As they walked backed towards the entrance they came in from a hand reached out and grabbed Ed by the back of his robe. His first instinct was that he was being mugged because they had just made a sale and 24 gold pieces were sitting in his satchel. No one would get it out of the pouch given the enchantments, but they didn't know that.
"How dare you flaunt your Felis slave in this area!" A voice roared from behind him as it swung him around, slamming him up against a wall by his shirt and the back of his cape.
Ed wasn't scrawny but he wasn't heavily muscled either and this demi was far superior to him when it came to muscle mass. He pulled him up off his feet and Ed got a good look as his assailant. He was a Felis but muscled like a bear. He was colored like a tiger with stripes and golden eyes and the orange spread around his whole body. He wore only a cloth wrapped around his waist and his fur exposed across his chest and back. A necklace of teeth from other animals draped across his chest showing trophies from previous kills.
Ashra jumped into action to defend her master. She bristled and jumped at the attacker screaming to let go of her master. This wasn't helping the notion that she was a slave, but she wasn't thinking. Her cat instincts told her to protect the pack. The lynx is normally a solitary hunter but when they chose a mate the female normally makes the choice and Ashra had chosen who to serve.
Ed had been in plenty of fights in his previous life. He was always trying to be chivalrous and sometimes succeeded and sometimes got his ass handed to him. As the much stronger felis pulled his back to extend the claws from his short chubby fingertips Ed reacted as fast as he could and pulled his legs up between him and the attacker. He put his back against the wall and kicked out as hard as he could muster and channeled some mana into it in hopes it would stun him. The large man grunted and his grip loosened just enough for Ed to drop to the ground.
He shuffled around as the large man grabbed his chest and sucked in a breath of air after having the wind knocked from him. Ed scrambled up onto his feet and shouted at the other two to get outside. Rennish pointed at Ed's waist and screamed "Instruments!"
Ed immediately remembered the bag and thought of the Rat flute and immediately dropped the idea. He really shouldn't infest every place he goes with rats. The first thing he could think of was the fights he had won with a hammer and as he ran for the door 20 yards ahead that would lead him out into the open where he stood more chance he yelled "Smithing Instruments!" hoping it would work and reached into the bag. He felt a sledge inside and pulled. Out came a 4-pound sledge in his hand with a 2 unit handle.
Behind him, Ashra was running around throwing crates, clothes, and baskets at the Felis to slow him down enough for her Master to escape. Her bobbed tail was fluffed up and the hair on her back was bristling, ready for a fight. Her hands were grabbing bricks and rocks and letting her hold onto things as she ran and jumped from wall to floor to wall. Rennish was racing ahead and got to the door first. He threw it open and then jumped through into the courtyard beyond. He held the door open for Ed and Ashra to jump through.
As long as they could make it into the courtyard the fight would be governed under the Southern Peoples rules and their newly acquired merchant rights couldn't be revoked so easily.
Ed scrambled around the corner and headed through the door, jumping he slipped, rolling into the courtyard. He got back onto his feet and looked around quickly. A fountain was in the middle with boxes and bystanders running from the sounds of the chaos. Ed got about 100 feet from the door and threw off his cloak to keep from getting caught up in it. He bent at the knees and lowered his center of gravity, holding the sledge in his right hand knowing that he had maybe one or two hits and he needed to fight dirty.
Ashra came barreling out of the door screaming obscenities that made Ed a little proud and a little disturbed. She jumped out through the door frame and vaulted over some people huddling on the ground. She landed upon a stack of crates and crouched down. Her hair was still standing on edge and she grabbed the front of the box she was standing on. Ed got just a moments glance at her and noticed the power of her arms and legs now that she was in full-on fight mode. He hadn't looked past her feminine body before to notice that she still had the skills and muscle of a predator underneath.
Only seconds later the Felis Tiger came barreling through the door. He grabbed the frame in both hands and pulled himself through yelling in rage. He had bits of wood and baskets in his fur and murder in his eye.
"Your crimes against our people will not go unpunished. Felis are free in the south and you will die for what you have done!" he roared.
Ashra screamed back, "I am no slave he is my mated master!" claws had sprung from her fingers also and she was clawing at the box, waiting for the tiger to show himself enough to give her a chance to attack. What she lacked in comparable size she made up for in speed and ferocity. The most lethal cat in nature was a small desert cat that lived alone and has a nearly perfect kill rate. Lynx were designed to hunt and kill fast prey and survive in extreme conditions. She may not be large, but she was fast and powerful in her legs and arms.
The declaration that the human was her mate was enough to give Ed a pause in the fight as the Felis looked towards Ashra and his mind processed what had just been said. Ed seized the moment to reach down to the ground, and in his mind, he set an image and poured divine energy into the rock and gravel of the open clearing.
The felis stepped out of the doorway finally and barred his teeth in the direction of Ed, "What kind of lowly human could even be worthy of a Felis woman!" he stepped forward a few more steps. Ed counted and watched for him to move a little more forward. He held the hammer out at arms-length, ready to strike if needed. Years of smithing had given him muscles in his forearms and wrist that would let him swing that harder than he could if he had reared his arm back to try and get full force.
Ed yelled out, "IF you would stop this you would find out why she has chosen me and I have taken her." The words caught both of their attention, the Felis Tiger looking at Ed with surprise, dulling some of his anger but now slowing him down. Ashra looked at Ed with surprise, he had acknowledged her as a pairing in public. She knew that he didn't understand what this meant, and she knew she would have to tell him very soon.
"You would never have the honor of pairing with one of my kind! I will kill you before you sully our bloodlines any further!" he yelled his anger not quelled by the public declaration that they were a couple.
As he stepped forward Ed's trap finally sprang. Ed had changed the ground around him from stone to water that looked like stone. Ed knew well enough that tigers and lions were not afraid of water and could swim but that wasn't his goal. As soon as the felis was up to his arms and treading across Ed reached down and poured divine power back into the ground, imagining that the water was now solid again.
Before he was able to spring back out fully, the ground turned back into rock and stone. He was trapped up to his knees and unable to pull free. He clawed at the ground and yelled. Ed smiled at the felis and tried to keep his attention firmly on him. Ashra had come down from the box and was now standing behind Ed also drawing his focus.
Behind the attacker, Rennish had recovered from having the door thrown open so violently while he was holding it. Neither Ed nor Ashra has seen him be thrown into the pile of baskets and boxes behind the door. He had found a large club of wood about 3 units long and had waited out of sight, partially out of cowardice and fear for his new mortal state. And part of it was for a good opening. As soon as the attacker was stuck in the ground and facing forward Rennish rushed in with the hard piece of timber fully overhead.
Tigers have an excellent periphery vision and he had not missed the man running at him but paid him no mind because he was not yet a threat in his mind. Rage had blinded him. It wasn't until he had realized he was running at him that he turned his head and looked. Just as he got his head around the sound of wood shattering got everyone's attention. The felis head swung around unnaturally quick and the hardwood that Rennish had been holding splintered into pieces in the open space.
The Felis Tiger man tried to hold onto conscientiousness, but he failed. The trauma of his brain rattling around inside his skull knocked him out and he slumped forward as far as his legs would let him, being stuck deep inside the rock and sand of the courtyard.
Rennish stood up from his swing and yelled, "Bard one, tiger man zero!" and he laughed and threw the piece of wood at the passed-out attacker. He laughed in victory and threw his hands into the air screaming, "Wooo! Damn, that felt good!"
Ed stood up and held onto the hammer just in case. He took a cautious step forward and used the hammer to poke at his enemy's head to make sure he was out cold. His head just rolled around like a doll. Ashra rushed over quickly and pulled at Ed's hand.
"We must leave him here. Let us head back to our hotel, we need to call for the guards and call for a shaman, quickly beloved." She said tugging at his shirt.
Ed agreed blindly and reached down to grab his discarded cloak and turned around quickly following Ashra out of the square. Rennish took the hint of them running away and started running after them. He stopped once to get a firm kick against the ribs of the prone demi as a last parting gift but his muscles really did more damage to Rennish foot than any actual damage to him.
They ran as fast as they could back to the hotel and came rustling in through the front door still trying to catch their breath.
Ashra had suggested the establishment because the owner was a member of a clan of Felis that were aligned with her tribe of Lynx. The owner was obviously of a tribe of some kind of another desert cat with spots but he wore a uniform that made him look more like a normal hotel deskman. He watched them come through and rushed over to pull them out of the doorway and put them on a set of chairs to the side.
"Go get the guards and get a shaman! Quick before anyone else gets here!" she cried between hurried breaths.
Ed looked at her, "Why… the… shaman…." He said still out of breath.
"Beloved, I mean master," She said taking a few deep breaths and calming down much quicker than her human companions. She was used to running more so than either of them. "You declared me as your partner. We are now mates in my tribe. I was sworn to you, body and soul when I was sent to serve you, but your public acknowledgment means that we are now a mated pair and quickly we must have it verified so that we can use it to justify self-defense."
Ed blinked. He, the dateless wonder, had gone from single to married with one simple fight. He thought how he had never successfully had one date or ever actually gotten to ask a girl out and now he was married. Was this the god's answer to his problem with women? Was it fates cruel joke that he would end up married and still never get to woo a woman? He was not ashamed of Ashra or repulsed by her but the surprise of it all caught him off guard.
Ashra recoiled seeing the surprise on his face.
"Are you repulsed by this?" she said with fear in her eyes.
In for a bronze in for a gold as the old saying went and Ed regained his composure. What was done was done and he couldn't fight it now. Being married would give him more reason to travel and also explain her companionship if he ever made it back north again, although the cold would probably disagree with her.
He reached out and put both hands on her face and leaned in and kissed her. He had no idea what the custom was in her people's way, but he knew enough of what to do from daydreaming and watching couples on the square at home. He pulled her face and put his lips to hers and kissed her with what he hoped was enough genuine feeling to give her the understanding that he was not rejecting her. He knew that if he refused her that would be an insult to her and the people that had sent her as a servant, and he could never bring that kind of shame on her.
He pulled back and saw the shock in her face and the blush that was bleeding into her tanned skin. "No, not at all. Just surprised for a minute. But I did declare it and now I will honor it." Ed was sure that as far as women went this was probably better than any wife he would have had back home. Maybe this was part of what he was supposed to do.
Ashra smiled and a small tear ran down her face, she pulled Ed and touched her forehead to his. She whispered, "I am honored to be your mate."
The shaman came running in out of breath being pushed in by the hotel owner's assistant. He was young and a quick ceremony was put together. The needed to exchange a gift. Ashra stripped off her scarf and wrapped it around Ed's neck. Ed reached into his bag and felt the brown scarf that had been given to him by Lily. He felt a momentary pang of guilt, using this one last memento for this purpose, but wrapped it around Ashra's neck.
The shaman said a few quick words about pairings and bondings and to confirm that they agreed to the laws of nature that they would live in harmony with the world, they would hunt together, defend each other and bring pride to all their ancestors. They agreed quickly, hoping to make it official before the guards came running in.
The shaman put his hand on both their heads and proclaimed them mates. He asked about the wedding night but Ashra quickly blurted out that they had slept in the same bed together before this night. It wasn't a lie really, just a misdirection. They had not done anything together, but they had slept together in the same bed since they started this trip. The little lie seemed to satisfy the shaman who nodded and declared them paired and that neither human nor felis could break this bond. "May these two always find their beds warm, their hunts fruitful and their heirs worthy of their names!" he said loudly.
Rennish and the owner had acted as the two witnesses and both clapped when it was proclaimed. And mere seconds later the front door burst open. Guards came in with weapons drawn looking for Ed to question. They had part of the story from the witnesses in the walkway. Ursal had also called the guards since he had seen the whole ordeal. He knew he had to make sure that his newfound business partner wasn't killed.
Ed and Ashra quickly explained about the felis accusing him of being a slaver and they explained that they were a mated pair. They told that the felis never let them explain it and when they tried to tell him he only grew more enraged. Ed showed that he was able to use magic by pulling out the squirrel creation that was still clinging to Rennish. By some miracle, it had survived from the ruckus.
The guards got together in a circle and muttered to themselves, unsure of the whole situation. Ashra pulled at Ed's hand and whispered into his ear. "You do realize that if they don't arrest you, we will have to cement the pairing tonight?" she said to him almost shyly.
Ed looked at her in the eyes and swallowed. He had not even considered that he might have to seal the deal. The prospect of having a married moment worked its way through his brain down, down his tightening chest, and into his loins. Ashra put a hand at his waist and felt him become a man. She smiled at him and giggled. It was the most girlish thing she had done in front of him, and he suddenly saw her as a young woman again. He had to remind himself that she wasn't much older than him.
"Oh, uh, yes I think we will. I am not experienced you know…" he said as quietly as he could trying to keep the secret.
"Neither am I. I was sent because of my purity. We will figure this out together later." She said and kissed him on his cheek. Her face was flushed a little but she smiled and giggled, a little from excitement and a little from nervousness.
The guards interrupted them before they could do anything more as newlyweds. "We insist you both come for questioning. There are many things that need to be worked out." The man in the shiniest armor said to them both. Ed nodded and felt her hand in his and squeezed it. The thoughts would have to wait for another time he supposed. He stood up and faced the group of guards.
"We just want this over with quickly. This is hard on us as a couple to face these kinds of threats from one of her own kind."
The guard looked at Ashra who was still blushing but nodded. "Yes, well let's see what we can do. Please follow us and let's get to the center of town quickly." And he pointed outside. The two of them walked out the door. They were flanked on each side by guards, all of them were demis and no humans.
And just like that, Ed had won the first of many fights as Erust, he had gotten married for the first time. (Felis clans understand that males may take multiple wives, the first wife though is the head female, and this is normal in many prides and packs across most Felis clans.) Ed was also separated from his new bride on their first night together. As they walked towards town Ed wondered if he was going to be the Dateless Blunder and now never get to consummate the marriage as well. That would be the highest form of cosmic irony he could imagine. He was still the dateless blunder, but now the married dateless blunder.