FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

The day was cold and the sky was gray with the look of rain that will soon come. The trees were barren of leaves and there were no birds singing their joyous sings. To the wandering traveler of merchant, this old rocky path that they ride down would be very eerie and gloomy, but the the man in his armor that was black as coal, he was home.

He had been traveling for the last several months trying to find work and food, of which he was unsuccessful in finding. His home, in reality was more of a hobble, made a cave where a legend has told of an evil black dragon that lived there to protect an old black sword and a mountain of gold.

The gobble was actually very pleasant to be in, the small one room building was very organized and clean. When you walked in and looked at it you would have thought that a small family lived there, not the knight who wore black armor.

The knight got off of his horse and led it to a tree near his home and filled the horse's trough with feed and placed a bucket of water next to it. He unpacked his supplies from the horse and put them next to his door. He looked up and looked at his horse.

The horse was very old and had a bad hoof on the right front foot. Its hair was once white but over time had darkened to a dull gray. It had scars all over its body and was missing an ear and part of its tail. It had been with the knight for as longs as the knight could remember. He had seen many battles both won and lost.

The knight sighed and picked up his gear and went into his home. He placed the equipment onto his head and went to the stone fire place that also served as his oven. He grabbed a couple of logs and placed them inside and lit them. After several minutes he had a small fire and placed a couple more logs onto it. With a grunt of satisfaction, he stood up and walked over to his bed and sat down. He began taking his armor off piece by piece, starting first with his cumbersome helmet.

The knight himself was very average in looks, with short brown hair and hazel eyes. His nose had a slight kink in it that you wouldn't notice unless you knew what to look for. He stood at roughly six feet and had a fair complexion of a proper young man. He was very skilled for a man at age eighteen; though he still wished he could learn more new skills. When it came to knights he was very average and was always the man behind the scenes.

Finally, after taking all of his armor off, he walked out of his home and walked to the entrance of the black dragon's cave. He stopped just before the entrance and examined it. It was actually very normal for a cave, but it was the fact that the entrance was so big. The rocks surrounding the cave had what appeared to be claw marks all over them. All over the ground were old discarded weapons and armor ranging fromt eh most standard of knights and peasants to the armor of several kings from places the knight did not recognize. There were also signs near the entrance stat that one should stay away.

Being satisfied that nothing had changed in the time that he'd been away, he walked a couple of steps and yelled, "I'm Home!" his voice echoed in the cave, but after a couple of seconds it stopped. From the back of the cave something stirred and began moving around. At first it sounded small but as it got closer it began to sound very large. All of a sudden two golden orbs shined in the darkness. Finally the head of the largest dragon known to man materialized out of the darkness.

It looked at the knight with a look of great curiosity while steam blew out of its nose. The dragon stood over twenty feet tall and was black as the night sky. He unfurled his giant wings and stretched them out. His eyes were two golden orbs that had the look of great wisdom from the greatest of scholars but with the coldness of a true warrior.

He turned to the knight and said, "so you have returned. Your journey was fruitful I hope?"

"Sadly, no, I haven't found a kingdom or even a damsel in distress to make any money," the knight replied with an audible sigh.

The dragon looked at the knight with intense sadness and disappointment. He sat down and asked, "What will you do now master?"

The knight walked over to the dragon and sat down in front of him. With a grunt of exhaustion he replied, "I have no clue. Ever since my kingdom exiled me and forced me to wear that hideous black armor, I haven't been able to find any work to earn money. Oh and stop calling me your master. I'm not."

The dragon looked at and cocked his head. "Of course you're my master. You set me free of having to guard the black sword. Since then I have become indebted to you and must protect you." The dragon replied in complete seriousness.

The knight looked up at the dragon and looked into its eyes. After several seconds he looked down and sighed.

"All right, your point. Well you never did tell me your name. Tell me, what do they call you then?" he asked.

"I have no name, because you pulled that sword out and became my master; you are the one who gives me my name." replied the dragon.

"Well, what do you wish to be called then?" asked the Knight.

"Anything but Dragon or Bob." said the dragon.

"Well you're a great help! Oh, I know! I'll call you Shirley!" exclaimed the knight.

The look the dragon gave the knight would have made even Death have shivers running down his spine.

"Okay... I'll take that as a no. Um... Let's see... How about Ragnorok?" suggested the Knight.

"Hmm... Ragnorok. I like the sound the sound, it sounds of wisdom but can be the name of a proper warrior." The dragon said almost purring, "Now, Master. What do they call you?"

"I am known as the Black Knight, because I was exiled by my country, for wrong doing of which I am innocent. Back in the country I lived, I was known as Michael. People looked up to me and praised me for being their protector. I was presented with the most beautiful of armor and the deadliest of swords." Said the knight with a twinkle in his eyes, "But all of that changed when the princess was kidnapped and I was blamed for her disappearance. I was humiliated and exiled for that crime. I was forced to war that disgraceful black armor. Before I left I swore that I would return and retake my honor and armor back. I also swore that I would find and rescue the princess wherever she was being held." Anger filled Michael's eyes as he told Ragnorok.

"Master, count me as one of your soldiers who will help you on this journey to retake your honor and save the princess." Ragnorok said.

"Thank you Ragnorok, you are more than a soldier, you are my friend and companion on this journey." Michael replied.

"But before we do anything we need to recruit some men and raise an army." Ragnorok said thoughtfully, "and you need to take a bath. You stink like cow manure."

Michael laughed at this and stood up, "That my friend is th perfect idea. Tomorrow I will travel to an old friend's of mine and see if I can find any mercenaries in the area. Looks like we have a promise to fulfill and an army to recruit." Michael turned to the direction of the country that had exiled him, Michael the Black Knight.

Chapter II

The next morning, Michael woke up and began getting himself ready to go see his old friend. He looked out the window and saw that the clouds had finally parted and were showing off the blue sky which it had been hiding for several days. For the first time in a while, Michael allowed himself to smile. He thought to himself, Today is going to be a beautiful day.

Several hours later the rain was pouring down hard. Michael sat on his horse and was swearing at the rain. He still had several miles to go to get to his friends home. He was also very angry, because he was wearing his armor as well.

Finally after several hours he reached a building that was very old looking and big. Michael dismounted from his horse and walked it into the stable. Wow the Inn is looking great as ever, he thought examining the building. He dried his horse and grabbed his equipment that he had taken off the horse, and then took off towards the Inn.

As he went to open the door, it was wrenched opened and two women walked out in an obvious bad mood. They both were wearing clothes and robes of royalty. This surprise Michael because it was rare that royalty would be seen here. The one had your hood down and was swearing at someone.

She had blonde hair with green eyes and stood at roughly five foot seven inches, from what Michael could tell. She had her right hand on the hilt of what looked to be a sword of some sort. Her left hand was in front of her companion, probably to protect her friend if attacked, Michael though.

The other girl was standing behind her, what Michael surmised, the body guard whimpering. They were backing up and didn't notice Michael standing behind them. They were walking faster than Michael had guessed, what was made even worse was when the second girl turned and ran right into him. She collided into him and they went flying to the ground.

Michael's gear went flying and landed in a giant puddle to his right. Instinctively, Michael wrapped his arms around the girls and held onto her till they hit the ground. He grunted in pain as they both hit the ground with a loud thump. He opened his eyes and through the slits of his helmet he saw that the girl's hood had come off. She had the most beautiful jet black hair that ended just past her shoulders. She was looking right at him with big blue eyes. For some reason she looked very familiar to Michael. She was also very pretty from what Michael could see.

After several seconds the girls gasped and screamed right into his helmet. He screamed in agony from the pain his ears being bombarded by the loud noise in the confines of his helmet. The girl got and point at him.

"Y...Y...You're the Black K...Knight! W...Why are you here? Y...You're here to take me back! I'm not going back ever! Daphne! Help me! It's the Black Knight!" she screamed.

"The Black Knight?!" The girl, Daphne, exclaimed, "Nora get behind me!" She pulled out her sword and pointed it at Michael. "Stay where you are! Do not get up!" she demanded. "Nora go to the stables and get two horses."

"O...Okay. I'll be right back." Nora said and ran off to the stables.

Michael's ears were still ringing but he was able to understand what was going on though. He stayed on the ground looking at the bodyguard whose sword was be was looking at. The girl was saying something.

"Why are you here? We thought you were dead. The princess cannot find out who you are!" she exclaimed. She grabbed the hilt of the sword and was about to plunge the sword into his chest, when all of a sudden lightening ripped through the sky behind her. With the rain pouring down and lightening ripping through the sky behind her, Michael thought, Well this sucks, I'm going to die but hey, at least this probably the coolest thing I could ever see right now.

"Daphne we need to go! I have the horses! He can't be allowed to catch me outside the castle!" yelled Nora who was off to Michael's right.

Daphne lowered her sword and said, "Okay I'm coming!" she looked down at Michael, "We will meet again Black Knight, or should I say Michael?" She turned back and ran over to one of the horses and mounted it. Then both her and Nora rode off.

Michael's eyes were wide in shock when the girl had said his real name. She knows my name! If that's true then that means, he thought.

"Oh my God! Nora! Wait! Stop! Come back!" he shouted while turning onto his stomach and reaching for her. But it was too late; they were too far to hear him.

With all that had happened just now, Michael didn't notice that the men from inside had come to investigate. They all recognized hi as the hated Black Knight and drew their swords. They surrounded Michael and forced him to his feet. They grabbed some rope and tied him up, then carried him into the Inn.

Far down the path two horses and their riders thundered away. I need to get back to the kingdom as soon as possible and tell Henry, Daphne thought, The Black Knight is still alive and must be killed. Nora cannot know who he is.