Featherlight: 4/9 (+1)

Within two hours, we arrived at another fork.

This time, the main branch curved one way, and an even narrower passage veered the other. As we had been traveling, I had begun to have a theory. The crevasse could have been a stream bed, once upon a time, before the Wastes had dried up. Then that, coupled with the geological upheaval that had shattered the land, had resulted in these passageways we had been navigating. Per that theory, the smaller branch might have been a tributary feeding into a larger stream. It likely was a dead end.

Which made it all the more interesting when Larissen pointed towards the cramped passage.

“This way,” he said.

He was pointing towards the narrow offshoot that assumedly went nowhere.

Likely, this was why he refrained from immediately leading the way in. Well, that and the cramped nature of the passageway. It would have been a tight fit. While the passage was wide enough for a person to walk, that width was bent. A person would either need to crawl, as a result, or mold their body to the bend as they went.

“You’re sure?” Kate asked.

“His scent goes in.” Larissen shrugged. “How far? This one does not know.”

Muleater pushed past the Caravan Master and Gregory, until she stood behind Kate and peered over her shoulder. “Could he even fit?” she wondered.

Gregory snorted. “Only if he transmuted himself.”

Nobody else laughed at his joke, if even it was. When his humor fell on deaf ears, he glared at me as though it were my fault.

Ignoring him, Kate mused aloud. “He might not be that far in,” Kate offered.

“Or… it could be a trap,” Ken muttered.

We paused, eyeing the opening dubiously. Getting trapped in the narrow passage with a hostile on the other end would be catastrophic. Horrific, even.

“I wonder,” Manny said hesitantly. “Did… did he–Charson–did he carry his supplies with him when last encountered him?”

I thought back to it. He did have his chest-like satchel, along with a backpack. I thought I saw where this was going. “He–” I answered, with my voice only slightly trembling from my weakness. “-yes, he did.” Though, even if he did not, I would not have changed my answer.

“Then where are they?” Muleater asked, seemingly picking up on Manny’s train of thought. “He couldn’t have fit anything through there.”

“This is where his scent leads,” Larissen repeated himself, an edge of anger slipping into his voice.

“And I don’t doubt it,” Muleater said. “I’m merely addressing the practicalities.”

“Don’t forget, Charson is a tricky bastard,” Ken said, frowning at the crevasse. “But if we’re to do this, we need to do it quick.”

“Right,” Muleater said. “Entering will be a fool's errand though. We’ve no idea if it even goes anywhere. As Ken said, this is likely a trap.”

It was silent for a moment, broken only by Gregory when he shuffled his feet. Larissen glared at the humans. The situation was not tenable in the long term. If the party fractured, then there would eventually be violence. Either when Larissen and I tried to take whatever rations the humans had left, or when the predators of the wastes picked up on our trail and took advantage of our weakness… or when the humans betrayed us. I doubted that Kate would do so, but I could not guarantee that the other humans would stay true to their word.

What Larissen and I needed was leverage. Leverage that I might still have, for I still had the two vials from the alchemist, after all. A plan formed, but I would need to speak up, and my throat felt oh so parched. My lips cracked. My tongue glued to the roof of my mouth.

“We–” I cleared my throat again, the others looked at me. Larissen’s hot eyes, and Kate’s bored ice. “-we could scout ahead for the alchemist’s baggage.”

“That’s dumb,” Gregory said. “If he went in there, why would his baggage be out here? It’s not like he’d leave it.”

“No, but he might have stowed it before scurrying into that hole to hide,” Ken said. “Especially if he thought he could ambush us.”

“Are we sure he couldn’t fit his bags through there?” Kate asked. I had also wondered that. If Charson was so creative, I thought he could have managed it, by either making trips, or squeezing a bag in front and behind. But there was another issue with that plan. I just had to wait for Larissen to point it out. And after a few moments of arguing, he did.

“Kitten,” Larissen said, with a hint of embarrassed reproach in his voice. “If the human doubled back, then his scent would travel both directions. It only goes one.”

Kate narrowed her eyes; her breath calmed and I could feel her sword hand twitch beneath me. Interesting. Was she reacting this way because of Larissen’s tone? And why had Larissen sounded reproachful? I had theories, and most of them revolved around my failures as a beastborn, at least in Larissen’s eyes.

“His trail stops here?” Muleater asked.

Larissen nodded, “Is what this one said.”

“Then… then he’s in there…” Muleater thought aloud.

“It could widen out further in,” the Caravan Master offered somewhat hopefully. It would have to, to fit his girth.

“There’s too much unknown,” Muleater said with frustration. “It could be a dead end, it could be an ambush; what we know is the wyrkwik are coming, and the surest way forward is the path we’ve been taking. We can’t follow him in.”

“Not all of us, at least,” I said.

“But who would we send?” Muleater asked, considering.

“I’m the smallest,” I said.

“You can’t, not wounded like you are!” Kate protested immediately. “You want to leave us? If you got trapped in there, or worse… no, it’s just a bad idea.” She sounded hurt at the end, and as though she wished to add more but refrained.

“Cowards,” Larissen said with disgust. “This one would go, but does not trust Kitten will not be harmed by staying behind.”

“That’s rich,” Kate scoffed, turning her hurt into anger, which she easily redirected. “You would probably just bring her along to eat, you–”

I coughed to quiet her. That attitude was unhelpful.

“No harm will come to her if she sticks with me,” Kate changed tact. “I guarantee it.”

Larissen eyed me. He radiated concern. I nodded, smiling, my tail flicked. “Are they trusted?” he asked in Kaivan.

In Imperial, I answered, “I trust her.” It was a lie, of course.

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He gave a firm nod, then angled towards the cramped offshoot. He glanced another look back my way. And now, came time for the leverage.

“Wait!” I called him back. He turned fully to me and Kate.

“What now…” Ken groaned.

“Take these,” I said, retrieving the last two vials from my pocket and holding them out to him. Larissen’s eyes widened, his ears perked up. “Just in case.”

“What are…” Manny trailed off.

“You’ve been holding out?” Muleater asked, offended.

“No,” I answered slowly. “You never asked if I had more,” I explained. Not that I would have told her if she had. I had no guarantees that they would have resisted the urge to rob me in my weakness. “To keep him safe,” I added to further ameliorate any guilt she thought I might have. Her eyes softened.

“Thank you,” Larissen said, taking the vials and ducking into the passage.

Muleater shook her head as she watched him squeeze into the narrow passage. Then she spoke over the muted conversation between Gregory and the Caravan Master. “Kate, guard the rear. Ken, watch the passage. I’ll take the front. The rest of you check your feet.”

“Ma’am,” Kate said, not completely serious, and turned towards the direction we had come from. Since I was still in her arms, I went with her. She eyed a small ledge on the wall, a few yards away, and she brought us over there, before settling against the wall to wait. She looked down at me. Apparently, unbothered by my weight.

“Will you be putting me down soon, I wonder?” I asked, hopefully playfully. I was in no condition to walk far, but I could not come across as wanting to be carried, at least not too much so.

She scoffed, but nodded, and set me down gently beside her, so that my back was leaning against the wall, and my feet on the ground. My tail got caught in an awkward position, between the stone and my backside. She realized immediately it was getting pinched, and she traced her hand down my side until reaching my tail, and she gently pulled it aside, and angled it partially towards her, so that I was partly leaning against her, and partly against the wall. She put an arm around me.

In a way, we had a private moment. While the others were just yards away, in the dark passageway, with only the light glow of the lanterns at their belts, they were dim blobs of light, and their hushed voices would be barely audible, were I a human. My ears were sharp though, and they twitched as I overheard Gregory complaining about bestiality and perversions to a sympathetic Caravan Master. Of course, I suspected that sympathy was false. The only empathy the Caravan Master felt was towards cold hard cash, or in this world, Chargers.

But to Kate, this must have seemed a private moment, which explained the boldness she felt in overcoming the barrier she felt between her and her affections. I was unsure how to proceed, and set upon the safest course: passivity.

“I think the others are upset with you for holding out on those vials,” Kate said.

“I didn’t mean anything untoward about it,” I said, almost apologizing but not quite. “It just didn’t come up. I’m really truly sorry,” I lied once more. “Forgive me?” I added in a weaker voice.

She sighed, and I heard her shake her head, her short hair dragging through the air. “I’m not upset with you, you’ve nothing to apologize for. It’s just this situation.” She groaned. “But they’re gonna ask, and I gotta know, why did you hold out on us? We could have used those to break through the infested earlier. We could be almost to Southbridge by now.”

“I’m so sorry,” I repeated, but in a weaker voice, increasing the fragility of my tone, not that acting so was difficult at the moment, considering my health.

“Please forgive me?”

She sighed, “Like I said, there’s nothing to forgive,” she said, and then in a huskier voice, leaning in closer to the back of my head, with her height putting her mouth near my ear. “But I could think of ways for you to make it up to me. If you insist that is.”

I resisted the impulse to shudder. Though an autonomous shiver did run down my neck, my spine, my tail. This could not end well. It just could not, would not. But at the same time, the affection was not wholly unwelcome. Kate was attractive. A strong calloused woman, or girl really. Competent, and blithe to most emotional leverage, if her lack of empathy was any indicator. Though she did feel shame, and she did feel desire. It was not a healthy mix, especially when she desired that which shamed her; it could easily lead to problems. For me. I needed to pick my next words carefully.

“But Sir Kate,” I gasped. “What would your friends say?” I asked, perhaps too coyly.

“Gods take them,” Kate scoffed. “We might not survive. Take pleasure in the moment. And I want to receive my pleasure, from you.”

Oh. That was not the reaction I expected.

This was not good. I had overplayed, hoping she would compensate the other direction… not this. Mothersworn it!

One of her arms was over my shoulder, holding me against her, and her other hand began sliding from my knee up my thigh. The shiver I felt expanded, my body betrayed me. But my mind did not. Another tact, then, to attempt extricating myself without burning bridges.

“This lowly one desires it as well,” I said, mimicking the inflection and accents of the Kaiva, if only slightly, just to emphasize my point. “But… is it not taboo? I could not stand for my mighty savior to be lessened in the eyes of the humans.” I might have laid it on a bit thick, but my mind was distracted, between the illness, and the encroaching, reciprocated, and unwholesome desires. I had to continually remind myself that this union could only end in tears.

Her hand paused on my upper thigh, her grip there firm. “You don’t want to.”

“No! I do,” I said. “I really do.” I did not. But I did. I could not say honestly one way or another, but at this time, doing anything further than talking would be a mistake.

“Then why?” she asked. Was she seeing through my manipulations, or was she dense? I could not believe she was foolish. I decided that she must be speaking from a place of spurned desire, or perhaps a memory of rejection. Another complication. I needed to change references. Something that would snap her out of it. This game was growing dangerous.

I swiveled at my waist, until I was facing her, and I leaned my muzzle in and upwards, so that I was facing the lobe of her ear.

“I’m scared,” I said. And for once, I spoke truthfully. For I was scared. Not only of the mikuya, of the humans, and of the Kaiva, but also at the idea of romance. My body–it was not mine, not really. The pain I could endure. But the mannerisms? How could I even kiss with a muzzle instead of true lips? Even with my mouth towards her ear, that meant my damp nostrils were abutting her face. I was hideous. Nothing was right. Nothing! It was–

She turned her head and placed her lips against mine.

I snapped back, in shock, or I tried to. It was all reflex, of course. Fortunately, her arm held me in place and kept me from fleeing far. Her head leaned after me, her lips against mine. Her tongue, tracing the very inside of my lips, making a line from canine to canine. Breathing was difficult. My nostrils were at the front of my face, pressed against her upper lip. I grew light headed. Spots danced in my vision. I twisted slightly, and broke away enough that I could breathe in a deep gasp.

“Heh, sorry,” she said unapologetically. “That was fun.”

I nodded, still in a daze.

“Once we break for camp, I was thinking you and I could take the same watch shift.”

I continued nodding.

“Then when we’re back in Southbridge… well, we’ll figure it out then. I’ll convince mom to buy something, maybe a remit? Or maybe it would be just easier to fake a collar. Or a real one? That could be fun…” she grinned wickedly.

That was when I stopped nodding. While that could be fun, I would not trade my freedom. I could not. Slavery, an unforgivable offense. The reminder sent a burst of rage through me. I pulled away from her, overcoming her grip.

“I will not be owned,” I said, weakly, softly, almost imperceptibly, but I still said it.

“Not like that,” Kate said slyly. “But it would be easier that way–”

“No. I know what you’re thinking. But how could I trust it? How–” I was going to continue protesting, but a scent grew when the air shifted. Hints of saccharine rot. I strained my ears. Kate moved to open her mouth, but I put a hand, my only hand, over it. She protested, but I hissed. There. I thought I heard it. A shuffle. From the way we had come.

Kate, finally realizing that something was wrong, opened her mouth to ask.

She really did not need to ask. It was obvious.

“Mikuya,” I said.

Blessings: Rank (1/9)

* Body: 65

* Mind: 75

* Spirit: 49

Talents:

* Athleticism (3/9):

* Climbing I (1/9)

* Featherlight (4/9) (+1)

* Stealth I (3/9)

* Trackless Tracks (6/9)

* Alchemical Immunity (ineligible for growth)

* Eschiver (1/9)

* Evasion (5/9)

Spells:

* Illusion I (5/9)

* Touch (6/9)

* Closed

* Closed

Gifts:

* Obsession (3/9)

* Closed (0/9)

* Closed (0/9)