Pastel tried to figure out where he was. Despite his night vision, he could only see that he was in a hut woven from roots. Between the holes, he could make out the glow of a fire and the voices of his captors. Their voices were muffled... as if they were no longer in the forest, but in an enclosed place like a cave or narrow ravine.

  Someone entered with a torch, dazzling him. Pastel looked away.

  "There's our nice little sausage," said a large stag with a deep voice.

  "A sausage full of surprises" he added, rolling the stone in his hand.

  The deer moved closer to Pastel. So close that he felt the warmth of his face.

  "If you tell me where you got this, and where we can find more... you might live".

  Pastel remained silent. His ears were folded back on his skull and his tail was tucked between his paws. He refused to speak, even when the deer howled in his face and punched him in the stomach.

  Pastel was stunned into silence.

  "Honestly, I was hoping it wouldn't be easy. I was hoping we could have a little fun" The deer stroked Pastel's cheek, then snapped its fingers. A wolf entered with a steaming bowl in his hand.

  The stag put his hand on Pastel's face again, this time to open his mouth. The fox growled, bared its teeth and tried to bite, but to no avail. His growls turned to whimpers as the wolf poured a sour liquid down his throat.

  They left, leaving Pastel confused for what seemed like hours. But his sensations slowly changed. Without realizing it, he began to murmur aloud.

  "I shouldn't have gone to the pond... what a pain. The stone I... I've got to shut up, but... shit!"

  He was no longer in control of his body, as if someone was speaking for him.

  The stag returned, "I see this potion is already working very well and..." With a predatory smile, his gaze swept Pastel's body. "That you're surrendering yourself to us."

  Pastel then realized that his body was betraying him uncontrollably, as his shaft was getting hard. An equally uncontrollable wave of rage swept through him. "I'm going to kill you thieving skunks! You vile parasites!"

  " Whoa haha, kid! We'll see about that. In the meantime, I've got a few questions for you." The big stag had approached. Pastel noticed a pink sex starting to emerge from its fur sheath, between the big deer's muscular legs. In the hollow of his ear, he whispered, "You're going to come with us to find more of these stones. And you're going to tell us now how to find them!"

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  ***

  Yeen awoke refreshed, but jaded. The day before, after escorting some merchants to their destination, he had used his wages to buy enough victuals for several days and satiated himself by the fire before sleeping off a long, dreamless night.

  "A week later, back where we started, a few aches and pains and a few more coins", he had said to himself.

  The tall gnol quickly packed his belongings and easily tossed his pack onto his powerful back, before securing his sword at his waist. He breathed in and set off for his next contract. To lift his spirits, he thought back to his greatest battles. It made the time go by faster.

  "Footprints" he murmured to himself, after a few hours' walk. Indeed, when he walked alone, Yeen liked to talk aloud to himself. Funnily enough, it kept him company. On such a trail, the tracks were no great surprise, but Yeen's interest was piqued by their quantity and direction.

  "hmmm... the forest...".

  A series of tracks headed towards the forest, but in different directions. The gnol stopped, turning on himself as he looked at the ground. There were wolf tracks, deer hooves, but he suddenly noticed a different kind of track.

  "A fox? Here, here... His tracks are a bit older. He got there first and..."

  The gnol stepped back, bent towards the ground, trying to better piece together the sequence of events. Now, more than ever, a bad intuition was rising inside him.

  "I've got a bad hunch," he finally said, as if to convince himself of what he already suspected.

  "The cub arrived alone, entered the forest and a group of wolves and deer followed him later... taking different paths. Sounds like an ambush." He had finished his sentence in a whisper this time, frowning.

  He grunted, hesitating. The tracks were already several hours old and he couldn't see any more coming out of the forest. It would be dangerous to venture out alone, and it was also possible that his assumption was wrong.

  A growl of displeasure erupted from his chest as he showed his large fangs to the forest. He knew he couldn't stop himself from checking it out, but he also knew it would set him back. At the same time, he knew he enjoyed the fight too much to simply keep going.

  Slowly, he entered the forest, concentrating on the fox's trail.

  After a few minutes, he reached the pond, then found the trail back into the forest. He soon found a trampled spot and noticed sword marks on the surrounding trunks.

  "No blood, they've captured it... Okay."

  The gnol retraced his steps and found a spot away from the tracks, near the pond. There he pulled some provisions from his pack and swallowed a piece of dried meat, chewing it energetically as he prepared himself with experience and confidence for battle. He adjusted his belt and put on a leather breastplate under his tunic. Quickly, he finally hung his provisions on the branch of a tree, out of sight of hungry maws. He could now travel lighter and more discreetly.

  After a few hours of meticulously discreet walking through the forest, Yeen entered a ravine and finally found the brigands' camp. From a distance and high up, he could spy on them through the foliage and wait for nightfall.