Maybe Tomorrow

Eternal Night

Chapters 4 and 5

by Dissident Love

copyright 2013

Chapter 4

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Cave Of Good Omens

Picking their way through the shattered boulders and jagged outcroppings that skirted the truly treacherous mountains was, surprisingly, the most relaxing part of the last twenty-four hours for the escaped princess.

Soaring through the skies like an elaborately-winged tugboat had been monumentally terrifying. Trekking through the Murk had been an exercise in prolonged misery. Fleeing from the Royal Guard with a gang of liberated convicts had nearly given the healthy young grrl a heart attack. But now, padding carefully, testing each rock and each little patch of gravel for purchase, no-one daring to speak lest they muffle the sounds of an impending avalanche, shi found shi could let hir mind wander, going over recent events in a calm, rational manner.

Oh gods oh damn oh crap oh hell oh gods-

Or trying to, at any rate.

Shi wanted to swear out loud, voluminously and creatively, but shi was still playing the part that nature had seen fit to force upon hir: mindless beast of burden. Bister, the copper-hued draconian that had freed hir from hir gilded cage, kept glancing over at hir, making sure shi was keeping a lid on things, and for the time being shi was. Hir big, wide paws were well-suited to traversing the rough, rapidly-shifting terrain, and hir labored breathing was working to keep hir mumbled expletives hidden.

Was it really so bad? shi thought to hirself. Being princess? Eventually being queen? They would have accepted me, eventually! Surely! Surely. Probably...

Shi felt a tickling at hir tail, and shoved backwards with one oversized paw, smacking the foxtaur’s muzzle aside with a yip, and bringing another round of laughter from the various convicts. “I don’t think your husky is very friendly!” said Rigus, the powerfully-built lion and self-appointed leader of the convicts.

If they would stop sniffing my butt, maybe I’d be nicer to them! shi seethed internally. What was with them?! Shi knew they were feral animals, but the sniffing was starting to get really out of hand!

Bister just grinned, all teeth and smirk. “Just one of it’s many valuable attributes,” he said grandly. “With a body like that, you think it would be doing nothing but rutting.”

I will chew those horns right off your face, you bastard, shi thought, royally incensed.

The half-dozen taurs and twenty escaped criminals had left the valley floor far below them, and Bister’s excellent vision confirmed that the patrols weren’t venturing behind the first boulder fields. They were essentially in the clear, which was one great relief, but that just raised another issue: they were heading through the mountains, on paw, with no winter clothing, no food and no hope of rescue.

We’ll be fine! Of course we will! I have all this fur! Fur is warm, right? That’s why it evolved! Shi tried to stifle the voice in hir mind that also explained the developmental history of big feather-stuffed comforters, dozens of which were left back in hir royal bedchambers. Shi hoped hir housemaids were splitting them up between themselves...

Shi put a paw down on a sharp splintered stone and yelped, stumbling to the side and slamming hard into a huge, blocky slab of granite. The great huskytaur hopped and hobbled, trying to rub at hir injured paw without losing hir balance, which wasn’t easy considering the steep incline and hir natural gifts constantly trying to pull hir down. Gripping hir paw with both hands caused hir to shove hir muzzle into hir capacious cleavage, and relying on the other three legs to support hir showed the following crowd, entirely male, far more of hir overdeveloped underside than shi would have liked.

There were a few appreciative wolf-whistles, and the leopardtaur chose that moment to close the distance between them and bring his stubby muzzle down to hir tail. Kimmi ground hir teeth, testing hir weight on hir wounded paw and trying to move hir hips away from the offending feline.

“They’re not going to leave hir alone,” Rigus said as more laughter rippled through the gang. “Shi must be throwing off pheromones like a volcano.”

Bister shrugged, hopping easily from rock to rock, wings flapping. He was only staying close as a courtesy, his story being that he was charged with delivering the strangely-dressed huskytaur to a client on the other side of the mountains. “They’ll learn their lesson if they keep it up,” he said, hoping that Kimmi could keep hir cool. “Shi did more than kick, back in hir stable.”

“I can imagine,” the lion said, glancing beneath Kimmi’s belly at hir outrageously full sheath. “I don’t know what would be worse: having hir mad at you, or having hir happy with you!”

This got another laugh, and Kimmi retreated further into hir mind, trying to tune it out. This is what life is going to be like on the outside, from now on? Animals sniffing me and size jokes? I’m not really THAT big... am I? If the other taurs shi’d met were any indication... yes, shi really was. Shi was bigger than all six of the escaped beasts put together, with quite a bit of bulk to spare.

The sun had been hidden behind the mountains for hours now, and the chill was seeping through the rocks, numbing everyone’s toes. Higher and higher they climbed, until the loose tumbling terrain slowly transitioned into craggy bare rock, split by cracks big enough for Bister’s wings to completely unfurl. Progress was technically easier, but now travelling in a straight line was impossible.

Again and again, Bister would take off, survey the area, and confer with Rigus. The mountain pass that was their eventual goal was hardly more than two miles away, but at the current speed they wouldn’t get there until the dead of night, and it would be far too dark and cold to try and navigate.

“Can you fly us? One by one?” Rigus said as the group shimmied up a narrow ledge. Kimmi was practically scraping hir fur off one side in hir efforts to keep from tumbling over the edge, listening to tiny pebbles bouncing down the hundred-foot drop-off.

Bister shook his head. “I’m barely keeping myself aloft,” he said, wings flapping weakly. “My people don’t do well with the cold, and I haven’t eaten since this morning. And even if I could... many apologies, but my first concern is my taur. I cannot lift hir, and I cannot leave hir behind.”

“Aww,” someone said from further down the ledge, proving that not all chain-gang prisoners were as polite and cultured as Rigus, “I didn’t know you lizards swung that way!”

“Shi’s my payday,” he said simply, glancing at Kimmi and winking. “I’ve worked too hard to leave all that behind.”

At least you stopped calling me ‘it’. Don’t think we’re even, you flying fu- “ACK!” One fluffy paw slipped completely clear, and for a moment shi felt hirself going over, but one frantic, scrabbling flailing of paws and shi was once again upright, clinging desperately to the nearly vertical cliff face, eyes wide with terror.

“Touch skittish,” called another voice from down the line.

“Heights,” Bister said smoothly, flapping over to check on hir. “Raised on the flats hir whole life, you know.”

Shi looked at Bister pleadingly, but still managed to keep hir paws shuffling, slower now than before, which those behind hir were not too pleased with. The other taurs seemed to be handling everything in stride, sure-footed and unconcerned, though they did not have anywhere near the Kimmi’s raw size. They were lean creatures, born and raised in the fields, fed simple foods and bedded in straw, not fed five meals per day and bathed continuously, bedded on a mountainous heap of mattresses any noble would be pleased to own.

Soft, shi shouted at hirself. You’re soft and you’re weak! Whoever thought this would be a great adventure!? Whoever thought this would be FUN?!

Stomachs were growling and tempers were short when the sky above them finally started to darken, deepening to a rich lavender, the setting sun finally visible once again and bathing them in an orange glow that did nothing to ward off the high mountain chill. They were within sight of the pass, Bister assured them, but even he was spending more time on his claws than flying. Criss-crossing the rocky face, clambering up switchbacks and boosting eachother from ledge to ledge, they had made an incredibly journey in stoic silence, but when the final narrow path ended at a crevasse more than twenty yards wide, the strains of the day finally made themselves known.

“BLOODY LIZARDS!” a shaggy, haggard wolf shouted, choke chains still dangling from his neck. “We’ve followed you to our DEATHS!”

“Please return your invitation for a full refund,” Bister said, leaning out from the ledge and addressing the complaint directly.

The wolf sputtered. “Come over here and say that!” he bellowed, more than a few other convicts baring their teeth in frustrated agreement.

Rigus raised his hands. “Fellows, I know we-”

“OH, SHUT IT, BRIGAND!”

Rigus’s smile didn’t falter. “I know we’ve had a long day, but-”

“RIGHT! I’M SHUTTING IT FOR YOU! Out of my way, Griegar, he’s got it coming...” There were more than a dozen anthros and taurs between the hot-headed canid and Rigus, and for a moment it looked as though he was going to try simply walking over them, but the precarious predicament eventually stopped him. “DON’T THINK THIS IS OVER!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Rigus said blithely. “Now then, I-”

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

“I don’t care, and if you would yourself take your own advice for one gods damned minute, you’d hear me tell you that there’s a cave where we can shelter for the night while the good and kind Bister goes and raids yon kingdom for food. But if you like, I’ll keep it to myself.”

Heads jerked up at the mention of food, even the well-trained taurs, and for the first time there was no angry cry from the wolf.

“Oh, I’m being invited to continue? Marvellous.” The lion seemed so at ease that Kimmi was instantly suspicious. He was no normal criminal. One of the others had called him a brigand. Well, that just meant criminal, didn’t it? Same word, and all that. “Bister found the cave while seeking paths for us to take, and it looks to go back far enough to keep us out of the wind.”

“WHERE IS IT?” a very lean, short-furred mouse shrieked, arms wrapped around himself for warmth. “FREEZING MY BALLS OFF OUT HERE!”

In response, Rigus just sighed dramatically and pointed one finger straight up. Twenty pairs of eyes followed the gesture, while the taurs spent their time trying to groom the gravel out of their fur. Kimmi, though, had been listening intently and also glanced up, seeing nothing but featureless grey rock slashed through with bands of white.

“WHERE?!”

“No more than thirty feet,” Bister said, stepping out into the void and flapping easily, slowly rising into the air. “This isn’t going to be a walk in the park, but... you bigger fellows, you’re going to stand on eachother’s shoulders, and ladder yourselves up. Smaller ones at the bottom, please.” There were groans from the smaller convicts, but the dragon just shrugged. “When the bigger ones are up, I can fly you little fellows in style,” he explained, and smiled when it raised a weak cheer.

Several of the bigger escapees were already trying to climb on top of their smaller comrades, but Rigus just raised his hand questioningly. “And what about the... taurs?” he asked, glancing at Kimmi and placing a strange emphasis on the word.

Bister sighed. “When we’re all up top, there should be enough clothes between the lot of you to make some ropes.”

The shuffling cons paused, and then began to shout overtop of eachother. Kimmi’s ears drooped when shi realized they were basically telling hir and the other beasts to go to hell. “No way!” “They’ll just slow us down!” “They’ll eat all the food!” “They smell funny!” “They can go back down on their own!”

Bister flapped a little bit closer, his grin widening. “I’m sure you’d think that, normally,” he said softly, but strangely enough that had more of a freezing effect on the protests than a shout would have been. “But, right now, the one calling the shots... is me. The one who can get you food and warmth and shelter... is me. The one who can get you through that pass tomorrow and off to a life of freedom and scoundrelry... is me.”

He drifted closer, fierce crosswinds buffeting him but not seeming to bother him in the slightest. “And right now, the only person who can save if you if you happen to, rather unfortunately and quite accidentally, fall... is me.”

Kimmi caught hirself staring at Bister, and tried to busy hirself with removing some imaginary burrs from hir cleavage. Act normal, act normal, act normal, shi thought, over and over, making a mantra of it.

Eventually, there was a cough, a mumbled agreement, and a general shuffling of paws. Apparently satisfied, Bister smiled magnanimously and spread his arms, lifting himself higher. “Then we are of one mind and one goal!” he said grandly. “Make haste, the sun is setting!”

Kimmi shuffled sideways and made a show of being angry when some of the ruffians had to climb over hir bulk in order to make their patchwork living ladders. Shi had to admit, it was a little impressive how well Bister had whipped them into shape, and in a handful of minutes the first of them crested the ledge above them and shouted down proof that, yes, there was indeed a cave. This spurred the remainder on, warming their bodies almost as much as a hot cup of tea would have. Oh gods I would kill for some tea... or at least maim.

There was much grunting and cursing when those at the top started to bodily haul up those that were straining to reach, in some cases having to dangle someone over the edge by their ankles in order to reach. True to his word, Bister flapped down and carried up those that remained below, rats and minks and the like, and Kimmi could tell that it was pushing Bister’s strength just to do that.

Shi shuddered, wiping hir paws on hir shins and hugging hir arms around hirself. The day was taking it’s toll on all of them.

With the last straggler slowly vanishing overhead, borne aloft by the exhausted draconian, Kimmi found hirself alone on the ledge.

“Mrr?”

Ok, not alone. Shi looked over to find the leopardtaur once again sidling closer, head down low, eyes wide, sniffing at hir tail. Shi tried to swat at him, but he dodged easily, moving his nose right back in the blink of an eye. Behind him, shi could see two of the others staring at hir intently. The other six work-beasts were male, while Kimmi was quite abundantly a herm, and shi was getting a rather abrupt lesson in courtship rituals.

“Anytime,” shi mumbled to hirself, drawing a strange puzzled glance from the encroaching leopardtaur. “Come on... rope time... here we go... and... now!”

Shi looked up.

Nothing.

Shi couldn’t hear them, either, though the wind was making it a little tenuous. The wolftaur whined, pawing at the rock and staring skyward longingly. Further down the face shi could hear the huge equitaur, who somehow wasn’t having nearly as much trouble on the narrow paths as shi was, whinny and scuff at the rock, sending chips flying off over the edge.

“Just calm down,” shi whispered, twisting around to pat at the leopardtaur’s head, unable to reach any of the other taurs without hopping over them or knocking one off, and neither option was likely, or particularly polite.

“Mrrrurr?”

“Oh, never mind.”

Shi was starting to really get worried, both for hir tail and hir safety, when a length of thick, mismatched rope drifted out of the wispy fog and smacked hir in the face. Shi yipped in surprise, grabbing clumsily at the rope before it could swing away, but swing away it did, floating back towards the leopardtaur who just nipped playfully at it with his teeth.

“Hello, little beasties,” Bister said, flapping down to their elevation. “Miss me?”

A chorus of yips, meowls and barks greeted the copper draconian, and Kimmi had to stop hirself from answering in plain tongue when shi realized half a dozen heads were poking over the edge above. “Woof. Bark.” shi said grimly, earning a wink from hir dubious saviour.

“All right, who’s first? Who’s lightest, I guess... c’mere, kitty!” Kimmi half-expected Bister to get his hand chewed off by the leopardtaur, but shi had forgotten that they were pack animals, beasts of burden; being tied with ropes was probably the most normal part of their day. The sleek animal stood placidly as the rope was looped around his fore- and hind-barrel, scaly hands working knots with blinding speed.

When the taur was good and trussed up, Bister yanked on the rope and called up to the escapees. “Hoist away! Slowly, now. I’ll keep an eye on it.”

Looking around curiously, not particularly surprised or alarmed, the leopardtaur rose through the mists like an ascending angel who was not in any great hurry to get anywhere. It was maybe three or four minutes before it reached the lip of the precipice above, and then there was a great effort by many helping hands to grab it’s legs and haul it to safety. Bister clapped and congratulated everyone, and then ordered them to untie the taur and rope it up for pulling duty.

Sure enough, over the next hour, all of the taurs were tugged up to freedom, for a rather narrowly-worded definition of freedom, until only Kimmi remained. In between each of the others, there had been a two or three minute period while they decided which taur was strongest, in order to better haul up the next one, but when it neared ten minutes and no sign, shi didn’t even need to struggle very hard to channel hir baser instincts.

Shi inhaled deep, tilted hir head back, and howled. It was a long, low, mournful sound, somewhat rehearsed on countless nights in hir tall tower when no number of baths, meals or cuddly housemaidens could calm the yearning in hir soul.

“Nice touch,” Bister whispered, standing behind hir on the ledge. Hir howl ended in a sharp ‘yip’, and shi aimed a kick his way, but missed by a country mile. “Almost had me fooled!”

“Shut it,” shi hissed softly. “Am I going up, or what?”

“I’d never leave my... precious cargo.”

“Charming.”

“But of course,” he bowed low. “Now then, if you don’t mind?” He held up one end of the heavy rope, gesturing meaningfully.

Kimmi sighed and tried to grit hir teeth while Bister worked, feeding the rope around hir barrel, over and over, several times having to cough while trying to keep clear of hir more-than-substantial assets. “Blink when you get an eyeful,” shi grumbled when he seemed to be taking his time.

“This isn’t exactly a picnic for me, Your Highness,” he said, voice muffled by the overfull bulk of hir sac while trying to get the rope between hir hind legs to anchor it. “Have you ever heard the word ‘diet’ before?”

“Hey! Cakes and pies did NOT create all THAT!”

“Praise be,” he said wryly. “You’d be more gonad than grrl.”

“I can kick you quite well from here.”

“As you wish, m’lady.” The rope tightened suddenly around hir, and shi squeaked indignantly. “All set, boys! All together now!” he called.

“Thank-” shi managed before the rope twanged so taut it sounded like the base note of a harp. “ACK!”

Whereas the other taurs had one up one or two feet at a time, Kimmi was rising a handspan with each jerk, maybe less. The grunting coming from above was far louder and more strained than it had been for the previous beasts, as well. “I don’t... oof... think that... oof... I’m THAT... oof... heavy!”

“As you wish, m’lady,” Bister said blandly, flapping just slightly out of hir reach. Hir answering glare should have been enough to burn off the fog surrounding them.

About halfway up, the rocky face was dragging against hir fur hard enough to start yanking out some of the larger matts and burrs shi’d acquired since escaping the castle. Shi grunted and squeaked, trying to shove hirself away from the jags, but everytime shi did so the groaning from above got notably louder. “Here, be still,” Bister said, trying to get close enough to reach hir arms, and talking loudly to drive home the point that they were both close enough to be heard. “You’re making it too hard to pull you up, grrl.”

“Woof. Yip. It hurts!” shi whispered those last few words through clenched teeth.

“I know it hurts, but they’re doing their best. Almost there. Few more tugs. Here we go, all righty then.” His tone of voice was soothing, but his eyes... quite unexpectedly also seemed to be soothing, full of genuine concern or a very close approximation thereof. “You can do it.”

One shoulder and two hips throbbing red with pain, Kimmi was finally dragged high enough that shi could just barely flop hir muzzle gratefully over the lip, although shi still felt as though shi were being pulled in half by the ropes. Hir tongue lolled out and shi grinned, needing no help pretending there, either.

All around hir and staring down at hir were the convicts, who immediately set to work reaching over the edge and gripping hir shoulders and the base of hir tail, something that did NOT feel especially pleasant but was unfortunately necessary. As more paws joined in, either consciously avoiding hir breasts or consciously NOT avoiding them, shi tried to keep hir face expressionless. A few tugs higher, and more paws gripped hir hind legs, dangerously close to hir nethers. All the while, Bister kept up the reassuring prattle.

I feel like a slab of meat, shi groused internally.

But, at great length, shi was hauled over the edge. The five taurs that had been lashed together to hoist the huge husky herm panted softly, all of them padding a short distance away and flopping onto their sides to rest.

“I bet you don’t even think you’re that heavy, do ya, grrl?” Bister said, rubbing the scruff of hir neck.

I will rip your throat out, shi thought, smiling up at him with a grin of puppyish malice.

The ledge proved to be only just barely large enough for everyone to take a seat and congratulate eachother on a job well done, but the biting wind and slowly darkening skies muted the celebration. Kimmi got awkwardly to hir feet, stretching hir legs out and trying to rub hir rope burns without looking too... sentient. It was proving to be a very hard part to play; shi spent a great deal of time watching the other taurs and trying to internalize their reactions to stimuli. Most reactions involved sniffing and growling.

Rigus, still thoroughly enjoying the self-appointed mantle of leader, cleared his throat and hooked his thumbs into where his lapels would be if his simple wool tunic actually had lapels. "Bister, my friend," he said, words dripping honey. "We did it. We pulled together, as a team, and scaled this precipice, together. We hauled up the worktaurs, together. We even, at great personal effort for very little personal gain, hauled up your great bloody husky."

Kimmi bristled at the mention of hir great bloody body, but was silent. "Indeed," Bister commented, landing lightly. "Your point?"

The lion looked around, and his point had already clearly been reached by several of the more mentally agile convicts. "Our lot does not seem to have greatly improved," he said plainly, gesturing to the little tabletop they occupied. "Defensible, surely, but... rather unsheltered, if you catch my drift."

There were grumbles and mutters and other dissatisfied grunts from the group. Bister, ever one to tempt fate, actually polished his knuckles against his glossy chest scales, and more than before Kimmi wanted to throttle him. Sure, he could fly away should trouble arise, but what exactly was shi supposed to do if they decided shi was dead weight?

"That's not my fault," the draconian said.

Ok, that's it, strangling time, Kimmi thought, fingers flexing.

"It's not?" the lion said, maintaining his composure admirably. "Please, explain your logic."

"I would, but it might rather self-evidently go over your heads."

Right about now, in a more urban setting, there would have been the sounds of knives being unsheathed, brass knuckles being donned and doors being surreptitiously locked from the inside. Given their sparse location, though, the scrape of claw on stone would have to suffice.

"Care to repeat that?" Rigus said, voice so low it could have just been the wind if the murderous glint in his eyes hadn't made it quite plain.

"I'd rather get out of this breeze," Bister said, wrapping his wings momentarily around his body and shivering. "Anyone care to join me?"

Before anyone could take more than two steps the mercenary had lifted himself up into the air, surrounded by angry shouts and epithets the likes of which Kimmi had never heard before, and had never even paused to consider. Rather broad assumptions they were making about his lineage!

The barbaric and beastial insults faded into sullen mutters, though, when Bister, only half-visible through the fog, seemed to vanish into the mountainside behind them. The backwash of air created by his passage caused little swirls and eddies to radiate out from the cave opening, making it abundantly visible for a few seconds, no more than ten feet above the little scrape of rock.

"It's lovely in here!" the dragon called, while the chagrined convicts quickly set about climbing up the short and easily-scaled wall. "Surprised you all didn't come inside sooner!"

The cave proved to be more hospitable than they had dared hope, an opening barely large enough for Kimmi to clamber through with an interior that reminded hir of hir old chamber in the Tower. There was enough room for everyone to lay down and not accidentally snuggle up with another macho and not insecure at all male, while the taurs all clustered against one wall without worry for personal space. Kimmi wanted to keep up hir routine, shi really did, but shi could only bring hirself to settle down a half-dozen paces from the other quadrapeds, drawing slightly saddened looks from the tired beasts.

"So!" Bister said magnanimously to the exhausted crew. "How about a round of 'thank you's?" If sour expressions were gold, he could have retired right then and there.

"Thanks will be forthcoming, once we've got a little something in our bellies," Rigus spoke for the group.

"Absolutely," the draconian said. "I'll just nip out to the nearest tavern and request forty take-away baskets, shall I?"

"Now, listen, you...!"

Bister's hand silenced the protests, fangs glittering in the failing light. "No sense of humor, that's the problem here," he said, ostensibly to himself. "Yes, I promised food, and that's what you'll get. Eventually. We've made a bit of a... kerfuffle down below, with the delightfully zealous and overpopulated Estragonian army, so you'll have to pardon me if it's not exactly as easy as raiding a farmhouse for pies and nubile farmer's daughters, ok?"

"Hey!" the shaggy, long-limbed bear said. "I'm a farmer, and I've got three daughters!"

"Are you local?"

"Hell, no!"

"Then you've got nothing to worry about," Bister grinned.

"Still not respectable," the bear muttered.

"I'm sorry, what were you in prison for?"

The ursine escapee looked around and, finding no help from any of his comrades, chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Highway robbery and arson," he said proudly. "But I never touched no-one's daughter!"

"Then I look forward to meeting your husband someday," Bister said brightly, amidst roars of approving laughter. "Until then, however, I recommend you all getting cozy, and catching some dreams. I'll be back by morning, and we'll be over those mountains before tea time. Deal?"

There was a chorus of half-hearted affirmatives, which, Kimmi had to admit, was significantly more than there had been a minute before. He might be an arrogant, smirking, self-satisfied prick, but shi had to admit, Bister was certainly good at whatever he seemed to do.

Shi stomped on the little slug of jealousy that crawled out from under hir psyche. Do NOT be jealous of him! He's a brigand! You're a Princess! Ears and tail drooped when shi realized the significance of that, though. Shi wasn't a Princess, not any more. Bister was a brigand, and shi was... shi was...

Shi glanced down at hirself.

I'm big, shi thought sadly. That's... that's about it. I'm deposed royalty trapped in the body of a ridiculously-proportioned farm animal.

Bister said his farewells and flapped off into the mists, and Kimmi, thoroughly dejected, picked hirself up with as much decorum as shi could muster and trotted off into the dark recesses of the cave.

Chapter 5

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New Friends

It wasn't always like this, shi thought. I had a life, once.

For no particular reason, shi found hirself thinking back to hir thirteenth birthday. The housemaidens had taken an inordinate amount of joy in planning and preparing for the event, keeping the young dauphine in the dark until the night of. Shi had been so young back then, so puppyish and trusting. There were only four housemaidens at that time, but it still took all four of them to wheel in the cart that contained hir cake, a mammoth creation that almost perfectly recreated Kimmi hirself, in remarkable fondant detail, at nearly one-half scale.

Kimmi had many mirrors in hir chamber, including more than one full-length, but seeing such a representation of hirself had initially brought joy, and then confusion, and then such a sudden, overwhelming and irrational wave of fury that it was several seconds before any of the housemaidens thought to tell the royal to stop. Kimmi was strong, but shi didn't need to be particularly so for this; hir fists destroyed the cake as thoroughly as they would have destroyed a house of cards.

The tayr growling and crying at the same time, all four housemaidens tried to drag hir away from the cart, but it was all they could do just to keep hir stationary. Buttercream frosting coated hir gown, matted hir fur, but shi couldn't remember tasting it. All shi really remembered of that night was the raw seething hatred shi had felt for the immitation-Kimmi, the bulbous and deformed taur that in absolutely no way resembled anyone else shi had ever met.

Shi then retreated to hir huge four-poster bed and drew the curtains. Ashamed beyond words, shi refused to come out and refused to let any of the housemaidens in. Shi sat there, dripping frosting onto hir sheets, listening to the girls spending hours and hours cleaning up the mess. The sun was coming in through the eastern window before they were finished, and yet through the night almost no-one spoke. It was a week before Kimmi could utter hir choked apologies, begging forgiveness for hir actions, while the housemaidens professed their own apologies for their insensitivity.

In the end, it became simply known as the 'Birthday Incident', and was never spoken of again, except those long, quiet nights when thoughts of remorse drifted through Kimmi's mind and shi whispered further guilty confessions into the maidens' ears.

Now, passing beyond the curve of a huge, lumpy stalagmite, shi was reminded of the Birthday Incident, and found hirself wondering just what would have happened if shi'd just eaten the cake. All of this: Bister, the kidnapping, the Murk, the prisoners, all of it might never have happened. Shi could have been at this very moment preparing for hir coronation. Shi could have begun to sway the hearts and minds of a kingdom, shi could have started to turn around a thousand years of insular xenophobia.

"And maybe I'd marry Lord Tuffett," shi muttered sourly, imagining the wizened old otter proposing to hir, always looking to expand his family's land titles. "Yeah, right."

Shi had expected the back of the cave to be darker, considering the narrow opening, but shi found shi could still make out shapes and outlines fairly well. There were a few stalactites and stalagmites at the rear of the huge hollow where the convicts were trying to get comfortable, but beyond those shi found a fairly long and surprisingly regular channel descending into the depths of the mountain. One huge paw kicked something that clattered away almost musically into the darkness, and shi nearly yipped in surprise.

"Here, husky, husky, husky, husky," came that honeyed voice from behind hir, and the enormous herm bristled again. "Where did you get to, grrl?"

Talk to me like that one more time, and they'll never find the body, shi hissed in hir mind. A short distance behind hir, Rigus crept carefully around a spire of limestone, hands and feet gripping tenaciously as he moved in near-blindness. Shi could see the glint and sparkle of his feline eyes, and shi wondered if it was all an act. Surely he could see better than shi, no?

Shi chuffed, wondering what noises a feral husky made. Serves hir right, never having a pet!

“Ahh, yonder. Don’t stray too far, these caves... these caves could go for quite some distance. There’s a faint breeze sucking down yon passage. There’s enough empty space down there to lose even you, my dear.” Closer he crept, but with a little more surety now as his eyes grew used to the smothering shadows.

“Wrurf,” shi said quietly, pleased with how nonsensical it sounded. Why is he talking to me so much? Is that normal? “Wrrrur.”

Hir huge paws moved slowly and carefully, feeling the loose objects under hir feet shifting. Rigus, though, sensed hir proximity and closed the distance with remarkable speed, one hand reaching out and gripping hir elbow for support. “Ah, that’s better,” he said. “Don’t want either of us getting lost, eh?”

What do I do?! What do taurs do when someone grabs them? I’m supposed to be well-trained, right? Bister never told me this! What did the other ones do? No-one ever grabbed them! AUGH, I’ve been thinking too long!

“Don’t worry, grrl. Bister will be back before you know it, and then it’s up and over the mountains and off to your new life! Someone’s paid a small fortune to smuggle you out of this frilly-collared hellhole.” Rigus spoke in pleasant, measured, conversational tones, quite belied by his now-wild mane and nearly shredded work detail uniform.

Shi decided that a real taur wouldn’t have understood, and started to walk slowly back to the front of the cavern; suddenly it seemed rather unpleasant to be back here with only the strangely talkative Rigus for company. Shi swatted him with hir tail as shi shifted, pleased with the little improvisational flourish. I’m getting good at this!

“Easy, your highness,” Rigus said softly, hand tightening slightly on hir arm. “It’s treacherous out there.”

Kimmi froze, muscles locked, scarcely even breathing for so long that even shi had to admit that hir cover would have been blown.

“Whurff?” shi inquired.

“Indeed, your Highness.”

“Wruff,” shi lamented. “How-?”

“Not difficult,” he said, bringing his mouth close to hirs, or as close as he could get. He was tall, but Kimmi still towered over him. “Everyone knew it was the time of the coronation, then you appear wearin’ a get-up like that, and, well... rumors abound about the Princess, no? That, and the bloody Fifth Regiment showing up on our doorstep before we’d even had a chance to escape properly. There’s not many men on this mountain who would fancy themselves the thinky sort, but I’d be surprised if one or two of ‘em haven’t caught on. So let’s skip the who-what-hows for now, all right?”

It was still the lion talking, all smooth and perhaps even charming, but the edge to his words stood hir hairs up. “Not saying it was hard to figure out,” shi sulked. “Just... ahh, phooey.”

“Chin up, there, lass” Rigus said, relaxing his grip on hir arm and moving back towards the light. “We’ve got bigger problems than you, right now, as hard as that may be to believe. You’ve got that fine royal fluff, but many of the rest of us are used to more... inviting climes.”

“Can I even go back out there?” shi whispered, stomach fluttering. “If they know... I mean... well... Bister’s gone...” Hir mind whirled. Would THEY kidnap hir? Could they hold hir ransom? Bister was made very, very wealthy by Kimmi’s payments, but there would be nothing stopping him from simply flying away and abandoning them all. They would have no leverage.

And many of them were carnivores! Oh, ye gods, they could eat me!

“As I said, your worship, there’s bigger problems. Your lovely kingdom is protected by a ring of mountains that, unfortunately, are colder than a witch’s teat even in midsummer. Mayhaps the worst you could expect out there would be a few of my men using you for warmth.”

OH GODS THEY’RE GOING TO TURN ME INTO A BLANKET!

Hir huge paws scrabbled backwards, but mostly just got tangled up in eachother and the swaying bulk of hir undercarriage. The piles of debris scattered in all directions, more than a few pelting the startled Rigus. “Calm down, you daft bitch!”

“Wha-ACK!” Kimmi yelped, bringing one paw down hard on a sharp corner, overbalancing, and tumbling hard into the darkness, rolling for several feet before shi managed to sprawl hirself, flattening against the sloped, smoothed stone.

Shi lay there, humiliated and bruised, the slightly more thoughtful part of hir mind finally getting through to hir that, no, they weren’t going to fillet hir for a blanket. Rigus was staring at hir and rubbing at his head, wanting to scream at hir and knowing that would tip off too many others as to Kimmi’s unusual nature. Instead, he simply growled, deep and low in his barrel chest; the meaning was plain enough.

“Sorry,” shi whispered shamefacedly, burying hir muzzle in hir overly abundant cleavage. “I... kind of panicked.”

“No... kidding,” he said with clipped precision. “I’m going to bring everyone back here in a moment. It’s ever so slightly less freezing back here. Find a spot out of the way, and just... be a taur. Ok?”

“Why can’t we start a fire?” Kimmi asked softly when Rigus was almost around the jagged stalagmite barrier. “Keep warm that way?”

The lion froze, and then slowly tipped forwards, bonking his head against the stone spire. “Is that what it’s like in the palace? You’re the slightest bit chilly, and fire just appears? The servants walk in with armloads of lumber and fill the hearth? Maybe they start the fires before you even get to your chambers. Maybe they keep all the fires going all the time, just in case someone of your delicate dispositions feels the need to move about.”

“Actually-” shi started.

“But right now, m’lady, our situation is a mite different. We’ve no flint, we’ve no tinder, but even if we did, there’s the unmistakable fact that we’re on a lichen-crusted scrap of rock that’s got nary tree nor twig for us to burn. So what, pray tell, would you have us lowly peasantfolk create a crackling, roaring fire with?” By the end he was hissing and spitting, his polished veneer starting to peel around the edges.

Kimmi waited a moment, taking in the sight of the lion’s mane fluffing out with each deep breath. When shi was sure he wasn’t going to leap and clamp his jaws around hir throat, shi said lightly and calmly, “With all of these nice dried sticks that were piled up back here. There’s also two big wooden boxes. I’m just a sheltered princess, far be it from me to guess what could possibly be inside them.”

- - - - -

Twenty minutes later, the exhausted, shivering and thoroughly cranky escapees were gathered around a large, dancing fire, laughing and joking with eachother and making short work of the food rations that one of the boxes had contained. The breads, cheeses and dried meats had been wrapped in waxed paper, and were as tough as driftwood, but that didn’t deter the desperate men, and the taurs seemed to be getting immense pleasure from the gristliest chunks.

Rigus sat comfortably on the second box, which had contained several thin but well-made blankets. Kimmi, who hadn’t found the interior of the cave to be all that cold, slouched in the shadows, paws drawn up tight to hir underbelly, floofy tail doing it’s best to shield hir sac from prying eyes. Although shi tried to relax, watching the flickering demoniac shadows flitting back and forth on the cave mouth, shi kept turning hir attention back to the smug, grandiose lion.

Naturally, he’d taken full credit for the discovery, claiming some half-heard rumors that a few of the caves in these mountains had been stocked by kind-hearted smugglers and bootleggers in order to help those who could not help themselves. It was a good story, and for all shi knew, might very well be true. After all, they had to have come from somewhere, and the food was less than six months old, according to a convict who, it turned out, had been a dairy farmer prior to his life of tax evasion and imprisonment.

Shi chewed on one of hir tough, oversalted hunks of dried meat, amazed at how delicious it seemed. Shi’d had almost nothing to eat since before the banquet... ye gods, had that really just been the night before? During hir dress-fitting shi had managed to devour several trays of frilly little treats, knowing that shi might not get another chance right away, but hir stomach was rumbling so loudly and fiercely the vibrations were actually rather pleasantly stimulating hir nethers. The meat was not satisfying hir hunger by a long shot, but it was at least allowing hir to think about something else.

Before long the sun had fully set, the mouth of the cave slowly transitioning from a dim backlit gray oval to a yawning black void, with no sign of Bister’s return. One by one the escapees curled up onto their sides, still smiling and joking through their jaw-creaking yawns. Half of the taurs were already snoring, legs twitching and kicking as they dreamed. Even Rigus was slumped over his knees, rubbing at his forehead.

Kimmi hirself yawned and stretched with such ferocity that the final brave straps and buckles of hir dress gave way with a chorus of rips and snaps, leaving hir essentially nude except for an unusually ornate and very irregular bedsheet. Glaring tiredly, shi tried to arrange them to try and preserve a modicum of modesty, but hir paws fumbled clumsily with the silken scraps.

“Stupid... everything,” shi murmured, yawning again. Shi tried to pick up a pebble, and succeeded on hir third try. With great focus and determination, shi managed to bounce it off of Rigus’s head, but the lion’s only response was a fitful snore. “Dang.”

The deposed princess licked hir numbed lips, puzzling at the strange taste at the back of hir throat that was distinctly unlike the dried meat. It reminded hir of the teas that shi would often get as a kit, when hir nightmares prevented hir from sleeping and threatened to demolish hir quarters.

Shi was aware of approaching footsteps when the comforting embrace of sleep wrapped its powerful arms around hir woozy mind, and squeezed.

- - - - -

The moon loomed ominously in the cloudless sky, painting the entire kingdom in tones of alabaster and soot. A few tiny clouds speckled the sky, glowing nearly as bright as the moon itself in the crystal clear, and uncomfortably brisk, night air.

“This will be worth it,” Bister was grumbling to himself, wings pumping slowly and powerfully. “This will be worth it. This will worth it. This better be worth it...”

Swinging below him, nearly clipping the tops of the trees, two huge canvas sacks stuffed with purloined food and clothing were sapping the strength from his arms even as the unseasonably chill spring air was numbing his scaly wings. He had eaten nearly to bursting in order to fuel his journey, but it was still proving to be quite the ordeal.

“Next year,” he mumbled, dodging a colossal oak, eyes scanning back and forth for any ground- based artillery, “I kidnap someone in the tropical climes. Maybe Halabar. They’re always at war. Good, fertile territory. No more taurs. Ow.”

Spitting leaves from a branch that he was prepared to say had snuck up on him, he locked his eyes onto the approaching mountains, taking great pains to circle wide around anywhere that might possibly have any prying eyes.

He hoped that Kimmi was doing all right, stuck with the brigands. He had no doubts that a lady like hir, if such a term could be used, would not have any difficult in defending hirself, but shi was far younger than he had expected, and slightly more useless than he would have believed. Those paws, that dress, those... those... well, those parts that tended to differentiate between anthro herms and taur herms... if it wasn’t all so laughably tragic, he would have laughed.

And what would shi do when shi was free, when he turned hir loose, all debts paid, in the Syndian countryside? Syndia was a peaceful nation, to be true, but bordering Estragonia, they were not ones to brook discord, and had an extremely well-earned reputation for swift justice. Kimmi was peaceful, but... well, shi knew what shi was. Shi was unprecedented.

But shi was also very insistent that shi would, and could, make it on hir own.

Despite his aching sinews, he had to chuckle. He would love to be there when shi encountered hir first deputy. In fact, maybe he would stick around for a little while, watching hir from a distance. Just to make sure shi was all right. Purely a professional interest.

Once he managed to reach the foothills without further incident, Bister rose gratefully into the air, pleased to get some comforting distance between himself and the ground. The Estragonian patrols had been swarming the lower rocky shores when he had first left the cave, but now they were all huddled safely within their tents. The cavalry had been expensively appointed and well-trained, but the bulk of the standing army, he well knew, would be hard pressed to match swords with even a green recruit in the lands beyond their borders. The Estragonian army was large, that was true; so was his uncle’s gut, but that did not mean it was fearsome or effective.

Fearing he was about to start shedding scales, he had to bite back his exhausted laughter when he set down on the tiny scrape of granite and smelled the unmistakable sharp tang of woodsmoke. “Well, I’ll be darned,” he said with wonderment, “those goons managed to build a fire. Will wonders never cease?”

He stopped at the very mouth of the cave, though, when he caught whiff of something else. The bags fell from his hands, and twin steely daggers appeared from his baggy leggings as if by magic.

“Rigus?”

Silence.

The outer chamber was empty, except for a few scraps of clothing and discarded chains. He took several steps forwards, constantly glancing skywards and seeing only featureless stone, trying to keep the tremors out of his hands.

“Kimmi?”

Silence.

The stalagmites looked like as imposing of a barrier he’d ever seen, despite the ease with which he could simply walk around them to the next chamber. His fingers tightened on the familiar handles of his blades, and his wings itched to carry him backwards, out into the safety of the night sky.

All the while his thoughts were focus on the folded parchment tucked into a tiny pouch on his belt, of the contract that bore both his signature, and Hir Royal Grace Princess Kimmi’s.

“Damn.”

He stalked nervously around the stalagmites and took in the mess of sticks, the smothered campfire, the shattered wooden box...

… and the complete lack of life.

- - - - -

Oh, blast, I’m tangled up again.

Kimmi tried to free hirself from the blankets, but the enormous expanses of linen had twisted and knotted themselves around hir legs while shi slept. This was nothing new; the housemaidens had told hir that shi tended to thrash in hir sleep, running and rolling and yipping at the night. Kimmi had never remembered any particularly exciting dreams, good nor bad, but requiring three additional pairs of hands to get out of bed certainly lent their claims an air of truth.

Shi lamented not asking any to keep hir company now, though. Shi was well and truly stuck! Shi couldn’t even see hir bedchambers, only the unmistakable feel of cloth around hir muzzle. Shi tried to grip one bundle of blankets with one paw and tug the other through the noose-like loops, but it was no use. Shi didn’t want to rip any more blankets, but if someone didn’t show up soon shi might have no choice...

Shi suddenly shifted to the side and must have slipped off the blankets, for after a panicked moment shi cracked hir head on the polished stone floors with a frustrated cry of pain.

“Help! Girls, please, it’s not funny,” shi said, trying to force a smile. These blankets were really tight! What had shi been doing? Shi remembered a dream, a dream of running, of mud and rain and cold, biting winds, of climbing and fleeing...

Wait a minute...

Shi was still moving, still tumbling, but slowly other sensations began to filter through hir muddled mind. Hir wrists and ankles were bound painfully tight, lashed together so shi felt as though shi were hugging hirself to the brink of suffocation. Blood pounded in hir ears, and it became apparent shi was upside down, and every few shuffling jerks smote hir head once again against unyielding stone.

Uh oh...

Hir torso inflated, bound arms constricting painfully, and shi shrieked in terror. Luckily, shi was absolutely terrified, which lent it an air of authenticity. Hir entire body twisted and thrashed, and whatever rod shi was suspended from smacked hard against hir undersides and clattered free from hir captors. Shi landed hard, knocking the breath from hir body, reverberating screams bouncing back and forth, ringing over and over again in hir ears.

Shi lay there, panting, listening to the echoes of hir cry mingling with the stacatto drumbeat of strange clicking footsteps. Hir mind was filled with images of demonic clawed toes scraping at the stone, eager to ply hir flesh from hir bones. Shi saw a row of pots lined up, each one containing a different escapee... wait! The others! Were they still all right?

“R... R...” shi started, still trying to catch hir breath, arms bound as they were around hir bosom and constricting hir lungs.

“Easy, girl,” came a soothing voice from a short distance away, followed by more of the tiny, sharp footsteps. “Easy. There’s a good beast.”

Shi nearly rebuked him for his impudence when shi remembered that, as far as nearly everyone knew, perhaps including their captors, shi was just a mindless taur.

“Rrrruwrf,” shi grunted, struggling once again for good measure. Whatever bound hir wrists and ankles was rough, but very strong, and shi only succeeded in yanking out more fur. Shi felt as though hir fur were on fire there, and a trickle of something made hir fear for blisters.

Blisters, shi thought harshly. Right. You’ve been kidnapped and are being dragged into the depths of a mountain by creatures unknown. Can’t have blisters! Why am I blindfolded? We’re underground! I can feel the rocks! It smells like... rocks! It smells dark! It... why is it so warm?

Shi started to roll onto hir side, wondering if shi had managed to scare off their assailants through sheer intimidating size, but the pitter-patter returned and was punctuated by a sharp, piercing pain in hir barrel. The huge taur cried out again, twisting wildly and trying to writhe away from the unseen attacker, but another lanced hir hindleg, another just below hir bosom, another in the middle of hir back...

Beg them to stop beg them to stop beg them to stop BEG THEM TO STOP

Bellows and curses rang around hir as Rigus and the rest of the former chain-gang were similarly reminded just who was in charge of the situation, and from the sounds of it several of them had been woken up at spearpoint. Kimmi hunched hirself against the side of the cave, tugging hirself awkwardly towards the damp, slicked stone. Shi tried to shield hir underbelly, absorbing several more strikes to hir flanks, but they did not seem to be killing blows, merely... warnings.

And with a single metallic trill, they ceased. The panting and growling and swearing continued for several more seconds, but otherwise their captors had once again fallen silent. Kimmi’s heart pounded in hir ears, forcing hirself to whine into hir sobs, trying to mask hir true feelings. Shi couldn’t tell if it was working.

“Behave!” a voice screeched by hir ear, and it was echoed up and down the cave. The voice was sibilant, not like anything shi had ever heard before, and heavily accented.

The response from hir cohorts was immediate, though. Kimmi had never left the castle while growing up, and was only vaguely aware of the specifics regarding the great city that surrounded it. Shi had heard, however, of bars and pubs and taverns from the housemaidens, and many was the night that shi had been lulled to sleep with talks of drunken brawls over mead wenches, whatever those were. For a year shi had thought it was some sort of tool used to fill kegs. In hir dreams, though, these brawls sounded remarkably similar to the noise that filled the cave.

"Oh, aye, I'll behave you a new arsehole, thieving bastards!"

"Stab me again and see what it gets you! Come on, ya pansy!"

"I'm-a behave all over your mother when you untie me!"

"Buncha deep-down pantywaists draggin' us off in our sleep, eh? Come on, fight us!"

It was clear that, just perhaps, these were not men that were regularly accustomed to taking orders.

The scampering footsteps retreated, and Kimmi's heart leapt at the possibility that they had managed to scare their captors off from sheer bluster and threats of violence. Perhaps one of the convicts had gotten an arm free and clobbered one of them. Shi didn't doubt that they were all tougher than shi, and probably shrugged off those stabbing strikes as though they were nothing.

Most of them were silenced by a sudden, familiar 'whoosh' of flames catching, and immediately the confined space was filled with a greasy, acrid smoke. Hir eyes would have watered, were it not for the blindfold, but shi refused to be thankful for that.

"Come on! Show yerselves!"

"Afraid of the dark, are ye? Bunch of fraidy-minks!"

"I'll put that out in yer arsehole!"

Kimmi shook hir head, still huddled up in mid-terror against the side of the cave. Shi didn't know which group shi was more afraid of!

From the heat on hir back shi could feel the torch moving back along the cave, and there was a rustle as one of the convicts, shi wasn't sure who, had his blindfold removed. His curses were cut off mid-sentence, and for a long moment there was no sound at all within the cave except for the crackle of wet torchwood, and the angry breaths of the surface dwellers.

"Saints alive," croaked a fearful voice; Kimmi thought it might have been the stallion.

One by one the blindfolds were removed, and with each the feeling of palpable dread escalated. When the wooden poles were once again shoved through their bound wrists and ankles, there were no protests. When Kimmi was roughly rolled over and re-raised, shi dared not struggle. What had they seen? What was going on? Why is my blindfold still on?

"I guess... not all bed-time stories are myths," Rigus said, an unexpected tremor in his voice.

Kimmi wriggled once, but was stilled by the press of cold steel against hir ear. Instead, shi simply barked querelously, hoping that it wouldn't earn hir another bloody rebuke.

"For once, I'm jealous of the taurs," the lion said to the group at large with forced, and clearly ineffective, levity. "They don't have to see."

Half-hearted replies were weakly uttered, and then the group fell silent. Soon the horrendous caravan was underway again, Kimmi being carried along upside-down with hir head periodically cracking against the rocky floors. Hir tail dragged behind hir until it was roughly trod on by taloned feet and shi yelped in pain, tucking it up against hir nethers as tightly as shi could.

I want to wake up I want to be back in my chamber I want to be a princess again I want to go to back to my castle I want my comfy bed again oh gods I just don't want to be here why why why why why...

- - - - -

Shi didn't know how long they'd been walking. The flame was extinguished shortly after they got back underway, and soon the only sound was the monotonous click-clacking of their invisible kidnappers. It could have been an hour, it could have been six. Shi had woken up hungy, which was nothing new for hir, but now shi felt only a cold ball of fear in the pit of hir stomach. Shi didn't care if shi never ate again, so long as shi lived long enough to see another sunrise.

Maybe it's sunrise already, and I missed it

Hir mind swam, hir thoughts rising and falling like bubbles in the brackish mud of the Murk. Sometimes shi could hear the servants knocking at hir door, until shi realized it was just a rock rolling away into the distance. Shi fancied shi could smell hir supper being delivered, but the thought that it might be the scents of one of the other convicts, or worse, their captors, banished that dream instantly. Shi briefly entertained the fantasy of spending a lazy Sunday morning in bed with one of hir lapine housemaidens, the worldly young woman showing the naive princess the myriad ways hir oversized body could be used for great pleasure, but when shi realized that it was actually an icy, gnarled hand probing roughly at hir sheath shi shuddered in revulsion and tried to twist away. This earned a wicked chuckle from several throats, and shi then forced hirself to imagine what it would be like to crush those scrawny necks with hir huge paws.

Just let me leave I promise I won't tell anyone please just let me leave please just me I'm not a prisoner I'm a princess I'm a good person why won't you let me leave

More scents assaulted hir sensitive nose, and shi shook hirself to dispell whatever dreams had siezed hir brain when shi realized that it wasn't a dream. Shi smelled... shi smelled... there were too many scents, but it reminded hir so much of the warm, muggy evenings in hir chambers, when shi would lay against the great wrought-iron grates of hir windows, enjoying the breezes wafting in from the sea, the entire olfactory impression of the city below swirling around the castle. Foods and fires, midden heaps and flower gardens, sawdust and mortar and a hundred other ineffable odors. It was the smell of civilization.

"Saints be fucked," gasped a voice from behind hir, and shi was dead certain that they had not come upon a friendly civilization.

Shi whuffed once, hoping that Rigus would once again take pity on hir and speak out loud, but there was no need. From the sounds of the echoes, they had passed through a short and very narrow corridor, and emerged into a vastness that surrounded hir with sounds and smells and helpless terror. Without so much as a warning grunt shi was tossed aside, landing hard on hir back and sprawling out on smooth, well-worn stones. A dozen other meaty thuds and cries of pain reassured hir that at least shi wasn't alone.

A metal point touched hir tail, another at hir back, another at hir chest, and shi froze. All this just to kill me now?!

Footsteps approached, and shi shied away, bringing hir bound hands up as high as shi could to shield hir face but shi was unable to get them past the immensity of hir bosom. There was another evil chuckle, and shi only barely stifled a scream when another clawed hand touched hir face.

"Behave!" came that raspy command once more as hir blindfold was removed.

The creature seemed to take hir absolute lack of response as confirmation that shi would not bolt in terror, nodded in satisfaction, and moved on to the next taur in line. Kimmi's jaw had dropped, and shi had all but stopped breathing when hir eyes were freed; shi hardly even noticed when the bonds keeping hir wrists and ankles together were roughly cut free. Shi lay on hir side, ears flat back against hir head, tail tucked between hir legs, silently repeating every prayer shi had ever learned.

It was a city, that was unmistakable, but it was a city wrought of sickly flickering glows, rough-hewn stones and inky blackness. The troop of convicts and their captors occupied a raised dais against one side of the colossal cavern, a void so large hir castle could easily have been mistaken for a distant stalagmite. Other flattened areas dotted the circumference of the huge cave, with ramps leading down to the city below, clearly the entrances and exits for the nightmare metropolis.

There were buildings, hundreds, no, thousands of them. Most were no more than two-room shacks, some were as large as the royal stables, and some resembled the ancient fortresses shown in woodcuts from hir old history textbooks, all turrets and spiked walls and grim fortifications. Blue and green lights, as well as some more familiar glows of yellow-orange flame, speckled the city like lesions on diseased flesh, but by and large the cave was absolute stygian blackness; it was only those few sources of light that gave it any depth or dimension at all.

And a city that big could easily house ten thousand inhabitants, more probably twice that amount.

And the inhabitants...

The creature before hir stalked away on four legs that were not tipped with talons... they were talons. Shi was reminded of the stick insects that hir housemaidens sometimes brought hir from the gardens, with small bodies and small legs, but each leg was tipped with a rigid, horn-like spike as large as such a creature's sword might have been. Clicks and clacks filled the air as they moved, knotted black bodies not rising or falling in the slightest, kept perfectly level by their wickedly-sharp spurs. They were taurs, in their own way, shi realized, each lumpy lower body topped by a whip-thin, long-limbed torso and a huge-eyed, shark-toothed head.

They weren't reptilian, as far as shi could tell, nor were they insectile. If anything, they seemed to borrow features from both, melted together by some infernal cauldron. They had more joints than shi was used to, every motion seeming to upset the eye, and each of them had several bags and pouches tied to their bodies with long, thin cords. Oh, gods, what are they? Have they always lived below my kingdom? Is this why no-one crosses the mountains? Why did they bring us here? Why does that one keep poking my sheath? Stop it! I'll kick you!

I'll kick you... because my legs are free...

So swift did shi reach hir paws that shi had taken half a dozen steps before there was a cry of alarm behind hir. Shi charged like a demon towards the small oval against the side of the cavern, the artificial passage that they had just passed through. Something struck hir hip and shi screamed in pain, but shi didn't slow, all four legs pumping mightily; shi knew shi was bruising hir more tender portions with hir violent frenzy to escape, but shi didn't care. I can make it I can make it I can make it

Oh my gods I made it!

Shi passed into the portal with an exultant cry, and was plunged into a darkness so thick it seemed to weigh hir fur down. Shi kicked an unseen rock, snapping one blunted claw clean off, and then bounced off of a cavern wall as the passageway turned slightly to the left.

"NO! NO!" shi cried, scrabbling for purchase, trying to feel hir way. Shi cracked hir head on a low stalactite, ground hir breast painfully against a jagged escarpment, tripped again over a deep hole. Shi had barely gone fifty feet when the laughter of the creatures reached hir ears, and shi struggled simply to get to hir paws again as they unhurriedly chased hir down.

When shi was forced back out onto the flattened ledge, sobbing uncontrollably, half a dozen creatures ranged around hir with spears at the ready, the looks from the convicts ranged from sympathy to seething rage. Shi couldn't meet their gaze, no longer caring in the slightest if they knew shi wasn't a mindless taur anymore. Shi was ashamed of hir actions, and even more ashamed that it hadn't worked.

Of course it hadn't worked! What did you expect? To make it through fifty miles of pitch black cavern alive? Do you even know the way out?!

"No," shi moaned again as shi was herded together with the other taurs. Half of the creatures surrounded them, weapons at the ready, and one of them, likely the leader of their little group and wielding a mirror-polished bronze dagger in one taloned hand, barked a series of commands.

A creature approached hir with a long rope in it's hands, and Kimmi backed away in terror, but apparently shi had used up hir supply of warnings; a speartip was thrust into hir haunch with far more force than before, and shi collapsed with a shriek. The rope was looped around hir head with practiced ease, the slipknot closing tight in hir muzzle and jerking hir cheeks back painfully, preventing hir from closing hir jaw.

A leash! I've been leashed!

The creature planted it's four spike-like legs and pulled hard, pain splitting hir head, sparks exploding behind hir eyes. He yanked again, and again, pulling up higher, until shi staggered unsteadily to hir feet, blood trickling down hir hindleg.

"Be-HAVE!" it shrieked at hir. Shi noticed all the other taurs had such leashes in their mouths, and although they were wide-eyed and skittish, they were behaving. They were used to this sort of treatment, if not these sorts of surroundings.

The leader barked another command, and Kimmi was lead gracelessly down the long, shallow stone ramp towards the city below. Shi could see countless shapes roaming the streets, some of them dotting the flat rooftops, all with that same familiar eerie crablike gliding motion. Hir chest shook as shi tried to stifle hir sobs, but they would not be denied.

A crowd was already forming at the bottom of the ramp, dozens of the strange subterranean dwellers in all shapes and sizes. All had the strange collections of bags and pouches, several strapped with weapons, but none of them seemed particularly hostile. If anything, they were... curious. They chittered amongst themselves, pointing at the taurs as they were paraded past. Some even seemed to be taking notes on thin stone tiles.

Shi glanced back, but could see no sign of Rigus or the others. The top of the outcropping was empty, and already shi could see that a huge slab of stone had been dragged across the cavern entrance. The big husky shivered despite the nearly unpleasant warmth and stifling smell of the city. Aeons of development with what was almost certainly very little fresh air had left a greasy patina over everything, and shi could feel it spreading to hir lungs.

The other taurs were inching closer and closer, and shi tried to shoo them off with a few subtle kicks and swats of hir tail, but they clearly were not getting the hint. “Rrrrrrrrrrr,” shi growled with annoyance, wondering if they would pick up on it. Shi was going to have to learn their language if shi was to be one of them for the rest of hir, possibly very short, life. “Grrrrrrrrr! Rrrrrffff!”

The leopardtaur just cocked his head and took another step closer, his flanks nearly brushing hir own, while the barrel-chested wolftaur closed in on the opposite side. The equitaur behind hir loomed fearsomely, but his eyes were on the surrounding crowds.

Wait a minute... are they protecting me?

Sure enough, shi found hirself at the center of a rough ring of taurs, each one facing away from hir and reminding hir of a Royal Honor Guard, and yet walking so close it was a miracle their legs did not become entangled.

“Rrrrff?” shi queried, sniffling and managing to suppress hir sobs for the moment, feeling like a colossal fool for even attempting to replicate their sounds. They seemed to understand each other without any verbal communication, and shi could only hope that they could pick up on the fact that shi didn’t understand them.

The leopardtaur glanced at hir, staring into hir eyes with considerably more intensity than shi had expected, cocked his head, furrowed his brow, then went back to glaring at the onlookers.

Well, shi thought, let’s just hope that was something good.

Honor guard or no, though, when they found themselves led into an enormous, high-walled paddock, strewn with moss and filth Kimmi was once again by hirself. Hir fellow taurs were dragged off, pulled roughly into stalls that were only barely large enough for them to turn around in, spiked fences making even those simple activities difficult. Shi reached out to the leopardtaur before shi knew what shi was doing and earned a rough slap on the wrist with the flat of a spear.

Clutching hir injured wrist, shi was guided roughly into a stall of hir own. It was larger than the others, but still felt oppressively small; by the time hir rump was fully inside, there was scarcely enough room left beyond hir bosom for the creature that was leading hir, tugging on hir leash. A flash of rage struck hir and shi clenched hir fists, prepared to charge and simply crush it against the heavy stone wall, but with surprising nimbleness it simply clambered up and over the spiked sides, avoiding the jagged barrier with practiced ease.

Shi slammed hir fist into the side of the stall with denied fury, rattling the wood and stone structure and dislodging a few of the spikes, and then immediately cried out in pain, cradling hir injured wrist to hir belly. This earned a chorus of approving snickers from the creatures watching hir. Shi glared at them balefully, which only seemed to amuse them further.

Other taurs were stabled next to hir, whining and pawing nervously, and shi tried to imitate them. The Princess within wanted to scream and curse and demand to be released, threatening bloody retribution from the great armies of hir nation, but the young but quick-learning adventurer within knew it would be less than futile: it would probably endanger hir further. Were shi seen as more than a regular beast, who knows what they might do with hir? Worst case scenario, they could kill hir for being an abomination.

“I gotta quit thinking while I’m ahead,” shi muttered to hirself, carefully reaching through the rough fence and patting the wolftaur’s flanks in the stall next to hir. “You’re not that worried, are ya buddy?”

The wolftaur whined once, bumped a paw against hirs, but otherwise did not reply.

Humping hirself backwards, twisting hir barrel uncomfortably and bearing down on hir tender hindportions with all of hir weight, shi managed to struggle hirself around and face the rest of the huge pen, which resembled a cross between an open market and a stable. An enormous circular space was surrounded by a high stone wall, lined with dozens, maybe hundreds of pens just like hirs, with cave-like tents scattered throughout the clearing. The creatures milled around, some of them giving the impression of browsing, while others moved rapidly through the crowd, communicating briefly with others in rapid succession.

You’re being sold, a voice said in the back of hir mind. You’re being sold into slavery.

The whines that followed did not require much acting.

Chapter 6

---

The Royal Treatment

Shi didn’t know how long shi had been in hir pen. There was no day, only night. The temperature did not change, the persistent, sinus-assailing mugginess never abated. The crowds swelled and faded, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. After an interminable period, a bucket was thrust through an opening at the bottom of hir pen, filled with... well, in the darkness, it was difficult to tell at first. A few exploratory pokes and sniffs revealed limp, spongy tubers, something that might have been bread a week before, and a gamey hunk of meat that turned hir stomach when shi thought about where the denizens of this hellish domain might have gotten it.

To either side, the taurs ate theirs gratefully, and shi envied them. Hir taste buds had not exactly been primed for a live of servitude; gourmet meals verging on banquets every night of hir life had affected far more than the dimensions of hir rump. Shi hunkered down, sifting through the pail for whichever morsels seemed the least decomposed and forced hirself to eat. Hir stomach protested it’s emptiness even as hir tongue rebelled against the hideous taste.

Kimmi sniffled, wiping away a tear as shi chewed. “This will get easier,” shi whispered to hirself, lips hardly moving. “I mean... it has to, right?”

Watching one claw-legged shape after another pass hir stall by, eying hir curiously, occasionally poking hir with a stock, shi had managed to overpower nearly half of hir bucket by brute strength alone. More than once shi wished that hir senses of taste and smell would have fled from hir, forever perhaps. It would have made hir new life easier.

“Kya’ja’ja!” a creature shrieked excitedly, hopping up and down just beyond the gate. It pointed at Kimmi, thrusting it’s hand through and poking hir rather rudely on hir breast. “Kya!”

Shi squawked in protest, nipping at that hand, wondering if they tasted any better than whatever it was shi had just swallowed. Shi was pleased that shi had seen the other taurs do that, for it provided hir with some measure to take out hir frustrations. Hir teeth clacked shut only on air, and the creature just laughed, obviously pleased.

From high above, a leash was dropped down over hir head and jerked tight, nearly halting the passage of what shi hoped was asparagus down hir throat. There was skittering all around hir, more of the armed denizens moving easily along the spiked rail, poking at hir gently with their spears. Bolts were jerked from their gudgeons, hir gate creaked open, and with great care, Kimmi was drawn out of hir pen.

“Keeping your distance now, aren’t you, you little wretches,” shi seethed under hir breath, seeing the ring of escorts keeping well out of hir reach. Hir tail lashed angrily behind hir, a growl rising deep within hir, but shi behaved. Small though they might be, there were half a dozen of them aiming weapons at hir now, a hundred more in the clearing, and who knew how many between hir and freedom? No, shi would behave. For now.

The excited creature continued to circle hir, jabbering to a trio of smaller, cowering figures behind him. Shi knew the relationship between master and servant well enough to have some idea of what was happening... shi was being purchased.

“Rrrowrf,” shi said, staring directly at hir buyer. “Grrrrrrr.”

Coming around to hir other side, it finally noticed that hir attention was solely upon it, even when some of hir guards poked hir to keep hir in line. It stopped, staring back with equal intensity, cocking it’s head.

“Hyu’ku m’ye ke ke?”

“Whurf, I say,” shi muttered back. “Bark bloody bark.”

It grinned, a sickening twisting of it’s facial features that flattened hir ears to hir head, and screeched to it’s sycophantic servants, who bowed and nodded and frantically agreed. There was a smattering of applause that reminded hir of when hir pearl necklace broke, tiny orbs bouncing and clattering on the stones of hir bedchamber.

“I hope I went for a good price,” shi murmured as a much larger, stronger leash was brought up to hir. “I’d hate to have been a bargain.”

Shi bowed hir head after a few swats from the flats of their spears, and the new leash replaced the old, the other end held by an underling. Kimmi smiled viciously down at it and gripped the leash where it draped across hir breasts, giving it a playful little tug and nearly removing it from its hands. A cry of alarm and the feel of cold steel against hir nethers calmed hir spirit for the time being, but hir rumble never ceased.

Whoever had decided to purchase hir emerged from one of the heavily-shrouded tents, and shi realized that not only was it larger than the others, but it also had far more elaborate pouches strapped to its body, and far more colorful sashes. Obviously there was some sort of hierarchical system to the pockets and satchels, but shi’d be buggered if shi could figure it out. Shi could describe in excruciating detail the significance and history of every coat of arms of hir own kingdom’s noble families and even the surrounding kingdoms, but fashion had always eluded hir.

It walked up to hir, its bearing speaking volumes. It was used to power and authority, but shi could also see the telltale signs that it was not the true power being wielded; it was an agent of some sort. Shi had been purchased by an underling, one who clearly enjoyed abusing its own underlings. It smacked two of them for no other reason than because they seemed to be within reach before stepping right up to hir, without fear, gripping one of the tattered remains of hir dress and yanking.

“Hey!” shi cried, before switching to hir bestial pidgin. “Grggrrooowwwwrrff!”

Three more creatures grabbed ahold of hir leash and nearly dragged hir forwards, while the remaining guards pressed closer with far more menace than shi had expected. The message was clear: shi might be valuable property, but shi still needed to learn hir place. Kimmi stood, humiliated, while hir bodices and petticoats and remaining corsetry were simply shredded by the adjutant’s razor-sharp claws. It nodded in satisfaction, crowed something indecipherable, and strode off, completely ignoring the great huskytaur.

Shi glared at it, watching it stride away. “Grrrr,” shi growled, hands awkwardly moving to try and provide some modesty, despite the lack of caring eyes and the near-total darkness. One arm tried to drape across the front of hir bosom, but shi was only barely able to even cover up one nipple, let alone both. Hir tail swept low to try and shelter hir nethers, but again that only worked from one side and hir sac was far too full to be hidden by just one tail.

Hir cheeks still burned, though, as shi was led, almost paraded, through the huge circle of market stalls, out the great stone archway and into the skittering, moisture-slicked streets.

- - - - -

“Ow.”

The flat, tired syllable bounced around the narrow, constricting tunnel, taking ages to fade from the draconian’s sensitive hearing. He absently rubbed at the cracked scale on his forehead, unsure just how many he was going to have to molt in order to regain his flawless exterior. His vision was superb, nearly unequaled in the lands above, but in the depths of these forsaken mountains he was verging on blind. The copper-shaded mercenary was operating chiefly by sound and scent, and both were starting to fail him.

His wings were wrapped tightly around his body, and both of his long daggers waved back and forth in front of him, questing for any stalactites that might thump his skull or stalagmites that waited to trip him up, though his success rate was not encouragingly high.

A tiny tink alerted him to an obstacle, and Bister ducked neatly under it. He straightened up again a moment later, however, and nearly lost one of his precious backswept skullhorns in the process.

“Ow.”

The scents in particular were becoming infuriating. As they had been carried deeper and deeper into the miasmic abyss, the strange flowing breeze became more deviated and dissipated, rather like a stream running into the hills, splitting into smaller tributaries until eventually there was no flow at all. The Princess, the convicts and even the vile little skittering creatures that had taken them now seemed to have left their scent on every available surface. Sound was even more treacherous; the dripping of water echoed and multiplied until he wasn’t sure if he wasn't just hearing his own talons.

He had backtracked more than a dozen times, following one of the whisper-faint trails only to find himself at a dead end, or looped back upon himself, or at a passage that the behemoth princess could not possible have been forced through. That was one saving grace, he had realized: while the skitterlings might have been able to pass through a crevice that he himself could scarcely fit a foot through, Kimmi's bulk required that they take the largest and easiest route.

"Not so easy, is it," he chuckled sourly, remembering the strain on his own wings from merely lifting hir twenty vertical feet. How many of the hellish little creatures were required to drag hir?

He froze, balanced on one foot, tail stiff behind him. Bending carefully, he reached beneath his heel and removed a scrap of rough hemp rope, holding it up to his nostrils and inhaling slowly.

It wasn't the princess, but it was definitely one of the convicts; they all smelled of rusting chains and terrible gruel. All around him were ephemeral whiffs of a dozen furrefolk, and the faint, ammonia-like odor of their captors. He crawled around on all fours, coming up with other scraps and debris.

"They stopped here... some bonds were torn..." he mumbled, nose low, recreating the scene in his mind. He recoiled slightly when he found one patch that was nearly overpoweringly redolent of the princess, and he had to tell himself it was probably just panic sweat, probably. A curved wire was at the center of the area, and he spent several moments wondering which part of hir dress it had come from.

"No blood. No scraped iron. They stopped... and moved on."

Wings tight around his body, he moved swiftly through the darkness, following a much surer path now, and thinking about whatever he could to steer his thoughts away from the billion tons of stone above his head, waiting to crush him into a fine paste where none would ever find his remains.

- - - - -

Kimmi decided shi had definitely been purchased by a creature of wealth and taste.

Upon leaving the arena-like bazaar, a ring of the little beasts had surrounded hir as shi was steered through between the haphazard collections of stone buildings. Shi had originally thought that they were lost, but it became clear that shi was being put on display. Impossible to read expressions stared down at hir from a hundred glassless windows, little more than holes punched in the rock.

The roads slowly rose, becoming less damp in the process, the surrounding structures becoming significantly better organized. The further one lived from the centre of the cave, the higher their apparent status; the buildings to either side of hir now were monochromatic in the sputtering light of greasy torches and glowing insects, but they could almost have been copies of the more old-fashioned styles shi had seen in some of hir books.

And still they rose. Looking back shi could see the clearing where shi had been purchased overtop of the sagging, slumped roofs of the lower neighborhoods. Whenever shi turned hir head to gauge their progress, though, shi was presented with a far more unusual sight.

Arranged behind hir, and clearly attempting to move close enough to properly surround hir, the other recently purchased taurs formed a sort of honor guard, marching lockstep barrel-to-barrel. When shi locked eyes with one their heads would bow briefly, tails wagging. Shi desperately wished shi could speak their animalistic language, if only to tell them to knock it off.

“Kimmi, Queen of the Quadrapeds,” shi groused under hir breath, tugging futilely at some of the knots in hir fur. The frigid, mud-filled romp through the Murk was a pleasant memory compared to hir current predicament; shi would have forsaken all of hir other luxuries, even hir mountainous royal bed, for just one more bath.

They were nearing the sheer sides of the cavern city, and shi started to wonder just which of the enormous, blocky manors would be hir new home, and just what exactly hir purpose would be. Beast of burden, turning some enormous gear-driven machinery? Security? Mount? Entertainment? The last option made hir shudder. The roads were devoid of both life and debris now, immaculately scrubbed cobbles almost gleaming in the dancing light. In spite of that a faint, ghostly scent reached hir nose, alien but strangely familiar, and shi had to fight to keep from flattening hir ears and growling. Ye gods, what is that?

The macabre parade drew to a halt, a vertical curtain of stone towering a hundred feet above them. Kimmi was distracted by both the strange, unnerving odor and the reactions of hir fellow taurs, who seemed to grow more skittish as they marched, and did not notice for several long seconds that they were no longer moving. Shi looked around, brows furrowed, trying to figure out what was so special about this particular expanse of granite when shi noticed six colossal metal plates set into the cavern wall, each one illuminated by a pale glowing orb.

The princess, finally starting to get hir wits about hir once again and already planning for hir potential escape, shrank back like a frightened pup when the colossal doors crept open, believing for a moment that a thousand tons of stone were toppling onto their heads. So perfectly had they been cut from the cliffside that the seams were all but invisible until the huge iron hinges began to squeal and grind. The ground shook beneath their paws, hidden gears protesting the immense weight. The taurs whimpered, Kimmi included, when the yawning gate swung open enough to see the courtyard beyond, and the hundreds of armed creatures standing at attention.

Compared to the ragged band that had escorted them from the pens, these troops put Kimmi in mind of the palace guards back home. They stared straight ahead, backs straight, spears at the ready, two ranks flanking the central path. The doors finally ground to a halt, the ensuing silence more ominous than any shi had experienced.

“T’kye!” One of hir keepers snapped, jabbing hir in the rump with his prod. Kimmi was too stunned to even flinch, hir paws refusing to budge. More orders were screeched behind hir, more spears thrust into unco-operative taurs, but none of the captive beasts would move.

It’s like a grave, shi thought in horror, overwhelmed by the scents of humid earth, decay and fear. It’s a fortress, and I’ll die in there.

Shi took a step back and was rewarded with a much more forceful strike to hir ribs, and this time the pain managed to pierce the fog surrounding hir brain. Shi yelped, clapping one hand to the spreading stain of blood and dancing sideways away from the guard, only to find hirself backing into more spears. These did little more than remind hir of the boundaries, and with wide, teary eyes shi slowly walked forwards. Shi was no longer surprised when, as one, the other taurs also began to move.

Passing through the hellish portal, shi became aware of the myriad sounds of the subterranean fort, hundreds, maybe thousands of the creatures living and working all around hir. The courtyard was a central column, possibly created by widening an existing volcanic vent, and rising above them were dozens of carved tiers and balconies. All around the flat, well-worn plaza were surprisingly well-lit passageways. Most led up, but a few spiraled down, curving in the peculiar manner these creatures used instead of the familiar stairs.

Shi swallowed hard when shi found hirself being led to the largest of these descending ramps. The grinding and squealing filled the huge courtyard, and shi was only beginning hir descent when the vault-like fortress gates closed behind them with a final bone-rattling thump.

- - - - -

To be continued...