Breaking The Curse
Breaking The Curse by Nightcatcher Blackwolf They stood on the outskirts of Dansilia, the broken lands west of the Shilt river. It was noon, and the sun beat down on the arid, dry rock of the dead plains without mercy. No living thing would dare call this a habitat, but for the small Siladans, relative to the smaller scorpions back home. Areth put an arm around Briln's shoulder, as the tiger man and woman gazed over the bleak landscape. Though there were no words exchanged, they were both thinking the same thing: Either we make it, or die trying. The two often shared thoughts; it was part of the bond they shared. Briln raised her long spear, using the butt end as a walking stick, and started off into the deserted plains. It was a test for the two of them, one that could either make their life, or take it. They had come prepared for the journey, wearing light clothes, and carrying their backpacks and bedrolls on their backs. The two spears they had were crafted specifically for this journey, to protect them from the Siladans. The harsh lands they now trod over carefully, for fear of burning the pads on their feet, was once a lush and fertile forest. The story was one both Areth and Briln had heard many times before: How the sorcerer had come upon a village of hardworking people - humans, then - and was invited to share the bounty of the land. The food and lodging was meager; the village was hardly more than a few small buildings and a dirt road. The sorcerer was angered. He blasted the village and the miles of farm fields to the west with a powerful curse, leveling the forest with the same effort it would take a man to wipe a card house from a table. He cursed the people of the village as well, taking their humanity, and turning them into the furred lion men they were today. The curse was specific, and had a limitation. "Should any of your village be able to bring fruit to bear from the center of the wastelands, the curses shall be lifted, and you will be restored." So far, none had been able to break the curse. But Areth and Briln had an idea... "Areth!" Briln's sharp call brought him back from his idle mental wanderings. "We've a long road to travel. No time for daydreams. Come on." She reset the pack on her shoulders and resumed her march towards the heart of the broken lands. Areth grumbled, but nonetheless got up and began walking as well, his own spear an invaluable staff to lean upon as the sun drained him of his energy. They marched for hours, trusting their keen sense of direction to keep them on track. Night fell slowly, as it often does during the fall, the sunset's rainbow brilliance slowly fading into the moon's pale, eerie glow. "Time to stop." Areth lowered his spear to the ground and stretched. "It'll take us another day to get there, then two to return. You really think it'll work?" The question was out before he could stop it, and he shook his head, knowing it sounded immature. Briln rolled her eyes in exasperation. She'd been waiting for him to say something of the sort, knowing his mind as well as she knew her own. "Yes, it'll work. It had better, I'd hate to make this journey for nothing." Areth's brows furrowed, and she hastily amended: "Not because of you, dear one. The desert, the sun, the heat, but never you." She smiled, and he relaxed. They spread out their bedrolls, slipping into them and into sleep almost simultaneously, quite worn out from the long walk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Stop that. It's NOT time to get up yet." Areth rolled over, away from the annoying tickling on his neck. It didn't stop. "Damn it, Briln...." Areth groggily opened his eyes, making an annoyed swing for where he thought Briln was. She wasn't. That brought him to full awareness. "BRILN! WAKE UP!" He got out from the bedroll hurriedly, snatching up his spear, and whirling to face the huge, scorpion like Siladans. The three creatures fanned out, holding their stingers high. Briln had, by this time, woken up, and grabbed her spear as well. Two against three. Unfair. She pulled herself to her feet just as one of the stingers plunged into her bedroll, piercing it through and flinging it off to the side. Areth swatted a stinger aimed at him to the side, whirling his spear back and thrusting in. The spear nicked the Siladan, and it withdrew, as its brother... sister? Sibling? closed in on Areth from the other side. Briln swayed to the side as a claw swept by. Not fast enough; the claw latches on to her ankle and dragged her off her feet, towards prime stinger range. Her experience in fighting Siladans on the border paid off. She knew this maneuver, and the effective counter, which she implemented. As she was being dragged off her feet, she stabbed downwards, jabbing the creature through it's eagerly gaping mouth. The massive scorpion choked, but Briln gave no quarter, and pushed inwards, impaling the creature completely. The stinger made a feeble jab at her, but was easily dodged, the creature's oncoming death slowing it, and eventually, stopping it completely. Briln began working her spear out, hoping it wouldn't break. Areth, meanwhile, was having a tough time. The two Siladans had backed him far away from Briln's battle; he had not been able to see if she had survived. Nor could he spare the time right now to think of her, his own life being in danger. His thrusts met solid resistance from the two scorpions, and they continued their attacks relentlessly. It was all he could do to dodge the stingers, and his legs and arms were already bleeding from numerous scratches from the flying claws. He was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it. Briln finally got her spear out from the carcass, and looked around for her mate. She saw him defending himself against the two, with a look of increasing despair as he couldn't seem to attack. Not again... She ran at his attackers, letting loose a roar. One of the Siladans turned. Seeing the enraged tiger woman bearing down on him, and, beyond that, the corpse of his brother, he turned tail and ran. The other one didn't even spare a glance, but, while Areth was distracted by the sudden arrival of his mate, bore in, and stung Areth, right in the thigh. Areth screamed. He could feel the poison beginning to flow into his blood already. He brought his spear down, jamming it's point between the joining of two of the armored plates that made up the huge scorpion's outer layer of protection. The spear, not really having been built for such heavy duty piercing, snapped. Areth lurched back, yanking the stinger out of his leg. The Siladan also pulled back, as the tiger man collapsed to the sand. Briln didn't give it the chance to turn and face her. Instead, she rammed her spear in one of the other unguarded places where the plates of the scorpion's armor don't cover: the rear end. The spear went in... and hit bone. It stuck, the Siladan's high, brassy scream of pain echoing into the night. Briln yanked, but the spear was stuck fast. She let it go, and rolled, avoiding a stinger stab, and picked up the broken end of Areth's spear. It wasn't much of a weapon, the now unconscious tiger man not having been experienced enough to know he shouldn't stab the armor, but it would do in a pinch. A pinch was exactly what the Siladan had in mind, still screaming from the spear rammed into it from behind. It grabbed for Briln with both claws, but blood loss and pain had drawn a haze over its vision and had slowed it. The tiger woman easily avoided the claws, came in closer, and jammed the long shaft of oak down the Siladan's throat. It tripped her, sweeping it's claws back in, and knocked her backwards, sprawling. Briln waited for the final blow to come. It never did. The pain and blood loss was too much for the Siladan. It finally sank into a heap, the stinger slowly coming down, pushing the spear further up, grating along bone until free and driving it into the creature's heart, killing it finally. Briln sent a word of prayer to whatever gods were looking out for her that night, and crawled over to Areth. He didn't look healthy. His complexion had gone pale already, and he was shivering. Briln had seen victims of the poison before. The only thing she could do was try to suck the disgusting paste out of the cut, and hope he hadn't already taken too much into his bloodstream. She began hurriedly sucking and spitting, getting as much as she could. He didn't look any better afterwards. She winced, and quietly put an arm around him. She closed her eyes, only to rest them a moment... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Areth groaned. He sat up quickly, as he was accustomed to doing... and got pushed back down. "Keep your eyes closed and lay down. You're not over the worst yet." Briln's voice floated to him as if from out of a black cloud of haze. "What happened?" "You got stung, idiot. Next time don't break your spear, it was a pain in the ass to try to kill that thing without a decent weapon." She sounded vaguely cranky. He tried to open his eyes, then immediately closed them again, the sun stabbing into them like swords of light. "How long?" She didn't need to ask what he meant. "Twelve hours." "TWELVE HOURS? We'll never make it there and back!" "Calm DOWN. I packed extra rations and water." "You did?" "Yes, I did." "Oh." And with that, he fell back into a fitful sleep. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A day later found Areth and Briln back on the road again, Areth leaning on the remaining spear like it was an anchor to his life. The two had to rest often; The aftermath of the poison weakening Areth greatly. His loud complaints of being treated like a child and being able to take care of himself got cool, calm replies from Briln. "Damn it, we are going to continue. I'm well able enough to know what I'm capable of." "Which is why you took on two Siladan's, and got stung. Shut up and rest." He shut up. By the next day, they had reached the center of the wasteland. There was a small area, marked off by a black line on the cracked earth. Briln looked to Areth, who was growing stronger by the hour, and grinned. He returned the grin, and they both stepped into the square. "Finally!" Areth collapsed onto the ground. "I told you we should have rested longer. " To shut him up, the last rest had been cut shorter than the others. "Yeah, yeah... we can rest here." His eyes drifted shut, and he began snoring. Briln shook her head. One of these days, he's going to get an inch of sense in his mind, and I'm going to drop dead of shock. She chuckled, then spread out next to him and joined him in slumber. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They awoke late that night, Briln waking first, and shaking Areth awake. "Come on, Areth, it's time." He grumbled, and rolled over. She kicked him in the back of the knee, and was rewarded by a howl of outrage and Areth sitting upright. "Goddammit! That just healed!" "Oh, shut up. It's time." "Time?" He gave her a blank look. "Yes, "time"." She mimicked his voice perfectly, and he turned red. "Oh. Well, uh..." He looked at a loss. She sighed. It was understandable that he should have no idea what to do, being a young tiger man, but it was also annoying. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me I have to tell you how to do EVERYTHING." She took off her shirt, ignoring the eye widening and staring of her companion, and began undoing her pants. As soon as Areth realized he was staring, he stopped, and began undressing as well. Briln's fur, now free of the restraint of the clothes, puffed out. She smoothed it back down, watching Areth fumble with his pants, until he finally managed to loosen the drawstring and pull them off. She grinned at him, his large cock standing erect already. "This'll be fast, judging from that." She grinned at him, and he blushed. "Oh, shut up." He put an arm around her and pulled her closer. She smiled as she felt his cock brush across her lips but not make it in, and kissed him softly, reaching down and guiding his erect organ into her. Areth shivered as he felt himself slide into her, then gasped as she squeezed his prick with her pussy. Instinct took over fairly quickly, and Areth swung up on top of Briln. He began slowly fucking her, licking her breasts. She ran her fingers through his hair and mane and down his back, arching her back to impale herself further on his erect cock. He began pumping faster, slamming her back into the ground with each thrust. She cried aloud as he fucked her with ever increasing passion, her claws digging into his back as she began moving up and down as well. His rough, feline tongue rasped over her furred breasts, exciting her further. She began to tense with coming orgasm, crying out as he hammered into her. She felt the muscles of his back tense through the haze of pleasure, just before she felt him flood her with his hot sperm. He continued his thrusting for several moments before collapsing next to her, pulling her to the side with him. "I... I think... I need to rest." He panted out, with a grin. "What... already? Geez... you've rested all day. We have to make sure." She swung herself on top of him, and grinned down at him. "You rest, I'll do the work this time." She squeezed, and smiled as he groaned. She began slowly moving herself up and down, very slowly. He gritted his teeth as she leaned forward, her breasts hanging above his face. She began to slowly speed up, as he grabbed her ass and started pulling and pushing it to make her go faster. She was able to resist this, and continued her maddeningly slow increase in pace. She felt him flick his tail up and begin teasing at her asshole, poking slowly in. This increased her pleasure, and she began to speed up, squeezing his erect cock within her. She climaxed just as he let loose his second load with a roar, squirting the hot liquid into the deepest reaches of her cunt. She came down from the peak, gasping, and slid down off him to once again lay beside him, staring into his eyes. "OK... you can.. rest now." "Damn it... I'll rest... when I... want to rest!" She grinned, but couldn't reply, as she was trying to catch her breath. He pulled his still throbbing cock out of her, trailing a small string of semen along her leg as he moved around to behind her. He pulled her up onto her hands and knees, and knelt behind her, moving her tail out of the way and guiding himself back into her. She gasped as his erect cock penetrated her at a different angle. He leaned down and grabbed hold of her by her breasts, massaging them as he began to pump in and out of her already well lubricated cunt. He bit down on the back of her neck, holding her in place as he thrust into her, his claws leaving tiny marks on her breasts. She arched her back, squeezing hard as she climaxed, pushing back into him. He lasted a few seconds more before once again shooting the contents of his furry balls into her. He kept going for a few more moments, then pulled her to the side, keeping his erect prick within her. "Have we... made sure now... that we.. will ?bear fruit'?" She nodded, too out of breath to say anything. "Good. Let's sleep." He didn't need to say it twice. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day, the pair returned to the village. Even as they walked, the dead lands began to change. The cracks closed, and grass sprouted; trees grew everywhere, sprouting to tallness in the blink of an eye. They finally reached home. The houses that were there had changed little since they had left, but the people... the people had all changed back to human, as the story had said. All except Areth and Briln. The sorcerer's spite lasted on the two... or did it? Areth and Briln were happy the way they were. They didn't want to change, and so, when the spell was broken, they didn't. The mason of the village created a statue in their likeness, the tiger man and the tiger woman, with Briln holding her new baby Ardan. No one ever forgot them, and the statue still stands today, though the village has grown into a large city. Areth and Briln never told anyone how precisely they broke the spell, taking the secret with them to their death. Ardan, the child, was born human. One day, perhaps, he will find his own adventures. But that is a tale for another time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well. This is my second story, done on request by another good friend of mine. I personally prefer wolves, but hey, variety is good! ;) As always, direct comments, suggestions, questions, requests, etc. to: [email protected]