BREAKING RULES, Combining two worlds (Part 3)

CHASING BUNNIES (Part 2)

The beacon lead them in an even further northern direction, and as the men were following their prey, Du'gan moved closer to his brother so he was able to questioning him about the female. "Tell me, Roh'kadi! Why in the fuck fates name are we chasing a female? Better yet, first tell me how a woman ended up here? I thought there were no women out here in this hell hole?!"

To make sure neither one of the twins was eavesdropping on them, Gunnar turned around to see were they were and when he saw the two men were at a fair distance he leaned over to his brother.

"It seems that there's a clan of females not to far away. A group of scout's detected traces of a settlement and stayed put until they were able to catch one, and to their surprise that turned out to be this female we're following right now!"

Du'gan nodded in understanding. "Okay, I get that we have to follow her. A new clan of women wouldn't be superfluous, but why does the Ikat have to come along? I mean, doesn't he have anything better to do than chase a woman?"

His eyebrows shot up in surprise at the grin on his little brother's face. "What?"

Gunnar quickly looked at the Ikat walking about eight meters in front of them and confirmed to himself that the man couldn't hear them.

"Mohr'kad is quite...let's say, charmed by this little lady.. and I think he wants to do everything he can to win over her clan... in other words, win her over!"

A soft chuckle escaped him at the disbelieving expression on his brother's face.

"Fuck no! Mohr'kad?" But Du'gan instantly froze when he noticed the Ikat had turned his head slightly their way.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" His brother hissed. Gunnar hoped the old warrior hadn't heard their conversation.

A smirk appeared on Mohr'kad face, even though his whole body and face were scared tremendously, his hearing hadn't been damaged in the attack and he couldn't help but snicker at the young warriors conversation. He should've known Gunnar couldn't keep a secret from his brother, they were to close... But he didn't really mind, not any more. Having a clan with women close by, wasn't a big secret anymore, Latarji's attack had changed that.

Finding them and trying to negotiate with them had become far more important than anything else... almost anything, besides getting close to that feisty little female... Wende... his little spitfire... A deep muffled growl emanated from Mohr'kad throat.

Meanwhile back in Wende's clan

"What do you mean, you've spotted five Shri'Traccal? They never come this close!" Rane placed both her hand on the battered, flat table top with a dull thud and leaned over giving the female spotter an ice look.

"Maybe they're the ones who took Wende and came back hoping to find more...vulnerable...women..." Ava paid no attention to her grandmother and clan leader, but let her gaze slide over de dining area from behind the window. A knot formed in her stomach at the idea slowly forming in her head. Only two babies had been born from their last encounter with the Shri'Traccal men, and that had been because of forced breeding... Well, at least this time it had been forced upon the men. Maybe if they did it differently this time... maybe if...

"You said you wanted to abduct another group of men and force them... to breed with us... UGGHH, I still find it hard to even think I have to have sex with those beasts...! But what if... but,... what if we don't force them, but 'seduce' them? Look, I happen to know that my mother has dried 'medicinal' mushrooms, which give an euphoric feeling... Maybe we can use them to relax the beasts a bit... My gut tells me that when there is no coercion, conception has much more success..." Ava turned when she got no response and saw the small group of her grandmother, the spotter and one of her colleagues staring at her in wide-eyed surprise.

Rane narrowed her eyes. "Maybe... But do you have any idea how much of that stuff you should use on them beasts, and do you even know if that stuff works on those animals at all? Maybe it will make those reptiles even more aggressive!"

With a pensive look in her eyes, Rane turned and walked to the wall where a drawn map of the area hung and stood in front of it, arms crossed. "I want to have them captured first, then we'll see... I think it's a good idea, Ava, a beast that cooperates is easier to control than one that wants to kill us! We can then experiment with the amount of mushrooms needed to keep them under control..."

She pointed to a spot on the map with her index finger. "You said five of those beasts were coming, I think this trap is big enough to catch them. The trap is nice and close, so we don't have to lug those bastards that far..."

The woman turned and glanced at her granddaughter. "I want one of those assholes separated from the rest... Maybe he can tell us more about Wende... I want you to run this operation, Ava!"

Ava's heart skipped a beat. This was the first time Rane had given her this responsibility, usually leaving these duties to her best friend and right-hand man, Margit.

"I'll make sure you don't regret it, Rane!"

Fifty miles away.

Dusk had now completely turned to darkness and Wende's hopes of continuing to walk and navigate the stars had been dashed as the blizzard began to rage around her hideout. Sighing, she pulled the thick coat tight around her and rolled all the way into the corner of the rock formation. Wende counted herself lucky that she had listened to her gut and wanted to wait in this small but sheltered spot for the stars to appear in the sky and not have walked any further. Had she done so she would have been in great trouble, the low forest in front of her would have offered absolutely no shelter.

Again her mind drifted to her beast.

Why was she so attracted to the badly battered monster? He was the enemy, after all, and yet... She couldn't shake the thought that things weren't as black and white as she'd always thought.

True... the Shri'Traccal she'd encountered over the years was anything but friendly. Those were beasts! Killing and raping monsters!

But somehow these...men...were different. The men who had ambushed her while she had been feeding the reindeer, had treated her as kindly as possible. True, they'd gagged and bound her, but they'd apologized with every cry of pain she'd uttered.

This had surprised her even then, but once she was led to the lair of the... beasts and looked into the sparkling eyes of Mohr'kad, she wasn't so sure that all Shri'Traccal were monsters, and the young man she'd met in the hallway on her flight had completely cast her doubts.

Could there be a way for women to coexist with these monsters? Wende thought to herself.

The young lad had nodded at her kindly, as if he dealt with women on a daily basis...

But that was impossible, at least according to her mother. Wende had never doubted her mother's words, she had experienced the horrors up close, but could it be, that the beasts she always encountered here in the north, were different from the beasts that came from elsewhere?

It could be... The Elders had often enough told stories about the old days. The people of the South had apparently been completely different from the people of the North, so why couldn't the same be true of those beastly men?

One thing she was absolutely sure of, Mohr'kad didn't come from this area, as she knew that the fort where she had been imprisoned had been empty for years.

~~~~

"Everything is set, Ikat!" Du'gan pushed his head through the entrance to Mohr'kad's hideout.

"The sensors are on, I've already agreed with Gunnar that we take turns keeping watch for three hours..." The Ikat gave him a nod and Du'gan left the old warrior alone.

Mohr'kad lay back on the warm blanket. His whole body ached, the icy cold was getting the better of him this time. His mind drifted to the little human woman and he hoped with all his heart that she had found a safe haven.

Although the signal was still flashing, meaning there was movement, it didn't necessarily mean that she was still alive, the movement of her jacket he'd hidden the tracker in, could just as well be swaying in the wind.

Mohr'kad sighed deeply, tomorrow morning, when the storm would have passed, he would know more. With a desperate gesture, he ran a hand over his face, but this time it wasn't because of the pain in his body...