FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ballo

Chapter 51

The entrance to the SummerValley was beneath a giant tree, which spread its spidery branches wide across the gray, cloudless sky. The tree was white and its great roots coiled in a twisting mass, framing a dark passage that had no door. The passage was clearly the entrance to the SummerValley, and anyone could have walked up and entered it . . . if not for the guardian.

Bones littered the ground surrounding the tree, bones littered its roots, and Azrian could only assume the bones belonged to those who had tried and failed to pass the guardian. Black birds were in the branches of the tree, clicking their beaks, waiting for their next meal.

"Great," Nkwe muttered under his breath and pulled his sleigh to a stop, the snow collapsing in a spray around him.

Azrian pulled her sleigh up beside Nkwe's, and together, they stared in hopeless defeat the great guardian.

The guardian was a sleigh dog, a white husky with black ears and black shoulders, who might have appeared as any sleigh dog if he weren't more than eight feet tall. He was gigantic, with the sort of big paws that could swallow Azrian's waist. He seemed to live in the tree but had no belongings in its branches. His white chest and rippling belly were covered in the same dye Azrian had seen on Clan Poallu, only it was black. His body was muscular, his neck thick. A bear tooth was through his nose and another was in his ear. Oddly enough, he wore no clothing to combat the wintry air, and his great pink penis fell between his muscular thighs as he sat up in the branches of the tree, one leg lifted, his elbow on his knee. His ears pricked forward when he saw them, and when he leapt down from the tree, the ground trembled and the birds took flight.

Azrian and Nkwe's wolves whimpered and howled, turning in circles and gnawing to escape their harnesses. Azrian fumbled to still her wolves, and she thought for certain the guardian would come running at them, so hungry were his eyes. But the guardian simply stood like a barrier before the passage, as the earth around him settled and snowflakes spiraled down.

"No turning back now," Azrian said, and coming around her sleigh, she released her wolves. Still whimpering and clenching their tails between their legs, the wolves turned and fled without hesitation.

Nkwe released his wolves as well, and they fled likewise. "He's . . . waiting for us," he muttered, and Azrian thought he sounded afraid.

"It's alright," Azrian said. "We'll get by him. . . . somehow."

Nkwe snorted, unconvinced.

Azrian approached the guardian, and Nkwe followed. The great husky stood very still as they approached him and stopped some feet away. His eyes were sharp and small. Azrian got the feeling he could see right into their souls and it made her feel naked.

"You stand before Ballo," the guardian announced.

"Brother?" Nkwe repeated under his breath, for ballo was the word for "brother" in the language of the foxes.

"If you seek to enter the Lost Dreams," Ballo continued, "you must satisfy my lust."

Azrian rolled her eyes. "No, really? I'm shocked," she said sarcastically.

Nkwe scowled. "Never, dog! Ni'var!"

"That," said Ballo and curled his paws into fists, "or you must fight me. The choice is yours."

Nkwe stared at his feet, and Azrian knew he would rather die than have sex with the great guardian. But Azrian would have done anything to find her son, to stop the fire in the sky, and for that, she needed the SummerValley. She stepped forward.

"I will satisfy your lust, Great Ballo," Azrian said, and she could feel Nkwe's shocked eyes on her back. Had he really expected her to fight a hopeless battle? Did he not see the bones of those who had come before? She swallowed hard and unbuttoned her pants. They fell around her ankles, and Ballo's sharp eyes stared greedily at her pink sex, at her thighs, at her round hips. He licked his lips - then grabbed her by the legs and swung her up like a doll. Nkwe shouted as Azrian's sex was lifted to the giant's face, and then he had buried his face between her thighs.

Azrian moaned, helplessly suspended in the giant's grasp as his lips and tongue devoured her with a hunger that immediately made her wet. All the blood was rushing to her head, but all the blood was rushing to her sex as well. The lips of her sex became swollen, and this only seemed to further delight the guardian, who grunted as he slowly dragged his tongue back forth against her clit. A shudder when through Azrian as her throbbing arousal became intense. Ballo moaned. His groin was near her face, just a little way beneath her, and she could see his erection slowly lifting, until the pink head of it could almost reach her mouth. He hunched his back, then his paw was on the back of her head, and a moment later, his massive erection was cramming warm against her lips.

Azrian's muffled cries seemed loud in the wintry silence, only slightly louder than the guardian's slurps and grunts as he licked her slowly from clit to anus. He held her legs open wide in both paws and slowly thrust his hips, his hard backside flexing as his great shaft slid in and out of her drooling mouth.

"Mm! Mm!"

Azrian gulped and sputtered, watching his sack flap as he humped her face. She choked on his erection and twisted against the pleasure of his mouth between her thighs, and then his stomach tightened, and it looked as if he was going to come. She didn't know if she could swallow such a load and she silently panicked. Thankfully, the guardian pulled himself free of her mouth and refrained from coming, and as he gently laid her on the snow, she saw his eyes zero on Nkwe, who had gone very still.

Azrian scrambled away and pulled up her pants. She could see that Nkwe was terrified and she pitied him. He didn't look as if he could move as big Ballo stamped his way, great penis erect and swollen. He grabbed Nkwe by the head, and Azrian watched as Ballo pushed Nkwe down on his knees, then thrust his hips near Nkwe's face, silently ordering him to suck.

Nkwe swallowed hard, staring at the rigid, enormous shaft that stood upright in his face, glistening with Azrian's spit and throbbing with veins. He glanced up at Ballo, whose eyes were narrowed and serious with arousal, and then back at the penis. He swallowed miserably again, then extended his tongue and gave the head of the pink penis a soft lick. Ballo grunted and his nostrils flared, so Nkwe licked again, longer, harder, twirling his tongue against the head of the phallus. But he seemed reluctant to really take it in his mouth, and as if he could wait no longer, Ballo growled, grabbed a fistful of Nkwe's mane, and crammed himself home.

"Mmm!"

Nkwe sputtered as the enormous shaft slid against his tongue and nearly down his throat, stretching his mouth so wide, he looked as if he was trying to swallow an arm. But he kept sucking, and after a while, Azrian was surprised to see Nkwe developing a bulge in his pants. Ballo noticed it as well, and Azrian got the feeling the guardian would have left things at oral he if hadn't noticed. His head fell back as Nkwe sucked desperately, his shaft tensed in Nkwe's mouth, and Nkwe, sensing a release, backed away. But no ejaculation came. Instead, Ballo grabbed Nkwe by his coat, forced him to stand, and turned him around. Nkwe blushed when the dog's great paw yanked his pants down over his backside.

"N-No . . ." Nkwe sputtered, but Ballo covered his mouth, and his other paw reached around, fumbling for Nkwe's pink penis. He found it and gently started to stroke. Nkwe whimpered behind the big paw, but he closed his eyes and frowned, and Azrian saw him getting harder in the guardian's careful fingers.

The harder he became, Nkwe started to visibly cringe, and clear pre-cum oozed from his erection. It was clear to Azrian that he was enjoying what was happening, but at the same time, he was trying to ignore it and failing dismally.

Azrian could see the watery pre-cum dribbling away to the snow as Nkwe grunted and protested in muffled cries. Ballo watched Nkwe with soft eyes and humped against him, gently rubbing his wet cock against the fox's backside, as if to prepare him for the inevitable plunge. He pressed the soft head of his penis against Nkwe's tightly clenching anus, and Nkwe's muffled protests intensified. Ballo ignored him and his eyes hooded as he slowly slid himself in. A shudder went through Nkwe and he struggled and twisted, but Ballo bit his neck and held him in place, humping slowly and deeply, until Nkwe's pink cock was heaving in his paw. Ballo didn't stop fondling Nkwe, didn't stop humping him, until they were rocking and grunting in desperation, their muscular bodies flexing, their cries loud in the silence. Nkwe twisted and bucked to escape, but there was no escaping the enormous shaft feeding so quickly in and out beneath his tail; there was no escaping the large and skilled fingers that fondled him to throbbing arousal. They both came, and Nkwe moaned behind the guardian's big paw, squirting hot in the giant's meaty fist as Ballo shouted in turn and released inside Nkwe. Nkwe tensed as he was filled, and Azrian could see the cum spilling over, oozing from under his tail and down his trembling thighs. The great guardian let Nkwe fall to the snow, and Nkwe lay there with his pants around his ankles, the beast's cum smearing his backside and dripping down his tail.

His lust satisfied, Ballo massaged his soft penis, his small eyes fixed thoughtfully on Nkwe. "This is not the end of your life," he said to Nkwe, "but the beginning. Use it well."

Nkwe lay in the snow, panting and miserable, his mane in his face, and didn't even look at the giant.

Ballo turned to Azrian, who was sitting in the snow and clutching her coat tight to her throat. She stiffened with fear as the guardian looked down at her. "Someone else will rescue Etienne," he said solemnly. "Focus instead on finding your son. The rest will take care of itself."

Azrian stared up at the great beast, the wind slapping her red mane across her eyes. "I-I . . . thank you."

Ballo grunted and nodded. He turned back to the tree and climbed up into its branches. "You may pass," he said as he went, and the air was silent once more.

Azrian hesitated and crawled across the snow to Nkwe. He was lying on his side, his mouth panting. Azrian pushed his mane back from his face, and he made a move to stop her but it was too late. Her eyes softened with sympathy: Nkwe was crying.

"Did he hurt you?" Azrian asked.

"What do you think?" Nkwe growled angrily. He tried to sit up and hissed in pain. It took Azrian a moment to see the blood on the snow. It was dribbling from under Nkwe's tail: Ballo had torn him.

"I'll help you," Azrian said and offered Nkwe her paw.

Nkwe allowed Azrian to help him to his feet but insisted on walking himself. After the intrusion of Ballo's great cock, he didn't seem able to walk straight but was determined to try. He took his bags from his sleigh, and with a lifted chin, walked toward the dark passage. Azrian took her bags and joined him. They stood side by side, staring into the yawning darkness.

"I hope there's no more tests," Nkwe said bitterly.

"Come on," Azrian said tiredly. "Before he comes back and decides to fuck me too."

They entered the passage together, and Azrian was surprised to feel the smoothness of glass under her boots. She looked down and could see another passage beneath them. Most of the glass floor was hidden by the vines and flowers growing under it, so that much of the lower passage was obscured.

Nkwe conjured light in his paw, and Azrian's lifted her brows in surprise.

"No wards here . . ." Nkwe muttered, but his voice trailed away in awe.

Azrian followed Nkwe's gaze and went very still.

Murals were on the walls, towering to the ceiling above. They told a story of dogs marching on foxes, dogs conquering fox kingdoms, armies, and palaces. Azrian had never before seen actual depictions of the ancient fox kingdoms. It was truly amazing, like something out of Skkye. And the dogs . . . the dogs had destroyed it all.

"Look at the magic of our ancestors," Nkwe said, walking up to one of the murals. He looked at it with his mouth open and shook his head. "The kingdoms they had, the palaces . . . beautiful." He lifted his paw just close enough to touch a crystal palace wrapped in pink cloud, but his fingers hovered, and then he dropped his paw. He swallowed, looking at the mural bitterly. "Was Skkye like this?"

"Yes," Azrian said dreamily and smiled as she came to Nkwe's side. "Only ten times better."

"Etienne talked about Skkye sometimes. I used to think he wanted to go back."

"It was paradise. And the singing. I'd give anything to hear that singing again."

Nkwe's face darkened. "And yet, it is a place only for the gods. Mortal souls are not allowed there." He turned away and kept walking.

Azrian followed, thinking unhappily of her mother. Some mortal souls were allowed, they just had to be granted godhood. "Nkwe . . . now that we have magic again, I could heal --" She almost choked on the word when he looked at her quickly and angrily. He slowly looked away again, as if the very suggestion embarrassed him, and she muttered, ". . . if you wanted."

They walked in silence. And they were silent for such a long time, Azrian was startled when Nkwe finally muttered, "Yes, please."

Azrian smiled. "Yes, please, what?"

Nkwe rolled his eyes. "Heal my ass!"

Azrian laughed. They halted in the passage, and Nkwe awkwardly turned his back to her and unbuttoned his pants, which now had a missing button thanks to Ballo. The pants hung down around his backside, cupping the hard cheeks. Azrian had to admit . . . Nkwe had a nice ass. She carefully slid her finger in his anus and it clenched at once on her. She heard him hiss with pain.

"Don't be a cub," Azrian muttered. Her finger started to glow and she knew her magic was tingling him.

"Not . . . a cub," he grunted with difficulty. "Mmpfh -- I took that cock . . . like . . . a male."

Azrian frowned and had to wonder why Nkwe seemed to be grunting and straining. She finished healing him, and when he had buttoned his pants again, she noticed a sizeable bulge in the front . . . and realized why. Nkwe seemed too embarrassed to look at her and quickly took off up the passage again, the light hovering above his paw. Azrian followed.

The passage seemed to go on forever. Azrian had expected to arrive immediately in the SummerValley and was disappointed to find herself in a dark and endless tunnel. And the tunnel was so very narrow, it made her wonder how entire armies of dogs had marched from the SummerValley. The next time they stopped to rest, Nkwe said as much.

"Something doesn't add up," he said. "There must be other ways in and out of the Valley."

Azrian glanced down at the glass floor. "I think there's a passage beneath us. It must be wider."

Nkwe glanced down as well, for the first time noticing that the floor was actually transparent. "Hmm. That would make sense, then." He sat against the wall, legs spread, and Azrian could see he was still a little hard. He noticed her staring and put his pack between his legs. "You didn't have to . . . I could have . . ."

"Fingered your own ass? Well, at least then you wouldn't be hard."

"No, I still would." Nkwe squinted into the distance, as if he was working up the nerve to say something very difficult. "I . . . you weren't the first."

". . . oh," Azrian said, feeling very confused. Why was he telling her this? When she asked as much, he took a heavy breath.

"You didn't grow up with a tribe," he said darkly, "so you don't even know our ways. How could you teach them to your son?"

Azrian stared at the ground. That was true.

"My sister was a priestess, and when I asked to join her and become a priest, I became the lover of one of the priestesses," Nkwe said calmly. "I never made love to her or anything, as that was Yfel's right. She made love to me. She was blessed of Yfel, which meant she had a penis."

". . . oh," Azrian said again.

"So that's why with Ballo. . . I . . . I don't like males."

"Yes, I'm so sad I wasn't able to teach Ettoras about that," Azrian said sarcastically.

Nkwe glared at her. "To give pleasure to one of Yfel's blessed is an honor," he snapped. "There is no higher ecstasy."

"Didn't the priestesses do anything besides have sex?" Azrian demanded. She folded her legs and regarded Nkwe in amazement. "My son's nursemaid - who I plan on killing shortly," she said through her fangs, "claimed her father was a priest of Maret once, that when he was young, the priestesses tied him to an altar, stripped themselves naked, and sucked him as he lay there helpless."

Nkwe nodded. "That is the initiation for males, to show their submission to the goddess. If a male is to become Seer of the tribe, he is blindfolded as they pleasure him."

Azrian stared at him in disbelief. "Why?"

"Did you not have priests who served you?" Nkwe asked, making a face. He waved an impatient paw. "The gods crave sex because it is the ultimate form of physical expression and they are bodiless spirits. You were a spirit for at least twenty years. Didn't you . . . miss it?"

"No," Azrian said, blinking as if such a thing had never occurred to her. "But I constantly had males offering themselves in submission . . . or families offering their virgins to Ettoras."

"Ah," Nkwe said and looked away. "An old practice. Those families were hoping to make demigods, god-touched children that would tie them to the throne and earn them your favor."

"Sex and politics are two sides of the same coin, aren't they?" Azrian said dryly. She looked at Nkwe and smiled. "See? Foxes aren't so different from dogs after all."

Nkwe glared.

***

After a long time of walking, they stopped to rest and fell asleep. Nkwe dreamt of his sister's breasts and how he used to suck them when he was a child. Mogethis was a teenager and practically a grown vixen when Nkwe was still a small boy, and because she was promised to Yfel, she'd never been pregnant, nor had milk in her breasts. But Mogethis had always secretly in her heart of hearts wanted a child. For a few years, Nkwe was that child. He would let Mogethis hold him in her lap, would nuzzle his cheek against his sister's breasts. She would then take them out, and how hungrily he would suck. He would suckle and gently taste, watching as his sister blushed, watching as his sister sighed. Such large, full, swollen breasts, and they were his alone. No male could touch them . . . except Nkwe.

Nkwe remembered the day Kesuk took Mogethis. He had watched, had lain there in the dirt, and how his heart burned with jealousy, with hunger when Kesuk grabbed his sister's breasts in fistfuls and squeezed them. He had never seen anyone touch her breasts before, breasts which had always been for him alone! Mogethis had taken a vow never to let a male make love to her, and now this dog was humping her and defiling her, banging his big cock inside her until she screamed! And while it infuriated Nkwe to watch it happening. . . . it also aroused him. It aroused him to watch his sister's pussy getting slammed, because it was something he had often dreamt of doing himself. And it had been so long since Mogethis let him touch her breasts, let alone see them.

Nkwe knew it was his fault Kesuk was fondling his sister to begin with. After years of practice, Nkwe was very good when it came to giving head. He hadn't meant for Kesuk to fuck his sister, though. He thought he could buy their freedom by offering to pleasure the male. Back when Kesuk captured Nkwe, it was immediately apparent that Kesuk was attracted to him. Nkwe got on his knees and surrendered, and Kesuk looked down at him with soft eyes. Because he found Nkwe handsome, Kesuk decided to spare him rather than kill him. He unfastened his belt with hungry eyes, and for one horrible moment, Nkwe thought Kesuk would have his way with him right then and there. But Kesuk tied the belt around Nkwe's throat and gently pulled, announcing that Nkwe was his prisoner now. Nkwe had gone along quietly, determined to find and save Mogethis. Later, when he found himself at Kesuk's mercy, Nkwe had never dreamed that Kesuk actually wanted to fuck them both. He was furious to see Kesuk touching his sister, touching breasts that had always been his alone to suck and caress.

The first time Nkwe ever became aroused from sucking his sister's breasts, Mogethis told him to stop and never let him touch her again. She was pretending to be his mother, was trying to discover what it was like to nurse a child, and in the process, she had allowed her brother to view her in a sexual light. She was horrified and ashamed, but Nkwe felt no shame, only an unrelenting devotion to his sister. Before Taiga, Nkwe never fell in love because no female could match up to his sister, and no female could ever have better breasts than Mogethis. He was willing to follow his sister anywhere, do anything, because he remembered her sweet song, her sweet smell, and the way she had once held him to her warm breasts. He was not in love with his sister, but that tender intimacy - however brief - had forever fixed her in his heart. Ballo, she had called him, whispering warmly as he sucked her nipple. Baby Ballo.

Mogethis was so ashamed that it was she who gave Nkwe to Muna, the priestess who taught him to suck penis and enjoy anal play. Mogethis thought that if Nkwe knew sexual and spiritual intimacy with another, it would break his fascination with her. And while he did become very close to Muna, Nkwe never stopped following in his sister's shadow.

And then Nkwe met Taiga. And Taiga made him feel the way he was always afraid to feel: alive. And how jealous Mogethis was! She hated the idea that someone else had Nkwe's love and devotion. Instead of welcoming Taiga warmly, she treated her like a rival for her brother's affections. It was childish of her, and he never forgave her for it. But he also didn't stop loving his sister.

Then little Zeinara came into their lives. After they had been walking the forest for some time, Nkwe sat to rest and tried to hand his sister the little black and gold bundle that was Zeinara. Mogethis coldly refused, and ignoring his sister's protests, Nkwe scowled and gently pressed the little cub into his sister's arms. Mogethis opened her mouth to complain, but she took one look at Zeinara, and every feature of her face seemed to soften. Tiny Zeinara clutched at Mogethis, clutched with pudgy paws at her white mane, and Mogethis laughed in spite of herself, looking at the gurgling infant with soft blue eyes. Nkwe watched in amusement as his sister bonded with the child, coming to love it as he had come to love it. The years went by as they traveled the forest, singing songs to the girl, lifting her in the air between them, and Zeinara was theirs, and only theirs. Sometimes, Nkwe would give anything to have those precious years back.

But the joys of motherhood seemed to make Mogethis hate Taiga even more. She grew angry any time Zeinara asked questions about Taiga, as if she resented the fact that Taiga was Zeinara's real mother, as if she believed Zeinara loved Taiga more than her. It was foolish and selfish and yet something else Nkwe would never forgive Mogethis for. But he realized he was also being foolish and selfish in not telling Zeinara the truth, and it was then that he sat her down and told her everything.

Zeinara was still on Nkwe's mind as he and Azrian traveled the long, dark tunnels in silence. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Azrian was watching him in sympathy, and his face hardened: she was hearing his thoughts.

"I do not need your pity, Second Light," Nkwe muttered resentfully.

"Yes, you do," Azrian answered calmly. "Without my pity, you'd be back with Clan Poallu, watching Natasha be happy with someone else."

"No . . ." Nkwe said softly, sadly. He cleared his throat. "I would have left . . . eventually." He laughed bitterly, glancing at Azrian with derisive blue eyes. "Not all of us were fortunate enough to have a devoted husband."

"Where would you have gone?" Azrian asked after a pause.

Nkwe shrugged. "Does it matter?" he said listlessly, his eyes fixed on the distant darkness. "What would you have done if you were me?"

Azrian blinked, and Nkwe knew she was surprised by the sincerity of his question. But Nkwe wanted to know. While traveling with Natasha and the other mastiffs, he had enjoyed being with others again, he had enjoyed having friends again. It was not unlike being with his brothers, hunting and laughing and teasing - his brothers, who had long been burned in some dog's careless pyre at Wychowl, at Howlester, even at Redwick. Now that the mastiffs were gone, now that Natasha had forsaken him, now that it seemed he might never see Zeinara or his sister again, Nkwe found himself longing for companionship . . . even if that companionship meant Azrian. At this point, he figured it was better than nothing. His father made him swear once never to die alone. Mortals who died alone found it the most difficult, crossing the Halfway Place.

"If I were you," Azrian said after some time, "I would have hidden the Skkye Glass some place safe." She laughed softly. "You can't trust Etienne to do those sorts of things properly."

Nkwe laughed flatly, the sound ringing hoarse and hollow. "For once we would agree. Hiding the dagger is exactly what I did," he said. His face darkened. "Or what I tried to do. I'd just told Zeinara the truth, and she was so beside herself, I knew she was going to steal the dagger, so I took it from Etienne's vault under Wychowl. It was my intention to slip away while the ball was happening, but then . . . everything with Mogethis . . ."

"And you forgot about it," Azrian said wearily. "This is my fault. I should have taken it from Etienne before I left for S'pru."

"It is your fault," Nkwe agreed. His lips curled in a small smile. "But maybe we can fix it. In the end."

Azrian looked at Nkwe curiously, one brow cocked in surprise. "We?"

Nkwe cleared his throat. "Look . . ." His face hardened. "I know how this is going to end. I can't think to go back to Wychowl after what Mogethis has done. No doubt the dogs are screaming bloody murder against me and foxes everywhere. It was already beginning before I left. But Zeinara . . . she has to go back to Wychowl. And without me. Somehow, I know you're going to wind up going back. You'll go to Etienne eventually --"

"You want me to look after Zeinara."

"Yes," Nkwe said, sighing the word as if asking for help were tremendously difficult. He glanced at Azrian unhappily. "I've finally come to realize that helping you means helping Zeinara. So I guess . . . what I'm saying is . . . I am here to help you." He swallowed as if the confession tasted sour, and he hated it when Azrian's lips curled in the barest hint of a smile.

Azrian looked away and snorted. "Took you long enough."

"Is that a promise? Do I have your word?"

"Yes." Azrian swallowed unhappily. "If I make it back to Wychowl --"

"When you make it," Nkwe corrected, and Azrian looked at him in surprise. He looked away.

"Is that a vote of confidence?" Azrian asked after some time.

Nkwe snorted. "Hardly. It's just the way these things go. Beasts like you are always rewarded with happy endings, and beasts like me . . ." He trailed off, betraying for a moment a hint of sadness that vanished when he realized Azrian was watching him.

"Who says you don't deserve to be happy?" Azrian said. "The gods? Ha. Since when do you listen to them?"

"Don't you mean us?" Nkwe said, his eyes glittering with wry amusement.

"No. I mean them._I was never really one of _them. I think S'pru's burning has made that obvious, don't you?"

Azrian sounded so bitter, Nkwe glanced at her, for the first time feeling true and ungrudging sympathy. Twenty years, and she was still alone, still fighting on her own with no one to help her. Perhaps being on her own was the reason she had always failed. Or else screwed up in the worst of ways. Nkwe had on occasion felt alone, but he could never recall actually being alone. Not until now. Now he was without Mogethis, without his brothers, without his parents, without his friends, without Zeinara, without his gods, without . . . Taiga. And he felt lost and defeated. For the first time, he thought he understood what it was like to be Azrian. He stared at the ground as they walked: it wasn't fun.

"You should be with Etienne," Nkwe said after a while. "Or at least not alone. I see that now."

Azrian laughed sadly. "You sound like my son. He kept insisting that I should go to his father, and . . . he was right. Being alone in the palace, being isolated from everyone and everything . . . it made me indifferent and cold."

"Cold as the moon," Nkwe said quietly. "Like Hildrith'el, the cold and distant goddess who heeds our prayers no more."

"No," Azrian said, and Nkwe looked at her curiously. She was walking with her paws in the deep pockets of her bearskin coat, tendrils of red mane tumbling across her eyes, one blue and one gold. "I met Hildrith'el once, and while she seemed very bored and unhappy, she certainly wasn't devoid entirely of emotion. Not the way I was. She was surrounded by other gods, she wasn't alone, so she maintained some feeling. But I . . ." Azrian swallowed, staring into the distant darkness as she remembered. "I was withdrawn from everything, with no one beside me, not even another god. I lost touch with life, I stopped . . . caring. Becoming mortal again, feeling pain, breathing air, it was like . . ." She shook her head. "It was like being born."

"I always feared Zeinara would be taken by the gods," Nkwe said. "I'm glad she wasn't. Becoming that powerful . . . it seems a fate worse than death."

Azrian snorted, as if Nkwe's comment were naïve. "There are many things much worse than death."

They had been walking for another hour when the sound of moaning made them both halt. It was coming from up ahead. They looked at each other across the white light hovering over Nkwe's paw, and Nkwe thought his light gave Azrian an almost angelic glow as her eyes narrowed and her ears pricked forward.

"Did you hear that?" Azrian whispered.

"Shh!" Nkwe hissed irritably and his ear twitched.

They listened and the moaning came again, louder than before, breathless and pained. It sounded like a female. They could hear her gasping and sobbing intensifying until it sounded almost angry. Azrian conjured a ball of light in her paw, and it glowed yellow like the sun as she slowly knelt down and held it over the glass floor. Blood. Blood sprinkled the floor in a trail, wet and fresh and glistening. Azrian and Nkwe stared at each other: they hadn't noticed any blood before. The moaning female would have come from the opposite direction, then. She would have come from the Valley.

"Stay behind me," Nkwe said and took a step forward.

"Like hell I will," Azrian answered and went with him at his side.

Nkwe glanced at Azrian irritably, but they advanced together through the darkness, following the blood on the ground, following the moaning. They halted when they found a small female dog sitting against the wall, clutching her side with bloody fingers, her brown mane a tousled mess in her face, her clothing torn. A mural on the wall loomed above her, its colors a bright and vivid depiction of a young female dog being stabbed by a male dog. Stabbed in her side. Nkwe found it sadly ironic that the injured bitch should find her way to the one mural that mirrored her injury precisely.

They cautiously drew closer, listening for more dogs in the tunnel, but there were none, only the little female panting against the wall. Azrian knelt beside the injured female, and when she lifted her orb of light near the dog's face, Nkwe went stiff as he recognized her.

". . . Pili?" Nkwe said hoarsely.

Panting, her mouth dripping blood, the little dog slowly lifted her face, and her brown mane tumbled back to reveal intensely slanted, unforgiving black eyes. Nkwe felt a thrum of anger clench his heart. Yes - Pili.

Pili's face twisted in typical disgust. "Nkwe?"

Nkwe's lip curled in a sneer. It was damned annoying that of all the dogs who'd ever known him, Pili was the only one who could say his name correctly. Her purring voice had always clicked precisely on each syllable. He secretly appreciated it, as much as he openly hated her.

"You know each other?" said Azrian in surprise and looked between the pair of them.

Before Nkwe could answer, Pili passed out.