TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 01

I'm back and I've brought with me Book 2 of The Runesmith Chronicles: Searching for the Sky!

Please forgive the long Foreword but there are a couple of things I want to let you all know before you jump back into Kal's adventures.

As you will see, the sexy times will still play a pretty big role in the story. However, I want to focus more on the story itself from here out, so I plan on dialing back the number of intense, graphic sex scenes. Perhaps one every few chapters instead of one per chapter. I'm hoping this doesn't upset anyone too much as I've had a number of people mention that I could leave them out altogether (I won't be doing that!)

I also want to mention that I'm looking at this as Kal is out of the kiddie pool, tutorial area, pick your metaphor. He will be dealing with larger cities and all of the different types of people and dangers that go along with them. Things may get a bit darker than in Oni and the Farmer but won't get too extreme.

On a final note, there will be some quick rehashing of things that happened in book one for the sake of new readers. Rest assured, it's not because I think my current readers have poor memories. :D

I update my bio with news on current projects and stories each time I post a new chapter.

Enjoy!

Blu

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Edited by: Old Fart

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Chapter 1

The young man was led from the tiny 'greeting room,' where he had been checked for weapons, into the main kennel. The smell inside was oppressive, a mixture of urine, sweat, dried saliva, and sex fluids. The lack of ventilation made the pungent odors so strong it quickly started to burn the man's eyes. The disgusting excuse of a human who led him into this hellhole didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest. This seemed poetic in that this type of environment was where people like him belonged. At the same time, it annoyed the man in the black cloak with its red trim, the wretch in front of him should be the one feeling like he was about to choke on the miasma within the room, not him.

"Oi, here's Sylus, our 'salesman' if you will," the customer's dirt-smeared guide presented the man walking towards them. This new person seemed to care at least partially for his appearance, having only about half of the stains on his tunic than the greeter.

The smile on the man's face was all too familiar to the cloaked figure, something he couldn't have said only a few months ago when he set out on this journey. He had quickly discovered that his upbringing in a small farming town had left him ill-equipped to deal with the intrigue of being in a city. It had only taken hours for him to have his magical bag of holding stolen, the ties keeping it on his belt deftly cut as he was receiving directions to a reputable inn from a street merchant. Thankfully, he kept a second coinpurse in a hidden pocket sewn into his cloak. He'd only had to wait until sundown before a small speck of light came flying in through his window at the inn and landed in his hand where it transformed into his bag of holding. The reaming he got from the bag's spritely avatar for losing her so quickly was deserved in his opinion.

Unfortunately, the young man was forced to learn most of the lessons of city life the hard way. Among the city dwellers, he often saw acts of kindness and altruism, but that was only between those who lived there. A stranger such as himself was not privy to their goodwill and often time was merely seen as a mark who needed to be relieved of his coin, be it through theft, increased prices, or force. Those who attempted the latter quickly discovered that while the young man was naïve, he was far from helpless.

Standing before him, Sylus's grin was identical to those worn by merchants convinced they were about to make a lot of money off of a fool.

The salesman waved off the greeter and the foul man slunk back to his hole of a room to wait for the next customer he would need to check. The cloaked figure had hoped that the repulsive human would take some of the stench with him when he left, sadly, the nauseating fumes stayed. "Welcome," said the man, extending his hand. "What breed of bitch would you be interested in good sir?"

The young man glared at the salesman's hand as though it were about to grow fangs. "I'm here for a dog, not pleasantries. Get on with it, the air here offends me," he said, sniffing in the man's direction.

To his credit, Sylus took the insult in stride. "Straight to business I see. We have a variety of bitches to choose from," he said leading the young man further into the room.

Lining the walls of the room were kennels that were more akin to stalls with wooden slats separating each of the occupants. The cloaked figure could see a small pile of hay used for bedding near the back while three buckets sat next to the iron grate doors. The first was filled with water and the second contained something that vaguely resembled food, the third bucket sat a small way away from the other two and seemed to be where the strong scent of urine was coming from.

Within each of the kennels was a woman, their canine ears and tails immediately marking them as dog girls. Heavy chains anchored at the back of the kennel were attached to collars and only allowed the girls to come within about a single pace of the iron doors. While most huddled in the backs of their cells, the most miserable of the girls were the ones who turned around and pressed their backsides up against the iron bars, looking over their shoulders with a mix of hope that one of the humans would state their body's desires and shame that they had been reduced to such behavior. Only those who appeared the most docile and broken showed little signs of abuse.

All of the girls were somewhere between their human and dog girl forms, which was odd from what the cloaked man had seen and read about. Dog girls were one of the species of monster girls with limited shapeshifting abilities. They were able to change their legs from human to canine, though they could still stand upright while their legs were dog-like. Their forearms could also lengthen slightly as their hands turned into paws, allowing them to walk or run on all fours. When changing, the affected limbs would also grow or lose fur. From what he knew this shift was always done completely, yet everywhere he looked they seemed to have stopped mid-transformation. A couple of them even had one leg that was human while the other was canine, giving them an awkward gait as they moved that was disconcerting to watch.

The young man's face was impassive as he looked at each of the dog girls in turn. He realized partway through his inspection that none of them were speaking, whimpers, barks, and howls were all that ever came out of their mouths. The man's eyes narrowed, he could tell that most, if not all of them, had the ability to speak, however, it was plain that they had been conditioned to not do so.

"... as you can see we have whatever stage you might desire from completely broken sex slaves, ready to offer up a warm wet hole any time you like, to the barely broken if you are wanting a bitch with a bit of fight left in them," Sylus explained. He motioned towards one of the girls presenting herself against the bars, "If you would like to test one out, some of them are more than willing." The dog girl he motioned towards was so deep in her heat that she began weeping when the young man shook his head and looked away.

"I'm not looking for a toy, I'm looking for a challenge," said the man with a voice as cold and hard as steel. "Do you have anything newer?" an evil grin split his face, "Something I can break myself."

The icy tone in the man's voice sent a shiver down Sylus's spine, he actually found himself feeling bad for whatever bitch this man ended up getting his hands on. The feeling passed quickly as he looked down at his arm and the recently healed scars that plainly came from being bitten. Returning the man's grin, he said, "I think I might have what you are looking for, follow me, good sir."

Dog girls howled and whimpered with loss as the two men made their way to the very back of the kennels. Turning right, Sylus led the cloaked man through a leather curtain and into some much cleaner air. Off to his right was a small desk with various ledgers and a set of scales. Just beyond the desk was a partial wall that separated it from the rest of the room.

Four large cages were situated just beyond the wall and occupied the remainder of the room. Steel bars had been sunk into large wooden beams on the top and bottom which were, in turn, held together by metal bands. An iron door opened up toward the central walkway.

A heavy wooden door lay on the far wall directly in front of where they had entered. The young man had to guess that this was where new dog girls were brought in after being captured. Off to the left was an open doorway through which sounds of drunken laughter could faintly be heard.

The man sitting behind the desk filling out ledgers was the cleanest he had yet seen was pristine compared to the greeter back at the entrance. The hawkish looking man raised his head from his work as they walked through the leather flap, giving Sylus and the stranger a questioning look.

"I'm going to show him the wolf," Sylus explained.

The man frowned, "The boss is going to be mad if you don't sell her for at least the trouble she's been worth." He wrote a number down on a piece of paper and handed it to the salesman, making sure the man in the black cloak couldn't see it. "Personally, I'd be happy to see that bitch gone, no matter what the price." The stranger had noticed that one of the scribe's hands was wrapped in bandages and was he now rubbing his injured hand as he scowled through the wall toward the cages.

Sylus smiled in understanding, "This gentleman is looking for something he can break himself, I have a feeling she will be exactly what he wants, and she deserves." Glancing at the piece of paper in his hand, he looked back at his customer. "I don't think this will be a problem."

As they stepped around the wall the stranger saw that two of the cages were currently occupied. The furthest on the right held a pretty golden retriever type dog girl, leaning against the bars and looking heartbreakingly sad. Once the man in the cloak peeled his eyes away from the golden-haired girl he saw that the nearest cage on the left, where the salesman was leading him, held a large but ragged looking wolf girl.

"She hasn't eaten in some time, so she's looking a bit rough at the moment. Boss didn't take too well to her nearly taking his money-changer's hand off," said Sylus while nodding towards the man at the desk. "Only a couple of the bitches out front have been here longer than her. Near as I can tell, by the time she finally breaks we will have spent so much time on her, it will be impossible to make a profit. That's not even including having to heal the men she's torn into," he said unconsciously rubbing his arm. "Better to sell her now and let you deal with the headache, especially since you are looking for one to break yourself."

The stranger walked up to the cage, 'ragged' was being nice. The girl lay on a sparse straw mat facing away from them, an empty watering dish and food bowl near her feet. There were multiple bruises on her back and legs, some recent, some nearly healed. The wolf girl's gray hair was dirty and matted from neglect and leather straps crisscrossed the back of her head. He could just start to see the signs of starvation from the way her ribs were beginning to show through on her back.

Sylus took a knife from his belt and rapped it against the metal bars, startling the girl from her slumber. "Wake up bitch! Someone is here to see you, with luck he'll be your new owner."

The girl partly rolled over, shooting hate-filled glares at the men, "Fuck off. How many times do you have to be told I will never be owned. Especially by scum like you," she said from behind a wire muzzle, her body jerking strangely as she spoke.

Sylus looked over at the stranger with worry but saw the man wearing a cold grin as he stared at the wolf. "Oh, she will be perfect," he whispered to the salesman.

The slaver grinned and turned back towards the cage, "Bitch! Come!"

The girl's twitching resumed as pain wracked her body while she fought the compulsion to do what the man commanded. An impressive amount of time passed before the woman finally stood up on canine legs and walked over to them, snarling the entire time while staring down the salesman with unfettered loathing. By the time she reached their side of the cage, her body was covered with a sheen of sweat from her ordeal.

"Heel."

The wolf girl's pain tolerance stunned the stranger as she stood in front of them even longer than it had taken her to stand up before finally dropping to her knees with a grimace of disgust. The entire time her eyes had stayed locked with Sylus's.

"Stay," said the man as he pulled a ring of keys off of his belt. The cloaked figure noticed that instead of using pain as a punishment for disobedience the girl now seemed to be locked into place where she was kneeling.

"I'd recommend leaving the slave collar on until well after she is broken. Punishing your bitch for disobedience is only one of the uses. 'Stop' will make their arms and legs go limp and 'Stay' will lock their body in place. Much better than manacles and chains. I'm sure you can figure out what 'Silence' does, however, for some reason the wizard who makes our collars can't figure out how to make it permanent like the other two. 'Come' will cancel 'Stop' and 'Stay,' likewise 'Speak' will cancel 'Silence'." Sylus opened the door of the cage as he explained all of this to the stranger. "Good bones, good teeth, muscles are still nice and firm even though she hasn't eaten in over a week." The salesman reached down and hefted one of the wolf girl's breasts only to jerk his hand back as she suddenly snapped at him "'Stay' does allow them to move their head somewhat," he said looking slightly embarrassed before continuing. "Tits are a bit saggy but those will firm up once you start getting some food back into her. Nice hips if you want her to have pups, maybe train them up the same way as mama here."

"How much?"

Sylus handed over the slip of paper to the cloaked man. The stranger looked at the number then back at the salesman, "No haggling? I know this was supposed to be the lowest price you could go."

The man just shook his head, "Not for this one. I just want to see her gone, as do some of the other boys she's hurt." A door opened in another part of the slaver's hideout and the noise of drunken ruffians got louder for a few moments before it slammed shut again.

"If this is all you want then let us be done with our business, the smell in here is vile," said the stranger.

Sylus smiled, "There's one last thing that needs to be taken care of." The man flipped the dagger he was holding into the air and deftly caught it without looking away from the man in the cloak. "Testing the merchandise."

The stranger's eyes narrowed, "Explain."

"Boss's orders. It separates the customers from the do-gooders. On a personal note, I want to see just what this bitch is in for, a little bit of poetic justice for all of the trouble she's been."

The man lifted the hem of his cloak and picked off a stray piece of straw, "Just what makes you think you're worthy of seeing me take my pleasure with her?"

Again, the insult seemed to roll right off of the salesman. "Like I said, Boss's orders. If you refuse then I can't guarantee you will be leaving here... unharmed." Sylus eyed up the stranger as he flipped and spun the dagger. Catching it by the hilt, his attention was suddenly on something behind the cloaked man. "Hey!" he yelled shouldering past the stranger and exiting the cage. "Hey! You leave that one alone! Boss's orders! You can't fuck with that one!" The man turned and saw the salesman trying to stop a very large slaver who was making his way determinedly toward the cage with the golden-haired dog girl. The large man's substantial cock was already hanging out of the front of his trousers and he was stroking himself in an attempt to overcome the large amount of alcohol he had consumed.

The man in the cloak looked back at the wolf girl. The woman hadn't expected to see panic in his eyes. Lifting one side of his cloak he drew a quick symbol in the air with his fingers, the rune glowing for a moment before drifting into the piece of straw he was holding. The man touched the straw to his throat before giving a hasty glance toward the arguing men, after which he reached out and brushed the wolf girl's dirty hair from the side of her head. He then stopped for a moment when he didn't find a human ear. With a small shake of his head, he placed the piece of straw in one of the wolf-like ears poking through her hair.

"I was sent here to rescue the girl in the other cage," said the man but no sound came out of his mouth and the wolf only heard it in the ear with the piece of straw. "I've decided I'm going to rescue all of the girls here, but I'm going to need your help. I'd do it now, but I understand the leader here is a very powerful man and I didn't know there was another mage here as well. I also didn't know that they were going to expect me to do something with you before they let me buy you. I'm so sorry to ask this, but I need you to play along with what I'm about to do."

The wolf girl tried very hard to keep the look of surprise off her face. She had resigned herself to die here in this cage months ago instead of giving in to the slavers, like so many of the other girls had done since she was brought here. The possibility of rescue had never occurred to her.

Suspicion crept into her mind. Could this be a ruse by the slavers in an attempt to finally break her? To give her hope then strip it all away? Her instincts told her no, and her nose told her that this man had the marks of several women on him, none of those smells were tainted with fear. Most canines were known to be good judges of character and the wolf was no different. As she looked up into the young man's face she got the feeling that this was who he really was, not the mask of a man buying a slave she had seen only moments ago.

Kal had to catch himself from letting out a huge sigh of relief when he saw her nearly imperceptible nod. Behind him, Sylus was shoving the inebriated slaver out of the room and he knew they didn't have much time, "Again, I'm sorry to ask this but how do you want to do this?"

When the slavers used her they never put anything in her mouth, the collar couldn't keep her from biting, as one of her first "Trainers" had found out. If this man was working with them they would have warned him away from using that particular opening. "Mouth," she said then immediately winced as a stab of pain raced through her body from the collar.

Seeing her body twitch from the collar's punishment he now understood why none of the girls in the kennel talked. Kal closed his eyes for a moment, formulating a plan. "Ria, I need the vial of Bea's dust, the inactive one," he said. A few moments later a speck of light floated out from one of the leather pouches tied to his belt and landed in his hand, turning into a small glass vial filled with silvery powder. "Again, I'm sorry we have to do this," he said, the vial disappearing into a pocket as they heard the footsteps of the returning salesman.

"Damn idiots are charmed by that golden bitch, an old wizard is supposed to be coming up with the money for her. I wish he would hurry up so I didn't have to constantly worry about one of the boys getting past me and fucking her." He stopped just inside the cage and looked at man and wolf, "I hope you haven't finished already."