FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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Chapter 18

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As we walked back to the marketplace for the festival, Tristen and Roxis were unusually quiet and withdrawn. They were obviously worried about what I would make them do, after all they had sworn to fulfil the terms of the bet. The bet was that they had to do anything I said, and while I didn't want to be too much of an ass, I felt I had to embarrass them a little.

When we arrived back in the marketplace I had to admit I was impressed. The decorations were up and the place looked surprisingly bright and colourful. In addition to the regular torches, the place was lit with paper coloured lanterns; each one cast a pleasant glow. Many of the market stalls had been cleared to create an open space and a large wooden stage had been set up nearby. I guess there was going to be some dancing.

"The place looks great!" Laguna grinned.

"Yeah..." I agreed, still trying to take it all in. A whiff of some food made my stomach grumble. "Who wants to go grab me some food?" I asked.

Roxis and Tristen exchanged glances before groaning and then setting about the task. Laguna chuckled merrily. He was in the exact same situation that they were, so why was he so cheery about it?

"How come you're not down about the whole thing like them?" I asked.

"Well maybe I think your not going to be nasty about the whole thing." He smiled sweetly. "If it was Tristen I'd probably be worried. But I trust you."

The others returned quickly with some meat on wooden sticks. They had been grilled over a fire and smelt really good. It sated my hunger for the time being, so now it was time to find out what we were going to do.

"So what else is there to do at this festival?" I asked.

"Well... soon Lord Anaris will give the traditional speech before everyone celebrates with some dancing and drinking." Laguna explained. "Then tomorrow the tournament begins."

"Tournament?" I asked.

"Oh yes, all warriors are able to participate, competing to show who is the strongest."

"The winner can make a request of village leader, Lord Anaris, for their prize."

"What kind of prize?"

"Anything that is within Lord Anaris's power to give. Coin, status... females. It is within Lord Anaris's right to refuse if the request is unacceptable."

"Females?"

"A few years ago the winner requested Lord Anaris to negotiate on their behalf for a certain dragonesses paw in marriage. Apparently her father did not like him. But Lord Anaris made it happen, he had to agree to the fathers terms, from what I heard it cost a fair amount of coin." Roxis explained.

"Wow."

"And on the third and final day there is the tournament for the benders. Anyone who is the rank of adept may join in. The prize is the same as the warrior tournament." Laguna continued.

"I can't wait till I can participate!" Tristen said as he gazed off into the distance. He was obviously fantasising over the prize he would request of Kaldor. I didn't want to know.

"Come on, lets look around!" Laguna suggested.

"Yeah, maybe we can find some females!" Tristen added.

"You totally have a one track mind!" Roxis teased.

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We roamed about for a while, the place slowly getting busier and busier, we still hadn't found anything to do. I enjoyed talking with Laguna and the others, even though at times I found myself noticing how much younger they were in comparison to myself.

"Look its Tanisha!" Tristen exclaimed, pointing out a dragoness from the crowd. She was busy flirting with a few warriors. "She's so hot!"

"She's a slut!" Roxis countered. "She sleeps with anyone, even though she's married. Just because her husband goes away for days at a time trading with the other villages."

"She has needs, so what if she sleeps around? No one gets hurt." Tristen said, his eyes locked firmly on the busty dragoness.

"I'll remind you of that when whatever unlucky female you manage to bag starts sleeping around because you can't satisfy her needs!" Roxis jabbed, earning himself a punch to the arm.

"At least I'll get one! And she will be well satisfied! You'll probably be a virgin all your life!"

At that point I stepped between them, stopping what could have easily become a brawl. My intervention seemed to work but they were still glaring at each other.

"That's enough you two!" I yelled. They both huffed and turned their back to each other. "I'm not going to spend the rest of the day putting up with you two bickering! So you are going to say sorry!" That's when I remembered the power I had, they had deserved a little humiliation after their little fight. "Then you're going to kiss and make up!"

That got their attention. Both of them stared at me for a moment hoping that I was speaking figuratively, but I was serious. They were going to kiss each other, right here in public. If they were going to be asses to each other then I'd just have to give them something else to think about. Tristen seemed to take the idea the hardest, his maw agape as he tried to process the order. Roxis on the other hand seemed to withdraw, his gaze firmly locked on his foot-paws, looking quite bashful. If it wasn't for his black scales I would have sworn I would have seen a blush!

"Well?!?" I said impatiently, showing them that I wasn't going to change my mind.

"Sorry..." Roxis mumbled, not able to look Tristen in the eye.

"Yeah... me too..." Tristen mumbled.

Hesitantly they moved closer together, it was almost painfully slow, but they got there in the end. Their muzzles met, their eyes clenched shut. Laguna couldn't resist giggling aloud as he watched his friends kiss. It was simple peck lasting a few seconds, longer than I had expected it to, I think they enjoyed it even though they both were embarrassed by the whole thing. A few whistles from the warriors who had spotted them made it more embarrassing for them.

"Are we all friends again?" I asked.

"Yeah..." They both replied sheepishly, both of them looking like they wanted to be invisible right now.

"Good. Lets head back, I can hear music playing."

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The band had begun playing and a large crowd began gathering. I saw my father and Callidus standing at the edge of the stage, Jovani standing a short distance away. I thought about Harold, he should be here. I'd have to suggest it to Jovani, maybe he knew something I didn't. As the band came to the end of their song Kaldor stepped up onto the stage.

"Friends! Comrades! Ladies..." Kaldor growled seductively, earning a chuckle from the crowd. "It has been a good year for our village! We have enough food to last the coming winter months, we have been blessed with several new additions to our village, who will undoubtedly will grow up and become upstanding members of our community! But for me the best thing to happen was that I found out that I had a son! And he found his way here to me!"

Kaldor pointed at me and all the dragons around me looked at me with smiles and began to clap. I was so embarrassed.

"Malakye, would you come up here please?"

I hesitated a moment before making my way towards the stage, the crowd parting for me. I stepped up onto the stage and was immediately embraced by Kaldor who hugged me tightly for a few moments before returning to address the crowd.

"For those of you who don't know him, this is Malakye, my son and heir to the Anaris house!" The affection in Kaldor's voice made me blush. "I hope you all make him feel welcome! You all know of his heritage, but I know that unlike the wolves you are all tolerant and forgiving! He is one of us!"

A round of applause rang out.

"Tomorrow the tournament begins! So I want to wish all those who plan on participating all the best in the coming competition!" Kaldor declared. The crowd clapped, after a few moments Kaldor raised his paw to silence them. "One last thing before I let the festivities commence. I want to wish congratulations to Garrel Valelor, and his new wife Valla, on their marriage today."

He turned to face a couple standing next to Callidus. From the name I had to assume that he was Xavier's son, he was around my age, maybe a little younger. He looked a lot like Callidus, and was dressed in a colourful robe similar to that of the smaller female next to him. She smiled sheepishly, obviously not used to such attention as the crowd clapped for them. They stood holding paws, both of them wearing a silver band on their wrist. A wedding band of sorts. I noticed that Xavier wore three similar bands on his left wrist, I remembered hearing that he had three wives, so that must be what they represent.

"I wish the two of you many years of happiness." Kaldor finished. "Now if the newly weds would do us the honour of leading us in the first dance?"

Garrel bowed his head in acceptance while his wife giggled in embarrassment, but she was happy to go along with it. The crowd moved back clearing a large area as the band began to play a slow and cheerful tune. The couple made their way to the middle of the clearing and began to dance. Slowly, little by little other couples began to join in. I was impressed at how they all moved in sync, I had no idea how to dance. The wolves had never done more than dance individually round a large fire, not together like the dragons here.

"So are you going to dance with anyone?" Kaldor asked.

"I don't have anyone to dance with." I replied. Taking note of a few male and female couples that were dancing. "Besides, I don't know how to dance."

"We will have to remedy that sometime." He said. "Now go, have some fun. I'll see you at home later."

"Okay." I smiled.

I joined up with Laguna and the others, were we just watched the goings on of the festival. Everyone was in high spirits, everyone was smiling except Roxis and Tristen. I wasn't going to have that so I sent them to go dancing with each other. Once again they didn't like the request but they did it anyway. No one in the crowd paid them much attention, there were plenty of male couples dancing that they didn't stick out.

Laguna unfortunately wanted to dance and even though I told him I couldn't he insisted. He walked me through it, and even though I stepped on his paws a couple of times, I began to enjoy it. After a while I was able to dance well enough that Laguna didn't have to tell me what to do any more, I just did what everyone else around us were doing.

The music was incredibly upbeat and fast paced most of the time, it made the atmosphere incredibly light and fun. I doubt even Aceh could hang around here and not smile. Upon thinking that I spotted a wall of white fur amongst the black of the dragons. Michael, Jason, Aceh, Eric and Cody were all standing over by the makeshift bar that were serving drinks.

When the song ended I insisted we go over to them, Laguna seemed a little disappointed but he quickly smiled and came with me. Jason was the first to spot me, letting out a wolf whistle and gave me a look that I knew all too well.

"Looking good there stud!" Jason bellowed. "Barely recognised you!"

"I have to agree with Jason, you look quite dashing!" Eric agreed between puffs of his pipe.

"Whose the cutie with you?" Jason asked.

"Oh right, Everyone this is Laguna." I said pointing at him. Laguna gave a wave. "Laguna, these are my friends." I said, pointing and naming each one of them individually.

"Nice to meet you all." He said with a shyness I hadn't heard from him before.

"Likewise." Jason said.

I saw Aceh giving me a look, suddenly I realised that he had never given me the day off like Xavier. He probably wanted me to go and train with him shortly. I wondered if he would reconsider considering the festival and all

"Aceh..."

"No training today." He cut me off, his expression as stern as ever.

I thought back to my thoughts on how even he would have to smile in this environment, I guess I might be wrong on that one. He looked around and I saw the slightest beginnings of a smile, but he was obviously holding back. Damn stubborn tiger!

"So what have you guys been doing?" I asked.

"Just walking about, checking out the talent." Jason replied. Michael gave him a look but didn't say or do anything. "You?"

"Uh... just a bit of dancing. Laguna taught me." I said.

"Ah yes, dancing. A most useful tool!" Jason said with a overly serious tone. "Come on hun, lets go show these scaly butts a thing or two about dancing!"

Michael groaned but never got a chance to agree or reject the idea. Jason grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him towards the dance floor, causing him to drop his tankard of ale. Once he was there he didn't resist any further, he took hold of Jason and the two disappeared amongst the other couples. Cody laughed and hopped from paw to paw at the spectacle.

Cody seemed totally fine with all of this, he hadn't even bat an eyelid at breakfast when I had emerged with Jason and Michael. There was no way he didn't miss the fact that we had reeked of sex, but then I hadn't missed the scent of sex off him. He had slept with either Eric or Aceh, maybe both of them. I felt guilty about it, hell I had felt guilty about letting Xavier fuck me, as good as it had felt at the time. But then again we weren't in a formal relationship, and Cody was used sleeping with who he wanted.

I had thought about asking Cody about 'us', but I was beginning to feel he didn't feel the same way I did. That he wouldn't want a relationship like that. Maybe that was for the best. In the long run I would have to find a female to carry on the Anaris family legacy, I didn't want to be the one to let it die out. These thoughts were beginning to bring me down, even the light hearted music wasn't helping me, I needed to put those thoughts out of my head and just enjoy the here and now. There was plenty of time to worry about the future later.

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The day wore on and little by little the crowd began to disperse, but still several dozen Zangarians continued to loiter in the marketplace. Many dancing, more drinking. But now after many hours of dancing, laughing and drinking I was beginning to get tired. Tristen and Roxis had disappeared a short while ago.

Laguna was still by my side, when it came to dancing he was a pretty good teacher. I had gotten the basics, and once I got the basic moves down had taken the lead during the dance. So long as I didn't stand on Laguna's paws and not crash into other dancing couples, I considered it a win.

"Well that was fun." Laguna giggled, a little tipsy from the ale he had been drinking. "I hope we can do this again sometime."

"Yeah..."

"But there is something I'd like to do before the evenings up."

"Oh and what's that?" I asked, taking a mouthful of ale.

"I'd really like to suck you off!" He whispered.

I coughed, nearly choking on my ale, my drink dripping off my muzzle. I looked at him, he had an unmistakeable lustful glint in his eye, I knew he was being serious. I had to admit that I was more shocked than anything else, but I felt a familiar tingle from my nether regions at the prospect.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"N-no... I... just a little surprised really." I admitted.

I had suspected that he might of liked me in that way, but I hadn't expected him to say it outright like that. I guess the ale was affecting him a little more than I suspected. Would it be wrong to take advantage of the situation? Was I becoming a bit of a free spirit with who I had sex with? Since coming to Zangar less than a week ago, I had slept with Cody, Michael, Jason and Xavier. Should I draw a line in the ground and say enough was enough?

But I doubt that Laguna would understand the reason for the rejection, and that it might shatter what ever friendship we currently shared. It was possible that he wanted more out of this than just sex. Arrrgh! Why couldn't life just be simple and straightforward!?

"Laguna..."

"Tell me!" He said in a hushed voice.

"What?"

"Tell me you want it! Tell me what to do! You have the power!" He was acting desperate, almost begging while begin surprisingly assertive.

"Tell you...?"

That's when I realised what he wanted. He wanted me to use my authority to take advantage of him. He wanted me to order him to have sex with me. I had little doubt he would do it. God I was getting hard now! I imagined what I could get him to do... god I was so perverted I was scaring myself. Just a few months ago I barely thought about sex, never expecting to ever have sex with anyone. Now I starting to feel like a slut. But even though part of me wanted to say no, and I was ready to refuse just moments ago, suddenly I felt like I had to. That if I didn't I would hurt Laguna, hurt him so badly that it would break our friendship.

"Come on!" I growled in a hushed voice.

Grabbing Laguna by the wrist I began dragging him to the closest place I thought we could get some privacy, the abandoned mines. He giggled excitedly as I lead him there. I really hoped I was doing the right thing, for both our sakes.