Vows
On that solemn note, now washed and filled and all but her as healthy as they would ever be, Nayeli ushered them back into the command tent, where she produced the marriage certificate from her habit.  “The promise your father made was kept,” Nayeli said quietly to Sarahi as the group gathered around in a little circle, except for Oro, who seated himself on the bed, “The price was paid.  I will swear to it before the Matriarch myself (may she live again) if ever anyone asks.  I say this so that it may be clear,” she met eyes with each of the assembled Ferruda as she spoke, “If any here are unwilling to enter this bond of matrimony, they may now leave with naught but gratitude and good will on my part.  I will not bind anyone to us who has hope of happiness elsewhere.”

Eyes widened.  The twins looked at each other briefly.  Tuli glanced at Sarahi, but the Sha'khari’s eyes never strayed from Nayeli.  “At this point,” the former princess said softly, “It would feel as though I were abandoning you, moreso than my duty, and I could not live my life in peace were that so.  I will see it through, come what may.”

There was a general consensus of nods among them.  Perhaps they had not come far with this pair yet...but having come even just this far, to a one they had decided to follow through.  Nayeli didn’t know whether to rejoice at their courage or despair on their behalf for their futures.  “Very well,” she continued instead, seating herself before them and unfolding the certificate, “Then to those assembled: do you solemnly swear to dedicate your life to this Rabbit, to be as ointment to his wound and sheath to his sword, so long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” they affirmed, though quietly, almost in unison.  Nayeli pricked her thumb with her own claw, and showed them how to mark the paper as a sign of their vow.  After each of them had done so, she turned her attention to the Rabbit sitting and scowling from the bed.

“And do you, Oro, swear to be as shield to their lives and shelter to their heads, so long as you both shall live?” she asked with just a hint of a plea in her voice, as though knowing full well he would not be so agreeable.

He did not disappoint her.  “Fusk no,” the Rabbit chuckled, “Here’s all the vow you’ll get from me: I’ll keep you alive long enough for you to see your world brought to ruin, outlasting all except Nayeli, so that she can watch me feed you to Gorgorond, one by one, with my own two hands.  This is the fate I will dedicate all my strength to reserving for you,” he finished with a savage smile.

Much to their surprise, with a slightly exasperated sigh, Nayeli handed him the certificate.  Oro slid the palm of his hand along the full length of his own blade, and squeezed such a gush of blood onto the page as to make their marks barely discernible.  Nayeli dutifully accept the blood-sodden paper back, folded it into its original thirds as neatly as she could manage, and laid it down in their midst with her hand upon it.  “Then...by the Authority, vested in me,” she began to intone, and a swell of power filled the room, “I proclaim these ‘husband’ and ‘wives’.  Let these vows be bound with the knot of Fate...”

Oro looked surprised.  “Wait, what are you doing?” he demanded suddenly, but the priestess ignored him and continued.

“...That they who break them shall die...,” the Lioness’ words felt harsh as knives, and each of those gathered felt them sheath in their heart.

Oro was on his feet now, sword drawn and raised as if to strike her down.  “Fool!  Don’t you dare!”

“...And if he fails his sacred oath, shall all but me go free!” Nayeli finished, quickly but fiercely, and a blaze of light engulfed the scarlet certificate, turning it momentarily golden, before it fluttered to the ground and the storm of blessing abated.

The demon-shrouded Rabbit looked fit to be tied.  “You...you...”  His sword was trembling in his hands, dangerously close to her neck.  With a furious snarl, he threw it blade-first through the canvas wall and stormed out of the tent.

“What did you do?” Sarahi asked, obviously shaken as she watched him go with a wary eye.  Nayeli didn’t seem to be in the best of shape, herself, breathing hard and doing her best to hide her face behind her arm as she wiped tears away.

“The best I can for you,” she said quietly, “If any of you dies before he has completed his mission, he also will perish, but the rest can go their way in peace.  He has no choice but to protect you now, to the very end...one way or another.”

“Except you,” Sarahi interjected, “You deliberately excluded yourself.  What happens to you if he fails?”

Taking a breath and finally steadying herself again, the Lioness looked her new companion in the eye.  “I will go with him, as I have everywhere he has gone since the day we met.  My vows are older and somewhat different from yours, so my fate was already sealed long before today.  Have no fear for me.”

The Sha'khari looked almost as furious as Oro had, through she kept it contained better.  “That...monster...has driven you mad,” Sarahi declared, feeling almost sick to her stomach now.  The way Nayeli calmly nodded without protest didn’t help.

“Very probably,” the priestess admitted, “I will try not to draw you into it as well.  Now...I should try to talk him into coming back to bed, so I can demonstrate our nightly routine.  He’s in exactly the sort of mood where he needs that in order to sleep soundly, which is the only way any of us is going to sleep soundly,” she warned, getting to her feet and dusting the grass from the back of her dress.

“No,” Sarahi interjected, also rising to her feet, “Stay here.  I’ll go fetch him.  I don’t think he’ll appreciate seeing you just now.”

Nayeli shook her head.  “Oh, he will despise the sight of me right now.  But for all he threatens me harm by the hour, he has only ever struck me once, so I think it would still be safer for me to go find him.  Understand, I have done all that I can to guarantee he will not kill you out of mere impatience...but it would be unwise to test how much he can make you live through.”

“What did you do that one time?” Tuli asked, sounding more curious than anything, “The time he hit you, I mean?”

The Lioness smiled softly.  “I already told you.  It was when he killed me.  Take some comfort in that,” she urged, then went out into the night accompanied stubbornly by Sarahi.  The three remaining in the tent had to admit they found it surprising that the temperamental Rabbit had enough self-control to go for so long without making good on any of his violent threats...

Outside, a royal mess had been made of the long dining table they’d used for dinner.  Surrounded by broken dishes and trampled food, the hardwood had been split down the middle by a crushing blow, then again between each of its legs, then several more times, leaving it little more than firewood waiting to be tossed into the bonfire.  The kobolds were scurrying about looking for more furniture or other large, sturdy things to bring to Oro, who alternated between smashing them with his fist and pulling them apart with his bare hands, teeth gnashing and eyes burning the entire time.  These reptilian minions seemed to think it was a terrific game, or perhaps a spectacle of their new god’s strength.

Spotting the two Ferruda approaching, Oro grabbed one of the legs of the former table with part of the top still attached, and swung as if to throw it mightily at them.  But he kept the arc long and hurled it into the bonfire instead, causing the entire burning pile to shift several inches to one side.  “Damn you, leash!  Damn your blessings and cunning!  Are you pleased?!  You struck a solid blow this time, I’ll give you that.”

She stopped while there was still a solid ten feet or so between them, smiling patiently and nodding acceptance of his strange compliment.  “No, it never pleases me to vex you.  But with all due respect, dear...I can’t trust you with anyone else’s life.  Each morning I wake up and wonder at the miracle of my continued existence.”

“You’ve got that right in more ways than you know,” the Rabbit snorted, looking daggers at Sarahi, “You and the rest of the tag-alongs had best be fusking grateful.  She just fusking muzzled me for your sake, making her the only one I can actually, safely, take my frustrations out on when I lose my temper.”

Sarahi was tempted to be surprised...but the longer she spent with these two, the less surprised she was that Nayeli had a thorough, subtle, self-sacrificing handle on her long-time ward.  “I thought you said he never hit you,” she looked accusingly at the priestess.

“He hasn’t,” Nayeli affirmed, “But there is no blessing or binding preventing him from such.  If he kills me...well, until a moment ago, he would have been free of all ties.  Now it just means he will have cut the only tie that won’t kill him in return.”

Despite what she’d thought just a second ago, Sarahi did blink in surprise at that.  “Wait...so this whole time you’ve been with him...he could have just...?”

Oro snorted again, this time in something more like amusement.  “She does a lot of strange things of her own free will, and is entirely too trusting in the goodwill of others.”

“And yet, here she stands,” Sarahi observed, honestly impressed...though whether with Nayeli’s courage or Oro’s self-restraint she couldn’t say.  She regretted it a moment later, as Oro’s hand closed tightly around her throat, pulling her head down to his level and filling her sight with his murderous yellow eyes.

“It would be unwise to think me soft,” he warned in a low voice, squeezing her throat tight enough to cut off her breath, “I still have a lot of the world to eat, so you can trust I won’t kill you blindly, but I can make you wish for death and then deny you that relief.”  With a terrifying strength, he turned, dragging her lower still, and forced her entire bestial body to fall and roll onto her back submissively just to avoid breaking her neck, while her hands dug uselessly at the arm clutching her throat.  “Have I made myself clear?”

Sarahi nodded quickly, and gasped a desperate breath as he released her, maintaining her defeated posture on the ground until she got her breath back.  Nayeli, standing quietly to the side, looked a little ashamed, but let the Rabbit have his say in his rough way.  “Oro, please come back to the tent.  It’s time for our ritual.”

“Fusk that,” Oro returned, “Coras’ scouts will be here soon, and I want to make sure they don’t interfere with my little ceremony in the morning,” he declared, as two of the kobolds milling about came forward offering to help Sarahi back to her feet.  She waved them off as she rolled her torso back under her, rubbing at what she was sure would become bruises on her neck.

“Scouts?” Nayeli tilted her head, for once not seeming to understand his thoughts.

“If they met any of the routed soldiers on the road, and they aren’t complete idiots, they will not approach this hill until daylight at the earliest.  But they’ll probably send a scout or two to try assessing the situation.  See if the dragon is still around, get a count of the kobolds, that sort of thing.  I intend to make sure they don’t—!”

She held a hand up in front of his nose to cut him off, moving gracefully in front of him and placing the other on his chest to stop his march.  “You know I cannot allow that,” she reminded him softly.  Though he had not said it explicitly, she knew all too well how he would stop the scouts from making their reports...

With a sneer, Oro swatted her hands away, though he also gestured for the kobolds starting to come to his aid to keep their distance.  “Fusking leash,” he sighed, laying a hand on her shoulder to push her aside, “Fine.  Do as you like.  Wake me when your precious soldiers start raining arrows on us.”

Nayeli nodded, letting him pass as he turned toward the tent...and cast a guilty glance to Sarahi as she fell in step beside the Ferruda.  “I am sorry,” the priestess said quietly, “I cannot always intercede against him, or his wrath will become truly explosive.  But I should have stepped in there.  It’s hard to judge how far to let him go at times.”

Sarahi shook her head.  “You warned us not to test him.  Consider the lesson learned,” she frowned, rubbing her throat some more, “Do you really think Coras will send scouts?”

“Well,” the Lioness sighed, “His reasoning is sound, though I had hoped to have men I’d trust more than kobolds guarding the camp tonight.  And I don’t know how we will be received in the morning, surrounded but untouched by what is effectively ‘the enemy’.  We may well become targets,” she admitted.

“There you are!” Tuli greeted them cheerfully as Oro shoved through the flap of the tent, “We were getting worried.”

“Idiot,” the rabbit snorted, climbing onto the bed and sitting cross-legged in the middle of it, where he could level a fiery glare at Nayeli as she followed him.

The priestess smiled at the other Ferruda.  “My apologies.  We had to have a brief talk before I could convince him to come back.  Thank you for waiting,” she told them as she gathered up the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head.  Handing the garment off to Diya, Nayeli crawled onto the bed in nothing but her underwear, and arranged herself with her back against the pillows and Oro leaning back against her.  The Rabbit rolled his eyes and actually looked mildly disgusted as she coaxed him into raising his arms and allowing her to pull his shirt off.  Then the Lioness pulled him back against her, his head pillowed between her breasts, and began gently running her hands over his exposed chest and belly.  “Our scent is carried in our sweat,” she remarked idly, more to the listeners gathered beside the bed than to Oro, “Particularly in our hands, feet, and neck.  But it also manifests in excitement...and especially in arousal.”  Moving her face up beside his cheek, she kissed him softly, a blush rising in her own cheeks as she continued to explain, “So I have made it a habit, every night, to hold him like this, and whisper the offerings of my body into his ear, and try to imagine what it might or might not be like on the night he finally sees fit to indulge me...or himself...in at last consecrating our marriage bed.”

“I live to devour and defile,” Oro growled at her, though his eyes were already beginning to droop even as she nodded her understanding, “You’ll have no satisfaction from me.”

“So you always say,” Nayeli agreed, rubbing her cheek against his as her hands reversed their journey, moving from his belly up his chest, along his shoulders and neck, to soothingly massage around his cheeks and chin and brow, “But I can still wish, and dream, and hope that one day your desire will change.  I wonder, when that happens, will you be gentle or—”

“I would ravage you like a wolf on a rabbit’s neck.  Pain and blood...look forward to...that,” he yawned before the last word, despite the venom in his voice, “Fusk...you like having an audience, huh?”

Her blush deepened, but she neither denied nor confirmed the suspicion.  “Shame is a privilege I am no longer entitled to,” the Ferruda observed, casting a brief glance to the other wives sitting around the tent on chairs and pillows and spare mattresses.  To a one, they each shared a bit of her embarrassed blush.  Diya and Kylan seemed to be trying to figure out where the most polite place to rest their eyes would be, while Tuli openly stared and even seemed a little excited by the display, tame though it may be.  Sarahi watched and listened with her face schooled into a cold, neutral stare, as though taking another lecture from her old tutors...but the color in her cheeks betrayed that she, too, could not ignore the sense of intruding on a very personal event.

Nayelli chuckled softly, giving another kiss to Oro’s neck as one of her hands cupped lightly over his nose.  “Deep breaths,” she whispered so that only he could hear.  While he obeyed, she spoke again to the room, “Don’t look away, and don’t be embarrassed.  This is a duty we share from now on.  This is how we put him to sleep each night, deep enough to leave him untroubled by dreams of blood or hunger, and thus afford ourselves a measure of rest.  Perhaps I won’t have to go to such lengths anymore, now that there are more of us,” she mused, shifting to accept his weight more comfortably as his eyes closed once more and then failed to open again, “...But I will, for I know it pleases you, in your own twisted way.  So sleep well, darling, until death or dawn finds us.”  She kissed the top of his head and removed her hand from his nose, holding him to her and quietly fussing with his short hair.  Sound asleep...well and truly asleep...he did indeed look nothing so much as sad and tired, as if from a long day’s work which yielded no product or progress.

Sarahi tilted her head.  It struck her as subtly wrong.  Not ten minutes ago she had personally experienced the terrible strength this wiry-looking Rabbit possessed, and every word of his lips and shift of his eyes screamed that he loathed this “ritual” of hers, which consigned him to helpless unconsciousness.  And yet, despite all that, he lay in perfect submission to her touch throughout the whole ordeal.  Not so much as a shrug, much less a push, or any attempt to escape.

In spite of his vile and abusive nature, she loved him.  Was it even remotely possible that, in spite of her role and duty, he also...?

“Tomorrow night,” Nayeli’s voice interrupted the Sha'khari’s pondering, “I would like for us all to participate in this together.  I don’t expect anyone to carry it quite as far as I do.  It will be enough to be physically close, even if you aren’t comfortable being undressed.  But he is our husband.  I hope that, in time, each of you can become comfortable with that.”

Kylan cleared his throat with a soft cough, eyes pointedly fixed on a spot in the canvas, with his hands clenched firmly over the cloth of his dress between his legs.  “What...what can I do?  I have no scent, and I...uh...”  His hands squirmed a little over the cloth.  “You all affect me, too,” he added quietly, more than a little embarrassed.

The priestess nodded sympathetically, her eyes never straying from the Rabbit in her arms.  “Rub his feet, perhaps, or his legs,” she suggested thoughtfully, “Anything that will relax and soothe him.  I admire your willingness simply to endure this with us.”  In a softer voice, she added, “The burden you bear will be different from ours, I’m afraid...and possibly heavier.  It cannot be helped.  But please remember that I will hold nothing against you, neither look nor touch, so don’t be ashamed to seek relief when you can no longer bear it.  If you wish me to provide it, I will.”

That caused them all to blink in surprise, not least Kylan, whose blush had suddenly spread from his cheeks to the entirety of his face and neck.  “Er...no, I don’t...think that will be necessary.  Thank you, though,” he answered very softly, staring now at his own feet out of an inability to look her in the eyes.  Diya gave him an encouraging pat on the back, while Nayeli just smiled knowingly.

“I am committed to him first and foremost,” the priestess went on, at last taking her eyes away from her husband to meet theirs sincerely, “But I am also married to you now.  We are all wed to one another.  So I make this offer to all of you, not just Kylan.  If my body can bring you comfort or mirth, I will give it to you gladly.  I am sure you will do the same for each other as well, should the need arise.”  Something seemed to occur to her then, drawing her eyes back to Oro with a sour look.  “Ah...there is one pairing I would like to discourage, but I am certain it is only a matter of time before it occurs to him.  When it does, he will most likely demand it,” her look of displeasure grew the more she considered it, “In fact, he is more likely to demand it than any other expression of intimacy, simply to spite my sensibilities.  So, Diya, be prepared to accept your brother as well...”

The twins were a mirror image of each other, now, both looking at their feet and trying not to squirm in their discomfort.  “Yeah,” the female mixed-breed admitted quietly, “I was kind of already bracing for the possibility.”  Kylan’s gaze snapped to her with a disbelieving look.  His sister could only shrug in response.  “You can’t deny he’s the type.  Before I even went back for you, he basically threatened to have us both at the same time...I figured it wouldn’t be much of a leap from there.”

As distasteful as Kylan obviously found the idea, Diya seemed to become downright depressed at the thought, and it was finally her brother’s turn to offer a consoling pat on the back.  “Hey...uh...at least you’ll know who you’re bedding from now on, right?”

That earned surprised looks from the other three females gathered around, and a wince from his sister, and the poor boy instantly and dearly regretted his words.  “What did you mean by that?” Sarahi probed, meaning to be gentle but carrying all the ominous tones of suspicious royalty.

Diya sighed, her shoulder slumping a bit.  “Before I got on as a servant at the castle, I earned bread for a while by selling...’pleasures’,” she grimaced at the euphemism, “The pay was pretty good, but some nobles are kind of messed up.  Guess that goes without saying if they wanted my figure at all,” she gestured to her small stature and very modest breasts, “I was glad to find more legitimate work, even if it barely kept us fed.  I guess it all worked out in the end.  I am definitely not afraid to be taken to bed...though I’d still much prefer it not be my brother’s.”

Sarahi, sitting behind the pair, pinched her ear.  “So help me, if you adopt her habit of making wine out of poison, I will never forgive you,” the Sha'khari growled, nodding toward Nayeli.  Then, with a sigh, she let go of her growing outrage.  “Enough of such dismal thoughts.  Can we go to bed now?”

Nayeli nodded, her eyes full of nothing but pity for all three of them.  Some had been misused because of their heritage, some were disappointed to find the skeletons in the closets of those who must have, at one time, been acquaintances, if not friends.  All were now bound to a monster.  It had been a long, hard two days.  Sleep was exactly what they all needed.

With some effort, Nayeli got the blanket out from under herself and Oro, laying the Rabbit down on the pillow beside her.  Tuli came and joined them, stretching out on her side at the priestess’ back.  She patted Nayeli’s shoulder through the blanket before settling in.  “I think it’s admirable that you can make wine out of poison,” the busty Ferruda told her companion encouragingly.  Nayeli smiled and nodded her head, tucking in against Oro silently.

Sarahi and the twins curled up on the pair of mattresses the kobolds had brought in earlier, the Sha'khari dragging an equally large blanket over all three of them.  The curve of her body with the blanket over it made a kind of tent for the smaller Ferruda, who gladly took shelter in the warm space.  Before she finished settling in, though, Sarahi reached out and gently rubbed the ear she’d pinched on Diya.  “I’m sorry,” she apologized quietly, and sincerely, “I should not have said that.  I just...thought better of my city, before today.  It takes both courage and kindness to make the best you can of such bad situations.  I hope you continue to have both.”

“It’s okay,” Diya answered, taking the hand from her ear and holding it reassuringly, “I never thought I’d hear actual royalty say the kinds of things you said when Oro picked you, or take the kind of stand you took.  I know we’re all vagabonds now...but you’ll always be a princess to me, so keep showing people how royalty ought to behave.”  Comforted and reconciled, all of them soon fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.