FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

**A Gryphon's Tail, Part VII

All Good Things...**

When morning finally came, Rhaelyn was thoroughly exhausted - both physically and mentally. He had spent the last few hours thinking about-, well no, that wasn't accurate. He had spent the last few hours worrying about things that he had no power over.

There was Kira, of course. He couldn't even begin to count the number of potential difficulties that they would have to surmount if he actually DID want to... be with her. And his family, of course. If they had threatened to disown him over a tryst with a cheetah, what would they think about an infatuated gryphon? Perhaps it would be best if he simply let her down preemptively, to save them both the drama, but he really didn't relish the thought of having 'the talk' with her.

And honestly, none of that even mattered if the two of them didn't make it through the Fire Peaks and the Smoldering Woods beyond. They had made good time over the past few days, given the circumstances, but there were still at least two days of hard trekking ahead of them - and that was assuming that their luck held, and they avoided any more random encounters with both the Queen's hunters and the local meta-magical wildlife.

Eventually, though, he grew so weary that sleep pierced through even the densest layers of worry, and he managed to drift off into a fitful and troubled slumber.

And, just as quickly, Kira had been shaking him awake again. It was morning, the sun was already climbing rapidly into the sky, and it was time to continue on.

An hour later, Kira waited patiently at the foot of the plateau. The panther had been reluctant to rise at first, and had yawned all through their quick breakfast of dried fruit and berries. Now he was ostensibly making last-minute preparations for the day's travel, although he had insisted on privacy while he did so.

The hen giggled softly to herself, her neck craned as she peered back up toward the plateau's edge. She had a fairly good idea of just what those 'preparations' might entail - she had certainly noticed that his pants were still tented - but she didn't tease him about it. She was just a little disappointed that he hadn't asked her to help.

Long minutes ticked by, and eventually the panther came limping down the steep sidepath that was hewn into the volcanic rock. He was impressively clean, given the volume of ash saturating the surrounding region, and he had changed into his only remaining set of untorn clothing. He had also taken one of the petrified branches from the lone tree in their campsite, and had turned it into a rather impressive walking stick.

Kira also couldn't help but notice that he had tied his old, torn cloak about his waist like a sash. It wasn't particularly stylish, but it DID make it difficult to tell if he still had an erection or not. From the vaguely disgruntled expression on his face, she was going to guess that he hadn't found much luck with... er... his morning exercises.

"So," the hen drawled as she moved to the panthers side. She crooked one taloned finger in the direction they were to be traveling, and the two quickly set a slow but steady pace through the valleys. "Did you get your rocks off?"

Rhaelyn almost looked aghast at the gryphon's audacity. "W-... what!?"

She snorted softly, making no effort to conceal her smile. "Those little magic rocks that you put all over the place. Did you dig them all back up?"

The panther sighed, leaning his weight onto the branch that was helping to keep him upright. Kira's speaking skills were impressively fluid, but she still needed some serious tutoring in how to properly phrase things.

"Mf, no." He grunted. "The magic is only good for half a day at best. Besides, by now they've probably been entirely consumed by earth elementals anyway."

Kira arched a brow, peering sidelong at the limping panther. Was he messing with her? "O... kay?"

He chuckled softly, reaching out with his free hand to lightly pat atop the hen's head. She liked it, but it still felt rather patronizing. "Don't worry about it, Kira. It's just how magic works."

She snorted - now she KNEW he was being patronizing. He was just lucky that they had places to be and a deadline to keep, or they'd be having words about that. Instead, she opted to punish him by changing the subject to something she was keener on talking about.

"Sure, whatever. So, uh, how are they hanging?"

Rhaelyn winced - there was that crude wording again. He was really going to have to talk to her about that, the next time they could find a moment where the threat of impending death wasn't looming over them. "Ah, well..."

Kira grinned, absently shifting her body to bump her flank up against the panther's side. He barely managed to keep his footing this time, but caught himself against his makeshift walking stick. She was a little alarmed at that, and briefly considered apologizing, but... nah.

"Come on, Ser Rhaelyn," she cajoled. "You're obviously still in pretty sorry shape, so I need to know if you can keep up or not. Will you be able to fight?"

"Ah, well..." he hesitated, but finally bobbed his head in an uncertain nod. "Yes, I think so. I just, erm..."

The gryphon arched a brow, increasing her pace until she had headed off the panther, where she set down to block his path. "You don't sound very sure."

Rhaelyn stopped short, teetering precariously before he caught himself. Grunting softly, he scowled down at the defiant hen for a few seconds before he gave a resigned shrug. "L-... look, Kira, I can only say that I'll do my best depending on the circumstances. But I can, hf... I can barely even walk straight."

Kira frowned, her gaze angled down at that strategically placed sash. "Well, er... how are they?"

He snorted, eyes closed for a brief moment. "Let's just say that I know how it feels to be a ratkin now."

Kira slowly tilted her head to the side. That reference was lost on her.

Rhaelyn chuckled softly, his ears slightly skewed. "A part of me, hf... wishes that I were always this well endowed, but... I don't think I'd be able to survive this kind of crippling trauma on a daily basis."

She furrowed her brow now, trying to decipher the panther's cryptic statements. Why did he always have to speak in riddles? Finally, understanding dawned, and she eyed the male anew. "Oh! Er, well... how big...?"

The panther paused, giving a moment's thought to just how they could be classified. He held out one hand, palm upward, as if he were holding a crystal ball. "Ah, well... mf... h-... have you ever seen a grapefruit...?"

Kira considered that, her wings ruffling against her back. That question didn't make any sense. Had they shrunk? "Er, aren't grapes really small?"

Rhaelyn snorted again, but he smiled. "N-... no, erm... let's just say that they're... swollen quite a bit larger than I'm comfortable with." And a sigh, as one ear twitched in vague irritation. "I'd be worried, if... ng... if I'd never had them swell up this badly before."

The gryphon was ALMOST skeptical at that statement, but... well... given what she knew about the panther it sounded like it might be plausible. She turned and started walking again, peeking back over her shoulder to make certain he was keeping up.

"So, uh... this happens to you a lot?"

"Well, not a LOT..." he muttered. He almost sounded bitter, but resignation took over halfway through the uttered statement. "But, ah... a lot more often than I'd like."

Kira snickered, "Oh yeah? Well, how often is as often as you'd like?"

Rhaelyn paused again, briefly at a loss for words, but he bounced back quickly. "Erm... zero times sounds good." And a sigh, as he shook his head. "But that's never how things work, so... hf... honestly, I'd be happy if I could keep it down to less than a dozen times a year."

"I, uh... wow." The gryphon's eyes were a little wide at this revelation, but again it was kind of hard for her to feel surprised. Still, as new as she was to nutting unfortunate panthers, that did seem like a rather excessive amount. "Er... and, uh, you're still...?"

"Hm?" He arched a brow, ears slanted forward as he continued to plod along behind the hen. "Still what?"

She frowned a little, glancing back at the male's crotch again. She had tested his plumbing personally, and he certainly SEEMED functional, so... "So you, uh, what? Drink a lot of healing goo, I guess?"

Rhaelyn snorted again, choking back a laugh. "Well, yes, I suppose I've had more than my share of 'healing goo'. But I-, ah... you know, I miss the days when I could go out on an adventure without getting my kittenmakers hammered into a pulp."

Kira perked an eartuft, considering that. First, there was the term - it was promptly added to her ever-growing lexicon of terminology. Second, given what he had told her about those kinds of injuries, she had some serious doubts that they'd be making kittens anyway, so the term was a little misleading. She didn't say that, though.

"You know," he continued. "This never used to happen."

The gryphon arched a brow, her tail swaying behind her thoughtfully. "What, adventures?"

"No," he mused. "I've been adventuring since I first turned twenty summers of age. I mean the, ah, rampant testicular trauma. That didn't start until I first met..."

And a scowl, as the panther considered that. Could that obnoxious little alleycat really be responsible for his misfortunes somehow? No, that hardly made any sense. He was a thief, not some kind of fate-weaving sorcerer.

"Until, ah, the war against the Bitch Queen's armies." he finished lamely.

Kira arched a brow once more, glancing back toward the limping panther. She was almost certain that's not what he was originally going to say, but again - she didn't question it. He was being uncharacteristically forthcoming today, and she didn't want to jinx it.

"Oh sure, we saved the world," he muttered. He didn't sound particularly enthused about that accomplishment, to be honest. "But getting that far was a nightmare. Every one of Cygna's soldiers seemed trained to go for as many cheap shots as beastkinly possible."

"Have you considered armor?" Kira ventured, peering back at the panther again. Gryphons didn't bother with the stuff, but it sounded like the male REALLY needed some.

"Ha!" Rhaelyn laughed sardonically, "Trust me, Kira. That always seemed to make things worse. The Bitch Queen's elite were generally satisfied with using hand-to-hand combat to cripple and maim, but the second you wore armor they turned to nastier weapons. Maces, flails, war staves. Her bounty hunters were even given specially crafted magical gear that would let them tear right through armor with their bare hands as if it were dry parchment."

And another sigh, as he gestured dismissively. "Besides, most armor gets in the way of my gifts. It's, ah... it's a wizard thing. You wouldn't understand."

Kira clacked her beak, pondering on that for a moment. "Wait, but you said that you helped defeat the, uh, Bitch Queen five years ago."

"Right," he confirmed. "The first time, anyway."

The hen blinked, peering back at the panther again. "What, you didn't kill her the first time?"

Rhaelyn rolled his eyes. "Oh, we killed her alright. She was dead as a doornail. It just, ah... didn't really slow her down as much as we had hoped it might. Remember, she was a necromancer."

"I don't know what that-" and she shook her head, trying to get herself back on track. "No, forget that. Uh, so how old are you now?"

The panther arched a brow, peering quizzically after the gryphon. Why did that matter? "Oh, ah... twenty-eight years of age, as of this winter?"

Kira cocked her jaw, a little surprised at that - he certainly didn't LOOK that old. That put him almost ten years older than she was. Was that awkward? Or, more to the point, did she care about the age difference? It only took her a split second to decide that no, she certainly did not. Given their violent lifestyles, most gryphons were lucky to live past thirty.

"So, uh, you said you got your balls, er... busted... by Raff when you were younger! Before the war!" She nodded smartly, certain that she had recalled his tale accurately.

"Oh, well, yes." The panther frowned a little, his ears twitched back as he nodded a confirmation. "In fact, Raff was the FIRST person to ever, er... bust..." he didn't like that phrase. His balls may have been bruised, but they certainly weren't busted.

"Yes, she was the first person to have ever rung my bells," he mused. "But she at least had the decency to give me a few weeks between each... ah... session. The Amazonian wolves had no such compunction."

He frowned now, absently rubbing his chin. "Besides, with Raff I was also getting sex on a regular basis. Trust me, if I had gotten to sleep with every wolf, dog, or dragon that had a mind to mangle my manhood then I'd hardly be complaining as much."

"Dragon?" Kira was a touch incredulous, but this was coming from the same panther who had claimed to be snuggle-buddies with The Gryphon Queen. Still, she had to assume that he was exaggerating.

Rhaelyn half-closed his eyes, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on. "Look, can we... I really don't want to talk about that, right now. Can we save the history lessons for after we've returned to civilization?"

Kira snorted, and for a moment she considered arguing - after all, he was the one who had brought it up in the first place - but she relented. If she was going to make a serious effort at winning the panther's heart, and other assorted organs, she was going to have to learn how to compromise. Regardless of what that voice in the back of her head was telling her.

"Fine." And she walked in silence for a moment, before peeking back over her shoulder at the male. "So, uh, how'd it go this morning?"

"What?" The panther was equal parts wary and innocent.

She grinned, powering right through his attempted verbal deflection. "Come on, we both know you were hard-up last night. So, uh, did you take care of it before we left?"

It was Rhaelyn's turn to blush now. The hen certainly had a... way with words. "I don't know what you're-"

"Rhaelyn." Kira locked a steady gaze on the squirming panther, a faint smile on her beak as she purred smugly. "Come on. I could hear you."

He blushed even harder now. Had she-...? How could she have heard him! He was so careful to be as quiet as possible, although he had to admit that there had been a bit of groaning and panting. How could there not be? His entire groin was like one big mass of bruises.

"W-... well..."

"Mmhm?" She grinned wider, in what she could only imagine might be 'cheshire-like'. Not enough teeth, though.

"Well, the desire is there." The panther grunted, his gaze averted as he sounded just a tad sullen. "But, ah, the current... state of the equipment makes it impossible to finish the job."

"Oh," the hen giggled. "You poor, poor kitten."

Rhaelyn muttered faintly, his ears slicked flat against his skull. His tail lashed back and forth behind him like a wary rattler. Still, it was his own fault, because he had insisted that the hen choose a new topic of conversation.

"L-... look, I'm sure it will be fine, once I've had some time to-"

And then a tree fell on him.

Kira blinked, stopping short as she peered back over her shoulder again. The panther was... he was gone! Or, no, there was a toppled tree where he had been standing - and not a lovely, verdant tree, but an ugly twisted thing. It was the only kind of tree that could ever survive in the Smoldering Woods, and even then it could barely even manage that, it's bark an ashen gray and it's numerous grasping branches devoid of leaves or wildlife.

Even as she watched, the tree slowly righted itself again with a sound akin to tortured lumber, taking the dazed pantherkin with it.

"R-... Ser Rhaelyn?" Kira gaped.

"Kira, I..." he shook his head, trying to recover his wits as swiftly as possible. "I think this tree is trying to eat me!"

As if on cue, the trunk of the tree cracked and split along it's length, folding apart to reveal dozens - no, hundreds - of splintery teeth. Even as long as it was, there was no way that the panther would fit into that jagged maw, but it was clear that the tree had no qualms about biting him into more easily handled chunks.

"What the f-" his voice cut off abruptly as the branches twisted and bent about, the panther suddenly upended as he began a disturbingly swift descent toward the aforementioned maw. It was clearly going to eat him head-first.

"Rhaelyn, hold on!" Kira leaped into action, but for the life of her she had no idea what to do. She had never fought a tree before!

The hen hurled herself bodily at the thing, her talons rending into unyielding bark and wood as she tore gaping furrows in the disconcertingly active foliage. It didn't draw blood, and at her current rate it was obvious that it would take her hours to actually cut down the tree in this manner, but it still got results. With a hissing shriek that set the adjacent - and thankfully less active - trees to trembling, the thing shifted its focus from the panther in its grasp to the gryphon that was trying to claw it to pieces.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Kira cried as she was flailed by a thousand tiny branches, each one crooked to end in a hook-like grasping digit. She was buffeted off of the tree's trunk, and her body twisted as she tried to scramble away as quickly as possible.

It bought Rhaelyn the time he needed, though. Dangling upside-down, the beastkin took quick stock of the tools available to him. He had lost his walking stick somewhere in the scuffle, but it would have been useless anyway. He had his sword and his dagger, of course, but those were likely to be useless as well. One by one he counted across the glittering rings that decorated his fingers-

Fire? No, if it didn't let go then he'd just end up burning alive. Lightning? Also no, because he was fairly certain that trees conducted electricity. If it didn't kill the thing, he'd just be cooking himself for its enjoyment. He was too far from the ground for earth manipulation to help, and- ah, of course!

A snap of his fingers, and a sudden burst of air tore through the animated shrubbery. Wood snapped, branches bent, and the beastkin was torn free from the grasping creature's grip. Oh, sure, he was now flipping end over end through the air instead, but it was a distinct improvement given the circumstances. At least the air wasn't trying to bite his head off.

Meanwhile, Kira had managed to roll and scramble her way clear. Her thick hide had protected her from the worst of the attacks, but she could still feel the itch of several dozen paper-thin cuts all over her body. This thing was horrible!

She twisted about, scanning the creature's branches as she tried to catch sight of the pantherkin. It only took a split second for her avian eyes to pick out his form, but-

Was he flying? No no no, that didn't seem right at all.

Rhaelyn flipped again and again, but he forced himself to remain calm. He took one measured breath, then another, and another, and he abruptly folded his body to twist himself about. There was the ground, there was the tree, and - oh - there was Kira!

He rolled again, carefully positioning himself just before he hit the ground. Instead of landing head-first or crashing and skidding across the ashy woodland floor, he landed neatly on his feet. It was good to be a cat.

"Holy crap!" Kira gaped, darting over to his side. "I mean, wow! How in the world did you-"

Rhaelyn panted, wavering unsteadily as he glanced sidelong at the gryphon. "Kira, I'm going to need you to drag me to safety, because I'm fairly certain that I just fractured both of my ankles."

"Oh," she grimaced. That was less impressive. "W-... well, at least that thing's rooted in place, right? So we've got plenty of-"

The beast shrieked again, wrenching against the ground with it's hundreds of branches before it managed to rip itself free from the scorched earth. In place of roots, it instead had a thousand insect-like legs, and the whole creature lurched back and forth as it doggedly pursued the tiny morsels.

"Agh!" Kira cried again, as she turned tail to flee.

"K-... Kira!?" Rhaelyn peered after her, finally tumbling backward onto the ground. He was gripping his ankles, but he didn't have time to actually check on just how badly he had hurt them.

"Right, sorry! Sorry!" She panted as she darted back, her beak snapping shut about the male's cloak. She dug her talons into the ground as she dragged him backward, just before the tree could once again scoop him up off the ground.

The beastkin grunted as he tried to focus. His legs hurt, his head hurt, and of course his loins hurt, but he knew that he was the one who was going to have to kill this Treehemoth. He winced as the gryphon dragged him right over a rock that protruded from the ashen dirt, but he just grit his teeth and angled one clenched fist toward the monster that was hot on their heels.

A gout of flame burst from his favorite ring, searing the air and lighting the monster aflame. It shrieked in pain or frustration, but it didn't slow down. Now it was a giant panther-eating tree monster that was also on fire. Fantastic.

Rhaelyn ducked his head, barely avoiding a retaliatory lash from the beast's smoldering branches. It missed him, but smacked Kira right in the face instead, and the dazed hen abruptly lost her grip on her erstwhile charge's cloak as she reared backwards. Suddenly off-balance, she rolled back into the dry brush, leaving the beastkin where he sat.

"Oh." Rhaelyn frowned as he glanced over his shoulder, then back at the massive beast. "Well fine, let's see how you like this."

He planted one hand against the ground, clenching the other so tightly that his claws tore into his own palm. His jaw clenched, his teeth grating against each other, and sparks literally flew from the plain iron ring on his smallest finger.

The Treehemoth slowed as the earth began to shudder, but its hunger was too great to be put off by mere tectonic shifts. It reached forward with a hundred hungry hooks, but it's grasping limb was suddenly blocked as a wide sheet of volcanic stone was rent from the ground between the tree and it's prey.

Rhaelyn gasped for breath, trying to focus his all on channeling power through the ring. The slab had been buried deep so it had taken everything he had just to get it this far, but he couldn't stop just yet. The earth was split as the stone ground ever upward, until it towered so high that it dwarfed the Treehemoth.

"Alright, you bastard-" he practically bit his tongue, spitting out the words. "Eat this!"

And the slab slowly cocked, already balanced precariously on one end as it bore down on the woodland monster. The Treehemoth planted a dozen flaming limbs against it's smooth surface as it tried to push back, then a hundred, but it was simply too heavy. Ever so slowly, an inch at a time, it was driven into the ground as the stone toppled over onto it.

The pantherkin breathed a sigh of relief as the stone finally crashed down flush with the earth, crushing the tree-beast beneath it. Then he coughed and hacked, spitting up blood as the magics took their toll. The ring, once glistening and polished, swiftly dulled to an ugly gray sheen before abruptly bursting into a small cloud of flaking rust.

Kira groaned as she dragged herself back out of the brush, her wings flicking as she shucked twigs and pebbles out of her fur. She shook her head, trying to shake loose the cobwebs that were clinging to her brain, before fixing an eye on the devastation that had been wrought.

"W-... what the hell happened?"

"Well," Rhaelyn smiled faintly. He used the back of his sleeve to wipe away the blood trickling from his nose. "You might say that... rock beats paper?"

The gryphon stared at him for a moment, then rolled her eyes as she groaned aloud. "Ugh, that was AWFUL. Besides, everyone knows that paper beats rock, so that doesn't even make sense!"

"Hey," he frowned. "Give me a break. I was just almost eaten by a thrice-damned tree, for pity's sake! It was the first thing that came to mind!"

Kira laughed, padding over to where the panther was still sitting. She set beak-to-nose with him, her tongue flicked over his lips as she purred. "Well, I'm just glad you're alright."

"I, ah..." he blinked, his ears bolt upright. "Er, yes, I'm glad that you're alright as well, Kira."

He smiled, his hands set lightly to either side of the hen's head as he nuzzled against her beak in turn. They couldn't kiss - she didn't have the lips for that - but this was nice.

"K-... Kira, I'm happy, but I'm not quite ready for..."

She frowned, her head pulled back a little as she studied the panther's face. "What are you talking about?"

He glanced pointedly down at his lap, "I'm still going to need some recovery time before-" and the words died on his lips. He had expected to find the hen's talons curled against his nethers, but instead there was - what was that, a branch?

As if on cue, the massive stone shifted and cracked. With a groan that set the earth rumbling, it was suddenly displaced in a cloud of dust and ash, and the Treehemoth rose once more. It was bent and broken, but still very alive, and it wasn't about to let any mere FOOD get away with this kind of outrageous behavior!

"Oh come on," Rhaelyn almost whimpered. The whip-like branch curled about the most immediately available hold, the bulge at the panther's crotch, and wrenched him off of the ground in an abrupt motion.

"R-..." Kira stared, her eyes wide. She snapped out of her stupor swiftly, though, lunging upward to grab the panther's arms before he could be carried away entirely. "Rhaelyn! Hold on!"

"Agh!" He shrieked in turn, the searing pain in his loins redoubling as the gryphon's weight was suddenly added to his own. "Kira, ngh... y-... you're not helping!"

Kira gaped, and just as quickly she released the male, dropping back to the ground as she winced. "Sorry! Sorry! But it's going to eat you!"

The panther just groaned, trying to curl his legs around the Treehemoth's branches to relent on that horrible tearing pressure against his oft-abused nethers. Honestly, at this point he would welcome being eaten. One searing pain, and he could be put out of his misery. It would be like a sweet release, honestly. Perhaps not the same kind of sweet release he would get at, say, the Cat House in Karash, but still preferable to what was happening at this instant.

Kira whimpered a bit herself, ducking back to evade the lash of another broken clump of smoldering branches. She didn't know what to do! The beastkin had already tried dropping the world on this thing, and it was still trying to eat them. Even worse, it looked like the panther had given up entirely.

"Rhaelyn...!" The hen darted this way and that, trying to find an opening. But no, the thing seemed to have an endless supply of hooked branches and legs. "What do I doooo!?"

Rhaelyn just sighed one last time, trying to blot out the agony in his gut. He was fairly certain that his legs were broken, and he could only tell that his nethers hadn't ripped free because the beast was still holding him aloft by them. He... well, there was no choice. He was going to have to blow himself up.

He drew in a sharp breath through clenched teeth, his hands both curled tightly as he pressed his thumbs over the sheer black stones that were mounted on each middle finger. He knew what the void stones would do once he triggered them - he just never thought he would have to use them. Still, at the very least he could die knowing that the thing would die with him, and Kira would be safe. Distraught, yes. Sad? Maybe. But safe.

*Thok-Thok-THOK*

He forced his eyes open, ears perked as the beast swayed. That wasn't the right sound at all! He had certainly never been at the center of an annihilation sphere, but he was fairly certain it didn't sound like-

"I've got you-whoof!" Kira crashed to the ground as the panther was hurled clear, just barely intercepting the beastkin before he could go tumbling across the landscape. They both skidded through the dirt, coming to an unceremonious halt as Kira managed to gouge her talons into the dirt like anchors.

Above them, the Treehemoth shrieked and swayed violently, and one by one the magical arrows that were neatly grouped at it's core detonated in a burst of brilliant white light. Suddenly weighted down by a ton of frost and ice, the creature shuddered as it keeled over off of the dirt path, crashing through the scorched woods like a toppled building.

There was a long moment of silence, but for the echoing of the wounded beast's thrashing, and even that stilled once the unnatural chill took hold. Finally, Rhaelyn managed a breathless wheeze, then a ragged cough, and his hand dipped between his thighs. Kira's hand had beaten him there, and she used her free hand to hug his head to her feathered chest.

"Sshh, it's fine Ser Rhaelyn." She crooned soothingly, "Everything is still there."

The panther just groaned - he would take her word at that, but the pain was still... something else. At the very least he could take consolation in the knowledge that the tree-beast hadn't mangled him maliciously - that, at least, meant the certain difference between being bruised and distended versus being castrated entirely.

"Hail, the traveler!" came the cry, and the sounds of a horse were obvious from the other side of the massive stone slab that was now blocking the path.

Rhaelyn started, an ear abruptly perked. His pain was momentarily forgotten - well, okay, it wasn't so much forgotten as it was very briefly blotted out. Kira looked quizzically to the male as he forced himself upright into a sitting position.

He coughed twice, spit blood into the bushes, then drew in a deep breath before calling out in return. His voice was strong, albeit just a bit pitched and wavering. "Al? Is that you?"

And a pause, before the newcomer laughed. "Ray?"

Kira looked to Rhaelyn again, her voice low as she echoed that. "Ray?"

"It's just-" the panther grunted, wincing as he tried - and failed - to push back to his feet. He stayed on the ground, instead. "It's a whole thing with her. Just, nf... you'll see."

Kira blinked, her eartufts perked. Her? Al was a her? She had kind of assumed it was short for Albert.

There was the clop of hooves as the rider leaped atop the obstruction, then the clatter of metal on stone as she cleared it with remarkable ease. "Ha, I'd know that squeaky voice anywhere!"

The gryphon gaped at the newcomer - a centaur, and there was no doubt at all that she was... well... a she. Equine from the waist-down, the bulk of her body was that of a mare, ghost-white and festooned with heavy saddlebags. Above that, she had the partially humanoid build of the hairless creatures from the distant continent.

Oh sure, her shoulders were a little too broad, her nose a little too flat, but if Kira hadn't taken her all in at once she might have mistaken her for a human. Her hair was a brilliant, fiery orange - so long that it ran all the way to the small of her back - but bound into a tight ponytail to keep it out of her face. Her features were symmetrical and pleasant enough, not that the hen was one to judge, with only her oddly high-set and pointed ears being clear evidence of her equine heritage. Well, if you ignored everything below her waist.

Her garb was scant and simple, and she apparently wore nothing that did not serve a practical purpose. She bore a longbow in one hand, a quiver slung over one shoulder, metal bracers on each arm to protect them from the errant lash of the bowstring, and a taut-stretched leather halter to keep her very ample curves from bouncing free.

'Hrmf,' that little voice in Kira's head muttered. 'Going to have to make sure Rhaelyn doesn't stare at those too much.'

Kira grumbled in agreement, her head bobbing silently as she snuck a peek at the panther. Thankfully, he wasn't staring at them just yet.

"Alandrea," he grinned. "I can't believe it's you! What in the world are you doing all the way out here in the Gryphon Territories?"

She laughed again, the centaur filly trotting lightly around the panther and gryphon both as she peered down the shallow slope where the Treehemoth had fallen. It was still now, but she was certain that it wasn't dead. At a guess, she imagined that they had about half an hour before it shook off the effects of her magical arrows.

"Please, it's just Al." She smiled, "And hey, I could ask you the same dang thing!"

"What the hell just happened!?"

That last bit came from Kira, the hen finally finding her voice. She peered to the centaur, then the panther, and back again. "I'm sorry, but am I the only one that's upset about that tree that tried to eat us?"

"What, the Treehemoth?" Alandrea gestured dismissively, grinning as she shouldered her bow. "Yeah, those things can be a bitch and a half. Don't worry, though, that one's down for the count." And a pause, as she glanced back down the slope. "Course, we should probably get a move on before it wakes back up again."

Rhaelyn groaned as he settled back against the hen. "Is that what that thing was? I had my suspicions, but it was hard to be sure while it was trying to eat me whole."

"Naw, it would have taken three or four bites to eat you, big guy." The filly never stopped smiling, peering down at the runt of a gryphon now. She literally towered over the hen, and Kira had never before felt quite so self-conscious about her vertical handicap. "So, who's the featherduster?"

The panther coughed again, swiftly wiping his muzzle clean. The spells and the exertion of combat had taken their toll, but he was admirably resisting the urge to go fetal and cry. The appearance of his old traveling companion had given him new strength. "Nf, oh, ah... Kira? This is Al. Al, this is Kira. She's my, uh..."

The hen snorted, waiting patiently for the panther to decide how she was to be introduced. After a long moment of floundering however, she rolled her eyes and bobbed her head toward the filly. "I'm his bodyguard. Hi, I'm Kira."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ki!" Alandrea smiled broadly as she reached down with one offered hand. When the hen stared blankly at it, she withdrew it, offering a half-wave instead.

"Um, no, it's.. uh... it's Kira." She corrected.

Rhaelyn cleared his throat, nudging the hen lightly with his elbow as he murmured. "Don't. It won't help. It's, ah... I told you, it's a whole thing with her." And then louder, he addressed the centaur directly. "Nf... w-... well, it's great to see you, Al. You're right, we should get going, but... er... I think I lost my pack when that thing was flinging me about. Do you think you could...?"

"Go find it for you? Sure!" And the filly trotted off without a second thought, leaving the two alone for the moment.

Kira peered after the mare, still at a bit of a loss. "So that's Al? She's, uh... nice."

Rhaelyn chuckled softly, although the sound took some effort. "Nf... she takes... ah, she takes some getting used to. I'm just surprised she hasn't tried charging us for the rescue yet."

Kira blinked, looking back to Rhaelyn. "Charging us...?"

He rolled his eyes, but his head bobbed in confirmation. "She is absolutely the most cheerful and enthusiastic, nf, mercenary that you will ever meet. Just you wait and see."

"Oh, um..." she wasn't really sure how to take that. Technically, Kira was a mercenary too, right? "Yay?"

"Right. Yay." Rhaelyn grunted as he tried, and failed, to rise again. No, his legs weren't cooperating with him at all this time. Some brief inspection confirmed that, aside from the freshly bruised state of his most delicate organs, he appeared to have sprained both of his ankles as well. But at least they weren't broken.

"Look, Kira, whatever you do - don't tell her that my, er, balls are injured."

The hen arched a brow, her eartufts slicked forward toward the male. "What? Why not?"

"Just," and he stifled another groan as he finally slumped back down to the ground. "Just don't. As far as she's concerned, the fight with the Treehemoth injured my legs. She doesn't... nf... she doesn't need to know the rest."

She seemed uncertain, but she nodded anyway. "Well... okay, I guess."

"So hey!" Alandrea beamed as she trotted back up, the panther's pack in hand. She lobbed it onto the male's lap, seeming not to notice as his whole body cringed at the impact. "What the heck are you two doing way out here, anyway?"

Rhaelyn coughed and shuddered, his eyes closed tight as he once again found himself resisting the urge to curl into the fetal position.

"Uh..." Kira worked her beak for a moment, until it was obvious that the panther was in no state to respond, before taking the verbal lead herself. "Well, um, Ser Rhaelyn... um... Ray here was doing some kind of, uh, inter-species diplomacy-ing with the Shardclaw Tribe, and now The Queen wants to... I dunno... eat him?"

"Huh," the filly chewed on that for a second. "Well, I'll tell ya, our boy here never does anything small!" And she grinned again, thumbing toward the path. "So, you two need an escort then? I was just heading toward Ma'Karach anyway, so it wouldn't be no trouble."

The panther coughed, finding enough breath to speak once more. "I, nf... that'd... hf... that'd be great, Al. I just, uh..." and a wince as he carefully slid his pack off of his lap. "What's the catch?"

Alandrea went wide-eyed, all innocence and sparkles - and Kira couldn't help but like her a little more. "Why Ray, I'm hurt! I'm downright scandalized! What kind of monster would I be to leave my very dear friend and his loyal bodyguard by the roadside to be eaten alive by trees?"

Rhaelyn snorted, his ears twitching forward. "Al..."

And she rolled her eyes, grinning as she gave a casual shrug of her shoulders. "Well, those arrows I just used up cost five gold apiece. Course, they were also part of a matched set of twelve, so the net value goes down now that I've only got nine of'em left. Plus, y'know, I will be going a LITTLE out of my way to get you back to your clanhome, so..."

The panther gingerly rubbed his temple, trying to stave off the renewed beginnings of a headache. There it was, though. Alandrea was nothing if not predictable. "I can make you more arrows, Al."

"Not like these ones," she protested. "These are-"

"Mark-3 Frostburst Arrows, 'aught-five vintage from... what, the Hinterlands?"

The filly grinned, her hands set on her equine hips. "How the heck d'you do that, Ray?"

"I'm a wizard" he grunted, simply. "You used three, so I'll make you six."

She frowned a little, but even with the frown on her face her eyes were still smiling. "There's twelve in a set, Ray."

"No," he rolled his eyes. "There's twenty in a set, so your set was already broken up. But look, I'll make you ten. It's only fair that you know this might get... dangerous."

"Heck, more dangerous than a rampaging Treehemoth?" she grinned. "Ten sounds plenty fair. Come on, let's get a'moving, then. Time is money!"

Kira blinked, finally coming out of her shell-shocked silence. "W-... what just... what just happened?"

Rhaelyn snorted, "It's called haggling, Kira."

The hen cocked her head, pondering on that. She was really going to have to look into this 'haggling' thing. It seemed... useful.

Alandrea trotted back about, having fully circled the massive stone slab that was blocking the road. "Hey, you two coming or what?"

"Al, if you'd just hold still for a second, you'd know that-"

"Rhaelyn hurt his legs!" Kira blurted out, interrupting the panther. She wasn't supposed to say anything about his balls, she reminded herself. Nothing about his balls. "The tree hurt his legs, and nothing else!"

The centaur seemed a little taken aback at the hen's volume. "I, uh, Ray?"

Rhaelyn sighed, rubbing his temple again. Clearly the hen needed some lessons in subtlety as well. "Ah, yes, Kira is correct. I appear to have sprained both of my ankles, so I will be requiring some assistance."

She grinned, rolling her shoulders in another casual shrug. "Well heck, is that all?" She wheeled about, her hoofed legs working in tandem as she presented her flank. "Hop on! I'll have you two out of here so fast it'll make your heads spin!"

The panther balked, more than a little concerned about the effect that bareback riding might have on his already abominably sore groin, but... "Nf, I, uh... don't think that's a good idea."

"Don't be silly," she scolded the beastkin. "You won't slow me down none! Heck, I could carry five of ya without even getting winded."

"I, uh..." he floundered, trying to think of any reason that might dissuade the filly. Well, any reason other than the real one. Were there any alternatives?

"Ain't no alternatives, Ray. Not unless you want me to tie your heels to my saddlebags so I can drag you all the way back to town." Her arms crossed just below her breasts, in a gesture of stubborn finality. "Come on, you know a filly like me doesn't let just ANYone mount up. You're gonna hurt my feelings."

He sighed, his ears drooped as he cast about for a defense against that reasoning. He looked to Kira, but she was certainly no help - in fact, it looked like she was barely managing to keep herself from bursting into laughter. He muttered faintly, raised his hands in resignation, and nodded. "Fine, you're right."

"Course I'm right," Alandrea beamed. She caught the male by the hands, hefted him to his feet with deceptive strength, then shifted her grip to his waist. Twisting halfway about with impressive flexibility, she then deposited the panther non-too-gently onto her back. "There you go."

"G-... guh," Rhaelyn managed. His eyes were already watering as he settled into place, straddling the mare's back. The positioning was a little awkward - her saddlebags were where a saddle might normally have gone, so he was positioned a little further up along her back just over her equine shoulders and just shy of the joint between her equine and human halves.

The centaur arched her brow, glancing at the sniggering gryphon, then back over her shoulder at the male. "You comfy? Sorry I ain't got a saddle for ya."

The panther coughed faintly, leaning forward to slump against the mare's human half. His breathing was already labored, and he was loath to imagine how he might feel after a few hours of this, but... "Ng... f-... fine, it's fine."

"Great!" she grinned, reaching back to catch his arms and pull them about her waist. "You just hold on tight, here, but don't let your paws wander none. Keep it above the waist and below the bust, elsewise I'm gonna buck you up."

"R-... right," he wheezed. "Wouldn't, nf... dream of it. How long do you...?"

Alandrea pursed her lips, her equine ears perked as she did a few quick calculations in her head. "Oh, well, I figger we're about twelve, maybe fifteen hours out as long as we don't run into no more Treehemoths. I reckon we'll have you back to civilization by, say, tomorrow 'round lunchtime, and back to Ma'Karach by dinner?"

"G-... great," he echoed the filly's sentiment, but abruptly went breathless as she set back into motion. It was only a trot, but the jostling and vibrations running through his swollen orbs was already nauseating. He stifled a groan, head bowed as he planted the top of his skull between the mare's upper set of shoulder blades.

Another day - a day of THIS. He... he was fairly certain he could manage that. Probably.

And at his side, keeping pace with the the centaur filly, Kira could only giggle.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

An hour later, the battle repeated itself. The Treehemoth was there, but it's prey was different.

"Hf... hf... the hell was that?" Jarol snarled, his talons crooked to rake twigs from his mane. He was uncharacteristically vocal, but for good reason. A tree had just tried to eat him.

Quetzyl hissed, hacking into the fallen monster twice more, her diamond-hard claws shearing through it's wooden flesh like a hot knife through butter. Her head dipped, her jagged beak bit down, and she wrenched it's sap-drenched heart free.

The Treehemoth shuddered, then fell still for the last time.

The larger drake approached cautiously, his sides heaving as he tried to catch his breath. The thing had caught him by surprise, and he was fairly certain it had broken several of his ribs before Quetzyl had swooped in to tear it to pieces.

He stifled a groan as he stretched out his left wing. No, it wasn't broken, but there was definitely a torn muscle right near the base. That was going to be... problematic.

The scaled hen spit the beakful of wood and sap from her maw, making a distasteful retching sound as she tried to get the taste off of her tongue. It was infuriating - if something was going to try to kill her, it could at least have the common decency to be made of blood and meat.

As daunting as the tree-beast had been, it had been woefully outclassed. Quetzyl's sleek frame was armored with glistening feather-like scales, her muscles were like corded steel, and her talons rivaled the finest blades. The Treehemoth, on the other hand, had been wounded and half-frozen when the two hunters had stumbled upon it.

Quetzyl sneered, "Will you live?"

Jarol grunted, prowling along one side of the fallen creature. Quetzyl wasn't even looking at him, so he was hard-pressed to imagine that she really cared about the state of his health. "I'll live."

"Good," her voice grated in a low trill, one slit-pupil swiveling about to fix on the larger drake. Despite his best efforts, Jarol couldn't help but shiver. She was... well, there was a reason why no hunter had ever challenged Quetzyl for command of her hunting party.

"If you ssslow me down, then I will feed you your heart."

"Rf... right." He grunted, his gaze averted as he looked for tracks. While the average gryphon's sense of smell was substandard, their eyesight was almost unparalleled, and he almost immediately picked out the signs of hoofprints.

"Here," he uttered, circling the clearest of the tracks.

Quetzyl took another few seconds to scrape the blood-like sap from her beak and scales, then hopped down heavily from the dead monster's carcass. "Hss... one rider," and a pause as her gaze flitted to the Treehemoth. "An archer. The beasstkin rode with him, and the rogue followed on foot."

Jarrol considered that, absently flexing his wounded wing. "Rf... a friend?"

Quetzyl growled low, the throbbing rumble not unlike the sound of a dozen rattlesnakes caught in her throat. "Doessn't matter, we will kill them too."

"We should... rr..." Jarol hesitated as the hen looked to him, both of her eyes blazing with barely restrained rage. He lowered his head, trying to make it clear that he wasn't defying her will. "Should we... rr... go back for more hunterrs?"

She snorted at that, her wings bristling behind her. "Iss no time. With a horsse, they will be beyond our reach within a day."

The drake slouched a bit, his gaze averted. "But..."

"Turn back if you want, coward." Her eyes were narrowed, her voice a low and lethal hiss. "But I will purssue and I will finish thiss."

Jarol almost took her up on that offer, whether it might brand him a coward or not. This was insane. There were three now - an archer, a wizard, and the rogue gryphon, and they were only two. On top of that, the hen was clearly growing imbalanced, he was wounded, and their packmate was more than likely dead by now.

"Ah... no," he uttered. He resigned himself to continuing the chase. He knew that the offer had not been genuine - if he tried to back out, Quetzyl would almost certainly rend him limb from limb. "I will continue the hunt."

Quetzyl sneered, looking down on her companion. "Good, then we will continue together. We will take them tonight, when the moon iss at it'ss height." She swept her wings out, and with a powerful sweep she lept atop the massive stone that seemed to be blocking their path. She peered in the direction she was certain that her prey had gone.

"In the darknesss, their archer will be usselesss. You will take the rogue, and I will handle the wizard..." And she smiled, her jagged beak twisted into an ugly expression. She knew just how to stop the wizard before he could even lift a finger. She had watched the hated rogue do it, and now those secrets were hers.

She rasped softly with an almost silent hiss of pleasure. This was going to be fun.

And behind her, Jarol laboriously pulled himself atop the stone as well. It was hard with his injuries, but he managed it before he could draw the hen's ire. Still, he sighed.

This was going to be a disaster.