KING OF BEASTS (Hiatus)

The next morning had come quickly. Ares had fallen asleep quickly in anticipation, though Lana had joined him. She had kept her distance from him though, letting him fall asleep in peace, but in the morning she had woken him up by nibbling on his ear and whispering in his ear. Her breath had tickled his ears, and very quickly he was up, in more ways than one. 

He glared at her and then summoned some water above her head, causing her to fall back as she shook her head. Before Ares could be enamoured by the sight of her wet hair traipse down her face and neck, he escaped her and found solace with Jorgan. 

“Are oxfolk horny all the time?” Ares sighed and shook his head, before Jorgan responded without missing a beat.

“They are twice as horny as any of us.” He replied back.

Ares nodded his head, then stopped. He pulled back and stared at Jorgan. He bowed his head slowly, and Jorgan returned the bow. Ares then nodded before then walking beside Jorgan towards the centre of the town. Lana joined them and the trio ate, given giant slabs of meat to eat.

Heria introduced the three to the nine warriors. They were of a wide variety of body types, big and muscular, small and lithe, and they had an equal variety of weapons. Even the spears they had were all of different lengths and also different blades. 

Ampa and Anka, a pair of twins. Both were big and strong, Ampa wielded a large great axe, whereas their sister held onto a maul, which contrasted with her brother’s weapon. The weapons had a particular sigil on their weapons, which actually were the same as all the others.

Inta was a fairly twunkish kinda guy, but he had a large sword that was far too large for a man of his size. Yet the blade was…

“Is that mithril?” Ares asked as he looked up at Inta. 

“No, I wish. This is blessed steel. Not quite as magical, just a pale imitation of mithril.”

“Though still very powerful, and rare.” Heria butted in, taking another long drink. 

“Could I check it out?” Ares asked, revealing his own mithril blade from nowhere and then offering it to Inta in return. 

Inta’s eyes sparkled and he swapped weapons with Ares, examining it. The others also seemed to be intrigued in the mithril weapon as Ares looked at the blessed weapon. It had the same sigil as the other weapons, a circle with a pair of fangs that mirrored each other within it. 

As the nine checked out his weapon he turned to Heria and asked about the sigil.

“It’s the wolf smith’s sigil. He has created many weapons for our tribe. His work is legendary among the land.”

“I see…” Ares said. “I’ll have to pay him a visit one day.” He smiled and then swung the blade slowly before he returned it back to Inta. “What a beautiful blade.” Ares smiled.

“Not quite as much as yours.” Inta replied back as he returned the mithril sword to Ares.

They all ate together, though once more the wolffolk danced half nude around them. ‘Sheesh, what’s with all the beastfolk liking to dance around half nude?’ Then Ares stopped his thoughts. ‘Am I the weirdo if I’m thinking so much about it?’ 

Ares remained deep in thought until breakfast was done and then he thanked Heria for the food.

“I’ll see you soon.” He waved at her as she saw them off. Ares followed Jorgan on the way back, with the various other wolffolk surrounding them to ask them about their life and just chit chat, continuing their conversations from breakfast. 

Izir and Azir were a pair of married wolffolk that remained with Ares though. Ares hadn’t known whether or not they were related considering their names were so similar, but he didn’t pry into it. 

Izir was a fairly short and stocky man, where as Azir was tall and slender. From their looks they didn’t seem related, as Izir was dark in every way imaginable, and Azir was light in every way imaginable. Their hair, their skin, even their clothing followed that theme. Izir had a shortbow strapped to their back as well as a large axe as their side.  Azir had a longbow and a much smaller axe. Honestly, this pair seemed to be flirting even with their weapons. 

“Yer a new chief? Tough work.” Izir had said as they walked along the way. 

“It’s tough, but it’s rather rewarding. Still, having the welfare of so many people tied to how well you do your job, it’s a terrifying prospect.”

“Am not the type for it. Azir tho’, she’d be good.”

“Izir, don’t go flirting so publicly.” Azir replied back, though she wrapped an arm around Izir’s thick arm and a smile flushed across her face. 

Lana wrapped an arm around Ares’ neck, pushing his head to the side of her chest. Ares panicked as she spoke. “Yeah well my chief is doing a great job.”

“Oh I’m sure.” Azir replied and Ares felt the electricity between the pair of women as they flaunted their respective men to one another. Ah, well, Ares wasn’t quite Lana’s man, but the sentiment seemed to be there regardless.

Ares quickly slipped away as they continued to argue, rubbing the side of his neck. He looked down at Izir and then sighed. “You should be careful flirting so openly.” 

Izir inhaled deeply. “It’s a man’s duty to flirt openly.”

Ares stared down at Izir as he marched on ahead. ‘Whoa. That’s right… it is a man’s duty to flirt openly…’ Ares stared at the broad back of such a man and yet he found himself looking up at it. 

‘A man short of stature, but big of…’ He couldn’t quite finish the thought. ‘A large man, short of stature.’ 

Eventually Lana had stomped beside him, wrapping an arm around his neck once more. 

“Lana, please…” Ares replied back as he was pressed against her chest once more. 

She eventually relented, but placed a hand on his shoulder instead. 

“Everything alright?” Ares eventually asked. 

Lana remained silent for some time but then nodded her head slowly. Eventually she brought her hand away from him and then went deep into thought. Ares glanced at her confused, but left her be. 

When they made for dinner, Rob and Slate had left to scout around for a bit to see if there was anything around before they eventually returned. They both used spears, though of different types to one another.

Then the last pair were interesting… they were both small, like Heria, and were women. Siff seemed to despise Atta, but Atta was extremely close and comfortable with Siff to the point she would sit on Siff’s lap and then feed the woman, much to her dismay. 

Siff had a pair of scimitars, whereas Atta used a pair of short swords. Ares was about to say something, but he allowed them to continue their little comedy routine. 

He threw a glance towards Jorgan, who shrugged his shoulders in response. Ares then turned to look at Lana, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts still. Looking around at these new faces, and then down to the soup, Ares could only think about his luck. He hadn’t expected such a thing when he found himself in the world. He smiled and then sipped the soup, letting it flood through him. 

“I’ll head to bed if you don’t mind. Wake me up for the last shift.” He said as he waved them off and then went to go lay down near a solitary tree. He laid down and then looked up at the sky. Though soon after, Lana joined him and lay near him though not quite beside him.

“Hey Lana…”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

She looked over towards Ares a little confused. “For what?”

“…” Ares looked back up at the sky and then sighed out, closing his eyes. “Everything.”

Slumber took him quickly. It had been some time since he had rested so easily. Yet even though he had managed to sleep so quickly for once, his dreams were plagued with nightmares, nightmares in which he could not remember when he awoke later.