FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I know, I know. a year late and no yiff. Sorry, it just .. didn't work for the story in but one place, and I really didn't feel like writing a rape scene at that point.

Don't worry though, chapter 5 should have hotness in it for ya'll.. all you have to do is wait.. another year.. .. please don't kill me?

Also.. I hate the new editor with a firey burning passion that transcends the comprehension of mere mortals.

Chapter 4:

Dawn's Call.

Gavin woke just as the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon and the first rays of light reached his perch near the top of a tree that rose above the rest of the forest. He felt something warm against his chest, a smile crossed his face as he saw it was the squirrel that had spent all of yesterday following him.

"You're lucky I like you." He said, poking the squirrel a couple times to wake it up. "Otherwise you would be breakfast."

The squirrel looked first at his hand, then up at his face. Something about the squirrel's eyes didn't sit quite right with him, but before he could ponder it further the squirrel scurried off in to the tree.

"Eh, she'll be back." He mused to himself, climbing down. On the ground he looked for any signs of pursuers, but there were none. With that he continued on his way towards Silver Vail, ignoring his growling stomach. He'd be there by nightfall and he could eat then.

Sure enough, in less than half an hour the squirrel had caught back up with him, bounding through the treetops, keeping pace with him, despite the fact that he was moving a lot faster than the day before, not worrying about his tracks this time.

He found himself once again talking to the squirrel, though he had no clue precisely why, possibly because he was lonely, or maybe he was just nuts. Presently he leaned towards the latter, that the events of the last few days had made him slip a cog. The squirrel wasn't complaining though.

He worked his way towards the main road, he didn't want to take the risk of traveling by road, but he also wanted to stay close to it. While he didn't put much stock in the legends of the Cursed Woods, he did know they could become quite a treacherous maze if you didn't keep a good reference point.

He traveled without incident for the first several hours, until around eleven when he caught the scent of something cooking. His hunger won out over better judgment, leading him to go investigate. He followed the scent to a clearing about fifty yards off the main road, where he found a small band of orcs, five that he could see from his vantage point.

He wasn't incredibly surprised to find that what they were cooking was decidedly humanoid, probably a human, but well done and missing chunks it can be hard to tell what species it was before it got cooked.

There was also a wagon with a horse tethered to it. It didn't take him long to figure that the orcs had ambushed a merchant on the road for his goods, and decided to make a meal out of him. They were probably saving the horse to sell, or maybe eat later.

He lurked quietly just inside of the tree line, pondering his options. He knew he should just move on, but if he could get to the contents of the wagon, it might provide him with some necessities, or at least something he could use to trade for them in Silver Vail. The trick would be getting to the wagon and checking its contents without the orcs noticing him.

If he had his swords it wouldn't be an issue, five orcs wouldn't even be a challenge for him if he had the Fangs. But seeing as he was unarmed and hadn't eaten in more than a day, he doubted he could handle more than three of them.

The sound of something approaching from behind interrupted his thoughts, he turned slowly to find himself face to face with an orc, who was more surprised than he.

The orc shouted something in Orcish to its cohorts, and reached for his sword.

Gavin didn't understand a word the orc said, but he gathered the meaning anyways, besides which the movement made his intentions clear. He lashed one hand out, raking his claws across the orc's face, while snapping the other out to grab the orc's sword before he could draw it.

The orc stumbled back, bringing his hands up to his eyes, howling something in Orcish.

Gavin took the opening, kicking the orc in the chest, drawing the orcs blade as it fell back. He took off at a run, hoping to lose the orcs in the forest. Unfortunately, he didn't get more than two steps before he felt something grab his tail, stopping him short.

He didn't even bother looking before he spun around bringing his newly obtained sword to cleave through the arm of the orc holding his tail. He saw the rest of the orcs closing rapidly, and turned to take off at a run, but neglected to pair attention to the orc he had just downed, which grabbed his ankle, causing him to topple to the ground as he tried to run.

He rolled to a crouch instinctively, turning to face the orcs, knowing they were far too close for him to run. He relaxed, a dark an unsettling smile crossing his face as he flipped the sword in his hand, getting used to its weighting. It was a little awkward and poorly balanced, but it did have a nice follow through.

The orcs hesitated, until one, presumably the leader pushed one of the smaller ones towards Gavin, barking a command in Orcish.

Time seemed to slow for Gavin as he shifted his grip on the sword to a two-handed reversed grip. He lunged forward, calling forth the strength of his ancestors as he swung the sword up at an angle, cleaving the first orc in two and then flipping the sword around to plunge through the skull of the orc he had taken the sword from.

The leader backed off, pushing the two remaining orcs towards Gavin. One was armed with twin short blades, the other was awkwardly trying to wield a mace in his left hand, seeing as he had just lost his right.

The orc with two blades kicked the other towards Gavin, while moving to flank.

Gavin made a single quick slice, removing the one-armed orc's head as he spun to face the other. He brought his blade up in an aggressive stance, poising to strike at the first chance. Pain exploded in his side, pulling his attention from the orc in front of him, to the arrow sticking through his midsection, which was closely followed by another in his shoulder, causing him to drop his sword.

The orc with two swords moved in to finish Gavin off, but was cut short by a barked order from the leader, and just laughed at Gavin instead.

Gavin looked up at the orc, and saw three. He felt his head spinning and his limbs grow remarkably heavy. The ground was suddenly coming closer, and then moving. And something was tugging on his hair, it took his clouded mind a moment to put these together and realize one of the orcs was dragging him back to the clearing, by his hair. His clouded mind also found this thought quite amusing.

"Enjoying your trip, pussy?" The orc asked as he flung him face first over the back of the wagon with a laugh. "Maybe you'll enjoy this even more, doubt it though."

Gavin didn't need to look back to know the orc was undoing his pants, he was about to get raped by at least one orc, probably three, and couldn't do a thing about it. He briefly caught a strange scent, it reminded him of the ocean, but he cast that aside as the toxin in his blood. Then he heard a sickening crunching and a muffled scream just before the smell of blood filled the air, and a warm liquid splattered all over his back.

An odd sensation washed over him, clearing his head, restoring his motor control and leaving him without pain. He stood and turned to thank his rescuer, and promptly stumbled backwards, falling flat on his ass, staring in shock at the second largest dragon he had ever seen.

The beast towered over him, at least twenty feet in height, with a body the size of a large carriage, or perhaps larger, covered in smooth scaled of vibrant bronze. It regarded him with its deep green eyes, seemingly amused.

"You're lucky I like you." The dragon said, its voice surprisingly feminine for such a large creature. "Otherwise, you would be lunch."

"Huh...?" Gavin said, staring at the dragon, trying to wrap his brain around what it just said.

"What, you really thought a squirrel would just randomly follow you through the forest?"

".. You're a squirrel?"

"Yes." The dragon replied with a laugh. "I am a squirrel, who can turn in to a dragon."

"Er, yeah. That sounded stupid." Gavin shook his head. "So thank you for saving me, again I guess."

"I almost thought you weren't going to need it, this time."

"I wouldn't have, if not for the archer." he said, standing to rummage through the possessions of the fallen orcs. "I'm curious now, what made you decide to follow me?"

"Curiosity." The dragon replied. "You expressed that you had a 'dragon to slay', yet you do not have the demeanor of a Slayer, nor the equipment. This leads me to believe you are not a Slayer, but it's a personal matter."

"It is. The beast slaughtered the royal family, and in so doing took the life of my love."

"At least you're intelligent enough to make it a vendetta against just a single dragon. But do you know what dragon it is?"

"He said his name was Kilgair."

"Kilgair the Bloody, Lord of Hellmouth?" The dragon asked, sounding startled.

"You know him?"

"Know of him. His name is .. well known among dragons. He was the first Pact Breaker."

"How do you mean?" Gavin asked.

"Not familiar with your kingdoms history, are you?"

"Not really, I grew up in an outlying region that while 'part of the kingdom' is really under tribal rules."

"Around a thousand years ago, when King Alexander Tiberius the Third made the pact with dragon kind, many dragons were unhappy with it, but they held their peace, deciding they would just quietly take advantage of it until it all came crashing down.

"There was one notable exception, the young and impulsive Red known as Kilgair. He raised a town, leaving only one survivor, a young woman he had done horrible things to, with a note for the king. It proclaimed he would never bow to a human, and dared the king to hunt him.

"The king right away assembled an impressive force of Slayers to hunt Kilgair. None of them returned. About fifty years later it was believed Kilgair had finally been slain, but he had just chosen to lay low for a while, resurfacing now and then to cause havoc. But never anything this big, he has to have a plan, as destroying the royal family is too risky of a move for him to make on a whim."

"Sounds like I have my work cut out for me then." Gavin said.

"If you try to face Kilgair, you will die." The dragon replied. "Kilgair is at least twelve hundred years old. He's survived wars, assaults by large forces of experienced Slayers, and even other dragons. How do you intend to kill him?"

"I hadn't really thought that far ahead." Gavin said with a shrug. "But, I will find a way to kill him. I have to. First I need to recover my swords though."

"Where are your swords, and how did you lose them?"

"They're in the capital. Somewhere within the castle." Gavin said donning one of the orc's sword belts, and slinging a pack over his shoulder. "It's a bit of a long story, and I was hoping to get to Silver Vail before nightfall."

"Why Silver Vail, when your swords are in the capital?"

"Well, the immediate need is food. I've not eaten in two days." Gavin replied. "But I also need to try and trade some of this for supplies for getting in to the castle, should also clear out of the clearing here before the other two orcs decide to come back."

"Well, the orcs aren't a concern. But this doesn't look too good for us, should someone else walk up." The dragon replied before focusing a moment, her form began to shrink and shift, the final result seemed what you would get if you crossed an elf and a bronze dragon. "Should attract less attention, don't you think?"

".. Still a bit more than a squirrel." Gavin said with a laugh.

"Yes, but I can't precisely talk in squirrel form. Besides which you seem insane sitting there chatting away at a squirrel."

"Gee, thanks."

"So, if you want to make it to Silver Vail before nightfall, we should get moving."

"We?"

"I want to know how you lost your swords, you silly kitty."

"Oh.. OK then." Gavin said, heading off towards Silver Vail. "so, do you at least have a name, Ms. Dragon?"

"Aye." The dragon said, following him. "Freya Stormsong, and you would be?"

"I am Gavin the Blade Dancer, of the Plainsrunner tribe, son of Zan the Master of Blades."

"So, Gavin." Freya chuckled. "So how exactly did you lose your swords?"

"If you must know.." Gavin began, filling her in on the details of the events leading up to when she found him in the middle of the woods.

* * *

*Wake up! Wake up!* Ash demanded of Korin, nipping him.

"I'm awake.. Sorta. What's wrong" Korin grumbled, looking to the sky to figure out the time. Barely after six, less than 2 hours of sleep.

*Qiari missing. Taken by werewolf.*

"Shit!" Korin quickly rose to his hooves and grabbed his sack. "How fresh are the tracks, and which way did they go?"

*Hour maybe more. Went north.*

"North we go then. Lead on, stay alert though."

*Always. Intelligent hunter, expecting trap.* Ash replied, heading north as fast as he could without losing the trail.

"So am I. Though I'm more concerned about Qiari's safety at the moment."

*Wondering if we can beat werewolf.*

"I'm not worried there." Korin didn't even bother readying his bow, he knew his skill as an archer would be no use against a werewolf. He had other tricks up his sleeve though. "There's two of us, and I am sure he will underestimate at least you."

*True. No ordinary wolf.* Ash agreed. After about ten minutes of following the trail he came to a stop, sniffing the air. *Stopped here. Raped. Headed west when done. Half hour ago.*

*He could be waiting for us.* Korin replied, surveying the small clearing from the tree line. *Her gear is strewn about. Her scent is strong. It's almost too obvious of a set up, I cannot tell if he was careless or just thinks we are stupid.*

*No sign of werewolf return. Wait...* Ash sniffed the air and looked to the west, his ears perking up. *We are downwind. Werewolf scent grows stronger. He comes. No sound though.*

*Alone?*

*Alone, yes.*

*This will be interesting. Do not make it obvious you are aware he is coming, but try to give me warning.* Korin began to formulate his plan, stepping in to the small clearing and examining the scene passively while readying one of his more basic spells. *When I tell you to, flee as if you're injured.*

*Why?* Ash asked, tensing briefly, his ears twitching. *He nears.

No time to explain. I have a plan. Move to flank, strike after my spell.*

*Will do.*

The werewolf burst in to the small clearing and paused momentarily, clearly not expecting to see them there. After a quick survey of his surroundings, the beast charged towards Korin growling "Your little friend is quite the slut you know."

"So I've gathered." Korin replied, his voice was cold as ice and held a slightly inhuman quality as he stepped back and lifted his hand. He made three quick signs with his hand, muttering two syllables causing five ethereal daggers to form in the air and shoot forward directly in to the werewolf's chest, sending it staggering backwards.

Ash circled the beast to time his strikes precisely, first striking against the werewolf's legs to send him to the ground and following up by leaping upon the now downed werewolf to tear in to his throat, growling.

"Pesky little primitive." The werewolf growled, flinging Ash across the clearing like a rag-doll before rising to his feet again, turning back to Korin. "You'll really have to do much better than that to stand a chance."

*Run.* Korin commanded, backing away from the werewolf. He brought his next spell to bear quietly holding it ready in his hand, knowing what was coming next. "So I see."

The werewolf rushed Korin, tearing in to him in a flurry of tooth and claw, only to be sent staggering back himself by raw pain exploding in his side.

Korin smiled to himself, he'd always loved those spells, even if most considered them to be evil. He knew as it stood right now he couldn't win, which is why he had a plan. Run away, well more to the point, fly away. He focused a moment, calling power from the Earth in to his body, triggering the change.

The werewolf backed off some, clearly unsure what to make of the fact that Korin was smiling, fluctuation and had a pale glow around him.

Even as the werewolf began backing away, the change overtook Korin. He wondered momentarily if lycans ever got used to the feeling of their body reforming itself in to a new shape. Especially something so drastically different. He stretched his wings and took to the sky before the werewolf could really even properly react to the centaur changing to an eagle.

The werewolf stood there stunned a moment, glancing around before gathering up anything of value from the clearing and heading back west.

*Looks like it worked. He thinks he's won.* Korin sent to Ash, circling over the clearing and watching the werewolf. *Head back this way, we'll track him to his lair.*

*Why? Fighting in open better.*

*Simple. Qiari is in his lair, and he won't expect an attack on his lair. Now, get your tail over here.*

*Will do.*

* * *

Qiari gave herself some time, making sure the werewolf wasn't coming back right away and began working on her escape. Not that escaping was any big trick, in most cases she could just slip her right hand out of shackles, and this one was no exception. From there it was just a matter of first removing the hook from her jaw, followed by picking the locks on the other three shackles. Thankfully the locks were low quality and she could easily pick them with a claw.

She stood in the middle of the werewolf's torture chamber, pondering her options. She could try making a run for it, but that would net her lost and alone in the forest without a weapon, and she knew that the werewolf would just hunt her down again. That just left laying a trap for the beast.

A quick glance around this room told her that it wasn't a good option. Not a lot of places to hide, nothing very good to use as a weapon, and not much that would be of use in setting traps. Though she did grab a bundle of rope before she headed out the door, knowing it could be of at least some use.

Heading deeper in to the wolf's lair, she looked for any room that would work for her purposes, hoping for perhaps a kitchen, or maybe a large storage room. Instead though, she found something better than she could have hoped for, an armory. A quite large and well stocked armory, no less.

She immediately began setting everything up. She had no chance against the beast in a 'fair' fight, but she didn't like to fight fair, anyways. By the time she heard the creak of the first door opening echo through the hall, she had almost the entire armory set up to her liking, and scurried to her first station, from which she could trigger two crossbows placed across the room from each other, and waited.

It wasn't a long wait, either. Just a couple minutes later, the door of the armor slammed open, the werewolf stalking in to the room. She triggered the first crossbow, catching the werewolf in the midsection, not a well aimed shot, but she hit at least.

"Nice shot, pussy cat." The werewolf growled, charging across the room to where he thought she was.

Qiari purred to herself, it was working like a charm. About the time the werewolf plowed in to the first blind, she triggered the second crossbow, catching him square in the back.

"Clever. Very fucking clever." The beast growled, turning to charge towards the second crossbow. "You shouldn't have pissed me off though. I wasn't going to go too rough on you at first."

He was mad, and making mistakes, this worked for Qiari. She picked up the sword she had placed and waited for the werewolf to cross her hiding spot, when he did she snapped the sword out, putting a deep slice in his shin and sending him toppling to the floor. Though before he hit the floor she was already running to her second station, grabbing a pile of daggers as she went.

"I'll give you credit for the creativity." The werewolf growled as he pushed back to his feet. He hurled the table she had been hiding under out of the way and gave a swift pursuit. "It won't do you any good though, you're cornered."

"You really do talk too much." She backed down the aisle, throwing the daggers at the approaching werewolf, there was no real aim to her throws, others than to give him good reason to make his approach fast, and so far everything was going according to plan. As soon as he was close enough, she dropped what was left of the daggers and picked up the spear she had set out, bringing it up with the right timing to catch the werewolf in the stomach and then use his own momentum and the leverage of the spear to flip him over on to a table haphazardly covered in various bladed weapons.

She heard the table shatter, and the werewolf howl in pain, but didn't stop to look back, and instead ran for the door, hoping she had at least wounded him enough that he would have a hard time keeping up with her. Pain exploded in her leg, causing her to collapse and killing the fleeting hope of escape.

"You made a major mistake little pussycat." The lycan chuckled, limping over to her, pulling various blades out of his body. "See, I was just going to fuck you until you stopped moving... but now, no, you're not getting off that easy."

"I think you're the one who's not getting off." She wrenched the knife from her leg with a growl and lunged for the beast, only to have her arm caught mid-thrust, twisted behind her and jerked upward, resulting in the sickening pop of her shoulder being dislocated.

"You just never learn, do you pu-" The lycan was cut off by the wet thunk of an arrow impact and dropped Qiari, rounding on the source of the arrow growling "Was that supposed to kill me?"

"No," Korin replied with a crooked smile. "Just distract you."

The Lycan only managed a perplexed look before being bowled over by Ash who laid in to him, trying to tear his throat out, but only managed a few bites on the beast's arms before being flung across the armory.

"Really, you need a new trick." The lycan growled, rising to his feet only to pause dumbfounded. Something had forced him to change to his human form, leading to none other than the village blacksmith standing there stark naked and confused. "Wha... what did you do to me? I... I can't change!"

"I need a new trick, huh?" Korin laughed, bow trained on the now-human lycan as he approached where Qiari lay "Take three steps back, keep your hands where I can see them. Ash, if he moves from there, kill him."

"Korin.." Qiari started to say something snarky, then thought better of it. "thank you for coming after me."

"I had to, I got you in to this.. and I'm sorry for that." he replied, kneeling down to lay his hands on her, a blue glow engulfed his hands and flooded her body with a strange sensation of warmth, she could feel the wounds on her body close, her shoulder seat itself properly in the socket, and even the less visible damage done to her body healed.

"Yes, you did." Qiari said standing up and cracking her neck and turning to face the smith, growling. "As for you, you sick perverted fuck..."

"Please.. don't kill me." The smith pleaded. "I.. I have a problem.. I can't help it. There's a hunger inside, please.. I have money... magic equipment, I can make it worth your while.. just don't kill me."

"So, I should over look the fact that you raped me and planned far worse for me... not to mention what you've done to so many other women, in exchange for a few baubles?" Qiari laughed, picking up one of the bloody knives. "Even I am not that cheap of a whore."

"Please.. I'll give you anything.."

"There's only one thing I want from you." Qiari growled, "And unfortunately that's not possible. I want you to experience the hell you have put countless other women through."

"It wasn't me.. I'm sick.. it's the beast inside! I can't control it."

"Bullshit." Qiari snapped, lashing the blade around to cut cleanly through his throat.

"That.. was a lot swifter than I expected." Korin said with a chuckle as the smith fell to the floor with a wet gurgling. "I would have expected you to draw it out."

"Nothing I could do to him would be anywhere near enough pain and punishment for him, besides I do not relish torture. I prefer quick clean kills." Qiari shrugged. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

"We should probably take him back to town."

"Bad idea, we're going to want to avoid Silver Vail. They won't believe us that he was the werewolf that has been plaguing them. Townsfolk will never believe that one of their own could be such a monster. At best, we'd be run out of town, at worst, they would try to kill us."

"But he is the werewolf.."

"Korin... humans are idiots."

"Point taken." Korin chuckled. "Anyways, before we go, we should see if we can at least find you a new suit of clothes, and maybe an extra, as you seem prone to losing them!"

"Good idea." Qiari nodded and began going through the werewolf's lair, looking for anything of value. "How did you do that, anyways?"

"Do what?"

"Force him to change like that."

"Ahh that. Magic." Korin smiled. "I have a spell which forces a lycan to change shape, and locks them in that shape for a short time. It is delivered by touch, I can prepare a touch spell and transfer it over to Ash, allowing him to deliver it with an attack."

"Convenient spell to know, I guess."

"Indeed, I try." Korin replied. "So... where do we go from here?"

"We?" Qiari laughed. "After the mess you got me in to, I don't think there is a 'we'. I'm going to try and get to Black Cove and vanish for a while."

"I suppose. Let me at least take you as far as Oakport. It will be a lot quicker for you to ride than walk... besides, it's the least I can do after putting you through this."

"Aww, how cute." Qiari purred "You don't want to part ways just yet.. I suppose we can stick together as far as Oakport."