Three Beast Kings
Underneath the Skin

For being a big fox,poor Junya was surprisingly fragile. The Insect King held his limpbody in his arms, happy that his blow hadn't made him bleed. Hedidn't want to be the kind of king that made his queen bleed. Heamused himself a moment by playing with his sandy-coloured ears –they were so floppy when he was sleeping. He had such little teeth.Pointy.

He picked the fox up,cradling him carefully, making sure the foxes head was safely on hisshoulder. It would be bad to hurt him any more.

“Thechange won't take long.” he told his mother “Perhaps a littlelonger than it took you, but soon he'll be beautiful. Not asbeautiful as you, of course.”

He laughed, knowing shestill needed assurance now and then.

“Youlook tired.” he noted “I'll let you rest. My bride and I shouldget to know each other a little better.”

Ah, but where to go? Hedidn't really want to go all the way back up the wedding chamber –besides that, it wasn't ready! The fruit was still fresh, it neededto rot a little before his queen could eat it. The wash-room wasn'tfinished either, and his mother had made it very clear that thewash-room was of paramount importance to a bride! He never expectedJunya to get here so quickly, and wondered for a moment where he hadleft the horse. A thought occurred to the king, so he turned aroundand strolled down the correct tunnel.

His idiot father hadconsumed a few of the old wolf villages when he built the hive, andthere were one or two of the odd wooden buildings that hadn't rottedor collapsed. His siblings didn't like them since they were so hardand empty, and treated with some chemical that made the termitessick, so they'd be perfect for some alone time. He loved his siblingsa lot, but the thought that he would soon be surrounded by his ownchildren instead made him indescribably happy.

He was disappointedthat Junya was a little resistant to him, but he was sure thatwouldn't last – he was going to build his whole world around him,afterall. Literally! He would be the glorious centre of the new hive.How fortunate that he managed to replace someone so strong willed andfeisty so close to home – he really wanted to pass on those kindsof traits to his children. Now he didn't have to resort to a goat –or worse, a gorilla.

He came to one of thestill standing houses, wedged uncomfortably in the middle of one ofhis tunnels. He hadn't knocked it down since it was holding the roofup (this particular tunnel was a little unstable), crammed in at anawkward angle that blocked almost the entire shaft, only a few of theheavy old roof tiles dislodged and thrown to the ground by theshifting soil.

The old door stoodopen, its hinges and rails welded in place by rust and decay,allowing him to step inside easily – the wolves hadn't been as bigat the gorillas, it seemed, but he didn't have to stoop too muchthrough the humble doorway. The floorboards creaked in agony as hestepped on them, but didn't break. The old house was certainly dusty.Dirty even. Didn't wolves know how to clean? The king undid hiswings, using a few flutters to clear away the dirt on the floor andmake a clean space before carefully lowering Junya onto it.

Foxes sure were cutelooking things, especially with those bushy tails and surprisinglysoft fur. However, they were also pretty wiry creatures, all stringyand tough, and the little ones were mostly fluff – no good to eatat all. Junya's sandy fur looked funny in these pastel-colouredclothes.

Best take them off.

The shirt was easyenough to get off, but he had to be careful of Junya's head as itlolled precariously on his unconscious shoulders. Underneath hissurprisingly soft fur, he was hard and muscular – lean muscle, butmuscle nonetheless. The king wondered for a moment how big Junyawould be when he was full grown – he was already big for a fox, andmaturity was sure to pad him out further. He could just see the budsof maturity on the young man's neck and along his cheekbones. Too badhis spell was going to pretty much nip that in the bud.

Getting the trousersoff was harder – having to navigate around his tail was troublesome(but there wasn't much in the way of bone beyond that fluff... like asquirrel), his bad leg flinching terribly when it was brushed by thekings hand. He looked at that leg a moment – there was a long scaralong the shin where the fur no longer grew. It must've been a badbreak. Poor thing.

The king ran his handover Junya's belly, where the fur was the softest. It was warm. Itmade him laugh. Soon enough, that belly would be filled to the brimwith his young, just waiting to be born.

“Enoughplaying.” he scolded himself.

He put his hands onJunya's chest, grabbing fistfuls of his fur, and pulled. His fleshtore like paper: this weak old spell wasn't a match for his magic. Hetore away the fox skin easily, revealing the form beneath.

“Ooh,”he laughed “Fluffy!”

The fur was the samesandy colour as the fox skin, albeit with a few darker patches, butmuch thicker and fluffier. Junya's nose got wider and longer like atrackers, his teeth bigger and sharper and appropriately dangerouslooking, his ears larger and rounder, losing the distinctive darkback of the fox skin as he peeled it away. He also looked youngerthan the fox skin let on, but not too much so.

“You'rea big fox.” the king chuckled to himself “But you're only alittle wolf. Why were you hiding in a foxes skin, I wonder?”

He pulled the skin awaycompletely, throwing it aside. Junya groaned, stirring a little –was he waking up? He leaned over the little wolf, relishing thefluttering of his eyelids. He knew he wanted a wolf to bear hischildren, but they had all disappeared somewhere – abandoned theirlands to the forest and found a new place to go and die.

How very fortunate forhim that Junya had come along. Why was he dressed up like a fox,though? He even smelled like one. Never mind, really, he got what hewanted. He ran his fingers over Junya's belly again – it was evensofter now.

“Wakeup, wake up.” he sung “It's time for you and me to have some fun.I doubt you've ever tried breeding before, have you? It's going to befun for us both.”

Junya stirred more: hereally was waking up. The Insect King was practically buzzing inanticipation.

Therewas a loud scream down the passage, echoing throughout the shaft: notthe usual harmless scream of his siblings playing, but a sudden,wretched one full of terror and pain. The king spun around, runningto the door of the old house – that was going on? Was someonefighting? What was that glow? What was that smell?

The Insect King leaptback from the door, narrowly missing having his head sliced cleanfrom his shoulders as a great sword thundered down, embedding itselfinto the wood and wattle. He would recognise the putrid reek andoafish grunt of the Gorilla King anywhere. He backed away, back intothe room, the gorilla appearing at the door and yanking his bladefree.

“Whatan eyesore.” the Insect King grumbled at him “How did you get inhere?”

“'Themountain's not a mountain'.” the Gorilla King answered like he wasquoting someone “It didn't take long to figure out. I never thoughtyour hive would be above ground.”

“Technically,we're below it.” he quipped.

He stopped as somethingcaught his attention – the Gorilla King was wet, clothes sodden andshining. There was no reason for him to be wet – there were norivers or lakes close enough to the hive for him to still be wet nowthat he was this far down. The savage grinned, bearing his horridfangs, realising what he had seen.

“Youcan't see it in this darkness, can you?” he taunted “Can't smellit - the blood of your kin. It's all a blur to you.”

The Insect King wentcold. His siblings didn't have much in the way of blood, even thelarger ones. For the gorilla to be drenched as he was... There wasanother wretched scream down the tunnel, a voice he recognised well.

“Brother!”

The gorilla blocked thedoor. With a savage roar he leapt forward, swinging his great sword.The Insect King leapt back, just avoiding the blade, close enough tofeel the slicing of the air next to him. What were those savagebeasts doing to his brother?! He had to help him! The creature wasn'tgoing to let him pass easily, swinging that brutish instrumentthrough the air and bellowing at him.

The gorillas size madeit slow, hard to manoeuvre, so the Insect King jumped around him,desperate to get to the door as he heard his brother scream again. Heunderestimated the gorillas reach as he ducked past, getting grabbedby his loathsome, filthy hands and thrown back into the room.Infuriated, he hissed at the savage.

“Letme pass!” he demanded.

“Notin once piece.” was the gorillas response, bearing his fangs aswell as his sword “Where is Junya?”

What a moron – theInsect King couldn't help but laugh to himself.

“Youdon't know?” he taunted “You can't tell? I see better than you inthis gloom, it seems.”

The gorilla growled,low and deep like his own personal earthquake. His senses must trulybe dull if he couldn't even smell him – they were in the same room!The king had to help his brother, but he wasn't going to lose Junyanow that he had him. What could he do? The savage wasn't going to lethim go either – could he take Junya back up to the wedding chamber?He'd be safe there, but could he get him past the gorilla?

The Insect King noticedthat he was seeing the gorilla in silhouette, blocking the light ofbright orange emanating from down the tunnel. Where was that lightcoming from? Why was it orange? What was... It dawned on him – thatwas the orange light of fire. A lot of fire. The sound of savageyelling and grunting roars flew down the hall with the waft of warmthand scent of roasting earth.

“Gettingnice and warm, isn't it?” the savage growled, grinning at him “Thatfire's going to brighten things up nicely.”

“Youbastard.” the king swore “You bastard!”

“Tellme where Junya is, and I'll tell my troops to stop torturing yourbrother.” the gorilla swore “Just kill him nice and quick.”

The king was overcomewith fury. How dare this savage beast intrude in his home, put hisfoul hands on his siblings, burn his tunnels?! What right did hehave?! He was food!

The kings face broke,his shell coming apart. The beast raised his sword, stumbling back inshock as the king started to shed his skin.

“Youcame here for a fight.” he hissed “You've got one!”