FSE

Furry search engine

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"I should have stayed on Qatos!" Embla howled as she sank up to her knees in mud yet again. The raccoon's patience for this stinking, sticky bog land that that their quest had taken them to was very quickly wearing thin. A week prior she had been relaxing on a beach during the day and spending her nights being educated in the ways of magic by the beautiful and terrifying Nadine, the shark shaman. Now, she found herself fighting off biting insects that she would swear were the size of small birds and fearing sinking up to her neck in the slimy muck that passed as ground in this hellish land. Even Ozias's calm was starting to crack. She had agreed to go ahead of him to scout out the firmest places so he wouldn't sink as much. He could fish her out fairly easily but with his heavier frame she was pretty sure if he ended up stuck they would both die out here before anyone found them. The loud squelching sound that every time the badger had to pull her from the mud wasn't helping either. Something about it made her skin crawl.

"You can go back to Qatos as soon as we find the rest of the jewels." Ozias said in a patient voice, as though he were talking to a child. Despite his seasickness on the trip back having been eased somewhat by the remedies that the villagers had shared and Embla's newly learned magic, he had no desire to get back onto a boat ever again. He had suspicions about why the thief was so eager to return to the island. Her parting with the shark had been more familiar than expected and he was fairly certain that they had spend their nights exploring more than just magical theory. She certainly had glowed with happiness while they were in that tropical paradise. Seeing her so miserable now was making his already growing doubt about this quest come to the surface. Upon realizing that Corsurus was a thief god he began to wonder if maybe these jewels weren't his to begin with at all. Of course at this point they didn't really have much of a choice. He was good at ignoring the need to find the jewels, but he knew that she could not. She had explained at the very beginning that it was a constant tugging inside her, like something inside her was trying to physically pull her towards the gems. He also knew that despite her bravado and her skills, she was still a single woman trying to pull off a mission that he would have sent an group of several soldiers to do. No matter how he felt about this quest, he wasn't going to leave her to do it alone.

Embla wanted to be clean. She also wanted to be dry and possibly sharing a late night drink with the bartender back at Belja's Nook but fate had a way of messing with one's plans. She was beginning to think that fate was intending on her dying in a swamp. The sun was beginning to sink dangerously low in the sky and they hadn't found a single place solid enough to set up camp for the night. The coon was paying so much attention to looking for a dry place to sleep for the night she stepped off into a watery part of the swamp. She screeched as the muddy water engulfed her.

"Missy, dere's leeches in dat dere wadder." A thick male voice, heavy with a southern Louisiana drawl, warned her. A scaly arm wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her safely back onto land. She whirled and came face to face with a mottled brown and green elongated snout filled with sharp teeth. She started to step backwards but his arm was still around her. "Now chere, I mean ya no harm. You was gon get 'et up by leeches in dere." The alligator responded with a shake of his head. Embla glanced over at Ozias, who as usual seemed too calm for the situation.

"Thank you for saving my companion. Don't take her fear of you personally. We've been attacked more than we have been helped lately." The badger offered his hand to the soaked Embla, a little smirk twitching on his lips. She scowled at him and stepped away from the alligator again. "Sir, do you happen to know the quickest way out of this swamp? We are headed further south. My name is Ozias and my companion is Embla."

"I'ze Logan and suree I know dis swamp bedda than most any odder purson around, but is almost night now. Come on, my brudda and I cook you up a real nice dinna and I get you outta da swamp in da mornin." He headed off in a direction that Embla hadn't even considered checking, his thick muscular tail swishing behind him as he walked. She glanced over at Ozias who only offered a shrug. They were really running out of options. With a little sigh she followed after him, the badger falling in behind her as though this were as usual as his town patrol.

Logan led them effortlessly through the muck filled swamp until they came upon a little house that appeared to be floating on the water. He gestured for them to follow him onto a makeshift dock and into the boat. Another alligator was busily moving around the tiny kitchen. Sharp spicy smells were coming from a pot of some sort of red stew-like substance and Embla's stomach growled in response. "My brudda can't talk, but he cook real good." Logan explained, nodding towards the other alligator. He was even larger than his brother, taller and thicker chested, and darker in color. He gave them as innocent a grin as possible and offered a bowl of the fragrant dish. "Dat be gumbo. Don't be scared of Conner, he don't bite."

Ozias took the offered food and sat at one of the chairs arranged around the table. Embla looked around the house. "Are we on the water right now?" She asked, feeling it shift around lightly as the two brothers moved about. When gumbo was held out to her she took the bowl with an uncharacteristic thank you and sat next to the badger.

The silent alligator nodded and made some signs with his hands. "Sometime you gotta move quicklike. Da boat we can just untie and paddle to where da food is." Logan responded before turning up his bowl and dumping a sizeable portion of gumbo into his mouth.

They chatted amiably for the rest of dinner. Though he was silent, Conner frequently would offer some sort of comment with a series of signs he made with his hands which Logan occasionally translated for them. Mercifully being on the houseboat didn't seem to bother Ozias and the night wore on with little incident. Logan set up a pallet in the floor but insisted that the lady take his bed as it would be more comfortable. Ozias was welcome to take the couch. Embla found herself so tired she wasn't willing to argue over where her head was going to hit the pillow.

The song of the frogs and crickets kept the badger up for longer than he would have expected after such a harrowing day. Only thin curtains separated the rooms in the house so he could hear Conner and Embla settling into bed in the respective rooms. Logan had fallen asleep instantly and in the faint moonlight filtering in through a window the fearsome alligator looked peaceful. He wondered if Conner had always been mute, and if he had how he worked out how to communicate with the hand signs. His thoughts were broken off however by Embla's lithe form slipping from the room she had been given the other bedroom. He sat up in confusion, worried that the coon might be foolhardy enough to be stealing from their reptilian hosts. He got up and padded as silently as he could over to the curtain. He peeked into the room and froze.

Embla sat beside the alligator on the bed, apparently chatting with him despite not a word passing between them. The hand signs that were a mystery to him seemed to be something she was quite familiar with and the obvious delight was apparent on Conner's face. The badger started to step away when the reptile leaned in and pressed his own scaly lips against the coon's. Ozias's eyes widened and he remained frozen in place, worried that it was unwelcome and she would react badly.

The thief quickly showed she was more than willing however as her arms went around Conner's neck and his muscled arms pulled her smoothly into his lap. Her fingers went to the lacing of her pants and deftly loosened them. His claws traced lightly down her body, obviously entranced by her as she gently guided him to slip the pants down her hips. A few seconds later they joined the swim trunks Conner had shed when he had gone to bed in a pile on the floor. Her shirt was next and the silent reptile stared amazed at the luscious bared body before him. Ozias was also rooted to the spot, unable to look away and yet ashamed to look at her. He couldn't tear his eyes away as the large clawed hands caressed up her body and caught the globes of her breasts, fondling them adoringly. Embla's back arched, pressing her chest up so his rough tongue could flick across the sensitive nipples. The coo of pleasure that escaped her only urged the gator on.

The badger marveled in how gentle the huge male was being with her. She was small even compared to him, but straddling the lap of this monstrous creature only highlighted that difference. He looked worriedly at the rising bulge in the sheet between them.

Embla didn't seem worried in the slightest about the size difference however as she pressed herself closer to him, running her own claws down the hard scales of his chest and belly. He shuddered at the contact and a feral growl rose from his throat when her fingers teasingly stroked the growing hardness through the sheet. She giggled and pressed a soft kiss just under his chin. He grumbled and put his paw against her butt, impatiently pulling her forward gently, enough to press her already wet slit against his cloth covered shaft. A gasp of pleasure was all Ozias heard, but even in the scant light of the room he could her face light up with elation and her hips rock against the gator. Impatience made her tug the sheet from between them and allow his thick erection to press directly against her bared sex. The cold blooded male groaned at her heat, burying his nose against her neck to take in the scent of her as she lifted herself up. Despite his worry for her Ozias felt himself hardening at the thought of her glistening folds being parted by the throbbing cock.

She pressed down slowly, her eyes shutting in ecstasy as the head penetrated her. Conner put one hand on the small of her back, and cradled the back of her head with the other. The badger watched in amazement as inch by inch sunk inside her, her face contorting as he stretched her super tight walls. A heavy shudder passed through the gator and it was obvious he was struggling with the desire to pull her down onto him fully. The progress was slow, but when she finally relaxed against him, the thick erection buried deep inside her he let out an animal groan of pleasure. He looked down at her and despite the tears in her eyes she nodded, her breaths coming short and fast already. His hands caught her easily around he hips and slowly lifted her. Ozias had long since released his own hardness from his pants and was absently stroking himself as the spectacle of his length disappearing inside the raccoon stoked his own desires.

Only a few strokes brought Embla to her shuddering peak, clenching down around him mercilessly. Conner wasn't so easily sated however and as gently as he had pulled her into his lap, he lifted her and turned to lay her onto her back on the bed. She eagerly spread her legs for him and despite biting the pillow as he thrust back inside her she cried out happily, her back arching off the bed as her legs wrapped around his waist. He drove into her with harder now, her moans and gasps only spurring the reptile's lust. His movements rocked the houseboat but both were beyond caring now and when he finally grabbed her hips and slammed her hard down on his shaft both howled their pleasure as he pumped his seed inside her. Ozias looked at his cum covered paw with a frown. He stepped outside of the boat long enough to rinse his hand in the water before laying back down to try to sleep.

The raccoon lay contentedly back against the bed, feeling Conner's jizz ooze back out of her well used hole. He pulled her close against his chest, cradling her in his arms as they both let sleep take them.

Logan gave his brother a disapproving look in the morning when the raccoon emerged from his room but opted not to say anything. He didn't say much until after breakfast when he offered to take them to the edge of the swamp as he had promised.

"I'm looking for something actually... I think it might be in the swamp." Embla spoke up, biting her lip.

"Might?" Ozias asked worriedly. She had seemed to know exactly where the last one was.

"It's close, I can tell... but I don't know precisely where." she admitted with a little shrug.

Conner broke in with his hand signals and Logan nodded. "Conner take you to find it." He said and went about putting the bedding away. Conner led them out the door and into the swamp.

Embla could feel the jewel pulling her towards the darker parts of the swamp and despite having two more than capable warriors with her, she had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. When Conner suddenly stopped and advised they go no further she wasn't particularly surprised. "He says that bad things happen in this part of the swamp. I think it's the gem again. You remember what happened with the sapphire at the shipwreck." she explained to Ozias. She persuaded Connor to help them get further in, telling him that they may be able to make the bad things stop.

As they pressed on the swamp seemed to become even more sinister. The mud became stickier and even the most solid ground seemed to try to swallow them up. The plants became gnarled and blocked their path in many places. Conner seemed nervous, which only set the other two on edge. Whatever happened here, it had to be pretty bad to scare an alligator.

Their question was answered in the form of a burned out village at the center of the area. Long stripped bones littered the ground and the rotting remains of huts were all that marked it as a place where people had lived. No plants grew there and the air was thick with a miasma-like mist that smelled of death. Embla started to step forward toward but Conner caught her and shook his head. She frowned and tried to explain to him that she had to go look for the jewel but he refused to let her go until finally Ozias demanded an explanation.

"He says that the shadows and mist here will take your life away from you. That they'll hang your soul in the trees and keep you from the afterlife. It must be a curse like back on Qatos." The badger nodded but wasn't really sure how to go about looking for the jewel if it could kill them to step into the village. "Try your magic?" he offered after a few moments.

Embla nodded and closed her eyes. A faint light spread from her, becoming stronger and brighter as she concentrated. It began to burn the mist away from the area. She slowly made her way the center of the village where what looked like it had been an altar of some kind still stood mostly intact. A stone bowl filled with a thick liquid, it's glassy surface not even slightly stirring in the light breeze, sat in the middle of the altar. She reached in with a shudder and the world suddenly turned icy. Her fingers wrapped around the jewel just as she sank to the ground. The last thing she felt was Ozias's arms lifting her.

Back at the houseboat all three males sat watching Embla. She appeared to be asleep, her breathing and heartbeat both normal and apparent, but nothing could rouse her. The black jewel was clenched tightly in her claws and no amount of coaxing could get her to release it. Without knowing what was wrong with her, Ozias wasn't really sure what they could do. As the sun set he sat worriedly beside her, holding her paw in his. Logan announced that he was going to ask the local medicine woman for help and left. Ozias ignored both the alligators and instead kept his vigil over her until his eyes could no longer stay open and he felt himself slipping into sleep.

Connor watched sadly as the badger slept fitfully, his head resting on Embla's lap. If there was any hope for her, he was sure the medicine woman would know what to do...