Post by Elkat on Apr 17, 2009 0:58:38 GMT -5
Tiger Tribe
By YuriNeko, a Team Dragon doujinshi circle
By YuriNeko, a Team Dragon doujinshi circle
Prologue:
Long ago,” the archeologist wrote in his journal. He sat in an overstuffed chair facing a writing desk that had been placed in the back of a deep cave. A single candle lit the area bright enough for him to write and read, but not enough to reveal more than anything in a five foot radius. Rolled across the desk was a large map he had drawn himself depicting a single large continent. “Agyanu and its neighboring island nations was once a single super continent that we have come to call ‘Jura Gaia’. It was ruled by many long extinct and large animals among them a species of archosaurs known as dinosaurs. These beasts, however have been studied and documented endlessly and I fear I must turn my attention to the existence of sentient people during this era or maybe just one of them in general. Originally I had wanted to research my people, but I stumbled across another species; one that hasn’t been seen in Agyanu since its creation during the Great Shattering.
“I call them kattai, meaning “cat-tailed’ in common after the fact that the first fossil I discovered in the Magami Desert had a long feline tail extending from its coccyx. Later discoveries revealed they also had a pair of feline ears located in the topmost center of their skulls, though besides on their scalp, the back of their ears, tails and possibly groins, they seem to be hairless like most other humanoid races. In the hundreds of fossils I’ve unearthed and the countless ancient forms of documentation (cave etchings and pelt tapestries), I have yet to find any evidence suggesting male kattai existed, leading me to the farfetched conclusion that male kattai possibility didn’t exist. This would mean they would have to reproduce some other means than normal since there’s little record of half breeds to exist. Many possible theories come to mind, but none seem sound enough logically to be possible. I’ll have to research more into this.
“In the meantime, I’ve learned that there exist at least three tribes of kattai, to which I have named after a wild cat out similarities in the fur patterns seen in the few mummified bodies I’ve found by luck. Among those three tribes, I have focused my research on the Tiger tribe…”
Tribe: Declarations of Love and War
Toragi ran for her life, chased by an unseen predator. Her heart as adrenaline surged through her veins. No matter how quickly she ran, it doggedly kept in pace with her. No matter what she did, she couldn’t loose it. No number of abrupt turns, weaving, or jumping could loose it. In fact she feared that she just disoriented herself. It felt like she had been running for all eternity without rest. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep this up, but she knew that if she stopped death would claim her. Please last a little longer, she begged her body; just a little longer!
Soon the forest before began to part, revealing a faint light. Hoped filled her heart, boosting her body and giving her the strength to continue. With a burst of energy, she raced to the light. As she sprinted she saw a figuring lying before her. As she drew closer to the figure, she could tell that it was a body. It wasn’t until she stood beside the body did she recognize it.
Her eyes widened in horror as the color drained from her face. It was Torahime, Toragi’s life mate. She laid in a crimson pool, a spear protruding from a wound in her chest, piercing the heart. Toragi fell to her knees, tears streaking down her face. Cradling the dead kattai’s head in her arms, she sobbed, no long caring if she lived or died.
The light that had been a beacon of hope for her grew brighter and hotter, in truth no more than the wild fire that she had unknowingly been trying to escape. The wild fire surrounded them in matter of seconds, but Toragi no longer cared. All she had to live for was gone. She just sat and sobbed, awaiting death come to here.
“Gi-chan wake up! It’s just a dream!” a familiar voice cried out.
***
Before Toragi’s dream it’s gruesome conclusion, she was shaken awake. Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself lying in her hut atop of the pelts that made her bed. At an arm’s reach laid two sets of clothes and weapons. “H-Hime-san!” She cried, looking about the hut frantically.
“I’m right here,” whispered the soft voice of the beautiful young kattai from her dream. She had long black hair, soft golden skin, gentle brown eyes, pale, ample breasts and tiger stripes on the sides of her face. She stood over Toragi on her hand knees, a concerned look in her eyes.
“Hime-san!” Toragi exclaimed, relieved. Though Toragi didn’t like to cry in front of others, there was no stopping it. The dream had seen so real and she really thought had she lost her forever.
“It’s ok,” Torahime said with a warm smile. Lovingly liking the tears away from her young lover’s face, her hands rubbed the girl’s back comfortingly.
“I-I’d dream that you’d-” Toragi was cut off by another sob.
“Don’t worry, it’s alright. It’s just a dream,” Torahime cooed. Once the girl calmed down no long had any tears for her lick up, her tongue moved to her lips, passing between them without meeting any resistance, turning into a French kiss. Hands that sought soothe the girl now turned to please her, making down her body to her breasts and thighs.
Toragi, realizing that she had dropped her guard and left her self vulnerable to Torahime’s sexual advances, simply gave in. After seeing her beloved life mate’s corpse in her dream, she had no desire to resist. Arching her back, she sought to return the affection.
Before the two girls could completely indulge themselves in each other’s bodies, the faint light of dusk peered into the dark hut as someone entered. “The mating moons have yet to wax and the tigresses already seek the pleasures of each other’s secret grottos,” the newcomer said with an inappropriately amused tone. It was a kattai girl with shoulder length black hair and eyes that seemed to be always closed. She wore the generic pelt brassiere and loincloth that all kattai of the era dressed in along with a pelt scarf, kimono-style sleeves and baggy, toeless socks. Several pouches containing an assortment of medicinal herbs and other ingredients hung from her waist attached to the thin strings holding her loincloth together.
“Qi-san!” Toragi cried, blushing deeply. She had known the shaman since they were children, allowing her to user a more casual honorific than others of the tribe.
“Ero-Qi-sama,” Torahime moaned under her breath, not amused to their “private time” being interrupted.
If the shaman took any insult to the rude nickname, she didn’t show it. “The mountains of the west have blown their tops and now spew molten fire down their sides. It sets all that touches on fire and slowly encroaches towards us,” the shaman announced in a grim voice. “We must leave or else be destroyed.”
The two lovers stared at the shaman, mouths agape. They hurriedly got dressed and armed themselves. Toragi wore a headband around her short black hair, a pair of short fingerless gloves and short toeless socks and carried a spear. Toragi wore a pelt collar, long fingerless gloves and long toeless socks with a quiver of arrows strapped to her back a bow in her hand. In the rush, they barely gave the shaman to move out of the way before rushing out to tear the hut down and bundle it up.
The tribe was presently residing in a small glade surrounded by a ring of closely growing trees that insured them protection from large predators. All the other tribeswomen seemed to have already been warned as they had already dressed and torn their huts down. They stood watching the black smoke rise into the darkening sky from the west.
“We’re not entirely sure, but we’ve calculated that at a normal rate, the molten fire will reach the forest in three to four days, but a number of unforeseen factors can increase or reduce the time unpredictably,” said two identical looking twins at the same time. Their hair pulled up into a pair of buns on the backs of their heads close to the neck in some fashion similar to Chinese “ox horns”. Each carried a pelt satchel containing any number of their various creations and a hollowed log strapped to their backs which they claimed to be their ultimate weapon. None have seen what this weapon has done, but many are skeptical that it either won’t work or end up killing them by accident (of course many hoped for the first since the twins were loved members of the tribe despite their eccentricity.)
“Where will we go?” Torahime asked.
“To the east as said the prophecy that has been passed from one generation of shamans to the next: ‘When the night is lit by the smoldering mountains the moon followers shall find sanctuary in the east!” The shaman said, pointing in some random direction.
“But isn’t that west?” Toragi asked.
“Eh… I was just testing you!” Toraqi said with nervous laugh.
“Ero-Qi-sama will lead us to our deaths,” Torahime said, sighing. The twins nodded in agreement, thinking the exact thing.
Without another word, the tribe set out to the east.
The first half of the night passed uneventfully. The tribe, traveled by tree, knowing that any number of predators prowled the forest floor. To cover as much ground as possible in a single night, they limited their breaks to eating and sleeping, where those who urgently had to relieve themselves were forced to partner up for safety and make sure they make it quite or else be left behind.
At midnight the tribe decided to break for their nocturnal lunch. Deciding upon a meeting place, they broke off into hunting groups which the size varied on the situation. Sense they were unsure if any large predators had taken residence presently, Toragi, Torahime, Toraqi and the twins formed a single party.
Cautiously they moved through the forest, searching for anything eatable, preferably meat except for Toragi disliked killing no matter the situation. Not before long, they discovered a number of meat melons lying on the forest floor. The large spherical fruit had a pinkish-yellow skin that reminded them of mortal flesh and a tasted ever so mysteriously like actually meat, making for quite the substitute, especially with Toragi.
Slowly they descended the tree they stood in, and crept towards the melons, occasionally throwing a cautious glance behind them to insure there was no predators close. Toragi, who was the first down, began to check if the melons were ripe. She discovered upon picking one up that they had cut from their original vine and purposely arranged there… as bait. Before Toragi could shout a warning to the rest, the trap was triggered.
Several tall, reptilian humanoids carrying a variety of weapons leapt from cover pits they had been hiding in until just now. There were ten of them, each impossible to tell if they either male or female except by what was hidden behind their pelt loincloths.
“Lizara!” Toragi said, gasping. She had heard of them, but never thought she would ever see them. They were a race of mountain dwelling lizard-folk who preyed on anything that moved. They weren’t particularly intelligent, but were known to make-up for it with cunning, tenacity, and hunting in large numbers.
“They’re sooner than we expected,” the twins said at the same time, looking to each other worriedly.
“Please we don’t want to hurt you!” Toragi said, hoping that they could be reasoned with.
“SSSorry, but we don’t like to wassste our breath talking to our prey,” one of the lizara said with a toothy smile.
“Hm… I think this would be a perfect opportunity to demonstrate our newest invention,” the twins said, each pulling a smaller spherical object from their satchels. “We call it smoke pellets!” Throwing the pellets into the ground, they shattered and created an instantaneous cloud of smoke that quickly enveloped both the kattai and the lizara.
The twins didn’t need to tell the rest to run since it was given. Quickly the nearest tree and began to race back to the village or so they hoped (one draw back of the pellet was that they were blinded themselves.
“Don’t let them essscape!” the same lizara hissed.
All lizara with spears hurled them, but with the smoke veil still in place, their aim was off, some nearly impaling their own by accident. However, by luck alone, one had hit one of the fleeing kattai mid leap from one tree to the next.
Torahime cried out in pain, clutching her thigh where the spear struck. Unfortunately the pain that jolted through her leg as she landed on the tree she leaped to caused it to gave way, throwing her off balance. Unable to catch herself, she fell to the ground, but not before twisting herself to best of her ability to reduce injuries caused by her landing.
With the smoke gradually fading and the wounded kattai in sight, the lizara cried out in glee and charged towards her.
“Hime-san!” Toragi cried in shock, images of the girl’s corpse flashing before her eyes.
“Leave her!” Toragi said, grabbing the girl before the arm before she jump to the rescue. “We must escape!”
“I can’t without her!” Toragi said, looking pleading at Toraqi.
“Don’t be stupid! Yes you can!” The shaman argued.
“Please!” Toragi begged, staring into Toraqi’s ever closed eyes.
With a sigh, the shaman let go. Turning to the twins she ordered, “Chi-san! Shi-san! Go back and get help! I’ll stay back with Gi-san to fend the lizara off and protect Hime-san!”
“Alright!” the twins answered, running off.
Toragi jumped to the forest floor before Torahime and held her spear out with shaking hands. She wasn’t a warrior or at all that brave. As she believed that she would more like survive by running away from danger than fighting, but she couldn’t abandon Torahime. Though she understood that there was only one law in this world, kill or be killed, she refused to live by and hoped even now that she would have to shed blood.
“No Gi-san; run!” Torahime cried seeing the girl standing over her defensively.
“I’m sorry Hime-san, but I can’t let you die again! I will protect the ones I love at the costs of my life!” Toragi declared with a cracking voice, her devotion unwavering.
The lizara, seeing Toragi’s bold stand, laughed at the futility of the notion. They outnumbered her ten to one- they discounted Torahime who was only equipped with a bow and was greatly at a disadvantage with the enemy.
“Foolish little girl, you’re bravado will kill you!” the lizara said.
The lizara rushed in, brandished their weapons and screaming battle cries.
Toragi, seeing death nearing, closed her eyes and held her spear stiffly out before her.
Toraqi, whom the lizara seemed to have not noticed, began praying. “Oh august ancestors, please grant your young descendants your divine aid!”
Suddenly a deep, thunderous roar echoed the forest. Appearing as though magic was a gigantic, phantasmal tiger that stood over the trio and glared at the charging lizara.
Toragi, opening her eyes, saw the massive beast with eyes filled with awe.
Though the lizara stopped mid-charge, but more to access the situation rather than from being paralyzed in shock. They were known to take on creatures many times larger than them and kill it by massive numbers and they were confident they could take it just the same.
Another roar echoed the forest as a second giant tiger appeared to lizara’s left.
Now their confidence began to waver. Where they could have taken down one with the lost of nearly have their numbers, they were not exactly sure if they could take down another one.
If wasn’t enough a third roar echoed through the forest and a third giant tiger appeared, this time to their right.
Without a doubt they knew there was no hope in surviving if they continued their attack. With priority of survival, they turned tail, but not before the lizara who seemed to be their leader announcing, “Thisss isss only the beginning, kattai!”
As the lizara fled, the phantom tigers turned their attention to the shaman.
“Thank you, oh august ancestors, we shall offer you a mighty tribute this night!” Toraqi said, bowing to them.
The tigers bowed their heads in returned and slowly faded away.
Toragi, who had been held herself bravely up till now, fell to her knees choking back tears of relief.
Torahime crawled over to Toragi and hugged her comfortingly.
“Consider yourself lucky. If Gi-san wasn’t so madly in love with you, I would have had left you to die!” the shaman said, jumping to ground. Opening one of her pouches, she withdrew the ingredients needed to creating a foul smelling, but fast working healing balm.
“Are really wanting to get rid of your only opponent that badly?” Torahime asked playfully. Bracing herself before, she pulled the spear out of her thigh and rolled the pierce sock down past the wound so that shaman could apply the balm.
“You talk as though I even consider you an opponent,” the shaman retorted, smearing the foul smelling ointment.
“You talk you like you don’t,” Torahime retorted in return.
“Um, what are you two arguing about?” Toragi asked, confused.
“Nothing!” The girls said simultaneously, much in the same fashion as Torachi and Torashi.
Once Torahime’s wound healed, the trio retreated back to where the melons were. Cautious of hidden lizara, they gathered the melons and hurried back to the rest of the tribe.