FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Though Alkali and the others were unaware of what came from the capital towards them they continued to ride hard the next few days, stopping only to rest or gather supplies. After the fiasco in Tarecona they elected that their more well-known members would stay hidden in any town they visited, so while Zen and Serathin were out buying what they needed for the next leg of their trip, Alkali, Xander, and Draggor stayed at the inn and continued to translate the map. As the fox and hybrid came back to the room after nearly two weeks of such traveling arrangements, they came back from their supply run to a solemn atmosphere. "I'm not liking the look of this," Zen said as he put down their purchases on a nearby table.

"Well we have bad news and... more bad news," Xander explained with a sigh as he poured them a drink and refilled theirs. "I was in contact with a couple of spies who still will talk to me and they just got news that King Pandez himself has ridden from the capital."

There was a moment of pause as Serathin sat back and drank half his glass while Zen downed the whole thing. "Are we sure he's not just going to help Tarecona? That explosion was pretty big."

"I was hoping that," Xander clarified after drinking from his own glass. "But he specified that, while he went before those that could help with the fires, he kept riding merely after a brief stop in the city itself. We're going to have to assume that he's coming for us and he's going to try and close the distance as quickly as he can."

"Well that certainly was bad news," Zen commented, reaching for the bottle and refilling his own glass. "So what's the... I guess other bad news then?"

Draggor leaned forward this time and brought up a modern map alongside the ancient map of Ka'Le. "So this is the path that the map wants to take us," he explained as he traced a line from one point to another. "Now from the way this looks it wouldn't be a hard trek and that's probably why they chose it as their path... However, if you look at a new map," he moved over to the other piece of parchment and traced his finger along the freshly inked line, "you can see that we have ourselves a little problem."

"You're kidding me," Serathin said as he looked at the triangles that ran between the two points on the modern map. "This thing is taking us through the Dragon's Tail?"

As the others nodded Zen looked at them in confusion that Xander caught. "The Dragon's Tail is a mountain range that appeared suddenly in the last couple hundred years," he explained. "No one knows why or how it got there but people still haven't found a good trade route through it yet. Every year a couple of trade towns that were affected by the sudden obstacle host a contest that promises a sack of gold for anyone who can navigate a cart through it; so far no one has made it with a cart, and about half of them don't make it at all."

"I'm telling you we just go around," Alkali stated. "It's a few weeks out of our way, but I guarantee you King Pandez will take the same route and we won't lose any time on him."

"It's not just our pursuers though," Draggor clarified. "This map has boundaries to it and the magical fonts I'm using as markers can shift a little bit. If we go outside them I might not be able to get us back on the path needed to find Ka'Le. I don't like the idea of climbing over a mountain for this journey, either, but it's either that or we will likely never find the city before Pandez."

For a few minutes the five continued to voice their opinions and dissent towards their path, trying to find alternative solutions to the difficult road ahead. After a while, though, they all came to the same conclusion; either they risked the dangers of the mountains or risk losing Ka'Le. Even as they broke to their respective rooms to sleep the decision hadn't been truly made, even when they packed up and left the city it still hung in the air. Nevertheless, the five eventually found themselves staring up at the rocky peaks that dominated the sky as they stood at the foot of them.

"You sure this is the best way?" Serathin asked as he looked up at the towering spires of natural rock.

"Well after the traders of the last town stopped laughing at us they assured us that this valley runs into the heart of the mountains with little resistance," Alkali replied, Xander standing next to him looking at the map in his hands. "After that it's going to be a climb, but those who made it through say there's a river that flows through the opposite side as well. All we have to do is get around the source and we're home free, seems simple enough."

"Well we're not going to get anything done just standing around discussing it!" Zen declared as he walked forward onto the rocky path. "Onward and upward!"

The rest of the group looked at each other, then followed the enthusiastic barbarian into the Dragon's Tail. At first it appeared that the information was correct as they climbed the easy grade up into the hills. The sound of water rushing over rocks could be heard in the background as they followed the river into the mountains, using it and their map as a guide to help them in. Though it would have been easier to go a little higher where there was a lack of foliage, none of them wanted to risk losing their only guidepost. The underside of such a plan, though, was fighting the rather dense growth that grew up around it.

"I thought we were climbing a mountain, not fighting our way through a jungle," Serathin grumbled as he helped push their way through the underbrush.

"We're likely looking at the run-off from mineral rich rocks higher up," Zen explained while hacking away, himself. "This path still runs upward, we should be seeing the edge of the vegetation coming up pretty soon."

"Hey, I thought your tribe settled on the Southern Shores and built boats and stuff," Alkali replied. "How did you know all that about mountain ranges?"

"I'm a barbarian, I go where I want," was the fox's simple reply, which caused the others to merely shrug and nod before they ventured onward. True to the barbarian's word the trees and shrubs thinned out and turned to canyon as the river cut through the stone below them. By the time night had fallen they had lost sight of the edge of the range where they started and were surrounded on all sides by the snow-capped peaks of the surrounding mountains.

By the time the moon rose up in the sky they had settled into a small, rocky enclave set into a small cliff near the river. For a while the five ate and talked, and Xander used his oratory talents to tell a tale that amused the rest of the group. Once they were finished they set up a guard schedule for the night and everyone went to bed, save for Draggor who took the first watch. Soon the only sounds that could be heard was the crackling of the fire and the rush of the water near them as night passed.

In the middle of the night Xander snorted awake as he felt the foot of the fox push into his side, Zen informing him that it was his time. The blue dragon muttered and stood up as Zen walked over to his bedroll and flopped on top of it. As he shook the last cobwebs of sleep from his eyes he looked around to see Draggor and Alkali asleep as well. Once he was convalescent enough Xander added some sticks to the dying fire and walked over to the shadow of the boulder where Serathin sat in silent contemplation. "So it's you and me until Alkali takes the final leg."

"Indeed it is," Serathin replied quietly as Xander sat nearby. "Perhaps you'd like to discuss why you and the ferret are out here in the middle of the mountains chasing a mythic city before your king finds it," The bard's jaw hung open slightly at the bluntness of the hybrid's question, Serathin turning his head to grin at him as he stared with glowing green eyes. "You spies aren't the only ones adept at gathering information, and though my contacts tend to relay a specific kind of data, I was able to dig up enough about you two to get a general idea."

"You researched us?" Xander asked, which Serathin responded with a nod.

"Part of my occupation is to be extremely well-informed of the situation I'm about to walk into," Serathin explained. "I have to say the stories that people tell of Alkali are rather amusing, like one that involved three snakes, four sticks of butter, and bag of glitterdust. But what was really intriguing was the lengths your boyfriend went to in order to secure every piece of information about Ka'Le that was either in or entered the capital. Of course if you don't want to explain, we can always sit here in awkward silence for a few hours and enjoy the night."

"I don't know why you would really care," Xander replied. "Your reward isn't going to come from Ka'Le."

The statement caused the sabrewolf to chuckle. "Oh right, you mean the pardon that I'm going to get from the king who is now chasing us?" Serathin bought up, which caused the dragon to look away. "While I believe the validity of the deal you offered me may be a bit hard to deliver, my curiosity is what's keeping me here now, amongst other things. If you want to have someone around with my skills, you're going to need to keep that curiosity sated, which means-"

Serathin suddenly stopped talking and Xander was about to ask why when the hybrid held up a hand to stop him. When he pointed upwards towards the edge of the cliff about twenty feet directly above them the dragon thought he caught a glimpse of what the sabertooth had seen; a pair of eyes sticking out from over the ridge before the head they belonged to ducked down out of sight. With only the moon and their dim fire to illuminate the area they couldn't make out what the potential spy looked like, but it was enough for them to spring into action. "You think we should wake the others?" Serathin asked as they looked at each other.

"Not enough time for the others to awaken and get geared up," Xander replied as he looked around. "I think we can wing it if we circle around the stream."

As Xander continued to strategize Serathin looked at the cliff where they had seen the creature above them, then at the shadow of a tree that almost touched the top of it. "Yeah... although I have a faster approach," as the dragon turned and looked at him in question the hybrid ran over to the fire and threw a handful of tinder and dried grass on it, causing it grow brighter. When Serathin turned back around he saw that the increased light had lengthened the shadow considerably. Xander tried to ask him what he was doing but the sabrewolf just ran towards the shadow of the tree and jumped into it, disappearing completely as soon as he was enveloped in the darkness.

Xander had to blink a few times as he looked at the void where the other male used to be until he heard a voice call from up on the cliff. "What are you waiting for?" Serathin called down to him with a smirk. "I still see him, you run up the path and I'll follow from above!"

The blue-scaled dragon resolved to ask him about that later and together they ran along the edge of the river towards their shadowy infiltrator. They thought they were gaining on him, but as they turned a corner both lost sight of of him until they saw it on the other side of the waterfall. "How in the..." Xander trailed off before he pointed it out to his fellow pursuer and continued to chase him on the other side of the river, though the swirling mist of the fierce water made it difficult for him to keep track.

Meanwhile Serathin glided over from his perch towards the other side of the river, his clothes and fur becoming wet as he shielded himself from the spray. When he got there; however, the figure was gone, and when he looked over at Xander he just shrugged his shoulders once they saw one another. With no clear leads and the light from their camp already fairly distant they both decided to call off the search and head back. As they walked back they failed to notice the shining pair of eyes that glanced up from the cliff where Serathin had just been moments before...

The next morning once everyone was awake the two informed the rest of the group on what they had seen the previous night. "Lucky I wasn't up," Draggor huffed as he formed a tongue of flame on his palm. "Would be hard for it to run when it was surrounded by fire... or on fire..."

"Well the main takeaway from this is that we're obviously not alone around here," Alkali stated as he packed the last of his stuff. "What we need to do is figure out whether they want to harm or help us, hopefully the latter because this place is stupid enough without needing creatures attacking us."

"Xander and I chased him further up the path," Serathin described. "Since that's where we're going, anyway, maybe we'll run into their den or home or something."

The others agreed and together they moved once more up the mountain path, which grew narrower and more treacherous as they progressed. Soon they had to abandon the river path altogether and move to the desolate peaks of the mountain tops. Snow, ice, harsh wind... it was something none of them were looking forward to as they climbed up and past the craigs cut by the water.

Except... as the group moved they were surprised at the level of flora and fauna that they entered into. The ground below them was soft and from it grew a number of trees and plants that everyone knew couldn't exist this far up the mountain. Yet there it was, an oasis of green in an otherwise bleak and rocky skyline.

"I think it's safe to say that our visitor last night probably had a hand in this nonsense," Zen exclaimed as he touched one of the thick leaves that bordered their path.

"You definitely don't need to be a druid to know that this is likely their work," Draggor confirmed. "Of course it makes me wonder if it is a druid why they would pick the middle of nowhere for something like this, normally they enjoy areas that already have a lot of nature around in order to weave their spells. I think this is something else entirely."

"Well keep your eyes open," Alkali said as he drew his sword. "We still don't know if this thing is friendly or not."

The five continued on in a tense silence, punctuated only by the curiosity of their surroundings. More than once they had to stop because of some strange flower or decent-sized tree they wanted to investigate. Around the middle of the day they found a clearing in the bizarre mountain forest and decided to take a rest, taking the time to discuss the surreal situation they were in while their barbarian went off to find some small pieces of wood for a fire. As time passed and Zen didn't return the others grew nervous, and then just as they started to discuss if they should go looking for the missing fox they heard a shout that caused them all to leap into action and run to the source of the noise.

Several intense minutes of crashing through the forest later Alkali used his magic to kill off an area of underbrush and revealed the source of the distress, the large fox hung upside down from the trees with a number of vines wrapped around his body. "So..." he said in slight embarrassment, "turns out I can't just go wherever I want."

The others had just a moment to sigh before they heard the trees and plants rustle around them, those that escaped the ferret's magic immediately turned against them as the same ensnaring plants rose up to meet them. As Alkali used his magic on them again this time they withered far less, and those that didn't darted forward and wrapped around his body as well. He let out a string of curses as he fell to the ground, and as Xander ran over to try and help him he suddenly had to back away as more came right up to him. "Draggor, little help here!" the dragon cried out as he continued to back away.

"A little busy!" Draggor shot back as he put up a shield of flames around him, only for the vines to continue to try and wrap around his scaled form. "These things are being enchanted, my magic isn't frying them like they should!"

"Get out of here!" Zen shouted as he began to swing back and forth. "I will break free from my binds and save the ferret while you retreat back to the clearing. My strength... is... mighty!"

The three couldn't help but watch as the barbarian grunted and shook, trying his hardest to break through the bonds of the plants around him. As they continued to observe the spectacle they noticed the fox's form start to grow, his already bulging muscle growing even larger as a feral snarl escaped his lips where his teeth started to poke out from. As though in response to the sudden level of aggression even more of the vines slithered down and wrapped around his expanding frame, forming a nearly seamless cocoon save for the fox tail that visibly flipped about. "My plan... has... backfired!" Zen called out. "You should all probably run!"

Xander gave one last look at their increasingly dire situation and flapped his wings to try and clear the vines on the forest floor, but as he reached the branches he felt something sharp bite into his shoulder and as a sudden dizziness washed over him he looked back to see the snake coiled around a branch in the tree, hissing at him as it stared at him with its blood red eyes. Back on the ground Draggor was in a similar predicament as small birds began to divebomb him as he tried to use his magic to burn away the vines, breaking his concentration long enough for them to wrap around and disable them. With the group down they were all bound by the vines as more rustling could be heard just beyond where they fought, and it wasn't long before the cause of their entrapment became known.

"Hi there!" a young male said as he bounded through the underbrush where Xander laid, still loopy from the effects of the toxin that had been injected into his system. "My name is Ian, what's yours?"

As the others heard the voice and looked over their eyes all raised up in both wonder and confusion. The figure standing before them was about as tall as Xander, with the general body shape of a husky, but strange markings and altered features that identified him as a hybrid. Both Draggor and Alkali tried to struggle to their feet, but as soon as they did the vines around them rooted themselves to the ground and kept them there. "Why have you done this to us!?" Alkali shouted.

"Well after you chased us near the river chasm I decided it would be nicer if we could meet when you wouldn't be able to do anything," Ian said happily as he bounded over towards the ferret.

"Wait... there are more of you?" Draggor asked, Zen attempting to say something, but with the vines around his muzzle all he could manage was a muffled gibberish.

"Of course!" Ian replied, his colorful garb swaying slightly as he moved over to Draggor. "Ohhhh, you're a demonspawn! I've never had a demonspawn for a friend before!"

"Oh come on, Ian!" another voice said as a second, similarly colored creature said as he came out from the forest. "You said you weren't going to start until we told the rest of our brothers. Exile and Xavier are going to be angry now." With the two of them side by side it became clear that they were some sort of hybrids as they argued amongst one another.

"If I can ask a question," Draggor stated as he continued to try and wiggle out of his binds. "What exactly are you all, and how did you manage to create something like this way up here in the mountains?"

"Oh, sorry," Ian said as he grinned sheepishly. "This is Luke and my name is Ian, we're what you would commonly call a hybrid, our two species are rather interesting in that we-"

"We're called huscoons," Luke interrupted, the other huscoon shooting him a dirty look as he did. "Our brothers and I have lived up here in the mountains as the guardians of an ancient magic, one that many have come up here to try and get, but failed."

"An ancient magic you say..." Draggor stated. "Look, you appear... friendly enough, why don't you let us go and we can all have that wonderful chat and I promise I probably won't set you on fire."

"Draggor!" Alkali shouted.

"I said probably!" Draggor shouted back, which caused the two huscoons to chuckle.

"Well once your friend recovers from the snake toxin we can loosen the bindings around your feet so we can take you back to our den," Ian stated. "I'm sure the others would really like to meet the four of you."

"Four of us?" Alkali said as he looked around, the saberwolf hybrid absent from the fight. "...right, the four of us." The ferret and demon gave each other a look as their two captors continued to discuss until Xander came around, then cut Zen down with a loud thud and gave them back the ability to walk to start back down the mountain.

By the time the group reached the cave that served as the den of the huscoons the sun had fallen once again, bathing the strange forest and surrounding spires of rock with orange light and deep shadows. They were led into a cave that was surprisingly well furnished, had they not just entered from the mouth of a cave they could have assumed they were in the middle of someone's house in the city. There sitting around the large oaken table were three more huscoons, all of them in conversation before they walked in.

"Whoa, it's the new travelers!" one of them, the youngest from the look of it, said as he jumped up excitedly. "Are we going to play with them? Please tell me we are!"

"Not yet, they have to be vetted by big brother first," Ian replied before a shocked look appeared on his muzzle. "Did you take one of my shirts again?!"

What appeared to be the oldest of the huscoons was next to stand up, walking over to Xander with a smirk. "Well hello there," he said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "I know who you are, you're Xander the Blue! I saw one of your shows when we went to Kindrenal for a supply run, family trip you know. My name is Xavier by the way..."

Before Xander could reply he was dragged back by another huscoon, the one that had sat at the head of the table before he crossed his arms. "No one is doing anything with these guys yet," he said, the ears of the others flattening slightly as they backed away. "While we're always excited to meet new people, we have to make sure you're properly sweated out to make sure you aren't bandits or anything like that. If that's the case we're going to send you back down the mountain via the river, and until we get a decision, you're going to stay down in the dungeon."

"It's really just a guest room," Ian chimed in before the lead huscoon shot him a look before turning back to the group.

"Anyway... my name is Exile," the huscoon introduced himself before he pointed back towards the others. "Xavier already introduced himself, I'm sure Ian and Luke did as well, and our youngest over there is Erik. Erik, why don't you lead them down and lock them in."

"Can do, bro!" Erik replied excitedly as he walked over and led them down further into the cave. Much like what Ian had said the area they were escorted to felt more like a room at an inn than a dungeon, save for the thick steel door set into the stone wall that composed the entire room. Once they were inside Erik seemed to manipulate the vines around their bodies to keep them bound as he picked through their clothes, taking anything dangerous off of them and putting it in a bag. Once the huscoon left and the door locked behind him the vines suddenly fell away from them, which prompted Draggor and Alkali to try to reach into their magical reserves.

"Nothing... you?" Draggor asked, the ferret shaking his head. "Must be some sort of ward they have, or maybe the stone itself. I noticed a strange aura in several areas, it could be that these walls have alchetiline in them, which is going to absorb magic like a sponge. Whether it's by design or just coincidence these creatures are going to be hard to fight if two of us are hindered like that."

"Well what have we got," Xander said as he sat down on the bed. "They took our weapons but left the armor, we don't have magic for our magic users but we aren't bound by their vines anymore, and somewhere out there is our thief that may or may not come and get us. We've been in worse situations than this...

"At least they appear friendly enough," Zen pointed out. "That Exile one appears to be the key though, the others listen to him and he bullies them around. So if we get him on our side then it's a sure thing."

"I think the Ian one is the way to go actually," Xander replied. "He seemed really keen on us liking him, so that plus the flirty one that knew me and we could get a majority."

The four continued to strategize as they waited for some movement outside of their confinement cell, trying to figure out a course of action for any scenario. As Alkali made the motion for skeleton zombies once again they heard the lock to their door clang slightly, which caused them all to stop and look at it. After a few seconds the door opened and Ian walked through, grinning at all of them with a lantern in his hand as he waved them to come out. The group looked at one another and then proceeded to follow him back out into the cave proper that was shrouded in darkness.

"Whoa Ian, what are you doing?" a voice asked from the darkness as another of the huscoons came out, Luke staring at them as he held a sandwich in his hands. "I didn't think we came to a decision yet and we were just taking a break for the night."

"The debate is still going on," Ian replied. "I'm just taking our prisoners here for some fresh air, Exile's idea, just so they don't get claustrophobic. I think they're hungry too, why don't you make us all some food while I let them take a walk around."

To their surprise the other hybrid walked up to Ian, taking a bit of his sandwich as he did. "I know what you're doing," Luke accused. "You just want them to like you more so you'd be their friend first if we decide they aren't dangerous. You know if you take them too far out of this cave the mages can get their powers back, and you didn't even bind them!"

"We still have their weapons!" Ian shot back before he hushed his voice. "Relax, I'm not taking them outside, just to the game room. With no magic and no weapons and that storm coming they'd be stupid to try and escape now, especially if they had to leave all their stuff behind."

"Except their stuff wouldn't be left behind," another voice called out from the darkness as the room was suddenly filled with warm light, the oldest of the brothers standing there. "I just checked our hiding place and their gear we took is gone, along with a few other things." Soon three other huscoons came out as well, Erik still bouncing up and down as he asked if they were doing something while Xavier came in rubbing his eyes and holding a blanket while he demanded to know what was going on.

"I can't believe you're doing this Ian," Exile rebuked as he stood there. "All you had to do was wait for like one more day and then we would have-" the eldest huscoon's anger turned to confusion when he realized he no longer held anyone's attention, all of them looking at each other instead. "What? Did we lose a prisoner?"

"...more like gained a brother," Erik said in awe. Exile stared in confusion until he did a headcount and realized that there were six huscoons standing there, two of them Ian's as the other one had come out in a direction similar to Xavier. "Well this is new."

"Well obviously this imposter is trying to break out the prisoners!" the second Ian said as he pointed at him.

"No!" the Ian that was with Alkali and the others said as he waved his hands in the air. "I just wanted to make a good impression on them if we decided they could stay! It was Xavier's idea in the first place that we should make nice with them!"

"I said no such thing to you!" Xavier shouted. "He is obviously the fake Ian!"

"Well hold on a second!" Erik chimed in as he looked at the second Ian. "You came pretty late in all this and not from your usual room, where were you coming from?"

"I was just coming back from a walk to make sure the wards were in place!" the second Ian replied. "I didn't know if there would be more of them so I checked the tunnel that leads outside to make sure, obviously I was right in my assumptions!"

Alkali, Draggor, Xander, and Zen all looked at each other with a look of what to do as the huscoons continued to try and figure out what was going on. The ferret slowly motioned towards the area that the second Ian had come from, which the hybrid had said was a potential way out, but before they could make their move Exile stopped all of them with a stern word. "Listen brothers," he stated as he kept his hands held up. "One thing about shapeshifters is they can't normally duplicate magical abilities, so you all know what to do."

The others nodded and slowly each of them held their hands out. The others watched as each huscoon began to glow a different color, which seemed to react with the cave around them as their surroundings grew even brighter. When the brothers looked at each other the only one that failed to do so was the second Ian, who looked at them all before he started to back away. "I can... explain... look over there!"

None of the huscoons even blinked as the imposter Ian made a run for it, Exile and Erik making a quick wager of who could catch him first before they ran after him. The other three continued to stick around with the prisoners, the real Ian catching an earful from Xavier about escorting them alone. Eventually the two came back, Exile with a big grin on his face as he took the unconscious sabrewolf and dumped him unceremoniously on the table.

"Based on this... rather new info, I think I'm ready to make my vote now," Exile said as he motioned for everyone to sit down. "Despite the remarkable lengths you went to to deceive us so you could escape, this one had the opportunity to kill us when we were vulnerable, and when it was just Ian the prisoners could have still overwhelmed him..." Ian slid further down in his seat in embarrassment as Exile continued. "So I think I'm going to take a chance on them, what do the rest of you think?"

The other huscoons nodded in agreement, some more enthusiastically than others, and the group had a collective sigh of relief when it appeared they were no longer captives. "You all should count your good fortunes that Ian found you when you did," Xavier explained as he stood up. "Had you been outside it would be likely that soon you'd perish, there's a very large storm coming through the Dragon's Tail and you would have never gotten through in time."

"Wait, a large storm?" Alkali said suddenly. "How big? Like how long are we stuck here until it blows over?"

"Storms last weeks up here," Erik said. "That's why we have play areas down further in the caves! Otherwise we'd probably go stir crazy and annoy each other."

"We do that anyway," Exile responded with a smirk before he turned back to them. "We have enough supplies to weather the storm though even with your additions, and since we're not sending you to your deaths I think it would be wise for you to stay here until it passes. Who knows, it might pass in as little as a week."

The group thanked them for their hospitality and went back to their rooms, Zen dragging the knocked out rogue behind him until they got to their room and closed the door behind them. "Well this sucks," Alkali said with a sigh. "Three weeks trapped in the mountains means that Pandez is going to have a huge lead on us by the time we get out of here. That's not including whatever else we might find along the way to slow us down."

"Well there has to be some way that we can make some time up," Xander stated. "Perhaps once we get to the next city we can talk to a mage guild or something to speed things along, provided King Pandez's troops aren't there to arrest us already."

As they hashed over their potential options Serathin, who had been dropped once again on the bed, suddenly shot up with a sharp gasp of breath. "What happened!?" he shouted before he looked around and saw the others staring at him. "Oh right... what did I miss?"

"The death knell of our journey," Alkali said with a sigh as he leaned back against the wall.

"There's a huge storm coming that's going to keep us from traveling for a least a week," Xander explained. "Now while it appears we have gained the favor of the huscoons and they're generously allowing us to stay, we can't make any more progress on our goal, which means that we're going to at least lose our lead, if not fall behind."

"Oh... well that's not good," Serathin said as he looked down, the others doing the same. "Do you think the huscoons would allow us to use the tunnel system that's beyond the giant stone door further in the cave?" the others immediately looked up at the hybrid, who looked at them all with slightly widened eyes. "What, I had to wait for most of the brothers to fall asleep before I could put my plan into motion so I went exploring for a bit. You should see the obstacle course they have, those guys are competitive with each other."

"Well it's late now," Alkali said. "Why don't we get some sleep and ask them in the morning? Hopefully if we're lucky our new friends will be more than willing to let us continue on."