The Morning After
----
Alanna awoke alone in the abandoned, dim library, lying on her bedroll. A strong headache rolled over her as she moaned, and pressed two fingers to her temple, casting a restoration spell.
"
I did not miss you, morning headaches,"
Alanna thought to herself, reminding herself of the copious drink she and Talos had the previous night. She swore off wine, which might have meant something had she not sworn the same half a dozen times in the past.
She looked around as she fumbled for her torch. Lighting it, she saw four books laying next to her, which obviously yesterday-Alanna believed to be important. She sat up on her bedroll, still pressing her temple with one hand firmly.
She looked around the dusty room and sighed. Yesterday was a disaster, she knew. Most of the books she came to liberate from Mschuleft were either missing or lost to time, leaving only the four to her right the only knowledge she would save from the ancient city. Worst of all, she left Talos stewing, him believing their relationship to merely be the most intricate rape game she had ever played.
She had to go apologize to him. She got up, squatted and started rolling her bedroll up. She heard Sofia's hooves behind her, clopping through the library.
"Hey girl, coming to check up on me?" Alanna softly said with a smile. The horse, of course, did not respond back.
"I'm doing okay, Sofia. Thanks." she half-lied, wondering if the animal cared. She heard her trotting closer.
She snapped her bedroll to the bottom of her pack as she opened the main flap, and bent over to gather the books shed collected from the previous day.
Alanna screamed as rough, bestial hands grabbed her waist.
--
Talos was on the roof of the former college of Mschuleft, sharpening the blade of his trusty bastard sword when he heard the drums.
"
Orcs?"
, Talos thought. He heard some Orcs using drums out in the badlands, but not with quite this level of precision. These sounded more like war drums, and if his keen senses were to be trusted, they were getting closer at the pace of a brisk jog.
"
Shit, gotta find Alanna and get out of here. Fast."
He started packing his bedroll when he heard, no,
felt
Alanna's scream.
--
Alanna struggled with all her might, pinned to the floor by the beast. She felt its rough, clawed hand running along her body as the other squeezed her neck roughly into the dusty ground.
"No! Please," she begged of the beast, only receiving guttural grunts in response.
"Please...", she implored again as it grabbed her travel pants, tearing them at the waist. She was able to see the reflection of her attacker in her mirror, which had fallen from her pack.
The creature appeared to be a mix of man and bull. Fur covered what she could see of its bulky muscled legs, only an ornamented loincloth covering his crotch. His chest and arms appeared more humanoid with only a bit of fur over his toned chest and biceps, while his face was the perfect imitation of a bull. His hands, groping and choking her, were large and manly except that the fingernails had been replaced with short, sharpened claws.