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Anthro Sex Squad Story 3 - Oaky's Story

By Killenor

Arc 1 - Origins

Chapter 3

_Boring... That's what I can say about the next four months. Well maybe not so much boring as... uneventful. I set out to do as Grubber had bid and conquer myself, but how difficult that was without his aid! I never realized how dependent I was until I had to be independent. But luckily, I realized that it was all a test before it was too late. I knew the plants and animals, I had all I needed to get by, the only thing I lacked then was self discipline. _

I settled in to my new life pretty easily. A home, a grove to tend, all of it conveniently vacant and close to a river wide enough not to freeze over in winter or dry in summer. Yes it was a perfect area. I could commit myself to it, and I suppose at the time that I did commit. I had the feral animals and plants to tend, I worked on my magic, and I even tried my hand at a few crafts. Some folk could go mad under these conditions, but I had enough things to occupy me.

Still, no matter what I did, I was alone. My people ostracized me for my looks, my mentor left when he couldn't teach me, and I had no other friends... I suppose I resigned myself then to spend my life alone.

A lifetime of loneliness...

I should have known better than to trust anything to be constant.

***

A single golden eye was watching...

"You know, it certainly is a good thing I can talk to all of you." Oaky said to the feral boar and foal that followed him, "Any of the folk would think me mad."

The boar grunted.

"Yes, yes, I'll get to your children soon enough. You know that this foal is alone, right?. What would you do if your children were lost and not simply a little ill from your milk after eating amra berries? Your scent is the price for my aide."

The trio wandered in the woods, Oaky chanting something to the trees and rocks, searching for the lost foal's mother. A track here and scuffed bark there told Oaky that it had not been long since something feral-deer sized had passed this way. It was simply unfortunate that the rains had been late this season. Everything was dry, leaving much less to track by. Worse yet, a sense of urgency, like he was being stalked, hung in the air.

More grunting from the mother boar.

"That's ridiculous, there are no snakes that can move through these trees like that. You must be smelling something else. Now please just help me find this foals mother."

A derisive grunt.

"Wonderful!" Oaky turned to the foal, "Your mother is just beyond that glade. The pig-wife says you should be able to catch her scent as you step into the glade. Watch for predators and be well in life."

With that he sent the foal trotting off across the woods. He gave a little wave, glad to see the young thing go. How mammals dealt with having to RAISE their children instead of them simply learning, he would never know. All that directed attention must seem so overbearing, though the children never STOPPED wanting it.

He turned to the boar waiting impatiently at his side.

"Very well, thank you for your aid." He fished about in his robes, selecting a handful of broth-soaked puffballs, "Eat only three of these yourself and make your progeny eat half of one each. Your milk will be sour for an hour but there will no longer be traces of amra within you. Your piglets will recover promptly."

The boar took the puffballs in her mouth and sauntered off. As soon as she was gone, Oaky allowed himself a sigh and settled down on a nearby log. He attempted to look as though he was resting, but in reality he reached for his weapon, keenly aware of the hunter still nearby. Something was in the trees, something was approaching, and something was attempting to take him from behind.

"Quite a thing to see, toad." A smooth but sibilant voice hissed from somewhere, "An act of kindness, yet you knew there was a predator nearby. Interesting conundrum there."

Oaky was very surprised to hear an actual voice and not one from the feral animals. Still he would not be deterred. An unprovoked act of hostility could ruin everything.

"The way of nature is not the way of one eternal life, but many. That foal was lost to it's mother by an unnatural means." Oaky replied matter-of-factly, "I worked to rectify that. A predator is natural, it tests survival. I did nothing against the code of the wild."

Something dropped from the trees and landed behind him. Judging from the fall it was roughly the same size as he, and laden with objects.

"Am I being accosted?" Oaky said plainly, "Or may I know who addresses the guardian of the untamed?"

"In an instant you could have been riddled with my arrows," came the voice, "and all before your friends could have smelled me. You also don't appear to have anything I want, and civilization is many leagues from here. No, I simply greet you as... as a fellow untamed."

The first thing Oaky noticed upon looking at the stranger was that he had never beheld such a figure before. He must have been a digit or two shorter than Oaky, though his neck was quite long, affecting the illusion that he was taller still. A civil-snake, no doubt, but one that resembled nothing Oaky was familiar with. His scales were so fine they were almost indistinguishable, and the oddest shade of orange-peach with lines of blue and red almost barely there. His serpentine head was rimmed from the back of his jaw all the way to the top of his head, just a short, fleshy ridge, almost like a fold of flesh.

But most striking of all, he only had one eye. Not at all like he had lost it, but simply that it had never existed. Where his right eye should have been was simply a smooth, empty patch of flesh. There was a brow there and a cheek, but no indication of a socket at all. How he claimed to be a marksman on top of this only added to the mystery.

He was decked in leather, stiffened and cut to look like overlapping scales. The bow he carried was as tall as his shoulders, and his quiver was full of arrows fully half his height. Oaky wondered if he was truly even capable of drawing such a weapon with the skinny arms, so typical of snake-folk, he possessed. Further, a sheathed hunting knife was strapped to either side of his tail.

"You look more a poacher or a huntsman than a true untamed." Oaky sneered, "By what right do you judge actions?"

"A hunter, tracker, and serpent of the land, yes, but no poacher or lackey am I." the leather-decked snake replied, "Winky, one-eyed warden of wilderness and watcher of woodlands, that is who I am. I felt it important to meet you, since your kind is so concerned about territory."

"We toad-folk care little for territory, I don't know what you mean." Oaky responded with increasing distaste.

"Not you as one of your people, you as a child of nature!" Winky chuckled, "I've seen others such as you and the wild-lands in your charge have always been worthy of the utmost protection. I just thought I'd be neighborly and inform you that your little homestead is in danger of being invaded."

"Invaded?! What do you mean by that!" Oaky shouted, spurred on by the nonchalant nature of this odd fellow.

"A human walks these woods," Winky put plainly, "a sorceress or witch by the look of her. When last I left she seemed very annoyed with the undergrowth. I would hate to think what would happen if she let fires leap from her fingers in frustration."

He turned his back for a moment and allowed a wide, serpentine grin to split his features. Only a second was needed and with the barest rustling of leaves Winky's master plan was thrust into action. Oaky was gone when he turned back. Leaving barely a trace, Winky raced after the fleeing toad.