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A Gryphon's Tail, Part I

An Abrupt Introduction

Rhaelyn glanced furtively over his shoulder, panting for breath as he took a moment to recover his wits. His whiskers twitched ever so slightly as he surveyed the thick forest around him, his cloak gathered about him and his dagger clutched tightly in his hand. As he had feared, the wild chase had gotten him hopelessly lost in the frozen woods. Rubbing at his muzzle, his ears twitched back as he tried to clear his head, and he silently cursed himself for ever having thought that the gryphons might seriously entertain the notion of diplomatic relations with the catfolk.

The panther quietly shifted his weight from one foot to the other, the soft crunch of the freshly fallen snow bringing him back to the present. Ears abruptly perked, his gaze dipped as he peered at the ground. Turning about, he could see now that he had left a clear trail through the forest, something that he had not at all anticipated. After all, he hailed from a tropical paradise, and the mountainous realm of the gryphons was almost arctic in some regions.

Licking his muzzle, the air hazy as heat radiated off of his body, the panther was trying to formulate a new plan when he heard the flutter of wings. Head jerking upward, he could just barely make out the silhouette of a hulking gryphon some two-hundred feet back, no doubt following the freshly churned snow he had left in his wake.

Rhaelyn froze, his dark green cloak settling about his lithe frame, black tailtip flicking ever so slightly as he let his instincts take over. It was only one of the feathered beasts, after all. Surely he, a trained mage and relatively accomplished shortblade fighter could handle those odds - especially when the element of surprise was on his side. He quickly darted into the brush, and he began to quietly double back roughly parallel to the trail he had just left.

Crouched, the panther waited patiently until the heavy pawsteps of the gryphon could be heard moving past him. Licking over one of his sharper teeth, Rhaelyn steeled himself, mustering his nerve before abruptly leaping out from his place of concealment to throw himself at the creature!

The gryphon was startled, to say the least, and had the Panther his wits about him he might have even realized that she seemed uncertain about how to respond to this sudden rush. After all, Kira was a rogue tracker - a gryphon who had turned her back on the barbaric customs of her kinfolk, instead living on the outskirts of more civilized territories where she made a living by taking on the jobs that no sane Beastkin would accept. Trying to hunt down a catfolk diplomat suicidal enough to venture into gryphon territory, for example.

Kira stood frozen, dumbfounded for a moment by the panther's attack, but she was shocked out of it as the catfolk's blade bit into her flank. Her beak gaped, eartufts flattened against her skull as she forced herself into motion. She didn't want to injure the panicked panther, but she also wasn't keen on being stabbed again, so the gryphon reflexively tensed where she stood. A split second later her muscles rippled with sudden movement, her body bucking and her leonine hindlegs kicking viciously back at the catfolk to bat him away.

Rhaelyn staggered under the unexpected impact, unused to fighting a quadrupedal opponent. He grunted as one of the hen's massive hindpaws glanced against his forearm, twisting his wrist and sending his blade spinning through the air. A curse welled up in his throat, only to abruptly find itself replaced with a low mewl of agony as Kira's other hindpaw inadvertently found a more solid point of impact... namely, his crotch.

The blow was forceful enough to send the panther stumbling back several feet before he lost his footing entirely, dropping to one knee. Suddenly breathless, Rhaelyn gasped for air as he felt a sharp pain lancing through his lower abdomen, only to be quickly replaced by a sickening nausea as his brain caught up with the events that had just transpired.

Vague memories percolated in the back of his brain, his thoughts drifting back to the time he had been kneed in the balls by an irritated tigress mercenary, but this was worse - not as bad as that time he had gotten on the wrong side of a centaur filly, but still bad. Only the rush of adrenaline was keeping him from collapsing on the spot.

Kira panted a bit herself, slightly disoriented by the brief exchange of hostilities. Her wings flared wide, to help her twist entirely about, her beak clacking angrily and her eyes glinting with menace.

"You idiot!" The words rolled off of her tongue with inexpert phrasing, but she was sure that the panther would get the message. The catfolk language required the use of a few muscles that she didn't have, but years of practice had allowed her to gain at least some degree of mastery. "What in the gods names is wrong with you?"

The panther sucked in another harsh gulp of air, his ears skewed back against his head and his eyes watering as he took in the scene. The lingering pain was slowly receding, so Rhaelyn grit his teeth and forced himself back up to his feet. He didn't recognize the gryphon that had waylaid him, but it looked dangerous enough. Still, it only stood about ten or so hands high at the shoulders - some of the drakes that had been chasing him earlier in the day had rivaled the size of a horse. Flexing his wrist, he hissed slightly as the bruised muscles protested the movement. He glanced to his other hand, at the glittering red stone mounted on his smallest finger, spitting with misguided defiance. "Didn't expect me to defend myself?" He snarled. "Well you're in for a fight, beast."

Kira grunted, her glittering eyes rolling melodramatically as the sheer stupidity of the entire situation washed over her. She took a careful step forward, her talons digging into the dirt and snow as she carefully approached the injured male. Her brain was on high alert, wary of the panther's movements despite the loss of his blade. He still had claws, after all. Granted, they were short compared to her own, but they were still sharp enough to warrant caution.

"Look, I'm not here to- HEY!" Kira's voice spiked upward into a surprised shriek as the catfolk seemingly conjured a sudden gout of fire from thin air. Wide-eyed, she shrank back onto her haunches, head low as she tried to shield her face with her forelimbs. The heat washed across her body, wiping away the chill of the winter air and swiftly replacing it with the stink of seared fur and feathers.

The gryphon shut her eyes tight, trying to blot out the heat and light, but when she opened them again the world was filled with white and red blurs. She coughed as the flame was followed by a gout of smoke, but her keen ears picked out the sound of rapid footfalls against now-sodden dirt. Squinting, she picked out the blurry outline of the irritating catfolk, apparently following up the display of pyrotechnics with a full frontal charge.

Kira tensed anew, ready to repulse the charge as best she could. Her first impulse was to lash out at the feline with her talons, but she quickly quelled that thought. Like most gryphons, her forelimbs were more avian than feline from the elbow-down, her long and boney fingers each capped with a lethal black claw that could gouge through steel plate. She was fairly certain that a single swipe would be enough to disembowel the panther, and she didn't want him dead. Not yet, anyway. But he was pushing it.

She readied her beak, instead, but again she was forced to reconsider. Her beak was eagle-like, designed to rip and tear her meals into smaller chunks. If anything, biting the panther would be even messier and more fatal than hacking into him with her claws would be. Kira coughed again, trying to clear her throat for another appeal to the catfolk's sanity, only to suddenly find herself besieged by a barrage of clumsy blows. The panther had found a fallen branch to assail her with, and was flailing her in a spirited but ineffectual manner.

Beak clenched tight, eyes still blurry, Kira decided that enough was enough. She planted her foreclaws against the ground, rocking her body back onto her haunches as she tried to build up as much momentum as possible. One eye stayed open just enough to keep her on target as the hen jerked her head upward powerfully to bring the flat of her beak up between the startled biped's thighs.

An audible 'THUMP' could be heard as the hen's unyielding beak struck firmly, impacting with enough force to knock the panther right up onto his toes and then into the air. Suddenly finding himself airborne, Rhaelyn uttered a pitched and unabashed yowl of pain as he felt his still-aching jewels crushed up into his unyielding pelvis. For a split second, the male's unfortunate gonads were crushed flat as his mass resisted being displaced, but then just as quickly he found himself hurled back against a mound of snow several feet distant.

Rhaelyn's muzzle twisted up, his lip curling back as he was wracked with renewed pain. To him, it felt like someone had swung a warhammer up into his kitten-makers, and his hands were already curled desperately against his badly bruised nethers as he tried to choke down another heartfelt groan. The impact had been white-hot agony, but the aftermath was a pit of unadulterated misery somewhere deep in his gut as his abused balls howled their protest at the unacceptable manner in which they were being treated.

The panther's brain screamed at him, telling him to clamber back to his feet, to find another weapon and defend himself, but the rest of his body disagreed. With a pitiable whimper, the male folded instead, half-curling as he cradled his genitals in a vain attempt to knead them back to some semblance of health.

Kira pushed herself back to her feet, shaking her head as she took a brief moment to recover. Her eyes were clearing now, but her skin was burned beneath her singed fur. Her warrior instincts took over, and in three measured breaths the hen was poised and alert, one eye fixed on the huddled catfolk. Kira was a little concerned that she had seriously wounded the male, but a small part of her brain was reveling in the panther's obvious agony. That predatory part of her pushed for a swift and final finish to the battle, but Kira drew in another deep breath for good measure, shaking her head again as if to shed herself of those thoughts.

Instead, the female left the panther to his misery for a moment, settling back onto her haunches as she outstretched her wings. Even before they had reached their full span, Kira could feel a sinking sensation, and a brief inspection confirmed her concerns. She hadn't been seriously injured by the panther's magic, but her feathers had been damaged badly enough to keep her from flying for at least a few days.

The gryphon ambled over to the cringing male, her wings refolding neatly against her back as she watched Rhaelyn with a hunter's patience. He probably wasn't in any shape to listen to her, so she decided to give him a moment to recover, but it was certainly turning into a long moment. Kira's talons drummed lightly against the snow as she studied the panther's twisted face and listened to his shallow, gasping breaths. Was it really THAT painful? Sure, she had given it her all when she had hit him, but she had been careful not to tear into his flesh.

Kira watched for a moment longer, and then another, and then another, until it became obvious that the male was dragging things out. The corners of the hen's beaked maw tugged upward a bit, in a wry grin as she came to the conclusion that the panther must be overacting just for her benefit. Perhaps he was planning to catch her off-guard again, or maybe he was just buying time for another spell. Best to curtail that.

The hen planted one taloned hand against the male's shoulder, forcefully unfolding his body and pushing him roughly back against the snow. Stepping up over him, Kira flattened her hand against the male's chest to pin him to the ground. For a brief second, the panther's pained expression vanished as he recognized his predicament, and his eyes flicked over to his good hand again.

"No," the hen croaked, firmly. Her free hand pressed down on the male's forearm before he could move it, and she leaned her weight into it until she could hear the bones of his wrist grinding beneath her. Her throat was still raw from the smoke she had inhaled, and the crisp winter air wasn't helping the matter. She could see the gears turning in Rhaelyn's head as he pondered on how to escape her hold, and Kira tried to offer as disarming a smile as her sharp beak could manage. If anything her gaped grin made things worse, because she could already feel the panther tensing beneath her for another foolhardy attempt at escape.

"No." She was a bit more pointed this time, her smile disappearing as the hen eased one heavy hindpaw forward onto the male's crotch. She was a little surprised as she settled her padded footpaw onto the warmth of the male's genitals, finding the footing tenuous at best. She must have really done a number on him down there, because she could almost feel the swollen bits and pieces squashing and rolling underfoot as she tried to apply a bit of pressure as a warning.

It seemed to have the desired effect, at least, because Rhaelyn went a bit pale. Granted it was hard to see through his fur, but she could see the blood drain a bit from his ears, and his pupils dilated a bit as he realized the new problem he was facing. Again, that little predatory piece of Kira's brain spoke up, strengthened by the almost tangible stink of fear that was radiating from the unfortunate catfolk. Goaded on by that little voice, Kira arched her brows, offering a little rolling shrug of her shoulders as she bore down a bit harder on the feline's precious cargo.

Rhaelyn was breathless all over again, his world going white for a moment as the firm pressure was enough to briefly render him blind with pain. His brain was screaming bloody murder, and his nerves were screaming almost as loudly as his swollen orbs were slowly being crushed between the female's grinding paw and the packed snow beneath him. His winter clothes weren't providing much of a relief, given the circumstances, and within a few long seconds of this treatment his jaw was gaped and his tongue lolling out dumbly.

Kira perked an ear slightly, brows arched further as she watched the male suddenly go through what she could only describe as convulsions. A little pressure was enough to goad this kind of reaction from the troublesome catfolk? She planted her forelimbs a bit more firmly, keeping the male planted firmly against the snow as he writhed and mewled. Ah, yes, that sound had caught her attention. It was a sound not unlike that of a newborn gryphlet, and it seemed out of place coming from the throat of the dusky-black pantherkin.

The hen found herself breathing a bit harder, and this realization was enough to startle her. Was she really this excited by the panther's suffering? She considered that for a moment, gently easing her hindpaw off of his swollen genitals for a few seconds until she heard the male's mewling take on a somewhat relieved pitch. Licking along the edge of her beak with her nimble tongue, Kira drew in a deep breath before easing her weight back onto that hindpaw, reveling in the feel of those squishy spheres rolling under her foot.

Kira slowly exhaled again, surprised at the sensation that was creeping into her own loins. She could distinctly feel each of the male's testicles beneath the thick pads of her footpaw, now, trapped as they were between the snow and her foot. The hen shifted her hindpaw a bit, her powerful toes flexing as she carefully probed over the male's loose winter clothes. As she pushed her foot up a bit, she could feel the male's limp manhood, and a bit of probing pushed it flat against his abdomen.

Panting just softly, Kira uttered a soft gasp of surprise as she found that the panther's cock was hard! Not rock hard, but definitely enough to provide some definition against the pads of her toes. The gryphon glanced to the male's face again, but was a bit disappointed to find that he had slipped into some kind of semi-conscious state. 'Just as well,' she thought to herself. She was more than a little tired of his struggling. After all, she was here to help him! Oh, wait... she was here to help him, wasn't she.

With a twinge of guilt, Kira suddenly remembered just why she had stalked this stupid panther halfway across the Hinterfeather Mountain Range. She had been hired by the panther's family to fetch him and bring him back alive. The hen cleared her throat, suddenly a bit worried about just how far she had pushed things. Her tongue flicked along the edge of her beak thoughtfully as her mind raced, and she was finally forced into action as she saw the panther rousing some.

Eartufts perked, the hen repositioned herself above the male, keeping one hand planted over the panther's good arm to keep him from throwing around more spells. Shooting a glance downward between her own body and Rhaelyn's, Kira quickly debated the pros and cons of her positioning, and then eased her hindpaw back onto the male's crotch. Wriggling her toes, she carefully seperated his balls away from his body, her breathing quickened just a step as she resumed her prior threatening posture with just a bit more glee than necessary. They felt larger than they were before, as if they had swollen up a bit over the past several minutes.

"So... are you ready to talk this out?" Kira tried to keep her voice as sweet and pleasant as possible, although it was still just a bit grating to the panther's ears. "I reaaaaaally don't want to have to tenderize you any further." Her voice was almost playful, now, her earlier annoyance completely evaporating as she toyed with her prey.

Rhaelyn groaned softly, blinking furiously as he tried to clear his eyes. The fur of his cheeks was matted and wet, his harsh breathing spitting clouds of steam into the air with each gasping breath. The chill snow at his back had just now begun to leech through his clothing, and the cold was doing it's best to speed him back to full consciousness - although lower, it seemed to be doing it's best to numb the explosive pain in his delicates.

The panther opened his muzzle, trying to respond to Kira's teasing query. Something spiteful, perhaps? Defiant? Maybe he really did intend to finally cooperate with her, and talk things out? It was hard to say, since he only managed to utter another inarticulate groan. It was all he could do to focus on anything other than the twin spheres of pain that were crushed up somewhere between his legs.

"Yes, yes, I know. It hurts. I mean, it looks like it hurts. Does it?" The gryphon did her best to stifle a faint giggle that was creeping into the edge of her voice. Her head cocked a bit, and the hen patiently waited for the panther's reply.

"W-... what...?" Rhaelyn barely managed to put the word together, and the piercing ache in his groin was quickly being joined by a splitting pain in his head. The rest of his body quickly joined in on the conspiracy, and his whole body begin to ache in tandem. His bumps and bruises were the dull background pain, the soft burning in his chest of greater concern, and the constant ache at his crotch was his biggest concern of all. He shifted just a bit, but was alarmed to find that he was firmly pinned against the cold ground.

His first impulse was to reach down and cradle his genitals. A natural reaction, of course, but not the best one given his position. At the very least, Rhaelyn had to acknowledge that there was an entire gryphon in the way. His second impulse was to use his ring again - to focus his will through it, and to charbroil the creature that seemed so intent on tormenting him. But no, a feeble attempt to shift his left arm was met by a renewed pressure against his gonads. His lips curled back, hissing with pain as it felt like his swollen balls were caught in a vice.

"No." Kira leaned in close this time, her beak almost pressed right up to the panther's muzzle as she looked him right in the eye. Her talons ground firmly against his left arm, keeping it firmly pinned, her hindpaw pressing down against his trapped orbs just enough to remind him where they were. Her hindclaws - smaller than her forward talons but still quite sharp - pricked at his flesh as they dug into the cloth of his pants.

Rhaelyn gasped harshly, renewed agony dancing up and down his every nerve for a split second. Still, the chill of the snow was definitely deadening his balls to the constant torment, so it wasn't quite as devastating as the gryphon might have been expecting. The panther tried to wrestle his breathing back under control, and he steeled himself. He had one chance to turn things back in his favor. It was a long shot, but he couldn't imagine a single fate worse than being at the mercy of an obviously sadistic feathered fiend.

To the hen, it looked as if the panther had finally learned his lesson. He settled back against the snow, his body untensing as he went a bit limp beneath her. Brightening at this evident show of cooperation, Kira straightened up a bit as she beamed. "So, I guess we can-"

And the panther struck! His loose hand curled into a balled fist, and his arm swung up in a wild strike. He plastered the blow against the gryphon's beak, inciting a startled yelp from her as she reared back - more surprised than injured. Her weight shifted back as she reflexively pulled away from the blow, her taloned forelimbs lifting away from his body and her bulk settling onto her firmly braced hindpaws.

And just like that, the panther went wide-eyed, cross-eyed, and then passed out cold in swift succession.

Kira looked surprised for a moment, but then swift realization dawned. Grimacing a bit, she planted her hands back against the snow, trying to shift her weight off of the male's testicles as quickly and gingerly as possible. The hen was relatively small for one of her species, but she was still easily twenty stone, and she wasn't sure how durable a catfolk's nethers were supposed to be. As it was, it had felt a bit like the time she had accidentally trodden on a snail and it had cracked underfoot - or perhaps like that time those odd furless travelers had tried to teach her how to make wine, which apparently involved crushing grapes underfoot.

The hen backed away, her guilt only intensifying as she spied the hapless male's testicles firmly pressed down into a six-inch deep, hindpaw-shaped depression in the snow. The entire crotch of his pants had been torn out, although the lack of blood seemed to imply that she hadn't broken the skin. Still... his sac was clearly swollen and distended, and swelling even further as she watched.

"So, uh..." Kira leaned forward, gingerly trying to push the unconscious male's swollen testes back into his pants with limited success. "... we're just going to say, um... that I found you like this, okay? Okay."

Kira swallowed hard, peering about to make sure that she was alone in the frigid woods. Clacking her beak once or twice, nervously, she quickly set about dragging the panther over her back. "Hf... so, I guess I'll just carry you, then. I guess you deserve that much, at least."