Chapter 8: Such Innocence

Story by Tesslyn on SoFurry

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#8 of The Mating Season 2:


Chapter 8: Such Innocence

Kel had to admit as he and his son set out that evening that he felt a little nervous. He had never been so totally alone with Kilyan, not even when Kilyan had been nothing more than a ball of black fluff in a swaddling cloth. But he walked ahead of his son in the traditional foot marching line with his shoulders squared, his spear riding on his shoulder. Sometimes he found himself holding his breath, listening to make sure Kilyan was still marching behind him, that his son had not been snatched by lone wolves unbeknownst to him. But he would hear the shift of Kilyan's traveling pack, could smell his son's gentle and adolescent scent, and he would fall back into the calm but wary mode of a traveling warrior.

Kel reflected that he had always been a frantic father while Aliona had always been the more calm of Kilyan's parents. Aliona had always only smiled when Kilyan bumped his head or fell over a rock or had something slam on his inquisitive little bush of a tail. But Kel had always been alarmed (though he never showed it outwardly), and sometimes late at night when Aliona was sleeping, he would stand over his son's cradle and check to make sure he was breathing.

And when Zalia was born, it was much the same: little black Zalia, who looked so much like her father except for her eyes: she had Aliona's bright, blue sapphire eyes. Kel had often sat with tiny Zalia curled in his arms, sucking her thumb, blinking up at him with large blue eyes, and he had never felt so panic-stricken, so scared in all his life that this precious thing now depended on him to look after it. When Zalia was learning to walk, Kel -- checking first to make sure Aliona had her back turned -- would hobble bent over with his arms hovering around his tiny daughter, ready to catch her if she fell. More often than not, Zalia would fall back into her father's arms. And Kel, with a loving smile, would tip his daughter upright again and help her totter on, never dreaming that Aliona observed all of this in amusement from the corner of her eyes.

Yes, Kel loved his children dearly and would have done anything to protect them. And it saddened him now walking ahead of Kilyan to think that one was on the verge of the mating seasons and the other only a few years from following that same fate. How quickly time had flown. Some days as he watched teenage Kilyan and Zalia bickering, Kel wished for his little pups back, bouncing on his knee, pulling at his mane. . . .

After walking for hours into the dusk, Kel gestured that they could stop for a rest and something to eat before carrying on.

"You always travel at night when in the forest," Kel told his son.

Kilyan sat beside his father, his green eyes glistening with awe in the firelight as he watched his father skin a hare with a skill he could never hope to accomplish.

"Why, Father?"

"Think about it," said Kel. "Would you rather your enemy crept up on you in the dark while you slept or in the sun while you slept?"

Kilyan's eyes grew round as it dawned on him. The dark gave your enemy an advantage when creeping up on your camp. In the light, you were more likely to see them coming. And being wide awake and alert at night when loners usually lurked was better than being fast asleep.

"Dad?"

"Hmm?" Kel pulled out bread now and broke it in halves. He passed his son a piece.

"Do you think lone wolves will attack us?"

"I haven't heard any howling. And if they do attack, we'll make them sorry."

Kilyan felt relieved at the confident tone in his father's voice. Kel was, after all, one of the greatest warriors in the village, one of the fiercest fighters with spear and dagger. Kilyan, only sixteen, was still only half as good at fighting with a slingshot. He was in awe of his father as he had been all of his life

When supper was finished and the fire was burning very low, Kilyan expected his father to order him to start packing up, but Kel did not. Kel remained sitting where he was and only smiled at Kilyan's inquisitive stare, and Kilyan realized for the first time that this trip wasn't just about going to visit an old friend: Kel was grabbing at the opportunity to spend time with his son before the mating season. Once Kilyan had his first mating season, he would take a wife -- maybe two wives! Kilyan blushed at just the thought -- and he would become a fulltime warrior, which meant he'd be on duty most of the day and may not see his father for days, weeks on end once he moved into his own hut. Reflecting on this, it hit Kilyan for the first time just how much Kel loved him, and he felt his heart warming to his father all the more.

"Hey, Dad?" Kilyan asked after father and son had sat in happy silence for a moment or two.

"What is it, Kilyan?"

Kilyan felt himself blushing but asked boldly, "What exactly happens at the mating season?"

Kel glanced over at Kilyan and realized for the first time how worried his son was about becoming an adult. Kel reprimanded himself for keeping Kilyan on such a short leash: with Kel always glowering over his shoulder, Kilyan had hardly had a chance to be with a female before his first mating season and had probably been so scared to disobey that he'd never taken up the opportunities when they came. The fact that Kilyan -- usually such an obedient son -- had approached Lea was a mark of how excessively worried he was about his performance next year.

"It will happen this way," Kel said, his eyes trained on the fire. "All the females of the village who are of the proper age will be gathered at the village gates and driven into the forest, told to run -- sometimes the really frightened ones are even paddled out of the gates, though not very hard. Then all the males of the proper age will be released into the forest to find them. Males and females will mate in the forest all night until first light.

"The most desired females are usually kept very long and are usually fought over. If you want to claim a female as your wife, you must make her spill her juices in your mouth -- and if you can not do that, you must fight off any male who challenges you for her. This means offering up your intimate parts in place of the female's you desire."

Kilyan gasped.

"Yes. An old tradition. But sometimes it only means physical fighting. It all depends on the male who challenges you. Assuming you have won, if the female bears your pup in the next season, she is free to marry you. If she bears another's pup and you still desire her, you must challenge the pup's father in one on one combat. Sometimes more than one female will bear your pup and you can choose to marry them both."

When Kel fell silent, Kilyan blushed furiously now and asked, "But -- but, Dad? What happens when a male mates with a female? I got these strange urges when I fell on Lea that day. . . . I don't understand them."

Kel tried not to smile at Kilyan's innocence when he answered. He could remember asking his father the same questions when he was Kilyan's age and how difficult and embarrassing it was.

"You will put your penis in that place between her thighs. You will put it inside of her. Females like to be touched in that place. Licked there too. And it is nice to give them pleasure. You should do that first, my son. They also get wetter when you do and it is easier to get inside."

Hearing these things spoken so casually, Kilyan struggled not to show his amazement or get hard just thinking of doing those things to Lea. Lea had such big pussy lips, so pink and swollen, and he knew just by looking at them that they were wondrously soft. He'd felt her sex against him that day he fell on her and remembered that it had been dripping wet. Had Lea been desiring him even as he spilled his passion for her? Perhaps that was why she'd cried: she'd been just as embarrassed. Realizing that Lea wanted him, Kilyan felt a delicious happiness swell in his chest. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to make her want him at the mating season after all! And her scent -- such an enticing musk! It wouldn't be hard to hunt her down in the forest. He could never forget the way she smelled: of things sweet and warm and yet flowery and wild.

Seeing the dreamy look on his son's face, Kel clapped a fond paw on his head and told him they must pack and set out. They would not stop again until dawn when they reached the cliffs.

Kilyan had never been this deep into the forest before and was impressed that Kel seemed to know the way so well and never once lost his bearings. They traveled the rest of the night until the cliffs loomed in the distance, and when the first streak of white light stretched down through the trees, they had climbed the cliffs halfway. Kilyan had never been so tired and yet so excited. When his father told him to go to sleep and that he would take first watch, Kilyan obeyed but found it hard to. It seemed he had only been asleep for a second before he felt the cold steel of a dagger at his throat.

"Don't move a muscle," hissed a voice in Kilyan's ear. Kilyan felt a paw reach under his sleeping furs and caress his buttocks. He stiffened with a frightened moan as a finger slipped into his anus and the voice whispered, "Such tight innocence. Such a pretty little thing. Yes, don't you move, lovely one . . ."

Kilyan's eyes flew open wide. He could hear his father grunting and growling, and when he looked around, it was to see Kel fighting viciously with his spear. A skinny, brown, underfed wolf with a snagged tooth was dodging the swing of Kel's spear. The stranger snarled at Kel, swiping violently with a little dagger in his fist. Kilyan was happy to see his father had already given the strange wolf a bloody nose. The stranger lunged at Kel, but Kel caught him in the face with the butt-end of his spear, then caught him in the groin with his foot. Kel's mane tossed, his eyes flashed, his fangs were bare in a snarl. Kilyan was terrified just to look at his father but he could not look away. When the stranger had collapsed on his back, Kel drove the spear home in his chest. Kilyan watched with wide eyes as the wolf squirmed under the spear, coughing up blood. Kel then whirled with a mad glint in his eye at the wolf who was holding a dagger to Kilyan's throat, but he was warned not to move.

"One more step," the stranger snarled, "and your little snot-nosed pup gets it."

Kilyan felt the dagger sink deeper against his flesh and was ashamed of himself when he whimpered.

Seeing his son's distress, Kel halted, though his chest was still heaving and his eyes were alight with a rage that frightened Kilyan. He had never imagined his father was such a fierce killer! He was in awe of Kel all over again. And Kel was probably so mad at him for letting himself get captured like this!

Kilyan felt himself dragged roughly out of his sleeping furs, then the wolf wrapped an arm around Kilyan's chest, and Kilyan felt a surge of rage when his cheek was given a long lusty lick. He whimpered angrily and saw his father make a sudden move, but the stranger barked out another warning, then told Kel to drop his spear. Kel looked as if he'd rather die first but did what he was told.

"Now," whispered the stranger, nodding at the rocky path behind Kel, "get movin'."

Kilyan saw his father dart a glance at him and for the first time, there was fear in Kel's eyes.

"I SAID GET MOVIN'!"

Kel glared but turned and started up the path. To Kilyan's dismay, he was grabbed by the mane and dragged with the strange wolf after his father, the dagger still resting against his throat as they climbed the slope. When they reached the rocky clearing at the top, pale fingers of sunlight swept the place, illuminating the snow of this elevated world and throwing shadows beneath the pine trees. Kel was made to lie face down on the ground with his paws flat and was told that if he moved, Kilyan was going to die. Kel did as he was told, his face hard-set.

Kilyan's heart was pumping now. What was about to happen here? The stranger was outnumbered after Kel had felled his companion, but even still, Kilyan felt hopeless as this rough, scraggily, gray wolf shoved him down on his knees. Kilyan's arms were wrenched behind his back and he stifled a cry at the pinch of rope being tied very tightly around his wrists. He was then left to kneel there, and saw the strange wolf more clearly as he moved next toward Kel, pulling more of the rope from his hip bag. Smiling nastily at Kilyan, the strange wolf knelt over Kel and forced his arms roughly behind his back, then started binding. Enraged by his helplessness, Kilyan suddenly lunged up with a roar. A blow came down swift and hard across his face. The world spun and he staggered down. He could hear his father's enraged growls and knew that Kel was struggling with his paws behind his back, but he heard the blow when Kel was struck too. And then Kilyan was being dragged upright by the shoulder and another blow came. He sagged to the ground. The stranger was laughing.

"Scream all you want to," said the stranger. "No one can hear you. And lunge at me again, little one, and I'll make you sorry."

Lying there breathless on his back, his wrists smashed beneath him, Kilyan watched in a daze as the stranger knelt with his knee in the small of Kel's back and tied Kel's wrists more tightly. He then moved to Kel's ankles and tied them as well. Kel's chest was heaving from the struggle and his eyes were glinting like daggers and there was blood dribbling from his nose. Kilyan wanted to tell his father he was sorry for getting him smacked, sorry for letting himself get captured, but he didn't want the smelly, scraggy wolf to have the satisfaction.

The stranger next tied a dirty piece of cloth back in Kel's mouth, who glared at him as he said with a chuckle, "Just for fun. Like I said: scream all you want to. There isn't anyone up here for miles around - 'cept other loners."

Loners, thought Kilyan. This was a lone wolf! He saw the mark now as the stranger turned his long face to him: a great ugly black X had been burned into his forehead.

"Now," said the stranger, licking his lips, and Kilyan realized with a shudder that the stranger was eying him lustily.

Kilyan shrank into himself when the wolf approached. He squatted over Kilyan, one foot either side of his body, and Kilyan was repulsed by the smell of his balls. The stranger's smelly organ was huge and dangled in Kilyan's face as the wolf's paw caressed his cheek with the back of his fingers. Kilyan was perplexed when he looked down at him with soft eyes.

"So young," the stranger whispered to Kilyan, "so lovely. Just like your father there, only younger, prettier for your innocence. Yes, so innocent. I can see it in your eyes." As he spoke, the stranger backed away and took Kilyan's soft organ in his paw.

Kilyan whimpered out, "No!" He could hear Kel struggling and grunting wildly behind his gag.

"Let's put on a show here for your father," said the stranger, and now he caressed Kilyan's organ with soft, deliberate strokes. Kilyan felt his face getting redder and redder as his dick responded, growing hard in the stranger's paw.

"No!" Kilyan moaned. And when the fondling only became more pleasurable, he hated himself when the tears started from his eyes, when he begged, "P-Please!"

Kel was practically roaring behind his gag, but it was no use. The stranger seemed to find it all very funny. He kept stroking Kilyan and would smile every now and then widely at Kel, who looked as if he wanted to rip the lone wolf's head off.

"Yes, so tender, little one, so innocent," the stranger whispered. He stroked Kilyan with such soft but firm paws that Kilyan was soon sobbing, crying freely, cringing his body to deny the building threat of an orgasm that was sending shudders through him. The stranger kept coaxing him with skillful fingers, whispering to him that he was so beautiful, that he was so thick in his paw. But Kilyan kept holding back, and he was so painfully hard now than he started trying to squirm away but it was no use: he could not escape those wonderfully caressing fingers. And then the worst thing in the world happened: the stranger closed his hot mouth over Kilyan's penis and sucked.

Kilyan let out a choked cry. This had never happened to him before, but the stranger's lips and tongue, the stranger's hot spit and his gulping noises felt deliciously good to him and he was ashamed. He started sobbing brokenly. He could hear his father's roars of rage and his humiliation increased tenfold. It was bad enough he was being raped like this but in front of his father? He thought he would die. He kept cringing into himself, kept telling himself that he didn't like it, that he was frightened, that he was angry, but in spite of everything his dick kept throbbing harder and the stranger keep sucking him with hungry abandon and he noticed with horror that the stranger was hard too.

Kilyan was glad to feel the stranger's mouth release him, but to his dismay, the stranger started giving his cock long, strong licks up and down the shaft. This was too much. He started writhing and moaning, trying to escape, but the licks kept coming and then that feeling again. . . . That feeling he had confessed to Kel that he did not understand.

"No!" Kilyan cried out when he realized what was about to happen. It was just as if he was back on top of Lea, just as if her hot sex and her breasts were brushing him. It was that explosive feeling, that feeling that consumed him, made him paralyzed with pleasure. He whimpered and it happened: his penis released this building ache of passion that the stranger had so slowly and so deliberately aroused in him. He felt his dick go soft and flop against him, covered in his juices, and to his dismay, the stranger started lapping up his seed with eager, loving licks: he lapped it from Kilyan's hard thighs and rippling stomach, lapped it from Kilyan's balls. Kilyan was mortified at his. He let his head fall to the side as it was happening, squeezed his eyes shut, and broke down in sobs.

"There, there," whispered the stranger, and Kilyan felt a surge of rage when that snagged paw stroked his mane. "All I did was give you pleasure, young thing. You held out so long! I was sure you were gonna explode as soon as I touched you. Most young ones do."

Kilyan was horrified to find the stranger hovering over him, and then he felt the wolf's lips on his own, pulling hungrily. Kilyan scrambled away, but the stranger grabbed him by the back of the head and forced his mouth open with his tongue. Kilyan shuddered, his entire body tense as this stranger's tongue filled him, and he heard his father let loose a stream of curses behind his gag. He tried to pull away but could not, and he realized what the stranger wanted of him: for him to just give in. He sagged in the skinny wolf's arms and melted into the kiss, tears streaming down his cheeks, and the loner seemed pleased. He pulled back and smiled down at Kilyan and stroked his mane.

"Sweet, tender little thing. I bet you've never had a female, have you? The innocence, it's so obvious in your eyes. I was your first kiss, wasn't I?"

Kilyan's chest was still heaving from the kiss and he kept his eyes shut tight, silently praying the stranger would leave him alone now. It was true: this nasty, smelly creature had been his first kiss. And the truly horrifying thing was it hadn't been a bad kiss it all. He wanted to die.

The stranger smiled as if he knew what Kilyan was thinking, then gently pressed him down and turned to Kel.

"Leave my father alone!" Kilyan growled and was dazed again when he received another shocking slap. He felt his spit gushing over his lip, his eyes rolled in his head, and then he was slapped again, harder. He sagged into the ground and could hear Kel's wild panting and growling.

"Now for this big, strapping black thing," said the stranger, and Kilyan heard the loner moving toward his father.

Kel was struggling wildly now. When Kilyan's head cleared, he saw his father's lip curled in a snarl around the gag, the black locks of his mane falling in his eyes as he wriggled and struggled to break free of his ropes. The stranger seemed very amused by it all. Kilyan winced when he gave his father a resounding slap on the buttocks that must've been very hard, for Kel's voice faltered into silence behind the gag. Then the gag was removed, and Kilyan saw the stranger move back toward him. Seeing his tormentor approaching, Kilyan wriggled away, but the stranger only knelt and put the gag in his mouth, tying it in very tightly.

"Now you will watch your father yield to me," the stranger whispered with wicked glee.

Kilyan glared at him. God, no. He would die before he was forced to watch his father fondled as he had been. He made this known with excessive grunting but went ignored as the stranger moved back to Kel.

Kel was lying limp on the ground and was panting into the earth, as if his constant struggling and grunting while watching the rape of his son had tired him. But as soon as he saw the lone wolf approaching, his muscles tensed and he started shouting.

"I'll have your fucking head for this!" Kel snarled. "Do you hear me?"

The stranger only laughed. He flipped Kel onto his back and gave him a hard slap across the face that silenced him again as he went into a daze. Then the loner straddled Kel's legs and took his cock into his paw. Kilyan squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't bear to watch this happening! But hearing the stranger's voice, Kilyan looked again.

"Well, well, well," sang the stranger, and Kilyan actually heard his father whimpering in shame!

Kilyan looked around to see his father was hard in the stranger's paw, his brows were drawn together, he was grimacing and tears were coursing over his cheeks. Kilyan felt a surge of rage to see his father thus humiliated.

"You got hard as soon as I touched you -- I didn't even stroke it yet!" taunted the stranger in amazement.

"You son of a bitch -- Ah!"

Kel was smacked across the face again. His head fell to the side and Kilyan could not see his father's expression but he knew he was sobbing.

"You're a tail chaser, ain't ya?" taunted the loner. "You like a male's touch -- even in the middle of wanting to rip my dick off, you can't deny that if feels good . . ." He leaned down and whispered in Kel's ear, "Can you?"

Kel struggled and bucked under him, but he smacked Kel again and then flipped him back on his stomach. Again, Kilyan could not see his father's expression and realized Kel was turning his face away on purpose. He felt a thrill of pity for his father, who was being so thoroughly humiliated, so thoroughly stripped of his dignity and pride as a warrior.

And then something happened that horrified Kilyan: the stranger pried his father's buttocks apart. Kilyan closed his eyes just as the loner's thick organ sank hard and fast into his father. He heard his father sobbing wretchedly now, moaning, groaning sometimes in pleasure or pain, and Kilyan started shouting around his gag for the stranger to stop. Kel's moans and choked cries only intensified, and Kilyan couldn't take it any longer. He opened his eyes to see what was happening: the lone wolf was moving against his father, slowly and deeply feeding his cock in and out of Kel's anus! Kel's chest was heaving with the thrusts. His face was red, he was crying, but every now and then, he let out a delighted moan to feel the loner's thick cock feeding in and out of his tense buttocks. And Kilyan knew in amazement that his father was as tormented by pleasure as surely as pain.

When it was over, Kel wept into the ground, and the stranger stroked his mane just as he'd stroked Kilyan's. Then he rolled Kel onto his back, cupped the back of his head, and kissed him. Kel grunted angrily under the kiss, and then the stranger was kissing Kel on his cheeks and on his neck, and Kel was weeping and shivering.

"How many other males have given you pleasure like this?" whispered the stranger, stroking Kel's mane. "And yet you pretend!" He smacked Kel's rigid organ hard and Kel shuddered again.

Kilyan lay there watching his father suffer and wondered fearfully what was to become of them. Surely the lone wolf was satisfied now? Surely this torture wouldn't go on? But it did go on. The loner left Kel lying limp, breathless, and moaning, and he came now for Kilyan. Kilyan remembered for the first time that, unlike his father, his legs were free. He kicked out wildly, firm in his resolve that what had happened to his father would never happen to him! But the stranger caught Kilyan's thrashing ankles, and Kilyan saw the wolf's dick swell upright. He realized that all his kicking was making his dick and his balls flap and that this gave the strange wolf pleasure, so he fell still at once and started crying behind his gag. God, why was this happening?

"Leave him alone!" Kel moaned angrily, and Kilyan winced that his father sounded so tired and weak. "You sick son of ah bitch! He's just a child --!"

Kilyan could see out of the corner of his eye that his father was twisting and struggling in his ropes again, though he was somewhat weaker than before.

"Don't do this to him! Take me --!"

The stranger only grinned, and dragging Kilyan closer to him through the dirt by his legs, he sank himself into Kilyan's anus. Kilyan screamed behind his gag. He'd rather be fondled again, he'd rather be sucked -- anything but this! That thick, pumping cock held him wide open, sending spasms of pain through him that made sobs choke up out of him, that made the tears come afresh. His entire body was shaking now as the cock drove in and out with great vigor, as the stranger moaned and groaned his delight, as his buttocks squirmed and tensed with the agony of it all. How could his father delight in so much pain? He felt something wet and hot dribble down his buttocks and knew it was blood. He sobbed brokenly.

"Leave him alone!" Kel was sobbing. "I'll fucking kill you for this! Kilyan -- it'll be over soon! It'll be over!"

Kilyan sobbed to hear his father's words. Kel sounded so scared for him, as if he knew what it was like to be so brutally taken, as if his anus -- a tail chaser's anus! -- had already been broken in by other males and in this pearly dawn had endured less pain!

"I'll fucking kill you! Get off my son!"

Kilyan heard a scuffle in the dirt and realized his father had crawled his way closer to them at last. He heard the stranger give an agonized scream and he was dropped, sobbing, to the dirt as the loner turned and kicked his father. Kel grunted from the blow to his ribs, but he had succeeded in his purpose: the lone wolf had completely abandoned Kilyan and was now turning in a rage upon Kel. Kilyan saw the blood leaking over the loner's ankle, saw the blood on his father's snarling fangs and realized Kel must've bitten him savagely. Kilyan felt a surge of love for his father, who even in this horribly bleak circumstance had sacrificed himself to protect his son.

But now the stranger was kicking Kel brutally, stomping on his back, cursing at him. Kilyan could hear his father's agonized cries as he took each blow, his grunts as he endured them for his son. Though it pained Kilyan very much to move, he wriggled over and started pounding the wolf with his feet, screaming behind his gag for him to leave his father alone. To Kilyan's delight, the loner backed away several feet where they could not reach him, and glaring at them both, he knelt down and examined his bloody ankle with a curse.

Kel and Kilyan lay there breathless, their chests heaving, their faces stained with tears. Kilyan broke down with sobs and heard his father whispering to him as the loner struggled to wrap his ankle and stop the bleeding.

"Kilyan, you are being very brave, my son," Kel whispered, and Kilyan saw tears glistening in his father's bright green eyes. "I have never been so proud of you! I apologize for letting this h-happen to you -- I -- I will try to distract him as long as I can. While he is distracted with me, you must get up and run --"

Kilyan shook his head wildly. He would never leave his father! He wanted to say this behind the gag but it only came out as a muffled grunt.

"Please," said Kel, fresh tears streaming from his eyes. "I could not bear it if you came to die here because of me. I can not bear to see you in anymore pain --"

Kilyan shook his head vigorously again. He wanted to tell his father that it wasn't his fault, that Kel had fought bravely, that he had never loved his father more than in this moment when he looked so frightened for his son, when his love rang so clearly from his eyes. But all he could do with the gag in his mouth was look at his father in earnest.

Kel managed a weak smile. "I love you too, my son. My Kilyan."

The loner returned to them, limping on his injured ankle, and his face read hatred. He made a wide circle of them both, sneering at Kel, who was glaring daggers at him. He moved behind Kilyan, who sobbed as he was jerked to his feet and then thrown over the loner's shoulder. The loner stood there smiling nastily down at Kel as Kilyan whimpered on his shoulder, and without shifting his eyes from Kel's glowering face, he gave the side of Kilyan's buttocks a long, deliberate lick. Kilyan shuddered and moaned angrily behind the gag.

"I'm going to get you, you son of ah bitch," Kel whispered, glowering up at the loner.

The lone wolf only laughed and stroked Kilyan's buttocks, which were trembling violently now. Then he carried Kilyan some distance away, and Kel could not shut his ears to his son's muffled screams.