Chapter 11: Wind from an Empty Cave (空穴來風)
After an hour of plodding through the woods, the rain, and the mud, Daiwen's strength began to wane. They jogged up to the yaoguai to keep from shouting and drawing the attention of the Mingdao Wood's nightlife, but their foot snagged a root. Daiwen yelped and fell face first into wet leaves and wetter mud.
The yaoguai finally stopped. They yanked Daiwen up by the back of their jacket. Daiwen wiped their face on their sleeve and spat liquid earth.
"Ugh, thanks."
"Are you ready to continue?"
"I'm not. I can't walk another step."
"We can't stop here."
"I'm sorry, but I have to stop."
"I know a cave," the yaoguai pointed off the beaten stone path. "I'll carry you."
A cave was a definite step up from camping out in the rain.
"Ok."
But rather than heft Daiwen into a carrying position, the yaoguai set them down. They dropped to all fours, leaving them roughly the size of an actual bull.
"Climb on."
Daiwen had never ridden any animal, much less a large, hulking bull. They threw their arms as far across the yaoguai's broad shoulders as they could. They dug their fingers into the firm muscles and jumped, legs scrambling off the yaoguai's side.
Daiwen couldn't keep their grip on the short, sleek coat in the heavy rain. They squealed and slipped down the yaoguai's side.
They didn't land back in the mud. The yaoguai's arm shot out and caught Daiwen's jacket. They tossed Daiwen up and over. Daiwen landed stomach first and breathless across the yaoguai's back, arms and legs dangling over either side.
Daiwen shifted to lock their arms around the yaoguai's muscled neck. Their legs straddled the yaoguai's back, but they were too broad for Daiwen sit properly. They could only squeeze their legs as best as they could to keep themself in place.
"Hold on."
The yaoguai ran. Daiwen swallowed their scream. The wind and branches whipped past their face. The yaoguai's burning hot back shifted and shifted under them, threatening to throw the off. They bounced against the yaoguai's back until their bruises had bruises. Their arms and legs seized up in a rigid grip. Daiwen shut their eyes and prayed to the Mother of Souls for it all to end.
It did, eventually. Daiwen nearly sobbed with relief as the yaoguai slowed to a stop. They pried their stiff, aching arms apart, causing them to slid down the yaoguai's side. The fall was perfectly acceptable as long as it brought them back to sweet, not-shaking earth.
The yaoguai caught them with a snort. They raised Daiwen up with them as they stood. Daiwen's limbs dangled stiff and useless.
"Can you walk?"
"Not yet."
This time, the yaoguai hefted Daiwen over their shoulder and entered the cave. The mouth was damp and reeked of mold and moss, but the further they went into the dark, the warmer the cave became. The air drew close and thick.
"Here's good. Or back a little."
The yaoguai took them back to where there was still a hint of a breeze. They could hear the soft, distant patter of rain. They set Daiwen down against a solid, mercifully steady boulder. Daiwen closed their eyes and rested their cheek to the rock with a happy sigh. They patted the cave floor beside them.
"Come sit with me."
The yaoguai sat. Though the yaoguai kept a hand's breadth of distance between them, they radiated a heat as solid as the boulder. Daiwen unlatched the straps of their backpack and hugged the punching doll to their chest.
"Do you have a name?"
"Yaoguai."
Either their father was an incredibly literal namer, or that was a no.
"Does your father know happened in the city?"
"He must."
Daiwen immediately regretted the question. The yaoguai's father had known and yet he'd done nothing. They changed the subject.
"Did you like the show?"
The yaoguai said nothing and the silence stretched into awkwardness, but their wall of heat strengthened until it matched the burn of the spirits of that priest and Tushenmen. Daiwen's chilled, prickled skin relaxed in the warmth. They snuggled with their punching doll and drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
-/-
Daiwen woke to a monstrous growl that echoed through the cave. It came from their stomach. They groaned and yanked the pocket watch from their doll's gullet. It was already noon, or by their body's clock, time for lunch.
Daiwen jumped at a second monstrous growl. It came from the yaoguai beside them. The yaoguai had laid out over the boulder, head back and resting on their horns with their belly up. They were in fully morning wood, the length of their cock extending up as long and wide as a forearm from its bovine skin sheath.
Daiwen hastily averted their eyes. They clambered onto the boulder, grunting at every aching stab from their sore limbs. The boulder was barely as tall as their shoulder, but they were coated in sweat by the time they managed to get on top of it. Daiwen wiped their palms on their spider silk before shaking the yaoguai's shoulder.
"Wake up!"
The yaoguai sat straight up with a snort. Diwen jerked back. Their stiff limbs couldn't balance. THey fell on their butt.
"Ow. Fuck."
"Sorry. I forgot. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just starving."
"My father has food."
"Couldn't we hunt something?"
"Hunting takes time."
"Longer than it'll take to get to your dad's place?"
The yaoguai sat as still as a stone. Daiwen stood, shaking their head as they rubbed out the new ache in their rump.
"I'm not going anywhere until I've eaten."
"I don't have-" the yaoguai broke off with an intense burst of heat.
Daiwen shrugged off their jacket at the sudden warmth. They gave the yaoguai a quizzical look. They yaoguai's burning black eyes avoided theirs, dropping down instead.
A flush spread from Daiwen's chest to the tips of their ears as it all clicked. The yaoguai really had been paying attention during last night's show-they'd remembered the skit where the mogui 'explorers' drank an 'elixir of youth' from Mangtun's cock.
Daiwen let their jacket drop to their feet. They sunk to their knees beside the yaoguai. The yaoguai's heat bristled against their bare arms and the skin of their neck, their face.
"May I?"
The yaoguai jerked their snout in a single, wordless nod.
Daiwen crawled into the yaoguai's lap, straddling their thick, short-coated thigh. Daiwen looked up at the yaoguai, the head of their cock beneath Daiwen's chin. The yaoguai's solid black eyes were full of apprehension. It was their first time.
-/-
Explicit encounter on AO3