His tail flicked, searching for the feel of her, but caught under the flap of his leathers.
It is for the best.He was ready to mount the female and each touch of her soft skin made it worse. Just knowing she was following his shadow and trapped at his side proved difficult enough. But he would not take her to the ground, not while the mist worked its curse, not while danger loomed. If he should fill her womb with his seed and it took root and he was unable to reverse her sickness, a thrall would bear his offspring, a mindless servant.
Vedikus did not know what that would do to the young and he had no plans of ever finding out. It would mar what he and his brothers had worked so hard for: a tribe of their own.
He settled his palm over his axe and stretched the muscles in his neck.We’ll be at Prayer before dark.
There was a hag dwelling in Prayer, a lesser Lich that would have all he needed to stop the sickness. The cove and blimwort he’d poured down her throat were good enough to stall the malignancy but not strong enough to cure it.
A hand touched his arm, bringing his thoughts to a halt.
“What’s that?” she asked, looking off into the distance.
Vedikus glanced in her direction and quieted his blood, his breaths. A soft whisper drifted through the air, at first obscured by the other noises but gained quickly in strength to a piercing buzz. He reached out to grasp the back of Aldora’s neck.
“Another sacrifice.”
She stiffened. “From Thetras? Are we close to any other human towns?”
Vedikus hurried his steps and forced her to keep up with his lead. “No.”
She stumbled after him and her grip on him returned. If the situation wasn’t building in urgency he would have taken a minute to relish his victory.
“Another sacrifice,” she gasped, “and so soon...”
Vedikus cursed the timing.The longer she’s connected to her people...
The longer she would fight him.
“Wait,” she pleaded. He dragged her behind him. “Wait!” It spread out like wildfire from the goblin scouts at the junction and continued on in every direction for miles to alert the swarms. By the time he had gone after Aldora the night before, most of the goblin scouts were already dead by his hands. Not anymore.
Aldora resisted his pull and struggled behind him, fighting the leash and the hand he kept clamped on her scruff. Vedikus shifted, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder just as the others met the call. What had started out as a quiet morning was now tense with a new wave of impending battle and bloodshed.
“Let me go!” The female pulled at the armor straps across his back. “My town is sacrificing another!” Nails grazed his back and caught in his wounds. He gritted his teeth. “Please.”
Oh, how sweetly the human can beg.
He turned on his hoof and entered through the deep hanging vines, pulling Aldora down to thrust her back into the hedge wall. His palm covered her mouth. She arched away and he closed the distance, catching her eyes with his own in warning. Cackles and the clink of metal sounded just as she stilled. The points of his horns dug into the bark and stone above her head.
They stayed like that long after the snickers faded into the distance.
Vedikus slowly dropped his hand. She sucked in a wavering breath and clung to him. He pushed his hips forward and settled his engorged shaft against her stomach. Her nails pierced his flesh. The sounds of renewed fighting and hollers of battle rose up like wisps on every side.
“Are we close?” she whispered.
“Closer than we should be. The paths are long and winding, spreading for miles in every direction within the barrier lands. Once we make it out of this wretched place, the way opens up.”
She peered over his arm to look through the thick foliage to the other wall across from them. He damned the humans of her town. Vedikus leaned over her to block her sight. A question lighted her eyes and he answered before she could voice it. “We’re not going back.”
The female closed her eyes and shuddered. “My town is sacrificing another. Yesterday, I was there yesterday delivering apples to the breadmaker and...” She shifted on her feet but not to move away from him. “There was no talk of a sacrifice, no criminals that had arrived from the capital.”
“We’re not going back.”
“What if it’s my fault? It’s my fault.” Guilt filled her voice.Guilt.An emotion like hope, one that he gave no mind to. It wafted from his human in stifling waves and he drew back his hips. Regret was different, a feeling along the same vein. The distance they had lost would cost them now.
His bulge throbbed between his thighs loud enough to match his heart.The death of me.He released a cloud of steam. “Why? You’re only at fault for yourself, not what the humans on the other side have done. Once they thrust you over that barrier, all ties are severed between you and them. You may not have wanted it, but they decided for you.”
Vedikus lifted his head and glanced over his shoulder, past the vines and shadows, toward the path.Centaur hooves approach. Not many.
