Ambush by hanlik_arts

Tekia led me down the other side of the hill, past several trees toward a pair of trees connected by a set of bushes that formed a nice cozy little cubby.  We couldn’t have asked for a better spot, and I think Tekia knew that.  She kept grinning like a happy idiot as she pulled me into it, laying down on the forest floor and bringing me down on top of her as we proceeded to make out.

We writhed about on the ground, joined together at the mouth as I played with her body, lightly tickling her ribs and toying with her breasts, while her legs moved back and forth along my flanks, and her hands explored every inch of my back.  She squeaked and whimpered into my mouth, and started lifting her crotch up off the ground to rub against mine.

I started moving lower down her body, planting kisses along her neck and collarbone, and was eagerly anticipating getting down to her breasts—when she suddenly shrieked, “CLAY!!!!”

I suddenly sprang up, rolling off her, to greet the sight of exactly what had just frightened her so much.  And I immediately froze in place, not daring to give the three long spears that were pointed at me any chance to find their target.

Before us were the snarling, toothy faces of three huge, four-legged reptilian creatures, nearly as big as horses, with legs that were shaped and bent like a dog’s, apart from the long talons that gripped the dirt.  The sight of them brought back haunting memories of the churudi that had nearly eaten me all those months ago, only these were bigger and even uglier.  And mounted in saddles on the backs of these hideous creatures were three men, all of them with shaved heads and covered head-to-toe in some kind of black paint, broken only by white streaks of paint extending from their shoulders down across their chests that resembled claw marks.  Each of them had about three or four skulls of various creatures hanging from their saddles, along with some pouches of animal hide containing rope and knives.  And each of them had a long spear leveled at us.

“Jon fragas! <Don’t move!>” one of them barked, as if we needed to be told that.

Tekia’s breathing was heavy and panicked, but she looked like she was trying to hold it in, as if the spears pointed at her breast might move closer if she breathed too much.  I’m sure I was doing much the same.  But through that controlled breathing, she carefully tried to explain that we were part of the Kuwazieh for the Veseed of Jivalika.  I’m not sure if that interested the spearmen, but they started talking to each other about something, in voices too hushed for me to make out.

“Pak! <Up!>” one of them said, making an upward motion with his spear.  As stiffly as we could, Tekia and I rose to our feet, keeping our hands steady, as another of the marauders dismounted his snarling reptile and grabbed a handful of rope from his saddle.  He approached Tekia, and when he grabbed her wrist and yanked her toward him, I briefly was stupid enough to follow my first instinct.

“Don’t touch her!” I barked, lunging forward and shoving him away from her.

Immediately one of the spears jerked forward, and I recoiled back with a sharp yelp as the spear point drew a thin line of blood across the top of my left pectoral.  I looked down at the scratch for a second, and then back up at the fierce scowl of the marauder who had given it to me, and the bloodthirsty snarl of the creature he was riding.  “Jon fragas!” he repeated.

Frowning helplessly, I put my hands back up, and watched as the dismounted marauder took hold of Tekia’s wrists again.  As he began binding her wrists together, Tekia began telling him in her fiercest voice that the rest of our hunting party was only a short distance away, and she had only to shout and they would be on them in seconds.

The marauder on the right moved his spear point within inches of her throat, and coolly warned that if she made a sound he’d feed his spear right down her gullet before she could blink.  Tekia swallowed hard, and fell dead silent.

We’d been caught off guard, unarmed, and completely unprepared.  We hadn’t even bothered to let anyone know where we were going, because we’d wanted a moment alone.  It hadn’t seemed like a big deal at the time.  Now…

As much as it pained us, we were completely at the mercy of these painted goons. 

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