-Raven POV-
It's kind of odd. He never told her but.. it's pretty common knowledge that snakes and a few other reptile beastman have two. What kind of life has she lived? Alastair is glaring at me and I can tell he wanted Yuki all to himself. Is he really so dumb to think such a beautiful female would only have one male? I have vert rarely seen such a beautiful female, only ones on her level are females of powerful beastman in the city's. No female looks at me with the scars I have from defending this village. Looking over at the village, they never thank me for it or acknowledge I do anything.
"Yuki" I say still staring at the village. "Your not like the other females" I take a breath "you haven't mentioned my scars or looked at me like I'm some sort of monster for them" I turn to her who is looking at me "why is that?"
"They just show you have been in fights" her eyes go down to a big scar on my side, just above my hip, "I more wonder how much worse the other guy was"
She wears a sad look, but not one of pity. I wonder what she is thinking. Alastair lost his glare and I know he knows how a male with scars can struggle to gain female affection.
"Can I take you around the village?" I ask and she looks confused "have you on my back and I take you around the outside boarders of the village" she looks unsure and Alastair's glare as returned. "I'll being her back here, safe and sound. I don't want to fight a snake"
Alastair doesn't look happy and I know he wants to tell her she can't. I want to talk to her alone and I think she will like the sights around the village. I want to know where she came from. Besides. I saw how she looked at me as a horse.
"You promise to bring me back to Alastair?" She asks and I can see she is torn between wanting to come and staying with him.
"I promise, nothing weird. If you want to come back at any point just say and I will"
She looks at Alastair and I can he is really trying not to say she can't. I shift to being a horse. She takes the last bite of apple, leaving the core, most females don't eat it.
"If you don't want the rest, nor does Alastair, I'll finish that" I say. I can see the look in Alastair's eyes of not wanting the bit of apple left. We don't like wasting food here, most females leave what they don't like of the fruit to their males, as long as it's edible.
"You eat the middle part?" Yuki questions. I simply nod my had up and down.
"So horses eat gross food scraps?" Alastair says
"It's not gross, and we here don't like wasting food. It's common that the females give the middle of apples to their males. It's quite good" I say "at least for a horse"
"Are you sure?" She asks. I nod again. I step so I'm facing her a little more and I can see how she eyes my movements. She hands it to me, her hand flat. She knows to hold her hand flat? Eat the middle, the juicy apple and knowing it's touched her lips i savor it.
"So you want to see my world?" I ask and she bites her bottom lip. As she looks at my back. "It's all up to you"
"Okay, I'm trusting you to keep your promise"
"I will keep my promise, you will be brought back to Alastair, unharmed and safe"
She walks up to me and I can see a bit of confusion about how to get on. She can't see over my back. I kneel my front legs down and she jumps on with a little struggle. I feel her legs squeeze me and her hands grabbing on my mane.
"Hold tight" I say and feel her listen. I stand as smoothly as I can but it's not very graceful as she moves around a bit. I let her adjust before I walk off.
I take her through the farm fields of rice, berries, fruits and vegetables. She is in awe looking around and even asks if it's okay to pick a plum from the tree. As they are all ripe i say yes. She hums happily as she eats it.
"It's not often I have had these but I love them" she says.
"Not often? Where did you live before meeting Alastair?" I ask. Her mood changes and I stop. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer, I was just curious about why a beautiful female is so far from the a city"
"No. It's okay" she says "I don't remember how I got there but I was found in the woods when I was little, one of the males who was out hunting found me and he couldn't leave a little female child alone. So he took me back to the village he lived at and his female said she refused to look after some child. The chief had the elder look after me, and I was never allowed to play with the others my age or even leave the house. I was lonely till Alastair came to the village" she trails off.
"Was it that bad for you? You weren't allowed to be around anyone?" I felt so bad for her, growing up isolated from everyone. I couldn't imagine the pain.
"My place had a place to sleep and a place to bathe, I wasn't allowed to bathe with the other females. Once a year I was invited to the chiefs banquet but I was always guarded by the elder and chief. After a while, everyone knew not to talk to me so I stopped going as it made me feel more alone"
"Well. Hey, you will never have that again as long as I'm around" I say "no one deserves to be isolated" I look at the village. I know how it feels but not to the extent she has had to suffer. As a Colt I was always with the others my age but once I was older, I got pushed out but though they never will admit it, they rely on my protection.
"I hated it there" she says and I can hear her pain and sadness.
"I can understand why" I say and notice a few villagers looking at us.. or more so me with a female. I continue on and we reach a nice lookout point.
The view over looks the lower valley, you can see the main path, the river and distant mountains. I can here her quietly gasp at the view. I bet she's never seen anything like this. She leans down on my neck and wraps her arms around me. Her arms are to short to go around my neck and it makes me feel good having a small female like her, holding onto me. I wish time could stand still for a little while. It's nice having a females touch. She's quite light, I didn't really notice till now, but the last female who was on my back weighted quite a bit more then she does. I had saved her after she went out in the fields to pick so vegetables and a cougar beastman tried to take her. Cougar males are often lone, wondering and stealing females. I ended up landing a kick under his jaw and he died from it.
Wolves howling off in the far distance pulls my attention. Wolves? Something in me feels uneasy and Yuki sits up and I can feel her uneas.. no. Fear. I turn and start heading back to Alastair, something in me tells me the Wolves are after her. I gallop to the spot and Yuki is holding on tightly, I know it's mostly from fear of the Wolves. I wonder if they are from her village trying to come bring her back.
"They caught up faster then I thought they would have" Alastair says to Yuki. "We need to go" he goes to grab her off me but I move away.
"If they are after her, they are likely following your scent" I say "she will be safe if I take her and you lead them away" Alastair glares at me and I know he knows it's a good plan. He looks between Yuki and I before sighing.
"I'm taking her east, head that way" he says and gives Yuki a kiss. I can't say I feel good about him kissing her on my back but I know it's not my place.
Alastair takes off and knowing if they come here to the village they will ask and knowing them, someone will say they saw me with her last. I head to the village.
"I thought we were going to head east?" She asks.
"If the wolves come here, I don't want to risk the villagers messing up the plan. I have a place and you can say there, I'll be guarding the village, no one will want to talk or be near the wolves so it's the safest plan"
She doesn't say anything but seems to accept the plan. I knew Alastair wouldn't trust the plan i have, best to let him think I'm headed east with her. At my place we stop and she gets off me, I shift and walk in with her. She seems surprised at my place.
"Make yourself at home. I'll come get you when the coast is clear" I say
"Are you sure they will come here? And are you sure I'll be safe?" She asks nervously.
"I just have a gut feeling" I say "and yes, they aren't going to take you back" I notice her uneasiness "If your worried about being stuck inside now, don't, you just need to stay hidden till they are gone. I promise, it's only for a short time"
A howl cuts through and I feel they are coming here. I give her a look and I wish I could kiss her or comfort her in anyway other then words. I leave and shift, quickly going to roll to try and get ant smell of her off me or covered. I make my way and see everyone is in the village, worry all on their faces. Cowards. It's not long before the howls are close and I notice a few males standing guard of their homes, where their female is hiding. They look terrified as the howls come closer. Probably told to stand guard outside, I have a feeling it's the males they don't really care to much about who are standing guard.
The Wolves appear and there are 5 wolves, a Lynx and a panther. I was right. They have come here. I pin my ears at them.
"What bring you to our village?" I ask, snorting loudly and I get the reaction I want, they lowered their heads a little, one wolf stepping back.
"We come looking for a snake who stole one of our villages females" one wolf says. "Have you seen them?"
I know they smell their scent all over. I can't lie and say no, there is evidence they have been here. I look them over and they look around except the one who talked.
"Yes. They came and got some fruits, they left heading off in that direction" I nod in the direction Alastair left. "I wish we had known she was stolen, she didn't act like a stolen female so no one questioned" I state.
"How long ago did they leave?"
"Not long, I think if you hurry, you will easily catch up to them" I say. They nod and all take off in a full sprint. The Wolves leading the charge. So she lived in a predator village, that looks like mostly Wolves. I stand guard to make sure they are far away.
Stolen? From what she said to me, Alastair would seem like a savior to her. No one wants to be kept in isolation.