FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Michael chuckled softly as he squirmed through another dark crevice, ignoring the way that the stone pressed against his stomach and forced him to suck it in to be able to keep moving forward. The darkness around him made it almost impossible to see where he was going, but the monkey didn't care; he'd memorized the path the last time he was here, when he'd had a flashlight. The treasure wasn't much further away now.

That didn't mean he didn't grumble as he got a little stuck, particularly as he had to force himself not to breathe very hard. His stomach was pressed tight against his spine, and Michael had to pull himself back a pace to get unstuck. "A little...tight," the monkey muttered under his breath.

A little experimentation and he was on his way again, finding the slightly wider point between the rocks that he could slip between. The slight drop in his grin went away, and he was back to smiling.

Most people would have thought he was insane, going this deep into a strange cave so deep in the forest, particularly without a flashlight or any sort of team that could help him out. Heck, he very well might have been - the monkey wasn't so nuts as to rule out the possibility that he was, nuts that is - but for the treasure that he'd found last time he was exploring the cave, he wasn't about to share it with anyone else, and any team would have demanded a cut of the treasure the moment that they caught sight of it.

As for the reason to go in without a flashlight...well, the guardian of the treasure had almost found him because of his flashlight last time, and he wasn't going to give her a second chance to find him.

The monkey stifled a groan as he slipped out of the rock crevice, taking a few slow, deep breaths to get his lungs back to normal before walking along. His hand pressed against the walls, feeling his way along as he made his way deeper into the cave. Cold water against his toes, soaking against his leather pants, and the feeling of moss pressing against his hand matched his position in memory; it wasn't far off now.

Just the thought of what was ahead tempted him to move faster, but the monkey forced himself to slow down. The gold, the gems, the jewelry, and just the sheer wonder that awaited him would wait for a bit longer; it wasn't like there was anything that could have moved it all away in the time he'd been away, and Michael doubted that the guardian would have had the chance to put up any new safeguards, either, and that was if she even realized that she needed to.

Thinking of the treasure ahead almost tripped him up, though, as he stumbled in the dark as the water suddenly got deeper. He barely stifled a grunt, but he couldn't stop the sound of a splash from echoing down the halls. He froze in place, not daring to move, and his ears twitched lightly. He listened for even the slightest ripple, the barest breath of air, anything that might have given away another person in the cave, anything that might have confirmed that he'd been given away. If he heard anything, he would have been off like a shot.

But there was nothing. Even after a full minute of staying still, the monkey didn't hear any footsteps, any breathing, or any sound made by anything living. Resisting the urge to let out a sigh of relief, Michael continued on.

Slowly, the darkness started to fade. At first, he didn't really notice, but as time went on, he realized that he could see his hand against the wall of the cave tunnel. He paused, looking upwards, but there were no holes in the ceiling to explain the new illumination, nor were there any of the glowing plants that he had seen in some other caves. No torches, candles, anything.

Then he looked down the tunnel.

Against the far wall, where the tunnel turned, he could light against the stone. It was like it was being reflected off of something in the distance, so that it landed on the stone, and what little moisture was on the stone reflected it further down the tunnel.

A small smile crept across the monkey's face. Looking down, he saw that he could step out of the water, as long as he kept his feet along the thin outcropping from the cave wall. Keeping his balance on that wouldn't be very hard, he was sure, not with how flexible and strong his toes were, so he decided to take a chance with the outcropping. He pulled his feet out of the water, one by one, and settled them on the dry rock. He wiggled his toes, getting a feel for the rock, and slowly sidled along the wall.

He hadn't realized just how loud he had been in the water; not loud enough to be found, apparently, but in comparison to walking on the dry stone, he had been like a bull chasing a bullfighter. The monkey shook his head in disappointment; he would need to watch himself for such carelessness in the future. He could get himself caught way too easily that way.

It didn't take long to reach the end of the water part of the tunnel, and he slowly poked his head around the corner, wary of any traps.

However, as he saw the giant pile of treasure, all caution went out the window. Michael grinned as he ran around the corner, rushing across the open chamber towards the pile of gold and gems and other wealth, throwing himself to his knees in front of it. He grabbed the bag that he carried at his waist, throwing it to the ground as he started to shovel the treasure into it as fast as he could.

"I'm going to be set for life," the monkey muttered under his breath. "Goodbye small heists, so long rooftop runs; I don't need that stuff anymore."

Fingers scraped through the treasure pile, gathering all of the best stuff, throwing it into the bag. It clinked together so satisfyingly, and the grin that covered the monkey's face only got bigger and bigger as he felt the bag get fuller and fuller.

Getting a particularly big handful, Michael paused as he felt something slither across his ankle. It was slow, but about as thick as his wrist. Smooth, but slightly pebbly at the same time. Scales, he was pretty sure, and from the way it moved over him, probably the scales of a snake. It had already gone over one ankle, though, and it felt like it was about to go over the other as well. As long as it didn't try to stick around, he wasn't going to bother it; he didn't want to get the snake all riled up and ready to bite.

Despite his desire not to hurt the snake, it seemed to like being closer to him than not. The snake started to wrap around his ankles, moving up his legs, and Michael shivered as he felt it tighten around his legs, pressing his ankles together as effectively as a set of rope might do.

He turned, intending to wriggle free of the snake and get moving before the guardian could come back and finding him looting her treasure.

Instead of finding a big snake coiling around his legs, though, he found the guardian staring down at him.

She was a mighty creature, with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a snake. Her hair fell in curls before the hood that opened around her head, the hood of a cobra throwing a shadow down over his face. Her tail wrapped around his legs, and had managed to move halfway to his knees, effectively holding him still.

Her lips turned up in a smile, showing a pair of fangs as well as the more normal teeth that a woman had. "Ssssso, you came back," she hissed at him.

Michael cursed his luck. He'd thought that he had a little more time, that the guardian wouldn't find him so quickly. Maybe if he fast talked her..."I came merely -"

"There isssss no need for talk," she hissed again, her arms crossed under her breasts. She loomed over him, her long tail allowing her the chance to look down at him from several feet above where his head would be, even if he was standing. "Sssssssief. You will not get away a ssssssecond time."

Swallowing hard, Michael squirmed back, kicking his legs as hard as he could. He managed to get one of his legs free before the guardian could tighten her coils, but the other leg was still trapped. That was enough for him to get to his feet, however, and he reached back for the knife at the back of his belt.

His fingers tightened over empty air, and he groaned as he remembered that he'd left the knife at home, not wanting to bring anything that would possibly get caught other than the bag. What a brilliant idea that was turning out to be, he thought to himself.

The guardian loomed over him, her hood flared out, and her lips turned up, showing off the fangs in her mouth. Michael gulped. "Is there any...any way I can leave? If I promise never to come back?" he asked. Like hell that would happen, but if he could just get away...

She chuckled at him, a series of short hisses that he could just barely hear. "Ssssso, you are ssssscared of me?" she hissed at him.

"Very much," he said with a nod, not ashamed to admit it.

"Ssss sss ssss," she hissed in mirth. "Well, I don't mind a little game...a little sssssport." She released his leg, and he immediately pulled it back. However, there was no way to run from her, as she slowly coiled around him, her long body slowly encircling him. She laid a hand on his shoulder, and whispered in his ear. "A sssssimple game...If you win...you can go, wisssssss the treasssssure. If you losssssse...you ssstay."

There were no better options than that, the monkey knew, and without a weapon, there was little more that he could barter for. And he was always good at games. "What kind of game?" he asked.

"The Mind Game..." The guardian pulled back from him, and reached into the pile of treasure, pulling a small necklace out of the pile of treasure. It was silver, set with a simple green gem, a green gem the same color as her eyes. "I will try to take your mind...you will try to keep it. All you have to do...is keep your mind...and you can go."

He'd never heard of it, but if all he had to do was keep his mind, it wouldn't be that hard. "Alright." He crossed his arms as she surrounded him again, her coils just a little past his ankles around his legs. "I'm ready."

His eyes were immediately drawn to the stone at the end of the necklace as she held it in front of his eyes, swaying it lightly back and forth. It was brilliantly green, almost fiery green in a way, and with the bit of light that slipped through a hole in the ceiling, it flickered lightly, reflecting the light off of the different facets of the stone. The snake guardian slipped around, her eyes looking into his from behind the stone.

She smiled at him. "You can't help it, can you...ssssuch a greedy little monkey, alwayssss looking for his treasssure, alwaysssss looking for his sssssshinies," she hissed at him. The hissing was almost...musical...to his ears. It made the words flow, stringing them together in a way that was so different and yet so much clearer than normal. Michael ignored her, though his eyes remained on the stone as it swayed lightly from side to side.

"Ssssuch a love of ssshinies you have...jussst can't look away from thisss necklace," she hissed, her eyes dancing just as the stone did. He barely noticed, looking at the stone instead, thinking of how much he might be able to get from it. It was so beautiful, so very shiny.

"That'sss it, jussst keep looking...sssso ssshiny, and sssso valuable...That'ssss it, greedy little monkey...Look at the gem...jusssst watch it ssssway."

It was getting harder to look away, and Michael felt a twinge of worry in his mind as he tried to look away from the stone and couldn't. He squelched it, ignoring the worry. There was nothing to be concerned about. He was just looking at it as a focus. She wasn't going to steal his mind; he was going to get out of her with the...the shinies.

"That'ssss right, don't look away...jussst ssssssink about all the sssshinies I have...all the sssshinies you could have...if you just lisssssten."

There were a lot of shinies here, that was for sure. So much treasure, treasure that would have been so good to have, he thought. He just had to keep from giving her his mind, and as long as he was thinking of the shinies that were here, and the shiny in front of him, she wouldn't get it.

Yet, she still kept smiling, even as he kept watching the swaying stone. "Sssssuch a foolish monkey...trying to sssteal from me. Sssssteal from Ssssarahka, hmmm? I'll ssssimply ssssteal your mind," she said, that flowing, hissing voice getting quieter and quieter as he kept listening, so focused on the shiny. "You want your sssshinies...you want your sssshiny treasssures...but to get them...you need to give me your mind..."

Get the shiniesss...the ssshiniesss

"You need ssssshinies...and you get them with me...just give me your mind...and I will give you sssshinies..." The guardian smiled at him, and he couldn't help but open his mouth, trying to smile back. Not a grin - his mouth couldn't seem to remember how - but a smile. "Yesssss...that'ssss it...trussssst me...trusssst Ssssarahka...Trussssst Ssssarahka wissss your mind..."

Michael sighed softly as he thought of all the shinies...all the shiniessss...that's what he wanted after all...and his mind seemed an easy enough trade. What was he...just what was he using it for?

His eyes relaxed, and the guardian snake smiled behind the stone. Her eyes disappeared, and he felt her hand against his shoulder again, her whispers hissing down his ears to his mind. He didn't know what she was saying, but he knew that he had been a bad monkey, a very bad monkey. Shiniessss would be his, but only if he made it up to Sarahka...only if he was a good monkey for her...

For shiniesss...for shiniesss...he'd do anything. He slowly nodded, nodding at what she said. He would be a good monkey...a good monkey for the snake guardian, Mighty Sarahka.