“Move it up! The wind’s picking up and the Veil will shift soon!” Someone behind Mhairi shouted. As the humid thickets were slowly disappearing, the group that had attacked the lionesses moved back into the mountain range where they had come. Mhairi had been freed from her golden cage and given some clothes to wear, yet she was still a captive. The hog woman in front of her had been given the task to tug her along by a long rope, and she had been placed in the middle of what she thought to be a bandit group. While she could appreciate being able to walk on her own now, her heat was still growing stronger, and each passing moment made her mind go a little bit hazier, making it harder for her to plan an escape. Biting her lip, she tried to focus her mind back into now, begging her brain to work instead of getting lost in her need to be taken by someone, anyone.
The scorching sun was still high, and even though the mountainside still had some trees standing proudly on it, the sun had made the ground formed with loose, small rocks hot, and the growlingly dry air made it hard to breathe properly. It was no wonder that the Moonscorched had decided to settle their camp – Moonkamer – there; no sane thaunon would ever wander there by accident, and those who did would do it only when forced. The hostile terrain did not only provide them with cover and work as a deterrent, but it was also nestled in a sweet spot between the four largest dominions, making it a great spot for someone who might want to carve their name into the history books by waving their rule.
The albino leader of the Moonscorched followed his group. Sidik had always preferred to lead them from the tail rather than from the front, it gave him a better view on the general picture and where some leaders had the hierarchical need to be in the front and center, the doomuz favored more subtle approach and as such did not even wear anything that might have identify him as the leader. If someone were to ambush them, they would do it either by attacking the front or the middle of the group first, taking out the leaders first, or breaking the ranks had been some of the first things Sidik had learned during his time as a gan. His father had been a great khagan, and as his son, Sidik had been given an even greater legacy to live up to. A challenge, which he had performed admirably, but while he carried his past with him, the boar’s mind was now focused on the woman walking in the middle of his group.
Sidik had recognized the woman almost immediately, and seeing the legitimate heir of the En Thelan Scyen had come as a surprise. By then, the Moonscorched had already received word about the massacre of the clan Adharcach. ‘No survivors,’ the rumours coming from the neighbouring lands had told them.
No survivors, except one, Sidik thought in silence, his eyes fixed on the treasure walking slowly further up the mountainside. He did not know why the Golden Mane’s had spared her or why they were risking everything by trying to take her to their leader, but something inside him told Sidik, that the woman might be everything he needed to destroy them for good, and he had a good reason to believe she would be willing to help him with that. Yet, the unicorn’s high birth had not been the only reason why Sidik and every other virile member of his group had now their attention drawn towards the mare. They all could sense her heat, and Sidik knew trouble was brewing within the group. All those without lifemates or other tastes would gladly take the unicorn’s heat away, and the only thing keeping them from doing so was the albino boar’s authority, but it could be easily taken away as soon as the mare’s heat reached its full peak. Sidik had ordered the unicorn to be placed in the middle of those who did not mind her heat in order to protect her from others and, most importantly, to protect her from herself.
The travelling Moonscorched were still about an hour away from their camp, and keeping up the speed was of utmost importance. Even though there would be more thaunon willing to claim the unicorn princess at camp, it would also be easier to lock her until her heat faded away in a few days. After which, Sidik could present the woman with his plan to take down the Golden Mane and maybe even help her to reclaim her rightful throne, the pain of losing which he knew all too well. By now the doomuz was sure the other clans of En Thelan Scyen – as far as he knew how they would behave after a power vacuum had been created – were already fighting over who had the best claim to rule it, and there would certainly be a clan war, which would bring more instability into the northern regions of Kaaruu.
Sweating profusely while the high sun burned her coat from behind, Mhairi wanted nothing more than to touch herself, to try to find even some relief. Still, her current situation was preferable to her previous one, where she would have been forcefully married to King Arram of the Golden Manes, the disgusting man who had thirsted after her even before she had been of proper age. She might not know the thaunon around her and had even feared they might be even more deranged than the King, but when they had let her out of her cage and even given something to wear, she had began to hope that they had far better plans for her than the Golden Manes, captive or not.
“Stop squirming or I’ll have you carried on a pole!” The blonde hog tugging Mhairi along yelled as the unicorn’s mind was filled with thoughts of other kinds of poles. Mhairi mumbled an apathetic apology to the woman and almost stumbled over some larger rocks on the ground. The rough terrain was hard to walk on for someone unfamiliar with the land, and that slowed down the whole group, even though some were carrying either those wounded in the battle or the one who had perished during it. Even though the Moonscorched had lost only one, at least a few of the wounded would follow suit sooner or later, a price which they were willing to pay each time they stepped out of their encampment. Out here in the wilds, dying came easy, unlike behind the tall walls of the cities or even in the towns and villages, but even there, staying alive was not a certainty. The Veils might shift in the wrong directions, a town might get attacked by humans crawling from their underground tunnels to feast, rulers might decide to attack a village in an attempt to show dominance, or from pure hubris. Something that happened more frequently as the agreements of the past were forgotten, as the resources became sparse.
A sudden, painful shriek echoed through the mountainside. An elchen man had dropped onto his knees and was holding his hands over his left calf, which had turned swollen and dark purple. Sidik bellowed for everyone to stop, but even though everyone knew they had to stay still, almost every member of the party jumped back from the man instinctively as their feet told them to run far away, fearing that the Veil had crossed their path. Only one thaunon managed to fight that fear and walked toward the man. Sidik called the group’s mender to him, who hesitated momentarily before following the boar’s orders. Sidik calmed down the elchen man while the mender examined him; neither of the two felt anything strange, nor did their coats begin to melt, much to their relief. The man had not been hurt by the veil, but something else, and the two small puncture marks on his legs made it easy to deduce it had been some kind of small critter, and the mender began his work on pulling the venom out of the man’s veins.
While everyone was staring at what was happening, Mhairi was snapped out of her heat momentarily to realize her chance of escaping had come. No matter what the group she still thought to be bandits were planning to do to her, she was willing to risk it and run towards the small pass she had spotted further away. Thinking quickly, she snapped the rope holding her hands together with her horn and told herself to run, forcing her hooves to work with her, and Mhairi dashed away. It took a few seconds for the hog holding her leash to realize what was happening, and as soon as she managed to yell anything at all, Mhairi had already disappeared into the pass. Mhairi could just barely hear the shouts of the Moonscorsched coming from behind her as she found herself in a labyrinth made from tall and sharp rocks. The multiple paths in front of her went in every direction, and once again Mhairi decided to take her chances and ran to one on her far right, hoping that the ground beneath her hooves was hard enough not to be marked by her rushing steps.
The tangled maze seemed never-ending, no matter how deep she ran, and the tall, white rocks made it hard to see where she was heading, and they were too steep to climb on top of. All she knew was that she was at least going forward and had not been turned around, back into the claws of her new captors. The dark unicorn ran until her lungs began to burn, and she stopped to catch her breath and to plan her next step. While taking in deep breaths, Mhairi could feel how dry her mouth had become. She had not had a drop to drink the whole day and no food either, making her feel weak as the rush of the escape began to fade. At least I have some shadow here, Mhairi thought by herself as she looked around, dropping her gaze to the ground to see if she had left a trail to be followed and to her relief, there were only faint marks on the ground where her hooves had hit it, barely distinct from the natural shifting. She hoped that her captors would not follow her, to the Golden Mane she had been a worthy reward, but to a group of random bandits, she might not be of any worth and if they were as lost as she was in this stone labyrinth, then they might give up even if they had decided to run after her.
After catching her breath, Mhairi began to follow the path between the rocks again, much slower this time, examining her surroundings in hopes of finding either a hiding place or an exit, neither of which was granted to her praying mind. Mhairi wondered if she should wait some more and go back when the evening fell over the mountains, but she soon brushed off such thoughts. The bandits might not followed her here, but they might wait for her return and going forwards seemed like the best options even thought she had no idea where she was going or if the path before her lead anywhere, when suddenly while turning around a corner, Mhairi bumped into a lion-like thaunon with a long reptile tail and goat horns. The man was far quicker than Mhairi to recover from his shock and quickly grabbed Mhairi by her throat and forced her down to the hard ground. Mhairi let out a high-pitched cry when the man began to put weight on her lower back with his leg and pulled her hands behind her back.
“Dion! She’s here!” The man yelled, and soon another thaunon like him peeked around the same corner the man had come from. “Good Gods,” the other kimear gasped, “Grab her and let’s hope we find our way back.”
The unnamed man took one look at writhing Mhairi and then looked back at his brother, “Oh, I’m planning on grabbing her. Make sure no one comes this way, and I’ll give you the second turn,” the man grinned. The other man hesitated for a moment, “… But Sidik will be pissed, if we linger too long,” he argued with less geniality in his voice than the frightened unicorn would have liked. “Relax, we’ll tell them we got lost,” the man reassured his friend, “Besides, how many times have you plunged your shaft into a horny mare?” The man laughed at his own joke with disgusting glee, and the other thaunon joined him while nodding and taking his place as a guard.
“No! Don’t you even dare!” Mhairi yelled, knowing her heat would be working against her. She tried to wiggle herself free and to strike the man with her horn to no avail. The rocky ground made the pressure the man was putting on her back cause her to gasp for air as there was no room for her to breathe properly. She wanted to scream, but her cries were constricted by the tightness in her chest. The man began to slowly undress the cotton cloak and tunic she had been given. “Remember, girl, my name is Zenon because soon you will be screaming it!” The man taunted while grinning and fondling Mhairi’s soft rear with his rough claws before smacking her cheeks to make the unicorn yelp. Mhairi begged Zenon to stop with every breath she could take as the man above her took his half-hardened, spiral-like member out and began to stroke it between Mhairi’s cheeks. Her body was telling her to submit, whereas her mind wanted to scream.
“I hope you don’t mind a rough ride, I did not bring any lube with me,” Zenon laughed, “But I promise you, it will feel so good after I’m in!”
Mhairi could not hear the wet groaning sound coming behind them, but Zenon certainly could as he quickly turned around only to be hit in the face with the blunt end of a war axe, the hit made a sound which told its wielder that he had most certainly crushed bone. Feeling the weight shift from unbearable to nothingness, Mhairi rolled around and saw the albino doomuz standing behind her with a furious look on his face, a war axe in his left hand and the other kimear in the other, grabbed by the throat and gasping for air. Zenon crawled beside her, holding his once rather handsome face with one hand, blood dripping between his fingers, while he could only let out gargles. Sidik swirled the war axe in his hand and hit the crawling man on his chest. Dion tried to scream, but his cries were muffled by Sidik’s hand grabbing him even tightly around his throat.
Mhairi got to her knees and crawled back against a large stone, watching in horror as the man who had assaulted her gasped for air with a visible dent on his chest. While garling, Zenon tried to reach for her, but Mhairi reached back not with her hand, but with a hoof, swiftly kicking it. The white boar dropped the man he was holding to the ground next to his brother and turned toward Mhairi.
“Do you want them dead?” he asked with no emotion in his voice, yet his burning eyes betrayed his well-rehearsed calmness. Mhairi looked at both men, both now looking so pathetic and almost harmless. Her attacker might not even survive if she spared him because of his wounds, but what about the man who had enabled him? Who had hesitated at first, but who might have attacked her too? Did he deserve to die for being persuaded into it?
“Yes,” Mhairi replied with tears in her eyes, none of which was spared for the two men, and the leader of the Moonscorched was swift in delivering his justice. “I’m disappointed in you two,” Sidik said calmly and raised his war axe above his head. Mhairi did not close her eyes nor blink when Sidik crushed their skulls, ending their miserable lives in an instant. The rage in Sidik’s eyes faded when he looked at Mhairi again. “Are you alright?” he asked with a genuine worry in his deep voice, and the unicorn’s answer did not grant him relief. “No,” Mhairi whispered softly, her eyes still fixed on the gruesome sight before her. Sidik grunted, looking at the ground, ashamed, and asked, “Will you be?”
Mhairi looked at Sidik, unsure even of herself what her answer could be. While she was relieved that the kimear had not been able to fulfill their plan, they had done enough to scar her, and how could she ever be alright after what happened to her family? After what the Golden Mane had done to her? She was still on heat, and there were others who wanted to do exactly what the two slain men had only attempted to do. Mhairi closed her eyes and didn’t answer the question, as right now she had no answer to give him.
The albino boar could feel Mhairi’s heat tempting him, calling for him to take what had to be claimed by someone sooner or later, and he wanted it, especially now as the feral nature of his actions was still running through his veins, but he was a gan and as one he was able to decline the heat’s enthralling call. Sidik reached his bloodied hand toward Mhairi, “Come, you’re not safe here,” he told her, “We need to get you to Moonkamer before nightfall.”
The unicorn hesitated, looking at Sidik’s hand like it was made from slowly killing venom. “I’m not going to be safe there either,” she replied with a stern tone. “With your heat and heritage you will not be safe anywhere, but at Moonkamer you have better chance at survival than anywhere else on Kaaruu,” the boar remarked, and Mhairi’s mind was now filled with curiosity, “You know who I am? Why do you want to help me?” she asked, looking straight into his eyes in an attempt to find if the man before her was saying the truth or had other plans for her.
“I believe we have a common enemy; the king Arran and his Golden Mane,” Sidik answered, giving Mhairi a good enough reason to take his hand.
