Growth and Lust Ch. 05 - Hurt

Now as the last slave weakly came out of its confines, he could see this must have been the prized possession of the two. Its crate was more robust and mostly sealed from prying eyes, but it wasn't anything he couldn't open. It was a golden haired creamy white woman, the swells on her chest assured him of that, seeing her face lighten as she seemed at ease. He tilted his head as he watched her open her arms and turn her chin up, exposing an iron collar around her neck. He was about to speak when he heard that melodic mental voice again, stopping him as it sang in joy at his presence.

'You're here to kill me, well please waste no time.'

Desher felt his stomach twist, his eyes burned for a second as he could almost taste the conviction in her thoughts. She was ready to die, welcomed it, wished it with her being as she offered herself to him, she saw him as the executioner like so many others did. But she didn't fear him, he could sense her relief as she looked upon him before turning her chin upwards, allowing him to easily see her dainty neck. He could see the rough lines from where the padded collar had marked her, being there for so long and irritating the supple skin. The beat of her heart as it caused her neck to pulse, showing him she was calm and serene at the sight of the end. Desher reached his hands forward, he saw tears streaming down her cheek as she waited, he felt his own eyes burning as he neared her.

Samaran looked up to the sky, 'Finally...it's finally over...no more hunger, no more pain, no more torment, no more waiting.' She felt him take the collar and grasp it firmly, she quivered as she almost laughed at the end. Then hearing a crack and whine of metal she paused, waiting for it to happen.

But nothing came, she heard something hit the dirt in front of her, she looked at the beast in confusion. Seeing its eyes looked as if they were full of pain, then looking down to her feet she saw the collar that had adorned her neck for countless years of her life. Lying in the dirt after being torn open with ease, 'Is it now, will you do it this time?' she thought as she looked at it and almost pleaded.

Desher tried to collect himself, he had been traveling for some time now, but he had never met a being with this reaction. He tried to think of what to say, of what to tell it, so it would understand that it was free, to not give up on living.

'Oh...that's what you want then.'

Desher heard her thoughts again, watching her eyes lose their joy and go vacant of feelings as she seemed almost robotic. He watched her push off the crate and turn away from him, he thought she understood now, that she could take back her life. He saw her legs shake and then buckle, her knees hitting the dirt and the smell of her blood in the air as her skin tore open. She grabbed what little coverings she had and pulled them over her rear, then leaning forward and putting her hands in the dirt.

"Just fucking do it. Bastard."

Desher felt his heart sink so quickly he thought he might be sick, his world rocked as she waited in the dirt. He could see specs of water dampening the soil as she bit her lip and mentally cursed him, he felt his own rage and sorrow boiling and screaming. He didn't know this person, had never met her before in his life, he couldn't even say what species she was and yet here they were.

'Hm hm Hmm hm hm,' She hummed in her head, trying to push out the pain and calm herself, she couldn't remember the name of the piano man who sang it. But the song always stuck with her, his pained melody feeling like a warm blanket being pulled over her whenever the night was cold.

~ 'Goodnight, my angel, time to close your eyes,' ~ she sang in her mind, feeling herself disconnecting from her body. ~ 'And save these questions for another day,' ~

~ 'I think I know what you've been asking me,' ~

~ 'I think I know what I've been trying to say.' ~

~ 'I promised I would never leave you,' ~

~ 'Then you should always know,' ~

~ 'Wherever you may go, no matter where you are,' ~

~ 'I never will be far away.' ~

Desher stood, looking down at her and feeling his heart break, he stepped towards her and slowly put his hand underneath her. Feeling her wince as he touched her stomach and pulled her upwards, her mental song stopping as she held her breath. He pulled her to his chest and then put his other arm under her legs, carrying her with ease but making sure not to hurt her.

Samaran turned her mouth in fear as she looked up to him, hearing him speak for the first time.

"Come little one, you are in my care now."

*

Ginrar snapped awake in her bed, her eyes wide as she stared at the railing of the bunk above her, she rolled to her side and swung her legs out of the bunk. Putting her feet on the floor and then her elbows on her knees, she exhaled and put her face into her hands, feeling sweat as she moved them up to her hair. She choked slightly when she felt the braided ponytail that ran down the side of her, she pursed her lips and looked at the floor. Anger boiling and her eyes beginning to burn as she dug her nails into the back of her skull, snarling as she let her feelings flow.

'I didn't abandon him...' her lungs ached for air as she felt like she was choking, ready to tear the shuttle apart in anger as she wanted her love back. Wanted Roke in her arms again, she didn't care about her past, she didn't feel guilty for the happiness she felt with him. Not anymore, 'Fuck this, I'll gut her like a pig and watch the life leave her eyes,' Ginrar dropped her hands from her head and raised her vision.

The door opened and Teloo stood in the threshold, "We've-"

"I will consume her." Ginrar whispered, her mind determined and unwilling to let go of the single deceleration.

Teloo closed her mind and steadied herself, "G-Ginrar, we've arrived...at Toray-su." She bowed her head and turned away, leaving the door open and returning to the forward section of the ship. She looked at Gresh, sitting in one of the seats that lined the walls. She saw him look up at her, "Gresh, go with her." Teloo said.

......

Ginrar stepped from the shuttle and plummeted to the landscape below, hitting it and allowing her legs to bend to absorb the shock. She raised her eyes to look around her and saw she was alone, then hearing another thud and feeling a plume of snow cascade around her she looked behind her. Seeing the Tallhee man her mother had brought on the trip, scowling she growled, "I was to come alone."

Gresh looked at her with a blank stare, he didn't want to anger the woman anymore than she already was but he couldn't say no to Teloos request. Choosing his words carefully before speaking he ensured his tone was submissive to her wants but confident in his own abilities. "I am to accompany you but that does not mean you must waste time on me, if I fall, leave me."

Ginrar shook her head as she turned to the woods, "Do you know the one I seek?" she asked. Looking at the cabin they had landed close to, she could see the lights were off inside and there was no other residence around for miles. Inspecting the snow that had accumulated on the steps and noting no footprints made in it.

"A Mohreb woman, I was told her name was 'Bakaree', yes?" Gresh said as he scanned the trees and felt an ominous presence radiating from them. "You intend to go into this forest to find her, correct?"

"Correct, there's a village on this mountain where the informant says she has been residing," Ginrar pointed at the small home, "This man is guiding her through the forest. The home appears to be empty, they're not back, we have no time to waste so we're going in to find them."

Gresh felt his instincts warning him, he had grown up with what seemed like an innate sense to tell when danger was about to befall him. He had trusted it all his life as it had proven to keep him in one piece, he looked at Ginrars back and ensured he sealed his mind, not thinking of how it saved him before as well. Seeing her coil her legs and spring into the air he was soon doing the same, unable to tell how much power she put into the launch he was conservative with the first volley. Careening through the air and then coming down over twenty yards behind her, he watched as she didn't even hesitate for him. Launching again he did the same, trying to make up the distance and seeing he was now landing closer to her.

Ginrar scanned the mountain, looking for any signs of life as she cut through the chilled air of the landscape. The biting cold gripping her horns and the beginning of a dull headache rolling on, she heard Gresh landing close behind her and launched again. She couldn't see any signs of life as she pierced in and out of the foliage roof of the forest. Landing again and coiling she paused as she smelled an iron like scent on the wind, her gut tightening as she recognized it. She had coddled what was left of Roke for so long, there was no possibility of her mistaking the scent of human blood on the air, she turned to glance behind her. Gresh not landing and no sounds resonating from the woods around her, she snapped her head forward and used her keen eyesight to look for movement.

Gresh came down and landed in the snow, he had watched as Ginrar got another lead on him and had landed in the trees ahead of him. Following the rhythm she had set, he coiled and sprang again, it was hard to discern the course they had taken as all of the tree tops and rocks looked alike. But he felt his hair stand on end as he landed and looked ahead of him. The home they had seen upon arriving was now in front of him, he turned and saw the wood line behind him. He had been jumping in a straight path following her, but he was now turned around and back out where they had started.

Gresh growled in disapproval and was about to jump back in when he felt that same warning touch him. He hesitated, holding his breath and deciding it was best to wait, something in the forest had made this happen. It didn't want him in there with her, and he knew jumping in again would only yield the same result.

Ginrars eyes caught glimpses of shadows in the trees, darting out of sight before she could fix her gaze on them. She turned in place and saw the trees looked different from just a moment ago, facing forward again and then watching as the forest seemed to realign in front of her eyes. She glared at the sight, something was keeping her from her goal, and it was trying to disrupt her sense of direction.

Ginrar brought one of her arms across her chest and then launched it to her side, throwing it through the air and allowing her claws to catch a tree that was now right next to her. Splinters flying through the frigid air and dotting the white landscape at her feet, then hearing branches breaking and air rushing as the large timber fell. Smashing into the dirt and snow floor of the forest and shaking the foliage around her, the area seeming to freeze at her attack.

"I do not come here to play games." Ginrar spoke harshly.

There was a long pause before something retorted, "This is my mountain."

"Your mountain has someone I need." She replied.

"You need to turn around and leave, return from where you came and bide your time."

"Time is a currency I am impoverished of." Ginrar growled, her glaring eyes burning across the timbers.

"That does not mean I will put the ones under my care at risk."

"She is not yours, the Mohreb, give her to me and I will leave."

"You talk as if you are owed her."

"I am owed what I desire." Ginrar said through clenched teeth.

"I have seen you before, not in this skin but you are all the same." It snapped back.

"There are none like me!" she roared, her chest tightened and her lungs felt as if they were on fire while anger coursed through her. "I am a plague, a monster, a killer. Babe or grand I cut them down the same, do not think I would waste a thought on their ended lives as it keeps me from my goal."

From the dreary snow and harsh landscape a paw stepped into view, not from behind a rock or tree, but from thin air. Revealing itself to Ginrar as it bared its fangs at her, the black void of the hound that resembled the vast emptiness of the cold space she once called her home. The home she made after being banished. Its piercing eyes of white glaring up at her soul as she returned the same sentiment, it spoke to her but not with a mouth she could see.

Ginrar felt it reverberate through her skull, shaking her horns like a tuning fork struck against a piano, her eyes beginning to water as she thought her very being would snap from rage.

"Teardrinker."

The chastising name had Ginrar ready to fight, spreading her legs and taking a stance of dominating force ready to break the mountain itself to her will. "Look into my eyes, look into my soul and know I speak the truth when I say-"

The hound glared into the windows of her soul like she commanded, abiding her request and listening intently as it too readied itself for war.

"-I can kill them all."

The hound lowered its body, not out of submission but readying itself to pounce through the air and try with all its might to put her down. It was The End, the farrier of the ones whose books had closed and were ready to be added to the library of the past. It had seen time itself run its course and with it create life just as easily as it snuffed it out, it did not hear her words as a cynical bravado.

But instead as a fact, an undeniable truth that the world obeyed, the hound was The End. As the fact states he guided those whose books closed, but The End did not close them. No, she did, she closed the books for The End to add them to the shelf of time. Her clawed fingers flipping the back cover and letting it firmly fall on the pages of life. The melancholic note the coffins lid played while closing when strummed by the musician of death, when played by her. It sent a shiver down The Ends spine, her truth being spoken and raising another question in its endless space of a mind, 'How many will I guide today?'

Ginrar felt something cold pass through her, she felt her anger being frozen, and then something familiar creeping in. She felt guilt as an image floated to the surface, a feeling of undeserving gratitude creeping in as she felt his touch. As if it was real, Rokes gentle hand pressing her cheek as he laid in her grasp with his back to her chest and his head against her shoulder. Turning up to her and wanting to taste what he called a cinnamon kiss on his hungry lips, his drug of choice that he greedily took as often as he could. It felt like her heart almost stopped as she pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. Feeling the burning in her eyes as she was almost crippled by the mental attack.

"You should not be here."

Ginrar glared at the omnipotent animal and almost screamed when she saw it wasn't looking at her.

"I can take you to where you belong, I can guide you there."

Ginrar looked around, the silence hanging in the air as she felt her chest loosening.

"A mothers love..." the beast paused as it contemplated something, only speaking one word with a soft head tilt, "Reverence."

Ginrar snarled, feeling her request was being brushed off and she would have to demand it by force, "Stop with the riddle-"

"I was not speaking to you, child!" The End snapped back, it stayed silent as it sat back on its haunches and lowered its snout to watch her. "She has claimed one of my own, I will permit you to ask her, but do not take this as a kindness. You're lucky someone vouches for you."

"Who?!" Ginrar asked, her voice raised and taking a step forward.

"Sh-" he stopped and listened, then his eyes glared at Ginrar, "...You made a promise..." the beast said coldly.

"What promise, what did they promise?"

"Not them, you...Teardrinker." It said, lowering its head, "I wonder if you will follow through?" A sharp gust of wind picked up, the form of the animal being cast into it like ash as it vanished from sight.

Ginrar drug air into her lungs as she felt her body begin to shake, 'What the fuck does that mean?' she thought while steeling her resolve. She concentrated on the original task of finding the Mohreb, then seeing the woods around her beginning to shift again. She snarled and was about to scream when they formed a path, a straight line opening up and then finally ending with two figures standing at the end.

Ginrar gulped and couldn't help but glare at the two, focusing on the bigger one and seeing the yellow skin of her face and neck. The gasping lips and widening red eyes that locked to her as the woman's frame went rigid, Ginrar nearly stumbled as she saw her. Clad in a coat with a pack on and looking like she was about to start her journey out, she felt her heart pounding and she could barely believe it.

Stepping forward with unsure footing, making her way through the snow and holding her arms open in surprise. Ginrar closed the gap between them, not wanting to use her full speed to scare her new friend as she held back tears. Getting to her and seeing the Mohreb staring at her in fearful confusion, Ginrar couldn't stop herself as she raised her hands and touched them to the woman's cheeks.

Bakaree froze and tried to figure out what was happening, this woman shouldn't be here, there was a Tallhee. In front of her, touching her, smiling and trying to say something, she looked at Perta and saw his confused expression. 'Do I tell him to run, what the fuck is this, who is she?' she thought.

Ginrar tilted her head and spoke, "You are not in danger, you...I owe you so much..." she held back tears as she tried to form her words. "My name is Ginrar... and you saved my Roke."

Bakarees mind reeled with furious confusion as she tried to think about what she was told, repeating the name in her head and beginning to taste the familiarity. Then finally feeling the answer hit her fore thought and her brain urgently signaling her tongue to move. "R-Roke...the human, he needed transport- I-"

"In trust, he slept in your care that night." Ginrar said with a smile.

Bakaree nodded slowly, the red woman's hands still on her face, feeling her thumb stroke her cheek and wondering how long they would stay like this.

"I need your help, for him once again," Ginrar spoke, "The Blackstars...They-" her sentence cut short as her eyes lost their focus.

Bakaree looked at her and furrowed her brow slightly, trying to understand what was happening, the name Roke took a moment to remember. As her brain began to function again she thought of what little information she had gotten, 'Blackstar?' Bakaree repeated in her mind. That sounded familiar to her, someone had said that name, but as she wondered it suddenly hit her with full force.

'No, I left for a bit and did security with the Blackstar estate-' she heard in her mind, spoken with Pertas voice.

Her mouth went dry as her throat felt tight, 'Tallhee' she thought, then turning her eyes to look at Perta. She saw his eyebrow cocked and his mouth slightly open, as if pondering something, the last name the Tallhee had spoken rattling around behind his gorgeous eyes. 'No. Perta. Don't.' she thought, trying to will him not to think about it, beginning to think of screaming at him, telling him to run and hide.

"Tell him to run. And I take his legs." Ginrar said with stone cold calmness.

Bakarees eyes pleaded with fear, she had no way to fight this as she looked into the Tallhees eyes, her face still held in her hands. 'No. Please don't. Don't do this.'

"That's all up to him." Ginrar said, then with a tremor through her chest she spoke two words that made her gut writhe in pain. "Peter Hammerstead."

Perta flinched, 'Peter...'

......

Gresh sat on the steps of the cabin, looking at the snow as it danced in the wind and then caressed his red skin. Biting him with its frigid touch before melting into water against him, he felt a touch on him once again and smiled. 'She's found her.' Gresh thought, then looking up to the sky he examined the gray clouds and wondered how different this world was to his. He stood from his seat and turned in the direction of the shuttle port, springing himself into the air to make it there.