[b][u][center]A Study of Connections
Part 17
For a-lycotonum
By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]








Vakrozad gave the orders for the hobgoblins to pick up and run. The temple’s promise of safety had been officially revoked by Aster, and that meant that they needed to get the hell out before the other paladins could be called in to chase them off. The bloodshed from that would be enormous, particularly now that they weren’t caught by surprise. The chieftain of the clan was a mighty warrior, and so were the other wereboars among them, but there was only so much that might could do against numbers. The temple had the upper hand, now. 

Hazel shivered as she knew what she had to do. Getting to the Primal Point before Aster meant that she had to imitate what she had seen in the vision. She just hoped that she would be able to do more of it without the sexual part, but she had no real belief that it would be that easy. She’d just have to do her best. 

As the orcs packed, Tristan came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned, saw his disturbed expression, and sighed. 

“I’m sorry, but I have to do this.”

“I have no doubt of that. I just wonder if you are doing it for the right reasons.”

“You’re going to ask me that?”

“I know that you want things to be good. You fought to be understood, seen, and you did more for the hobgoblins than anyone else. Even me. But…”

“But what?”

He arched an eyebrow. She sighed. 

“Look, I know that I’m damaged. I know that. Do you think that I don’t know that?”

“Yes, you are. But that’s not my worry. Nor is the collar,” he said as she reached for it. “I’m worried that you’ll do something without actually thinking it through.”

“Like what?”

“Like freeing Erastil from the Point.”

That was the last thing that she had expected him to say. Her eyes widened, her mouth hung open, but he kept pushing her, whispering as he leaned in. 

“You’ve seen it by now. You have to have seen it. The demons have their own reasons for doing things, and while they’re evil, they’re not always horrible. They’re not the blindly evil monsters that the church teaches, particularly not the Demon Lords.”

“You’re saying – look at us, Tristan! Look what Melchiresa did to us!”

“And look who saved us.”

“…”

“Erastil is a god, but he is a god bound where he was made, right?”

“…That is…correct.”

“Then think about what that means. What happens when someone like Aster gets that power, unbound? What would happen to us if someone like her was giving out the power that our clerics use on a daily basis?”

“Erastil is a god. He would be better than that.”

“Would he? If demons can be good, what does that suggest for gods?”

“Tristan!” Mol shouted from somewhere in the background. “Get your ass over here. I need help.”

The former high priest gritted his teeth in annoyance, but for Hazel, it was the perfect moment to make her escape. Giving him a small, faked smile, she gestured for him to run off to the shemale seer, leaving her alone again. As soon as he turned around, though, her smile faded, dropping off her face. 

[i]Goddamn it, Tristan. I really didn’t need that thought right now…[/i]

The only thing keeping her going was the possibility of getting her normal body back. The beast features between her legs and along her body were causing her no end of problems, and the fact that she was almost as much hound as she was person now didn’t make her feel better. Her feet felt wrong, her balance felt off, and no matter how serious the situation was, she was always at least half-distracted with the heat coming off her pussy. She could feel the urge even now to shove a finger in and relieve it. If she had her one chance of being better taken from her, she didn’t know if she would be able to take it. 

She shook her head. She’d decide when she got there, but there couldn’t be that much danger in releasing him. If Melchiresa had retained some bit of good despite not being connected to the Primal Point, didn’t that mean that Erastil could do the same? Surely, it would just be an equalizer between the two of them. 

Tristan was probably just lost in the past. He had been part of the camp followers, the ones that did sexual favors for the hobgoblins. He had been conditioned to like them, to do what they said, to follow their orders. Was this something from back then?

[i]Just figure it out when you get there.[/i]

She was still naked, she realized, naked and exposed and showing off everything that she had to the various hobgoblins. She half-expected them to leer at her or glare at her for not showing off everything before, but they didn’t. They were in full flight-mode, getting things packed, moving professionally to get everything ready for travel. They were as good as professional soldiers, she realized, one more mark against the classification of ‘monster’ that they suffered under. Monsters wouldn’t be this good at staying organized. Not…not the inhuman ones, at any rate. 

The half-elf shuffled along, trying to ignore the way that the ground felt between her toes, how the mud and dirt shifted under her pads, how everything was so different to how she had felt as a half-elf. All the hopes that she’d had of going back to normal once she reached the temple had been shattered and reversed, leaving her more of a monster than ever. The body she possessed had instincts, instincts that were begging to be let loose. She wanted to mark her territory, to leave scent marks on the ground that would put off the enemy. She wanted to run free in the darkness. She wanted – 

Hazel almost stumbled into Vakrozad as she came back to herself, staring at the naked chieftain from behind. His change at the temple must have ripped through his armor, leaving him with little more than his sword belt. From behind, he was a fine specimen of manhood, and he stood in such a way that she could see the low-hanging balls between his legs. She remembered how those had felt when he had fucked her ass, and some part of her still wondered how it would feel if he was fucking her pussy. 

She reached down, almost touching her fortune cookie sex before she grabbed her wrist. Not now. Not now. 

Huffing softly, she forced herself back from that lusty edge, walking up behind him and tapping his shoulder. Vakrozad turned, then smiled as he looked down at her. 

“Glad you’re safe,” he said. 

“…Me too,” she admitted, having expected more flirting rather than that. “Are you…are you ready?”

“Pretty much. Mol can handle the rest of it.”

“Sure, put it all on the seer,” the older woman complained from somewhere among the folding tents. “Some chieftain you are.”

“Delegation, old woman! Delegation!”

“Fuck your delegation!”

“Fuck your stubbornness!”

Despite the exchange, there was still a smile on his face. She didn’t know how he could stay happy at that moment, particularly with the storm of suffering that was already in pursuit of them. Then again, he had been the one to raid the temple just to get her back, so who knew just what went through his head. 

Shaking her own, she reached out and took his hand. He looked back at her, his smile dropping a bit. 

“What’s the matter?” he asked. 

“I just…I know we saw that vision, but…”

“But what?”

“I don’t know if I want to go that far.”

“…You still that attached to the other guy?”

“…Kinda. It’s hard to explain, and it’s more than that, but –”

Vakrozad shrugged, and she knew that she’d hurt him there. He’d busted her out of prison, out of slavery, and she was still pining after someone else. That wasn’t how she’d planned to start this. Looking out into the shadows around the camp, she wondered if they even had time to talk about this. 

The answer was, probably not. Not if they were going to do it here. But if they did it while they traveled…

“Walk with me?” she asked. 

“You going to get dressed?”

“Is there a point?”

“Only if you want to do a running strip-tease.”

“Then no.”

They left the camp quickly, putting the collapsing semi-settlement behind them. She wanted to slow down, but both of them knew that they needed to find a spot between the camp and the temple to catch the attention of the paladins and mob when they came through. If they weren’t in place, then they were going to be running for the Point without the mob behind them, and then the vision might not come true. 

[i]And if that doesn’t come true…[/i]

She put Tristan’s warning out of her head. She was going to do this her way, and that was probably going to include releasing her god. She needed that transformation back. She needed her old life back. 

“So, what are you thinking?” Vakrozad asked as they walked. 

“I’m not…opposed to sleeping with you.”

“That’s a relief. I thought you were regretting that anal earlier.”

“That…no, I don’t regret that.”

“Good. Might have thought I was losing my touch.”

She smiled despite herself. He certainly hadn’t been losing his touch if he was that good then. She’d never cum from her ass that hard, and she doubted that even Vitus could get her off that way in the future. That had been a memory and a half. 

“I just…I don’t know how to feel. I’m grateful, really I am, and you’ve been nothing but good to me. At the same time…we’re two different people. Very different.”

“I’m a pig and you’re a dog. Yeah. That’s different. Still beasts, though.”

“…but what if I wasn’t?”

“Well, you’d be a half-elf, and I’d be a hobgoblin. Still people.”

That was surprisingly simple and surprisingly good at cutting down most of her arguments. She had a number of them that were half-marshalled, but most of them were about how different they were rather than anything else. The ones that she had about prior obligations still held, but they were weaker. Just because she had changed, or could change again, wasn’t a bone of contention for him. He still wanted her. 

[i]But would Vitus?[/i]

She was pretty sure that he would, but they had been apart for some time now, and she didn’t know what he was going through, didn’t even know if he’d had any luck with getting his own problems sorted. She knew that he would be waiting for her, considering how desperate he was, but…

[i]Vakrozad is right here…and you need someone, at least. Even if it’s not Mr. Right…[/i]

Her bestial side begged for some kind of companionship, someone that was worthy of her, and in that way, Vakrozad was perfect. He listened to her authority and he respected her power, but at the same time, he allowed her to be weak when she needed to be. He gave her the frenzy that she needed, but knew when to back off. Most of the time, at least. And now that she had the collar around her neck, even when he could order her to do something to pass the time, he wasn’t. 

He was, actually, a pretty good candidate. She groaned. 

“Something the matter?”

“No, just…convincing myself of something I didn’t expect.”

“Heh.”

“It was supposed to be your job to convince me of this, actually.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. I thought that I would have to convince you to leave me alone, but I’m starting to convince myself to let you have a chance.”

The hobgoblin had the biggest shit-eating grin as she said that, and she groaned. She probably shouldn’t have been quite that honest about it, but the metaphorical cat was out of the bag, now. She might as well keep going. 

“I’m not asking you to be…close, that way.”

“Buuuut you’re asking for sex?”

“I’m saying sex is okay.”

“But nothing else?”

“Nothing big.”

“Cuddling?”

“I guess.”

“Kissing?”

“Only while fucking.”

“Heh. Seems like a friends with benefits thing.”

“If you want to think of it that way…but it’s something that…”

Was she really open to that, or was it just something that was tempting because of the burning between her legs? If she got better in the tunnels and when they reached the Primal Point, would she still want this, or would she be repulsed by him when she was no longer being pushed by a constant, low-level heat?

She didn’t know, and that was the difficult part. She just wanted to get this figured out, but her body kept interfering. 

“Look. We’ll make the arrangements final after…whatever happens at the altar at the Point, but until then…”

“Friends with benefits?”

“Yes. And a contract about what that means after.”

“Fine with me.”

They nodded at one another, and she got the feeling that Vakrozad was as happy as she was to have some sort of definition of what they were for one another. Considering all the confusion and frustration that she’d been feeling up to that point, she was more than happy to have some term to give it, some limits. At least that way, she knew what she was doing, and she could say what it meant to her. 

Friendship. Nothing more, nothing less. 

#

They reached an overlook that would allow them to be seen and, at the same time, give them time to run towards where the Primal Point probably was. The paladins would have to climb up before they could charge, which would give the two of them space to move, time to get a lead. They were going to need that from what they both remembered of the vision. 

In the distance, they could make out torches and shadow shapes moving from the temple, the paladins on the move. She shook her head. 

“You must have really pissed them off,” Hazel muttered. 

“We, uh, did kick the hornet’s nest pretty hard.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, it was just an attack, but then the townsfolk got involved.”

“…Oh dear.”

“Well, most of them ran away with us, so they’re not going to get punished unless the paladins catch up to them.”

Which meant that she had another reason to make sure that she did this perfectly. The last thing that she needed was for there to be more blood on her hands, or Vakrozad’s. The paladins coming after her were probably mostly guiltless, save for those that Aster had wrapped around her fingers. As long as she kept them from breaking their oaths on those that were just trying to be helpful, the others should be okay. 

“Do you think the bitch is coming, too?” Vakrozad asked. 

“I could check.”

“You have your spells?” he asked, arching an eyebrow. 

“I was enslaved, not completely gone. I still managed to meditate.”

Though her spells did feel…different. She had used a number of buffing spells during the fight to get clear of the temple, but she still had others, and they felt markedly less holy than they used to. She didn’t want to think about what that actually meant, and what it would mean going forward, but it was hard not to worry. 

Hazel spun a scrying spell between her fingers, looking through it towards the temple. It served almost as a magnifying glass, allowing her to look through the temple rooms, and then towards the front gate. 

There, standing in the middle of the paladin swarm, was Aster. The elf matron was in cleric armor, old-style that was chunky but still light for the elves that wore it, with a mace at her side. She marched with flushed cheeks, which could have been anger or something else. 

“She’s there, alright. And she looks like she’s ready to take it seriously now.”

“Great. That’s gonna be [i]fun.[/i]”

“Remember, we’re just going to run. Lead them away,” she said as she cancelled out the spell. “We’re not fighting her.”

“Not if we don’t have to, yeah, but if she gets close…”

There was a definite edge to the hobgoblin’s voice that hadn’t been there before, and she shivered. Not entirely in fear, either, but in a strange sort of pleasure. That sort of protectiveness was flattering, particularly when he was willing to visit that sort of pain on other people for her sake. At the same time, she knew that she’d need to keep a handle on that. She might be the one wearing the leash, but she still had to pull him back. 

“Let’s try not to let it come to that.”

They got to their feet, waiting as the light moved closer and closer. It didn’t move too quickly, which meant that the paladins and Aster believed that they had time before the ‘monsters’ packed up and left. At the rate they were moving, they would probably reach the campsite about an hour after the hobgoblins had packed up and left. And if it was just the hobgoblins retreating, that would probably be fine; they could keep up that lead for a while, and the paladins would eventually have to give up. 

The problem was, she knew, that there were townsfolk that didn’t know how to keep up a forced march for any length of them. They’d fall short, the hobgoblins would be persuaded to slow down to keep them safe, and the whole group would be caught in short order. The paladins would mete out Aster’s punishments, and that would be devastating to all of them. 

[i]If we don’t lure them in a different direction, then the whole group is doomed.[/i]

She’d just have to be very, very tempting. Hazel hesitated, then held out her hand to Vakrozad. 

“The pendant.”

“What?”

“Give me the pendant.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to piss her off.”

“…Heh, good reason.”

The pendant came free, probably having hung from his belt or something after they’d gotten it loose, and she took it in hand. She could still feel the holy power that was embedded in it, but now that it wasn’t hanging from her neck, she could tell more of what it was. Something that submitted someone to a hierarchy, something that dropped someone into a proper place in a herd, something that forced one into a worshipful haze that they didn’t need to be in just to keep them obedient. 

It was laced with dozens of different, subtle charm spells that would have kept even a wise wizard chained. Yet, despite that, she felt shame for having fallen into it so easily. She should have noticed, should have realized something…

[i]Aster…you really are a bitch…[/i]

And a truer bitch than she was, despite her canine features. She shook her head, clenching her hand tightly around the pendant as they waited for the other woman to finally show herself. 

It didn’t take that long. Soon, the army of paladins stepped through the trees ahead, and Hazel stood up fully. She held the pendant over her head, a bit of holy light streaming between her fingers. The armored elves turned to look, then to stare, mostly at her naked body. Some, however, saw the pendant, and they ran back through their ranks, doubtlessly seeking the priestess. 

“Good evening,” she said, at a loss for anything else to say. “As you can see, I’m no longer one of the collared prisoners of your high priestess.”

They didn’t respond. Some pulled their swords free, and some began the process of nocking arrows to their bows. She tried not to let her fear show on her face, and she was pretty sure that she succeeded. After all, a slightly canine face as she had now was probably harder to read. 

“As you can see…I’m free. And considering what you were doing to me, that makes us enemies.”

“Monster,” one of the paladins said. 

“Succubus,” another accused her of being. 

She didn’t quite shiver, nor did she quite gasp, but the insults were having a strange effect on her. She could feel her sex plumping up, getting thicker, puffier. She could feel the arousal running down there, and she didn’t like it. The feeling was…well, intense, to put it mildly, and she pulled her legs together a bit tighter as a result. 

“So…If you want the hobgoblins, if you want your revenge, you know who you have to chase. Oh, and one more thing.”

Reaching down, she pulled Vakrozad to stand beside her. The massive, orange-skinned man loomed even taller than she did, and he grinned as he looked down at the paladins. His recent scars stood out despite her magic, and she ran her fingers across his chest to show them off. 

“He just broke through the front door of your temple. He is the one with the blood on his hands. He is the beast…and I am the beauty…” She smiled. “Come and get us.”

“Get her!”

And with Aster’s shout as she came barreling through the ranks of the paladins, the chase was on. Vakrozad and Hazel ran, and the paladins chased after them. 

#

The arrows were the worst part. The swordsmen were well enough behind them that they were able to outrun them, to keep ahead of the darting stabs and thrown knives that were sent their way, but the archers were much harder. They kept having to run between the trees, throwing themselves behind one trunk after another to keep the pelting shafts from hitting them. More than once, the bladed edges of the arrowhead cut one of them across the arm or side, but never enough to give a serious injury. Just enough for pain. 

She was acutely aware of the similarity between this chase and their vision together all that time ago. The fires in the distance, the burning sky, the forest ahead that was their only salvation: it was all the same. She could hear the shouting from behind, mobs of people running with the paladins, the townsfolk pushing to take revenge for what had been stolen from them, and trying to prove their loyalty at the same time. 

They were going to find that it wasn’t that simple. Aster wasn’t that forgiving. 

They jumped over a stream, only for her to feel a sudden line of heat across her upper arm. Hazel grabbed at her left shoulder, feeling the blood under her fingers. The urge to heal it rose, but she pushed it down. It was minor, not enough to worry about right then. She needed to hold her magic for later. 

Forward, forward, forward. Vakrozad followed at her side, sometimes pulling away to find cover from the latest arrow barrage, but always coming back to her. They ran together, touching, reminding each other where to go. She would point to the next turn, the next climb, always keeping him on track, and he – 

“Down!”

Hazel threw herself forward, sliding through mud, her breasts aching from the pebbles and the grains in the muck. Vakrozad, however, swept his sword through the space she’d been standing, cutting through a celestial mount and sending the paladin on it falling to the ground. A large orange foot stomped the helmeted figure further into the ground, either killing him or knocking him out. 

She didn’t know which one, and for her conscience’s sake, she didn’t want to ask. She took his hand, got up, and kept running. 

They left most of the forest behind, coming to the rock walls that she remembered from the vision. Following it, they heard the paladins catching up. The arrows were falling closer now, landing between them, almost taking them in the chest at several points. She looked back, saw that some of the paladins were coming on holy mounts, taking the chance that the rising ground provided to get out of the trees and close the distance. 

[i]No, no, no, we’re so close.[/i]

She looked back at the rock wall, hoping that there was something, anything. And there was. Carved into the rock was an image of a hound, one with its face pointed to the left. Desperate for any direction, she followed it, and found another, and another, and another. The pack of hounds guided her along the rock wall, up through a path that she hadn’t seen, and then – 

“Be Welcome, Ye Pack…and Herd.”

Vakrozad was the one to read it, and she saw that there was that slight addition to what they had seen in the vision, two words that hadn’t been there before. She didn’t know if that meant that Aster would be able to follow or if it just meant that it needed a follower from each group to step inside, but either way, they ran forward. 

Shoom. 

And just like that, a barrier of blue and red appeared behind them. Hazel panted as she looked over her shoulder, seeing a barrage of arrows coming. They flew towards the barrier – 

Crack, snap, clatter. 

Only to shatter as soon as they made contact, falling down in little pieces on the ground. A paladin reached the barrier and slammed his blade against it, only for it to rebound. Two dismounted, trying to step inside, but they failed. The barrier of holy and unholy energies kept the paladins on the other side. 

Panting, the two of them glanced at each other. They had more time, now, time that they hadn’t had before. They slumped back against the walls, huffing for breath. For the first time, they let a little of their exhaustion show. 

The paladins broke ranks as Aster walked up to the sealed tunnel mouth. The elf looked at the glowing energy, pressing her hand to the blue. For a moment, it stretched inwards, almost like a bubble distending from something pressing on it from the outside, but then it pushed back, shoving her away. The older woman gasped, gripping her wrist as if she’d been stung by it. Hazel couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“Heh…looks like you needed to be quicker,” she said. 

“A hound will not long outrun the hunters,” Aster said. “And you have nowhere to go.”

“Oh, I don’t know. There’s something big further in, after all.”

“Something that will see your impurity and handle you the way that you deserve. The way that I [i]should[/i] have handled you.”

“…”

“Go on, if you’re brave enough. Or come out, and face your proper punishment.”

She could feel the power of the pendant trying to rise up her arm, trying to take her and make her obey. She looked down at it, and then out at Aster. Then, she shook her head. 

“I’ll take my chances with our god, thanks.”

“My god, little bitch. He has turned his eyes from you.”

“I think that the barrier between us says otherwise.”

“…You are lost if you think that.”

[i]And so are you, if you think that your way is the real way.[/i]

Shaking her head, she dragged herself to her feet. She could have left it there, but there was some part of her, perhaps the beast part, that needed to do something else, needed to show just how displeased it actually was. Hazel fixed Aster with a firm glare, then held her fist in front of her lips, licking over it like she had done to the other woman’s asshole so many times in her slavery. 

The blush that gave the old woman was more than worth it.

“Set up camp,” Aster ordered as Hazel turned away. “We’ll wait them out.”

They would be waiting for some time, she was sure. The vision had made it very clear that the tunnel down to the Primal Point was very long, and that they would face a number of dangers. She looked down the dark tunnel, and then back to her companion. Vakrozad chuckled, offering her his arm, and she took it as they walked further into the dark. 

#

In the distance, among the hobgoblins and refugees, Tristan managed to keep up with Mol. It was difficult, considering that he had worked himself into a desk job, but his body remembered the motions and movements and cadences of a hard march, and he was able to adjust. He shook his head as he looked over his shoulder, however, hoping that Hazel was alright. 

“Thinking of your bitch?” 

He stumbled at Mol’s question, glancing at the hobgoblin seer. She was keeping pace easily with him, and with the warriors. Even with her age, she seemed to push herself as hard as the others. Shaking his head, he found his footing again, going back to running normally. 

“I’m worried about her.”

“Heh, Vakky will take care of her.”

“I’m not worried about that.”

“What, you think she’ll do something stupid?”

“I think she overestimates how much other beings care for us.”

“Oh…that.”

“I’m sure you’ve made something work with Melchiresa, but –”

“Nah, Melchi’s a bitch and a half until we’ve had it out every time. I get what you’re saying. Think she’s gonna ask your Erastil for something stupid?”

It was more than that. Erastil was the god of the home, of family, of the group. There was kindliness there, but he had always been aware of how much of that was interpretation of the text. He and Aster had read the same writings, after all, and he had believed that there was a great open-hearted intention behind the texts. Aster had seen something else, something that demanded an exclusion for the sake of safety and unity. 

He worried that Hazel believed that a mortal interpretation of what a god actually meant was more binding than it was. If she believed that was all that Erastil was…they were in trouble. 













[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: Hazel and Vakrozad work out what they are to one another, then lead the church paladins on a merry chase. 

Tags: F/solo, heat, wet, hobgoblin, half-elf, transformed, dog cunt, dog pussy, dog anatomy, paladins, elf, human, fantasy, series, barefoot, danger, magic,