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The Last Shemale Queen

A sequel to The Seduction of Seleste

The Greater

Chapter 13

Tala awoke when she felt someone spreading her pussy lips. She shivered angrily, but the fingers left her. Their touch had been oddly cold and indifferent. She waited tensely to be touched again, allowing her other senses to gather information. She could smell . . . water . . . and moss . . . and flowers . . . and dusty old stonework. She could also hear water rushing and the wind rustling through leaves.

The paw came again, this time near her face. The indifferent fingers pried her mouth open! Tala's breasts heaved angrily. Her paw closed lightning quick on the stranger's wrist. There was an audible crack and a cry of pain. She felt bones shatter in her fingers, but she didn't let go. She held on tighter, the anger coursing through her as she thought of the arrow wolves.

The cold ching of steel cut the air, and then a blade was at Tala's throat. She stiffened. The blade was pressing painfully hard.

"Let him go," growled a voice. A female's voice. "Now!"

Tala gulped and did as she was told. When she opened her eyes, she could see the blade gleaming under her chin. It reflected the nearby trees like liquid. She followed the blade up a rusty red arm to a female's angry face and froze.

She wanted to say the creature that held the blade to her throat was a wolf, but she was unlike any wolf Tala had ever seen! She was very tall and beautiful, with rusty red fur that covered most of her body. Her paws, ears, and mane, however, were a shock of white.

Tala might have explained away the female's fur color, but she could not explain the thick pink cock that hung over the female's pussy lips. Her mouth fell open and she gawked. Was this a shemale? The only other shemale she had ever seen was her grandmother Avi. They were supposed to be running headfirst into extinction . . . with herself being the last one.

"No, I am most certainly _not_a shemale," the stranger said indignantly, her pretty lips twisting around her fangs. Her long mane flowed behind her on the sudden breeze, and her furious eyes were fixed cold on Tala.

Tala jolted. She could hear her thoughts!

"Only the loud ones," sneered the stranger. Her white ears pricked forward as if she'd heard something and her pretty slanted eyes darted to their corners.

Tala followed the female's gaze and noticed another stranger sitting on a low wall. Ah, her victim. His fur was completely white, but like her, he had strange features: a small muzzle and large eyes -- that were a breathtakingly vibrant blue. He was handsome. To a distracting degree. He was clad in a black cloak, the hood of which was pulled up over his long white mane. He sat slightly hunched, cradling his injured paw with a pained expression that revealed his fangs. As Tala watched, he cupped his paw and a white light shimmered around it. When the light had faded, his crushed wrist was whole again. He had healed it!

Tala's heart beat hard. Just who were these strangers? And what had she gotten herself into now?

The male straightened up and looked at the female. The female's ears were still forward, and Tala realized she was listening to him . . . though he wasn't saying a word. What was going on here?

Slowly and reluctantly, the female withdrew her sword and sheathed it on her back. She regarded Tala bitterly. "Hurt him again," she warned, "and you will be sorry." She turned away.

Tala slowly sat up. The last thing she remembered was staggering through the forest with arrows sticking out of her, her fur matted with blood, her head dizzy with pain, convinced she was going to die. And now, she was sitting on the ground, on a black cloak, whole and uninjured. Looking over at the male, she realized he had probably healed her. And when he was touching her before, he was merely checking her for more injuries. She looked in his flat, inscrutable blue eyes and realized she was no more attractive to him than the crumbled bricks near his foot. She had hurt him for nothing. She looked at him apologetically, but his face was impassive. It sent a chill up her spine.

Tala took in her surroundings for the first time. They were on the high battlements of a palace, in the sunlight. She carefully got to her feet and noticed an archway. In the hall beyond the archway, a small fountain poured water from the wall into a basin. The water rushed softly, steadily, as birds sang, as trees - so incredibly tall that Tala's mouth fell open - reached their moss-covered branches over the battlement walls.

Tala took an uncertain step and turned in a circle. The palace they were in . . . it was in ruins and yet somehow, it was still amazing. She knew it was a palace. She had seen illustrations of palaces in the rare books that came to market in the summer village. Palaces with soaring towers and golden domes . . . palaces with stained glass windows. . . .

Tala looked at the strangers again. The female had gone to the male's side and was standing with her back to Tala, but the male stood facing her, watching her with his emotionless eyes. He was like a doll, Tala thought. A doll with buttons for eyes.

"You should thank him," the female said curtly. "He broke his neck trying to save you from being abducted by those wolves."

Before Tala could answer, the female did something she had never anticipated: she grabbed the white parapet and hurled herself over the wall. Tala shouted and ran to the wall, her belly slamming it on impact. Her head spun: they were at a dizzying height! She watched, horrified, as the female's red body soared down and down, legs together, arms spread. She dropped away, growing smaller and smaller. Suddenly, her poofy tail split into many, ballooning out to soften her fall. Tala watched in amazement as her tiny red body landed in a crouch far below, then she sprang to her feet and zipped away through the trees in a blur.

Tala slowly backed from the wall, shocked. Her eyes turned to the male, who still regarded her impassively. "Who are you!"

Seleste.

Tala blinked. The voice had come in her mind . . . and it had come from him! Her green eyes searched him. "Why did you call me Seleste? That's my mother. How do you know my mother!"

You look just like her. His blue eyes darted over her thoughtfully. Except the eyes.

Tala's jaw stood out in her sudden anger. If someone didn't start answering her questions, she was going to start breaking things! "Who are you!" she demanded again.

Your cousin.

Tala blinked. Finally - an answer! She glanced up and down his body, not sure she should believe the answer, though. "My cousin . . . and you tried to save me?"

He blinked - which was odd because he seldom did. Yes. I foresaw what would happen to you. I tried to stop it. He turned and peered out at the trees.

Tala stood at his side, peering out with him. She still couldn't believe how tall the trees were. They were huge - and as tall as the palace! Looking out at the forest, she could see glimpses of other white buildings. Buildings with great glass doors long shattered, buildings with gold-capped domes and round windows. Fragments of buildings loomed like skeletons in the murky forest. They were buildings the likes of which she had never dreamed of.

Tala closed her eyes as the wind swept through her mane, and she suddenly knew she had been taken to some place magical. Perhaps some place like where her mother had gone. She looked at the male who stood impassive beside her. "Is my mother here?"

No.

Tala looked away again, glum. "Who was she? That female? My relative too?"

She, he answered patiently, is the oldest creature in our world.

Tala's eyes grew round. She didn't know what to say to that, so she looked at the forest again. "What are you? Sorcerers?"

Foxes.

Foxes! Tala's face screwed up. She was getting more confused. "Do you have names?"

I am Aayan. You could not pronounce her name.

Tala rolled her eyes. "Then give me a nickname!"

He looked at her, for the first time showing an expression: his blue eyes were bright with curiosity. He hesitated, then said into her mind, I call her . . . Iko.

"Iko," Tala repeated. She stared off. So Aayan had been speaking into Iko's mind before. She looked at her cousin. "But who is she?"

Aayan was still watching her curiously around the side of his black hood. Are you hungry?

Tala almost blushed when her stomach gurgled. She was shocked when Aayan's straight lips curled at one corner in a smile. Until that moment, he had never smiled. He should. It made him so handsome.

Come with me.

Tala stumbled back a step when Aayan climbed up on the battlement wall. For one horrifying moment, she thought he was going to leap off like Iko, but he stretched out his paw, the fingers spread. Light blossomed from his outstretched paw and formed into a stair that extended all the way to the ground below. Still smiling his half-smile, he offered his paw to her. Tala took it, and together, they descended.

The palace was so high up, Tala felt as if they were descending the sky.

Once they were at the bottom of the stair, it disintegrated. Aayan led Tala through the forest, through the shifting shafts of buttery sunlight. Tala thought it was the most beautiful, the most peaceful forest she had ever seen, so ancient, so calm and serene. She was still fascinated by the gigantic trees. She dropped her head back and tried to see how far they could go before deciding it was impossible.

Every now and then as they walked, Aayan would stretch out his paw, and a tree would lower its branches, offering its fruit. Aayan would pluck the fruit and pass it to Tala, who examined it curiously before eating it. It was unlike any fruit she had ever seen, and the first time she tasted it, she giggled with delight.

"How are you doing that?" she asked when yet another tree offered its fruit to Aayan.

Doing what.

"Making the trees move!"

I do not make them move. They are alive. They simply offer their fruit to me.

Tala's eyes grew round. "Would they offer it to me?"

First, you must learn their language.

"How?"

Learn to listen.

They passed many ruins as they went along, all of exquisite architecture, all dilapidated and crumbling, covered in vines and bursting with foliage. Small animals were in abundance in the forest and scurried to and fro to clear their path. Butterflies landed on Aayan's hood and slowly fanned their wings before fluttering away.

As they went along, Aayan explained that they were in what was known as the Old Kingdom to the foxes, in the ruined city of Elsilf Hin. It was the first kingdom the foxes ever established, only to abandon it when magical crystals were discovered in another location. Seeking to amplify their powers with the crystals, the foxes abandoned the Old Kingdom and established Miras Eii.

Your mother is in Miras Eii.

Tala's eyes grew wide. "What? Why!" she cried around the fruit in her cheek. Juice dribbled over her chin.

Aayan explained why. Walking beside him, Tala seethed. Her mother was a slave! A slave to the foxes! Suddenly furious, Tala crushed the fruit in her fist, then looked at it with a wince. She dropped the deflated mass, shaking the sticky juice off her fingers.

I seek to rebuild this kingdom. Bring my subjects back.

"And you're a fox prince," Tala said, trying to digest it all. "So that means you could free my mother if you wanted to!"

I am trying to free everyone, Aayan answered patiently. The foxes from their greed . . . the frost wolves from the crystals.

Tala brooded. Why move the whole kingdom here? Why not just destroy the damn crystals? She asked Aayan as much, kicking angrily at a rock.

The crystals have corrupted Miras Eii. . . . Before you were born, they spread their poison . . . It's in the water, it's in the air. Few know about it. And those who know do not believe in the danger.

"Good! Let them die!" Tala shrilled.

Aayan shook his head and glanced at her with his fathomless blue eyes. My parents do not deserve to die . . . and our uncle . . . and Nizhoni. He looked away again.

Nizhoni? Their uncle? Tala wanted to ask but could sense that she should not, so she picked up a long stick and used it as a walking stick.

They came to a ruined building with great white steps that spread like the ripples in a pond. The gold double doors were open and one was hanging off the hinges. When Aayan went up the steps, Tala realized he had brought her here on purpose: they had not been wandering aimlessly.

She followed Aayan inside, and when they entered, the building was pitch black. Aayan conjured an orb of light with a wave of his paw. As the orb soared high to the domed ceiling, it grew larger and larger, spreading its light across the endless rows of bookshelves that towered across the marble floor. Tala gasped. She had never seen so many books in her life.

The oldest library in the world. Ancient knowledge lies here. Dangerous knowledge. There is a magic barrier on the Old Kingdom to keep wolves out who seek this knowledge. The arrow wolves were such wolves.

Tala glowered. "What do you mean?"

The magic barrier prevents those without ancient blood from entering. You are shemale. You have ancient blood. They wished to use you.

"And they didn't know who they were dealing with," Tala said darkly.

Tala noticed a cushioned chair amidst some low tables containing books. The books were open, and unlike the other books in the library, they were not dusty. This was Aayan's little nook. She imagined he came here quite often to read. He went to his nook and sat down, gesturing politely for her to sit in the chair opposite. She did.

"Aayan," Tala said, watching as he leaned over the books on the low table before him.

Tala? He picked up a book, sat back with it, and read it. His blue eyes glittered from the dark depths of his black hood.

Tala hesitated, then asked sheepishly, "Why can't you speak?"

She saw him hesitate before answering into her mind. A spell was cast on my mother to steal her voice. She was pregnant with me . . . so my voice was stolen too.

Tala frowned sympathetically. "Can't you get it back?"

No.

Tala was sorry she had asked, but Aayan looked as indifferent as he usually did. She sat back in her chair and glanced around the library. Aayan seemed content to read his book, and she had to wonder what he had intended to do with her after rescuing her. When she asked him, he answered without looking up.

Take you home.

Tala stared at her knees. She didn't want to go home - she wanted to go to her mother! Now that she knew there was a chance she could help her, she had to try! She declared as much to Aayan, stubbornly and sullenly.

It is important that you return home, Tala, Aayan told her calmly.

"No! It is important that I help my mother!"

I have had visions about you.

"So!"

One day, he looked up from his book, regarding her calmly, you will bring peace to the lands. A hundred years of peace.

Tala blinked. She didn't know what to say to that, so she stared at her knees again. She glanced around the library a second time and wondered where Iko was. Were there more foxes here like her? And was Iko going to come back? She hoped not. Iko didn't seem to like her much.

Tala's throat tightened. She had to find a way out of here! She had to help her mother! She suddenly bounced up from her chair. "I'm going for a walk."

You must wear a cloak to pass through the barrier, Aayan said without looking up. Otherwise, it is extremely painful.

"I don't remember feeling any pain when you brought me here!"

Aayan slowly lifted his face. Iko gave you her cloak.

Tala swallowed hard. "Oh."

Walk as far as you like, he said, going back to his book. I will find you at dusk. You can leave here, but I will find you and take you home.

Tala turned away, seething. She marched from the library with her mane and tail streaming, and she was so angry when she burst outside that she tore the remaining door off its hinges when she opened it. The door fell from her astonished paw with a colossal crash and slid away into the foliage. Tala watched its progress sheepishly and kicked herself. She was acting like Rayen. She was acting like a child. Aayan was doing the right thing in taking care of her, in taking her home. What if she went all the way to Miras Eii and could do nothing to save her mother?

Still . . . Tala bit her lip and went slowly down the stairs. She wanted to see her mother. She needed to. She needed to look into her mother's eyes and know why she had been abandoned! Keme had always found it too painful to talk about. She hated that Seleste had hurt Keme. She hated that she'd had to grow up seeing that hurt. She was suddenly angry at both her parents. Why had they given up? How hard would it have been for Keme to simply smash every crystal on the ice? It seemed to Tala that her parents didn't even try to fight what was happening. Seleste just gave up and went to the sea of ice. She didn't even try!

"We are trying to rebuild this kingdom!" called a voice. "Not tear it down!"

Tala halted at the bottom of the library steps and her ears pricked forward. It took her a second to spot Iko, who was sitting crouched atop a great white pillar. She squatted with perfect balance, her tail low behind her, her thighs spread. Her voice had been irritable, and when she leapt from the pillar and landed in a deft squat before Tala, her face was irritable as well.

Tala took a step back, waving the dust from her face as Iko straightened up.

"Aayan fill you in?" the vixen asked. "Or did he flip open a book and leave me to explain everything?"

Tala didn't answer. She was staring at Iko's penis. She looked down at herself and realized for the first time that her own penis was hanging over her pussy lips. While she'd been unconscious, the spell had worn off, leaving her shemale penis in plain sight.

"You were hiding it before," Iko observed. "Why." She stared at Tala with her flat eyes, waiting.

Tala's eyes searched that pretty face. Iko seemed indignant that Tala had hidden her penis, as if to do such a thing was an affront. "I had to," Tala answered at last.

"How can others learn to accept you," the vixen said quietly, "if they do not know who you are?"

Tala bowed her head and turned away, not wanting to think about, or talk about, and frightened that Iko would hear her thoughts. "I don't want them to know who I am. Who I am is disgusting . . ."

Behind her, Iko frowned sympathetically. "Don't say that. I am not disgusting! And neither are you."

Thinking of Yatokya and Yanaba, Tala closed her eyes. She certainly felt disgusting. She had spent her entire life hiding, and now this fox was telling her to stop hiding - as if it was that easy. As if she wouldn't be stoned in horror when other wolves saw her.

"Anything," Iko said, emerging from her thoughts, "worth doing is not easy."

Tala hugged herself sadly and said nothing. Why did she have to be the one to change things? Why couldn't she just go on hiding? She thought about what Aayan had told her, about the prophecy that she would bring peace. Would she bring it as a female? Or as a shemale?

"Come here, little prick," Iko said behind her. "I want to show you something."

Tala whipped around. "My - penis - isn't that little!"

Iko laughed, a pretty sound. "Oh, and now you are proud of your little cock! Perhaps I have nothing to show you after all."

Tala's ears pricked forward. "No," she said, coming closer. "I'll take the bait. What is it?"

Iko took Tala's paw - and she screamed when they zipped away. They sped through the trees at an incredible pace. Tala's cheeks flapped back in her eyes as they leapt nimbly over crumbling walls, wove through the trees, and splashed in a spray through puddles. They cut over and under crumbling bridges, ran across the tops of rivers. Tala felt as if her breath had been snatched from her lungs, and glancing down, she couldn't believe her feet were actually keeping up with Iko's feet. Beside her, Iko was grinning and laughing like a girl, her white mane whipping back in the wind, her eyes twinkling.

Twinkling like stars.

When they stopped again, Tala had tears in her eyes from the wind. Beside her, Iko was still laughing.

"Nothing like a morning run!" shouted the vixen, and her voice echoed.

Tala wiped her tears, and smoothing down her pale mane, she looked around to see why Iko's voice was echoing. They had come to a magnificent old building, the entire front wall of which had crumbled completely, taking the doors with it. They stood inside the entrance hall on the smooth polished floor, upon which a mosaic stared up at them. The mosaic was of a vixen, sitting upon a white throne, wearing a crown. Tala gasped: the vixen had a penis.

"Uh huh," said Iko, "now look over there."

Tala looked where Iko's nod had indicated and gasped again. Against the far wall, in the gloom, stood a row of gigantic statues, all vixens, all naked, with small perky breasts curved high. The vixens each held flower bouquets and looked upon the crumbling hall with faint smiles and blank eyes. The statues were gold, and each had been snaked over with green vines and webs of flowers. Their gold penises, whoever, were readily apparent.

Tala took an uncertain step toward the statues, her mouth open.

Iko came up beside Tala, her slender arms folded, smiling proudly. "The first foxes were vixens . . . with both sets of genitalia. The foxes in Miras Eii have books that call them Two Spirits." Iko snorted. "But they were known as Grond Omwae - or in common tongue, Greater Foxes. Shemales evolved from them. The first wolves."

Tala stared in awe at the statues, not knowing what to say.

"Of course, foxes evolved from them too," Iko went on, inclining her head with a shift of her white mane. "Those fools in Miras Eii are their descendants as well."

"Your descendants." Tala looked at Iko in wonder.

Iko's lip curled. "Yes."

Tala laughed. "You certainly don't like them."

"Do you?"

Tala looked away. "Point taken."

"So now you know who you are. What are you going to do?"

Tala smiled. "Embrace it."