by Rowan Bree
And there are none, at least until you get to the end of the passage. There is only a door, and beyond it the wilds outside the castle walls. To the west is the deep forest, ancient and full of magic, and to the north the mountains. Following the castle walls east would bring you to the sea, but if you had wanted to go there you should have taken Hawke along.
The deep forest.
The mountains.
You turn and run back down the passage. You can hear the dog’s nails scratching up the stones as it chases after you. The hound is built like a racing dog and is fast, much faster than you. You feel paws against your back and hit the ground hard. The wind is knocked out of you and the flame in your hand goes out. You feel disoriented. You can’t breathe.
Human arms wrap around your body restricting your movements. The human form of the shapeshifter has a wiry, savage strength. He pushes up your dress and shoves your panties aside. You writhe underneath him fighting to keep from being violated. You try to rekindle the red fire in your palms, anything to prevent the inevitable. But your magic won’t come. You are defenseless.
The shapeshifter forces himself inside you, his human cock too long to fit all the way. He tries to push it in further against the resistance of your body. You can feel your stomach bulging where he can go no further, and then an odd feeling of pressure as his cock slips against something deep inside of you. The feeling sends tingles through your body like nothing you’ve ever felt before.
You let out a low, deep moan and the shapeshifter moves his hips the same way again, the tip of his cock brushing against that new part of you and making the pressure build more. You can feel yourself drenching his cock in your juices. You grind back against him, craving that deep feeling of pleasure. You think his cock might be rubbing your cervix, in just the right way that it doesn’t hurt or feel uncomfortable. Far from it. It’s driving you wild.
You pant and moan like an animal as the shapeshifter moves on top of you. Your body is covered in sweat and you can feel the delicious building, building, building of pressure and then your body is tingling all over, vibrating as it never has before. You feel release from your head to your toes, coming in waves and patterns through your nerves. You don’t think you’ve ever felt this before.
As the vibrations settle you feel a change in the shapeshifter. He is no longer bearing his weight on you, and it feels like there is a bulge at the base of his cock where there wasn’t one before. You try to slide his cock out of you, but it gets stuck around the bulge. You hear canine panting. You look over your shoulder but it’s too dark to see anything without the red flame in your palm.
You wait there in the dark, too scared to move. Every time you shift you feel a small aftershock of your deep orgasm, even knowing that the shapeshifter is no longer human.
Finally you feel a tugging and a pop as the shapeshifter pulls out, followed by a warm flow of liquid from inside you. You hear paws on stone growing fainter until they disappear down the pitch black hall. Only then do you have the courage to fix your clothing and get up.
Your palms rekindle with fire, the red glow seeming to mock your lack of command over it. You cast your eyes away from the gleaming white puddle in the middle of the hall and continue forward. Hopefully there are no more horrors waiting in the dark.
And there are none, at least until you get to the end of the passage. There is only a door, and beyond it the wilds outside the castle walls. To the west is the deep forest, ancient and full of magic, and to the north the mountains.
The deep forest.
The mountains.
You turn and run back down the passage. You can hear the dog’s nails scratching up the stones as it chases after you. The hound is built like a racing dog and is fast, much faster than you. You feel paws against your back and hit the ground hard. The wind is knocked out of you and the flame in your hand goes out. You feel disoriented. You can’t breathe.
Human arms wrap around your body restricting your movements. The human form of the shapeshifter has a wiry, savage strength. He pushes up your dress and shoves your panties aside. You writhe underneath him fighting to keep from being violated. You try to rekindle the red fire in your palms, anything to prevent the inevitable. But your magic won’t come. You are defenseless.
The shapeshifter forces himself inside you, his human cock too long to fit all the way. He tries to push it in further against the resistance of your body. You can feel your stomach bulging where he can go no further, and then an odd feeling of pressure as his cock slips against something deep inside of you. The feeling sends tingles through your body like nothing you’ve ever felt before.
You let out a low, deep moan and the shapeshifter moves his hips the same way again, the tip of his cock brushing against that new part of you and making the pressure build more. You can feel yourself drenching his cock in your juices. You grind back against him, craving that deep feeling of pleasure. You think his cock might be rubbing your cervix, in just the right way that it doesn’t hurt or feel uncomfortable. Far from it. It’s driving you wild.
You pant and moan like an animal as the shapeshifter moves on top of you. Your body is covered in sweat and you can feel the delicious building, building, building of pressure and then your body is tingling all over, vibrating as it never has before. You feel release from your head to your toes, coming in waves and patterns through your nerves. You don’t think you’ve ever felt this before.
As the vibrations settle you feel a change in the shapeshifter. He is no longer bearing his weight on you, and it feels like there is a bulge at the base of his cock where there wasn’t one before. You try to slide his cock out of you, but it gets stuck around the bulge. You hear canine panting. You look over your shoulder but it’s too dark to see anything without the red flame in your palm.
You wait there in the dark, too scared to move. Every time you shift you feel a small aftershock of your deep orgasm, even knowing that the shapeshifter is no longer human.
Finally you feel a tugging and a pop as the shapeshifter pulls out, followed by a warm flow of liquid from inside you. You hear paws on stone growing fainter until they disappear down the pitch black hall. Only then do you have the courage to fix your clothing and get up.
Your palms rekindle with fire, the red glow seeming to mock your lack of command over it. You cast your eyes away from the gleaming white puddle in the middle of the hall and continue forward. Hopefully there are no more horrors waiting in the dark.
And there are none, at least until you get to the end of the passage. You open the door to the wilds beyond the castle walls, only to find the goat-horned demon from the king’s garden blocking your path.
“You thought you could actually get away?” he taunts.
You feel for the door behind you, but find it locked tight.
The demon laughs. “This world’s fate was sealed when Vale used you in the ritual. Your fate was sealed when you refused my help.”
He takes a step forward, his hand extended.
“Come with me, dear child. It’s time to bring this new world to heel.”
A deep rumble comes from somewhere in the castle and dark shape like a giant bird comes swooping overhead. It heads for the mountains, climbing higher and higher on its leathery wings. The demon watches it with concern.
Run while he’s distracted.
Surrender yourself.
You call upon your magic, visualizing the ball of light in your hand growing hotter. Nothing happens. You try again. Still nothing. The shapeshifter hound comes at you, its teeth bared and eyes fixed on its prey.
It is too late to run now. You give up trying to control your magic, knowing there is nothing you can do, and as soon you do you can feel the ball of light in your palm burning hot. The passage is illuminated by the angry red glow from the growing ball of flame suspended in your hand. You hold it up just as the creature leaps at your throat.
The shapeshifter hits the ground with a wheezing thud.
Half-blinded by the brightness of your own magical flame, you can only just make out its shrinking figure as it escapes down the hallway. You can’t believe your magic actually worked.
The flame subsides back down into the little foxfire it was before and you continue ahead.
There are no more horrors waiting for you in the dark, at least until you get to the end of the passage. There is only a door, and beyond it the wilds outside the castle walls. To the west is the deep forest, ancient and full of magic, and to the north the mountains. Following the castle walls east would bring you to the sea, but if you had wanted to go there you should have taken Hawke along.
The deep forest.
The mountains.
You call upon your magic, visualizing the ball of light in your hand growing hotter. Nothing happens. You try again. Still nothing. The shapeshifter hound comes at you, its teeth bared and eyes fixed on its prey.
It is too late to run now. You give up trying to control your magic, knowing there is nothing you can do, and as soon you do you can feel the ball of light in your palm burning hot. The passage is illuminated by the angry red glow from the growing ball of flame suspended in your hand. You hold it up just as the creature leaps at your throat.
The shapeshifter hits the ground with a wheezing thud. Half-blinded by the brightness of your own magical flame, you can only just make out its shrinking figure as it escapes down the hallway. You can’t believe your magic actually worked.
The flame subsides back down into the little foxfire it was before and you continue ahead.
There are no more horrors waiting for you in the dark, at least until you get to the end of the passage. There is only a door, and beyond it the wilds outside the castle walls. To the west is the deep forest, ancient and full of magic, and to the north the mountains.
The deep forest.
The mountains.
You call upon your magic, visualizing the ball of light in your hand growing hotter. Nothing happens. You try again. Still nothing. The shapeshifter hound comes at you, its teeth bared and eyes fixed on its prey.
It is too late to run now. You give up trying to control your magic, knowing there is nothing you can do, and as soon you do you can feel the ball of light in your palm burning hot. The passage is illuminated by the angry red glow from the growing ball of flame suspended in your hand. You hold it up just as the creature leaps at your throat.
The shapeshifter hits the ground with a wheezing thud. Half-blinded by the brightness of your own magical flame, you can only just make out its shrinking figure as it escapes down the hallway. You can’t believe your magic actually worked.
The flame subsides back down into the little foxfire it was before and you continue ahead. Hopefully there are no more horrors waiting in the dark, though if there are you know how to handle them.
You reach the end of the passage and open the door to the wilds beyond the castle walls. The goat-horned demon from the king’s garden stands there blocking your path. You won’t be able to use your fireball trick against something as powerful as him.
“You thought you could actually get away?” he taunts.
You feel for the door behind you, but find it locked tight.
The demon laughs. “This world’s fate was sealed when Vale used you in the ritual. Your fate was sealed when you refused my help.”
He takes a step forward, his hand extended.
“Come with me, dear child. It’s time to bring this new world to heel.”
A deep rumble comes from somewhere in the castle and dark shape like a giant bird comes swooping overhead. It heads for the mountains, climbing higher and higher on its leathery wings. The demon watches it with concern.
Run while he’s distracted.
Surrender yourself.
You head west into the deep forest. The gnarled trees are older than the kingdom itself, and hold more secrets. Surely no one will find you here.
A thin screech disturbs the quiet. Warning fables come out from the depths of your consciousness, stories of wild witches and giant carnivorous bugs. But there are worse things waiting for you back in Tyven. You press onwards.
After a while you stop to rest against the trunk of a tree. Your dress is in tatters and your feet ache. You are not dressed properly for a walk through the forest. At least it doesn’t seem like anyone is following you. Up ahead you can see the faint outline of a house or perhaps a hunter’s cabin. Even from far off it looks abandoned.
The ground rumbles below your weary feet. Your body tenses. A tree falling? An earthquake? You wait and there is another rumble, a bit stronger this time. You can hear the cracking of tree trunks. The ground rumbles again, even stronger. Something big is coming this way.
You gather up your skirts and prepare to run, but the next tremor is less intense. The creaking of the trees is quieter. Whatever it is seems to be moving away. Maybe you won’t need to run after all. But it might be a good idea to find a place to hide for a while.
Go to the hunter’s cabin.
Continue deeper into the forest.
You don’t like the idea of going back into the forest, even if it is a different one from the forest you came to Tyven from. You choose the mountains.
There is a narrow footpath leading up into the mountains, but it is slow going in your fine dress not suited for hiking. You will soon need to find supplies and a safe place to rest. There should be inns and small towns along the way. You aren’t familiar with the north but eventually there will be larger cities where you can lay low. Tyven is not the only city of its size in the kingdom.
The night is warm, and surprisingly peaceful. The monsters Vale brought forth must be drawn to the capital for all its people. You think about what Sybil told you, that you were an enemy of the Order. You wonder if Vale knew all along and that is why he kept you prisoner. Part of you wants to go back and help fight Vale but getting caught now would help no one. You will need to find someone who can teach you to use your magic before facing the Order again.
You see the remnants of a small camp up ahead, nestled between two forks of the path. It looks to be long abandoned, the torn tent canvas dusty and fire pit growing weeds. It must have been a traders’ camp to be placed in such a central location. Mere travelers would have camped somewhere more secluded.
As old as the place is, there might be supplies. You duck into one of the tents and have a poke around, but there is not much to see beyond a moth-eaten quilt and a wooden trunk with smashed hinges. You manage to find a sack with two moldy potatoes. Deciding not to bring them with you, you put them back down.
Someone is standing at the tent’s entrance.
“Find what you were looking for?” says a velvety voice.
The lithe man steps into the tent. His face is feline and covered in short fur. Two triangular ears poke up through his hood. The cat folk are thieves and hunters but not dangerous. You relax.
“I need supplies,” you tell him.
He comes closer. “You won’t find them here.”
“Is your camp close?” you ask. The cat folk are known for aiding wayward travelers, as long as they don’t ask for too much or overstay their welcome.
He nods. His green eyes gleam in the moonlight. “Come with me.”
You follow the feline through the trees to his camp. He doesn’t say much except to tell you his name.
“Ash,” he says.
Every name of the cat folk has a story behind it. They change names several times throughout their lives, their identities shaped by their actions. You wonder what his story is, but refrain from asking knowing how little cat folk like others poking into their business.
Ash’s camp doesn’t look much different from the one he found you at, though the tents are intact and there is a small fire going.
A muscular feline man stops Ash at the border. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asks looking sideways at you.
Ash tries to push past him. The feli
ne pushes him roughly back.
“She needs supplies,” Ash tells him.
“Not from us,” the other replies.
Another member of the camp passes by, offering his two cents. “Leave him alone,” he says. “We don’t turn back travelers in need.”
Ash pushes aggressively past the muscular feline and pulls you along with him. You get the sense that the camp doesn’t like Ash much, judging from the looks they give him as he walks through the camp.
“I’ll give you clothes, a days’ food, and a few copper coins. Weapons you’ll have to do without. The next town’s not far. Lay low until morning.”
He takes you into one of the tents and gathers your supplies.
Ask him why everyone avoids him.
Wait in silence.
You tell Hawke to be careful. He nods and enters the ship.
The moon is ripe in the sky. The sea is calm as it laps at the shore. You scan the docks. No movement. No sound either.
You hope Hawke’s men just decided to turn in early, or maybe explore Tyven while their chief is away. You don’t know much about the sea tribes, but you know enough about men to assume at least some of them would be lured away from their duties by the capital and its nighttime vices.
Movement on the deck catches your eye, but when you turn to look all you see is a wet patch catching the moonlight. You didn’t notice it before, but it doesn’t look like blood. It is too translucent. You kneel down to take a closer look.
