Closed Welcoming The Darkness Within (Shai/GF'd)

[Nya Winters]

Nya lifted her head, brushed the wet curls of her hair out of the way, and blinked at him. She rolled over, sat up, and then drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her legs around them. Resting her chin on her kneecaps, Nya studied Abashai. She said nothing, through the link nor out loud for the longest time. The forest cat simply watched him and Shai could feel the numbness in her.

Finally, after a lengthy silence, she spoke. "I thought it would be different. I thought I wouldn't hate it, him, or be effected by it because of what they gave me... because of what it does. But its... different. I hate him so much. If he touches me again I'll vomit. And I know he will. He's made promises he'll keep. And even though nothing hurts anymore, it all still hurts badly. I don't understand, Shai." Nya said softly. She said more, a lot more, opening the link to him letting him feel what she was feeling. He could feel her heat, the drugs they gave her playing hell on her body, but he could also tell that it wasn't making her mindless at all. It was just making her aggressive which was being beaten down by the actions against her.

She was scared of Almaras. The forest cat had never been scared of anything in her life, so this was a new experience. The older more powerful kelvic had a position of power over her and it was screwing with her natural instincts. She hated him, his actions, how much he hurt her, even his body which had so cruelly invaded hers. She was scared he'd do it again, and she didn't want that. It was a dark thought planted in her head. Nya, for all that she was a predator, was a peaceful creature. She never toyed with her food and killed quickly and cleanly never cruelly. And she wasted nothing. Almaras' violence was a waste too her, almost offensive, especially since he didn't want anything from her really other than her pain and fear.

Nya shared all this with him, knowing he'd understand.

But before he could comment, respond, or even add any comfort his cell had a visitor again. Kialandra stood before the entrance, unlocking it, and calling out gently. "Abashai, you've seen the cost of your defiance. Now, as Almaras has asked Nya to present herself one way to him when he greets her, I have asked you another. Center of the room, now, kneeling, head bowed. I've brought back your meal. Are you yet ready to eat?" She asked, beckoning the guards who opened the cell and waited for Shai to do as she asked. "I have a few other fun things in store too. Today is the first day, after all, of your education. You are going to make some important decisions for us. And you are going to supervise your Kelvic in a few things as well. First, you will eat. Then, you will select the prisoner she will get to eat. Then, we'll do some training exercises with you and if you are obedient and clever enough, we'll take off her collar and let her feast. If you are defiant, she will go without food and Almaras will be back to visit tonight one last time before you both get put away for bedtime. Do you understand?" She asked pleasantly, gesturing for the servant to bring the food tray forward as she joined Abashai in the center of his cell.

[Abashai]

Abashai drew as close to the bars between Nya and himself as his chain would allow, crouching to meet Nya's gaze across the space at eye level. He did not press his bondmate further, but simply waited, ears and awareness open to her. Seeing Nya beat so badly had affected him like no other experience in his life. Even when he had killed her at Tallshade Keep, it was for a higher purpose. This...this was evil for its own sake. His torment was that he not only had to watch what Nya suffered, he had felt what she felt. After they had dragged Nya's badly abused body from her cell, Abashai stewed in his own hatred, and for the first time, the threat of hopelessness. As he listened to Nya's small voice, in his ears and in his head, Abashai could sense, feel it all. She was a beast of practicality. The cat was violent, when instinct dictated it, to provide food, to protect territory, to protect him. Almaras, too, was an animal, and in nature's way, exerted dominance over her. But Abashai felt the abject confusion, fear and dismay in Nya over the kelvic male's brutality and humiliation for its own sake. Almaras was infected with evil by the master he served. Abashai wanted to comfort his mate, if only with memories and an emotional caress through their bond. Then she arrived. Nya could feel Abashai turn from their bond, like a curtain falling as he rose to see his handler. Kialandra did not tear Nya's flesh with a whip, nor violate her like a breeding animal. Abashai did not even truly believe that Nya's torture was solely conducted because he had resisted his handler. Almaras would have done it anyway, in time. Yet, Abashai held her responsible. He did not fear the Black Sun woman, but he respected what she was capable of, and what that could mean to Nya. Abashai moved to the center of the cell, as he was instructed, but he did not kneel. The benshiran realized that dealing with this woman would not be on the level of Almaras. Where Almaras was a sadistic brute, Kialandra was far more devious, or was it just clinical? Even after what Nya had to suffer, Abashai could not wholesale roll over and play the whelp for their captors. Nya had told him not to give in, though that was before the beating. So Abashai would test the waters, seeking to discern how far Kialandra could be pushed, what her motives may be, all the while trying to keep Nya from suffering for his defiance (he was not sure his sanity would endure seeing it again), and providing enough entertainment to Kialandra that she keeps him alive. The woman was devious indeed. Kialandra was to put his very convictions to the test, dangling again his bondmate as a helpless pawn in their game. He would not look at Nya, would not risk shaking his resolve. The benshiran stood his ground, chain gripped in his hands, refusing to kneel before his handler. Whether he was willing to put a man to death for Nya's sake, he would not reveal to Kialandra yet. His defiance was measured, a test of her boundaries. Staring at her, Abashai searched the depths of her cold gaze for clues.

[Nya Winters]

Kialandra nodded, expecting this. She studied the stoic Benshira and then walked up to him boldly, flanked by both guards. She touched the collar and the chain, ignoring his free hands. "Defiance is so important to you. And yet, its something that's not necessary in the path you now walk, Abashai." She reached out and stroked his long hair, touching his tattoos on his cheeks with her thumbs frowning at them. "You are a beautiful specimen. But you pose a problem to me. To train you properly, I need your compliance. I can either get that through teaching you physically to obey through pain... but I don't want this body broken. It's too finely trained and already strong. I can also train you through mental reward and punishment, but I don't want you broken there either. You see... you've been given to me like chattel. The only stipulation to the gift is that I keep you alive because you are somehow tied to your kelvic bondmate and she is wanted whole and healthy for breeding. You can't stop whats going to happen to either her or you, Abashai. I think you know that deep down. But you can stay alive, survive this, and come out stronger on the other side. I give you this chance, this one chance, to do what's going to be easiest for both yourself and that kitten in the next cage. If you choose the hard path, she'll suffer, and you'll suffer and while you'll live anyhow, Abashai... I won't guarantee you'll even know yourself on the other side." She added.

"Now... will you kneel and let me feed you, asking for every bite from my hand?" She asked, not really expecting him really to comply. And while she waited for his answer...

He gave none, standing there defiant, and she nodded, walking away. "It only gets harder from here. No food, no water, three days..." She ordered the guards. "In three days, I'll be back for you. Nya, unfortunately, won't be left alone that long." She added, the clicks of her heeled boots disappearing down the corridor, her guards following.

Alamaras appeared again, a whole contingent of guard with him. He opened the door to Nya's cage and the guards swarmed her where she kneeled, watching Shai. She ignored the guards even as they forced her head back by the hair and poured more liquid down her throat. She shook her head slightly at the taste, as much as the guards would allow, and gagged slightly. She began to sweat almost immediately. Abashai could feel the liquid burning Nya's throat and setting her blood on fire. It was more of the stuff they'd given her earlier to bring her into her season prematurely. Then, Almaras took a dagger, dipped it in a pot of foul looking yellow liquid, and began cutting the kelvic with it all across her body. The cuts burned, though shallow, but the blood flow took the liquid right into her blood stream and she yowled. She yowled not because of the pain, but because she recognized the taste in her mouth immediately and of the sensation suddenly coursing through her body.

Alamaras spoke, clapping his hands. "Collar off, quickly. And be ready." Nya collapsed on her side and began to shimmer as the guards swarmed her and removed the death trap around her neck that prevented her from shifting voluntarily but would do nothing but kill her as she shifted involuntarily. It was the same stuff the giant pit trap had been laced with when they'd destroyed the temple after Nya had been captured. She shifted first, violently, and then rapidly human to forest cat to human to forest cat over and over again in the midst of violent body tremors. Abashai could feel the energy leech out of her and the pull of the chemical compound on her blood. The shifts, which were rapid at first, slowed gradually until her exhaustion was such that she wouldn't be able to shift. She ended in Forest Cat form, which seemed to please Alamaras because he nodded, making a comment to the guard beside him that it was good they only had to do this once and not multiple times until she was caught in the right form.

Nya sprawled on her side and the guards swarmed her, seemingly trained to do this task. Each paw was grasped, compressed, and claws were extended. To these they took giant files and filed them down until there was nothing but dull stubs left. Working in teams of two and four, they effectively had her claws rendered useless in ten minutes flat while she laid there whimpering, her body shaking from the transformations. Next, they tried various muzzles on her, until they found one that was just right though they didn't leave it on her. It was instead hung up on a hook outside her cell along with several other things she'd been measured for - hobbles, a cat sized collar, and a leash.

Next, Kialandra appeared again, leading a string of children by a leash, all of them bound together in collars much like Abashai's. There were three boys, two girls, all varying in age from six to about nine. All looked malnourished, with dead eyes and distended possibly parasitic bellies. They wore rags and looked filthy, stumbling along as the woman lead them like dogs on leashes. She paused in front of Shai's cell and called through the bars. "My dear pet... I brought food for your Kelvic Bondmate. Select one... so at least she can eat. If you do not, she eats nothing... and goes as hungry as you do. Once you pick, I'll just leave the morsel in her cage for her to eat when shes feeling better. She won't want it right now anyhow..." The woman said, gesturing to the children.

Almaras growled, looked as if he would protest, and finally did. "She needs to eat, and eat a great deal. That's not fit food for her. Bring her a cow flank or ox quarter, like we talked about. She needs to be healthy to produce kittens for us." He said in a low dangerous growl. Kialandra laughed. "She's already fat and feisty. A few meals missed will humble her down. You are dismissed Almaras. Come back later to play with your pet." She said.

[Abashai]

Abashai watched the ebony-maned Black Sun woman strut from his cell, staring at her as she moved back down the hall. Though he tried to pay little heed to all her talk, threats and promises, Shai knew there was a truth in her words. Countless days, or even seasons, had passed since he or Nya had seen the outside. All they knew was Almaras, Kialandra, the faceless guards and torturers, and the corridors of this prison. This was their world now...and the Black Sun handlers controled it. The truth was only made more plain as Almaras and his followers worked to render Nya harmless. The benshiran recognized the goop on Almaras' blade, its indentity confirmed as he smelled it through his mate's nostrils. He had taken a vile of the kelvic- incapacitating liquid after they defeated the Ebonstryfe at the shrine in the Cobalts, though he had never witnessed its effects. As he watched Nya shift back and forth violently, felt her fatigue and panic, Abashai sensed the heat of the induced cycle priming her fertility and need to mate. He could not stop it. I can't stop it. He murmered in his mind, certain that Nya could not hear it over the trauma she experienced. " I can't stop it." He muttered out loud. The revelation was staggering. She was going to suffer this, he was going to see it. They were going to do what they wanted. The sickly silky words of Kialandra echoed in his ears. He could cling to pointless hope that they would escape this fate, and allow his soul to be crushed as he watched, guilt-ridden and pathetic. That he would not do. Acceptance was not defeat, it was simply realistic. So he watched as Nya was drugged, slashed, and measured for the fittings of an enslaved beast. This was their world. Any hope connected with the outside was vanity and weakness. Abashai now clung to hatred and survival, for both of them, for he was unsure even how long Nya and he could comfort each other, even through the bond. When they were done, he would still reach to her, strive to comfort her. Abashai's eyes drifted from Nya's quivering form to the return of Kialandra. A knew hellish test awaited him as he examined the string of pathetic children. Surely none of them perpetrated a crime worthy of this place. They lived, he thought, but they were already dead to this world. He was certain none would see the sun again. His tired eyes studied each one, before turning a livelier, acidic gaze to Kialandra. Something told him he protected children. In the desert, he probably playing with them. Yet, he could not recall one memory. He glanced at the large cat laying in the next cell, her broad chest heaving with exhaustion, feeling her fear, hatred and confusion. It would be mercy. Yes. He could spare one of the them slow death promised in this place. Then surely it was a good thing. Nya killed quick, mercifully. Listening with indifference to Almaras rant, the benshran prisoner waited until the brutal kelvic held his peace. Abashai's head then turned back to the line of children. He would give Nya the best of them. Slowly, he raised a finger to point at an older boy, the healthiest looking of the lot. He would be best for Nya, and save one from a prolonged suffering. Then he turned away, to look again at his bondmate, his chain gripped in his hands.

[Nya Winters]

Alamaras retreated, his anger tangible as he vanished down the corridor. It would be clear to Abashai that Kialandra and the kelvic were neither bondmates nor truthfully on the same page when it came to either prisoner. Alamaras wanted Nya cared for, even if his idea of care was vastly different than the rest of the sensible worlds. He was kelvic and Abashai knew they didn't think like people, not in any sense of the way he himself thought. And while Kialandra was human, it was far more likely he'd understand her than he would Alamaras unless he kept in mind the male was a beast.

Kialandra, on her part, was the more complex one. She hadn't yet completely told Abashai what she wanted from him. Nor would she, anytime soon. Nya, to her, was a tool... another way to control him. And perhaps not that important of one either. But it seemed in her study of Abashai, she was digging deeper and learning in leaps and bounds about his psyche.

So when he picked the healthiest child, she nodded, and then released all of them into Nya's cell. Their collars and leashes were removed and they were left there, huddled together in the corner. Kialandra smiled slightly, pausing to bend low and stroke Nya's still prone form as she moved into the cage during the process of releasing the children. The kelvic looked to be in an exhausted sleep after they'd her claws down and had given the physician a moment to examine her in her kelvic form. "She's beautiful, though I've not had much taste for kelvics myself. Such a gorgeous dark pelt... black, but not, mixed with all the hues of the forest. You know.. . it would be the softest most beautiful of floor rugs, wouldn't it? With all the tones of green in it, it would very much compliment my already emerald decor in my chambers." The woman said, nodding to the kids behind her.

"I'll leave them all for her to play with. You know when she wakes from the effects of the drug and the forced shifting, she'll be starved and ready to breed. That will make her a very dangerous kitten. Give her a day of sleep, maybe more, and she's going to tear all their little heads off. She might blood them, drinking deeply of their life force, but I doubt she'll eat them all. She won't want to be loaded down with a belly full of meat for her fight with Alamaras. I think, if she was in full form and he hadn't had her claws filed, she would be able to take him. Pity. I've never seen him as particularly strong anyhow. And of course, he'll have her muzzled when shes brought to the courtyard. They are selling tickets you know... to the event. Oh sure the soldiers know its not a fair fight, not with her filed and muzzled, but it will be plenty bloody anyhow. And they will love it." Kialandra smiled.

She moved out of cell, leaving Nya alone, and relocked the door. She walked into Abashai's cell and up to him, once more taking his head in her hands and studying his blue green eyes while stroking his cheeks. "Don't worry though. I won't make you watch. Though I doubt you will be able to tune out their battle. These big cats absolutely love to scream when they are in their mating frenzies. She won't be screaming in pain and fear either. You know that don't you? She'll be testing him and then begging him when he proves stronger because hes stacked the deck." She said laughing slightly.

"Oh no... I have something else altogether planned for you. I was going to save it, but since you really don't want to dine with me, we'll have to find some other entertainment. A tattoo artist will be joining us... a good one. He's part mage, part master, and has a few Rak'keli marks to boot. These signs and symbols on your face, hands... everywhere.. they offend me. You are a beautiful man, Abashai, but yet you are flawed in Rhysol's eyes. We will be taking them from you.... removing your outward devotion. I like my toys flawless. Beautiful. Strong. And since you won't keep your strength up by letting me feed you, I'm going to move on with this plan. So watch your wife over there, your beast... and when she wakes and begins to blood her offerings in preparation for her mating with Alamaras... you be ready as well. We will come for you then." She said and turned and walked out of the cell.

They were left alone all the rest of the day, and well into the morning. Shai was left standing chained in the center of the room, nothing on, freezing throughout the cold night. When the morning came, Nya woke and climbed to her feet, stretching sensuously all the while. She wandered the confines of her cage, rubbing her chin and cheek along the bars on all four sides, and purring irritably. She paced, not noticing the children all sleeping in a corner in a pile, until one woke, whimpered and tried to burrow under the other pile of bodies when he saw her.

[Abashai]

"Rakva bitch," Abashai cursed under his breath as Kialandra led all the children into Nya's cell. Her deception angered him, making him all the more the fool for believing she would only sacrifice one of the children. The point of her exercise was not for him to select a meal for Nya, it was to reveal that he was willing to condemn a child to death. Shai felt a knot of nausea in his stomach as he watched the terrified boys and girls huddle in a corner of the cell, staring fearfully at the giant sleeping forest cat. The benshiran's gaze flicked back to Kialandra, remaining fixed on her, even as she, with some delight, described the coming events for Nya. How damaged, or devoted, the woman must be, that she could surround herself with so much suffering with no more notice than if she were walking through a market. People were commodities, pain and torment simple processes to acquire what one wanted. It was now Abashai and Nya's ecomony as well. His eyes drifted to Nya's sleeping form. He could lose her. maybe not to death, but it would be the same. Abashai knew it was what Almaras and Kialandra were doing. Keeping them together only as long as it worked for their cause, or entertainment. The Black Sun did not know all of it, how connected the bondmates were, but they would have delighted in learning how it magnified the torment the cat and human suffered. Shoving away the images created by Kialandra's narrative, and his all too human emotions, Abashai stood and awaited his handler to enter his cell. Abashai stood tall, stripped naked, chained and collared before the all powerful woman. Toy, she had called him. He gripped the chain between his fists, enough length between them to wrap around Kialandra's alabaster neck. Boldness, or maybe ego, kept the woman from flinching, the slight, smug curl on her lips unmoving at the rattling of the chains. Not yet, he told himself. The white of his knuckles disappeared as he relaxed his hands. Abashai offered no repsonse to her latest scheme, though it was one he had not expected. He did not even think it was possible to remove tattoos. The next morning, Abashai watched Nya rise. She was not herself, annoyed, restless. When he saw the large feline head snap towards the children, he reached out through the bond, brushing against her being, and spoke. "Eat only what you need, and be quick about the rest. End their suffering." The statement was more for himself, Abashai admitted, for he knew how the forest cat made her kills. In her current agitated state, killing them all would probably be no second thought. "You will face Alamras today. Gather your strength, eat and drink what you need. They have handicapped you, you will have to be strong. You must survive this." Her bondmate had no delusions that the forest cat could defeat Almaras, or deny the induced heat that burnt within her. It burned Abashai at his core, what Almaras would do to his mate...his wife. Then he felt the sharp pain in his jaw, muscles cramped from grinding his teeth together with such force. Abashai started to turn away, to avoid watching Nya feed, then he hesitated. Something deep, and disturbing, urged him to watch.

[Nya Winters]

Normally Nya was lazy to awake. Shai was always abed before she was and up well before the sun. She was the one that had to be rousted out of bed after prowling the night and talked into greeting the day. That was, unless there was danger or she was near close to her time. When that was happening, Nya woke abruptly, fully, and displayed a dangerous level of aggression that even Abashai knew to avoid. So while she was slumbering, his mind had peace. But when she woke abruptly, the chemicals in her body that the Blacksun had force fed her coursing through her blood - heating it - making her truly dangerous. Shai himself had survived one or two of her cycles, even besting her once to conceive a child. The child had become a sacrifice neither of them knew they were going to have to pay, and since that time they'd controlled Nya's natural courses with herbs that her mother had initially provided. But the Blacksun had changed that.

She woke abruptly, aroused, and looking for a fight. She rubbed herself against the bars separating the two prisoners and left her scent all the way down the length of the bars marking them as hers. She eyed Abashai with scorn, snarling at his chained and weak form, knowing he was no match for her superior strength. The cat padded back and forth. Had they been alone, it would have been the one time Abashai would have had a collar on her, holding her in human form so they could fight like the Forest Cat in her needed in order for her to truly ovulate and let the seasonal change run its course. Forest Cats mated with only the males that were strongest. So if the male couldn't defeat her in a battle, no offspring was produced.

Abashai could feel the burning in her, the need, the sensitivity of her fur and even the heightened irritation of the cold stone on the pads of her paws. Through her he could smell every male in the place, the guards, the fellow prisoners, his own form, and even Almaras. That scent excited her. Another big cat... another male to fight. Nya roared a challenge that issued through the prison block, then roared again. Turning abruptly she jumped on the first child, broke its neck, and tore at its throat swallowing the hot blood in it by the mouth fulls. Normally she'd eat the meat, but not today, not right away. A belly full of blood supercharged her aggression, but did not weigh her down. She blooded a second and a third, chewing a hand off one in her excitement to finish the kill. The remaining children scattered, of no interest to her, as she lay down on the pile of bodies and began to gnaw on one little girl's spine.

Guards gathered at the entrance to the cell, guards with ropes, and they tossed out the ropes, popped one or two loops around her head, and started cutting off her air. The kelvic, taken by surprised, jerked and found herself hauled around to face the front of the cell, ropes held by six men each and double looped around the bars for added leverage. More ropes sailed out as she danced, fighting with the lines on her neck and the ability to breath, one encircling a front leg and pulling it taught. It was obvious there would be no drugs to dull her senses or to control her. They were going to use sheer physical force. After twenty minutes of struggling, getting more and more ropes on her, they had her in a position where they could subdue her. The front door was opened, and guards carrying the muzzle in muzzled her. The physician did a quick exam, seemed satisfied, then they strapped a large leather piece of barding across her back and chest, one that seemed to protect her flanks and back.

Kialandra watched, smug, then nodded to the cat barding. "You know he'll have sharpened claws. Sometimes he even uses augmentation on his with lovely strap on razor sharp blades. Alamaras likes to blood his mates. He says it makes stronger larger litters. And if we don't bundle them up in protective gear like this, he'll shred their backs and flanks in his enthusiasm. He's even snapped their neck, which is why shes getting a thick reinforced collar. It's not to keep her in her cat form... she'll do that all on her own, my pet. It's to keep her alive through this." She said, nodding to the guards that then dragged Nya out of her cell and down the corridor. She was soon out of sight, though he could still hear her yowling and spitting in fury as they forced her to move.

Abashai could feel everything his bondmate could... the killing rage, the delicious warmth of the blood in her stomach, her intense arousal, the heavy protection on her back, flanks, and neck... and he could through her smell the male that she knew was going to challenge her. His neck choked where the ropes slipped around and under the collar, dragging him no her along with the guards as they escorted her forcefully. The sensations were so clear he didn't even notice that his cell was unlocked, guards flanked him, and his collar was seized.

Before he came back to himself, he felt them release Nya in a large space with a cheering crowd of soldiers all around above. He felt more than saw Almaras in his cat form through Nya's eyes, and wanted to kill him just as strongly as she did, indeed to prove he wasn't good enough for the ritual. Abashai felt the bindings come free.. the ropes removed from his neck... no Nya's neck and heard her roar of challenge like it was issued from his very soul.

It was then, and only then that he realized he was strapped to some sort of gurney and hauled down the corridor himself. Guards flanked him. Within moments he was in the infirmary and a new person, one he didn't recognize was looming over here studying his face. Kialandra was there, supervising, looking amused at his exposure and restraint. 'I want all traces of ink off him. You won't be able to do anything with the Cheva mark and the Gnosis, but the rest needs to be gone. I want the symbol of my house put on his shoulder - inked then branded over so it rises nicely in texture - and whatever else we can think of as we go. He's going to be distinctly uncomfortable during this... no sedation. I want him to go through what his kelvic kitten is going through... and if we need to pause to have some fun, you will leave us and be ready to return any moment." Kialandra said, trailing her hand down Shai's body like a judge would trail their hand across the lines of a prized hound.

"Understood? Go to work." She said, stepping back and giving the stranger room. And while Abashai stared up a the ceiling, his head restrained so he could barely move, he felt the sensation of being two places at once. He was both here in the infirmary and in the ring overlooked by the crowd where Nya wasn't winning, though the muzzle and the dulled claws and the protective wear kept her from loosing anything of value, like her life.

[Abashai]

Whether it was the chemicals, or Nya's hormone heightened awareness, Abashai experienced his bondmate's awareness more powerfully than he had since they were weened off of their drugs. He came to himself, the tight ropes he felt around her neck, choking them both, gave way to the restraints that held him to the gurney as he was wheeled through the prison. He lifted his head, shaking it and roaring as Nya roared, alive with anger and the goading of her primed body. Leather straps strained, veins bulged over contracted muscles in his arms and legs as he pulled at his bonds. The meek, fearful woman Nya had been after her beating was now a raging beast, ready to face the large male cat, to complete the primal cycle. Shai longed to have her body, to use it to rend Almaras to shreds, to anhilate his rival. Abashai's head banged against the rolling table, his awareness snapping back to the room where he had been taken. A band was used to hold head down, the straps tightened. Next to Kialandra, a man came into view. Marked with intricate facial tattoos, he studied the ink on Abashai's face and the back of his hands, prodding the skin. "Ephyrian ink, but a Drykas artist. No problem, There will be no trace, his features will remain intact." With a satisfied grin, and a caress of the benshiran's thigh. Abashai growled lowly from his throat. The tattooed mage had concocted something, turning back to smear a substance on the marks on Abashai's hands that felt both hot and cold. The tattooes were a simple bar at the back of his hand, at the wrist, with three spikes that pointed out over his hand. The design was similar to the tattoos early post Valterrian benshira got after their freedom from bondage. The significance of their removal, and his current captivity, was not lost on Abashai. The man pressed his palm to the curious mark, evoking a searing pain in the benshiran's flesh. Abashai's arm stiffened at the pain, hissing through gritted teeth. The mage removed his hand, but the sensation continued as the mark on the opposite hand was covered in a similar fashion, the burning pain Abashai suffered now doubled as beads of sweat rose on his brow. Then his soul was overwelmed by the intense violence occuring in the courtyard. His ribs ached as Nya was slammed to the ground, his apptetite spiked as she managed to sink her canines into Almaras' shoulder, blood running along her rough tongue, the pheromone rich air between the forest cats so thick it almost blinded Abashai's mentality. Shai shuddered in his restraints, too tight to allow his shifting to disrupt the artist at work, who saw the benshiran's movements as reaction to his ministrations. His nostrils flared, inhaling the scents of the room, the aroma of Kialandra was particularly strong. Meanwhile, the substance the tattoo mage had applied to Abashai's hands had become a rubbery consistency, and the tattooed man ripped the substance from the hand. The sensation was as if the the very flesh had been ripped from his bones, and Abashai groaned loudly through a clenched jaw. The pain again brought him back to the room, just as the second hand was stripped of the flimsy goop. Abashai's bare torso heaved as Kialandra came back into view, examining his hands with an approving grin. "Well done. Give him a moment." The woman leaned over him, her hand rested on his chest as it rose and fell. It was cool against the cold sweat on his skin. "The blemishes are gone. You should see how they look. Once the redness is gone, there will be nothing left of them. You are filthy now, but you will be made clean before Rhysol." Contradiction and confluence of emotion and instinct roiled in Abashai's body as Nya's own powerful feelings towards Almaras leeched through the bond. He hated Kialandra, longed to bring her a slow, bloody death, even fantasized brutal methods to employ. Yet her scent in his head... fed through to Nya and back, confused his hatred with the awareness of her fertility. He squeezed his eyes shut as a sharp pain again shot through his body, Almaras' blows again falling upon Nya.

[Nya Winters]

Everything disappeared for her but the other cat in the courtyard. The bets, the cheering crowd, the screaming handlers shouting orders to one another all vanished in the heat of battle. Nya fled and chased, was thrown down over and over again, and managed to pin the big cat once or twice herself. The first time Almaras grabbed for her head, trying to get a bite on her scruff, he accidentally tore the muzzle off. That caused Nya to shriek in joy because it gave her back her teeth and she used them on the other cat while her claws where useless. They rolled over and over again, both bloody, both fed by instinct that drove each of them to overpower the other.

When she got him under her she sneered in scorn, her posture calling him weak and bloodying his shoulder to prove it. He swiped her across the face with razor sharp claws, narrowly missing an eye, to drive her back. Energy poured off the two big cats, one brindled like the forest and one solid black, matched only by their vocalizations. The crowd was in a frenzy as the battle carried on, Nya opening Almaras' flank while he bit into her right foreleg and crunched a bone breaking at least part of her forearm. She staggered then, the energy draining out of her, as the male took advantage, pinned her and preformed as his master's bid him to do. The coupling was violent and lengthy, both cats screaming and the audience paying out cash to one another as bets were won and lost.

In the infirmary, Kialandra smiled as she leaned over Abashai's freshly unadorned face. "Hear that? He has her and shes let him, and they are both lost to it. They are such beasts... do you feel it through your bond? Is your blood boiling along with hers?" She glanced at the guards, the doctors, and the mage... one look sent them fleeing from the room leaving her alone with the prisoner. Her hands traced the line of his face, smiling slightly even as the echos of the cats screeching filled the prison. She bent lower, so her lips almost grazed Abashai's. "Would you rather it be you instead?" She left the meaning cryptic, not explaining if she meant if Abashai would rather take Nya's place or Almaras'. "Even now she's being dominated... held down... like you are." Kialandra's lips moved closer, her breath warm on Abashai's face.

"I think you need it, crave it in fact. I think you both need leadership, and a new sort of master." She whispered as she leaned down and took his lips, kissing him. "I can take from you what Almaras takes from Nya. You have no choice, Abashai, here and now. No choice at all." She said, kissing him again, this time more aggressively, nipping his bottom lip and tugging on it with a growl. "I want you to beg for it, Abashai. I want you to beg me for it with all you are worth. I don't care which you beg me for either.... Beg me not too... or beg me to take everything." She said, running her hands down his body, touching him, making sure he could feel everything that was happening with his bondmate and what it was doing to him mentally as well as physically also. "You know I get what I want. I wonder... if you've ever been denied your entire life... or conversely forced like a mere woman... " She said, waiting, a knowing smile of delight on her face.

Down the corridor the cats screeching echoed again, so too did the crowd. Kialandra smiled... a dark dangerous smile of triumphant. "He's taken her... can you hear it? Can you feel the change in the tone? Can you feel them through your bond? You're next, Abashai. Now beg..." She said darkly, laughter on her lips.

[Abashai]

Abashai's hands and face still burned, freshly stripped clean of the ink imbedded in his skin by some magical means. New marks he now possessed, the insignia of Kialandra's household now inked into the skin of his shoulder, then scorched by a white-hot brand of the same symbol, creating an embossed design that still reeked of burnt flesh. The searing pain could not obscure the bond with Nya, wide open with raw perception and awareness. Abashai found himself lost in the fight outside, unwilling or unable to relinquish his first hand experience of the kelvic battle. The coppery tingle of blood, the deafening roar of wild beasts and Nya's pain running fluid with his own. The benshiran was in tune with his feline mate's primal need to survive, prove a suitor, and to complete what nature was so powerfully compelling them to do. His eyes has squeezed shut, trying to maintain a semblance of sanity through the cacophony of sensations. Suddenly, his crystal blue-green eyes snapped open. Kialandra was hovering over him, silky smooth voice in his ears, touching his now unmarked face. The restrained man's nostrils filled again with the woman's aroma, laced with the scent of arousal, detected with Nya's borrowed senses. She taunted him, knowing, to some extent, that the kelvic bond allowed him to experience his bondmate's condition. The Blacksun woman's constant effort to erode his morale was ceaseless. Mental warfare ensued, as Abashai strove to separate Nya's experience from Kialandra and her tempting presence. Strange lips brushed against his, not knowing another woman's kiss except Nya's since childhood. He growled, wishing the woman would be silent, her words dripping with twisted truth. Then the tumult outside reached a crescendo, and Abashai felt Nya's submission beneath the powerful, heavy strength of Almaras' domination, woefully feeling her animal instinct submitting to a worthy male, her heat reaching its peek, wanting, needing the brutal male cat. Abashai snapped at Kialandra's lip as she nipped at his, drawing her blood. Yes, he wanted the wicked woman, wanted to press her head to the floor, put his weight on her, do to her what Almaras was doing to Nya, like he had done to Nya when she conceived a child that would never be born. Abashai's body betrayed him, displaying his arousal, much to Kialandra's delight. The Blacksun woman only laughed and hummed in approval, wiping the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. His very soul seemed on fire, all of Nya's senses, her primal instincts sated in the violent coupling, washing over Abashai again and again. Shai burned for release, but he did not beg. He would not beg to have Kialandra, nor would he plea to be left untouched. "Yes, you do sense her, don't you..." She eyed him hungrily, touched him. "But you are ever defiant, aren't you, proud desert man. No matter, the time will come, and you will beg me, one way or the other. For now, you will be no better then your cat, my pet. What will she think, to know you have been taken and used by a mere human woman, without a fight." Kialandra's robes slipped to the floor. With unusual grace she climbed the table, straddling Abashai, taking him even as the howl of the mating forest cats echoed through the prison halls, and in Abashai's head.