Gathering Gloom
Gathering Gloom
Lightning strikes the side of a foreboding mountain as a convoy of three zeppelins struggle to fly amidst the storm supplying the dangerous light show. The zeppelins in question are a patchwork of many different materials that look as if they have been cobbled together from scrap metal. Propeller screws push the airships across the sky as the winds batter the balloons and threaten to burst them at any second.
A bolt of lightning strikes one of the zeppelins directly and forces it to careen into one of the other two on its way down into a forested valley. The one that had managed to sail through this ordeal unscathed so far starts to make a descent so its crew can aid the wounded when it too is struck. Inside this lead zeppelin the crew has been thrown into a panic.
"PASTEUR!!!!!" A lady cheetah in an outfit that looks the result of a shotgun wedding between a circus ring master's usual attire and the provocative leathers of a dominatrix outfit yells into a speaking tube on the bridge where she attempts to command the aerial vessel, the controls of which includes a large wooden wheel like one would see on an a sailing ship. "The controls are not responding!"
"We got a surge in the engine room, Morgana!" A voice replies through the tube. "I'm fixing as quickly as I can. But right now, I'm the only alchemist on this ship. Brody and Ishtar are trying to help but you're just going to have to be patient."
Down in the engine room a skunk in the workman's leathers of an alchemist is desperately wrenching at the gears that turn the turbine that keeps the ship moving. A lady mink in the provocative leathers of an acrobatic clown is holding on as best she can while upside down. A wolverine in black leather and chainmail with highlights of other more festive colors as if he is a professional circus knife-thrower is throwing smaller wrenches about tighten nuts and bolts that are threatening to pop loose at any minute with more that a few of those wrenches ricocheting back to him.
"Quit playing around, Brody!" The mink growls at the wolverine. "If we don't help Pasteur keep these rust buckets of gondolas soldered together with dreams and prayers, we'll probably hurtle to our deaths below!"
"I helped build these gondolas, Ishtar," Pasteur, the skunk, growls annoyedly at the mink as he finally gets everything stable enough for them to make a semi controlled descent before yelling up to Morgana. "Try it now, Anna!"
"Sluggish, but it'll have to do," Morganna's voice calls down. "Brody, would you do me a favor and find Xerxes and tell our lupursyn dino tamer to get his sorry tail up here, please?"
"Sure thing, Ana," Brody says with a smirk. "He's probably in the live hold keeping our menagerie somewhat calm, him and Rose that is."
"That bitch of a she-wolf better not be drinking my milk!" Morganna's voice growls down angrily.
All three mustelids shake their heads and sigh.
"I'm going, I'm going," Brody grumbles under his breath as he leaves the chamber.
"I'm coming too!" Ishtar yells before running after him as a ferret femme in a very provocative version of a harlequin passes her by with a wink.
"Oh, Pasteur!" The ferret coos seductively. "I have a special reward for you in appreciation for keeping us from dropping to our dooms?"
"Oh, really, Kim?" Pasteur asks although he knows full well what the ferret wants to do with him and he thoroughly approves.
Kim parts the leather robe and apron of Pasteur's attire so she can rub her hands on the groin of his pants as a prelude as to what she plans to do next. Pasteur helps her get his pants off which elicit a licking of the muzzle from Kim. She licks at his scrotum in order to het his member out and ready to play; suckling on the head of his shaft when successful.
Brody has his hand on Ishtar's ass as they go deeper into the main gondola to find the dino keeper and by proxy, the dino tamer as well; Ishtar has her hand down Brody's pants as if anticipating what she plans to do with him eventually. The first area they have to go through is the cantina in which a few of the other fairly major members of the troupe have situated themselves. The wolverine and the mink try to be quiet and discreet as the ones they are looking for are not here at present and thus they have no wish to disturb the goings on around them.
A black furred bull in a sleeveless silvery chain mail shirt over which is a purple leather vest, orange hard leather fingerless gloves whose knuckles are reinforced for maximum punching power, green leather pants and orange leather boots sits across the table from a yellow mare in a red and gold Kung-Fu uniform. They are both heavy into their cups with both the European bull and the Asian horse smirking at each other broadly and Brody whispers to Ishtar a ponderance as to how long it will be before Tyrsun tries to undress Ling who whispers back that it shouldn't take too long for the monk and the barbarian to begin to get it on and while it will be fun to watch they have other things to do.
At the other table a sow in a chain mail bikini and patchwork leather jacket in all the colors of the rainbow and whose hair and eye colors periodically change colors is reading the tarot for an adult goat in black leather pants, silvery boots, black leather jacket with white gloves on whom stars and comets magically move about and twinkle in random colors. Zelda jiggles her breasts a little to tease Houdini as they drink and discuss the reading amongst themselves in quiet whispers. Ishtar and Brody look at one another, smirk ruefully and shake their heads as they move on.
Obama, the chimpanzee cavalier that travels with the circus and performs as an trick rider, is leading his pachycephalosaurus around an exercise track as Brody and Ishtar come into the area on their way to the dinosaur kennels. Ishtar smirks as she can see the blue chain mail under the red leather jacket which is fully open with the yellow tabs that sometimes keep it closed dangle to the side, the heavy blue steel shield with a white star in center on his back, his red leather pants tight against his package as his blue boots are beginning to look a little worse for wear. Brody hails him as they get closer.
"Obama!" Brody calls out. "How are you doing, my man?"
"Hi, Brody," Obama says back with a smile. "What are you and Ishtar up to now?"
"Morgan wants Xerxes," Ishtar states. "Is he in the kennels?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't go in there just yet, Rose is with him," Obama relates. "I do my best to take care of Revolution so they tolerate me. But others..."
"I gotcha," Brody says with a smirk. "Thanks for the warning."
Ishtar walks in first, more because Xerxes is less likely to attack her than Brody if what they think is going on is actually happening. A green leather jacket with brown leather strips across its front hangs on a post with a fine purple mail shirt beneath it and an archaeopteryx whose plumage is a riot of color sitting nearby that calls to announce their intrusion. Green leather pants lay on a chair with a pair of orange leather boots under the chair and a pair of cestus glove gauntlets like Tyrsun was wearing on top of the pants and draped over the chair is brown leather robe with green leather trees on the back and sleeves and pink roses on either side of the hood.
"It's just us, Spy," Ishtar coos softly to the proto-bird then a pair of compysognathuses pops out of the boots. "Oh, you two looks like Xerxes has all his little helpers here."
"Xerxes?" Brody calls questioningly. "Morgan wants you."
"She can have him when I'm done with him!" A female voice yells from the back.
Ishtar really does know better but her curiosity gets the better of her and she leans around the corner to get a better look at what is going on as Brody is entirely tempted to do something sexual to her but the fact that they have an animal audience prevents him from acting on his baser impulses. A pink furred she-wolf with long black hair streaked with pink with natural black gloves and socks and a black tipped tail is riding an orange wolf-bear with black tiger stripes, solid purple eyes and green hair with reckless abandon. Behind them predatory dinosaurs watch the porn show with tremendous interest; excited but content to just watch in their cages as if the acts of the canines are inexorably placating them.
Xerxes catches sight of Ishtar and winks to her although she is a little disturbed as the eyes of Xerxes are blank, devoid of either pupils or irises. Ishtar gives him a weak smile and slinks back around the corner into Brody. A moment later wolf howls in stereo reverberate throughout the chamber that send chills down Ishtar's spine.
The compys drag the boots around the corner as the archy grabs his pants and flies them around the corner. A moment later, Xerxes himself walks around the corner to put on his shirt and coat and give the mink and the wolverine a smirk as a naked Rose walks behind him to give him a hug. While he makes his way out, the archaeopteryx perches on his shoulder as the compysognathuses scurry about underfoot.
"I think miss kitty and I need to have a little talk," Rose growls as she puts on sandals and dons her robe. "By the way I felt the ship lurch back there. Is everything alright in the engine room?"
"We got hit by lightning," Brody explains. "We just got it under control but we're going to have to land on that patch of land and do a full assessment."
"You mean, we're landing down there?" Rose asks with much trepidation as she looks out a window. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Morganna is struggling with controls when the compys run over and begin chasing each other in a wide circle around her but she pays them little heed as the chicken sized dinosaurs pretty much have the run of the ship as they are seen as harmless pets for the most part. Spy takes flight off of Xerxes's shoulder to perch up in the rafters of the chamber itself which again Morganna ignores. It's when Xerxes sneaks up behind her to wrap his arms around her and fondle her breasts; something that is a little surprising given the fact that Xerxes is a full nine feet six inches tall and weighs over three hundred pounds to Morganna's five feet ten inches and maybe two hundred pounds.
"XERXES!!!" Morganna thunders. "That better be you I feel. We need to make an emergency landing. Are the animals secured?"
"Revolution is out and about but that's because Obama is giving him some exercise." Xerxes states: "Everyone else is where they need to be."
"Good, once I land the Rainbow Zephyr," Morganna says in planning, "We may need to let the animals out of their cages in a controlled fashion in more ways than one." She grabs at Xerxes's scrotum as to punctuate this fact. Because after this, I need a reward."
"Where are Rubber Voyager and the Ship of Fools?" Xerxes asks as he looks over her shoulder.
"They crash landed in the rainforest surrounding the mountain." Morganna states, "We aren't that badly damaged but I think they are. All three ships are part of the same troupe."
"Our troupe," Xerxes says grimly. "I understand completely. I'll see what Healer Boxes we have and make sure everyone with access to white necromancy including myself are available with our spells at the ready."
"By white necromancy you mean healing spells right?" Morganna asks and receives a playful squeeze of her breasts in response. "I keep forgetting you can cast spells too."
"Pasteur is an alchemist, so he's not a direct caster," Xerxes says, "Rose and Zelda are both more or less clergy, I am too considering Rose and I draw from the same source for our magic, you, Houdini and Kim are the main arcanists on board."
"Kim?" Morganna asks and then corrects herself. "That's right she's a bard, she's often very subtle with her spell casting."
"You've also never been the target of her instant cream pie or suddenly seltzer spells," Xerxes says as he continues to molest Morganna. But I know you have your own way of keeping her in line so she doesn't dare cross you."
"True," Morganna says with a smirk as she struggles to keep the zeppelin on an even keel. None the less they end up knifing into a storm cloud. "I wanted to avoid that little black rain cloud, bugger!"
"I think I may need to take over the wheel for a bit," Xerxes half commands of Morganna who just lets him move forward to do so. "Spy, be ready pull levers or turn dials. I expect the same of you two as well Frick and Frack."
All three dinosaurs salute the lupursyn and get into position to obey his commands much to Mroganna's amazement.
"No matter how many times I see it," Morganna says as she kneels before the beast master, "I'm never sure if I'm really seeing what I'm seeing."
Xerxes just smirks and stands before the wheel as Morganna slides down his pants. The storm intensifies as the new pilot takes over the helm. It takes all his strength to keep the ship from spiraling out of control.
Morganna busies herself with licking at his scrotum to get his cock out and ready to suckle as the lupursyn is keeping the ship on its course by sheer force of will and brute strength. The groaning of straining metal is loud and clear which causes the dinosaurs to give Xerxes a worried look to which he gives them non-verbal reassurances. Xerxes calls out to the storm and commands it to decease its winds which only intensify as if in defiance.
Xerxes grits his teeth and takes the Rainbow Zephyr into a controlled spin. Pasteur is momentarily worried and starts working on the engine which annoys Kim as it means he had to stop having sex with her as she stands by completely naked and glaring at the skunk. There is little Pasteur can do that he hasn't done already but the spinning of the ship hurls the alchemist into panic mode.
"I appreciate the slight improvement in controls, Pasteur," Xerxes's voice calls down to the engine room, "But calm down; the spin we're in is a controlled spiral."
"We're spinning on purpose?" Pasteur asks nervously.
"Yes, Pat," Xerxes says calmly. "Go back to fucking Kim."
"Listen to the Beast Master, Pat," Kim says excitedly. "You don't need to fix things yet."
Pasteur gives Kim a bemused smirk as he knows exactly what she wants from him and if Xerxes is control of the ship's wheel he can relax a bit for now and give her what she wants. Kim squeals with delight as Pat goes back to licking and suckling at her tits as she massages his shaft and scrotum to get him hard again. The sounds of the pair at play filter up to the bridge and only encourage Morganna as she has gotten Xerxes good and hard.
Morganna frumps as she decides just what she wants to do with Xerxes right now. She kisses his Prince Albert piercing and moans a little to herself in pleasure as she plays with her own clitoris. The cheetah knows how good it feels to have this enhanced member between her legs and longs for it to invade her crevasse once again, but that would distract him too much or so she thinks.
"Morganna, love if you're going to drool over my member lean against the wheel, pull away your panties and let me fuck you against the wheel." Xerxes growls as Morganna readily complies with his demands. "We've done similar to this before."
Morganna just smirks as Xerxes enters her while pressing her against the wheel and taking her with much authority. Whether she realizes it or not, her positioning herself as she is doing is actually helping Xerxes control their descent as fucking her provides extra pressure on the steering wheel to keep it from spinning too wildly. Xerxes now has a knowing smirk as he knows exactly what he is doing even if the pleasure addled Morganna is blissfully unaware of the methods being employed with her as a willing, if unwitting facilitator.
Down in the rainforest greedy reptilian eyes watch the descent of the Rainbow Zephyr with great anticipation. Survivors of the other two crashed zeppelins have already gathered at the shores of the huge lake surrounded on three sides by massive walls of sheer stone. Cats, sheep, mice rabbits, dogs and other mammals are all busy building tents for sleeping and cooking as well as booths just as they would if they were setting up shop for a week or so.
The Rainbow Zephyr touches down semi gracefully in the lake itself as the gondolas are built to accommodate a water landing. Once the anchors are weighed and the vessel is secure a section of the ship is lowered as a gangplank and Obama leads the parade off the zeppelin onto solid ground like a conquering knight returning home after a successful campaign. Behind him Xerxes cracks a heavy whip to drive the dinosaurs onto the fair grounds, starting with the triceratops who usually do most of the weighty transport.
Next are the iguanadons and pachycephalosaurus who provide help with some of the lifting and act as personal transport for all involved much like folks used to use horses, donkeys and mules in our world with Morganna and Rose both riding a bonehead. After them come some ankylosauruses with howdahs on their back carrying each one carrying a different pair of stars of the circus: Tyrsun the strong bull and Ling the fire eater in one howdah, Zelda the Soothsayer and Houdini the Illusionist in another howdah, Brody the Knife Thrower and Ishtar the Acrobat in still another howdah and finally but certainly not the least of the performers arriving in this fashion Km the happy clown singer and Pasteur the Amazing Alchemist. Finally the carnivores come out of their cages and onto the field under the watchful eye and vigilant whip of Xerxes the Dino Tamer astride an allosaurus.
All the survivors, machinists, roustabouts and clowns alike smirk to themselves as this is exactly how the performers would parade through a town to help drum up business. Little boys and girls of all species would just flock and watch in wide wonder as the performers and their animals would parade by and while the carnivores would scare many, Xerxes would spare no flashy trick to entertain the crowds to assure them all that he was the one in charge and that there would be no carnage today. Deep in the forest jungle drums beat ominously as the forms of reptile humanoids can be seen flitting from tree to tree in agitation at the new arrivals.
Xerxes next oversees the construction of the holding pens for the carnivores with whom the lupursyn is always careful to keep an eye on to make sure none of them accidentally eats anyone. The raptors especially need to be kept watch on as they are prone to find ways out of their cages and wreak havoc in a pack. Although among the dangerous carnosaurs the one Xerxes almost never frets over is the bull allosaurus that he always rides on as the pair came to an understanding long ago; in fact Caesar helps Xerxes keep the other carnivores in line.
Spy, Frick and Frack help Xerxes do a bit of hunting, to keep the carnivores fed with fresh meat. A trio of gators attempts to sneak up on him, with nets to capture him for tonight's stew pot. Unfortunately for them, what they failed to consider were the compysognathuses that accompany the lupursyn and their unflinching loyalty to the ranger.
Frick and Frack nip at the heels of the gator and Spy circles above them to spoil any chance of an ambush. Xerxes is hunting with javelins as part of his personal preference. All three gators throw their nets at Xerxes as he throws one of his javelins.
Xerxes is not the only one out hunting tonight from the circus troupe as both Brody and Obama are out here as well. Other gators are stalking them as well but not as many are after each of them as are challenging the lupursyn. All the gators are armed with stone axes in addition to the nets they use to try and capture the mammals.
Brody is lethal when he needs to be with his throwing daggers as the gators find out to their detriment. After loading the corpses into a cart pulled by a triceratops Brody finds a swarm of coelurosauruses, small quadrapedal dinosaurs no bigger than a house cat with stiff wings on their sides and on their heads suitable mostly for gliding. Smirking to himself, the wolverine gets in some target practice and brings a bunch of them back to camp for roasting.
Nets thrown directly at Obama get deflects off of his shield or avoided entirely as the chimpanzee cavalier lowers his lance and has Revolution charge for a counter attack. One of the gators gets fatally impaled by Obama's lance as the other tosses axes at the cavalier who uses his shield to block them successfully. Failing to get his lance out of his first victim, Obama draws his saber and charges the other who leads him towards his village yelling a warning all the way until Obama decapitates him in a ride by attack.
One of the gators after Xerxes falls from a javelin to the heart as the lupursyn manages to avoid all but one of the nets tossed at him. The remaining pair surge at Xerxes as one but they are in for a surprise when they find that their nets aren't quite big enough to contain the big mammal as he surges after one of them as they run after him. Using the momentum of his own charge, Xerxes tackles one of his would be killers and then starts punching the tribesman with his specially reinforce glove gauntlets which he wears as a back up weapon for just such an emergency.
With a few powerful pugilistic strikes, Xerxes staves in the skull of is attack as the other just watches on in stunned horror After Xerxes extricates himself from the net he takes up his whip which causes the gator to laugh. Slavers are no strangers here but most of them end up in the stew pot so the primitive warrior has no fear of the lash as his tough hide will shield him from its sting, or so he thinks.
The whip that Xerxes uses is called a dino whip and is more substantial than any mere bullwhip. In fact his weapon of choices is made of coiled steel and hemp rope held together with steel bands coiling a full fifteen feet around him. After the first crack leaves a gash across the gator's chest a full inch deep the tribesman stops laughing and starts running for his life.
Xerxes cracks his whip again and this time wraps it around the neck of the gator who thought he dine on mammal flesh tonight. With a mighty heave he withdraws the coils of his whip as the gator kneels dumbfounded. As the body falls to the ground, his head rolls his neck as Xerxes just glares at the corpse.
"Xerxes!" Brody beams as he sees the lupursyn come into camp with a triceratops pulled cart behind him. "How did you do? I got a pair of gators to feed the carnivores and some gliders for the rest of us to share."
"Not bad," Xerxes says amicably as the cart with his kills holds all three gators he killed, some scutellosauruses and a seismosaurus. "I managed to get us enough food for a while. How did you do?"
"Fucking show off!" Brody growls and is ready to traipse off when he glares back. "By the way, did you see Obama in your travels? He's over due to come in."
"Not like him to be late; how long?" Xerxes asks.
"A couple of hours," Brody says plainly. "Which is I'm asking, I take it you haven't seen him?"
"Nope but have the gators butchered and fed to the carnosaurs," Xerxes says as he makes his way back into the forest. "I'm going to see if I can't track down our wayward cavalier and bring him home."
"Will do," Brody days with a nod, full knowing that Xerxes is the best tracker in the whole troupe.
Later as Brody is supervising the butchering of their game Morganna comes over to speak with him.
"Brody," Morganna asks. "Have you seen either Obama or Xerxes?"
"Obama, I haven't seen since we started the hunt," Brody answers honestly. "Xerxes I just met and he's going to look for Obama."
"WHAT!?!" Morganna thunders. "You left him out there alone?"
"Anna, we only have one ranger in the troupe and that's Xerxes and if anyone is better suited to track down where Obama's gotten to and find out why he's not back yet, I have yet to meet him or her." Brody counters. "Trust me, kitty, I'd be more concerned for any of those gator hunters we ran into. I know I was attack and so was Xerxes. He's not in a great mood, and it's the savages he'll take it out on."
"I'd have to agree with that assessment," Rose say in agreement. "Xerxes is a ranger, if anything this place will be a playground for him."
Rose goes back to her tent and performs a ritual in ancient language of her profession. She beseeches the spirits of nature to watch over and guide Xerxes back home to her bed. Morganna lingers near her tent to see what the she-wolf if up to but has no idea what she is saying.
Xerxes is much more cautious in his actions upon his return to the jungle since his encounter with the savage gator folk awakened his eyes to the potential dangers. The smoke of cook fires gives him a clue as to where Obama might have ended up. While Obama never really appreciated the merits of stealth and sneaking up on a potential enemy, Xerxes is a hunter as well as a trainer of dinosaurs so for him the effort to make his entry into the heart of enemy territory seen by as few eyes as possible is paramount.
Spy flies ahead of his master as he has done on numerous occasions as Xerxes climbs up a tree to attempt to swing his way to the edge of the gator village. The gators pay the archaeopteryx no mind as he flies around. Unbeknownst to any of them, one of the intruders can and does look through the proto-bird's eyes to ascertain what is going on inside the savage escarpment.
The first thing Xerxes sees through Spy's eyes is Revolution's corpse roasting in a barbecue pit. Next he has Spy fly over a bone yard which thankfully has no new looking piles within. Finally he has Spy fly to some cages that look to be made of bone.
In the cages are a few more survivors, stripped naked and bound. Obama is among those imprisoned. Xerxes also sees literally hundreds of gators, turtles and snakes all interacting peacefully with one another and tormenting their prisoners as best they can.
Seemingly at random, a prisoner from the cages is selected for special treatment as they are dragged from the cage and tied down to a huge stone slab. The victims are positioned so that they can be easily raped by tribe members. The exact details vary according to the gender of the victim.
Males have their balls pierced and some strange magic cast upon them that makes them rock hard instantly and lasts for hours. Numerous females of the tribe use the trapped males as dildos until it is judged that that they can't be milked for anymore semen at which time a turtle with a meat cleave chops the scrotum and penis chopped off followed by their limbs and then finally the head. After being butchered in this manner the pieces are then skinned and cooked.
Females have it better and worse than their male counterparts as the males sexually abuse them more. Any and every hole is filled again and again by the males of the tribe with sometimes multiple warriors raping a single female at one time until either enough males fuck her or they tire of her. At the time of execution, the female is again raped as someone else decapitates her as the male with his dick in her twat bellows in pleasure as her pussy spasms around his cock as she goes through her death throes.
Obama gets special abuse as Xerxes watches in horror. In addition to getting pierced and ridden some of the males take the chimpanzee as well with lots of laughing and high fiving as they fuck him. A snake in a weird head dress that marks him either as the chieftain, the shaman or both comes with a huge obsidian ax as they are finishing with abusing Obama.
The shaman chants and dances with the ax in his hands over Obama restrained body as the other prisoners watch on in abject terror. When dance is done the shaman strikes; slicing off the top of Obama's head and lets his brain spill out. After the shaman shakes a rattle over the spilled brains and sprinkles some sort of powder over it, he helps himself to some gray matter and after him members of the tribe line up for taste.
Xerxes is intrigued at this treatment of a prisoner even as he is shocked and horrified of it. The ranger withdraws his pet and goes back to report on what is going on. For once in their lives, both Morganna and Rose are willing to share Xerxes between them as neither one wants to sleep alone tonight.
Morganna is frightened and deals with it carnally much to Rose's surprise. The sorceress and ring mistress of the circus is acting as if this could be last time she ever gets to fuck Xerxes and wants to make sure it's an epic night. After both females are asleep, Xerxes takes out his ocarina and begins to play.
Spy, Frick and Frack let Caesar out of his cage and the allosaurus goes on patrol. Caesar is hungry but he understands a little of what went down before hand. Obama and Caesar actually got along well so the carnivore is actually a little angry at the reptiles on the island for what they did; the rest of the troupe can sleep a little easier, since Caesar gets a craving for gators, snakes and turtles none of which reside in the circus camp but any and all savages that sneak into the area are found and devoured by the carnivorous dinosaur.