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The Last Shemale Queen

A sequel to The Seduction of Seleste

The Near Miss

Chapter 9

Yanaba wished she had her old sword. Honiahaka had not allowed her to travel to the summer village armed because he did not wish to offend the customs of the summer wolves, who believed a female's place was birthing pups, cooking, cleaning, and herding sheep - tch! Such a large load on a female's shoulders! And on top of that, a female of the summer was expected to look after a parcel of brats too? Yanaba had always privately pitied the females of other tribes.

Refusing to travel unarmed, Yanaba commanded that Pati hand over his knives. Her escort and protector did so willingly, unbuckling the scabbard that he wore across his chest and passing it to her. Yanaba scowled at the scabbard. It was a chest piece that had been made for a male and would never wrap comfortably around her big breasts. Silently cursing that she had inherited Talisa's knockers, she folded the double straps of the scabbard and wore it around her waist as a makeshift belt. It was awkward, but at least she was armed now. She smiled at Pati in silent thanks.

"This looks good," Keme said wearily, as if it didn't matter either way.

The group had come to a stream. The water bubbled softly over large bulbous rocks covered in moss. They halted and everyone silently and tiredly started to set up camp. Maka dipped his canteen in the stream and tasted the water; Pati dropped off his traveling pack and set his spear against a tree; Sa exchanged polite smiles with Yatokya as he helped him gather rocks for the fire; and Keme asked if Yanaba was alright.

Yanaba frowned. "Huh?"

"Your father said you were feeling ill," Keme elaborated.

"Wha . . .? Oh!" Yanaba silently kicked herself as she remembered the lie. Honiahaka had caught her crying about Rayen before they set out. She hated that he'd seen her crying, and she would die if he ever found out the truth.

"I'm much better now, Chief Keme," Yanaba answered and ignored the twinkling mirth of her brother as he stood behind the summer chief. "Thank you for asking."

"Of course." Keme turned away.

In their breakneck pursuit of Tala, they had spent three days traveling northwest toward the arrow village. Along the way, evidence of Tala's presence in the forest became more apparent. It started with drops of blood, clumps of her fur on the trees, a whiff of her scent. And then, on the third day, they found the bodies of arrow wolves . . . trees that had been smacked over . . . fallen bows and swords . . . males with awkwardly twisted limbs. One unfortunate arrow wolf lay with his head crushed under a fallen tree, a dark pool of blood spreading in the grass and mud beneath him. The arrow wolves had taken Tala, but she had fought back.

As grisly as the carnage was, it gave them hope that Tala was alive. It gave Yanaba hope. Seeing the bodies and blood made her suddenly proud to have a friend that was so capable. She and Yatokya shared a grin when they found an arrow wolf with his skull crushed. Over supper each night, they shared jokes about Tala's shemale strength, and listening to her brother, Yanaba could see the love ringing clear in his eyes, this love that he'd always had for Tala.

After such conversations, the guilt always overcame Yanaba, and immediately after supper, she would go to bed, drowning out the laughter of the others as they sat around sharing idle chatter. Her brother was in love with Tala, Tala was in love with her, and yet . . . all she wanted from Tala was her paws on her body again! Yanaba knew she wasn't in love. She loved Tala as her sister and always had, in spite of the fact that they had drifted apart. But she wasn't in love with her. All she wanted was to know Tala's tongue between her thighs again. Tala had such a strong, insistent tongue . . . she'd made Yanaba feel in ways she'd never felt before -- not even when alone at home touching herself. She couldn't stop thinking of the way she'd awoken with her body . . . on fire.

". . . and hopefully, we'll find her grinning atop a pile of arrow wolf skulls," Yatokya was joking.

Keme and the others laughed.

They were all sitting around the fire, eating breakfast as dawn stretched its pale fingers through the trees. Yanaba tried to laugh with the others but felt too dismal and picked at her bowl.

"Feeling ill again?" Keme worried.

"Yes," Yanaba lied, suddenly wanting to be alone. "Must've been something I ate. I won't go far." She passed her bowl off to Yatokya and hissed at him through her fangs when he looked at her inquisitively. Yatokya knew damn well that Yanaba was not ill, and eventually, he was going to question why she kept lying to Keme, but Yanaba decided not to care.

Yanaba went into the trees, giving false moans, frowning and rubbing her stomach. When she had gotten far enough away, she immediately dropped the ruse and peered dismally into the trees. The trees far north were beautiful, she thought. The leaves were bright reds and vibrant greens, and she suddenly realized why the arrow tribe used such colors in their fletching. But the forest seemed empty too. And sad. In the distance, a lone wolf kept howling . . . singing his lament to the quiet night.

Yanaba hugged herself and closed her eyes. She suddenly felt very alone. During their trip to the summer village, she had privately mourned the loss of her brother. Once Yatokya married Tala, it was over. Her brother - the closest friend she had - would leave her. And even during those years when she had loved Rayen, somehow she knew that once Yatokya moved away . . . she was going to be alone.

"Your highness, I've come . . ."

Yanaba stiffened when a big paw closed on her left breast and massaged. She pulled one of the knives on her hip with a cold ching and whirled. The tip of the blade pressed hard in the male's fur, in the tender place where neck met jaw. He lifted his paws in surrender.

Yanaba's blue eyes narrowed. "Pati!"

It was indeed Pati. She saw him gulp hard, his throat flexing, his body very still. The bastard. He had been giving her looks all day. She should have known.

"Your highness, it's me!"

"I noticed," Yanaba snapped, one fang revealed when her pretty lip curled. "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"I thought . . . you smiled at me today and . . ."

Yanaba laughed coldly. "So when a female smiles at a male, it is an invitation for sex?"

"No, your highness!" Pati almost squeaked.

"Ha! Apparently it is if this led you to believe you could grab my tit and keep your fingers!"

"Your highness . . . I would kiss your feet if you would remove the blade --"

"I know what you would kiss," she hissed over him. "A near miss, Pati. I could have killed you, believing you a stranger."

"I apologize, my princess. I only want to make love to you. I think of nothing else night and day. You are beautiful, my princess. You come to me in my dreams . . . I awake, rigid with desire --"

"Ugh! Do not go on with this!"

"Please, your highness. Have mercy. Do not tell your brother . . ."

"I do not need to tell my brother. I am perfectly capable of killing you myself."

Pati gulped again. "Highness . . . I only sought to pleasure you . . ."

"Ha. Pleasure me! No, Pati, I think you sought to pleasure yourself. But did you stop to think of the consequences? One: I am the crown princess of the sun! Get me pregnant and there will be hell to pay! Two: I do not like males, nor do I want to be fondled and groped by one!" So saying, she hitched up her skirt and kicked him away from the knife.

Pati staggered back and massaged his throat. Yanaba was not surprised when he immediately dropped to knees and kissed her feet. She rolled her eyes as he hugged her calves. He was kissing her ankles. She gasped when his kisses started higher, to her thighs. The nerve! Her foot came up and he went over on his back in a spray of blood. She watched as he clutched his face and moaned.

"No means no, Pati," Yanaba said quietly and sheathed the knife.

Pati drew himself up. His lip was busted. He licked the blood away and knelt humbly before her again. "I can not return without my princess. I must ensure your safety. If you wish to remain out here a little longer, I shall protect you."

Yanaba smiled, for the first time noticing that his spear was in the grass. "Can you protect me from yourself?" She was a little surprised when Pati's arms trembled.

". . . yes, my princess," he whispered. "Though I wish to lose control. I wish to kiss you passionately in the moonlight . . ."

"Stop it."

"Yes, my princess."

"I will remain a few moments longer. Stay and guard me if you must . . . and control yourself."

"Yes, my princess." He rose to his feet and gathered his spear.

Yanaba turned her back and hugged herself again, leaning her shoulder against a tree. Talisa had taught her and taught her well. A female needed to learn how to defend herself. Sometimes when a female said no, a male turned a deaf ear, until the only thing he could hear was a kick in the nuts. She smiled. Talisa had taught her that.

"Is my princess troubled?" Pati asked after a while.

Yanaba sighed. "Perhaps."

"I am a good listener, my princess."

"But can you keep your mouth shut, I wonder."

"I can do anything the princess asks of me," Pati said -- with such devotion, Yanaba glanced over her shoulder at him. She was going to say something when the distant loner howled again. Their ears pricked forward and they both listened.

"He is closer," Pati said grimly. "We should return to the others. Come, my princess --"

"No," Yanaba said at once. Her paw closed on one of the knives and she listened to the howling with a hard expression.

Pati sighed, as if he had expected such a response.

"We will scout," Yanaba whispered when the howling stopped again. "See what this loner is up to, then report back to the others." She glared at Pati, silently daring him to protest.

Pati inclined his head. "Lead the way, my princess."

They went carefully through the underbrush together, their ears still forward as they listened. Yanaba silently cursed her princess attire as she fumbled to keep her skirt hitched up. Beside her, Pati held his spear low and ready, and his face had hardened into warrior mode.

The howling began again as they drew nearer, and Yanaba suddenly realized the loner was howling in pain. A clearing opened before them, bathed in the gray light of dawn. Birds were singing and butterflies were drifting across the bloody grass. Yanaba's brows went up: a massacre had occurred here. Yanaba placed her knife in her teeth and leaned forward, touching her paws to the cool earth to get a better look. Broken bodies lay everywhere, staring in stiff agony at the brightening sky. Already, flies were walking across the whites of eyes, across bared fangs and hanging tongues. Broken arrows with green and red feathers were scattered among the corpses and bent grass, and in the midst of it tall, a single warrior crawled on his belly. It took one glance to see his legs were broken.

"My princess?" Pati whispered beside Yanaba. "I await your command."

"It looks like he's the only one alive, but keep your wits about you in case he isn't. Search the area for signs of Tala. I will interrogate him."

"Yes, your highness."

They rose out of hiding and moved into the clearing. Upon seeing them, the arrow wolf with the broken legs began to wail and howl. Pati searched the carnage for signs of Tala, but Yanaba went right to the arrow wolf and stepped on his reaching paw.

"Shut up," she whispered.

The arrow wolf immediately stopped howling for help. He sobbed and dropped his face in the dirt. "P-Please kill me . . . oh, god . . ."

"Afterward," Yanaba answered. "First, you will answer some questions."

"Please g-god . . ." the male sputtered. He squeezed his eyes shut and trembled all over. "Why? Why d-did we think we could tame a s-shemale?" He began to sob. His broken legs were pitiful mashes of bones poking from flesh and congealed blood. The smell was terrible. Looking at his legs, Yanaba realized Tala had stepped on them.

Yanaba hitched up her skirt and squatted down. She grabbed the male by his mane and shook him slightly. "Focus! I need you to answer my questions, are you listening?"

"Y-Yes . . ." he moaned. "D-Don't hurt me . . . I'm listening . . . god help me, I'm listening . . ."

"Good." Yanaba let him go, but her blue eyes peered at him, flat and pitiless. "First, tell me why your tribe attacked the winter wolves and captured Tala. How did you even know she would be there? I assume you were after Princess Rayen and got Tala instead." She snorted. "And you had no idea what you were getting."

"N-No. . ." he managed. "We knew the shemale would be there. We expected her."

Yanaba frowned. "How?"

"A sorcerer came to our village . . . He was injured. He needed shelter from the storm. We gave him food but the water . . . it made him have fits."

Yanaba made a face. "Fits? You'd better start making sense. Fast."

The arrow wolf shivered miserably, fearfully. "Don't - d-don't hurt me! I'm doing my best to explain . . . ack . . . my l-legs. . . ."

Yanaba heard Pati come up behind her. He wanted to report his findings, but she held up her paw for silence. "Let this poor bastard finish so I can put him out of his misery."

"Do so cleanly and quickly, my princess," Pati returned behind her. "He is bleeding from the mouth. Perhaps his ribs have punctured his lungs."

"Go on," Yanaba ordered the arrow wolf.

"The s-sorcerer had a vision . . . he could not speak, so he drew it on parchment . . . a shemale would be at the w-winter village . . . late S-Spring . . . in her sixteenth summer. We knew at once that it was the princess of the summer. He drew the symbol of the summer tribe beside her. . . the symbol of the s-sunflower." He hacked on his blood and it flushed hot over his mouth.

Yanaba shook her head. "So some magician told you Tala would be at the winter village and you decided to kidnap her? Make sense. Make it fast."

The arrow wolf sputtered weakly.

"He is dying, my princess," Pati muttered.

Yanaba glowered. "He will tell me everything if he does it with his dying breath!" She narrowed her eyes on the arrow wolf. "Why take Tala! And where the hell is she!"

The arrow wolf flinched under Yanaba's barking. He glared at her. "Do you know n-nothing, girl? Shemales have ancient blood --"

"So?" Yanaba snapped at once.

"Long ago . . . the mountain tribe went by another name . . . they lived far . . . far to the east . . . in places that are forg-gotten now . . ."

"Yes?" snapped Yanaba impatiently. "And?"

"It is a place my tribe wishes to go . . . but it can only be accessed by those with ancient b-blood . . . a s-strong amount . . . we wished to make our tribe an elder t-tribe. . . . our shaman was going to weave a s-spell . . . using her b-blood . . ."

"Ugh," sneered Yanaba. "You kidnapped Tala, killed dozens of winter wolves, and for what? Some magical nonsense? Where is Tala!" she practically shrieked.

The arrow wolf's eyes started to close.

"Oh, no you don't!" Yanaba cried. She grabbed him by the mane and shook him, until his drowsy eyes opened again. "Where is she? Where is she, dammit!"

The arrow wolf sputtered again and blood slipped over his lip. "They took her . . ."

"Who!"

"They wore . . . black cloaks . . . black hoods . . ."

"Where did they go?"

"Across . . . the river . . . she was dying. She harmed us, s-she did. But we managed to wear her down . . . stuck arrows in her. S-She was dying . . ."

Yanaba's eyes popped. "What!"

"They took her across the river . . . p-please . . . have mercy . . ."

Yanaba swallowed hard and pulled one of her knives. She had never killed before. She glanced at Pati, who looked as if he was going to offer to do it. Determined not to look afraid, Yanaba gritted her teeth and slit the arrow wolf's throat. His blood spurted. She backed away too late: red droplets sprinkled her blue princess attire.

Yanaba wiped her knife clean on her skirt and sheathed it. "Report," she said grimly.

"The male wasn't lying," Pati answered dutifully at once. "Tala was here. Clumps of her fur . . . and maybe her blood."

Yanaba followed Pati to the trees some paces due south. Tracks were in the dirt, uneven tracks that pooled with dried blood, as if the wolf they belonged to had staggered, bleeding. Yanaba was saddened to see such a thing - Tala dying, Tala in pain. Her ears went flat and she swallowed hard. A near miss. They had almost found Tala. Almost.

"Your orders, my princess? We can not think to continue further. I must keep you safe."

Yanaba smiled sadly. "Go after Tala's abductors alone? I'm crazy, Pati. I'm not that crazy. Let's go back."

They made their way back and were startled to meet Keme and Sa, who had been coming in search of them. Keme was concerned to see Yanaba sprinkled with blood, but she refused to explain until they were all back at camp. Once there, the group sat around the barren fire pit, and Yanaba related everything the dying arrow wolf had told her. The others listened in grim silence, and when she had finished, Yatokya swore.

"And there's no telling what these cloaked strangers did with her!" Yatokya tossed an angry paw. "Or where they even took her!"

"You're forgetting she left tracks," Yanaba reminded him.

"But her abductors did not," Pati pointed out.

Yanaba frowned. "Yes. That's true. The male said that strangers took Tala away . . . but the only tracks were hers . . . and they ended fairly quickly," Yanaba reminded herself. She swallowed sadly and looked down. "We could see where she fell to her knees in the dirt . . . and then the tracks ended . . ."

"As if they picked her up," Yatokya said and rubbed his sister's arm soothingly.

Keme was brooding, his chin on his clasped paws. "You said across the river. The crow tribe is across the river. And the strangers were wearing black. Perhaps they were crow wolves. Black is their color. For everything."

Yatokya nodded hopefully. "Makes sense."

"But her abductors didn't leave tracks," Keme went on thoughtfully.

"Magic is involved," Sa said darkly.

"Sounds like it," agreed Maka, who - until that moment - had stood in the background grimly listening, arms folded.

"We will head to the crow tribe at dusk," Keme announced.

"Can we really afford to waste time, though?" Yatokya protested. "Tala is --!"

Keme put a soothing paw on his shoulder. "We are still in the territory of the arrow tribe, you must remember this. When the long absence of their warriors sinks in, they will send out more warriors to find what became of them. Perhaps we will be blamed."

"All the more reason to get across the river," Yatokya insisted.

Keme shook his head. "No. The guilty flee. We will travel with caution and in stealth. If we are careful, they will never even know we were here. We will set out at dusk, my son." He clapped Yatokya's shoulder. "Get some rest."

Yanaba could tell Yatokya wanted to protest: his jaw tightened and his nostrils flared. But he said nothing as Keme assigned Maka and Sa for first watch. Everyone else slipped into their bedrolls.

Yanaba - as usual - spread her bedroll close to Yatokya's. He was still stiff and angry as he settled in. He lay on his back, blinking irately at the bright blue sky. Yanaba stretched out on her side, resting her cheek on her arm as she observed her brother.

"It's alright, Yato. It sounds like Tala is being taken care of," Yanaba whispered.

Yatokya shook his head. "If she dies . . ." He swallowed hard.

"A little of you will die," Yanaba guessed.

Yatokya blinked miserably. "Yes," he admitted softly. After a pause, he turned his head and looked at her. He was sad. "Yaba . . ." His paw came up out of his covers and he reached for her.

Yanaba smiled. She knew what he wanted. She reached from under her own covers, and she hooked her pinky in his. Their joined paws rested on the bright green grass, and a ladybug walked across their fingers.

"You've been calling me that a lot lately," Yanaba observed. When they were very small, Yatokya had been unable to correctly pronounce Yanaba's name, so in his squeaky infantile voice, he had started calling her Yaba. These days, it was something he only called her when he needed her comfort and support - or when she needed his.

Yatokya's brown eyes were dark with regret. "The last words I spoke to Tala. . . . we argued that night she . . ."

"Raped you."

"Yes . . ." He suddenly scowled. "She didn't even care that she'd hurt me! All she could think about was you! She snuck in on you, and afterward, I dragged her to my room and we argued. I called her . . . terrible things . . ."

Yanaba frowned sympathetically.

"And I told her you'd never love her . . . which I guess isn't true."

"No, Yato . . . it's true."

Yatokya stared at his sister. "Don't lie to me. You liked it when she touched you. I walked up to the curtain and heard you both moaning!"

Yanaba squeezed her eyes shut. "That doesn't mean --!" she practically yelled. She took a breath and said in a soft hiss, "That doesn't mean I'm in love with her! And when are you going to stop spying on me!"

Yatokya laughed flatly. "Never. I'm your brother. I'm always going to make sure you're safe."

They smiled at each other.

"You know," Yanaba said with a miserable laugh, "for the longest time, I thought Rayen wouldn't make love to me because you kept watching me like a hawk. Now I know the truth . . ."

Yatokya frowned. "It's over, Yan. She can't hurt you anymore."

"I know."

They fell silent, and Yatokya's big thumb gently stroked the fur on Yanaba's paw.

"So you don't love Tala?" Yatokya asked after a while.

"No. I just . . . love her mouth on me."

Yatokya smiled. "I guess it doesn't matter whether or not you love her. The problem is, she doesn't love me, the one who has to marry_her._"

"Oh, Yato! You two argue all the time! She'll forgive you. And to be honest, I always thought she _did_care for you. It's one reason why her affection for me came as such a shock . . ."

Yatokya grunted but was silent. He wasn't convinced.

"So . . ." Yanaba giggled quietly. "What was it like when Tala was with you?"

Yatokya stared at the sky. "Painful? Humiliating? Confusing? I didn't know what the hell was going on at first. When I grabbed her from behind, I saw tits flapping, and I realized she was a female. But then . . . she threw me eight feet into a tree . . ."

Yanaba laughed softly.

"I'm lying there dazed and confused, and then suddenly, there's a cock in my ass," Yatokya went on, "and I couldn't decide if one of the lone wolves had up and raped me or if I was hallucinating, because I could swear I felt tits on my back."

"So that was it? Humiliation and confusion?"

"And minor ass pain. I put a lime in a cocoanut and I was alright though."

Yanaba laughed again. "Yato! Now tell me the truth . . . you had to enjoy something about sex with Tala. What was it?"

Yatokya bit his lip.

"Go on," Yanaba giggled. "I won't tell a soul!" Her blue eyes twinkled mischievously.

Yatokya looked away. "I liked . . ."

"Yes?"

"She started . . . touching me. Like she was exploring my body. She was so strong. I liked it," he admitted sheepishly. "I've always liked it. Any time we argued and she shoved me or slammed me against something . . . when we were kids, I almost got hard because she threw me into a wall."

"Ah, when we were eleven. I remember that argument. You grabbed her ass. Go on. What else?"

"I liked it when she . . ." Yatokya cleared his throat. "Don't laugh?"

"Promise."

"I liked it when she spanked me," Yatokya continued the confession. "I tried to say something and she slapped my ass to shut me up. I think my dick almost got hard. And then . . ." His eyes softened. "She pressed her body on me, and I felt how soft and small she was, and suddenly . . . I knew it was her."

"Do you think she liked it too?" Yanaba asked quietly after a pause. She almost laughed when Yatokya blushed a little. "What?"

"I know she liked it," he said in a sort of strained voice.

"How? I've gotta hear this."

"We suddenly recognized each other, and she went flying off me. Her legs were in the air."

Yanaba's eyes fluttered open wide to imagine such a thing: Tala with legs splayed and pussy bare.

"I looked between them," Yatokya went on, "and the lips were swollen . . . she was wet. I could smell her arousal. It . . . god, it smelled good."

Yanaba laughed softly at how weak and helpless her brother sounded. "And you think of licking it all the time."

"You do too."

"Perhaps."

"Pft. You know you do. And why didn't you tell me you liked females!" he suddenly accused. He frowned at her.

Yanaba smiled. "Why didn't you tell me you liked males?"

Yatokya looked away. "How . . . do you know about Sa and me . . .?"

"Don't worry," laughed Yanaba, "I didn't hear or see anything. But the way he smiles at you now . . ."

"Oh god . . ." Yatokya moaned.

"I think it's sweet."

"Yes, well, keep this _sweet_knowledge to yourself. It's no one's business but ours . . ."

"If you're going to rule the summer wolves one day, it would be foolish to let this get out. I'm no fool, Yato."

"I know. That's why I love you. Get some sleep, Yaba."

"Goodnight, my brother."

"Goodnight."