FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Heeto felt his urges stir as he stared at the girl bathing in the springs for long moments, watching the vixen splash water across her russett neck and white fur around her breasts, down her belly, delicately caressing and rubbing the length of her body with supple paws. The scent of the lagoon soon left her, and was replaced by a much stronger one - her season was at hand. Heeto swallowed as the girl played along her thighs, rubbed across her backside, then lifted each foot to massage her toes, tilting her head up and enjoying the water pouring down her.

He waited until she was stepping out of the springs again before coming up to her, naked and fully aroused. "Baruna..." he gasped, pressing himself against her and nuzzling her neck. "Why do you resist me..."

The young girl felt the strong wolf's flesh pulled full away from its sheath, nestling to her fur, a heavy, hard weight against her bare belly, and she shyly stepped away from him, reaching for her clothes and tying them around her, swallowing. "Another time, please, dear Heeto...I have...much on my mind tonight. And the thought of our mating is not one of them..." She started up the trail back to the village, with Heeto following close by her side, flustered and hot as he re-tied his own loincloth.

"What is it you think of tonight, if not of me?"

Baruna smiled as she looked at him. For all his arrogance and his incredible stupidity, he was still a very handsome wolf. His grey fur, mottled with white and black streaks throughout, was unique. His grey eyes could be steely and fierce when on the Hunt, and warm and almost timid as the vixen and he would sit together by the fire for a meal. The muscles in his chest and arms were incredible to watch, and Baruna had heard stories from other vixens in the village about his amazing feats of agility and strength. He had climbed up a jambu tree by himself, one had said. Another had seen him tackle and defeat a lion with no weapons. Still a third gushed about being carried to safety in his arms when she had ventured too far into the river, and had nearly been swept away by the current.

"Just things," Baruna shrugged a paw from her shoulder, walking a bit faster.

"Is this about Loka?"

The girl sighed and stopped, turning to face him. "Why do you listen to her?"

"Because she speaks to those that have gone before us."

"And what good does that possibly do for us now?"

The wolf's eyes flickered uncertainly. "I do not understand. The spirits guide us and teach us and-"

"You sound as bad as she does!" she spat, and turned angrily away again. A paw reached for hers to stop her, and she was drawn to his face again, inches from hers. His musk filled her senses.

"Baruna, what is wrong? Please tell me..." His muzzle slowly traced her cheek, flicking his tongue across her whiskers.

"I..." The girl found her own wanting, the need for his warmth, giving off her own scent. "I...I don't know...I feel so strange lately..." Her green eyes finally looked up into his greys and held steady. Her paws clasped around his. "I went to the lagoon today..."

"Baruna!"

"Shh! Our secret, or I swear I'll die before you lay a paw on me!"

"I knew it!" Heeto whispered, "You heard what the spirits told Loka and you went there anyway!"

Baruna shook her head. "Jeru heard and told me. And we found something there. Or...I did..." She sighed and pulled the medallion from the side of her loincloth, and showed it to him. The wolf smiled and his eyes seemed to light up the whole night.

He took the chain carefully, reading. "Johnson...what is all this, girl?"

"I do not know. But Loka said what lay down there in those depths was much larger. And...I think I want to find out what she means. Maybe this is a part..."

"A part of what?"

Baruna sighed irritably. "The spirits said great treasure was down there, that if found, would bring the village to a new day. We would find more of ourselves, it would open up our world, it would make us one..." Her paws gently squeezed Heeto's. "I do not know what this all means but Jeru thought enough of it to take me there, against the elders' wishes..."

"It was a story! You said so yourself."

"I do not know what I believe!" Baruna cried out, dropping his paws and pulling away. "I only know that I found something there that is strange to us all, and I want to return..."

Heeto snorted. "There is no chance I am letting you return there." He swallowed and walked up to her again, nuzzling the back of her ears until the girl turned around and slipped her arms around his neck in a hug. "At least...not without me..."

The vixen smiled, pulling her head up to his to rub noses. *Our secret...* she softly whisper-sent, a sweet message as light as a feather-tail, meant only for him, and her first time ever doing so. She was delighted to see the wolf's eyes soften, and a blush coming to his face. "Come...walk me home, Heeto..."

They started up the path again, holding paws, the girl staying close to his side, their tails caressing over one another's.

That night, Baruna had a strange and terrible dream. She was at the lagoon again, swimming naked down into seemlingly endless depths, diving past strange plants and water-vines. But the plants seemed more alive this time, writhing and coiling around her like large snakes in the current, and they tried to snare her legs as she kicked past them. As she approached the bottom, the water was crystal-clear. Golden sand kicked up and then settled easily back down again. The mucky silt had disappeared. She could see for several feet in every direction.

As she explored her tranquil underwater world, she stopped now and then to pick up a few small pink and blue shells poking up from the sandy bottom. Baruna felt no strain; nothing in her lungs, no need to kick back up for a breath at all. She felt at peace, completely in her element, and stroked and kicked slowly across the sand. Ahead of her, a glint from another shell caught her eye, and she swam towards it, kneeling down and picking at it. As the sand uncovered, the shell became a silver medallion similar to the one she had found in the lagoon with Jeru. She seemed startled but picked it up, the long trailing silver chain drifting back and forth in the water.

Around her, little shafts of silver winked along the bottom, and as she approached each one, the shafts would lift up slowly from the sand, becoming silver thin medallions. All around her, more and more of the strange trinkets started to rise up, until there were hundreds, and then seemingly thousands floating and surrounding her, trailing silvery thin chains around them.

*Help us...*

She felt the powerful send suddenly tear through her serene surroundings, and she stopped to shake her head slowly back and forth. The urgency for a breath suddenly slammed into her; her heart pounded, and she watched a burst of bubbles escape from her lips as she struggled to keep stale air in her lungs.

But she made no move towards the surface. She swam slowly through the forest of silver, and felt as if she was swimming into much deeper waters, the pressure intensifying all over her body, attempting to squeeze air from her. Her ears popped, and she plugged her nose to try to stablize pressure, exhaling - but there was no breath left to hold or expend.

Frantic, she rolled back and pushed off the bottom, ready to swim back up, but suddenly was jerked back down again. She burbled in surprise and looked down to see that her legs were tangled up inside the silver chains, the medallions sparkling all around her, and they wouldn't let her go. She struggled with all her might, bubbles pouring from her mouth in an endless scream as the waters suddenly turned darker, cloudier, enveloping her in the depths.

*HELP US...* she heard once more, a violent thrumming inside her head this time, hard enough to blind her, and she opened her mouth to scream again, the water eagerly rushing down her throat...

**

Baruna sat bolt upright in her cot, a paw over her mouth, perspiring profusely and trembling. She looked frantically through her tent opening and saw that it was still pitch-black outside, save for a faint glow from the steady bonfire. She swallowed a few times, still badly out of breath, as though she had indeed narrowly escaped her watery fate and had made it to the surface coughing and gasping. She felt something in her paw just then, and opened up her digits slowly.

The strange medallion winked up at her in the moonlight.

Slipping naked from her cot, she reached for a cotton wrap, tying it about her waist, and padded quietly past her sleeping brother, peeking outside her tent. A few of the Mulus were gathered around the fire still, talking softly enough that the vixen could not hear what was said.

Suddenly strange lights emerged from the trees, followed by a sound Baruna had never heard before. It was a dull roar, but unlike any beast she had ever known. As the sound came closer, the Mulus stood up from the flames, their shadows casting long shapes, and walked towards those lights. Curious that the wolves were not afraid of whatever beast this was, Baruna crept carefully from her tent, hiding behind her parent's adjoining, and peeked around the flap.

Whatever beast this was, it was carrying other wolves upon it! Fascinated now, Baruna backed away, hurried around a few trees near their tents, and hid in the underbrush of jungle flames. The wolves stepped off of the beast as it continued to roar, and then it stopped making noise altogether - though the bright lights still flashed distantly through the jungle.

They were dressed strangely, she could see now. One wolf was oddly clothed from its head to its feet, wearing dark green clothes that covered everything but the black arms. Baruna was amused and mystified at once. Why would someone go around in that manner when it is so hot here? Then another wolf left the other side of the beast and walked into the light. He too was dressed in the same clothes, although he had many shiny trinkets adorning the part that covered his torso, and he wore something on his head, with more trinkets on the front. The wolves exchanged familiar greetings she recognized as paw-shakes, and they started to talk quietly.

Baruna leaned her head closer, almost out of the bushes, trying to pick up the words.

"...been no word from higher up," the more decorated wolf was saying, shaking his head. "We don't have the slightest idea where to go from here...it might be a lost cause at this point..."

"If Loka says something, we are inclined to believe it," one of the Mulu in the group answered in a low growl. "That is why we asked you here, Colonel..."

"May I remind you why you are here, CAPTAIN. You have no cause to investigate this further. Bringing me out here at this ungodly hour for a ghost story is inexcusable-"

"Sir! It's a chance, isn't it? You said so yourself, if anyone could ever find any evidence of the..."

"Yes," the one called Colonel interrupted quietly, lowering his voice again. "But we cannot know for sure what the priestess saw. You tell me that she has these episodes where she speaks to spirits. How do we know she is not actually the one doing the talking? Maybe she's been there, for all we know; maybe she's just...using the ghost stories as her cover..."

"A spy?"

Colonel's yellow eyes gleamed a bit. "I want you to put an immediate watch on the priestess. And I want to know everyone who is and has been in contact with her lately..."

One of the other Mulu approached Colonel. "I know of one," he spoke gently, and Baruna saw that his fur wasn't as dark as the others. It was grey and shiny in the light, flecked with streaks all over. "Baruna, one of the local girls here, speaks with her often. She met with her last night, early." The girl's eyes widened as she recognized the voice. Heeto!

"She said that she had gone swimming with her brother Jeru, and they went into her hut to speak to her."

"Swimming where?!" Colonel suddenly stepped closer, almost touching muzzles.

Heeto hesitated, his eyes flashing. "Just...at the river, sir. We have a river the children go to for bathing and playing in..."

Baruna's eyes widened as she listened, and the vixen squirmed, getting uncomfortable crouching in the bushes for so long.

"Sir," the other wolf spoke up, "We are sorry to waste your time. But you told us to report anything out of the ordinary. We felt this newest message from the priestess bore some consideration."

Colonel nodded. "I want the priestess watched carefully. And this Baruna, also keep tabs on her as well."

"I am sure Heeto will enjoy doing that..." and a few of the other Mulu started to chuckle as the grey wolf dropped his gaze.

"You have your orders. Keep them away from the lagoon at all costs. I am expecting a salvage team there within the next week, and we will dispose of this mess once and for all..."

Colonel climbed back atop of the beast, flanked by the other green-clothed wolf, and the roar suddenly started up again. Baruna flinched at the sound, backing away from the brushes quickly and nearly tripping over her feet.

She waited until the lights were gone and the Mulu had wandered off to their tents before slinking on all-fours back to her tent, slipping inside quietly.

Jeru was still fast asleep. The vixen looked again at the medallion in her paw, and curled up back into the cot, trying to find sleep, tossing fitfully to thoughts and words that refused to leave her.

(TO BE CONTINUED)