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"Say that one more time, would you partner?" Henry asked, quietly. "I ain't sure I heard you right the first time." The raven-man opposite him licked the tip of his beak, and then leaned forward over Henry's desk. His beak and black, beady eyes were enormous, completely dominating his facial features.

Althys paused for a moment to examine the human; the sheriff was a ruggedly-built young human with deeply tanned skin and a wild mess of blonde-brown hair underneath a wide-brimmed hat and a well-worn duster. He was clean-shaven and smiled easily, yet carried himself with an air of calm, collected surety that surprised the raven.

"The man you know as Modiron Koyle is no man. He is either an immensely gifted thrall of the Nine Hells, or a devil himself. Mr. Sherrif." The raven-man said. "Everything he has done up to this point has been in the service of some infernal scheme to drag your town into the foulest sort of corruption and depravity."

"Well. Ain't that something." Henry whispered. A faint smile curved his lips as an *awful* lot of puzzle pieces began to fall into place with his mind.

Of course, there had always been something just plain *off* about the man who called himself Modiron Koyle. At first, Henry had wondered why a salesman would want to open a store in Saltrock of all places; a desert town that lived around its mine and waterwell like a bent barbell. Even in the Vast it was considered nothing in the middle of nowhere. Saltrock did more business in coal and graphite than salt these days, but few families had a lot of bills left in their name after food, taxes and household necessities were accounted for. Somehow, his business had flourished in spite of this. He sold his general goods cheap, and had a knack for acquiring the most extraordinary items. There was always a dazzling array of magical wonders and technological marvels from abroad in his emporium, and he was always willing to make a bargain.

"Typical. Insinuating himself into a community as a merchant, and then becoming a power broker." The raven had said.

When theft and fighting over money- especially gambling debts- in the town began to boil over, Henry learned that an awful lot of the citizens he served owed money to Modiron Koyle's store or the man himself. But that investigation had never gone anywhere, on account of a sudden spate of bandit attacks. The bandits were relentless, committing kidnappings, robberies and even fouler deeds. It was the worst crime Saltrock had ever seen, and it kept getting worse every week.

Koyle had been supportive of him at first; even going so far as to equip the Sherriff and the men he deputized. But as hard as Henry fought, the persistence of the bandits and their ability to seemingly melt into the shadows meant they were never routed, only driven away. Henry lost deputy after deputy- many of them simply went missing in the middle of their sleep- and the townsfolk were slowly turning against him. Led by Koyle and the town's mayor, he was facing an 'emergency re-election' that would- practically speaking- give the title of Sherriff on to anyone Koyle wanted.

And now, a giant black bird who had appeared unannounced inside his office was telling him that Koyle- a devil!- had not only hired the bandits but equipped them and built their camps!

"I saw them as I was on my way. They were cleverly hidden, but not from the skies." The raven had said earlier.

"I've got to admit, now that I think about it your story falls together pretty well." Henry said, as he finished digesting what the raven had told him. "Well, if what you're sayin' holds water I'd say this son of a bitch just signed himself a death warrant."

"You will find serving that warrant troublesome, Sherriff. Devils are immortal unless slain within the Hells themselves." Althys said. "However, mortal injuries or powerful magic will banish a devil from the material realm for a very long time." The raven said. "I must warn you; devils can be exceptionally hard to injure, let alone inflict mortal wounds upon."

"So, you know this banishment magic then, right?" Henry asked.

"No." the raven said, shaking his head. "While I am a druid, I am afraid I do not know how to work such invocations. I also do not have any enchanted weapons besides my own gun." He tapped his holster, which held an elegant, silvery single action revolver than Henry recognized as Elven in make.

"Well, shit on a biscuit." Henry cursed. "I've got fine, heavy steel, but it ain't enhanced nor do I have any enchanted ammo to load."

"Then we must rely upon persistence brute force to overcome the creature," Althys said. "It is not an elegant approach, but even the mightiest spirits can be banished if you destroy enough of their corporeal flesh. Prepare yourself, Sherriff."

"Right. Devil hunting." Henry said, standing up from his chair. He looked down the hall towards the jail cells; he'd had to lock Carl up last night for getting drunk and fighting. "Carl? I need to go take care of somethin'." He tossed the man a key. "You can let yourself out if the place starts to burn down, but otherwise I want you to stay right here 'till your sentence is up on Friday. Alright?"

"O-okay," Carl said. He tried to catch the key, but it hit him in the chest.

"Do you know where the devil is?" the raven asked.

"Yeah. He almost never leaves his store. It's the only three-story building in Saltrock and there ain't a thing around it save his own supply dock." Henry replied. "So what do you think about the direct approach? Surprise him, before he has any time to prepare?"

"Ordinarily I would caution against it, but I'm afraid time is not on our side." The bird asked. "The corruption in this town is so strong I can sense it without the aid of my magic. Immediate action is our only course of action, lest this town be dragged screaming and kicking into damnation. We must confront Koyle, confirm that he is indeed the devil we seek and banish him as soon as possible."

"Fan-tas-tic." Henry slowly said. "Well shit! If there ain't two ways about it let's get to work. But first, you need to take this, partner; I'm deputizing you." Henry said, opening his desk drawer and pulling a badge out of one drawer; a silver, five-pointed star.

The raven took the offered badge and affixed it to his belt. "Done. Does that make me a sheriff, too?"

"No; you're a deputy." Henry replied. "Unless they kill me, in which case you're going to need to pluck this gold thing from my chest." He said, jabbing the badge on the front of his duster. "By the way, pardon my manners. Henry Vackenroth; it's a damn fine pleasure to meet you, mister..?" Henry began, pressing his hand towards the raven-man.

"My name is Althys. It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Henry." The Tengu said, slowly taking hold of Henry's hand. Avian scales met human flesh; Althys held his hand firm, and was unsure what exactly to do when the human began to vigorously shake his hand up and down. "Wait! Is this a hand-shake? Let us try that again; I was not ready!"

**** ****

They left the Sherriff's office through the backdoor, Henry pulling his duster back and checking the holster on his hip; Althys straightening out the cape he wore over his wings.

"This way," Henry said, beginning to walk quickly but quietly through the cool night. "Keep your hood and cloak on; don't want your appearance stirrin' up any interest."

"Of course," Althys whispered back, following just behind and to the side of Henry. "Do you mind if I ask you something, sheriff?"

"You can ask, yeah," Henry said.

"Have you met another Tengu before? Most humans I meet find my appearance rather... disturbing."

"Most humans probably didn't grow up in a Dwarven forge city," Henry replied, keeping his eyes forward as he walked. "Don't let my accent fool you none; I ain't exactly a back-country bumpkin'. I used to work for the Grand Sweep Railroad; I've bunked with more creatures than you could name on fingers. But if you don't drop a few letters here or there folks in these parts think you're actin' the pretentious ass."

"That is an interesting tradition," Althys quietly replied. "I am quite far from my home, as well."

"What would that be? Where are you from, anyway?" Henry asked.

"Southern Alimoor." Althys said.

"Hot damn! I've only been to Alimoor once; I'd heard of birdfolk like yourself but I'd never seen any with my own two eyes 'till today."

Althys smiled nodded, his long, curved beak bobbing up and down. "Few have; we are not many."

Henry broke into a slow jog as he and Althys approached a pair of miners heading home from a late shift.

"Howdy folks!" the sheriff said with an exaggerated wave, maneuvering himself in front of the cloaked avian to draw attention to himself.

The miners both offered him a weary wave. "Where's the emergency now, sheriff?" One of them- old Bill Gruso the mine crew supervisor- asked, squinting at Henry over his enormous beard.

"Wouldn't believe me if I told ya, Bill." Henry said, jogging backwards in front of Althys. "No time to talk now."

Bill nodded, and kept walking. So did Henry.

Koyle's store was on a bare patch of land between the train station and the mine; they reached it after another twenty minutes of steady walking without further interruption. The building was a haphazard edifice that looked much older than Henry knew it was, surrounded on all sides by a wooden loading dock that grew out to encompass the rail line that ran past the building. Wooden pallets loaded with hay, animal feed and crates full of merchandise surrounded the lurching structure like tombstones. A lonesome crane dangling out of the second story of the store hung absolutely still in the night air.

"You know, I've been so busy puttin' out metaphorical fires around town I never noticed how big this place was getting..." Henry said, ducking behind a large crate near the main door and peering over it. He'd seen Koyle a few weeks ago to buy coffee and quinoa, and didn't remember the store looking quite so ominous. "Well, the light's on; he must be inside." He said, pointing at the store's front window.

Althys stood there silent for a long moment before turning to look the human dead in the eye. "Henry... prepare yourself. There is no telling what we may encounter inside that building."

The human nodded. "Is there anything else I should know?"

The raven hesitated for a moment, before saying, "Devils are not like demons; they work in the shadows. He will not be expecting a direct assault nor be too prepared for one. But do *not* underestimate the fury of a cornered devil."

"If he is a devil," Henry added. "We're proving that first."

"I do not foresee that being a problem." Althys said.

By silent but mutual agreement, they began to walk towards Koyle's door. They entered together, each opening one of the large wooden doors that led into the dimly-lit store.

Mondiron Koyle certainly seemed like an unlikely devil at that moment. Koyle was currently hunched over his counter propped up on a stool, one hand holding a thick ledger steady while he wrote in it with a silvered nib pen. Every so often he would pause his writing to chew a bit on the end of his pen, or dip the nib into his inkwell.

Henry walked up to the counter while Althys stayed back around the door, warily scanning the room.

"Sherriff! To what do I owe the pleasure of such a late evening visit?" Koyle gave Henry a jocular smile approached, lowering his spectacles and peering over them. "Store's closed for the day, but if you need something right quick I'd be willing to bend my rules..."

"No, Mr. Koyle; that's quite alright!" Henry said, smiling back at the trader. "I'm afraid I'm just here to bother you 'bout a few little questions, nothin' more. Won't take long, in any case. You're not busy at present, are you?"

"Ah... well, I was just in the middle of tallying my accounts for the month and I don't quite know what to say. These bandit attacks are starting to take a real toll on my solvency. I know folks are hurting all over our fair town, but I've lent just about as much credit as I can afford," Koyle said, sighing and taking his spectacles off. He rubbed his temples and frowned, before finally looking up at Henry. "Sherriff, I just plain don't know what to do anymore. I've tried so hard to do right by people here, but- ah! Who is your friend there?" Koyle said, suddenly seeming to notice the Tengu standing by his door.

Henry gestured vaguely towards Althys, feeling sheepish and a little stupid for having suspected the merchant of any wrongdoing. "Well, uh, Mr. Koyle this gentleman came into my office just a few hours ago and told me the strangest darn story I'd ever heard in my life, what about you bein' involved in some sort of-"

"Devil. Defiler. You cannot hide from me." Althys said to Koyle, staring fiercely at the man. He slowly began to walk towards the counter. "Leave this place forever, or be destroyed!"

Henry's eyes shifted from the raven's furious gaze to the look of surprise- confusion?- on Mondiron Koyle's face.

Koyle's smile slowly broadened into a grin- a fanged grin. "Well! I say, it's been forever and a day since I've seen a Tengu Spirit-Hunter! No point in tryin' to run a bluff past you, no sir!" he said, standing up from his stool and shaking his head. Suddenly, his voice ran ice-cold. "But... sad to say, you're out of your league here, son. The Bringer of Life has got big plans in the Vast, and I'm afraid I can't have you two spoiling them."

"Who?" Althys said, harshly.

"Ho-ly shit." Henry cursed, turning his attention to Koyle. He was so angry he was having trouble thinking. "Well fuck me with a cactus! You slimy son of a bitch! It *was* you all along, wasn't it!? You... you mother fucker! You brought all this trouble down on *my* town!?" Henry stammered, violently jabbing his finger at Koyle.

"Yes, Sherriff Vackenroth," Koyle said to Henry. "As a matter of fact, I've got big plans for little Saltrock! It may not be much now, but it is going to be my main distribution center for the rest of the Vast. When the eponymous Great Sweep rail line is finished, I intend for it to run *right* through this wonderful little town!" The devil smiled, and then laughed.

"We'll fuckin' see about that!" Henry yelled.

"Yes, we shall. Don't worry; I'll fill you in on the rest of the plan once you're both in a more... receptive condition. Now," Koyle said, turning to look past the curtains that concealed the back rooms of his store. "Mr. Hathraty? Mr. Goldfaren? Could you come out here please, and subdue our new guests?"

"Zeke and Connor!?" Henry gasped. "What did you do to them!?"

"Who are they?" Althys asked.

"What!? Two of my old deputies, that's who!" Henry said. "They up and disappeared months ago! Took 'em for lost!"

"You did?" Koyle said, stepping away from the curtain leading into the back rooms. "You should have been more diligent in your investigations, sheriff. Why don't you two come out here and re-introduce yourselves to Mr. Vackenroth and his friend..?"

Two hulking, creatures came out from the shadows behind Koyle. One of them was a bat-winged monstrosity with a narrow snout, sharp fangs and a set of curled goat horns; the other a rough-backed reptile with a long, wide tail and a massive set of taloned feet. Their eyes were slitted and gleamed with burning, hellish light...

Koyle smiled big and broad, gesturing towards the massive, bestial creatures like a showman conducting a circus. "You two remember Sherriff Vackenroth, right? Your old boss?"

The crocodile- either Zeke Hathraty or Connon Goldfarn- hissed at Henry with a black tongue.

Henry stifled the urge to gasp, turning instead towards Althys with a look of barely-concealed horror on his face. "What in the *hells* is going on here!?" Henry asked Althys, pulling the leading edge of his duster away to clear his holster. "What the fuck did he do to my deputies!?"

"A devil's curse, no doubt; their souls have been ensnared, corrupted by this creature..." Althys said, staring at both bestial males with a faraway look in his own beady eyes.

"Blame me if you wish. Don't you mortals ever realize the truth? People damn themselves!" the devil said, laughing with glee. "Whether you knew it or not, these young men didn't care much for your law, Sherriff. They just wanted the power to bully people around them! Well, I can assure you they have found satisfactory employ with me!"

Henry grit his teeth and looked Koyle right in his dead little eyes. "You're going to regret that, mister." He said, quietly.

"Oh, please. Whether you realize it or not I've already won. But if you'd like I can oblige you with my own personal blend of damnation..?" Koyle said, smiling and tipping his hat at Henry. "After all, your-"

Henry drew his revolver in a flash, clearing leather before anyone else in the room could react. Without hesitation he aimed at Koyle and squeezed off six accurate shots in rapid succession, sending the devil flying back against the wall.

For a moment, no one moved. The devil flailed back against the wall as he tried to steady himself, whipping his head up to face Henry and Althys with a look of cold fury on his face. Koyle's left eye had been split apart by a bullet, and was slowly leaking a trickle of black ichor down his pale cheek and onto the floor.

Althys pulled the front of his own coat open to reach for his revolver, but the crocodile beast jumped forward and blocked his aim of Koyle with its thick-scaled back. The bat let loose an ear-piercing screech and launched himself towards Henry, bowling the human over.

"Don't shoot them!" Henry shouted to Althys right as the bat speared him, spinning the empty revolver in his hand and then slamming the heavy steel of the grip into his former deputy's bat-like snout. The bat squealed in pain, and then yelled again as the smaller but tenacious human slammed his forehead into his muzzle. Henry and the bat began to wrestle, each trying to overpower the other. Henry felt something warm and thick poke him in the gut as he wrestled the monstrous deputy, and realized with some disgust it was the creature's hardening dick! "A- aw! Come on!" Henry cursed, redoubling his efforts to shove the bat away.

As they were tussling, the other corrupted deputy made a move for Althys. The raven sidestepped the croc's charge, pivoting on his talons and then leaping up on a nearby shelf stacked with sacks of flour and other cooking supplies. The Tengu flapped his wings to balance as he perched himself on the wood and began to chant in a harsh, cawing language that made the hair on the back of Henry's neck stand on-end. Henry saw a flash of blue light erupt from the raven's claws, coalescing into a fuzzy halo of energy that wreathed itself around the head of the scaled beast struggling to his feet. The reptile made a strange gurgling sound, and then closed his eyes and lowered his muzzle to the ground. He was asleep before his tail hit the floorboards.

Henry was still struggling with the monstrously strong bat- who, oddly enough, hadn't taken the time to rip his throat out with its vicious-looking teeth- when Althys cast the spell a second time. Henry felt a ripple of calming emotions over his own skin as the halo of light surrounded the bat creature's head, and soon he was busy trying to extricate himself from underneath the muscular, furry creature's bulk.

"Where's Koyle!?" Henry shouted, looking around as Althys hopped down and helped him up to his feet.

"I think he ran into the back while his minions distracted us." The raven replied, leveling his revolver at the shadowed doorway.

"You think we should go after him?" Henry asked, reloading his revolver with a speed loader.

"Back there?" Althys asked, pointing a finger at the doorway. "No. He has had ample time to prepare himself; this is the lair of the beast! We are very unlikely to win if we try and fight him in here; we must lure him outside!"

"Just what makes you think *I* need to run?" the oddly-deep, rumbling voice of Modiron Koyle said from beyond the curtain. The devil burst out from the back rooms with a black rapier in one hand and a bloody, glistening flintlock in the other. The barrel of Koyle's pistol terminated in a muzzle full of teeth; Henry swore he could see the thing *breathing*...

Althys and Henry responded with a fusillade of gunfire, blasting the devil off-balance as he leveled his own weapon at them. One of them struck the lantern in the confusion, sending the room plummeting into darkness.

Koyle fired his gun twice, blowing apart several shelves near the two mortals with blasts of fire that smelt of brimstone. Both Althys and Henry crouched for cover as Koyle continued firing, slowly chewing apart the shelves they were using for cover...

As Althys reloaded his single-action one bullet at a time, Henry rolled across the ground closer to Koyle, keeping a shelf laden with potatoes and other bulky foodstuffs between him and the devil. Then, bracing himself against the ground, he put his feet up against one of the shelves and pushed as hard as he could, sending the shelf and all its contents falling over onto Koyle...

Henry saw a sudden black chasm open in the middle of the toppling shelves, and caught sight of the devil's rapier for a split-second as Koyle neatly side-stepped the half of the shelf that Henry was still pushing on. "Well, what are you doin' down there?" the devil asked, re-balanced the other half of the bisected shelving as he leaned over.

Henry saw Althys draw a bead upon the devil and begin casting another incantation, but the harsh, cawing words the raven spoke seemed to take forever as Koyle slowly leveled his pistol towards Henry's face. But as he was cocking back the flint, a swarm of flying, crawling and hopping insects suddenly descended upon him from everywhere at once.

"Quick! This way!" Althys said, running to Henry and helping him stumble back outdoors. They both ran once they saw moonlight again, heading as far from the door as they could while looking for cover behind the stacks of pallets outside Koyle's store.

"This devil's strength is immense! We cannot hope to overcome him like this; we need to hit him harder!" Althys said, panting for breath once he and Henry were safely concealed behind a pallet piled with firewood.

"With what? Artillery!? The only heavy ordinance this town has is for blasting rock, not rampaging devils!" Henry shouted back. He looked out into the moonlit badlands just past the edge of Koyle's property, towards the gently-bending curve of the rail line that led towards the mine. "It's... wait! I've got a plan! Keep him distracted; lure him out, to the tracks outside!" Henry said, suddenly breaking from cover and running down the traintracks.

"Wait! What are you going to do?" Althys asked, having to keep himself from flying after Henry.

"No time! Just keep get him on *these* tracks!" Henry shouted, still running. "These- exact!- tracks!"

"Very well!" Althys said, peering over his shelter at the front door. It was still open, one of the double doors in the process of slowly falling back into the shut position.

Althys saw Koyle kick the door open, marching out of the store with a look that combined glee and fury into a single expression. "Oh where oh where are you?" Koyle called, twirling his rapier between his fingers and creeping forward with unnatural celerity. "Sherriff? Bird?"

Althys felt his heart freeze with fear; facing even a lesser devil alone was a horribly dangerous proposition, let alone a being like Koyle. He pressed his wings flush against the logs behind him and held himself as still as he could, trying to center himself and control his breathing.

"Come on, gentlemen! You wanted to bring violence into our dealings!" Koyle said. "Let's see that fighting spirit! Show me what you've got!"

The devil went silent.

After minutes of quiet hiding, Althys peeked over the top of his cover. Koyle- now searching a row of boxes across from him- turned at that very moment. HIs eyes zeroed in on Althys instantly.

"Aha!" The devil said. He took a few slow steps towards Althys. A swarm of small, red-eyed spiders were crawling all over the infernal merchant's suit, devouring the last of the insects that crawled along his body before retreating into the pockets of his suit. Koyle frowned at Althys and clucked his tongue as he dropped the bloody, skeletal frame of his flintlock to the ground. "Druid, you just ruined one of the finest items in my collection!" he yelled, flicking his rapier from side to side in front of him. "This kind of vandalism bears a cost, bird!"

Koyle crouched down, and suddenly jumped towards Althys with incredible speed. Althys sprinted up atop the pile of firewood and jumped into the air, unfurling his wings and flying away from Koyle as the devil landed on top of the wood pile. Althys glided to a rest on the other side of the train tracks that crossed Koyle's loading platform and then hopped off it, taking a few careful shots at the devil. In the distance, he heard the whistle of a train...

Koyle darted back and forth between pallets, dodging most of the raven's shots though two struck him in his chest, drawing a spray of black ichor from the otherworldly monster's body. "You cretinous pest!" the devil hissed, charging towards the raven. "I've had enough disrespect from you, sir!"

Althys sensed a sudden *wrongness* in the air, and instinctively dove away from the pallet he had been using for cover. The Tengu managed to clear the pallet right before a red-lit rend opened up in the empty sky above the pallet, blossoming into a jagged, fiery vortex. Althys felt searing heat blow through his feathers as the screaming vortex widened, sucking in everything on the pallet he'd been hiding behind, and then the pallet itself, and then finally a fair chunk of the wooden deck and compacted earth underneath. His eyes went wide as he surveyed the devastation, and he had to choke back a horrified gasp.

"Come on! Come on, little birdie!" Koyle yelled, chortling with glee as he sauntered out of his hiding place and towards Althys. "Where has your friend gone, by the by? Did the sheriff suddenly discover the better part of valor..?"

Althys cocked the hammer of his revolver back and spun out of cover, firing his last round dead into the devil's belly. While the devil was stunned and bleeding, he jumped onto the train tracks running through the loading dock and began to run down them as fast as his legs could carry him.

Koyle hissed in pain as the enchanted round burned inside his skin, but took another step forward the next second, and then slowly began to chase Althys down the tracks.

Fumbling with his ammo pouch, Althys was only able to reload three rounds while running- spilling many more from his pouch- before he could see the devil catching up with him. The raven stopped and quickly finished reloading as Koyle sprinted closer and closer, before finally slamming the cylinder in place and cocking the six-gun.

Right as Althys was about to fire, Koyle growled and swept his hand across the railroad tracks. A wall of smoking fire erupted from between the tracks, concealing the devil. But even over the roar of the flame, the raven could feel the tracks underneath his feet rumble and shake. A train was coming!

Althys backpedaled away from the blazing hellfire with his gun held at the ready. He wasn't caught off-guard when a hellhound made of shadows leapt out from the infernal fires. The raven fired, sending a bullet through the creature's insubstantial form before it made it far. The hound let out a reverberating growl as it smoked away. Koyle burst from beyond the wall of smoke a moment later, and began charging towards Althys.

Althys carefully aimed his long-barreled revolver at the devil's kneecap and fired. Koyle sidestepped the first shot, but the next two rounds he fired slammed into the devil's shins and kneecaps, leaving him struggling to walk. Immediately, the raven holstered his gun and began to chant and gesture with both of his hands, flooding the earth beneath the dry, cracked plain around him with life...

Green shoots shot up all around the train tracks, rapidly turning into a lush coat of grass. Small bushes began to push up out of the spreading field of green, and then a mass of thick, deep-green vines. The thick vines slithered around the devil's legs like pythons, squeezing them tight against the earth before re-burying themselves in the ground.

"That's it! Keep expending your powers, druid! Let ole' Koyle see all you've got!" the devil said, laughing hysterically. He didn't even bother to struggle against the massive vines holding in place; instead, he began to hack away at them with his rapier. The black metal cut through the thick vines as if they were made of straw, but more vines erupted from the earth to replace the ones cut down...

Suddenly a blinding, bright light hit the devil's eyes. He blinked, and through the light he could see a locomotive barreling down the tracks...

And he saw Henry Vackenroth in the conductor's booth.

"Please! Gentlemen, I appreciate the energy but you're not getting rid of me that easily!" Koyle said, laughing. The devil waved his hand towards the switching station across the tracks. Suddenly, the lever steadily pulled itself upwards, switching the tracks away from his loading depot and back onto the main line...

"No!" Althys yelled...

"Fuck!" Henry cursed. He drew his gun in a blink, fanning the hammer back with his right hand as he took aim with his left. The heavy Smythe & Company steel felt perfect in his hands as he steadied himself against the locomotive's raging power...

Henry fired, barely flinching as the powerful revolver kicked against him...

The fat, heavy 10mm slug struck the switch dead-on, slamming it back down. Sparks flew from the metal as the tracks realigned...

"NOT QUICK ENOUGH!" Henry screamed, laughing hysterically. He savored the look of horror in the devil's eyes for a split-second before throwing himself out of the conductor's booth, aiming for a stack of hay near the loading dock as he did...

Koyle hacked at the vines entangling his feet, but before he could jump from the tracks the oncoming locomotive smashed into him. There was a loud crunching noise; the train's wheels sparked and skidded slightly on the tracks the devil had broken earlier. A moment later, all the raven could see was a blur of passing boxcars painted 'GREAT SWEEP RAILROAD COMPANY' and 'SALTROCK MINING CONSORTIUM'.

Althys flinched and then beat his wings to push himself away from the speeding train, and heard a shriek of twisting metal from further down the line. He turned to see the mighty, petroleum-fueled locomotive teeter on its side as it neared the bend in the rail at breakneck speed, careening off the tracks and digging a massive furrow through the earth as it derailed. Sheer inertia carried the locomotive through a fence and into a carrot field, spilling oil from its damaged fuel tank the whole way. A horrendous crunching sound echoed through the arid plains for kilometers around as the train buckled and fell, digging a deep furrow through the hard, red earth before coming to a rest. Then, a massive fire bloomed across the locomotive as oil from its broken petroleum tanks spilled everywhere...

Rushing over to Henry, the Tengu checked the human for injuries. Henry was bruised, but amazingly the fall hadn't done major damage to the rugged youth. "Quick! Get up! He may have survived that impact!" Althys said.

"Is it on fire?" Henry asked, still lying down flat in the hay.

"What?" Althys asked, turning to look at the flaming wreck. "The train? Yes! But devils can withstand enormous temperatures; he may still be-"

"Wait." Henry said.

"But-" Althys began.

"Wait." Henry said again, grinning.

The raven looked down at the human and cocked his head sideways, and then to the other. "Did you hurt your head? I possess some healing magic; hold still for a moment while-"

Suddenly, a massive fireball turned the night sky into fiery day, followed split-second later by a earth-shattering explosion and a massive wall of superheated air.

"AWK!" Althys cawed in alarm, carried bodily by the blast wave until he crashed into the hay pile and then fell atop Henry.

A rain of smoldering coal and shattered steel began to fall from the sky, and the raven instinctively spread his wings out to protect the both of them. Most of the fragments landed harmlessly on his cape and his thick, feathery coat, but a few shards of metal whizzed through the bird's feathers and stung his hide and Henry's skin. They laid there cowering together as the steel rain continued; when the locomotive's smokestack landed on a nearby pallet they both clutched the other tight.

"Henry?"Althys asked, shivering slightly each time a piece of shrapnel landed on him.

"Yes?" Henry replied.

"What was that?" Althys asked.

"About a month's worth of Dwarven mining charges," Henry said. "Shipment came in late this afternoon; I knew the miners always unload it in the morning," he took a deep breath "Commandeered a horse, hit the station, requisitioned the train."

"I see." Althys said, laughing. He looked down into Henry's eyes, both hearing and feeling the human join in laughing underneath him.

When the last pieces of the locomotive had finished falling back to earth, Henry and Althys got back to their feet, slowly dusting themselves off. They looked towards the smoldering crater where the de-railed locomotive had been; it looked like the wreckage of a small war.

"Think he survived *that*?" Henry asked.

"Very doubtful." Althys said. He had to cover his eyes to look near the bright fires still burning around the crater.

"WOOOOO!" Henry screamed, jumping into the air and pumping his fist. He drew his revolver and shot it up into the air until it clicked empty, shattering the quiet with each echoing gunshot.

Althys, behind him, held a hand over his beak. "Please do not do that again," he said quietly, after the last echo died down.

"Shit! Heh, sorry, partner!" Henry replied, still laughing, a huge grin covering his face. "Nice spellslingin', by the way. That was damn impressive!" Henry said, smiling.

"Nice shooting." Althys replied. "And if you cannot tell, I am smiling, too."

"Heh, I inferred 'bout as much." Henry said, chuckling. "Shit! I could kiss you, Althys! You just saved this town!"

"There is no need," the ravenfolk said. "I could not have banished that demon without your help, sheriff. We succeeded together. And if you would really like to kiss..."

"Heh. Nah, not at present." Henry said, straightening out his hat and continuing to gaze at the smoking crater. "But make no mistake; I owe you one tre-mendous debt of gratitude. I will personally see to it that you are rewarded for your good work here, Althys!"

Althys grinned, lowering his head slightly. "That is not necessary, truly..."

"I insist, goddamnit!" Henry said. "Wait... ah, do you hear that? We've got company; it's the posse!"

Althys hesitated, looking towards the approaching people. The group of men and women walking down the road were armed with an eclectic assortment of weaponry; pitchforks, pickaxes, swords, flintlock longarms and even a few modern rifles. Nearly all of them were miners, strong and tough from years of back-breaking work underground.

Henry nodded as his friends assembled. The posse slowly gathered around the raven and the Sherriff, looking warily at Althys and shocked at the carnage around them. At the front was old Bill Gruso, carrying a lantern in one hand and his shotgun in the other.

"Ho-ly shit..." Bill said. The old crew supervisor set his lantern down and used his freed hand to cover his eyes as he watched the distant crater smolder. "Sherriff, what in the name of all that is holy happened here? The boys told me to 'round up the posse on account of Mr. Koyle's store being attacked by them damn bandits. What 'xactly has transpired hea'?"

Emily Fairbrook- the demolitions engineer- stepped up beside her boss. "I'll tell you what, if it was them bandits I'd say they're little ashy black snowflakes at present. That train was carryin' a month's worth of demolitions charges for the mine. That's around..."

"Wasn't bandits." Henry said, coolly. "Was us. We went to speak with Mr. Koyle on account of him bein' a devil and words came to blows. Could someone get my new deputy and I a pitcher of water and a coupla' glasses? I happen to be quite parched at present, and y'all ain't gonna hear much from a man with a dry tongue." He finished, loosening the collar of his shirt.

Shocked murmurs began to filter through the posse. One of the miners began to ran towards Koyle's emporium, and Henry shouted after him, "Wait! Do *not* go in there, friend!"

"Why not?" the miner asked.

"'Cause I said so!" Henry shouted. "I'm the sheriff, and this here is a crime scene *not* to be disturbed! Y'all hear? Now..."

"Just what in the *hell* is goin' on here!" a man said from the back of the crowd, pushing his way past the miners; Ezekiel Stewart, the mayor of Saltrock. "Why does Mr. Koyle's storefront look like a god damn battlefield!?" Mayor Stewart said, pushing his way past the miners. "You! Do you have any idea what you've done!?" he asked, jabbing a finger at Henry.

"Mostly." Henry replied, frowning at the fat, sweating man. Mayor Stewart somehow looked like he had ran all the way from city hall, which was a fascinating proposition given that Henry hadn't seen the mayor so much as jog in years. "Mr. Stewart, as difficult as this may be to believe Mr. Koyle wasn't what he seemed. I'll explain everything just as soon as I can get a little goddamn water. Aight?"

"Is he dead!? Did you kill him? Do you know how much this town depends on Mr. Koyle's kindness!?" Stewart shouted, wandering away from Henry with a look of horror on his face like a mask. He stumbled further along the loading platform and gasped when he got a better look at the wreckage. "Oh, gods above! And you blew up a train!? The *tracks*!? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?"

"Listen to th' sheriff." Bill said. "Henry ain't never done anything without good reason; ain't liable to have begun all 'a sudden now."

"Is that so!? Somehow the man I have scotch on the rocks with every evening has magically transformed into a villain whose death warranted massive collateral damage to the very thing this town depends upon for its survival!" Stewart screamed, his voice rising to hysterical heights. "And just *who* is this!?" he shouted, turning towards Althys.

"My name is..." Althys began.

"Shut up!" the mayor yelled over him. "I was talkin' to my law enforcement!"

"Mayor, calm down now..." Henry said, trying to control his own temper. It wouldn't do any good to slug Stewart in front of everyone in any case.

"You're going to stand trial for this, Henry!" Mayor Stewart said, face turning red. "I'll see you hang!"

Bill Gruso turned to look at the mayor as he stormed away, and then turned back to Henry.

"Koyle, huh?" the old miner asked. "So was all this worth it?"

"Yup." Henry said, slowly sitting down on a nearby crate.

"Huh."

"Ayup." Henry replied.

"He dead?"

"Near 'nuff." Henry said, smiling.

"Bird?" Bill asked, jerking a thumb towards Althys.

"Ace deputy." Henry said, nodding his head.

Bill turned towards the tengu and gave him a nod, which the bird slowly returned.

"You know, the more I think on th' matter, there really was somethin' a bit off about Koyle. His name came up an awful lot when miners wanted their pay in advance..." the mining supervisor said, slowly stroking the lower half of his giant beard. He turned to glance behind him at the restless posse. "I'm gonna have the boys set us up a, what you call, perimeter around this place. Aight?"

Henry shrugged, waving vaguely towards Bill Gruso. They were going to have to go back in at some point to retrieve Zeke and Connor- or whatever of them was left- but he wasn't quite sure how to prepare his troops for what they were going to see. He was feeling damned tired; doubtless the adrenaline leaving his blood. Coming down from the rush of combat usually didn't hit him near this hard, but Henry hadn't fought a genuine monster in years.

'Good Gods that took a lot out of me! I can't believe I actually shot that switch!' He thought to himself, laughing, rubbing his forehead and trying to calm himself. He mumbled thanks when someone finally put a glass of cold water between his hands and took greedy sips, the whole time trying to collect his thoughts. He was having trouble thinking, focusing on any one thought; just *what* was he going to tell the miners? The people of Saltrock were simple folk; few of them knew of magic, *real* magic as anything more than something that came up in stories. Were Zeke and Connor going to be stuck like... that... forever? Was Koyle telling the truth when he said his old deputies wanted to abuse their power, or was that the devil's doing? Could Mayor Stewart actually try to bring him to trial? It was probably a bluff; Stewart would have a hell of a time trying to arrest him without proof, but...

"Henry." Althys said, bringing him back from his thoughts.

"What?" Henry asked, vaguely annoyed at having been interrupted.

"Henry... something is wrong here. Very wrong." The raven said.

Henry turned to look at Althys; the raven's head was moving about rapidly among the miners, as if seeing something he couldn't. "Could you... be a bit more specific?"

"Look..." Althys said, pointing to a group of miners.

Henry squinted through the fire-lit darkness. Sure enough, most of the men and women in his posse seemed to be antsy and on-edge, or lethargic and exhausted. People were pacing around at random and breathing heavily and shaking out their arms and legs, while others leaned against crates for support or propped themselves up with their picks and pitchforks. Those guarding the storefront were rubbing their faces and trying not to make their own discomfort obvious. Even Mayor Stewart had been stopped in the middle of storming away, and was trying to catch his breath.

"What the hell?" Henry whispered, giving Althys a worried look. "What's wrong with 'em?"

Althys put a hand over his beak. "I'm afraid we may have been too late."

"Heh, what?" Henry asked, smiling faintly. He was having no trouble hearing the raven, but what he was saying didn't make any sense. "What do you mean? We blew the son of a bitch to kingdom come, didn't we?"

The tengu shook his head. "Whatever corruption Koyle was trying to spread in your town, it appears he was at least partially successful, somehow..."

"I... are you sure about that?" Henry asked, shaking his head. His hands felt hot and tingly; he looked down, and saw that his hands were *trembling*. That shocked the gunslinger out of his stupor; his hands *never* shook. "Althys... what is happening?" Henry asked.

"I... I don't know! I've never seen this before!" the raven stammered, watching the crowds with a growing sense of alarm. "From what I've read, devils can work their infernal magic through contracts; those claims persist even after banishment! But only those who signed a contract with him could be..."

"He... ran a line of credit for his store!" Henry said, panic creeping into his own voice. "Gods above, Althys! Darn near every person in town bought something from him at one point or another!"

"Did *you* sign one of Koyle contracts!?" Althys asked,

"Hm? I... I think I only paid cash for what I bought. I... ah..." -memories rushed back into Henry; his gun! Modiron Koyle had given it to him, along a case of one hundred and forty-four 10 millimeter rounds, 'Fresh from the dwarven forgemasters of Steelvein; the Smythe & Company Model Two Hundred'. Henry had never heard of the model before but thought it one of the best gifts he'd ever received; it was powerful, dead-accurate and the solid craftsmanship reminded him of Steelvein itself. And he hadn't asked for any payment at all, just a supply contract, not that Henry had bothered to read it- "...oh fuck!" Henry shouted.

"But... why!?" Althys croaked, shaking his head silently.

"God damnit, if I had to read everything I signed in my life I'd be carrying papers with me to the john!" Henry said, hurrying to unstrap the pistol from its holster. He popped the revolver's cylinder out and let the bullets fall free, and then dropped the unloaded gun like it was a live snake.

"Sherriff! Sherriff, what's happenin'!?" one of the miners asked, his voice a dry croak. The young man who was a newcomer to Saltrock; Henry didn't even know his name. The miner was hobbling from foot to foot and panting like he'd just eaten a ghost pepper.

"Who signed somethin' for Koyle?" Henry asked, throwing himself to his feet. "Hands in the air; who did a deal with the devil?

A sea of hands slowly raised from the posse, all except Bill Gruso and Emily Fairbrook, the mine's explosives expert. Mayor Stewart, a ways away from most of the others down the loading dock, began to shuffle back towards where the posse was assembled, slowly raising a trembling hand.

"Oh, gods..." Althys said, letting out a great sigh.

"Well... shit." Henry expectorated. He turned to address Mayor Stewart as the pudgy, pale man approached, his face beet-red. "How are you feeling about your good friend Modiron Koyle now, Mr. Stewart?" he shouted. "This evidence enough for you!?"

Mayor Stewart's face screwed up into a terrible, pained grimace, but he kept his mouth closed. Sweat was rolling down the mayor's bald forehead in great big beads and tears began to leak from his eyes.

The look in the mayor's eyes was frightened enough Henry immediately felt bad, and held his tongue. "Well, ain't this a bitch." He muttered, shaking his head and then sitting back down again as a warm, tingly feeling flushed through his skin. Henry took off his hat and began to fan himself with it. "Ah... shit..." he said.

"What?" the raven said.

"I'm... startin' to feel real warm here..." Henry said, wiping his brow with the side of his hat. He stopped talking suddenly, when he saw what was happening across the loading dock.

The young miner he'd spoken to earlier was stumbling backwards, tugging at his pants. The man looked dizzy; he tried to catch himself on a rack of saddles and fell over a stack of grain sacks. He grunted as he fell, but immediately began trying to un-do his zipper. When he finally did, a pair of slick, hardening, inhuman penises- split apart into a V-shape- sprang out from between the fly of his pants. The miner let out a low moan and began to wiggle out of his pants, quickly stroking one of his penises and then the other. Another miner let out a loud, bleating cry as a rack of horns began to push out of his forehead, and his face pushed out into a muzzle tipped with a wet black nose. Near him, his wife began to change in much the same fashion, antlers included. She gasped as the front of her dress tented forward at the crotch, followed by a wet spot in the middle. Of the two dozen townsfolk assembled, every last one seemed to be changing in some way, or about to join their neighbors at any second...

Henry closed his eyes, trying not to let his feelings of horror overwhelm him. He was burning up inside; his heartbeat was racing as quickly as it had been when he'd sprinted to the rail depot earlier. Henry turned to Althys. "O-okay partner; we did our best. Why don't you go ahead and take off before things get bad here." he said. "Before we all end up like Zeke and Connor..."

"That will not be necessary; look." Althys said, pointing.

Henry looked where Althys finger led him. Both of the Patterson brothers were on the ground, struggling to pull their feet out of their work boots. Smooth, tapered tails covered in brown fur peaked out from the back of their loosened pants, and more fur was visible around their webbed feet when they managed to extricate themselves from their shoes. The brothers continued to strip, wiggling out of their pants and revealing they'd already been fully changed from the waist on down. Henry couldn't help but the identical, mithril-plated belt buckles they'd bought from Koyle on their discarded pants...

"Otters?" Henry, quizzically, leaning forward precariously on his seat as he tried to find a comfortable position. "Well... that ain't very hellish..."

The raven druid turned towards him. "Yes, well; not everyone is corrupt at heart. Very few beings are, actually, which is why devils go to such great trouble to undermine the morality of those they prey upon. Koyle clearly was not ready for his curses to take effect, it would seem. Infernal magic tends to bring out the base and perverse in its victims, but that is in its nature. The true nature of corruption is more about the choices one makes willingly than dark magics and curses."

"Well." Henry said, blinking slowly and trying to ignore the heat pounding through his body. "That's somethin'." he half-replied. His boots were starting to feel awfully tight around his feet; he could feel tension radiating up his legs and through his toes. Bowing to the inevitable, Henry began to unlace his boots, kicking them off and freeing his hot, expanding feet. Henry sighed in relief and stared at his feet, both feeling and watching them grow and stretch his socks apart. He felt the strangest sensation of something pushing out from the front of his toes, and watched as sharp protrusions began to push against the front of his socks. Henry took a breath and yanked his socks off, ripping one of them when it caught on his big toe. Claws- short, stubby black claws- were growing out from where his nails had been, and the skin around them had taken on a rough, leathery feel...

The sheriff stood up suddenly, feeling a rush of nervous energy as he saw the claws on his toes. The heat in his body continued to intensify as his feet expanded outward and his claws grew, pulling his toes in directions they didn't want to go. Henry paced back and forth between two rows of pallets, walking slower and less steady as his toes continued to grow apart and the rest of his feet took on the same leathery roughness that surrounded his toeclaws. Looking down, he could see that the skin on his feet was darkening and hardening into knobby scales, spreading further and growing thicker as his toes continued to splay...

Henry felt the last of the rough scales terminate just short of his knees. It felt like someone was trying to squeeze his legs into his feet, because the latter kept growing while the former began to shrink. But the intense heat of magical change kept crawling up his legs and even further. Pinpricks rippled up his legs above where the scales stopped, and Henry felt something considerably thicker than hair start to rub against the inside of his pant legs. Henry stopped pacing and rubbed at his legs, trying to steady himself.

Althys walked behind him. "Sherriff, you need to sit down."

"I'm fine! That is... not necessary..." Henry replied, shaking his head and rubbing his temples. He took a step and nearly missed the floor, stumbling a half-pace before he caught himself with his enormous, scaly feet. "Damnit!"

"You need to sit down." Althys repeated, his voice a low croak. "And it... would probably be wise to remove your garments."

"I am not taking off my clothes!" Henry protested.

Althys pointed Henry over towards a group of sprawled-out miners frantically tearing at the back of their pants, which bulged with tails trapped inside. "Sherriff, please think clearly."

"Goddamnit..." Henry growled. "Goddamnit!" He said again, when he realized his feet were never going to fit through his leg holes. He began to try and un-buckle his belt, accomplishing the feat as the prickling, tingling feeling finished moving up his legs and began to sweep across more intimate parts of his body. Mercifully, the tingling feeling seemed to avoid his groin, but the feeling of something bigger pushing out around his backside was awfully alarming. It felt like the tingling pinpricks all over his lower body, except a dozen times stronger. Henry was in the process of pulling his pants down when a faint sensation of grasping force began to build around Henry's manhood, and then completely engulfed it.

It felt... good.

It felt *really* good. It was like a thousand tiny hands were stroking his manhood from every possible angle, and within seconds Henry was getting hard.

"What the shit!" Henry cursed. His pants were almost undone, and it was going to be mighty inconvenient to have an erection while they were down. He held his pants up, while the *things* growing out from the back of his rump began to push against his underwear...

"What's happening?" Althys asked.

"Nothing!" Henry said, trying not to flush. The stroking feeling was getting stronger, drawing tighter around his phallus...

Things were happening too quickly now; Henry felt another toe- another toe!- growing out from the back of his foot, some sort of tail pushing from his backside and to top it all off the tingling, prickly sensation kept growing up higher and higher, around his belly. Henry unbuttoned his duster and pulled his shirt up, catching sight of the dark feathers blossoming around his waist, and tiny shafts sprouting around his stomach.

Feathers.

Feathers and feet just like a bird; a black bird.

Althys must have noticed because he turned his head away and then looked down at the ground before meeting his eyes again. Henry took the time to drop his pants and tug the back of his underwear down, freeing a fan of stiff, still-growing tailfeathers. His cock was fully at attention, tenting the front of his underwear and starting to feel more than *really* good. Henry tried to ignore the stroking, tingling feeling enveloping his junk, but he was starting to squirt pre into his underoos. Henry scrunched his pants and underwear up and pulled them away from his throbbing cock, no longer able to stand the stimulation from his clothing. But then, with his fingers so close to his needy member, it was so easy to just... brush it a little... squeeze it, rub it through his pants. Henry felt the tingling feeling in his member explode into a blaze of pleasure as he began to touch himself, feeling the hot, steel-hard tip of his dick...

Henry looked around as he furtively caressed himself, and noticed that aside from Althys and Bill Gruso everyone else seemed to be having the same problem as him... or worse. A good number of the posse were turning into creatures readily recognizable as beastfolk versions of themselves even if their genders were all mixed up, but a few were turning into far more monstrous things. He hadn't seen Emily raise her hands with the others earlier, but she was sprawled naked out on her belly with a huge shell covered in spines growing from her back. Doc Weathers, the only alchemist of worth in all of Saltrock, looked even stranger. Henry knew that Doc Weathers had been taking all sorts of shipments from Koyle's Emporium to do his healing. Weathers had been making more potions than ever on account of all the bandit attacks. The doctor was paying dearly for whatever bargain he'd struck with the devil. He was a wiry, tight-wound man older than most of the miners, but now his lower half bulked out into a massive set of scaly haunches, easily larger than a well-built horse. A thick tail lashed behind the doctor; spines covered his tail and lower back, and ripped through his shirt as they grew even higher on his body. His pants had been utterly shredded by his transformation; between his legs was throbbing phallus as thick as Henry's leg, covered in throbbing ridges of crimson flesh and slimy, translucent pre-seed...

Suddenly, the reptilian doctor charged towards a group of changing miners, catching them unaware. He landed atop one of them, a male with a lizard's tail and light green scales spreading over his belly and legs. The lithe, lizard-like male struggled mightily as the larger reptile pinned him against the floorboards and began to rip his already-torn clothes clean off his body. But as his pants were ripped off his hips, Henry could see that this lizard was unlike the other males; a glistening, scaly slit with a soft, pink interior was where the man's junk should have been...

"A-c-come one, people! Control yourselves!" Henry shouted, as the larger reptile grunted and began to hump against the former male's tight, scaly cunt. He tried not to stare as the burly male's throbbing, knobby spire slapped against the other's thighs and crotch, slowly getting closer to its target... until the tip of his engorged maleness pressed right against the other male's femslit. They both shuddered. "Come on!" Henry shouted, again. "Keep yourselves together!"

"Why the hell should we do that!?" Micklan Preyor screamed back. The halfling miner- the only non-human in the town until Althys' arrival- had a long rat tail growing out of his backside and a muzzle bristling with whiskers that twitched as he spoke... and a pair of furry balls big enough he could barely hold them in both hands.

"'Cause it won't help any god-damnit!" Henry replied, now trying not to stare at the halfling's oversized sack.

Henry felt wrong in every way. Everywhere he could feel the little pinpricks erupting over his skin. He felt hot, and yet there was no sweat on his brow or anywhere else. Henry absentmindedly touched his own penis and rubbed his ballsack- both felt so *hard!*- and felt a brilliant warmth of sexual need spread through him. He stared at his sticky fingers as he bit his lip, trying to ignore the still-building urges within his loins. Henry held his hands away after a great exertion of willpower, biting his lip so hard he felt like it might bleed.

"You... should not try and resist, Henry,"Althys said, shaking his head. "The... course of the magic is irresistible once set. The contract cannot be denied, only destroyed." The raven sighed. "We need to raid the very Hells themselves to un-do what Koyle has wrought."

"That's... that's..." Henry said, distracted as another flush of warmth ran through his groin. "You... don't... really mean that, right?"

"I wish that I did not," the raven said. "There is another way. He could summon him again and try to bargain for his contracts. But such a blasphemous ritual would be done at... considerable risk to ourselves. Notwithstanding the terms it might seek. I do not know any more than those as rumors, though. A contract devil is not-"

"Argh!" Henry grunted, interrupting Althys. His cock was throbbing as though he could cum at any moment, and even though he was holding the orgasm off through sheer force of will the sensations of magic stroking were building in intensity past his ability to resist.

"What?" Althys asked, cocking his head into a very avian look of concern.

"N-nothing!" Henry croaked. "Shit!"

Henry bit his tongue, and then shook his head from side to side, and then grabbed his hands and balled them into tight fists, trying to distract himself from the incredibly stimulating feeling of pure magic squeeze and massage his throbbing maleness. Distractedly shaking his head about, he saw something that immediately caught his attention.

Emily Fairbrook the demolitions engineer wasn't exactly the daintiest woman, mostly on account of having to wear a massive blast suit that gave her the profile of a very tall dwarf. Her changes had left her with a massive set of clawed, scaly feet and a long, broad tail covered in hard, knobby scales. The thick scales continued up her back and formed an even thicker spiny shell; it had grown nearly big enough to reach her shoulders. She had also grown taller and broader; underneath her sorely-stretched teddy, her breasts had nearly shrunk away into the green scales covering her chest. But the most extreme changes encompassed her groin, where two thick, knobby phalluses emerged side by side from a slit in her scaly crotch. Emily was masturbating with both hands, her eyes closed and her tail thrashing behind her as she stroked herself. The faster she jacked off her twin reptile dicks, the faster scales spread up her shoulders and the bigger her spiny shell grew...

Somehow, watching *that* sent Henry over the edge. He felt his whole body stiffen as the climax hit him, digging his talons into the wood as he felt a surge of pleasure blast through his hard, hot cock. He moaned aloud as he splattered the inside of his underwear with his seed, staining his pants from the crotch outwards with a growing dark dampness. The torrent of seed spewing from his cock slid down his ballsack and taint after it soaked his underwear, and even though Henry felt utterly spent his dick remained hot and hard, tenting the hot, soggy, sticky crotch of his pants.

Henry shivered violently as magical force crawled across his skin and through his body, *pulling* and *shifting* things inside his body. The feelings were ineffable; too strange to feel right, and yet too pleasurable to ignore entirely. Henry could barely lift his head up, and when he did he did the world looked blurry and fading quick...

...and then he fell to the ground, too lightheaded to even stay on his knees...

...Or not?

Henry slowly realized his feet were still locked standing, his talons dug into the wood.

"Are you alright?" Althys asked quietly, as he stood in front of him. Henry felt the bird pick his head up and cradle it within his strong, limber arms, before whispering a mellifluous incantation. The raven slowly stroked his hands across Henry's face, sending waves of cooling relief washing over Henry's hot skin. "Here; this will help soothe you."

Henry looked up and mouthed 'thanks' to the raven, though no sound left his lips. The massaging feeling was still not gone, and continued to grow stronger even though he'd just spent himself.

"Sherriff! Sherriff, you okay!?" Bill Gruso said, looking over Althys' shoulder.

"Great," Henry replied, voice hollow. He waved both Althys and Bill away and stood back up straight on his own, rubbing his chest anxiously. His clothes all felt way too hot and heavy around him; Henry had to fight a tremendously strong urge to strip them all off, a feeling that got stronger the more feathers grew out of his body. His shirt and duster were overflowing with the soft, light downy feathers completely covering him, an odd contrast to the stiff, straight and glossy-black feathers of his tailfan. "I'm... just fine." Henry said, adjusting the front of his wet pants and then pulling them down. He needed to cum again, and even if he had to masturbate right then and there he was going to have to do it.

As he yanked his pants down around his ankles and began to work his underwear off, Henry gasped in shock at what he saw. Inside his cum-soaked underwear his penis was still human, surrounded by a sea of very messy feathers. While it was a relief to see that his own changes hadn't replaced his maleness with something utterly inhuman, there was something wrong with his penis. Henry thought himself a little on the big size as far as he knew, but he *knew* his erection was as hard as it had ever gotten and it seemed to barely tent his underwear.

Henry pulled his underoos down around his legs and stared at his cock. It was hard, throbbing and absolutely glistening with his gooey white seed, but smaller nonetheless. Henry could see and feel it shrink a bit more with every throbbing squeeze that enveloped his maleness, and couldn't resist the urge to put a hand on his dick and feel it shrink between his fingers. The sensation was shockingly pleasurable; every little touch a surge of sweet, sexual pleasure. Black feathers spread up Henry's back and shoulders, and began to crawl down his arms as he slowly began to squeeze his shrinking penis, pumping it up and down in earnest. Though it kept shrinking, his phallus got even more and more sensitive as time went on, as though its former size was entirely concentrated within the flesh remaining...

Henry was so absorbed in his stroking he didn't notice or care about anything around him. He closed his eyes and masturbated as his cock shrunk centimeter by centimeter. Minutes passed- though it felt like hours- before he could tear himself away from the urge.

What finally tore his attention away from his shrinking cock was the feeling of two immense growths starting to form atop his shoulder. It felt like his upper body was hugging itself; the bones of his chest grew outwards into a keel while wings sprouted from his back. Henry hyperventilated as he tried to stay standing, barely managing to rip his shirt off before they burst out of his body. He felt the new appendages grow and grow as the rest of his body shrunk, powerful pinpricks erupting all over the naked wings as the first of his flightfeathers came in. Then, as feathers poured out around his face and grew through his hair, he held his face as it grew out into a long beak.

The change was hard on Henry. His heart was beating so hard and fast it felt like it was going to explode. Spots blurred his vision between breaths; even though he was firmly perched on the floorboards underfoot he felt as though he could have toppled over at any moment. And to top it all off, he felt like he was going to cum again!

There was something else. Blinking spots out of his eyes and peering over the length of his new beak, Henry felt something supporting him besides just his talons. Althys was standing next to him, holding his shoulder up even as he began to try and touch his shrinking maleness again...

In a moment that felt taken out of time, Henry and Althys both looked one another straight in the eye as raven held near-raven. Though the words didn't come out right then, they both understood what was happening. Althys cocked his head sideways and smiled softly at Henry, sliding a hand across the feathers of his upper thigh and resting it just below Henry's balls. They were hanging higher than normal, almost buried in the shaggy downfeathers covering his underside. Henry trembled slightly, licking the inside of his long beak with a tongue too small to leave it. Then, very slowly, he nodded to Althys.

The raven nodded back to the former human. "It will be okay," he said, and gently took hold of Henry's penis. Althys began to rub the male's small, shrinking erection between three of his scaly fingers, and then two.

"This is not okay..." Henry cried under his breath, his voice heavy with despair.

"There is nothing to fear in being a female," Althys said just as softly, giving Henry's member as loving stroke across the head.

Henry moaned in pleasure while the raven touched him, gasping for breath through his beak until his nares former properly. The feathers lining his opening were hot and sticky with his cum, as was his shrinking cock. Being touched by the bird felt twice as good as touching himself; Henry felt a little closer to scratching the sexual itch driving him crazy. As another orgasm began to build deep inside his changing sex he held himself firm against the planks underfoot with his talons, shivering in pleasure as the explosive climax struck him. "Oh! Oh! Ohhhhhng- AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAH!" he screamed, shaking in place as he came. His cock kept shrinking, all the way down into his crotch in powerful, rhythmic contractions. His testicles were starting to behave in the same manner, sucking up into his body with each throb of his dick. Henry kept screaming in pleasure as he changed, having reached the limits of his own self-control.

Thick strands of male seed leaked from the slit of his cock each time his sex relaxed; he could feel the hot, hard core of his shrunken balls drifting apart and upwards within his changing sex, as well as the head of his now-tiny but incredibly hard cock. As his balls were pulled up into the slit, Henry felt the slit at the tip of his cock start to stretch open wider. Althys pushed the tip of his cock back further and further with two fingers, driving it into Henry's crotch until only the bulge of his cockhead and slit could be seen around his crotchfeathers. Soon, Althys' fingers were stroking both sides of his gaping cockslit, pulling both of the incredibly sensitive lips in different directions and mashing the head of his dick down into his body like the rest of his maleness...

Henry loosed a high-pitched caw as his atrophied maleness wrenched with change, trembling so hard he would have fallen without his talons to hold him. Althys reached down and spread open the lips of Henry's slit with his right hand, and then slid a finger into the gaping slit with his right. The contact with his throbbing, stubby maleness was electric; Henry barely suppressed a moan before he felt Althys stop stroking it and start *pushing* it even deeper...

Suddenly, Henry felt his balls pull tight and deep into his body, swelling out and *sticking* to something deep inside him. His sex began to alter in a way that made no sense to him, and as it did he felt a small orgasm swell up within his disappearing dick that spread all around his crotch...

"Oh-oh-oh-OH! OHHHH!" Henry screamed, holding onto his crotch with both hands as the last of his seed shot out from the hard, taut, quivering slit between his legs. "OHGODS! AHHHHHH!" His eyes watered as he shuddered and climaxed repeatedly, until his testes were painfully sore and the gushing waned to a trickle of hot, sticky cum. Over and over again, he felt hot cum gush from his slit and over Althy's fingers. The raven was still pushing and pulling his fingers out of Henry's sex, stimulating the shrinking cockflesh within as well as the new sex coming into being...

Breathing heavily, Henry stumbled to his feet, squealing and nearly falling back down with every step as further climaxes tortured his overstimulated body. He absentmindedly brushed the place where his cock usually stood as Althys fingered him, feeling nothing there. All that was left was his slit, stuck between his legs and still oozing warm cum. Henry shook his head in disbelief, craning his head lower to see what was left of his maleness.

The changing human shuddered in place, and patted his crotch again in disbelief. "No, no..." he said hollowly, as if suddenly coming to his senses. He'd climaxed so much his lust had been partially sated- at least for the moment- and he felt a sense of horrified shame at what he'd done and what was happening to his body. Henry stumbled forward and pushed Althys away, nearly tripping over his own talons as he did so. "S-sorry, need... need to see!"

"Okay," Althys said patiently, calmly wiping his fingers off on the front of his loincloth.

Henry was only half-listening. Still walking away, he slumped his shoulders and unbuttoned his duster, which felt way too hot and heavy to wear. Henry let it fall from his lithe frame and onto the ground, and then took a slow, tentative step forward, carefully spreading all of his talons out as wide as he could. "Oh, what in the hells!" Henry croaked, shuddering as he rubbed the swollen, sensitive lips of his avian, female sex. It kept spreading wider, while an internal change forced his rump up higher and made his slit spread lower. It spread across his entire taint and then began to tug at his asshole...

Henry staggered as the slit merged with his anus, the two melding into a single hot, slick opening. He had a... cloaca, just like a natural bird. The vent began to deepen, and Henry's emptied balls began to swell up into something large and sensitive deep within his new cloaca, something ripe and fertile in a way that made the female parts of his mind feel incredibly horny. Crying slightly, Henry dug his fingers into his new sex; the opening of his cloaca was a narrow but stretchy slit that ran from where his cock had been back all the way to where his tailfeathers sprouted, and it felt like he could easily touch himself with four fingers, maybe more...

"Henry..." Althys said. "Are you feeling alright? Henry?"

Neither the raven's calls nor the sheer shock of the changes knocked Henry out of his self-pleasuring. Henry held his seed-leaking cloaca open with his right hand and began to masturbate with most of his left, but as he blinked tears of pleasure and terror out of his eyes, something stopped him in his tracks. He could see much better in the dimly-lit darkness, but what he saw was beyond words. He could scarcely recognize the former inhabitants of Saltrock! Henry's new beak fell open and he pulled his fingers from his vent as he took in the scene before him, and the dulled horror of knowing that the rest of town likely looked the same as them...

Mrs. Baxford- covered in the thick white and black fur of a skunk- stood atop a set of four massive, furry paws, even though her upper body retained a set of furry, long-nailed but human-looking hands. Underneath the skunk-taur was her husband, Mr. Baxford, who she was in the process of savagely knotting with a throbbing lupine cock large enough to rival a horse. Mr. Baxford- a skunk-taur himself- was moaning and rubbing the rows of pert, furry breasts that lined his chest and belly, and sported no hint of male anatomy between his legs, just a skunk vagina covered in wet fur that was barely able to accommodate his now-male wife's cock. Henry felt the strangest feeling of relief knowing he wasn't alone in having his bits inverted, but the very idea of having a throbbing, hot cock thrust up right into his needy sex was...

The sheriff shuddered and shook his head and wings as he tried to banish *that* thought from his mind. He turned away from the mating couple and saw that Jake Baxford, the couple's young adult son, stood next to them. The boy was mesmerized by the sight of an avian gryphon-woman trying to masturbate with nothing but two set of bird-like talons. His upper half was only somewhat changed- a thin coat of brown fur covered his fingers and face, and his nails were much darker and thicker than normal. Below the waist, however, no fragment of his clothing nor humanity remained intact. He had the full lower body of a short, stout horse, complete with a massive, throbbing stallion phallus; underneath him were shreds of his torn pants, underwear and shoes. His horsecock jumped up and slapped his belly as he watched the horny gryphon screech and rub against the lips of her needy sex, unable to sate herself. Jake licked his lips and tried to turn away; he knew that the lust-struck gryphon had once been Mr. Tamlin the banker... but slowly, it looked like the new centaur felt his own urges overcome him. Henry's beak gaped open as he watched the leathery skin underneath the horny horse-teen's ballsack split apart, forming a gushing, black-lipped vagina. Immediately Jake began to gallop towards Tamlin, his enormous cock bobbing up and down like a length of timber the whole way as the fur on his chest and face thickened...

The Patterson brothers, at least, seemed to be a bit more under control. Both otters were hugging each other tight with their pants pulled all the way down, squeezing and stroking each other's ass and tail with loving care. It was only after a few seconds of watching them that Henry realized they were reclining on a set of enormous, swollen, furry rodent balls that hung from Micklan's crotch. The halfling had grown from his short-statured self into a human-sized rat, but at present he was lying flat on his back. His ballsack was absolutely massive; big enough to hang below his knees if he was standing. The otter brothers jostled the balls behind them as they continued their play, almost oblivious to the pink rodent-cock rising above the sack they were resting on...

"Stop this goddamnit; get ahold of yourselves!" Henry hoarsely cried, trying to take in what had just happened to them without driving himself mad. The fact that his voice was a high-pitched and scratchy certainly didn't help. He closed his eyes and idly scratched the hot, tingling feathers around the lips of his cloaca, playing with them and trying not to push his fingers in any further...

Panting with effort, Henry pulled his fingers away from his needy sex and shoved thoughts of sex from his mind. He turned towards Althys, beak trembling.

"They... are not going to be amenable to reason for some time." Althys said, shaking his head.

Henry stared at Althys. The raven was holding his hands over his crotch, but his loincloth was clearly tented. *Quite* well tented, in fact.

Henry felt his heart skip a beat and a powerful tremor run through his spine, all the way down to his tailfeathers. It felt like he was seeing Althys for the first time; his eyes, his proud, solid beak; his powerful wings and lean, aerodynamic body. Even though the male's feathers were mussed and soiled by gunpowder and dust, it gave him the most rugged, the most *sexy* look. Henry felt the thoughts of sex unlike any he'd ever had before punch him like a bullet; he bit down hard with his beak and finally gave in to the temptation, and looked down to stare at the raven's tented loincloth. Slow, faint but very insistent tremors of need began to well up within his feminine sex as he stared at Althy's erection, and Henry felt a fresh trickle of sexual fluids start to drip out into his cloaca feathers...

They were both ravens, but only Althys had a penis. He was...

The thought came close, and Henry avoided it.

"-listening? There is nothing we can do here, Henry!" Althys said.

Henry turned away from Althys, and forcibly held his tailfan down to conceal his needy sex from the male avian. "I... I hear ya." He said, staring out across the loading dock once more.

Stella Baird, the poker-loving woman Henry enjoyed more than a few nights with over the years, looked to be in a similar but worse position. Stella owned one of the two bars in town and one of the two gambling halls, and had been negotiating a partnership in something with Koyle. Now, she was struggling fruitlessly to un-do her blouse with a pair of enormous gold-feathered wings. From the head down, she resembled nothing more than an enormous raptor with an oddly-human body shape. Her face, slowly succumbing to the changes as well, was screwed up in a grimace as her mouth and nose swelled out into an avian beak, curving downward into a point as it grew. Like him, her cloaca was leaking feminine fluids everywhere between her legs...

Stella shook her head from side to side, grunting and panting as her beak continued to grow out, absorbing her nose completely. Her eyes shot wide open and began to grow as her hair grew and turned to feathers, and then more feathers cascaded down her face. Henry felt his own transformation mirror hers, growing a dusting of feathers along his face and a beak himself as he watched Stella's changes complete. She let out a sharp, surprised 'Awk!', and her brown eyes swelled up into huge, gold-ringed raptor eyes. Henry saw his own beak push outward, growing long and straight before terminating in a blunt curve far from his face. She turned around, grabbing her beak with both of her forepaws and crying out louder as she began to climax...

Near Stella, the MacInroe brothers- who worked for her- were succumbing to a different sort of change. Kneeling side by side on the ground, their bodies appeared to be growing together. The blunt end of a scaly tail was growing out from between their conjoined backsides, while their faces were each pushing out into a frilled, fanged muzzle. The hydra brothers hissed, while the two huge cocks that dangled between their legs- now hind legs- were swelling into a tapered reptile shafts and turning a dark, fleshy red. Entranced by the sight, Stella turned around and presented her wet cloaca to the males, fanning her tailfeathers straight up. Henry smiled as he watched her present herself, feeling so detached from his own body he wasn't even sure what to think of himself anymore. He turned away, but couldn't take his eyes away from everything even when he tried.

Tim Buchanan, son of Gideon Buchanan the bartender, had a body entirely covered in fluffy sand-brown fur, complete with the perked, teardrop tail and long ears of a desert hare. Despite his feminine appearance, a huge pair of fuzzy balls and a stiff prick jutted from Tim's crotch, swaying in time with the motions of the muscular snake coiled around him. The gigantic serpent was himself only barely recognizable as Mayor Stewart, having been reduced to a giant hooded cobra with neither arms nor feet for his complicity with the devil. Two enormous, throbbing hemipenes jutted from the lust-struck serpent's swollen cloaca- one of which was rapidly pistoning into Tim's tailhole- while his tongue had been reshaped into smaller but otherwise identical pair of snake cocks that spurted precum out of his muzzle every time he licked the air. Predator took prey with a loud series of gurgling, burbling hisses from his spewing hemicock-tongue, while the poor rabbit-boy underneath him could do little but scream and moan in pleasure as his furry ass was repeatedly pounded and stuffed up by jets of hot cobra semen. More seed sprayed down on him from above whenever the former mayor' tongue-penes ejaculated, and even more musky snake-cum shot against his backfur and tail when the hemipene grinding against his fuzzy buttcheeks fired a load.

Markson, one of the leather necked cattle drivers, was slithering along on a long rattlesnake, wearing nothing but his wide-brimmed hat and his holstered revolver, having burst out of everything else as he grew. He kept turning his long, sandy-scaled snout over to look at his partner Billy Bright, who was slowly changing into a very similar kind of serpent. Markson slithered over towards Billy and gently began to stroke the other male's growing tail. A pair of serpentine hemipenes were slowly pushing out from underneath the rear Billy Bright's tail, which the changing cowboy was rubbing against his partner's own under-tail, searching for his fertile cloaca...

Henry bit his tongue with his beak and held the sides of his hips, trying to suppress or ignore the urge or somehow stop himself from thinking with his femsex. Henry had never known that magic could be so powerful; that reality could be so easily broken and remade. But as he continued to watch, the shock and horror he'd felt at first was fading away. Henry found himself staring at the males and half-males around him, imagining what it would feel like to be held and taken by each. Having them shove their hard, throbbing, animalistic cocks into his aching sex and filling him with...

"Why... why don't we head back to your office, sheriff?" Althys said, grabbing Henry by the wrist, and then putting his duster on around his shoulders. The massive coat weighed heavily on his light, slim frame, brushing against the ground as it sagged atop him.

Henry turned towards Althys, his reverie broken. "A... what? Y-yeah. Sounds good, partner..." he muttered, absentmindedly buttoning the top of his duster. He twitched his wings inside the enormous, heavy coat, trying to find a way to wear it that didn't feel suffocating as he walked, half-carried by Althys. Underneath his coat his wings and tailfeathers twitched like mad as they became all messed up, somehow not... right. Henry continued to stare at his transformed townsfolk as he was dragged away from the orgy by Althys. He dared not admit it to himself, but the only reason he let the male bird take him away was the flush of heat that ran through his body whenever he felt the male Tengu touch him.

**** ****

The walk back to the sheriff's office was the longest one Henry ever took. The sounds of not-quite-people hissing, screaming, growling, crying, laughing, fighting and screwing echoed from the town around them, magnified by the silence of the night. Twice the ravens passed by an ongoing orgy; older males taking younger, men taking women, the townsfolk who had become dual gendered taking each other. Henry's feathery body felt too warm in the cool night; though every step he took reminded him of the needy heat between his legs as he shuffled past the shadowed figures.

"What in the hell are we gonna do." Henry croaked, the only thing he spoke as they walked.

Althys offered no reply, aside from saying, "Later."

When they reached his office again, Henry trudged inside and threw his duster over towards his coat-rack, missing it entirely. He threw himself into the chair behind his desk, and then pulled out the bowie knife he kept inside the top drawer. Carefully holding the long knife between his scaly fingers, Henry began to cut his pants off.

Watching him work, Althys doffed his cape and shook his feathers out, and then began to straighten them with his beak, cleaning the dust, grime and shrapnel from his wings. Henry looked up to see the bird preening, and then noticed that some of his own feathers were mussed in a similar way. Studying how Althys cleaned himself with his beak, Henry mimicked the Tengu... until he thought he saw the bird turn to watch him.

"Sherrif?" Someone said.

Henry looked towards ths sound. Down the hall in his jail cell, he noticed Carl. Carl was completely unchanged! Well, aside from a possible slide from sobriety into intoxication...

"Carl..." Henry cawed, recalling . "Say... you know that, what, knife I confiscated from you? When I locked you up?"

"Yeah?" Carl replied.

"You trade Mr. Koyle somethin' for that?"

"Yeah." Carl replied.

"You trade Mr. Koyle something what with you signed a contract for?"

Carl paused. Frowned at him, then smiled the most shit-eating-est grin Henry ever had seen. "Maybe?"

"Carl, I'm gonna go ahead and... not return that to you. It bein' evident to me... that it would prove deleterious to ya'." Henry said.

"Kay." Carl said. "Purse?"

"Curse, Carl. Tell me somethin'. Why do I smell whiskey?" Henry asked, tilting his chair towards the jail cell. He could see it all in horrible detail; Carl was laid out on his bunk staring up at the ceiling, while the liter bottle of whiskey Henry kept in his desk was lying, empty, on Carl's chest. "Goddamnit!" Henry swore, springing out of his chair. "My liquor!? Didn't you drink your own!?"

"A' firs'." Carl said, gesturing underneath his bunk. A collection of open bottles lay scattered underneath.

"Carl, you son of a whore! Of all the times to be fuckin' out of whiskey!" he screeched, dragging his wings across his carpet. "You no good sonufabitch!"

"Hic!" Carl hiccupped. "Sorry sheriff. I got me a bit of a drinkin'... condition."

"You have yourself a goddamn drinking problem! And now it's my problem, given that I can't drink now! God damn you, Carl!" Henry yelled, suddenly bursting into tears.

"A-aw! I'm sorry Sherriff; don't cry! I mean, I locked myshelf back up after I borrowed your whissey, yeah?" Carl said, before falling back on his bunk and starting to cry himself. "I couldn't help it!"

"Why!?" Henry yelled, still sobbing. He held his feathery hips and tried to ignore the sensation of his swollen cloaca lips rubbing together, and the air passing through the sensitive downfeathers that covered his feminine sex whenever he walked. He wondered how much longer he could resist his own urges.

"Henry, please!" Althys said, biting his beak. He took a half-step forward, but was rebuffed by an agitated caw from Henry. "I know you find this distressing, but-"

"Distressing!?" Henry cried back at him. "Distressing!? I wonder why! Might it have something to do with my re-engineered construction? Hm! Quite possibly!"

"-It's entirely understandable. Please understand that the nature of life is not just what we-"

"Having dangly bits is part of the nature of my life! And, what else, I've got a little question for you, partner!" Henry said, thrusting a finger at Althys' beak as he continued to cry. "Of all the things in the en-tire world to have been turned into, why do you think I was lined up to become a- a- this!" Henry shouted, gesturing at himself with his hands. "This was *your* fantasy, isn't it?"

The raven lowered his beak and averted his eyes. "In a way, yes." He said, sighing. "That is... true enough." He looked up at Henry again, and folded his arms together. "But please! Do not blame me for what the curse did to you! Do you wish that I had not... helped you along?"

Henry glowered at the raven through his tears, before gritting his beak together and slowly letting out a low, crooning moan. He was taking things out on the Tengu, and that wasn't right. "Ohhhh! No, I didn't mean that- I know! I mean, I know, but... " Henry realized he was babbling, and went quiet.

"Yes?" Althys replied.

"I've got to say, I'm feelin' pretty fucking rough here, Althys." Henry said, his scratchy voice cracking as he tried to hold in his tears. Even the sound of his own voice was off; high-pitched and croaking! "I've been waging a one-man war on someone who was livin' right under my nose! I... I try somethin' stupid and end up... I don't know even know how to *think* about what just happened!" He sighed deep, and shuddered.

"I understand why you may feel that way," Althys said, smiling softly at Henry. "But banishing that devil did keep the worst from happening. You need not feel shame over that... or your body." The raven looked down, rubbing the side of his beak. "You will recover."

"I know. I know, I know; I keep tellin' myself that but this, this is not who I am, god damnit!" For a moment, Henry said nothing. Then he swallowed hard, slowly dancing from foot to foot and scratching his talons on the wooden flood of his office. "I don't know how to say this, but I feel a heat like you wouldn't believe in my nethers. You could boil coffee in my goddamn cooch!" he shouted, vigorously shaking his hands out and then slumping to the floor.

The male raven stared at Henry and blinked twice before he found the wherewithal to respond. "I... see..." the tengu said. "Well. I... knew you were female because-"

"Do not finish that sentence. Please." Henry croaked.

"Okay." Althys said. "Could you put your knife down?"

"Oh. Sorry." Henry replied. He set his knife down on his desk and stepped out of what remained of his pants. His underwear barely fit around his rump now, and was soggy and sticky with the last of his male seed. Henry drew in labored breaths through the small nostrils on his beak, and tried not to look Althys in the eye. "I'm sorry. I'm just... so frustrated." He growled, laying a hand over the front of his underwear and pressing his fingers against his wet femslit. The sense of arousal was so strange, nothing like the urgent, fast build of arousal that came to him when he needed to jerk off or before he would bed a woman. This was far subtler, but spread over his whole body. It built and built and built, and demanded Henry find something, someone to sate his need to be penetrated, taken and bred. He'd always known that women were different, but the why and how of things had never really bothered Henry before. Now, he found his mind racing to think of things he'd done with women, things that could sate the fire between his loins...

"It is alright; I understand." Althys was still sporting an impressive erection. The male raven wore a light, taut set of undergarments that kept his modesty even though the front of his loincloth was tented to the side by his swollen pride. Henry kept looking between Althys' eyes and his crotch, and noticed the male kept trying to hide his arousal with his hands.

Henry leaned back in his chair. "So..."

"Yes?" Althys asked.

"How's that stiffy? Henry asked.

"Uhm." The raven replied, pacing across Henry's carpeting and turning away from him. "I'm sorry; please understand. I happen to think you are... quite beautiful like this. If I am making you uncomfortable I could go-

"Beautiful?" Henry asked, sitting up in his chair and edging towards the front. The chair wasn't very comfortable anymore, anyway; it scrunched up his tailfeathers.

"Well... I thought you were quite a handsome human before but that was about the last thing on my mind a few hours ago." Althys said, chuckling. "Rugged... solid."

If Henry could have blushed, he would have. "Oh! I didn't know you were, uh, of that persuasion. Not that there's anythin' wrong with it, of course, but-" he stammered.

Althys kept laughing. "I find myself attracted to what I am attracted to." He smiled, and stopped pacing. "Is that not the most natural way to think of oneself? To understand our own feelings, and accept that we are driven towards them? Though to be clear I would simply say that I have been with both males and females, and enjoyed the company of those not of my kind. I would say those actions define me best of all."

"That's an interestin' perspective..." Henry muttered.

Althys stood there quietly for a moment, as if expecting Henry to say more. "And what is yours?" he finally asked, after the sheriff returned to staring at his desk.

"I... don't know." Henry said.

"Well then, think. Who have you been with?" Althys asked.

"Plenty of women!" Henry said, proudly. "And not a lick else. Um. Humans, elves... once a... uh... kobold."

"What attracted you to them? Why did you find them beautiful?" the druid continued.

"Why wouldn't I!?" Henry said, pushing himself up onto his feet with his desk.

The raven smiled. "Exactly. So do you understand, when I say that you are... so *very* pleasing to my eyes..?" Althys asked.

Henry opened his beak, but turned away and closed his eyes before speaking.

"And I love your scent... the honey sweetness filling my nares..." the male raven continued. "I want to taste you..."

"Stop," Henry said, very quietly. He felt the tickle of arousal building in his nethers, a warm fire that spread into his thighs and belly...

"Okay." Althys said, half-smiling at him. "As I said... I understand if you need to be left alone."

Henry sighed. Opened his eyes. "No, don't go. I... I certainly can't think this through by myself," he said. "The last thing I want right now is to be alone."

"Then should I continue?" Althys asked.

"Maybe?" Henry asked, squinting. He spread his talons out and dug them into the hardwood underneath him; it felt a lot more natural to be perching on something instead of sitting or trying to stand still. He felt tremendously aroused, even though he didn't understand the nature of his new needs yet...

"Well then," Althys said. "Should I say that I have seen your bravery? To take action against a legitimate threat is not recklessness. That boldness, your skill with your weapon... I've never seen anyone that could shoot like you," the raven said. He took a step back towards Henry's desk.

"I'm still not sure what you're talkin' about..." Henry said, crossing his legs together.

The raven smiled at him. "I understand if you need time to... adjust to things. But I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, and I think we both want the exact same thing."

Henry took a breath, staring at the other bird as he walked towards his desk. Althys leaned over and hugged him tight, and then stared deep into down into his eyes. Somehow, Henry had known this was going to happen.

The warmth of the other raven's feathers stoked the heat in his sex, fed the fire. It was like a fever, clouding his mind with thoughts of the heat and the need to sate it. Althys was a male; Henry had seen the bird's erection tenting his loincloth. That was the only thing in the world that could *really* satisfy his now-feminine needs, and he knew it.

"What do you want?" Althys asked. The raven cocked his head to the side.

"I want..." Henry said. He swallowed; crossed his legs, pressed them against the front of his desk. The heat was too strong to ignore. "I things to be back to normal. I... I wanna wake up tomorrow and... I mean, I want to... no." He licked his beak. "I-I want you. Bad."

Althys fixed his eyes on Henry and smiled. "Really?"

"I... I've been trying to ignore it but I can't help it! I... I need someone. I want you." Henry continued. He grabbed hold of Althys' chest and held him tighter.

"I know." The raven said. "I've been trying to let you know it was okay to feel that way." Althys continued, stroking Henry's wings as they hugged. "And I can assure you, there is nothing more natural than the love of one for another. It is how all life comes to be, after all."

They both let the hug go at the same time; Henry walked around towards the front of his desk. Henry half-noticed that Carl lay asleep face-down on the floor, but his eyes were on Althys the whole time. The raven was waiting for him, beckoning him forward with a clawed hand.

As Henry approached, Althys stepped forward and swept him into another hug, this time wrapping himself against Henry with wings and arms both. Henry felt the other raven press his beak into his from above and rub them together in a strangely affectionate way. Then the male hugged him tighter, and bit his beak. Henry laughed, melting into the larger bird's arms as his beak was playfully rubbed and bit and stroked. It was almost like a kiss; awkward and intimate.

Henry felt Althys gently push him back towards his own desk, guiding him backwards until he was lying on top of it. Sitting up slightly, Henry watched as the male began to tug his underwear down, pulling it between his legs and then his feet. Henry scrunched his talons together to make it easier. Then, naked save for his feathers, Henry felt Althys spread his legs apart on his desk, leaving his wet, gaping sex exposed.

"Do you know what this is?" Althys asked, taking one hand and rubbing it through the dark down covering Henry's inner thighs, and then the softer, finer feathers around his cloaca...

"Y-yeah," Henry admitted, bobbing his head up and down as he tried to see what Althys was doing. He'd never felt so vulnerable in his entire life, spread across his own desk. Henry dug his fingers into the underside of his desk for support as the male slowly rubbed the feathers around his cloaca.

"Really?" the other raven asked.

"Worked... breeding riding lizards one summer," Henry breathed, shivering with delight at the male as he was teased. Althys was almost completely in control, and there was a part of Henry he didn't quite understand that *loved* the feeling. "I've seen- Ohhhhh..!" Henry moaned suddenly, as Althys ever-so-gently brushed a clawed finger against the lips of his sex.

Althys brought the finger to his beak and then pressed it inside... and then withdrew it slowly. The raven stepped away from Henry's desk and left the sheriff to hold his own legs in the air, and began to strip off his belt, loincloth and a sex of fine, flimsy undergarments that were bulging with the bird's maleness.

Henry watched Althys slowly strip the silk from his body. The male's phallus sprang up the second he pulled them past his crotch. The Tengu's member was long, pointed and sleek, growing out from his cloaca like a spear of dark pink flesh. "Ready so soon?" He asked, lifting one leg and raising his wings to balance as he displayed his pride to the female.

Taking a deep breath, Henry tried to steady himself as the last of his masculine pride screamed at him from the back of his mind. But his need was overpowering every other thought he had. The bird before him appealed in every way the no-longer male could think of. Henry nodded slowly, and then let go of his breath, panting "Y-yeah."

"Then I won't keep you waiting," Althys said, walking closer. He put a hand on the inside of Henry's thigh, and then leaned down to beak again.

"Put it in. Take me. Put it in me," Henry whispered urgently. Trembling, he spread his scaly legs apart and used his scaly feet to pull Althy's closer to him while flattening the feathers of his tail and splaying them apart, giving the male bird another perfect view of his needy sex. Henry had been horny before but now that he'd seen the male's cock he knew what he needed. Sweet, slick fluids welled up from his sex, dripping down onto his tailfan and onto the surface of the desk under him. Yet Henry still felt almost terrified of his own need; he clutched Althys tight.

The male seemed unperturbed by his hands, and guided himself up onto the desk one foot at a time as Henry held him. Althys perched on the lip of the hard wooden desk and slowly lowered himself down atop Henry, covering the female with his warm, feathery body. Henry nearly squealed with need as the male's chest pressed into his own, and Althys' hot, throbbing ravenhood laid atop his belly. Althys pulled his hips back and raised his tailfeathers, pushing Henry's legs apart a little further and positioning his maleness near the other bird's wet, eager entrance.

Henry could concentrate on little besides his own breathing as he laid there, waiting for the inevitable to happen. He watched Althys ready himself and nearly cried with need, and began to dig his fingers deeper into the male's hips. Althys stared into his eyes and pressed himself forward, rolling the tip of his ravenhood around the edges of Henry's sex.

"P-put it in!" Henry moaned. "Please! Don't make me beg god-damnit!"

"You're already begging," the raven atop him replied, laughing. Althys smiled. "Don't worry," he cooed. "It won't be long now. I'm almost ready..."

"Please!" Henry said. "I need you; I need you badly. Right now!"

The other raven laughed again. "Sorry," he said. "I thought you were still nervous after everything that happened before. You want it fast? Like this..?" Althys pressed the tip of his ravenhood against the lips of his cloaca, and then hilted him in a single swift thrust.

"AWrgh-!" Henry caught a squawk in his throat as a surge of terribly intense pleasure tore through his body, sending convulsions of sexual tension through his netherparts in a way he had never felt before. No; he *had* felt something like it before. Just after his dick had shrunk away, and he'd grown the sex of a female bird...

"...I'll give you whatever you need, my little hen..." Althys said, rocking his member back and forth into Henry.

"AHHHHH!" Henry began to moan and cry into Althy's chest as the first of many small orgasms rocked his body, making his cloaca spasm wildly around the raven-cock buried inside him.

Althys' eyes widened noticeably; he grinned lewdly at the female beneath him, and began to thrust faster, using his perch on Henry's desk as leverage "...Oh-h-h, you're so tight-!"

"AHHH! AHHH! AHHH! Ahhhhhhh!!!" Henry sobbed, still climaxing. Somehow it wasn't quite enough to slake his lusts! "F-f-f-f-faster! Fuck!"

"Henry..." Althys breathed, rocking himself into his female with quick, shallow thrusts.

Henry moaned and shivered, eagerly ramming his hips back against each thrust. Althys stroked and kneaded his whole body as they mated, from the soft inner flesh of his thighs to the front of his broad breast. The male held his wings around Henry's sides, enveloping him in the warmth of his lover's feathers. Everything about the moment felt so perfectly wonderful, so perfectly *natural* that Henry felt his inhibitions melt away. The feeling of being so safe, so protected and so loved while having a long, throbbing raven-cock buried deep in his feminine sex exhilarated him in a way he'd never felt before.

Althy's thrusting grew slower and deeper, and then faster than less steady until he hilted himself deep began to cum. Henry was absolutely rocked by pleasure as he felt the raven take his new virginity. The first powerful spray of raven seed into his sex was enough to make his female body quiver in unabashed, utterly fulfilled ecstasy; the second made him orgasm himself, stronger and more powerful than ever. The new female cried as he came, his powerful inner walls clamping down hard around the avian cock inside him and milking the male raven for all he was worth. Every gush of hot seed that shot into his cloaca sent another mini-orgasm through the former human's whole body. Henry eagerly pressed his cloaca against the male's, trying to take every last drop he could...

Still breathing heavily from the exertion, they stared one another in the eyes, beaking again. Without speaking a word they both began to press their bodies together again. Althy's slick, still-hard ravenhood slid back and forth inside Henry's hot, slick, thoroughly seeded vent, stimulating him even though he'd just orgasmed more times than he could count. Henry bit Althys' beak and twisted it around, feeling calmer and more confident now that his needs had truly been satisfied. "Mmmm... don't think you're going anywhere just yet, sugar..." Henry said, clamping his beak over the male's before he could get another word in. Henry fixed his talons around Althys' legs and began to flex and squeeze himself around the raven's hips, mounting himself with the male's firm cock...

"Oh-?" Althys gasped, pressing himself back against Henry harder and faster than the former human was pulling him back. "I will satisfy you, my sweet little hen..."

"D-d-don't c-call me that!" Henry stannered, now rapidly slamming back and forth between his desk and Althys' crotch.

"Why not-? You're such a beautiful hen..." Althys cooed, continuing to thrust inside him.

"I..." Henry moaned, shivering powerfully as the male Tengu's sloppy thrusts pushed him close to another climax. "I -"

"Okay," Althys said, hugging Henry tight and burying his rod deep. His eyes met the former humans, and then he pressed his beak up against the feathers over Henry's earhole. "Well then, Mr. Sherriff..." Althys began to breathe, rolling himself around in the other avian's cloaca. "...do you even mind if I tell you that you are the most beautiful female I have ever mated with?"

"A... tiny bit..." Henry panted.

Althys shook his head, thrusting faster and faster. "What if... I told you I was going to cum again... very soon..?"

"Oh! OHHH!" Henry squawked, squeezing Althys hard against him...

Both ravens held each other fast as they climaxed together, pressing their feathered bodies together as one. Male and female cried out as Althys' hot seed squished into Henry's cloaca, filling him more fully than before. Hot, warm tingles shot up deep into his sex as he felt the male sperm bathe his innermost places, satisfied for the moment. But ten minutes later after more talking with his Tengu lover, Henry found himself feeling hot and bothered again. They mated atop his desk once more, and then on the floor behind it. Henry dragged Althys upstairs into the living quarters he maintained above his office, laying himself over his bed and presenting his backside to the druid. Althys gently stroked the other bird's tailfeathers gently as he prepared to mount the former male again, but after they had mated another three times the barbs were badly strewn and sticky with dried birdcum. Henry persuaded Althys to take a shower with him to clean up- something the Tengu was wary of trying until it had been demonstrated thoroughly to him. Of course, while cleaning and preening one another the lusty ravens made time to mate again. Althys buried a hot load of avian seed up his new mate's sex as they clutched one another under the warm water pouring over their feathers.

That sated their lust until the darkest hours of the morning, when both birds were exhausted and spent. They laid together atop Henry's bed, holding and stroking one another as the night grew cold and silent. Henry was no stranger to sex, nor love, nor lust. But the feelings that blossomed that night, between they who owed each other their lives was something else entirely. When Henry felt the feathered body of his lover he smiled and thought of all the reasons why everything would be alright; why it wasn't so bad to be a female bird after all...

**** ****

The Next Day...

**** ****

Henry awoke late the next day feeling disjointed from reality. The events of the previous day didn't quite feel real until he was halfway through his first cup of trail coffee, and then slowly the feeling of his feminine, avian form filtered through to his mind. After a half-hour of panicked, jarred realization, a quick breakfast and then finally another healthy romp with Althys he went to work restoring order, taking the other raven with him.

After clearing up the streets of those who had passed out in them, they went about identifying who was who amidst the transformed townsfolk. The druid's help was invaluable sometimes having to talk to creatures that couldn't speak very well, as well as helping calm those who'd taken their changes poorly. Thankfully, everyone was remarkably calm. Even townsfolk who'd been turned into powerful monsters like the MacInroe twins seemed more shamed by the experience than driven into savagery. Henry had to coax a number of people out from their homes, and then go about soothing the hysterics of the unchanged. Ironically, that group seemed to have taken things worst of all. Henry had to reason three different armed individuals out from behind improvised barricades, which mostly involved convincing them Saltrock hadn't been dragged down into the Abyss overnight.

Once the initial tensions had calmed down, people started gathering together around Saltrock's bars and general store, as well as Koyle's Emporium. The air in the town was thick with uncertainty and anxiety as neighbors, friends and family met each other again, with few words being spoken and much said by their collective discomfort. Wild rumors were spoken in hushed voices between those who trusted one another the most; Henry was kept on his feet almost constantly, running from person to person to calm things whenever emotion boiled over. Henry had checked in on the Mayor, and while Stewart's mind was somehow sound the serpent had neither the speaking ability nor the reputation to bring the town together. Henry knew realized he needed to restore order himself, and took the initiative.

Rather than try and keep people away from the devil's store forever, Henry called a town meeting in front of it and explained, with Althys' help, exactly what had transpired to the best of his knowledge. He explained how Koyle had used his contracts to trick them, binding them into the devil's magic.

"I've read about it before, though I'd never seen it with my own eyes," Althys had said. "In some places, discovering demonic corruption or devilry can cause more damage than the fiends themselves. Some kingdoms deport or execute anyone afflicted, or... the entire town, just to be 'safe'. But even if the authorities do not engage in such practices, it is very common for the victims of infernal magic to be ostracized, shunned or worse by their old family, friends and neighbors."

"The authorities of this town do not see any reason to exact further punishment on a bunch of decent, law abidin' folks snookered by a creature from the pit," Henry said to the crowd. "Yeah?"

"No you do not," Althys said. "But there are times when a purge may be called for. If the corruption is deeper; if the infernal realms really start to feed and grow on the evil of mortals. Usually after provoking it... but not always." The raven looked solemn. "Then, the entire realm corrupted and all in it are sucked down into the lower planes, to become a new part of it."

"So apparently we got off easy." Henry added.

"Well... the more extreme transformations can drive some people mad," Althys added. "The outside twisted into a reflection of the inside after a transformative curse is triggered. Most people can justify or ignore the things they do that they should not or do not want to do. To hide it from the mind's eye is to hide it from the conscience and the ego. To be twisted into something humiliating or monstrous is to be revealed, stripped of any defense. The devils don't need to do any more than that to their victims; they go mad, lash out and rest of the world itself becomes the source of final retribution. Or they become insular, and break away from civilization entirely rather than face the shame of their new form."

"We don't really need to add misery to woe, now do we?" Henry said, pointedly.

Henry apologized for his failure to root out Koyle, and commended Althys for his selfless bravery for helping them. Then, with the help of Bill Gruso and Mac Levinworth the railroad engineer, he laid out what it was going to take to repair the damage. The sheriff was half-distracted by Mac; he'd been transformed into a buzzard hawk, but unlike the mayor Mac had retained his maleness. Henry had walked in on Mac earlier with his red tailfeathers raised over his rump and a lanky but well-endowed black vulture- who ended up being Suzanne, the other rail engineer- pounding him senseless. The thought of seeing the male birds naked and mating again was a shockingly arousing one...

Though he wasn't sure if he heard everything, Henry caught the gist of what they were saying. Apparently the blast had bent the track far down the line in both directions, and it would need to be repaired. The crater left by the train and its explosive cargo going up was so large and the surrounding rock now so unstable it was going to be easier to reroute the tracks entirely instead of trying to bridge the crater. The miners and engineers began to organize under Bill's supervision, talking out how to get the work done. To Henry's surprise and joy, the rest of the townsfolk seemed to take inspiration from this. They began to organize themselves to support the workers, and clean up the damage that had been caused overnight by the panic and lusts of the transformed.

While they went to work, Henry gathered everyone left in his posse who could still heft a rifle and carefully led them into Koyle's Emporium to search for Zeke and Connon. Their search was meticulous and cautious but ultimately fruitless. No one was allowed to touch or take anything, and both he and Althys made certain of that. After that, Henry cleared everyone away from Koyle's Emporium and had Emily bring him a stock of explosives, a load that the muscled reptile managed in a single armful.

****

Henry took a stick of dynamite into his hands, and then held it in his beak as he fumbled for his lighter. It had been easy to light with gun-calloused fingers, but it was even easier now that they were covered in thick scales. He lit the long-fused dynamite, then shut his lighter and took the stick into his left hand. "Good goddamn riddance!" he yelled, winding up and then throwing the stick through the front window of Koyle's Emporium.

The glass shattered, most of it falling onto the store's wooden floor and deck. Six long seconds later a muffled explosion erupted from inside the store. Every other window on the first story shattered and blew outwards, and the structure seemed to shake.

"Heh. This is mighty cathartic." The raven said, smiling as a cloud of dust blew through his facefeathers.

He turned to look at Althys, and then took another stick of dynamite out of the crate the other raven was holding for him. Althys had a look of poorly-concealed horror in his eyes. "I'm glad you find this healing but please be careful!"

"I'm bein' plenty careful! I've got more than enough dynamite!" Henry protested, lighting another stick. He laughed as he threw it up in the air and then caught it, taking a strutting step forward before pulling his arm back and pitching the stick of TNT onto the roof of the store. It hit the top of the flat-roofed building, and rolled out of sight past the gutters.

"I meant be careful with the explosives!" Althys said.

Henry crossed his arms and turned towards the other raven. "When I was a miner I did this a thousand times, at least! I know how to throw dynamite!"

"That is- inherently!- a worrisome skill to possess!" the male raven replied, closing his eyes and shaking his head in agitation. "And you should... I mean, you need to be *more* careful now! You... you might be with eggs!"

"I don't see... what?" Henry asked, suddenly closing his lighter shut. Behind him, an explosion rocked the roof of the store, blowing most of it inward and sending a shower of shattered roofing over both of their heads.

Althys looked down, away from Henry's eyes. "I am a druid. The ebb and flow of virility and fertility are not easy to interpret in a straightforward fashion, but I am almost certain that our... coupling... was productive. I meant to mention it earlier but we were so busy the time never came! Now... there are certain spells and potions one could-"

Althys stopped suddenly, as Henry hugged him. "Henry?" the male asked.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Are you feeling well?" Althys asked.

"Somehow, yeah." Henry said, burying his beak in Althys' chestfeathers and breathing in the other bird's masculine musk. He felt the strangest sense of contentment as he pressed himself against the other bird's strong chest. "I just... I got the strangest feelin' when... when you said that you might've knocked me up."

Althys lifted Henry's beak with his hand and looked deep into the former male's eyes. "What did you feel?" he asked.

Henry sighed, shuddered and held Althys closer. "You know... this might just be my new parts talkin' and-and this is going to sound crazy but... maybe it's right?"

"What are you saying?" the raven asked, quietly.

"Maybe... it's the right thing to do. I don't know why, but... it feels like it is." Henry said, feeling strangely calm. "Until Koyle rode into our town, Saltrock was the most boring place in the world. I came here to catch my breath and think things through after I left the monster bounty business. I always wanted to have kids, but I never thought of puttin' a date on it; I never found the right woman; I never wanted to settle all the way down..."

Althys raised a feathered eyebrow. "You've been thinking about this?"

"I thought... I've been thinkin' about it since I woke up," Henry said, breathing out deep. "No, earlier, last night in bed..."

"I see," the druid said, sighing. He hugged the former human close, feeling their feathers press together. Henry sighed happily as he was hugged, and then looked up into Althys' eyes. "You... you understand what you are considering, right? We... would be committing to a very serious relationship for quite some time, and to raise-"

"Yes, but- wait, what? We?" Henry asked.

"There is no way you could raise our offspring to be proper Tengu! You don't even know how to fly!" Althys said, his eyes widening. "You don't think I would leave you to a nest by yourself, do you?"

"Well... what would you do here?" Henry asked.

"You ask the worth of a druid in the desert?" Althys replied, smiling.

"I mean, what about your spirit-hunting quest thing?" Henry said. "Do you really think Saltrock is the best place to-"

"Ah," the Tengu said. "As a druid I would be well suited to helping your people adjust to their new bodies. And what makes you think you're the only one with plans to settle down that have never come to fruition? I am rather older than you, sheriff!"

"Wh- really?"

"Yes?" Althys said, cocking his head sideways.

"Oh. All I know is you're built like a hawk where it counts," Henry said.

"Eh- uh, thank you?" the raven said, confused. "But to be clear... we should discuss this at length tonight. You are right to say there is much we need to learn of each other before we could consider bonding as mates; I will need to teach you about certain... sensitive subjects..."

Henry grinned. "Okay. Such as?"

"Well. For one, Tengu usually mate for their whole lives..." Althys said.

"Oh?" Henry said, cracking a smile. "Well, somehow we managed to stop this morning... though I wouldn't say no to more..."

The other raven smiled at the joke, and then turned to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Henry asked.

"I thought-" Althys began.

"Not so fast! We are still blowing this building the fuck up before we do anything else, sugar beak!" Henry said. "And then I need to have a word with the telegraph office, and-"

"What did you call me!?" Althys squawked.

"A compliment!" Henry said, smiling.

**** ****

Two weeks later...

**** ****

Henry screamed shrill, wordless cries as his lover thrust deep into his sex again and again. Althys' long, tapered cock stimulated the deepest, most exquisitely-sensitive parts of his cloaca, while the male hugged Henry's whole body underneath his wings. He was getting close again, close to feeling that wonderful, ineffably fulfilling sensation that only seemed to come from being bred. The moonlight shining through the windows felt like fire on his feathers as he was driven closer and closer to another intense cluster of female orgasms...

Their love was madly passionate; they mated every morning and night like they were the only male and female in the whole world. It still bothered Henry a little that he was the female part of the equation but never when he was pressed against the feathered breast of his lover...

Althys trilled as he came into his lover, filling Henry's squeezing tunnel with spurt after spurt of seed-rich ravencum. They were both young and healthy, but the druid had been casting spells to enhance their vigor, virility and fertility anyway. Night after night, they left their bedsheets soaking with musky fluids and covered in sticky feathers that had fallen off their bodies. This night would be no different; Henry climaxed, his tightening cloaca milking Althys' member for all it was worth, while the excess leaked out onto his tailfeathers and down his thighs. Clusters of female orgasms filled his body with tingles of warmth and well-being as Althys' hot seed soaked deep into his fertile depths...

Henry fell back against the bed and Althys fell atop him. They hugged belly-to-belly, still mated, and began to rub their beaks together. "That was wonderful, sugar beak."

Althys smiled. "Why do you call me by that ridiculous name? It doesn't-"

Henry leaned forward and licked the top of Althy's beak. "Sugar beak," he said, smiling at his lover.

"If you insist upon calling me that, little hen..." Althys teased, grabbing Henry and tickling his lover underneath his armpits and belly until the feminine bird was giggling and thrashing about...

There were days when Henry woke up and absentmindedly felt for the maleness he no longer bore, or caught sight of his lithe, avian body in a mirror and forgot that he was seeing himself. But the strangest thing was just how... normal he felt. There enough work to be done during the day that he had to take his mind off himself, and at night he was too busy spending time with his mate to care. Most of the inhabitants of Saltrock seemed to have adapted well to their changes as well. As Althys had predicted, Koyle's corruption hadn't spread very far. Though his old deputies and a few other townsfolk were never seen again after the night of the Devil's banishment and the reckoning that rocked the town, everyone left seemed to find themselves alright. If anything, it had pulled the small town tighter together than ever. Things felt like they were slowly returning to normal, though work continued on fixing the town's lifeline, the railroad. Supplied had to be carried by riding lizard or on the backs of the townsfolk from an old, disused station outside town.

"Henry?" Althys asked. "What are you thinking about?"

"I was thinkin' about the town. How well do you think everyone is holding up?"

"The town is healing well," Althys had said. "Almost everyone."

"Well. Even *I* gotta feel bad for the mayor. He was a man who wasn't as clever as he thought he was and he could sure be a dick when he thought he was right and you were wrong, but he sure as shit wasn't *bad*! He took care of the people of Saltrock just fine until that rotten rat-bastard Koyle came into town! And now he can barely talk without..." Henry suddenly held a hand over his beak and looked away.

"Are you laughing or crying?" Althys asked.

Henry let go of his beak, "I promised Mac Rogers I'd stop sayin' 'rat bastard' on account of how it hurts old Mick's feelings. Now, the idea that Stewart the dick became a snake havin' a set of snake dicks 'stead of a tongue makes me feel like laughin' and-or cryin' dependin' on my mood. That I get. But how were the Baxfords like giant skunks? Why am I a raven?" He then asked, cocking his head skeptically.

"There is surely a pattern. But who can understand the logic of a devil?" Althys said. He sighed, and lowered his head. "But... if there was a connection between us, that could have made you more receptive to being a raven."

Henry was silent for a moment. He walked over to the window looking out from his bedroom and stared out at the stars, and then down into the town below. Only a few people were still walking down the streets, but he could tell that they were reptiles by the length of their tails and the way the dim moonlight caught their scales. "Lotta' snakes. Lotta lizards. Hawks. Hares. Horses. People that thrive in the desert becomin' things that can thrive in the desert..."

"Why do you think that is?" Althys asked. "I mean no offense; I am honestly curious. You all have thrived when so many others have not."

"I don't know; we're a town of decent, hardworking folks. No one wants an excuse for trouble." Henry said. "People... people are hard to pin down. Maybe bein' so trusting and kind was part of what allowed Koyle to prey on us in the first place. I tell ya, if I knew there were things like *that* out in the world I'd have equipped myself with some heavy weaponry!"

"Now you sound like a dwarf again!" Althys said, laughing.

"Easy for you to say, nature boy!" Henry said, grabbing his lover by his wrists and jostling him down onto the bed. "Some of us folks have to depend on our steel and gunpowder!"

"Oh really!? Are you sure you feel comfortable saying that?" Althys blurted, grinning at Henry. "Well, I wouldn't worry too much about the Mayor, in any case. He might not leave his house very often, but he certainly has enough visitors."

"I've noticed that," Henry said. "Mostly of the younger and male-r variety. Stewart was a windower, you know? Never took a wife after his first died..."

"Really?" Althys asked, cocking his head to the side. "Why do you suppose he acted as he has?"

"I haven't a clue," Henry said, rubbing his hands through the black feathers covering Althys' shoulders. "Maybe that's how he always was, and maybe it was the curse. I don't know myself. I know I didn't feel anything like this before I changed, but even though I know that... I can't remember what it was like to be different..." he said, smiling at Althys. "In the end I guess it doesn't make much of a difference."

"Why is that?" Althys asked.

"Because either way... I love you..." Henry replied, hugging Althys by the neck and pressing his beak against the crook of the other raven's neck.

"And I love you too, my cute little hen..!" Althys replied, before grabbing Henry and tickling him more as the other raven began to protest and struggle.

**** ****

Three months later...

**** ****

Work in the mines had begun again in earnest after the railroad tracks were repaired. The trains that ran through Saltrock loading ore and unloading food and supplies stopped seeing out of towners coming in as often, after an influx the first few days service resumed. They didn't see the residents themselves hardly at all after the accident either, save Carl the new station manager and a few others.

As the days and weeks passed, the townsfolk of Saltrock adapted to their new bodies and lives with few outsiders the wiser. Almost all of the miners went right back to mining; a great deal of them found their transformations helped them bear the hard toil better than before, though a few people had to change jobs on account of their bodies no longer being suited to their former occupation. Micklan the halfling couldn't exactly crawl his way through the tunnels the way he had before with balls big enough to sit on, and found new work helping tend Stella's bar. Both she and the MacInroe brothers were too large in their new forms to work inside the bar, but Jake Baxford stayed at work as the tavern busboy. The fact that the dual-gendered youth took to wearing very revealing dresses to cover his horse half and furry breasts certainly uneased many at first- his parents most of all- but the town had been forced to take on a much laxer attitude towards sex and nudity to live with itself.

Henry had to get rid of pretty much his entire wardrobe. He couldn't bear to load himself down with denim pants and leather or oilcloth coats anymore, and wearing his old underwear, socks and shirts was entirely out of the question owing to his tailfeathers, talons and wings. He usually just wore a set of silk panties Althys had re-tailored for him and a bird's loincloth, to let his feathers breathe. Were it not for the bulge in the front of his black-feathered belly he could have passed for a male bird, but Henry didn't feel like trying to pass anymore. Of course, being egg-heavy was nothing unusual either. Almost half of the people in the town were pregnant; a great deal of the females, nearly all of the dual gendered and even some of the males. It was especially jarring to the pregnant boys, who were mostly younger townsfolk mated to older males. Like so many other things, it was simply taken as the way things were in Saltrock.

**** ****

Seven months later...

**** ****

With the passing of the seasons, Henry stopped thinking of himself as a male and began to identify with her new natural sex. In this way, she was like most of the other ex-males in Saltrock, except for a handful of males and females who had only taken on the sex of the opposite gender. She'd considered taking on a new name, but that felt like a step too far from the person she still was.

After helping Henry ease Saltrock into stability again, Althys used ritual magic to bring water to the badlands. Then, with the help of fertilizer shipped in on the Grand Sweep and daily castings of powerful nature magic, the avian druid brought life to the badlands like it had never seen before. Althys spent the rest of his time with his Henry, lavishing affection upon his egg-heavy mate.

Each evening after their work was through, Althys and Henry were snuggled tight together in the makeshift nest of pillows, quilts and blankets they had built. Mating was becoming increasingly difficult for the pair as the eggs grew and hardened within his Henry's body. Althys taken to pleasing his female with his beak and fingers instead of his maleness. Henry, in turn, took care of Althys with her hands, stroking and rubbing his lover's maleness until the other raven could cum on her beak or tailfeathers. A few times they took their play further, or brought in toys; Henry was particularly fond of using a dildo on Althys' cloaca, and making the male to cum without having his cock touched. Afterwards, they would bathe and preening each other in the post-coital bliss, talking together and feeling Henry's swollen, gravid belly. The solid, smooth shapes of their eggs grew a little more every day.

Henry was getting excited; it wouldn't be long before she would be laying their eggs, and then it would be time to incubate them- which Althys' was jokingly calling 'the calm before the storm'- and finally hatch the avian life they had made together and raise it. There was something pure about the joy Henry felt knowing that she was going to be a mother, untainted even by the curse that had made it possible. For the first time in her life, Henry felt like she had something to protect and love more important than just herself.

**** ****

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

**** ****

"Yes, m'lawd; my plan was a perfect success!" Koyle said. The devil was quite the sight; parts of his chest and face were still missing, as were both of his legs, not yet reconstituted by the foul energies that suffused the Hell of Plenty. He stood upon a pair of crutches tipped with clawed feet that did his walking for him.

WAS IT?

Koyle did not look at the towering Devil before him; to so much look upon a Lord of the Hells was not something to be done lightly. "The raven hunter will be indisposed for quite enough time for your avatar to wreak havoc wherever you wish in the Vast."

THE HUMAN, TOO. HE WOULD BE A MEDDLESOME FOE, GIVEN WHAT HE NOW KNOWS.

"Well, now he has something else to do with his time!" Koyle said, smiling and raising his gaze to the Devil's furry underbelly. "Ain't that just a peach? Everybody is happy..."

Laughter that no mortal soul could hear echoed through the halls of the Infernal fortress. EXCEPT FOR ME.

"W-what!?" Koyle stammered, looking up in a panic. He met the horribly awesome visage of the devil lord and stood at attention. "My lord! E-even though I was defeated I did everything you asked of me and more! They never suspected a thing! Why are-"

FOOL. YOU WERE CARELESS. SUBTLETY IS ONE THING; YOU FAILED TO CORRUPT THEM. INSTEAD OF ONE DEVIL HUNTER, THEY WILL RAISE AND TEACH DOZENS.

"My lord!" Koyle protested. "I... I couldn't have known! I..."

YOU SHOULD HAVE. YOU KNOW THE PENALTY. YOU HAVE A THOUSAND YEARS TO THINK ON YOUR FAILURE, AND ALL ETERNITY TO SUFFER FOR IT.

"No!!! Please, my lord! I s-simply did as you commanded!" the lesser devil simpered. He threw open the pockets of his coat and began pulling out a mess of parchment and letters written in flesh and blood. "You dictated the terms of the contracts to me!"

WHAT? NO. I SEE WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED HERE.

"My lord?"

SERVANT, FROM NOW ON KNOW THAT A DEMON FAR TOO CLEVER FOR ITS OWN GOOD IS MEDDLING IN MY AFFAIRS. I MUST SEE TO THIS IMMEDIATELY.

"W-what?" Koyle stammered.

YOU ARE DISMISSED. COME BACK TO ME IN A THOUSAND YEARS, the devil lord said, infusing the last of its words with a scathing fury, KOLYAXITAS.