FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The old soldiers werepicking their way across the igneous flow, still too hot to walk onwithout thick soled boots. They had undertaken the task of removingthe bodies of the fallen, though it was less odious than it mighthave been. Most of the red wolves who died were nothing more thanash. The worse part was carrying away the usurper king. His screamswere hideous to the ears. Jon-Tom had picked upOrath and strode into the city, to the roar of cheers, followed bysullen silence. Everyone assumed that she who had saved them was nowdead. She might as well have been. Taking on his emotions was like anant taking on a lion. She had nearly burned herself up in theprocess. He healed her the best he could. Her body was one thing, butwhat happened to her mind was beyond anything he was going to tackle.He would have to wait until she woke up from her coma. There wasn'tgoing to be a rush put on the healing process. He would wait foreverif it proved necessary. When he was not at herbedside, he asked for volunteers to man his station. There was aplethora of takers, and so she was looked after every minute of everyhour of every day. The entire mass of the inhabitants of theEastfallon Stretches prayed for her recovery. Jon-Tom had no heart inhim to tell them that the one they prayed to was part of the cause ofall this. There was no need to dash their spirits. Besides, thatsituation was so complicated he was still trying to work it out.Regardless, Orath was kept under a watchful eye. When she awoke,  it wasto gray skies. It was just as well. Even that amount of dimmed lightproved hard on her pupils. She searched her surroundings throughlidded eyes. To one side she saw a familiar face. "Sfyri?" Hercousin wiped her forehead with a cool cloth. "Hello cousin. Orshould I call you Alpha now?" Orath tried to sit up but felt sick."I don't know. Did I win?" The other burst into nervous laughter."Did you win? Holy shit in a golden cup girl! You became everythingI feared your mate would become. I saw from a safe distance, and Icould still feel the sting of the heat you were generating. No livingcreature survives that, not even a dragon. So when you're completelywell, you will tell me how you did it." Orath was still tryingto get her memories in order. They were foggy from right after shehad been making love to her mate. Her mate! "Sfyri, where isJon-Tom? Or Lobo, however you wish to call him." Her cousin pattedher paw. "He's fine. He has assumed running things until you arebetter. In the past week..." Orath sat up and groaned. "A week?I've been down a week? That means I haven't eaten. I need to get foodin my stomach..." She looked down

and had a meltdown. "My babies!They're gone! Oh what a stupid thing I did. I saved the kingdom andcost it its heirs." A male voice came from the doorway. "Stupid is too gentleof a word for your actions my lady." It was Jon-Tom. "Sfyri,leave us please." The she-wolf gathered her things and made a hastyexit. He sat down. Orath tried to put on a brave face. "Hello mate.You look good in the robes of office. I'm so glad..." He cut heroff. "And I'm so glad you're alive. After what you did, it's acomplete wonder you're alive. You saw what my unleashed emotions werelike. What made you think you could handle them any better than Idid?" She was crying; sobbing. "I thought it would work. It didwork, but the cost was too high. I have ruined innocent lives." Heleaned forward and kissed her. "You're as much an idiot as I amsometimes. Maybe even more. The cubs are fine." She sniffed awayher tears. "Our cubs are gone Jon-Tom. They're dead because of myfoolishness." He stood and disrobed.She looked at his belly, which had the appearance like that of an oldwolf's after twenty years of drinking ale. She stared unbelieving.Her eyes were full of wonder. "I have ten thousand questions rightnow, but I'll stick with when and how." He sat back down. "When?The instant you went to leave me for the fight. You barely left anyemotion in me to even care if I saved them or not. Luckily for you, Ihave an untidy soul anymore. There's always something hidden in thecracks and crevices. How? I magicked the whole kit and caboodle, youruteri, your ovaries, the cubs. As you well know, I'm not equipped fordealing with this on my own." She patted her stomachagain. It was definitely roomier than ever before. She looked back upat him. "How are we; you...whomever!; how is this going to getreversed? I mean, you don't have an opening for them to come outof...do you?" He released his pent up anxiety by laughing himselfto the floor. "Oh no, no, no! I didn't go that far. You will getthem back, intact and a little farther along, only after I deem youfit. You have no idea how much damage you did to your body pullingthat stunt. If you had taken only the dark emotions, I think that wewould not be here talking right now, for you would have incineratedyourself and probably half of the Stretches. It is my firm opinionthat only our love was enough to buffer the rest. But it's only aguess." She smiled weakly andpatted his stomach. She could feel movement inside. "Jon-Tom, thisis the weirdest day of my life. Waking from a nightmare and feelingmy babies kick from the inside of your belly is like coming fromdarkness into the sunlight. I am so glad you saved

them. You areindeed wiser than most to have foreseen the danger I was going to beputting them in. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart that youwere successful. You are truly more than I deserve." He pinched hernose. "People often don't get what they deserve, but with a littleluck, they do get what they need. And for now, you need rest! Sfyri!"Her cousin came into the room beaming. She pointed to the new AlphaMale. "Orath, I don't know where you found him, but I want threejust like him!" The new Alpha Female watched him as he exited thedoor. "Cousin, he's one of a kind. That still hasn't kept him frombeing everywhere at once, where ever he needs to be, whenever heneeds to be there." It was four more daysbefore she was ready to leave the bed. It was another three before hedeemed her ready to return to motherhood status. The transfer wasnearly painless. The cubs had grown in two weeks and her belly wenttaut with the extra size. Jon-Tom eased things to a better fit. Sherubbed her belly and sighed. "I don't know what to call thissorcery, but whatever name you decide to call this magic, I herebydeclare it the most wonderful in the world, for it has given me backthat which I thought I lost." It was raining tears down her face.He put his paw to her stomach. "This is where I should feel thekicks, not in my own belly. But.." Orath looked at him. "Butwhat?" "But it opens a whole new range of possibilities, don'tyou think? A male who can have children?" She pinched him. "Andwhat are you going to do for fun getting there?" They both had agood laugh. The next few weeks wentby quickly. The people of the lands came to pay their respects.Jon-Tom couldn't help boosting overall morale by pushing things hereand there with his magic. Herds of lizards began moving back into thearea, money was released from the treasury back into the hands of thecitizens, and a promise of peace descended upon the land. The sightof his huge wolf self was unnerving for many, except those who hadfollowed him into the battle. But the children loved him, and hethem, so that he was soon accepted as one of their own. He might havehad a little to do with it, but he only pushed his power a fraction.Most of them were so thankful to be out from under the reds that theywould even accept a gentle giant like him. He had thought aboutchanging to something more normal, but constantly altering hisappearance would be confusing for the recovering kingdom. Better tostick with what they were familiar with. His cubs would be "normal"wolves, but no more so than their mother. Her cream color was odd, aswere her eyes, leastwise until he roamed the hall of ancestors. Mostof the

images had been ruined by the intruders, but he felt it wasworth his while to restore them. Orath's grandmother, the mother ofher father, had the same coloration. It was unusual and worthy ofinvestigation when he had the time. He would have to press Eve on thesubject one of these years. "Years?" The voice was behind him. Hedidn't even turn to look. "Hello Eve. Imagine that. I think aboutyou and poof, there you are. What news of the future timeline. Anycatastrophes?" She hugged him fiercely. "No, thanks to you." Hefrowned. "Not me, Orath. She did it all by herself, though sheabout dragged herself down doing it." Eve was all ears, so he toldher the full story. "Oh my. I did "opena can of worms", I believe is the term you have used before. Iwould be very upset if she had died on account of her bravery."Jon-Tom snapped. "Bravery? She was foolish beyond belief. Taking myoverwhelming emotions and wielding them like a child might a twopawed broadsword? You call that brave?" She kicked him. "She didwhatever was necessary for herself and her kingdom. Besides, she hadyou to back her up. I'd like to think she knew things would workout." He made a face. "I have had to go to extraordinary measuresthis time around. It's not my finest work." Eve frowned. "Youdon't think so? Well, as I understand it, you'll be sticking aroundfor the next few decades. Perhaps you'll feel better about it afterthose years have passed." He went to saysomething. He stopped. "Eeeeve? What aren't you telling me?" Shesmiled. "Oh, A whole lot. But I've learned my lesson aboutinterfering. I'll see you again at the funeral. In the meantime, havea good life. And don't forget, when you're done here, there's a wholeother family waiting for you. Of course, to them, you'll only havebeen gone a few minutes. Take care!" With that she winked out andwas gone. Well, whatever it was that she wasn't telling him, she atleast let slip that it was good. Good he could handle right now. A week later the cubswere born. There were six in all, two creams, two gray and two black.There were three males and three females. Names had not been in theforefront of either of their minds, what with everything else goingon. Jon-Tom opted to choose three, and she would do the same. Shegave him free reign in choosing from any names he wished, but hestuck to traditional Eastfallon names. He had one cream colored girl,who he named Ble-louloúdi, or Blue Flower in the old tongue. Hechose that because he remembered a flower from back home, and hewished to nickname her after it. Thus, she came to be known commonlyas Lobelia. His black cub, a boy, he named Petra-thrafstíra, theStone Crusher. His last

male cub, a true gray he namedVathiati?n-kardil, or Deep Heart. Orath was happy with thenames. She particularly liked Lobelia. "You chose that to mimic herfather's chosen name, didn't you?" He smiled. "Yes I did. I likethe sound of it, and I think she will too." Orath chose traditionalnames as well. For her darkest cub, a girl, she picked Sídi?ro-guna,which translated to Iron Fur.  The gray male was called Peplo-nychta,or Night Veil, and the last, the other cream colored female, wasnamed Fengara-dori, or Moon Daughter. It was a few weekslater, and he had been enjoying the peace. Orath gave him the evileye. "Peace? With all of this squalling?" Indeed, the cubs werean active and vocal lot. "My dear, this is peace. Fighting, dealingwith hate and anger and rage; I am done with all of that. I haven'tfelt so much negative emotions since fighting the Plated Folk." Shestopped. "Jon-Tom, there has been no battle with the insects forcenturies. How old are you?" He caught himself. Time travel was apain. "I'm sorry Orath. You probably shouldn't have been told that.But since I did open my mouth, let me say that fighting them was themain reason I was pulled to this world. There is an upcoming battle.For me to say anymore would be counterproductive." She looked around theroom at their cubs. "I suppose you are correct. When you put thingsin perspective, this is nothing." He reached down and picked up twoof his cubs. He did something he had not done in a long while; hesang. He had no duar, but he needed no accompaniment. He sang theloveliest lullaby his mate had ever heard. In moments they were allfast asleep. She went to take the two from his arms, but he shook hishead. "No, it's time for me to feel life again. I would gladly giveup my power for a much simpler existence." She kissed him on thehead. "We'll talk about later. I think you can manage to do both."