FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Hunters Moon series Characters Pelnak and Cassiopeia are © Cederwyn Whitefurr used with permission written by Possum and Cederwyn Whitefurr

Hunters Moon New Moon Rising Chapter Eleven

Deafening roar of rotors filled the air, as Cassie, Pelnak and Ely melted into the forest. Leaves and even small branches and twigs whirled in the down-draft, as rappelling ropes dropped form the hovering helicopter before heavily armed and armoured men slid down them and took up defensive positions.

"Echo leader, sound off!" Come a mechanised voice.

"Echo one, Echo two..." So it went off, each man indicating his presence and readiness.

"Fan out, I don't care if we have to overturn every godless rock and leaf in this valley - we will find them!" Come the voice again, as they split up two by two, Esmeralda staying with Echo Leader. "Maintain radio contact via throat mike, we're professionals and we know what we're hunting, Echo Leader, out!"

They split up, all going in different compass directions, whilst Esmeralda crouched and placed a hand on the ground, before she hissed and withdrew her hand, shaking it as if stung.

"Definitely magicks been done here, but nothing I can't counter easily!"

"Echo three, possible sighting, sector 4 -"

"Echo three, terminate with extreme prejudice!"

"Copy that, acquiring target -"

Two Hunters crouched, one lifting the heavy crossbow he carried, the silver tipped bolt laying nocked and ready. He sighted through the scope, the Whitetail doe oblivious, before she gurgled and dropped, killed instantly as the bolt tore through her ribs and heart.

"Target down - target is..."

There is a few moments of silence.

Moving towards the body, the first Hunter puts his crossbow down, then retrieves a vial from his vest pouch. Carefully getting the blood into the vial, he adds four drops of another liquid and seals it. Shaking it vigorously, he watches as the blood stays red, before he curses.

"Echo Three! Negative, target blood type is not Therian - repeat, not Therian!"

Close behind, his squad mate grumbled. "Fuck its hot, why do we need this stupid combat armour for? They're Therian's, not fucking Godzilla! They've got no chance..."

He un-clipped his helmet and dropped it, as he pulled off the balaclava then undone the polymer neck brace and threw it on the ground. "I'm going to fucking die of heat stress under all this crap, really, whose idea was it?"

"Want to live? Wear it - " Grunted Echo three, as he pulled the bolt out of the dead Doe's chest and put it back into the quiver,

"They're Therian's! Animals...all this is just - overkill! Hell, give me a MP5 and one magazine, it'd be over in a heartbeat!"

"Stay alert idiot - they could be watching us right now!" Snarled Echo Three as he gutted the doe with his combat knife, then cut her throat and then the tail off, as a grisly trophy.

"I need a piss, sweating my tits off in this armour..." His colleague grunted, walking about thirty feet away, then touching his throat mike. "Who feels like venison tonight? Nice shot, straight through the heart and at least its not a tot..."

A sickening gurgle was heard before the radio went dead.

* Cassie saw them from the moment they landed, easily evading them as she moved stealth-fully through the forest. She knew her home inside out and could have run them ragged, but she wasn't playing - lives were at stake here and Cassiopeia knew this was no game...

Blindsiding the hunter, she moved in on him whilst his friend was distracted, and he never heard her coming - before her jaws flashed and tore open his throat - then kicked the second Hunter as he lay crouched down. She got him under the helmets rim, her hoof hitting that hard it snapped the straps and he grunted, falling forwards over the dead doe.

Cassiopeia reared, then as he rolled over onto his back, his eyes widened in horror as he seen Cassiopeia up on her hind hooves, forelegs kicking - then he began to scream - before Cassiopeia's sharp cloven hooves come down, exploding his skull like an overripe melon. With a disgusted grunt, Cassiopeia stepped over the convulsing corpse and melted back into the forest.

*

"Echo Three, Echo Three - answer me god damn it!" Snapped the leader.

Silence greeted this order.

*

Ely pauses a moment, feeling something sickening rise up out of the earth and trail its rank tendrils over his legs and belly, leaving him sickened and chilled before he shakes it off. He is a moment thinking of what it was, before he turns his thoughts back to those who hunt him - pushing the feeling away.

* Ely's large form moves erect and silently sticking to the large trees for cover as his coat blends partly with the bark to help conceal him, as he hears the soft breath that to Ely's ears, sounds like the Hunter stalking them had run a marathon. Ely whispers something, then he melds up against the tree, his magicks camouflaging him from the human..

"I thought I heard something - " Mutters the armoured human, his head moving from side to side. "Thermals picked up something, now it -"

Ely's powerful paws closed on the side of the helmet, then Ely grunted, twisting his arms. With a snap like a breaking bough, Ely's strength snapped the human's neck before Ely caught the corpse and dragged it into a thicket and hid it, taking what looked like a silver sword and scabbard from the Hunter's hip, unsheathing it, Ely glanced at the runes on it, before he swallowed and a cruel, violent look spread across his muzzle. He knew this sword type, what it was designed to do - and how cruel it was to use it...

Ely hated killing - but he knew these Hunter's wouldn't give them a seconds mercy before quickly moving to encircle his squad mate, who was facing the other way and had seen and heard nothing.

"Such a waste of time, I'd much rather be back at base what about you Dave?" Spoke the man, as he lowered his crossbow and shook his head, then tapped the side of his helmet. "Dave? You on coms..."

He turned his head, the body following, expecting to see his squad mate - but it is if the forest had opened up and swallowed him alive. Suddenly, from out of the very air itself, he found himself staring at the chest of some beast out of his worse nightmares...right before it snarled and an agonising pain tore through his chest.

Ely drove the sword through the human's chest, then twisted it and stepped back, pulling the sword with him, hearing and feeling the crunch and grind of bones. Blood spurted from the mortal wound, as the human's eyes widened and he dropped to his knees, clutching at his chest.

"A fate quicker than you deserve..." Ely snarled, before he reversed the blade he held in both paws and drove is straight down just above the humans shoulders - it snapped, tore and shredded, before Ely's force drove the bloodied point into the ground, crushing the humans spine to about 3/4 its normal length with his strength and anger that fuelled his sudden savagery. With a grunt, Ely twisted the pommel and snapped the hilt clean off the sword, dropping it to the ground as he panted and shuddered.

*

"All teams report in" Echo Leader snarled. "God damn it, report!"

"Echo one reporting in!"

"Echo two reporting in"

Only crackle of static come from teams three and four...

"Echo Five...reporting in!"

"Echo team three and four, please repeat status did not copy your last over."

Again, the crackle of static...

"God damn it all to hell!" Growled the leader, as he turned to Esmeralda, then keyed his radio. " All teams regroup at LZ Alpha, repeat, regroup at LZ Alpha, acknowledge!"

Double clicks come from the radio.

"Echo Leader to Echo Flight, Important! Radio base to send backup, over!

"Echo Flight to Echo Leader, copy receipt, notify base to send Alpha team, out."

Over the next hour, six out of the ten returned, they're hot, sweaty in their heavy combat armour and protective clothing, and some start peeling pieces off, dropping it on the ground and drinking heavily from their canteens.

":Idiots, incompetent fools!" Esmeralda snarls at them. "They've taken four of you, What have you got to show for it? Nothing! You are insignificant little children, playing at war games, when these beasts are slaughtering humans and feasting on their remains! Do you know what they do for pleasure? Do any of you know how they would take children, torture them and do unspeakable things to do them - before they murdered them? Do you want that for your own children?"

Pelnak and Cassiopeia appeared at the edge of the forest, staring sadly at the humans, then shaking their heads.

"I give you one chance - " Pelnak snarled, his voice loud and filled with threatening promise. "You have come to our wood - you will leave now- or there shall be no mercy shown unto you! Leave us in peace, as we have left your kind in peace! We killed to protect ourselves - we wish not to kill again, now, leave - or face our..."

Cassiopeia squeals and drops, as a Hunter fires a crossbow bolt that slices through her right ear, the agony burning like fire before she flees into the forest, Pelnak close behind as more crossbow bolts tear through branches and leaves in their wake.

As they stand up, they feel the very ground tremble before them, as an imposing sight pushes through the branches and shrubs. It is three times the size of the two Whitetails, as it raises its antlered head and roars in rage and anger.

"What the fuck..." One stammers in fear.

"What's a European Red Stag doing..."

Ely roars again, before he stamps a hoof on the ground, his lips twitching before he screams out.

"NOW!"

Cassiopeia and Pelnak burst from opposing sides of the clearing, capturing the Hunter's in a deadly stampede. Two are crushed beneath the cloven hooves as Pelnak and Cassiopeia trample them, Pelnak's head slashing and swaying as his antlers rip and tear at anything within reach. Their jaws flash and soon blood spurts and splatters, as they break apart and whirl back around - as Ely charges into them - his power and strength easily driving his antlers through the breastplate of one of the Hunters. With a snort, Ely tosses the screaming human over his back, hind legs kicking out to crush the humans spine before he lands broken and helpless behind Ely.

"Kill him, bring me his head!" Echo Leader screams at the remaining Hunters.

Ely tears another apart with his razor sharp antlers, before stomping the screaming human into the ground with his cloven hooves as Cassiopeia and Pelnak take out another two.

Esmeralda is stunned at this and snatches up her radio, quickly switching channels to link with her mistress.

"Mistress? There is some strange beast here I do not recognise."

There is a moment, then suddenly Esmeralda's eyes glow for the briefest second, as her Mistress uses some dark magicks to take control over her apprentice. She see's what her Apprentice see's, the powerful form of Ely and with a blink, she see's the weave and weft of magick that fills and swirls around the Stag, and much to a lesser extent, the smaller Whitetail Doe.

In a heartbeat, Esmeralda gasps, as the link is broken, as she pants heavily, before hearing her mistresses warning screaming from the dropped radio.

"Get away from that beast - now!"

"No mistress!" Esmeralda snarls, then a cruel, predatory grin crosses her face, as she lifts her hands, her fingers splaying out. "I will destroy this Stag myself, he is weak and powerless before the magicks that you have taught me! Oh, I shall make him scream and suffer before I choose to let him die - at my convenience..."

Ely's hind hoof slammed into the breastplate of the Echo Leader's chest, crushing ribs and cracking the polymer armour, driving the choking human to the ground. His eyes are filled with rage and his desire to murder - so overcome, he doesn't see Esmeralda lifting her hands behind him.,

"Stop it you young fool - he's a..." Comes the shriek from the radio.

Esmeralda's magicks flash out like inky black tendrils, intending to lash around Ely's body and render him weak and powerless. Without warning, Ely flicks an ear and grunts, before turning his head, his eyes suddenly blazing with a brilliant Emerald light.

"Pup..." Ely growls, turning around as the emerald light starts to envelop him, growing brighter. "You really think that...feeble magicks, would harm me?"

Again, Esmeralda's snarl wreaths her face, as she unleashes everything she had at Ely, who merely acts like its no more than a irritating, biting fly, but his emerald green starts to become flecked with ribbons of black, purple and violent at the Lupid Magicks come to the fore.

"I command you beast..." Esmeralda snarls, her body soaked with sweat as she channels everything into the attack.

"You...command me?" Ely roars at her.

He stumbles, then drops to his knees, panting and gasping. Esmeralda cackles, continuing to drive the black magicks into Ely's body, as he screams and struggles...but its not because of what she is doing_...._

Ely is forced to his hooves, as his head lifts, before slumping down, as if in submission, before the darker Lupid magicks seize him. His head rose, eyes burning like twin pools of magma, head wreathed in streaks of violet, black and red, that spread up his antlers causing the runes to burn brilliant crimson.

Snarling, Ely's magick flashes out like black and red tendril flames enfolding Esmeralda in power she never, ever, imagined was possible. Ely growls, his anger rising, as he twists the magicks, Esmeralda's body snapping and cracking as it too is twisted and warped, before Ely stamps a hoof and her body explodes into viscera and gore that rain down over the clearing.

"No..." Croaks Echo Leader, as he stares from where he lays, crippled and choking on his own blood.

"Yes..." Cassiopeia growls at him, as she comes to stand over him, sensing and realising the human is weak, helpless and powerless. With a sigh, Cassiopeia turns and walks away leaving him to die a slow, agonising death.

"We...it's over?" Pelnak gasped, eyes wide and shaking with the stress.

Cassie walked over, then draped her muzzle and neck over his shoulder, moving against him to offer what comfort and relief she could to her beloved mate...

Ely smiled, before he coughed and shuddered, then moved over to drape his own neck over theirs, thankful for only minor wounds. As the two Whitetail began sobbing, thinking it was over, Ely trembled as he sensed through the magicks that bound him to Esmeralda - that it was only just beginning - that was the first skirmish - this time - the war was really coming...

TO BE CONTINUED...