Guardians

The sound of a nearby twig snapping woke Azalon from a dead sleep. The fairy, apparently sleeping on top of him, rolled off his chest as he twisted towards the sound.

“Uh. It’s too early fo-” she started to grumble but was quickly interrupted by the sound of a nearby deer bolting out from behind a rock just outside of their shelter.

Azalon slowly let out the breath he had been holding. He quickly scanned the rocky alcove they had slept in, but there didn’t seem to be any danger other than a close brush with some of the native fauna. It wasn’t quite light yet and he was still tired, but he knew it would be impossible to get any more sleep.

He yawned and stretched, feeling a dull ache that stretched from his hip to his shoulder from where he had slept on the bare rock the previous night. It had been dry at least, but he felt the early autumn chill in his stiff muscles as he pulled himself up.

The fairy flew a quick circuit around his head, coming to a stop a couple inches in front of his muzzle. “Right! Enough lollygagging slave! Time to go home.”

Determined to lollygag for at least a little bit, the fox nodded and pulled a full waterskin from his inventory, taking a long pull before casting a few simple grooming spells on himself. They weren’t quite as effective as an actual brush, but they got his fur under control and his mouth feeling a bit fresher.

Finally he pulled himself to his feet, taking his time putting the waterskin away so as not to appear at all rushed before the bossy fairy. “So we travel first to Rakenhold to the south. I’m assuming you know the way?”

She nodded and landed on his shoulder as he began to pack up the rest of his things, “Yep, there’s an old road that goes between the fishing village and the gateway, we just need to find the road and follow it.”

Azalon frowned a bit at the mention of the road. It would be the easiest way to get there of course, but there would also be adventuring parties traveling along the road. “Hmm, no. We can’t be seen. Is there some other way to get there?”

“Um, not unless you can fly. Don’t worry about that though. I’m a pretty good illusionist. I can just hide you if we see someone coming.”

The fox nodded thoughtfully, “That could work… Could you make me invisible while we travel?”

She stuck her tongue out a bit at his suggestion, “That sounds hard. Easier just to cover you up with a rock or a tree or something. Just don’t move around and they’ll walk right past you.”

Azalon turned sideways as he slipped between the two boulders obscuring the small alcove. The pixie was still riding on his shoulder, but he didn’t mind. Her weight was negligible and if they did run into someone it was probably better for her magic if they were close together. Before they could get underway though there was one last thing the fox needed to take care of.

Walking up to a tree he looked over at the pixie, “I need to… relieve myself if you wouldn’t mind.”

She nodded, but stayed sitting where she was, “I don’t mind.”

“No, um I mean…”

“What? You need me to hold it? Shake it off for you?”

He shook his head in frustration, realizing she was just being purposefully obtuse. “You know what, fine. Enjoy the show.” He tugged his breaches open and pulled his cock out of its furry sheath. The pixie leaned over, watching him intently as the hot steaming stream splattered against the trunk of the tree.

“Thanks. Nice dick by the way. Hey, why do men always piss on trees? Do you think they’re into that? Or is it better for you if they’re not into that?”

Azalon frowned, briefly wondering the same thing for a moment. “Hmm, well. If I had to guess it’s because if you’re facing a tree that gives you some privacy… present circumstances notwithstanding.”

Willowing smiled as she watched him finish, “Oh yeah, shake it… Just asking, you know, being a plant and all myself.”

He looked over to her as he tucked himself back in, “Wait, you’re a plant?”

She nodded, “Yep. One mother was a tulip and the other was a honey bee, so half plant and half insect.”

The fox shook his head. He was pretty sure that biology didn’t work that way, but then the fae were weird. Looking over at the pixie sitting on his shoulder though he could see the resemblance. Her wings looked like dragonfly wings, transparent with thin black lacy support structures throughout. When they caught the dawn sunlight though they shimmered with a pearlescent multi-hued light that really was quite beautiful. Her skin was bright green, the color of grass, and her tiny eyes were solid black. Looking closely at them now he thought they might be compound eyes.

She blushed a little as the fox looked her over, but then leaned back and spread her legs wide open, exposing her tiny hairless slit. “You want to watch me now?”

Azalon quickly shook his head as the pixie laughed at the expression on his face, “Ha ha! Don’t worry, I won’t get your clothes all wet.”

“Thanks,” he grumbled, turning to walk back the way they came. He realized that if they were going to find the road to Rakenhold they’d need to head back towards Wolgur first. He sighed, looking towards where the town lay just over the ridge of black rocky stone. Everyone he came here with was dead. It was hard to believe that just the day before he was enjoying a pleasant afternoon with Lili. He needed to press on though. It was up to him to find justice for his fallen friends. To do that though, he’d first have to survive.

✦ ✦ ✦

Azalon spent the better part of the morning making the trek up towards the gateway. It would have been faster, but they had to stop several times as adventuring groups making their way into the highlands passed them by. The ground was beginning to level out, the splintered rocky terrain near the coast slowly giving way to low foothills. The ground was still rocky, but with soil enough to allow grass and trees to grow abundantly around them. Enough so that no one noticed the new tree standing off the side of the road.

Azalon waited a long while after the latest adventuring party had disappeared behind the bend before he spoke again. “That was close,” he said walking back out onto the road, “I think the lapine might have smelled me.”

The rabbit girl had turned in his direction, looking right at them as her long whiskers twitched nervously. She stood there until the equian who was taking up the rear put his hand on her shoulder, urging her forward. Like most of the women he had seen with the adventures she was barely dressed, wearing little more than lingerie even in this cold. She was probably their healer, or maybe their stress relief, probably both actually.

Willowing nodded, hovering along next to him as they walked down the road following after them. “She was cute though. I mean, damn. People have good taste in sex slaves around here don’t they?”

Azalon wasn’t certain the girl had been a slave, but she was wearing a collar. That was a pretty good indication. He found it unusual though. Almost every group seemed to have one or two with them. Sometimes the entire party looked to be composed of slaves with a single person leading them. It wasn’t always a man either. One party seemed to be composed of a single nymph and six collared (and very male) hellhounds.

In a way it made sense. Dungeon delving was a dangerous career. You needed people you could trust in a fight, people who wouldn’t stab you in the back for the treasure you had just looted. Successful parties were either a close knit group of friends or people whose loyalty was magically enforced, normal hirelings wouldn’t cut it.

Putting such thoughts aside he glanced around the forest they had been traveling though, looking for any sign of danger. They still hadn’t run into any monsters despite technically being deep in the dungeon at this point. The road was well traveled though so the monsters either avoided it or had already been taken care of by the previous groups.

Off in the distance, through the trees, he had occasionally seen large stone structures. They were too square and regular to be part of the natural landscape, but too overgrown with vines to really make out. He was fairly certain that they were ruins of some sort, shells of former buildings that looked long abandoned. If he had to guess, he thought they might have been the remains of farms. Whatever wood had been used in their construction had long since rotted away, but he could imagine what they might have looked like long ago; barns, silos, small farm houses, dotting a landscape of rolling hills. Given the maturity of the forest around them though, they had to have been hundreds of years old. Remnants of the last human empire most likely.

The scholar within him was pushing him to investigate further. A wealth of knowledge about old Rhysh could be just under the surface in any of those buildings; farm implements, pottery, furniture, buried like treasure. All of their knowledge of the empire had come from what was found in the ships and on the bodies of dead raiders. No one knew anything about what the lives of the common folk had been like.

The coward within him though was keeping him away. The road was well traveled and safe, but those old ruins would be perfect places for monsters to hide. He could just see himself becoming completely engrossed by some piece of sculpture or shard of glass while creatures of murderous intent silently crept up on him.

As they crested a hill the terrain suddenly opened up before them. A flat rocky plain lay between them and what was obviously the gateway into the mountain. The gateway was huge, intricately carved and flanked on either side by colossal statues. Azalon immediately recognized the two figures. A statue of Barbatos, Lord of All Flesh, was on the left side of the gate, while Marchosias, The Taskmaster, stood on the right. The two jackal headed beings were considered gods, but not ones who were commonly worshiped, at least not openly.

The group of adventurers they had been trailing were standing in the center of a cobblestone courtyard about halfway between where Azalon stood and the gateway itself. Not wanting to be spotted he stepped off the road, pulling his spyglass out of his pocket while the pixie wrapped an illusionary tree around them.

The equian who seemed to be in charge was talking to the group, handing each person a cloth sash. They looked finely made, patterned and embroidered. Most were dark brown or black, though the sash the horse man took for himself was bright red. Once they had all tied them around their waist they continued onward, passing between the two statues and under the dark archway beyond.

The pixie landed on his shoulder as Azalon spied on the group. “Huh. What do you think that was about?”

Azalon shook his head, “I’m not sure, but I’ve seen sashes like that before. They’re pretty common in Rhyshven art. While nudes are of course the most common subject, occasionally you’ll see someone in what could generously be called clothing; mostly thin strips of cloth or leather straps and metal buckles if they’re military. Ornate sashes like that are both fairly common and when someone is shown wearing one it’s usually prominently displayed. The leading theory is that the sash shows your place in society, like a rank insignia that a soldier might have on their uniform, but in the case of the Rhysh Empire such ranking applied to everyone.”

Half way through his explanation of the sash-rank theory the pixie let out an exaggerated yawn, “Yeah, yeah. Alright, whatever professor Longwind. Lets just go after them already.”

The fox nodded. Enough time had passed since the other group had gone in, and there didn’t seem to be anyone behind them, so now was as good a time as ever. As soon as they left the tree line Azalon broke into a jog, not wanting to be caught out in the middle of a field just in case anyone did come along.

He glanced up at the statues as they got closer. Given these statues were empire made they were, of course, nude. The two jackal headed gods shared a similar look, rippling muscles and disdainful expressions as they glared down at those entering the underground city. The only way Azalon could tell the two apart was by what they were carrying. Barbatos was clutching his chains and manacles close to his chest, while Marchosias had his whip coiled against his side.

They were ridiculously well endowed as well, their massive bestial members hanging down to their knees. They were divine figures so the artists probably wanted to exaggerate their “potency” or at least didn’t want to offend their gods by giving them mere mortal anatomies. Given that the statues were well over fifty feet high though, the thick prominent veins running along their shafts alone were as thick as Azalon’s arms.

“So… whenever you’re done staring at their dicks we should get going,” the pixie said with a lewd grin at the fox.

“What? No, I was just… admiring the craftsmanship,” he said as his ears flattened in embarrassment. He hadn’t realized he had slowed down to a walk as they had gotten close to them.

“You were drooling.”

She was lying about the drooling, but he had definitely been staring. “Well, you don’t often see examp-”

The fox suddenly stopped as he felt a chill pass through his body. It was like someone was pressing a block of ice against his chest. It took him a split second before he realized what he was feeling. He was in danger. With a loud yelp, he leapt backwards, stumbling on the uneven cobblestones just as a crackling bolt of energy struck the ground right where he had been standing. Tripping backwards, he landed on his ass and immediately scooted further away from where the bolt had hit. After a moment though the feeling of danger began to subside.

Willowing flew around him as he gathered himself up off of the ground, “Holy shit! Where the hell did that come from.”

He shook his head as he started to brush the dust off of his pants, “The statues, some kind of defensive ward… I think we just found out what those sashes were for though.”

He quickly glanced around, checking to see if the noise from the lightning strike had alerted anyone or anything to their presence. As far as he could tell they were still alone, but he still didn’t want to be standing out in the open. “Let’s… get out of here for now. We’ll either need another way in, or some sashes for ourselves.”