Feline-The Battle
I think you've heard enough disclaimers to know what you are and are not supposed to do.
1) If you are under 18, leave now, though I doubt you'll listen to me. Sick young bastard.
2) If you don't like m/m, m/f scenes, then go ahead and turn tail and run, eeping the entire way. Coward!
3) Last, but not least, sit back, relax, and enjoy, keeping lube at one paw and snacks at the other! You horny dog!
Ahh, my first fantasy story on Yiffstar! Well, not quite fantasy, but close! Now, this tale is a legend, one of mystery and romance, bitterness and battle, a mixture of the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, the yiffy story Foxhump, and the War of the Spider Queen series by R.A. Salvatore. This is a legend where cats rule the roost of the great city Felinia with dogs as their slaves, and, even if a cat does not possess the noble blood of an aristocratic aristocat (no pun intended!), they are allowed to treat the dogs as if they /were/ nobles. I think the title states it all. However, far to the north, where climates are cruel and only the strong survive, the canines live, struggling for life in the rocky crags of the Caninia mountains. When these worlds come together in a cataclysmic battle, only one species will endure. . . dog or cat. There is a lot of big, hard-to-pronounce names in this tale, but I will try to make it easy for you.
~*~
Chapter Two - The Meeting
All characters © me, Uoikih.
K'lara stretched lazily across the pillows, plucking a grape from its stem and popping it into her mouth before taking a long draught of rich, dark wine. Beside her, a muscular male feline stirred, opening eyes the color of fire. The she-feline smiled at him, handing her consort a goblet of the strong intoxicating beverage. "Good morning, Tye."
Tye rubbed at his temples, groaning as he accepted the chalice of wine that K'lara offered him. "What? Morning already? Curse it. . ." His eyes closed again, but Tye came awake with a grunt when the slender, darkfurred harlot of Felinia straddled his chest. Her tail played teasingly across his thighs, inciting his wine-sodden lust for her. "Mornings come quicker if the night before is spent engaging in. . . things that delight Seluna."
The large feline under her rumbled deep in his throat, stroking her thigh appreciatively while he sipped from his goblet. "Indeed it is, kitten, indeed it is." K'lara watched him through half-lidded eyes, kneading his chest slowly, purring all the while. Tye downed the rest of his wine, yawned loudly, and then returned his attentions to K'lara. As he reached up to caress her pert breasts, set high upon her ribcage, untroubled by the sagging of age, although K'lara herself was older than his own mother, the bawd-kitten pulled back a bit. "You should return to your post, my love."
Tye groaned, rolling his eyes. "Ach! Harlot, simply attend to me and forget about the worries of my guardship!" K'lara grinned, flashing her pointed white teeth in a seductive smile. "As you wish, Tye." The Felinian guard purred approvingly as K'lara's strong slender arms encircled his neck, and her supple body snaked out atop his. Her warm lips pressed against his, they fell into a dizzy whirl.
The lovely paramour was as naked as she was born, slick with perfumed oils, heavy with the scents of Tye's masculine musk and her own arousal, slender dark body glimmering in the light of the morning that streamed in through the windows. Tye wore nothing but a kilt of finely woven linen, strange enough, as he had been dancing the Dance of pleasure all night with K'lara, but it was no barrier to a she-feline's urgency, least of all this one. She did not even wait for him to shed it. K'lara flicked it up, straddled the guardsman, and took him where they lay entangled. She was burning hot, as full of the Goddess as any woman, and imperious in her lust.
She had brought with her the heat of the Dance. The God was in him, driving deep. K'lara gasped, then laughed. "Again! Oh, beautiful! Again!"
He was the God, the God's own. He heeded no harlot's bidding, but the Goddess in her---that one he was glad to obey. She took him as the stallion rides the mare, but with a man's strength, and a man's endurance, as well, riding him until his breath shuddered and a cry burst of of him---muted swiftly, but sharp enough for all of that.
Tye released himself then, as did K'lara, but the slender feline atop him gave no cry, simply a gasp. She locked her thighs about him, took him as deep as she ever could, draining him of every drop of seed.
When he was all empty, she let him go. He lay still, gulping air, quivering with his climax.
K'lara lifted herself above the guard, dark breasts swaying. They were the color of dusk, the nipples pink, like the sky in the evening. She teased him with them, tormenting him, brushing his face and his sweating chest, knowing full well that Tye had no strength left to rouse. "Love," she purred. "My prince; beloved of T'zirim. Be like a god! Love me again!"
Tye looked past her breasts to her laughing, mocking face. She was beautiful in everything, with her darkfurred flesh and her delicate bones and her eyes the color of lapis lazuli. She could drive a man mad; indeed, she often had.
His eyes followed the line of her shoulder to her arm, and down her wrist, to the one ornament that mattered: the bracelet graven of gold with the symbol of a Felinian harlot stamped upon it; an oval with a candle inside of it. "The God is gone from me," he muttered, "and my captain is waiting."
"Ah!" K'lara purred, without remorse. "Have you kept him waiting again, standing about? For shame!"
"Sitting," Tye growled, striving to push her aside, "on the very stallion he threatened to trample me with if I kept him waiting again!"
"But what if the stallion chooses not to trample you?"
"Ach! Harlot!" he bellowed, shoving her off of him. "Have you no shame? I could be killed for my tardies!"
K'lara's face twisted into a pout and she lay back against the pillows as Tye yanked his linen kilt down and reached for his spear, which was lying against the wall. "Who, then," she sulked, "will warm my cushions at night if you should be killed? Go, then, if you must, but do not return to me." She looked up at his stunned gasp. "Lest you be slain for your 'tardies.'" Tye's stomach clenched into a cold, small knot, but he managed to laugh. "Oh, you are a fierce creature! Come; give me a kiss, and let me go. I must escort the high priestess today."
"Oh, yes," K'lara snarled sulkily. "Leave me for that ancient follower of Seluna. And make me lie here, waiting for my oh-so-noble next consort to come."
"I do not see how one can fail to arrive here within the hour," Tye chuckled, taking her in his arms, but K'lara's kiss nearly broke his resolve; and her breasts rising as her back arched; and the hot moist valley of her feminine cleft as he stroked it, tempting him to lose himself in it once more.
But the priestess was waiting, and Tye had dallied more than long enough. He slipped out the way he had come the night before, biting back the smile that kept breaking out in spite of himself. If he came, flushed and disheveled to the high priestess---well, and the Dance was wild, and he had come straight back from it, had he not?
He glanced back, half expecting to see K'lara peering through the colorful curtains that framed the entryway of her small and perfumed pleasure-shrine, but the curtains were shut. The harlot nursed her sulks in solitude, along with the small bag of gold denaro he had left in payment for her services.
~*~
Tye's captain was waiting when the guard took his place among the ranks, a permanant scowl etched across his face. "Tye! By the God, I'll have you castrated and thrown to the dogs!"
The guardsman cringed as his superior pulled up alongside him, mounted upon a pawing stallion that glared at him with wicked in his eyes. "High Priestess S'Inua has been expecting you for twenty minutes now!" The captain shook his head. "I leave you to your fate." Slapping the reins across his mount's high, arched neck, the lithe commander trotted away, calling over his shoulder at Tye as the other footsoldiers fell in behind their superior, "If she orders your death, it is no loss. I wash my hands of you! Farewell, you bloody cockroach!"
Tye rubbed the back of his ears in embarrassment. It was one thing to be continually tardy to your post as a guard, but it was completely another to be chastised publicly. Sighing, the strong young guard grasped his spear tightly and fell into a sprint, heading through the streets of Felinia for S'Inua's residence.
~*~
S'Inua narrowed her emerald eyes at Tye as he drew near.
"You are late."
Her words, although spoken quietly, sent a shiver down Tye's spine. The gorgeous she-feline reclining upon a couch before him had the power to take his life with one word; such power was to be commended. However, as he prostrated himself before her, a slight stirring in his loins reminded him of his fantasy that S'Inua had been the one with whom he had Danced all night, instead of K'lara.
The high priestess rose from her cushioned lounge, draped in a rich robe of puple-dyed silk, which did nothing to hide her body. Instead, it simply served to outline her slender form, highlighting her womanliness. Tye inhaled her vague perfume as she stooped to touch his head; it was of roses and myrrh. "Rise," S'Inua bid him.
Getting to his feet, Tye kept his gaze from lingering upon the priestess's body, locking it carefully above her chin, though not directly into her eyes. One did not gaze upon S'Inua's face, for she was an extension of the Great Goddess Seluna, and had the power to kill with her glare.
S'Inua motioned toward a beautifully carved table, upon which a carafe rested, filled to the brim with dark wine, and Tye lifted it, pouring the rich liquid into a jeweled chalice of pure gold. He thought it to be the priestess's cup, but S'Inua stopped him as he lifted it toward her. "No, guardsman Tye," she purred, directing him to place the golden grail back down. "That is my killing cup."
Tye froze. "K-killing cup, my priestess?"
S'Inua smiled wickedly. "Yes. Surely you have heard of it," she remarked, slipping past him to pour a fresh, new goblet of wine, which she held out to him. "It serves my purposes. . . quite well, when an important official dares to cross me." Tye tried to smile knowingly, but he could not move, ensnared as he was by the priestess's green eyes, one eyebrow arched in a distinctly sultry expression. "Drink," she purred.
Tye managed to tear his eyes from her face, suddenly realizing that he had been looking directly at her, and stared down at the goblet she had placed into his paw. "It is. . . poison, then?" S'Inua nodded, stretching out across the pillows once more. "Yes, but not yours. Drink, son of T'zirim."
Her words were meant to flatter, but the gleam in her eye terrified the guard. How could he be sure that the chalice he held did not contain some ghastly poison? How could he be sure that the entire carafe of wine was not poisoned, instead of just the golden goblet she indicated, smeared inside, he was sure, with a deadly bane? The priestess saw his horrified confusion and laughed. "Why would I give you poison when you have done me no wrong?" she asked, her eyes aglimmer with delight.
"I was late. . ." Tye began weakly, but S'Inua scoffed. "Late? Everyone is late once in a while! Drink, guard, or disregard my gift." The evil light in her eyes was back, daring him to disdain what she had given him. Her polished claws extended and retracted into the pillows, and the silence was underlaid with her low purring. Tye felt himself shaking with terror, but lifted the goblet to his lips, not risking the priestess's fiery, Selunic wrath by forsaking her favor.
The wine was cool and sweet as it slid down his throat, lightly spiced with something exotic and very strong. Tye savored it as it laid to rest in his stomach, carefully watching for any signs of burning or bitterness, but tasting none. S'Inua laughed. "There! You see? No poison!"
Tye smiled, chuckling nervously at his own stupidity, but fearing that he was not yet out from under the high priestess's claw of punishment. Setting down the sweet chalice of wine, he lifted the other goblet in his paw gingerly. "Shall I throw this out, then?" he asked, making as if to dump it from the window of the house.
S'Inua shook her head. "No. Leave it upon the table. It will slay the flies when they come to drink, pesky insects." As if on cue, a tiny fly swooped through the window directly after the guardsman had set down the chalice and alighted upon the golden rim of the drinking cup. Rubbing its tiny knob of a head with its forelegs, the fly dipped its long, threadlike tongue down to sip at the wine.
Tye watched in horror as the small insect went into a paroxysm of convulsions and fell into the poisoned drink, thrashing wildly for a few seconds before stiffening and dying. S'Inua laughed. "See? It only takes one sip of that to slay even a feline." Tye chuckled tensely again, backing away from the cup, and turned his attentions to the priestess. "What did you want me for, Great One?"
S'Inua smiled mysteriously and lifted her chin toward the doorway. "Lo, the messenger comes." Tye whirled and stared as a slender, redfurred male feline prostrated himself in the doorway of S'Inua's home until she ordered him to rise. "What is it, I'ynare?"
I'ynare nodded at Tye before launching into his report: "High Priestess of Felinia, Chosen of the Goddess Seluna, the Divine Consort to the Great God T'zirim, Lord of---" S'Inua rolled her eyes and waved a paw. "Yes, yes! I know my titles and ties, as does the guard! Now, proceed with your summary!"
I'ynare nodded again, opening his mouth to declare in a cultured voice: "Great One, a group of dogs have been spotted near Ayalla's shrine, and they are heading directly for the city!"
S'Inua's eyes grew cold, and she rose from her couch to tower over the messenger. "Dogs, you say? What could they possibly be doing near the shrine of Seluna's eldest daughter. . . wait." Pushing I'ynare to his knees, the blackfurred priestess began to pace back and forth. "It may simply be a wedding party, one of those barbaric ceremonies they perform when a Caninian bitch is mated to one of their males." I'ynare, raising his head, dared to speak. "They carry weapons, Great One."
S'Inua rolled her eyes. "Who does not carry weapons when traveling through those mountains, fool!? Now, be silent, and let me think."
I'ynare bowed, dipping his head once more as the high priestess of Felinia paced anxiously. "But what would they be doing so close to Ayalla's temple? They know that shrine belongs to us! What use could they possibly have for it, unless." She stopped short, her eyes fixed on the goblet of poisoned wine. "Ahh, yes," she hissed, locking her claws around the cold precious metal from which the chalice was forged. "Unless they are planning an attack, under the guise of a marriage ritual!"
She lifted I'ynare's chin with her tailtip. "How many do you estimate are in this group, and who?" The messenger gulped. "At least twenty, Great One, but a maiden goes before them. It also seems as if N'tue is with them." S'Inua silenced him with a wave of her paw, breaking into a smile. "N'tue! What a stroke of fortune!"
Without speaking again, the lovely she-feline stepped past Tye, who, up until now, had all but been forgotten. Lifting a long rod of polished, gleaming ebony, forked into horns at the top, she struck a silver gong nearby, summoning a masked feline. "My chariot," she commanded, beckoning for I'ynare to rise. "Harness the black mares, and use the black tack as well." The masked servant bowed low before the high priestess before disappearing out of the doorway to do his mistress's bidding. To Tye, S'Inua snapped, "You will ride with me to Ayalla's shrine, and together we will see what rears its head there: a wedding party or an attack."
Tye nodded, realizing that this must be a serious thing for S'Inua to use her black mares; she only used those horses for battle. I'ynare stood silently until the priestess turned to him. "Gather thirty footsoldiers and ten mounted officers, I'ynare," S'Inua purred. "And tell them to sharpen their weapons and be prepared to shed blood!"
The slender messenger nodded, darting out of the doorway like a streak of red fire. Tye stood quietly until S'Inua hissed, "Wait for me at the bottom of the steps, and sharpen your spear as well."
~*~
Umidia fairly danced over the sharp stones, clad in only a thin sheet of linen and a black catskin. Her deep brown eyes glowed as she glanced back at the handsome young canine a few feet behind her, meeting his eyes with a smile.
Today, her family and a few chosen were accompanying her to the shrine where she would be married, laden with food and amulets. Her father strode at the head of her family, carrying a long staff, his white fur flowing in the wind. Her mother smiled at her daughter's back, happy that her fifth pup was finally going to be wedded. Her other four children, all grown and with their own families, strode down the mountain behind their parents, their eyes shining with joy in the icy wind as they cuddled their own pups under their heavy clothing.
Tagne, Umidia chanted to herself. My husband will be Tagne.
The beautiful young canine inhaled the cold air, pulling the black skin of a feline around her. Beside her, a little behind, strode the high priestess of Caninia, N'tue, carrying a sacred length of red cord under her robes and wraps to bind the wrists of the young couple together once they had been married.
The high stone roof of the Felinian shrine loomed dead ahead. N'tue gathered her clothing around her more tightly, slightly apprehensive at the thought of using a cat-goddess shrine for such a revered ceremony as this. But one look into the smiling face of the maiden beside her sent a glow through her. Surely Natarzic would be pleased by the union of Tagne and Umidia this day.
She would make sure of it.
~*~
Tye tried hard not to stare at S'Inua when she emerged from her house.
Clad in nothing but a rare spotted leopardskin belted with a chain of gold around her hips, S'Inua gripped a long jabbing spear. Her fangs had been stained red with ochre, giving her a fearsome appearance as she smiled at Tye. Her highset, large breasts were left bare, a pointed amulet of amber resting between them, drawing the soldiers' attention to them as she stepped into their midst. Her muscles rippled beneath her black pelt, set off by the jeweled arm-and-wrist bands that encircled her arms.
A line of white kohl stretched from the top of her head to the tip of her muzzle, flanked by tiny green dots that spread outward across her cheeks, calling notice to the rings of gold set into her ears. Her claws, also, had been painted with red, and her right leg was completely bare, revealing golden thighbands and ruby anklets.
Surely this was Seluna in warrioress form!
A cry went up as the priestess approached her chariot, to which three black mares were harnessed, two in the back and one slightly before. The lead mare S'Inua approached first, stroking her ebony mane and calling her by name, Felera. The other two mares, T'kupa and Dellari, pranced and whinnied for her attention, calming only when she stroked their arched necks also before swinging into her chariot beside Tye.
"Great One," he hissed, "surely you know that the elements upon that mountain are nothing less than cursed! You may freeze---" S'Inua glared at him. "Hush!" Lifting her long spear, the priestess shouted, "Death to the dogs!" The soldiers echoed it.
"Death to their god!"
That was responded in turn, as well.
S'Inua, grabbing the reins from Tye's grasp, swung her spear aloft, crying: "FOR THE GODDESS!"
And then the streets of Felinia reverberated with the war-cries of footsoldiers and the pounding of horses' hooves.
~*~
N'tue heard the thunder of hooves just as she finished knotting the scarlet cord around the wrists of Umidia and Tagne. "May Natarzic bless you," she said hurriedly, pricking her ears toward the sound, "and may you bring him pleasure by the joy of your pairing."
About then, Umidia and Tagne would have thrown their arms about each other and sealed their marriage pact with a kiss, but a scream from the maiden's mother made every Caninian jump.
"S'INUA! IT IS S'INUA! AND SHE BRINGS AN ARMY!"
Instantly, the little group was thrown into a panic. Puppies were snatched up, food and drink were discarded, and Umidia ran to find her mother, dragging Tagne with her, as the hoofbeats grew louder and louder, overlaid with the snarling war-cries of bloodlusting Felinians.
S'Inua pounded over the rise, her black mares squealing a challenge and rearing triumphantly as their rider screamed her success. Footsoldiers and mounted officers tore a swathe through the crowd of shrieking, running canines. As her chariot pounded over the rocks, a mother's scream rent the air.
Blood coated the wheels of S'Inua's battle-car, and, as she yanked her war-steeds toward the shrieking mother, the horses' hooves cast a small mangled and bloodied body out onto the rocks; Tye noted in passing that it had been dog-pup before its horrible death.
Leveling her spear, the priestess ran down the weeping she-Caninian and slew her savagely. "May the Goddess burn your soul!" S'Inua gritted furiously, ripping her weapon from the carcass and heading after another screaming canine.
N'tue was shocked by the force of her archnemesis's attack. Already, her cheek had been scored by a footsoldier's spearblade before the feline had run off to kill several fleeing puppies. Casting off her robes, the Caninian priestess sprinted to grab Umidia and Tagne.
Whipping out a silver knife, N'tue slit the cord that bound them with a sympathetic look at the new couple. "Go!" she shouted. "Go and find shelter!" Umidia, tears streaming down her face, shrieked, "No! I will not leave my people! Help us, N'tue! Please!" Tagne dragged her away, heading for the underbrush that bordered the path leading down to the Felinian shrine.
Suddenly, a feral howl breached the air and, lifting long, crudely made spears and clubs, the canines began to retaliate, smashing Felinian spearhafts and feline heads as they shouted their own war-cry.
Tye's captain, mounted and with his spearblade streaming blood, thrust at Umidia and Tagne as they ran across his path, but was foiled when a stone spearhead was plunged into his destrier's throat. The horse crumpled to the ground, dead, and the captain was made short work of by heavy clubs.
N'tue, nude but ignoring the elements, leapt off of the ground and onto Dellari's back. S'Inua, finishing her murder of a whitepelted old Caninian, screamed her rage as N'tue lunged at her, locking her hands around the Felinian priestess's throat. Taking quick action, Tye drew a short knife and slashed at N'tue's arms, drawing blood and causing the canine to cry out and fall back. Dellari whinnied and bucked in the harness, unused to the weight and smell of a Caninian upon her back, and this S'Inua used to her advantage.
Kicking a clawed foot out at N'tue, the Felinian relinquished her mares' reins to Tye and sprang gracefully onto Felera's back. The black mare snorted, but did not buck, leading her fellows gracefully in smooth, wide arcs as Tye looped the reins around the chariot-brake, whipped out his bow, and began sending arrows hissing into the ranks of the oncoming Caninians.
Blood sprayed as feline attacked canine, snarling savagely in their throats. S'Inua, half possessed with the lust for blood and battle, bit deep into N'tue's shoulder and shoved out at her, making Dellari squeal as the canine priestess gripped her neck, but N'tue avenged herself by ripping a handful of black fur from S'Inua's flank and punching her white-streaked muzzle.
Both of them, mounted astride horses and battling fiercely, extoled the virtues of their respective gods, ignoring T'kupa's triumphant screams every time she smashed the head of a Caninian beneath her forehooves, splashing herself up the the chest in bloody gore. Tye, sweaty and half wild himself, whooped jubilantly as he speared and slashed with reckless abandon, disregarding the pleas for mercy from his victims.
The battle between the two priestesses ended when S'Inua unsheathed a short knife from under her leopardskin and made as if to slash N'tue's wrist with it. "One cut!" the Felinian high priestess cried. "One cut and you shall join your jackal of a god in hell, for this blade is poisoned!" N'tue's mouth contorted into a wicked smile. "So! You have stooped so low as to use poison in your personal battles? Ha! You are weaker than I though, S'Inua! You are worthless!"
With a strangled screech of rage, the feline darted at N'tue, slashing through the air with her knife. The blade caught and nicked the Caninian squarely on the cheek, the shock and pain of it overbalancing N'tue and sending her plunging off of the black mare.
S'Inua, stunned for a moment, gazed uncomprehendingly at the blood on her knife before raising her voice in a shout of triumph. N'tue lay beside the path, breathing hoarsely, one hand clamped to the wound in her cheek, her eyes already glazed and slightly vacant.
As she slipped back into her chariot and unlooped the reins, sending Felera, T'kupa, and Dellari thundering past N'tue's prone form, S'Inua shouted, "You should have surrendered when you had the chance, Caninian bitch! Now, all of your people will suffer!"
Umidia almost screamed when she saw N'tue tumble from the back of the black mare into the dirt, bleeding and gasping like a fish out of water. "A priestess cannot die!" she whispered fiercely into Tagne's ear. "She cannot die! She cannot!" A firm paw covered her muzzle. "And she will not, my love," Tagne whispered, gazing deep into her eyes. "She is a priestess, a follower of the great God Natarzic!" Caught up in the urgency of the moment, he brought his mouth down upon Umidia's and kissed her, hard, their tongues melding and entwining between their lips. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the kiss was over, startling both of them and leaving the two a bit breathless.
"Come on," Tagne whispered, taking Umidia's hand. "We will go and hide in that thicket over there and then bring N'tue back to the city once night has fallen." The young Caninian maiden nodded, following her betrothed out of the underbrush.
It was a fatal mistake. Almost at once, S'Inua spotted them and wheeled her chariot around, lowering her spear, her powerful black mares closing in for the kill. Umidia screamed as the rider beside the Felinian priestess, a young malecat, loosed an arrow that zipped toward them, thudding dully into the flesh of Tagne's shoulder.
She caught him as he staggered backward; the mares were almost upon them. Tagne gripped her hand resolutely, his face twisted in an expression of agony, and broke into a stumbling run, Umidia at his side. But Fate was not to be foiled this day.
Tagne cried out when another arrow pierced his calf. His leg buckled and he fell into the sharp rocks, clutching at the wooden shaft. Umidia screamed his name and threw her arms around him, willing him to rise, and squeezing her eyes shut even as the chariot careened toward them.
Tagne rolled over and gripped his beloved's hand. "Do not weep for me," he gritted painfully as her tears wet his face. "It is all Natarzic's will." Umidia wept as his hand lifted to caress her face, stroking her tearstained cheek, and she grasped his wrist. "You are my husband," she sobbed, "in all but body! I love you, Tagne!" The handsome bridegroom smiled. "As do I, my Umidia, my love; my wife."
S'Inua pulled her lathered mares up short and gazed at the two. "Oh, how sweet," she crooned mockingly. "Lovers to the end." To Tye, she ordered, "Put the dog out of his misery and bring the bitch to me."
The guard slid from the chariot and slowly notched an arrow to his bow. The open display of affection had touched him, although he would never admit it, and he hated to kill the injured canine now. But, the high priestess's word was law; after all, was she not the ruler of Felina?
Umidia screamed as a wooden quarrel penetrated Tagne's chest, ending his struggles and splashing her with warm blood. "NO!" she shrieked, clasping her husband's body to her chest as Tye, with an impassive, cold expression on his face, yanked her away from the dead young canine. "NO!"
Umidia was bundled into S'Inua's chariot, weeping and screaming in despair. As the priestess sent her black mares into a gallop, Umidia struggled against Tye, her eyes locked on the inert form of her slain husband. "NO! Tagne! TAAAAGNE!"
Thus Umidia, the newest bride of Caninia, was taken prisoner, leaving behind the carnage of broken bodies and shattered weapons and Tagne, her young husband.
And the great Caninian priestess, N'tue. . .
To Be Continued. . .