Author's Note: There be centaurs ahead. You have been warned. Sorry about the long break between chapters. Shouldn't have to wait too long for the next part, though; it's almost done. This chapter isn't the most exciting, I know, but some plot needed to be moved along and so here we are. Thanks again for the the nice feedback so far.
Chapter 13 - Bann
Bann felt like a prisoner in his own body, as if there were two people occupying the same space and one of them had the other tied up and gagged. Part of him felt normal; this part wanted so badly to speak, to warn his friends of the danger represented by the 'shaman' and her demonic master. Unfortunately, the 'normal' Bann had been shunted to the back of his own brain, detached from any ability to control his own actions and replaced by some strange creation built of lust and magic. This 'primal' Bann struggled with the ropes his friends had used to bind him to a wooden chair in the centre of the guardroom. The battle between his split selves was one sided - 'primal' Bann was clearly in control - but 'normal' Bann's resistance weakened his body's efforts to the point that his struggles were weak and incoherent. The only part of him that wasn't feeble seemed to be his cock. Between his legs, it throbbed and ached with need as his eyes flitted from Cress' toned form to Hedda's curvaceous bust to Freida's amazonian build.
"... we can't keep knocking the poor guy out to keep him still. We gotta find a way to calm him down somehow," Hedda's words drifted through the cloud of lust occupying his head.
"It is clearly some sort of magickal control," said Freida. "How else vould ze shaman be able to keep him in her vagon vithout restraints?"
"And he clearly saw something the shaman doesn't want anyone else to know about," said Cress, "else why would they put a spell like this on him?"
"So what do we do?" asked Jon. "We can't confront the shaman about this. She'll just claim ignorance, or worse, accuse us of treachery, and we can't take him to one of the goblin mages and get them to remove the enchantment if they're scouring the camp for him."
"Ve are going to have to get him out of here," said the minotaur. "Tomorrow, after the orc tribes have joined us, ze varhost vill march vest tovards Drasich. He vill be hard to hide vhen ve are on ze move." Freida chewed her bottom lip, deep in thought. "I zink ve should take him to Top Town. It is a small town two days south from here in ze mountains. Zere is sure to be a mage zere who can help."
"All well and good," said Hedda, "but how do we get him there? He can't really walk on his own."
"Um... I could carry him," said Cress. The two barbarians and the minotaur raised their eyebrows in surprise. It was extremely rare for a centaur to carry a rider on their backs - their culture frowned upon such an act as demeaning. "Look," explained Cress, "he's our friend, and we have to do what we can to help him. Anyway, I'll be much faster carrying him than any of you trying to drag him along on foot."
The small group exchanged glances, each one trying to come up with an alternative plan of action, but, despite much discussion, the centaur filly's plan was the best they could think of. Eventually, the decision was settled on - Cress would carry Bann to Top Town. After that, the party set about planning their next moves. Hedda and Jon scraped together what spare equipment they could. Soon, Bann was equipped with a spare sword and shield, bow and quiver of arrows, a pair of boots, a kilt, tunic and a leather jerkin. The weapons were attached to a saddle bag-like harness that centaurs used in place of backpacks and slung over Cress' equine back. Cress, herself, wore her leather armour and carried a long pike. Over her back she slung her longbow, a quiver of arrows, and a baldric from which hung a heavy mace. Finally, Freida picked up the still struggling Bann and planted him on the centaur's back, nestling him into the arch where Cress' human half joined her equine hindquarters, and tied his hands around her waist.
Once Bann was seated, Hedda handed a jingling pouch of coin to the centaur warrior. "This is as much as we could scrape together," she explained. "Hopefully it's enough to hire a mage. Take care of him."
"Yes," agreed Freida. "Ve must learn vhat he has discovered... and he seems like a good lad."
Jon reached up to give Bann a pat on the knee. "See you soon, mate," he said.
"I'll do my best," said Cress, and with a small wave to her friends, she turned and cantered out the gate and into the dark.
Jon, Hedda and Freida watched in silence as the centaur and her burden disappeared into the night. Once the southbound travellers were lost in the gloom, she turned to her comrades. "I vorry about vhat he saw," she said. "I fear zere are dark tidings ahead of us." Hedda and Jon simply nodded, expressions of concern etched upon their faces.
Cress made haste along the dusty path that lead southwards into the mountains, travelling as fast as she could in an effort to put as much distance between her and the camp as possible. The warhost had patrols ranging far afield from the main force, and, while she had documents from Lisbet that gave her what was essentially free reign, nevertheless, she didn't want to face awkward questions about why she was heading south away from the warhost with a soporific barbarian tied to her back.
Behind her, Bann emitted the occasional moan and groan, and she felt his hands, tied at the wrist, migrate up to her armour encased chest to paw and squeeze at her breasts. To top it off, she could feel the young barbarian's hefty phallus pressing against the small of her back. As the path rose upwards into the mountains, she found herself repeatedly reaching down to remove Bann's exploring hands, but, as the dusty scrub of the foothills gave way to the rocks and sparse pines of the mountains proper, she gave up on the ceaseless battle and let randy human lad feel her up as she focused on keeping her footing on the dark mountain trail.
To be honest, thought Cress, the young man's attentions weren't the most irritating factor. The rope binding his wrists kept snagging on her baldric as she trotted along the path, causing her mace to shift and poke her in the waist. They had tied his hands thinking his dazed condition would result in him tumbling from her back as they travelled, but once she had stopped trying to prevent Bann's roving hands from groping her boobs, the lad had ceased fidgeting and seemed content to sit behind her and play. After some consideration, the filly reached down and drew her dagger from her belt and severed the barbarian's bonds. She couldn't help but emit a small moan as Bann immediately adjusted his grip until each of his hands was firmly grasping a perky tit.
She and Bann had fooled around more than a few times as the warhost had marched southwards over the plains, and Cress had always found Bann to be an attentive lover. His current, somewhat addled condition, had apparently done little to hamper his attentiveness, and Cress soon found herself panting not just at the exertion of climbing the twisting mountain path. Figuring they were safe enough in the blanketing darkness of night, she reached up and unbuckled the straps that held her jerkin closed over the short tunic she wore. Bann's hands quickly snaked under the heavy boiled leather of her armour and she moaned once more as he began teasing her nipples through the rough linen of her tunic. Perched in the crook of her back, she felt the barbarian start to buck his hips slowly to grind his prodigious erection against her.
They travelled like this for hours, the mountains looming increasingly taller on either side of the trail, Bann's hand cupping her firm, round bosom and pinching her nipples incessantly until she could feel the sticky wetness of arousal in her loins and she had hiked her tunic up to give him unfettered access to her sensitive nubs. By the time the sky grew lighter with the onset of dawn, the centaur filly was insufferably aroused and she could swear she could smell the pungent, musky aroma of Bann's oozing pre-cum. "I suppose a short rest isn't a bad idea," said Cress out loud, despite knowing Bann was in no condition to respond.
To her left, a scree slope rose to form a small ridge that was crowned by a few large boulders and a small, somewhat sheltered rocky outcropping. Biting her bottom lip in an effort to stay on task, she cantered up the slope and into the stony conclave. Once sheltered amid the rocks, she kneeled, and to her surprise, Bann automatically dismounted. She was about to get back on her hooves when she felt the young warrior's hands on the short fur of her haunches. Casting a glance over her shoulder, she saw that Bann had moved around to stand behind her and was in the process of unfastening his kilt. Despite his dazed countenance, he soon managed to unbuckle the garment. Cress' gaze lingered on the northerner's massive cock. Yearning to be mated, she flicked her tail to one side. "Go on Bann, stick that fucking thing in me," she commanded.
Without ceremony, Bann obliged. Cress gasped as she felt the puffy, slick lips of her cunt part to admit the bulbous head of the warrior's penis. Centaur mare cunts were built to take centaur stallion cocks - girthy, equine schlongs, long and hose-like with a wide flare at the end. Human cocks usually got lost in the embrace of a mare's quim, so when Bann and Cress had fucked before, she'd let him roger her asshole, where the tightness was more pleasing for the both of them. Now, however, Cress was gasping. Bann's shaft was big enough to rival a centaur stud's. Perhaps not as long, but wide and hard, and the difference in shape significant enough to send a trill of pleasure down her spine. The sensation was sublime, and the filly couldn't stop the powerful muscles in her haunches from clamping down upon the oversized slab of man-meat pushing into her fuck-hole. The desire to rut built in her chest. "Ohhh! Fuck!" she moaned. "Mate my cunt, Bann! Fuck it hard!"
