FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

THREE - Defiance and Rewards

Magnus meets his enemy, earns a new nickname and is rewarded.

When I woke up, the first thing that I noticed was that the sky was dark. The second thing was the pounding agony in my head focused around the point on my forehead where my attacker had struck me with his sword pommel. The pain was exquisite and even without having to touch the area to confirm it; I could feel the lump that the blow had left behind.

As I tried to raise my right paw and inspect the injury I noticed the third thing. Thick hemp rope soaked in tar bound my arms securely to my sides and after a few moments of frantic and fruitless struggle I gave up trying to break the bonds. Whoever had tied the rope knew what they were doing and hadn't left any give in it at all for me to try and exploit. The only thing that my panicked struggling achieved was to turn my stomach and I suddenly wretched, spraying bile and I'm sure more than a little blood, over the ropes and my dirty trousers.

"The boy appears to be awake my lord" a menacing voice announced from the darkness on my left hand side and I snapped my head up in its direction and was just able to make out the outlines of some dark figures grouped in a huddle only a few yards away. My eyes struggled to retain any kind of focus, likely due to my rattled brain, but I was aware that two of the group broke off at the announcement and came closer. One of them leant down and pushed my head backwards against a solid object that I was clearly propped up against. The warrior stank of some kind of incense and ale, causing me to gag when I breathed him in. Ignoring my discomfort he proceeded to prod the lump on my head forcefully and I squirmed in agony at his touch. The sudden onset of pain caused me to vomit a fresh amount of bile on his furs and he suddenly pulled back in an attempt to dodge my puke, cursing as he did so. "The wound on his head will heal well enough, even though Braki used more force than necessary" the figure growled as he reported his findings. "But if the whelp spews on me again I will give him another lump to match the one he already has"

"Easy Ovden" a powerful and surprisingly soothing voice replied from somewhere behind me. "Gedda, Joffur, pick the lad up and bring him to the campfire, I want to get a better look at the cub that killed Drengr"

Two powerful pairs of paws hoisted me roughly to my feet by my arms, causing the wound in my shoulder which I had almost forgot about to burn in agony. I tried my best to break their hold as they lifted me but the more than I struggled the harder they gripped and the more my shoulder burned. "Get off me you pieces of shit or I will fucking kill you as well" I growled and head-butted the one that gripped my right arm more out of desperation than skill. I was pleased to hear something break as my head connected with the warriors face but the victory was short lived as my eyes blacked out with the sudden impact to my already shaken brains. I fell to my knees again, dry wretching and trying my best to remain conscious. "He just broke my fucking nose!" the guard I had attacked grunted though his pain and a few moments later the man kicked me square in the chest, creasing me to the floor.

"How many 'warriors' does it take to collect a tied up and injured cub!" someone roared with laughter behind me.

Another set of paws helped drag me to my feet and turn me around to face the direction of the commanding voice and as I approached the campfire I felt and smelt the flames before I saw them. The strong-arms dragged me maybe twenty yards to the fireside and let me fall to my knees in front of it. The sudden change of temperature from cold to hot made me shiver uncontrollably and I could feel the fires flames licking towards me, singeing the ends of my fur when it came too close. The smell was horrible.

I used the moments they gave me to steady myself and when I opened my eyes after a minute or so, I was happy to see that a good deal of my vision was now unblurred. The downside was that the proximity of the raging fire rapidly dried my eyes and I couldn't see much other than black shapes and outline on the other side of the campfire. I blinked a couple of times in a vain attempt to try and get some moisture back in them but it helped little if at all.

"What is your name boy?" the commanding voice asked from directly opposite me.

I chose to ignore him. For all I cared at that point, if he wanted my name then he could beat it out of me. As I stared at the ground directly in front of me I wondered if Esja and Oren had managed to get away and hoped beyond hope that they had somehow managed to evade capture a second time and that my sacrifice had not been in vain.

"The Jarl asked you a question you disrespectful piece of shit" a deep voice growled from my left hand side. "Tell him your name or I will cut your throat"

"If the Jarl wants it then he can fucking have it, my name is Getthir" I replied and as I ran my tongue around the inside of my lips and spat some of my blood that had crusted there on the floor I prepared myself for the strike which I knew was coming. Getthir was the name of a fictional character from the children's myths and literally meant 'the hope stealer'.

I wasn't disappointed and shortly later a heavy blow from an armoured paw caught me on the left side of my jaw, dropping me to the ground so that I lay prostrated in front of the fire. The strong-arms left me to lie on the ground for a few moments before picking me up again and holding me steady. One of them yanked my head back by my right ear so that the commanding voice could see me again.

"I am not a patient person cub" the voice stated flatly. "I will ask again for the last time, what is your name, and this time I would suggest you think before you decide to lie to me"

"Magnus" I blurted, shaken and unable to stop my traitorous mouth spurting out my name.

"A strong name" the voice replied and he must then have motioned to my two supervisors because they dropped me to the floor simultaneously. "Tell me Magnus, are you hungry?"

"Yes" I responded. "Hungry for the blood of whichever bastard chose to attack my village".

The voice laughed roughly and others followed suite. Even the two strong-arms that stood by my sides joined in. The mocking noise was like fuel to my already stoked fire and I roared my pathetic anger at them all as I bucked on the floor trying to break my bonds so I could tear their heads off with my bare hands.

"Revenge is good" the voice added after he had finished laughing. "Revenge is a powerful motivation and I know it well. But revenge has to be tempered boy. It must be forged strong and wielded at the right time. The gods love a revenge saga and they make epic telling".

I staggered to my knees again and steadied myself as best I could, trying at the very least to look as defiant as possible.

"Would you like some food to eat Magnus? Or some wine to drink?. Killing is thirsty work boy, as all of who are gathered here know well. But what am I saying? You have probably learned that for yourself by now"".

"I don't want any of your food or wine you rancid dog, but feel free to calve a portion for me and shove it up your ass"

Everything suddenly fell silent and not even the dozens of the black shapes that I was now able to make out huddled together around the fire muttered and reproach at my words. I realised then that I had just overstepped the mark and was going to pay the insult badly.

"Did you hear the boy?" the voice finally replied. It was as calm as ever but now contained a dangerous undertone rising anger. "As any good captain should, I offered the lad my wine and food just as I have shared it with you and yet he chooses to insult me. Did you hear him insult me little Gotra?" he asked one of the shadows.

"He did my lord" a shadow replied. This new speaker's voice sounded much younger and had none of the gruffness of his fellows leading me to immediately believe he was not much older than I was. "Maybe your food is not good enough for the Getthir"

The silence suddenly broke as the rest of the shadows chuckled to themselves at the young warrior's mockery. In truth, it was well said, and had the roles been reversed and he was here in my place I would probably have found the play on my own stupidity funny as well.

"You refuse my food and turn your nose at my offering of wine to quench your blood thirst" the captain said, silencing his cackling friends. "So tell me Gethir, what is it that you want as reward for your achievement. Silver? Gold? A woman?"

Something in my eyes must have given the game away because I know that I managed to keep my mouth completely shut. I still to this day have no idea how the Jarl guessed my thoughts and have often considered it was luck. However, in the years to come he would repeat the trick on me time and time again so maybe, like I have already stated, my face is just easy to read. Or possibly he did have some kind of magical talent. It made no difference though because he had guessed at my darkest thoughts and that was all that mattered at that moment and in that place.

"A little bird told me that you killed Drengr, brained Hrolf and put an arrow in Beinir's leg to protect two girls. Is that right?" he asked.

"No" I growled. "I just wanted to teach them a lesson..."

"He is a genuine fucking hero" another voice interrupted and I recognised it immediately as belonging to Hrolf, the raider who had cut my shoulder so badly. "But he wields an axe like a woodsman and not a warrior"

"I don't think you have any right to talk about his skill with a blade Hrolf, not now you got your head bashed in by a 'woodsman'" another voice added and I recognised it as belonging Beinir, the warrior who had bested me earlier.

The laughter returned, this time at Hrolf's expense. They were a funny lot it seemed.

"The lad has balls it seems" the leader's voice replied. "But I know motivation when I see it and it doesn't take much to piece the parts of such a simple story together. One might ask what you were doing in the forest with the girl in the first place" he added.

"She is my sister" I growled back, hoping to mask my lie with anger.

"Well if she is, you're a dirty incestuous bastard" another voice I didn't recognise butted in. "Do you enjoy fucking your siblings?" he added and his words caused more than a few of the men to roar with laughter and slap their thighs in mirth.

The leader waited for the laughing to die down again before continuing. "Come now Magnus, the girl isn't your sister. You have no shared features in you at all. So, I ask again, is it a woman that you crave?"

"No" I growled again.

"We shall see." He replied. "Efi, be a good man and fetch the girl"

I tried to spin around and see what was happening but the ropes were still tight and my guards not willing to let me move at all, forcing me to face the flames with their armoured paws. Behind me, I could hear talking which soon turned into raised voices as women tried to protect each other from an intruder. The sounds reminded me of a fox suddenly entering a chicken coup and snatching one of the chicks from the protection of its mothers. The women were clearly held as captives in one of the nearby houses but because I was totally disorientated I had no idea which one and who it belonged to. "She escaped, I saw her get away" I protested to the darkness.

"So sure?" the captain responded and when I heard Esja's muffled screams behind me I knew that I had failed. Despite my best efforts she had been captured alongside the others and everything I had accomplished earlier that day had been for nothing. My heart died.

It took nearly five minutes to drag Esja from the safety of the other womenfolk and every single step of the way I was glad to hear that she fought her captor like a wildcat. I could not see her actions, and in truth I didn't want to, but I could hear them. The warrior called Efi who had been tasked with collecting her clearly struggled to control Esja on more than once occasion which caused the shadows around the campfire, who could see the events unfolding over my head, to laugh and chuckle at their friends misfortune between themselves. Eventually I was aware of shuffling footsteps behind me and then a thud as the girl I loved was forced to her knees only a few paces away. Her head was bowed and her normally perfect hair and fur was matted in places with mud and blood. Her dress had been almost ripped from her shoulders to drape loosely from her frame, revealing the best part of her right arm, shoulder and breast.

"Esja" I whispered. "It's going to be okay"

She composed herself a few seconds after hearing my words and looked up from the floor into my eyes. The right side of her face was begging to bruise slightly from the blow that was delivered by the warrior I had killed but other than that she appeared to be unharmed. "Magnus, I thought you were dead" she gasped. "I thought they had killed you and thrown your body in the river like the others"

"The boy is still alive" the leader interjected "but for how long depends on his actions over the next few hours". "Free him" he ordered my captives.

"Sire?" one of them asked, shocked at his command. "Free the lad?"

"You herd the Jarl, Gedda, he said cut him loose" a powerful and resonate voice which I didn't recognise replied.

Gedda, who I now realised was stood my left, drew a short belt knife and started to cut through the ropes. They were so thick that it took him nearly a minute and as soon as they fell away from me I realised that my arms were almost numb due to the tightness of the restraints.

"Now, Magnus, you had best listen and listen well as you have only one option. In our ways, when a man kills his first enemy it is customary to reward him richly as an incentive to continue to do so. But you are an enigma. You bested three of my warriors and killed one of them, a feat that I admire greatly, and the only reason you are still alive. As such, you have proven yourself as a warrior and should be rewarded as such, raider or no."

A few of the men grunted their approval but I noticed that it was not all of them. Clearly some had liked the raider I had killed and still wanted my head in retaliation.

The leader stood up and pointed at Esja who simply stared in muter horror at him. The figures features were still hidden from my bone-dry eyes but I could tell he was as tall, if not taller, than Hrolf who I had fought earlier that day. "Take her as a reward for your bravery Magnus. If you refuse, I will have Efi take her instead. Efi is not known for being kind to women and after he is finished with her I will cut her throat and kill every other one of the women we captured from your village. Do you understand me?"

Esja started to sob as the import of his words sank into her mind and I am ashamed to say that, even though I knew our coupling would be against her will, the thought of taking her was incredibly appealing. I could feel my manhood stiffen as I considered it and the image of her naked flesh writhing in my paws as I entered her was hypnotic as it flashed before my mind's eye.

But it would still be rape and I would not bow to his will even if it doomed us all. I managed to roll my shoulders and regain some of the feeling in preparation to launch a futile attack at my nearest captor when Esja shocked me into stillness.

"You promise that you will spare the others?" she sobbed.

"You have my word" the captain replied and sat back down again amongst his warriors.

"Esja..." I whispered.

She looked at me, her eyes filled with a mixture of despair, pain and I think a little anticipation. "I promise it's okay".

"Now" the captain ordered and my guards lifted me to my feet. "Claim her Gethir, she is yours. Take her to one side, fuck her and become a man. It is my reward to you for killing your fist man".

Gedda hoisted me to my feet and I staggered for a few moments as I regained my balance. "Get it over with" he growled and pushed me in Esja's direction. I searched around quickly for some other option of escape but it was useless, the warriors surrounded us on all sides and more than one had a bared blade in his hand. By the time I made it three paces I would be cut down and Esja would follow my fate soon after.

As I looked down at her kneeling and vulnerable form I marvelled how the fire light radiated from her fur and features, casting entrancing shadow patterns on what was left of her dress and clothing. I could smell her fear but she looked directly into my eyes unflinchingly. After a moment of stillness she forced herself to her feet, rising from the ground like an uncoiling snake. When she had reached her full height she wrapped her paws around her arms, trying to stop her dress falling off and retain whatever dignity she still had left. Nothing has ever stirred my carnal passions again like the sight of her at that moment, semi naked and totally vulnerable.

I swept her from her feet and pulled her close to my chest, cradling her head under my chin in an effort to calm her. Esja sobbed quietly to herself a few more times before steadying herself in my embrace. "Come" I told her, which in retrospect was a stupid thing to say as I was the one doing the carrying. "Let us find somewhere quieter".

She nodded and covered my right paw with one of her own and it worked wonders to sooth my beating heart.

"You have thirty minutes" the Jarl shouted at us as I carried her away into the darkness. "And don't even think of trying to make a break for it or the last thing you will hear will be the rest of the women screaming in the distance as I kill them one by one. That includes your mother and sisters Gethir"

As I paced into the darkness with my quietly sobbing love cradled in my arms I gritted my teeth against his threat knowing full well that if I responded I would probably have a few arrows protruding from my back moments later. Instead I just carried on walking, hoping to find somewhere that was private enough for me to speak to Esja alone and well out of the view of any spectators.

I must have taken only thirty paces when Esja spoke to me, her soft voice an interesting counterpoint to the now raucous laughter that had resumed around the campfire some distance behind us. "Thank you for trying to save my sister" she almost whispered.

"No need to thank me, I failed"

"You were brave though" she countered. "And you tried your best".

I huffed at that. But she was right of course and I had the wounds to prove it. There was little an unarmoured teenager wielding a wood axe could do against three seasoned and viscous raiders and I thought, all things considered, I had made a pretty good show of myself.

"Put me down Magnus" she commanded and I complied, lowering her to her feet as gently as my aching shoulder would allow me. When she had steadied herself she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my waist, sinking her head into my chest and sighing deeply. "I'm so sorry we were caught again, I tried to get away but I just slowed my sister down and the raiders found us hiding at the glade. We should have kept running, I was so stupid"

I raised my right paw up to cradle her head but I had forgotten about the shoulder injury and I winced as it jarred again. I glanced at it and was worried to see that I had broken the clotted blood and that it had started to bleed afresh. Esja raised her head away from my chest when she heard my pain and followed my gaze to my shoulder injury. "You're bleeding" she exclaimed. "Sit down and let me see"

Again, I did as I was told and rested myself against the trunk of a nearby oak tree. Silently she knelt down beside me and inspected the injury. "It looks nasty but I think it's just a flesh wound" she said as she prodded at the inflamed flesh around the gash, making me recoil.

"Sword hit" I replied, "I was getting tired and the one they called Hrolf made me pay dearly for it".

She nodded in response and leant down to tear a generous portion of fabric from the hem line of her skirt. I watched in muted awe as she then ripped up some moist grass from nearby and used it to dab at the dry blood on the wound, cleaning it away so that she could bind the cut better. As she leaned in towards me to wrap the fabric around the wound I swear that I could almost hear her heart beating faster and smell the pungent concoction of fear and trepidation that covered her like a blanket. I sat mesmerised as I watched her gently take the length of her skirt, place it over the wound and tie it off under my armpit with careful and meticulous care. When she had finished she moved in closer and snuggled into my chest again.

For the first time since I regained consciousness I was able to take stock of my surroundings and get a bearing on my position. The oak trunk I was leaning against was one of the four that made up the southern edge of the village clearing. Drawing a quick mental map in my head I could then place with some degree of accuracy the location of the campfire and the screaming women I heard minutes ago. The raiders had built their campfire right at the entrance from the southern path and that made sense as it was the direction of the shoreline where they had clearly beached their ship. Now I was far away from the blinding firelight my night eyes had started to return and I could see that the sky was very overcast, blocking out most of the stars and moon which would normally have lit the village and make the homesteads easier to see. I studied our surroundings slowly, trying to spot any of the raiders watching and succeeded in tricking myself twice into thinking I could see one. But thankfully after a few more moments of study the 'raiders' turned out to be harmless tree stumps. If there were any of them out there now watching us from the darkness, they were concealed so well I could not find them.

But then, the rational part of my mind added, they would be more than content to simply let their leader's dire threat confine us better than any chains or rope ever could. And as I sat there, with Esja cradled in my arms, every survival instinct in my body screamed that we should just break out and run away into the darkness.

However, that plan was foolish and even though I wanted to I knew that we couldn't leave the others to face the fatal consequences of our actions. If the leader was telling the truth, and I had no cause to doubt that he would at that point, he held my sibling's captive and would kill them the moment he realised we had escaped.

I am proud to say that I was not as selfish back then as I would grow to be with old age.

"Esja" I whispered, stirring her from her secure place.

She looked up into my eyes and I could see that a few small teardrops crowned them like pearls on a sparkling necklace. "Yes?" she asked quietly.

I was about to say that I was willing to take the chance and run away with her into the night but as my lips opened she placed one of her fingers from her left paw over them to silence me. Whether she knew what words I was going say I will never know.

"Kiss me" Esja sighed as she leaned forward and placed her lips against mine.

I replied with earnest, buoyed by my poor efforts earlier that day and desperate to make a better job of it the second time round, I put every part of my young love for her into that kiss. Cupping the back of her head in my paws and leaning strongly into her embrace, our tongues danced a sensual rhythm inside of each other. I know that I was immediately entranced and I think that she must have felt the same because despite the hardship we had both endured that day and the dangerous situation we now found ourselves in, Esja began to purr.

It started gently at first but then became steadily louder as we searched for each other with our mouths until she broke the kiss by pulling away from me. He lips and muzzle were coated in my own saliva and it glistened beautifully in what little light there was in the sky.

I then watched in numb anticipation as the girl I had so longed to mate with stood up slowly in front of me, gazed directly into my eyes and shifted her dresses remaining shoulder strap to one side, releasing it. What little was left of the garment slowly floated to the floor around her ankles, catching for a moment on her pert and tender breasts to finally reveal every inch of Esja' s supple body to my eager and hungry eyes. Instead of highlighting her form as it would have done normally, the meagre rays from the moon and stars only added to the bewitching affect her naked body possessed and if ever there was a woman that deserved to be immortalised by the bards in dance, song and painting, it was my young love at that exact moment.

"You don't have to do this" my stupid mouth gasped. Looking back in hindsight, it was clearly linked at that moment to my brain and not my cock as it later would be.

"I want to Magnus" she purred down at me, holding out her left paw invitingly. "I promise"

I stood up painfully and found that my manhood had grown so large in my trousers without me realising that it was bulging at the cloth and was as clearly obvious to Esja as it was to me. I shifted uncomfortably, unaware of what I should do next but eventually took her hand and pulled her close, relishing in the heat that her naked body generated and the luscious smell of her flesh. I peered down over her head to the short striped fur on her spine and the area around her tail. It was perfect and just as I had imagined it to be in my carnal dreams.

As I took all of her body in, her paws joined together on my lower stomach and slowly lowered themselves to the large belt which held them up around my waist. Esja then began to work at my belt buckle gently and after the longest few seconds of my life I heard it click open and suddenly I was free of my constraints, my cock springing forth to bounce hard from her own stomach.

Esja' s paws then shifted their attention from my trousers and she looked up at me as one grasped my shaft and the other wrapped around my lower back, drawing me closer. I responded in kind, drawing her in to my chest with my stronger arms, paws coming to rest on the firm cheeks of her buttocks.

I growled, but not out of pain or anger. For the first time in my short life I growled because of sexual joy. It felt good.

She pleasured me with her paw for some time, never once letting her eyes leave mine as she did so. The movement of her gentle pads as they slowly pulled and released the skin on my manhood sent a tingling up my back and direct to my brain. The effect was incredible, causing my muscles to flex and my breathing to deepen as I prepared to take her as my own.

She must have realised that it was time to progress because her paw ceased its movement and she shifted it round slowly to meet it opposite number behind my back.

Taking the lead, I kicked off my fur boots and stepped out of the legs of my trousers which lay around my ankles. I lifted Esja' s feet from the ground and then placed her gently on the floor, trying to use as much of the sprawled clothing as possible to give her some kind of protection from the cold earth. She lay still when she finally came to rest paws clutching at her hair and supporting her head seductively. After a moment of marvelling at her body, I lowered myself to my knees in front of her joined legs and leant down to kiss her again but before I could make contact with my lips her paws shot forward to grip my ears and she looked me straight in the eyes. "Remember this day Magnus" she purred loudly and then spread her legs for me.

The impact of her intimate smell was overwhelming and I am ashamed to say that with my clumsy words I cannot describe, with any justice, how much and how quickly it affected me. I should hope, however, that it will suffice to say that if there was any part of me that was not ready to mate with her right then, it left and never came back again.

"I promise" I replied as she guided me into her slowly.

At first, Esja shuddered and recoiled as I broke her virginity but even though I have no doubt it caused her pain, she bore it with pride and lust. My entry was drawn out because even in my highly sexed state I still wanted to try and make it as easy as possible for her. But soon after I had started she rose up on her forearms and used the leverage it provided to push my solid shaft the rest of the way into her.

We both growled and grunted with pleasure as she did so and I took her mouth in mine to kiss her passionately.

The excitement of the act soon took over my common sense and I started to thrust deeply into her warm, moist mound. She squealed a little as I picked up the rhythm and her breathing started to turn into short, sharp rasps, causing her now hard nipples to run up and down my chest and abdomen wildly. I thought that she might be in pain and wanted to stop but as I slowed down she opened her eyes and glared at me. "Don't stop you fool!" she grunted and let her head loll back in pleasure.

I sped up again as she had commanded and took her breasts in my paws as I lifted out of her close embrace. I then continued to pound into her, lengthening the strokes as I quickly found it increased the pleasure, relishing the gentle slapping noise my flesh made against her wet mound.

We continued in that state for a good few minutes and as I opened my eyes to watch how my work made her breasts bounce and her stomach muscles and fur fold in reaction, I realised that she was watching me as well. Her teeth were bared out of pleasure and she paws gripped at my calves as I continued to fuck her. Eventually Esja began to breathe in heavier, deeper rasps and her claws suddenly appeared, digging into my legs and inflicting exhilarating agony to me. She panted for some moments and then shuddered in my grip, climaxing as I watched her. After a few more pants to clear her head she opened her eyes again and looked at me. "Harder!" she growled roughly and gripped the fur at the side of my head for purchase.

I lay down atop her and thrust as hard and as deeply as I could, feeling Esja' s fur bristle with sweat under my touch. I kept the speed up for the next few seconds and grunted as she shuddered under me yet another time. She then wrapped her legs around the base of my spine and after a few more thrusts I almost roared with pleasure as I too finally climaxed and my seed entered her.

As I did so, my young love pulled me close and kissed me tenderly, nuzzling at my lips and maw with her own, her short and ragged breathing like a symphony to me. I did not pull out of her but instead rolled to one side, letting her right leg straddle my left. I wrapped my arms around her now exposed back and took her hair in my paws gently. "Your mine" she purred softly as she buried her head into the crook of my neck.

"And you are mine" I replied, cradling her.

After a short while of lying entwined, and without letting me exit her, she pulled the discarded clothing over our bare bodies.

Having fucked like our lived depended on it, which in a way I suppose they did, I am not surprised that despite the immediate danger to our lives we must have both fallen asleep, locked in each other's embrace and gazing into each other's eyes, together for the moment in every way imaginable.

And that is how they found the pair of us as the sun broke on the next day.