The Shadows Book Two: The Legacy of Man and Machine

Chapter Five - The Rotted Line

Liki Wolfspirit.

The front line to the Rotted War was located about twenty miles east of Heartwood. That sounds close, but the constant spread of the rot was brought to a halt by teams of druids who worked around the clock, twenty four seven, taking shifts of four hours every day and expanding all their energy in keeping the advancement of rot halted.

A few hundred yards in past the line of druids, small battles were fought, normal Beasts fighting against the Rotted that attempted to constantly reach the healing druids in back. These were also nearly twenty four seven, though after tearing down the masses of Rotted, it gave a few days of respite as they had to try and rebuild themselves after being broken to pieces.

There were no Borians here, as the other Beasts of the world were fighting this war for them, and that them being here would probably just as well end up spreading the Rot if one got infected and went behind the line before turning. As it was, the kingdoms were plenty satisfied in just keeping the Rot at bay rather than sending in a team in to the dangerous territory beyond to try and kill the Rotted King.

Now the situation was different, as Liki discovered upon arriving. The news that Heartwood had been infected had already reached the ears of the commander here, a large Urson, and he was calling it quits. Asides from the Beasts that still fought back the attacking Rotted, the druids were gone already, having returned to Heartwood to stop the rot there instead and buy more time for those still in the city to evacuate. The small hovel where the base camp was set up had already succumbed to the spread, the once green and lush little cove now a sickly looking brown hole in the ground, black ooze leaking out of wilted and dead flowers.

"It's part of protocol." The commander told Liki sternly, while he packed up files and paper off of the wooden table, only to groan as he saw that the backs of them were dripping and covered in the black ooze, and the paper itself was starting to turn into a brown color, he sat them back down and let them get consumed by rot as he continued, "Set up by King Arthur himself and agreed upon by the royal families of Camelot, Bremen, and Heartwood. Heartwood is doomed, and it's pointless to attempt any further action, we cannot stop the spread both here and in Heartwood without more druids. Reinforcements from Bremen or Camelot would take months to arrive, by then the forest will be almost completely taken over. My orders are to pull my men out, and assist in evacuating the Borians to the sea, and take them across to the Americas by boat before returning."

"But there is a way!" Liki said and he pounded the table angrily, ending up punching through the weakened and now dead wood, he pulled his paw free as he growled,"If we kill the Rotted King, this all goes away." He waved around himself at all the rot.

"It doesn't matter! There is no we in this, you are not a soldier, you should not even be here." The Commander pointed at Liki, Blackpaw, One-Eye, and Reyals one at a time, "I should really have you all arrested."

"I'd like to see you try it." One-Eye growled loudly from were he was leaning against a slowly rotting tree. He didn't seem to care that it was now drooling the black pus onto his back and shoulders.

"Excuse me?" The hulking bear commander grunted and he raised an eyebrow to the much smaller Foxen.

"You heard me, if you're so sure your size gives you such a big advantage, why don't you get in there and go kill the Rotted King already?" One-Eye glared at the bear with his eyeball, the glare clearing daring the soldier to attack him.

"Enough!" Liki shouted and he turned to the fox.

"You, behave yourself." One-Eye seemed to deflate a bit as he was chastised by Liki, which then irritated him as he wondered why the hell he cared what Liki thought of him. He turned his head away and closed his eye with a grunt.

Liki turned back to the Urson commander and he tried to reason, "you don't have to do anything, we'll do it all, just stay here a little longer, we have someone at Heartwood who is assisting in keeping the rot there from spreading too quickly. He's the strongest druid you'd find anywhere and he's part Feral. Can you buy us one day to prepare with your men? Keep the Rotted at bay for today so we can rest from our journey here, you can leave and not even look back tomorrow."

The knight seemed to consider this for a moment, the stern look that Liki was giving him lasted for a few minutes as he thought silently and he sighed, "Fine, me and my men will kill off the last of the Rotted, then head out, it takes the things about two days to reform and start walking around again, so you should be fine then."

"That'll do." Liki nodded, and the big bear walked around him, picking up a massive hammer off the ground before he charged into the fray a few hundred yards away. "Come on boys! Kill off these husks and we can get out of here!"

There was a loud shouting roar as the soldiers put on a good burst of energy into cutting down the masses of Rotted Borians.

It took only about six hours of constant fighting for the knights to tear down the last of the Borians. Panting and wheezing, they settled down in the clearing, ignoring the rot around them as they rested up with Liki and the others. They exchanged a few stoires, heroism and things like that before dusk.

"You guys killed that Dragon that had been terrorizing Bremen!? And the Lich in Anglorum!?" The commander was now staring in awe at Liki and Blackpaw as they were retelling their stories. One-Eye and Reyals were both also listening intently, Reyals seeming more into it however.

"We even took part in the War for Earthend." Blackpaw said rather proudly, and one of the soldiers laughed.

"No way!" He said, "You both would have been below ten years old back then!"

"If you doubt it, ask the Anubians when you next see one, or ask the King himself, or Cryo or Steel, the Beasts who had lead the resisting citizens in retaking the city." Liki chuckled and smiled at him, leaving it at that and staying silent a moment.

"Wait...what did you say your name was?" Another one of the knights leaned over at him while pointing at him.

"Liki." The Fangren Shadow answered and nodded at the same time, "Liki Wolfspirit."

The soldier clapped his paws together, suddenly smiling like he had just found a treasure trove, "Oh hohoho! I know who you are! Oh damn!" He was acting all giddy and happy. "You're that Liki! The Rotted King won't stand a chance!"

The other soldiers didn't seem to quite get it, but the one that did was overly excited. "My friend, I don't know how I can thank you enough, I was in that army, I was a part of the resistance army!"

Liki couldn't help the blush that formed on his cheeks, "I was just doing what was right..."

"Well not just for that Liki, for what you taught us all. The bravery you had in that fight, climbing that giant Anubian" The fox looked around the area a bit, "Is Kaz here?"

Liki shook his head a bit, "No, he stayed in Heartwood to help stall the Rot from spreading in the city."

"Then I'm sure Heartwood is fine for now." He nodded and smiled, "I'm Nick, by the way, Nick Torrent. It's nice to met you after so long. I lived in Earthend before the invasion, I joined the army after the war. I've been here since the beginning of the Rotted War. I'm glad someone's here to finally finish it."

"Nice to met you Nick." Liki nodded back to him and smiled. "And yes, that's what we intend to do, kill the Rotted King and everything goes back to normal." Liki noticed One-Eye shift out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't do anything about it, as Nick continued to talk to him.

When the soldiers all fell asleep, Liki was laying wide awake. The noise of the forest was intense, it sounded like there were Rotted everywhere. Groaning, moaning, shaking, all kinds of odd and strange noises that didn't allow him rest.

"Fuck I can't sleep in all this." He groaned and turned around onto his back.

"You too huh?" One-Eye grunted from across him, also rolling over onto his back. Liki had thought he had been sleeping the whole time.

"I feel my Lord's eyes on us..." He said softly while he stared up out through the canopy of the trees at the stars. The leaves of the trees still were green and healthy looking, the rot had yet to reach up that far on the trees.

"Can you tell where he is?" Liki spoke softly.

The fox shook his head, bringing his right paw up to rub the socket of his missing eye. "No...but it's this...pain, in my head, where my eye used to be...it always happens when he's watching me..." He sighed as he lowered his hand and put it on his chest, linking his other paw to it as he continued to stare up, "He's upset and annoyed...that we're trying to stop this."

"Well he try to stop us personally?"

"Maybe...of he'll put something somewhere that will hinder us long enough that even if we kill the Rotted King it won't matter." One-Eye gazed over to Liki, "Just tell me something, rather, promise me something."

"What's that?" Liki was surprised at how upset the fox seemed.

"Don't...don't let him take me over again, don't let yourself get taken over too. His power of corruption is incredible...you don't know what you're getting into."

"My soul is pure." Liki grunted and he looked back up into the sky, "I'm not worried."

One-Eye sighed, "Even a pure soul is suspect to his power, mine was..." Suddenly, the fox stood up, and he looked down at Liki, "Follow me a moment...I have something to show you." With that the Foxen walked out of the campsite and into the dark and diseased woods.

Liki was suspicious at first, but he knew now that One-Eye was in control of himself, sort of, and he rose up and followed him dutifully.

The wolf followed the fox deeper into the forest, past the tangled mass of Rotted that the knights had sliced up earlier. The bark, branches, and dried up leaf husks were slowly piling back up around one another, amassing back into new full bodies that would soon stand back up and begin walking again, but it would take a few more days, so they were able to safely just walk right past them and deeper into the woods.

"Here..." One-Eye whispered and he continued walking farther and farther into the woods, following a path way that was barely seeable in the dark and murky ground. Liki's ears twitches ad he heard the sound of running water. There was water? Out here in this murky rotten little forest?

Liki followed One-Eye as the fox felt his way into a wall of bushes, eventually he found a hole in the seemingly wall thick bush and pushed through, "Through here..."

The wolf followed behind him through the bush, walking for a considerable distance, the vines they were walking through seemed to become healthier the farther One-Eye led. They became green and flowers bloomed all over them. The sound of rushing water grew louder and louder until suddenly, the bush opened up to reveal an amazing sight.

A large waterfall, falling down from the mountains, rested here, surrounded by beautiful green grass around a small pond. It was unclear where the water was going, but perhaps there was a opening under the water to a cave underground.

"What is this?" Liki whispered as he took in the sight, standing next to One-Eye, who was gazing up at the waterfall.

"It's the one part of the forest that my Lord didn't allow to become infected when he first started this mess...Over here..." One-Eye pointed to a pathway up the mountain, and Liki followed up the path. It rounded over around, the path connecting onto a tree that was still rot free. A platform was carved out of the tree here, and in the small opening, was a small house.

"A house?" Liki asked as he stepped up beside the fox, "What's inside?"

"I have no idea...this is my Lord's home...at least, it is where I've met him before..." The fox knight sighed and he began to walk towards the door, reaching out and he opened it slowly and peered inside, "it's empty..." He stepped in, and Liki followed in close.

It really was completely empty, there was nothing in there except a desk and a flimsy looking bed with no covers or pillows. Inside the house, the night sounds were more quiet, the soft roar of the waterfall over came the sounds of the bugs and the old rotted woods close by.

"This was where I saw him and he gave me a vial of Rot to bring in Heartwood...I thought maybe there might be a clue as to where he is now, but it looks like he cleaned it out, if there was anything in here to begin with." The Foxen growled and sat down on the bed, his head in his paws as he sighed heavily.

"I don't know what to do anymore..." He growled out again and his paws fell down while he stared at the floor, "I've lost every meaning to myself, when whatever it is you did with me...it set me free from his control, but I don't even feel in control of myself."

"Well, there's a reason for that...you're still being controlled."

"By what?" One-Eye looked up at him, and Liki proceeded to explain that he was being controlled by a pair of young children in his mind, and that it seemed he was stopped in time at his current age.

"How is this possible?!" The fox stood up, baring his fangs at the wolf, "What are you saying?!"

"I'm saying...it seems you are a magical creation of some kind, and I have no idea how to fix the problem yet." Liki shook his head, crossing his arms while frowning.

"Whatever..." One-Eye groaned and he sat on the bed again, head back in his paws a moment until he looked back up at Liki. "Can you tell me why, that once again, I have a raging hard on like the last few times I've been around you seem to to make me feel attracted to you?" He didn't even seem embarrassed as he motioned at the large bulge in his pants, "I remember I used to be afraid of you."

"One of the kids in your head is um...a horny one. You tried to rape Reyals remember?" One-Eye looked down at that, as Liki continued, "So, to avert anymore attempted raping, I told him to think of me whenever he needed release."

"Oh so right now, the only reason I want to fuck you is because the little kid wants to?"

"That's right." Liki nodded, and there was a bit of silence that followed until One-Eye lifted up his paw, a flash of dark smoke bringing his large black claymore into his hands, and he jumped at Liki, pinning the Fangren against the bare table behind him as he brought the sword across Liki's neck and put his face right in front of his.

"That...is...BULLSHIT!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIVE THAT?!" He snarled and bared his teeth at the Shadow, but Liki seemed fairly unphased, though the fox had gotten the jump on him. Liki reached down with his paw as One-Eye was leaning over him, his paw rubbing over the throbbing bulge inside One-Eye's pants. The Foxen blinked a moment, and he faltered visibly as the his cock twitched at Liki's touch inside the leather fabric.

"Fu-Fuck..." The fox moaned lightly, he kept the sword up against Liki's neck, but his eye closed in pleasure as he was distracted by the feeling, "Why does that feel so good...why...what spell did you put on me?"

Liki grinned as he caressed the bulge. It felt like One-Eye was pretty big, probably a bit bigger than he was himself, he was sure he could handle the size of One-Eye because he was able to take Kaz no problem now, but the large Feral was gentle with it, while his Foxen friend here probably didn't have much intention of taking it slow and gentle. It didn't matter much though, he could probably heal whatever internal injury it caused, and besides, he was starting to get turned on himself now; he had his own sizable bulge showing in his tan leather pants.

One-Eye's breath washed over Liki's cheek as he panted, and Liki chuckled, "It's no spell One-Eye...it's just what you want...and you know it." Liki gave the form inside the fox's pants a squeeze, and he felt it throb heavily and swell.

"D-damn you..." One-Eye whined softly and his hands gradually lowered the heavy sword, as the fox's focus was stolen by the feeling of Liki's paw stroking and squeezing his crotch. The sword vanished in another cloud of smoke as the Foxen wrapped his paws around Liki and suddenly kissed him.

Liki murred lightly, closing his eyes as he returned the surprisingly gentle kiss, running his tongue along One-Eye's lips slowly and the fox panted against his muzzle.

"Gaia..." He whined again and he pulled back from Liki, reluctantly, and he smiled. It seemed he had surrendered to his desire, as he pulled off his leather shirt and armor freely and without care to leave his upper body bare, a neat and typical mix of orange and white fur, with white on his belly and chest and his sides and arms orange. Liki did the same, tossing his next to where One-Eye did and they stared at each other again a moment before the fox stepped forward. Slowly, he put his paws on Liki's waist, looking into the wolf's eyes, as if wondering if this was okay, and then pressing his body up against him.

The bulges in their jeans touched, and they both throbbed against each other as the Foxen came in for another kiss, tilting his head this time to lock their lips and he pushed his tongue into Liki's muzzle and around his own tongue. Liki moaned softly, and he ground agains him softly with his hips while he sucked gently on the tongue in his muzzle, encouraging One-Eye's lust to build and his confidence to increase.

The grinding quickly turned into Liki being pushed over onto the bed and the fox leaning over him, a huge grin on his face as he looked down at him. "Fuck...I want you so badly...I can't ignore it anymore. Get those damn pants off." He growled playfully as he stood up at the edge of the bed and quickly tore his pants down to show his hard foxhood, pre drooling down it as it throbbed in the night air. Liki didn't argue and obeyed the request, lifting his legs up and wiggling the rest of his armor off. Indeed, it seemed that by what he saw from where he was, One-Eye was a bit bigger than he was, the fox's knot was already swelling at the base. The sight made Liki squirm on the bed. Not long after Kaz had first mated him, Liki realized he liked being a bottom more than he liked being a top.

One-Eye got right to it, there was no more patience for foreplay anymore, he had to fuck this wolf, or he would go crazy. Taking hold of the wolf's legs and lifting them up so he could see his ass and hole, he actually blushed, "I've never...fucked another male before...but..." He shivered as he leaned foward with his hips, bringing the pointed tip of his aching erection to Liki's tailhole. He tilted his head back and moaned softly, while he circled his hips around a bit to smear the leaking precum onto Liki's hole.

"Are you ready for this...?" He looked down at Liki again, his eye showing lust but concern for his partner, which was also something he had never felt before until now.

Liki nodded, "I've taken worse One-Eye." he chuckled and relaxed, sighing deeply to prepare himself the same way he would for Kaz.

"Kaz is big huh?" The fox grinned before he gripped hold of Liki's legs and he pushed forward with his hips, moaning in bliss as the tip and first few inches of his foxhood slid almost effortlessly into Liki's hole, "Oh yeah...you're well stretched..."

Liki grunted and nodded silently, focusing on the feeling of his ass being filled with another Beast's cock. It wasn't Kaz, but the feeling was the same, and when One-Eye eventually got deep enough to make contact with his prostate, Liki moaned and felt shocks of pleasure race up his spine, his wolfhood reacting with a few heavy throbs and matting his fur with more pre.

The Foxen continued to slide in with little effort, until his fat knot finally rested up against Liki's tailhole, "oooooh fuck yes...it's been too long..." The fox growled softly and he licked his lips with his tongue, enjoying the feeling of his cock placed inside a nice, warm space.

"When was the last tiumph..." Liki grunted as One-Eye pulled out swiftly and then thrusted back into him heavily, and the fox growled down at him.

"The last time I fucked someone? About a year ago...now shut up and whine while I fuck you." He grinned, and all sense of kindness seemed to vanish as the fox began to pound away, slamming his knot against Liki's body relentlessly.

Liki gripped the bed with his paws, eyes clenching tight as he endured the pounding, for the moment, not willing to let out even a single sound despite the brief flashes of pain he felt. But slowly, the pain was fading as he got used to One-Eye's fierce pace, and he started feeling rapid spikes of pleasure each time the fox's hard cock rammed against his prostate inside him. Now he let out a whine, as he felt his cock throb and his knot grow. He squeezed down around One-Eye's cock each time he felt it push deep into him.

"Oh yes, do that more..." The fox murred out to him loudly, his paws navigating down his legs to hold onto his ass as he fucked him, "Squeeze around it like you want me to fill you with my seed, just like all the bitches I've fucked before have...I like that..."

Liki grunted and blushed, he wanted to think of some kind of retort, but he coudln't because he knew it was partially true, he had planned on this after all, telling Wolff inside One-Eye's mind to think of him instead when he got so horny. He asked for it, so he kept squeezing down on the penis fucking him, and started to use his arms to push down against the Foxen's heavy thrusts.

Both of them were panting heavily, as their pace continued, both their bodies feeling hot and sweaty. Wet slopping noises started to sound as One-Eye's pre began to ooze free of Liki's abused hole, which seemed to start up the other instinct inside the fox, and made him desire to knot his partner. His thrusts became even more powerful, as he started to use all his strength in them and Liki yipped under him as he felt his hole get stretched by the thick, swollen knot at the base of One-Eye's member.

"Ah! Fuck!" Liki yelled out, he felt himself reaching his climax rapidly, his prostate getting battered far beyond want he was used to.

"That's right! Yell for it!" One-Eye yelled back at him, and he leaned down over the wolf and bit down on his shoulder, and Liki cried out again in submissive pleasure as he started to cum from the intense plowing. His wolfhood throbbed between their bodies and covered the both of them in sticky white strings of wolf cum, only intensifying in power when One-Eye finally managed to shove his knot into Liki's body.

One-Eye gritted his teeth into Liki's fur where he was biting on his shoulder, drawing a bit of blood from the wolf, as he continued to grind and jack hammer his hips against Liki. His knot grew to yet another size to lock him to the submissive wolf, and he growled though his teeth as he was biting down, "Here it comes..."

With a final deep thrust, One-Eye's body convulsed as his cock throbbed and began to unload his pent up lust into Liki's body. He continued to grind and push his hips up against Liki's ass as he came, reveling in the feeling of seeding someone, an immense feeling of satisfaction coming over him, and then suddenly, extreme exhaustion. The power of his bite on Liki's shoulder faded as he slumped over Liki, his cock still throbbing and locked in the wolf, shooting more and more cum with each throb, as if it would never stop.

"One-Eye?" Liki panted faintly as the fox slumped, and his ears twitched as he picked up the sound of soft snoring.

One-Eye had fallen asleep.

Liki blinked in surprise a few times before he groaned, "Really?" He panted and rubbed his face with his paws. The fox had passed out, leaning over the bed on top of Liki with his foxhood buried inside him.

With effort and a few twinges of pain as One-Eye's knot tugged on his sore hole, Liki dragged the fox up into the bed so he could be more comfortable, wrapping his legs up around the fox's waist and letting his head lay on his chest. The Foxen drooled from his muzzle a bit, and he moaned in his sleep as his cock gave yet another healthy throb. Liki felt it and he chuckled, the fox was really pent up, he felt filled way beyond anything Kaz could manage. He stroked the Foxen's head softly with his paw as he watched him sleep, and then laid his own head back and closed his eyes. By morning One-Eye's knot should be able to pull free, but for now he was stuck to him. Blackpaw could probably find them using the Shadows, so he wasn't worried about that.

He tried to rest, listening to the sound of the waterfall outside and to One-Eye's soft breathing, and eventually he drifted off to sleep.