the man and the beast

by Remnault

follow the story of the lone farmer Hans, and the story of the prominent bestigor Nathiqe as their paths suddenly cross. how will these two act in the following days after their first meeting? can one really trust the other? one way or another, they will have to learn how to make this tense pact of trust work out for the both of them. F/bestigor X M/human. possible future lemon.

3. Chapter 3 meeting

Chapter 3. meeting

The first thing he noticed was the throbbing pain in his head. The next thing he noticed was the dryness of his mouth. as his crusted eyes creak open, he only sees the darkness of his room. he gets up slowly as he looks out the window, wondering if he woke up early by some miracle. His vision is quickly filled with a flash of light and his ears bombarded with a loud boom of thunder. His headache reminds him that it is storming today, badly at that. With great effort, Hans makes his way downstairs as the pouring of rain becomes all he hears from outside. He eats his breakfast and prepares for another day. Today he has just got to take care of the animals, then he can rest in the warmth of his home during the raging storm to nurse this hangover.

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Nathiqe shoots upright, realizing she slept longer than normal. Looking outside her tent fold she sees with difficulty that it is almost night. She also notes that the sky is raging with waves of rain crashing down on the camp. She can see a handful of other beasts trying to secure tents and goods with little success. She quickly throws her gear on and rushes to the leader of the herd's tent. tonight, was the night she would execute her plan she had been making for over a year. The current leader of the herd was a wargor know as the blood drinker. He was mighty for sure, and the battles he fought in were always full of bloodshed.

However, they always paid a steep price of those under his command. In recent years, many of the battles have been very close victories for the beastmen, with the strategy of rushing in not working as well with their dwindling numbers. Making too many enemies at once and getting wounded during recent battles had led to many questioning and challenging blood drinker, saying he is unfit to lead the herd. This would result in numerous duels against the leader of the herd, usually by underlings not realizing that he could still be lethal.

While no one competent and strong have challenged him, that's where Nathiqe would change that. She will slay him in this duel tonight and become the new leader. Throughout the year she had trained her body to withstand being at the top, and her mind to help strategize during battle to give the herd better chances. The reading of books and maps is how she learned reikspiel as well. She had also spent the time dueling and killing other members of the pack that might usurp her, while also increasing her standing with those who watched her show her prowess during these fights. With a pile of bodies in her wake, and enough knowing her skills, she felt she was ready to lead.

All that was left was to kill the fool holding the crown currently. She wanted to do it earlier today, however. She wanted as many to see it so she wouldn't be accused of trickery or assassination. She also wanted to do it before blood drinker was asleep. While she would be accused to some extent no matter what, she wanted to get rid of the idea that she waited till he was tired or weakened from exhaustion. She rushed through the camp, mud staining and splashing the fur of her legs as she noticed a disturbing lack of beasts in the camp. The closer she got to the leader's tent, the more noise she heard, and the more beasts were present. She started to worry what this could mean, why were they gathered around the boss is area?

As she began to push through the crowd of cheering spectators, she could hear the clash of metal and the roars of strain. As she finally got to the front of the crowd, what she saw made her brain freeze. In the center of the mass of all these animals was the blood drinker himself dueling with a Minotaur. She watched in awe as this Minotaur threw the current leader around like a rag doll. Blood drinkers' yellow fur was stained full brown from his many throws into the wet mud, with splats of red where he was struck by the Minotaur. His armor was torn and mostly ripped apart and scattered around this makeshift arena. She noticed one of his horns missing as well, he has to be on the ropes. While blood drinker had killed Minotaur's in the past with only some struggle, this one was all over him. it seemed more agile than the average hulking bovine in the ranks, and it took full advantage of that as it dodged his blows to strike down the crumbling leader. With a flash of lighting, Nathiqe noticed that this Minotaur was missing a horn as well. And after a few moments, it hit her.

this was the minotaur from yesterday that she saw. Realizing that she was so close to someone who was going to be an unknown hurdle to her made her feel uneasy. She watched the match with growing concern as the blows kept landing. She noticed a handful of gashes and marks on the bull, showing that he was not invincible. As blood drinker kept swinging, his great sword was eventually caught by the bull, with blood leaking from the bull's hand. with a rear back of his other fist, he threw a soul shattering punch to the wargor, sending him skidding back many feet through the muddy puddles. The crack of bones was heard by all as the beast was stuck. The bull closes the distance slowly as blood drinker tries to get up, only to get onto his knees. Before he can try to recover further, the bull grabs his head between his hands and begins to squeeze.

With bloodcurdling screams from the struggling beast trying to escape, it ended with a wet crunch of his head. The bulls' hands met in the middle as the head of the opponent squished through his fingers like rotten fruit. With the body of the previous leader slumping to the ground lifelessly, blood spewing from his neck onto the mud, the new leader was declared. With a roar of beasts louder than she has ever heard, due to the premium slaughter, she tells herself its now or never. While this would be a harder battle, she wasn't about to quit because of some overgrown cow stealing her kill!

She barges into the circle with her axe raised. With a fist to her chest and a powerful roar, she declares her challenge. The crowd's hunger for slaughter only stoked as she presented herself for the fight. The Minotaur looks over to Nathiqe, his eyes expanding at seeing willing prey. He licks the pulp off his hands as he readies for a charge. The bull lowers his head, seeming to stick with his previous strategy of rushing. With a scream of anger, he charges towards her, kicking the earth up beneath him as he causes the ground to shake. Nathiqe holds her ground with her axe at the ready. Her grip shakes slightly, fear of getting caught in the rush fill her mind as the images of her getting gorged flashes through her head.

As the bull gets closer, she adjusts, and when he is only a couple feet away in full sprint, she leaps to the side. She learned from her those before her in that she cannot hold against one that big. As she leaps to the side, she slams her axe down into his neck. The blow breaks through his armor and leaves a nasty gash, causing him to fall over from the velocity and blow colliding. With a loud crash, the bull yells. Nathiqe stands shakily as she can barely believe she landed the strike in time and dodge the attack. She watches as the Minotaur stands back up, a flow of crimson running down his back from her swing. It would definitely leave a scar, but it wouldn't kill him. he rears up for another charge as Nathiqe braced for it.

the bulls' eyes were different now, the urge for blood still there, but it seemed as though he was more focused now. It made Nathiqe feel great pride to know that she made him give her his all. He rushes towards her again; she knew that one more blow like before would bring him down for good. Just one more hit from her, and the herd would be hers to command. The future victories in her mind drove her to act as she prepared for the final strike. The Minotaur rushes in once more, determined to end this right here and now, to secure his place as the leader and the best among the horde. As the two come near each other, everything starts to slow down for Nathiqe. The world around seems to almost freeze as the moment draws near.

The cheering and roars of the beasts around her go silent. The thunder and lighting not even registering for her. things quickly speed back up and in an instant, they are on each other. she leaps to the side again, but this time the Minotaur jerks his head to the side to catch her. its almost instant, but they trade blows. The Minotaur's horn stabs Nathiqe through her torso on the side of her body. The pain is numbed by the adrenaline as she swings her axe down and plants itself in the bull's eye. They both screamed as they separated from each other. Nathiqe holsters her axe and clutches her side and puts pressure on the gaping wound. The blood trickles between her fingers as she tries to tend to it. her self-inspection is brought to a halt as she looks up at the screaming bull clutching his now pulped eye socket.

He roars in agony as he starts swinging wildly. His fist connects with 2 Gors unlucky enough to be too close to the fight and their heads are immediately opened by his knuckles. while she does savor the disfigurement she caused him, she can't keep going with the flesh wound on her now. She needs to create some space to figure this out. she was so close, but now she feels further from her goal than ever before. her emotions began to well up. If she didn't leave now, she would most certainly die, little more than food for some animal after everyone moves on. She couldn't have that.

It was only a matter of time before the bull became coherent enough to finish her off. It made her sick to think about, but she had to run. She made a breakthrough the crowd while keeping pressure on her wound, trying to find something to get her out of here. The beasts realizing that she is now running, they began to chastise her with their chanting, demanding that she go back and face the challenge she started. a gor tried to stand in her way of escape as he reached for her. still full of quickly draining energy, she bit the approaching hand, drawing blood and a scream from the gor as she pushed past him. she quickly made it to an emptier part of the herd camp, mostly due to the herd being distracted by the raging bull that is now their leader smashing everything around him in rage.

She had thoughts of going back to her tent to grab everything she could, but the pain in her quickly reminded her she was on a time crunch to get out of here. She makes her way through the camp as the storm's severity increases, more and more tents coming undone and tumbling all over the place. The rain coming down in what felt like sheets as it drenched her. That's when she sees it, in the distance past all the chaos she sees a chariot being tended to by an ungor trying to keep the beast tied to it still. This was the perfect chance to get out of here! She unintentionally sneaks up on the ungor, making him jump when she grabs his shoulder.

He turns around and is paused for a minute as he looks at Nathiqe. They both recognize each other, he was the ungor from the pit. He smiles at Nathiqe, but quickly his face is full of worry as he sees her bleeding wound. "What happened to you?" he asked loudly, as to not be drowned out by the storm. "Not important, I need that chariot." "I just got the tuskgor tied to it, all yours." before she gets on the chariot, she gives the ungor a hug, nearly squeezing the life from him as she prepares to leave. "I won't forget what you have done for me" She spoke.

She let go of him, leaving him in a daze as he gets his bearings from the suffocating hug. Before she leaves however, there is one last thing she must do. With a rear of fist, she punches the ungor in the stomach. While on the muddy ground as he clutches his gut, he yells, "WHY!?" "Now they won't suspect that you helped me. Trust me, it will keep that bull off you if he thinks I stole this from you, and you tried to stop me." And with that, she whipped the spiked tuskgor tied to the front. With a squeal and a creak, the boar and the chariot moved as one. The chariot sped off into the tree line, disappearing from view to all those in the camp.

As the chariot sped through the ruff terrain, constantly bumping and bouncing from rocks and logs, Nathiqe held on while seated. She tried to get a look at her wound, but the dark skies and canopy made it very difficult to see the problem clearly. As she sat there, clutching her wound, her emotions started to emerge once more. First it was a crushing shame from fleeing, then an overwhelming anger from not being skilled enough to win the fight. She clutched one of the chariot boards so hard it splintered in her grip. Then finally, grief. A heavy sadness set in as she realized that even if she can recover from this wound, which was unlikely, she would never have a chance to become the herd leader.

Her reputation was now one of a coward who ran instead of accepting fate. Any standing she had was lost, all efforts felt in vain at this point. If she went back she would most likely be executed. Her overwhelming grief made her feel numb, the numbness grew along side a deep exhaustion setting in. her body finally demanding its rest from her recent activities. As her eyes close, her mind is filled with thoughts of what is to come. For once, she has no idea what awaits her if she even wakes up at all.

She awakens with her back in the mud, she sits upright quickly, regretting it as the pain comes back from this action. She looks around and sees she is in a shallow crevice, the chariot in ruins as it fell down here. She sees the tuskgor dead and bleeding as it seems to have landed on a sharp stump on its way down, the blood reddening the puddle beneath it. she doesn't know how long she was out, but she can't waste any more time. she ignores the wreck and finds a less steep slope to climb out of. As she emerges from the pit, she starts to push forward, still determined to make distance from her and the herd. As she continues forward through these unrecognized woods, that when she spots it, lantern light.

Her shuffle becomes quickened as she made her way towards the lit structures. As she got closer she could hear the rushing of a nearby river and the sounds of farm animals. This must be part of some settlement she thought. But once within proximity of the strange compound, she only sees 3 buildings. A home, a storage shed of some sorts, and a barn. Seeing that it was just these she had hoped it wasn't a full town and that she could maybe hide inside one of these for the night. The shed probably wouldn't have anywhere to hide, and the house might have people inside it. the barn however would have bedding in it, and possibly food!

She shambles over quickly to the large double doors and tries to open it. her attempt is met with frustration as the doors are locked. She needed a warm spot to rest and check to her wound, and she couldn't wait to find another way in. in an act of desperation she rams her horned head into the doors, shaking them violently. With another ram she breaks away some chunks of wood. With one last hit she sends the doors swinging inwards with a large bang as she hobbles in. the opening of the doors let the storm flow in and it startled the animals within, sending several of them into a panic creating more noise.

She limps by several stalls with varying animals in them, she notes a pen with fuzzy looking animals with horns like hers. She makes it to the last stall on the left that is vacant and has a hay pile in it. she drops like a bag of dead weight to the hay covered plank floor as she breaths heavily. She throws her metal face armor to the side to let herself breath better. She couldn't get up again if she wanted to, her body finally telling her it had enough. She sat there, trying to plan some way out of this.

maybe she could find something to mend her, maybe she could just staunch the wound and it will hopefully heal on its own. An optimistic thought but its all she had. For now, she at least had a roof over her head and something to sleep on. As she rested her head to the pile of dried grass, her ears picked up on something. She could hear footsteps approaching the barn, the steps of one person. But what made her stomach sink was the smell of fresh black powder on the approaching figure. Whoever it was would have no issue killing her on the spot. All she could do was hope they didn't find her as she did her best to obscure herself. Which given her current health, was not much.

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Hans was about ready to settle in for the night. After tending to his fuzzy friends outside, he settled in his bed for the day. He decided that the weather was the perfect excuse to relax and unwind. He enjoyed some imported tea he saved for such rainy days. He spent many hours simply lounging around different parts of his home, and he couldn't be happier doing it. As it became nightfall however, he knew it was time to rest. For tomorrow he would have to get back to doing more chores around the property if the weather allowed it. as he settled in for the night under his covers, his mind began to drift. Thoughts of those in town, thoughts of himself, and lastly the thoughts of his parents. As a frown creeped on his lips from the last train of thoughts, He heard a loud bang of wood outside.

At first he thought it was maybe a tree that fell, or a large branch fell on one of the buildings, something that he could deal with tomorrow. But then he heard another bang, and this time he could tell it was coming from the barn. And with a third bang and a loud crash of wood, he knew something was wrong. Quickly he made himself decent and attached his bedside lantern to his belt. He bolted to one of the storage rooms in the hall to fish out the rifle he kept for emergencies and dropped the round shot inside the barrel. He exited his front door in a hurry and could see the front door of the barn was smashed open. He approached cautiously with his rifle raised.

As he entered, he noted that blood was on the broken doors, and he could see a small trail of it leading to the barns back. He followed it slowly, his breath hitching with every step. This could be anything, a robber, a murderer, a beast, or some monstrosity he's never seen before. his mind goes to all the worst places as he makes his way there, step by step. The animals are still somewhat panicked by all this, and the storm not helping them get any calmer. He noticed a pair of horn tips peaking over the edge of the stall wall. He doesn't remember leaving any of his animals in there. He sees the metal mask that looks like it would fit on one of his animals, on the ground.

He turns the corner, and his lantern lights up the form of an injured beastman holding their side. His rifle is immediately pointed at the creature's head, his mind panicking as he realizes a beastsman is this close to him. he examines it and notices a few things. Firstly, he notices how it is much bigger than himself. If the beast were standing it would surely dwarf him. secondly, he noticed its bleeding wound and realized that where the blood was coming from. The beast couldn't seem to move because of it. and lastly he noticed that this one was different than the ones he had heard about. This one wasn't some deformed mutation as some would say. It looked slightly different, but Hans was struggling to see what that was in this light. It still had the form of a beastman, then it hit him, it looked somewhat feminine.

As his eyes adjusted he could notice the swells of her chest beneath her armor, and he noticed that her hips were somewhat wider than what someone of her size would have. Her overall frame was leaner than what he had heard of. Less overwhelming strength (compared to beastmen) and a more agile build. He quickly tries to snap out of his inquisitive mode to remember what he's dealing with. a beast, one that would kill him if it weren't at deaths door itself, he thought. He looks at the yellow furred creature and sees she is covered in patches of blood and mud.

She must have been through some kind hell, whatever could make a creature of her stature struggle, unnerved Hans to no end. Her long horns would make a fine trophy for anyone crazy enough to have a beastman mounted to their wall. All he has to do is pull the trigger and he could probably turn in the body for a hefty sum of coins, her large stature and gear quality means she is probably high ranking. Hans eases his finger onto the trigger and hold his aim steady. The beastwoman can do little more than growl in frustration, unable to guard herself in any way aside from raising her hand up to him. Hans prepares for the shot, he holds it, holds it, but the blast never came. He had trouble doing it, seeing her in this state made her seem oddly human to Hans. He kept pressuring himself to get it over with, that one trigger pull would solve this.

All of a sudden, tears started leaking down the beast's face, not making it far before soaking into the fur. He could hear her hold down a sob in her throat, trying to keep down as much as possible. For every moment he saw her struggling like this, he felt his will to do the deed fading away. Killing someone or something that struggling like this didn't feel right. maybe it would be better to keep her alive, for questioning or something. He needed something to convince himself to spare her. with every moment between the two parties, it felt like eternities. With a defeated sigh and lowering of his weapon, he made his call. "Stay here, I'll be right back." And with that, he left the confused beast in the stall while he went to grab something to patch her wounds.

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She was now face to face with the presumed owner of this patch of land. His face illuminated by the lantern on his hip. She could see the brown hair slightly dampened by the rain and a slightly fearful look in his eye. What drew her attention the most however was the large rifle he had pointed at her form, presumably loaded and ready to put her down. she had seen these weapons bring down dozens of her kind in an instant, she knew this would be the end. To have her life as a warrior cut so short by misfortune, and then have her actual life ended in some shack by someone who wasn't even a fighter, it was too much.

With a raised hand to try and guard herself, she began to feel overwhelmed. First the tears came despite it being against her will. She tried to keep the sounds down as well with little success, it sounded like she was choking on her own throat as her emotions were put on full display. She braced for the shot, hoping her body wouldn't be paraded through the streets like humans would do with high ranking beastmen. As she sat there, waiting for the worst, she opened her eyes to see the man with confliction on his face.

He must be thinking of what to do with her body, she thought. She heard a sigh from his lips, and he lowered his weapon. She was shocked to say the least. She now realized what was happening. Mercy, she was being shown mercy! Although the positive thoughts faded as she realized she is probably only sparing her so she can be interrogated. She inwardly shudders, knowing what has happened to her kin on the receiving end of a witch hunter. "Stay here, I'll be right back." he said quickly before exiting. She should run if her theory is correct, but she couldn't. she just had to sit and hope for the best.

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What was he doing? He inwardly scolds himself for what he was currently attempting, but he felt it was the right thing to do. He went back into his house and went into the storage rooms once more to fetch some special medicine for his unexpected guest. In his arms he held bandages, a water skin, a stitching kit, some homemade jerky, and a special brew from Grotlick. It was a medicine that grot gave him to tend to his larger farm animals if they ever got seriously wounded. If it was a solid hole, he could use it to partially regenerate the wound enough to only need stitches and minor aid. Grotlick apparently made this from various ingredients including certain bits of troll.

He warned not to use it anything man sized or smaller. Due to its natural potency, it would require a large build to handle properly without overwhelming someone. He hurries out there back into the barn and is once again face to face with the intruder. She seems content with staying there, unable to do much else. He put his supplies down and starts to get them in order. when he gets close to her she lets off a low growl as he gets close to her wound. He gives her a stern look. "I can fix your wounds, but you have to let me. If I don't treat them now, your as good as dead." He told her that as more of fact than a threat to her. she relents and removes her hand from the wound and lets him help her.

he sees that there is almost a clean hole through her right above the hip. He cleans the wound first with the water skin, cleaning out the mud and loose hair from the wound. He can see her wincing at the contact to her wound. He wanted to get through this quick, so he opens up the bottle of "medicine" and gets ready to apply it. "This is going to sting, but it will fix your wound. It should numb it after the initial pain as well. Here." Hans hands her a thick strip of leather from the wall to chew on to hold in any noise. She seems confused at him handing her the leather. "Bite down on this, it helps with dealing with pain and will keep you quiet."

Nathiqe wasn't sure why he was helping her this much, she was stumped. She took the leather bit and chomped down on it firmly, looking to him to see if she was doing it right. the dust taste of it making her want to spit it out. he gave her a thumbs up and opened a strange bottle. He slipped the gloves he had on his belt and poured some of the thick concoction on his hands and rubbed it thin. He stuck his fingers into the wound, and immediately she reacted with a groan of discomfort, and a bite on the strip. He rubbed it into the flesh and put a small pool of the goo into the wound. Almost immediately the wound began to wriggle and grow smaller.

Her face was one of partial horror as she saw the wound started to seal almost magically. First an intense burning was there, then it numbed after a minute just like the man had said. She could see the wound was significantly less deep, but it was still open to infection. That's when he pulled out a small needle and thread and began stitching her shortened wound. She was amazed at his diligence and focus when he was patching her up. In mere minutes the wound was sealed, and he began wrapping bandages around her to cover it. she felt fairly well after words, weakened but no longer dying. He then handed her some dried meat, she accepted desperately and nearly swallowed it whole. The taste was much better than any of the times she had made the dry snack.

"don't move too much, it will need time to heal. If you try too much it could reopen." She didn't know what to say. She was at his mercy to be executed and he not only spared her but is helping her recover. A cautious voice in the back of her mind is telling here its only so she can live long enough to be tortured, but she doesn't feel he would be this attentive if that were the case. "I… thank you." Hans was taken back for a minute. She could speak reikspiel! And clearly at that. Its dawning on him that this isn't the average beastman he was dealing with in the slightest. "You know reikspiel?" "Mostly yes. Why did you help me?" seems she was as suspicious to him as he was of her. what can he say though? He isn't fully sure why in the first place. "It didn't feel right to kill someone who's in such a vulnerable state. You didn't seem to pose a threat, so I thought I could help you."

her ears flare slightly. "Not a threat? Are you saying I'm weak?" she asked slightly frustrated. Despite being in no position to actually cause him much harm, he didn't want to make her upset. he raises his hands in a gesture of admittance. "I didn't mean that. I just meant that your injury is restraining you, not that you aren't strong." She seemed to understand and rested back into the wall with a grunt. He needed to find out why she was here though. "Sooo… how did you end up here? And with an injury like that no less." She seemed to lower her head a little, thinking something over. Should she tell him of her previous goal? Her failure and shame to achieve it and being driven off from her own kind? Would this man understand or even believe her if she told him all this? the thought of being shunned by the one who had shown her such generosity made her gut twist in an unusual way.

She should come up with something, a half truth to convince him she won't harm him. "I tried to challenge the leader of our herd to a duel for the position of leader. But he had other plans. He ordered his guards to dispose of me instead of dueling me honorably for the position." Doing good so far. "After killing several, he snuck up on me and gave me this injury, forcing me to flee by chariot. After a few hours, it crashed, and I wandered into your barn." The way she told the tale intrigued Hans, it seemed she was very efficient in terms of fighting and social standing of her race. While it was neat, it didn't quite tell him why she was so tolerant of a human like Hans.

"So why are you so pleasant to be around compared to your kin?" as she prepares an answer, her vision blurs. She is yawning wide as she begins to slump to the ground in a tired manner. It seemed her bodies exhaustion finally caught up to her, along with whatever was in that mysterious brew. She curls up slightly as she passes out on the floor. Hans expected that. Usually whenever he used this medicine on cows, it would have them out cold in minutes. It apparently helped the body with healing and such. He looks down at her sleeping form, and thinks she is oddly tranquil curled up like that. He walks over and grabs a spare blanket from the crate nearby. He kept them in here for when the animals needed something a little extra to keep them warm in the winter. With how drenched she was, she would most certainly need one.

He drapes it over her, leaving her head exposed as she slept. Her sleeping form instinctively griped it and pulled it closer to herself as much as possible. seeing a near 7-foot-tall beast grabbing a blanket like a child made Hans smile wide at the strange but nice sight. He walks back inside his home with the leftover medical supplies and tucks himself back in after changing his now dirtied clothes. He knows that she won't be able to go anywhere far with the stitches in. even if her plan was to kill him in his sleep, he was sure that she wouldn't even be able to get up his stairs in her condition. Hans realizes now that they didn't even exchange names, a topic for tomorrow. He slept, hoping to make sense of this tomorrow, and hoping this wasn't a mistake he made.