Still Subject to Change Chapter 7 (NEW)
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Hello everyone! i decided to repost arc 1 of SSTC
(the chapters were way too long and had a bunch of typos but hopefully this will make reading easier)
this Story contains Vore, Dont like dont read.
if there are still any grammatical errors i’m sorry.
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Robin sat next to me and Rikaad, absentmindedly stuffing flowers into his mouth and making even more flower crowns out of those he didn't eat.
Rikaad stood up and looked towards the mountain.
“We should continue our journey after eating we still have some ways to go especially now that we had to flee from the Arachnids”
That much was true.
I had run a good distance away from those things and not in the direction we were headed but rather perpendicular to the mountain.
“Aw fuck but at least we know now how to avoid those critters at least”
Standing up slowly I picked up the flowers that weren't eaten and went over to Arthur, pouring the plants over him to which he reacted by sitting up abruptly and glaring at me.
“That's for stabbing me”
I went back over to the other two without a word.
Robin was laughing but Rikaad was looking rather displeased.
Fuck, i hoped i would not get murdered in my sleep for this.
He did not do anything else and instead turned away from the mountains and started walking back into the woods.
Arthur finally got up and went over to walk next to Rikaad, still glaring at me and tearing into some of the flowers I had tossed over him like an angry dog.
Robin ran up to me and motioned for me to pick him up again, so I once again offered him my hand to climb on.
Arthur did not look happy about it, he probably expected Robin to be scared of me now, honestly I was too so I was glad that it wasn't the case.
Cupping the ginger boy closer to my chest I tried to not walk too fast for the other two.
“You're lazy, ginger boy”
I quipped to the small human in my hands.
“I know”
He just grinned and lounged back against my chest.
The two that were walking by themselves kept looking at my hands, or more specifically the Rusthead that occupied them.
They were probably worried that I would do something.
I tried my best to not be offended and attributed it to what happened earlier instead.
It was a walk in silence for a few minutes until Arthur piped up.
“How long do you think we have to walk? Till we get home i mean”
It took a few moments before Rikaad responded.
“I would guess a few more days but i'm not familiar with the landscape here”
I was sure that as long as we went opposite of the mountain we couldn't go too wrong.
After all, the only thing we could run into would be the ocean if we somehow missed the Kingdom entirely so we would just have to walk along the shore to find civilization.
The redhead in my hands abruptly stood up and I tried my best to not let him fall over on the uneven surface.
“Maybe if Donovan held me over the trees I could see something?”
All of us looked at him a bit alarmed at his suggestion.
While not out of character for him to come up with such a dumb idea it might actually work.
I just wasn't sure how to go about something like that, What if I didn't hold him correctly and dropped him?
The smaller men apparently had similar thoughts as Arthur immediately bristled.
“That a dumb idea! And Dangerous too! What if you fall? You'll break your legs!”
Rikaad however seemed to mull it over.
“It might give insight as to where we currently are but i'm not sure if its a good idea, it might be dangerous if we don't find a way to do secure you this high up”
I looked down at the rusthead, trying to think of a way to hold him that would not result in him falling to the ground should he continue moving like a hyperactive mouse.
“I mean I could? I just would have to hold you i guess”
The Ginger boy nodded enthusiastically and sat down again, his legs straight out forward waiting for me to lift him over the trees.
Taking a few seconds to think of how to do it, I ended up grabbing his lower half in a gentle fist, leaving his arms and torso free.
I really hoped having his legs secure up to his waist would be good enough as he was a rather fidgety little guy.
Since it seemed alright like this I began to slowly lift him over my head, ignoring the death glare Arthur sent me and Rikaad’s icy gaze that lingered on me.
Having Robin so far over my head with my arm completely outstretched I felt like it was rather dumb looking but ignored it at his excited shout.
“I can see a tower! It's a good bit away still but i think we can make it today if we're fast!!”
He was pointing to a spot a tiny bit to our right and away from the mountain still.
That was weird, if anything I would have guessed that I'd be more to our left and farther away too.
How fast had I run away from those spiders?
Attributing it to adrenaline I slowly put Robin down to the ground again making sure not to go too fast to avoid making him dizzy.
He hopped off my hand as soon as he could and went over to the other two.
“I think we can make it today! If we go fast now!”
He grabbed both of their arms and began Dragging them along.
I slowly shuffled behind.
I felt weird over this piece of information.
I didn't know if I was sad or not about the fact that they all would be out of my life soon.
On one hand Robin was extremely nice to me and Rikaad seemed to at least tolerate me, but Arthur seemed to just plain dislike me completely.
Well I wouldn't have to worry about that soon as I couldn't go back to the City anyway, and Humans did not belong in the forest at all.
Slowly dragging my feet over the ground after them I was glad that at least one with Robin dragging them along it was a bit faster and I did not have to stop as much anymore.
It took a few hours to get anywhere close enough that everyone else could see the mentioned tower too, but something was off about it.
The tower looked well kept and clean, even the flags swaying in the light breeze that had warmed up the air since we ran from the spiders looked recently washed.
Wait a second the flags were wrong.
Instead of the yellow star on pale blue ground with the red ring around it it depicted two weird dark blue sickle moons on gray ground.
This was not Kamerasca.
We had walked all the way to the neighboring Kingdom Maringand instead of back to our own Kingdom.
Well this still wasn't so bad, civilisation was civilisation after all.
And the small humans could probably just hitch a ride on a traders cart or something.
Looking down I saw them looking rather confused, and Arthur looked downright frightened for whatever reason.
He probably thought he'd be home by now and realized that he had to walk even more through dangerous territory now.
Robin turned to look between me and Rikaad with puppy eyes.
“How do we go back to Kamerasca now? Donovan can't go through Maringand with us”
I kneeled down to be more at level with them, ignoring whatever Arthur was doing a bit further back.
“I'm Not going with you from this point anymore, i'm going back into the woods, i can't go anywhere near a city anymore as a Giant”
I stood back up as Robin tried to come up with something to say.
“But- but we-uh we are not in Kamerasca yet! You said you'd stay till we got there!”
That was not technically true.
“I said i'd stay with you until we got to a city not that it HAD to be Tunstead, besides only half of this group seems to not hate me so it's better if i just go”
I turned away from the small humans and slowly went away from them into the forest once again, but this time completely alone.
I was not sure what I would do now seeing as I only went Giant rather recently but would make due, I always did.
Having my back turned to them I suddenly heard the telltale CLACK of a bolt being shot from a crossbow.
Feeling it embed itself in my shoulder blade I turned around as fast as I could while ripping it out, thinking I had been betrayed by Rikaad as he was the only one with a crossbow.
As soon as I had turned completely a second bolt was shot straight into my collarbone and another was shot too quickly to have been reloaded into my upper leg.
Already starting to feel the effects of what had to be even more Sedative than last time I tried to figure out where it was coming from while falling to my knees once again.
Looking at a point behind the smaller men I saw an entire group of actual Guards, Guards from Maringand not Kamerasca, had surrounded us on half a side and with the Tranquilliser running through my bloodstream I could not do anything as I fell to the ground completely.
With my Vision Darkening from the edges the last thing I saw was Arthur shoving Robin in Rikaad’s direction before being tackled by at least five Guards into the ground as he tried to run away, now writhing like a man possessed under the heavier humans.
The last thing I heard was Robin shouting something but the words would not register in my brain.
Then everything went completely dark and I was left alone in Nothingness.
Some time passed, and then slowly there was something more than blackness… there was a slight sound… a very very distant thudding.
I frowned in my semi-consciousness… confused by the sound’s presence when just a moment ago there had been soft, fuzzy silence and comfort.
I knew I was lying on the floor, and the ground was a lot harder than the dirt in the forest.
My eyes flickered open to gray dimness, pupils immediately dilating and constricting to adjust to the scarce light, okay… so what was going on?
My thoughts were confused, and I didn't seem to have the capability to move just yet… So… That noise?
A little voice of reason in the back of my head spoke out, ‘That's your heartbeat genius’.
Okay… so i was alive then… or at least… I felt like I was…
Another couple of minutes passed before i regained the ability to move, and i sat up very slowly, putting a hand to the back of my head and rubbing my scalp, trying to recall what had landed me wherever I was now.
Then in a flash I remembered what had happened.
Oh Fuck.
Well one thing after the other, so where the hell was i?
Firstly I seemed to be in a circular room , the tower we had seen maybe?
Looking a bit more it seemed that the only light came from a window way up overhead.
I couldn't reach it even if I wanted to, but at least I had some light to work with.
A ray of dusty light came down all the way to one of the walls and I moved to sit in the sunbeam, there that was better.
Scanning the walls a bit there were small doors laid into the solid Brickwork, about three small ones and one larger one where I had to be brought inside through.
Looking a bit more up I saw the ceiling way way over me, This tower must be huge!
And on what I assumed was an upper floor there were balconies built, still out of reach for me even if I jumped as high up as I could.
So i was taken captive, fuck.
I wasn't sure what would happen to me now, would they keep me as a sort of twisted monster pet? Or would they toss me into an arena to be defeated by a gladiator?
None of the options running through my head were very appealing.
I wondered what had happened to the trio of small humans that I had tagged along with and hoped they were alright.
I knew at least Arthur had a problem when I got shot as the last thing I saw was him tackled into the ground by five soldiers.
Before I could dwell further about the whereabouts of the smaller men though, The smallest door opened for about five seconds and an unconscious person was thrown in.
The person was facing away from me lying in a heap and looking closer was wearing the Kamerasca tunic, all other Armour had been stripped away.
Getting slowly closer I recognized the Blonde hair and Identified him as Arthur.
Of all the people to be thrown into my cell it had to be the one that had an inherent dislike for me, of course.
Still I wanted to make sure he was alive as sharing a cell with a corpse wasn't something I was looking forward to.
And I didn't really believe he deserved to die even if he was an asshole to me.
Not to mention Robin would be sad.
So I gently shook the limp form of the Guard apprentice hoping to get a reaction.
The thing I got was a pained groan and his arms twitching a bit.
“Arthur? Wake up, are you okay? You're not dying on me here right? I don't want a rotting corpse in my cell”
My voice seemed to draw him a bit further out of his sorry state and he started moving to sit up.
I went a bit away from him to the opposite wall of the pit we were trapped in.
“Wha- whas goin onnn?”
He seemed to have trouble identifying where he was and I surmised he got whacked on the head or something.
“We got caught by Maringand dipshit”
He looked thoroughly alarmed by that for reasons that probably went beyond me, I hadn't really taken my time to keep an ear out for stupid politics when on the streets.
“Oh no oh no oh fuck I need to get out of here”
He was panicking and patting at the walls and trying to get the solid iron doors to open by rattling at each of them as hard as he could.
Did he have claustrophobia or something?
Well that wasn't really my problem and i didn't know what to do about it anyway.
He panicked for at least half an hour while I was watching in silence until he collapsed at the wall furthest from me to the ground, drawing his knees up to his chest, crossing his arms over them and burying his head into the hollow it made.
“What are you panicking about? If anything i should be the one to do that seeing as i'm a Bastard and you're not”
He looked over his crossed arms at me with a sour expression.
“You don't understand, they WILL kill me i know it”
Well that wasn't vague at all, i rolled my eyes at him.
“Yeah sure, i bet i'll die before you though seeing as i'm a ‘Monster’ “
He looked at me strangely.
“That's NOT what I mean, they're probably going to put on a show for your death, but mine….well it's gonna get painful i guess”
What the fuck was he talking about? Had he been in Maringand before? Before I could think to ask him about it he had a Question himself though.
“How are you so calm? You know you are going to die and yet you just sit there?”
At least it was a coherent Inquiry for once.
“Well i guess i always expected to be caught one day, after all i was a Bastard living in the streets and i'm actually really surprised i made it this far”
He slunk back against the wall even further hiding his face once again.
It was true though, I always knew I wouldn't die of old age and likely be killed or die of some treatable disease.
Despite sitting in the only available sunbeam I still felt like it was way too dark here and something kept nagging at me.
“Arthur? Do you know what happened to the others?”
I almost didn't dare ask, as I was honestly afraid of the answer, I sincerely hoped they were okay.
“I think they're alright, Maringand doesn't really have any negative relations to the Kamerasca Citizens”
The way he said Kamerasca Citizens was a bit weird, almost as if he didn’t count himself.
“So why are you guys locked up? I mean i understand that they put me in this ugly pit, but you guys aren't even actual guards”
He shifted uncomfortably against the wall trying to hide his face even more.
“I'm Not from Kamerasca”
The quiet admission did surprise me, I had thought with how he acted absolutely loyal to Kamerasca that he was born there.
“What the fuck do you mean by that? Are you a Criminal here? Did you flee to Kamerasca or something?
He still looked incredibly uncomfortable and slid down even further on the wall, this guy was flexible as hell i noted.
“Or something is close enough i guess, i'm the son of a high ranking nobleman that was killed in a coup to take over the entire nobility of Maringand”
Of all the things I had expected it certainly was not this.
“What? You mean to tell me that you're a nobleman?? And that's why these fucks put us in this stupid prison?”
He actually seemed guilty for what had happened and looked like he tried to melt into the floor, wincing.
“I know how this sounds, but believe me i'm telling the truth, though I expected to be dead by now”
He did not have any reason to lie about Such a thing, and why would he?
That’d be absolutely idiotic if what he said about the coup was true then that just meant he’d put himself in danger by telling such a thing.
“I don’t think you are lying, it would be stupid to make that up and just put yourself in danger”
He finally looked back up from his arms.
“Yeah it would be, besides i'm an absolutely terrible actor anyways, basically everyone can attest to that, i wouldn't be able to act to save my life”
I realized that this was only the second time I had talked to Arthur that didn’t end in the use of insults or screaming.
Though looking at the dejected form of the human slouched against the wall I doubted that he had the energy to do so, and neither did I if I was honest, the sedative still made me a bit sleepy.
Before either of us could say anything more a loud Bang came from overhead, like big doors being flung open.
Looking up I realized that the noise must have come from one of the balconies, was someone there?
“WHY HASN'T THE BEAST DONE ANYTHING YET? I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!”
A loud nasally voice called from the platform, I couldn't see who the speaker was but I did hear other people speaking too albeit at a normal volume and I couldn't make out the words.
Glancing at Arthur I could see that he was looking up unconcealed dread, did he know the owner of the voice?
As I looked up again I could see a face leaning over the railing of one of the balconies.
The most prominent feature I could make out even from all the way down here was a pair of thick bushy eyebrows that had grown together in the middle.
To the side I heard Arthur start to breathe heavily, he likely did know the owner of the voice then.
The eyebrow guy's gaze seemed to bore into me and I tried my best to remain calm.
Just because I knew I would get killed here didn't mean I was going to accelerate my death by being an idiot.
“BEAST! TELL ME WHY THE MAN THROWN INTO YOUR CELL IS STILL ALIVE?”
What the fuck did this guy even want? Did he expect me to mindlessly kill whatever was thrown at me like a rabid dog?
Deciding to respond the best I could I also tried to remain as calm as possible.
I truly did not want to be seen as just another monster that they could put in shackles to do their bidding.
“I don't kill people, also where am I kept? I would like to leave”
I glared at him with a sour face making my disdain for the situation very clear.
The eyebrow guy did not seem to like that.
“WELL WE WILL SEE IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND ON THAT! YOU'LL NOT BE FED TILL YOU HAVE KILLED HIM BEAST!”
Before I could do anything else the loud man had already turned away out of sight and a few seconds later heard the door close.
“What the fuck dude, what do they expect? That I do what they want just cuz they don't give me food? Fat chance”
I huffed out and looked back to Arthur who had gone pale as a corpse, He was shaking and looking at me with fear in his eyes.
“You- you're not going to kill me? Why? You hate me”
I was a bit taken aback by this, had he really expected me to kill them the entire time? I tried to not let that hurt me but it still stung.
“No? Why should i? Just cuz i don't like someone doesn't mean i want them dead”
He curled up against the wall again, a sigh escaping his mouth.
“This is all my fault, i shouldn't have followed you into the forest i shouldn't have-”
“Shut up, its not your fault why the fuck would you have known what would happen?”
I interrupted him before he started swimming in self-pity.
He just groaned and put his hands over his face.
“I’m just glad that the others are fine for now, the Guards won't do anything to them seeing as killing Kamerasca Guards wouldn't look good for them”
I was relieved to hear that, but it still left the problem of being held captive.
“Do you have any idea how to get out of here?”
He looked back at me with a sad look on his face.
“No, these things were built to imprison dragons, so we don't really have a chance to get out unless someone gets us out”
This was built for dragons? Well it would make sense, seeing as the only window was way up in a gradually thinning cylinder that was likely underground.
“So we're stuck? Unless they actually let us out, which i doubt they would do”
He nodded, still slouched sadly against the curved wall.
“Maybe i can make a deal, ask them to let the others go and only kill me”
I looked at him a bit surprised, he'd actually offer his own life in exchange for letting the others free?
And would that include me too? I doubted it because he didn't like me, and even if he did try it was very unlikely that those aristocrats would agree to let a ‘dangerous Beast’ roam free.
“Are you sure about that? You are aware that dying is permanent right?”
“Of course I do! I just- I'm- This is just so dumb! I've been Terrified for like two years for exactly this!
And now I dragged my friends into it! I NEVER meant to do that!
I've been always on the lookout for anything that could kill me, and then later for anything that could kill my friends! And I failed! Twice!
I hate this! All of this!”
Oh… a few things suddenly made a bit more sense now, he wasn't really angry all this time, he was afraid, afraid to die or that i would kill him and his friends.
And as is Human Nature they don't want to be afraid, so they get angry instead, lashing out at whatever they could whether it was at fault or not.
I had completely misunderstood him the entire time, he hadn't been angry at me, he had been afraid of me!
And I didn't really do anything to help with that fear.
No wonder he was such a Grumpy dude.
Before either of us could say anything more a loud scraping sound came from one of the Balconies and a wooden construction held up with rope came into view.
A construction crane? Why would they have that here?
Arthur had gone pale again, looking up with dread as a dozen or so Guards appeared on the edges of the balconies, all holding mean looking Crossbows that were aimed at me.
Would they just shoot us both to death? They didn't move until a wooden platform was panned over the balcony hanging from the crane.
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