Cerise crossed her arms, impassively waiting for whatever task the sorceress would lay on her. Well, impassive except for the raising and lowering of her left rear foot as she tried to ignore her erection.
"Hmph." The sorceres seemed to have been waiting for Cerise to ask what the order was, but decided that -- fun as it was to watch the new herm struggling to put up a front -- she didn't want to waste more time on these games. "It's simple really. Once you have your first litter, give me your kits."
"Give you... my kits?" Cerise blinked, taken aback. The command opened up so many questions in her mind, she wasn't sure how to begin processing them.
"Yeees? Kits, pups, cubs... you are a fox now."
"No! I mean... I mean..." The vixen shook her head. "Give up my children... how do you even expect me to... to..."
"Have children, hm? Surely you know how it works, dear."
"B-but, like this, wh-who would --"
"You have the power to turn others into foxtaurs. You may find other ways, but intimate contact will be the most straightforward. And since you now partake of both sexes, finding a mate should be twice as easy. Whether you mount them or they mount you -- how you go about it is your affair. So long as I have a litter to collect."
"But -- turn others? Who would..." Cerise stared in horror, as realization crept into her mind. "No. You're not suggesting I... force this --"
"Again, I really don't care," the sorceress interrupted. She crossed her own arms and raised an eyebrow. "I gave you what I consider a gift -- increased physical power, enhanced senses, great speed, imposing beauty. The ability to change others into submissive foxtaurs for your leash. Whether you accept that gift, enjoy it, and use it to get the vengeance you wanted; or wallow in pointless self-hatred and loathing, is up to you. It doesn't matter to me. However you get your mate, willing or unwilling, it really does not matter to me.
"What matters is that I get those kits. That is what I get out of this -- a litter of magnificent foxtaurs for me to raise as guards and servitors. I expect them some time next year. If you do not deliver them to me by next year's end, I will come looking for you... and I will see to it that my order is carried out."
The sorceress' eyes glittered. "Understand?"
The nervous movements of Cerise's paws turned into unsure backward steps, and she started to shake her head. But, seeing the sorceress' expression darken, her own resolve returned. She calmed her legs and bared her teeth. Damn you, bitch. "...I understand."
"You will do as I order."
"...Yes." She would agree to it now, anyway. Once she was out of here -- she would have the rest of this year and all the next to weigh her options. She didn't really doubt that the sorceress could track her down, but in that time, she might have found some other power that would let her escape this bargain.
Or maybe she would abide by it. She had promised, after all, and she'd been an honest girl up till now. But then the sorceress had blackmailed her into it. It's not like she'd even wronged the woman. She didn't feel especially obligated to her. On the contrary.
Damn that witch... she's the one who opened the drawbridge! She was just luring me in... And for that she made me a monster, and now expects me to turn others, breed children and then GIVE them up to her? I owe her NOTHING!
The sorceress could see that the vixentaur wasn't happy, her exposed fangs and laid back ears an obvious tell of her mood; never mind the wrath and hatred burning in her eyes. Cerise was no longer the hopeless, timid human that had wavered in here. But the sorceress had gotten consent, and made her threat. If Cerise were foolish enough to go back on her word -- she'd get something much worse than these terms which her time was up.
"So long as we understand one another, dear." The sorceress gestured. There was a rattle, and a clunk, and the gears began turning, a crack of daylight appearing behind Cerise as the drawbridge began to lower. "As promised, you are free to go."
The foxtaur turned, ears perking at the sound of the machinery. She was careful of how she moved; gingerly feeling the placement of each paw, trying to synchronise her conscious mind with her subconscious, which seemed to know how to move in this body already. She took a few tentative steps forward, then paused, waiting for the bridge to reach its full descent. Besides, something else had occurred to her, and she did not want to shout over the clank of gears and chains.
With a boom the bridge fell into place. Cerise's tail swished a bit at the prospect of freedom, eyes and nose drinking in the outside world. It seemed a far more welcoming place than when she had left it. Something in her screamed for the freedom of the wilds, for open glades and meadows to claim for herself and her future family, to romp, play, hunt and rut in.
But it was also still dangerous. "How do you expect me to survive? I have no money, and I can't go begging for alms like this."
"Take what you need," replied the sorceress bluntly. "You're a predator now; act like it."
"I won't live like a monster."
"Suit yourself. If you die without delivering my kits, I'll just find someone else for this -- I know the spell works, now."
Cerise growled, prompting a smile from the sorceress.
"Don't like that? I will remind you -- foxes are omnivores. What meat you need can be gleaned from animals -- you've the strength to take the kill from a bear, and eat the bear into the bargain. Make of it what you will. Now go -- unless you wish to serve me yourself."
In your dreams. Cerise began to walk forward again. She was still slow and dleiberate at first; but once she was out on the drawbridge, the full bouquet of the free outdoors fell upon her vulpine snout. The scents, the sounds, the feel of the breeze in her fur... they stirred the fox within her. And she let it go. Trusting to her new instincts, she began to trot, then broke into a full run, bounding across the last third of the drawbridge and out into the woods.
Within, the torches winked out, and the drawbridge closed behind the departing foxtaur. Although greatly changed, in mind as well as body, Cerise was free of the sorceress for the time being.