FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The hot sun blazes down from a yellow-tinged sky, enveloping everything in a wavy haze of heat. The ancient dunes and swirling sands keep their secrets through the constant wind that sears the flesh of the unprepared and covers the tracks of history. But, the most recent traces remain, if only for a time.

The robed traveler kneels before the indents of the caravan and the taloned tracks of its humanoid cargo. There is no doubt that kobolds have traveled this way, and perhaps one of them is the one his party seeks.

Tik Tik finds herself in many strange situations. She dealt with the machinations of great sorceress queens. She was possessed by a lustful demon out for revenge. She was manipulated by an angel seeking to entertain inscrutable deities with her angst. However, this has got to be a first for her--total servitude imposed upon her by stronger creatures.

There had been tales in the past of the Dragon's Heir kobold tribe capturing and imposing their rule upon conquered kobolds. Such captives were then used as stock to improve the genetic diversity of her clan. As unquestionably as any other member of her kingdom, Tik TIk had come from a line of servitors and breeding stock. Never had she felt the feel of metal around her wrists, ankles, and throat as she does now, however. And she has never been chained together to other creatures in some humiliating procession.

Their driver rides upon a camel. His spotted form, wild mane, and sadistic grin are unmistakable as a gnoll. However, his lithe form and his cruel gaze make it evident that he is not the same sort of person as the friend she had left behind in a country so far away.

The small procession of captives is separate from the rest of the caravan. This means the kobold has no idea where her journal nor her implements and clothing are being held. Indeed, she is only dressed in a robe slipped shoddily over her head.

Her fellow captives are similarly dressed. In front of her is a canine creature with rustic brown fur and white highlights over her eyes. The appearance reminds Tik Tik of someone she met during her previous adventure--a doggy who had called himself a kobold, even though he was not of draconic lineage himself.

Behind her is an older humanoid man about her height with long gray hair, a huge nose, and a pointed chin. His broad shoulders underneath his robe tell of his life of physical labor. This gnomish creature, unlike her and her companion, still has a personal effect in the form of a dull red cap, which shows off its years of use as it rests comfortably upon his scalp.

The day's travel moves with a monotonous pace over the hot sand, shifting and unsteady. The journey makes the pink kobold stumble.

The older man behind her pushes her forward, hefting her back into place before their taskmaster can notice her little slip-up.

"Be careful, girlie," her fellow captive whispers, "T'aint nothin' more dangerous than a gnoll with an excuse ta gnoll."

"Tik Tik know gnoll," the pink kobold responds, keeping her face in front of her. "But know can't judge by looks or creature type. People different and unique. All own people, yes."

The old man chuckles. "Ah, girlie, girlie, everyone judges everyone, and it be because it's the truth. Say, yer that girlie what writes stories about monster courtship, ain'tcha? Me name's Seppel, and I come from the Emerald Lands. That there's Asuka. She don't talk much, and I s'pose it's on account she ain't from around parts what speak the trade tongue. Ye find lotsa people like that 'round here. After all, this place ain't got its own language. It's a forsaken wasteland and home only to traders and them what steal from traders."

The gnoll slows his camel, pulling out a crop from his belt. He slaps the implement across his palm, eying the captives with a hefty gaze. "You'd better not be coming up with any ideas short-stuffs. Keep up your line. Nice and tight, that's right!"

Seppel lowers his head, nodding quickly, and quieting down. Tik Tik, meanwhile, must contend with keeping her eyes on the mysterious Asuka, as the sun and the sand throb into her vision and her head. Because she focuses so hard, she loses track of time. Just how long have they been moving? How far have they traveled? There is nothing around her but the bloom of bright sun and sand, except, though, for a patch of green and blue off to the side.

"Alright, ya little beasts. It's waterin' time!" Their taskmaster barks, hopping off of his camel. "Line up over there. That's right. Now, on your knees. Lean forward... drink!"

Tik Tik's knees and hands feel tremendous relief from the soft grass and soil that surround the oasis. The kobold follows her companion's lead, dipping her head into the water, lapping up the crystal-clear fluid. Despite the blazing heat of the sun, the water is crisp and cold. It is a sensation that compels the kobold to slurp up as much as she can, propriety be damned.

As she drinks her fill, Tik Tik's mind escapes this blasted place and traverses to another corner of her mind, to a fantastic land she had dreamt of recently far more beautiful than even the towers of the city of Anteronia, with spires that reach the black-starred heavens atop a horizon-spanning plateau.

She had only just started dreaming about such fantastical places after communing with angels, but more specifically, after her first night alone with Maram in the tower of the great wizard Timothy. Then, it was a strange bit of happenstance. Now, it is a beautiful retreat from a dull and painful reality.

Tik Tik raises her head and wipes the water from her mouth. What good are dreams if one does not act upon them? "Tik Tik reject. Tik Tik get out of chains. Yes."