Faces leering at him. A flash of a sword, a spurt of blood. Fire, screams. A lot of pain. Red, orange and black, then darkness.
Prince Elim’s rest was fitful, haunted by memories of the slaughter he had somehow managed to survive. When his eyelids finally fluttered open, he had no way of knowing whether he had slept for hours, days, or months, but he did know for sure that he was not still in the dark woods.
He looked around, his vision still coming into focus, and saw he was in a small building with walls made of rough-hewn wooden logs, with only a few small openings to let sunlight stream in. The ground was bare dirt, with a few small mats of woven reeds and grass scattered around near a lit firepit at the center of the dwelling, with the smoke rising toward the rafters and escaping through a few ventilation holes in the rooftop.
All-in-all, a simple home for those of simple means. Prince Elim hated it.
“Gods, what a dump,” he sighed, struggling to raise himself up from the ground. Every muscle in his entire body felt like it was on fire, but he finally managed to sit up. He was lying upon a bed made of animal pelts and wrapped in a woven wool blanket for warmth, which he pulled tightly around his body as he tried to figure out where he was.
That beastman… the tiger, he did something to me, the prince thought to himself, remembering how his wounds had been magically healed in an instant. He looked at his shoulder, which was wrapped in a thick cloth bandage, but except for a few twinges whenever he moved his arm there didn’t seem to be any real damage, and there was barely any blood staining the bandages. Elim frowned, wondering how such a miraculous healing magic had gone undiscovered by anyone else. I remember him taking my blood, and using it to activate that monument. That can’t possibly be all that happened, though…
Elim’s heard a quiet rustling, and he turned to see the tall tiger who had rescued him entering the room. The tiger had shed the leather armor and weapons he had been carrying in the woods, and stood in only a tightly secured loincloth and a pelt wrapped around his shoulders as he looked at the awakened prince.
“You’re up, good,” the tiger said approvingly, a wide smile spreading across his furry face. “Our healers worked all night to get you stabilized, I’ll have you know. That shoulder of yours was about an hour away from becoming gangrenous, even with my timely intervention…”
The tiger reached out one of his enormous paws and gently stroked the Elim’s bandaged shoulder, and the prince felt the warmth of the other man’s body even though the thick cloth dressing.
“Do not touch me, beast! I am a member of the royal family, I’ll have you know!” Elim hissed, leaping to his feet and backing away into the corner of the room. He felt a breeze against his skin, then he glanced down at his body now that it was uncovered by the blanket he had been wrapped in. “And where are my clothes! Did you strip me!?”
A look of intense hurt passed over the tiger’s face, a sadness that even made Elim regret the venom in his choice of words. Elim quickly covered his privates with one hand for modesty’s sake as he grabbed the blanket from the floor and covered his naked body.
“…Pardon me. I had heard that humans were rather modest, but I didn’t think…” the tiger said quietly, averting his gaze while Elim covered himself. “In any case, I did not take your clothes. The healers removed them while treating you, and they needed to be washed of your blood. However, they are so damaged that it’s unlikely they will not wearable anymore. My apologies.”
The tiger walked over to a wooden chest and opened it, rummaging around for a moment before withdrawing a few small pieces of cloth.
“Our people wear little in the way of clothing whenever possible, but I hope this will be suitable for you,” the tiger said, placing the clothing on the ground near Prince Elim before turning away to face the wall to give the prince some privacy to dress.
Cautiously, Elim picked up the primitive clothing and examined it. A long, brown cloth that he recognized as a simple loincloth, as well as a short tonic of tanned leather that fastened at the waist with a belt. A far cry from the silk undergarments and velvet cloaks the prince was used to, but it was better than being nude. Elim carefully wrapped the loincloth around his waist to the best of his abilities before pulling the tunic over his head, feeling something odd brushing against the tunic as he pulled it past his hair. Curious, he began to reach toward the top of his head to see what it was, but the tiger quickly snatched his hand away.
“What did you do that for, beast?” Elim growled, not missing the fact that the tiger was supposed to be looking away while he changed.
“I… Your hair is just fine, no need to fix it,” the tiger replied quickly, glancing around nervously. “I hate to say this, but the village elders have requested your presence, so now that you are dressed I would like to take you to them.”
“Absolutely not. I have better places to be, and you shall escort me to the nearest human village immediately,” Elim replied coolly, crossing his arms in front of him expectantly. Beast or not, nobody tells me what I am going to do, he thought with a smirk.
“No. I will not,” the tiger sighed, making the prince’s jaw drop at the casualness of his disobedience. “I cannot abandon my village under the current circumstances, and neither can any of my people. The elders have questions for you, and if you wish to ask them for help you may do so after answering them. However, considering…”
The tiger glanced up toward the top of Elim’s head, then he shook his head. “Forget it,” the tiger said. “They can explain things better than I can. Is that acceptable?”
Elim let out a loud sigh of irritation, then he nodded his head. “Fine. I suppose a person of my standing should be speaking with your leaders instead of a commoner,” the prince said airily, not noticing the tiger rolling his eyes. “…Your name?”
“Name? A member of the royal family wishes to know a mere commoner’s name? I thought that ‘beast’ would be enough for a nobody like myself,” the tiger said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. This did not go unnoticed by Elim, but he let it go for the time being. “Kessen. My name is Kessen. And to whom do I have the honor of speaking to, your Highness?”
“Sarcasm is an ugly habit, Kessen," Elim replied, unused to commoners speaking to him so freely. “Prince Elim Ran-Perelen. But ‘Your Highness’ will suffice.”
“A pleasure, Prince Elim,” Kessen replied with a deep, booming laugh. He took the animal hide which he had draped over his shoulders and offered it to the scantily-clad prince. “It’s a bit chilly this morning, so you might appreciate this.”
Elim had to admit that the breeze blowing into the room was a bit unpleasant, so he accepted Kessen’s offer and wrapped the warm, soft pelt around his body for a bit of extra warmth. With the prince properly dressed, Kessen led the way outside and into the beastmen’s village. Clusters of small, wooden buildings were spread out around a large clearing in the woods, with various tents and storehouses set up nearby. Beastmen of all different species busily rushing around; Whether they were hauling food into storage or mending thatched roofs or practicing archery, there were no idle hands in the entire little village.
“This is a new outpost for our tribe, so it’s still a bit small,” Kessen explained as they made their way toward a large wooden building at the center of the clearing, where Elim assumed the elders would be waiting. “Though, I’m sure even our largest villages would lack many of the luxuries you are used to. We prefer a simple life, though some of our tribesmen set out to make their living among the human cities…”
Elim nodded along, barely paying attention to what the tiger had to say. As they approached the elders’ dwelling, a small, sleek, brown-furred man approached Kessen with a broad smile on his face.
“Kess, where’ve you been? You said you’d help me haul in the morning’s catch of fish! Don’t tell me you were fussing about that human again? The healers said he’d be-,” the otter-headed man exclaimed, then he spotted Elim hiding behind Kessen’s broad frame. “Oh! My apologies, didn’t see you there!”
“Jida, we’re really in a hurry, so-“ Kessen began to say, but the otter brushed him aside and gave Elim a curious look, focusing in particular on a point atop the prince’s head.
“Gods, it really is amazing, isn’t it? I mean, they’re huge! And you really didn't have 'em before today?” Jida the otter asked excitedly. “I’d say they’re bigger than Tyel’s, and he’s got a really big pair for a rabb-“
“Jida, please! You’re just confusing him!” Kessen hissed with exasperation, shooting a nervous glance toward Elim.
“Excuse me?” Elim asked icily, glaring at Kessen. “I’ve got a huge pair of what, exactly?”
“The ears? What else would I mean?” Jida replied, completely baffled by the prince’s question. “…Hold on. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice them sticking out up there?”
Elim clapped his hands to the sides of his head, feeling around for his ears in their usual spot but only finding smooth skin. He recalled the odd sensation that he had felt while getting dressed, and slowly it began to dawn on him. He reached higher up his head, feeling a pair of long, thin, and very furry appendages attached directly to the top of his scalp. He gave his new ears a pinch, unable to believe that they were truly real, but the jolt of pain he felt told him he wasn’t dreaming.
Somehow, he had grown a pair of rabbit’s ears while he was recovering from his wounds. And he had a feeling he knew exactly who was to blame for them.
“Kessem, what the hell did you do to me!” Elim shouted furiously, getting the attention of every beastman in earshot. His ears shot straight up, twitching angrily atop his head as he bared his teeth at Kessen.
“I-I can explain… R-rather, the elders can…” Kessen stammered, shrinking away from the much smaller man’s fury like a kitten. “I-it was to save your life, so I really don’t think you should-“
“You’re coming with me, beast! I’m getting an explanation for this, and I’ll decide what to do with you later, and you’d better pray that I like the answer!” the long-eared princeling growled, grabbing the big tiger by the wrist and roughly dragging him inside to demand some answers from the village’s elders…