FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Hey."

The younger burmecian opened his eye towards the mouth of the shelter. His breath froze in his throat at the sight of the small rat-faced child who sat next to his ear and whispered to him:

"Sorry fer leaving ya before, haha, don't wanna get an earpulling from ol' battleaxe over there."

"What do you want?" snarled Oberon back.

"Woah, why the attitude? Did I upset you?"

"Leavin' me in the middle of a field, yeah."

"I'm sorry but yanno me, I'm a wanderer! If SHE caught sight of me then she'd send me straight back home like she did before."

"She's not that bad, you know that right?"

"Yeah but she's fierce," said the boy slipping down to lean his back against Oberon's chest, "she chased you down pretty hard."

"Because she cares about me...she was the only one to care about me after all that happened."

"Hmmmm...but is that what YOU want?"

"Huh?!"

"I mean..." the young rodent went flat onto the ground to prop his head up with his elbows coquettishly, "I'm just a merry little wanderer of the night cracking jokes to keep myself smiling, but I don't think what you want is the same as what she wants."

"What do YOU think I want then?" he asked lifting his head up amidst the bodies sleeping.

"I think, you want freedom. What SHE wants is for you to get back home and that's not quite exactly the same thing."

"Why is it not?"

"Because a home is a house, a house has got walls right, sorta like a cage? You really think the moment you're back in Burmecia, you'll ever get a chance to see the outside of those walls again?"

"N-n-no, no Freya's not like that!"

"Reaaaally?" The boy scooted closer in a crawling motion until brushing whiskers against Oberon's face. "Then why isn't she letting you explore this BEAUTIFUL new land!? Why no adventure?! All she talks about is going home and making sure you're alright, it's like she doesn't trust you!"

"N-no n-n-no it's because I'm sick!"

"Sick with what, the dreams?! Buddy, if she called a fat bean-fed horse a filly foal would you believe her?"

"No?!"

"Then why believe that your dreams are a 'sickness'? If I told you that every time I went to sleep I saw visions of things that don't exist and sometimes they're so frightening that I can't properly sleep, would you call that a dream or a sickness?! Answer, both!"

"S-stop, it." Oberon turned himself away with a harsh whisper seething from his lips. "You don't KNOW her, she's better than that, piss off you stupid kid."

"Pfft, yeah, NOW you tell me to piss off, right after you whined about me leaving ya, make up yer mind already!"

"Just GO AWAY ALRIGHT?!"

His shouting woke up the rest of the group as Freya shifted to his side amidst raptors snorting and blustering.

"Are you alright?!" she asked.

"Y-yeah yeah just...nothing."

"Another bad dream?"

"No it...just...yeah, whatever...I need to uh, drain the lizard."

"Do not go far. I will be here."

Respecting his privacy and knowing that she would hear him trying to run away regardless, the young student hoisted himself out into the brief lull of the sun's zenith with softest rain misting over the world. Fumbling with his pants behind the fallen tree Oberon fished out his penis and sighed with relief as the pressure in his bladder began to seep off. The sound of a gentle stream of urine was lost amidst the quiet static fog.

"Sorry," said a voice beside Oberon, "didn't mean to get ya all upset."

"WHA-d-do you mind?!" whispered the pupil harshly at the boy standing next to him.

"Hey I'm here too fer the same reason. Always gotta leak at noon."

He tried not to look at the boy's flaccid little dick spattering out a yellow stream across the tree bark. Solitude at last as he closed his eyes and savoured the peace of respite from the monsoon season. At least for a few seconds until the boy grinned at him.

"You gonna go back with Freya then?"

"I just wanna sleep," muttered Oberon, "in a nice warm bed, for once, in a house where the rain can't touch me."

"You can get that in an asylum too!"

"She won't do that to me!"

"How do you know? This was the lady who teamed up with the bitch that ruined our kingdom just to save a girl!"

"Th-that girl was her FRIEND!"

"Are you her friend, or just another burmecian?"

The boy's words stifled him, the urine stream running off partly as he finished up and refastened his pants. He struggled to form words in defence but found his voice had failed him. The ratling leaned into his view with a long tilt of his body, turning his head up towards him with expecting smirk.

"At least she would never take you back to Gizamaluke, right?"

"N-NO! No, n-n-no, sh-she never-sh-she knows that thing-"

"Yeah he is REAL frightening huh? You always were afraid of him weren't you? Big monstrous wings that blot out the sky-"

"SH-SH-SHUT UP!"

"Oberon?!" Freya's voice came from behind the mound. "Are you alright?"

"U-UH YEAH, yeah I uh thought...s-sorry."

He turned his head to speak in her direction but when he turned back to speak to the boy he had disappeared. With a huff he walked round to sit beside his master as she looked over him whilst the raptors would speak amongst themselves.

"Seems you did not need me for a guide after all," said Fishclaw shaking his head.

"I always enjoy hunting with you!" said Oddclaw cheerfully. "It has been cycles since we have."

"And my first time with my two favourite males," said Moonclaw nipping at both of them.

"Wh-what?!"

"Well, if Shadetooth does not mind-"

"Hahahaha!" cackled Fish. "Ohhhh I would never dare, Shadetooth would turn ME into a female if I ever did that."

"You would make a good female," teased Oddie poking his brother's chest.

"Says the little hunter whose vent is so full of his own brother's seed every day!"

"N-not EVERY day!"

"HAH, you do not deny it!"

"Perhaps YOU should carry the eggs," said Moonclaw with a gentle clawstroke along Oddclaw's belly, "for how much you want children you might as well birth them yourself!"

"I bet you even let the flyers breed you, naughty brother."

"NO I DO NOT!" shrieked the younger brother with a frigid blush much to the other two's snickering cackles.

"Ohhh? You have that hairless friend, and your brother AND Moonclaw told me there was one leafeater that may or may not have had-"

"THU-...MOONCLAW!"

"Whaaaat?" she said with nonchalant smirk.

"That is a lie and you know it, Firetail has no interest in me!"

"Ohohohoho, I never SAID it was Firetail, did I Fishclaw?"

"Noooo," said the elder with a gleaming smirk, "So this Firetail is a friend you breed with too?"

"N-no!" Oddclaw felt backed up against a wall with head sinking in his neck. "He is not interested!"

"Oh, is that the only reason why you have not played with him?"

"No, I MEAN, yes!"

"Hhhhmhmhmhmhm...ohhhh Oddclaw." Fishclaw leaned forwards to give a sweet glossy lick across his brother's snout. "You always knew how to make friends so easily."

"Mmmmmmmhhh..."

"Ohhh come now, you know how proud of you I am, being the Voice of the Tribe is a wonderful thing!"

"Do you think so? I feel it does not mean anything in this tribe, but with the hairless I do lots of things."

"Well you are here, with Alpha's permission and our starbeast friend here, speaking of are you two ready to leave?"

"Yes." Freya patted her student's shoulder as he heaved with shrugging exhaustion. "Is there anything else we must do?"

"No, we shall go to the Skylands and Oddclaw's friends shall take you to the hairless' shining mountain."

"Shining mountain? AH, the base of course."

"How do you even KNOW what they're saying?" asked Oberon rubbing his head.

"This device," she tapped the translator on her neck, "Oddclaw gave it to me this morning when we went searching for you."

"Wow, you just...wear that and you know any language?"

"Not any, just theirs, but the language of beasts is a rare opportunity to hear. Perhaps at the human base we can find one for you if you wish."

"Uhhhh...naaaah, I'm good."

"Oh come now, where is your curiosity?"

"I sorta left it behind back home."

The senior knight rolled her eyes with a soft shake of her head, not wanting to push him as she could sense his fatigue. The five of them went north towards the looming mountain with Burmecians at the back and saurians in front, a piercing obelisk of cool clay textures in palest ochre. Freya's relief was palpable to the raptors as Oddclaw tried to make conversation to the recovered student.

"Do you like books, Oberon?"

"U-uh...I'm more into plays, I like when I can see the stuff happening right in front of me and it all comes alive."

"Playsss?"

"You dunno what that is? It's like uhhhh, people pretending to be characters from a book but they act it out on a stage."

"Act...it-OH, you mean moovees!"

"N-...nooooo I mean a play."

"They have moovees at the human base, lots of them, you will like them!"

"Really?! Sheesh this place must be big to have its own theatre, sounds kinda fun!"

"My favourite moovee is the Unt-owchabulls, it is about humen fighting bad humen, with guns in a city that is being trapped by thieves!"

"Hah, wow okay I never heard of THAT play, I'm more a fan of Lord Avon's work."

"As well I know," said Freya with a smiling pat upon her student's head, "last I saw your room it was stuffed with playscripts!"

"Hey I appreciate the arts," said Oberon bristling with excited defence, "it takes a lotta work to bring a story alive in front of an audience!"

"Oh I do not doubt, no matter how much I have tried to convince you of the finery that is literature."

"Plays ARE literature Freya!"

"Oh we are not having this conversation again."

"Yeah because I won, your friends agreed with me too!"

"Hmhmhaha, I cannot win against a peanut gallery!"

"Damn right ya can't," he started skipping with a merry spring and widening grin, "when we get back I'm taking you to a play!"

"I have been to them before Oberon," she replied with her head bouncing to watch his hopping step, "I just prefer the words to be on a page rather than from the mouths of thespians."

"Awwwww come ooooon," he whined with begging hands like a pauper, "last I heard there was a really good one playing back home called uhh...uhhh 'Death of a Serpion'?"

"What is that one about?"

"It's about this family who are trying to make ends meet, but there's this serpion stalking them and there's this whooooole monologue going on about where their lives are going, and the dad is kinda not right in the head so there's flashbacks and it clashes with the present."

"And where does the serpion come into this?"

"Well, it's EITHER a metaphor for the fear that stalks around us in the dark, OR it's real and it keeps the family together."

"Well which is it?"

"I dunno, I haven't seen the play! We watch together and find out!"

"Alright. For your sake I will."

"Nice." The student placed his staff behind his neck with wrists propped over like a yoke. "Jeez they're not gonna believe us back home that you made friends with a buncha lizardmen."

"I am not a lizardmen," said Oddclaw looking back behind, "I am a raptor."

"Oh, right uhhhh well, s-sorry again about all the stuff...before."

"It is fine! As long as you are alright now."

"Yeah I uh...it's been a real rough week...or month."

The student stopped and let his spear slip off from his shoulders to plant it in the dirt. The travellers stopped in sensing fatigue from the young errant as Freya stooped slightly over him to hear his shortening breath. Oddclaw approached carefully to ask:

"Are you tired?"

"S-sorta," said Oberon shivering, "I-i feel cold."

"Perhaps a virus," Freya said, "damn, I do not have any on me...Oddclaw, may I ask you for a favour?"

"Yes, can I help?"

"I need to find something in order to make a remedy, do you know where turtles are?"

"Turr-tuls?"

"They resemble this." She scrawled a simple shape of a large stone with patterns, a head and tiny feet. "Have you seen anything like this?"

"I have!" said Fishclaw understanding. "They live near the sand, I can find one for you."

"I will need it as fresh as possible."

"Alright, I will return soon."

The eldest hunter ran off fast as he could towards the south, chasing after the wind to wherever the closest seashore could be as Oberon shuddered with a whimpering throb in his head. Freya held him closely to her chest and pressed her cold sleeve upon his skull.

"What symptoms are you suffering?"

"W-warm, head, k-kinda, shaking in my chest."

"Does it hurt when you breathe?"

"N-no, just feel sha-a-a-aky."

"He smells sick," murmured Moonclaw as she leaned into Oddclaw's ear.

"I hope we do not catch it," muttered Oddclaw back.

"Did you often get sick as a hatchling?"

"I do not remember. My mother told me I was very small and weak, but I do not know if I ever got sick, Barkclaw would know."

"Really, why?"

"He remembers many days, even those long before, he also knows what leaves heal you."

"Your brother is a healer?" asked Freya looking up at him. "Is there a plant that can heal warm heads and shaking chests?"

"Not that I know of...warm heads, there are leaves that grow near water that can heal that, I can bring them."

"Please do, I must keep watch over him."

Oddclaw headed off towards the lake near the Hunter's Nest to find such a plant, leaving Moonclaw with the dragoons as Oberon's breath became laboured with eyes slowly squinting.

"You are like a mother to him."

"I do not intend it...but as his mentor I must take responsibility...especially when he is alone in the world."

"What role do you have in your tribe exactly? I am not sure if you told us or not."

"I am a dragoon knight, that is I defend the kingdom from enemies outside."

"AH, you are a guard!"

"Yes, essentially. But I also travel outside the realm as an emissary, sometimes to assist other kingdoms with a fierce beast or protecting dignitaries overseeing a treaty. I do not just guard my home, but I guard all those who seek a fairer land."

"You have many responsibilities." The raptor peered over the student's face, sniffing his breaths and smelling a wheezing sickness from his nostrils that had her lean back with sneer. "You are teaching him the same tasks as you?"

"Precisely." Freya shifted herself to face Moonclaw more prominently, cradling the back of Oberon's head against her shoulder. "And what of you Moonclaw? What are your duties in the tribe?"

"I am an outsider, or at least I was until I mated myself to Oddclaw but I am a hunter regardless. All of us hunt for food, all of us protect our home and children, and all of us fight our enemies to the death."

"You have no hierarchy, no leader?"

"We have an Alpha, he orders our tribe where to go and who hunts where."

"I see," said the Burmecian nodding with head cocked. "but beyond that you have no captains, no regiments?"

"We are each our own family," said Moonclaw sitting herself down in the grass, "but besides that no, we are all one tribe."

"A co-operative commune I see. Where did you hail from originally?"

"The Death Nest far to the north. Oddclaw and I met on his journey home, after he was separated from his family." She took another look at Oberon, sniffing over his hands one of which kept a firm grip on his spear. "How did you know his father?"

"He was a wise and kind friend," began Freya, "who noted my instruction into the knights at a young age. Despite our places in life, he gave me credence and merit beyond that a dragoon wouldst normally receive, and in time he called me a loyal friend of his family, rather than as a soldier."

"I see...Oddclaw had a friend like that too, the father of our Alpha that he became close with."

"Really?" Freya sat up to lift Oberon's head to prevent it slumping back. "How did they become friends?"

"He knew Oddclaw's father, who from what I have heard was a saviour to his tribe, a hunter who came from the stars and had the same body as Oddclaw."

"From the stars? ....hmm, did he have a monkey's tail by chance?"

"No, he was the same as Oddclaw looks, but with odd scars like smeared fruit across his body."

"And this elder made friends with the son of his friend?"

"He believed Oddclaw would become the next saviour of the tribe. They were close until he died some cycles ago, but Oddclaw hates that belief. He has fought to prove himself as his own hunter, not to be his father's son."

"The weight of one's family...yes..." Freya softly stroked her student's cheek, "I understand that pain."

A good seven minutes later Oddclaw returned with some bullrushes. Even later after that in twice the time, Fishclaw returned with a turtle clasped in his jaws like a stone as Freya took both ingredients. She swiftly cracked open the turtle's shell revealing its blood-festooned insides before she found its head and swiftly snapped it to give as painless a death as she was able to. Hollowing most of the lurid guts out she started to mix only specific organs that were of nourishing value before taking a glowing orange feather from her pockets and placing it into the mulchy stew. Burning with a searing spark, the turtle's insides became broiled in its own upturned shell before taking the bullrushes and stirring the whole thing with a stick as she explained:

"Normally remedies need only a turtle shell and phoenix down but some of your world's healing herbs may help."

"I have never eaten a sandcrawler," said Fishclaw sniffing at the bloody soup, "but it smells delicious."

"It is not something I normally partake in."

Freya carefully lifted the bowl to her student's lips encouraging him to drink. Slowly Oberon's fever would recede as he gasped and panted with rejuvenation, the viral tendrils seeping away from his body swiftly.

"H-h-hhhhhh...aaaaaahnnnnngh-"

"Are you better now?" she asked him.

"I-i...woah did I just...did I pass out?"

"Somewhat, you were afflicted by perhaps a virus but we made a remedy."

"Really? Wow th-thanks...thanks, all of you-s-sorry I dunno what happened."

"It is fine, what matters is you are healed now let us go."

Gently lifting himself onto his feet, the student pushed his spear into the dirt to steady himself upright as they headed onwards. It would take them another hour to reach the Skylands which now had a new feature in the form of a deep cave to the west.

"That was what the last starbeasts made?" asked Fishclaw.

"Yes," replied Odd, "they used this awful water that smelt like the deepest fire, and it burned away the rock."

"Water that burns rock?" said Freya sneering at the hollowed rock. "Some form of acid I take?"

"I am not sure what to call it, but that is what happened. But the hairless destroyed the firewater so there is nothing left but this cave."

"Where are your friends?"

"They are above, I will call them."

He scanned the sky for any sight of them as he made a shriek that seemed to be unusual for even raptors to make, a trilling sound that pierced the Burmecian's ears.

"A-AAAAGH JEEEZ wh-what the HELL is his problem?!"

"He is calling for his friend," said Freya with a small wince. "Do not worry, they will take us to the human base and they shall send us on our way back home."

"A-alright...jeez this week has been worst than last, I sure hope that remedy was all I needed."

"If it was a virus all this time, I would not be surprised in how it afflicted you." She stared into his face cautiously with a gentle thumb pulling the skin beneath his eyes. "You seem better, not as tired as you used to look."

"I sure feel better," said Oberon smiling with some relief to the clouds above, "can't believe if some kinda illness was the reason I-...I-i..."

"...Oberon?"

His face turned rigid with fear, his eyes bulging out from his skull as his helm lifted slightly at the shadow that swarmed upon him. Huge creaking wings of blackest night, doused in rain which scattered across his face as he held his spear in a deathly grip, shaking with ferocious fright. He saw a deep blue-tinted cavern of his youth, a terrifying monster of serpentine head and giant wings with bulging tail and a vicious grin. Cold peerless gaze illuminated by water, that burned deep into his eyes as Freya tried to hold him.

"Wh-what, what is happening?!"

"N-n-n-no, no y-you...y-you....h-he was right." He turned his head towards her as his face twisted with bared teeth. "You'll betray me."

"What?!"

"YOU BETRAYED MEEEEE!"

He shoved her hard back with rusted spear pointing towards her, the raptors taking note of his sudden frenzied scent that burned with fury in his eyes.

"Y-you'll t-take me back to HIM!"

"OBERON, ENOUGH!"

"I'M NOT, AN IDIOT, K-KEEP THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"

"S-STOP IT!" She grabbed at his arm as he struggled to pull himself away a second time. "Do not start this again!"

"N-NO, _NOOO GIZAMALUKE, GIZAMALUUUUKE! _"

"What is happening?!" cried Moonclaw.

"H-he...no...oh god that beast, the one Oddclaw summoned must remind him of-NOOO!

She struck against his staff as he came whirling in with raging shriek, clashing hard before kicking her in the stomach and throwing her down before Moonclaw launched on his back. The student roared and spun himself before striking out at Oddclaw who tried to approach him and scarred a deep groove across his chest that burned rancidly.

"A-AAAAAGH! MOONCLAW!"

"I AM TRYING!"

The female raptor forced her entire eight on him by pushing herself on top and shoving him to the dirt, whilst Fishclaw rushed to engage and try to pile on him to the sight of a confused pterodactyl clacking her beak.

"What is going on!?"

"Our friend has gone mad!" shouted Odd. "Get back quickly!"

The flyer kept out of range astonished at the fighting beasts. Oberon forced himself free with a sudden roll to force Moonclaw off and punched Fishclaw in the eye hard enough to stun him back before slicing at his head with the spear.

"AAAAAARGH, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

"OBERON STOP IT!"

He took one look at Freya behind him before he ran, darting towards the cave tunnel where he saw his young friend beckoning with a hand waving him over. Pounding feet scattered grass seeds past his heels as he charged into the darkness, spear scraping its worn tip against the rock as Oddclaw hurried over to his brother's bloodied head to lick the wound clean.

"Are you alright?!"

"Th-that warmblooded SHIT almost clawed my eye out!"

"We must go after him!" cried Freya readying herself to run.

"Is this what you have to deal with Oddclaw?!"

"Yes surprisingly," said the younger brother, "we have to find him and when we do, we must subdue him by any means."

"I agree," replied Moonclaw carefully licking Oddclaw's wound in turn, "why did he suddenly become mad again?!"

"That beast, your friend I mean," said the dragoon with spear pointing at the flyer, "it...it must remind him of Master Gizamaluke."

"What is that?"

"A beast of protection...once, it would serve as a prophet and guide to those born and wedded in our domain but Oberon was...always frightened by it, i-it was something that, happened as a child I did not think......this is my fault."

"No, it is not." Moonclaw ceased her cleaning and stepped towards Freya. "If your friend cannot cope with his fear, that is HIS problem not yours."

"I...know, but had I know this friend that you were speaking of I could have made preventions."

"Then we will learn the next time we catch him. Are you two ready?"

"We are," said Fishclaw, "seems my purpose as a guide will serve you finally for once we travel through that cave we shall reach the old lands."

"Right." Oddclaw turned back towards the winged beast hovering over them. "I am sorry for your wasted journey flyer, our friend's madness has-"

"It is fine!" she shouted back. "Next time you bring him have him fall asleep, that way it solves all our problems!"

"Hah, I shall try that then, I will see you soon when we return."

"Just call for us when you need us swiftclaw!"

She flapped back up into the heights as the four readied themselves for another new journey. They headed into the cave with Fishclaw out front and their weapons braced for any sign of Oberon's tracks which were plenty to discover. The blood he scored from his spear tip had left dappled dots and streaks across the floor and walls, the smell of fear in each handprint that he left behind as they chased after his shadow. The tunnel stretched onwards with unnatural formation, slippery walls tainted by the scars of acid and gouged from machinery with fresh wounds into the stone carapace.

Nooks and crannies gave rise to their paranoia as the wind whispered sweet rumours of darkness, shuddered howls gone mute within echoed lengths as their feet and claws cast sounds of scratching through the tunnel. Oberon was ahead, always and forever ahead of them as fear had gave him wings. Through the halfway point Oddclaw noted the old remnants of the laboratory from before.

"What is that?" asked Freya in passing a steel rectangle imbedded in the wall.

"The starbeasts that came before, their enemy hid here," explained Oddclaw. "He made the firewater, tortured a beast to command his bidding, infused others with hatred not of their own."

"Truly? And there is nothing there now?"

"No, the hairless scavenged whatever use of it was left, and all the firewater was destroyed."

"Good. Let us keep going."

Between pillars and strata they weaved through to keep check on every blind spot in the cavern, the smallest shafts of light pockmarking the walls and ceiling as their only sources of light which, while the raptors were accustomed to well, Freya was more cautious in her careful steps and the use of her spear to tap the walls and sense where the sound would travel through. But soon the light would come at the end of it when they approached the old lands and found themselves standing on a precipice just at the other side of the canyon.

"...my gods."

The view that welcomed them was a blessed sight. Forests far greater than the ones Oddclaw had known filled an entire canvas of purest green in the very heart of the land; mountains looming that stretched the entirety of the southern coastline until they disappeared off to the horizon; marshes and pools dotting the northern expanse like the footprints of a god left behind on the world; and at the end of it all, beyond the western forests encroached by the highest peaks and the deepest swamps, was a black desert of cancerous death where three volcanic mountains stood in unison at the edge of the horizon, sharply piercing between the sea and the sky where thunderous clouds stormed ever constant above its cruel molten peaks.

"Wh-what is this place?" gasped Oddclaw.

"The Land Before," said Fishclaw solemnly, "at least that is what we call it."

"Before?"

"Before our arrival to our new home." He stepped next to Oddclaw and pointed his snout directly to the mountain range. "Do you see that mountain, the smallest one just before the sea?"

"Yes?"

"...that is where the hairless took us before."

"Wha-...i-it is still there?!"

"It never left. We do not know what happened to the hairless who lived, but they must have escaped by their own means...but their shining cavern remains."

"S-so...that is where father last was?"

"Yes. We are not going there, unless the one we seek does."

"Why?" asked Moonclaw staring up at him.

"I do not want to remember the things they did to our mother...Alpha...all of us."

He walked forwards along a rocky path and down into the forests of the old world with them following. The descent was much further than they thought, not realising how high up they had gone as they gazed in awe at the growing vista that soon disappeared behind the trees.

"This land looks," gasped Moonclaw, "MUCH greater than the Birthlands even."

"And those mountains are the length of six-and-one Skylands!" claimed Oddclaw. "This forest is an ocean of leaves, why did we not stay here?!"

"It was Alpha's wish," said Fishclaw knowingly, "he wanted us to live as far as we could from the hairless base, and when there used to be stones that helped us cross the Jaws of the Earth, we went to escape. We were rewarded by peace in our home, this land you see here is full of many odd beasts, too many in these trees to raise families."

"And now we have a new hairless base, closer than before...hmhmhmhm, it is ironic is it not?"

"I am sure that was not lost on Alpha."

They traipsed through the giant forest which in turn was so overwhelming that they were forced to sleep when night would come when they reached halfway through. Seething swarms of insects preyed upon their skin sucking the moist salt they would sweat, or even their blood from verminous giant mosquitoes that roamed between trees. Blinded by green everywhere they saw, the rich festering damp and moss felt thick beneath their claws as they walked until the night would creep on them and darkness fell from the sky.

They would sleep with Oddclaw making a fire to keep beasts away, whilst Freya guarded first before Moonclaw would take over and Fishclaw was next. Oddclaw kept watch in the early morn when they were ready to go again after having feasted on small rodents and miniature beasts, such as the compsognathus that came too close. At one point during their second day in the great forest, they were accosted by other inhabitants of the woods.

"Halt."

A voice came from the south in the form of a strange-looking raptor the height of Freya, a beast with a thin snout, wattled neck and a body composed of avian feathers seeped in darkest red. Men from another time would have called it Yurgovuchia.

"You are nearing the Bloodfeather's nest, are you here to hunt?"

"No," said Fishclaw, "we are sorry but we have no desire to intrude on your territory."

"Good. You are swiftclaws yes?"

"We are, we are from the tribe that came from the Shining Mountain to the southwest."

"Ahhhhhh..." a light of recognition glinted in his feathered eyes, "yeees, I remember your tribe in passing through. Why are you here now?"

"We are searching for a friend who is lost," explained the older brother, "did you see a warmblood travel this way?"

"I see many warmbloods every day...eaten many too."

"Have you seen any that resemble this one?" he nodded his head towards the burmecian as the guard peered closer at her.

"Hmmmm...I have not, but if it passed through these trees, one of the other scouts may have seen."

"Would it be too much trouble to ask your scouts if they have seen him?" asked Oddclaw politely. "He is very sick, and we must find him before he succumbs to it."

"You are friends with...a warmblood?! HAH! So my father was right, your tribe were odd in many ways."

"How so?" asked Moonclaw feeling slightly insulted on their behalf.

"He told me of the one-eyed beast who cried about hunting stars, or the leader who was frightened of the rain. But friends with warmbloods now that is new!"

"Can you please ask your scouts if they have seen our friend?" repeated Fishclaw.

"Hmmmm...and why should I help you hunt for such a beast?"

"Because then he will be left to his own and he will kill some of your tribe in madness."

"Then we will eat him."

"Do you want to eat a beast riddled with sickness? If it can drive a warmblood mad, imagine what it will do to your children, especially if he travels back to your nest."

The guard contemplated this with a gentle crane of his neck towards the canopy.

"Yeeees I see...alright, wait here but do NOT move one step."

"Alright."

The call he made back towards the nest several hundred yards away was responded to by another chirruping screech. Slowly two scouts came trotting up towards them with cautious teeth in a sneer of warning.

"Did either of you see a beast resembling that warmblood?" asked the guard.

"No," said the left scout.

"Wait, yes!" replied the other. "I-i remember that scent, it came through here the night before!"

"Which way did this beast travel?" asked Freya keeping her spear still and patient.

"WH-WHa...this warmblood speaks our tongue!?"

"I do yes, now please tell me where my friend went and we shall leave your grounds immediately."

"W-well...he, he travelled off west, then he went south, I think he was heading towards the mountains when he left the trees."

"I see. Thank you hunters," she bowed with great courtesy, "you have been a great help, we shall leave you now."

"I hope you find your friend," said the bloodfeathered guard, "before another beast turns sick from eating him."

They watched the foreign foursome leave as it took them another two hours to exit the woods and embrace the open plains with a breeze of freedom. Rolling fields of short grass and shrubs offered very little cover for anything, but the wind was furious in cheer as it whipped across their cheeks with aggressive blow. The dragoon put a hand to her helm and kept her eyes low against the draughting sky, whilst the raptors sniffed out the scent beneath an airscape of silvery clouds that threatened rain with each passing second in their pregnant bloats.

The mountains spanned the entire length of the south horizon which obscured the sea beyond. They saw giant plateaus between rigid peaks, some of which went shooting into the clouds to form an impenetrable nigh-unscalable wall for the average saurian. The journey towards the base of the peaks took the better part of the day as they crossed the wide plains and avoided fights with wayward beasts by skirting large circles around them until it was nearing sunset. The path leading upwards into the ridge would split into several smaller roads that reached either dead ends or further up, but the trail had gone cold.

"He did not come this far," said Moonclaw snuffling along the stone, "we have to turn back."

"Are you certain he did not travel up the mountain?" asked Freya.

"I am certain. The scent was strongest by the leaves over there, he must have fallen into them and hid."

The dragoon carefully looked over the bushes near the mountain base, seeing a large indent that formed a body shape as well as a few threads of clothing that caught on the branches. Freya rubbed the thread finely between her fingers in confirmation.

"He was here for certain. Must have slept here briefly." She went past the bush towards the northeast direction in noting how the threads were torn. "You are right, he travelled this way."

"How can you tell?" asked Oddclaw peering over her shoulder.

"His clothing ripped slightly when he tried to leave the bush, he pulled himself free in THIS direction, causing these threads."

"I see! Then we must-"

He stopped at the sound of stones scattering above their heads. They smelled another beast nearby as Fishclaw gave a warning sound at the back of his throat.

"Who is up there?! We know you are there, if you mean no harm we shall leave you be."

Nothing came. They watched the mountain ridge but other than the scent they could see no other trace of a creature evident until Moonclaw noted a slippery tail snaking between rocks.

"THERE, that thing!"

"Come out NOW!" barked Oddclaw. "Show yourself, we are not here to play!"

"...so." The shape rose from behind the stones above them. "You have finally come to kill me."

A raptor now stood before them with deep red scales similar to that of Fishclaw. An eye with hazel flecks peered with burning rage from his left socket, hazy and cracked like his drying skin but still surprisingly focused whilst his right was hollowed out with old stained tears of blood. His smaller front limbs had been crippled and twisted like gnarled roots with sharp bone and deadened nerves leaving his claws hanging uselessly. His body now became withered from its former lustrous musculature, showing partial ribs and the absence of scales to cause a blotchy dryness that made his skin appear coagulated. Half of his face was covered in scratches, deep grooves that covered the length of his skull in systematic scars as Oddclaw stepped back with a sudden shock at the beast, his eyes widened in desperate urge to suppress his fear, but Moonclaw sensed it enough to walk close to his side and give a tender nuzzle to soothe him.

"I did not think you would take this many cycles," said the raptor sneering, "did you struggle to cross the Jaws of the Earth? Or were you too busy stuffing your cock inside your brother to hunt for me?"

"We are not here for you," said Fishclaw, "we are hunting a different prey."

"Hmph, is that so? Well, I am glad to see at least ONE of the family still remembers how to hunt."

"Shut up Sunscreech. How did you even cross the Jaws of the Earth in your state?

"Because I am the strongest beast our mother ever birthed. You think I could not climb and scrabble through the great stone and over the peaks, across the deep?! My teeth and half my claws are all I ever need, or did you forget what strength truly is, Fishclaw?"

"Our strength together is greater than you ever could have been alone." The older brother stepped forwards with intimidating reach of his head. "You are worth nothing to us anymore."

"Then why do you still use my name, hmm?"

A brazen smile came with his belligerent teeth as Sunscreech swiftly leapt from his vantage point to land hard upon the earth, his strong banded legs tensing to withstand the impact as a small cloud of dust wafted around him that he walked through to lift his head towards Fishclaw's own.

"Because we are both from the same blood, the TRUE blood of hunters."

"So is Oddclaw, because I respect my family."

"You respect THAT?" said Sunscreech gleaming his left eye towards Oddclaw's cold stare. "That degenerate who now stands with an overgrown warmblood?! Tell me, does he now have children with hairy scales from that thing's womb or did he just stuff one of our sisters instead?"

"If he ever has children," said Moonclaw, "you should pray none of them find your crippled worthless hide."

"And who are you then?!"

"I am Oddclaw's MATE." She stepped forwards with ruthless swagger and a raised back of thickening aggression. "And if you speak again about my mate in such ways then I will gorge myself on your blood."

"Hmph. You did well Oddclaw." He looked past her towards his young unblinking sibling. "A mate past her prime and outside of our family, I am impressed. And to think no fear of becoming like your father with her dry womb."

"Are you so pathetic a beast that your only strength is insulting females?"

Sunscreech was taken aback by Freya's words, surprised he understood her and more admonished that she would retort in such a fashion.

"What...wretched warmblood could even understand our language?!"

"One that is wiser than you," she said placing the spear downwards between her hands.

"And what shall wisdom get you hmm?! I was the strongest of our family and were it not for these wounds cruelly set upon me I would have ripped your HEAD from your filthy body for even DARING to speak to me like a hunter!"

"And I have found that those who boast of their strength are truly the weakest of their ken."

"You certainly proved that," added Moonclaw with a smirk brimming as she turned and walked back with teasing rump shots at Screech, "lost an eye and two limbs to the one you call 'degenerate' now what does that make you?"

"SILENCE," he roared, "AT LEAST I NEVER LET HIM PISS HIS SEED INSIDE ME LIKE YOU PROBABLY HAVE!"

"Hahahaha, typical!" she cackled with her head crowing to the sky. "When a male gets upset he always goes straight to the womb of the matter."

"Petulant child," said Freya shaking her head at this, "are you certain THIS was the strongest of your family?"

"ENOUUUGH!" His eye blistered with a roving scent of fury as he approached them with shivering fangs. "Either fight me or run, like cowards ALL OF YOU!"

"You already lost," replied Fishclaw turning his head in disgrace and walking back towards the quiet Oddie. "You lost the day when you tried to tear our family apart because of your worthless obsession to make our family great."

"And now look where you are, wallowing with THINGS and mated with barren females!"

"Our family have fought against greater beasts made of stone and still we survive through each other's strength. How many stonebeasts have you killed?"

"I, I-i never heard of such things!"

"OH, really?" muttered Moonclaw with derisive chuckle. "Never fought a stonebeast, what HAVE you been doing then oh 'strongest of the family', snapping at smallwings hmmmmm, hiding away in mountains like a frightened flyer hatchling?!"

"SHUT UP DO NOT COMPARE ME TO THOSE WORTHLESS SKYFLESH!"

"Meanwhile Oddclaw has destroyed oh, how many stonebeasts have you killed my dear?"

"RRRRRRAAAAAARGH!"

He rushed her suddenly, too fast for Fishclaw to even catch him as he slammed into her side to knock her down onto her back. But before he could set himself upon her in a leaping strike, he was punched deep in his stomach and throat and head by three brutal bursts of purple lightning. Crumpling in a staggered heap against the wall of the mountain base, Sunscreech gasped with burning pains through his entire body before looking up to see Oddclaw stand before him, holding a large clunky steel rectangle in both hands.

"H-hhhh...hhhhahaha, ohhhh look at you hatchling, so brave with your fire." The disgraced brother pulled himself with mocking grin half-twisted in anger. "You could never win against me without it. What? You have nothing to say? You have not said one thing to me in all this day, you have truly nothing to say to your brother?!"

Oddclaw kept a firm grip on his weapon, his eyes coldly facing down the taller wounded Sunscreech whose muscles rippled with dominant attempt. He smelt the smallest fear whispering through his younger brother's scent, clouded below an immense rage from the simple trembling of his fingers.

"Hhhhmhmhmhmhm...ohhhhh you pathetic little thing, even after you banished me and crippled me you still fear me. Is that true? I can smell it from you, Oddclaw, even after all these days and nights you know I can kill you in a TRUE figh-GH- GHHHRKKH!"

Without warning Oddclaw slammed his gun sideways against the throat of Sunscreech, pushing him hard to the stone wall with a vicious choking crunch as he was forced into a bending posture towards his brother's height.

"HGHH-ECHHH-EHHHRK!"

"You...are nothing to me," snarled his brother with a flaring rage that caused Moonclaw to step back, "you are nothing to the one who birthed you, you are nothing to the ones you wounded both before and beyond and you shall be nothing to the earth itself when you die rotting and when you do, none of us will know. None of us, not me, nor mother, nor the flyers who see everything from the skies above will ever notice your worthless corpse."

"HHRRRRRGHHHK!"

He pulled his gun away from Sunscreech's throat and left him gasping harshly upon the dirt in coughing fits before the younger brother gave his final words.

"After this day, if anyone ever asks what happened to my brother, I will say...Nothing. Because that is all you ever were, and ever will be so I say goodbye, to, Nothing."

He walked away after holstering his gun, tensing his feet with every step and his teeth gritted together with unholy rage that startled Fishclaw in passing. They said nothing more and followed him, back towards the plains with none of them giving a second look to the beast who grinded his teeth in his jaws with vicious insult. Freya and Moonclaw walked behind with the eldest brother in front beside his younger sibling.

"Are you alright?" he asked Oddclaw once they were far enough from the ridge.

"No."

"Do you need anything?"

"Yes." He stopped and turned towards his brother. "I want you to never speak of him ever again."

"Wh-what?"

"I will honour our mother's promise to never kill family, so instead I want to believe that he never existed."

"Ah...I understand. We will not speak of him again, but what about mother and the rest of us-"

"She will not speak of him, she is too ashamed to do so. He is dead to us, do you understand?"

"Oddclaw," warned Fish with creeping teeth and a leery eye, "do not speak to me like that. I am your elder, remember tha-"

"I SAID, do you understand?" snarled Oddclaw even further with hate in a grating voice.

"And if I do not?" His brother rose up in full dominance to his 8-feet height, seething of testosterone with a cold terrifying voice. " Are you going to fight me?"

"STOP IT!" cried Moonclaw shoving between the two and turning on Oddclaw. "Even when he is not here your brother from before is tearing your family apart, do you want HIS hatred to infect you?! Fishclaw looked after you, he looked after all of your siblings when you were but hatchlings, he is not an enemy!"

"......y-you are right," said Oddclaw deflating his anger to become replaced by a remorseful whimper. "I...I-i am sorry Fishclaw, I...i-it is just him I-"

"It is alright brother." The older raptor leaned down to nuzzle his snout and lick his cheeks. "I am sorry for what he did. But know that I condemn him too, he is no longer my brother either. Let us carry that burden together, as brothers should."

"Yes...you are right. Thank you Moonclaw."

She smiled with relief at defusing the scene before they walked onwards. Freya smirked and shook her head whilst twirling her spear gently whilst pondering to herself:

"Even amongst beasts they act no different to families back home it seems...perhaps that is one thing I was fortunate to escape."

The dragoon hurried her pace to rejoin the raptors as they trekked along the northeast plains to catch Oberon's scent. The sun beared down on them as if threatening them to hurry amidst the burning glow as fields became fire in a hot amber wave of light from the horizon beneath the neverending sea of clouds.