CH3: It Takes Three to Tango
Story by PapaDelta on SoFurry
CH3: ~1400 words
Henry likes fish. Deep fried with breading, seared on a pan with butter and herbs, torn into pieces and made into tacos. However, what he doesn't like is when a series of unexplainable things happen to him when all he's trying to do is cook a couple salmon fillets on the stove for dinner.
It started innocently enough. A little purplish smoke creeping into the corners of his vision. Did he burn something? Must have. He remembers looking at his fish only to find it wasn't the source of the smoke. Then in a sudden flash the violet mist wrapped around his body and blinded him totally. Then he appeared here, wherever here is, still holding the sizzling pan in his hand.
He blinks just make sure he's still in control of his own body and not in some waking nightmare.
Nope, not a dream then.
He stares up from the pan and at a wooden bookcase. It's filled with all manner of beefy texts, most of their spines bearing text he can't seem to make out. It's kind of like English but if every other letter were turned upside down, inverted, then stylized beyond recognition.
“Yes! Ha ha!" Squeals a high pitched feminine tone.
The sudden voice causes Henry to almost drop the pan in fright. Slowly, he turns his head towards its source. There, off in the corner of the room are two…people? Animals? Beasts? Whatever they were they were both looking at him with surprised yet satisfied gazes.
The one on the left his brain mostly recognized as a deer, but unlike any other deer he had seen this one appeared to walk on two legs and wear clothing. She wears a faded pink party dress, decorative tassels and frills drooping down from where they barely remain stitched on. Her fur is a light brown and her tall ears stand proudly atop her head. Two frighteningly long fangs drifted down from either side of her upper jaw. The fangs ruin what would appear to be an otherwise harmless looking creature, yet it's the other beast that really triggers Henry's fight or flight response.
The other creature has the black and gold face of a black bear below the twisted antlers of a buck. Her loose dress, composed of mismatched stitched together cloth, laid under a taught leather corset well-worn with use. Her antlers give her several extra inches on the deer creature yet without the antlers she would have been a little shorter than her compatriot. The combination of pointy antlers, bear like appearance, and stocky frame give Henry the impression that this beast is far deadlier than the other.
There's a brief moment of silence as he stands frozen in shock, after all, it's not every day you get transported to some foreign eerie place and are confronted with two strange and deeply unnerving creatures. Eventually the deer thing on the left taps her hooves on the ground in excitement and hugs the bear…buck…thing.
“Sister!-Sister!-Sister! It did work! And he even brought us gifts of sizzling, flaky, fish things!"
The bear cocks her head.
“He wasn't supposed to end up there."
“Who cares?! Let's talk to him, he must be very confused. He'll need to be taught on how to perform his new role as our new love-companion."
“Husband-slave, Gothetta, he will be our husband-slave."
Henry wasn't sure what they were talking about but he does know he didn't want to be either of those things.
“Whatever." The deer thing unwraps her arms from the bear and looks towards Henry. “Hello human man creature. My name is Gothetta, and my sister here is Urmine. We summoned you here to our house to act as our faithful love-companion and/or husband-slave. Don't worry little furless thing, we'll take good care of you! We'll give you bread and water and lots of blood! No, wait, humans don't drink blood, do they?"
Henry remains silent but softly shakes his head side to side, brain slowly coming out of total lock up. Gothetta continues.
“Good! Just bread and water it is then. Plus whatever leftovers me and Urmine have I guess. Oh, and by the way I named you Edmund. However you should also be sure to respond to Ed, Eddy, or Eddington as they are your designated nicknames."
“My…uhhh…my name is Henry." He confusedly responds.
Gothetta puts her hand on her hips, a displeased look on her face.
“No, your name is Edmund. I decided it."
Henry shakes his head again.
“My name is Henry. I don't know where I am, who you are, or why I'm here. Please let me go back home. I'll pay you whatever you want."
“Go back home? But you just got here!" Says Gothetta.
Urmine takes a couple cautious steps forward, silently wondering if the last incantation she said actually worked.
“Human thing!" She shouts, pointing a crooked claw at him.
Henry flinches at her sudden volume, Urmine continues.
“What is that in your pan? Answer me!"
He briefly glances at the seasoned salmon fillets still quietly sizzling.
“My dinner."
“Your dinner? It's our dinner now. Hold the pan out so I can taste the result of your culinary toil. I demand it."
Henry, deciding it not to be in his interest to anger the bear thing just yet, complies and holds it out towards her. Urmine walks forward with a satisfied grin and stabs a salmon fillet with her claw, briefly holding it up to survey it from all angles before sniffing it. The edges of her lips curl into a smile and she devours the fillet in a single bite. With a maw still full of salmon she turns back to her sister.
“He seems to follow my orders quite well. I'm happy to report our husband-slave is a satisfactory cook deer sister. I anticipate many new and delectable treats in our-“
*BOOOONG*
A metallic ringing fills the cabin as Henry's pan connects with the side of Urmine's face, the one remaining fish fillet smashing into the side of her muzzle and turning into a pink flaky splatter.
“Gah!" Urmine screams in pain and holds a paw to the side of her head, shakily retreating from the foul human that assaulted her.
Henry drops the pan and makes a beeline for the nearest door in sight, frantically opening the simple metal latch that held it closed and sprinting outside.
“No! Come back Edmund! My love! We've barely even met!" Screeches Gothetta before hurrying to her stricken sister. “Urmine! Are you injured beyond repair? Shall I fetch a healing potion or two? I can't believe that tricksy human thing would so violently assault an innocent lady such as yourself."
Urmine groans and places a paw on her sister's shoulder, her grip tight and claws sharp.
“He didn't come back when you told him to." She says with a growl.
“That last incantation must not have worked. Ah! The human is free from our control!"
Urmine straightens her back and looks to the door with a fierce look, wiping away the fish imbedded in her furry muzzle.
“And he's currently getting away. Quickly! We must catch him before the town finds out what we've been up to!"
The sisters dash out of the cabin and into the moonlit forest. It doesn't take long for Urmine to spot the human still running on the dirt trail that led from the cabin to the nearby road, no vegetation dare grows within a hundred yards of their abode. Whether it was due some side effect of their magical inclinations or a natural anomaly the sisters had no idea. Perhaps both.
Quick on the trigger Urmine points a paw towards Henry, digits splayed and pointing towards him.
“Jellied limbs and tired nerves, exhaust this man's last reserves!" She chants.
Instantly a bolt of green light shoots towards the sprinting human. The second it connects with his back he crumples to the ground. Urmine chuckles smugly as she watches him fall.
“The human may have gotten me with his pan but even he can't outrun a bolt of magic casted from a horned bear. Come sister, let's drag our reluctant prize back to the cabin."