tongue lolled out once more, dragging softly along one side of his length and then the other, and the foxkin whined above her. His breathing was still harsh and uneven, but pleasure was slowly giving way to desperation. Venn smirked and tilted her muzzle back inward, her lips gently playing over that oddly helmeted tip of the male's penis.

"Nnh, f-... fer the Gods' sake-" Kavah groaned, his hips pushing forward again. One of his hands slid forward, and gripped lightly at the back of the wolf's head as if to better guide her movements.

Venn snorted softly. That was a familiar gesture, and one that rarely ended well for the eager wolves that made it. Still, she had to remind herself that the beastkin wasn't quite as durable as her usual playmates...

Her fingers twitched away from his hip, quickly moving back down to his vulnerable sac. Her claws traced lightly across that soft flesh, and with a well-practiced motion she captured his one testicle between the pads of her forefinger and thumb. She felt the foxkin's own clawed fingers tense against one of her ears in response, and she promptly bore down just a little - just enough to press the ovoid little organ a bit out of shape.

Kavah uttered something halfway between a gasp and a squeal, but he seemed to get the message. His grip quickly loosed from her ear, and she in turn relaxed her hold on his orb. Venn uttered a satisfied growl, and returned to lazily teasing the male's length with her tongue.

A twig snapped, and the brush rustled slightly as Kai moved out of cover. It wasn't an ideal approach, but honestly - the princess was simply out of patience. It had been amusing to watch Venn toy with the fox for the first few minutes, but now it had been almost twenty. Enough was enough.

Kavah's ear twitched, and some distant part of his brain tried to alert him to the sudden sounds. His thoughts were dulled, his reactions slowed, but his instincts were still relatively keen. He sucked in a breath, his eyes half-opened as he turned his head some. "What was-?"

"Damn it," Venn grumbled, but she did her best to keep the foxkin's attention on her. Her fingers curled tightly about the base of his length, and she set to stroking more briskly as she took half of his cock back into her muzzle in one fell swoop. Lower, the fingers she'd curled about his testicle relaxed, reluctantly surrendering the tender little toy that had been firmly in her grip.

"Guh-" Kavah wobbled a bit, caught off-guard by Venn's sudden enthusiasm. He quickly threw out one hand, planting it against a convenient tree to better steady himself, and the she-wolf eagerly followed his movements without missing a stroke. An alarm was still going off somewhere in the back of his head, but it seemed so distant now that it was easily ignored. Not that he could have surveyed his surroundings very effectively anyway, given that he was going just a tad cross-eyed.

"Nnnhh, G-... Gods..." he whispered blissfully, his head tilting back again as he savored the wolf's touch. He had almost had enough to push him over the edge.

Clawed fingers curled about his low-hanging sac again, and this time he didn't even tense up. Venn had already gone after them a few times now, and he was quickly learning to enjoy her odd fascination with his puppymaker. But this time the touch was far from gentle, and a sudden clench snapped him from his blissful reverie.

"Awk-" he spit out a choked yelp as his nut was firmly pinned between pad and palm, with enough pressure to almost elicit a dull crunch of mangled nutmeat.

A powerful arm quickly coiled about his neck to jerk him backwards. He was firmly pinned, his back pulled to something hot and coarse and firm, and a voice growled near his ear. "I think you've had just about enough."

Venn dragged her muzzle back, the foxkin's still-rigid length plopping wetly from her lips once more. She looked... frustrated. Almost regretful. Her hands slid to his hips, but this time her claws dug in enough to make absolute certain he wouldn't try to break free. "Hnf... sorry."

Kai snorted, her ears twitched forward as she peered over the foxkin's shoulder and down at the other lycan. She wasn't too worried about the male trying to break free at this point, because she had a rather firm grip on him - one arm about his neck, one hand between his thighs. "Goddess, what are you apologizing to HIM for? If anything, you should be apologizing to ME for keeping me waiting so long!"

Venn rolled her eyes to one side, pouting a bit. "Yes, my queen. Sorry, my queen."

"W-... what-?" Kavah managed to gasp, but it was hard to talk with so much pressure on his neck. His query lilted off to a pitched squeak, though, as the lycan at his back bore down on his captured nugget again.

"Shut up," Kai growled. She was irritated and out of sorts, but she was doing her best to take control of the situation. "I was hiding in those damn bushes forEVER, and I'm tired of it! I want answers!"

The fox worked his jaw, but no sound came out. His hands tugged impotently at the impossibly strong arm curled about his neck.

"Uh," Venn waggled her fingers up at Kavah's face. "I think you're kind'a strangling him to death. Beastkin are pretty fragile."

Kai frowned, but she eased her hold on the fox a bit. Or rather, she eased her hold on his throat. Her lower-placed hand stayed firmly clamped about his delicates. "Oh," she grunted, sounding completely unapologetic. "There. Now talk."

Kavah gasped aloud, desperately sucking down a deep breath. He tried to talk, but this time he just managed a few choked coughs. He cleared his throat loudly, his fingers tensed slightly as he tested the arm that was still firmly settled about his shoulders.

The princess frowned, her ears twitching forward some. She could tell when someone was stalling for time. She was, after all, far more clever than most. The arm she had wrapped about the male's throat remained steady, but the one she had settled between his thighs twisted firmly as if she were trying to pluck an orange from a tree. All of a sudden, the male was breathless all over again.

Still, it wasn't nearly as effective as she had expected it to be. She ignored the foxkin's dramatic shuddering, and cocked her head a bit as she tried to peek down at his crotch. The angle wasn't really ideal, but-

"He only has one!" Venn grinned back up at her.

"Really?" Princess Kai arched a brow, a genuinely inquisitive look briefly washing over her face. "Why?"

Venn shrugged casually, her gaze sliding back downward to Kavah's bobbing member. It was still just as hard as before, and just as inviting. She gave it a few quick strokes, just to make sure it stayed that way. "Dunno," she mused dismissively. "Something about orphans."

Kai cocked her jaw, briefly considering that. It was... well, she was curious. But no, there were more important things to focus on! The corners of her mouth curled upward into an ugly smirk, and she growled near the foxkin's ear. "Then that makes this even easier. You will answer my questions, or I will take this one from you."

Kavah coughed again, his ears splayed out to either side as he tried to say something again - but his voice wouldn't cooperate. His muzzle snapped shut, teeth gritted as he squirmed some in a renewed effort to escape. It was a pointless effort of course, as the she-wolf had both leverage and unnatural strength on her side.

The princess tilted her head slightly, watching the panic in the foxkin's eyes spike, and then fade again as resignation took firm hold. Her ears perked, and she tried to croon sympathetically. It was difficult, because she was trying her damndest not to smile. Beastkin males were so easy to terrorize - even easier than the males of her own ilk. She could only assume that it was because their parts didn't grow back, after. "Normally I would just take one as a warning, to ensure obedience. But in your case, I think it's best if you cooperate-"

Kavah coughed again, and this time he managed to actually form words. "Okay! Gods, I'm- just ask yer questions! I'm not tryin' to hold out on ya!"

Princess Kai arched her brows, her ears twitching forward as she considered that. It was... well, it almost felt a little too easy. But then again, why wouldn't it be? She was awesome. Still, it was a bit disappointing, because she had rather been looking forward to-

She forced herself to relax some, her grip easing as she allowed herself to smile now. "Oh, good."

There was a pause for a long moment, as the she-wolves smugly studied their prisoner, and it was Kavah who finally spoke again. His voice was still somewhat strained, his pitch a little wavering, but he had managed to recover a good deal of his breath in the moment of awkward silence. "Uh... s-... so are you... gonna ask-?"

"Right!" Kai interrupted, her attention snapping back to the task at hand. She had been so pleased with her little victory that she had almost forgotten! "Why are you acting against the Goddess!?"

"I, uh-" Kavah hesitated, one ear skewed. "Who?"

"The goddess!" Princess Kai scowled. "Sig-Nah, the giver of life. The creator of all!"

The foxkin's brow furrowed, his jaw working quietly for a few seconds. It took him a moment to connect the dots, and his eyes widened. "Wait, Cygna? Th-... the Queen of Old Amazonia?"

Kai frowned, her eyes narrowed some. She had the feeling that the fox was trying to stall for time again, but it was hard to tell. He really did seem genuinely panicked. "Yes," the wolf nodded simply. "Her."

"I don't-" Kavah stiffened some, his back going straight as his whole body tensed. "If someone's tryin' to disrespect Cygna or whatever, I ain't got nothin' to do with it! Hell, I didn't even fight in the fuckin' war!"

Princess Kai blinked, one ear quirking back. "You didn't?"

"No!" Kavah swallowed hard, his feet planting against the ground as he shifted against the wolf at his back. Venn, still knelt at his front, quickly slid her hands along his thighs to keep him stilled. "I'm not crazy! I'm a- I'm a tracker! Like, a scout! I don't fight!"

Kai's frown deepened, her hips cocking slightly as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. No, this was all wrong. This was definitely near where Arvesk and the rest of her pack had been fought to a standstill by a band of mighty adventurers, but this pathetic beastkin hardly seemed- no, she was starting to think that she might have the wrong group after all. Or at least the wrong person. Her muzzle parted, her mind racing as she tried to decide how to best phrase her next question-

"I don't think this is the right guy." Venn stated simply, her ears perked. Maybe she WOULD get to keep the fox after all!

Princess Kai snorted, her eyes rolling some. "Yes, well, obviously." And then she turned her attention back to the fox, her eyes narrowed as she took a simpler tact. "Why are you out here?"

Kavah exhaled slowly, calming some. His heart was still racing, his fur still on-end, but at least now it seemed slightly less lightly that he was about to have his head snapped off - or, er, his manhood crushed. "Uh, well..."

"No stalling!" Kai growled into his ear, her lower-placed hand tensing unsubtly against his captive marble.

Kavah whined faintly, his ears twitching back again. Okay, so... er... maybe there was still good reason to be panicked. He cleared his throat, then desperately started spewing out information. "I'm here workin' fer a guy! He's, uh, a wizard or somethin'. And he's got us, like, followin' another wizard fer some reason! If- uh, if yer lookin' fer whoever was fightin' out here, it's prob'ly the guys we're followin', yeh?"

Princess Kai eyed the fox skeptically for a moment, the gears in her brain whirring and clicking as they neatly assembled this information into place. She sighed, one glaringly obvious question coming to mind. "Who are you following?"

"Some panther guy." Kavah perked an ear, eagerly answering. "He's one'a those nobles out of Ma'Karach. Real asshole. But, uh, I mean... all wizards are assholes, so-"

Kai closed her eyes lightly, her ears twitching forward. "And is he traveling alone?"

"What?" Kavah's brow furrowed some, but he shook his head as best he was able. "No, uh, he's got some other gals with him. Like, uh, he's got a cheetah, and a gryphon, and a big-ass Amazonian gal."

There was silence for another moment, and this time Kavah knew better than to interrupt it. He just took it as an opportunity to better recover his wind - though he gasped a bit as he felt the soft stroke of mischievous fingers. He glanced downward, and Venn snuck a wink back up at him in return. He stifled a groan, and did everything he could to ignore the sly tugs and tickles that were somehow keeping his manhood at full attention despite his terror.

Finally Princess Kai spoke again, and this time she seemed genuinely curious. "What, ah... what does a gryphon look like?"

Kavah hesitated, his head tilting back some as he tried to get a better look at the wolf at his back. Was she serious? Still, he wasn't about to question it. "Er, I dunno. I mean, uh, I guess they're kind'a like... big cats, but with... uh... bird parts. Like, they have a bird head and bird wings, but the rest of'em is all feline?"

Kai pondered on that, her head bobbing slightly. It sounded odd - but then again, everything from beyond the borders of the Blood Wood was decidedly odd. Still, she WAS a little surprised to find that it really wasn't anything like Griff. She hadn't said anything at the time, but it had been hard to argue with her younger packmate's argument on the matter.

"Oh," she murmured uncertainly. "Well thank you, little fox. You've been very helpful."

Kavah brightened, his ears perked as the specter of imminent death loomed elsewhere. "S-... so duzzat mean yer gonna let me go? I, uh- I mean, I can totally answer any other questions y'might have, but then yer gonna-"

Princess Kai laughed - something akin to a mirthful growl that stemmed right on the edge of a full-blown bark. Her ears slanted forward, her eyes half closed as she licked across the foxkin's fuzzy cheek. "Oh, Goddess, no. We're going to kill you so you can't warn your friends."

"WHAT!?" Kavah's voice spiked, his body tensed again as if he were readying to break away - but the wolf easily wrestled him back into position. "But-!"

Kai promptly shifted her higher placed arm, one hand coming up to clamp about the foxkin's muzzle. Ugh, he was far too loud and far too shrill. It was bad enough that his screaming might attract more beastkin to their location, but it also threatened to hurt her ears. "Please, accept your fate with some dignity. I'm not doing this because I want to. It's just the way of-"

The princess paused, a brow quirked as she noted Venn's sullen expression. One corner of her mouth quirked downward again, her expression turning toward a muted frown. "What? What's wrong now?"

"Aw," Venn murmured. "I was kind of hoping I could, uh-"

Kai cocked her hip again, her weight shifted back to her other foot. She was obviously growing impatient. "Yes?"

Venn fidgeted, her gaze averted as she laced her clawed fingers together. "Well, I was kind of hoping I could keep this one. He's cute."

Princess Kai's jaw dropped some, her brow arched incredulously. She prepared to say something, but quickly caught herself. Her muzzle snapped shut again, her gaze turned downward as she silently inspected the fox.

Well... he WAS kind of cute. A bit too scrawny for her tastes, but his fur was certainly soft and plush - she could tell that much from the way his half-bare frame was pressed back against her own. Oooh, and he SMELLED nice, which really counted for a lot when you lived in the middle of a fetid woodland. But then again...

"No," Kai scowled. "We have more important things to do. We don't have time to take on strays."

"Ahnn," Venn whined faintly, but a sharp look from her elder forced her to silence. The younger female looked crestfallen, but she gave a grudging nod. "Okay."

Princess Kai sniffed faintly, her head cocked a tad to one side. "Okay?"

And Venn rolled her eyes, straightening some - though she was still on her knees. She spoke more clearly this time, her arms crossed indignantly. "Yes, My Queen."

Kai eyed her for a moment longer, and then sighed. A faint smile crept back onto her muzzle, and she glanced back to the fox. "But... I suppose we do have a few moments to spare, at least. If you really want to finish playing with him, then I guess I could-"

Venn perked, almost bouncing in place as her hands clasped back together. "Really!? Thank you, My Queen!"

Kai smirked, her posture shifting as she released the fox's muzzle and curled her arm back about his shoulders instead. Forcing him straight, she rumbled happily. "Just, rrm... make it quick, okay? Draev and Griff are still watching all this from across the clearing, and I don't want them getting any... ideas."

Venn smirked, but said nothing more. If the princess wanted her to make it quick, then she could make it quick! Her hands planted to the foxkin's hips once more, much as they had when she was holding him still, but this time her muzzle dipped inward as well as she swallowed his whole length down into her muzzle.

"Wow," Kai murmured as she watched. "It just fits right in there, doesn't it?" And she paused, catching herself again. The foxkin was obviously still apprehensive, but now with the younger she-wolf enthusiastically going down on him again his fear was slowly melting away. He had already been well-primed, and within seconds he was gasping desperately again.

Princess Kai smirked some, her sadistic side getting the better of her. Her muzzle leaned closer to the panting foxkin's ear, and she rumbled softly. "Enjoy this while you can, little fox, because it will be your last. The second she's done, and you've surrendered your essence, mmrr..."

She trailed off, but the unsubtle shift of her lower-placed fingers made the intent clear. The male's one testicle was firmly trapped in her grip again, but this time between the unyielding curve of her black claws.

Kavah whined now, his muzzle working wordlessly. One hand shifted, as if to plant against Venn's bobbing head - but Kai quickly stopped him with a fierce pinch.

"Ah-ah," she rumbled almost playfully. "If you stop her before she's finished, I'll just castrate you that much sooner. Do you... rrreally want that?"

The foxkin hesitated, his jaw hanging loose as his panting grew more ragged. An inquisitive growl from the wolf at his back prompted him to shake his head, though. Honestly, he didn't want to be castrated at all, but given the choice between letting someone finish giving him a blowjob or not BEFORE he got castrated... well, he'd just let her finish.

But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to think about something else. His eyes closed to slits, his thoughts sliding elsewhere - to focus on something as boring and unarousing as possible. The longer he could make this last, the longer he'd have at least some vestige of his manhood remaining.

Princess Kai snickered softly as she felt the foxkin relax some, evidently resigning himself to his fate. Her tongue washed out again, wetly swiping over his closer ear as she almost purred now. "Goooood, little fox. If it's any consolation, I'll make it quick. I'll even give you a few seconds to savor your release before I... squeeeeeze..."

She twiched her fingers, the smooth sides of her claws digging just slightly into that soft little shape she had pinned between them. The foxkin shivered against her, obviously caught between the blissful pleasure from the wolf working at his front, and the sharp pain from the wolf at his back.

"And since Venn likes you," Kai crooned cheerfully. "I won't even kill you. One little pop, and you'll be... mmrr... helpless and whimpering long enough to let my pack and I go on our way. And then, when you can walk again, you can go on living your pathetic life. Really... you should thank me for my mercy."

Kavah swallowed hard, shivering a tad harder against the princess as his mind raced. She couldn't possibly expect him to actually- ahnn... his thoughts briefly skipped a beat, as Venn's tightly clamped lips dragged upward along his painfully hard cock. Gods, what the hell was wrong with his libido? The slightest scrape of her smaller teeth sent a jolt of exciting bliss through his raw nerves, and then she was diving back down onto his length as her tongue washed over every inch of his doomed manhood.

To say it was distracting was an understatement.

"Well...?" Princess Kai crooned, her muzzle brushing against the side of his neck. Honestly, this was the most fun she'd had in ages, so she wasn't about to be put off. "Thank me, or I might just-"

"Th-... thank you." Kavah groaned faintly. The ache in his loins was rapidly being overwhelmed by the pleasure of Venn's clumsy but enthusiastic touch. But, given the circumstances, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. He could feel the pressure welling up, and he knew it was just a matter of seconds now before...

And Kai smiled darkly, her eyes gleaming as she readied herself. She could see the signs too - she had seen some of her lewder packmates pleasure themselves often enough to recognize the awkward clenching of muscles, and the sudden catch in the male's chest. Soon he'd just let go, and then she'd clamp down. It would be easy, like crushing a berry without picking it from the bush. If she did it just right, there wouldn't even be any blood. Not on the outside, anyway.

Kavah whined, his thoughts muddled now as his hormones took over. It granted him a fleeting moment of blissful ignorance as his more immediate concerns were - well, not forgotten, but at least pushed aside. The pressure welled further and further, and his hand planted lightly to the top of Venn's head as he almost whimpered... "Guh... g-... gonna...!"

CLONK!

Princess Kai uttered a pitched yelp as something sharp and heavy cracked across the back of her skull. The impact was hard enough to send starbursts flashing across her vision, and her sense of balance went out the window. She lurched forward - but the fox pressed back against her as his body tensed, and she rather suddenly lost her grip as she was sent spilling into the brush.

Venn started some, not so lost in her play that she was oblivious. Her eyes flared open, her hands clamping tighter against the foxkin's hips as she jerked her muzzle back and off of the male's shaft in one smooth motion. Her glittering eyes lashed about, to study her surroundings as she tried to pinpoint the source of the attack. "What the-!?"

And Kavah shuddered hard as that last firm stroke of the she-wolf's muzzle was enough to drag him, reluctantly, over the edge. His length spasmed hard, his one aching orb more than happy to give up its well-percolated load. The first thick glob of his impotent spunk jetted free, and by sheer perverse luck it caught Venn full in the eye as she was turning to look in another direction.

"Agh, Shit!" The unfortunate she-wolf hissed as the sticky seed spattered across her face, more than a little of it blurring her vision. Venn was certainly resistant to harm, and quick to heal from any injury that actually got past her resilient hide, but that didn't mean she was immune to pain or irritation. And this? This was both painful and irritating - and more than a little disorienting. Her hands flew to her face, as if to somehow scoop the stuff from her eye with her clawed fingers, and she stumbled roughly onto her rear.

Kavah exhaled harshly, rather abruptly finding himself freed - at least for the second. He was more than a little disoriented himself, the orgasmic rush of his release still pushing through every bit of his body and the cool air suddenly washing over his slicked cock. He wobbled some, barely maintaining his footing as Venn's hands were torn away from his hips, and the foxkin peered about dumbly.

"Uh-" he started inarticulately.

Something caught against the fur of his calf, and then higher, like an oversized bug or eager squirrel. It pinched and cut at his flesh as it scrabbled against his frame - and then an unfamiliar voice, shrill and urgent, cut through the stilled clearing. "Run, Kavah! Run!"

"Fuck!" Kavah grunted, his wits abruptly returning to him. His neck twisted, his gaze flicking across both of the fallen wolves - one clutching her face and the other her head. His heel planted against the blanket of dead leaves and dirt, and he briefly stooped to grab at his pants where they had been discarded.

And then he ran.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Kavah struggled with his pants, stumbling through brush and past trees as he tried to keep the garment from flopping back down to his ankles. He finally managed to get them buttoned as he lurched through the treeline, almost tripping over the lionkin that was waiting for him.

"Ah, what-?" Royce blinked, a bit startled by the fox's hasty arrival and disheveled appearance.

"Wolves!" Kavah gasped, and a split second later the air was rent with a chorus of howls.

Then the beasts were upon them, and the bulk of the mercenaries were far too drunk or lazy or sleeping to be even remotely ready for them.

Somewhere to the east, a staccato pattern of detonations sounded out. A billowing cloud of smoke came rushing from the woods as a dozen crude explosives detonated in rapid sequence, and what seemed like half the forest came tumbling down. From the west, Kai led the charge, with three of her kin close behind her.

What ensued was not so much a battle as it was bloody chaos, and Kavah was eager to avoid the whole thing. Behind him he was dimly aware of Royce meeting one of the things in combat, blade against claws, but the fox was more interested in finding somewhere to hide. He'd had quite enough of femmes who wanted to castrate him, so honestly - he could hardly be blamed for wanting to sit this one out, right?

Right.

The fox abruptly tripped, his foot catching on a carelessly placed pack, and he spilled to the ground. Just as he did, one of the wolves went sailing right over him, having just barely mis-timed a pounce that should have tackled the vulpine to the ground. It was only sheer fortune that he was left untouched, and he quickly sucked in a desperate breath as he forced himself to roll for cover.

The beast - it looked like one of the females, 'though he honestly couldn't tell the difference between them - pivoted on one leg as it tried to catch sight of him once more. Kavah rolled again, working his way swiftly behind one of the very few tents that had actually been erected, and he stayed there. Almost as an afterthought he fumbled at his belt, trying to find his skinning knife, but it was nowhere to be found.

The wolf drew closer, her lip curled and her eyes narrowed as she tried to ferret out her prey's location - but she stopped short as another mercenary strode from the smokey, ruined campsite.

"Hold there, foul beast!" The newcomer crowed! Kavah squinted, his ears twitching forward as he leaned just slightly from behind his cover. Which one was- oh, that was Dreki, right? The lizardman.

The warrior held a double-handed sword that seemed far too large for his whip-thin frame, and even as he moved to confront the wolf the tip of the blade dragged heavily in the dirt. "Know that you face Dreki of the Greenscale Clan, warrior without peer! Within my veins pumps the blood of my noble dragon ancestors, and with it comes the power to crush all who would dare oppose me! If you wish to surrender now, then-"

The she-wolf snorted, promptly clouting the reptile right in face with enough force to send him head over heels.

Kavah cursed, tensing a bit as he tried to spy a good opening, but there was precious little cover beyond the tent he was crouching behind. There was no helping it. He was just going to have to bolt for the woods, and hope these things were too distracted to notice him.

His pursuer turned her attention back to the camp now, again trying to spy her prey. Her lip curled once more, her flat tongue playing lightly against one long fang. "Where are you, little fox? We have unfinished business..."

She narrowed her eyes, scouring over the combatants even as the battle raged around her. The fighting was scattered - and the clearing littered with wounded or dead. On the northern edge of the camp three dimly visible figures were struggling against a single wolf, and to the east-

The tiger, Gange, suddenly appeared from nowhere, grinning maniacally as his fur sparked and smoldered. In his one hand he held some sinister contraption, all smooth reds and blacks with no less than three sputtering fuses. He made a beeline for the battle on the north end of camp, and the second he arrived there the entire skyline reddened.

It was as if the earth had simply opened up to spit fire and swallow the combatants. A yawning chasm was blown in the dirt, and an entire half of the campsite went tumbling in. At least three of the mercenaries went with it, along with one paltry wolf and most of the group's panicked horses. The crack of thunder followed a split second later, and a half-ton of dirt came raining down over the surrounding forest, setting the survivors to violent sneezing and coughing. Something heavy, maybe the bulk of a tree, crashed through the tent that the fox had been hiding behind and took it to the ground in a tangle of canvas.

The she-wolf paused, her eyes watering and her ears skewed. It was... well, clearly this wasn't something she had been expecting. But to be honest, it wasn't something that the fox had been expecting either. They both stood dumbfounded just ten feet from each other, with neither paying the other the slightest heed.

"My queen! C-... could use a little...!"

The she wolf twitched an ear, turning away from the still-rising plume of fire and smoke. Her nose wrinkled, useless against the stench of burnt flesh and blood, but her eyes quickly picked out the combat. Venn and Griff were still struggling with that lion she had passed when they had first torn into the camp.

Princess Kai sighed, and moved to assist them. The foxkin would just have to wait until after.

Royce took a quick step back, his grip shifting subtly against the grip of his silvered rapier. In his other hand he clutched a silvered parrying dagger, of questionable use against creatures that carried no weapons, but still useful as a blade. He had barely been holding his own against two lycans, and now he faced three.

"Fine," the lion growled. He spared a fleeting glance at his surroundings, and found none of his supposed allies rushing to his aid. "All at once, then."

Griff took the initiative, emboldened by Kai's return. He struck boldly - perhaps a little TOO boldly, and the swordsman deftly parried the strike. His shorter blade bit into the wolf's lashing arm to turn those claws away, and his rapier neatly pierced the lycan's shoulder so deep that the silvered tip ground against bone.

The wound hissed unnaturally, the silver eliciting a pained yelp from the beast, but the cry was cut short as Royce planted a foot against Griff's chest to kick him back. The wolf stumbled back violently, but the blade went with it.

"Ah," Royce spit out a curse and quickly shifted his stance, trying to ward off the other two beasts with his parrying dagger. "Damn it!"

Kai leered, and with the subtlest motion she sent Venn to the swordsman's other side. The wolves circled the lion warily now, their teeth bared and their clawed fingers flexing eagerly.

Just two-dozen strides distant, Kavah finally shook himself from his stupor. He should- well, he really felt as if he should be doing something. But... this was all terribly new to him. Honestly, he'd only ever been in three fights in his life, and none of them had ever been so serious as to involve blood!

Oh, sure, he'd been threatened with death on more than one occasion, but that's why he was so good at running. Fighting wasn't really-

Royce twisted, a lash of his dagger warding back the slightly smaller she-wolf, Venn. He caught sight of the wide-eyed fox, and spared him a quick shout. "Kavah! I need your help!"

The thief winced, the pressure redoubled. He cursed as well, something ugly and guttural, but he made no move. His brain wrestled with the two most immediate thoughts that occurred - to fight or to flee. And honestly, fleeing seemed the more appealing of the two options.

But then again, running away would almost assuredly mean death for the lionkin. That thought gave him pause. Kavah was certainly an unabashed opportunist, but he wasn't a monster!

"It's dangerous to go alone!" A chipper voice squealed into his ear. He felt something slithering against his neck, and cool metal was pressed to his empty palm. "Take this!"

Kavah blinked, and glanced to his off-hand. It was that broken blade that Royce had given him just a few hours earlier. It was hardly a fitting weapon - the blade had no hilt, and the gleaming metal was mottled with crudely applied silver plating, but...

The Dark Wizard drifted onto the battlefield now, on the side opposite the fox and lion. The necromancer cooly surveyed the carnage, casually stepping over Gange's smoldering body, and then turned his attention to the closest skirmish. Not far from him, Whisper was exchanging savage blows with one of the wolf-beasts.

"Hm," the necromancer murmured to himself. "Lycans. Intriguing."

Even as he watched, the lithe mousekin assassin squirmed past the wolf's guard and clambered onto its back. A curved blade flashed twice, puncturing kidney and lung, but the wolf-beast hardly seemed inconvenienced. The lycan growled, one clawed hand catching the mouse's arm against it's side, and it's whole body twisted to drive the assassin harshly into the ground.

"Well," The Dark Wizard murmured. His grip shifted against the ivory spellstaff in his gloved grip, and his mind focused on the intangible threads of magic that surrounded his chosen victim. "That's quite enough of that."

A gesture of his spellstaff was enough to drive invisible hooks into the beast's aura, and the wolf paused in the midst of savaging the downed assassin. Another gesture dragged at the necromantic threads that had made the wolfwere into what it was. It was a cunning creation, granted, but still just the product of complex magics and twisted flesh.

The beast uttered a faint whine, it's head jerking upward as it somehow sensed that something was wrong - and then it was driven to the ground as if struck by a mountain. Arcane energy sparked and crackled audibly around the necromancer's spellstaff, and the creature was held immobile as The Dark Wizard moved closer.

Shimmering lights flitted about the necromancer's frame, like a thousand irate fireflies, and the butt of his staff set lightly to the writhing wolf's shoulder blade as he studied it. "Ah, second generation wolfwere. One of Cygna's creations, if I'm not mistaken. I wasn't aware that she had actually designed you things to breed."

The necromancer paused, his cowled head tilted and his tone curious. "Let's just see if I can-"

He pulled at the invisible strands of magic, the motes of energy surrounding him flaring to life as they were drawn into his staff. An impossible amount of power flooded through the old, carved bone as if it were an arcane firehose, and pumped into the wolf's prostrate form - and then the beast simply ceased to be. Flesh and bone crumbled away as the energy was discharged, and the creature aged a million years in an instant. What little remained was caught on an errant breeze, erasing any trace that the creature had ever existed.

"Hm," The Dark Wizard murmured impassively. "Perhaps I overdid it."

Another of the wolfweres snarled, lunging straight for the robed figure now - and the necromancer undid that one as well. If anything it was easier to do the second time, now that he had tested the tenuous magical bindings that allowed the impossible beasts to exist. This time the creature's twisted body smoothed out, bones and muscles forcibly shifted from humanoid back to quadrupedal, and it's mind was dulled to animal intellect.

Stripped of all necromantic energies, the creature was reduced to nothing more than a mundane wolf. It did what any confused and frightened animal might do, given the circumstances, and it immediately fled into the jagged treeline.

"Tsk," The Dark Wizard murmured. "Sloppy work. So simple to undo."

A third wolfwere, Draev, staggered to a halt just ten feet from the necromancer as he obviously had second thoughts about pressing the assault. The Dark Wizard turned toward him, and the young lycan quickly turned tail and ran.

"Ah," the necromancer chuckled softly, watching the lycan flee. "Smarter than they look."

"Goddess!" Kai's muzzle hung open, her eyes wide. Even from across the camp she had spied the wizard's actions, but she wasn't quite sure what to make of them. She wavered some, her confidence bleeding away, and uncertain terror quickly flooding in to take its place. "What-!?"

Royce swiftly took advantage of the momentary distraction, lunging forward and slashing his arm wide. The princess was caught off-guard but still managed to twist away, and the blade only found her thigh.

Kai uttered an agonized whine, her leg buckling beneath her, and she toppled backward to the ground. Her skull smacked against the knotted bark of a protruding tree root just hard enough to daze her, and the swordsman quickly moved in for the kill.

"Away from her!" Venn crashed into the lionkin bodily, and both tumbled through the sparking embers of an untended campfire. The two twisted and fought and scrabbled for advantage until the wolfess ended up on top. Her teeth were bared, a vicious growl welling at the back of her throat. "Don't you touch her!"

Royce grunted, rocks and smoldering wood biting into his back. He was dimly aware that his pant leg had caught fire, and he desperately thrashed his body against the dirt in an attempt to both extinguish the flame and prevent the wolf from ending his life. One arm wedged upward, his forearm planted against Venn's neck, and he kept her gnashing teeth just a scant inch from his own vulnerable throat.

"Ngh-" The lionkin glanced sidelong as he spied Kavah approaching, and his voice rang out desperately. "No, I have this one! F-... finish the one I wounded! She's the alpha!"

The fox blinked, the lion's words piercing his dense skull. "I-... what? She's what?"

"The- agh!" Royce rolled onto his side, shoving Venn into the dirt, but the wolf stubbornly clung to him. He tried to bring his blade to bear, and she abruptly shifted her target from his neck to his wrist. Sharp teeth sank into his arm, and the silvered dagger was lost amidst a blanket of dead leaves.

The lionkin balled up his other fist and struck the side of the wolfwere's head as hard as he could, and her grip loosened. He wrenched his wounded arm from her mouth and rolled again - this time ending up atop. He planted his elbow against her throat as he tried to keep her pinned, spitting words between harsh gasps for breath. "Th-... the alpha! If you kill the... nf... kill the alpha, and they'll retreat!"

Kavah finally found the willpower to move, his frozen joints grinding back to life as he managed a sharp nod. He took three hesitant steps, and then three more, as he forced himself to close in on the stunned lycan. The broken silver blade hung loosely in his grip, the edges biting into his palm, but he shifted his grip to hold it as if it were a knife.

Princess Kai groaned at his feet, shifting against the ground as she tried to regain her bearings. Her head ached and her left thigh burned like fire, but she was steadily recovering - but as she looked up she froze again. The foxkin stood over her, a gleaming blade in his grip. Clearly he could end her, but for some reason he stayed his hand.

"Please," the would-be queen's voice was small. "Please don't hurt me!"

"I-," Kavah hesitated again, looking to the blade clutched awkwardly in his grip. "I, uh..."

"Kill her, Kavah!" Royce hissed, his attention still mostly focused on the beast he was wrestling with. The two combatants rolled again, but the lion managed to stay atop this time. His sharp eyes spied his dagger where it had fallen, and he shoved Venn back against the ground with one hand before lunging toward his missing weapon with the other. "Kill her now!"

Kai threw her arms up as if to shield her face. Her voice quavered and cracked as if she were on the verge of tears. "No! I don't want to die!"

Venn almost howled, her head twisted toward the fox as she did her best to break free from the swordsman's grip. Any semblance of affection for the foxkin vanished as she spied him threatening her packmate. "Don't you dare! I'll kill you! I'll kill your whole family! I'll rip off your balls and feed them to you, you filthy-!"

Kavah's ears skewed, his gaze flitting to the struggling lion and then back to the she-wolf that was cowering before him. The she-wolf seemed so small now. Small and weak and vulnerable. Gone was the fearsome monster that had threatened him and chased him through the woods, and in its place was a wounded and frightened girl - and a fetching one, at that.

He sighed, his blade lowered. "I can't. I can't just KILL her. I-"

Kai shifted her arms, peeking up from between them a bit incredulously. The fox was looking away toward the lion, and his weapon wasn't at the ready. That was all the opportunity she needed.

The princess squared herself against the ground, her hips braced and her good leg kicking upward with all the force she could muster. Her muscles coiled and fired like loaded springs, the pads of her thick toes crushing upward into the vulpine's crotch with all the delicacy of a padded warhammer.

Kavah uttered a plaintive squeak, more startled than pained, as his one good ball was caught neatly by the blow and crushed almost flat against his body. The impact carried through his softer bits and impacted his body proper with enough violence to lift him up and off of his feet, sending him lurching back into the brush. It was only once he had lost his footing, sent to the dirt on his hands and knees, that the pain caught up with him.

"Aww, Gods...!" His voice lilted upward in a whine, his loins ablaze in an all-too-familiar agony. Nausea spiked through his gut, threatening to spill the half-digested jerky that he had eaten just an hour earlier, but he managed to swallow it back. Still, his muzzle pressed firmly to the dirt, tears welling up at the corner of his eyes and drool running freely from his gaped maw.

Royce blinked, momentarily dumbstruck. His dagger was back in hand now, but he was genuinely startled enough to not even think of using it. It was just as well, anyway, because Venn was almost as startled as the lionkin - 'though she had a broad grin on her muzzle.

And then Griff was back. He was still favoring his wounded shoulder, but at the very least he had managed to prise the blade free from the wound. Better still, his wounded arm did nothing to stop him from viciously kicking the lion in the side, striking with more than enough force to separate Royce and Venn.

He offered a hand to Venn, and she swatted it away, twisting to her feet without assistance. "Not me, you idiot! The princess! Help the princess!"

Griff dutifully moved to help Kai to her feet instead, and the injured she-wolf gratefully accepted the assistance. Her wounded leg wouldn't support her weight very well, so she leaned heavily against the male. "The others?"

"Gone," Griff grunted, his whole body listing to one side. Kai was heavier than she looked. "The wizard got them."

The princess hesitated for a split second, then sighed. "Then let's get the hell out of here."

"Yes, princess." Venn appeared at her other side now, and the three wolves swiftly retreated back into the woods, leaving the camp in shambles.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

An unnatural calm settled onto the battlefield, and The Dark Wizard drifted impassively from body to body. Most were wounded, and a few were worse. One or two of the mercenaries, unscathed, sheepishly returned from where they had fled into the woods and quietly started tending to those who still lived.

Royce had recovered his feet swiftly - not swiftly enough to stop the wolves from fleeing, but at least swiftly enough to comfort the injured foxkin. He crouched at the whimpering vulpine's side, patting him uncertainly on the back.

"Er, yes, that's right," the lion murmured hesitantly. "Just, ah... just breath. You'll be fine. That, ah... that probably looked much worse than it actually was. Just... er..."

And Kavah just groaned, his muzzle still pressed to the dirt and both hands clutched desperately between his thighs. He was almost entirely still, but for the heave of his shoulders as he struggled to breathe, and the slight twitch of his limp tail. His voice was lilted, broken and close to soprano as he lamented his injury.

"Nng...g-... guh... why do they... nn... always hafta go for... nnh... the balls...?"

Royce winced a bit, one ear skewed. He had a badly wounded wrist himself, and he was fairly certain that one of his ribs was broken, but somehow that made him no less sympathetic for the poor fox. Especially if the unfortunate fellow really DID suffer from this kind of treatment on some sort of regular basis.

"Er, well, just..." The lion cleared his throat, patting the fox again. "Just try to walk it off."

The necromancer loomed over them, his features hidden 'neath unnatural shadow, but his voice almost entirely disinterested. "Will he live?"

Royce scowled, not sparing the wizard a glance. "He'll be fine. He's just, er... he's just winded."

"Hm," The Dark wizard murmured. "Yes, he always does seem an unfortunate one. Well then, leave him to his misery and join the others. We need to take stock of the wounded, and tend to the dead."

The lionkin frowned a little, then sighed. As much as he wanted to talk his friend through his current predicament, there was no denying that he could be more useful elsewhere. He gave the fox one more half-hearted pat on the back, then rose to his feet.

"Right then," the lion mused. "I'll go get a shovel."

The robed figure paused, silent for a moment, but when it spoke it almost seemed... surprised. "A shovel?"

Royce arched a brow. "Ah, for the bodies?"

And The Dark Wizard chuckled. "Oh, no. We won't be doing that. I've something much more... practical in mind, for them. Concern yourself with the living, Ser Silver-Heart. Tend to the wounded."

The necromancer turned, striding across the battlefield, but his voice drifted back to the disconcerted lion.

"And leave the dead to me."

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

"You're sure he's dead?" Princess Kai huffed incredulously.

Griff hesitated, his gaze averted. The princess was... well, he'd never seen her quite this agitated. And when she grew upset, it rarely bode well for any males within arms reach. He subtly shifted his weight, ready to flee at a moment's notice. The intent of his movement was not lost on the princess.

"Griff." Kai growled warningly.

The male's shoulders slumped, and his head bobbed. "Yes princess, I- he-... you were distracted when it happened, but I saw it clearly. The... the wizard-thing struck him with that staff, and he... he crumbled away into nothing."

Kai exhaled sharply, her mind racing so swiftly that, for once, she wasn't even annoyed that Griff hadn't addressed her as a queen. Her jaw worked, ears slicked back as she murmured uncertainly. "Oru... damn it. Arvesk is going to kill me."

She sighed, her rage filtering away as uncertainty settled into its place. "And what about Varg? Are we sure-?"

Venn furrowed her brow, poking the wolf that was following her. The wolf stared back, but said nothing. It couldn't. Unlike the lycans, it was just an ordinary wolf. But for some reason it was still following them around.

"Uh," Venn cocked her head, and the wolf cocked its head as well. "I think this is Varg."

"What!?" Kai scowled, tromping over to study the creature. She leaned in, sniffing lightly at the wolf, and the creature sniffed at her in return. "Don't be ridiculous. This is just a normal wolf. There's no way that it could be Varg-"

"Yarf!" the wolf barked eagerly, brightening at the familiar word.

"It can't, uh-" Princess Kai hesitated, then frowned. "Varg?"

"Rrr?" the creature whined uncertainly, then flopped back onto its haunches and started grooming itself.

Griff scratched at the back of his neck, his ears skewed. "Uh, yeah, I think the wizard-thing got him too."

"Shit." Kai groaned.

They were all silent for a moment, all eyes on the princess as she fumed silently. Finally, Venn dared to speak again.

"Uh, my queen...?"

"SHIT!" Kai shouted, one arm lashing out to tear into an unfortunate tree. Wood and bark splintered as deep gouges were torn through its trunk, and with a heartfelt groan the entire thing listed heavily to one side until it was caught by the boughs of an adjacent tree.

Venn and Griff exchanged glances and fell silent again. Varg yelped, startled, and promptly fled back into the woods.

Princess Kai slumped some, taking a quick second to pick splinters and sap from her powerful claws. "Fuck. Ugh... okay, we need to-" And a pause, as she suddenly straightened. "Wait, where's Draev?"

Both of the other lycans perked as well, their heads swiveling about as they scanned the surroundings. Draev was usually overshadowed by the more rambunctious members of his pack, so it was easy to completely forget his presence at times. But this time, he actually seemed to be completely absent.

"Err..." Venn rumbled uncertainly, but she trailed off. She had nothing.

"Well," Griff frowned. "He escaped. I saw it! Right after Varg went down, he bolted for the woods! He should be here!"

Kai set one hand to her forehead, her eyes closed lightly. "Hh... Goddess, fine. We'll... we'll find Draev, and then I need to think. I... I need to decide what we're going to do next."

And the three fell silent again, but the answer seemed obvious to them all. Even Kai had to admit that things had gotten more than a little out of hand, even if she wouldn't outright say it. The princess sighed, her gaze flitting back to the distant east.

Really, at this point she just wanted to go back home.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Draev tore through the brush on two legs. Really, had he his wits about him, he'd have transformed first - it was a lot easier to flee in terror when you had four legs instead of two. But still, it was easy to remember that sort of thing when you weren't already busy fleeing in terror.

Goddess, that wizard. The things it had done to Varg and Oru. And- shit, maybe it had gotten the others, too? Was that even possible? Could that wizard-thing have really killed Kai and Venn and Griff too?

Ugh, he didn't even know where he WAS anymore. He had just torn back into the woods as fast as his legs could take him, but surely he'd put enough distance between himself and the camp by now. He'd been running for what, a full minute now? Maybe two? Enough, at least, that he was getting winded.

He staggered to a halt, panting harshly as he tried to get his bearings. His gaze turned upward, ears perked as he studied the moon. The terrain had been very different going out, than it had when he had first come in - all charred pits and burning trees - but the moon was still in the right place.

"Hn," he grunted to himself. Draev generally prided himself in being smart and restrained - more so than most of his kin, to be certain. He could figure this out if he just gave it a moment's thought. "Okay, let's see here..."

His gaze flitted across the stars, keenly picking out the ones that he usually tried to navigate by. It was hardly an exact science, since so many stars looked alike, but he had learned that some of them formed patterns that he could navigate by. Once he spotted the right ones, he could just reorient himself and head back to the proper meet-up point where-

The faintest rustle of brush caught his attention. Honestly, it was so soft that anyone other than a wolfwere might not have noticed it at all, but he was still soaked in adrenaline and panic - two things that had forced hyper-awareness upon him.

"Hn?" He grunted again, twisting about to peer in the direction the sound had come from. Maybe Kai or one of the others had already tracked him down, and saved him the trouble of-

A cheetahkin stared back at him, just ten paces distant. She had knives at her belt, but the only thing in her hands was- what, a book? Her jaw hung open, making it clear that she was just as surprised as he was. "Uh..."

Draev recovered first, his lip curling as he lunged for the feline. Obviously one of the mercenaries had somehow followed him, and if he let her get away she'd bring the whole camp after him! The whole camp of beastkin, and that horrible wizard-thing!

"Fuck!" Raffina gasped, her arms shooting upward to defend herself. Draev was fast, all sinewy muscles and magically boosted nerve impulses, but the cheetahkin was... well, she was a cheetah. Her reflexes were so fast that even she couldn't keep up with them sometimes.

The second the lycan was upon her, she had already brought her arms swinging about. The book was a heavy little thing, with thick vellum pages all bound in protective covers of leather and thin wood. It wasn't quite a weapon, but it was still like a brick, and it smashed up beneath the wolfwere's jaw with significant force.

"Gk-!" Draev choked out, his head snapping back as his forward momentum was suddenly redirected upward and off to one side. His body, confused by the sudden lack of proper direction, stumbled a few steps off to the left before he managed to right himself. His jaw hurt, and he had bit his tongue rather badly, and the world was lurching uncomfortably beneath his feet.

Raffina didn't waste a second, her eyes flitting downward as she gauged the proper distance and angle. The heel of one boot planted firmly to the dirt, and she kicked off against it as she dashed toward the dazed beast. One, two, three long strides and then-

The toe of her absurdly plated boot lashed into the unfortunate wolf's crotch with enough force to send out a distinctive 'ping' of metal on bone. It wasn't that she had missed her intended targets, but rather that she had flattened at least one of them so thoroughly that it barely provided resistance between her steel toe and the bone it was being crushed against.

Draev promptly folded, his nerves exploding with pain as his brain tried to process this new damage report. His eyes were already wide and watering as his hands slapped against the ground, a stabbing pain cutting through his loins and right into his gut. It was - what, his left nut that had been caught by the kick? The right? It was impossible to tell, but he was fairly sure it was just one.

Goddess, and he'd thought the princess kicked hard.

He gagged violently, his whole body shuddering as he tried to right himself. Agonizing pain or not, he was still a wolfwere. And not just a wolfwere, but a second-generation wolfwere. He might still feel pain, but he could heal quickly, and in just a moment or so he'd be well enough to bounce back and dispatch the cheetah before she could fetch reinforcements.

He just had to... rgh... he just had to blot out the impossible pain, and-

Raffina calmly walked around the cringing beast, hefting the book in both hands before driving it atop his head again. Wolfwere or not, there was only so much abuse he could take. Griff went limp as he was knocked out on the spot.

Raff exhaled slowly, briefly regarding the fallen wolf. She glanced back over her shoulder in the direction she had come from - the direction of that odd, chaotic camp and the black-clad wizard that had been directing it. Then she looked back to the fallen lycan again, her brow furrowed.

"What," she murmured to herself, "The FUCK is going on?"

And when no one sprang from the bushes to answer her entirely rhetorical question, she sighed. The book was shoved under one arm, and she leaned down to grab the scruff of the unconscious lycan's neck as she heaved him off the ground.

Hn. Heavier than he looked.

She shifted her hold, gripping the thing with both hands before pulling him up and over her shoulder. She wasn't too far from camp now, and she had some rather odd news to deliver to Rhaelyn and Veridia. Some odd news, and more than a few questions.

"C'mon, pup," she grinned, wading back into the brush with the lycan in tow. "Let's see if you can give us some answers."