Rustle 3

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This work of fiction is part of a series; if you did not already read the preceding chapters, please do that before starting this one.

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~~~ Mid-Morning ~~~

~~~ Hunters ~~~

Things had been quiet for a couple months. It probably wouldn't surprise you if I said that it had gotten a little TOO quiet ...

It was a lazy summer afternoon. Russell was on his way back from Media's - carrying a couple dozen eggs - when Mara informed him that there were a half dozen men on horseback making their way towards the second stream - with the falls and the pool.

For a time, the witch had set a watcher along the bluff where she and Russell had first met but all manner of wildlife came to that stream to drink and she tired of the endless alerts that ended up being nothing more than thirsty critters.

There was one red squirrel that she was convinced somehow knew that the effigy she had hidden there could see what it was doing. It danced around and chattered to the watcher endlessly before Mara finally tired of its antics and collected up the totem.

Russell was already in ape-form when Mara warned him about the visitors - so that wasn't a problem. He's biggest concern, at this point, was what to do with the eggs while he waited to see what the riders were up to. He climbed into the trees on the south side of the stream and hung the bag high enough that he thought it wouldn't be found.

Once the eggs were as secure as he could make them, Russell dropped to the edge of the stream and picked up a couple stones about the size of a grapefruit. He carried the rocks in the fists of his hind feet and used his upper hands to make his way back up into the thick canopy. He moved through the tree-tops to the north. He had made it a dozen yards or so past the stream before he heard the horses' woofing and stopped moving. He made himself as still as possible and waited.

<"I think they have a mage with them,"> Mara told him. <"He's dressed a little too finely to be a sell-sword or a thief.">

<"Do you have

Shared Sight

on?"> Russell asked.

<"Casting it now,"> she replied. <"Okay, it's up. The one in the blue is the one that I think is a mage of some kind.">

<"Somebody is spending a lot of money,"> Russell commented.

Russell transferred the stone from his lower right hand to his upper right hand. If the man in blue kept on his current track, he would pass beneath the tree where Russell was hiding.

Of course, as soon as Russell thought that, the man pulled his horse to a stop and started conversing with the other riders.

"The tracks are a week old," the one in front said. "Are we sure we're even in the right area?"

"She said it was past the first stream," the mage said. "If you've found tracks here, this is probably where they're getting their water."

"There are tracks all around here," the tracker replied.

"Then this is probably the right area," answered the man in blue. "We just need to find where they're living. Get off that fucking mount and do your job."

The hunter scowled at the mage but climbed down from the horse, handing the reins to the man beside him. Soon, he found the track that Russell had made when he headed to Media's cottage just after lunch.

"Track heading this way. Some kind of animal. Big. Maybe an ape?"

"Anything else? We're not looking for a monkey."

"There's a woman's shoes but those tracks are a day or two old. Lots of critters - otters, raccoons, ferrets, rabbits, deer, ..."

"We don't care about the fucking wildlife. Track the woman."

<"This is going to get messy,"> Russell complained.

<"Mage first - then archers - then swords. If the tracker has any rogue abilities, he may disappear when the shit hits the manure-spreader ...">

<"Wish I knew if the others had magic,"> Russell told her.

<"I could probably do a reading. I don't know if it will set the wizard off or not. Let me try.">

As the tracker looked around, trying to figure out where Mara's footprints led, Russell grew more and more nervous. This was taking too long. If he could get a better angle, he'd throw the stone at the wizard's head - but moving at this point would be sure to get him detected. He kept still.

<"As far as I can tell,"> Mara said, finally, <"the mage and the tracker are the only ones with magic. Since they didn't detect my use of magic, I'm going to try another reading to see which you should take out first.">

<"The tracker's moving closer to the ledge. Make sure Demon and Spawn are ready if he sticks his face around the corner.">

<"They smell him,"> she replied. <"I've told them to hold until they see his eyes. If that happens, it'll be like the seven hells opening all at once up here.">

<"It looks like that's where we're heading unless he gets smart enough to tell somebody else to stick their head up there. If the kits get the rogue, I'm taking the mage.">

<"He's probably carrying shields.">

<"I've got a stone the size of a grapefruit ready to throw at his head.">

<"That might work. It might just piss him off.">

Two of the riders were on the south side of the stream with the tracker. The mage and two others were still on the north.

Just as Russell started to move to get a better shot at the mage, the man's horse whickered and stepped to the left. He lashed the mount with the reins and told it to be still. Russell now had a clean shot - if he didn't miss.

"There's a ledge behind the falls," the tracker called out. "It's been chipped away but there's a small cave entrance there."

"You might as well have a look. If anybody's in there, all your screaming and stamping about has already told them that you're there."

"I don't sense any traps."

Russell heard the sound of a copper coin bouncing across the floor within the cavern. It felt like time stood still for a moment and then the tracker leaned his head to the right.

Russell reared back and threw the stone at the mage's head with every bit of strength that he had. Unfortunately, at that same moment, Demon and Spawn launched themselves onto the face of the hunter. He began screaming and thrashing. He tumbled from the ledge to the rocks below. It wasn't much of a drop but the man had two angry varmints doing unspeakable things to his neck and face and he didn't land all that well. As the force of the water slid his body into the pool, the ferrets swam to the side and leapt back up to the ledge to return to their mistress.

The problem this created for Russell was that every person and every horse reacted to the cacophony of the attack. The mage's head slid to the right and the stone brushed his ear as it flew by. He probably would have turned to see where it had come from except that it hit the horse in the head.

Russell wasn't sure if the horse was still alive or not - but the animal dropped like it wasn't. Once it was on the ground, it rolled to its right, pinning the mage's leg under it because he hadn't pulled it from the stirrups fast enough.

Russell's second stone caught the man in the neck as he flailed around, trying to free his foot and ankle. Based on how he was lying, the man was dead. The ape-man looked over to check on the tracker. He was floating, face down, in the pool. His body was slowly moving towards the stream - where he would be carried along with the current.

Russell pondered what to do next. The remaining four riders were still motionless. Obviously, the two dead men had been the brains of the operation and - now that they were not communicating with the rest of the group - nobody was quite sure what to do.

All they really knew was that the mage's horse had gone down at almost the same time as two small creatures had attacked the tracker. The four of them looked around, trying to figure out who was next in charge. The mage had been their contact. If he wasn't there to guide them back to their sponsor, they probably weren't getting paid. Unless, of course, the mage already had the money on him ...

Russell thought about jumping onto the next horse's back. The problem with that idea was that he weighed almost as much as the horse. He would probably kill the animal. It would be a much better (and more humane) idea to save as many horses as possible. Horses were also worth a lot. Part of the reason that Russell had told Mara that this operation looked like money, was because all six of the people in the party were riding horses - not mules - not ponies - not oxen.

<"Come help grab the horses,"> he told Mara.

As quickly as possible, Russell got himself to the ground, ran to each rider, yanked them from their mount, and broke their necks.

The horses were a little spooked by his current form and they tried to get away from him as he grabbed for their reins. The advantage he had was that they were in the shallow draw that held the stream and there wasn't an easy way to break and run.

The meadow, to the south, would have been their best escape - but that was where Russell ended up. He had the tracker's horse and the reins of the other two in his hands. As soon as he handed those off to Mara, he darted back across the waterway to go after the others.

<"Stop!"> she yelled, as the horses spooked.

He reversed direction and took the reins of the first three back from her.

Mara peeled off her shoes, pulled up her skirt, and waded through the stream. She talked calmly to the horses and made some motions with her hands.

<"What are you doing?"> he asked her.

<"Casting

Animal Friend

,"> she replied. <"Assuming it succeeds, they'll trust me for a full day.">

<"You may need to do it with these as well,"> he told her. <"They're still not happy.">

Russell lashed the horses' reins to a nearby tree and lay down to transform. Hopefully the animals would be less skittish around him in his human form. Before he lost consciousness, he wondered if he should have stayed as an ape until he had disposed of the bodies.

By the time he was awake again, Mara had tended to the downed horse. It had taken quite a bit of healing but she'd been able to heal the injury, remove the swelling, and eliminate the effects of the concussion that the stone had caused. The horse was still a little unsettled. Mara had to baby it more than the others but she was confident that it would be fine.

Russell helped Mara get the bodies stripped and the saddle-bags emptied. They were going to need to unload a bunch of stuff on the trader once again. Russell found some stakes and tied each of the horses out in the meadow to graze.

After sorting through all of the loot they'd recovered, the bulk of the items went back into the saddlebags to go to Media's house. "The eggs!" Russell gasped. He looked, longingly up into the tree where he had secured the chicken eggs before the battle had started. There was no way he was getting up there as a naked human without scuffing or breaking something ... Mara laughed at him.

"Go get some clothes on and we'll take these horses down to Media's. They can hang out with the mare for now. I think we've got a trip ahead of us, though," Mara said. "I don't think the trader will take the mounts and we don't want to sell them in the Duke's town - which means we need to ride south."

~~~ Decisions ~~~

By the time they got everything wrangled around, the day was stretching towards night. Media, thankfully, was happy to see them. The bodies went into the wagon, the horses went into the corral, and the young lovers went into the house.

As their hostess fixed a light stew for them to eat, they talked about their options. The first thing Russell wanted to resolve was what to do with the bodies. His inclination had been to deliver the heads to the city as a warning to whoever had sent the men. After talking to Media and Mara, they had convinced him that they just needed to bury them and pretend like they'd never seen them.

In regard to what to do with the horses, Media was inclined to just let them go - but agreed that they would probably just make their way back to whatever city or town they came from - and that wouldn't help their ploy to just make the whole mess disappear.

In the end, the elder witch decided that she was up for a trip to town as well. Russell and Mara would spend the next day burying the bodies and then, the following day, they'd head south with the wagon and the mare and the horses. They'd sell the horses, do a little shopping, and then return to Media's house for another night.

Mara and Russell took their usual bedroom - shared with three ferrets. Russell was horny but Mara told him that he'd have to wait. She didn't want to have sex in Media's house. She was still slightly uncomfortable with milking him to get the old witch's cream for her tea.

Lately, they had been slipping into the bedroom or going outside to complete the task. Mara was convinced that Media wanted to fuck or suck Russell and she really didn't want to share. He didn't care either way but he wasn't going to tell his lover that he was comfortable with having her watch as the old woman sucked his cock. Realizing that it was going to be a day or two before he got any relief, he decided to kiss the redhead that was lying in front of him, close his eyes, and try to get some sleep.

~~~ Graves ~~~

The next morning, Russell ate breakfast with the girls and then transformed to the ape form again. He trotted home, retrieved the eggs (which appeared to be unharmed) placed them in the cave, grabbed the shovel, and headed back to Media's house.

He spent the next two hours getting holes dug to bury the bodies. They picked spots that wouldn't be obvious - just in case anyone came looking for graves. They also strung the locations out enough that it would take some work to track them all down.

After lunch, the girls brewed up a potion that would change Mara's hair to be a little less noticeable. In the items they had taken from the hunters, they had found a hand-written note and a drawing. Media showed Mara how to turn these into effigies that she could use to send illnesses to the person (or persons) who had created them.

They spent an hour getting the small human-like totems created and then spent another hour cursing them with illnesses, hair loss, and facial warts. Just to be gnarly, they also threw a little bad luck into the mix. Media told Mara's lover that - whoever these people were - they were going to regret participating in the scheme.

After dinner, the girls did a reading to see if the group was safe traveling to the first town to the south - or if they needed to move farther away before selling the items (and the mounts) that might be recognizable. As far as they could tell, they were not going to attract undue attention by stopping at the first town.

Russell left the girls talking, snuck into the kitchen to grab a teacup and disappeared into the guest bedroom. The beast-man pictured his flaming-haired lover's face and tight cunt and stroked his aching cock to empty his balls into the cup. Russell would have really preferred to have fucked his little witch but at least - this way - he'd be able to think straight. It would also give Media another draught of her sexy tea - as repayment for them fucking up a few days of her normally sedate schedule. She smiled at the young man as he handed off the cup and immediately filled the rest of the vessel with tea from her mug, stirring the mixture with her spoon, and then smacking her lips after getting the first taste of the concoction. Mara giggled at her and Russell couldn't help but join in.

In bed, that night, Russell's lithe, lusty lover let him finger her as they kissed passionately. Demon and Spawn helped him nuzzle her face and lips and she collapsed into giggles after she'd cum. They told the kits they were naughty and they feigned innocence. They snuggled together and fell asleep.

~~~ Horse Trading ~~~

After breakfast, Russel got the mare hitched to the wagon. The ferrets were already in the cart - checking over everything like some teamster supervisor as the girls got their items loaded. In addition to the loot they'd taken from the hunters, Media had some goods that she usually peddled in the small town. She and Mara had made a few more of those to trade as well.

Mara and Russell rode on horseback. They each led another horse beside them. The last two were tethered behind the wagon. It took a couple hours to reach the town. It was approaching midday by the time they got there.

They sold off two horses at the inn and two to a blacksmith. The last two went to the town guard. They sold each of them with their tack and saddlebags. Russell wasn't sure a gold each was completely fair but Media told him to just go with it. Six golds was nothing to sneeze at - and Mara was always ending up with more coin than they could use anyway.

They bought a barrel of grain for the mare. At the chandler's they sold the rest of the gear, armor, and weapons that the blacksmith and the weapon maker hadn't already bought. Once again, Russell thought the prices they offered were questionable but both of the women shushed him.

He supposed, if they were able to end the day without having to return with the items that they'd brought to sell, it was shortsighted of him to argue about how much they were making off of it. It wasn't like it had cost them that much to get - a day of Mara being tired from healing the horse - a day of Russell burying bodies - and a couple days of hanging out at Media's house.

They stopped at the inn for a bowl of stew for lunch. Russell thought the food looked a little sketchy but the girls assured him that they had cast a spell over it to make sure they wouldn't get sick. The ale they had with their meals was good. It had come from a local brewer. Media added a stop at that establishment to their list of things to do before they returned home.

At the brewer's they ended up with two casks of ale for Media and a cask of mead for Russell and Mara. The redhead tried a sample while Media was negotiating with the man and she thought it was delightful.

Before they boarded the wagon to head back north, the girls insisted on stopping at the baker's to get a honeyed roll. Russell had to admit that it was very tasty. He was already craving another one before they'd even gotten to the edge of the town.

The trip home was quiet. Russell rode in the back of the wagon with the ferrets and took a nap while the girls sat up front and talked.

When they arrived, the girls carried the lighter purchases inside of the cottage. Russell carried the casks inside. Media's ale went to the pantry and the mead sat by the door to be hauled to the cave. After that, the ferrets went with Russell to put the wagon away and turn the mare out into her small pasture.

The girls were still working on dinner when he returned. Mara handed him an empty teacup and nodded towards the bedroom, smirking. He shook his head and went off to whip up a fresh batch of cream for Media's tea. The ferrets, of course, tried to follow but - Mara told them to go play in the front room.

In the bedroom, Russell was just getting warmed up when the door opened and closed. He opened his eyes to find his ginger-headed lover smiling at him.

"It works better when you do it," he told her.

She giggled and shook her head at him - but she came over and dropped to her knees next to the bed. She put her mouth on his cock and he was soon groaning with anticipation as he kneaded her scalp with his palms and fingers.

Mara pulled off as soon as she felt his cock lurch. She stroked him until his penis stopped spurting - then she gave him a loving suck and kissed the head. She stood with the teacup, and he started to stand up to put his pants back on.