FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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Chapter 8

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"Malakye can you hear me?" A voice echoed.

I was floating in a dark void. I floated in an endless void of nothingness, no light and it wasn't even dark, just nothingness.

"Malakye?" I recognised the voice now, it was Kassius. I tried to call out to him but no sound came out.

I felt something watching me. I turned round and saw it, staring at me from the depths of the void, a giant pair of glowing red eyes; the same ones which have haunted my nightmares. They stared at me and a sinister laugh echoed all around me, this beast... what ever it was, I could feel it's presence enveloping me. The empty void filled with darkness and the beast continued to laugh, a mouth of huge fangs filled with raging flames appeared and then it rushed at me, it's jaws wide as it moved to swallow me. I jolted awake and the first face I saw was Kassius. He knelt next to me and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, you're up!" Kassius smiled and squeezed my shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked and slowly sat up.

"I've never seen anything like that before." Kassius replied. "The flames were out of control, your power seemed to fuel them rather than control them. Intensifying the flames is an advanced skill, normally fire benders can only manipulate and maintain the flames at their current level."

"So is that a bad thing?"

"Truthfully I don't know. Until you learn to control the flames it's dangerous, and the way the fire reacts to you will make it difficult to learn. But if you do you will be a powerful bender."

"So what do I do now?"

"We will have to go right back to the very basics, it will take time but it is the safest option, if not time consuming."

"Maybe I can help with that?" A new voice came from behind the group of dragons that were standing round me.

Everyone moved to see who it was, the crowd parted to reveal a dragon wearing an outfit of brown fur. He wore two bronze shoulder guards and had a pair of knives strapped to his belt. He walked forward and knelt in front of me. He looked me in the eyes, his sapphire blue eyes were mesmerising.

"Xavier!" Kassius grinned. "What are you doing here?"

"I had heard about Lord Anaris's prodigal son returning, so I thought I'd come and see him for myself." Xavier grinned, his paw extended in greeting. I took hold of his paw and shook it. "Nice to meet you, I'm Xavier."

"Malakye."

"I saw what happened from the upper level, looks like you could use a paw to learn to control your power."

"I guess..." I replied unsure and looked to Kassius.

"You want to help?" Kassius asked.

"Sure! You have your paws full with all the classes you already teach, I'll help him learn the basics and you can teach him how to use fire."

"That would be most useful, thank you."

"No problem, after all the extra time you gave me when I was learning to bend, it's the least I could do."

"He was your student?" I asked.

"Ah, sort of. Xavier here is the only wind bender here in Zangar. Since there were no other wind benders to teach him he basically had to teach himself. A lot of the master benders were willing to help him learn, and here he is one of the youngest masters ever!"

"Please! We both know I only got declared a master because we had no one to compare me too!"

"Be that true or not, you are a fine bender and an excellent warrior."

"So what do you say Malakye, want me to teach you?" Xavier asked.

His expression one a mix of confidence and anticipation, it seemed that he really wanted me to say yes. I really had no reason to deny him his request, Kassius seemed to trust him and from the sounds of it he was talented.

"Yeah, why not?" I smiled.

"Excellent! We shall have our lessons while Kassius teaches his classes. I think considering everything you should rest for now and we shall begin lessons tomorrow." Xavier suggested with a smile. "If everything goes well I'll have you back in Kassius's paws in a week or two."

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I slowly walked up the stairs in the almost suffocating tunnel that made up the back entrance to the house of Anaris, it was the fastest and warmest way to get into the residence, without having to brave the cold mountain winds that blew outside the network of caves that formed the majority of Zangars settlement. As I reached the top of the long stairwell I pushed open the thick wooden door and sighed a breath of relief. I dipped my torch into a bucket of water to extinguish the flames and placed it in a metal holder so that it could dry and be used again.

I looked up and down the corridor, no one to be seen as usual. The corridor to the right lead to the servant quarters, I hadn't been down there, Jovani had told me about it as that was where he stayed, and Harold apparently; when he wasn't sharing my fathers bed. Truthfully I still didn't know what to think about that, I hadn't asked and could only assume that it was what I thought it was. It wasn't my business and I didn't have much free time before my training session with Aceh.

After I had passed out during my bending lesson I had been told to go rest, Xavier would be training me for the foreseeable future until I learned to control my abilities. Kassius didn't have the necessary time to give me the required training, part of me was a little upset about that.

As I walked the quiet halls the only sounds I could hear were my own paw steps and gentle roaring flames from the torches that lit my way. A whiff of freshly made bread made it's way to my nose, the smell instantly making my stomach growl with hunger. It was still a few hours before dinner would be served, I would grab a bite to eat before I train with Aceh.

I followed the hallway round to the entrance of the kitchen, my thoughts lost on the thought of what kind of delicious food Harold had prepared for me to try, I froze in my tracks at the entrance to the kitchen as I took in the sight of Harold giving my father a blow job.

My father was stood hunched over, leaning against one of the counter tops as Harold was on his knees in front of him, his maw stretched wide open by Kaldor's cock. One of Harold's paws was busy stroking the length of cock that wasn't in his maw, his other on reaching up between his legs, which I could only assume was playing with my fathers balls. After a couple of seconds I gathered my wits and ducked back out of sight, I was sure neither one of them had seen me. I was a little taken aback, the fact that it was my father just seemed to make it that little more unreal to me. I guess my theory that Harold and my father were sleeping together turned out to be true.

I peaked back round the doorway, my father grunted and flinched as Harold worked his cock over, what ever he was doing to my father my father definitely seemed to be enjoying it. I looked down the corridor in both directions, no one around. I thought it best if I left discreetly, this was their business not mine.

I darted past the doorway and continued down the hallway towards the stairs, I'd head to my room and lay down for a bit. Thinking about Harold taking that large cock into his maw, I felt myself getting hard, that was making me feel a little awkward since the image causing it was involving my father. I shook my head and tried to push the thoughts out of my head, this was something best left forgotten.

As I walked down the long, dimly lit corridor of wooden doors towards my bedroom I thought about how my life had changed so much in such a short period of time. I had gone from a lonely outcast, struggling to survive from day-to-day, to what? A regular happy life with friends and family? That may be my future but it still wasn't my present. I didn't know where I stood here, sure there were dragons like Laguna who seemed to really like me, but I didn't know where I stood in society.

There are nearly four hundred dragons here in the mountains, so Jovani informed me, and I'd met maybe a couple of dozen? Most of those were when Kaldor, my father was nearby. Would they be kind to my face but speak badly about me behind my back? Would I fall victim to bouts of abuse due to my wolven heritage? Nearly everyone here would have lost a friend or loved one back during the war that destroyed this place nearly seventeen years ago, if they ever found out the war was started because of my very existence, if they felt like any wolf, even a half blood like me, was rotten to the core would my life become a repeat of Rangarian Village*?

Kaldor's influence might silence the majority but that won't stop someone with a heart filled with rage and a belly full of ale. If I want to live here and have a normal life I will have to let my guard down, but if I let my guard down that is when they will strike. I let my guard down for a moment the night I was forced to flee my mothers hut, beaten, raped and left to die in an inferno of flames, and all it took was that one second where I felt safe in the refuge of my own home.

"Malakye?" Cody's familiar voice pierced the fog of thought I had fallen into. "You okay? You look kinda down." His ears flattened in concern but I forced a smile for his sake, he didn't need to worry about me any more than he already did.

"I'm fine... just thinking was all." I waved my paw dismissively.

"Okay!" His ears perked up again. What I wouldn't do to be that care free! "Your home early, did everything go okay with your training?"

"Oh! Yeah, a little hiccup during training." I felt myself blush with embarrassment. "I'll be getting some special training until I'm ready to join the rest of them. My powers... a little unstable."

"More training? Don't you ever take time for yourself?"

"Well..."

I tried to think of an excuse but Cody was right. Everything I had done the last month was training, apart from that one night in Rengilar* and our escape up the mountains, every spare moment was filled with training or fighting. But I had sworn to get strong enough to have the power to protect my friends and those that I held dear, like Rose, I didn't have the luxury of free time. I was still too weak, my fight against Kassandra drove that home, I couldn't hope for a lucky hit every time I fought a strong opponent; because eventually my luck would run out.

"... we had fun last night right?"

"That's not what I mean and you know it!" Cody huffed. "It's like Jason always says, 'work hard, play harder!' If you don't take the time to have a little fun once in a while then life isn't worth living!"

"Cody..."

"Plus it's not healthy! You'll end up exhausting yourself and then what!?"

"Okay, okay I get your point!" I sighed. "I promise to try and make time to have a little fun. Okay?"

"Yup-yup!" He grinned. "So you might as well start now! You've got some time before your lessons with Aceh, why don't I help you relax?"

"You mean..."

"Come on you!" He grabbed my paw and began to drag me towards my bedroom.