Love As The Darker Binding Ch. 12

"Of course," Abi laughed and Mokonyi felt herself smiling just from the sound, hearing that Oyan had been right.

"I would not risk anything happening to you before you even got here, so I sent my houndish friends to watch over you and guide you if you became lost somehow."

Oyan looked at the large things and shook her head, "Those are no hounds of any sort that I have ever seen, Abi."

"I as well," Mokonyi said, hearing the beat of the heavy paws as they came nearer.

"This is not where they come from," Abi said, "and they do not run here, unless I am here as well. But they are not uncommon in some places where I come from."

Mokonyi wanted to ask just where it was that Abi had originated, but they found themselves in the midst of the group of six of the things the next instant as Abi continued.

"It's probably a good thing that you and they were never close enough together for you to have seen their eyes. They were only looking for you to make certain that you were coming and not in any trouble. But it is said that this kind has a way with their eyes. The legend goes that they can immobilize what they chase with a look."

He chuckled, "Of course, I have also heard the same thing said about human women having much the same ability, so perhaps it was they who might have been in danger.

Once you come to know them as you work with them, you will find other things out about them to cause you to admire them as they help you.

They cannot often be seen, unless they wish to be.

They can run for days before they tire, and if they are close enough to know that their quarry is before them - miles away, really - they are relentless because they take the hunt personally.

To have their love is to know the true meaning of the word, and to your enemies, they are lightning-quick death. Well, unless that is not what you wish, of course.

So yes, they are not like hounds in many ways, for hounds are only pale imitations of these hopeful new friends of yours."

Roughly, what they were looking at might be said to be related to dogs in a way, since their overall appearance seemed to suggest it, but there were details, little things and features which went a long way toward gainsaying the notion, such as, ... well, such as the height of their massive shoulders being only inches less that the those of a slightly small horse, taller than a zebra's by a good deal.

The women stared as they saw the differences.

For one thing, since neither of them could get past the obvious, all of them were far, far, larger than man-sized in length and for another, their heads looked to be, ... well, if one thought of a dog's head, and a huge one at that, the heads of these things looked a little wide and angular and also compressed vertically to a degree. Their rear feet looked something like a canine's in many respects other than size, but their front ones ...

There were pads there and yet there also seemed to be fingers and claws and this plainly took them away from the notion of dogs of any sort.

The creatures looked pleased and relaxed to be back where they belonged, though strangely not in the way that a dog might at returning to his or her master, and they didn't look to be weary in the least. They paced around for a few minutes to allow their breathing to return to whatever was normal for them and in the doing of that, the two women felt and heard the blasts of hot air which escaped the animals whenever they exhaled.

There were other details however which manifested themselves clearly from the outset. They weren't like dogs in any way, since any dogs in that sort of situation would now try at least a time or two to sniff and smell the newcomers, as the women must have been to them.

It didn't happen even once and there was none of the silly and slightly embarrassing way that a dog might have of trying to sniff a woman - especially one which wore as little as these two did. Other than a hot blast of breath against a calf or a thigh as one walked past a little near the humans, there was nothing like that whatsoever.

Something else which caught the eye of the two women besides the overall size of the creatures - which still astounded them - was that three of them were obviously male and even as what they were, the bollocks of the animals were remarkable in their size and the way that they jiggled as they were held tightly against the bodies until after the cooling-down period seemed to have passed. After that, their sacs hung down more to where the women expected them to be held, and as that happened, the other detail of their maleness made itself evident with their thick sheaths also relaxing to hang a little more loosely.

The females looked at first to be slightly smaller versions of the males, though after the first bit of confusion as the creatures passed by and around them, the women began to notice details there as well. All of these animals had fairly uniform fur over their bodies which was a rather short length of say, an inch and a half in the longest places. They all had manes, though there seemed to be differences between the sexes.

On the males, that mane blended into almost a mantle which covered them over their shoulders and blended into the rest of the fur to disappear about the middle of the back and at the points where their forelimbs left their elbows. Other than that, there was longer hair over the head.

The females had much less of this mantle, though it was there in the same place. It was only less pronounced. The chief difference was in the long and silky hair which grew from their heads.

Mokonyi and Oyan thought that the feature was nice to see, though they said nothing of it to each other and they could both see that, though it was long, it was also a little matted to a degree. At first, the chests looked to be a little deeper proportionately, but depending on how the females stood or walked, the hint of a parting line from a little cleavage could be seen and Oyan quietly remarked to Mokonyi that she thought that she could just see that there were breasts there, though nothing hung down at all.

The females were smaller and more slender overall, and there were thin waists and hips to be seen which caused the two humans to stand in a little awe of these females. It was not hard to see beauty in these animals, no matter which gender one happened to be looking at.

One male looked to be larger and a little older, and there was a female who was a little like that as well. Mokonyi wondered if they were a pair or something like that, but their demeanor toward each other whenever they passed each other ruled that idea out in no uncertain terms for the female made no sound other than her breathing, but she curled her lips slightly every time to reveal her teeth for a moment as they passed each other. It became clear then that there was no affection from her toward that one male.

After that, they noticed that none of the other five seemed to like that one male either, all of them stepping aside if they saw him approaching them. The four smaller ones appeared to be a bit younger and they looked to be a little nervous near the large male. The larger female plainly looked to feel nothing more toward him other than her loathing.

The final detail caused both Oyan and Mokonyi to spin around in astonishment and that was when the large male stepped over to actually speak to Abi in low and gruff tones. At first, the women understood nothing which was said, but after a moment, what they heard was the animal reporting on where they'd found their charges and what had transpired since then.

"They can speak!" Oyan exclaimed and it earned her a rather curious look from a couple of the creatures as though they wondered what was remarkable in it. Abi asked if it had appeared that the women were afraid in any way and the leader shook his head once and replied that no, they'd seen nothing more than preparedness and sensed no fear, other than a sense of caution once they knew that they were being paced.

Abi's wide and pleased smile at them all said quite a bit.

The really odd thing only came to the women over a little time and it seemed to be a thing which went against the more usual sense of caution that would have prevailed at meeting something so ...

So slightly otherworldly in a sense.

The more that the women looked, the more they found a want in themselves to like the creatures from staring at their dark but lustrous short coats and the now-obvious friendly and bemused intelligence there behind those yellow eyes. Only the leader kept his distance from them and they sensed little friendliness there, though there was no enmity either.

Two of the animals separated themselves from the group and stepped over slowly, but with no appearance of any intended threat and they bowed their heads for a moment before they looked over in a rather friendly way.

After a moment, it was clear that while the coal black one of them seemed to be a little shy, the other, lighter one made up for it with a slightly roguish manner and bearing.

"We are Ushandi," he rogue said, "I cannot say more without my lord's consent, but that is the name for what we are. Our names are strange to your way of speaking, so the nearest that I think that we can come is to say that I am Kiriel and this is my brother, Noli."

Noli bowed his head a second time and said, "We are to serve you when you are needed."

The remark brought some curious looks from the two humans until Abi held up his hand and with a word, the four other creatures stepped into the other door, the pair of younger females looking back with what might have been a little bit of reluctance.

The women stared for a moment at what stood there looking out at them.

There was a different sort of creature there, large as well, and much more heavily built though not quite as long as the others, looking almost stocky in comparison to the Ushandi. To their eyes, it looked much more like a dog, though they'd never seen one like it. There was a smallish person sitting on the beast's shoulders with pale whitish skin and long black hair which covered her front.

She was the size of perhaps an eleven year-old human girl, though when the breeze blew some of her hair, they saw her breasts. She was more naked that they were - and the young white man standing on the other side of the wide door was another surprise, though not a severe one. He looked at them curiously through a pair of aviator sunglasses, obviously sweating up a storm in the coveralls which he wore unzipped almost all of the way down in the heat to display the sheen of sweat covering his chest.

The 'girl' smiled at them and waved in a shy, but friendly way, though the teeth that they saw didn't look human at all. She and the thing she sat on seemed to have been waiting for the rest of the Ushandi to step inside.

Once that had happened, the women gaped as they saw two large creatures step to the doorway, a male and a female who had dark skin and looked very muscular - impossibly so for humans. There were horns on their heads and they stood on hooves. The pair looked at the women with interest for a moment and nodded once each before looking outward over the landscape. They made no sound as they stepped out, each cradling what looked to be a heavy machine gun as they walked off, looking watchful. The women stared as they saw tails and noted that the pair also wore nothing more on them but a belt of pouches.

Oyan and Mokonyi stood staring, not having even a word to say as they watched. They looked at each other only once and would have laughed to see their open mouths, but they didn't. When the large ones reached the overhang of the trees, another pair of Ushandi - or so it seemed - glided back.

This pair looked very different. There were minor differences in the features, but overall, it was their slightly greater size, heavier coats, different coloring and intent expressions which set them apart. They slipped right past the women with barely a sideward glance and bounded into the open door. The two women barely had time to recognize that one was female and the other was a male.

The door began to close, but the way that the 'girl' looked to be trying hard to seem friendly caused Mokonyi to wave back briefly and as the door lowered shut, she heard a thin-sounding giggle.

"What are - "

"Some of my crew," Abi smiled, "I don't do everything alone. The large one inside is a hell hound. The smaller one who sat on him is an imp. She is to repair things, and she is one of his lovers. He has four for him; a pair of consorts and besides the imp there, there is another female and he tells me often that she and the imp are his wives. The others, they repair things also and are a pair between them. As we stand here, they now walk and keep watch. The young man you saw repairs anything mechanical with his partner and together, they are also what are called loadmasters when anything of size must be loaded or unloaded.

There are a few others here with me, including another of them as human as you. You will meet them all in a little time. Since you have come to work with them here, I'm sure that you might make a few friends among them such as you have never had, though the hell hound stays mostly silent.

We all should talk," Abi said as he gestured for them to step in though the doorway which he stood next to. "I should explain a few things," he smiled, "but first, I will bring you water for you have managed the last hour to travel quickly at the hottest time of the day. Come inside - out of the sun at least."

They waited where he indicated, the four of them, and it felt a bit odd to the women to be speaking in a conversational way with the two creatures, but after a moment or two of awkwardness, they all relaxed a little before Abi returned. He handed Oyan and Mokonyi two chilled bottles each.

"What I have in my mind is that each of my riders takes one Ushandi as her working partner. You have already learned that you can speak between you, so please if you would, remove the cap of one bottle so that our friends here may drink as well. They do not need you to hold the bottles for them. Only remove the top and hand it to them. Their hands are not suited for small tasks when they stand and the bottles will lose some water if one of them grasps one because the plastic is thin."

Oyan looked at Kiriel, who looked back for a moment before she saw that Mokonyi already had the cap of Noli's bottle off and that she'd handed it to him. He sat holding the bottle carefully and drinking. Oyan got on with it then and she could swear that Kiriel smiled at her.

"How is it that we can understand each other?" Oyan asked, "I noticed it when we met, Abi. You and I are from far apart in how we began, yet, ..."

"Words and languages are nothing more than ways to send thoughts," Abi said, "I must tell you that I have many talents, and one of them is this way to make the thoughts pass more easily. As what you will be for me, you will soon find that your thoughts are all that are really needed to command or suggest where you need or would like the Ushadi who are to work with you to go. They also do not need to speak to you directly if, shall we say, one of them sees someone which you search for, but who is not in your sight. The Ushandi only needs to have the thought sent and you hear it in your mind. The whole group can work silently then."

"How are we to work together?" Mokonyi asked, "They run so much faster that we can."

Noli stood next to her and looked almost across into her eyes as they all heard his thoughts to them, "You may ride us," he said, "Hold us with your knees and we will never let you fall. You might also learn to use those sticks that you carry as you ride."

Mokonyi was looking into his eyes as he spoke and she found herself liking him for his want to help. Something shifted for them both in the next instant and she reached around his thick neck to stroke him under one long ear because she really had no choice in it. There was no guile or spell at work here, it was just something which seemed to pull them together.

Oyan saw it and looked at Kiriel. They were both lost in the same thing the next instant and she reached for Kiriel's neck just as Mokonyi had.

"I see that you have all chosen," Abi smiled, "I did not know that it would happen, but I take it as a good sign. If none of you are especially hungry now, why not go back outside and spend time together?"

It would have sounded like an absurd thing to suggest to perhaps anyone who was not at a kennel and thinking of buying a dog. To the four of them, it only made sense and they stepped outside and walked together for a while, lost in conversation and wanting to learn about each other.

The odd thing was that the humans couldn't seem to take themselves very far from the Ushandi and it went both ways, with the large creatures seeming to want to lean against the women very carefully as they strolled.

"We have not seen many of your kind of humans here," Kiriel remarked, "and we have never gotten this close to any, but you both are good to look at for us. I am very surprised."

"I don't even care about the surprise," Noli laughed, "I just like to look at them."

Oyan laughed that infectious laugh of hers and she grinned, "I am smitten right through. I have never seen such handsome ones as you are, both of you."

"Please excuse me, I must make water," Mokonyi said after a moment, "I have had to go for so long while we were walking, but I did not dare then. The water has filled me past my limit, I think. I will come back, I only wish to find a place. There, under that tree looks good to me."

She began to walk off in the direction of a copse of trees.

"How is that done?" Kiriel asked, "We have seen Ushandi females do this, so is it done like that, then?"

"I do not know," Mokonyi said as she looked around at the ground, "I guess that it would be. Why? Is it a special thing to you or something like that?"

"No," Noli shrugged, "we are only curious."

Mokonyi sighed, needing to go badly by then, "Well come and see, if you must know. It is too late for me to care much anymore." She squatted then and began.

The others stayed where they were, Kiriel seeing that the act for human females was almost exactly the equivalent of what Ushandi females did. But Mokonyi looked up after a moment at Noli, who had moved to stand not very far from her and was looking off in another direction.

"Please do not tell me that you are here because you like watching what you see," she said, "Why must you stand so close?"

"I do not know, really," he said, "It has nothing to do with you making water. I - I wish to be near you," he said a little ashamedly.

"Fine," she said with as little of the slight annoyance that she felt as possible, "But I may stand close to you when you do this, so that you know how silly I feel now."

She was a little surprised to see him nod, though he didn't say anything.

She was even more surprised when he moved over to a nearby tree and began to do the same thing.

"Not fair, Noli," she said as she finished and stood up, making almost a point of it to step closer to him.

He looked a little mortified, so she stood directly in front of him, almost face to face, since he was so large, "I understand, I think," she smiled a little, "though it makes no sense to me at all."

Noli looked perplexed and a little helpless over it when he admitted that he couldn't understand it at all either and that the thought of staying near her at such a time - other than to assure himself of her safety seemed ludicrous and yet somehow important.

"We feel that you are close to each other's hearts," Kiriel said, to move the topic away, "it makes me happy and I think that we can work together better for it."