{"sf1_id":665839,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Chapter 11 - Unsease","author":"assilsasta","words":1807,"posted_at":"2014-02-11T04:24:00.000Z","tags":["Agmina","Badger","Bear","Canine","Clean","Coup","Discrased paladin","Fantasy","Feline","Female","Foliv","Glama","Gysa","Hystrix","Kitzen","Lamma","Lizard","Lutra","Magic","Magician","Male","Mercenary","Mercenary group","Monk","New king","Opossum","Otter","Over throw","Paladin","Reptilian","Sciurus","Shadow demon","Shadow mage","Shadowmancer","Squirrel","Sword dancer","Sword swallower","Tainted monk","Taomerle","Vilk","acrobat","deal","felis","malin","other world","porcupine","ranger","sloth","technology","wizard"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/665839-chapter-11-unsease","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/665839","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=665839\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Taomerle11. UneaseBy Assilsastao()xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::\u003e\u003c::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::}]xxxx()oThe past two days had been uneventful on the road north of\nLementhra. Leoric Had been eager to negotiate a price and head out for the Avi\ncity of Featherfall. The troop had taken their well practiced positions around\nthe caravan. Leoric lead the group with his vardo at the front of the pack. The\nyoung kitzen and her companions were placed at the rear of the pack, left with\na small team of horses to pull the train of six vardo wagons they had chained\ntogether to free the remainder of the group to freely move through the caravan,\neither on foot or horseback. Following the group a good distance to the rear\nwas the giant wolf beast still in his seemingly natural feral stance. The agmina twins met in the center of the group as they\nfinished a quick patrol and head count of their employers and family. Metkatha\nlooked at her brother as she slowed her horse to match his unmounted pace.\n\"Brother, I don't like this, something is wrong.\" Metkatho continued to watch the perimeter as he listened to\nhis sister. \"Leoric knows what he is doing, He surely has a good reason to be\ntaking this road.\" He jumped slightly at a sound from the thick dark woods that\nframed the less traveled road. \"Though I would feel better if he had stayed\nwith the main roads.\" The young hystrix rode up to the pair quickly as they\ntalked. She pulled her horse to a slow trot by them as she began the lead it in\na slight sideways gait while she tried to look at them both and said, \"Leoric\ntold me he got news of a raider group attacking caravans on the main road after\nLamenthra closed the gates. He took this path to avoid that, I don't know why\nyou two doubt him so often.\" Metkatha looked over at Cassidy as she said, \"Leoric is not\nthe noble man you think he is young girl. Everything he does for a reason.\" She\nlooked over her shoulder toward the Kitzen and lutra that drove the train of\nvardos, then to the haggard beast that followed then. \"There is more to that\ntrio, and his plans, than he is letting on.\" She glanced around them quickly to\ncheck who might be within earshot before she leaned close to her horse and\ntalked in a lower tone. \"He will not say it, but I believe that the kitzen\ntruly is the princess of Lementhra. And whatever that beast is... Look at how\nMarco and his little witch have been keeping their distance. I think they know\nmore than they are telling as well.\" Cassidy let out a, \"Ha! You are both paranoid freaks. Why\ndon't we just ask him what's going on?\" without another work she tapped her\nspurs into the hip of the horse sending it into a fast gait to the front of the\npack, toward their leader's position.  Metkatho shook his head as they watched her leave them.\n\"She is still blinded by his kindness. I feel for her when she figures out just\nwhat kind of malin is willing to take in a stray like her. She is skilled, I\nwill give her that, but her blind obedience to him will be her downfall one of\nthese days, and all because he saw what he needed in her.\" Metkatha looked around again,\nmore uneasy than before, \"I have a really bad feeling about this brother,\nthings will not end well. o()xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::\u003e\u003c::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::}]xxxx()o Isaiah\nlaid out on the wide bench of the lead vardo as Assilsasta held lightly onto\nthe reins that controlled the team of horses. Leoric had been right when he\ntold her that the team of feral beast would do most of the work as they were\ntrained to follow the caravan. She watched the two reptilians and hystrix talk\nfor a moment before returning to their patrols and duties. She knew they did\nnot trust her and were suspicious of everything Leoric had told them. She was\nnot sure who, but she just felt the truth of their apprehension each time she\nlooked at them.  Suddenly\nshe cupped her paw over the stone that replaced her left eye as a sharp pain\nshot through her skull. Within a moment the now familiar and welcome ethereal\nvoice of Noriscuriel flowed into her mind. 'The\ntime draws near. You feel it as I do.' She\nlooked over at the side of the vardo where the young lutra pup slept. \"What shall\nwe do with him?' she asked aloud. \"He cannot protect himself and I am afraid we\nwill lose him after this.\" 'He will be well. He has a purpose here,' the disembodied voice echoed in her mind. 'She will need him if she is going to survive. Be ready my Queen. The\ntime draws near when you will not be able to hide our nature.' \"In\nfour days, so much has changed,\" the young, exiled noble kitzen said as she\nreflected on the time away from the comfort and ease of life in the stronghold.\nShe laid one paw on the lutra pup at her side as she continued, \"And every life\nI have touched from that day had been destroyed.\" She looked over the caravan\nas she felt the uneasy sensation of the stone rolling in her socket. She knew\nthat her bound servant felt the same thing in his as she visions flooded in\nover reality. The road before her was littered with the bodies of both young\nand old as they lay lifeless in pools of their own blood. Mix in among them\nwere the armored corpses of the bandits that slaughtered them. Small fires\nburned in the wagons as the remaining set the scene ablaze. Mouths moved on\nthose still standing, but no words could be heard. A small group had gathered\nto one side around the small lutra pup as she dragged a sword three times she\nsize as he stood between the advancing group and a vague body. She watched\nhelplessly as she struggled to heft the oversized weapon in defense of the\nlifeless body he guarded. Asslisasta\nshook her head to rid her mind f the visions. They came to her more quickly and\nclearly now, but what they told her was only of fire, blood, and death. She\nlooked over at the lutra pup again as she asked, \"Is there nothing we can do to\nchange the vision? Are we only going to going to leave destruction in our\nwake?\" 'It is not you or I that bring death,' Noroscuriel's voice whispered softly in the corners of her\nmind, 'Those that wish for power they\nknow nothing of will lay waste to that which stands in their way. Our future is\nfilled with that fire. What you do with it will seal this worlds fate, for even\nthat is now unwritten.' \"Protect\nhim,\" She said as she looked forward to the gyas and felis look back to the\nfrom their position near where the other group as spoken. \"And what of those\ntwo? I did not see them in my vision.\" 'They\nhave their own destiny,' the voice spoke as a shadowy blurred vision filled her\nsight, 'The fool who thinks himself wise, and the slave that thinks to be the\nmaster.' She could see the vague form of the tall white bear-kin as he carried a\ndark figure in his arms away from hero.o()xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::\u003e\u003c::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::}]xxxx()o Marco took hold of the reins of Dementia's horse as she\ndrew close to him. \"Leoric is planning something. This is not the path to\nFeatherfall. We are going too far west, unless he plans to stop in Ashburn\nfirst.\" \"Why would he go to Ashburn?\" The felis asked from under\nher dark hooded cloak. \"That is a free guild tow...\" she trailed off as the\nobvious reasons for the side trip hit her. \"He wishes to...\" she trailed off\nagain as a cruel smile curled the corner of her muzzle, barely visible in the\nshadow of the hood.  The voice of her shadow companion flooded into her shattered\nmind as the fragments of the darker aspects doubled back the surface, 'Death, blood, and war fallow the beast, for\nthat is what we are.' \"He will have to do something and soon,\" Marco said as he\nglanced into the forest around them. 'He would not dear knowingly take a\nmerchant caravan into Ashburn. Be ready for it.\" 'Blood,\nflesh and fire,' Ithurot's voice nearly screamed as she looked forward into\nthe blinding darkness that had valed her vision. 'Their flesh will burn at our hands. They will suffer for the innocence\nthey steal.' The images of the long hidden memories tricked to the surface\nagain. The sight of the children, their lifeless bodies used to summon her\nservant, slowly replaced by the vision of the caravan before her. The sight of\nthe young pups and cubs of the merchant families they escorted. 'They come for us, for the demon wolf and I.\nAnd they will let nothing live.' The shadow beast fed on the anger, and\ncruel essence of Dementia's shattered psyche he had learned early one of her\nneed to protect those who could not protect themselves, and her warped vision\nof salvation by death. So much time had passed since he had been able to drive\nher to the lengths needed to sustain himself with her essence and power. 'They will even take Marco from us.' He\nreveled in the in the jolt of twisted justice and bloodlust.Marco felt the invasion of Hemslef as\nthe bound spirit spoke to him, 'He's\nworking on her again.' The ancient bound soul whispered to his master. 'He sees the coming conflict and will feed.\nBut this time we may need his hunger. I have no power against the beast, and it\nwill turn on us.' The albino gyas looked up at the you\nshadow priestess he had sworn to protect and save for herself and her shadow\nservant. His face turned down as the frightening sweet melody started flowing\nfrom her lips.Mary Mary quite contrary,How does your garden grow?With silver bells and cockle shellsand pretty maids all in a row. Marco let go of the reins as she softly\nchanted the nursery rhymes. He felt the dark energy flow off her as she began\nto whisper is counter binding to draw her back from the edge. Himself voice\nscreamed in his mind, 'NO! Let her be, we\nwill use them against the beast.' As his staff spoke he looked into the\nforest that surrounded them. Rustles in the undergrowth moved from side to\nside. He stepped away from the horse that held his companion as he watched the\nshadows flow and stretch from beneath the cloak. He spun on his paws as the\ncaravan halted at the shout from the rear of the caravan. AMBUSH!!!","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/653666-chapter-10-for-hire.json"}