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Life and Death

My bare skin was still warm, even as I felt its last rays disappear beyond the temple walls. My eyes were closed tight as I listened carefully to the Head Priest recite the Cantations of Life and Death.

With the sun having set on its mightiest day, that of the Solstice, we were moving on from the Season of Life to the Season of Death.

We were supposed to remain still of body and mind while we let the last mighty gasp of the sun barrage our bodies, but I could not deny my nose was fixated elsewhere.

Chisisi was two rows ahead of me and my long muzzle was powerful enough to catch his musk from such a distance. He was black-furred, all over his body unlike my divine form, looking very much like the God of Death, Anpu, whom we served.

My father had given Chisisi to me as a consort before I was sent off to serve Anpu, one final present making it clear I was to father no heirs to the throne of the kingdom and spend the rest of my life in servitude and to sate my pleasures with men and not women.

Which worked fine for me, until Chisisi started to drift away. Though I was of noble blood, I had no authority to force him to stay with me and no desire to try even if I had.

But I could not deny my attraction for him still existed and the reminder of what I had lost was making servitude lonely.

With a clap of his hands, the Head Priest ordered us to rise and open our eyes. The aged eagle was standing before us, dressed in black robes that all of us were wearing, save for myself. With my exotic, deeply tanned bare skin, much like the rest of my kin, I was to leave my chest exposed and wear a black kilt over my privates, which matched my facial fur.

"Night has fallen and Anpu now reigns over the land," the eagle clapped once more as a few senior priests began lighting their golden incense censers. The sweet, woody smell of myrrh began to fill the courtyard. "Rejoice! Rejoice!"

"Rejoice! Rejoice!" we chanted.

Silently, we were dismissed from the courtyard. Just as we had practiced, we formed into a single file with the censer-bearers spread out sparsely on our right and left.

"Hey, Prince? Prince? Sebek!" a voice whispered from behind as we passed through the main atrium, with its round limestone pillars engraved with hieroglyphs detailing Anpu's many adventures. I peered back at the painted dog, Tambal, whom I had bonded with over our similar lot in life. "What duty have they got you doing?"

"Guarding the market stalls," I whispered back after peering around and making sure the senior priests were too busy waving their censers around and chanting.

"By Du...I mean, by Anpu!" Tambal was the son of a Chief whose tribe my father had crushed and annexed, forcing him into servitude to a god foreign to his people. He had trouble remembering his life was not the same anymore. "I knew the priesthood would be dull, but..."

"It is our duty," I repeated with a reluctant sigh. I really did not have the energy to lecture him and to be honest, I was not feeling very pious at the moment. "This is Anpu's night and we are to make sure everyone enjoys their time in his name."

"They have me running a cup game, you know, guess which cup has the ball under it and win?" Tambal whispered back. "That sound like it honors Anpu's name?"

I pinched the bridge of my muzzle, "Finances and piety often require compromise."

We walked between a row of torches leading from our temple on the outskirts and into town. Decorated silk sheets of all colors were hanging from the roofs of stone buildings and an orchestra of flutes and drums whistled and pounded, greeting us as we drew nearer to the bustling market.

As an apprentice, I did not get to leave the temple very often, so the symphony of sights, sounds, and smells excited my mind. I kept my face stoic, but my nose was twitching in different directions, catching stalls selling pomegranate beer, spices from abroad, and honeyed nuts.

Of course, I could not enjoy any of these delicacies tonight, but I could at least smell them and imagine, remembering a time back when I had every luxury at my disposal.

But such was not my fate. As a second son, I was destined to serve Anpu and serve him well. Comfort and luxuries were only available in limited numbers within the confines of my austerity.

We split away from our group after we reached the market. Tambal slumped over to a stall and began practicing with a cup. Others manned stalls, but most continued to quietly patrol around the market, just as I was.

I attracted quite a bit of attention, as expected. Men whistled as they passed me, I even noticed one fennec covertly sketching my form on a piece of papyrus behind a stall; it was illegal for someone not a priest or a scribe to depict the royal family's visage, but I felt that having this man's eyes gouged simply for expressing himself creatively was not a fair punishment and let him get away with it.

I admit that I was also flattered when I caught him putting his chin on the ground, trying to get a peek up my kilt.

Ladies on the other hand, when their eyes glanced at me they quickly averted them as if I was a pile of rotting dung. They were not privileged to admire me, only fear me, for none wanted to arouse suspicion of being in a relationship with me. My family was very paranoid about such things.

One vixen gasped upon seeing me and bumped into Chisisi, who took her by the paw and smiled. Leaning into her shoulder, he whispered and I could smell her arousal grow. With a giggle, she let Chisisi lead her away behind a home.

Chisisi was on holy prostitution duty, to give patrons the most intimate joy of Anpu's blessing. It was a duty I was forbidden from, naturally.

It hurt to see my former consort walk away with someone he was allowed to freely express himself with. I knew she was just a patron and there was no love between them, but I suddenly felt so alone in the market.

A husband and wife walked by, both golden jackals and carrying a cub on their shoulders. The cubs laughed and pointed at me as they passed.

Sighing, I closed my eyes and tried to lose myself, just escape from the reality of duty for one moment. The slamming of drinking cups, song and dance, cheers of lust and joy; all of those made meditation impossible despite my best efforts, but I tried to delve into my inner mind and find peace.

"You okay, handsome?"

A woman's voice, foreign. A southern tribe?

I opened my eyes. A hyena was standing disarmingly close to me.

I took an immediate step back and she stepped forward, her silk, white dress flowing carelessly behind her as the wind blew. The delicate dress was in stark contrast to her frame, which was solid with muscle and a bit of a paunch to her gut. Not exactly a typical lady of the Kingdom.

"You're..." I bit my lip, "...you're wearing a dress you bought here, but I can tell you're not from around here."

She opened her mouth in a loud bellow, which made me blush when she caught a few stares from the crowd.

"Sharp eyes, aye?" she flicked a coin over at a nearby stall selling beer and grabbed a clay mug without so much as asking the vendor. She took a heavy sip, the pale red of the pomegranate beer dripping from her whiskers and fur as she pulled the mug away. "Foreigners ain't allowed to join the party?"

"No, no," I tilted my head to get a better look at her. Her eyes were dark brown, almost black like the drink that one envoy from past the desert brought to my father's court. "Usually they're welcomed more heartily at the Life Feast, but we don't turn away visitors."

The hyena ran her tongue along the beer around her mouth and suddenly touched my bare arm, forcing me to recoil.

"Then what's the matter with you? Ain't never seen someone as exotic as you in all my travels and raids. My dad had a black jackal he caught in a raid once, but he had fur all over him unlike you."

She reached again and ran her finger pad across my skin. I waited a second before pushing it away again.

"So smooth, damn..." she grinned, flashing massive fangs, "...what's your problem? Don't like a woman's touch?"

In truth it felt a bit exciting having a woman notice me with an expression other than avoidance. But I knew better, for her sake and mine, than to let myself say that out loud.

"It's not safe to talk with me."

"Oh yeah? Says who?"

"My family," I whispered, "the royal family."

"Ahhh," she slowly scratched the top of her head, "kinda makes sense now. Alright, I get what you want now."

"Yeah, so-"

"I'll just walk behind that building over there, where it's nice and quiet, and you follow in a few minutes."

I nodded carelessly. When I realized what she said, my eyes widened but she had already stepped away and it was too late to call out to her.

Her tail slipped around the corner of the building and she was out of sight.

My heart raced. It would be a death sentence for both of us if we were to continue talking even if we didn't do anything inappropriate. But at the same time...

The way she carried herself...there was an air of confidence that I had never seen in anyone before, not even the fiercest of my father's soldiers.

She knew what she wanted and she did whatever it took to get it.

What a fascinating lady...

While I agonized over what to do, the crowd had grown used to me and were no longer paying me any special attention. It would seem even those with divine bodies can become mundane with enough exposure. Even the fennec who was sketching me had moved onto other festivities.

Sighing, I quickly left my post and entered the alleyway. I rounded the corner and was immediately grabbed by the shoulders and pushed up against a wall.

I shut my eyes, fearing I would be robbed, but instead the smell of pomegranate filled my nostrils.

"Here, come on!" the hyena laughed. I opened my eyes to find her holding a full cup of beer beneath my snout. "What're you afraid of?"

She released my shoulder and I gently took the clay cup from her paw. She bent over and picked up her own mug from before, which had been resting on a clay pot with a wooden cover.

"Thank you," I brought the cup to my mouth and gently lapped at the beer. It was sweet, as expected for the festival's beer. "Where'd you get this?"

She wrinkled her snout and nodded it towards the clay pot, "Found someone's supply and tapped it."

"This is..." I brought the beer away from my mouth in disgust, "...this is theft."

"Is it? Where I come from, if you leave your goods out, it's to be shared with the tribe," she snorted. "You do things different?"

I nodded, "You could be put in jail for this."

"We could," she smiled and leaned her shoulder into my chest with a sigh. She was stronger than me by far, which made her resting against me in such a vulnerable position kind of adorable. "Would that be so bad? We could share a cell and cause some real trouble then, eh?"

"You're committing a worse crime by touching me."

"I don't see you stopping me."

I put my hand on her shoulder. I was going to push her away, but instead I ruffled my palm through her fur. It was coarse, not soft like Chisisi's fur, but there was an undeniable appeal to it.

Sighing, I circled my finger around one of her many black spots, "What's your name?"

"Eschetu of the Shield Clan."

"Didn't my father conquer them?"

"We have no masters and have never seen defeat."

"Mmm," I found my nose drawing itself to her neck. Her fur tickled my nostrils as I breathed in her scent which carried the smell of sand, dust, and some kind of sweet floral tone that I could not identify.

"And you?"

"Prince Sebek," I whispered into her round ear. "You are standing before divine royalty."

Snorting, she clutched at her chest, "Divine royalty? Oh man, you palace-dwellers really got an ego on you, don't you?"

"I was being sarcastic," I cleared my throat. "Besides, I'm disinherited."

"What a bad boy..." she ran her finger along the crease of my nose, "...what'd you do?"

"I was born in the wrong order."

"And so now you gotta wear this gloomy thing," she pinched the hem of my black kilt and tugged. I blushed, "and do nothing but mope around all day?"

"We all have duties to attend to..."

"Hmph," Eschetu snorted, "my father once said my duty was to command the defense of the tribe, you know what I did?"

"What?"

"I delegated it to my friend, rallied up a raiding party, and I returned with the biggest pile of loot the tribe had ever seen. You know what he did then?"

"No."

"He cried and hugged me, said he was proud of me for disobeying and proving him wrong," she sighed with a smile. "Figure if your parents are worth respecting, they'd do the same thing."

I blinked, "What are you suggesting?"

"Not suggesting anything, just wanna ask..." she paused and turned to face me, her eyes suddenly growing very serious, "...what do you want to do?"

I shook my head, "It's not about me, it's-"

"To hell with that! Just tell me, what do you want to do right now? You don't have to do it, but you can at least say it!"

My throat ached. There was a thought lurking in the back of my mind, the kind that I would never have dared to say to anyone else, especially a woman. Not with the kind of taboo my family placed upon me.

"I'm afraid to say..."

"I'm a big girl, I can handle it."

Swallowing, I breathed in slowly and closed my eyes.

"I want to make love to you."

"My, my," she narrowed her eyes and grinned playfully, "can a savage like me handle your divine cock? Won't that cause quite a stir?"

"I guess, but..." I shrugged, "...I said it. I want to make love to you, but like a lot of things in life-"

She pulled the hem of her dress up in a flash. My eyes went wide as she exposed the cream fur of her belly and most importantly her slender vagina tucked away between her thighs. I leaned in closer, sniffing intently, breathing in the bouquet of erogenous scents wafting from her sex.

"You can do it, if you dare," she whispered huskily.

My loins were burning but my stomach quaked with fear. All it would take is one embrace and I could sentence us both to death, should anyone find out.

But the desire was real. The desire to disobey, to make my own choice in life for once. To not be bound down by the commands of my station.

To make love to a beautiful woman.

Growling playfully, I lunged forward and caught her by the shoulders. She was caught by surprise and was frozen with gasps as I kissed and licked at her neck.

"Didn't think you had an aggressive side," Eschetu whispered as she nipped at the tip of my nose leather.

"I didn't either," I said, edging my thighs up against her own. "Want me to tone it down?"

"Hell no."

Snuffling at her neck and breathing in her exotic scent, I spun her around and pressed her up against the wall. Despite being in a compromising position, she still dwarfed me in strength, it was almost funny that I was taking the lead here.

But maybe that was what made it so exciting. She had the power to snap me in two but here she was, inviting me to lay with her, her folds beginning to sweat with lubrication. She was inviting me in.

I would be more than happy to break my vows and enter.

Eschetu ran her rough paws over my sun-kissed chest, her claw eventually prodding against my nipple. I gasped as a surprise sensation of arousal shot through my nerves, from head to toe. What magic was this?

My cock was now as hard as granite and I slipped it into her soft folds. They were warm and inviting, her thighs squeezing against my shaft as I slowly descended further into her.

I was panting now, having been overwhelmed with lust. I felt more like an animal than a man, a stark contrast to the image of the royal family they put up.

"Don't stop there," she ordered, running her paw atop my head. "Come on!"

I gave off a little growl and nipped her on the chin. As she giggled, I thrust, putting the entire power of my hip behind it. She gasped, continuing to prod at my nipple, every flick of her claw and pad felt like a firm squeeze around my cock.

It must have been the warm summer evening, but I was starting to sweat heavily. This was a little talked-about trait of the royal visage, but Eschetu seemed fascinated by it, running her rough tongue along my moist skin.

"Mmmmm," she moaned as I continued to pound her.

"I want to do one more thing," I grunted, thrusting in deep and leaning my muzzle up against her ear.

"What's that?" she whispered.

"I want to come inside you."

Eschetu opened her mouth to speak, but I continued talking.

"I want to come inside you and run away with you," I whispered. "I want to make love to you a hundred times in a hundred places. I want to have a family with you...I want you..."

"Then all you have to do," she whispered back and nipped me on my tall ears. "Is take me and you'll have it all."

How could I deny her request?

Leaning in, our lips locked and I began to thrust one more. Our dance intensified as our tongues twisted around the other's and the speed of my tempo increased.

My cock was throbbing, screaming with the need to release, but I tried to hold on.

Breaking away from her lips, I leaned my head up and exhaled. If it weren't for discretion, I would have howled into the sky. In a better world, I would have celebrated this union without fear.

A rough tongue raked along my nipple and that was the final straw. My cock screamed as its final defenses were broken, shuddering as a stream or semen shot deep into the hyena's vagina. At this point she was panting, just about to fall over were it not for the wall behind her.

I slipped out on the final spurt of cum, splashing a rope of it on her belly, before we both collapsed on the sandy grounds of the alleyway. We were both panting and my body was soaking wet with perspiration.

"That was..." I gasped, my tongue lolling out, "...impulsive."

"You backing out now?" Eschetu asked.

I turned to face her and stared into her dark brown eyes. Our noses met and we nuzzled.

"I could never leave you now," I whispered.

"Me neither."

Our eyes shut and for a good minute we laid there, our bodies pressed up against each other. Her fur tickled my bareskin and we ran our hands along the other's faces, occasionally kissing.

Until Eschetu suddenly broke away.

"Not to ruin the moment, but we need to make a break for it," I stood up reluctantly along with her. "Unfortunately, you stand out in a crowd, so we gotta split up and meet at the stables. You know where the nearest oasis is?"

I shook my head.

"Just in case we're separated, follow the red Western Star after leaving the city. It'll be half a day's travel but you can't miss it as long as you follow the star."

"Where are we going after that?"

"Home," she kissed me on the tip of my nose, "to my tribe."

"Alright, just..." I gently grabbed her powerful shoulders. It felt ridiculous to say this as she could take care of herself, no doubt, but I had to, "...be careful."

"You be careful, Prince!" she laughed and licked me on the lip. "Don't worry about me, I'm used to this kind of shit!"

With a wag of her tail, she quietly slipped around the corner of the alley. For a moment, my heart sank, I worried that I might never see her again.

That worry agonized me for a good minute before I decided to quietly make my own journey to the stables, having felt it had been enough time.

But when I exited the alleyway, I was encountered by a whole other worry.

I ran straight into an all-too familiar black fox. My former consort wrinkled his snout at me and sniffed.

His eyes went wide.

"OATHBREAKER!" he screamed and pointed at me, his ears flattened behind his head. "You've betrayed your family!"

Without a word, I slipped back into the alley and ran. The crowd behind me began to rumble with discontent but I was quick and they slowly grew more distant.

When I emerged from the other end, I caught a few annoyed glares, but nothing more. I could still hear Chisisi's shouts echoing off in the distance.

The stables were on the other end of town, it would be too dangerous to cross the town to get there.

So instead, I sprinted to the town limits, the very same one that we had marched to from the temple. However, instead of going back to my cell, I veered west, having spotted the red star that Eschetu spoke of and once the town had been left behind in the sand, I slowed my sprint to a walk, and followed my guiding light.

The sun was beginning to rise over the oasis and I was still alone.

With the festival happening, most of the regular oasis stalls and lodgings had packed up their tents and gone into town to ply their wares. There was nothing there now except live-giving water and date palm trees.

I needed none of them, none of them except for my dear hyena.

And she was not here.

Had she abandoned me? Did the townspeople do something to her?

Chisisi could have tracked her down and identified her as the woman's scent on me. I did not blame Chisisi for accusing me of breaking my vows, as a slave-consort of mine by contract he would have been facing the death sentence if he tried to cover up what I had done. His entire lot in life was to distract me from sleeping with a woman, after all.

However, if he had caused Eschetu to come to any harm...I could not forgive him. I would have no meaning in my life but to take revenge upon him.

I could not betray my vows for nothing.

Shivering, I closed my eyes. Though the summer air was warm even at night, a chill had fallen over me as I waited by the oasis in the dead of night. My legs were sore from having walked all along the sands without rest.

My ear twitched as I heard sand scattering. Someone was approaching.

An empty oasis was a good place to get robbed, but I was too weak to put myself on guard, so I merely opened my eyes slowly.

A shadowy figure atop a horse rode slowly towards me, the rising sun blazing behind them. My pessimistic mood made me assume it was a bandit, no doubt there was a bounty on me at this point.

That mood lifted when the horse reached the dune that descended into the oasis and the figure became clear.

Eschetu was atop a black horse. No longer did she wear the ladies dress from the party, but had crude leather armor clad across her breast with bone splints lining it for extra protection. Twin swords were sheathed at her hips, sharply curved in an almost half-circle.

She was rough, fierce, barbaric.

She was even more beautiful than last night.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" she announced as she dismounted from her horse and led him to the oasis. "Had to lead the search party on a wild goose chase north, otherwise I would have brought them right here!"

"I was worried," I tried to lift myself up but my legs were like wet clay.

"You thought those fools could take me out?" she laughed as she tied her horse to a palm tree.

"No," I shook my head. "I was more worried I screwed up and went to the wrong oasis."

Eschetu plopped down on the sand next to me and wrapped her strong arm around my shoulder, bringing me in for a tight hug.

"Well, I'm here now," Eschetu kissed me, "and we're gonna head south, just as you wanted."

"Can we just rest a bit for now?" I rubbed at my sore legs. "I'm not used to such exercise."

"The pampered Princeling wants a rest?" Eschetu laughed. "Sure, the caravaners won't be back here until dusk and the search party probably have reached the damned Northern Sea by now. We're safe, you and me."

"Thank you," I leaned my head against her breasts and closed my eyes. "I love you, Chetu, I hope that doesn't sound too weird, we did just meet and-"

"Don't make excuses," she rubbed my furry head. "Just say that you love me and I'll say the same thing. I love you. Don't question passion, just do it."

"I'll try."

Sighing, I found myself drifting off to sleep while her paw continued to stroke my head. I was safe now, despite the bounty and the death sentence. Despite the dangerous journey that awaited us.

I was safe.