FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The warm summer air was a joy to fly through, together with enough prey to hunt. Summer was Mistica's favourite time of the year. And this year would be even better. She looked to her right, where Fera was flying by her side. The golden and sand colours of her scales reflecting the sunlight, like she was a golden statue souring through the sky. Just looking at her filled her heart with joy.

“Mistica!” Fera said to her, disturbing the black dragoness from staring at her mate for to long. “Eyes on the ground hun, else we will be flying all day to hunt down prey”

“Uhmm, to fly all day with you by my side. That would be my second favourite activity to do with you”

“dare I to ques what would be the first, my love?” Fera snickered at her. Letting her wings flare out gently gliding through the sky causing Mistica to pull slightly ahead.

“Oh, something involving you, me, and a long, passionate night of lovemaking.” Mistica said with a wide smirk on her face, dropping back herself to fly side to side with her mate again.

Fera swayed to the side to poke Mistica's flank with the tip of her wing. “Really, when we met, I thought you were the most timid of the bunch. But really, you are just a big black horn-ball.”

Mistica gave a small eep when she was poked and teased Fera back by dropping behind her and nipping her tail. She was not prepared, however, by Fera's response. She flared her wings to drop back and latch onto Mistica, colliding mid air and soon tumbling out of the sky with her. “Got you” She smiled. Pleasing a draconic kiss on Mistica's lips before letting her go so they could regain altitude.

Mistica had to break her vertical velocity hard before she could regain her widths and altitude. “Really, and you say I am the tease? "

“No, I called you a horn-ball, not a tease.”

“And the difference being?” Mistica gave another nip on Fera's tail. Resulting in a deep rumbling laugh.

“That you, my little black dragon, are focuses to get up and under my tail, while I just tease you.”

“Hey! I want not only to get under your tail,” Mistica called out, acting indignant about the accusation.

“Okay sure, you want to get on my back too” Fera continued to quip at Mistica, Trough she was not really paying attention, sniffing the air. There had been a strange scent in the air. Something familiar and not. She levelled off next to Fera again.

“You smell that?” Mistica said and received a nod in response. “I think it comes from up north, must be. We are high enough that the wind would have blown the scent away otherwise. "

Mistica's eyes trailed over the horizon to look at anything that was amiss. Would the territory be in danger? As they slowly approached the source of the scent. The scent changed from that slightly familiar yet strange scent to something more alarming in the overtones. Fire? in their territory? None of the villages nearby would come here, yet the scent of the burning forest was getting thicker in the air. Her eyes traced the border until there was smoke, thick black smoke that promised little good, and just outside the border of the territory they claimed theirs.

“Fera, go get the elders, I will inspect,” Mistica said between controlled breaths of air.

“Just be careful. We don't know what it is.” Fera warned before turning around and flying back to their caves. Mistica gained some more altitude to make sure she was safe and flew full speed at the fire.

While the smoke was copious, thick and black, she could not see an actual fire. She made lower and wider circles to see up close what the issue was. At her third pass, she heard something fly behind her, but before she could turn around and see what was flying towards her, it hit her.

A net enveloped her body, making it harder to beat her wings and move. She tried to get the net off but with every manoeuvre her wings got more and more entangled in the net. She spread her wings to slow her descent down and focused. A net, danger. What to do next? Get it off.

She did not get the time to consider her next action. A second net enveloped her and rendered any plan of escape useless. She could do little but to brace for impact as the trees neared at a steady pace. She tried to flare her wings, but the nets did not allow her to do so. The next best thing was to fold her delicate wings against her body and her claws against her body to protect against the trees as they affected her body and battered her scales. While they slowed her down, the branches bruised her scales and did not help with the final impact on the ground. With the surrounding nets, she was dead weight and thus she thumbed on the ground, her head slammed last on the forest floor. Darkness quickly enveloped her vision until she could see nothing and only hear the muffled sounds around her.

She did not know how long she was laying there but slowed she heard a group of humans approach, all wearing metal armour by the sound of it. She tried to open her eyes, move her body, do anything. Tough, no part of her body responded to her command. She could do little as to listen to how the muffled voices discussed how to load her on some kind of carriage. When they removed the nets from her body, Mistica hoped they would help her and set her free.

That hope was crushed when she felt the heavy leather of bandages placed on her body and pulling her down against the rough wood of the cart.The only thing she could really feel was something sharp being pushed between the scales on her left hip. What followed was a cold liquid being pushed inside of her body. After that she soon drifted from being unconscious to blacking out.

A splitting headache that made her whine woke her up. She never felt so horrible as before. Her whole body hurt, her scales where itchy from the bounds that hold her body in place and a sickness came over her stomach but she could do nothing but to gurgle up empty bile, there was nothing in her stomach to throw up. To make things worse, her nose was being assaulted by that strange yet familiar scent, but this time it the strength was overpowering and nasty to her nose. Slowly, she dared to open one of her two eyes to see what was going on. It was dark, and she was no longer in the forest. She did not know where she was, but the moon at least showed how much time has passed.

That can't be right!? She thought. Three days! I must get out, Fera must be worried sick.

Allas her bounds did not buckle and the only thing she achieved by trying to get free was her headache to turn from head splitting to immobilising. Further more it drawn the attention of someone who entered her vision. Human. While the skin of this human had a tan like her father did, he was covered in grime from being on the road.

Of course, that's why the scent is familiar! She could curse herself for not notice it earlier that she smelled human. Naturally, she growled at the human, her claws digging into the wood. She would not let herself be captured like this without a fight. Slowly her claws digging into the wood. The oak wood giving way to the sharp claws and deep groves appeared. Perhaps, over time, she could claw her way out.

A stinging feeling on her snout thwarted her efforts. She roared out in both surprise and pain. In her effort to get out, she hadn't noticed the human taking a whip and whipping her across the nose. Soon after, the scent of blood filled her nose. She wanted to bare her teeth at the human, but her mouth was prevented from fully opening by some kind of muzzle.

“Now listen, beast, I know you can hear me.” The human spoke to her in his own tongue. “This is how it will go. You are coming with us and you are going to serve the great south alliance army. You will behave or there is hell to pay.”

“No.” Mistica growled in her draconic. “I will not. Free me at once or i shall hunt you down and...” She received another whip across her nose. Small splatters of blood flew as the whip contacted her already injured nose.

“Not a single word from you. What ever you use as language. It is not a proper language. You shall from now on only speak in our tongue or suffer the consequences.” He looked at Mistica for some moments, as if she did not complain. Though she was in too much pain to say anything. But internally, she was boiling over, ready to bite and claw at anyone she could reach.

“Good, now my name is Derrick, and I will be your trainer. I expect you to listen to me from now on. I know it's hard to suppress those beastly instincts of yours, but you gotta have to do your best. If not.” He whipped his whip on the wood before Mistica. Making her push back into her keep and hiss.

“Good, you already learn who is boss, and as reward, I will allow you to eat something. Now remember, this is a sign of thrust, so don't you try to pull something funny.”

Mistica expected him to remove the band around her muzzle himself, trough instead he signalled something to someone she outside of her line of sight. Soon enough, two smaller humans came into her vision. They looked far younger than her captor that called himself her rider. They also reeked of fear when they approached her. Their scent almost overpowered the scent of bloody meat that they carried on a plate between them. Unseasoned, unroasted meat. From the looks of it, the meat was the left over cuts of someone's hunt, scraps of meat with bones and fat. The prime cuts skimmed from the bone.

The boys put the platter in front of Mistica's head as a sort of distraction, while they went to work releasing her bounds that hold her neck down. Mistica let out a grunt of satisfaction when the last hold down was released. It spooked the two boys that scuttled away from her. She slowly tested out the range of motion in her stiffened neck. It was enough to reach the platter in front of her and look down at her flank.

While she could not reach the bounds, she was shocked at the amount of chains and ropes that hold her in place. It smashed her hopes of getting free soon. The straps that held her wings closed against her body were heavy. Heavy chains tied her tail to the bed of the card. They tied her legs down against her body while the bulk of her body was tied against the bed with a large net made of heavy rope. Along her body she could see the temporary camp of those who captures her. The camp was made up out of a core of tents where in between leather clad humans where walking around, cooking and cleaning gear. Along the edge of the camp, they stalled large wooden machinery with nets. Along the trees, horses were tied up and gracing on what was left.

“You see now, resistance is futile,” Derrick's words snapped Mistica's attention back to her captor and the meat in front of her. “So eat, we have a long way to go, and I don't want you to die by the time we arrive at home. That would be a waste of resources.”

Mistica Grumbled before sniffing the meat. Should she answer her captor at this point? There was little she could actually do against him and furthering angering him would only end poorly for him. Instead, she opted to gnaw on the bones while looking malignantly at the humans that scuttled about. Making the best effort to snap any bone, she had as loudly as possible. She enjoyed the effect each snap had on some of the camp. Each snap resulted in looks of fear aimed at her.

Good, they fear me, they should. Mistica thought while considering her situation while suckling the sweet marrow out of a bone. Silly humans, thinking they give me scraps while giving me the most delicious part of a meal. I wonder how they even survive on only meat. I smell no vegetables in their meals like Father would cook. Shame, I would have loved some roasted carrots.

Captivity was many things; humiliating, uncomfortable, and painful. Trough her mother never told her how utterly boring the entire ordeal also was. Strapped to a cart, looking backwards from where she came while she was carried off at a snail's pace towards some unknown country and unknown life. Her days turned into the same routine every day that dragged on. Each day waking up, watching everyone pack the camp and then moving. She could do little but to watch backwards from where she came, watching herself move further and further away from where she came from with no ability to do anything against it.

When the sun was setting and the other humans had made their food, their scraps were fed to her, again and again the same old bones and bits of fat and meat that were left over. It was mostly effective against the growl in her stomach, but it was far from the meal she was used to. It made her yearn for the sky again, to feel the wind under her wings and the scent of prey in the distance. At least the scent of prey was a pleasant one, unlike the scent of those who currently surround her, barely washed at all.

After dinner, her captor came to talk to her again. It had been 7 nights by now that he tried to talk to her and tonight he tried to do so again.

“Beast” was his introduction, as usual. “We must, for once, end this foolish game. I know you can speak to me in our language. If you wish to be of use, then you shall speak civilised.”

Mistica did not know with what she took more offense, that she was told that she was a beast, that she was uncivilised or that he told her she belonged chained down.

“You can dull your claws on this rock, I shall not conform to your demands” She spoke pack with her usual draconic. With her draconic, she received another whip. This time it hit her paw, a great deal less sensitive than her snout through it left a mark on her scales. not enough to draw blood, but enough to scratch her hard scales.

“You.” Derrick snorted. “You are some kind of devil that enjoys teasing, honest man? Or are you some kind of deviant that enjoys being punished, like that dragon and the heretic? "

_I_t grabbed Mistica's attention. A dragon who enjoys being punished like this? She had to swallow her intentions to ask who that where, suppressing a gut feeling.

“That caught your attention, dragon?” Derrick said, keeping his distance, his whip ready in his hands. “Don't get your hopes up. I shall not indulge in any of your wishes.”

“Like that is something I wish. You foolish little ape” Mistica snorted. Again, her draconic resulted her getting a blow from the whip again.

_“_this is going nowhere” Derrick’s voice turned from the neutral voice to a more frustrated. At a fast pace, he walked away from her vision again.

That was quicker than before. Through her optimism that they released her of her captor for the day was short-lived. He came back with a long and shiny blade and broke the distance he normally kept.

“Now beast,” he said softly with barely kept anger. “You will listen to me, else there is hell to pay. Do you understand?”

Mistica eyed the blade in distrust. What on earth was he planning with that? She growled defiantly at Derrick. Straining her body against ties that hold her down.

” Well, seems like you made your choice. Just remember, this is your choice. If only you swallowed your pride and admitted that i am your superior, this could have been avoided. You made me do this beast, you and you alone.” He placed the blade on her left paw and put the tip under a scale. Mistica was helpless to withdraw and could do nothing but to look in horror as he slowly pushed the blade under her scales and into the soft flesh below.

The pain was near instance and Mistica roared in her restrains as he pushed deeper the blade and deeper into her paw. She could smell the blood trickling out while Derrick pushed deep the blade into her body. Her body shook with this unfamiliar pain. She had had claws of a dragon before, but this, this was another level of pain all together. She tried to clench her yaw shut, to be strong and don't show the pain, but she just couldn't. Her roars of pains and grunts were audible far and wide.

Derick stared at Mistica while he hold the blade in her paw, then he pulled it out in a fluid motion. With the blade removed, blood dripped out of the wound before it was pressed shut by the pressure of her scales. Her captor cleaned his blade with a cloth, looking at her and speaking.

"I hope tomorrow you are more cooperative.”

He walked away, leaving Mistica quivering in pain while inspecting her paw to the wound. The scent of her own blood got to her, and she vomited up the dinner she was served just a few minutes ago. Her stomach could no longer handle it.

“I have marked you for death.” Mistica vowed to herself when derrick was out of earshot. “I shall gut you and hang you by your entrails if I ever have so much as a moment of freedom.”

Sleep was hard for her that night. It wasn't only the pain in her paw but also the fact she was no longer in the forest and was now in open planes. She felt home sick and alone. Her claws scraped the flooring throughout the night. Not that she needed the energy. With her being tied up, there was little she could do but sleep all day. Trough it left her feeling more horrible than she already was feeling. The other humans looked at her and the pile of vomit with disdain. Mistica marked her own disdain by baring her teeth at any human that even dared to come close to her. She even growled at one of the stable boys who went to check her ties, scaring him and making him slip and fall into her vomit. He received a growling laugh from the black dragoness, usually as a laugh from the adult humans. Trough her, laughing soon quieted down when Derick entered her vision again. He instantly placed his hand on the metal blade, now hilted at his belt.

”I thought yesterday you got taught your lesson,” He snarled at her.” But you are just a stupid animal that doesn't know how to behave. That's it. No more food for you tonight. Hope hunger will serve you right. God help me, you are worse than Gyrt when I trained him.”

Gyrt? She asked herself. I he never mentioned this...this pain, this torture. Who is Gyrt to my captor?

She did not dare to ask the questions, did not dare to speak through any mental link with her captor. Afraid that he was having an entire array of mental torture for her, trough surely if he had, he would have done it by now, right?

With a shout from Derick the card moved again and Mistica soon dozed off, sleep getting more powerful than her desire to stay awake, besides this way she wasn't forced to look how the line of the forest disappeared into the distance while she was dragged out of hell.

“MISTICA!” She could hear Fera shout, but she couldn't see her. It was dark all around. Her eyes were open but seeing none. “ __Mistica! where are you!?” Fera shouted again

Mistica wanted to shout back, but her mouth was held shut. The only thing she could sense was the scent of fire and smoke while Fera was shouting at her in the distance. Mistica frantically looked around to see where she was, but it was all darkness. When she made a step, she could feel a sharp pain in her paw. When she looked down, she saw her captor's dagger pushed into her paw. That hellish pain overcame her again.

” What is wrong prey? can't move?” Derick's voice was twisted and close by her right ear. She whipped around to see where he was, but the only thing she could sense was another pain in her flank. She looked to see her flank had a large bleeding cut in it.

” Tss tss, beasts don't get to move around. Now call to your love...sing my demon sing for me. "

Mistica could feel the band around her mouth being released. In the distance, Fera was calling for her again and this time Mistica called back with all her might. Suddenly, Fera came into her vision. Appearing as a guardian angle before...

With a quiet roar, Mistica was forced to watch as a javelin was thrown into her love's chest. Fera gave a squeak and her eyes rolled into her skull while she collapsed on the ground in an unbreathing, bloody pile.

“FERA!” Mistica roared and jumped against her straps, making the card buckle and nearly topple over when she awoke. She was cold, colder than she normally was sleeping out in the wild. She could do little but to pant while gaining her senses again. That was a dream...but it felt so real, too real. But it must be a dream. She tried to look around, to see if perhaps Fera was near, sadly she was not. Mistica overcame with sorrow when she realised she was indeed all alone. No one to speak to her, no one to warm her scales while she was cold. No one to lick her wounds while she healed.

A draconic tear rolled from her cheek, the first tear she let out since they captured her. She was tired; she was in pain, and now she felt ready to give up. Mistica must be strong, but she just didn't have energy to give and so she cried herself to sleep in silent whispers. This time no nightmares, no dreams, no nothing. She was floating in a hollow whiteness that surrounded her.

When she came too, she saw one of the human boys near her head. Observing her. He had wiped one of her wet tears on his hand and looked at it in shock. Mistica gazed at the boy in anger, trough she did not scare him away this time. She just felt hollow, what would scaring this boy do? Even more pain? Even more torture? More horrible dreams.

She and the boy just stared at each other for a moment, then the boy took something from his pocket, something light brown. It smelled like food. The boy offered extended it to Mistica. She inspected it. It looked like something her father made from time to time when the farmers had a new harvest of wheat. What was it called again? Bread? yeah Bread, he called it.

“Easy there,” her father said to her. She could barely even reach the top of the stone slab he used to prepare the strange new food. “I am not making your meal, only my own.”

“But i wanna try, dad!” she called back in protest, interested in that strange new food her dad was making. Ever since they got a trade going with the nearby town, her father returned often with new and exotic things, though this was the first time he made pure human food rather than just roasted vegetables and meat.

The piece of bread was barely a bite for her, not enough to even fill her stomach for a bit. She came closer with her head and nudged the piece of bread away from her and back to her boy. Her movement left the boy trembling for a moment. Trough it quickly subsided when he noticed she had just pushed the bread back. Interested, he looked at her and tried to extend his hand to her head.

Mistica gave a huff and gave a soft growl, wanting to have none of whatever this body tried. Quickly, the boy took his bread and retreated away from her. Leaving her all alone again. She stared at the boy running away for so long she could before she could turn her head no more. She growled in discomfort at the moment that her heck aced from the stretching. At this rate, by the time they arrived, she could no longer walk from the stiffness that she experienced by being tied down to the cart.

She gazed up at the sun again. It was setting again, meaning soon her captor would come back to torture her. And so he did a few moments later, again with his blade ready and again keeping distance.

”Are you prepared to talk now, beast”

“Why can't you just leave me alone” She growled back, realising a bit too late what kind of mistake she made by using this mental connection. The realisation came when she saw that sickening smile on her captor's face. A smug smile that made her realise that she just ruined her whole week of resolve.

” See, that is not that hard, is it?” Derick replied without answering her question.” I knew you could hear me. Such a shame you forced me to do such an awful thing to you before you swallowed your pride”

Mistica gave a soft growl. She did not want to speak to that human, even if she gave up her advantage.

”Hey, use your words now, not your teeth. Besides, if you are a behaved beast, i might allow you to eat tonight.”

“Why? Why are you such an awful being? Why you enjoy torturing me and rip me from my home?”

She received another while from Derick's whip again.” Show some respect. Besides, I don't enjoy the torture, but alas, you force me to do so. If you only are a behaved dragon and full fill your obligations to the crown, you will find life better than whatever hole in the ground you call home.”

Mistica snorted, partially in pain as the strike from the whip hurt, partially in amusement about the disillusioned statement of her captor.

“That 'hole in the ground' was a better life than being strapped down on some kind of cart, torn from friends and family surrounded by sadists.” She spat back, but received another blow from the whip.

” Well, that is not a good beast. But at least you learned, so let us compromise, a quarter portion for you” And without being phased by her accusations, he left. Leaving Mistica alone yet again.

I will end you.