FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Draegor walked slowly down the dark stone hall of his master's castle. His short ears and small beady eyes swiveled back and forth as he searched each shadow and crevice for a possible threat. He heard a noise behind him, like the sounds of crumbling rocks. He squeaked as he spun around and put his back to the wall, his long pink tail wrapping around his middle and over his leather armor. After a minute, his eyes probing the darkness and not seeing anything else move, he scurried back along the way he was going, heading towards his master's chambers.

He came up to the large double wooden doors and reached up for the ring to knock on the door for permission to enter. He hesitated when he heard voices on the other side, arguing. There was a gasp and the sounds of boots running across a stone floor, followed by an impact to the wall near enough to the doors to make them jolt sharply, billowing up dust and smoke from under the doors. Draegor took an involuntary step back from the door, his eyes wide with fright. He turned to run when the door behind him opened on its own.

"Draegor, you may now enter. And be quick about it, I have other, more pressing matters to attend." a deep voice called from within.

Draegor closed his eyes for a moment, then spun back toward the doors and entered, noticing off to his right, at the wall, was a large black spot, with the outline of a figure, most definitely whomever saw fit to argue with the Emperor.

He kept his eyes down cast as he walked up to the steps that led to the throne. The room was almost completely dark, the only sources of light were two torches, one to either side of the door. The only sounds were the sounds of his clawed feet hitting the stone floor and the hiss of the torches.

Draegor stopped in front of his master's throne, and dropped to his left knee, laying his arms across his right and bowing his head and laying his chest on his small arms.

"Master, you summoned me." Draegor spoke, almost squeaked.

In the dark, recessed throne, a toothy smile suddenly appeared. "Yes Draegor, my faithful servant. I wish to know if you have heard word from the latest hunters that have claimed to have seen and were about to capture, that troublesome wolf?"

Draegor started shaking. He had been serving his majesty for a few months now, and had found out why he had been moved to this position. The person he had replaced had been killed for similar bad news he was about to convey.

"My Emperor. I had just received news before you summoned me. The young wolf has killed all but two of that party. The only survivors were the cowardly archers, and by their accounts, he now has an ally. Some purple wolfess with considerable skills with a bow, and using magic, came to the wolf's aid and has taken him. The archers attempted to track them, but were unable. They cannot figure out how it was she was able to drag him away without leaving a mark in the ground."

Draegor kept his head bowed and his eyes shut tight, waiting for the inevitable fireball that would consume him. It never came. Instead, he heard a chuckle come from above him. Confused, he opened his eyes and looked up some, gazing at his master's feet.

"Do not worry Draegor, you are far more valuable to me alive than as target practice. I wish for you to go to Commander Teroth, inform him I would like six of his best warriors to hunt down this wolf and bring me his head. Whoever brings it to me personally will receive twice the bounty that was going to be given for him being caught alive."

Draegor nodded his head and dropped his gaze back to the stone floor. "Yes Master, it will be as you instruct. Is there anything else your Majesty would ask of me?"

"No Draegor, that is all for now. You may go."

Draegor kept his head bowed as he got up and made a quick exit. He spied the long dark passage that he would have to traverse to get out to the commander and relay the instructions. He knew there wasn't anything there and forced himself to quiet his fears as he ran down the stone corridor and out the other door.

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The purple wolfess set a bowl of water down next to him and dabbed a towel in and gently brushed it across his forehead. His eyelids flickered a little, but that is all they did. He didn't moan, groan or otherwise move. She sighed as she placed the back of her paw against his forehead, his temperature was still elevated slightly, though was down considerably from what it was the night before.

She had no idea how long he was going to be out. It had been three days since encountering this mysterious wolf, and she had done her best to protect him and try to wake him. The next morning after their escape, she had went back down the trail, where it had forked, and ran down the trail, carrying a decent sized rock to give her added weight. After travelling for roughly twenty minutes, she tossed the rock off the side and over a hill, and dashed into the forest and back parallel with the trial. Once she made it back to the fork, she called upon her power and drained many leaves of their water, causing them to become brittle at the stem and break off, falling to the ground and covering up any signs of their movement through there. She even made several large branches fall, further covering up any signs of activity. Satisfied she had done all she could to keep their pursuers away from them, she returned to the cave to see what she could do for the wolf.

Since then, she had been tending to his wounds. He had several cuts and slashes across his body. She had cleaned all the rocks and dirt from each wound, and used a small amount of her power on each to simply close the cuts, but not fully heal them. She would go back to that once she was certain that she had the power to do so.

She gently caressed his cheek with a thumb, smiling down as she looked at his handsome face. She reached up and brushed the back of her hand against his fore head, brushing some of his fur to the side. She traced a clawed finger down around his eye and cheek, stopping at his jaw line. Her eyes roamed is face, stopping at his lips. She blushed deeply as she thought about what it would feel like to have them brush against her own lips, to give attention to her neck..

She jumped slightly when she realized that his eyes were open, and staring at her. She turned away quickly to hide her now burning bight red face.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry. I wasn't sure when you would wake. Are you hungry?" She said quickly, almost stumbling over her words. It had been weeks since she had spoken to the last person, a friendly farmer that had given her food for helping bring water for his crops.

The other wolf just looked back at her, sizing her up to see if she was a threat. After a moment, his expression softened, and was barely able to whisper out "Water. Please."

She scrambled to her feet and rushed off to the cave wall where her fighting staff was leaning against, sitting next to her ornamental staff she had been protecting. She grabbed the water skin and lifted the shoulder strap off the top of the staff and practically ran back to her charge.

Trembling slightly, she pulled off the stopper from the water skin and knelt down next to the male, placing one of her paws under his head to help him lift his head up, she used her other to hold the water skin up to his muzzle so he could get a drink. After a moment, he pulled himself back from the water skin, feeling a little stronger already.

"Thank you." He said in a whisper. He closed his eyes and fell back to sleep almost instantly. She smiled down to him, laying his head back down on her rolled up cloak, putting the stopper back into the water skin and laying it down next to her. She reached a paw out to gently stroke his forehead, humming a tune she had learned when she was young, taught to her by her mother. She saw him tremble slightly, his face tightening up at something in his dream. she just hoped that he would wake fully soon, and that he would be ok.

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He sighed contentedly as he lifted one of his winged arms up to his head and tipped his hat up to peer down his large beak and check his fishing pole. He let his hat fall back down as he rested his beak back on his white feathered chest, content with just leaving the pole as it was. He wasn't out to fish seriously, he couldn't care less if he actually caught anything. He was simply basking in the warm sun and the peace and quiet that was nature.

Movement on the shore caught his eye, a deer came out of the clearing and stopped just where the water met the bank of the lake and began lapping at the water to get a drink. The older fisherman thought of an old tune that made him chuckle before beginning to hum along to it.

He was nearly asleep, his eyes having drifted closed when the birds near the shore and in the trees bolted for the sky, making such a ruckus that the old fisherman nearly fell out of his boat. He looked around, his head jerking back and forth, trying to find the disturbance. His eyes finally caught a strange glow, emanating from underneath him. Eyes widening in fear, he fell back into his seat, grabbing his oars and began rowing the boat as hard as he could, trying his hardest to move away from the light. However, in his haste, the oars kept slipping out of the water, keeping him from making any progress in getting away.

The soft blue hue intensified into a blinding white light from under the water. The water itself seemed as if it were trying to escape as it bubbled and boiled at the center of the light. The old bird raised his hand above his eyes as he watched, his curiosity overpowering his good sense in getting as far away from the source of light as fast as possible. He lowered his hand as the light began to fade, still too transfixed on what was happening to move.

The light finally subsided to a soft glow, and as he stared into it's heart, a figure emerged, seeming to float slowly up to the surface. As it came closer to the surface, he could begin to make out small details about the figure, that it was in fact, a she, with a tail nearly as long as her, and long hair that seemed to reach about the middle of her back.

He continued to stare as the body broke through to the surface, her orange and blue colors shining brightly against the mid-day sun. As she lay on top of the water, gently moving with the water, he finally realized that she wore no clothing, and turned his head to the side, his feathers ruffling slightly as his cheeks began to burn. He felt the boat rock slightly, so he turned his head back toward where the woman had been, and to his surprise, she was no longer there. She was leaning up over his boat, staring back at him coldly.

"State your business here" she spat out, her eyes glaring into his. His voice nearly failed him, as he saw in her eyes swift punishment for an answer she didn't like.

"I.. I-I'm just a fisherman miss, I mean no harm. Please don't hurt me!" He blurted out as he tried to push himself away from her. She rose above the small boat, her feet and legs encased in water as she scrutinized him and his belongings. Finally, after determining him no real threat, she lowered herself back down, to where it appeared as if she were walking on top of the water. She looked at him again, this time with a softer demeanor about her.

"Alright, you may go. You are to never return to this place, nor speak of it to anyone, do you understand? If you do, you will not enjoy the consequences." She turned and started to walk towards the middle of the lake.

"Wa-Wait! Please, I don't mean you any harm. Do you need anything? Like food? Or maybe clothing?" He mumbled the last part out under his breath.

She stopped and turned her head back to him and gave him a small smile. "No, I don't require anything. But I ask, please do go now and do not come back. It is for your own safety." With that, she seemed to jump up into the air, spun around with her arms above her and her hands together, and disappeared back into the lake's waters. He looked up and toward the waterfall, and noticed that, just for a second, that the water had stopped falling. His eyes widened in fear as the water resumed its fall down the cliff side. Grabbing his oars he quickly began rowing for shore that would let him get home. He was in such a rush that when he made it to the dock, he merely jumped out of the boat and began a swift paced walk toward the trail he had used to get here, letting the boat just drift back off into the middle of the lake.