Roas - A Wedding

-And now I've written this. Go figure. I think this story will be hated by one side for having romance and by the other for having a dog in it. I like it because of the romance. Again, go figure.

With a final, hate-filled scream that clawed at the soul, the execution ended. Inshini, Countess Mardapur, released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and suppressed the shudder that longed to ripple through her limbs. She wanted to take a deep breath, to feel clean again, but the air was foul with the detritus of the execution, so much so that she could feel dust and who knew what else clinging to her skin. Wizards tended to die hard, dark wizards even more so, and Andushkhan had been very, very dark.

The thought drew her mind, inevitably, to Roas and the price he had paid as part of the effort to end Andushkhan. Equally as inevitably, her eyes were drawn to his figure. Who knew what motivated a mad wizard? Why he had not simply killed Roas was something beyond the ken of the sane. But he hadn't. He'd reshaped Roas instead.

'Far kinder to have killed him,' Inshini thought for the hundredth, no, thousandth time since her maimed love had returned.

Her betrothed had not been a particularly handsome man, but he had been a man. Now... Again she was struck by the resemblance Roas now bore to the Mardapur Hounds, those enormous brindle dogs the country was famous for. The resemblance was not complete, though. Roas was larger still than any hound Mardapur had ever bred. That was the most noticeable difference. But it was not the only one. His muzzle was very short and the toes of his paws longer than those of a hound. And while his coat was brindled, half that coloration was the red hair which Roas had formerly worn in a tight braid. His eyes alone remained un-maimed by the wizard's work, bright green, full of life and intelligence.

And intelligent he was. Whatever else the wizard had done, Roas was still himself inside his almost-canine shell. His testimony had been heard by the King, courtesy of a board of letters and words. His tale had even been modest and only through the words of his companions had the Court heard of his great heroism. Inshini had been so very proud, and though she had managed not to weep, still tears had run freely down her cheeks.

Roas, sensing her eyes upon him, looked up at her, briefly meeting her gaze before looking away. He knew. He'd always known. She'd despised him, then, for his knowing. He'd been forced upon her, the King's choice to marry his ward. Not even a proper nobleman but a barbarian princeling. She'd raged, and hated, and scorned, and slowly, so slowly, come to love him. He'd known her better than she'd known herself; known her thoughts and her emotions as if he felt them. He'd made sure she had the time she needed to be comfortable with their life together, pushing the wedding back despite the entreaties and not-so-veiled threats of the king, insisting that he would honor the betrothal, but in her time and no others.

'Pushed the wedding back too far,' she silently grieved. And the whispering would have already begun as the Court began to speculate on who the King would select to replace Roas as her betrothed. She hadn't heard anything yet. But she would. And if the Court was not ready to speak loudly enough to be heard, their actions were plain enough. They ignored Roas. His injury, to them, was as distasteful as a suppurating wound might be. And by their actions they made him less of a man and more of a beast. 'Accomplices to Andushkan,' she thought fiercely, her deep sorrow swinging suddenly to fiery anger.

"Excellency," the voice of Moranth interrupted her thoughts.

She blinked her teary eyes and focused them on the Marshal of the Court.

"My lord marshal?" she asked.

"Your guardian the King desires that you should attend him, Excellency," the man said quietly.

"On what matter?" she asked. To question the King's commands was not unheard of, but it was neither respectful nor wise. Inshini was too distraught to care about either.

"He wishes you to meet the men who are asking for your hand," the Marshal replied.

'So,' Inshini thought. 'So soon. Jackals.' But she gave no outward sign of this, instead nodding once. "I will obey my lord protector, lord marshal. Please tell the King of my state and that I will attend him so soon as I am fit to be in his presence."

"As you wish, Excellency." He bowed, shallowly, and left.

'I cannot bear this again,' she thought in quiet desperation. It had been bad enough the first time, when the King had bullied his way into becoming her guardian and then sold her hand for the maximum political gain. She could recall the humiliation of being exposed before a roomful of men and the terrifying boredom of countless 'friendly' meetings at which she had been, at best, a piece of the furniture. She had found her solace in her love, in the knowledge that all that suffering and humiliation had at least brought Roas to her. And now the King would take even that away from her and again scour her soul for his greed. Inshini, no longer able to hide her sorrow, wept and fled, scurrying down the halls to her rooms. A waiting maid tried to wipe at her face, but Inshini slapped her hand away and screamed at her to leave, screamed at all of them.

She felt as though her world was collapsing about her, threatening to bury her in the rubble of her joy become sorrow. The residue of the execution that clung to her skin, the too tight clothing that would not let her breathe... She ripped at the fasteners and clothing, tearing the finery in her haste to be rid of it. At last she stood unclothed in the midst of a pile of fabrics and found that it was not the clothing that prevented her breathing, but her fear. A clicking on the floor behind her drew her attention and she whirled to spy Roas slowly walking towards the door.

"No!" she screamed as horror and self-revulsion filled her body. 'I ignored him! I disrobed before him without a thought, as though he was simply a beast! I have treated him worse than the Court, than the King, than Andushkan!'

Again she screamed and ran after him, feet tangling in the fabric and tripping her to the floor. On all fours she scrambled after Roas, hurtling herself at him and catching him about the neck.

"No! Do not leave me, my love! Do not! I cannot bear the thought. I cannot lose you. I cannot," she wept as she clung to him, burying her face against his stiff, short pelt and kissing him. With a sudden lunge away from the door, Roas pulled away from her, leaving Inshini sprawled face first on the floor. She looked up at him, puzzled, and saw the cause of his unease protruding beneath his belly.

She would have expected to feel repulsed, but she instead felt a soaring sense of relief. 'He desires me still,' she exulted. The thought that she had not yet lost him was like a beacon in the darkness and filled her with a joyful determination. She rose to her hands and knees and crawled towards him, backing him away from the door.

"You love me yet," she crooned softly as she slowly approached him. "I can see it in your eyes and your - " she almost stumbled on the word, but she forced the crudity from between her lips, " cock. You still desire me. I was wrong to hurt you my love, my betrothed. I beg you to forgive me. Punish me if you must, if you will. I deserve your punishment for my unthinking actions. But do not, I beg of you, abandon me. I am still yours, soul and," she turned to face away from him, spreading her legs to more fully expose her sex, "body."

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Claim me my love," she whispered with trembling lips. "Make me yours forever. Please."

She did not see him move, but he had, and the proof was the warm form that covered her and the stiff, slick rod that pressed against her sex. "Please," she begged one last time, and then he was filling her. His flesh was painfully large and she felt her virginity tear with a sort of burning sensation. But a satisfied wave also washed over her. "Thank you," she managed to say. And once she'd managed it, it was all she was able to say as Roas slowly pumped his member inside her. How long they stayed that way she could not say, Roas moving back and forth against her, her entire body moving with the force of his thrusts, breasts swaying. She felt him swell inside her with each thrust and then he stopped sliding, trapped within her sex as he continued to grow. Inshini moaned as he stretched her sex painfully and began to flood her with warmth.

His muzzle nuzzled at her neck and his tongue lapped softly at her, his breath hot in her ear. She turned her head into his attentions, smiling as his body continued to fill hers.

The door to her apartment flew open and men began to enter the room. "...so this will teach her not to disobey a command," the King was saying. Noting the looks on the faces of the men around him, the King turned to look into the room and froze.

"Your Majesty," Inshini heard herself say, "I fear you have come upon my husband and I at a delicate time."

The King's face turned red and then purple. For a brief moment Inshini hoped that he might expire on the spot. But such fortune was not hers.

"Seize them," he ordered in a strangled voice. "Seize them I say!"

Had Roas not been inseparably joined to her the matter might have turned out differently. Most of the men with the King were suitors or their representatives. Several of them made no move to approach them, indeed one of them was throwing up against the wall, and those that obeyed the king were hardly seasoned warriors. The King's personal bodyguards, however, were. Roas maimed several before the sheer number of bodies dragged him down and both he and Inshini were crushed beneath a pile of hostile limbs and armor.

Then ensued much shouting and screaming as Roas was collared and chained against the far wall, dragged forcibly and painfully away from Inshini. A table was dragged to the center of the room and Inshini forced against it, held there by guards on each arm.

"You are worthless to me now, bitch," the King spat at her. "Fouled by a beast. Guilty of crimes against nature. 'Your husband' you called it? It takes more than fucking a beast to make it your husband. Your cunt is for men, slut!" His hand lashed out, slapping against the side of her face and rocking it to the side. "Something you seem to have forgotten. More, your cunt was mine to do with as I wished. You will be reminded of this. Take her," he commanded.

Chuckling, the guards pushed her back onto the table while two more of their number stepped forward to take her legs in hand and pull them apart. She screamed in fear and fury whilst the first guard, grinning broadly, pulled his penis out of his pants and mounted her. His breath was foul as he forced a kiss upon her and slammed his body into her. "How do you like that, Countess? A real man's cock feel as good as a dog's?"

"Are... you in yet?" Inshini whispered. She heard laughter, a growl of anger, and felt his fist slam into her face.

"We'll teach you," he promised balefully.

*****

It took painful hours for them to be finished, but at last they were.

"What now?" one of them panted.

"Leave her a bit," a guard called from the door. "She's not going anywhere," he explained, nodding at her battered and bleeding body. "The King will want to see her, probably want to parade her in the streets. I heard he's already sentenced her to death."

"And the dog?"

"Leave him. He's got no thumbs, no proper fingers. Too bad, puppy," the voice taunted, "'cause if you did you could get out of your leash."

The rest of the guards found this humor excellent and laughter filled the rooms as they slowly dressed themselves and then filed out.

Inshini waited for several minutes after the sound of the guards had faded, afraid every moment that she would lose consciousness and doom herself and Roas. When she could wait no longer she took a deep, painful breath and rolled laboriously off the table. The impact with the floor made her want to scream in agony, but she choked it back into a strangled whimper and slowly crawled across the floor. 'I have thumbs,' she thought. 'Well, one,' she admitted. The other was on fire, broken or dislocated like all the other fingers of that hand. But one was all she needed.

When she reached Roas he whimpered and snuffled at her, his nose cold against her fevered flesh. "Alright, husband. I'm alright," she whispered. Through swollen eyes she studied the catch on the chain and then, every motion causing flashes of pain, she worked at it with her good hand.

*****

Inshini opened her eyes at an insistent lapping at her face. She saw a guard sprawled next to her, his eyes wide and his lips an unnatural shade of blue. Turning her head, she saw another guard just beyond him. Roas was whimpering and licking her face.

"Awake love," she whispered. Roas pushed at her with his paw and the touch moved broken rib bones. She whimpered herself.

Roas growled.

"Can't go," she whispered.

Roas growled again and she felt his mouth on her neck. 'He needs me to move,' she thought. Her body rebelled at the idea, pain and nausea sweeping through her. But her spirit demanded that she obey him, that she not fail him again. Slowly, slowly she was able to sit up. Though her eyes were swollen almost shut, she saw that Roas had dragged a mattress next to her.

"Get on?" she asked.

A short, deep bark answered her question and she clawed her way onto the mattress and then collapsed again.

*****

She knew it was chanting, but she couldn't understand why it was chanting. Then, slowly, the fog seemed to clear and random moments of clarity began to pop in her mind like fireworks above the castle during a celebration. 'A healer. Someone is healing me.' The thought brought with it the memory of past healers and the knowledge that healing was accompanied by itching. Suddenly she was aware that her body felt as though she was buried in ants. She shifted, aware that doing so shouldn't be possible, that moving during healing could cause bad things to happen, but unable stop herself.

A growl filled the room and the chanting seemed to increase in speed. Inshini struggled to remain still even as the itching worsened. After several interminable minutes the chanting finally stopped.

"Best I can do," someone pleaded. "I swear."

The growling started again.

"It's no use threatening. I can't do any more."

Inshini sat up slowly and blinked in the light.

"Where am I?" she croaked.

"Brabta the healer's," the voice replied. "I'm Brabta. I healed you. Please call off your dog. I've done my best, but you were badly hurt."

Inshini felt a pang of regret and anger. She'd always been beautiful and now... The thought struck her with such force that it had to find physical release. She laughed. Roas would not care about her appearance, any more than she cared about his.

"My husband," she finally managed to say, "is likely more upset with those that injured me. I believe he has done his best, my love. In this, as in all things however, I defer to your judgement."

The growling trailed off after a minute and Roas lowered his head to hers. The healer, demonstrating a wisdom worthy of the gods, remained silent.

"Do we need to leave, my lord?" Inshini asked.

Roas barked once.

"We might find comfort in Mardapur. My family was much loved there," she said. What she left unsaid was the amount of love they might expect to find now that she was under sentence of death, now that she had taken a dog for her husband and master. But she would not say that to her husband, would not hurt him in that way.

Roas barked again.

"And we need to find a way to communicate," she observed as she grasped his collar and pulled herself up to one knee. Looking down at the collar in distaste, she loosened it and slipped it over Roas' head. "A bitch am I? Well then, I'm your bitch, my love," she declared as she pulled the collar over her head. It was too large, but that didn't matter, not to her.

Roas growled once, but there was no anger or threat in it. No, it was something else entirely.