Bill and Rekka continued traveling without further incident for three days. They enjoyed their journey, the weather remaining clear with the nights cool and the days sunny. No more exotic mamono were directly encountered, though they did spot a few shadowy forms darting away from their path of travel as the trees began to thin slightly.
One afternoon Bill noticed a cute girl sporting rabbit ears peering at him shyly from bushes. He was about to call out to her in greeting before she abruptly squealed and hopped off at speed. Rekka had appeared from behind him, sniffing the air with the gleam in her eyes Bill knew meant a chase was in the offing. He quickly grabbed her before she could terrorize the skittish little thing.
"Don't bully the herbivores, sweetie," Bill said, feeling her muscles tensing as Rekka almost vibrated with the need to pursue.
"They like it, I know it. They wouldn't run so much if they didn't," Rekka responded, staring intently at the retreating fluffball tail.
Rekka's own tail was twitching with her need to engage, instincts forged since time immemorial ordering her to chase anything that ran. Bill patted her soothingly until her growling and whines calmed. They resumed walking, although Rekka's head swiveled to follow the direction the prey had escaped.
"What was her species called?" Bill asked, trying to distract the fixated predator.
"Wererabbit. Fluffy. Runs good," Rekka replied vaguely, nearly walking backwards now, her ears pivoting after the bunny girl.
"I'm beginning to see why we haven't met many other mamono in all this time," Bill said, turning her forward so she didn't trip over anything.
"Yeah... we've passed a bunch. They're keep avoidin' us for some reason, probably cause you make so much noise," Rekka replied, oblivious.
"Nothing to do with a ferocious hellhound rampaging through the forest chasing anything that moves, huh?" Bill asked rhetorically, which Rekka just shrugged at anyway.
"Just to be clear, you don't... eat them, do you?" Bill questioned, not looking forward to the 'Sapient Animal People Are Friends, Not Food' seminar forming in his mind.
"Nuh-uh," Rekka replied, "They just like it when I chase them... Don't like bein' caught though. They're so soft, I jus' wanna squeeze 'em a little, y'know?"
Rekka launched into a detailed explanation of chasing down panicked wererabbits and the like, delighted they had wanted to play with her. It never failed to confuse her when they went limp, sobbing in terror partway through her celebratory wrestling match slash cuddle session. She described this criminal assault as 'struggle snuggles'. Rekka was highly upset they never came around to play again.
"Right. Okay, Lennie, leave the poor bunnies alone. Try to find someone a little more durable to chase," Bill requested.
Like a rhinoceros
, he thought, laughing softly.
They spent the next short while as Bill explained "Of Mice and Men" to a confused Rekka, which caused her to punch him in the arm once she'd learned who she was being compared to. Rubbing his shoulder and laughing, it had stung pretty good, Bill wondered how strong Rekka really was.
Tullius, a beefy soldier, had landed a solid sucker punch on his not so muscled stomach and he'd barely felt it. Bill could feel the bruise forming on his shoulder from Rekka's only slightly serious jab, through chainmail no less. There were levels of strength at play here he was having trouble comprehending.
He was starting to realize if he hadn't been juiced up with some as yet unknown magical bullshit, he'd still be lying on the floor of Rekka's cave. Probably asking for the license of the truck that had hit him, and if it'd like to have coffee sometime next week. Not exactly a terrible fate, in his mind, but certainly he enjoyed being able to fend off Rekka's advances long enough to get to know her a little better. They both seemed to be better off for it, despite Rekka's irritation that she needed consent to rock his world.
When he'd first arrived, Bill had assumed the portal was just some crazy happenstance. Now, though, he wasn't so sure. Someone seemed to want him to be roaming free, and not just another casualty of mamono affection. He couldn't be completely sure though, maybe this was what happened to people from Earth in this universe. Still, he'd remember to feel smugly unsurprised when Gandalf jumped out from behind a tree and regaled him with a fucking prophecy needing fulfillment. In the meantime, he'd work on heading off the mutual destruction of the dominant species of this world.
-
It was late afternoon on the third day when their destination finally came into view. The forest ended abruptly, a vast field of cleared stumps revealing a logging operation. There were several groups of workmen in view, around thirty men in all, Bill guessed, not bothering to count. They were pulling together into exhausted lines of march, heading towards what he could only assume was Fort Carcere, not far from the worksite. Bill's main focus was on the mounted guards. There were twelve of them, and they seemed equally concerned with their charges as their surroundings, shepherding the workers on their way.
Slaves?
Bill wondered.
No, prisoners.
The whole operation reminded him of a chain-gang of roadside inmates. Though the prisoners weren't shackled together, they were all wearing matching drab tunics and leggings, slogging along in two lines avoiding contact with their guards.
The view of the fort only solidified his intuition. It wasn't nearly as large and imposing as he'd expected. Just a collection of mostly log walls. The guard towers poking over the walls were something out of Hogan's Heroes, simple covered wooden scaffolds, and the guards he could see manning them seemed to split their attention between the outer wall as much as the inner compound.
The fort wasn't yet complete. While most of the walls were simple logs, there was a much higher one of stone with enough room to man with soldiers complete with a more appropriate turret on the northern end of the compound. Even then, it was as well protected from missile attacks from within as without. When the complex was complete he imagined the whole thing would look pretty similar to the prisons of his own world. All it lacked was razor wire, cameras, and spotlights.
The major difference was a small medieval looking keep up along the stone wall, and likely part of it. That was probably where the guards and administrators lived, making it a secondary defensive position in case of a riot or breach, and giving them access to the walls once they were complete.
Bill watched the work party and their guards finish approaching the fort, kneeling in their hiding place, a dense growth of bramble bushes at the edge of the cleared trees. The inmates gave up their tools, piling them into a small wagon pulled by two other inmates with their own guard which waited outside the closed gates to meet them. One of the guards called through the gates, which opened quickly. Then the whole group entered under the watchful eyes of the guards, who followed them in. The gates slammed shut behind the last horse, no time wasted.
"Damn, this isn't going to be easy," Bill muttered.
"What'cha mean? I thought you had a plan," Rekka said, lying on her back looking bored, almost hidden in the tall grass.
Bill grunted, reaching down to scratch at her ears pensively. He had originally envisioned some kind of frontier outpost, possibly a fortified trading town. His plan had been to see if he could just walk up and gain entry, he was human after all. Then he'd just cause havoc, kick in some doors, and possibly strangle this artificer depending on how unreasonable he decided to be. Bill knew it wasn't a very intricate plan, but he was a simple man. There was no way he was just waltzing into a high security prison, though.
"Yeah. Raiding 'Stalag 17' really complicates the situation," Bill said, still glaring at the gates.
"Oh, you mean a prison. Well, what are we gonna do? We could just go home," she said hopefully.
Bill was confused that she knew it was a prison from his statement, then recalled the 'Hund' conversation, snorting at the absurdity of the whole situation.
"Guess I'll go in at night, poke around a bit. That keep looks promising," Bill said, not feeling very confident.
"You mean
we'll
go, husband, I'm not lettin' you out of my sight," Rekka said, rolling her head to glare at him.
Bill turned to face Rekka, but before he could start the ensuing argument he was interrupted by the shockingly silent arrival of a woman. She seemed to just materialize out of the trees. If Bill hadn't been facing that direction he would never have noticed her.
She was a mamono, looking like some kind of big cat. Emphasis on the "big". Rounded fuzzy ears poked out of her short chin length hairstyle, and, like Rekka, she had fur flowing down from her elbows and knees, finished off by paw hands and feet. The main difference, aside from the feline theme, was the size difference. In every possible way, she was a giant.
Her paw hands were proportionately larger than Rekka's. The claws had to be six inches long. Her fur, hair, and long slim twitching tail were orange and black striped. Her tanned body was a gym rats dream, she had a damned eight pack, and her arms and legs rippled with corded muscle. Not to say she wasn't soft and curvy in all the right places, her round leather haltered breasts were hard to miss. They'd be oversized on any less statuesque body.
Two green eyes, the pupils vertical slits, were locked onto Bill. The detached expression of calm was somehow intensely invasive. Bill froze in place, feeling like a mouse caught too far from its' hole.
Inexplicably, she was holding a coil of rope in both of her paws, clenching and unclenching her claws unconsciously as she stared at him. Before Bill could squeak out a greeting, or more likely a warning, the wind shifted. Rekka's head and shoulders popped out of the grass, revealing herself to the intruder.
Immediately the tiger lady lowered herself into a fighting stance, baring her fangs. She dropped the rope, spreading her arms and claws, her bristling tail flicking about behind her. The oddly detached expression in her eyes barely changed, but her body language was unmistakable.
Rekka didn't hesitate, she seemed to teleport across the distance, throwing up a spray of dirt and grass into Bill's face. She stopped just out of claw distance directly in front of the newcomer. Growling deep in her chest, standing at her full height, she seemed laughably small in comparison.
Bill wasn't laughing, he'd gone from shocked to furious at the sight of the giantess looming over Rekka.
