FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"SERA!"

Serach groaned and rolled over, the old wood creaking in protest beneath her. She peered through the cracks in the floor and saw her brother, Kristoph, searching frantically for her. She stretched out, her long body rippling under her thick fur. Kristoph sighed below her and motioned for her to listen to him.

"Dad purchased some new indentured servants."

"Slaves, Kristoph....they're slaves. Don't try to make their plight any different with better wording."

The boy grumbled and curled his lip at her before storming off. "He wants you to oversee the induction. He's got some big'uns this time. Plowing season is coming...he wanted harder workers."

Serach sneered, her father's idea of harder workers was having ghouls that would last longer before dying off than the last batch of slaves. Indentured servants that hardly ever won their freedom. She sighed and slid down to walk back with her brother to the main field. Her father had appointed her to overseer of the workers when she ran away from home. She had no place amongst her people, she wasn't a male heir so her parents didn't pay her much mind.

She crested the hill and watched a large group of ghouls stagger through the mud. Two Deathclaw mounts stalked the newcomers and their riders looked down in disgust upon the beings that reminded them of what they once were. Sera stalked down the dusty mound towards the congregation. Her heart broke at the sight of so many terrified people, the panic etched on their raw faces.

She cleared her throat and stood tall above the crowd. "Welcome to Hybrid Colony #502. You are now under the care of myself as overseer, and my father as Colony Alpha. You shall not want for food, refuge, or education as all will be provided for you." She felt as if someone was staring into her very soul and glanced out. A lone male ghoul stood tall out of everyone and his eyes were narrowed as they stared at her. She shook her head and went back to her welcome. "I promise that you will be treated fairly and upon completion of this years harvest, you will all be given homesteads in the territory. " She turned to look back at the mysterious man only to see he was not to be found. She frowned and turned to retreat.

Her brother smiled at her and then slightly met her frown with his own. "It doesn't ever get easier,does it?" Sera shook her head and walked back towards the town, she would be talking to her father this year to put an end to the lies.

---

The next day was not a forgiving one for the ghouls. Charon grumbled from his knees as he was fitted with the plow for his first day of work. The deathclaws were uneasy around him as their masters bickered about why he was even in their care.

"I hear the lone wanderer sold him up the river, pawned him off on the alpha because he wasn't keeping up."

Charon growled and rolled his eyes. His reputation had preceded him, it made him even more enraged that he was in this position from that fact.

"You got something to say meatbag?" One of the riders snapped down at him, his mount's maw dripping with saliva.

He looked up at the anthromorph and sneered. "Like you would care if I did." He braced himself for the beating and when it didn't come he peered up from his kneeling position. The overseer from the night before stood before him, her face contorted with anger. He staggered to his feet and looked down at the situation.

"Aryian,What is going on here?" She snarled as she tapped her crowbar against her leg. Charon chuckled at her size, she was short and definitely not anything to be worried about. Hardly an example of what he would have chosen to be overseer of his workers, had he been in charge.

"Miss, we were just getting the new recruit here ready for his first day of work."

She turned and looked at Charon, she sneered and turned away from him. "Carry on then, remember though...we are trying to salvage as many workers as we can at the end of the year. For every broken body, I'll break a bone of yours." She turned on her heel and walked off to the guard tower.

Charon shook his head to clear his thoughts, who did that bitch think she was? She spoke of them as if they were products and not living beings. Though, that threat as she walked away was puzzling. These beasts were never made out to be caring and Charon had always been told the horrors of finding anthromorphs on his journeys.

He pulled the plow behind him, the hard metal pulled against his already fragile skin. He yelled in protest as he moved the tool across the field, his blood springing from his flesh as to slow his work. He gritted his teeth and carried the weight of his burden.

------------------------------*--------------------------------------------

Sera watched the male ghoul from earlier as she sat atop her tower. The other ghouls took to their jobs quickly, but the plow always broke it's victim. She was intrigued at how he had lasted longer than any other ghoul at his task. His blood stained the ground as he worked, a pain in her chest stabbed her each time she saw him stagger. She shook her head, he was as her father called 'a beast of the field' and feeling sympathy for such would lose her the respect of her men.

She watched the man work through the heat of the day and as he approached her tower, he slowed to a creep. She scooted over and flopped her legs over the edge and studied him.

"Do you know, we've never had a ghoul work so long on the plow in one day."

He mumbled and looked up, squinting as the sun was surely blinding him. She waited for his response, she continued when she didn't get one.

"What do they call you ghoul?"

"...Charon...."

She blinked at his name and sat there silent for a moment. "So...are you like the ferryman, taking your people across the wastes?"

He curled his lip at her and grumbled. "What does that even mean?"

"You know....Charon? The ferryman? You don't know any history at all?" She looked at him curiously.

"No. I don't have much use for pointless book knowledge."

"Pointless book knowledge huh? I guess you think we could do pretty well without it, huh?" She sneered at him, and tossed him a bottle of purified water. He looked up at her with a puzzled look adorning his scarred face. She hopped down from her perch and walked to where he stood, taking care as she removed the heavy bindings from his shoulders.

"You can take the rest of the day off, you've earned it." She turned to walk away, her tail swaying behind her as she moved. "Oh and Charon, watch yourself. My brothers here....they aren't like me. Don't trust them. I'd hate to lose such a hard worker such as yourself, you'd be hard to replace."

"What does that even mean?" He snapped as she walked away causing her to stop and look at him.

"Because that 'pointless book knowledge' as you call it, showed me that we were almost just like you but like you....they also think they don't need to know our history." She turned and walked away into the dim shadows cast out by the setting sun leaving Charon to mull her words over in his mind.

---

What did the bitch even mean? Charon thought to himself as he spun the empty water bottle around his tent. Anthromorphs were nothing like ghouls, abominations of fur and more beast than anything else.

He watched a gaggle of ghoul ladies stagger drunk to their tents followed by young boys. The day had appeared to take all morals and sense from their skulls. He laid back on his cot, his bare chest cooling from the wounds the day had brought to his body. His mind raced through all the meanings that conversation could have had. Why was he so intrigued by such a vile beast? She disgusted him but her compassion provoked questions within him. She was truly not like what they had been told to believe of the pelts. He shook his head, could that insult even be applied to her?

He listened for the sounds of chatter outside, but it had grown alarmingly quiet. He looked back to see Aryian, the anthromorph master from earlier, standing in his doorway with a smirk across his muzzle.

"Charon, under the orders of the Almighty Alpha Mikael, you're to accompany us for sentencing."

Charon jerked up and bared his teeth at the beasts. "Sentencing of what?"

Aryian kicked the empty water bottle into view. "Theft. Punishable by death."

"That was given to me by the overseer."

Aryian grabbed his wrist and jerked him from the tent. His scarred chest heaved in panic as he was shackled. "We will see about that then, won't we?"

He protested as they pulled him from his camp, the scared faces of his brethren around him. Aryian chuckled with his partner as they carried him across the fields to the town, the lights lit it up as merry anthromorphs ran in the streets. Charon's stomach turned as he saw such acts when his people suffered in filth. They brought him to a halt in front of a perch, where a large feline beast sat. The beast shifted to hear them better as Aryian announced the accusations against Charon.

"He was found with this, my Alpha." Aryian held up the empty water bottle causing Charon's heart to sink. He realized that without the overseer to defend him, he wasn't going to make it out alive.

"I recommend death."Aryian exclaimed. "Let's make an example of him."

Charon winced as he waited to hear the verdict, only it never came. Instead, he heard a slow clap from behind him.

"Section 190B of the Hybrid Code Aryian, what is it." Sera asked, her body no longer protected under steel plates, but only tight leather bindings. Aryian gulped as her feminine figure slowly came into view. His throat dry from panic.

"Uhm...I....it states...oh shit."

She frowned. "Are you saying Aryian, that as a master...you have taken the oath to uphold these laws...and you don't even know what they are?"

Her teeth flashed as her mouth curved into an eerie grin. "Section 190B of the Hybrid Code states that any being...may it be beast, man or ghoul...is to be treated as an equal unless given just cause for otherwise."

Mikael leaned forward and scratched his chin, nodding to his daughter to continue.

"I move to have the masters all tested in our codes and laws. Any that fail to prove their knowledge in the field, will be stripped of titles. "She turned and tauntingly grinned at Aryian, who was glaring at her in hatred.

"Also, to ensure his safety...I move that the worker Charon...be put in my care as my personal assistant and ghoul liaison. " She smiled as her father nodded in agreement. She looked back at Charon. "I also feel that he should be educated in Pre-war and Ghoul-Anthromorph history. After all, Knowledge is power."

Charon looked up at her from his shackles and groaned. She sauntered over to where he stood and leaned down to release his binds. She lingered near his ear hole to whisper softly to him.

"I guess that pointless book knowledge is useful after all."

She smiled and turned to walk off, while motioning for him to follow.