It took a little longer for the Waystone to be opened, since Schorl was needed for its use, and she was busy triple tasking running auction, making sure the contracts were filled out, and keeping the diamond dogs themselves in check once they started to get bored and antsy with the process, but when she finally was able to operate the Waystone, Rubric’s group was first in line.

The moment the portal was active, Anya went through, raising a little more suspicion with Rubric, since she had been acting strange all day. She didn’t care though, as her need to get away from the herd of minotaur in the room was far too great to worry about manners. She was surprised to see that the other side led to an area that was outside for a change, but was glad to get a breath of fresh air for the first time since she started working for The Society, taking deep breaths to clear out the minotaur musk that had accumulated in her lungs.

Catrina, still leashed and nude, went through with the gryphon, having been pulled along for the entirety of Anya’s fleeing from the auction room. Being at the mercy of the tether, the abyssian did her best to not get tugged along, so when Anya stepped through the stone, she went right after, with no hesitation. Now on the other side though, she had an obvious question to ask.

“Where are we?”

Anya took a moment to actually take in her surroundings, and she couldn’t really say where they had ended up. It was a large, open area, surrounded by trees and large rock formations, as if it were a clearing in the center of a forest. There was training equipment scattered about, similar to the training room at the facility she worked at, but it was less of the obstacle courses, and more just general equipment like barbells and practice dummies.

“Surprised by what you see?” Rubric said, coming through the waystone himself, the rest of their odd group coming out after, “This is an open training ground we developed after conquering a village of kirin. Me and my brethren pillaged and dismantled their homes, leaving nothing behind. The spot you stand on is the site where their species resided, hidden within a mountain, away from the prying eyes of other creatures.”

“Is this in Minopolis?” Anya asked, wondering for a moment if the minotaur had made a mistake, and brought her right to the destination she was working for him to get to.

“Equestria,” he said, “The far outskirts of it, at least.”

Anya knew it was wishful thinking to assume Rubric would have made such an error, but if he had she would have taken to the sky the first opportunity she got, and started her search for Scylla and Pathfinder.

“You can unleash the pussy now,” Rubric added, “We have blocked off every exit that can be reached on foot, so she won’t get anywhere.”

Anya did as she was told, and unclipped the leash from Catrina’s collar. Now separated from the gryphon, she took a few steps away from her, and to the only source of safety she believed was present, that being her owner. Though she had only been his possession for little over an hour, he wouldn’t want something that was his to be harmed. At least, that is what she assumed.

“So what are we doing here?” Anya asked, “I thought we were going back to the warehouse.”

“You were in so much of a rush, you didn’t hear me tell the crystal mare to send us here.” Rubric said, though even if she had, she might have been surprised to see they didn’t go back, since the places the Waystones were located were only referred to by a cite number, and not the name of the place they were kept. “I also gave her instructions to open the portal for us after two hours, so we can get back once we are done.”

“So we’re going to do more training,” Anya asked, figuring out that was the plan. It was one she was more than willing to agree to too, since the exercise would help her to work off some of her sexually charged tension.

“I didn't mean all of you,” Rubric corrected, “We are here mostly to see what these three bitches are capable of.”

“Boss says e’ wanted to mak sure we was worth the gems, girls.” The three diamond dogs moved in front of the minotaur, placing themselves between Rubric and Anya, the shepherd doing so first, and the other two following her lead. “Let’s show’m wha three bitches can do.”

Bacchus, amused by the behavior of the tiny canine, let out a bit of snark. “What are ya gonna have them do? Fetch a ball? Tug on a rope? Send the cat into the woods and have them sniff her out?”

“Those aren’t bad ideas,” Rubric answered, “They are dogs, and should be capable of doing what a dog can. Do you have a gag on you?”

“A gag? Why would you want- Ohhhhh… I get it.” Bacchus reached for a pouch on his person, and pulled out one of the mouth gags that he happened to have on his person. One with a large, red ball as its gagging mechanism. “How bout it doggies, you want to play?”

Anya scoffed to herself at how Bacchus was being his usual, disrespectful self. Minotaur all had a habit of using terms like ‘cat’, ‘bird’, or what have you to refer to other creatures, but that wasn’t a trait that was restricted to only their kind. Diamond dogs themselves often referred to others by their race, which seemed to stem from their lower than average intelligence. Bachuss really liked the idea of treating others like lessers, though, only ever speaking to other minotaur like equals. While diamond dogs were closely related to wild dogs, they were still intelligent beings, and Anya assumed that being treated like animals would sit as well with them as much as being treated like a fuck toy sat well with her.

To the gryphon’s surprise though, the three dogs’ ears perked up once they saw the round, red object in the minotaur’s hand, and they rushed right over to him as they figured out what was going on.

“Aren’t you all energetic,” Bacchus said, moving the ball around, with each motion making the dogs’ heads turn to keep their eyes locked onto it. Mattie even went for the gag when Bacchus put it down low enough that she thought she could get it, leaping up with her jaw wide open, just to have the bull shoot his arm straight up to get it away from her. “Ah, ah, not so fast.”

“So here’s how this will go,” Rubric said, addressing the three diamond dogs, who were too fixated on the ballgag to pull their attention away to face him, “Bacchus is going to toss this across the field. The three of you will do your best to get it first, and then bring it back to me. I’ll be keeping track of which one of you can get it back to me, and with that I’ll figure out what task you’ll be best at when we go to get more slaves.”

None of the dogs responded, all so focused on the ball that it was a wonder if they even heard what Rubric had said to them.
“Go ahead and toss it,” Rubric instructed his second in command, to which Bacchus launched the ball gag at what looked to be a half mile away.

The moment the ball left the minotaur’s hand, the three dogs were after it, giving a quick turn on spot, going to all fours, and bolting after the object. The shepherd was the first to start her sprint, her reaction time a bit better than her two associates, making it a few feet away before the other two could make a single step. The spaniel was next, following right behind the group’s leader, while the large pyrenees took up the rear, lumbering behind with her much larger body. Despite it looking like the pyrenees would be incapable of catching up, she still gave her all to go after the ball, seemingly more concerned with the chase than actually coming out on top.

“I’ve heard of ponies doing things like this to distract diamond dogs in the past,” Anya said, once she thought the trio was out of earshot, “But I always thought it was something ponies came up with in order to call them dumb.”

“Have you interacted with diamond dogs?” Rubric asked, curious if all of Anya’s knowledge of them was secondhand.

“A few times,” she answered, “But not for extended periods of time. Ponies with bad intentions sometimes use them as henchmen, and I have dealt with my fair share trying to ruffle my feathers.”

“So you’ve never tried to talk to one,” Rubric followed up.

“You don’t really strike up a conversation with someone trying to tie you down and hold you hostage.” Anya answered.

“I don’t know,” Bacchus said, keeping an eye on the three dogs, “I’ve had plenty of good talks with the slaves I’ve tied up. Though usually what they have to say is ‘ugh, uggghhh, AHHH!’.”

Anya gave the minotaur a stern glare from her peripherals, unamused by his immitations of his victims, assumedly as he raped them. She would have thought this was typical minotaur humor, if not for how deadpanned Rubric was at the comment as well.

“Hey… you think the diamond bitches would like to play with a stick after this?” he added, crudely referring to his penis.

“Keep it in your pants,” Rubric replied, “You know the rules. No small races aside from the dragons.”

“Oh come on,” Anya scoffed, “You’re telling me you have rules against something like this?”

“Yes,” Rubric answered, “Because most species smaller than a pony can’t take our cocks without tearing, even with our potions. Could you imagine a minotaur trying to force themselves on the smallest of those three?”

Anya tried to, and couldn’t think of a way it was possible, without outright destroying the girl.

“We minotaur have certain laws, even with our slaves, which prevent us form doing things that would cause permanent damage or death.” Rubric briefly explained, “Which are strictly upheld.”

“Yeah…” Bacchus agreed, “But it doesn’t mean I can’t get them to suck my dick. Not to mention that big one is almost the size of a pony, just short.”

“Focus on the task at hand,” Rubric reiterated, “I get that your excited with this new species in front of you, but these dogs are for working, not fucking. Remember, we have a much bigger prize down the road.”

As Anya and the minotaur talked amongst themselves, the dogs caught up with the ball gag, the first one to rach it being the spaniel, as she managed to run past Mattie, and snatch up the ball gag while her group leader was still a foot away, doing it in midrun. Without stopping, the smaller diamond dog had to curve her sprint to turn back towards the minotaur waiting for the prize now resting in her mouth, but now was faced with another problem.

Just as she had set up a straight run back to Rubric, Mattie dived right at her, determined to get the ball for herself. This was unexpected by the ones watching from the sidelines, since this wasn’t really supposed to be competition, and nothing was at stake here, but the smaller dog was well prepared, and dodged by leaping over the shepherd. Mattie immediately started stumbling to reroute herself, shifting in the dirt to stop her momentum, but the time it took for her to do that was more than enough to give the cocker spaniel enough distance away.

Her leader wasn’t her only obstacle, however, because the pyrenees, despite being last place in this race for the round, red object, had not yet given up on it, and was on a collision course for her pint-sized partner. The spaniel was less than half the size of the pyrenees, and didn’t have nearly the muscle mass of the larger canine, so if she got caught, the ball was as good as gone. She had to out maneuver the other female if she wanted to keep the ball, but getting around her huge body wasn’t going to be as easy as it was with the shepard.

So she didn’t. With a bit of quick thinking, working mostly on reflex, the cocker spaniel prepared herself for another jump, which was what the pyrenees was expecting, leaping upwards herself. Instead of trying to hop over the larger dog though, the spaniel dived forward, going underneath the gap created by the pyrenees’ actions, sliding past her in the dirt, before going right back into a run. Even with Mattie course corrected at this point, the rest of the sprint back to Rubric was unimpeded, and the spaniel ended up sitting on her butt right in front of him, happily holding the now slobber covered ball in her mouth, as she panted heavily.

“Looks like we have a winner,” Bacchus said, lowering his hand in front of the spaniel’s face to be given back the gag.

The small diamond dog complied, dropping the ball gag right into his hand, twitching a little on spot as if she was expecting him to throw it again.

“So what’s your name, girl?” Bacchus asked, wiping the dog’s spit off of the bondage tool, and returning it into his pouch.

“Claire…” said the spaniel, a little dejected that the game of fetch was over.

“Those were some decent moves out there,” Anya said, congratulating the smaller dog, “But you three did know it wasn’t a competition, right?”

“Well, yeah…” Clair said, “But you can’t throw a ball and not expect dogs to not fight over it.”

As the spaniel gave her answer, the other two diamond dogs made it back to the minotaur, taking their time as they knew they had been beaten.

“Mattie, your underling here has implied that if someone throws a ball, you’ll be compelled to chase it.” Rubric stated, “Is this going to be a problem I have to worry about?”

“Don’ ya worry,” the shepherd answered, “Wees know how t’ control ourselves whin needed.”

“I hope so,” Rubric said, “Cause I’d hate for a target to escape because they threw a round object right before they got captured.”

“So what’s next?” Mattie asked, taking note that the ball had been put away.

“I tested your speed,” Rubric answered, “So now I want to test your strength. The targets I have in mind for you are powerful, so you’ll need some kind of muscle behind your group in order to handle them.”

Rubric took a moment to look around, looking at a bit of rope left on the ground, a small remains of the buildings the minotaur had dismantled and hauled away.

“Over there,” he said, pointing to one such stray item littering the area, “Clair, you’re the fastest, so go ahead and grab that rope real quick.”

“Right!” She said, running off to retrieve the rope, snagging it up in her mouth just as she did the ballgag, before running back with its end trailing a half foot behind her sprint.

As she made her way back to the others, Rubric crouched down, awaiting her arrival, taking hold of the other end of the rope as soon as she came close enough.

”Now, I’m gonna pull on this with a bit of my power, and I want you to hold on the best you can.” said the minotaur, wrapping the rope once around his wrist.

Claire gave a nod, along with a playful growl, keeping the rope held in her mouth. Rubric, understanding this was the dog’s preferred way of holding the object, and that it allowed her to use both her arms and legs to pull against him.

Rubric gave it a little tug, which startled the spaniel when the smallest amount of force from the bull pulled her right off her paws, yanking her forward a little. After that brief bit of shock, Claire knew it was on, and started tugging with all her might, mimicking the movements of a wild dog, growling as she gave tug after tug on the rope.

As much effort as she put into it, she wasn’t getting so much of a budge out of Rubric’s arm. He just stayed crouched, body stiff as a statue, as the dog fruitlessly put her all into it. When the minotaur thought he had seen enough, he gave a slightly harder tug than before, which caused the rope to fly out of Claire’s mouth, the grip of her teeth not enough to keep hold.

Her animal instincts had the diamond dog going after the rope as soon as she noticed it was on longer in her possession, but the minotaur stopped her by placing her free hand on her head and pushing back.

“Your turn is done.” he said, “Go sit somewhere, and let one of the others have a go.

Claire was disappointed, having enjoyed the small games the minotaur was playing with her, but she obeyed, finding a spot not far away to plant her butt down and wait.

“Then I’s guess it’s my turn, izzit now.” Mattie said, stepping up to the challenge. She picked up the free end of the rope with her hand, but then did as Claire, putting it in her mouth. Rubric gave her a moment to get ready, and then gave the rope a tug to signal the start.

While the diamond dog’s leader was a bit stronger than Claire, she didn’t show any real difference from the spaniel’s attempt, showing just how wide the gap was between the minotaur’s power, and the dogs. Rubric could gauge that she was stronger though, so the test did give him the information he needed, especially when she wouldn’t let go when he tried to yank the rope away like before.

“Ok, you get a passing grade,” Rubric conceded, “Go sit by Claire, and let the last one have a go at it.”

Mattie gave a smirk, and spat out the rope, seeing that she had to be told to stop as a win on her part. With that bit of satisfaction taken from the test, she gladly took a seat, ready to watch the pyrenees take her turn, as she had an idea that she would enjoy what was about to come.

“You’re up,” Rubric said, picking up the end of the rope the dogs had been using, and offering it to the final member of their group.

The pyrenees, having waited patiently, stepped up to take her turn. Seeing the size of this particular diamond dog, Rubric got up from his crouch, expecting more out of her than the other two. The minotaur took the opportunity to give the rope one more coil around his wrist, then offered the other end of it to the huge dog.

“I take it you’re the group muscle,” Rubric said, having completely based that assumption of her size alone.

The pyrenees returned a nod in silence, taking the end of the rope given to her, and putting a quick knot into it before shoving it into her mouth. Rubric raised a brow to this, as the dog went to all fours, hunkering down her front half, as she prepared for the struggle to come.

Rubric gave a small hum, and then began the test with a moderate tug, which the pyrenees responded to by pulling back with much more force than her partners. Not only did she manage to make Rubric’s arm budge, but she managed to have him move forward slightly, with one hoof coming off the ground an inch before planting itself firmly in the dirt.

“Not bad,” Rubric said aloud, “But how about this?”

The minotaur flexed his muscle, pulling in the pyrenees, despite her using her paws to anchor herself in the ground. After a few seconds, Rubric relaxed his arm, and immediately the diamond dog regained the ground she lost. He tried to go for a second flex, but the pyrenees prevented it by flailing her head around, pulling back against him with all the force she could, pushing backwards with all four limbs at once in between her wild shakes.

This continued for a few minutes, as Rubric tested the diamond dog over and over. Her jaw grip was excellent, the rope never slipping from it, and her strength was enough to easily overpower a medium sized species like a pony or a gryphon. It still wasn’t really enough to take on a minotaur in more than this playful tug-o-war, having to use her whole body just to compete with a single arm of the bull, but for a creature of her size, there was reason for the minotaur to be impressed.

There was something exhilarating in seeing this kind of power in a creature like a diamond dog, who was normally looked down upon by practically every other species of the known world. As sweat formed on both his and her bodies, getting a good bit of exercise in the hot sun, a distinct tightness could be felt forming in his loincloth. The bull, in his excitement, was becoming a bit aroused, enjoying this opportunity to put his muscles to use against another creature. The blood in his body pumped heavily, both from exerting himself, and being increasingly turned on. Bacchus was right, as there were some attractive qualities to at least one of these canine girls.

Rubric, making a decision on how to deal with the feelings coming over him, put all that pent up energy into pulling the dog to him by the rope, scooting her across the ground like he had at the start, until she was front and center with him. Now in range, he used his free hand to take her by the muzzle, and bend her head upwards to look him in the eye.

“Drop it,” said Rubric, the way he spoke those two words resonating with such commanding presence that the pyrenees did so immediately.

From there, Rubric tossed the rope aside, but kept his hand held on the pyrenees’ muzzle, looking her in the eye, as if imprinting his commanding visage onto her. The diamond dog, in return, did nothing, except stare into his gaze, unable to look away from his dominating presence. The minotaur was bigger, stronger, and technically was her boss, though the shepherd more directly filled that role, so it was just second nature to not want to do anything that might upset him, and ruin the opportunity this employment gave the trio.

Rubic kept this hold for about half a minute, to the point that it was becoming as uncomfortable for those watching as it was the pyrenees who had to go through it. At least Anya felt that way, since she could tell the minotaur was ‘asserting’ himself over the dog. Bacchus probably didn’t care, because he wanted to do the same thing. Catrina probably didn’t care, cause she would have to deal with worse once she and Rubric were alone. And the other diamond dogs, they weren’t showing any signs of interceding in this, staying seated like they were instructed.

“Good girl,” Rubric finally said, releasing the pyrenees, “You showed a good deal of strength, as well as excellent self control by not fighting against me. I can see you’re a good asset to your leader.”

After all that, the pyrenees appeared nonplussed, as any other creature in her position would have headed to the hills the moment they were released, having been basically threatened by the minotaur. There she was though, not showing any kind of fear from the interaction, nor anger at being put in such a position, just a bit of confusion as wiggled her nose a bit, after being held in place for so long.

“Now that we’ve finished that test,” Rubric said, stepping to the side so he could focus on removing some of the sexual tension he had built up in the contest of strength, “Let’s move on to your next test.”

Bacchus, noticing how two of his suggestions had already been used, grew a grin on his face. “So, are we gonna have the dogs hunt down the cat now?”

“Not quite,” Rubric answered, “I’d hate to have my property get lost if they can’t track properly.”

“Ey!” Mattie yelled, “Al ave ya know our sniffers are perfect at finnin’ things!”

“Still, I want you to find someone who’ll be able to come back under their own power,” Rubric said, turning his attention to the nearby gryphon, “Anya, let me have one of your feathers, and go hide in the forest.”

“Me?” questioned Anya, finally turning back towards the minotaur, his dick now limp, but still exposed as he hadn’t gone to the effort of putting his loincloth back on. While this was a bit unnerving, it was enough to keep her urges down.

“Yes,” Rubric answered, “You’ll cover more ground than the pussy, and you’re less likely to get stuck somewhere than someone in bondage gear. Also, I can’t trust her yet to not make an escape attempt, drug addiction or not.”

Catrina stayed silent, as she didn’t seem to want to get involved. Of everyone here, she was the only slave, and too new to know what was permitted and when. As far as she knew, speaking out of turn was a fast lane to a swift punishment. If anything, she appreciated that this status gave her an out to doing physical activities, since her body was in no condition for strenuous exercise.

“Fiiiiinnneee,” Anya said, plucking one of her wing feathers out, holding it out for Rubric, “But do you know how degrading this is?”

“You help put kidnapped ponies into forced servitude to other creatures,” Rubric rebutted, taking the feather, “Your concept of humiliation is incredibly skewed for someone who does that.”

“Noted,” Anya said, seeing Rubric’s point. Though by the logic of The Society, slaves were meant to suffer through indignities that their betters would never have to endure. She was starting to see that applied to some degree to the grunts as well.

“Don’t be angry,” Bacchus said, “He just knows that you’ll provide more sport than a tied up cat. With those wings, you’d probably be a mile away before he sends the dogs after you.”

Anya figured that was Bacchus’ best try at a compliment, so she let the comment about being used for sport slide. Spreading her wings open, the gryphon gave them a small beat to lift herself off the ground.

“Just find a good place to hide, and stay there,” Rubric said, before Anya could get away, “No need to run if they find you. This is just to test their tracking abilities, not their ability to capture a target.”

“Got it,” Anya said, taking off for real this time, flying right for some trees in the distance, that looked to line the cliffside of the mountain crevice they were training in.

Slipping into the trees, Anya only went straight for a few more feet, to make sure she was out of line of sight, then made a shape turn around a tree. If Rubric wanted to test these diamond dogs, she was going to give them a good challenge. Being that they were canines, she was certain that their noses could track her if given the chance, but she wasn’t going to make it easy.

The gryphon wasn’t going to go so far as to cover herself in mud or anything, but she had ideas on how to delay them for as long as possible, and give her a moment to truly relax away from her boss for a while. First thing she had to do was confuse them, fly around a bit, stay low to the ground, and disrupt as much of the foliage and soil as she could, while scattering around some loose feathers to give them the idea that she was in this area. She had to do all this while staying on the move, as she didn’t know how much time she was being given before the dogs would be after her.

Once everything looked nice and disrupted, Anya took to flying just below the tree branches, hoping that at that altitude she wouldn’t be leaving behind much of a scent to track. The moment one of the dogs figured out what direction she had gone, the game would pretty much be over, so now all she needed to do was make distance. She could have disrupted another section of the woods, and doubled back, but she was still assuming that the dogs could be after her any second. With that in her mind, there really wasn’t enough time to create some elaborate series of deceptive distractions to detour the diamond dogs from her location.

Besides, the less deceptive traces she left little behind was also a way to lead the dogs off the trail, as they could easily think she was giving them a false trail, and that could have them running in circles. It was a strategy of outsmarting them by making a purposefully dumb move, one that would very likely get her caught if she were being pursued for real, but in this kind of test, the diamond dogs could have pre-assumed notions that Anya was trying to trick them, when they actually weren’t, and that would be the real trick. It wasn’t really a brilliant plan, nor did Anya need it to be, but it would appropriately test if the dogs could track via the details of their surroundings.

Anya, having put as much effort in this plan as she wanted, all she figured she needed to do was find a good place to put herself. The branches of a tree was a good idea, but seeing as she could fly, that was an obvious place for her to hide. Instead she flew until she found a tree that was hollowed out near the base by age and rot, and settled down there.

And now we wait, she thought to herself, taking a deep breath to expel some stress as she settled in.

Then she realized, this was the first moment in a while that she had to herself. At The Society’s facilities, she was always around ‘co-workers’, both gryphons and minotaur alike. They worked in the same slave trafficking warehouse, ate in the same break room, took cleaned themselves off in a communal shower, which was something Anya had to get used to quickly seeing her recent minotaur fixation. All that time together, all the noise from those she in many ways found morally repugnant, which she had to endure each day.

Perhaps that description was taking it too far, seeing as she had no moral qualms herself in anything her fellow gryphons or The Society were doing, only that they targeted people close to her, but that one detail alone put a bad taste in her beak when it came to helping them further their goals. If only there was some work around to finding Path and Scylla quicker, but with the way The Society was set up, it didn’t seem like she’d ever get that opportunity. It was a pain, but she really did have to play ball until her contract was up, and she was given their location as part of her payment.

Anya did her best to put that out of her mind for now, and just enjoy the peace of the forest encircling the vacant remains of a pillaged village, the fate of the surely enslaved inhabitants weighing no burden on her conscience. If she was lucky, she wouldn’t be found till the Waystone was reactivated, and it was time to go back to the warehouse. All that time to herself, not having to think about or repress the sexual imagry of minotaur violation that had been plaguing her, would be nice.

Whether it was the distance she traveled, or the diversions she made, Anya managed to buy herself a bit of time to unwind, and twenty minutes later she was still unfound. She was wondering if Rubric would be mad that she made him wait so long, or would be happy that she tested the dogs to their limit. It didn’t matter to her how he felt, since she was just doing what she was told, and thus she couldn’t reasonably be in trouble for it.

It was getting kinda dull just laying about, however, and her state of mind was slowly shifting from clear headed and relaxed, to just being bored. Anya wanted to do something to occupy herself, like humming, but she knew that sound would just give her away if one of the dogs just happened to be nearby. Instead, she took to silently tapping a foot on the ground, using it to simulate the rhythm of a song she knew. It was all she could really do to stave off the boredom, save for taking a nap, but while it helped in that regard, it was probably the biggest mistake she could have made.

Her tapping went on for maybe another minute, until suddenly, the earth shifted from underneath her, and to her surprise, a paw popped out from it and grabbed her by the ankle. Following right after the hand was an arm, then a head, and the full body of the shepherd.

“Gotcha,” she said, shaking the dirt off her body, flicking some onto Anya in the process.

“Watch it!” Anya yelled, not from surprise that the dog got the drop on her from underneath, as that ability was well known of their kind, but because shielding herself from the specks flying toward her face with her arms. Once the dust settled down, her hostility died, and she said calmly, “So you sniffed me out, huh?”

“Mosta’ the way,” Mattie said, letting the gyphon go, “But trail went cold while back. Had t’ go t’ plan B.”

“What’s that?” Anya said, climbing out of the tree trunk, so she could stand up and dust herself off.

“Trakin’ the vibrations yu’s were makin’.” Mattie said, climbing out after, “Wes diamond dogs can feel the movement above ground when wes below ground. Tooka while forya t’ start movin, but I’s gotta bead on ya as soon as ya did.”

The foot tapping… Anya figured, Well it was about time to wrap this up anyways.

“Ok, you got me.” Anya conceded, finding her part in this test, and its conclusion, fairly dull. She was happy for that though, and the time away from The Society’s operations that it provided, “Let’s go back and let Rubric know.”

The gryphon and the shepherd exited the woods, and upon exiting Mattie put her fingers to her lips, using them to make a loud whistle. Not long after that, Clair and the pyrenees came out into the open as well, summoned by the call of their leader.

“Finally found her, I see.” Rubric commented as they approached, “Took a little longer than I intended.”

“That’s my fault,” said Anya, willing to take the blame, “I did a bunch of things to set them off course. Things above and beyond what you asked for.”

“So you hid and it took them a while to find you,” Rubric reiterated, “Just like I asked you to. You don’t need to take the blame on something like this. It just means we have something to work on, which was part of the purpose of this test.”

“I guess you got a point,” Anya said, seeing that her minotaur boss wasn’t taking this as a failure on the dog’s part, but strictly as a way to see what areas they needed to improve in.

Now that the three things Bacchus suggested were through, most of the group thought that this first go at training was over. Unlike the obstacle course at the facility, there wasn’t any equipment to run drills with, so unless they were just going to repeat the previous test until their time was up, there was nothing left to do but wait. At least, that’s what they thought.

“Bacchus, you’re up.” Rubric said suddenly, looking at the other bull.

“Huh?” Bacchus replied, not being told beforehand what his employer had planned.

“You’re gonna be the last one to test the abilities of our dogs,” Rubric said, “By doing what you can to fend them off as they try to take you down.”

“You sure about that?” Bacchus said, looking at the three girls, “I don’t think they stand much of a chance, even if I hold back.”

“You’re pretty strong,” Rubric said, “Enough to be my second, but there is more to capturing slaves than only pure power.”

“Ok, if that’s what you want…” replied Bacchus, stepping out into the area where he threw the ball gag earlier, “But don’t blame me if they get hurt.”

“Just keep it to a normal fight,” Rubric said as the younger bull walked away, “I don’t want you molesting them in the middle of battle.”

“Something tells me that won’t be a problem,” Anya said quietly as she came aside Rubric, “Diamond dogs might be weak, and not very clever, but… well just watch.”

Mattie, hearing the gryphon’s backhanded compliment, gave a brief snarl to avian, before she told her associates to follow her with a wave, and stepped out into the field themselves.

Bacchus, seeing their approach, readied himself for what fight they might put up. He wasn’t really worried about the two smaller dogs, but he had seen how the pyrenees handled herself against Rubric. She might not have been minotaur strength, but she was still pretty strong, at least enough that she could do something.

Keeping his eye on her as the three dogs approached, a good distance away at the moment, Bacchus almost missed the other two hopping off the ground, and diving paws first into the ground in front of them, each burrowing so fast that it looked like they were plunging into water, the dirt getting dug out so fast that it barely impeded the two canines.

“There they go,” Anya stated, expecting this tactic, “Diamond Dogs are incredibly skilled at burrowing through dirt and rock. They dig out entire cave structures in their search for gemstones, but they are lacking when it comes to actually finding them, sometimes digging right around them.”

“Cave structures, you say?” Rubic repeated back, thinking about the practical purposes for that skill.

As the two spoke on the matter, the pyrenees charged at Bacchus, being the only dog still above ground. It looked like she was going to go head on, which was exactly what the minotaur was hoping for, as if he could take her down, whatever the other two were planning didn’t matter.

Bacchus braced for impact as the large diamond dog closed in, solidly planting his hooves into the dirt, and spreading his arms in preparation to catch her. When she got into about a foot of him, the pyrenees instead made a sudden stop, and bent her knees to do an underhanded scoop into the ground, snagging a large portion of it in her large paw, before chucking what she had gathered at her opponent.

Being as large as he was, and that this attack had came out of nowhere, the minotaur couldn’t dodge it at such range, only able to defend himself as the sizable clump of dirt flew right at his face. Putting both his arms in front of him, forming a barrier with his massive forceps, the dirt ball erupting against the shield of muscle on touch. He didn’t have even a second to react after that though, as the pyrenees followed up by ramming her shoulder squarely into his abs.

It was a solid hit, pushing him back a few meters as his hooves skid backwards, but it barely made the minotaur react otherwise. The bull was built like a mountain, with rock hard abs to match. He might feel a little sore later, but he could take a single hit like that, and now the pyrenees was in his range. Bacchus lowered his arms, flicking them to the sides so he could go in for a grab. Once the big dog was in his clutches, she’d never be able to get away, and he could do with her as he pleased. The only thought he had on this was that it was a shame he couldn’t enjoy himself with the dog after, but showing off his superiority would have to do for now. Bacchus’ hands swooped down, moving in on the dog that only stood at stomach height to him.

The pyrenees was not a nimble creature, so she couldn’t recover from her tackle in time to avoid the hands coming down to grab her. Fortunately, she didn’t have to, as the two other members of her team popped up from out of the ground, prepped and ready to intercede. The shepherd was first, leaping from a hole she had made near where the minotaur was standing, a lassoed rope in her hand. With a well aimed toss, she snagged one of Bacchus’ arms by the wrist, the feeling of his appendage getting caught enough to draw his attention away from the dog he had been fighting.

“Isn’t that?” Rubric mumbled to himself, looking around him for the rope he had used in the tug-of war earlier, only to find that it was gone, and that a hole in the ground was left in its place. None of the observers, Rubric, Anya, or Catrina, had noticed that one of the dogs, most likely Mattie, had taken the time to get the item.

Though the minotaur was roped by the wrist, he really wasn’t in any danger of being beaten. As shown earlier, the shepherd wasn’t strong enough to outmatch a bull. With a simple yank of his arm, the shepard would fly forward and face plant, making the effort useless. This was where Claire made her move.

The smaller spaniel dashed out of her own tunnel, and snatched the rope before Bacchus could perform his action. He went through with pulling his arm back to his chest, but with the smaller diamond dog’s speed, she closed the space between the two, making the rope’s length slack, which in turn made the minotaur’s show of strength have no effect. With a now limp rope in her grasp, Claire dashed to where the minotaur was standing, and darted around and in between his legs several times.

Bacchus wasn’t completely oblivious to what the spaniel was planning, but he couldn’t do much to stop her when the pyrenees was still right in front of him, keeping him preoccupied with more blows to his gut, that threatened to topple him as he had to shift his legs to maintain balance, while contending with the ropes that tangled around his hooves. The pyrenees and the spaniel were working well together, combining their speed and strength to overcome the obstacle that Bacchus represented, and as they did, Mattie did her part by borrowing back into the ground, creating some new tunnels, which traveled over behind the minotaur, creating an opening, that she continued to work on once made.

After a fer more laps around Bacchus’ legs, Mattie slipped in front of the pyrenees for a brief second, pushing her end of the rope into the bigger dog’s paws, before going to help her leader to make the entrance to their constructed tunnels much bigger than needed for either of them. What was once a small section of missing ground was quickly turning into a large hole that looked big enough to fit an adult pony through.

Seeing the progress the other two dogs had made, the pyrenees gave Bacchus one final shoulder tackle, before giving the rope in her hand a good pull. With the other end still tied around the minotaur’s wrist, the rope encircling his ankles tightened into a jumbled coil, forcing his legs together, and combined with the hit, managed to get the Bacchus to fall over.

The pyrenees wasn’t done though, as the second the mighty minotaur’s beefy body hit the ground, she leapt over him, right to where the other two dogs had been making their hole. In no time they had doubled its size, and with the rope tightly tangled around Bacchus’ ankles, the large diamond dog dove into the tunnel, taking the rope in with her, and having her associates follow in after.

Bacchus, recovering from both the impact he had made with the ground, and the embarrassment he felt from allowing himself to be pushed over by the does, started to pick himself up, just in time for the rope leading away from his legs to go tight, and his body to be dragged across the ground. It was surprising for the bull, to say the least, as he didn’t think that the pyrenees had that much strength in her, and he would be right. Though he couldn’t see it at the time, it took the effort of all three dogs, as well as the use of some leverage created by pulling the rope around one of the tunnel’s bends, to get the bull to move. He found himself pulled into the tunnel, which he didn’t know about till saw his lower body slip into its mouth, followed by the rest of him as he disappeared from sight.

The diamond dog’s plan to beat Bacchus was brilliant, an excellent show of how the trio could capture creatures much bigger than themselves. The only problem was that they were dealing with a minotaur, and one that had been holding himself back. While Bacchus hadn’t planned to be dragged underground, the three canines had pulled the partially bound bull right to them, and unlike some weaker creatures, the tight tunnels they crafted to restrict his movements wasn’t going to be enough. While Anya and Catrina believed the winner of the fight had been decided, Rubric patiently waited for something neither of the two women could have anticipated.

Not even a minute after the bull had been pulled under, the ground erupted, as the minotaur pushed away the obstruction it presented. It took a decent amount of the minotaur’s strength to do it, but to a creature like him several feet of dirt was like brushing aside a thick layer of sand. He didn’t escape the trap alone either, as he had caught all three diamond dogs by the neck, holding the two smaller ones in one hand, while the pyrenees got the other hand to herself. The three could have probably tried to escape the hold, and continue fighting, but they were each a bit too shocked to try, as they really didn’t anticipate this battle to go beyond that point. That the bovine could just brute force himself out of that situation, which took a good amount of effort and coordination to create, was a sign that they really couldn’t win.

Bacchus, with the dogs in hand, walked his way back to Rubric, and dropped them in front of him. “Did you get what you wanted out of that?” He asked with some annoyance, as he went to the process of brushing the dirt off of him, his fur having collected a large portion of it when he unburied himself from the tunnels.

“I believe I have,” Rubric said, looking at the defeated diamond dogs, “And I have to say, I’m actually impressed with their overall performance.”

“Impressed?” Bacchus asked, coming off as slightly repulsed by the notion, “You think what they did was impressive?”

“They did manage to drag you off,” Catrina said, having been herself amazed that the three small dogs were capable of doing that much.

“Shut up, pussy,” Bacchus said, being more blatant with his annoyance. It was becoming more clear to those listening to the minotaur that his issues were with how he had been shown up, than any perceived lack of skill from the dogs.

“My cat has a point though,” said Rubric, ignoring his second in command’s indigence, “The abilities they have shown, unrefined as they are, are something that we could use. They might not have worked against you, but think of what would happen to a lesser creature in your place.”

Bacchus thought about it, and realized that his boss was right in this matter, “Yeah, other creatures wouldn’t have been able to get away so easily.” The minotaur took a moment to flex, showing off his beefy muscles, “It’s not like they have the raw power I possess.”

“You’re fairly strong, even when it comes to other minotaur,” Rubric agreed, “But you still have a vulnerable ego. If you didn’t think that you’d lose, then you shouldn’t let a small setback like this affect you so much. It was a minor failure, so don’t let it get in the way of seeing the potential of useful employees.”

“Fine,” Bacchus said bluntly, looking down at the canines, “You three did good. I really wasn’t expecting you to get as far as you did.”

Claire gave a smile to the complement, while Mattie reacted with slight hostility as she turned her head away and huffed, hating that the minotaur was so close to losing outright, but overcoming what was a brilliant plan because he was just too strong.

“I think that you might have upset the alpha,” noted Rubric, “But a lesson in humility is good for both of you.”

“Humility don put gems i’ma poket,” said the shepherd, “An’ I’s was hoppin’ to make a new deal with u’s once we’s showed off wha’ we’s can do.”

“I see,” Rubric said, “Not a day in, and you’re already wanting to renegotiate your contract.”

At the utterance of those words, Claire's ears perked up, and she inserted herself into the conversation, “Please forgive our leader. She just thinks that we are hard workers, and deserve more than any of the other dogs.” Diamond Dogs were generally not that smart, but the way the cocker spaniel leaped in at the mention of their contract hinted that she might have been paying attention to some of the things that might void it.

“Don’t worry,” Rubric replied, “Well I can understand wanting to be rightfully compensated for your talents. From what I’ve seen though, I do think you are being fairly compensated for what you are capable of, especially since my payments usually match with the higher bids of my brethren. Let me ask you this though, You three are just doing this for the gems, am I correct?”

The three dogs nodded, as if the minotaur had said a magic word that compelled their actions.

“So if there was an easy way to get gems, that didn’t risk your safety or freedoms, would you do it?” Rubric asked, clearly leading into a proposal.

“Depeens,” Mattie said, though her intrigue was visible, “Wha’cha got in mind?”

“I would like to… double your payment,” Rubric said, catching the attention of everyone present.

“Boss, you can’t be-” Bacchus started to object, but Rubric stopped him by lifting up a finger.

“If you’d agree to letting me, and the rest of my men touch you as we please, with no complaints, then I’ll double any pay you make.”

“Esat’ all?” Mattie asked, not seeing a problem with the bull’s new terms, “Not gonna change ya’ min’ later?”

“Not at all,” Rubric confirmed, “I think that it would just benefit all of us if my crew could touch and pet you as they pleased. You are dogs, afterall.”

Mattie thought it over, looking to Claire, to see what she thought. The spaniel gave a silent shrug, not really understanding what the minotaur was getting at, but unable to just say no to lots of gems. The pyrenees didn’t make any gestures at all, nor was she consulted for this decision.

“Ok, but Is gots a term of ma’ own,” Mattie said, realizing what was likely the intended reason for this, “Ya can’t fuck us. Witha stick as big as u’s, we wouln’t survive.”

“Agreed,” Rubric said, “I had no intention to do that in the first place, and already discussed to Bacchus that you’re too small for that. But if one of my men decides to get a little feely, then I expect you to let them do anything else. They can grope you, and touch you with any part of their bodies, and so long as you let them, I’ll double what you make with me.”

The shepherd didn’t have to think much further after that promise was made. She agreed on the spot, and neither of her companions raised a voice to object.

“Then it’s settled.” Rubric said, confirming the deal, “It won’t be on contract, but I believe you’ll find I’m a bull of my word.”

“U’s better be,” Mattie said, “Cus I’s wager the sparkly mare holds u’s to agreements too.”

Rubric said nothing to this, and instead shifted his eyes slightly to the pyrenees, the only one in the bunch that he actually had interest in. It was such a subtle movement that most would have never noticed it, but Anya with her eagle eyes picked up on the redirection of his irises. That, her own personal experiences with Rubric, and the obvious reasons why one might want to have free access to another creature’s body, made his intentions clear to her.

Still, it wasn’t really something she cared about. If anything, it was probably a good thing the minotaur, Rubric and his men, had another target for their lust. The more they focused on someone else, the more she could stay away from them, and the less she had to be plagued with unwanted urges involving them.

“Now that we have an agreement, and I’ve properly tested you,” Rubric said, “It’s probably about time we prepared to leave… After we fix up this area.” Looking around, the ground had been torn up a bit by the fight between the diamond dogs and Bacchus. “This is a public training area for the Society, and it wouldn’t be good to leave it a mess like this.”

Rubric was the first one to make a move to seal up the holes, going to the big one the other minotaur made, shoving as much dirt into it as he could find to get it level.

“Well, you all gonna stand there and watch?” he said, “Anyone who helped make the mess can help fix it. Anya, you keep an eye on my cat while we fix this up.”

Bacchus and the diamond dogs went to join Rubric to fix the mess they had created, while Anya happily took the time to relax more, taking Catrina with her to rest under the shade of a tree. The gryphon didn’t expect to get too many days like this, where she could just lay about, and she intended to take advantage of it. Little did she know how busy her life would become from this point forward.

Author's Note

Sorry it took a while to get new chapters up, but I did post two in the same day to make it up to you all. However, this story will be on a small hiatus as I get to another one of my stories, with the intent to work towards finishing it. Hopefully I left this at a place that wasn't a cliffhanger, so no one has to be at the edge of their seats wondering "well what happens next". So until the next chapter, thank you all for reading up to this point.