FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

We have travelled for several hours now. Evening was fast approaching; the sun was already halfway down. The orange light was streaming through the gaps of the trees. Anders and I were drenched in sweat but Arty seemed perfectly fine.

"How long 'till we get there Arty?" Anders panted.

"We'll be there in quite a while. We'll probably make it by night fall." Arty said as he continued walking.

Anders complained, "Can we take a break? We've been walking ever since lunch."

Arty sighed, "Fine, but only for a while."

Anders grunted as he sat down on the ground. I did likewise. I got my water pack and drank half of it then I passed it to Anders. He in turn drank the rest greedily. I rolled my eyes as he gave back the container. "Thanks, Anders." I said sarcastically.

He chuckled, "Sorry, I'm just really tired, Ro." He called me by my nickname. I liked him calling me that way. It was cute.

A cool breeze swept through us as we relaxed under the shade of a tree. The sound of rustling leaves echoed throughout the whole area. When the wind died down, I gazed at Anders. From this view, he looked absolutely gorgeous. The afternoon light beaming down on his face and muscles just intensified how he looked; more powerful, handsome, yet gentle. The shadows that play all across his body seemed to give him that cool, calm and firm feel. The small smile that played on his face was just adorable, yet could ease anyone and is ready to comfort in times of need. He caught me staring, he looked into my eyes and just smiled a bigger smile with full on teeth. I laughed and averted my gaze. I turned my attention to Arty. He was looking at the both of us. His expression was happy yet it also had a little bit of sadness. He turned his gaze to the sky and whispered something that I couldn't hear. Anders also noticed him staring at us. He turned to me and mouthed a 'We should keep moving.'

We stood up and we continued walking. We were all silent the rest of the way. I stopped somewhere in the middle of the path when I heard something. "Ro, what is--"Arty was interrupted.

"Quiet. Do you hear that?" I silenced everyone.

There it was, that sound. It was something like a hiss. It came closer and became louder, fast. I unsheathed my sword and shouted, "Incoming!"

Three snake demons appeared directly in front of us. They looked like snakes except they had two arms that were scythes. They were about to strike but Anders and Arty ducked in time to avoid their attack. After they missed, I leapt and slashed all three of them in half. They immediately turned to dust at where they were just standing. I shouted, "There's more behind us!"

Anders grabbed his bow while Arty took his staff. Two more snake demons appeared from the bushes. Arty flung a fireball at one and it burned to a crisp. Anders shot two arrows at the same time and hit the target dead and it disintegrated to dust. "That's the last of them... for now."

"Yeah, we got to keep moving. Who knows how many of those there are." Arty said.

We were now jogging as we treaded through the forest. Darkness slowly enveloped the sky and the forest in minutes. The cold night air was slowly seeping into me but I kept warm with the jogging. The sounds of the night were faint but well heard in the distance but as we went farther down the path a new sound echoed throughout the whole area. Metal clashed on metal, claws on plates of armor, the cries of multiple demons and furs swept through the whole forest.

"It sounds like a battle is going on." Arty continued, "With a horde of demons no less." He turned to us. His eyes asking, if we should continue forward or stop and decide a new route.

"We have to help them." Anders said.

"I agree with Anders. We can't let another bastion fall to the hands of the demons." I agreed.

Anders nodded in agreement.

"Alright." Arty said, "Let's hurry then, before we're too late."

We unsheathed our weapons and dashed to the sound of battle. As we got closer, fires danced all across the battlefield and the sound of clashing metal louder. The battle was a bloody and dusty mess. Piles of grey sand and dead bodies littered the ground. There were still plenty of furs battling for their lives. Demons raged all across the field in a frenzy. The outer walls were badly damaged but the main gate was still standing. There was one fur that was surrounded by at least ten demons. He was in complete knight's armor except his helmet was missing. He was a wolf in silver fur his head fur was auburn. He had a long sword on his right hand and a shield on his left. One demon lunged at him but he side stepped and slashed it in two. The wolf slashed at the demon nearest him and it disintegrated immediately. One demon tried to hack at him but he blocked it with his shield and retaliated with a slash. The rest of the demons glanced at each other and attacked him all at once. I thought he was done for but he crouched and blocked all of the attacks with his shield and made a 360 degree whirlwind spin-slash. Then all the demons turned to ashes.

I didn't know if that was possible but it actually happened. I was dumb-struck by that move. Then someone shook me from my state, "What are you doing just standing there? Move!" It was the wolf. He shouted from his spot in the field.

I unfazed and got to work. I dashed towards the nearest demon and hacked away. There were still a plenty of demons left. I began to dance in a flurry of attacks and I cut down every demon in my path. Anders shot a hailstorm of arrows on enemy ranks and every last demon crumbled to dust. Arty was just as good; hurtling beams of lightning at large groups of demons and shocking them to ashes. The wolf was also doing pretty well; he bashed the demons with his shield and sent combos of slashing and stabbing to multiple demon ranks. Soon every last demon crumbled to dust. I regrouped with Anders and Arty then we headed to the knights.

The wolf saw us and jogged to greet and thank us, "Thank you, kind sirs. We would have lost the battle without you."

I checked behind the wolf. There were at least ten knights behind him and most of them looked either injured or exhausted.

"Oh, I forgot my manners. I am Sir Shane Silverhide. But you could call me Shane. I am the Knight-Commander of Knightlock City." Shane introduced himself.

We did likewise then he thanked us again.

"What brings you here to this plagued place?" the wolf asked.

"We're here because we need to stop by and get some supplies." Arty said.

"Oh..." He looked somewhat disappointed but then he cheered up again, "Well if you're looking for supplies, I know the right place. It has everything, from weapons to potions and salves."

He escorted us inside the city along with the other knights. He dismissed them and he directed us through the city. The streets were littered with trash and leftovers. The market was somewhat deserted and most shops didn't have any customers. Along some alleys, refugees sat by weeping and mourning. I felt sorry for them. They all lost their home and some family members, now they have nowhere to stay and they were powerless against the demon horde. Come to think of it, the three of us were refugees too except that we aren't helpless. We were on a mission.

Shane explained the situation of the city to us as we walked along its streets. Every night, the city has been attacked relentlessly by demons. They have been fighting for four nights and each attack gets worse and worse. There were less knights because of the attacks and they fear that they will not survive the next wave. The refugees have been waiting to get out except the first two batches that went out were never heard from again. The knights in charge of leading them somewhere safely never sent any messages back at all, leaving him with a presumption that they were all killed.

We swerved through an alley and came across a dead end.

"So where is this place you were talking about?" Anders asked.

"Here." Shane knocked on the wall. Surprisingly it sounded hollow, like it was made of wood. Seconds later, a slot in the wall opened and a pair of piercing yellow eyes stared at whoever disturbed its place. The eyes widened in surprise and said cheerfully, "Ah, It's Shane!" the eyes noticed us, "Oh, and you've brought friends! Come in, come in!"

Suddenly a part of the wall opened, looks like it was a door. We went inside and we were greeted by a quirky lynx. His fur was dark brown with black spots at random parts of his fur. He was wearing dark blue robes and some boots. The room was decorated with an assortment of furniture. The walls were lined with shelves of different colored vials and weapons. Sets of armor were encased in glass cases along the walls as well. Shane greeted the lynx, "Hello Barnas! It's nice to see you again! Aren't you getting ready to evacuate?"

"Yes, I will. And who might these furs be?" Barnas asked.

"Ah, these good furs here are looking for supplies. I was hoping you could give them some." Shane replied.

"It will be my pleasure." The lynx said with enthusiasm, "You can take anything you like! It is all free. Besides, I need help getting rid of all this junk."

We thanked him and looked around his shop. I checked some of the vials on the shelves; one said giant dung beetle repellent, another said puppy love potion, another said Amnesia away. I immediately picked up the Amnesia away and asked, "Does this work?"

The lynx shook his head, "Hm... the Amnesia away? Ah, I remember that! I pranked on of my friends into drinking this and he forgot everything he knew! That was priceless!" He laughed.

None of us laughed at that. I slowly placed the vial back down on the shelf and continued looking. Anders found several bundles of arrows and stuffed it in his quiver. He asked, "Is there any bow I could use?"

"There might be... Come with me. I'll take you to the back." The lynx led him into some room at the back of the store.

Arty grabbed some peculiar looking gems and stuffed it in his pack. He also got some potions but I couldn't quite make out what they were. When Barnas returned, Anders had an entirely new bow. It was made of black polished wood and the tips had razor blades. The curves were much bigger than the guard issue bow he had before. The lynx explained to Anders, "The range of this bow is much better than any other bow in the whole kingdom, make sure you use it well and treat it kindly."

Anders nodded. The lynx turned to me, "How about you? Would you want to exchange your blades for something better?"

"Uhm... I" I looked at my blades, and then I noticed something I haven't seen before. The hilt of the blade had an engraving. It was my name and someone else's. I looked at the flat of one blade, there was something engraved, 'May the light always guide you in your dark times.' I checked the other blade. The message continued, 'Let your aura shine bright in adversity and you shall triumph.' Another spark blazed in my mind. My father gave me these twin blades on my birthday. The names of the blades were Light and Aura. I turned seven then. My mother got mad at him because of this but father struck a deal with her so that I could use this when I turn thirteen. I remember that I said I wanted to have consecutive birthdays through the next six days so I could turn thirteen already and use the blades. My mom told me otherwise and that she said I'd have to wait and be patient. I replied to Barnas, "I'm sorry but these are special."

Anders smiled, "Oh, yeah! You got those from your dad! I forgot about that! I see you remember that now."

I smiled.

"What do you mean by that?" Shane asked Anders quizzically.

I sighed and explained to him how I got my amnesia.

"I'm so sorry about that." Shane turned to Barnas, "Do you have any remedy for this?"

He shook his head and replied, "I'm sorry but no. I only have the potion for making people forget."

There was an awkward pause but Arty broke it, "Is there anything else you need, Anders? Rowan?"

We both shook our heads. "You got a lot of stuff... where are you planning to go anyway?" Shane asked.

"We're going to the capitol. You see..." I explained to him our mission.

"That is very troubling..." Shane's expression turned grim.

"Indeed." Barnas agreed.

"The earl needs to hear about this." Shane continued, "You three should come with me to the castle to tell the earl. While you're there you could have some rest for the night."

"Oh, thank you but no. We can just stay in the local inn." Arty said.

"No. I insist. You saved all our lives today. Without you the people and the fortress here wouldn't be standing at all! Come!" Shane insisted.

We didn't protest any longer; we said our goodbyes to Barnas and left for the castle. I have a feeling the earl wouldn't like the news he would be getting.