FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Jenna woke the next mourning, not forgetting even for a second, the events of last night. As soon as she got back into her cloths, she returned to her find. It was unchanged, and yet she swore that his eye was looking at her. Part of her was frightened and wanted to run. It was such an unnatural sight, seeing his frozen face. But the more adventurous side of her was exited. She had found the resting place of Khith the black. Even more intoxicating, perhaps, was the unshakable feeling that he was still alive somehow. He was rumored to be immune to the cold, and perhaps, he was still there, trapped in his icy body. For quite some time, she sat and thought. She made up her mind to carve him out, or at least, to uncover his head for a better look. She knew there was little point to such an effort, but the nagging curiosity had gotten the better of her, and wouldn't let her be. If he was indeed frozen alive, he wouldn't thaw even if she uncovered him, so she wasn't in danger of reviving him accidentally, not that she honestly believed that it was a possibility. She remembered the old stories again. He was killed for being a rebel. He had killed droves of the kings men, because the sought to capture him, to make him the kings mount. However, after many of the perished, they hunted him instead out of malice. The legend said, that they lured him with a young maiden, and poisoned him, weakening him to be captured live. after that, they tied him to logs, and floated them down a river, dragging him along, to his death. They never found the body, but never saw him again. Jenna smiled to herself. Now she had a story to rival her fathers escapades. She reached to her belt, and again unclipped the pick, and began working at the ice. It was slow going, chipping the ice away, and she tried different approaches she went, improving her speed. Even so, It could take all day, or more to fully uncover the body. The thought of searching for the staff had completely faded from her mind by now. She had no obligations, or deadlines, so she felt no rush to finish her task. by noon, she had gotten the stallions neck, and a foreleg exposed. about a foot down, she had found need to retrieve her hatchet as well, to cut away the branches and limbs that had snagged the stallion. Looking out at the ocean, only an arrows flight downstream, she considered the incredible luck that he hadn't been swept out to sea. The rope still clung around his neck, and for sake of argument, she hadn't removed it. Despite the cold, his body was in immaculate shape, lacking any signs of drying or rot. After two centuries, these would be expected, which only drove her imagination further. She stopped as the sun was overhead to warm herself and eat some. As she sat and rested, she looked over what of the stallion she had uncovered. His fur was all black, and he had a fair deal of feather on his legs. He looked to be a fair sized horse, perhaps around 16 hands. He was quite handsome, she thought with a smile. After she finished her quick meal, she continued her work. After a while it became necessary to open a larger area, to allow her to work, without falling into the hole she had created. After hours at her task, she was getting quite skilled at breaking the ice in just the right places, and after several hours more, she had uncovered most of one of his sides. His hind legs, and his left foreleg were still encased in the ice. Jenna hopped back out of the pit, and lay on her back exhausted. She was more than halfway done though. She gazed up at the setting sun, for a moment, before getting up, and returning to her tent for the night. The thought crossed her mind as to how she would remove the body from the pit, once she had freed it, much less what she would do with it. She began to contemplate the issue, but fell asleep before she made any progress. That night, she dreamed about the stallion again. Nothing particular, no ominous foresight, but again, it was too vivid, and in depth to simply be her own imagination.