Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (74 page)

As the stone cooled over the following hours it made odd rumbling sounds from time to time that reminded Seth of the black horde's war drums from a few days before. Seth found himself wondering at the fate of those he had left behind. He knew he had nearly destroyed the enemy army, but he did not know what the final outcome had been, if Borrik or Garret had survived, or even if the battle continued still this very night. Seth needed to hurry and find a way back from wherever he was to Valdadore, not only to learn the outcome of the battle, but also to finish Sara’s healing and redeem himself to her.

But first Seth needed to figure out just where he and Sara had landed. Approaching the stone wall with Sara in tow, Seth tested the surface with his hand. The stone had cooled to a bearable degree, and once again clad in their armor and prepared to leave, they began to climb the wall to the chamber above.

* * * * *

Borrik and his men raced through the ancient forest using their keen eyes and noses to guide them through the absolute darkness that only the vision of a nighttime predator could penetrate. As they ran on in near silence, their only communications were telepathically shared allowing their ears to focus on the sounds surrounding them. Borrik, the leader of the wolf men, led his small pack of hybrid troops east attempting to follow his would-be guides many miles ahead. The cat girls, it seemed, had no intentions of stopping until they reached their destination, and Borrik worried that if the duo of feline sisters gained any more lead than they currently held, he and his men would likely lose their scent and with it the trail to their master.

Sniffing vigorously as he ran, Borrik assured himself he was on still on the trail of the girls, and again he also noted the scent of a lone human male. As of yet the large beast of a man had found no reason as to why a single human would venture so far into this forest alone, so far from any town or city. What particularly surprised Borrik upon locating the scent this time was the potency. The man's scent was fresh and strong whereas the previous times he had located it the scent had been days old and weak. Borrik mulled over the revelation for many hours as he ran like a wraith over the mossy ground of the forest floor. Deciding it best he sent another image to his troops imprinted with the feeling that to a wolf meant caution. Receiving replies from all his troops, Borrik knew that if they crossed this human he would not be harmed. However, he had an uneasy feeling about the scenario that he simply could not escape.

Many miles and many hours passed as the great pack of hybrid wolf troops rushed headlong through the immense forest with no signs of any other living beings besides the occasional scent lofted upon the currents of lazy air beneath the treed canopy. From time to time Borrik would glance skyward and on occasion believed he could see the first moon in the sky, its crimson surface reflecting light back down upon him. Although unsure with only an occasional glance through branches and leaves, and moving at a precarious speed, Borrik imagined the moon full, and that too lent a certain sense of disquiet to him that he could not quite place. Something foreboding was approaching, of that much Borrik was certain. His instincts screamed for him to stop or turn back, but he knew he must continue lest he lose the trail. None of his troops had made mention of anything out of the ordinary either verbally or telepathically, and as such Borrik began to believe it paranoia that guided his feelings.

Running still through the forest, his troops spread out behind him finding their own trails and footfalls, Borrik again found the scent of the human upon a tree as he passed. It was a musty smell, like that of a man who had worked in the sun for many days, laboring and sweating without drinking enough water. This time the scent was stronger than any time previous and Borrik nearly felt as if it had been left on purpose. It was as if the scent was simply too strong whereas in the times previous it was an accidental occurrence. Now it was something more substantial. Borrik began to slow his pace to better judge his surroundings. Fearing an ambush or something more sinister, Borrik was caught quite by surprise as the trees parted into a clearing ahead of him. Slowing to a stop, realizing that something was out of the ordinary in the clearing ahead, Borrik subliminally gave his men the order to fan out to gain numerous vantage points. He saw nothing of immediate danger so Borrik strode to the edge of the clearing, and gleaning information from his troops as well, was able to determine many things that made him both anxious and nervous.

First and foremost, Borrik, along with several of his troops, noted the scents of humans covering the entire perimeter of the clearing. Secondly, the clearing was obviously not a natural occurrence as it was perfectly circular and even the branches above dared not overhang the cleared ground below. Also upon the ground, small patches of the moss had been carved away in rows baring the deep black soil beneath, and sprouting from these rows of bare soil were the beginnings of some sort of cultivated mushrooms with wide red caps and green spotted trunks. The third thing Borrik noticed that was verified by one of the females in his pack was the scent of children. These were not the scents of the very young whose breath and perspiration was sweet upon the tongue, but the scent of those nearing adulthood, or having reached adulthood but having never bred before. The scent of untainted human virginity hung thick in the air which led Borrik to his next discovery. The male scent he had been following all day was the only one present in the clearing. Here, in the very near past had gathered a large group of women, or soon to be women, and a single man. It seemed to Borrik a great oddity, and although his instincts screamed against it, Borrik ordered his pack to enter the clearing, careful not to disrupt the apparently cultivated crops, and to follow him down a well-worn path that exited the clearing just opposite where Borrik now stood. It was a mistake Borrik would regret for the rest of his days; a mistake unspeakable to any priest of any religion. It was a mistake that would burden his soul almost to the point of no return, stripping him at least for a moment of any trace of humanity he still clung to.

Stepping into the clearing as of one mind, the pack of beast men Lord Seth had created only days ago immersed themselves for the first time that night in the light of both of the moons that inhabited the sky above them. In an occurrence that only happened three times a year on Thurr, both moons this night had risen in their full glory illuminating the world below in crimson and blue beams of ethereal light. To a normal wolf a single full moon in the sky meant two things. First it would make for a good night to hunt, and second the bitches in the pack would be coming into heat and would be looking to breed. On a night such as this, with both luminescent orbs in the sky, the power of nature was tenfold, and as the light of the moons struck Borrik and his troops something within them snapped. Becoming for the first time unchained by their humanity, instincts overruled human emotion and like a pack of wild beasts, digging claws into the soft loam beneath them, the wolf hybrid creatures sprang into action with lust in their veins and wild ferociousness in their eyes. Howling and barking like a pack of hunger-driven, mad beasts the once men raced down the trail sending clumps of moss and soil raining down around them as they tore the earth beneath them with their claws.

* * * * *

The feline sisters of Seth’s creation waited high above in a tree looking down upon the small human colony below. Neither of them knew what drove them to lead Borrik’s men to this place, but both felt it a necessity. As their eyes shone gold among the branches and leaves, the girls watched as the humans settled down for a night's rest. This small community was an oddity to the girls. Being in the middle of an immense ancient forest was blatantly weird, as well as being cut off from all other human civilization. But the humans that made up the colony were also an oddity. In the nighttime air it was particularly cool, and yet the humans below wore nothing to protect their bodies from the elements. No fires crackled from within the small cottages, no smoke rose lazily from a chimney, and even here in the middle of a forest where great packs of wolves and giant bears wandered looking for an easy meal, the small colony of humans had afforded themselves no means of protection. There was no wall surrounding the small cottages, there weren’t even any doors on the homes, just holes in the sides of the small buildings created of moss and wood. Stranger than that, however, was the make-up of the small colony below. So far as the girls could tell, all but one of the inhabitants of the small village were female. They had seen but a singular male with a large collection of women below. There appeared to be no elderly people, nor any children, only a bunch of naked women and a naked man. Something here was definitely amiss.

The girls watched as the congregation below ended and the odd humans retired into their homes. They remained patiently perched in the trees above for several hours awaiting the arrival of the wolf men. Just as the moons had risen to their peak in the sky, the feline sisters were startled to hear a great howling and barking mass of beasts crashing through the trees below. Tracking Borrik and his men more by sound than sight, the sisters watched the fast approach of the beasts, waiting to see if the community slumbering below them would raise some alarm. There were seven homes below the girls, and as best as they could tell, one belonged to the man and the remaining six were each inhabited by five women. The girls continued to watch when, as if of one mind, the wolf troops broke from the trees and spread out, all the while running like raving lunatics. As they closed the distance between themselves and the small homes of the grotto, the beasts all dropped to all fours and without so much as a second’s hesitation they began racing into the open doors below the feline sisters as screams of alarm and pain erupted like a bloodcurdling crescendo from each of the houses.

Watching from the safety of the trees above, the sisters took particular interest as a small blonde woman emerged from one of the doorways and began to run towards the forest in an attempt to escape. Before making even five yards, from the same doorway lunged one of Seth’s massive wolf men, dragging the woman down beneath him. Perched atop the petite woman's body the beast pressed her down upon her belly into the soft soil and grabbing a fist full of her golden hair in one clawed hand he pushed her face to the ground as he used his other muscled arm to support his own weight. Using his powerful legs the wolf beast pried the small woman’s legs apart. She screamed in both fear and pain as he penetrated her from behind over and over, viciously thrusting into her small body time and time again. Finishing his deed the wolf beast began to rise, tracing his clawed fingers down the woman’s bare back, marking her as his property where blood now escaped the parallel wounds. As blood ran down the woman’s back and from between her legs she attempted to crawl away from the beast, great sobs escaping her lips. Without a second thought the wolf man, finished with the petite blonde, flung her aside where she rolled upon the soil before he again raced back through the door he had sprung from to claim his next mate.

* * * * *

Borrik lunged through an open doorway with one of his men hot on his heels. Overcome by his wolven instincts Borrik acted as his feral subconscious guided him into the room where slumbered five completely nude woman upon thick mats of the very moss that carpeted much of the forest floor. Being the alpha, Borrik had first pick of the room, and sizing up the women quickly, Borrik sprang atop a brunette with long slender legs and large mature breasts. As the woman screamed in panic, Borrik pressed his weight onto her slender body, expelling the breath from her lungs and thereby silencing her, though now the other women in the room awoke in a great chaotic mass of terrified screams. As Borrik used his powerful arm to pin the woman beneath him he quickly removed the straps of his armor allowing it to fall to the floor as one of his female comrades took position at the door to keep the other humans from escaping. Wrenching the woman’s legs apart, Borrik sniffed between her legs to verify her fertility, and suitably assured, he thrust himself inside her repeatedly releasing his seed into her womb before discarding her and finding his next victim.

Two of his men were now having their way with the human women on the floor when Borrik located his second temptation of the night. Propelled by his need to breed, Borrik cornered the panicking woman who had sunk into the corner of the room gathering up her knees in her arms as tears streamed down her young face. Grabbing the young woman by her long red hair, Borrik pulled her back to her feet, and seizing her shoulder spun her to face the corner she had retreated into. Pressing her small body into the wall, Borrik lifted the girl free from the floor with his massive clawed hands, bringing her body to a level at which he could use it easily. Pressing his massive body to her rigid backside, effectively restricting her movement, Borrik thrust his manhood up and into the young woman time and again as he tore her and her blood began to run down the inside of her legs. Borrik pleasured himself with her body as the girl screamed time and again in agony. Once finished he released her, letting her body fall limply to the floor where she curled up in a ball sobbing, her tears and blood pooling upon the dirt floor.

By this time Borrik’s men had finished with the other women in the room save one, and as such had moved on to other amusements. The female who once blocked the humans from escaping the room remained and as a gesture to her alpha, detained the final human woman from fleeing. With the need to breed within herself as well as her male comrades, the large wolf woman lowered herself to the dirt floor dragging the human woman kicking and screaming atop her. Grasping the human's hands the large wolf bitch pulled the human female to lay over her, their bellies pressed together. Borrik’s female wolf soldier then wrapped her legs up and around the human’s legs, and then spreading her own, offered both her womb and the womb of the human woman for Borrik to lay his seed. Impressed with the offering Borrik could not resist his need to rut with the females. As his female warrior held the smaller human victim for him, Borrik, grabbing the milky flesh of the woman's exposed backside, pressed himself into her, much to the human’s dismay and his wolf bitch's delight. Seeing the two women's organs pressed together as they were brought increased excitement to Borrik as he compared the bare pink flesh of the human with that of the downy fur-covered flesh of his bitch. As he finished with the human his loyal soldier tossed the defiled woman aside and reached out to claim her prize. Borrik awarded his loyal female soldier with a breeding unlike anything he had ever before imagined. As he began to penetrate the bitch she drove her clawed fingers into the flesh of his back and blood began to drip from the pleasurable wounds. In return Borrik grasped the bitch’s throat in one of his clawed fists squeezing off much of the air she needed. As both came to climax, they rolled around the small chamber, a mass of limbs and fur, biting and clawing each other viciously. Upon releasing his seed Borrik slashed his claws across his bitch’s breasts marking her as bred, and released her so he could again rise and collect his armor.