FSE

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The sun was setting soon. Sela's son lay run-through in the ditchbed, but as the ringleader of the tiny rebellion she would be given a more interesting death; one to set an example to beasts both inside and outside the Abbey walls, Cluny had declared. Sela lay bound in a cage, the horde had gathered firewood, and now all that was left was to wait till dark. The vixen didn't look up as a cutlass hilt rattled against the bars, not the first time nor the second. After the beating she'd received she looked half dead already, and she didn't seem inclined to disprove that impression. Limp and bloody, dress torn, she lay on the dirt-and-cane floor of the cage, staring at the ropes around her paws, not even trying to remove them. Any fox worth her salt probably could, but why bother? She wouldn't get far.

"Hey! Fox!"

"My name is Sela," she said flatly, still not looking up.

Fangburn sighed and leaned on the cage bars. "Fine. Sela. Chief sent me to talk to you."

"Talk away."

"You know what I mean! To get *you* talking. Anything you want to spill while you have time?"

"Would it save me if I did?"

"Chief said he'd think about it."

"And you believed him."

He sighed again. "No, not really."

Both were silent for a while. Sela had nothing to say, and Fangburn could think of nothing useful. Perhaps Redtooth could have, he was the one with the knack for words, wrote the Articles and everything. Fangburn found himself envious for the thousandth time, and bitter that Redtooth had gone and died and stuck him with doing the talking. Maybe Killconey could do better, but he was hardly about to admit defeat to a green recruit who wasn't even a rat.

Sela wasn't a rat either. Even so, Fangburn felt a twinge of sympathy. Rough old killer he was, he wasn't totally heartless. He wasn't *Cluny*.

"If it helps..." He cleared his throat. "I didn't want it to come to this."

"Most beasts your age have learned it doesn't always matter what they want."

He bristled at that, but backed down. No sense arguing with a deadbeast. It wasn't like she had anything to lose, anyway... But maybe she had something to gain. She looked up when she heard the click of the lock, and he stepped into the cage beside her. There was just about room for both to squeeze in. She hissed and backed up to the bars as he sat down, paws out to show their emptiness.

"D'you at least want to think about something else?"

Her hackles lowered. "Like what? What do you possibly think could help me?"

"I dunno. Aren't foxes supposed to be the smart ones?"

She was silent, clearly offended, for several seconds, then burst out into screeching, tear-filled laughter.

Fangburn awkwardly patted her back. "Um... sorry."

"It's fine," she spluttered, "it's fine... I don't know why I'm laughing... It's not like it's funny..."

"Hey, maybe it was a *little* funny."

Sela coughed and wiped her eyes, and said "Maybe a little... I suppose I should thank you. You did distract me."

They shared an awkward, not-quite-friendly smile. Too bad they wouldn't be able to become friends, Fangburn thought. She wasn't all that bad. Bitchy and catty all at once (as befit a dog-shaped creature that acted so much like a cat, now he thought of it), but she was sharp enough to almost get around Cluny. And her fluffy tail was brushing his handpaw, and she smelled like dried herbs and clean earth, under the blood. He swallowed and looked away.

Sela, however, had caught him looking, and bit her lip, also looking away. Demure didn't suit her at all, and Fangburn was relieved when she muttered "Hell with it," and started unlacing the back of her dress.

"Uh, are you doing what I think you are?"

"What else do I have to do in here?"

"I s'pose you're right, but..." Fangburn stopped when he couldn't really think of any objection. She'd hated him before, but that was hardly a hindrance among vermin; he couldn't give her cubs, as a healer she presumably didn't have diseases, and, well, it wasn't like there was going to be time for it to become awkward between them.

She pulled off her headscarf and moved to sit in his lap, grinding down. "Then shut up and get hard."

Not even a request for anything he could consciously do... He pulled her close and kissed her anyway, closed-mouth and ready to stop, and she didn't stop him.

"Mm.." Fangburn was the one who pulled away, needing space to remove his tunic "You mind?"

"It's fine." Sela helped him tug the garment off, running a curious paw over his tattoos. "Oh, nice work on these. No sign of ever being infected - trust me, I'd know."

"Uh, thanks," Fangburn said, flexing his arm and watching the coiled tattoo tighten and stretch. "I like your, um... You smell nice."

She smiled. "It's the herbs, but thanks. From a rat to a fox, that actually means something."

She untied her cloak, keeping it draped over them both, and pulled his face to her breasts. "Smell it up closer, if you want."

Up closer, she smelled more like a fox, a carnivore, and some primal part of Fangburn's brain wanted to run. But she couldn't harm him, she wouldn't, and the fear faded fast into a simple tingle of thrill. Taking some initiative, he pulled her dress down to her elbows and she let him untie her breast-band. She was no longer young and had been a mother (Fangburn remembered the scream and the popping feeling of spearpoint through cub's flesh, and immediately forced himself to forget it) so without restraint her bosom hung low and soft, nipples long and dark. Even with so little of her exposed, it didn't take him long to unsheathe. He pushed gently at her arms, urging her to get up so her dress could be fully removed.

There wasn't really room to stand up in the cage. Sela had to crouch and try not to step on her dress hem as she rather un-sensuously pulled it over her head. Once it was off it made a reasonable substitute for a pillow, at least, as Fangburn lay down, and she was able to kneel up and make a bit more of a show unlacing the tail-strap and sliding off her short drawers. Underneath, her vulva was flat and unswollen, clearly not in season. That was alright, she could still be worked up and ready; she knelt over Fangburn, gripping the cage bars over his head, and he nuzzled between her legs and started tentatively licking. She didn't taste as good as she smelled, sharp and sour, but not terrible, and her hisses and yips as moisture started to gather on his tongue were a pleasant distraction. Fangburn sucked and licked and pressed the flat front of his teeth on her clit, pushing his knuckle inside rather than his sharp dirty claw, and little by little she opened up. When he thought she was ready, he tapped her thigh and made an enquiring sound.

"Mmf... yesss," Sela whispered, paws clenching and unclenching around the wooden bars. "Yes, it's good... Thank you."

Fangburn cleared his throat, unsure how to take that in the situation. He didn't need to respond, though. Sela took the lead again and moved back to find his shaft with her paw and position it right. For a rat it was decently sized, perhaps small for a fox but she showed no signs of disappointment when she slid down onto it, just happy to have any friendly contact at all.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, what happened?"

"Lean forward," Fangburn groaned. "You're pulling it in a weird way and you're going to sit on my balls like that."

"Oh! Sorry. Foxes don't have ones quite so... in the way." She leaned forward, nose to nose with him, putting her weight on her handpaws and allowing his shaft to point at a closer angle to his belly. "Better?"

"Much, thanks... Does that mean I'm your first rat?"

"No, but it has been a while," she said as she started rolling her hips, letting him slip in and out. Wistfully, she added, "It's been a while with anybeast."

Fangburn kissed her again and said "I can't see why."

They didn't speak again for some minutes, rocking close together in rhythm, sharing breath. Twice Sela spat on her paw and reached to add to her drying slickness, and once Fangburn had to stop and hold off right at the brink.

"Are you alright?" Sela said when she noticed.

"I'm fine, just... Are you not enjoying this?" he asked.

"It's not that. I'm getting older, it's harder to finish these days."

"Ah, right. Hm... c'mon, roll over."

She did, lying on her side and letting him press up close to her back. He nudged her to move further, onto her knees, hips raised; now he could brace against the ground and grip her waist to rut her properly, shaft pointing towards the most sensitive parts at the front and picking up speed. Under normal circumstances, he knew she'd never have let him be behind her where she couldn't see him, but if he stabbed her in the back now, that was probably a mercy. That thought didn't linger, though, his head too filled with the feeling of the vixen clenching and grinding on him and the sounds of her gasps turning to moans which became stifled cries when he kneaded her breasts and kissed her neck. He felt her paw brushing his balls as she rubbed her clit; he let her take care of that, presuming she knew how best she wanted it done. Sela gritted her teeth to keep in her noises. Just out of spite, Fangburn hoped a little that Cluny heard anyway.

Just as he was realising he couldn't hold back much longer, he no longer had to, as Sela yelped and fresh wetness surrounded his shaft. She sagged down, head on the ground.

"You alright there?"

"Ahh, yesss... You can finish inside if you want. I know rats don't knot."

He surely did want to, and picked up the pace, claws gripping her breasts and cheek pressing into her warm fur. It didn't take very long before he drove himself in to the base and filled her up with his come, his groan muffled in her neck scruff. Several seconds passed until he slowed and stopped and slid out, white droplets spattering down on the dirt. He sat down heavily, panting.

"By the fang," he huffed, "been a while since it was that good for me."

Sela chuckled and sat up, shifting curiously at an odd sensation. "Wait, what's... oh, I'd forgotten about this." The thick, sticky last dregs of Fangburn's come stuck inside her, the typical mating plug produced by rodents.

"Oh, yeah, that. It should dry up and come out on its own soon. You can scrape it out, but it'll make a mess."

Sela smiled. "You know? I think I'll leave it. It's not a knot, but..."

"Yeah, I... I can walk away from it." Fangburn's joke fell flat and he coughed.

"I wish you didn't have to."

"Me too..." On a whim, he hugged her. She hugged back, scritching his back and ears gently. "'M sorry."

She kissed him. "Me too."

He got up, got dressed, and left her in the cage to tidy herself up as much as she could. He didn't look back, in case she was looking at him.

~

"Bring out the prisoner!"

Fangburn, from his place arranging firewood at the foot of the stake, noticed Sela had dressed back up neatly; from looking, one wouldn't think anything had happened. She hung between Frogblood and Scumnose as they dragged her, gagged and not resisting, and Scumnose wrinkled his snout. As it turned out when she got closer, she'd had no way to clean away the smell. Everybeast near her knew a rat had had her. They seemed to be dismissing it as some horde member having made sport of her; at least if they thought that, Fangburn would be safe.

Cluny ranted and raved about the price of treachery, but Fangburn wasn't listening. He stepped out of the way and let the captains cut away Sela's clothes and tie her to the stake. She stood bound at ankle, knee, waist, and throat, wrists together behind the stake, so tight the ropes cut deep lines in her pelt to match the tear tracks on her face. She'd put a brave face on before, but she was clearly afraid. Who wouldn't be?

"Fangburn! Get her alight!"

Fangburn fumbled the tinderbox Cluny chucked at his head and dropped it on the pyre. Irrationally, he hoped it would disappear among the sticks forever, but of course it didn't, and he had to pick it up and start striking the steel and flint together, sparks flying. Several caught on his paws and fizzled out painfully, leaving bald reddened spots in his fur.

"What's taking so long?"

"N-nothing, Chief..." Fangburn struck faster, aiming the sparks more carefully, and they caught on the leafy twigs of kindling and started to smoulder. Sela drew her footpaws and tail up as far as she could, which wasn't far, rubbing her skin raw on the rough rope. Her breath sped up, chest rising and falling hard and fast, hackles up. The rat horde watched, eyes aglow with anticipation. Killconey rubbed his paws gleefully and Cluny moved closer to watch.

The fire caught properly on the bigger sticks and branches, and true flames started to flicker, rising up until they caught on Sela's paws and tail-fur, smoke ribboning up around her. At first, from a distance, one might not have seen a difference, her footpaws already smoky black and her legs already as orange as the licking flames. Her fur burnt away quickly, leaving skin red and soot-marked and rapidly blistering, and her harsh breaths became muffled grunts of pain through her gag. Her teeth ground in the fabric, shredding it, and she shrieked as her thigh fur caught too, the fire now brushing between her legs, burning away any traces of Fangburn still left.

Cluny grabbed Fangburn and shook him. "I said use dry wood for the fire, you idiot! Look at that!" he shouted, throwing a paw out at the pyre. "Look how much smoke there is! It's July in a forest and you can't find dry wood! I can't trust you fools to find your own tail-tips!"

Fangburn hid his satisfaction, eyes on Sela as she took deep breaths of the smoky air and he saw her eyes unfocus, dizzy and likely to faint. He'd spared her a little pain. Only a little, though; it wasn't quite enough. She thrashed and screamed as the fire blazed up to her waist, rocking the stake hard but not enough to get free. Her tail shrivelled and blackened and the ruffled fur between her breasts burned like a hearthfire, lighting her whiskers and cheek ruffs in turn. Her teeth tore straight through the rag between them and she dropped its remnants into the fire as she let out a heart-wrenching howl. Fangburn coughed and covered his watering eyes, pretending the smoke stung him.

After that, Sela died quite quickly, choking on the billows of smoke and her flesh blistered and black. The horde applauded; Cluny ordered the captains to let her burn to ash and prevent the fire from spreading, and left, another dead enemy not even worth his time. Fangburn stayed to keep tending the flames, fanning and feeding them to keep the heat high. A whole fox took time to reduce to dust. When nobeast was looking, he leaned close to the blaze and whispered "Goodbye, Sela," his voice drowned out by the crackling wood.

The flames still smelled just a little like herbs.