Krothuum was a scar of stone and dust on the southern grasslands of Zhuru. Its walls were low, cracked things, more a mark of pride than a bulwark, and the gates gaped like broken teeth. Smoke clung above the city, not the holy incense of temples but the choking reek of coal-pits and forges, of fat burning on anvils, of oil dumped into the gutters.
The city lived on steel and mockery. Every forge was a rival, every hammer-strike a jeer against the smith across the alley. Hyenas laughed at each other across the streets, the cackling rolling through Krothuum like thunder. It was a city that thrived on humiliation, and where shame was remembered longer than blood spilled.
Into this dust-choked maze strode a she-wolf of the northern tribes, black of pelt, broad of shoulder, and proud of stride. Her amber eyes burned beneath the sweat-clumped locks of her mane, and her arms, thick with the sinew of war, bore scars that spoke of raids across mountains and the razing of caravans. She was not soft like the courtesans of Zarnack, nor sly like the thieves of Kansubar. She was barbarian stock: raw, bold, made for the clash of steel and the bite of blood.
Yet for all her strength, she had come to Krothuum weakened; stripped not of her coin, but of her sword.
It had been promised ready at dawn. She had paid for it with gold and a raided caravan’s worth of loot. A northern blade, reforged in the hyena-smith’s coals, tempered for the blood-feast she intended to unleash when she crossed the straits toward Drael. But dawn had passed, then noon, then dusk, and now the day waned while her temper flared.
She shoved her way through the market, scattering fox-hawkers and goat-wives alike, until she came to the forge of Rathgur the Smith, a thick-shouldered hyena with soot-blackened fur, known for his laugh and his treachery in equal measure. His rivals claimed he spent more time mocking than hammering, yet he never lacked for customers. For in Krothuum, the louder a smith’s laughter, the more certain folk seemed that his steel would not bend.
The wolf planted her hands on his counter, claws clattering against the iron-rimmed wood.
“Where is my blade?” she snarled. “You swore it would be ready. You swore it with oath and coin both.”
Rathgur did not look up at once. He worked the bellows, smoke curling around his muzzle. Only when the forge flared red did he glance at her; a slow, toothy grin spreading across his muzzle.
“Not here,” he said. His voice was rough, each word dripping with the slothful amusement of one who knows he holds power. “Perhaps you misplaced it.”
“Misplaced?” Her voice was a growl, low and trembling. “You think me a pup, hyena? You think I forget where I lay my steel?”
He shrugged, the grin never leaving his muzzle. “Perhaps you forget many things. Where you leave your weapons. Where you leave your coin. Where you leave your legs, after drink and whoring.”
The forge-hands laughed. A cruel, barking chorus. The wolf’s claws dug into the wood, carving furrows. Pride swelled in her chest, mingling with desperation. Her sword was not just iron, it was her name, her survival, her right to stride as a warrior. Without it, she was no more than a lost bitch wandering a city of jackals.
And in that desperate moment, her tongue betrayed her.
“Who,” she spat, her voice sharp enough to cut the smoke, “do I have to rutt with to find my sword!?”
The words hung in the air like a curse. The forge fell silent, save for the crackle of coals. Hyena ears pricked. Jaws spread in grins. Then the laughter came — harsh, howling, rolling through the smithy until it seemed the very walls shook with it.
Rathgur’s eyes gleamed. “Ah,” he said, drawing the word like a blade across her pride. “So that is the bargain you offer.”
The wolf’s face burned beneath her dark fur. She opened her mouth to curse him, to call him heathen, thief, and crook, but the laughter was already binding her, wrapping her in mockery. In Krothuum, a word spoken in desperation was as binding as an oath.
And Rathgur, hyena that he was, would not let it pass.
—
The headboard rattled like a war drum, a cracked plank nailed crooked against the stone wall of Rathgur’s forge-room. Every thrust set it hammering, every laugh of his made it echo louder. The noise carried through the thin walls into the market beyond, so that all of Krothuum’s dust-choked streets could hear the she-wolf’s shame.
Her claws dug splinters into the board, her amber eyes squeezed shut as sweat matted the fur at her temples. She cursed through clenched teeth, the words breaking apart into gasps and sharp yelps as the hyena’s bulk drove against her. His cock was thick, cruel, stretching her in ways that were no pleasure, only pain. He knew it, and he reveled in it.
“Bitch,” Rathgur snarled, punctuating the word with a slap across her haunch, the crack of palm to fur echoing like a blacksmith’s strike. “You thought you’d strut in here, north-blood, tossing your pride like coin. You thought you could mock me, eh? Tell me where my steel lies? Ha!”
His laughter rolled like thunder. His paw closed on her tail, yanking it back as he drove himself deeper, forcing a cry from her throat that no curse could hide. She trembled with fury, with helplessness, with the gnawing ache that each thrust drove into her belly.
“Curse you!” she spat, though it came out broken, half a whimper, half a growl. “Curse you, hyena cur! Heathen crook…”
Her voice snapped into a squeal as his thumb shoved rudely into her tailhole, pressing past clenched muscle. Her whole body jolted, shame burning hotter than the coals outside. He barked laughter, the cruel, barking kind that only hyenas could muster, and it shook the rafters.
Outside, the forge-hands and passersby heard everything. The rhythm of the rattling board, the hyena’s laughter, the wolf’s strangled cries. Krothuum thrived on spectacle, and today’s spectacle was the barbarian bitch who had demanded her sword. Already wagers were whispered, jokes flung back and forth, who would finish first, her pride or his seed.
She wanted to scream, to thrash, to claw his throat open. Yet the grip on her tail, the weight of his body, the cruel shove of his cock left her pinned and trembling. Her bosom pressed against the splintered board, her thighs shook with the strain of holding herself up. She tried to spit venom, to call him filth, to swear vengeance, but every word was broken by gasps and yelps.
And worst of all, she could feel her pride crumbling with each thrust. Not arousal, never that… but the bitter, soul-deep regret of a warrior undone. She thought of her sword, her steel, her lifeblood. Without it she was nothing in this city. Without it she could not walk the caravan roads, could not raid, could not fight. Without it she had no power.
And so she endured. Teeth grit, eyes burning, heart pounding not with lust but with rage and shame. She endured, even as his thumb worked cruelly in her tailhole, even as his palm cracked against her flank again and again, even as he laughed like a jackal feasting.
“North-blood bitch,” he jeered, his breath hot against her ear. “Regretting your adventures now, eh? Regretting your big mouth? You’ll think twice before you wag your tongue in Krothuum again.”
His thrusts grew harder, faster, each one shaking the board, each one driving her claws deeper into splinters. Her tail jerked in his grip, her body jolted against his weight. She tried to curse him one last time, but it broke into a strangled yelp as he shoved himself deep and spilled into her, the hot flood of seed sealing her shame.
He laughed again, louder than ever, the sound rolling out into the street so all could hear. He slapped her haunch once more, as if to mark her, then pulled free. She collapsed against the rattling board, chest heaving, bosom slick with sweat, fury and shame burning her amber eyes.
And still he laughed.
“On your feet, bitch,” Rathgur said, buckling his belt as if nothing had happened. “I’ll show you your precious sword.”
Her breath hissed through her teeth, her pride torn raw. Yet she dragged herself up, tail low, fury trembling in every limb. She needed her sword. She needed it more than she needed her pride.
And so she followed him, half-dressed, into the daylight of Krothuum, where the crowd was already gathering, already laughing, already hungry for the next stroke of her humiliation.
—
The forge-door creaked wide, and daylight cut across the soot and smoke. The she-wolf staggered into the street behind Rathgur, her mane damp with sweat, her chest heaving. Her fur clung to her body where his seed still dripped, her tail limp, her pride raw. She had not bothered to dress, only clutched her loin-wrap against her hips as if to guard what little modesty she had left.
But modesty was nothing in Krothuum. The laughter had already spread.
Hyenas lined the alleys, forge-hands leaned from doorways, merchants paused mid-bargain to jeer. Even the mongrels and half-breeds of the market were grinning, for nothing in Krothuum drew a crowd faster than shame. They had heard the board rattle, the wolf squeal, the hyena laugh, and now they saw the proof stumble into the dust.
“Show me,” she hissed, dragging Rathgur by the arm. Her claws dug into his soot-stained hide. “Show me my blade, you bastard! Now!”
The hyena only grinned wider, throwing a look to the crowd. His laughter was louder than the forge-bellows. “Aye, I’ll show you. But perhaps you’ll wish I hadn’t.”
He turned, slow as a priest delivering judgment, and lifted a paw to point across the street.
There, standing smug in the doorway of his own smithy, was his rival, a thick-armed hyena of equal girth, holding a longsword aloft in one hand. The wolf’s longsword.
“There you are, wench!” the rival bellowed, his voice carrying over the dust and din. “Your sword’s been ready for hours! And here you are; fucking around like a common whore while I waited!”
The crowd roared. Hyenas doubled over, their laughter sharp as knives. A pair of foxes howled and slapped each other’s backs. Even the slaves hauling coal grinned as they trudged past.
The wolf’s face burned hot beneath her fur. She wanted to scream, to deny, to kill. Instead, she turned on Rathgur and struck him hard across the back with the flat of her paw. The blow cracked like a whip, but he only threw his head back and howled with laughter.
Her rage boiled over. She charged across the street, snatched her sword from the rival’s paw, and lifted it high. Its weight steadied her, its steel cooled her trembling. At last she felt whole again. At last she felt like herself.
She spun back, amber eyes blazing, and stormed toward Rathgur’s forge with murder written in every stride. The crowd parted, eager to see blood, eager to see the story end in violence. She raised her blade, teeth bared, ready to carve his head from his shoulders…
…when the heavy door slammed in her face.
The clang of iron bolts drove home her defeat. Behind the shuttered timbers came Rathgur’s laughter, louder than ever, echoing through the alleys like a curse.
The wolf froze, sword in hand, fury quaking in her chest. The crowd laughed on. Some mocked her with barks, others with obscene gestures. None offered pity.
She clenched her sword until her knuckles ached, then turned away, vowing vengeance. But vengeance is long in coming, and laughter travels fast. These are the Hyenalands. If you value Honor, Long for fellowship, or yearn for safety and warmth….
Avoid this accursed Place.