FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Wow, I'm so sorry for leaving this so long, but for all you expectant fans out there here is chapter 6, with chapter 7 hot on it's heals!

Sorry again!

Chapter 6

"...and that's the last one!" With a smile, all I could do was look at the lovely masterpiece before me. No time indicator, no ticking, no nothing. The bomb looked like it was just a loose stone in the wall.

"Zale! Come on! They're coming!"

Turning suddenly to Amara, all I could do was snarl a little. "Look, if they come, take them out. Arty is taking a long time, I'm thinking-"

"Don't do it, Zale. You know he's fine. Don't break our code just because-"

Glaring at my friend, I was about to tell her off when I saw a Snake woman come up from behind. I didn't even stop to think, I only acted. I flipped my shotgun up from the ground and quickly braced it, doing a quick lunge forward and pushing the avian out of the way, blasting the lizard bitch in her gut before she could even draw her blade.

Amara couldn't help but yell at me at first, which I understood and completely ignored, but once she heard the blast and saw why, she went silent and sat there a moment, I let out a heavy sigh.

"...You're right, Amara. I know that if Deathbringer was in trouble he would have commed us by now. This entire place is rigged to blow, and we've got all the prisoners we could find, so let's go back to the last Jeep and defend our only exit until Command and his Support return."

All she did was nod at me, rising off the floor and grasping her fallen machine gun. "That's more like it. I didn't want to have to beat your ass for not following orders. We may no longer be in the official Crimson Corps. anymore, but we always will be by heart."

All I could do was laugh. "Don't get all sentimental and shit on me. Not when we're about to make some fireworks and blast a few more heads."

-

"Damnit, Dast! Can't you see this isn't the time to bring up old rivalries?!" "Haven't you learned anything about me yet, Art? I don't really care where or when. The time is now, you're wounded, and..." The black Sergal showed a wide grin as his attention turned from the pissed off me and to the barely conscious winged Vixen and the cowering Civet on the floor. "You have ones here to protect. Would be a shame if they died, wouldn't it?" All I could do was glare at his threat. "This has nothing to do with them, you will leave them alone or you'll have my blade in your gut all before you can even draw yours up." All he did was smile back at me. "A powerful threat for one already wounded such as yourself. Let's say we put that-" I felt my blood pulsing through my body as he spoke. I knew him better than that anyway, there was no way he would let them go unless I did something first. I could feel heat building in my throat and snarled loudly, flames escaping my muzzle and I started to speak. "You will have to go through me first, you jackass!" "Heh heh... Looks like I upset the dragon. No matter, it's time to finish this and get paid already." As he rushed forward, I noticed he tried to fake me out. His body was coming right at me, but his eyes looked at Ono. As he swung his arm forward, I saw a glint of silver shine as he whipped his arm forward, the Sergal releasing a shrunken from a hidden sleave in his shirt. I saw it coming a mile away. Stretching my scythe to the side, I felt the sharp metal clash against the blade of my weapon, knocking it to the side and causing Dastrand to growl out loud. "I told you, Dast. You WONT touch them!" He looked at me for a moment, unmoving and curious of what I had planned when I flipped my scythe back around and assumed a defensive stance , holding my ground in front of Aislinn and Ono. "Hey Ais, take this girl here and get out. Free the prisoners outside of this room and lead them to the front gates. Friends will be there to see you all out of here." "Fuck you, Artomis! That's not going to-" Before he could say another word, I let out a massive fireball from my mouth, the Sergal barely able to dodge away. "Go Aislinn!" I didn't even turn back to look at her, but I heard a soft reply back. I couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like 'Yes, Master...' Not only did I hate the fact that I thought she said that, but I hated the fact that there was nothing I could do about it. One look away from Dast and we were all dead. An assassin of his nature fed on opportunity. You never give him one and you survive, give him an opening you're dead. I heard him mumble to himself a bit as well as footsteps behind me leaving the room, soon showing a smile on my face as Dast tried to take a step forward. "You know... you're starting to really piss me off." He crossed his arms and spit at the ground. "Then it looks like we both finally agree on something." "Yeah, I guess we do. So how about we finish this once and for all, Dast. You were looking for a fight before, what's wrong with a fight to the death right here, right now?" He looked at me a bit surprised, but soon showed a wide smile on his face. "So the infamous Artomis Deathbringer decides to finally stop fleeing and give in to his fate? Ever since you stole the Lead role in that damn Special Forces group, you've only run from what you deserve." I sighed heavily at his words, unable really grasp the concept of his pointless rambling. "And I told you time and time again, I didn't steal anything. I'm sorry if I was more qualified than you, but you take things way too seriously." He unfolded his arms and turned back to me, two knives in his hold now as he soon took a stance of his own. "You better be ready to pay for your sins with your life, then. I'm serious enough to tear you limb from limb." Before I could even think, he lunged forward at me and slashed down directly at me, but I was able to jump back a little, leaving the room in one fluid motion. Dast didn't seem to slow, quickly following up the attack with a rush, soon tackling me to the ground. My body stinging all over, I watched him raise his blades at me again, but I wrapped my tail around his waist and threw him to the side. I quickly got back up on my feet and held Kryptic tight, eyes scanning the now empty slave room and not seeing my enemy in sight, but even if I couldn't see the bastard, I could still feel his magical energy close by. I backed up a bit, getting closer and closer to the exiting hallway, not a single moment went by where I wasn't searching for the Sergal. As I started to turn and look down the corridor, I had to quickly raise the staff to block Dast's blades as he emerged from a cloud of black smoke. I tried to hold my ground, but the force of the strike surprisingly pushed me a few feet down the hall, Dastrand not stopping and trying to use quick strikes to keep me moving. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get even one chance to attack. At this point, I was hopping that I could wear him down by defending myself till he dropped. Little did I know that my rival had been pushing me down the building in every direction he wanted. Soon the base of Kryptic started to wear down from the constant beating and I was starting to get weary of where he struck. While trying to track his next movement, I saw him appear and went to block, but failed to realize he was a good distance away. After my hasty false defend, he lunged forward and tackled me, growling in pain as we slammed into and through a door, several splinters going into my side and wings. Luckily enough, with the momentum we had when we hit the floor, we rolled a few times and I ended up on top of him, instantly bringing the pole of my weapon up and bracing it against his throat. "Dast, stop this bull shit! If we're going to fight, we're doing this face to face!" At first, I didn't notice he wasn't paying attention to me, but I soon turned to look where he was and I almost gasped. There was a little male wolf sitting right behind a still Sunette and another Wolfess, covered in blood, and only a few feet away from them was the bitch rat woman in a pool of blood her own, her eyes wide in shock as she lay dead. I completely ignored Dast at this point and got off of him, rushing up to Sun, praying to Draco that she was alright. The little boy wrapped his arms tight around her, closing his eyes as I got close, but not moving an inch from his spot. "...There's no more point in me fighting you right now, Artomis." Hearing Dast's voice, I swiftly turned towards him, seeing the Sergal kneeling by Shyla. "Your head has value to someone, I won't kill you until I see an offer on it. I hate your guts, but you're not worth killing for free." "Shut the hell up Dast." "Pfft, fine, don't thank me for letting you live another day. I'm out of here. Just remember, you don't have just me to worry about. This isn't the only Sanctum operational and they've got your name on their list too." Before I could say another word, he vanished in a cloud of dark magic.

With a loud sigh, I turned my attention back to my pet and rushed beside her, completely ignoring his words and kneeling down. The boy didn't seem to like me much, almost as if trying to pull Sun and the other wolf away from me.

"It's okay, I'm her Master. I'm here to help her."

The boy stayed silent, but looked back down at her and glanced at her collar once.

"That collar I gave to her today, it has my name right on it. My name is Taithar. What is yours?"

"...I'm Iruto."

There was no doubt that this boy was a slave of this cursed place, and my instant thought was that the boy was locked in this room or something. At this point, I had no idea, all I knew was we needed to get out of here.

"Well bud, I hope you're ready to run. We're getting out of here and going somewhere safe. Stick close to me and I'll make sure you are safe."

He showed me a nod and backed away from Sunette as I leaned forward. I was going to try and lift her up and off the other Wolfess, but I soon noticed that Sun's claws were digging into the fabric of her clothes, refusing to let go.

Giving up the ghost, I soon hefted both of them over my shoulder and let out a grunt, feeling the open wound in my gut re-open and rush blood down my stomach again. Iruto gave me a worried glance, but I ignored it and started running ahead.

I wasn't able to run as fast as I could with my injury and the added weight, but I think that the delay in my speed may have been enough to keep the kid close to me. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was determined to escape as well. I couldn't even imagine how hard things must have been for a boy his age to be in a place like this.

Still, I kept the battlefield we were still trapped inside in mind, keeping my scythe ready in my open hand to defend us all if needed, though it seemed like the place was pretty much cleared out of everything but the bodies of the Sanctum Staff.

Turn after turn, hall after hall, I made my way through the large building until I saw the familiar crossroads just before the exit. I couldn't stop myself from smiling, knowing that this would all be finally over soon.

-

"Damnit Art, where the hell are you?!"

"Calm down, Amara. He'll be here soon, I know it."

All I could do was sigh. We had been waiting it seemed forever, fighting off the forces that kept trying to subdue the last of our escape cars, but thanks to our best sniper and explosives specialist, the great Zaledrik, if I do say so myself, we were perfectly fine. The only bad news was we were running out of ammo and even resorted to a few melee kills.

"Hey! I think I see him!"

As soon as I head the bird beside me say that, I readied the rocket launcher on my shoulder and looked ahead. Sure enough, the big black and blue dragon was running right at us, using his weapon one handed to cleave through a fox there ready to attack once he left the doorway.

I didn't even give it the second thought. I saw him with my own eyes, he was fine, now it's time to blow the damn place up. I aimed beside Artomis and pulled the trigger, not even expecting what was to come.

"Zale! Are you insane?!"

Watching as the explosive whizzed right by our confused leader, I soon watched him flip the two passengers in front of him and pull a small wolf boy in front, stopping dead in his tracks and wrapping them all within his wings.

All I could do was watch in awe as the rocket hit the back wall, the first explosion from the projectile causing a small flash in the distance, but with that one blast, it caused a chain reaction to every single bomb I had placed inside.

"Deathbringer! Get the hell out of there!"

That's all I could do was yell, I was shocked that it only took me one shot to hit the target, but because of my error, I watched a ton of flying rocks and debris fly up and hit Art in his back, his head rising in pain as I saw a few flames escape his lips.

I thought the worst was over, but there was one more explosion, this one the biggest of them all. The shear pressure of the explosion sent them all flying ahead, the dragon's head cracking against the jeep and knocking him out cold.

Seeing this, Amara and I were quick to jump out and lift the girls inside first. As we went to get Artomis up, I had to quickly whip out the launcher again and fire it at a leaping black and white Fennec, the missile hitting them in the gut and carrying the poor bastard to the Sanctum wall, blowing up on contact.

Once we got Arty up, we watched as the small boy, who looked completely unharmed, jumped inside the jeep and stayed close to the wolfesses.

"We're all here, right?"

Amara gave me a nod.

"Then let's get the fuck out of here before it collapses!"

Chapter 7

I don't know how long I was out for, but when I awoke, I woke to a nightmare. It was all blurry, but there was some very bright lights above me, and I could tell I was lying on my back. I could feel hands upon my bare form, and voices near me too, but everything was like it was being viewed from under water.

I could barely make out masters voice as two blurred objects came into view.

"She won't stop bleeding, Christ I can't even find out where it's coming from."

"You have too Zale, don't let her die!"

"Shit she's waking up, give her another dose!"

A loud, rapid beeping meet my ears, getting faster and faster. My breathing was growing more rapid by the second.

"Dose her!"

"I just did idiot!" "Do it again! She can't be awake for this!" "Sunette!" Master came into view, my vision focusing for the briefest moment. "Sunette, calm down, don't fight the drugs! You're going to be fine, I'm here for you!"

I felt his hand wrap around mine, the gesture comforting me as I felt my body relax, my breathing evening out as everything went hazy again.

"Vitals dropping back into the norm, it's working, barely. We almost lost her."

***

My eyes fluttered open. Everything was still a little blurry, but it didn't last this time, my eyes focusing slowly. I didn't know where I was, the room being unfamiliar. I looked around trying to figure out where I was.

I looked over to the side and a little smile crept across my lips.

Master was sitting on a nearby couch fast asleep, his head resting on Ono's shoulder. My brow furrowed when my gaze wandered down to a large bandage wrapped around his stomach. It was stained with a light red, meaning that the wound it covered had seeped a little. Ono herself wasn't free from injury either, one of her arms in a sling and a few bandages covering wounds over her legs and forearms.

I tried to roll over, but something sparked in my chest, and I groaned in pain. Masters eyes flew open at the sound and he rushed over, gently pressing me back into the position woke up in.

"Don't move Sunette," he said with a gentle smile, Ono appearing next to him. "You gave us quite a shock."

"What happened?" my throat felt like I had been gargling nails and razor blades. Master shrugged.

"Artomis found you in Shyla's quarters unconscious. The whole front of your kimono was soaked in blood," Ono paused, thinking how to explain what had happened between me killing Shyla and waking up. "Artomis found you up against a wall, clutching to the body of a white furred..." "My Mother," I whispered, cutting her off. Artomis glanced to Ono who dipped her head.

"I'm sorry Sun..."

"My name... is not... Sunette," I managed. Master was taken a back a little. "My name... my name is... KiLia."

"I'm sorry KiLia," master said. The sound of my name coming from him pushed something in me, I couldn't hold back, and started sobbing.

"It's not fair," I managed to cover my face in my hands and master placed a hand on my shoulder. "My only consolation is that the one who tormented her for all those years is dead, that fucking bitch rat." Those last word I practically spat, making Ono blink. "What do you mean?" Artomis was sounding concerned.

"Shyla," my voice broke as I sniffed back my tears. "Shyla used my mother, to kill others against her will. She made my mother do things she would never do." I don't know what was happening with me. Something inside me had made me completely forget my training. I wasn't acting like Masters servant.

"Calm down Sunette," Ono said placing a hand on my shoulder, trying to reassure me. "Shyla paid for her actions. You killed her, you stopped her from using your mother to cause more harm."

I could help it, the tears flowed freely, something inside me, felt like it was tearing me apart. My chest ached, and I could feel a warmth trickling down it and soaking into something.

"Sunette, please calm down, stop your hurting yourself." The words felt like they were whispered. I barely heard Master shout out for Zale as my vision began to darken. Just before I lost myself to the darkness, I saw Zale's face appear over me, as well Master, a deeply concerned look on his face.

***

Days passed slowly. It seemed the only thing I was able to do was sit on the back porch and watch the days go by. Iruto sat with me for a little while each day, I guess he was warming up to me, thankful for contact from another who didn't harbour malicious intent.

That morning Master had convinced me to sit out the front for a change. I blankly watch him as he put in some of the larger plants I wanted, Iruto was helping the best he could, dragging bags of fertilizer and soil. They finished for a few minutes to rest and get a drink. Master slowly walked up to me. "KiLia, are you ok?"

I didn't answer, I didn't even look at him.

"You know, the day I bought you, I never once considered you a pet or servant. I think of you as close friend. If you may, a lover even. But one thing I know is that friends talk about their problems. Please, don't push me aside."

He sat down next to me and put his hand on top of mine. I looked over to him, tears filling my eyes. His reaction was instant. Lifting me from my chair and placing me in his lap, holding me close and wiping the tears away, while constantly reassuring me.

"I just..." it hurt to say what I needed to. "I just wish it didn't have to be this way. I knew her for only a few years before I was taken from her. And then, when I was finally reunited with, that bitch rat took her from me."

"It's ok KiLia, I understand. Loss of a loved one, especially your mother, is hard to take. Trust me when I say, that rat got what was coming to her..." he trailed off as Amara's truck rolled up the driveway, and the brightly coloured Avian and Zale got out. The walked up to us, and I made to get off master, but strangely he didn't let me.

"Artomis," Zale said with a nod of his head. "KiLia, good to see you finally out of that bed, may I quickly check to see if your alright?"

I nodded and he moved aside my kimono and inspected my bandages, finally standing up straight, satisfied that I wasn't bleeding.

"You know as skilled as Zale is he never was able to figure out, where you were bleeding from, or even why you were bleeding at all!" Amara stated. Master nodded. "You had no visible injuries to be bleeding from," he held me close, remembering how close he had come to losing me when I had woken up while Zale had been tending to my injuries.

"It's was like your very being, was cut," Amara said, in a hushed tone. The three of them remained quiet for a minute, not wanting to delver deeper into the issue for fear of upsetting me.

"Did you manage to recover those files?" master asked Zale, who snapped out of his thought and grinned at him.

"Sure did, and then some. You would not believe the kind of things we found in that room, or what was left of it anyway."

"There were so many sensitive documents left completely intact," Amara nodded. "It was like, the people in charge forgot about them completely in the confusion of the attack. You would think documents of their importance would be destroyed or something."

"We managed to get most of them back to my place, the rest of the crew are pulling the remainders out of the rubble as we speak."

"Did you get the specific file I asked about?"

Zale nodded and passed master a plain looking file. He put it down next to him, keeping it closed, so I couldn't tell what it contained.

"Thanks Zale, we should be able to pin point the other Sanctums or whatever they'll be called by those that run them."

"What will happen when we find them?" Amara knew the answer, but I guess she just wanted to hear the words from him herself.

"When we find them, we shall do exactly what we did to KiLia's one. We will enter it, kill the leader, and rescue as many as we can before making a crater in its place."

As happy as she was at his words, he had said them with such malice and bitterness, she flinched slightly.

***

Master spent that afternoon in his study, with the door locked. I don't know why he wanted to keep what he was doing hidden from me, but I told myself I didn't need to know what it was.

Later that night he came down the stairs, looking at little agitated.

"Stand please."

I did so a little hesitantly, the slave inside me screaming at me to obey him. He grabbed at my left arm a little roughly, making me squeak in surprise. He rolled up my kimono's sleeve and inspected my fur, until he came across the branding on my wrist.

"There it is, those bastards."

I was shaking a little as he put a finger in his mouth and bit down on it, drawing a drop of blood. He pressed the finger to the brand, and I screamed as the scarred flesh absorbed the energies and became as supple and soft as the day it was before I was marked.

He let go of my arm and I rubbed my wrist gently.

"Your free," he said quietly.

Then without another word, he went back upstairs and closed the door to his study. I looked at my wrist, amazed at the now fully healed flesh, my fur already starting to grow back. I could feel the touch of blood magic, and looked up at the stairs, surprised master had even been able to perform that simple spell. He wasn't used to using blood magic, which made concern spark inside me.

I climbed the stairs with a little more than the usual haste and went to the door of his study, knocking on it quietly.

When there was no answer I risked trying the door, eyes widening when I found it unlocked. I peaked inside the room and gasped, flinging the door open and rushing to masters side. He was slumped in his chair, eyes closed.

"Master! Master please wake up! Artomis..." his eye fluttered at the sound of his real name.

"KiLia, it's ok, I'm alright, just... exhausted."

I smiled relief washing over me.

"Please Master, don't call me KiLia, it brings back bad memories. Call me Sunette."

"And you can call me Artomis, I'm not you 'Master' anymore, not I, or anyone else ever again. You... are... free," he smiled the best he could with his face pressed to his desk. I smiled back and kissed his cheek, helping him up and guiding him to the bedroom, gently laying him down on it and coving him with the blanket.

I made to leave when he took hold of my hand.

"Please, stay here."

I smiled and gave him a wink.

"I'll be back, I'm just going to tidy up down stairs," he smiled and let go of my hand. Letting me leave to tidy things up, before quickly returning to him and snuggling up close to him.

"Thank you," he whispered, before falling asleep.