FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

CHAPTER 28 Desecrated freedom

Through the dusty streets of the wretched city called Harena Sanguis, the small grey furry alien returned to his refuge. If it wasn't for Feastus, once again, they could've face serious problems with the town's authorities.

Enough was enough. Alpha's patience had run thin. Zonda and Alpha were well trained warriors, but that was starting to do little or nothing to maintain their sanity. This hell... this miserable place had gotten the best of them.

With so many things on his mind, the walk back felt endless. But soon the grungy shop made itself visible again.

Alpha approached without looking at Zonda. He just walked inside the house with his red eyes almost on fire. Zonda felt how his comrade's energy was very disturbed. Immediately he walked in to know what had happened.

"Are you ok, brother?" Zonda asked him firmly as he noticed how Alpha walked around the small house with the fur on his neck puffed up and his fangs showing.

"I've had it..." Alpha replied. He just whispered those words, but his anger was evident.

"Calm down, Alpha. What happened?"

A loud thump echoed behind them. It was Feastus who had arrived not a second behind Alpha.

"You two are stronger than what your appearance might suggest." The human said. He threw the cloak to Zonda. "This belongs to you now. You deserve it." He said seriously. His tone, however, kept its eeriness.

Zonda looked at the cloak and confirmed it was the one that was stolen. He then looked back at Alpha, guessing what might've happened.

"Your friend caught up with that thief." Feastus continued. "He gave them a beating like I haven't seen before. Two strikes were enough to bring individuals twice your size down. That is a very impressive feat."

Alpha finally sat down in their corner. Zonda just listened carefully.

"It seems that this is not the first time you do this. I couldn't sense a drop of fear in you, despite that you faced four individuals who could virtually dismember you with their bare hands."

"They left me no choice." Alpha replied angrily. His back was flat to the wall, while he stared at the ceiling.

"It's ok, brother. You did what you had to do." Zonda approved to him.

"Anyway," Feastus interrupted as he served himself the well known bitter red liquid that he constantly drank. The Retcans had tried it, but they found it repulsive. "I'll give you this day off. You deserve it. You could've lost your life for that old piece of robe, and that, I appreciate."

Zonda looked at Feastus and even with his always serious face, he nodded thanking his for the gesture.

But Alpha was not taking this situation too well. He stood up violently, took the cloak and threw it back at Feastus.

"Thanks for the offering, but enough is enough!" Alpha yelled.

"Brother." Zonda quietly tried to calm him down.

"We have done enough for you. I demand that you comply with your part of the deal immediately, Feastus!"

It was over. The patience of the Retcans had seen an end now. Zonda was far more cautious because of his grater experience, but the frustration of his brother finally caught up on him. Still trying to calm Alpha down, he confronted Feastus too.

"My brother Retcan is right, Feastus. It is time for you to comply. We have done a lot for you now."

Feastus never changed his aggressive but empty expression and stared at both Retcans while stirring his glass around.

"If you have no intentions on complying, then it's fine." Alpha told him. His tone much firmer than of Zonda's despite his voce being softer.

"...Fine..." Feastus grunted, but his expression never changed.

Both Retcans looked at each other and nodded. They have taken their decision. Both slowly walked to the door.

"You'll never make it out there..." Feastus silently uttered. He didn't follow the Retcans with his sight and kept on staring at the same spot where they were.

"We can take care of our own. I've proven how weak your kind is." Alpha boldly confronted the human while staring at him with the corner of his eye.

The sharp sound of shattering glass invaded the room when the glass that Feastus held on his hand broke under pressure. He jumped furiously to the door and shut it, blocking the Retcan's path.

"Now listen to me you little arrogant rats!" He furiously said, but kept his tone very low.

"Get out of our way, Feastus. This is the only warning that we will give you." Zonda warned him while his muscles hardened.

"Listen," Feastus said. He was calmer now. "I don't care what your fate will come up to, but I won't let you out so others know that I didn't comply with my part of a deal, even if it's you who decided to break it." Confusing words came out the mysterious human. But the Retcans were interested in his proposal.

With tension now released, Feastus walked calmly to the center of the room while giving his back to the Retcans. "I will let you call your friends today. But that's it."

"What do you gain on doing this?" Zonda asked. However, there weren't many options that they had at that moment. Feastu's offering was pretty much their only possible chance of escaping that planet.

"You have no idea how this works, right? How naïve..." He said. He had now taken a new glass and filled it with that liquid too.

"As a merchant, I have the obligation of maintaining my trustworthiness. Walls have ears in this city, and they will know that I made a deal with you two, but that at the end you were the only ones who complied with your part." Feastus took a huge sip, almost emptying half of the glass.

"In one way or another, that would deem me as a deceiver. That would hurt my business, since exchanging goods ends up being nothing more than a game of trust. But you wouldn't understand it, would you?"

Strange, but somehow convincing words came from Feastus. Zonda and Alpha had to risk it again with this human, or run higher risks if they walked out to the unknown. They both had no option but to agree with Feastus.

This time, Feastus didn't chuckle sinisterly as usual, but seemed very angry. "We leave at night. Be ready and don't make me loose my time."

"Where, Feastus?" Zonda asked.

"Does it matter, rat? Do you think that I have a communication device that powerful in this rotten shed? Days ago I told you that I know the governor of this city. That little errand I ran this morning was to arrange a meeting with him so you could use his communicator. But you had to be so impatient, right?" Feastus yelled with a sarcastic tone at the furred aliens. "Don't go too far; I'll be back at night. I have other things to do." He yelled as he slammed the door shut and disappeared from the place.

Zonda and Alpha were again in doubt. The behavior of this human made no logical sense to them, and it contradicted every single action that he made. One thing's for sure; they had until Feastus returned to make the decision of trusting his words, or searching for other means of escape.

The door was opened; the choice was theirs to take...

... Hours passed and the sun started to recede behind the dunes. The suffocating heat was now turning into a chilling cold. The rowdiness of the city dwellers was now replaced by the chirps and squeaks of nocturnal critters that came from underneath the rocks, waking up from their morning slumber.

The sound of steps dragging through the sandy ground suddenly stopped in front of the house's door. The shadow casted by someone was evident from bellow.

"... Yes... I'll be there in two hours... No, that won't happen... Sure; wait for me." those words could be heard coming from whoever stood behind the door.

Suddenly, the door slammed open. The Retcans were in the dark. They had been sitting on their corner since Feastus left earlier. The light coming from the outside made their eyes sore for a second as they adapted.

The rustic lighting system of the house activated. Feastus had arrived and seemed as irritated as before.

"I see you made a decision. Get ready, then. We leave in five minutes." He said without even looking at the Retcans. He filled some sort of canteen with that red liquid, not before having a sip.

"We are." Zonda replied.

Feastus didn't say anything and he disappeared into a room. After a couple of minutes, he came out, wearing a different robe.

"Let's go." He said. He packed his canteen of the strong beverage and the three of them walked out of the house.

Caressed by a chilling desert breeze, the Retcans walked without ever loosing their stoic stance. No one said a word.

The streets were empty; no one to be seen.

"Curfew..." Feastus said when he noticed the Retcan's suspicion. "If you're out at these hours, you get arrested; simple as that."

Zonda and Alpha never grew suspicious of Feastu's explanation since they knew that he admitted having some kind of immunity.

After that, no more words were interchanged between the furred creatures and the human. After almost half an hour, they made it to the outskirts of Harena Sanguis.

Waiting in the sands, they could see a strange three-axle vehicle with its lights on. Apparently it was waiting for them. This was confirmed when Feastus kept on walking toward the strange vehicle.

There was a strange human waiting in the cockpit of the vehicle and didn't even look back at them when Feastus approached. Feastus opened a rudimentary door and stepped in the vehicle. Both Alpha and Zonda felt a strange pressure in their gut. Something about this didn't feel right.

"Are you coming or not?" Feastus yelled at the Retcans as the pilot started the vehicle's engine that came to life in a noisy rumble and lots of black smoke.

Something felt awfully wrong. The casual, uninterested and almost bored demeanor of the driver who didn't even looked at them made it seem like if this was routine. The Retcans just stood by the vehicle, having virtually no time to decide.

"Damn you!" Feastus yelled. He exited the vehicle and tapped twice on its side, signaling the driver to leave.

"You made me loose my time twice this day! I was being nice, but it seems that I overestimated your intelligence." Feastus yelled furious. "See that?" He pointed to the dessert. "You better get lost in it right now! I don't want to see you again in this city, do I make myself clear?!"

"Feastus; understand that we have reasons to be cautious." Zonda intercede.

"You have to learn to trust the right people in a place like this. With your attitude, you'll end up dead in this city. Now, can we finish this already? I'm tired and need to go home." Feastus responded.

"Yes..." Feeling an immense stress, Zonda agreed with him. It could be either the whole situation that they've went through or staring at the dessert that stood before them, knowing that going back wouldn't help them at all. All he knew is that trusting this human was as close as they would get of returning home.

"Can you return please? These two queens changed their mind yet again." Feastus angrily called the driver, which returned quickly to the spot.

Soon, the vehicle was again parked in front of them. "Change your mind again, and this is over..." Feastus gave his last warning, while he entered the vehicle. The Retcans followed him.

They drove for more than an hour through the city outskirts until they exited to the dessert. They seemed to be following a trail that led them to a rocky area. The illumination, gave evidence that the place was populated. The sense of uneasiness kept haunting the Retcans throughout the trip.

Suddenly, the driver looked at Feastus through the rear view mirror and nodded. He took two strange devices and passed them on to Feastus.

"Put these on." He said.

"What is this?" Zonda asked not trusting Feastu's order.

"If you don't wear these inside the complex that we are going, you'll get arrested. Put them around your neck." Feastus indicated giving the metallic collars to the Retcans. "If someone asks, you are my slaves."

"No. We will continue, but we won't put these on." Zonda asserted.

"Stop the vehicle!" At Feastus order, the driver slammed the brakes and they went to a stop violently. Immediately, Feastus opened a door. "Then walk outside and never return." He now said calmly. "From now on I will not be responsible for your fate. Know that we are already in forbidden territory and you will get killed if spotted."

Zonda and Alpha looked at each other and examined the strange collar. They were tired and drained. They've gone too far now and came to the conclusion that whatever their decision was, none was less dangerous than the other. Going against their instinct, they placed the collars on their necks which instantly made a clicking noise and tightened up by themselves.

Those collars didn't choke them, but instantly gave them a feeling of guilt. What have we done? Zonda thought as the vehicle resumed its way to wherever they were going. If this was some sort of trap, and these collars meant something else, then they were pretty much at the mercy of those humans.

After almost half an hour, the vehicle stopped in front of a gate that led to a strange cave. They were told to get off the vehicle and after Feastus signaled the driver to leave, they made their way through the gate. As the gate closed behind them, heavily armed guards took guard of it again.

The place was like an underground fortress. There was no way of getting out, or in, for what it mattered. The walls were technically carved out of pure stone, with dim lights leading through the vast tunnels like torches.

"... We are here." Feastus said through a small communicating device.

"Brother..." Alpha whispered very worried to Zonda, in their native language. "We made a mistake."

"I know..." Zonda replied. His heart pounded heavily as every sense in his body desperately demanded him to get out of there. "We have to get out of here." He replied as he tried to take off the collar.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Feastus said, as they walked through endless tunnels, deep inside the cave. They could hear echoes of agonizing screams, strong rackets and objects falling with an immense force. The place was so massive that the tunnels echoed these eerie noises throughout the entire place making it impossible to know where they were coming from exactly.

"Take them off, and you will be misidentified. I will get banned from coming here, and you'll get arrested."

"Feastus, we are done! Take these things off of us and we will walk our way back to the dessert. You'll never see us again. We promise that no one will know about our deal." Zonda demanded.

Feastus let a sinister chuckle as he kept on walking even after the Retcans had stop. "If you keep on touching them, you'll end up dead." Feastus said while he finally stopped and took out his personal communicator. "It would be a shame to loose you two. You're probably the most expensive merchandise I've sold in years. Make sure you don't disappoint the boss, will you?" He said to both Retcans now invaded by terror. "They are here. Take them now!"

Adrenaline rushed through the Retcan's bodies. They turned around and ran back the way they came from.

They didn't even manage to advance two meters when they noticed that at least ten guards were waiting for them with their guns pointing at them. The Retcans couldn't do anything...

"Don't underestimate their size. They are quite feisty. I saw one of them bringing two down with a couple of hits." Feastus warned them.

Both Retcans readied themselves. They didn't know what to do but to defend themselves and try to escape. But before they could do anything, one of the guards shot them with a strange gun. This gun shot two darts that hit right on target.

"Brother!" Alpha yelled, as he immediately felt his body going numb.

"Alpha, be strong! We'll make it somehow... I prom..." Those were Zonda's last words as the anesthetic that those darts had took effect, knocking both Retcans out cold.