FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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CHAPTER 2

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I peered at the dragon clad in white fur as he muttered something to one of the other dragons who had followed him out, they ran back through the narrow opening in the gates, the gates began to slowly open. The white furred dragon lead our wagons in. As we passed through the gates we turned left up a snowy slope towards yet another gate. This gate was already open, we were lead into what appeared to be a small village. Along the edge of the road were huts made of stone, with roofs of wood and straw, several of the huts were burnt and completely caved in; and from the looks of it it wasn't a recent occurrence.

We stopped in a large clearing with stone huts built along its circumference. A number of dragons looked on, there were a couple of dozen at least, all of them Zangarian*. They all stopped their various tasks to watch, it was obviously apparent they didn't get many visitors. Our wagons were surrounded by numerous warriors, each of them standing ready, most them armed with spears and all of them ready to use their weapons if we were deemed a threat.

But what surprised me the most was that a many of them wore little more than loin cloths and seemed completely unaffected by the cold, while others wore outfits made of fur to stay warm. I continued to examine the barely clad warriors, they showed no signs of the cold affecting them, it confused me how they were able to do that. Standing amid this cold weather wearing no more than a loin cloth and shoulder guards; and truthfully I was jealous. I would do just about anything right now to feel warm again. We remained there for a long while, the dragon in white fur stared up a slope as if waiting for someone. After a short while two dragons appeared at the top of the slope and began walking towards us. One of them was clad in brown fur and carried a spear, the guard from the gate, he had been sent to retrieve the other dragon who followed him.

I felt my eyes go wide as I looked at the other dragon, he was huge, even at this distance he stood head and shoulders over the dragon he followed. Like some of the other dragons he wore little more than a loin cloth, as if he too was completely unaffected by the cold. As he approached I saw that he was solidly built, his muscles rippled as he walked. He wore a golden shoulder guard on his left shoulder, it was made of five layers of metal layered one on top of the other. He also wore a wrist guard made of gold, who ever this dragon was he was of a high station and wasn't ashamed to show it. He walked up to Eric and Aceh, Aceh stood with his arms crossed as he stared the large dragon down, even though he was taller than Aceh, his body more muscled and standing near on a full foot taller. Aceh and the dragon stared each other down for several long moments, with a snort the dragon turned his attention to Eric. I couldn't hear what they were saying but Eric kept bowing his head, he was obviously trying to plea with them to let us stay.

"Malakye!" Eric called. "Can you come out here please?"

I felt nervous, but I had no intention of showing it. I discarded my blanket, I didn't know why Eric wanted me out here, my pride wouldn't let be seen as weak. These were Zangarians*, my fathers people and I didn't want them to view me as weak because of my wolven heritage. I stepped out of the wagon. I heard a few hushed whispers and saw some dragons point at me, I ignored them and walked to Eric's side, trying not to show my discomfort as the cold from the snow sent waves of numbing cold up through my foot-paws or the ice cold wind seemed to bite through my scales. I stared at the dragon, his golden eyes staring down at me in curiosity. I forced myself to keep looking him in the eye, having to look up as I did, he stood a clear head taller than me. His golden eyes lowered and for the first time I saw his stoic expression break, his eyes widened as he raised his paw and pointed at my chest.

"Where did you get that?" He asked, his voice deep and rough. I looked down and realised he was pointing at my mothers pendant.

"It belonged to my mother." I replied, trying to remain calm in front of this giant dragon.

"You're mother?"

"Yes... my mother, Gabrielle Red-pelt." The large dragon staggered backwards as if he had been struck, his expression one of shock and disbelief. I stared at him in confusion when I saw it, he was wearing the same pendant as the one my mother had. His reaction suggested that he new my mother. But if he knew her then that would mean... my heart pounded hard in my chest as an impossible thought passed across my mind.

"You're my... son?!"

I heard the other dragons around us explode with chatter but I didn't pay them any attention, my attention was on the dragon in front of me... my father. My head felt like it was going to explode as I tried to process this information, the male I had wanted to meet all my life, my father, was standing in front of me. Suddenly I didn't feel cold any more, my mind was too focused on my father to register anything else.

He reached out towards me and out of reflex stepped back. An expression of disappointment flashed across his face, and just as quickly it was gone, he nodded as if accepting my decision. He turned and spoke to the dragon clad in white fur and with one final look at me turned and walked back the way he came.

I continued to watch him even as we were lead in a different direction, his large back slowly shrinking into the distance until it finally disappeared from my sight. We were lead to a cave entrance where we were told to leave the wagons, assured that they and our Fooshnar* would be tended to. The cave entrance lead downwards into the mountain, after a short distance the snow disappeared and my foot-paws were grateful that the snow had disappeared and replaced with soft dirt, my feet began to feel warmer already, the burning cold of the snow slowly disappearing thanks to the much warmer dirt. We followed the long tunnel, lit torches were mounted in metal holders along the cave walls. I was wondering where we were being lead to, if the village was back out there on the mountain side why were we being lead deeper into the mountain? Those thoughts remained with me until I heard familiar noises of what reminded me of a marketplace.

After rounding a few more corners the tunnel opened up into a large cavern filled with dozens of Zangarian dragons, all of them milling round various stalls, many of them selling different types of food. Unlike other market places this one was filled with the noises of vendors trying to sell their wares, they all stood smiling waiting for their customers to buy their wares. I tried to work out why this market was so different, but then the isolation of this settlement may be a determining factor and as I examined the stalls I saw that each one sold a different ware, no direct competition.

As we were escorted through the market nearly everyone stopped to look at us, staring and gossiping, but then again it was obvious that this place rarely had any visitors so I tried to ignore it, despite my subconscious making me feel like they were all judging me because of my wolven heritage. We were lead to the far end of the cavern and down another set of tunnels, it was becoming apparent just how extensive these tunnels were. We stopped in front of a curtained doorway of sorts, the dragon that had lead us here turned to speak to us.

"You may use these lodgings for the duration of your stay, do not cause any problems!" He was obviously not the trusting type. "Kaldor insists that we treat you like our own, despite my own opinion on the matter. We will not have you under armed guard, but I will have a couple of warriors stay in this area to ensure you are left in peace. The locals will be... curious about you, but I assure you they pose no threat."

Kaldor, so that was my fathers name. I began to wonder if I had offended him by backing away from him. But I had done it without thinking. I had always wondered what it would be like meeting my father, I had imagined many different scenarios, but not the one that had occurred.

"Thank you Lord Callidus." Eric bowed showing his thanks.

"Kaldor has also extended you the invitation of having dinner with him, I will be round later to collect you, in the mean time I would suggest you rest." Callidus stopped to stare at me with judgemental eyes, a look I had become all too familiar with when I was growing up. He turned and left without another word, his fur cloak fluttered almost dramatically behind him as he turned and walked off. I watched him disappear round a bend before following the others through the curtain.

The 'lodgings' were much like the rest of the caves out side, stone floors worn smooth over years of use, the darkness pierced by torches mounted on the walls. The cave diverted off into three small rooms, each with a curtain and sleeping furs but little else. Compared to the cold elements outside these caves I felt like my scales were on fire. The air was warm and every part of my body was stinging slightly as the heat enveloped me, but it felt good to be warm again.

"Well I'm beat, I'm gonna hit the hay!" Jason declared as he strode into the room on the left, quickly followed by Michael. Aceh stepped into the room in the middle after he gave me a reassuring squeeze to my shoulder. I stepped into the room on the right followed by Cody and Eric, I more or less collapsed onto the sleeping furs and let out a sigh of relief and frustration.

"How are you Malakye?" Eric asked as he sat on a boulder next to the sleeping furs, the only light in the room came from the torch near the entrance to our 'lodgings', providing a very dim light, if the curtain had been drawn then it would have been pitch dark. I looked up at Eric's shadowed face, his eyes almost glowing in the poor light.

"I don't know." An honest answer, the only thing I did know was that I didn't know how to feel.

I knew as we travelled up the mountains that there was the slim chance that I would encounter my father, but I never thought it would happen, just me being my usual pessimistic self. The look on his face when I said my mothers name, it was like he had been wounded, but not because of me, no, the pain I saw in his eyes reminded me of how I felt whenever I thought about Rose.

After that his eyes had been filled with awe, not repulsed like I had expected to see. He obviously had no idea that I had been alive all this time, if he even knew I had been born in the first place. He had reached out to me and I had backed away, I hadn't thought about it I just did it, I hadn't intended on upsetting him. But what did he expect? I don't know him and he doesn't know me.

"I can understand that this whole ordeal must be confusing."

"That's one way to put it." I replied sarcastically, turning my head to look at Cody who stood a few paces away, his right paw rubbing his left forearm, a habit of his when he is worried. Most likely worried about me. Suddenly I felt like I was a burden on Cody, he was constantly worried about me, the whole ordeal with Rose's death, my outburst back at Rengilar* and now this; not to mention his worries about our relationship, I think I've proven to him I'm not going to reject him, despite my poor performance when it came to the act of sex, but it was still something that I had caused Cody to worry about. "You okay Cody?" I asked.

"Yeah..." He replied timidly.

'Liar.' I thought to myself, a smile threatening to cross my muzzle.

"You will need to decide what you want to do now, you've found your father now, your family. I'd understand if you decided to stay when the time comes for us to move on."

"You guys are my family Eric, nothing will change that." My reply made both Eric and Cody smile. "He may be my father, but he's not my family." I reiterated.

"True, and while I am pleased to hear that, I must insist that you make the attempt to communicate with him. You will always be welcomed with us, but he is your blood, your only blood relation. We will not be leaving for a while, so long as our hosts are happy to have us, so take the time and get to know him. He must want to get to know you."

"Yeah." I sighed. "I guess."

"We will leave you to think and rest, you may want to think about what you want to say to your father before you come face to face with him again." Eric advised as he rose from his perch and guided Cody from the room.

Cody looked back over his shoulder with a look of concern, but I gave him a reassuring smile, but I couldn't be sure if he saw it in the dim light. Eric pulled the curtain closed behind him as he left, leaving me in complete darkness. I began to think about my father and what I wanted to say to him, but I didn't get very far as the warmth of the sleeping furs enclosed around me, it was nice to be warm again. And with the warmth fatigue came with it, my eyes got very heavy and knowing that I couldn't fight it I just let it take hold of me.

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I was slowly roused from sleep by someone gently rocking me, I blearily blinked my eyes open, the poor light made it difficult to see but my eyes quickly began to adjust and I looked up at the shadowy figure kneeling over me. The familiar scent was what gave him away, the scent that reminded me of happiness, an unmistakable scent that could only come from one fur.

"Cody..." I mumbled sleepily.

"Callidus has arrived, you need to get up."

"I'm not entirely sure if I want to go." I admitted, but then Eric's words rang through my head. 'Take the time and get to know him. He must want to get to know you.'

I sighed and sat up, I would do it for Eric, I owed him that much. "Let's go." I followed Cody out of our lodgings and found everyone waiting. Callidus gave me a look that I couldn't quite decipher, it wasn't disgust or hatred, I wouldn't have even called it disapproval, but he wasn't winning me over with his friendly nature.

"Let's go." Was all he said before turning and walking away.

We followed him through the caves, turning this way and that, after a few minutes I had no idea how to get back to where we had started, there was also no one else present in the caves. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye as someone darted past an opening, this got my nerves up, but as far as I could tell they weren't stalking us, simply going about their own business. I looked behind me and saw that Michael and Jason were calm, ahead of me I couldn't see anyone else that seemed bothered, not even Aceh. I trusted Aceh, he was the sharpest of all of us, I very much doubted that all of us could take him if he got serious. I promised myself not to make a move unless Aceh did, he would let no harm befall us.

My nerves were still flaring and the long walk through the poorly lit tunnels did little to calm them, I was going to meet my father; I guess that's a fair reason to be nervous. I hadn't seen him until just a few hours earlier, he was a giant of a dragon, dwarfing all the other dragons we had seen so far, but I didn't feel intimidated by him physically, it was emotionally. I'm not the most emotionally stable of furs, I grew up in a place where everyone wanted me dead. Over the last few months with Cody and the others had finally allowed me to get in touch with a lot of emotions that I hadn't thought about before. Happiness, excitement, love... heart break... I definitely wasn't the same as I was before, but that didn't mean I knew how to feel about things. All my life I had wanted to meet my father and now it was about to happen, earlier I hadn't known how to feel. Angry that he had left me and my mother? Happy that he was alive? I was distracted from my thoughts when we came to a stop in front of a large steel door that had the same symbol as my mothers pendant carved into it, the symbol of the House of Anaris.

Callidus pulled a large metal key from his robes and unlocked the door with an audible 'clunk', pushing the door open and grabbing one of the torches that was mounted on either side of the door. He allowed us to enter first before following us in pulling the door closed behind him and locking it. As soon as the door was closed the only source of light was from the torch that Callidus held, he pushed past us and began to walk further into the cave, with the door locked the only option was to follow him. Soon we began to ascend a steep set of stone steps. I felt trapped, the stone walls pressed in closer and closer as we climbed upwards, higher and higher until my legs began to feel the sting of fatigue, just how far did they go? Shortly after that we came to another door and Kassius knocked on it three times, the echo resounding past us and back down the dark staircase. There was a sound of a lock being undone and slowly the door swung open, revealing the silhouette of another dragon.

"Welcome back Lord Callidus." Came a polite voice as the dragon bowed and stepped aside allowing us entry.

As we stepped out of the dark stairwell, I sense of relief washed over me, but I was also impressed by what I saw. We were standing in the middle of a long and spacious hallway, the walls had been smoothed down and numerous adornments hung from them. Expensive tapestries depicting various scenes, weapon, shields and even the heads of animals taken as trophies hung from the walls. I heard Jason let out a long whistle, he was as impressed as I was, the coin from the items we could see in this hall way alone would allow all of us to live comfortably for quite some time; what was the rest of this place like?

"You must be Master Malakye."

I turned to face the dragon who had opened the door and was able to get a good look at him now with the better lighting in the hallway. He was the same as all the other dragons here; Zangarian*. He had two short horns emerging from is snout, I had seen a number of dragons like Callidus with a single small horn jutting from their snout, but Jovani was the first one to have two; I wondered if there was some significance in that.

He wore a simple, but expensive looking, black loin cloth and top that bore the Anaris symbol on the buckles around his waist and chest. He had the body of a seasoned warrior but the way he carried himself caught me off guard. I had spent my life around many warriors, both seasoned and in training, you could tell them apart from those who had never received training but Jovani; he held himself with a calm elegance, one which made him seem almost harmless

"I am most happy to make your acquaintance Young Master." He said as he bowed his head to me.

"Master? Why are you calling me Master?" He looked at me with confusion.

"Because you are Master Kaldor's son. That makes you my Master as I am the steward of this house, sworn to serve and protect this house and my Lords family."

"And who are you?" Jason asked.

"My apologies, it has been so long since we have had guests that I have forgotten my manners. I am Jovani, as I have already said I am the steward to this house hold, for the duration of your stay here it will be my pleasure to serve you as my Masters guests." Jason let out another whistle.

"This guy is the real deal, all snazzy and shit!" Jason muttered to Michael, not making any attempt to be subtle. Michael gave him a look that told everyone that he was annoyed by his partners bluntness, but only Jason missed it as he was too busy looking at Jovani. "He's pretty sexy too." The last comment earn him a cuff to the back of his head from Michael. Jason looked shocked and hurt from the light blow, as if he was a victim. "Hey! What was that for!?"

"For once stop talking!" Michael growled through his clenched jaw. "I apologise for his behaviour."

"Not at all, no apology is needed." Jovani assured him with a wave of his hand, dismissing the whole affair, he just stood there with an amused expression.

"If you're quite done..." Callidus growled as he began to stomp down the hallway. We all watched him leave and I turned my attention back to Jovani who motioned for us to follow.

"That guy's an ass!" Jason muttered loudly.

As we walked I walked at the back of the group with Jovani who was still smiling, I didn't miss the occasional glances he gave me. His happy demeanour put me at ease and at the same time made me feel uneasy, it was a strange sensation. Everything about him made me feel like he wouldn't even consider hurting a fly, but the way he looked at me, again there was no malice or ill intent in the way looked at me. In fact it reminded me of the way that Callidus looked at me, but at the same time different, it was as if he was studying me, it made my scales crawl and what little fur I had stand on end.

"Are you all right Master Malakye?"

"Yeah... I guess." I replied, not wanting to admit that he was freaking me out. "Can you stop with the whole 'Master' thing? It just doesn't sound right." He chuckled and shook his head like I had just said something funny. "What?"

"You sound just like Master Kaldor. He hates it when I use that title as well."

"Then what do you call him?" I asked curiously.

"Why, Master Kaldor of course." He grinned. I scrunched up my face into an expression of confusion, if that was his idea of a joke then it was certainly lacking.

"But if he hates it, why do you call him it?"

"Because Young Master, that's what he is. He is the Lord and Master of this household, and I shall address him as such, he gave up trying to convince me to do otherwise years ago. He even resorted to ignoring me when I did once."

"Really? What happened?"

"Oh, he was a young then, a few winters younger than yourself in fact, he wouldn't acknowledge me until I called him by his name alone. The whole ordeal lasted for months, it was quite frustrating, he can be extremely stubborn!"

'So can you from the sounds of it!' I thought to myself. "How did the whole thing end?"

"Oh... I forget, it was so long ago." Jovani waved his hand dismissively. I could tell he was lying but I didn't push. "We are here." He informed me as I looked a head and saw Callidus turn into a large doorway, pushing open the finely carved double wooden doors.

We stepped into a large dining room, it felt like walking into a wall of heat, the large fireplace on the opposite wall was filled with a large fire which burned strongly. In the centre of the room was a large table, large enough to fit sixteen bodies or so, eight places were set at one end, Callidus immediately striding over to take the seat next to the head of the table facing the door way we had just entered. Everyone else stood about admiring the table wear, I stepped closer and saw that everything was made of the finest things that coin could buy. Utensils and plates made of silver, candle holders made of gold. All of this would cost a fortune!

"If you would all take a seat I will go and inform Master Kaldor that you have arrived." Jovani announced before dipping his head in a bow and leaving the room.

I watched him leave before turning back to the table, Jason and Michael took a seat on the far side of the table next to Callidus, Michael making sure to sit between them to try and stop any unfortunate events that may take place due to Jason's 'commentary'. Aceh, Eric and Cody sat on the side near the door, leaving only two seats, the one at the head of the table and the one next to it, I was going to have to sit next to my father.

I cringed and sighed, there was no point trying to fight it. I took my seat across from Callidus, the dragon content to sit there silently and burn a hole through me with his stare, that same stare that Jovani used, as if he was studying me. I returned his stare but it didn't appear to bother him, he continued to stare, but I held my gaze even though I wanted to look away. I had to show him that I wasn't scared of him, that I wouldn't back down that easily. Our match was interrupted as I heard loud foot falls approaching the room, I knew immediately that the mass of dragon that was making them could only be my father.