|
Drakkin Empire of Enzan Shi Runyar's Attempt "Runyar!" Ten'oio's voice snapped through the complex. The cougar-shifter in question bristled in response. How did she manage to find out about his return? He had only left Rileikoul the day before! He growled to himself and turned. He hated the vampires more than any of the other damned species in the entire alliance. The wolf-shifters, cougar-shifters, leopard-shifters and vampires all parted as he passed them. Being one of the stronger fighters in both his forms had earned him respect despite the fact he was the second youngest cougar-shifter. He nodded slightly and met their eyes with his own hazel-brown. His red hair was short-cropped with slightly longer bangs, so these hung slightly in his face. He thought it created a more mysterious look. So did Kalina, his current partner and the only younger cougar-shifter. As he thought of her, she slid to his side. Her pale tan hair - nearly white in its palor - hung down to her mid-back. Her hazel eyes were bright as she looked up at him. "The Lady calls, I presume?" She asked. He nodded. "She does... If she sends me to this 'Rileikoul', I am requesting that you accompany me. I know very well we cannot send two buyers to the same clutch but you can always go to the next." He told her. She laughed richly. "So long as it is not a twin's clutch, remember?" She asked as he put his arm around her shoulders. The cougar-shifted grinned cruelly. "Maybe once she gets such a brat-thing for herself, she shall leave us alone." He muttered. Kalina shook her head. "We shall see..." She said, smiling as she returned to the milling crowd in front of Ten'oio's office. As the cougar-shifter walked into the vampire's office, the Lady herself turned to look at him. "Close the door." She ordered. He glared at her, not seeing any reason to act like her servant. She glared back. After about five minutes, another vampire who was in the crowd came forth and closed the door for them. The room plunged into darkness. Runyar's eyes took on an eerie green-yellow tinge as he looked through the darkness as clearly as if it were day. Ten'oio's eyes had changed to a similar color. The two creatures of darkness stared back at eachother for a long while. "I want you to go to the drow city." The vampire lady said suddenly. "You can go there yourself, Lady." He growled rebelliously. Instantly, she had moved from the desk to his side and had him by the throat. "You will go to the drow city. You will purchase a drakkin for this empire and you will raise it well." She breathed quietly. He glared back at her. Unlike most shifters, his kin and the others of the drakkin empire were all undead. They lived forever and could only be killed with a silver stake. They could only be imprisonned or hurt by silver. "That will not work on me." He said, shifting as he spoke. "In case you have forgotten, I do not need to breathe." She let go of him and he dropped gracefully to the ground in the shape of a bear-sized cougar. He bared his teeth at her, snarling. The vampire watched him coolly. "One word from me and you are dead." She pointed out. He snarled in response, walking in a circle around her, searching for the perfect way to pin her to the ground. Then all he had to do was reach out and rip a leg from her wooden chair and stab her through the heart. Then they would all be free. As he planned, he did not notice her grab a silver chain. She threw it around his neck and - as he bellowed in pain - tied it around his mouth. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain as his fur smoked. It would not kill him, simply cause him pain. "Rebellion is futile. We have an alliance, Runyar." She stated, looking down at him. "Do not betray that alliance. I send you to the drow city because you are one of the best of the empire. Do not make me regret such a thought." He snarled in reply and his tail twitched. She looked him over and untied him. He shifted back to human form as she returned to her seat behind her desk. "You are damned, Ten'oio." He snarled. "So are you, so we have at least one thing in common. More, actually, since we are both undead and have been that way for many centuries. Not to mention we are superior to normal humans." She answered. "We are no longer human, for by now our family's bones have rotted and turned to dust." He replied. "Are you so resentful that I turned you into such a thing?" She asked him. "You have no honor, turning your own brother over to the Demons." He snapped, standing up and pacing in front of her. "Then again, you were not yourself by then. You had already been a vampire for fourteen years." "I have improved by then. I was no longer human and no longer had to fear death." Ten'oio retorted. "Most humans never do fear death! Those who do turn into vampires and shifters." He snarled, his fists clenched. "How could I know that when you invited me over to supper - me, your youngest brother with whom you had nine years difference - that night that I would be made more or less immortal?" "Without my intervention, you would have died." She observed. "And happily as well! Without being chased away from my home, without having killed countless people!" He cried, slamming his fists on her desk as he looked her in the eyes. "Tell me, Sister, do you think Mother and Father would be proud of the way you betrayed family?" Silence fell again and Runyar stalked to the other side of the room. There, he stood with his back to her. Eventually he spoke again. "Then again, you are not my sister. Et'seartra died when the vampires took her away." He said quietly. The scrape of a chair warned him that she had moved again. However, this time he was ready. He shifted and ducked at the same time, then pounced on her and pinned her to the floor with his considerable weight. His forepaws were on her shoulders and his hindpaws pinned her legs down. His teeth were but an inch from her nose. He leaped off of her and shifted back to his human shape. "I will go to this Rileikoul and purchase a drakkin. I am bringing Kalina with me, however." He growled. "Good bye, Ten'oio." With that, he opened the door and went back outside. There, he located Kalina. "Come on, we are going to Rileikoul." He said. "And then?" She asked, her gaze even as she followed. "And then I shall buy a drakkin, as she ordered me to, but I shall buy one with my own offering." He growled. "Then I - we, if you decide to stay with me - shall find a new place on Enzan Shi where we can live. Away from these creatures, away from it all." She stopped him with her grip on his arm. "I will come with you, Runyar." She informed him, looking him in the eyes. "And I know where we can go: The Deragonray." He growled at the mere mention of the place. "Full of hydras." He muttered. "Full of humans and dragons. They would probably gladly accept us and whatever drakkin we bring with us." She told him. "We could also probably recruit others to go there with us. Ten'oio holds some with respect, other with fear. Those who fear her might come and join you. Everyone knows how close you came to killing her for good today, yet you did not. Therefore, they respect you." Runyar nodded. "Quietly, go to those you think will join us. Tell them to come and meet me in Hall Fifty-Three, I will get our belongings." He told her. She nodded and ran off to do so. Runyar, however, returned to their room. He took all their things and put them in bags. Then he looked around the room a final time before hoisting all six of them onto his shoulders. When he reached Hall Fifty-Three he saw a good-sized congregation there. Maybe a little less than half of the total Khila Silae Dungortheb population was there. Counting those in Rileikoul as members, of course. "Kayun would probably join us, if we could reach him." Kalina informed him as he reached the group. "A vampire, join us?" He repeated, arching an eyebrow. "It's not as far-fetched as you think, Cougar." A vampire said irritably. There were five of them in the group. It was then that Runyar saw some wolf-shifters were missing. However, the majority of the cougars and all the leopards were there. "Well, everyone, we are going to Rileikoul. When each of us has one drakkin, we will go the Deragonray." He said evenly. "Whatever you say goes, Khidaen." Khelek, Runyar's closest friend, said using the last as a title. "Khidaen?" Runyar repeated. "Those of the Deragonray give different names to all their leaders." Khelek explained. "Khidaen is your title, we decided upon it." The cougar-shifter sighed. He had not wanted responsibility when he challenged the vampire. However, he created a portal and they stepped through. On the other side, a vampire stepped out of the shadows. "Runyar, eh?" He said innocently, looking the group over. "Hello, Dagor." He greeted one of the vampires. "I am Kayun, here to guide you to your new accomodations. You'll have to pay for them out of your own pocket, though, as Ten'oio had better not find out that so many 'betrayers' are in Rileikoul." The cougar-shifter nodded. Inwardly, however, he was smiling. Kayun and himself had been good enough friends throughout their short time in Khila Silae Dungortheb together. They followed the vampire through the streets to a good-sized building near the outskirts. "The cost isn't very high and I managed to take some things from Ten'oio's offerings to help you pay for it and drakkin. Ten'oio's been paying them way too much, in my opinion." Kayun told them as they got settled in. "What of those with you here?" Runyar asked the vampire. "Sanye and I shall come when we have gotten our maximum of drakkin. Hopefully one of your group or one of us two will get a female. Otherwise we shall have our hands full." The other replied, grinning as he said so. "Nothing like a good challenge." Runyar agreed. "Now, here are some things that should catch Inrahi's fancy, stolen from Ten'oio. Trust me, you do not want to try to give her the wrong thing. Girly things are best, like this clothing and material here. And jewellry, like this." Kayun explained, handing him a large bag full of objects. "Next time I'll help you purchase your own offering. You are handsome enough - don't glare at me like that, Kalina, you know he is - to make dealings a little easier. Just do not tell her you are a cougar-shifter and use a bit of your cat-like grace. For Dark's sake, Kalina, stop trying to kill me with that glare!" Runyar laughed slightly and gave her a hug around the shoulders. "Do not worry, I will only charm her and do nothing scandelous." He told her. She crossed her arms. "You had better. And I do not like the idea of Sanye coming her either!" She turned on Kayun then. Runyar laughed and dropped the rest of his bags on the floor of their new home. "I'll be back." He told them then left for the Lady Breeder's mansion. He knocked timidly and the door opened. "Lady Inrahi?" He asked calmly of the darkness inside. "Yes? A buyer?" A female voice replied. "Yes." He answered. "May I come in?" "Indeed you may." She replied and he stepped in, his eyes already ajusted to the semi-darkness. "Follow me, please." She lead him to where a drakkin was crouched over a small clutch of eggs. She was black in color, a glistening hide to match the graceful color of night and darkness itself. She fixed him with her predatory gaze and he stood there, looking back at her. Atfer what seemed an eternity with the female simply staring at him, Inrahi shook her head. "Nys'asi does not approve of you." She said firmly. "She does not growl." Runyar pointed out and dodged her guiding arm to look the drakkin in the eyes from her level. She bared her teeth at him before standing. There were four eggs below her. Only four, but that did not matter. Surprises came in many different packages. The Lady Breeder looked slightly irritated, yet Runyar stood again and smiled slightly, half-exposing his extremely sharp canine teeth. "Care to see what I have to offer?" He asked. "Yes..." She said carefully. Runyar went to a nearby table and took out his offerings, rich in quality and rather small in quantity: 1 black pearl necklace 3 black pearl bracelets 1 set of black pearl earrings 2 daggers, pommels inset with inch-wide black pearls 1 black opal necklace 1 roll of black silk 1 roll of dark red silk He watched her evenly for her acceptance or refusal of his offer... She nodded slowly. "This will do." She informed him. He bowed to her. "Thank you, milady." He answered. "I shall await the hatchling event." With that, he turned and left. He went back to their little home. main :: members :: drakkin :: stories |
||
