Go ahead and lie

It became very clear that Roran couldn’t stand Hanny. And that Hanny took great delight in getting Roran all riled up. There seemed to be nothing that nothing could stand about Hanny. The way that he laid sprawled in the sun with those soft and tender gray eyes, comfortable in his own skin and fur as he gnawed on a bone. He would snap and spit at Hanny anytime he acted the least amount dogish. But what could you expect from a dogman?

As the lead of this small adventuring group Roran was generally up first. His pack was now four large with the sudden unwanted addition of Hanny. The harsh rays of the morning sun were already on his back as he stood and stretched. Without a second thought the hunk of a man took off his shirt and let the still chilly morning air surround him. Very careful he stepped over his female companion, Yillian, and then thinking better of himself leaned down and gingerly took the loaded bolt out of the crossbow she cuddled. He ran the bolt through his finger before putting it back into her quiver. Hazard was out flat on his back. There was no need to be careful around him. An elephant could sit on his chest without the man up.

And there curled up tightly in a ball was Hanny. He exhibited a mostly human form except with shaggy black ears coming through his equally shaggy black hair; he also had a rather long that was curled tightly up next to him. On the dogman’s neck was a simple black collar. Unthinking Roran reached a hand up to his own neck. He wore a necklace with many rows of colorful beads, his fingers slipped under the delicate rows to the scars underneath. Hanny’s neck had none of those scars, which was odd, since almost all dogmen who were their age had those scars. Roran had been born in the time before it was fined for keeping a pup in a collar too small.

That was one of the reasons that Roran couldn't stand Hanny. His clean smooth neck. And that if Hanny realized what he was...Roran briskly jerked his face away from Hanny and went to start breakfast. Dogmen aren’t allowed to be a lead for adventures. So he couldn't be one. He wouldn’t even be able to be an adventurer if anyone knew, just a growling attack dog. If Roran had any say about having a dogman in their group, then Hanny wouldn't have been there a second.

By the time that everyone woke up there had been a fire set by and lit. It’s smoke trailed softly into the sky and Roran was grilling great chunks of meat and warming up a small pot of tofu and lettuce soup. Unlike both Hazard and Yillian, Roran would avoid meat whenever he could. When Hanny woke up he almost instantly started to drool. In a matter of minutes he had a considerable string of drool hanging off his now more dogish looking lips.

A disgruntled look crossed over Roran’s face seeing the drool. He shook his head with a sneer, “Don’t tell me you're a damned drooler.” A flash of fury ignited behind Hanny’s eye. He looked over at what Roran was eating and a cruel smirk appeared on his face.

“Well don’t pretend to be a veggie you damned poodle,” Hanny said mimicking Roran’s voice with an unusual ferocity. Yillian and Hazard both shared a shocked look. Roran’s lips curled back, his mouth contorting into a snarl. He promptly remembered himself and elbowed the snarl away into a more human rage. Roran stood up and grabbed Hanny’s collar and twisted. Hanny yelped and gagged and crumpled down.

“Don’t you fucking forget who's wearing the collar around here,” Roran screamed and threw Hanny upon the ground. Hanny gasped and propped himself up onto his elbows. His face was flushed with shame. Submissively he ducked his head trying to quench his anger. Roran sat back down and clacked his spoon anrgly against the bowl as he ate. Hanny’s face was contorted as his thoughts and memories of something lost muddled through his head.

He jerked upright, a clear defeint snarl on his lips, “I’m tired of all this shit!” He slapped the bowl out of Roran’s hand. With a hard clank the bowl hit the ground. The ground greedily drank the thin broth. In no slow motion Roran rose to his feet, but before for the untemth time to forcibly correct Hanny’s behavior with his collar.

Hanny jerked away and with a snarl, “I challenge you for alpha!” It was that cold declaration that stopped Roran dead in his tracks.

“You stupid whelp,” Is what he shouldn’t have said. He should have given a human response: a condescending laugh, a snort, that's not how things work around here. Anything other than a cruel remark of an alpha accepting the challenge. Dismayed as he was at himself, it had just come out. Yillian and Hazard blinked at him confused.

With a lurch Hanny slammed into him. The dogman's humanity was in a hurry to disappear from him, his teeth grew and fur sprouted, there was no sign of the man. Roran stumbled back. With his dear sword just too far away to grab he didn’t have many options. He raised his arms to take the teeth. The man was somewhat aware of Hazard and Yillian scrambling for weapons. His teeth and claws dug in. He stared unflinchingly as giant red drops of blood hit his face. As the pain surged as Hanny bit down, he wished he hadn’t removed the bolt from Yillian’s crossbow.

Thud! The arrow had pierced deep into Hanny’s flank. Yillian rearmed her crossbow. Dark blood hung onto Hanny’s black curly fur where he was struck. As Hanny turned onto Yillian with a rageful snarl, she released the trigger. Thud! The arrow went through his shoulder and then entire inches into the ground. A pathetic cry of pain came out. Easily Roran stood up from under him. Blood dripped from his ravaged arms. He stumbled toward Yillian and Hazard, who both quickly took him and sat him down before he fell.

A ragged pained whimper turned into a human scream. “You woman!” He spat the word woman like a man would say bitch, “That wasn’t your fight!” Adventuring groups from the shuddering camps were now awake and had come over. Liliac, a friend of theirs who’d once travel with them for a week, had brought over two items to help. A heal kit and a muzzle. With an almost sadistically smile she put the muzzle on before Hanny could keep screaming. Seeing that Liliac the crazy was helping them most of the other bands quickly departed. Weakly Hanny struggled.

“Thank you,” Roran said looking at Yillian heartfelt. He had started to regain himself. She smiled worriedly at him and gave his shoulder a brief and comforting squeeze. Lilac came over and said nothing, stared at him until he extended his ragged arms. With her usual efficientness she started on the fix.

“Lilia--”Roran started meaning to thank her. She looked up at him, then screamed in his face. He shut up. Liliac went back to her work muttering about damaged goods, and no talking.

A hearty laugh made Roran look at Hazard who simply said, “She’s right. Injured people shouldn’t talk, they should stay quiet and conserve their strength.” Yillian looked relieved at Hazard’s explanation. Soon the small group were all helping Liliac get Roran fixed up. They discussed what to do with Hanny and decided to leave it up to their manager, who wasn’t up yet. And between Hanny’s pain and the manager's inconvenience. The manager won.

Extremely neat and tidy bandages were on Roran’s forearms. She’d sewed up the skin that was left, best as anyone could. And banged with the proper tightness so the blood wouldn’t seep through. She was now cooking a bit of (disgusting) medicine to help him recover from the ordeal. Other than the occasional thank yous and watch it! Roran had been silent.

“It’s cruel!” Liliac demanded, tossing her hands up into the air abruptly. The other three quietly shared a look and Yillian gave a minor nod of her head. She would figure out what was bothering Liliac. The entire exchange between had gone right over her head. She was huffing upset.

“What’s cruel?” Asked Yillian knowing this could take awhile. Liliac pointed towards the bleeding Hanny. “Oh what we did to Hanny? If we let him go, he’d might just go for Roran again.” Liliac huffed and shook her head.

“Is the dogman cruel?” Offered Hazard trying to help out. Again she huffed.

With a kind smiled Liliac leaned forward, “I’m really sorry, but I’m feeling stupid today. Can you explain it for stupid me?” She huffed a little and then strained up.

“They should just kill them!” She said, clapping her hands.

Worried Roran swallowed his unease, “Dogmen?” She nodded. Then smiled happily. Hazard rolled his eyes at her crazy proposition.

“Just those,” She said, making everyone realize that they still didn’t understand. Before she could be hit with another round of questions, she continued, “Wild dogs always snap in the end.” Roran would have felt better if Liliac had grabbed a hot iron and stabbed his eyes out with it. He felt like scum. With that statement she’d managed to silence everyone. She started to huff again.

But Yillian raised her hand, “No, we get it Liliac.” She nodded and smiled happily again. Right now Roran was looking over at Hanny, who’d stopped struggling, he could now clearly see Hanny happy, running with a pack, curled up tight with dozens of other curly dogmen. And then captured. Over the past few days he’d been nothing but cruel. Disgust at himself rose up in his throat like bile. He wondered if this hadn’t happened, how many times would it take for his yank on Hanny’s collar for his neck to scar.

The others started to notice that something was wrong. When the ear piercing alarm went off. No one was asleep now. Quickly dozens of adventurers grabbed pants and weapons. Roran glanced at his group after grabbing his steelen blade. They were both ready. Liliac was gone in search of her whip in her encampment. A thick and moist silence hung in the air like fog. Hazard’s shoulders were tense balls of muscle. Every adventure stood in that grim silence until the speakers squeaked again.

“EVACUATE AND PROTECT THE TOWN. A HYENA QUEEN NEST HAS BEEN DISTURBED. SHE IS COMING TOWARDS US,” The speaker squeaked out. As soon as the piercing sound ended--everyone moved. Grabbing their backs and filling them with what they couldn’t bare to leave behind. It took the entire encampment mere minutes to gather their belongings. Then the speaker spat out again, “ALL DOGMEN AND WALKING-WEAPONS TO REPORT AND STAY TO FIGHT.” Dogmen got up and walked towards the manager's office along with the few walking weapons that were around. The chains from the weapons they were bound to clinked as they walked. But they weren’t human anymore. No one cared if they were shredded into pieces by the hyena queen.

“Come on, what are you standing around for!” Yillian slapped Roran's arm, “We have to go!” His jaw stammered for a second and then raised a hand at the speaker.

“But they sai--''He chomped down hard on his tongue. Blood seeped out. Quickned he shook his head and led his tiny group out of the encampment. The town was a flood of adventurers. With practed precision they began building a small barrier and prepared for the fight.

It wasn’t until the milk-curdling cry of the Queen shook through their bones that he remembered the black collar around Hanny’s neck. His knees collapsed under him. The free dog would die owned. Concerned hands yanked him up and voices that didn’t reach him. He shoved them away and jumped over the barrier. Shouts and screams reached him but he didn’t hear.

He ran through the empty camp until he saw Hanny. Right where he was left. From the sounds of the queen she was close. So he moved fast. Yanked the arrows from his body in a single motion. He grabbed one of the leftover bandages and wrapped up Hanny’s shoulder tight. The dogman’s form had shifted into what he looked like that morning. Without a word Roran hoisted Hanny up to his feet. As soon as Roran’s hands touched his neck, Hanny flinched, but made no attempt to get away. Tenderly the collar was unhooked and tossed on the ground.

Frozen with shock Hanny raised a hand towards his neck rubbing at the tender skin, “Why?” he asked.

Roran smiled sadly. With a hand he pulled away the necklace bearing his scars, “Free dogs should die free.”

A milk curdling scream made Roran freeze up as the hyena saw them. He hadn’t ever seen one this close up before. He’d seen them from afar before and knew how big they were, but seeing one up close was different. It’s sobering mouth, and those long skinny legs, that gigantic spotted flank. The only thing he could feel was terror as it leapt at him. A hand yanked him out of the way. Roran trembled and landed on something curly. He flinched as the ground shook from the hyena’s landing. A hand covering his mouth stopped his terror. He looked down to see Hanny under him. They huddled tight. Hanny shook as the hyena walked by them.

“Come with me,” a whisper in his ear. Hanny’s lips were on his ear. Being so close to his own kind with a hot breath in his face had made, for the first time in years, his pointy ears and his stiff tail sprout. Roran shook his head, unable to answer with his hand clashed over his mouth. The other hand was now clutching his. Hard. He wasn’t able to look away from Hanny’s soft eyes.

“I’m not asking,” Hanny said, his mouth now pressed to a furry ear, “You were losing that fight until we were interrupted. Until we have time to fight again I’m alpha.” They stayed put like that until the hyena had moved on further. Hanny peeled his fingers off of his mouth and motioned for Roran to let him up. Roran moved and Hanny silently got up motioning for him to follow. He didn’t budge. Hanny motioned again. Roran still didn’t move.

“I’m not like you,” Roran whispered, then made a shooing motion, “Go. Be free.” Hanny shook his head and rolled his eyes. He marched back over and his hand landed on the delicate strings of beads. With a single motion the strands severed. Hundreds of tiny beads hit the ground.

“Your so fucking stupid to collar yourself,” Was all that Hanny said. He gripped Roran’s hand till their skin was red and white from the pressure, “Come on.” And only then did Roran go and follow Hanny into the forest. He held his hand back tight. Roran told himself that he would go back to the adventurers. To his group. Help rebuild the town. Find Yillian, Hazard, and bat shit crazy Liliac. Tomorrow he could do that. He’d fight and win against Hanny, find something to cover his neck, and go back. Go back to those fighters. But that would have to be tomorrow, he told himself. Tomorrow.