The Coward and the Wolf Ch. 04

He might have just muzzled and put mittens on Sarah, or any other lovers he may have had, which certainly did seem kinky, but it would likely not go down as well as him simply wearing a leather jerkin to the bedroom. Hell, if his body kept on changing at the same rate it was, he may not even need armor eventually, though he was sure his mind would be long gone by that point.

"Saltek, do you have anything lighter? Something flexible perhaps?" Saltek pondered the question for a second before her face lit up and she scurried out. If Steve didn't know any better he would have thought her tale was wagging. Lizard-kin really loved armor.

Sarah's barely perceptible scowl lessened even more so when he mentioned lighter armor. Werewolves really hated clothes. To think the two species didn't get along, he couldn't possible fathom why.

Saltek eventually barged back in carrying what looked like a black diving suit and a black knight's helm. The two pieces looked incredibly out of place when combined; a mixture of old world tech with what was obviously modern or above materials. The knights helm had a red plume and a particularly pissed off looking face plate. He supposed it would be terrifying to encounter someone with it on the battlefield, then again Steve was terrified by the possibility of meeting anyone from the front on a battlefield so he may have been a tad biased.

Saltek lifted the black diving suit up in front of him, smiling as if he should recognize it instantly. He smiled back politely and waited for her to talk. There was no way he was going to open his mouth and betray his ignorance as to exactly what the object was, he could make a good guess, but why take the risk? Saltek immediately obliged him,

"Divine One, I have borrowed this from the Goddesses personal armory, I am sure she will not mind as it cannot fit her and has been gathering dust, and that is a great sin for any piece of equipment.

It is the space suit the original goddess wore when she arrived on this world. It is a raiment of the gods and can turn away any sword, arrow or spear that would seek to do it harm. I am sure it will be glad to be returned to species of its creators."

Steve could see that, he could also the carefully stitched hole through the shoulder which meant it hadn't managed to turn away 'all' attacks on it. The woman must have put up a hell of a fight, if her captors felt the need to injure her. He momentarily felt a pang of sympathy for the fate of the poor woman, before he felt the surge of joy for the boon of armor. Space tech kicked ass.

"I gratefully accept this gift from the Lizard-kin peoples." He intoned as he took the black garment from her.

He was about to start stripping down when he noticed that neither Saltek nor Sarah had looked away. Sarah he could understand considering their relationship, but Saltek? She had no legitimate reason to stick around. It seemed she came to the same conclusion as she flushed and walked out of the room, her gait more than just a little dejected.

Steve was beginning to feel more than just a little proud of the effect he was having on women lately. He was a vain soul, and even if every thought they had about him was the product of an elaborate lie, he could care less. Lying was what he did.

He knew Sarah was watching intently as he got changed into the black armor, he rather enjoyed how erotic it felt to have her drinking in his every movement. Soon enough though the little play was over and he was wearing the black bodysuit. It was perfect, it had a zipper all the way down the front that would allow his back to remain protect during 'intimacy'.

It felt just like a diving suit and as he looked his body up and down he was relieved to see that while it conformed to his body, it wasn't so tight that he may as well have been nude. He would have worn it regardless, but he didn't relish the thought of standing in a room full of dignitaries with his manhood outlined for all to see. He was still trying to hold onto some small shreds of his dignity after all.

The suit was comfortable to wear, and when he pushed down hard on the fabric he could feel it harden under his fingers. He had to test just how much defense it offered.

"Sarah, could you come over here for a second."

Sarah obediently walked over.

"Ok, now hit me in the chest."

Steve flew across the room in an instant. He momentarily wished that his guardian had hesitated even slightly as he smacked into the floor, if his armor had proven to be ineffective or broken, his chest would have been concaved instantly. Sarah most certainly packed a punch.

He found that he could feel no pain however. The armor had instantly solidified when Sarah's palm had made contact, and was now a solid block across his front. It remained that way for about a second before going soft again. Steve hopped back up onto his feet, giddy with excitement.

"You can come back in Saltek" He shouted at the doorway.

Saltek cautiously wandered back in. When she saw Steve wearing the suit her face lit up with joy.

"Divine One, you look just like the gods in the old paintings!"

Steve felt himself flushing; while he may have been a shameless flatterer himself, he was quite weak to the compliments of others, especially when the person complimenting him actually meant it.

He had to keep reminding himself that if anyone found out the truth behind him, he would be torn limb from limb without hesitation, or turned into a semen dispenser. It was a sobering thought, but a required one to remind himself that he was still in a very dangerous situation, and that while he could enjoy the perks of his situation, he was never more than one or two wrong moves away from a general shit storm.

He wasn't used to being genuinely complimented, which was odd considering his sunny disposition and friendly manner. In his hometown he was greeted with more fear than anything else; you shove a few assholes heads into the local pubs urinals and suddenly people get all shy when they meet you for the first time. People acted like he was some kind of sociopath.

"Thank you Saltek, it is good to once more wear the armor of my homeland." Which was mostly true, it did feel good to be wearing space age armor. It didn't make him super-strong or anything which was a bit of letdown. It did however have the ability to stop a person putting pointy things into your fleshy bits, which was something people had been trying to do since the dawn of time, so he didn't really feel justified in any small disappointment he had in not developing superpowers.

He put on the helmet next. It was exactly what he expected, a large chunk of very well forged metal. It was pretty light and didn't cut off his peripheral vision too much, and his head-butts would be a lot more effective with it on. The faceplate would certainly help with his 'angry god routine' so he was happy to have it. Practical, but nothing to get too excited over. He would keep it on, you never knew when you might need to head-butt someone, it wasn't really something you planned out in advance.

Saltek was watching him more intently than usual, a fact he would have put down to sheer awe, if it weren't for the unmistakable glints of lust in her eyes. Considering that 'casual clothing' was fully body armor in Lizard-kin society, it was in entirely possible that right now he was wearing the armor equivalent of lingerie. The thought elicited a throaty chuckle from him.

"So Saltek, what's the plan for the day?" Steve asked.

Saltek snapped out of her reverie and returned to business mode, or at least as close to business mode as she seemed capable while her eyes roamed over his new suit.

"I plan to accompany you to a party for the foreign dignitaries currently in the city. Lady Bridgett has informed me that you are more than eager to attend any and all social functions you can and I will oblige your request."

Bridgett must intend to parade him out in front of as many people as possible to show off that she was hosting him. Steve did not like the sound of being forced to hang out with a bunch of merciless backstabbing twofaced bloodsuckers like himself.

Steve did quite like ruthless bastards in theory, the fact that he liked Talia and Bridgett on a personal level proved that. He may not have known them long but so far they had spent ever moment in his presense literally and figuratively screwing him over for their own benefit, which was exactly what he would do if their positions were reversed.

He found it hard to dislike people that reminded him of himself, after all Steve was Steve's most cared about person in the world. He may have sodomised both goddesses with a wine bottle if he got the chance, but it wouldn't be personal.

The reason he didn't want to go to said party is that he had just about no bargaining chips, and had no doubt that someone else with an agenda would try and stick their hand up his ass to use him as puppet. Failing that someone might just try and kill him, which always put a damper on Steve's days.

"Sure, let's go" He said politely.

The city itself was a busy mess of Lizard-kin rushing about. Steve had a brown cloak over his head as well as Saltek on his left and Sarah on his right. It wasn't exactly low profile, but it was better than exposing himself as human and getting mobbed. He did take a minute to enjoy the sights and sounds of day to day lizard-kin life. He talked with Saltek as they walked,

"So who are the other countries of this world?" To date he had only seen two and his lack of knowledge on the subject was beginning to bother him. It would prove more than a little awkward if he met someone and didn't even know what species or country they hailed from.

Saltek responded "Aside from the Lizard-kin Houses and the Werewolf Tribes there are the Horse-Queens of the plains, the Insect Kingdoms, The Holy Elven Orders and the Republic of Harpies, though within those groups there are sub-species such as the wood elves, dark elves, cow-kin, mantis-kin, ant-kin etc."

Steve couldn't help but notice one of those groups was more than just a little out of place by virtue of being straight out of the fantasy as opposed to the 'anthropomorphic animal' category,

"The Holy Elven Orders?"

Saltek nodded grimly, "An extremist theocracy who believes that they are the descendants of humanity. Over time they have become obsessed with keeping their bloodlines pure, and are ruthless in maintaining them. It is an incredibly sad fate considering they are the race that all the races of Sapheros spawned from."

Steve was surprised, though he hid it. "Elves are the race that created the Lizard-kin?"

Saltek shook her head, "In a way, the Lizard-kin were originally elves generations ago, as were all the other races. At that point in time elven society was very different. It was a collection of shamanist tribes that worshipped the powerful animals of the world around them.

Soon though individual tribes formed, tribes who would each worship one animal alone, believing it to be the most survivable. At that point; each tribe found that with each generation they slowly began to take on traits of the animals they worshipped, until the races that exist today came to be.

The ancestors of the 'pure' elves today chose instead to turn their worship inwards, worshipping the elven form as perfect. Over time it has turned them into an arrogant and xenophobic race that is constantly at odds with the other five."

Well that explained the nipples and warm bodies the lizard-kin had. Their natural magic had made them take on animal traits, but the transformation had apparently stopped short of fully changing their original 'elven' forms. It didn't particularly make any difference to his day to day life, but it was still interesting to know.

The trio had reached the building the party was to be held in. It honestly didn't look any different from the other hundred odd castle mansions Steve had seen today. Steve uncloaked in front of the Lizard-kin guards, got the bowing and the prayers over and done with and he was admitted to the building. He pulled his helmet off and passed it to Sarah, who tied it to her belt, before he went in.

The insides looked just like any other fancy pants high class party he could think of, the only difference being the massive variety of races in attendance. He could see that it was primarily Lizard-kin, but here and there he could see feathered people, people with horns, people with exoskeletal claws, the list went on. He took solace in the fact that everyone was standing on two legs. Steve may have realized he had a deviant streak, but he drew the line at quadrupeds.

He was trying very hard not to gape. At least the Lizard-kin didn't do the stupid announcing thing, so for now he had a few moments of anonymous observation before Saltek began steering him through the crowd toward the center of the room. As Steve passed through the groups of dignitaries he got curious glances, but it seemed no one was willing to be the first person to approach him on their own, which was fine by him.

Saltek was nearly there when a feathered man moved to stand in front of them in a way that wouldn't allow Saltek to simply guide Steve round. Saltek would have audibly sighed if she wasn't so well trained; instead she stopped and stood to one side of Steve so he and the harpy could talk.

Steve looked the man over. He looked like an angel, not in an attractive 'oh my god he is gorgeous way' but in a very literal 'I have two wings on my back and human features' way, the only thing that struck away from the angel imagery were the brown feathers that sprouted from the tips of his ears and yellow hawk eyes. Steve imagined there were feathers on other parts of the man's body as well, but god willing he would never find out.

He had goggles and leathers that wouldn't have looked out of place on a world war one bi plane pilot. Steve didn't need to be a mind reader to know this was a representative from the 'Republic of Harpies', even if the term 'harpy' had been given a bit of creative freedom. The initial explorers must have had a ball picking names for all these poor saps.

"Greetings Divine One, my name is Soars High, I would like to speak to you on behalf of the Republic" Well at least he didn't speak with a chipper British accent, though 'Soars High' what kind of name was that? Did they pick two random flying words out of a hat to name him? He was however actually being polite which meant didn't know Steve wasn't a god, which made him instantly likeable.

"Greetings Soars High, what would the Republic of Harpies like to speak to me about." He didn't really have a choice in speaking to this guy, even if he would much prefer to be talking to the amazon style horsewoman with the magnificent rack that was glaring at them from a few feet away. Alas life was cruel. The fact that said horsewoman would likely drop her pants on request was not lost on him, but that just didn't appeal to Steve in quite the same way.

Soars High evidently felt this was important, because he was not so subtly using his outdoor voice to speak,

"The Republic would like to extend its friendship and good will to the Divine One, Steve, Servant of the God of Soldiers." He pulled a box out of his leathers and bent down on one knee,

"To that end The Republic has given me permission to gift you one of our most prized possessions, The Spear of the Gods" He presented the small box to Steve in both hands. Was the spear of the god's toothpick sized? Before He could reach out to open the box Saltek felt the need to speak up.

"You brought a Spear of the Gods here? Impossible! You would never have let it leave your capital unless you knew the Divine One would be here!" She was clearly not happy about this.

Steve on the other hand couldn't be happier. Anything that upset Bridgett's plans for him would get him one step closer to attaining his freedom and a trip back to his own world, where impalement by pointy objects was much less likely. He may need three magic users of goddess level ability to do so but thinking about that depressed him. So he was ignoring it.

"The Republic knows many things Dame Saltek. The return of the Divine One's could hardly have been kept from us. We had the Spear flown over before you had even left the Werewolf Tribes lands." Soars said smugly. Steve as getting really curious as to what the hell was in the box now.

So he opened it. In retrospect it may have more polite to let Soar open it, but Steve wasn't about to let an incredibly inconveniently time interruption get between him and a weapon. It may have run counter intuitive to his earlier logic on weapons, but based on the hushed awe the 'Spear of the Gods' was getting, Steve had pretty much figured out what it was.

Sure enough when he reached in he could feel the hilt of a weapon. As he pulled it out he immediately recognized it. It was a handgun. It may not have been particularly sci-fi looking but Steve couldn't recognize its make or model. He likely wouldn't have been able to anyway considering he came from a country that did not allow the bearing of arms, but Steve was pretty sure a weapon like this didn't exist on his own world.

"I thank the Republic of Harpies from the bottom of my heart, it is a fine weapon, and will no doubt cut down any fool that stands before the will of god." Steve made sure the word 'cut' was emphasized. He may have had no idea if the weapon even worked or how for that matter, but it never hurt to pretend it did. He would hopefully get chance to discreetly play with it before the night was over. As it was he played around with all the little buttons that were not the trigger. He stayed well clear of the trigger.

Soars High nodded proudly at the praise and stood up. With his present conveyed he moved back into the crowd. Steve knew that the third goddess who had summoned him was unlikely to be the Harpy one. It didn't make sense to give him a weapon if you already knew you were going to get your grubby mitts on him eventually anyway. No this stunk much more of good old fashioned sucking up.

Steve passed the weapon carefully to Sarah making sure to tell her not to touch the trigger. He would have kept it on him if he knew how it worked, but the suit had no pockets and he would rather not be carrying a deadly weapon in one hand while he was already nervous.

If he needed help he would rely on Sarah and Saltek to protect him, not two hundred year old tech he had no idea how to use. Steve would find out how that worked later, not while he was in a room full of foreign dignitaries who were watching his every move.

Steve began being ushered to his unknown destination again by Saltek. The destination soon became clear when they were pushed in front of a Lizard-man who was massive even by their own ridiculous standard who was conversing with a woman who was clearly an elf, an elf with blond hair in a plate mail bikini that looked about as useful as a chocolate teapot but still clearly an elf. The ears gave it away. The Lizard-kin was wearing the same full knight gear that Saltek wore, albeit a bigger suit but still essentially the same.

The pair continued to talk as if Steve wasn't there, which was fine by Steve because massive gigantic crocodile men scared him shitless. Saltek suddenly twitched behind him, and suddenly Steve knew it was Saltek behind him anymore. He couldn't explain how he knew, but she was suddenly giving off the same vibe as Talia and Bridgett, toned down, but definitely the same.

Steve suddenly felt an intense heat where Saltek had a hand on his shoulder and before he knew it he was speaking, "Kaltek, Leader of House Tek I challenge you to a duel to the death for your insolence before a servant of god!" Dear god, Steve couldn't believe what he was saying, he knew the feeling though, this was just an exaggeration of what had happened it Bridget's throne room. The bitch was controlling him!