FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Lorenus knew that the night would pass quickly, and moreover, he knew that the morning would bring with it the enemy. He slept well anyway, mostly due to being drained by his many slaves, though most would not remember being part of the process.

When the sun rose, the chief of the lions was there to greet him. Jahari stood at the edge of the chamber the naga had taken for his own in the forward camp, hands behind his back and looking more like an attendant than the Kgosi he was. It was yet one more sign that the hypnosis was working the way that it was supposed to, and the great naga smiled to himself as he watched the lion stand still, not shifting at all, unlike some of those that would have attended to him with less control.

"Yessss?" he hissed.

"They're here."

"Ah, the sssskunksss?"

"Yes. They've offered us the chance to...negotiate."

The bitterness under Jahari's words was understandable. The skunks had held the line over the gap for some time, and it should have been the end of their little squabble with the lions. Instead, they'd received word that reinforcements were coming, not enough to dislodge Lorenus and his allies from their new camp on the skunk side of the gap, but enough to keep them from capitalizing on their victory. It was frustrating for all parties involved, and he was quite surprised that Jahari was able to stand there and keep a neutral face when he was holding so much back.

He credited himself for that. Hypnosis was a powerful tool, and it did its job well. Slithering upright, he snapped his tail for his perch's attention. Jelani approached and stood by his bed, and the naga slithered up and over the jackal's body.

"When do they offer thissss meeting?" he asked.

"Now."

"...Sssso ssssoon?"

"They don't want us to keep the fort if they can help it."

"Ah, I ssssee."

Smart, he supposed. They wanted to push things back to the status quo before he could do anything else. They probably thought that more reinforcements were waiting, and that they were just the advance force. Perhaps he could play on that, perhaps not. He would have to see what their representative was like.

"Gather the Old Hump, and we sssshall go together."

Jahari nodded, bowing his head for a moment before hurrying out. Lorenus rolled his head from side to side, rubbing his neck as he considered his options. If the enemy was smart, then he would send an underling rather than meeting with the naga himself. If he was stupid, he would send an underling that was unprotected.

He wondered which it would be.

#

He came himself, with protection...interesting.

The skunks had come to the gathering place, a tent between the two forces set up in the shade, and they had come with two guards and their leader. The skunk in question, a male named Konie, apparently was the de facto Kgosi of the skunks, holding an unofficial leadership position while the Kgosi himself continued a long decline. It was the reason that the skunks had been in such a long war, according to Jahari. The current Kgosi would not let go of it, and for all that Konie had been in favor of ending the war rather than pushing it to continue, the younger skunk wouldn't be willing to just let them through skunk lands without a fight.

And he was smart enough to come to the meeting with some protection, a veil that was just thick enough and wide enough that Lorenus could see no more of Konie than a silhouette. Most unfortunate, and most annoying.

"You are the leaders of the...invading forces?" Konie asked.

"I am the leader. This is my advisor," Jahari said.

"I have heard that the lions have come under the control of the Snakelands."

"You've heard wrong."

"Hmm. I suppose that's possible. What do you want from this conflict, naga?" the skunk asked.

Lorenus shrugged. Not from arrogance, nor from dismissal, but for the honest reason that trying to come up with a proper answer wasn't worth his time. And besides, if they were going to keep to the ruse that they agreed with, it was up to Jahari to lead the conversation.

After all, he'd seen the problem of positioning himself as the leader of the little alliance. If the Sizwe, or Lorenus himself, were seen as the instigators, then the chances of any overconfidence or weaknesses popping up were slim to none. Nobody trusted the snake lords of the desert, nor should they. He knew, more than most, how untrustworthy they were, and were he anyone else, he would not have the guts to trust someone that could take his mind from him in the blink of an eye.

But if they were seen as merely an ally, someone that lent strength but didn't bother to be part of the strategy, then he was just muscle. Dumb muscle, at that, and that was something that would go unnoticed by most of the other tribes. They'd focus on their traditional rivals, and that would be that.

Of course, he hadn't expected Konie to come here with protection, but even that was limited. He had already found a way through it, and all he needed was time.

"Well then, Jahari. Shall we speak?" Konie asked.

"What is there to talk about? We have won the war."

"Battle, my friend. Battle."

"There's no difference."

"You don't have the soldiers to push further. You may have breached our defenses, but the moment you push forward is the moment we snap your new allies up."

Shutting out the manly back and forth banter of the two warriors, he turned his attention to one of the two attendants holding the silk screen between Konie and them. They were carefully looking anywhere but at him, but that was something that few people knew.

A naga didn't need you to look at him. He just needed to look at you. Lorenus restrained his smile and slid forward.

#

_The mind was such a terrible thing to waste, and this skunk had wasted his. There was debauchery about, the smell of sex and the feel of it in the air, as if one was being groped and molested merely by existing. The memories of pleasure were strong, and eager to be returned to. The skunk was probably hard in the real world, waiting for the chance to enjoy himself when the meeting was over, and thinking of little more than his dick at that point. _

It didn't matter to Lorenus. He reached out with his will, touching the chains that hung from on high. He didn't need to control the skunk directly, but merely tweak a few things. Create a few little mirrors, a few little commands.

#

He blinked, and the moment was done. The skunk had sagged slightly, but the brief touch on his mind hadn't actually put him into a full trance, nor had enough time passed to completely leave him or the other obviously distracted. A quick glance at the lion and the skunk proved that they were still chatting away, only a few sentences further on than they had been when he had slipped out.

Good...good...

They were talking about how they would rip each other apart, which meant that they were still well and truly embroiled in the 'manly' style of diplomacy. The snake shook his head, resting his chin on one hand while casually looking at the other attendant.

Now...your turn...

He got a good look at the skunk's eyes, and slid in.

#

_Another burst of pleasure hit him as he sunk into the skunk's mind, and he shook his head as he slithered through the clouds of need and want. This one was a bit more fogged over than the other, and he imagined that was due to diet. This one had memories that floated about of drugs and worse, and he saw other imaginings of the skunk on his belly, ass in the air, doing many perverted things. _

_He moved on rather than indulging himself. Time enough for that later. _

"Mmm...mmm..."

_The voice of the skunk's mental self could just barely be heard, but it sounded harmless enough. Probably stoned, for that matter. _

He chuckled. That must be how Konie had planned to keep them from becoming a danger. They might not have been useful as puppets due to how stoned they were, but they were going to be used differently to that. He didn't need them sober, he just needed them to belong to him.

He found the chains that he needed and began the rearrangements.

#

Lorenus slid back into his own mind, tapping his fingers impatiently against the shoulders of his jackal perch as he returned to the moment. The chatter continued, with Jahari delivering a scathing description of what he could do with Konie's father if the lion ever got his hands on him. It was quite artful, really.

"How far along are we?" he hissed to the Old Hump.

"Far enough. They cannot seem to move past traditional threats to life and limb."

"Good. Good."

"They are as antagonistic as you imagined, lord."

"Heh...asss hoped."

It had been the other reason to allow Jahari the chance to lead the conversation. If nothing else, it would ensure that the skunk was more focused on the other Kgosi than he was on the Emperor that was gracing him with his presence. More to the point, it would keep him bemused enough to run circles around the young Jahari, who was more a warrior than he was anything else.

Glancing side to side, he saw that the effects he'd hoped for had already come to pass. The two skunks holding up the veil had gone from seeing clearly to being slightly fog-eyed, their vision hazed over with just a hint of a spiral further down inside. It was hardly the sort of thing that would completely take down someone else, unlike the power that he had imbued the monkey prince with, but it would be enough to at least distract or detract from someone else's focus.

The veil had been a good idea, but a better idea would have been to have the stoned skunks to stand on the other side. They had taken it partway, but not far enough to stop him, and Lorenus flattered himself that he would have been able to deal with that, too. He was smart enough to do that.

Jahari was just winding down from the latest threat when Konie turned. The silhouette whispered something to one of the other skunks, and their eyes met. Lorenus smiled to himself as the skunk leader's words trailed off for a moment, leading to a moment of silence before shaking his head.

"I apologize. Let us take a moment to break. I must...consider our next moves."

"The options forward are clear. You can get out of our way, or we can make you get out of the way," Jahari said.

"You say that, but allow me that time. Please."

"Hmmph. We have a defensive enough position to wait...fine. One hour."

Konie nodded, and the skunks withdrew from the tent. Lorenus saw the slight tremor and stumble, and knew that the seeds had already been planted. By the time that the skunk returned, he'd be primed for the control of another. The naga chuckled as soon as the skunks were out of earshot, reaching out to rub the lion between his ears.

"Good kitten."

"Master?"

"You've done well."

"But -"

"When he returnsssss, let me take the lead."

It would be time by then. He glanced at the Old Hump and got a nod of assurance. They were...definitely making progress, for sure.

#

When the skunks came back, the veil was barely upright, and it was swaying from side to side. There was clearly a great deal of effort going into keeping it in place, and just as much trying to keep it from sliding completely. All three skunks were slumped forward rather than attentive as they had been before, and the stoned nature of the two guard skunks was more pronounced than before, their loincloths tended and darkened in the front, showing off balls that looked heavier than before, while Konie sat down harder than he did the last time, clearly struggling to keep his balance.

It was perfect. Completely perfect.

Lorenus slithered to stand at the center of the group, and the skunk silhouette turned to him.

"Y-you aren't -"

"I have but a few thingssss to ssssay. Assss a member of ssssome power on my ssside, I believe that I have a voice here."

"Then s-speak," the skunk stuttered.

"I sssshall, but wouldn't it be easssier if we could ssspeak face to face?"

"I know your...I know your tricks...Not...not happening."

"No? Even if I assssked nicely? Even if I jusssst ssssaid, 'Drop the veil'?"

The guards did just that, and Konie, aware as he was of the danger, was too affected by the spirals of his own guards' eyes to turn away in time.

The End