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The first fingers of sunlight glinted across the masonry. It warmed the swallow's face, but he turned away from it. Even now, on the threshold of waking, he knew it was the wrong light. He had not seen his star's light in months. He knew he never would again.

In turning, he touched his face to the warm flank beside him. Unfamiliar as the sun was, the body was not. It was a Chozo, a creature he had considered mythical until recently. Something of a scholar, the swallow had been fascinated by Chozo ruins and hieroglyphics. He had heard tales of some bounty hunter who had taken up the mantle of a Chozo warrior, but that seemed more fiction than fact.

In the last moments before his rest broke, Aetos smelled the Chozo at his side, and thought of his firm hand and stern voice. He remembered the terror of the attack. He had never seen such overwhelming force. His people slaughtered, his husband most likely among the heaped bodies. If he had not been killed in the invasion, the cracking of the planet had certainly been his end. Aetos had seen it through a veil of tears, the molten blood of his home world boiling to the surface as explosives of hideous destructive potential detonated in its core.

Aetos had remembered asking why. His captor had spoken some cruelty in the thick Chozo tongue, the words but not the tone a mystery to Aetos. It had been for sport, the swallow believed. In the months since, he had come to learn that these Chozo he found himself among were not the peaceful intellectuals and spiritualists who he had studied so much, but a caste of warriors. His world had been just another conquest, the lives of billions nothing to the likes of these Chozo. And he, Aetos, the sole survivor, had been molded into a pet for their general.

The heavy hand and cold, sharp talons of Raven Beak spread across the swallow's breast. He spoke in the swallow's tongue, the galactic standard language, "Awaken, small bird. I have need of you."

The swallow stirred from uneasy sleep. It was amazing, he thought, how poorly one could sleep on down-filled cushions and silk sheets in a glistening palace. He eyed his captor and said softly, "I'm awake, sir."

Red eyes glinting, beak shimmering in the sunlight, Raven Beak was at once handsome and unsettling. To Aetos he showed little menace except in his sternness, but to the warriors below him, especially in terms of discipline, Raven Beak was ruthless. Aetos had once watched as he personally snapped the bones of a dissenter. The broken warrior had been left on display in the commons outside the palace, where he had clung to life for several days before finally expiring. Aetos, whose bones were hollow and whose inclination was anything but war, thought it prudent to obey this Chozo who had spared him.

Raven Beak, who stood nearly thrice the swallow's height and whose build was dense with muscle and ebony birdfur, folded his arms behind his head. Among these Chozo, Aetos has learned, personal hygiene was skewed; body odor and musk ran rampant, yet feathers were meticulously preened and armor was polished to a mirror shine.

The Chozo didn't need to give Aetos commands. Each morning, the same service was expected of the swallow, and each morning Aetos provided it. He gazed now upon the familiar black length of the Chozo's penis. Varicose, hooded with foreskin, it had very quickly become a pleasure to behold and handle. It was a failing Aetos admonished himself for, but the academic part of his mind tried to tell him that it was healthy to move on and to find new purposes in life. Still, the wedding band around one of his scaly fingers - the only vestige of his former life Raven Beak allowed him - was an incessant reminder of what had been lost.

Aetos knelt between Raven Beak's stout and lengthy legs. The Chozo's scrotum hung on the silk sheets, fat and dressed in downy black birdfur. His virility was apparent both in the size of his gonads and their output; Aetos was stricken each and every time by the volume and thickness of the Chozo's production.

As was the minor ritual he had developed, Aetos dipped low and touched the curve of his beak into Raven Beak's scrotum. He smelled the Chozo's rich genital musk and cooed in a soft, trilling fashion. His anus, plush from repeated and vigorous sessions with the warlord, tensed between his taut buttocks; merely smelling Raven Beak anymore made him feel sexually pliant.

"You smell wonderful," he said, softly.

Raven Beak said lowly, "I know that I do. You are fortunate to experience it."

"I am," Aetos concurred, and thought involuntarily of his dead husband. He quickly forced the thought out of his mind; he had excellent control of his imagination and his mind, and he could keep his thoughts from wandering most of the time. Inhaling the warrior's scent helped in this regard. He nosed lower, heavy balls sliding over his beak and blotting out his vision.

Feeling the brush of the swallow's beak, Raven Beak shifted and bent his knees. A smirk upturned the corners of his beak. "Yes, smell there. Savor my musk, pet."

Aetos inhaled the anal scent of his captor. Like the rest of his bodily scents, it was powerful. The swallow had pushed his beak into the Chozo's armpits and loins, even licked the soles of his taloned feet, but it was the supple pink bud between the Chozo's ass cheeks which possessed the most nuanced and potent musk. As he smelled, he shivered. His penis stiffened slowly, a pink and uncircumcised thing of what would have been a respectable size if not for the proximity of Raven Beak, who was massive both in physique and endowment.

Although it was the swallow's prerogative to service Raven Beak as he saw fit, he did not wish to luxuriate on the Chozo's anal scent. He knew, given the chance, he would have lingered there for hours; and perhaps the Chozo would have enjoyed that attention, but Aetos wanted more of the wicked bird. He pulled back, but as he raised his head, so did he pay out some of his tongue. He dragged it over the Chozo's sack, slurping through the delicate birdfur. Sweat and musk were his rewards; he consumed both greedily.

He saw now that the Chozo's penis had stiffened during his time down below. It was hardly a shock, as Raven Beak had proven himself a creature of intense libido on more than one occasion. Aetos clutched its dark flesh in his scaly hands. "The size of this," he shuddered, "I may never be used to it, sir..."

Raven Beak was unmoved by the praise. "Use your hands sparingly, pet. Your tongue will do. Then I shall mount you."

Mounting. The thought both thrilled and worried Aetos, who could vividly remember his guts being bullied by the Chozo's enormous cock. But to say no was to invite death, and really, the idea of being fucked thrilled the swallow. For such a diffident and thoughtful bird, Aetos had nevertheless always been the top in his moments with his warrior husband, but Raven Beak had taken his anal virginity without hesitation. The pain had been unbearable. The bleeding had been worrisome. Aetos had suffered an orgasm the likes of which he had never experienced before, and his hands had not so much as brushed his penis. That was the prevailing memory when he recalled how the wicked Chozo had laid claim to his anal passage.

With hands on the Chozo's thighs, Aetos lapped dutifully over the great black meat. Unlike Aetos, whose glans was hidden behind a pucker of foreskin whether flaccid or erect, Raven Beak's glans was proudly bared when his penis stiffened. Its flesh was as ebony as the shaft it topped, and a constant drool of musky precum rolled from its slit. Aetos lavished the glans both because of the concentration of nerve endings there and because he was a whore for the Chozo's liquid musk. It was bitter, stinging his tongue with its pungency, but there was pleasure in that acquired taste.

Raven Beak showed his pleasure in low, lurid rumbles. Powerful muscles tensed, toes curled, and sweat began to seep through his down and feathers, only worsening his odorous musk. Aetos cupped a hand around the Chozo's cock; the sensation of the Chozo's pulse throbbing in his cock excited the swallow. He nuzzled the underside and allowed the precum to glaze his beak. He breathed, "Goodness, the smell. It's intoxicating, sir..."

The Chozo clicked his beak in arousal. When Aetos looked at his face, he saw that the Chozo was grinning. Aetos couldn't help but sheepishly grin back, but then he averted his eyes, and he made to resume his laps. The Chozo, however, wrapped a strong hand around the swallow's shoulder, talon tips prickling Aetos' supple, almost girlish flesh and form. Even then Aetos did not feel threatened, not at this moment. He was only aroused and very nearly in love with the evil Chozo.

"Present yourself to me, pet," said the Chozo in his low voice.

The swallow quivered at the thought, both dreading and gleefully anticipating the penetration. He nodded, then turned on his knees before dropping to his hands. His plumage fanned above his effeminate bottom. He cooed, "Please, sir."

Lurid desire showed on the Chozo's face. He knelt behind the swallow who seemed incompatibly small, yet both knew better. His strong hands gripped the bird's buttocks, vanishing them, and he spread them apart. In his first order of business, he tongued the plump pink bud of the swallow's asshole. Aetos crooned with pleasure and curled his toes. The swallow looked back at Raven Beak coquettishly; the Chozo sneered and pushed his tongue inside.

Hot saliva spread across the swallow's anal walls. Aetos shuddered and said, "Please, more... oh, please, sir. Give me more."

"Mm," murmured Raven Beak. His fat black phallus leaked on the sheets and cushions as he tongue-fucked the swallow's ass. The Chozo was so much more massive then Aetos that even his tongue was enormous in comparison, and its wedge shape forced open well-trained anal muscles and left a coating of drool which would, as it has before, serve as a passable lubricant.

Aetos squawked and cried as Raven Beak dug his tongue deeper, harder inside. For several moments the swallow was entirely blissful, sparing not a single thought to what he had lost. His smile was broad and genuine. The Chozo drew back his tongue and still Aetos shivered with pleasure. His anus remained somewhat gaped and its surface was marbled with drool spreading languidly to the surrounding birdfur.

Raven Beak gripped his cock far harder than he'd dare squeeze his fragile pet. He touched its broad head to the swallow's hole. "Make ready," he hissed, the only warning Aetos received.

As it always was, the penetration proved both painful and euphoric. Aetos cringed as the two sensations fought for supremacy. Soft, keening cries rose in his chest and he gripped the sheets in his fists. His legs trembled. Raven Beak forced him open, forced him to take what Aetos had never measured but which he'd eyeballed to be at least two feet of cock, probably more. It was an absurd feeling, he thought, feeling the circumference of his anal passage so rapidly expanding. It was like a fist pushing its way into his guts, pushing things out of the way with its entry. Aetos touched his belly, and like a pregnant mammal, he was rewarded with the sensation of a hump in his otherwise slender abdomen.

In war and sex both, Raven Beak was swift and decisive, placing power above all else. He hunched over his swallow pet, eclipsing his small and vibrant form. Strong legs drove his cock like a piston. It gouged Aetos and left him cringing and squawking in a sexual agony he found unique to anal sex.

The Chozo brayed in pleasure as he savagely fucked his pet. The swallow clung to his arms which were braced against the cushions, talons plunged into the fabric. Aetos cried, "Oh-, oh yes, yes!"

Raven Beak hatefully grinned. Lust glinted in his ruby-red eyes. The swallow tried his hardest to anchor himself down, but the Chozo's thrusts shifted him, raised him off his knees with each entry. He hissed from his nearly clenched beak, "You are pitiful, pet."

"Terribly, terribly weak," gasped Aetos, who not only spoke the words but believed them. In fact, he understood them as unshakable truth. "Unworthy of your presence!"

The Chozo brought a hand to Aetos' neck. He clutched it gently - by his strength. Aetos wheezed and he dared to grab the Chozo's wrist.

A low, bestial nose unfitting of a bird rose in Raven Beak's breast. He pushed his weight on the swallow, mashed him down into the cushions which nearly flattened under the pressure. Like so, he raped his swallow pet into the bedding, stabbing his great cock into the shrieking, pleading bird again and again. His heavy balls swung in a pendulous arc with each thrust, but soon they began to tighten into the humid warmth between his thighs.

"Sir, please!" bawled Aetos, who writhed and sobbed, suffering paroxysms of ecstasy and great waves of pain. Raven Beak's cock tugged at his insides, pushed into so many tender nerve endings at once and crushed the small, bean-shaped gland of his prostate with its rapid movements. He ejaculated into the sheets, crying out in a torrid blend of pleasure and pain.

The Chozo cinched his grip on the swallow's neck. Aetos began to gag and sputter, and the Chozo grinned. He had no desire to kill his pet, whose soft body and earnest submission did not exist among his ranks; and if it did, he would have culled those members without hesitation. But the swallow was an outsider, a spoil he took for his own pleasure, and so Aetos was free to be as much a milquetoast as he could possibly be. He rumbled, "Ready yourself," he grunted, shuddered, "for the gift of my seed, pet."

Raven Beak released the swallow's neck and braced his elbows on the floor, his body so low that the bird was hemmed in completely. Several more times, slower yet hardly gentler, his hips slapped into the swallow's girlish ass. Soon he buried his cock utterly, and he brayed in sexual triumph as he came. Enormous strands of viscous Chozo seed burst into the swallow. Aetos cried out as he felt the salty sting in all the microscopic wounds the warlord's cock had caused him. But in that pain was the pleasure of being a submissive to such a powerful individual. As the seed filled his guts and began to leak around the Chozo's thick, throbbing penis, Aetos said in a quivering voice, "Th-thank you for this-, this incredible gift, sir..."

"You are fortunate to receive it," Raven Beak ominously said. He pushed himself up gradually; even a warrior as strong as he was prone to fatigue after an orgasm. On his knees, he held Aetos by the hips and tugged his softening penis free. He was quietly pleased to see that he hadn't drawn blood; the swallow was adapting well.

The Chozo stood. His flaccid penis drizzled the dregs of his climax on the swallow's upturned and drooling behind. "Come along, pet." He stepped over Aetos, laying a jagged skunk stripe of cum along the swallow's body. Aetos stood slowly, legs trembling and threatening to give out. As incredible as the sex was, he felt like his innards might come tumbling out of his cavernous anus at times. He hobbled after Raven Beak, whose long gait made him difficult to keep pace with.

Raven Beak sat in his throne. At his back and front, floor to ceiling windows showed the ragged plains of the planet ZDR. The radiance of the morning sun was fading; thunderheads many miles tall marched across the sky, darkening the lands below. Such vicious storms were the norm on this tumultuous planet, and Aetos, who once had been driven into his husband's arms by thunder, had since beaten his phobia. Nevertheless, the rumble of it triggered memories of his husband. It showed on his face when he stood before his master.

The warlord was impassive. "I encourage you to forget about your past life. You have much to do."

"I-, yes sir," Aetos murmured. He leaned close to the handsome, mighty Chozo. Under his gaze, Aetos felt insignificant yet peculiarly loved. He was astute enough to realize this was only a coping mechanism but embraced it eagerly. To fight it would be to admit that he was alone in an indifferent universe.

Aetos began to lick and preen Raven Beak's sweaty feathers and birdfur. He did not start nor luxuriate on erogenous zones; every inch of the Chozo needed to be cleaned. Aetos did his duties gladly. The rich scent and flawless physique of Raven Beak deserved such worship.

As the swallow neared an armpit, Raven Beak raised his arm and tucked it behind his head. While Aetos licked and preened, he noted that the bird also sniffed indulgently. Lowly, "This is what makes you such a fine pet."

"Sir?" Self-conscious and startled.

The Chozo grinned. "You appreciate what past pets have resisted." As calmly as his dinner requests, he said, "If you had balked at my scent, I would have crushed your skull in my bare hands the night I took you."

Aetos stared at the Chozo, shivering with new anxiety.

"Return to work, pet," Raven Beak calmly said. "I have no reason to kill you."

Gradually, the swallow's worries dissipated into his work. He knelt, prepared to preen the Chozo's lower body. Raven Beak hooked a long leg over the armrest of his throne. With a hint of boredom, he said, "I know you wish to linger on my behind. I will allow it."

"Thank you, sir," quivered Aetos. Yet there was still work to be done. What his master had offered was dessert. Aetos preened and licked every inch of the Chozo's legs, leaving the feathers and fur perfectly groomed. Indulgently he licked the sole of the warlord's hanging foot; Raven Beak, in a rare bout of playfulness, curled his talons around Aetos' face.

"Do my feet arouse you, pet?"

"Sir, every part of your body does," Aetos cooed, and licked the sole again. If he'd had lips instead of his chitinous beak, the swallow would have suckled the Chozo's talons. He settled for licking them, and he shuddered when their tips prickled his tongue.

"As well it should," Raven Beak lowly said. "Now indulge yourself. You have earned your prize."

With a coo of pleasure, the swallow slid his beak beneath the Chozo's heavy and freshly-preened balls. The two small openings that were his nostrils brushed the sweaty, pink rim and he began to smell his master. At first his sniffs were delicate and measured; but gradually, as the thirst for musk took hold of him, he began to snuffle and snort, exhaling through his maw but sucking all his breaths greedily through his nostrils. His eyes, hidden under the Chozo's balls, glazed with pleasure. His erection stiffened and he groaned into his master's rear.

A smirk crested on the Chozo's beak. He said nothing, content to let his pet be. In the interim he worked the small control pad built into the right armrest of his throne. The dais at the center of the chamber lit up as the ambient lights went down, and a somewhat jittery hologram appeared above the dais. He worked the controls, idly going through a number of security camera feeds. He saw his warriors patrolling and training, and he checked the various halls and caverns of the worlds below the surface, full of vicious fauna. He saw nothing unusual.

And then there came an alert. It interrupted his view. The stolid avian face of one of his warriors appeared in the hologram. The view was two-way; the warrior looked at Aetos with his face under Raven Beak's balls but said nothing, this hardly being an unusual sight.

"Sir," said the warrior, speaking in the Chozo tongue. "An intruder has made landfall. Two of our warriors were slain. We've captured him."

"Kill him," Raven Beak said.

"Sir." In the background came screaming - in the galactic standard language.

"You murdering, planet-looting bastards! Where have you taken my husband? Where-"

The feed sharply ended as the warrior cut it off from his end. Aetos pulled his head back in a daze. He was blushing, drunk on musk, face damp with sweat. But he said with remarkable clarity, "That was my Desmond." He looked up at Raven Beak, his eyes pleading. "Sir. Please. That was my husband."

The Chozo appeared sullen. He did not want a second pet. This one was diffident and eager, and a bird besides. An angry warrior was a liability, yet he understood that if he had the swallow's lover murdered now, he would become withdrawn and hateful. His obedient pet would be no more.

He fingered the controls. The warrior answered again; screams filled the background, ones full of pain and anger. Raven Beak said quickly but sternly in the Chozo tongue, "Do not harm him."

The blood seemed to drain from the warrior's face. He turned to something out of view of the camera.

Raven Beak's eyes narrowed. "What have you done?"

"I-, sir," the warrior stammered. "Agile Quill attempted to carry out your previous order. The intruder clawed his eye out."

The Chozo warlord was impressed, yet did not show it. What kind of warrior could kill two of the Mawkin tribe and blind another?

"Then what is the problem?" he asked coldly.

"Sir. Agile Quill plucked one of his eyes in revenge."

The warlord sat back in his throne and exhaled. A missing eye was trivial. The swallow could overlook that. He said calmly, "Have the intruder subdued and treated. Agile Quill is to be punished." Without waiting for a response, he cut off the feed, then stood from his throne. He stepped over Aetos who looked after him.

"Sir?" the swallow asked.

"Your lover lives," Raven Beak said over his shoulder. "You will be responsible for his behavior." He turned and glowered into his pet's eyes. "He has killed two of my tribe and torn the eye from another. Were it not for your intervention, I'd have him killed. If he proves unruly, I will kill him personally."

Aetos' eyes brimmed with tears. Be they grateful or fearful, Raven Beak did not know. "I will keep him in line, sir."

Aetos was used to being left to his own devices in Raven Beak's palace. Being the pet to the warlord gave him access to many areas. He had taken a special interest in Chozo literature, and he had largely decoded their language. He could read their books about on the level of a fledgling. Knowing his lover was alive and wounded made the lack of supervision maddening, but after the first hour, he decided he must try to calm himself somehow, and so he opened a book of poetry penned by a Thoha scholar. Much of the nuance eluded him as one who could only passably read Chozo script, but there was beauty in what he could comprehend. It calmed him if only for a blessed few minutes.

So it was that Raven Beak found him sitting in the spacious library, clutching a gilded book as rain and hailstones beat the reinforced skylights above. The Chozo wore his armor now, his silvery suit glistening in the artificial lights. His voice came out modulated and low: "Your mate waits for you, pet. Come."

Aetos shelved the book and followed his master closely. Raven Beak took him to the throne room where the floors and bedding had been cleaned in his absence. There, chained before the throne, was the naked form of his husband. The swallow sprinted ahead of Raven Beak. Tears fell from his eyes. He dropped to the floor and he threw his arms around Desmond.

"I thought I would never see you again," he bleated, his tears making his words thick. He felt a lump in the back of his throat. "Oh, Desmond." He studied his husband's features: the thin lines of his vulpine snout, his bandit mask marking, his long hair and twisted braid. He had been warned of the damage done to the foxcoon's eye. It was covered with a patch, a black and well-fitted thing. Nevertheless Aetos cried for his husband's wounds, and he buried his face into the foxcoon's furry chest.

Desmond was silent. His chains lashed his legs to the floor but his arms were free. He hugged his husband, and he cried too. Yet he looked up at Raven Beak, whose red eyes burned into his stare. The Chozo sat in his throne, form-fitting armor clattering against the seat. "Pet," he said. "Enough. I wish to address my slave."

Reluctantly, Aetos began to pull away from Desmond. The foxcoon stole a kiss on his beak. Aetos shivered and lingered nearby.

Again, firmer, "Pet." Finally the swallow moved away, then knelt in his appointed place beside Raven Beak's throne.

The Chozo and foxcoon locked gazes. The lithe, small form of the mammal surprised Raven Beak. That this wiry creature could have felled two Mawkin warriors spoke of remarkable training. He said, "You have killed members of my tribe. The punishment for this is death."

"Sir!" Aetos squawked.

"Be silent," Raven Beak snapped, his glare turned momentarily on Aetos. The foxcoon seemed ready to spring; hate burned in his expression. Raven Beak longed for a confrontation, as brief as it would have been with this mammal.

He pointed a shining talon at Desmond. "Because of your lover, I have chosen to make you a slave rather than an example. You will do as I say without question. You are beneath even the lowliest spear-sharpener in my tribe. If any Mawkin makes an order of you, you shall carry it out."

"I will do no such thing," Desmond snapped.

Raven Beak looked to Aetos. His fierce gaze said everything.

The swallow walked to Desmond and knelt before him. His eyes glistened. He said urgently, "Desmond, please. Please. I understand your anger and your pride, but-, but don't just think of yourself! I can't live without you."

Desmond looked from his husband to the Chozo. He growled, "It seems you've been doing just fine without me. I can smell him on you."

Raven Beak smirked, but said nothing.

"Because I thought you had died!" Aetos cried. "The Mawkin slaughtered everybody! They destroyed our planet!"

The foxcoon grunted and looked away. "You would have me give up my pride and my freedom just so you could sleep at night?" His gaze fell on the bedding. "In comfort and safety with your new lover?"

Aetos wiped at his wet eyes. "Desmond, I love you. And-, and it isn't that bad here. Raven Beak is stern, yet fair."

"Tell me, are you beholden to all of his warriors too?"

The swallow said nothing. He looked away, avoiding Desmond's sudden stare.

"Exactly." He tugged at his chains. Only the din of the rain filled the room. The Chozo sat silent and still, studying the drama and privately wishing for the opportunity to duel this skilled little warrior to the death.

Finally Desmond spoke. "I love you, Aetos. More than anything and anyone. Yet you ask so much of me," he fingered the edge of the eyepatch, and he winced at the lingering pain, "and I've already had so much taken away."

"So have I," Aetos said in a small voice. "My home. My star. But not my husband." He reached for Desmond and took his soft paws into his scaly hands. The fur was like velvet but the pads were calloused, just as Aetos remembered them. "Please. Don't leave me."

Desmond closed his eye. He leaned into his husband, his gentle lover. His tears dampened the swallow's chest. "I will do as you ask."

Raven Beak allowed them this moment. When Desmond raised his head, the Chozo touched the controls on his throne. The chains and the eyelets which they anchored to blinked into nothing, and with a moment of concentration, Raven Beak also dismissed his powered armor, leaving his body bare.

"Pet, you may stand aside. It is time for my slave to learn his place." He beckoned Desmond. As the foxcoon stood and slowly approached, Raven Beak appraised his form. He was smaller than even the petite swallow, lithe in build, and between his thighs was a vulva, plush and black. This was what caught his eye.

"A female," he said, with a hint of interest.

"No," Desmond answered, bored in tone, as if he had explained it countless times. "I am male."

"With female anatomy," the Chozo observed, smirking.

"Yes," Desmond said. Despite his attempt to remain stolid, his ears splayed back and his gaze fell away from the Chozo's red stare. "I suppose you'll wish to breed me."

The Chozo nodded once. "You suppose correctly. It will give your lover's bottom a rest." He waited to see if the anger flared, but Desmond was markedly controlled. Raven Beak beckoned him closer. "Your lover's place is to preen my feathers and my fur. Your duties will be much more crude." He hooked a leg over the armrest; instinctively Aetos licked the edges of his beak and shivered. "Kneel, slave."

Defiantly, Desmond remained erect. The Chozo repeated calmly, "Kneel."

"Do what you must, murderer. I will not kneel to you."

"Desmond," Aetos quietly pleaded.

But the swallow had no time to coerce his proud lover. Raven Beak sprung from his throne faster either the swallow or foxcoon could see. His hand clutched the foxcoon's throat. He hoisted Desmond without effort, then squeezed and watched as the mammal's remaining eye bulged and his teeth gnashed in a cringe.

"You were given every opportunity to live," Raven Beak calmly said.

"Please, don't! No!" Aetos cried, grabbing the Chozo's leg.

Desmond gagged and thrashed. He clawed the Chozo's arm, raking bloody ruts into his flesh, yet the warlord was unfazed. "You killed my planet," he spat.

Raven Beak wrenched on Desmond's throat. He felt the pulse of life in his neck as it madly throbbed, the heart racing. Harder and harder he squeezed, barely a fraction of his mighty strength. Desmond's arms fell to his sides. A blood vessel ruptured in his eye, staining its emerald a muddy red. His bladder released and urine splashed on the floor.

For one moment, the Chozo considered squeezing until - what, he wondered? Could he tear the little warrior's head clean off, or would he simply crush the neck until the bones within were the consistency of gravel?

Aetos screamed and pleaded. He beat his fists on Raven Beak's leg, fell to the floor, and sobbed against the warlord's ankle. "Please...! I need him!"

Raven Beak's penis stiffened as he choked the life from the foxcoon. He dropped the flaccid body to the floor and found himself wondering if he had already gone too far. Aetos clung to the limp foxcoon and sobbed against him, begging him to come back to life.

The tension broke when Desmond began to sputter and gasp. He rolled onto his side, shaking off his fretting lover. He trembled badly as life returned to his body. Raven Beak, now fully aroused and quite impressed with the mammal's durability, pushed his pet aside and knelt near his slave. He grabbed Desmond's knees, forced his legs apart, and gazed upon the dark peach that was his vulva. He'd never seen a vulva such as this. Its thick black lips and the hint of pink between them titillated him in a way even the slender, downy lines of his pet could not. The foxcoon's loins were damp with piss, but this was only a minor deterrent to Raven Beak.

The Chozo mounted the still gasping foxcoon. Though Desmond's vulva was made for penetration, it was not meant for something as heinously big as Raven Beak's cock. He screamed shrilly and he clawed the Chozo's chest. In a rasping voice he yowled, "T-too big! Too big!"

Aetos watched close by, grimacing in sympathy for his lover yet powerless to stop what was happening. Part of him was envious of Desmond.

Raven Beak's cock stabbed deep into Desmond's vaginal passage. It pushed much further than Aetos ever could; it tore at his insides, ground into his cervix, gouged it inwards and threatened to forcibly dilate it. Desmond's screams were panicked, the pain in them visceral, and Aetos sobbed. Blood escaped the lips of his vulva. Then Raven Beak started to thrust.

The foxcoon's cries were shrill despite his bruised throat, and in voicing them he made himself especially hoarse. He pawed and clawed at Raven Beak, opening pointless ruts in the flesh which did not deter the warrior. Raven Beak snarled to his slave, "You will submit to me! You are powerless!"

"No! No, stop it!" Desmond cried, barely mustering his defiance in the face of such horrible pain. Raven Beak's cock distended his belly. He could feel it deep inside, much further than it should have gone. It was inside of his womb, a dormant and infertile thing which nevertheless was a part of his female anatomy. Blood caked the Chozo's penis. Desmond shuddered in pain nearly enough to send him into shock. He bleated, "Stop it, please! STOP!"

The Chozo kept going. He was amazed by this mammal's vagina, how the outer folds were so spongy and hot, and how tight and varied the insides were. He would rape this foxcoon anally, would sample his soft lips, but this vulva was the greatest object of his desire. He brayed, "I will fill you with my seed! Beg for it!"

"I-, I can't take it," Desmond cried. He was cringing, thrashing, trying to pull away from the Chozo. When he started to gain some purchase with his feet, the wicked bird clutched him by the throat and pinned him.

"Beg! Beg, slave!" Raven Beak brayed. His heavy balls swung in their pendulous way. Aetos watched them, mesmerized by their sweaty, musky bulk. The cries of his husband became less meaningful as he watched the Chozo perform. His beauty, his strength, his scent all came together to make a perfect being.

Desmond did not beg. Raven Beak squeezed his throat and abruptly pulled his cock free. A ribbon of blood slung off of the Chozo's cock; Desmond screeched. His vulva throbbed, a gaped and bloodied cavern.

"I will finish here, then," said the Chozo, contempt thick in his voice. He touched his blood-streaked penis to the bud of Desmond's anus.

The foxcoon lurched, cringing. "No, please! Please, seed me! Seed me!"

"Who are you addressing, slave?"

"You! My-, my master," Desmond whined.

Raven Beak grinned. He plunged into Desmond's vagina and the foxcoon groaned a deep and wounded noise. The Chozo raped his plump black vulva, fucking the foxcoon's gaped cervix. The blood loss could be easily tended to, since Chozo medical technology could replicate and mass produce any blood type, Chozo or alien. He could have even blessed his slave with a replacement eye, but the gaping socket was a fine stigmata for the disgraced warrior.

"Then you shall be seeded, slave," Raven Beak shuddered. He buried his cock in the bloodied, howling foxcoon and he came with his typical explosive force. Desmond yowled and thrashed as the Chozo's salty semen infiltrated the seemingly infinite rips and wounds in his reproductive organs. He trembled as a slurry of bloodied cum washed out of him. His single eye was open but glassy, and his breaths were short and tight.

"Excellent," Raven Beak shuddered. He remained inside of Desmond as his climax tapered off.

Aetos could resist no longer. He touched his beak to the sweaty crevice of the Chozo's rear. In went his beak, and his nostrils touched the glinting pink rim of Raven Beak's pucker. He snuffled the warlord's musk greedily, and his concerns for his quivering husband dwindled.

Raven Beak glanced back. He enjoyed the sensation the broken warrior wrapped around his member and the fool's husband drinking in his anal musk. For a short time he let the swallow be. Then he said lowly, "Pet. Leave this chamber and proceed to the medical wing. I am sure you have learned some of the Chozo tongue; tell them I have need of them here."

Reluctantly Aetos slipped his beak from between the Chozo's cheeks. "Yes. Yes, sir... will he be all right?"

"He has lost a considerable amount of blood," Raven Beak dispassionately said. He pulled free of Desmond's vulva and a torrent of reddened semen gushed free. The foxcoon hissed, yet remained passive. "Go now."

The swallow hurried along. Without Aetos in the way to fuss and step in on Desmond's behalf, Raven Beak loomed over the exsanguinating warrior and warned, "You will obey me, slave."

"I-, I will obey," murmured Desmond, his eye fluttering shut. His breathing was shallow.

Desmond stirred in the medical wing. Even this area had a grandiose, ceremonial appearance with looming Chozo statues and marble works. A translucent tube was run through the side of his neck. It led into a compact, softly thrumming machine which pushed a steady supply of blood into his body.

Aetos waited close by. He smiled at Desmond. "You're awake. Thank goodness."

The foxcoon looked away. A Chozo, apparently a doctor, was near. This Chozo glanced at Desmond before leaving.

"Is this how that Raven Beak treats you, as well?"

"He is... rough with me. But he has never harmed me the way he harmed you."

"Because you've never fought back," Desmond said, contempt in his voice. He looked down at the bed he was in. Bloody bandages were pushed into his vulva. He snarled and ripped them loose. A drool of blood followed. "I can't accept this the way you have, Aetos."

The bird was silent for a moment. "It is strange," he said, seeming to look through Desmond. "The Chozo, as I'd read about them, had long been peaceful and enlightened beings. It's said that some were so in tune with nature that they ascended to a higher plane."

"Good for them," Desmond snorted.

Aetos took his paw and gently rubbed it. "You see, in their earliest days, all of the Chozo were warlike. Only the Mawkin tribe remained as such, Raven Beak chief among them. I couldn't imagine if they had all remained such fierce warriors."

Desmond closed his eye and sighed. The tube in his neck caused him much pain, but his vulva ached more; he felt as if someone taken a knife to his insides. He timidly rubbed his stomach and winced. "Raven Beak seeks to break my spirit."

"It doesn't have to be so difficult," Aetos eagerly said. "Raven Beak is... he's quite wonderful, if you take the time to-"

"Wonderful!" Desmond snapped, glaring at the swallow. "You've lost it, haven't you? Do you realize you've developed feelings for someone who has committed genocide?"

Aetos bristled. "I don't have feelings for him, but I can't fight him! You can fight - and look at you, you nearly died!"

"I would rather die fighting than live on my knees."

"Then I suppose we're at an impasse." Aetos stood. He looked helpless, nude and small in this place made for great Chozo warriors, yet in his gaze was a steel Desmond found admirable. "Raven Beak is a murderer. But he has also spared my life and yours. The least I can do is to try and make the best of it."

Desmond shook his head. "You want me to turn my back on everything I know."

"Because I love you," the swallow said.

The foxcoon looked away. "Let me rest. I have the feeling the coming days will be difficult."

The swallow looked at Desmond's broken body and felt a pang of hatred for Raven Beak. He forced it out of his mind. There were two options, as he saw it. One led to continued survival and even pleasure. The other was unthinkable. "I hope you'll see the wisdom in my decision," he said softly, and left Desmond to rest.

In the days to follow, Desmond was kept away from Aetos and the Chozo warlord. He spent his time among the warriors as an outsider, but soon found a strange kinship with Agile Quill, the Chozo whose eye he had taken, and who in turn had taken his. They did not share a tongue but they sparred. In time their matches drew the attention of the other warriors, and Desmond became a popular sparring partner with much of the tribe.

Just as often he was the object of unwanted advances. Some he fought off. Some he had no choice but to endure. None were as endowed or hateful as Raven Beak, and the sex at times had a primal, almost satisfying flavor. One of the warriors managed to give him an orgasm. It had been such a strong, much-needed moment of satisfaction that Desmond had mewled and writhed beneath him for nearly an hour, stroking his back, preening his downy fur and feathers.

A week passed. Desmond was summoned to the palace. He came without escort and he knelt at the throne, before the warlord.

"You have learned your place," Raven Beak remarked. "My warriors speak of your prowess and obedience. Perhaps there is a place for you as more than a slave."

Aetos knelt at Raven Beak's side. He wore a small smile.

Desmond looked up at the Chozo. His face was unreadable to Raven Beak, but Aetos recognized the pride. "Thank you."

"Come, now. I offer another chance to take your place."

Desmond approached without balking or inviting punishment. He stood before the warlord, whose height was so great that his genitals were in casual reach. Desmond cupped the Chozo's heavy scrotum, leaned low, and dragged his tongue over a curve. He did it again, and again. He shuddered as he tucked his nose into the point where Raven Beak's penis met his scrotum. The musk was thick and heady. He said, "Your smell is incredible."

"Such a marked improvement you have made. This pleases me greatly, slave." Without looking at the swallow, he said, "My pet was right to beg for your life. Continue your worship."

Desmond allowed his nose to lead him. His eye closed and he worked in terms of scent and texture. His nose drifted over the Chozo's heavy scrotum, over downy fur and musky flesh. Feelings of hatred dissipated gradually into the ripe scent, and as his snout tucked beneath the Chozo's scrotum, it seemed he settled fully into the life of a pet. As his nose touched Raven Beak's tight anus, he sighed, and the Chozo deigned to rub the back of his head.

"Pet," said Raven Beak, speaking over the snuffling of the foxcoon.

"Sir?"

Raven Beak traced his tongue along the edges of his beak. "I will have you and your mate simultaneously."

The swallow blushed and smiled. His happiness was so total and infectious that Raven Beak briefly and slightly mirrored his smile. "Yes, sir. Thank you."

As Desmond smelled, he leaned closer and pushed his nose harder to the small pink rim. While his nose savored the scent, his paws caressed the warlord's genitals, pawing over downy fur and varicose flesh with both lust and reverence.

Raven Beak, whose cock was stiffening, ordered Aetos to the bedding. As the swallow made himself comfortable, lying languidly as the exotic pet he was, the Chozo regarded his foxcoon slave sternly. "Enough, little warrior. Join your mate."

For a moment Desmond remained close. Raven Beak allowed him his indulgence; it was vastly preferable to the foolish defiance the foxcoon had clung to. When Desmond did at last pull away, his snout glimmered with sweat and his eye, which had since healed of its burst blood vessel, appeared glazed with pleasure. Raven Beak smelled the foxcoon's arousal in the air. The scent of his vulva in such a state was earthy, almost sweet, but with a noted undercurrent of pheromones. It was as if the foxcoon's body clamored for breeding.

As Desmond joined Aetos, the foxcoon and the swallow pressed close and kissed. Desmond was the aggressor of the kiss, slurping through the soft pink innards of the swallow's beak; but Aetos seemed the dominant one in all other manners, for he slipped his fingers into his lover's vulva and pressed him into the bedding.

The Chozo warlord stood nearby, arms folded and penis fully erect. He watched the display silently. His ruby gaze lingered on the foxcoon's bottom. After the novelty of their foreplay wore thin, he knelt and said, "Pet. Prepare your mate anally."

Desmond's gaze snapped to Raven Beak. "It-, it barely fit in my pussy," he grunted. His ears splayed back and his expression was a pleading one.

"And so it will barely fit in your ass," the Chozo replied calmly, but with a smirk on his beak.

Aetos, who knew better than to defer his master's orders, helped Desmond onto his stomach. He pulled apart the foxcoon's round, plush buttocks and began to tongue the pink bud between his cheeks. Desmond shuddered, but continued to plead. "I can barely take my husband this way. Please."

"You will adjust," Raven Beak said, his voice cool. He stroked his penis slowly, smearing the copious precum it leaked along its shaft. "Your mate, too, took time to adjust. Any blood you lose can easily be replenished."

"That's not the point," Desmond growled.

For the moment Raven Beak allowed the tone and the growl to pass without censure; Desmond was, after all, about to receive an exceptionally painful punishment. He warned the foxcoon, "I will breed you anally. This is final. If you wish it to be rape, so be it."

Desmond fell silent. There was only the soft sound of lapping as Aetos tongued his mate. More out of concern than lust, the swallow was digging his tongue as deep as he could, pushing in as much drool as was possible. By the time Raven Beak gently pushed him off, his tongue was dry, and Desmond's ass overflowed with saliva.

"You may give him comfort," Raven Beak said graciously. He caressed his swallow's slender breast, then gripped his penis and touched it to the prone foxcoon's anus. Desmond shuddered and gripped the sheets. Raven Beak said, "You should be honored by this. Make ready, slave."

Unlike Aetos on his first night with the Chozo, Desmond was not an anal virgin, but for the incredible size of the Chozo, the foxcoon's experience counted for nothing. He cringed and showed his teeth well past the gums. Tears erupted even the empty socket, where the eyeball was long gone but the tear duct was intact. Relaxing his anal muscles was impossible as well as pointless, for Raven Beak gouged them past the point of being able to flex. The Chozo moved slowly as he entered but the end result was still pain.

"Desmond, please, try to relax," pleaded Aetos, nuzzling with Desmond and offering so much cloying affection. The foxcoon pushed him off and bellowed in pain. The noise was deep and wounded, as if he'd been disemboweled.

Raven Beak grinned as he entered Desmond. The entry was so tight and poorly lubricated that he hardly took pleasure from what he did - but there was sadistic joy to be had in the prideful warrior's agony. He looked down and saw half of his cock vanished into Desmond. Blood seeped around his gouging shaft. He said lowly, "Pet, you have done a poor job of readying your mate for this."

The swallow appeared both guilty and afraid. "But-, I did what I could! I licked until my tongue was raw... sir, you should have done the same."

He eyed Aetos; he was still slipping inside, the sex slow and miserable. Desmond shuddered and wept below. "I would not put my tongue inside of this creature."

Aetos stared aghast at Raven Beak. After several seconds the Chozo's stony glare was too much and he turned his attention to Desmond. He stroked over the foxcoon's head, rubbed his shoulders and his ears. He cooed as gently as was possible, "Desmond, you must relax... please, Desmond, you are making it worse for yourself..."

"Too big," Desmond shuddered, his eye rolling back and his teeth gnashing. He wept and he drooled, all composure lost to the horrible, humbling pain. He reached for Raven Beak, tried to claw the Chozo's hands and shove his hip. He bleated, "Please, you have made your point, Chozo...! I am beneath you!"

"So you are, and so you shall be," hissed the Chozo as his hips touched the round, orange curves of Desmond's buttocks. His penis created a hump in the foxcoon's belly. Its blunt head dug at the little warrior's guts, prodding into anal flesh which had never before been touched. He gripped fast to the foxcoon's hips and his claws dug into fur and flesh. "Pet!" he snapped. "Be silent. Your chatter distracts me."

"But-, but sir-"

The Chozo did not raise a hand against Aetos, only glared, but this silenced the swallow. Aetos laid beside Desmond and cuddled him close, but he gave his comfort in silence.

Raven Beak, free to hear only the grunts and gasps of the foxcoon, began to pull his hips back. His cock dragged across gouged anal flesh. Blood caked his shaft; it escaped Desmond's anus and streaked into the surrounding fur, staining orange and white fluff a violent red. Raven Beak inhaled the coppery reek of blood and hissed, "Such fine scents from you, Desmond. Were you not such a filthy creature I would taste your vulva."

Aetos quivered, "He is not filthy, sir."

"Pet," Raven Beak warned. His rhythm did not falter but it was torturously slow. Desmond brayed in pain, every noise he made low and bestial, his lithe body trembling in agony.

"Little warrior, your body pleases me," Raven Beak lowly said. "This is why you shall live at my side. Each day," he buried his cock in the foxcoon and he clacked his beak shut, "I will take from you all the pleasures I desire! And you will give them willingly!"

Desmond looked back at him. His lone green eye was wide and wet, the expression nearly one of shock. "Please!" he bleated. "My guts are killing me!"

"As well they should!" roared the Chozo as he hunkered over Desmond and redoubled his efforts. His hips crashed against plush vulpine buttocks again and again. Blood spattered Raven Beak's loins and Desmond's rump. It oozed over the dark vulva between the foxcoon's thighs and made it appear he was in estrus. "I can feel your insides making way for my cock," said the great, evil bird, his beak twisted into a hateful grin. "Your intestines gripping me and your blood leaking from countless wounds." Again he buried his cock inside of Desmond. The foxcoon, not a warrior but a victim, screeched in response to mind-bending pain. The Chozo gripped the back of his head and pushed his face against the cushions.

Aetos trembled and sobbed. He bleated, "I'm so sorry, Desmond. I'm so, so sorry..."

"Were it my wish to do so," the Chozo shuddered, "I could crush your skull in my talons. Twist your head off your shoulders!" He gyrated slowly, horribly, digging his cock deeper into bruised bowel and rent anal flesh. "Couldn't I, Desmond? Couldn't I!?"

The little warrior screamed. The pain was more than he could stomach. His skull ached as if it really might be crushed in the Chozo's powerful grip. Again Desmond's bladder released and his urine splashed across the Chozo's hefty balls. In the heat of the moment Raven Beak savored this filth and heat; he shuddered and he said, "Your weakness knows no bounds, does it, Desmond?" His tone was nearly one of reverence.

For several more moments Raven Beak gyrated against Desmond. His body seemed electrified by pleasure; never before had anal sex given him such joy as this. He said with a hint of strain in his voice, "Lick my ass, pet."

Despite his hatred and sorrow, Aetos nestled his beak into the crack of the Chozo's ass and found himself retreating into the masculine fragrance. His nostrils pressed to the small pink bud and he indulged in the warlord's anal scent. He lapped at the pucker. Terror for his husband's well-being dissipated and his penis stiffened slowly.

Raven Beak broadly grinned as he pressed against the foxcoon. The thought of plucking his dirtied cock free and finishing within the little warrior's vulva crossed his mind, but he wished to preserve the pain and the humiliation of the sodomy. He hunched over the foxcoon and in doing so perked his muscular yet round behind into the swallow's beak. His anus clenched and exuded more of its odorous musk as his climax struck; he groaned in satisfaction and filled Desmond with his seed. The virile and incredibly salty mess entered into every wound the Chozo's cock had created. Desmond screamed and shook. Raven Beak dug his fingers into the foxcoon's maw, snaring his cheek as if his talons were fishhooks, depressing the tongue and turning plaintive screams into drunken slurs.

Aetos was dimly aware of his husband's plight. The scent of the Chozo was simply too rich and alluring; he was lost in Raven Beak's anal musk. His only real thought, rational and fully-formed, was that Desmond would certainly love this musk if he truly lost himself in it.

As his orgasm tapered off and his pulsing cock drooled into the foxcoon, Raven Beak said lowly, "You have not lost consciousness. Most impressive, little warrior." He dislodged his fingers from Desmond's maw. The foxcoon had bitten him and blood dripped from his fingers, but his talons had ripped into Desmond's cheek on the inside. This atop the punishment he had already meted out seemed adequate to Raven Beak.

"Enough, my pet," said the Chozo. As Aetos pulled back, Raven Beak commanded, "Go to the medical wing again. Your mate is again in need of blood."

This time Aetos said nothing. He stumbled to his feet and left in a hurry, still musk-drunk and erect.

The Chozo straightened and pulled his softening penis from Desmond's ass. A slurry of blood and semen chased his cock out. It soaked the foxcoon's vulva and stained the sheets, making them look as if a murder had been committed on them. Raven Beak eyed the gaped, bloodied hole and smiled. He traced a talon around the rim, thoughtfully making use of the blunt backside. Desmond whined quietly.

"Not even your mate was so devastated when I first had him anally," the Chozo slyly remarked. "This has been considerably more satisfying." He laid on his side near Desmond, then rolled onto his back. "What have you to say, little warrior? Have you accepted your place?"

Desmond gave no answer. His breathing was shallow, punctuated by winces and whines. The Chozo did not press him. He was quietly disappointed that he would not get to duel the foxcoon to the death, but the soft lips and plush vulva were finer prizes.

In time, the medics of his tribe came with Aetos and extracted Desmond. Aetos wished to accompany Desmond, but Raven Beak called his swallow pet to his side, and the swallow began to preen and clean him. As Aetos worked, Raven Beak thought of the foxcoon. If he were truly broken, he could make for an acceptable pet. The Chozo, languid from sex, flaccid penis drenched in blood, closed his eyes. "Your mate," he said to the swallow, earning a pause in his preening.

"Sir?" Aetos asked after several tense seconds. He eyed the Chozo's bloody cock dubiously; the mixture of semen and blood which mottled its flesh did not appeal.

"Should he continue to behave himself, I will allow him all of the comforts which you are permitted." He opened his eyes and peered at the swallow. "Continue."

Aetos closed his eyes and slid his tongue over the Chozo's penis. The blood and the semen blended together in their salinity, but the musk of his husband was thick on the dark flesh. He shuddered and dutifully worked, and he wondered if Desmond would behave himself.

In the weeks to come, Desmond ingratiated himself to the warlord with unhesitating obedience and loyalty. He joined Aetos often at the Chozo's side, the two lovers servicing their master simultaneously, tongues frequently tangling over his penis and talons; snout and beak nuzzling together against the bud of his anus; slender bodies tucking in against his flanks after lovemaking sessions left both gaped and exhausted. Raven Beak, a fastidious planner who anticipated possible betrayal from even his most trusted men, began to see Desmond's obedience as genuine, believing his spirit broken. So it was that on the morning Raven Beak was awoken by a personal alert from a guard, he felt both shock and betrayal.

"Repeat yourself!" spat the Chozo, at once manifesting the shining power armor which his kind was known for. Aetos cowered in the bed.

"It's Desmond, sir - he's taken a spear and made his way to the surface. One of us was slain trying to stop him. A hunting party is already after him."

The warlord turned to Aetos. He spoke, voice modulated by his armor, "Have you any knowledge of this escape, Aetos?" The implicit threat: I will kill you if you do.

Aetos trembled. "He-, he told me he was unhappy, but that he-, that he would try to bear it-"

Raven Beak clutched Aetos by the neck. Without effort he lifted the swallow. His feet kicked at open air, and he squawked and cried. The Chozo did not squeeze. He lowly said, "I do not wish to harm you, my pet. Do not give me reason to do so."

"I don't know anything!" Aetos shrieked. "Please, sir! Please!"

"You are lying," the Chozo said calmly. "And you will be punished." He dropped Aetos on the bedding. To the warrior who had delivered the message, he said, "Keep guard over him. Should I find so much as a single feather disturbed, I will crush your bones." He left quickly. Aetos watched him go, then tucked his face into his knees and wept, cursing Desmond as he did.

Desmond vaulted over the rocks and barriers in his path as he crossed the stony surface of ZDR. The hangars, as ornate as any Chozo structure, glinted in the distance. The storm clouds which ever wracked the planet's surface billowed on the horizon. He wished he had waited, as the storm would have been useful cover, but to wait any later was to give the heavy-sleeping warlord time to wake up.

He heard the Chozo behind him. The Mawkin warriors frightfully deft creatures. They knew this land far better than he did and had none of the injuries he had accumulated: deep tissue bruises where Raven Beak had gripped and groped; vaginal and anal wounds that made him feel like his insides could collapse at any moment; and they had the gift of depth perception. His skills had been slipping and he knew it was true. When he had first come to ZDR, his rage had been white-hot and two of the agile warriors had painted his spear with their blood. On his escape he'd killed one, and only because of familiarity; it had been the Mawkin who, weeks earlier, had given Desmond sexual satisfaction.

Thunder shook the ground. He felt it in his fur, the static electrifying him. It would not be long before the storm hit. The hangars were so close. He did know how he would start the ship. He still had to return for Aetos, and then he would escape somehow. He had promised the swallow this.

Raven Beak crossed the surface of ZDR faster than even his quickest warrior could have. It was a feature of his armor, a speed boosting ability which sheathed him in glimmering energy and made the air crackle around him. Desmond threw himself out of the way of Raven Beak's racing form, scuffing his flesh on the rocks. He dropped his spear but was quickly up and running again, leaving the weapon behind.

Raven Beak stopped a hundred feet ahead of Desmond. Still sheathed in energy, he suddenly lunged through the air like a projectile, closing the gap so quickly that Desmond had no time to react. The foxcoon was knocked through the air, and he landed sharply on his back, gasping and coughing. He hugged his torso where four ribs had been broken, three more cracked. Despite the pain, he fought his way up to his feet.

The Chozo loomed over Desmond. He boomed in a voice nearly as deep and mighty as the thunder, "You were given every opportunity to survive, little warrior!"

Blood rolled down Desmond's chin and made a bib in his white fur. "Then kill me!" he spat, his voice powerful.

The cadre of Mawkin warriors caught up to the pair. One carried two spears. Raven Beak walked calmly to this warrior, took both spears, and forced one into Desmond's paws. The foxcoon watched warily as Raven Beak then dismissed his armor in a flash.

Rain had just begun pattering on the rocks. Entirely nude but assuming a warrior's stance, the warlord called, "Make ready, Desmond!"

Weapons clashed. Thunder answered the ringing of spears. For a creature with so many injuries, Desmond fought well. He lunged through the Chozo's minimal defenses, for Raven Beak valued offense above all else. Twice Desmond put his spear into flesh and opened ragged wounds in the warlord. Raven Beak screeched not in pain but in the passion of a bloody battle. He struck back, ripping holes into Desmond, puncturing his flank, sending dark kidney blood spilling down his coat. Desmond cried out and fell to his knees. He put his weight on the spear and touched his mortal wound.

The Chozo calmly regarded his prey. Blood wept from his wounds, but superior Chozo physiology meant they were already clotting. Lowly, as rain fell steadily now, "You have given me pleasure, Desmond. Both with your body and in our duel."

Desmond raised his head. It was everything he could do. The blood poured out of his torn kidney, black as tar. "Aetos," he said, weakly.

"Aetos will live," said the Chozo. "And he will know you died with dignity," he grinned, "little warrior."

The foxcoon's head hung. Raven Beak took from one of his warriors a short but razor-edged sword. In a single swipe he cleaved the Desmond's head from his shoulders. His lifeless body slumped against the spear, then fell on the wet rocks beneath.

Handing back the sword, Raven Spoke in the Chozo tongue, "Retrieve his body. He is to be given a warrior's tomb in the mausoleum." And he started the long walk back to the palace.

Raven Beak found the swallow in bed, still under the watchful eye of the guard. He calmly dismissed the guard before kneeling beside Aetos. For a moment the swallow fussed over his wounds, then realized in epiphany where he had gotten them. He moaned, "No... please..."

"He died nobly," the Chozo said. "He put up an excellent fight."

"No," Aetos whined. "Oh, no no no..."

Raven Beak eyed him warily. "You should be pleased, pet. He was not content to live a life of servitude as you are - and so I have freed him from it."

"You're a murderer," Aetos bleated, tears falling from his eyes.

The Chozo considered his course of action carefully. He was forced to remind himself that Aetos was not a Chozo, birdlike though he was. After a moment, he laid beside the swallow and pulled him near. Aetos resisted at first, but the scent of the Chozo began to fill his head. Raven Beak smelled powerfully of musk and sweat, of combat and exertion. It was a scent Aetos was conditioned to love. He blubbered as he notched his beak into the Chozo's armpit, "Was it quick? Did he suffer?"

"He was bleeding heavily," Raven Beak said calmly. "I ended his suffering. He is to be buried with honor and dignity here, in the mausoleum of my tribe."

The swallow shuddered. He sniffled in the Chozo's armpit. Rank musk overwhelmed him. He asked, "May I visit his body? May I say goodbye?"

"Whenever you wish, pet."

Aetos pressed close to the Chozo. His voice was tiny when he said, "Thank you, sir."