FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Tik Tik growls at the feline's words, and Kera actually backs up just a bit at that. That's when Tik Tik practically climbs on top of her, gripping onto her habit and staring her down. "Tik Tik was trap builder. Tik Tik build trap to protect home. Invaders come all the time. They kill, they steal. Does Kera want Tik Tik to let them take? Does Kera not care about lives of kobold hatchlings? What kobold ever do to Kera? Except rescue her from trap of Lily Nymph?"

Kera shoves the kobold away, dusting off her habit and stumbling a few steps away from Tik Tik. "Kobold have done plenty. Maybe, just maybe, you're the exception, and your people aren't as bad as other kobolds, but they follow the paths of some of the most destructive creatures on the planet. Dragonkind has kidnapped maidens and burned down villages, all because they see themselves superior. Tell me, Tik Tik: How are you compared to the other races? What exactly are you doing with that book of yours? Are you seeking the free exchange of information, or are you simply watching other beings fuck, as if they were animals beneath you?"

Tik Tik narrows her gaze, snorting and folding her arms over her chest. "Kera is ignoring the point. Throwing mean words at Tik Tik and her people. Tik Tik only trying to help. Only trying to help Kera see the truth."

"What truth?" Kera says. "That everything I know is a lie? No, thank you on that one."

Truth is Lily Nymph didn't steal from Kera, but help her out."

"I don't believe this..." the feline growls, walking off towards the cave.

Tik Tik, stumbling behind her, pipes up, "Lily Nymph may be went far, but show Kera she can be happy!"

Kera shakes her head when she hears Tik Tik's suggestion. "Do you not understand the concept of inhibition?" The frown on her face genuine as she looks down at the little kobold. "We are not beasts, Tik Tik. Our ability to reason is the main force that keeps us from devolving into the animals that we once were." She looks off, away, staring off into the natural world before her. "Simple cats will follow their instincts. They will do what they want with no regards to what their actions will do for others." Her tail curls around her body, swishing up and down along her thigh. She moves her hand down, wrapping her fingers delicately around it. "My order, the convent I was a part of, we understood what it meant to be truly enlightened. There are many things out there that will destroy what society we have built up." She closes her eyes, pushing her tail back behind her, taking in a deep breath as she finishes her thought.

"But what if things were built up to hurt you, not help?" Tik Tik asks.

This time, when Kera stops, Tik Tik bumps into her leg. She rubs her snout and grumbles. "No words say?" Tik Tik says.

Kera presses her tail against Tik Tik's mouth to shush her, saying "We're here."

Just like they had left it the other night, their cave camp sits lonely with no signs of current life. Kera kneels down where the elf Valana had made her desperate final stand against the beast. "They've moved on," Kera says.

"What happen them?" Tik Tik asks, peering over her shoulder.

"No real way to tell," she says, standing back up "except that I spot Gimmegee's tracks. She's the one most likely to have your book. They're going off along the road."

"Where to?"

"Seems they're heading over towards the Baroness's lands.

Tik Tik skips up alongside her. "Ha, that's where Adaeze is heading! They might even meet up!"

"She'd no doubt be inside Bergburg right now," Kera begins, though her tail rubs up against a broken branch beside her. "That's only if she wasn't followed."

"O... oh no..." Tik Tik whispers. "You don't think...?"

"We have to keep moving. For the time being, it seems my purpose is to join you on your quest. Who knows, perhaps I can redeem myself through a great sacrifice and end this suffering life." With that grim proclamation, Kera runs off, with Tik Tik following her close behind, traveling head-first in potential danger.

"How long do you think this trip will take?" Tik Tik asks as she catches up to Kera.

"Even if Gimmegee took a stop along the way, it's likely we will be traveling more than a day's walk. We'll have to break for camp soon, as those monsters could be anywhere."

"Monsters could find Gimmegee. They could find book!" Tik Tik gasps, running along ahead.

The feline grabs her by the tail and pulls her back with a great yank. "And what in the everburning flame do you think you're doing? You can't just rush ahead on your own. I thought you kobolds were a highly tactical bunch. Then again, you are rather strange for a kobold, are you not?"

"Tik Tik not strange," she says, yanking her tail back from her. "Tik Tik is different."

"And you don't think you're strange? Tell me, why is it that you're out here in the wilds, instead of with your people?"

"Queen gave Tik Tik a job to do, and Tik Tik is doing that job."

"Hm... strange," Kera remarks. "Don't think that, perhaps, the evildoers among your kind saw you as a weak-point? What use could they possibly have for someone who wants to fuck a," she shudders. "Gnoll."

"Kera want fuck Adaeze!" Tik Tik snaps back.

"No! In that state addled by the Lily Nymph, my primary concern was reaching orgasm by any means necessary, completely going against the tenants of my faith. The fact your friend had an impressive girlcock was just a bonus towards reaching that goal. I'm sure you'll understand that I am not entirely interested in those sorts of horrible things."

"You keep bringing it up. Saying how much you hate. But does Kera think Kera likes things, but doesn't want to admit it?"

Kera spins around, grabbing Tik TIk from under her arms and lifts her up, pushing the kobold up against a tree. "You want to make camp now and show me wonders I've never experienced before? Is that it?"

Tik Tik yelps from the impact, but she smirks. "Tik Tik could get you to shut up."

Kera glances over her face for a bit, her growl rising up from within her chest at that comment, but she sighs and dumps the kobold back down onto the foliage. "We still have plenty of ground to cover. If you really wish to waste time proving your point, that is up to you. But the longer we waste our time, the longer we don't have that book back."

"The longer Kera grumbles about Kera's sex drive, the longer Kera will harm her own happiness."

Kera shakes her head. "I've already tried experimentation. It didn't end very well for me."

"Ah, yes, but Wizards experiment carefully!" Tik Tik says, picking herself up. "Just keep that in mind!"

Kera pouts and plops the kobold down, looking at her with a newfound consideration. "What do you know about me and my kind?" She asks. "Do you not know that I must make myself like a good wife to my god when the time comes?"

Tik Tik shrugs. "Tik Tik no know about that, but Tik Tik know malebold who learned to like what Tik Tik had to offer. Besides, Tik Tik wizard. Tik Tik want learn. Tik Tik want teach. Kera just yell at Tik Tik so far, and never really listen."

Kera's tail swishes back and forth as she bites her lip. "I suppose, it can't hurt too much to let you explain yourself. Follow me. There should be a hollow only about a few miles out."

The two women travel once more, this time, though, there isn't much in the way of conversation. As they travel, Tik Tik notes that the foliage that once was so green and alive has become gray, brown, and dead. They find Kera's hollow, and the catfolk ushers Tik Tik inside, snuggling up in the cozy hidey-hole.

"So," Kera says, laying on her side, supporting her head with her hands, "what is it that Tik Tik wants to teach me?"

Tik Tik just scoots up to Kera, wrapping her arms around the feline's body and says. "Touching not bad. Hugs good, sleep good."

"I... I've hugged, but mostly in my youth," Kera admits. Before I knew what it could lead to."

"Hugs aren't bad," Tik Tik says, scooting up in their cramped space and opening her arms up.

"It's a slippery slope, Tik Tik," Kera responds, shivering. "First you hug, then you hold, then you lean in and place a kiss..."

"No need for that!" Tik Tik yips. "Though, Tik Tik wouldn't mind. We can't get too distracted, right? Time and place for everything."

Kera sighs and nods. "Yes, I suppose you're right..." but as she wraps her arms around Tik Tik's body with a shaking clasp, she sees something on the wall. Carved in the dead wood is a little note that says "Gimmegee was here,"

"Seems like we're on the right path, at least," The feline says, before sighing and closing her eyes.

Gimmegee rushes through the forest, bare gnome feet hopping along roots and stones with a practiced ease. Constantly, she looks over her shoulder to see if the horror had found her once again. Since the caravan was attacked, She had been marking her journey through her resting places, placing her name inside that last tree she rested in. Soon, she finds another hollow to hide behind and squirms her way inside. She brings the stolen tome to her bare chest, gulping down air in her attempt to catch her breath. Her heart freezes when she hears the crunching of dead leaves behind her.

"Where are you, little gnome...?" the voice, layered, echoing, from a sultry woman, to a playful child, and a deep and foreboding growl. "That book is not for the likes of you. Let me take it from you, and I'll show you all sorts of wondrous things."

The scent of sulfur burns up Gimmegee's nose as the tree around her cracks and burns. "Come on out, little Gnome... little flower. Let me have that book, and you may yet live..."

Gimmegee opens the book up to the spell section. Her finger shaking, she finds the words that is necessary for the nondetection spell, and through a trembling voice, she mutters them.

Tik Tik's and Kera's travels see them braving the wilderness, but Kera's time as a Flower allows the feline to traverse with a grace that Tik Tik cannot hope to follow. The poor kobold trips and stumbles, leaving her trailing behind her newfound companion.

Kera keeps her pace fast and purposeful. They had lost so much time last night laying in that hollow, and the time they spent together there did not give the feline the best feeling. Pawpads brushed over the cloth of Tik TIk's shirt, yet her hands had slipped down further than she had initially anticipated. The little wizard, despite her differing anatomy, is quite cute. Dangerously so. The sooner she can get rid of her, the better.

"W-wait up!" the kobold shouts. "How Kera help Tik Tik if she too far ahead!"

"Do you hear that!?" Kera says, her ears falling straight back. "We're not alone."

Tik Tik sniffs the air, a whiff of something strange, unfamiliar, earthy, passes through her nostrils. "What that...?"

Kera hisses and leaps forward into the thickest of bushes, leaving Tik Tik alone in the forested path.

Tik Tik yips and runs forward after Kera, but some of the foliage the feline passed through whips back, smacking the kobold in the face, sending her back in a dazed confusion.

Meanwhile, Kera rushes forward and finds the source of the disturbance. The scent of fresh dirt only becomes stronger as she gets closer, and something else hits her nostrils as well--the burning rot of sulfur. Her ears perk up as she hears a loud crash, followed by a scream.

"Gimmegee?" she mewls, but shakes her head and burst forward, her habit catching on the thickets and brambles, making little tears as she passes through.