Dark Stag Ch. 06

"We heard you have a black stag." Mercury said.

"A black stag?" The man asked in surprise.

"Yeah..." I said, looking at him sternly. The man led us down a hall to where various antelope and deer were for purchase. He even had giant megaloceros, a deer the same size as a black antelope. All I could do was shake my head.

"Why do you call this place Bryson's Bovines when you have cervines and equines here?" Mercury asked.

"Because it flows off the tongue really well. If you don't mind me asking, why do you want the Black Stag?" The man prodded.

"Food..." I said. Mercury looked at me trying not to burst out laughing.

"You're going to eat it?" He asked.

"No, we're going to feed it." I said back. The man was silent for a while.

"...Well it's a terrible creature to get near. I'm glad someone is taking it off my hands." He responded, clearly dissatisfied with my snarkiness.

He showed us the enclosure. I was expecting an identical animal to Rejon but no, this stag was only a few years old, having two long white stripes running from the back of it's head to its withers. His horns were only a fraction of the length of Rejon's.

"I just want to watch you get near him.." The man laughed. I whistled in chromatic down scales, the way a friendly black antelope would do to another. The lethargic animal looked at me with limited alertness. It got to its feet, coming near us sniffing. The man backed away, knowing this animal was beyond unpredictable... well to him anyways.

The creature looked at the man, snorted and walked to the rear of the enclosure. I turned to the man.

"Did you hit him?" I asked.

"Hell yeah, I hit that thing." He responded.

"Wow," I said, not really too surprised by this report. I looked around for dry food. All this man had was succulent pellets. It explained why the young stag seemed to have a lack of energy. It was then I realized this gorgeous creature was little if any threat, considering my knowledge of these rare antelope.

I slipped through the dense hardwood bars of the enclosure, walking slowly up to the young stag. The creature looked at me, fully alert. It's ears and eyes perked to their peak. Even as it lay on the ground, this massive creature and I looked at each other eye to eye. Despite his immense size, he was more afraid of me than I was of him. I whistled to soothe him. The creature innately began to relax, the warm tones similar to what he heard as a lamb. He put his head down on the warehouse floor, his intense stares loosening into relaxed glances.

"Do you have any dried grass?" I asked.

"Why?" The man asked.

"This type of antelope has trouble digesting succulent foliage. Those pellets you have are very hydrated and their stomachs really don't do well extracting all that water." I said.

"I don't got shit for'em." The man responded.

"Ok, how much you're selling hm for?" I asked. The man looked at me for a while. Just as he got ready to think of an outrageous price for the young stag, I beat him to it.

"I'll give you fifty dollars for him.... He's nowhere near your most prized possession." I said plainly, tossing the money through the bars of the enclosure.

"And if I say no?" The man challenged.

"I'll just take him. He's the only one you got, and he's the most problematic creature you have. You wouldn't know it's worth if it slapped you in face." I said. Mercury looked at me surprised by my gall.

I walked back over to the young stag. I reached in my bag, grabbing a bundle of fire weed.

"It's better than nothing..." I said to myself. Sitting on the warehouse floor I scooted towards the stag. Slowly, I began separating the bundle, placing down a segment of the clippings just in front of the stag's mouth. The stag smelled the dried grass, wiggling towards it. It's long black tongue nimbly wrapped around the fire weed. It drew the thin blades of glass into its mouth, chewing them briefly. The massive creature then wiggled in a semicircle, now facing me.

"It acts like a giant puppy." Mercury noted.

"Yeah, he's a bit less serious than...." I began but held my tongue. The buck got to it's feet, circling around me.

"Oh shit..." The store owner said.
"I'm in no danger." I replied to him. This stag was very young, very receptive and very trusting. He differed from Rejon when Rejon was this age. I wouldn't even have dared to approach Rejon in tight quarters such as this. Then again, Rejon wasn't even this young when I first got him. It was at least two years of difference between their ages.

I separated the bundle again, handing him the dry grass. The young stag ate it swiftly, craving more. It was obvious he had never eaten anything of the likes. Seeing I was holding the rest of the bundle in my other hand, he reached over with his long neck to that side.

"Agh!" I said swiftly, eliciting a startled reaction from the stag. He backed up cautiously, before dropping his head, baring his relatively short horns. They grew out of his head straight, not even having a curve yet.

The playful little stag mocked charged me, before leaping over my head again and again. He'd prance around me on his delicate little legs, before he slammed into the warehouse floor, rolling onto his back. I looked at Mercury smiling. He didn't share the same expression. He was utterly terrified.

"You're scaring me." He said to me.

"I'm fine." I laughed. The stag got back onto its feet, kicking and leaping all around the large enclosure. He was obviously under-stimulated, not having a true outlet in this relatively tight enclosure. I whistled, in a cooing way. The stag immediately calmed down, walking towards me with his head down. I fed him each stalk of the fireweed, one by one. As he ate blissfully, I reached into my bag grabbing the bit, chomp and reins. I slipped the chomp into his mouth and slipped the bit around his muzzle. The reins, due to his horns locked together by a powerful magnet instead of swing all the way across his head, able to be conveniently pulled apart.

I was unsure how he'd react to the reins but was relieved to see him trying nothing more than to spit out the bit and chomp. I checked his mouth to see if it was comfortable. Since antelope had no front teeth, I had to design a bit and chomp that was soft and malleable, something that could mold to their palate. It overall was fitting well. He could eat just fine if he wanted to.

I stood up, handing the stag another stalk of the fireweed. He ate it as normal, quickly adapting to the chomp. It made me feel rather...good. The bit and chomp, a rough prototype I had virtually no time to build, was far more comfortable than I thought it'd be. Even then, there was one last process to stocking the young stag up. I had to put the blinders on him. It would be for his own safety as we traversed through the city. I had a trick though...chalk.

Chalk was the crutch to any antelope. They ate it like a cat would eat catnip or a dog would eat peanut butter. They simply couldn't get enough of it. I reached into my bag, grabbing both a piece of chalk and the blinders. I eased the chalk cube into his mouth and all you could hear was a sound of a tongue sucking against an oral palate. I then eased the blinders onto the Stag's head. The transition was so seamless even I was unsettled.

"OK..." I said, unhooking the reins so they could snap together under his neck. I pulled the reins, directing the young stag behind me. My eyes fell upon Mercury who was shocked at what I managed to do with the stag in under five minutes. I could tell he had a lot of questions. I looked at the store owner.

"Open the gate..." I demanded. Too shocked to make sense of what was stated, it took a while for the statement to sink in. He rushed toward the lever, yanking it back with all his strength. The wooden bars began to retract into the ground. Watching the floor carefully, I led the stag out of the enclosure.

"So you..." The man began. I tossed him another fifty dollars.

"Thanks for the gorgeous stag. Just so you know, you got cheated out of your most valuable animal and didn't even know it..." I laughed. The man just stood there flabbergasted.

We exited the warehouse, walking back to the street. Mercury looked on in complete confusion.

"Ok," He began, "How far did you pre plan?"

"This was somewhat pre planned but I'm so glad I had some left over fireweed in my pack." I responded.

"And you just tamed him so quickly..." Mercury blabbed on.

"He was pretty much already tamed, just neglected. Not to mention he is considerably younger than Rejon, by at least five years. If he was Rejon's age, I would have been dealing with a very different animal. He'd probably be unapproachable." I corrected.

"So is he's ready to be ridden?" Mercury asked.

"Not quite. We have to get him saddle ready, command responsive and build a very tight dependency on humans. Since he's super young and obviously super bright, I'm pretty sure you can manage to do this in a matter of weeks." I replied.

"Is it any different from training a horse?"

"Based off of Rejon's nature, I'd say so. Rejon...he was like raising a baby with no opposable thumbs, and no ability to speak. But...they do have a language and I'd advise you to learn that language because he will learn yours....the same way a baby picks up language. He just won't be able to speak it." I explained. Mercury looked at me in complete dismay.

"Kijus, this is too much..." He said, obviously feeling overwhelmed.

"It won't be..."

"I'm not a trainer like you!"

"I'm not going to leave you hanging, ya know. I'm not that cruel." I laughed. Mercury looked at me, utterly perplexed as to what I meant.

"Dude.." Mercury said, getting frustrated.

"Just wait until we get back..." I smiled.

We didn't draw a strange eye in the lower ring. Every single person had an oddity near them. In the region, walking around with a strange bovine meant you scored dinner more than anything. As soon as we reached the middle ring, things changed drastically. Eyes fell upon us, some of wonder, some of concern. Mercury and I looked at each other. having the same thought.

"Back alleys?" He asked. I looked at the young stag. He was still sucking on the chalk cube, without a care in the world.

"Yeah." I responded.

We took a detour, taking a lengthy route through the long isolated alleys of the middle ring. Not a soul was present here, not even people peeking out of their windows. These alleys were just underutilized compared to those of the lower ring which is where the vast majority of all the underhanded activities happened. If you wanted to sneak something into the upper levels, this was definitely the way to do it.

Not long after, we approached the fence of the Black Pastures, the very rear of the Ion Subdivision. We could see noblemen on their horses as well as noblemen flying there raptors.

"We're almost there. It's been smooth strolling so far." Mercury said. I looked at him in dismay.
"Don't curse us." I sighed.

"I think we'll be fine." He laughed. He led the way around the miles of gates and we entered the property. Not an eye was turned to us as everyone was at a distance, too far to discern if the young stag was a horse or not. Most of the residences were spaced several hundreds of feet apart. The multi storey duplex homes had a designated horse stable on the lowest floor. Principally, a horse stable is kept in the most confidence so no one would just venture into one's stable without notifying the tenant well in advance that they'd be paying a visit. It simply was the noblest thing to do here and for a law official, nobility was everything. I then thought about something, seeing the many off duty officers spending the day with their raptors.

"Mercury." I said.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Why don't you have a raptor?" I asked.

"Well, I've never had too much of an interest. My father often steered me away from it." He laughed.

"Why?" I asked.

"I don't know, the man really wanted me to be a top shelf equestrian." Mercury responded.

"Well... Are you?" I asked.

"Not at all..." Mercury laughed, "I mean I am good but not as good as my father wishes."

"We'll you're going to help with Bazahra as well." I responded. Mercury looked at me, questioning was I serious.

"You're killing me right now..." He sighed.

"Okay, I'm going to need you to relax. I'm going to make this incredibly easy for you..." I said.

"How..." He asked.

"Just wait until we get back..."

I now had his curiosity. He wanted to ask what I had planned but we had reached his apartment. He unlocked the massive stable door and swung it open. Rejon whistled loudly in rejoice at my return. His eyes laid upon the young stag. He tensed up, sniffing the air hoping to catch a whiff of the new creature. As I brought the stag further into the stable, Rejon began to whir threateningly, stomping the ground.

"Hey!" I called out. Rejon looked at me. I tossed him a chalk cube and he immediately relaxed, forgetting the world around him. I was beyond thankful that Rejon was tied to a post. if not, he could have seriously hurt us all. I looked to Mercury who was oblivious to the seriousness of this situation.

I tied the young stag up to the post in the rear, taking off his blinders. He looked around the dark stable, laying eyes on the gorgeous grey horse standing beside him. He whistled at her, trilling his heart away. It then hit me. He thought that either he was a horse or she was another antelope. Compared to Rejon, this young stag was very naive albeit well socialized. Rejon though, would prove to be the greater issue.

Fortunately for now, he simply sucked on the chalk, blissfully in his own little world. Unsure what I should do to solve this issue, I set as a less important priority , walking up the stairs to the apartment. Mercury was close behind. He unlocked the door, letting me walk through first. Bazahra rushed up to me, ruffling her feathers against my leg. I leaned down to rub her.

Mercury closed the door, standing next to it with the same inquisitive look.

"So...." He began, "What is it you wanted to show me?" I smiled as I walked over to my main satchel. I pulled out all my journals, finding the one written specifically for Rejon. He came over looking at all the journals wondering what information filled them.

"Here." I said, handing it to him. He opened it skimming over all the recollections.

"Wow..." He said.

"Look who's saying wow now." I laughed.

"So you have a trial and error process for training and disciplining Rejon and you checked the ones that worked. What type of patience do you have?" He asked.

"All of the training took course over a month. It didn't take long to break him. Also, pay attention to how you whistle. Black antelopes have a very complex language... I detail it as much as I can." I explained.

"This is amazing..." He responded. He flipped to the first page, starting from there. He yanked the dining chair from under the table, taking a firm seat. I was shocked. I didn't know he'd be this emersed.

I opened my most recent journal, going over my recent notes. I remember when the king reported the last thing he read in it was 'She found me but didn't recognize me... I don't know how to process this let alone have anything to say.' There has been a considerable amount more details placed into the journal since then. As I began to go over them, Mercury looked up at me.

"What's that one?" He asked.

"I did some research on the brothels around town, trying to figure out which one will bring me closer to my sister." I said.

"Well you said you saw her on the streets?" Mercury asked.

"Yeah."

"Well street performers are relatively highly renowned sex slaves. There are only two brothels that have street stages: The High Pansun and Felker Distribution. The slavers you encountered months ago were Felker Distribution agents." Mercury said to me. I looked at him, completely astounded.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes and they are ridiculously cruel. The High Pansun are much more lenient than Felker Distribution but Felker would die for as exotic a lineup as High Pansun. They are arguably the bigger success of the two. If I had to make a recommendation, I'd say join the High Pansun."

"I don't know... what' if my sister's not there?"

"There's a chance that she is. If not, if you're good at what you do Felker will pay you attention because you will get a...reputation. They'll make an offer to High Pansun and more than likely High Pansun will sell you. If High Pansun doesn't want to sell you, then there'd be a bit of an issue... Felker is a bit territorial... They might try and take you and from what I've seen it can get very violent. There have been some brutal things happen to the slaves as a result of these gang wars. The sex slave industry is just that cut throat."

I sighed, realizing that this could very much be the most danger I've ever put myself in.

"I really don't want you doing this, Kijus..." Mercury said.

"I have no choice! I can't buy her! I can't break in and burst her out! That'd be stupid and brash... I'd probably get gunned down... I can't go ask the king for help because, for one, he considered me a slave all along and secondly, the sex slave industry supports his entire kingdom!"

"I know but you don't know how dangerous this industry is!"

"I don't care... This city doesn't know how dangerous I am. This is an argument I'm not going to have with you, Mercury. I've made up my mind... I can't just sit here and let my sister continue to be defiled the way she is... Even if that means I have to stoop to depths lower than I've ever been... so be it! Family is family!"

Mercury just sat there staring. I knew this was equally as hard on him.

"You know you're nothing but trouble..." He said, "Come to this city and not only get yourself involved in some mess you can't fix but through the entire kingdom into it with you..." He began. Before he could finish, I got up, heading for the door. Before I could open it, he beat me to it placing his firm hand on it, keeping me from opening it. He grabbed me with his free arm and kissed me.

"You're not leaving..." He said, "At least not yet." I was confused. He was giving me so many mixed signals and in this state, I really didn't want to be toyed with.

"Mercury..." I began.

"From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew we'd have quite an entwined fate... I don't know what this fate will bring us so I just had to kiss you. I just had to know what those lips felt like...just once." He interrupted. It was relieving to know that this was only spur of the moment kiss and not some way to trap me with his affection. He backed away, going back to his seat, trying to pretend that this simply didn't happen.

"I got a lot of ground to cover in so little time..." I said, going back to gather my things. Mercury looked at at me.

"Let's really make this worth our whiles." Mercury suggested. I looked at him torn between my affection for Richard and the want to explore the depths of my sexuality with Mercury. I already knew it. Mercury could make me do some things that no other person could. The way he hammers down his concerns, the way he asserts himself, it just made me feel like putty in his grasp.

The simple fact of the matter is that he cared far more than he was leading on. He wanted me to be his but didn't want to call it love. He wanted us to be one but didn't want it to be labeled as a unity. He got to his feet, embracing me tight, far too tightly for this to be anything other than affection he no longer wanted to hide. I felt his lips caress my neck as he moved up, gradually to my chin then to my lips. He pressed our bodies together so tightly, I only could imagine us becoming one.

Our kissing led to the couch. He gently laid me down, placing his mass over mine. I couldn't explain it but just kissing felt like an immediate danger, yet there was no danger present. Pulling each other's clothes off felt like entering a world filled with peril yet...no peril was present. The low kisses added unbelievable pleasure to sin, yet no salvation could stop us. He pinned my right leg up to my head, preparing for the inevitable. He explored my entry with a gentle finger as we continued to kiss. Not long after building the nerve at this point of no return, he slowly took the plunge.