Page 7 of The Satyr's Wood

His eyebrow raised at that, and he cocked his head questioningly as he slipped from the bed. “For what am I being thanked?”

Her flush climbed a little higher and darkened subtly. “I guess for everything. You didn’t have to, but you’ve been genuinely very kind, and I appreciate it. You saved me, fed me, and kept me warm. Very warm,” she added with a low chuckle that teased his senses.

Blinking, Barbasa worked to contain his surprise. She thought he was... kind? Even before spending centuries caught into the hold of the labyrinth, he had never been called kind.He’d been called fair in the early days, but he couldn’t think of a single adjective applied to him that surpassed that one.

Worst, he knew he wasn’t kind. He was selfish and couldn’t even bring himself to regret it. It certainly did not change his mind in regard to his current course of action. He desired her in every way—carnally and socially to stave off his loneliness. And so, he would take her. She would remain with him as his companion. Whether she liked it or not.

Her smile shifted into a quizzical expression as the silence stretched between them and he realized that she expected some sort of response from him. Lips twitching with amusement, he inclined his head in a tiny bow.

“Of course. I may be a poor host but consider everything I have as yours for as long as you need it. It is my pleasure to provide for such a lovely female so lost in this brutal world.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly at that and for a moment he wondered if perhaps he had taken it a bit too far and made her suspicious. So, he met her frown with politely raised brows and a vacant smile until the wariness slowly faded from her face.

“I... appreciate it,” she said at last, and her lips twisted faintly in a grimace. “It would be nice to have a little time to truly rest. I misremembered just how much this takes out of me. Not to mention how hard it is on my own,” she added with a grim laugh.

He huffed quietly and walked over to the hearth to build the fire back up so that his delicate female didn’t get cold. The embers glowed as he roused them from where they were banked in the ashes, and he immediately fed them kindling and some of the smaller branches you kept in crate nearby. “Do you not have a flock... ah, family... to protect you?”

She shrugged in response, her eyes following his movements as he built back up the fire. “I was part of a community for a while,” she agreed at length. “But it became unpleasant for me, and I began to feel unsafe with the way people were starting tolook at me like something they can just claim.” Her lips thinned briefly as if she wanted to say more but she sighed and shook her head, an unhappy expression on her face. “I had no choice but to leave.”

Barbasa peered at her over his shoulder in confusion. “That is it? You left because there were males present who wished to take you for their mate?”

That... didn’t sound right to him. In his experience, when he’d last been in the human world, human fathers had arranged the marriages of their daughters. Certainly, they were not all very happy, and more than one woman wandered from home to please herself drinking wine and indulging in erotic delights among the company of satyrs, but it all seemed to be the nature of things. Just as the many females he had witnessed taken as mates from vanquished enemies. Males had always decided the fates of females.

Tiffany rolled her eyes, communicating clearly what she thought of his comment and tone of voice. “Easy enough for you to say, or the men in my town for that matter. You haven’t seen what happens in town when there is an available woman present. It’s not like they are asking her to the movies.”

He had no idea what that was, but he assumed it was a social engagement given the context and the brief wistful look that flashed across her face. In the next moment, however, her expression tightened.

“I guess we are supposed to be thankful that it’s no longer violent like it was after the Ravening that collapsed our world—at least that is what everyone says—but I’ve seen the fear on the faces of the women turned out into the labyrinth.”

He gave her a horrified look. The labyrinth? Had it somehow survived the destruction Asterion dealt it in his escape all so that humans could use it in their foolish mating rituals? It was a terrifying prospect and one that made him grateful that he wasfar from any human settlement if it was manifesting itself in such a way.

Some of his shock must have shown on his face, however, because she hastened to explain, much to his relief.

“That’s what we call a network of streets that were set up as a separate walled off area outside the main town that has been used for settling conflicts. And most especially when it comes to marriage. Because there are a lot of single men, and rarely a single woman in sight, it has frequently been used for settling who gets an available woman who is unable to make the regular payments to purchase her freedom.” She let out a bitter laugh as she began to run her fingers through her hair to comb through the tangles. “Those who already have a secret lover manage to arrange a meeting place with him, to cheat the system so to speak. And women who are under the protection of their fathers and deemed by their fathers as being marriable to someone of his personal choice get a free pass. Otherwise, it is whoever gets to her first, claims her, and returns to the town first.”

Barbasa gaped in disbelief. It was... barbaric! And that was something coming from a satyr!

“And these people would have subjected you to this?” he demanded in bewilderment.

Tiffany nodded and offered him a wry smile as she began to weave her hair into a braid. “Yeah. Honestly, I knew that it was bound to happen and really, I expected it to have come sooner. I guess, after a while, I just grew complacent while the town’s population maintained a steady growth with younger women straggling into town. That changed in recent seasons, however. The men have been pushing to have any and all single women entered into the labyrinth without exception. The mayor resisted but I’m surprised he held out as long as he did. I have to wonder now how long the town had been pressuring him... and how hard. I knew that my single status was protested quitefrequently at the meeting hall, despite my timely payments. It wasn’t like I didn’t have men following me whenever I happened to be caught alone, but I don’t know how far it went.” She shivered then and he had no doubt that it was in memory of being hunted, a thought that made Barbasa want to huntthemdown. “So, I got out before the wolves could truly begin circling and I was thrown to their mercy at the next town meeting.”

His hackles rising, Barbasa sprung to his hooves and stalked away from her, the simmering anger within his belly loosening tendrils of the taint buried within him. He wrestled them down until all he felt was his anger without the touch of the madness. The snarl he vocalized, however, made his little female jump slightly in surprise, though her eyes warmed as she watched him pace irritably, his tail held out stiffly behind him as he attempted to work off some of his pent aggression.

“And the men hunting you?” he bit out. “Do they intend to do this as well?”

“Probably not,” she admitted. “They won’t need to. They would either share me between them or have already decided who gets to keep me.”

And instead of chasing her through a labyrinth of city streets, they chased her through the grasses. No different really. He understood why she left. At least in the wilderness she had a chance of escape. And she had managed to remain ahead of her pursuers though it had obviously left her exhausted. Though he had no intention of letting her go, he greatly admired her resiliency. He also had no intention of abusing her in such a way. When he finally hunted her, it would be becauseshedesired it. She would not be unwilling prey to any male.

Females loved the thrill of the chase when it came to a satyr’s lust because they made sure it was always on her terms. That was something that even he had forgotten in the dark depths of the labyrinth as the poison of the corridors ate at his mind andspirit. It now rose furiously within him along with a strong sense of protectiveness. He was a selfish male... too selfish to release her, but he would honor that.

Spinning abruptly back toward Tiffany, he peered down at her, his chest expanding so that she understood that he was a large and powerful male. She looked away, flustered and he grinned inwardly at her obvious approval. Although he wasn’t anywhere near as large as Asterion, he still had some size advantage to many of the human males he had spotted at a distance. And though his flock was gone, he was a king. He would see to her protection.

“You will be safe here with me, I swear it,” he rumbled, certain that he saw teary gratitude in the gaze turned toward the fire.

Overcome by his emotion he hurried to the door, pausing for only a moment beside her sack that lay propped against the wall. “Remain here while I scout my territory,” he continued in a hurried clip as he snatched a bit of cloth from her bag while her attention was diverted. “Have some apples if you wish, or bread. It is a couple days old and made with ground acorns so I don’t know if it will be to your taste. You may enjoy anything I have. If you feel so inclined, there is a river that runs behind this building that is safe to bathe in, if cold. Soap and cloths for washing can be found beneath the sink. I will return shortly.”

With that promise and her murmur of thanks, he slipped out the door into the morning light and dragged in the scents of his territory into his lungs. While in the past he had been tolerant of human comings and goings around and through his territory, he would make certain no human was foolish enough to come anywhere near it now. Not when he had a female to protect and so much more to potentially lose!

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