Chapter 40: Peeping Pup
#40 of The Mating Season 4
Chapter 40: Peeping Pup
They wandered along the craggy beach, silhouettes against the gray sky as they stumbled down hills of sand and scattered grass until they had come to it: the little fishing boat that Ceara had lent to Kilyan and Ryo so many days ago. It was shattered against a rock, nothing but wooden fragments now. Seeing this, Kilyan grabbed up a piece and dashed it in a sudden burst of anger into the shallows. Avi and Inden stood miserably by, Avi with her paw on Wynn's shoulder.
Kilyan squatted with his back to the little group, bowed his head, and tried to catch his breath. They were stranded here. Yinzo had obviously come back and in a fit of rage had destroyed the boat. The pieces floated along in the murky shallows, bits of seaweed and dead things clinging to them. Kilyan heaved a miserable sigh and peered thoughtfully out across the flat, faceless sea. Clouds were gathering, darkly gray and foreboding. It was going to rain: he could practically smell it on the air. They would have to find shelter soon, and he knew the others were hungry: Wynn and Inden's little stomachs growled every now and then, but the children said nothing and put their fate with great confidence in the paws of their elders. Kilyan felt a pang of guilt every time Wynn looked at him with large and expectant eyes: she firmly believed that her father would always know exactly what to do. Kilyan hated to disillusion her, but sooner or later, she was going to have to learn that her parents wouldn't always have the answers. Squatting there in the shallows with the fragmented parts of the boat knocking softly against his ankles, Kilyan had never felt so lost.
Kilyan looked up when he felt a paw on his shoulder. Avi was gazing down at him, those black ears erect. He wasn't alone, her eyes seemed to be saying. They would figure this out together. They smiled at each other, and squeezing Kilyan's shoulder, Avi suggested they find shelter.
As they staggered back up the beach, the howling wind beating back mane and tail, they spoke amongst themselves of where they could seek shelter. Going back to the village of the winged warriors was out of the question: it had been days since Ryo unleashed her fury on the warriors and their staring bodies were everywhere, stiff and slowly beginning to decay. Flies were probably swarming the village, laying maggots in its fallen occupants and eating the food that was surely rotting in its huts.
Yes, going back to the village was out of the question. But so was going back to the cave: they had not bothered to bury Yinzo and his fallen comrades, and Kilyan had no intention of doing so. What was more, Inden seemed adamant that they should in no way return to that vicinity, even if it mean camping on the edge of the forest where his father's bloody body lay.
So they had wandered the beach, hunting hungrily for the little boat that Kilyan and Ryo had arrived in only to find it bashed into wooden bits. Kilyan's mind was reeling. Here he was on foreign land with two females and a boy to protect, and all on his own. What was more, he didn't know where he could turn to for help. As far as Kilyan knew, there weren't any friendly villages in this land. The moon wolves made sex slaves of their captives. And from what Aren had told him ten years ago about the autumn village, Avi was more than likely unwelcome there.
There stood the trees in the distance, closely knit, dark, and mysterious. But Kilyan knew what horrors lay in the cool underbrush, what massacre was shielded by their ranks. Glad the wind was blowing the stench of death away from them, Kilyan led the group along the beach and far from the village of the winged warriors. More trees were up ahead -- a fresh break in the trees where a separate forest began, spreading away to the horizon in a massive hill -- and Kilyan moved toward them. They had been camping in that same area the night before in an attempt to keep as far from the village of death as possible. He could smell already the faint scent of smoke from their doused fire.
"We could eat rest of bread tonight," Avi was saying quietly. "And wild bird that Inden caught."
"Inden and I will build some sort of shelter," Kilyan added wearily. He felt so tired suddenly: they had spent the entire day combing the beach, carrying everything they had with them -- all their tools, their food supplies, their lifted sleeping furs -- only to discover that their getaway had been smashed. And now, because of the rain, he and Inden would have to struggle against the wind to build some sort of shelter. Kilyan closed his eyes when they reached their deserted camp. He wanted suddenly to just lay down and never get back up.
"Avi will help," Avi said when Kilyan and Inden started stripping big pieces of bark from the trees.
Kilyan shook his head as he kicked the underbrush aside for thick logs they could use. "Avi, you and Wynn just --"
"Avi will help!" Avi insisted darkly, and not feeling like arguing, Kilyan let her.
As the others worked, Wynn built up a feeble little fire against the wind and attempted to re-heat the leftover bird from Inden's hunt the day before. Kilyan, Avi, and Inden, meanwhile, struggled against the wind and a sudden sprinkling of rain to get some sort of shelter up. By the time darkness was falling, Wynn was ladling out soup in wooden bowls and the others had managed to erect a lop-sided roof and three walls made of hard tree bark, thick logs, and branches all tied tackily together with the tall grass that grew in sprinkles from the sand. They huddled under the crooked shack and grimly ate their supper. Avi hung their sleeping furs in the wide doorway to shut out the rain, Kilyan managed to stroke up a harder fire, and the adults were glad when the children fell asleep without having to be told.
In the darkness, Kilyan sat with his arm around Avi and listened to the wind howling, the rain lashing at their pitiful shack. Wynn was sleeping in Inden's arms. The pair of them were wrapped in the prince's wings, and Kilyan looked the other way this time only because it was necessary: they all needed to kept each other warm.
"If only you could fly," Kilyan said into the darkness and sadly touched one of Avi's little wings. "Then we could just take off into the sky and be back at the summer village in about five seconds."
Avi nestled her head in Kilyan's shoulder. "Avi sorry. She shouldn't have gone off alone --"
"No, Avi, this isn't your fault. This is just what happened."
"What will we do?" Avi wondered in a small voice.
"We could wait until your wings healed."
"Would be waiting a long time."
"We could build a raft."
"That would carry four of us? We just managed to build pathetic hut." Avi waved a derisive paw at the unstable walls surrounding them.
"Okay, fine," said Kilyan, suddenly impatient, "we'll just wave down the first merchant ship we see and hope to god those merchants aren't moon wolves."
"We could send Inden out to spy on ship first, see what sort of wolves they are."
Kilyan shook his head. "I don't like sending a child alone into danger."
"We don't have other choice. And Inden not pup. Not really."
"Sure, he's a pup. And if something happens to him, I'll have that on my conscious the rest of my life."
"Kilyan have better plan?"
"Yup."
Avi looked up, her ears pricking forward.
"I could make love to you," Kel said at last, "and we could stop thinking about it --"
"Kilyan!" Avi cried out when she felt his paw close over her breast. But even though she was protesting, she was giggling too. They kissed and touched in the darkness, and when Avi protested that Wynn might hear, Kilyan said between kisses that Wynn slept like the dead. He kept kissing Avi all over, his paws squeezing her buttocks in fistfuls. Avi struggled to resist at first but suddenly gave in: she shoved Kilyan onto his back with a sudden burst of super strength, and Kilyan sputtered when he felt her hot pussy close over him. She started working her hips, her lips clenched tight around him, and he sighed when he felt her juices gush over, dripping and hot and probably glossy on his balls when they seeped out. He wished he could see her clearly, but the most he could see in the darkness was the curve of her breasts and her dark eyes glinting lust. Kilyan suddenly sat up, and grabbing Avi's tits hard, he sucked them as she rocked in his lap. She let out a cry and hugged his head, her head falling back when he started tracing his tongue over the nipple. He grabbed her cock as he was sucking her and started massaging it. This seemed too much for Avi: her body shuddered all over and she erupted in his paw. Kilyan grabbed her buttocks and started squelching her pussy down on him until she had come there as well. He was getting close now and her breasts smacking him as he brought her up and down had his cock heaving. He suddenly snatched Avi to his chest, and holding her tight, he thrust his hips up and released inside of her with a little cry.
Avi stayed in Kilyan's lap, hugging his neck, her eyes closed as they panted together. Kilyan held her back, and brushing aside her mane with his nose, he closed his mouth over hers in a kiss. They moaned through the kiss, and getting aroused all over again, Avi was soon hopping in Kilyan's lap as he, groaning and even snarling in his building lust, started smacking her tits back and forth before sucking them. Their love making grew so wild and passionate in the quiet rain that they hadn't a clue Wynn was peeping from under Inden's wing and watching in wide-eyed fascination.