Otto awoke to a face-full of bristling fur, an increasingly frequent occurrence these recent months. Hyra was prone to clutching her human husband up close throughout the night like he was a doll, and he often awoke to find himself nestled tight to her bosom. The Bruin royal's naked body was sweating from the enveloping, shaggy gnoll flesh, the huge hyenid's slow breathing and heartbeat surrounding him. The human princeling couldn't budge an inch, his huge wife's great arms snuggling him tight as she slept in, as usual. Knowing better than to rouse her from slumber early, the prince spent this peaceful time ruminating on recent events.
The young noble's hard-scrabble northern principality had fought with the barbarous gnolls for centuries. But Otto's own higher-station Bruin relatives had negotiated a pact of alliance with the Fang-Lurker tribe of hyenids, sealed by his marriage to Hyra, all negotiated above his head. Now every human in the region was being forced to adjust to the sudden presence of the savage humanoids in their own way. Otto eventually found some peace and stability with his new gnoll-wife, after numerous close-calls and ferocious, one-sided arguments. His prissy nature had been challenged and molded by her bestial inclinations, and Otto had had to adjust his lifestyle to hers, just as he now adjusted his squished-up frame about his hulking, hoary wife's midsection.
Some considerable time later, Hyra the Head-Hewer began stirring from her deep slumber. She wakened, as usual, by sleepily nuzzling and grooming at his head. Otto swore her broad tongue was licking a bald-spot on his pate, but the gnoll's affection would not be denied. Delicately prying himself from her heavy grasp, the small noble slunk off to his bathing chambers, dutifully attended by his knowing serving staff. The toned noble began his daily ritual by bathing off the cloying sweat and fur covering his skin, continually accrued from sleeping with a grabby gnoll. He scrunched up into his small copper tub, bitterly reminiscing about his opulent ceramic masterpiece from yesteryear.
After a thorough scrubbing, Otto groaned aloud as Hyra bent low through the doorway and padded up to his tub with a toothy smirk on her muzzle. The big gnoll queen casually lifted the smaller human up, settling down into his tub in an awkward squat and lowering him down into her lap. She had come to love sharing a bathtub with him, even if her size made a mockery of the small container as the murky water sloshed out over the dented rim. His cleansing efforts were undone when Hyra began stroking him like he was her pet, cuddling him close in the cooling water. Otto felt his disparate partner's furred frame was unusually squishy and feminine, as he finally found the courage to bring up a lingering issue with the unpredictable warrior queen, "Hyra, you seem rather...different lately. Am I wrong, or has something changed about you recently?"
The naked gnoll grumbled hoarsely, coughing up phlegm before responding, "Yeah, pregnant."
Otto felt confused and floored for a moment, deciphering her terse sentence before excitedly responding, "W-wait, really? But how...can a human really impregnate a gnoll? What will our child be like!?"
The prince felt Hyra spasm and shake under him, alarming the meek man until she finally burst out in a high-pitched, mocking bout of inhuman laughter, "You'd know if gnolls could knock-up a human, this whole place would be crawling with 'em!" Finally, Hyra stifled her mirth and responded evenly, "My dumbass kids keep getting killed. I gotta keep pumping out pups to fill the tribe with loyalists. That means I gotta get bred by the strongest gnoll. You got a problem with it, take it up with Rauncher, I don't care. Wait, actually, don't go near Rauncher--" But it was too late, and Hyra was surprised to find Otto angry beyond words as he fidgeted about in her lap like a riotous child during bath-time.
The proud royal was absolutely incensed by this revelation. Otto had been walking on eggshells to countenance himself to Hyra's domineering nature. And all the while she had been off getting impregnated by gnolls? This was unacceptable, even if he hadn't always been entirely honest with his wife, occasionally undermining her more ferocious and ill-advised actions. Otto had managed to keep his clandestine project of nursing Hyra's shrimpy wedding-day victim back to health a secret, but that didn't justify this betrayal. After realizing he couldn't wrench free of the big hyenid woman's hold, Otto finally blurted out, "I demand satisfaction, I demand my honor be upheld! I demand a duel!" Hyra just rolled her eyes at this revelation, hoping her little human lover didn't get himself hurt.
***
Upon hearing of the upcoming duel, hundreds of fascinated gnolls, Otto's entire household guard, and Hyra herself came to attend. Rauncher had readily accepted Otto's challenge for battle, and the fight between the Bruin noble and the great gnoll was fit to be the stuff of local legend. Many were hoping that perhaps too, it would settle lingering disputes between the two disparate enclaves that co-inhabited the barren northern hinterlands.
A great patch of flat grassland near his castle was selected for the clash. Otto came equipped in padded noble regalia, wielding a mastercrafted rapier. Rauncher could be seen among his flunkies, wearing a studded leather coat banded with great plates of crude metal. The gnoll hefted about a huge axe, and stood a good yard taller than Otto. The distraught prince mentally steeled himself for the upcoming struggle. Both Hyra and his personal retinue had privately assured him that they'd intervene at his signal, and the proud young man was busy trying to ignore the complete lack of confidence his own entourage had displayed. With a testing sword swish through the grass, Otto strode out proudly into the center of the clearing, ready to commence.
Rauncher came strutting up to Otto on the windy plain, his armor clanking as he bellowed gnollish curses and insults, making straight for Otto in an accelerating charge. The smaller human dodged quickly to the left, scrambling away as the big gnoll bowled past him. Rauncher quickly twirled around, and started lunging forwards again, axe poised to sweep the human away in a cleaving swing. Otto stayed light on his feet, veering left and right randomly to keep his rushing opponent from closing the distance. The trained noble quickly studied the brute's movements, realizing Rauncher was slow to turn, and could only accelerate well in a straight line due to his heavy armor padding.
The surrounding audience was a sea of confusion, worry, and perplexed excitement, as Otto simply refused to engage. He kept skirting about the big hyenid champion like a rabbit, leading Rauncher around in circles. The gnoll was becoming increasingly angered by the poor showing, and made a quick dash towards Otto when the human paused, knowing he just needed one good blow to end the scuffle. The light-footed royal darted unexpectedly, and Rauncher felt a sudden flare of pain as the small man's thin blade swept the back of the gnoll's front-facing leg grieves, slashing a gash through the straps and fur. The bellowing gnoll swung at Otto, but the noble managed to disengage just in time, and Rauncher struggled to follow. After a few more minutes of frenzied chasing, the big gnoll warrior walked towards the center of the arena and raised his weapon up high in clear challenge to Otto.
The human princeling closed the distance, but kept circling and spacing himself from the taunting gnoll. The armored gnoll stared angrily at Otto, panting and screaming at the smaller man who skirmished about defensively as time dragged on. Rauncher's pack seemed ready to intervene, clearly upset at the unusual conduct of the battle by gnoll standards, and Otto's personal guard seemed just as ready to intercede on their liege's behalf. It took a commanding, wordless bellow from Hyra to settle the outraged gnolls, as Otto maintained total focus on his frenzied opponent.
The gnoll kept favoring his uninjured leg as he stepped about to keep facing the cowardly human, occasionally lunging forward to catch the small man unprepared. Otto kept the pace going unperturbed, always backing away and leaping forward to maintain an even gap with his opponent. Hours had progressed at this point, and Rauncher was clearly having trouble coping with the bizarre nature of their confrontation. The armored hyenid was visibly tired at this point, and had resorted back to angrily charging at Otto, sweeping about wildly with his heavy axe. Rauncher was so bitterly fatigued, though, Otto had no trouble outpacing the large gnoll's exhausted stride.
After a while of this, Rauncher just stood in place again, looking at his pack and realizing nobody was coming to his aid. His shaggy legs trembled as he kept turning to face the small noble, struggling to keep his axe poised and readied. Otto kept circling about towards his opponent's flank, forcing the armored gnoll to stay guarded and moving. The desperation of the situation became apparent, as Rauncher randomly heaved his axe at Otto, before drawing out a long dagger and clumsily charging towards his opponent in a wide-armed tackle. Otto just turned and ran in a looping circle as the panting gnoll yelled at him to stop and fight, the scene almost comical at this point, the dimness of dusk approaching. Rauncher rapidly became so tired, he could barely defend himself when Otto stopped sprinting about and began engaging more directly.
The huge gnoll soon suffered numerous nicks and cuts, as Otto took every opportunity to stab at his lumbering opponent's unarmored points. The fight was essentially settled, as a decisive slash to Rauncher's dominant hand disarmed him of his dagger and two fingers. The huge gnoll collapsed down, raising his uninjured hand defensively as he crawled on the grass while Otto continued spinning around, rapier held high. Rauncher's cohorts were baying and jostling about angrily, glaring at Hyra as it became clear the gnoll could no longer continue the duel. The human soldiers in attendance were boisterous and cheering, incensing the distraught gnolls opposite them. All eyes turned back to the center of the duel, as a piercing hyenid cry signaled a resolution. Otto had rounded up on the collapsed Rauncher, and in a precise lunging strike, lanced the challenger's hairy gonads quite effectively. With that final humiliation, Otto withdrew from the field toward his entourage as Rauncher's packmates settled about the yowling gnoll, unaware of the nature of his pain and fearing him mortally wounded.
Later that night, Hyra spent their dinner unusually reserved as Otto jovially boasted among his retainers. The big gnoll queen's ears would flick with irritation at her human husband's braggadocio, but she kept focused on snapping apart the bones of her barely-cooked meal. Alone in the Bruin royal's run-down bedroom, Hyra's fuming finally crested. Snarling angrily as Otto pantomimed the fight's decisive strike, she growled, "even if you scare of all my suitors, I still need to keep my clan strong among the Fang-Lurkers." The small human ceased his strident behavior, knowing when his gnoll wife was not to be tested. Hyra angrily continued, "if you're not gonna just let me handle this simply...there may be a way. There's tale of a bugbear shaman, far up north in the Ogre Lands, who does fertility witching. Rumors say, they have a breeding potion that can break the laws of nature..."
***
Otto and Hyra marched from the capital castle flanked by cheering crowds, followed by a marching company comprised of both gnolls and humans. Most were equipped for battle, owing to the numerous ferocious creatures inhabiting the Bruin kingdom's uncharted extreme northern ranges. Great wagons of supplies and trekking gear were brought too, in preparation to ford the inhospitable environments separating them from their goal. The husband-and-wife duo would have to trek across the barren plains outside of Otto's control, filled with enemy gnoll tribes hostile to Hyra's gnolls as well. Their company of man and gnoll would then have to pierce through the dense, foreboding Spider Forest, rumored to be cursed by an ancient wizard's war. All to reach the swampy, humid, monster-infested jungle of the Ogre Lands, with no precise idea of just where the fabled Bugbear shaman of fertility resided. But despite all these daunting challenges, Otto remained steadfast in his commitment to seeing through their perilous journey. The determined young prince was keen to find a way to make his unlikely marriage to Hyra work, and was prepared to sacrifice the last of his fortune on the perilous expedition.
Hyra seemed especially nervous as they entered into the barren, dusty plains which served as homeland to a teeming diversity of clannish gnoll tribes. She had cautiously warned the entire expedition troop, "Be wary at all times. It is customary among gnolls to assert strength against intruders through ambushes and harassment." True to her words, it seemed every hill in the region hid a gang of gnoll youths, ready to hurl down crude spears and rocks before scampering off to their warrens.
The conflicts and skirmishes were minor at first, eliciting both Hyra and Otto to let their guard down as the expedition wound its way northwards. Fang-Lurker gnoll's loyal to Hyra and Otto's human soldiers sleepily stood guard around the camp at night, unaware of their progessing encirclement. Blinded to the darkness by their numerous campfires, nobody in the group was aware that a great tribe of militant hyenids had taken offense at Hyra's presence, and prepared a bloody answer to her unwelcome invasion.
The nighttime ambush began with a startled cry as scrawny gnolls sprang forth from the darkness. The attacking gnoll tribe's mangy hides were coated in ashy soot, the dye on their fur obscuring their approach in the darkness. It was a great rush, perhaps a hundreds of the angry hyenids bounding out of the gloom, wielding crude spears and wooden shields. Hyra woke Otto by clutching him up to her chest in a possessive, defensive posture, as she sprang forth to coordinate the defense.
Otto clutched fearfully at Hyra's chest fur, still half-asleep as she went forth to do battle, clutching a chained flail in her free arm. Several smaller gnolls of the enemy tribe grouped up, and began poking at Hyra with their shoddy spears. The enraged warrior queen hurled herself forward, still clutching Otto tight while striking