A horn blasted across the plains as I moved with Bongani. I could feel the menace in it from here. This was a call for a hunt. This was a call for revenge. I doubled my pace as Bongani began to flag instantly. The bush and wild lands would be my only chance to lose them but finding that was going to be difficult. Instead my only choice was to outlast them. It would take leaning into my ascended status to manage it.
I slowed just enough to let Bongani keep pace with me. I wouldn’t toss him aside, he was mine. I would protect him from those that would take and harm him. There was no one in this world that I would willingly give him to again. Even if it was to trade for life saving supplies. I would rather him and I die than have the disgrace of this last week happen again. I could see the flecks of people on the horizon chasing after us. Their choice was to burn hard and fast to catch up. To be in range to pelt my area with spears.
All they would need to do is wound Bongani or myself and I would be forced to fight and kill them. Something I didn’t want to do. I saw what was in Haloor’s eyes, she would force me to kill her.
I had no spells that could help us flee. I looked at my male and frowned, he was already covered in sweat and had spent a night fucking his brains out so he was in no condition to keep this up. I started to channel healing into him in hopes that it would help him recover some of his stamina while we ran.
I could feel the wind against me carrying my trackable scent back towards those that were hunting me and I damned the Gods for conspiring against me. My breath was even but the weight of the pack was already tugging on my shoulders. I could bear Bongani for a short amount of time but again it would be a temporary fix to things.
“Do you have any more experience to spend on agility and toughness?” I asked as he slowed even more than before.
He didn’t have it in him to respond with words and just shook his head as hard as he could. I growled even more in my throat. “Did you gain any experience over the last few days? You were serving me in a way.” He shook his head even more and held up his hand with his fingers close together. “Just a little! I was wasting your time on that bitch. I could have been draining you and leveling up far better than before.”
I had to slow even more and I grew more and more frustrated with Bongani needing to slow down. I kept glancing back and the slowly growing figures on the horizon. Darkness could not come soon enough so that we could have a chance to slip out of sight. However, I knew my people, the ability to scent the air as well as our good night vision was something that would damn me if I slowed down enough for them to catch up.
“We need to make it to the river and travel through it. We are going to ride it down stream and slip behind them. We will have to move into lion territory from there to shake them off. It’s going to be difficult to sneak past those bastards but it is better than trying to shake off the striped clan.” I changed course heading north east towards the river. It would be a few miles before we arrived at our destination.
Soon Bongani was stumbling but we hit the hills that separated the river from the rest of the lands. If we swam downriver for too long we would be back in spotted territory and I would be even more unwelcome. Thankfully though with the purge of the crocodile kin we would have a safer time than ever to travel using the river.
It felt like ages for us to reach the river and the dots on the horizon were getting even larger. I could hear the shouts as people all over the horizon turned and headed towards us as we crested the hill. I rushed down, the dirt slipping along my feet as I charged down into the water. I pulled Bongani physically with me before he stumbled and looked at me. “I c-c-can’t sw-” I shoved him in the water and dove after him. I didn’t have time to wait.
I dragged him out into the deep, quick water and lamented how much I struggled to float with the pack and the damned male with me. However it would be far swifter to ride through the river and make it down to be too far to be hunted. He thrashed and fought, but I kept him held tight.
Minutes stretched into hours as I powered our way downriver with the swift stream. The curves and twists in the river quickly hid us from those that were hunting us and I brought us slowly to the far shore and dragged Bongani up. He was coughing and sputtering up water and I pounded him on the back a few times as I caught my breath. “We can’t rest long. Come on, get up.”
“C-c-can’t, t-t-tired.” His legs and arms were shaking hard as I got to my feet. He was barely able to be on his hands and knees without collapsing onto his belly.
I grabbed a fistful of hair and hauled him painfully to his feet before pulling an arm across my shoulders relieving him of most of his own weight. “Come on, I’ll help but we have to hurry. We will rest tonight when we are closer to safety. I don’t know how long we will be on the run.”
We started to limp along as I half carried the male with me. He was heavy and I felt myself faltering after swimming and running for hours. Even my ascended status was faltering after the day I had. Spending my experience wasn’t going to help me much in the long term especially after what I had done to Oda.
Another hour passed as we slipped into the wilderness that marked the start of the lion’s territory and I slumped down against the base of a tree. We were dry from the hot sun already. I leaned Bongani against my side and pulled the pack around. I freed one of the waterskins and parched my throat first. I forced what was left over into Bongani’s mouth so that he wouldn’t collapse from loss of water.
The exertion was too much to waste time on eating food. It would only end up on the ground beside us until our bodies calmed down. I had learned that lesson many times while training. Bongani fell asleep in moments as he rested his head against my chest. I held onto him and felt a small sense of comfort being next to him.
Our scent would have been washed away in the river and it would take hours for them to scan the shore we left on for safety. I let us rest for a hand’s width of the sun in the sky before I woke Bongani up and dragged us to our feet. I held him up and opened his eyes looking closely, “How much river water did you swallow. There could be water demons in it.”
He flushed and nodded his head, “L-lots.”
“Ok, you’ll probably get sick in a day. We need to get as much distance as we can before the demons start attacking your body. Come on,” We started to walk, with him on shaky legs but with a determined look on his face and I was steady and ready to go on. The sharp increase in toughness that I had bought to fight the lion.
I waited until the sky was darkening before I found us a tree to scale and take shelter in for the night. It would be much safer to be higher up than on the ground near such a thing. A haven for snakes and scorpions. Whose poison would most likely kill my male. Even if I could survive it.
After climbing into the tree I watched in disgust as Bogani struggled to scale the same tree as me. Giving him a hand I had us and our supplies propped in the tree. I pulled out the sealed jug of mash and took out a small portion for myself. I watched Bongani’s hungry eyes on me as he waited for his portion of the meal. If I deemed it worthy to spend on him.
I sat wondering if I should share with him if his stomach had been spoiled by water demons. Though if he was hungry he would be weaker and less likely to be able to keep up with me once he was shitting himself. Flashes of him being hand fed by Oda and the jealousy I had felt flashed in my mind. I took a small glob of the mash and pressed it towards my male. I wanted to punish him for my jealousy but I also wanted to covet and know what it had felt like to feed him like that.
As he reached out with his hands I shook my head, “Take it with your mouth. Come on, I won’t wait long.”
Bongani gripped my wrist in two hands to steady himself and leaned forward, opening his mouth wide for the morsel of food. He closed his lips gently over my finger and started to lap at every last smear of the food that lingered on my fingers. His tongue danced across my fingers and I remembered his excellent service of my cock the last time he sucked it. It had been a few days since I had felt his touch but the tree was a bad place to worry about that. Climbing down in the dark when the creatures would be about would also be dangerous just to have a good cock sucking.
I ignored the sick feeling I had at the thought of claiming someone after what I had done to Oda. Did I deserve that feeling still? Was that something I should really have done just because my pride had been wounded so deeply. I sealed the food and tucked it away in the pack. I wouldn’t think about it until we were somewhere safe. Somewhere civilized. I leaned back after tying everything in place and let myself slowly drift into exhausted sleep. And was met with the angry face of Hathor.
