sneak peek

[Shadow <Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx>]

Okay my friend Francie was asking when I was going to update
something... so I thought I would give you guys a sneak peek at
something that sort of is and isn't a Buffy-fic. Its sort of Uber...
and I'm still sorting stuff out with it.. let me know what you think.
:) At the moment it has no title. If anyone is interesting I'll
continue it and tell you who everyone is suppose to be... or see if you
can figure it out. ::lol::

The Hill Country
Western border of the Empire -

The large gray and black wolf prowled the rolling hill country looking
for some sign of the beast the hunters had lost track of some time ago.
The wolf was in her element on the wide open plains, it had been too
long, prowling the crowded city streets filled with 'humans' and other
'civilized' beings. The wolf wanted, needed to get back to the wild to
run, to howl, and to play far from the noisy cities and civilization.

Standing on a ridge, the wolf scanned the area looking for the beast...
the sooner she found the beast and herded it back to the hunting party,
the sooner she got to eat. She liked that plan it was definitely one of
the better ideas that they had come up with since leaving the capitol
city. Suddenly she stilled, something wasn't right, as her green eyes
narrowed and ears flattened against her head. New scents where coming
her way, 'Humans,' she thought, 'but not with the hunters.' Growling
low in her throat, the wolf bared her fangs, as the first of the new
comers appeared a short distance away from her.

'Slavers,' the wolf thought, the growl becoming louder, her ears perked
up at a sound behind her, 'another one!' soon the wolf was surrounded by
the roving band of killers wanted throughout the Empire. She eyed the
seven filthy warriors with bared fangs and growled menacingly. 'Have to
warn the others,' she thought making her move, trying to dart past the
one on her right, only to be stopped by a net entangling itself around
her. 'Trappers!' she amended with a curse, 'worse then slavers!'

"Get the collar!" one of the smelly ones yelled to his companions.

'No!' the wolf raged, struggling with the net, 'can't shift... magic!'
Determined not to go down without a fight, she got in one good bite in,
sinking her fangs deep into the one with the hated collar.

"Aargghhh, you little beast!" her victim cried out stabbing the gray and
black wolf with his dirty sword. Once the collar was on the wolf lost
her will to fight as the enchantment took hold of her mind. "Tend to
it's..." the wolf's attacker never finished his command as an arrow
entered his throat. As the six remaining slavers turned to see who
killed their leader another arrow found its mark between the eyes of a
second one.

"Who else wants to die?" the cold voice of the young man with shaggy
dark hair and a three day growth of hair on his chin, asked loading
another arrow. Beside the young hunter stood two others, one a tall
older man with graying hair a magic staff clutched in one hand the other
out stretched cradling a glowing orb. The other, shorter then the two
men, a young woman with sun kissed hair and skin, a battle-ax in her
hands, the hilt of a sword peeking over her right shoulder, and a look
of rage in her blue-green eyes as they bored into the slavers.

"One more step and the wolf dies!" one of the more stupider of the
slavers threatened, raising his sword to strike the already injured
wolf.

"Go for it," the young archer threatened back, centering his next shot
on the slaver's groin area, "you'll never live to make that mistake
again."

The idiot, either drunk or just wanting a pain death didn't heed the
warning, choosing to gamble with the steely eyed hunter with the bow,
realizing that the three new comers weren't going to back down he
slammed his sword into the wolf. At the same time an arrow was entering
the luckless slavers groin muscle as an energy bolt from the mage hit
him in the chest knocking him back several yards.

"Surrender!" the command came from the mage, as he effortlessly created
another energy orb, even as reinforcements arrived behind the three in
the form of several of the Empress' personal guards.

As the prisoners were being secured by ropes and tethered together for
the march back to the hunting camp, the hunter and the silent young
woman rushed over to the still enthralled wolf entangled in the magical
net. "Those worthless dogs!" the hunter growled carefully cutting away
the net with his boot knife. Once the wolf was free the grim faced
woman sheathed her battle-ax in its modified baldric sheath, reaching
out to grasp the collar on either side of the wolf's neck and gave a
pull. Giving an annoyed grunt as the collar refused to budge, the
golden skinned warrior reset her hands and putted again... nothing.
"The damn thing's enchanted," the dark haired man growled again.
"Where's the key dung brain?" He demanded from one of the prisoners,
his boot knife clutched in a white-knuckle grasp, as he stared at the
person in question with dark unreadable eyes.

"W... w... with the caravan master," one of the now frightened prisoners
replied, having gotten a good look at the uniforms of the soldiers
surrounding him.

"Slavers!" the mage said in disgust, his eyes glowing faintly. "Tell me
dog... do you know the penalty for hunting wolves in this kingdom? Let
alone dealing with slavers in general?" the furious mage demanded,
"Remove these... 'animals' from my sight, the Empress will deal with
them." He ordered the soldiers, trying to reframe from killing the
prisoners on the spot.

Meanwhile the warrior woman, had stripped off her travel cloak, tearing
it into stripes to make bandages for the wolf's wounds. Once the
makeshift bandages were in place, she stood with the wolf in her arms.
"I'll get a wagon sent for," the archer offered, sheathing his boot
knife. He knew his friend was strong but she couldn't be that strong to
carry a large wolf all the way back to camp the trail was rough enough
on foot let alone carrying a large gray wolf.

"No," the golden skinned warrior said, her eyes hardening as the wolf
whimpered in pain at being moved around. "I got her, thanks Bran," she
said with a slight smile, not wanting to take her anger out on her
friend, besides she REALLY didn't trust herself with her wolven
companion out of her sight, not with the prisoners still in easy reach
anyway.

"That may be for the best, she's very weak," Bran said absently,
remembering the effects of a slave collar had on him. "Math... you may
want to ride ahead to inform the Empress of what has happened... and
Ariana is going to need her herbs." The young hunter said as the mage
approached the pair, a grim look in the older man's eyes as well.

Regarding the young woman cradling the injured wolf and the grim faced
hunter at her side for a long moment, "Yes... I'll have everything ready
for you when you arrive... but I refuse to travel with those dogs," he
said, raising his staff, "I'll see you soon." He said in parting as he
disappeared, knowing that as much as he would like to he could not
teleport them all back to camp, not while the collar was still around
the wolf's neck. The enchantment on the hated item ensuring that
whoever was magically teleported while wearing it would instantly die.

*************************
The Royal Hunting Camp -

Morrigan, Queen of Kesair in the Western Lands, stood beside the tent
assigned to the paladin called Byanu quietly waiting for the last of the
large hunting party to return to camp. A woman still in her prime,
Morrigan was widely sought after by many suitors both for her beauty and
richness of her lands. However, the ash blonde ruler was too
independent to be married off to some aged king that still thought of
woman as cattle. She liked ruling Kesair she did not need someone else
poking their noses in her affairs, it was bad enough she had to deal
with Dukes of the Shires, some of whom tested her patients every time
they entered the Great Hall at the Palace to voice their petty
complaints.

"My Queen," the healer Ariana said in greeting, as she joined the
monarch beside the tent, to wait for the Paladin to return to camp. She
had already treated the injured prisoners brought in first, more to keep
them out of Bran's reach, the young hunter hated slavers with a passion,
as she well knew.

"Ariana," the Queen replied with a nod to the young healer, noting the
way she held herself and fiddled with her healer's bag. 'I need to
speak with Math about getting her to lighten up a bit,' Morrigan thought
briefly, closing her eyes as the image of the mage passed through her
mind a warm feeling forming in around her heart.

"There!" a soldier called out bringing their attention to the small
group slowly approaching the camp. As they neared Ariana noticed two
things. First Byanu the paladin was covered in blood and second the
warrior was about as white as a sheet, something the golden skinned
warrior was not known to ever be.

Without saying a word Byanu entered her tent with the wolf still cradled
in her arms. Several times on the slow march back to camp she had
feared the worst as her companion's whimpering had gotten softer and the
wounds continued to bleed.

"Lay her down here," Ariana instructed, pointing to a bedroll, after
Byanu deposited her precious cargo the healer began to work. While the
healer worked at cleaning the two wounds on the wolf, Morrigan began to
work her magic to remove the spell on the collar.

After several moments, "Damn!" Morrigan cursed turning to Math and Bran
who had followed the others into the tent. "We need the key... now,"
she said to the two. Bowing, they made their exit and marched through
the camp to the make shift stockade. It wasn't hard to miss, there were
about a dozen of Taranis', the captain of the royal guard, finest
warriors surrounding the damn thing.

Inside the tent, the five surviving prisoners were tied to small stakes
spread eagle with a young leather clad woman walking among them
stripping the prisoners and having water poured on them. "Deirdre...
what are you doing?" Math asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They smell all right?"

"Pouring water on them is going to help?" Bran asked remembering that
the prisoners did have a rather strong odor from earlier.

"This is the first coat your heroship, the soapy water comes next."
Before Bran could response several loud whacks could be hard from
nearby.

"It moved!" the large soldier said defensively about the pile of rags he
had just beat the hell out of with the board side of his sword. Holding
up the offending garment with the tip of his sword, "There! You see it
twitched!"

"By the light! It did! Burn it.. burn it all before it tries to attack
us," Bran said his eyes wide with disbelief. "Clean them up as best you
can... then burn anything you deem contaminated. After you're done
change cloths and have you're weapons boiled and take a good shower in
the water falls to kill any unwelcome 'visitors' these dogs may be
carrying."

"Now WHY didn't we think of that?" Deirdre replied sarcastically,
"Already passed the word." She added with a grin. "Ariana noticed the
little 'pests' when she was treating that one." She explained
indicating the prisoner Bran had shot in the groin. "She's pretty sure
that net of theirs kept them off of Shauna."

"Good!" Bran said walking over to the one of the prisoners. "Because of
you 'filthy animals' I'm going to lose my new boots," he growled,
placing one boot on the guy's throat. "Now where is the caravan?" He
questioned applying pressure to the guy's neck as he spoke.

Within the hour Bran had his answers and lost his new boots, taking a
raiding party, the young hunter and mage went after the slaver caravan
to the key to the slave collar and take even more prisoners as well as
freeing a few in the process.

*************************
Early morning
The Royal Hunting Camp -

Bran and his raiding party rode back into the camp with several new
prisoners who were immediately taken through Deirdre's decontamination
center, rather they needed it or not. As he stopped in front of Byanu
and Shauna's tent Ariana, who looked like she hadn't slept in several
hours, met him. "The key my lady," he said formerly, handing her the
small blood stained golden key, "the owner was somewhat possessive," he
added with a small grin.

"No apologies are needed," Ariana replied, she knew the things that
happened in the caravans. "Get cleaned up, a meal is waiting for all of
you." She said before disappearing back into the dark tent.

Byanu didn't look up when Ariana had left the tent or when the healer
returned. The young paladin's attention on the wolf whose head was
pillowed in her lap, throughout the night she had kept her visual
attending to the wolf's every need. Even now, she slowly petted her
long time companion, lost in thought, it was the sound of the lock
releasing on the collar that got her attention at long last. Slowly the
wolf began to change before Byanu and Ariana, in a matter of moments
gone was the gray and black wolf and in its place a young flaming haired
woman.

Shauna stirred slightly and opened her green eyes, she seemed a bit
confused, an uncertain look in her eyes as she stared up into the two
faces. "Take it easy," Ariana said, sensing the young were-lings
confusions. "You're safe." The words seemed to take comfort in the
words, as she turned her attention to Byanu, a loving smile on her face
even as her pain clouded eyes closed in sleep.

"What's wrong!" Byanu questioned, a frown on her face as she gazed down
at her companion and lover, "why hasn't her healing factor kicked in?"

"The collar's effects will take time to wear off. However, since it's
no longer active I can use a couple of potions to speed things up a
bit." Ariana explained with a calming smile, she knew of the paladin's
somewhat unpredictable temper.

That seemed to calm Byanu a bit, as the paladin shifted to lie her mate
down on the pallet and curdled up beside her. Watching the two for a
moment, Ariana briefly wondered when the golden skinned warrior would
change her bloody clothes, but then shook her head. 'Knowing her she
won't until Shauna makes her,' she thought with a silent laugh, raising
and leaving the two to their slumber.

End for now.




--
Shadow -
Dir. of Pub. Safety of the SECLGA and Chief Dungeon Keeper.
Vampire Teddy Bear and Flying Fox {Fruit Bat} of the Woods Outback. The
Big Bad and Little Comma. Mistress of Mischief... Corrupter of the
Innocent. Torment of Quindolyn. Founding Member of the Get Willow and
Buffy Naked Society. GWBNS - a way of life. Dark Mistress of Weird...
be afraid, be very afraid.