His Shadow Upon Your Fate: Part 4

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*This story is from Old Age Canon. Some of the lore may have changed. Author: WinterAnswer

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Previous: His Shadow Upon Your Fate: Part 3 | Continued: His Shadow Upon Your Fate: Part 5

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Sequel to "Her Blood on Your Hands."

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"Luka," Akuna nearly snarled out the name, "was an underhanded bitch and we would have had nothing to do with her if Unkli hadn't called her over to talk and join us.  Her own lust of the slit got her in trouble, got her killed.  Luka used her, yes, used her and lead her along, but I have no sympathy for that whore.  It's her own doing that guided her to death."

"You could be wrong, Akuna," Niyi interjected.  "Unkli was loyal, she was.  Luka tricked her.  She could have forced her."

"A Shigu never allows their loyalty to become compromised!  Never!  You are either solely bound by Shigu's pledge or you are consorting with the enemy.  That is what Luka was, that is what Unkli did, and this the final result of their betrayal!  Don't you dare defend them after what we've been through!  Not after what we've suffered!"  Akuna was visibly enraged, her teeth showing and tail lashing.

"I'm not defending them," Niyi retorted calmly, not threatened by Akuna's anger.  "But I don't believe Unkli played along without some resistance!  She was Shigu, she was our sister, and how can you just be so sure she was so ready to betray us all?"

"I'm sure of it, Niyi.  I'm damn sure she was so ready to kill the General and take her mantle away from her!  She was not my sister and never was!  She was a disloyal cunt that got what she so very well deserved!"

"The only one that deserved what they got was Luka!  She was the one that was rotting from the start, but she couldn't have turned Unkli against her clan!  She couldn't!"

"You're just as much as a traitor for defending her name, you slack-jaw slut!"  Niyi then rose from the ground, her hands forming into tight fists.

"Hairless bitch!  Don't talk to me like I'm the one who attacked Rain!"

"You're just as bad!"  Akuna had risen too, ready for a fight if one was commenced.  "I should report you to the General on suspicion of breaking your oath of loyalty."

"Do that and I'll tell them you were included in Luka's and Unkli's little affair."  Akuna eyes became wide with surprise, a growl coming from her throat as she launched forward.  Niyi did the same, foot claws digging into the grass.  They slammed into each other with tremendous force, Akuna tackling Niyi to the ground while she clawed at the back of her head.  Rupland and Budio attempted to separate the females, but the two smaller males could not cease their violence.  Both Akuna and Niyi were battering one another's face before Kusno decided to get involved.

"Stop it!" he demanded, pulling at Akuna's mane while his second hand jerked at her neck.  She ceased her blows, but Niyi didn't.  "Pull her off damnit!" he commanded Rupland and he helped lift Akuna off.  He dealt a powerful swing at Akuna's jaw before giving Niyi one.  "Idiots!  If I've known it would start a scuffle, I would not have brought it up!"

Akuna attempted get up and fight again, her new target being her captain, but Rupland held her back and whispered to her to calm herself.  Budio was partly angered about the ordeal, especially towards Kusno after he had bopped his mate.

"No feed for you," he pointed at Akuna, "and no feed for you!" and then to Niyi.  "You go hungry for the whole day now for that!  And you males!  Tell you're mates to douse their tempers before I beat the fight out of them!"  A heavy growl still rumbled through his entire neck as he settled himself back onto the ground.  "Quiet, you inbred vermin!  I'll flatten your muzzles if you don't!" he yelled at the still giggling Odkey and Trimbulo while Drig sat still, slightly shaken.  "Goddamn you all.  Goddamn you."  Kusno packed down his pipe and took a long drag from it.  The males gently massaged their mates' sore muzzles and jaws.  He would be the last one to shut his eyes and rest, the last few remnants of his anger disappearing.  "Bury your quarrels or they will bury you."  His eyes were skyward to the night sky.  "I will bury you," he added.

###### ============================================================

A visitor had arrived in the early morning and everyone was content to stare at him.  He was presented to the General and they spoke amongst themselves.  Strange creature, Rupland thought, examining the shape of his ears, the color of his skin, the hue of his hair.  Another race of Agundars?  Maybe, but he was still an odd sight and young too.

Rain cut his ropes and gave him his sword.  She challenged him, handling her own weapon while Zyn watched.  "Your sword!  Pick it up!  Now!"  The young creature did so, and she quickly attacked with her lance.  He blocked her swing and before Rain can follow up with another, the creature revealed another weapon.  Like a gun, but different.  He aimed and with a loud roar he hit her weapon.  She jumped back, but the boy was shaken and he kneeled to the ground.  The death blow was ready to be dealt, but instead, the General clasped her hands around his neck.  She dealt a satisfying strike to his head, the boy losing consciousness.  He was then dragged away, guards stuffing him into a cart as they inspected his belongings.  With the scene no longer bringing any interest to anyone, the Shigus all prepared to march again.

Akuna had attempted to place herself behind Niyi, but Kusno had caught her.  "Separate," he said and she found herself sandwiched between Budio and Rupland.  Kicking at Niyi's heels would have been more gratifying, but she would settle for spitting out curses like slut, bitch, and cunt softly like coughs.  Her captain gave her strange looks while Niyi growled and glared back at her.

"Fuck off," Niyi whispered, but not lightly enough to escape Kusno's ears.

"Shut it!" he told her.  Akuna smiled and continued.  But she wasn't careful now, and Kusno was quickly aware.

"Bitch," she spat out and her captain came from the front.  He ran beside, leveling his spear's end to jab at her neck.

"Bitch," he said to her with a smile and she gave him a growl.  "Clamp your jaw or I'll use the other end of this spear."

The air was thick, the ground moist and muddy.  Kusno loved it, feeling the cool mire slip between his toes and over his foot pads.  It dirtied his fur, everyone's fur, moving up to the ankles and over their shins while it splashed on their armor.  He panted hard, tongue lulling as he breathed in the heavy air.  He enjoyed the sight of the scenery and every moment of the march as the sun drove through the sky.  The only thing that bothered him was cleaning out all that dirt once they had stopped at night.

Odkey hissed with annoyance as she began to remove the clumps of dried mud matted in her hair.  The couples had donated their time to grooming all the filth out of their mates' fur, but the other three were on their own.  "To hell with this shit!" Odkey blasted, infuriated at the amount she had to clean.  "I hate this place, I hate this land!  Burn it all away so it could be slightly drier."

Kusno grumbled lightly, smiling.  "Crude words, child.  Crude words.  Can you not appreciate the fine smell and taste in the air of this land?  The soothing power of it's soil?"

"It's wet, muggy, and the air stinks," she retorted, claws raking away the brown in her fur.  "I would rather feel the bare earth under my feet, feels it's warmth.  I would also rather have the wind blow around me than withstand this humidity."

"And I suppose you would rather breath the harsh dust and sand in that same wind?"

"It's better than suffocating in this air."

"True words," Kusno nodded, licking at his legs before a thought crossed his mind.  "Runtoos.  Dal.  Do you wish to redeem yourselves for your outbursts yesterday?"  Both stared at him blankly.  "It would be wise if you do."

"What do you want from us?" Niyi asked.

"Only a short period of grooming, which I have seen you both do well.  You'll all get rations if you do."

"No thank you," Akuna replied, ears dipping.  "I rather starve."

"For a female of your size, yes, you would feel like you're starving after two days of no food."

"Two?  But you said just one!"

"True, I did, but since you've denied an order from your captain, more punishment must be pilled upon your previous penalty."

"You can't do that!"  Akuna's rage was very evident, looking as if she might rush at him.

"I'm your captain and what I say goes, no matter how embarrassing it is.  But you have no right embarrassing me last night in front of everyone.  Both of you will take a leg and remove every clot of dirt from my fur.  Do so, and you get rations.  If not, two days of hunger.  And don't look to your mate because the moment they offer any food to you, I'll snatch it away and I'll let all of you starve.  Now, my hair is waiting to be clean.  You'll get your food after the job is done."

Angered expressions were given towards him, especially from Rupland and Budio.  Rupland could feel a twinge of rage materialize inside of him while Budio's anger was threatening to overflow.  But Akuna and Niyi soon approached him, their bodies still unclean from today's trek.  "Oh wait," Kusno told them, retrieving a dagger.  "Bite me, and I'll scalp you.  Clear?"  He didn't receive a response.  "Clear?!"

"Yes, sir," they both said, kneeling to hold one of his dirty legs.

"The entire leg, even the bottom of the foot.  Get between the toes too."  Niyi took the left and Akuna took the right, starting at the shin and working their way up and down.  They chewed out bits, spitting them away.  Kusno purred smilingly when they lapped at the pads of his feet, feeling their tongues' warmth.  After finding a few more spots from them to take care of and becoming satisfied with their work, he allowed them to get their reward.  They were both still spitting dirt out of their mouths as they feed on their meals.  "Fine work, yes," Kusno said, running his fingers through the hair on his legs.  "Fine work."

Budio tried to keep his rage from surfacing as he began to groom Niyi again.  "Are you alright?" he asked in her ear, so softly no one else could hear.

"Yes, I'm alright expect that I can still taste him," she tried to joke.

Budio didn't smile.  "I feel like I should do something.  He shouldn't do that, not to you.  I think I should challenge him."

"No," Niyi quickly retorted.  "Nothing needs to be done.  It's just a little grooming.  No one needs to challenge anyone."

"You think I would get hurt, don't you?"

"It's not that, Bubu," she reasoned, using her pet name for him.  "We can't fight him, they will kill us.  I suppose they don't care if we fight each other though."

"And what if he....forces us to do other tasks?"

"Like sex?"  Budio was silent for moment before he lowly affirmed.  "He won't get that far.  I'll slash his guts out if he tries to."

"I don't want him hurting you."  His muzzle nestled at the fur under her ear.

"Don't worry about me.  I don't want him hurting you."

"You know I can't do that."  His arms wrapped around her more strongly.  "I'll always worry about you, but I'll never let him hurt you."  One of her hands stroked his arm and she leaned back to have her muzzle touch his.

"Just don't do anything for right now.  Just be there for me.  Keep low, silent, and aware.  What we're going through now is nothing.  You have to promise and you know you can't break my promises."

"Aye, I know."  Budio gave a soft lick to her face.

"Runtoos, Dal," Kusno called at them again, and Budio's stomach filled with anxiety.  "I don't want to see you two fighting again.  You shouldn't do that.  You won't do that or I'll take more off of your tails.  Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," they both responded lightly.

Rupland came close to Akuna's ear.  "That would hurt both of us if that would happen.  I couldn't stand to see more of your beautiful tail taken away."

Akuna giggled.  "Good to hear my tail is so admired.  What if he took one of my ears, or fingers?"

"A piece of you is a piece of you, no matter the size."  Akuna smiled, very flattered by his words.

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The creature had awoken, Kusno saw from a distance, and Rain appeared to be interrogating him.  Her guards and her looked over his belongings, his devices.  Even one seemed to give off a light, like a torch.  Kusno was partly fascinated, both by the new individual and the General's disposition towards him.  She was cautious, yet relaxed.  Their eyes turned to a book the young one had.  Everyone watched him, listening.  When Kusno found himself staring at the bunch, his own eyes left them and returned to his squad.  Trimbulo tried to play with Odkey's fur, give her complaints on her smell and hair color, but she wasn't interested.  The male would only grumble with discontent.

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She pressed up against him, hard and hot.  Gentle pads touched his member and he purred.  She pushed him on his back, a soft bed under him.  His member was taken and driven deep into her, again and again.  From the tip to the end of his shaft.  Her strength was overwhelming, overbearing almost, but he didn't mind.  Not at all.  All the while as her hips hastened, his mouth gasped with pleasured breathes.  But her face grew with a long smile, drool dripping from her open maw.  He saw the gold of her eyes, the black of her pupils.  "My General," he groaned, staring at her teeth now.  But the illusion was now degrading, fading out of focus.  He didn't want to go, wanted to stay there, inside and warm.  She was gone now, but he was still there under his sheets, slightly wet and still erect.

Kusno was startled now, hiding his member and sitting up to see if anyone saw.  No, they were all still asleep.  Shaking his head, he let out a breath.  He wanted to go back to sleep, maybe return to that place with her, but unfortunately it was near morning.  Later, he would hear a stringed instrument playing calming notes somewhere.

It was very clear this early in the day, very cool as well.  The army was ready to move now, bodies awake and full of energy.  "Not so muggy now, huh, Gradcet?"

"Still wet," she smiled at him, "still smells."

There was evidence of life here among the increasingly elevated feet of the Ribenk mountains.  A young sergal had been captured and made into a nice morning meal for the troops.  They chewed happily at the flesh, blood coating their fingers and hands.  It would not be the only body ruptured with violence that day.  The outskirts of a village could be seen among the fog, it's inhabitants ready to defended themselves.

"Finally," Kusno had hollered at his squad, the lines moving to enclose around the entire village, "it's time to prove your worth, through blood, through torn flesh, and shattered bone!  Can you do it?  Can you?"

"Yes, sir!" the whole bunch yelled.

"Louder!  You make me feel deaf!  Louder!"  Again, they affirmed with more boast.  Soon the entire army had surrounded the borders of the village, and in one swift and vibrant movement, they advantaged.

Rupland let out a cry as his blade drove forward and hard at an aged opponent, his squad being one of the first to attack the defending southerners.  His challenger was too slow, unable to block his sword from cutting across his abdomen.  He screamed, collapsed, and was left to leak to death as Rupland turned his attention to several other southerners around him and his allies.  Males and females of various ages attempted to push back the Shigus, but their numbers were too small and unskilled.  They couldn't keep back the flood of northerners and they soon retreated into the interior of their village.

It was upon him, Kusno realized, the fury, the excitement.  His armor was a second skin, his spear an extension of his right arm.  He focused on their blond and brown hair, their light-colored armor.  He aimed for the throat, face, legs, and stomach.  He enjoyed seeing the top of his spear sink into their bodies, blood trickling down the wooden shaft.  One foe, a young brown-furred male, took the blade in the stomach and it drove right through his back.  Kusno kept pressing it into him until the male's abs were touching his hand.  With a shoving kick to his chest, the spear was unsheathed, wet and covered in crimson.

The body fell with a clatter, right in the path of another young southerner, his face overcome with terror.  Kusno desired to gut him as well, his bloodlust pushing at him to do it.  But he just stared, grinning as he leveled his weapon at the boy.  He ran off with his spear still clutched in his fist.  Satisfied, Kusno returned his focus to his troops.

Budio was keeping up the defense as Niyi lead with the offense.  Rupland scanned the melee for another enemy while Akuna was blissfully hacking and spearing smaller southerners at a suitable rate.  Odkey was busy keeping a female's spear from tearing her hide and a ravenous male pounced at Trimbulo, but he was quick enough to defend himself.  But Drig, his spear shaking in his grasp, looked at the battlefield with a fearful gaze and it very much displeased Kusno to see him in this state.

"Are you trying to prove a point, Prolu?" he came to him, slapping the back of his chest plate with his spear.  His jaw quivered, eyes agape.  His whole body appeared to vibrate with fright.  "Damnit, child!  Calm yourself!"  Kusno grabbed at his arm, shaking him.  "Forget your fear!  Forget it and summon your rage!  Do you hear me?"

"I....I....don't know how," he stammered out, looking all around him.  "I'm not a....."

"Idiot!  Silent your coward's tongue and let blood wash over your armor and weapon!"  He then released him.  "Keep close and keep ready!  If you die, I won't lose any sleep.  If I die, it will be your head.  Come on!  Keep your weapon forward!"

The battle was now conducted among the huts, shacks, and other edifices of the village.  Small pockets of southerners kept clashing with the Shigu, losing space and support with every conformation.  Kusno's spear became embedded into a pale yellow-haired male's bicep and he twisted, persuading the male to drop to his knees.  "Kill him," he ordered Drig, "now!"  The young soldier came towards the downed opponent, brandishing his weapon.  After a quick pause, his blade punctured the southerner's jugular.  The boy looked surprised by the stream of blood that came forth from the wound as spilled onto the ground.  "Good!  Very good!"  A few more cuts were added before they move on.

A volatile female presented herself to the two, swinging her spear at them.  Kusno had dodged while Drig took a blunt hit to his helmet.  An upward slash was Kusno's first attack, one that just nicked her on the neck and she responded with a forward jab that he slapped away.  He cut low at her legs, but her feet lifted, the blade moving under her.  Spinning, he prodded at her stomach and was blocked.  Drig, giving out a howl, then jumped at her with a strike.  He missed and received a cut to his side.  His weapon dropped, hands pressing down on his wound.  The female was ready to kill him, but Kusno prevented such as he gave a thrust at her guts again, only grazing her.  His spear rotated in his hand, the stem catching her on the neck.  It pushed her away before the spearhead came again and lacerated the side of her face.  His foot collided against her chest place, pushing her to the dirt.  Kusno was over her now, his spearhead diving.  He saw the flare in her eyes, the blood in her face, her lovely face.  Then the blade plunged into her neck and twisted.  The flare disappeared.

Drig was still holding his wound.  "Let me see it," Kusno pulled away his bloodied hands.

"Am I going to die?"

"No," he almost laughed.  "All you'll do is just bleed some.  And you work well for a distraction."  He retrieved his weapon from the ground, following his captain through the chaos.

The last of the villagers were clustered now, the Shigu surrounding them.  The General came forward, the strange youngster near her.  She presented a cub in her large hand.  Smiling, she ripped at the cub's fur, the child screeching.  The southerners became frenzied, even more hostile than before.  They rushed at her and the General threw the cub away, wielding her lance.  The boy assisted her, protected her as the rest of the southerners were trounced.  All of it ended with Rain licking at a young male's face and dragging him away with the spoils of war being divided among the Shigu.

Drig grunted a bit as Hoonas, one of the medics, stitched his wound closed and applied healing gel to it.  "Don't rub it," the captain advised him before thanking Hoonas.  His other wards appeared to have taken their own superficial injuries during the battle, but all seemed to be in good-spirits.  For a time, he contemplated using their real names, but he decided not to.  This was just one battle, he reasoned.  Let's face a few more until they can call themselves by their birth names.  Even so, when Trimbulo asked for permission to visit his friends from another squad, he allowed such.  He deserved that much, though he advised not to drink too much ale.

It was a good sight seeing the Hinokun squad in high-spirits.  Smiles, laughs, and jokes were common for once, the account of their killings filling the air.  "I found a young one," Akuna spoke and grinned, "younger than you I think," she looked to Drig, "and he was very undersized for his armor.  He tried to run, but when he turned his back, I stuck him.  He was one of those that you could left up off the ground when they're still on the tip of your spear and fling them off into the air.  Those are some of the best kills."

"Best kills," Kusno repeated.  "Let's hear some of those.  Let's hear your best kills."  They were quick to provide the answer.

"My best kills," Akuna happily said, "was when I gutted five Reonos with one slash each with my spear.  Three in the throat, two in the stomach.  All dead, all flat on the dirt, and their bodies drowning in blood."

"I still think that's just your liar's tongue speaking," Niyi said.

"No lair's tongue here," he retorted.  "Only the truth."

"Well, mine was when me and Budio-"

"Ah!" Kusno interrupted.  "Wrong name!  What is his name?"

"Oh...., uh....he's....well, I can't remember."  She looked to Budio, who reminded her it was Crin.

"I'll allow that this time, forget again and I'll have to smack you."

"Me and Crin," she continued, "like to take turns giving out swings and cuts.  He would trip and I would impale.  I would stun and he would slash.  We killed seven in a row that way in the battle of Radila, right?" she asked Budio and he confirmed.  He then stated his best was the same as her's.

"I killed three with just a knife," Odkey's voice was heard.  "I got the first at the bottom of her neck and cut all the way up to her chin."  She demonstrated the blade's path with her thumb.  "The next one I stabbed in the throat two times and then got him in the eye and turned my knife around in his skull.  The last one I just slit their neck open."  She revealed a dagger and presented for everyone to see.  "And this is the knife I used."

"While the most I ever killed was only four," Rupland confessed, "my best kill, or the one I remember the most was when this eye," his poked at his eye patch, "was taken.  It was a Talyxian, gray hair.  I blocked his blow, but he swung again to just graze it.  I tried to regain my concentration, but he had already knocked the blade out of my hand.  I thought the next would be my head, so I leaped at him.  I still had one eye to see his face before I opened my mouth and rip it at.  I bite down hard.  My teeth tore at his hide and I clawed at his head.  He screamed, he screamed well.  I could feel him do it in my mouth.  There was only blood and bone left when I was finished and no one's flesh tasted that good.  No one's."

"Fine story, Inclun," Kusno smiled at him.  "Fine story.  So many of you focus on numbers, but he has the right idea.  It's about the object of your bloodlust, the fiend in your sights.  It's how you savor that kill like you savor the taste of a fine piece of meat.  Is that what you did, Inclun?  Did you savor and enjoy it?"

"There is no doubt I did," he smiled.

"You have anything to add, Prolu?"  The young soldier looked around, seemingly embarrassed to even speak.

"I don't have a kill to tell about."

"None?  Not one?" Kusno asked and he shook his head.

"Poor child," Odkey giggled.  "A male without a kill is like a male without testicles."  A few laughed while Drig's ears dipped with shame.

"Shut it!" Kusno growled at them and there was then silence.  "Maybe one of you would like to volunteer to be his first?  You?  You?"  They looked away.  "I remember a fine kill, one when I was close to his age.  His name was Stil Conog, a bastard even though he had a father.  It was a battle of words at first, that spring day, but it soon became one of fists and teeth and claws.  When I got on top of him I couldn't stop.  His face became wet, bloody and he became still with death.  I was called before the elders and I was afraid.  Not because of guilt of what I had done, I had no guilt, but I was afraid for my own livelihood.  They judged it as a fight to defend my life.  I then killed his brother, his father, and his mother.  They used a knife, a sword, a spear, and yet they couldn't take my life in the span of those three years.  They made good efforts on my life, but they couldn't carry it out. The thought of their deaths bring me the most deserved smile I can fathom."

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First came a yelp, then a loud snarl which turned to screaming.  He tried to hush them, but Kusno and many others were now awake.  Trimbulo was back, drunk, and pinning Odkey on her pallet.

"Shut up and relax!" he said with her struggling against him.

Kusno immediately rose from his sleeping position.  "Lor!  Get off her!  Now!"  He didn't listen, trying his strength against her's.  "Now!  Get the hell off her!"  Kusno didn't wait, kicking the drunk aside.  His teeth showed as he stood up, ready for a fight.

"You half-bred, midget," he slurred with anger.  A punch was thrown clumsily, and missed.  The captain grabbed at his hide and threw him to the ground.  His right foot claw slammed down on his neck and pressed down hard to hold him there.  Odkey ran at Trimbulo, giving a few punches before Kusno told the others to pull her away.

"What the hell were you doing?" the captain yelled, feeling the question was rhetorical, but nevertheless waited for his answer.

"She wanted it!  She wanted me!  You stupid fucker!  We were in the middle of it!"

"Shut it!  Damn bastard!  Tailless slack!  Someone, get me my spear!"  Drig quickly presented him his weapon and the spearhead was swiftly pointed downwards at Trimbulo's right eye.  He shuddered, staring at the iron tip.  "Fucking scab.  Son of a whore!"

"Don't!  Don't kill me!  She's a tease and she shouldn't parade herself around if she's not willing to give!"  Kusno looked about the nightly scene, his squad and other soldiers watching him.  Odkey's eyes was still ablaze with ire.  The spearhead retracted back quickly, Kusno's arm now above his head and face alight with distain, and it then plunged towards Trimbulo.