FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Here is the fifth installment of Shadow's hunt. You can expect more of this storyline in the near future; I have decided that I haven't given it the attention that it deserves. Hope you enjoy. As always, comments are appreciated. * * *

continued from part four... Cyr leapt to his feet, raising his hands and tucking them under his chin. The four brigands strode into the clearing and the youth shouted over his shoulder. "Jen, run!!" He shouted and sprinted forward, knowing what he had to do. The brigands did not seem to expect him to charge them and he smiled to himself as he heard Jen run from the clearing in the other direction. That was one weight off his mind. Before the brigands could respond to his rush, he attacked the first one, punching hard at the man, burying his fist in the man's gut. Cyr felt his knuckle break on the man's armor, but the blow forced the man's breath from his lungs. The youth kicked out hard, catching the man's knee and forcing it to the side, a direction it was never meant to go. The man screamed and Cyr turned to face the other three men. The second brigand swung a club at him and Cyr ducked, then rose up, sweeping a leg through the man's stance, tossing him onto his back. Cyr faced the other two without fear and they looked at him with shock. He knew he was moving faster than he should have been. And he knew that it probably wouldn't last. He watched as one of his assailants' muscles tensed in his arm and ducked, avoiding the sword slash. Then, he rolled to the side, avoiding the other man's strike as well. He found himself kneeling beside the first warrior he had downed. The man was stirring and Cyr rose slightly before dropping with his elbow onto the man's neck. With one foe permanently dispatched, Cyr took the man's weapon, a mace with heavy spikes around its edge, and swung it hard on instinct behind him, catching one of the standing men on the hand with it. The brigand screamed as something broke in his hand and Cyr turned back to the other two warriors. The man he had dropped to his back was just managing to get back up and Cyr stepped forward, swinging the mace one handed and bashing the man with the crushed hand on the temple. But, just as that man fell like a sack of potatoes, Cyr felt immense pain in his side and looked down to find a sword point sticking all the way through his torso, just above his hips. It was a horrific wound and numbness flowed outward from the blow, the mace falling from his hand as he slumped to the ground. The swordsman who had stabbed him withdrew the weapon, warm red blood beginning to run down Cyr's front. Cyr knew that the wound was mortal, he could never survive it. But, with that knowledge came a resurgence of strength. If there was no tomorrow for him, than he had to give all he had now. With one arm held against the wound, the youth rose to his feet, the other hand lifting the mace he had dropped. Cyr spun around quickly and saw that a fifth and sixth brigand had joined the fight while he had been distracted, but that didn't mean much to him. What did catch his interest, was the fact that one of them held a sword that was red with his blood. Cyr took a step, and then another and another, the mace in his hand going high as he approached the man's back. Something, perhaps premonition of an eminent death, caused the man to turn just as Cyr brought his weapon down. The look of shock and terror drilled itself deep into Cyr's mind as the blow landed. A sickening crunch filled the air and Cyr smiled grimly, the last strength leaving him. He slumped to the earth and was dimly aware of the brigands surrounding him with weapons raised. Then, his sight faded to darkness... *** Light returned slowly and Cyr found himself lying on the hard ground. He tried to move, but lances of terrible pain filled him, emanating from his gut. Gradually, the pain faded away and Cyr lay still, concentrating only on breathing. Then, he heard a voice enter the void. "He's waking up." It said and Cyr managed to open his eyes a crack, enough to see the light of the sun streaming through them. "Rest easy boy, you have had a hard week." Cyr opened his eyes a little wider and found that he was looking up into the blue sky. The face of a wolf with grey fur came into his view and he winced, trying to focus on it, a task that he found impossible. He closed his eyes and swallowed, then opened them again. His vision was still blurry, but he was able to see that the wolf was holding something, but it was too distorted for him to see. "Here, drink this." The wolf said and lifted Cyr's head. A ceramic cup was put to his lips and he drank the fluid contained within. It didn't have a taste as far as he could tell, but its effect was instantaneous. The pain is his guts lessened, and then faded away completely, his vision at last focusing. The wolf helped him to sit up and he nodded his thanks. The wolf was wearing a strange dark blue uniform and a pair of curved swords at his side. Another wolf, similarly attired, sat by a crackling camp fire a short distance away. The two looked similar enough for Cyr to guess that they were related, probably brothers. "What is your name?" "Cyr Naikiir." Cyr managed to say, sitting up on his own and examining his body. He was bare to the waist, a horrific red scar stretching across his gut. Blood had stained his trousers a funny sort of rust color and he shuddered, knowing how severe his wound had been. "What happened?" "You were very badly wounded." The wolf crouching beside him stated. "We came upon the clearing just when you were stabbed. We were about to intervene when you got back up and revenged yourself. We stopped them from killing you and my brother stopped you from bleeding out with his magic, but we could not fully heal you until you were conscious. Since there were brigands everywhere, we decided to take you with us rather than leave you to their tender mercies." "Thank you." Cyr said and he nodded. "But who are you?" "I am Fodran, and that is my brother Kildane." He said, helping Cyr to his feet. "We are Moontigers." Cyr's eyebrows raised at this pronouncement. The moontigers were legendary warriors. Fearless on the battlefield, unmatched in combat and more honorable than many who claimed to be so. They trained at a hidden academy founded by a human warrior with the unlikely name of Moontiger and it was the dream of every warrior to be invited to join the academy. "Anyway, Cyr, anyone with the kind of strength to allow them to fight on even when they are dying is quite a warrior indeed. We wish to extend an invitation to join the Moontiger battle academy." "I am honored." Cyr said, and he meant it. It had always been a dream of his to be invited, but then Jen entered his mind. "But I have a reason to return to my home." "Yes, everyone does." The wolf answered, but his look had become sad. "But, it is a once in a lifetime chance to join the academy. You need not answer now. You are in no condition to travel right now anyway." Cyr nodded and the trio shared a simple meal. Cyr was too exhausted to do more than lay back, thinking about the choice. This was his chance to live his dream. He could train to become a Moontiger, one of the greatest warriors in the world. And yet, all that he really needed was Jen. He sighed and closed his eyes. He would think about it again when he wasn't so tired... *** "Cyr." His name echoed in the silence of the dream world, spoken by a strong voice that was vaguely familiar. "Stand up Cyr." Cyr stood up and looked around, finding only a void around him. The source of the voice could not be seen and it spoke once more. "Cyr, go to the east, become a Moontiger." It said, "Follow your dream." "But what about Jen?" He asked, speaking aloud his fears. "She is all that I want." "If you choose to forgo your training, you will be dooming each other to infinite sorrows." The voice paused ominously in its speech and the void was filled with terrible images of battle and death that faded away when the voice spoke again. "If you train to become the warrior you dream to be, you will see her again and you will be happy. But your road will be long." The voice stated, then it spoke once again. "It is your choice..." *** Cyr woke from the prophetic dream and sat up once again, his guts sore, but no longer terribly painful. It looked to be early evening and he sat for a while, thinking. If the dream could be believed, his only real choice was to go east to the academy. If he didn't, than he would die because he would be unprepared when some disastrous thing happened. Again, if the dream could be believed. Nodding to himself, he struggled to his feet and staggered over to the fire. The two moontigers sitting at its side nodded to him and he sat down, putting his hands out and warming his hands over the crackling fire. He paused for a few moments more and then spoke. "I have made a decision." Cyr said, and Fodran nodded, waiting for him to continue. "I will go to the academy." "We hoped you would." He replied, and when Cyr looked at him strangely, he continued. "I will not tell you why yet, but you will know eventually. If you believe yourself to be strong enough, we will leave in the morning." Cyr nodded, sealing his fate and the trio ate a meal once more. Then, they sat and talked, whiling away the hours while the stars came out above. Cyr still did not have much strength and he soon returned to where he had been lying and lay back down to sleep... *** Months later, in a valley far to the east, the trio finally set foot on the ground before the academy. The journey east had been difficult, often through lands where no one had tread in many years. Cyr's strength had long ago returned, and it had been growing every day under the tutelage of the Moontigers. The only reminder of the fight in the glade was a white scar that creased his gut, just below his belly button. But now his choice had led him here, to the one place in the world that every warrior dreamed of and few ever reached. He smiled and looked at the high gate before him, emblazoned with a white and silver tiger. Fodran stepped by him, and pressed his hand to the doorway, its huge door swinging open at his touch. Cyr nodded at his gesture and walked through the gateway after the wolf. The moment he crossed the threshold, his ears were bombarded by a cacophony of noise. The sounds of steel weapons clashing, the cries of warriors in battle, the crack of wood and the shouts of commands filled the air and he had to be reminded by Fodran to not block the door. Kildane, who Cyr had heard all of a dozen words from during their travels, tapped his shoulder and jerked his head towards a tall building at the center of the vast compound. Cyr nodded and followed him towards it. A flight of ten broad stone stairs led up to the entrance, a gateway that was even more ornate than the one leading into the grounds. Flanking the gateway were two huge stone gargoyles that towered twenty feet over his head and moments after the trio topped the last stair and set foot on the landing, the two creatures leapt into life, leaping before the doors with huge stone swords in hand. Cyr jumped and almost cried out, but managed to restrain the sound. The two wolves went down to one knee before the gargoyles and Cyr duplicated the move, bowing his head. The stone guardians stared at them for a moment and then returned to their positions on either side of the door. The two wolves did not move from where they sat and Cyr looked at the stone statues with wonder, trying to imagine what spells had been laid upon them to animate them. "Welcome home Fodran, and you Kildane." A voice said and Cyr looked around suddenly, is gaze finally settling on a tall figure standing before the doors into the building. "And welcome to you as well Cyr Naikiir." Cyr was too surprised to reply and instead simply bowed his head. "I am Master Nethis, the head of his school. You have accepted our invitation to join us, else you would not be here. Be warned, young warrior, there are only two ways out of this valley, as a graduate, or as a corpse." He said and Cyr nodded, surprised at the blunt response. "Good then, your training will begin in the morning, when you have settled into your new quarters." *** Shadow paused in his tale and resettled himself beside the fire. The celebration was winding down over his shoulders, the freed slaves and their rescuers bedding down for the night. "Of my training, I will say little, as the details are not important. It will suffice to say that it was difficult and dangerous. But the most important part of this tale is when I met Lania. She was a tiger from the northern jungles and she was in the same initiate class I was. From the moment we saw each other, we were at odds. Maybe it was because her tribe had taught her to hate humans, or perhaps it was because we nearly matched each other in skill. Or, it might have been because I made friends easily among my fellows, while she did not. But, whatever the reason, we were rivals for the first two years of our training. When one of us would go a little farther than the other, the other would strive until they surpassed the mark set by the first. Our rivalry finally came to a head on a summer's evening, after a dueling session..." *** "Nice work Cyr." Tolan commented, handing a skin of cold water to the warrior as he stepped out of the flat dueling ring. "Ten in a row without a break. How do you keep going after all of that?" "I am not sure myself." He answered, drinking deep. "I just refuse to lose." Today had been their final test for this portion of their training and they were going to get two days of blissful rest without training, beginning when they finished their testing. Cyr started to reply, but he was cut off as a hand covered in black fur with faint orange stripes came out of nowhere, swatting the skin from his hand and splattering the whole group with cold water. Cries of indignation filled the air and Cyr looked up with anger in his eyes at his attacker. It was Lania, who had been defeated by her tenth opponent. She appeared to furious at Cyr for beating her record by one. Cyr leapt to his feet and got in the tiger's face, shouting loud. "What the hell is your problem Lania?!" "You think you're better than I am?!" She replied with equal volume, ignoring his shouted question. "You just got lucky! I can beat you easily." "Is that so?" Cyr asked, shoving her back a pace. "Well why don't you put your sword where your mouth is?" "A duel?" She asked, shoving him back as well. "I accept. But not here." "Fine." He answered, "Meet me at the entrance to the High Pass tomorrow." "Come alone." She replied and stomped away. "Cyr, you're not actually planning on going to meet her are you?" Tolan asked, worry creasing the human's face. "It is too dangerous." "She doesn't scare me." Cyr stated, picking the skin back up and drinking what was left inside before handing it back to Tolan. "If she wants a fight, she will get one." With that, Cyr walked away, headed out of the dueling ground... *** Cyr walked alone into the clearing, carrying a pack of supplies and his Katana. He would need nothing else for this fight. Lania was waiting for him, similarly equipped. When he reached her they nodded to each other and turned as one, walking into the valley. The High Pass, as it was called, was an old trail that led off into the wilderness. No one knew where it ended because it was too dangerous, even for Moontigers, to travel to its end. One of the reasons it was so dangerous was the fact that for much of its distance, it was no more than a two foot wide path on the edge of the high cliff that bordered the valley. Another was that many dangerous creatures inhabited the crags of the peaks the pass skirted, including Wyverns and Griffins, bitter foes that fought each other ceaselessly for food and territory. The pair journeyed along the path for miles, almost to the top of the highest peak in the area, searching for a suitable place for their battle. And there, barely a hundred meters below the top off the peak, high above the clouds in the valley below, they found the right place. It was a shallow, bowl-shaped depression about twenty meters in diameter. Most of the space was bordered by nothing more than air, making it a perfect place to avoid cheating. "This seems perfect." Cyr stated, dropping his pack on the ground. Lania nodded her assent and the pair entered the bowl, tucking their swords into their belts. Then, facing each other, separated by a bare two meters, they stood still. For a moment neither moved, then with a sudden motion, both drew their swords. The blades met between them, Lania catching Cyr's blow on the flat of her blade. Cyr didn't waste time, striking low with his blade, but again, Lania was ready, her blade intercepting his. Blow after blow clashed between them, each sounding a ringing tone among the rocks of the mountain peak. After a second flurry of blows the pair spun apart, blades pointed towards each other's heads. Cyr advanced once again, the thin air rasping in his chest. Both of them were tiring swiftly because of the height and it was only a matter of time before one of them made a mistake. Cyr started to strike at Lania once more, but a sudden shrieking sound stopped his strike before it got far. Both warriors turned and looked around, finding themselves surrounded by a pack of more than a dozen Wyverns, their beady yellow eyes glaring at the intruders with hunger. Cyr looked at Lania and nodded. She returned the nod and they turned, standing back to back with blades outward. The nearest wyvern to Cyr took a step forward and let out another piercing shriek. Cyr glanced around and swallowed nervously. All of the Wyverns were adults, and not even two graduates could have had a hope of winning the battle, much less two students. But, just when the nervousness threatened to overwhelm him, he felt the closeness of Lania behind him and a strange thing happened. The nervousness faded and he felt suddenly confident because he knew she was watching his back. He smiled slightly and waited while the wyverns jockeyed for position around their potential feast. His smile widened suddenly at the sight of their eagerness; he intended to show them that Moontigers, even students like him, made poor snacks. With a sudden bound, a wyvern leapt at him, jaws opening wide to bite him. He ducked beneath it and swept his drawn blade upward, severing the beast's head before it could touch his ally. The creature fell back, a gout of blood spurting up from its severed neck and the whole pack lunged at them. In the ensuing fight, Lania and Cyr remained back to back, slaying several of the beasts before they were at last driven apart by one huge wyvern plowing into them. Cyr was thrown forward and he rolled with the impact as he had been taught, coming to rest on his feet near to the edge of the bowl. A smaller wyvern struck at him with its claws and he parried, then thrust forward on instinct, skewering the beast through its eye. As he drew the blade from its head, he saw Lania standing close to the center of the bowl, nearly filleting the huge beast that had driven them apart with a long slice of her blade. But she couldn't possibly see the two smaller wyverns that came at her from behind. "Lania!" He shouted and switched his grip on his sword. Cyr then did something he had never thought he would do for her. He threw himself forward and threw the sword in the same motion. The sword whipped past her head and speared one of the wyverns, causing it to shriek loud and Lania turned to find the other wyvern's claws coming down on her. To her surprise, before they hit, Cyr tackled her, throwing her out of the path of the deadly claws. Cyr felt a heavy blow land on his back, but he didn't feel any pain. Standing back up, he and Lania moved together, her blade striking down the wounded Wyvern even as Cyr drew his blade from it. Cyr plunged the sword into the maw of the creature that had hit him and the battle was over. Nine wyverns lay dead around the depression and the others had fled, wanting nothing more to do with the warriors. Cyr smiled and flicked his blade to the side, shedding blood off it and re-sheathing it. But, this motion put pressure on his back and agony filled him. He cried out and went down to his knees, the muscles in his back clenching as they tried to protect themselves, inadvertently bringing more pain to him. He reached back with one hand as his back spasmed and felt a sticky wetness soaking into his clothes. Shaking with pain, he brought the hand into his sight and stared at it uncomprehendingly, for it was covered in red blood. He fell forward a second later and blacked out... *** "When I came to, Lania was carrying me down the path on her shoulders." Shadow said, smiling as he remembered the event. "Climbing down that path on your own was hard enough, but doing it while carrying someone was close to suicide. I protested that she was carrying me, but her only reply was that I had saved her life and we were going to get down the mountain together, or not at all. She got me to school's healers and saved my life, for the wyvern's claws had bitten deep. After saving each other's lives, we became friends. We were still rivals, but it was quite friendly after that experience. We faced the blood trials side by side and that forever sealed our friendship. We were so close that we told each other our secret names and traveled together ever after that." "Did you ever...you know...mate?" Jen asked, worry twisting in her guts. "No." Shadow said, shaking his head. "We never crossed that boundary. I believe that if I had met Lania before I met you, then we might have done so, but she respected the bond I had with you and made no advances towards me, though I happen to know that she felt the urge to." "How could you possible know that?" She asked, looking at him strangely. That sort of thing was not something that people ever shared, even with their soulbond mates. "I am getting to that." Shadow said and continued his tale once more. "It was about four or five years ago now that it happened. Hul was traveling with us and we had just found the rune blades that I now carry. We joined up with a force of two hundred Moontigers who were traveling with an army that was going to put an end to a kingdom that not only allowed slave trading, but endorsed it and used its army to gather slaves from foreign parts. The battle was against overwhelming odds, but with our help, our allies were winning..." *** Cyr parried another sword slash with Seigi and drove his short sword into the gut of the man wielding the blade. With that enemy's fall, the battleground between the tree trunks went quiet. For the moment, the battlefield in the small orchard around him was clear. Hul and Lania strode to his side slowly, both breathing hard from the battle. The trio were all that was left of twenty Moontigers and fifty other warriors who had advanced together into this small grove of trees. Enemy archers had been posted there when the fight had begun and their group had advanced to drive them out. Then the enemy had thrown in a reserve unit and the fighting had been savage and close. Cyr took a water skin out of his pack and drank a draft from it before handing it to his friends. When it was empty, he stowed it in his pack and spoke. "Tough bit of business." He commented, wiping off his blades on a cloth. "Indeed." Hul stated, and then he looked up at the sound of war horn. "Look! I think the battle lines have shifted again." It was true; a line of enemy soldiers was advancing outside the grove, driving the allied infantry away from the trio. Moments later, they found themselves behind the enemy advance and, as often happened in the chaos of battle, a chance came. At least two dozen riders came riding up slowly, observing the advance from a position out of danger of attack. Or so they thought. Cyr examined the riders from afar and pointed to one in the lead. He was a tall, dark skinned man who was dressed in bright gilded armor and wearing a crown on his head. "That must be the King." He said and the Lania nodded. "If we could take them out, then the battle would be over." "Yes, but look at all those guards." Hul replied, staring at the number of mounted warriors. "It would be suicide for just the three of us to attack them." "Wyverns." Lania said, stepping up next to Cyr and he smiled. "Right." Cyr said and Hul looked between the pair with confusion. "If we kill the king and enough of his guards they will run." "Alright, well if you're sure then I have your back." The minotaur stated. "Lets go." As silent as shadows, the trio strode from the grove, hurrying up close behind the guard of the king. Before the guards knew it they were under attack, rune blades had slashed and Hul's hammer had fallen. The guards wheeled around in confusion, and before they responded to the sudden attack, a third of them were dead. But respond they did. Cyr was soon hard pressed to defend himself from them and very quickly, he and Lania were standing back to back with Hul, the trio defending each other. More guards fell, but then, the trio's luck finally ran out. Hul let out a bellow as a lance point jabbed his side and he fell, tugging the rider out of his saddle by the shaft of his weapon. And in that moment of weakness, disaster befell the Moontigers. An axe chopped horrifically into Lania's shoulder and both of them cried out in pain, the link that connected them sharing it between them. And a moment later, the king's scimitar jabbed at Cyr, the blade digging deep into his gut. Both wounds were mortal, but not immediately fatal. Cyr grimaced, but with his last strength, he stabbed with Seigi, the rune blade piercing the king's armor with the ease of a knife through warm butter. Cyr, his last strength expended, fell to the ground, clutching his wound. The king was dead by his hand and the remaining guards were driven back by a flanking squadron of allied cavalry. But Cyr saw none of this. He managed to drag himself up next to where Lania lay. Her lips were pale and her eyes were becoming glassy. Cyr knew she was dying, but, as the world began to fade away, he knew that he was too. He reached out and took Lania's hand. She gripped his hand tightly and he gripped it back. In their last moments, they spoke each other's secret names. But it wasn't the end after all. The world began to come back into focus. The pain was fading away even as the world came back into focus and Cyr looked down at his fur covered arms and let out a surprised gasp... *** "So that's how you became...like this?" Jen asked and Shadow nodded. "Somehow, and no sage has been able to answer why, when we spoke our secret names, our two broken bodies joined into one healthy one. But both of our souls are in this body." He said and then he paused, appearing to be listening to something. Then he smiled and his body shifted suddenly, becoming once again the female tiger that Shadow had used to trick the slavers. When next he spoke, his voice was feminine once more. "Because Cyr was less far gone than I was, we are usually male, with him in charge, but he can yield control to me at any time." "So that's it. Two souls, one body." Jen said, looking at him carefully. And then something occurred to her. "That's why you were looking for information on the Soulbreaker gem." "Exactly." Shadow said, returning to his male form. "The gem was made as a magic weapon which worked by splitting the soul of the target into two parts. Normally that would kill someone, but with two souls within a single body, we believe that we would survive and be two separate people once again." "But the gem splits souls, not bodies." She said, "It would still kill one of you." "Not if we have this." Shadow said and reached into a side pouch. What he brought out was a small vial that fit easily in the palm of his hand. Inside was a mouthful of liquid the color of gold. "This is a very rare and very valuable potion called the Breath of Life." Jen and Hul both looked at the tiger in amazement. "A single mouthful of the Breath of Life can heal any injury, cure any disease, and, it is said that if you drink it while at the peak of health, it will grant you temporary invulnerability. So powerful was the potion that the magi who created it guarded the recipe jealously until his death and never revealed it to another living soul. And, ever since he died, the magi have tried and tried to duplicate it, but none have succeeded. Every drop of the potion that remains unused has been coveted by every magus in the world. A measure of this size is worth more than the cost of every kingdom in the world combined." "So." Hul said. "We go to find the Gem then?" "Aye, we do." Shadow said, tucking the precious vial back into his pouch. "Then I am coming with you." Hul replied, smiling. "I was there when this adventure of yours started and I will be there when you finish it." "And I will come as well." Jen said, "You owe me Cyr, for making me think you were dead." "Alright then, we will go tomorrow..."