FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Previously on Sands of Love, Leon disobeyed Travis' warnings not to go into town alone. The young fox found himself trapped in an alley and surrounded by slavers. In an attempt to fight them he was knocked unconscious. What will become of our young vulpine friend?

After that night...

Leon groaned as he awoke, wincing once he started to feel that blow to the head he took the previous night. "Ow, fuck." He said aloud almost shouting as he soon got a look around the room he was in. It was dark and damp with only one torch on the far side of the room. The fox was locked up in a steel cage, small and cramped with only enough room to stand and crouch down. "Keep it down, you'll alert the guards." A voice came from across the room. Leon could barely make out the figure across the room as it was dark and visibility was fairly low. "Where are we?" Leon whispered in reply, looking towards the doorway to see if anyone was coming. He could hear faint chatter and laughing from up the stairs. "We've been captured by slavers. I don't intend on being a slave though, I'm going to get out of here. I still have to make my dream come true." The man spoke low, but it was clear he was driven and would stop at nothing to regain his freedom. "My name's Terra by the way. I'm going to be the world's greatest fighter one day just you wait. Nothing will stop me, not even these iron bars." Terra said before sitting down in his cage. Leon could only see the silhouette of the man as he sat down, he couldn't tell much at all from him. "So how'd you get in here?" Leon asked before he turned his head to the sounds of boots descending down the stairs. "Shhh..." The man shushed the fox as the slavers entered the holding cells. Leon got back into his curled up position and pretended he was still unconscious. "This one's still out, check on our fighter over there." One of the men grunted walking over with the torch while the other stood in front of his cage. "Lookit here, it's the king of fighters." Both men laughed, one getting a bit too close to his cage. Leon got a good look at the man; he was a well-built jaguar though since he had been here, he was looking a bit on the lean side.

Terra took the opportunity and grabbed the man by his clothes and bashed him forward against the iron bars twice before shoving him back. The slaver tumbled and slammed into Leon's cage, giving Leon a chance to put his skills from his days on the street to use on the unconscious man. Leon slipped his hands down his side and grabbed hold of a small dagger in his belt. Then that's when they caught his eye. This guard had the keys to the cells, so with such an opportune moment that the fox couldn't pass up, he grabbed his keys and unlocked his cage. Terra managed to get a hold on the other slaver and was basically cracking his skull against bars. "Fuck you, fuck your soul, and fuck that bitch that gave birth to you!" He growled with each slam against the bars until his body went limp. Terra dropped him after that, sitting back down in his cage. "Fucking slavers..." He grunted not having yet realized that Leon was out of his cage. "That was certainly an interesting sight." Leon remarked as the locking mechanism for Terra's cage opened with a clank. "How did you get out?" The jaguar asked, stepping out of his cage finally able to stretch out "You could say I have some slight of hand." The fox smirked, taking a look around the room, specifically eyeing the door. "How about helping me out of these cuffs, I can't exactly fight to my full extent with my hands chained together." He said with a smirk, rather happy to be out of that cramped cage. Leon jumbled through the keys until he found the one that unlocked his cuffs. "Thanks for freeing me my friend, I owe you a great debt." He said, offering his hand to Leon. Leon placed his hand overtop Terra's and gently pushed back to him. "Greetings and such can wait. We need to get out of here..." Leon said, looking around at the other cages. Most were empty, but there were a few with others in them. "Hey, let us out too, don't leave us here." A feminine voice called out from a cage behind Leon. The fox turned around with a nod, trying the different keys on her cage. "Watch my back, while I let them out." Leon whispered to Terra as he found the right key and unlocked the woman's cage, opening it. By this time the guard that had been knocked unconscious was waking up, groaning as he awoke. "Huh? What- how did you get out?" The slaver wolf let out a growl, as he got to his feet, pulling out a small knife from inside his robes that Leon missed, not really looking for hidden weapons at the time. The wolf let out a roar as he thrust the small knife at the jaguar; his attack was in vein as Terra struck his hand holding the small knife before grabbing his wrist and driving his elbow into his jaw. There was an audible impact and crack as his jaw broke, but Terra wasn't done with him as he grabbed his head and brought his face down into his knee, which would have sent him back onto the ground. Terra quickly grabbed his robes and slung him into the cages, with more audible cracks and breaks inside the slaver mixed in with the crashing empty cages.

Leon was honestly scared of Terra at this point, he took that man out so quickly... so brutally. Terra clenched his fists and started for the stairs. Leon hesitated for a moment before following him with the other would be slave. She was a young bearded dragon like Argus, in fact, the more he looked at her, the more he thought she resembled him. "Do you know how to use one of those?" She asked rather coldly before snatching the dagger from his hand. "H-hey! -" He started to protest as they reached the top of the stairs but she cut him off by grabbing his shirt. "Look, I'm thankful you got us out, but if you don't know how to fight then stay back!" She said before joining Terra who was currently fighting two other slavers. The jaguar was certainly showing no mercy to the slavers as he dealt with the two of them with brutal efficiency. The lizard girl was swift herself, making great use of her tail, tripping them before sticking them with the blade. She didn't stay long on any one slaver for more than a second after plunging the blade into their vitals with quite the accurate strikes. Both Terra and the lizard girl seemed to be well-trained fighters... and then there was Leon, he wasn't good with fighting, only running and picking pockets. He clenched his fists; angry that he couldn't do anything to help when he spotted a bow and an arrow quiver on one of the fallen slavers. The fox ran over and picked them up; strangely enough, they felt natural in his hands. He had never shot or even held a bow before now, but it was strange... something about it just felt right. Leon knocked an arrow from the quiver and took aim at the one of the slavers that grabbed the reptile girl from behind. He was nervous and shaky, but something in the back of his mind told him to calm down and steady himself. Leon drew the bowstring back and loosed his shot. The arrow missed the slaver holding her by a few inches, but surprisingly hit the one about to strike her with a spiked cudgel. The arrow struck the slaver directly in the throat and he went down gurgling and coughing up blood, his body jerking and squirming as he bled out. Terra had finished with his group, which Leon was astonished that he dealt with five men so fast. He moved to the man who threw the lizard to the ground and stopped him, putting him in a chokehold before he went limp. Terra knelt over him and gave his head a quick turn, breaking the man's neck.

Leon cringed a bit as they had a moment to breathe and decide how to get out of this place. "Good shot kid, what's your name?" The bearded dragon girl asked, seeming a bit friendlier to him than before. "I'm Leon, you are?" The fox replied, while looking over the dead bodies in the room. "Liana. Now let's get out of here." She said, nodding to both of them and walking onto the next room. Terra and Leon followed her, sharing a somewhat confused look. "Do you even know where you're going?" Terra asked bluntly, looking to the other doors around the room. "I counted my steps when they brought me in... we should be going this way... Then up some stairs and then I think we'll be outside." Liana said, pointing to the right. Leon looked back for a moment and noticed something odd; one of the dead slavers had a particularly shiny and ornate blade handle sticking from his robes. Leon walked over and took a better look and to his surprise it was the very sword Argus had given to him. Leon found it weird that his sword would have just appeared to him like this, but nonetheless he didn't think too much on it before taking it and tying it to his side. "Hurry up Leon, we need to get out of here!" Terra called back sounding like the two of them found the exit. Leon hurried back up to Terra and Liana who were waiting for him at the top of a stairway. "Sorry, I found my sword... I had to grab it." The young fox replied as he gave a bit of a worried look at the two of them. Terra patted him on the back and gave him a smirk as he pulled his hand wraps tight and clenched his fists. "You two ready? We're getting out of here." Liana said, pushing open this cellar door.

Meanwhile...

A small rat crashed through the window of one of the downtown taverns, soon picked up by Travis who followed him out picking him up by the collar of his shirt. "Where is he?" The stallion demanded as he slammed the smaller being against the wall. The rat let out a cry of pain, already having been roughed up by Travis inside. The guards had been paid off so they would not interfere with Travis or his caravan group. "I told you I don't know!" The rat pleaded, grabbing onto the equines hand. He wasted no time pulling out a dagger and pressing it against his throat. "You lie you little rat. I damn sure know you know what's going on with the slavers around the city. Now you better start giving me information before I start taking from you, I'll be sure to take something precious from you if you don't speak the truth to me." Travis pulled the blade away from his throat and pressed it right against his crotch, painfully prodding the tip against the rodent's balls. "Ack, I'll talk I'll talk! Just don't cut them off!" He begged, breaking to the threat of having himself castrated. Travis dropped the little rat onto the ground and put the dagger away. "Speak." The stallion ordered, taking one small step back. The rat coughed spitting up a bit of blood on the ground as he caught his breath. "I heard, I heard two slavers talking about their new catches a few nights ago. They were laughing about a young fox that tried to come at them with a small sword and how easy it was to knock him out... They said something about their camp in devil's pass, but that's all I know I swear! Please let me go!" He groveled telling him what he knew. "Get out of here... If I find out you're lying to me... I will find you, and I WILL take what is precious to you." Travis warned, turning back to Argus and the others that joined him for this little information hunt. "I've never seen Travis this worked up before." Argus whispered to Krayna who replied with a nod. Travis, Argus and Krayna returned to their camp to ready themselves for what was sure to be a fierce fight to return Leon to the place he now belonged.

Travis was all ready to move and waiting rather impatiently on Argus and Krayna. Eventually Argus stepped out of his tent, dressed in heavy plated armor carrying a shortsword around his waist on the right, a heavy war-hammer on the opposite side, a shield and a long spear. "Let us bring hell down upon these dark souls. Their skulls will split at my hammer, their armor will be rent as I run them through with my spear, and their heads will be severed from their bodies by my blade." The lizard pounded the chest plates of his armor, making the loud clacking of metal on metal. Krayna was the last one to be ready, her face and scales painted in black, red and green. A symbol had been marked upon the top of her head, which by her people was the mark of the huntress. She carried a large reinforced bow with at least three quivers of fifty arrows. All most likely coated in the venom from her very own fangs. Her venom like most snakes was a fast acting neurotoxin that incapacitated her victims before painfully killing them. Even if the arrow didn't hit a vital organ, all it would take is a scratch. There stood Travis in front of his two oldest friends, only dressed in his standard attire, carrying two scimitars, a twin sword and throwing knives. "If you're ready, we have no time to waste. I've already secured us our mounts. Hunter drakes." Travis said, pulling only two along. Krayna would be able to keep up easily with them through the sands while she slid across the surface of the desert. Hunter drakes were vicious creatures that were very hard to tame, and to get ones that were tamed cost quite a bit of money. It was all worth it though to save the young fox Travis had laid claim to as his lover.

The rescue party made their way to the gates of Ghallamar and was on their way to Devil's Pass, one of the most dangerous places known throughout the desert. There were many vicious creatures that inhabited the canyon, but most of all was the tribes of what were called desert dwellers. They were often hostile to outsiders and had the habit of killing first and asking questions later, if at all. There had been attempts to clear out the pass and set up outposts, but every attempt has failed with numerous casualties, though they always sent back one survivor to tell the tale. The time of day didn't matter to the dwellers; they could strike with fierce speed and overwhelming force disappearing back into the crevices of the pass not giving their victims even a chance to organize their defense. Many claim they are ghosts and restless spirits. Others just believe they are rumors to keep people from using the pass or to just spread superstition.

Travis knew that they were far more than just tales or myths; he has seen their handy work first hand. Right about when he was at Leon's age. He was deployed in the sultan's army to clear out the pass. He was the only survivor of the battle... it wasn't even a battle really. It was a massacre that Travis only spoke of once and that was the report of the operations failure. He never spoke of it again, not once after that. So many arrows from every direction, his comrades pulled under the canyon floor. The screams of his friends in the chaos... Those memories were coming back to him now, but still... to save Leon, he would risk the danger to bring him home. Argus and Krayna knew what they were getting into as well, but Leon was one of them now he was family, and family always looks out for each other. As they reached the entrance to the pass, it was littered with warnings, obviously from the desert dwellers. Skeletons strung up on wooden posts most likely someone unlucky enough to be caught alive and tortured to death or gutted and strung up to bleed out. More skulls and bones and skeletons littered the way to the rocky walls of the pass.

~The Devil's Pass~

Leon, along with Terra and Liana finally escaped the underground, only to run right into chaos. Tents burned brightly as dark set in, the screams of slavers as arrows coming from the shadows picked them off. The cries of fear as others were dragged under what they would have thought to be solid ground. The three ran over to get into cover behind a cart of barrels while they tried to figure out what was going on. "An attack? Who is it?" Terra questioned, watching one of the slaver men running their way get struck by two arrows at once as he tumbled into the ground. "If we have a chance to go, then this is it. We need to get out of here now." Liana threw the idea to escape in the chaos out to Leon and Terra. "If we leave now, then we might get killed by the arrows." Leon replied, trying to get a look at just where the arrows were coming from but as three arrows struck the barrels in front of them he ducked back down. "Maybe we should go back inside until everything has settled down?" Leon muttered nervously receiving a small whack on the head from Liana. "Get your shit together! We have to get out of here." The lizard girl hissed before looking to Terra who was no longer with them. "Wait, where did that cat get off to?" She soon peaked out from around the barrel to see the jaguar lying on the ground... drinking the wine that was pouring out in a stream from one of the barrels. "Terra! Get your ass back over here!" She called to him in a loud whisper. The jaguar only held up a finger, telling her to wait a moment.

Soon enough he got back behind the barrels with a rather wide grin on his face. "That's better. I was so thirsty." The big cat sighed in relief as if their surroundings weren't an entire warzone. "You are a fucking idiot." Liana glared at him, before the three realized that everything had gotten quiet. Aside from dieing men on the ground groaning or making those last vein attempts to crawl to safety everything had stopped. There were no more arrows raining from the sky, no one was running around trying to organize a defense, nothing. Liana and Leon soon spotted figures coming out of the shadows of the surrounding area, covered in tattered brown robes or cloaks approaching the burning encampment. They began picking items of dead bodies, salvaging arrows, bows, and other weapons from the dead after running either a crude looking sword or spear through their chest to make sure they were dead. "Kralak! Ikla ha duura!" One of the robed beings shouted, pointing towards the barrels that Leon, Terra and Liana hid behind. Two of them headed their way, stopping right in front of the barrels grabbing one and carrying it away. The three let out a sigh of relief before peaking out to take a look at the men pretty much ransacking the camp.

The two men came back shortly to retrieve more of the barrels when one of them noticed something. More specifically that something was Leon's tail, which was sticking out from behind the barrels. "Ni ra din huunaklu!" The man shouted kicking over the barrel and drawing his sword and grabbing hold of Leon. Terra lunged up grabbing the arm of the man's sword arm, and shoving him against the wall and disarming him. The three were quickly surrounded by a multitude of these robed beings with swords drawn, spears and arrows aimed dead at them. One of them stepped up removing his headdress. "Put down your weapons. Let him go." He said, ordering them in a calm and collected tone. He gave a signal to the others around him to lower their weapons. Which they did, though Terra growled keeping the blade against this person's throat while giving the evil eye to the men surrounding them. "Terra. Let him go." Leon said, dropping his bow and sword, placing his hand upon the jaguars shoulder. Liana did the same as the fox seeing as any sudden moves would most likely be greeted with a barrage of arrows. He hesitated on releasing the man, but let him go and gave him his sword back. "You were not with these men correct? Possibly here unwillingly?" The man spoke seeming to hit the nail on the head with each word. Leon nodded letting him know he was correct, though having been surrounded by men cloaked in dark robes put the trio a bit on edge. "We will speak then..." He stated, signaling the men to fall back. They gave him a look before doing so, some slipping into the sand covered ground while others seemed to just fly up over the wall, though it was obvious they had some sort of grappling hook.

A few minutes later Leon, Terra and Liana sat around a campfire with this strange man. He was covered head to toe in sandy colored fur though his body looked more lizard-like seeming to share the features of reptiles and felines. His eyes were solid orange with no real sign of pupils or iris'. "Where are we? And who, what are you?" Leon inquired trying to make heads or tails of what he really was. "All in due time young one." He smiled leaning forward placing his elbows on his knees and resting his head on his four fingered hands. "You are in our home, what your people have come to call the Devil's Pass. We do not take kindly to trespassers, especially ones who do not leave something of value in return for entering our land. How did you come to be in the company of these... men?" He explained about the area they were in, asking about how they came to be in the company of the slavers. "These men were what are called slavers. They capture and kidnap people then they sell and trade them after breaking their will and spirit." Terra growled clenching his fist and standing up. An arrow hit the ground in front of him, which reminded the jaguar that he should mind his manners. "I see, well you will be free to leave after we are done speaking." He smiled, pulling a large bladder of water from over his shoulder. "As to what we are. Your people call us desert dwellers, what we call ourselves is Kirath. My name in your tongue is Korrim. I am also the leader of my people." He said finally introducing himself, taking a drink from the water sack before tossing it to the three. "Drink, you must be thirsty." The kirathan smiled nodding to them. Terra, Leon and Liana took rather generously from the bladder letting out that sight of satisfaction after that nice long drink of water. "Thank you for your hospitality Korrim." Leon said as he tossed the kirath his water. "Now then. I will lead you back towards the entrance of our territory and you will leave peacefully, gather your gear." He said, stating the leaving peacefully part with a rather cold and serious tone. With that, the three now free allies were lead towards the entrance of the pass, right in the direction of Travis, Argus and Krayna. Which were coming for blood from the now dead slavers.

It was less than an hour before the rumbling of the hunter drakes approached Leon's group. Korrim seemed to sink into the sandy ground as the lizards came into view. "I believe they are here for you young fox. Goodbye." The last words from the kirathan as he disappeared from sight just before the lizards reached the trio. "Leon!" That familiar voice shouted as the giant reptiles circled them. Travis jumped down off the drake's back almost immediately pulling the fox into his arms. "Leon! I've been looking everywhere for you." The stallion clutched the fox against him almost painfully so. "Travis... you're... crushing me..." He chuckled a bit, patting his arms. Krayna and Argus circled the other two, keeping their weapons ready. "Wait, they're with me. We got away from the slavers after the desert dwellers attacked their camp." Leon said, trying to get the other caravan members to lower their weapons. Things seemed quite cheerful at the moment until a heavy open hand connected with the fox's face. "Don't ever do that to me again!" Travis yelled before putting his arms back around Leon, dropping to his knees with tears rolling down his cheeks. Leon was stunned to say the least as that sting on his face quickly set in, the fox only wrapped his arms around the back of Travis' neck really unable to think of anything to say in reply. "I thought I lost you..." He said, standing up and holding the fox against his chest. "...I missed you too... my Travis." Leon smiled hugging tightly into his stallion lover. "So are those two like?" Liana prodded her fingers together trying to put two and two together. Krayna let out a sigh of relief nodding to her as she slithered closer to the lizard girl and jaguar. "Hey Argus. Do you know this girl? She looks kind of like you." The naga looked over to the heavily armored bearded dragon. "We can get through with the reunion when we get back to Ghallamar... We're being watched." Argus pointed out looking towards the silhouettes on the cliffs above them. "They're letting us leave Travis. They aren't bad people. They just want to keep their home safe and be left alone." Leon said, looking up at the kirathan warriors hoping that they could take this chance to leave this place of death behind.

The travel back to Ghallamar was a long and easy one. Travis was more than content that he got Leon back safe and unharmed. The fox himself ended up falling asleep against his stallion on the travel back. Liana was quiet for a majority of the ride back, though she seemed a bit suspicious towards Argus when she spoke to him. Terra was still a bit drunk, having gotten a ride from Krayna. The jaguar got a bit flirty with the cobra; he even managed to get her to blush. Though as they got closer to the city their relaxing journey back to the caravan turned into danger as black smoke rose and the glow of flames from the walls of the city as morning breaks. It looks like they won't be able to rest just yet; the six must now jump back into the fire to find the members of the caravan and escape!