FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Master Lao' nerves were on edge as he paced around the front gate. It was almost dark and Bo and Ying had still not returned. He knew he shouldn't have sent just the two of them. If something had happened... "Sir!" Master Lao tried desperately to hide his panic as he made his way to the guard. "What is it?" he asked, his irritability masking his growing despair. He followed the guard's outstretched finger and cried out in shock. Coming up the stairs now, almost sleepwalking, was Ying. Her clothes were torn - no, slashed - in several places, her body was covered in dirt and blood, and the way she was limping betrayed a broken leg. She was alone. As she reached the top of the stairs she collapsed in a heap by her Master's side. Master Lao uttered a guttural cry as he bent down to help his sobbing student. He put her good arm around his shoulder for support and began leading her to the temple. On his way he grabbed one of the guards. "Run to the servant's quarters and have them wake a nurse." The guard ran off quickly, but not before casting a frightened glance at Ying. Master Lao took no notice and began leading her in.

The medical wing was a small area tucked away into the back of the temple. A small hallway ran down the side and regularly spaced doors opened on to separate rooms. Ying was taken to the room on the far left. The nurse on duty had taken one look at her and nearly fainted. Once she had regained her composure, she got to work on Ying: cleaning her wounds, setting her broken leg and stitching the several lacerations on her body. By the time morning came about, Ying was more bandage than person. Despite the nurse's best efforts, she still remained unconscious for another two whole days.

Lee was keeping watch when she eventually woke up. At first Lee thought she was having trouble breathing and tried to shift her to a more a comfortable position. As she laid a gentle hand on her though, she heard Ying utter a single word: "Bo..." At first Lee was too surprised to do anything, but she soon got a hold of herself and knelt down beside her friend. "Ying?" she whispered cautiously. Ying didn't answer at first and Lee almost lost hope, but then Ying turned over. "L-L...Lee?" Lee breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm here, Ying," she whispered. Ying gave the room a bewildered look. "Where... where am I? "You're home, Ying. There's nothing to worry about." "But how...? Oh gods." Without warning, Ying burst into a fit of violent sobbing. "Oh gods. Oh gods. He's dead, and it's all my fault. Oh gods." Lee threw her arms around her friend and held her close while she cried her eyes out. Eventually Ying exhausted herself and was soon asleep in Lee's arms, her breathing punctuated by the occasional shaking sob. Lee lay her down gently, pulled a blanket over Ying's bandaged body, and tiptoed out to tell the others.

"I'm not sure I can do this, Master." "I'm sorry, Ying, but it needs to be done." Ying looked desperately at the others seated in her hospital ward. They were all looking somewhere else, anywhere else. Kovu was staring at a vase of flowers on her bedside table, Lee was pretending to be interested in a mark on the floor... Only Master Lao was meeting her gaze. 'They can't bear to see me like this,' she thought. "Ying," Kovu said to the vase. "If you want, we can leave." Ying shook her head - at least she tried to - and took a deep breath. She told them everything that she could remember: how they'd found the crater with the pit of tar, how Bo had moved to collect some in his water bottle, and how things then went horribly wrong. "I'd made it to the edge of the forest and was starting to run, when..." The words died in her throat. She felt Lee's hand resting comfortingly on her arm. "What happened, Lee?" her friend asked quietly. Suddenly Ying was back there, on the lip of the cliff, back to the forest, and in front of her... "I was about to run when... I heard his voice." "Whose voice, Lee?" Master Lao asked urgently. A solitary tear rolled down her cheek and was soon followed by several others. "Bo's." The room fell silent. Ying continued through her now uncontrollable sobs. "I heard him call my name. I turned around, and there he was, standing there as if nothing had happened. Only... I saw him get dragged down, saw him drown. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there, watching. He was smiling at me, said I should come and join him. Then... these tentacles started coming out of him... out of his mouth, out of his nose, his eyes... and all the time, he kept smiling and calling my name... Oh gods!" This last outburst seemed to push Ying over the edge. She curled into a tight ball and resumed her frantic sobbing. Her friends tried to comfort her but she refused to respond to their efforts. Master Lao gestured to Kovu and Lee to let Ying alone, and the three of them exited the room silently.

Master Lao led his two remaining students back to the library and ordered them to sit down. They obliged but he chose to remain standing. No one said a word and Master Lao took to pacing anxiously. Soon the silence became almost unbearable. Kovu, unable to contain himself anymore, finally asked: "So what do we do, Master?" Master Lao stopped his pacing and turned sadly to his youngest pupil. "It can't be true, can it Master?" Lee added hopefully. "I mean, Bo can't really be..." The word stuck in her throat like a lump of coal. Master Lao sighed. "I think that, for now, we have no choice but to assume the worst," he said quietly. Kovu let out a strangled gasp. "Kovu, contain yourself," said Master Lao sternly. "We can mourn your brother in due time. For now, Ying is lying in the medical ward, gravely injured. We need to stay strong... for her sake." Kovu nodded tearfully and wiped his eyes with a shaky paw. "Yes, Master," he said quietly. "Good. We also need to make sure that the temple is well-protected. Whatever it was that..." He had to take a deep breath before he could continue. "Whatever it was that... killed Bo" - another cry from Kovu - "is probably still out there. We need to be prepared if we are to ensure that no one else is hurt." Apart from Kovu's barely-stifled sobs, his students remained silent. "Lee, take Kovu and go tell the guards to be on high alert. With any luck, they'll be inclined to do their jobs for once." Lee nodded and helped Kovu to his feet. With a final worried glance at her Master, she and Kovu walked out.

The air was crisp and the frost shone brightly under the full moon-light. The sky was clear and awash in stars. Under any other circumstances, the night would have been considered beautiful. Instead, it just seemed to mock Lee and Kovu as they walked towards the guard barracks. Neither had said a word since they'd left Master Lao in the library, though Kovu had managed to calm down somewhat. At least he wasn't sobbing uncontrollably anymore. Lee was worried about him. She knew how... delicate he could be, and a shock like this must be hitting him pretty hard. It wasn't exactly easy for her either. When she'd first seen Ying in the medical wing, all broken up and bloody, she nearly fainted like the nurse. Ying - who was like a sister to her - was now hanging on by a thread and Bo - whom she also saw as family - was dead. It was taking all of her strength not to collapse into a miserable heap at this very moment. No, she had to be strong, for Kovu's sake if nothing else. She put a comforting paw on his shoulder, which he squeezed gratefully. Hand in hand, they continued their journey to the barracks.

The barracks consisted of little more than two square buildings off to the side of the main entrance. They were the newest buildings on the mountain-top, having only been built fifty years ago during the war against the neighbouring kingdom under Lord Xinta, when it was feared that roving marauders would attack the vulnerable temples and destroy their precious troves of knowledge. Like the temple, however, the barracks were starting to give in to disrepair and apathy. The exterior was noticeably grubby, with peeling paint and overgrown weeds making for a very sorry sight. But it wasn't the run-down accommodation that was currently infuriating Lee. Coming from the inside was the distinct sound of drunken revelry. "Those sons of bitches!" growled Lee menacingly. Before Kovu could stop her, she was running full-speed towards the barracks. She broke the closed door with a single powerful kick and marched inside. All noise stopped immediately. She glared menacingly at the three antelope courtesans who were sitting in various stages of undress. "Leave. Now." The sight of the furious tigress was all the motivation they needed. They collected their items and hurried out, ignoring the protests of their five now-ex clients. "What the hell?" said one of the guards, a large boar with a belly that was straining against the confines of his uniform. "Yeah," said another guard, this one a water buffalo, "What's the big idea?" "What's the big idea?" repeated Lee quietly. In a flash she'd grabbed the buffalo by the neck and pinned him against the wall. "Lee, put him down!" cried Kovu. "Shut up, Kovu," Lee growled back. Kovu whimpered quietly but remained silent. Lee turned her attention back to the now cowering buffalo. "I'll tell you 'what's the big idea'." Her voice was dangerously quiet and edged with the distinct sound of murderous intent. "One of my friends is dead," Lee continued slowly. "My other friend is lying on a hospital bed half-dead, and whatever it is that did that to her is still out there in the forest. Now last time I checked, it was your job to make sure this kind of shit doesn't happen, but you chose instead to stay inside and fuck some cheap village whores while boozing on even cheaper whiskey. So here's what's going to happen." She closed her claws tighter around the struggling buffalo's throat. "You are going to clean up this mess, you are going to go outside and you are going to do your job!" The poor guard was too terrified to say anything. Lee finally relinquished her grip on his neck and he collapsed, gasping for air. His pig friend picked him up and helped him outside, the three other guards following quickly behind. Kovu just stood there and watched in a state of complete shock. Lee suddenly seemed like a completely different person. He'd never seen her lose it like this and he was a little frightened by the sheer intensity of the moment. However, once the guards had made their unceremonious exit, Lee collapsed onto the floor with a heavy sigh. "Lee!" cried Kovu. He hurried to her side and wrapped his arms around her. Her body was shaking violently and, with a start, Kovu realised she was crying. He pulled her closer and held her as her tears fell silently, softly staining her fur.

Back in the medical wing, Ying was squirming in her bed. Her bandages were scratching against her skin and itched like crazy. No matter how many times she tried, she could not get into a comfortable positon. Every movement just brought about a fresh round of burning irritation. To make matters worse, she was starving. It felt like she hadn't eaten in months and her stomach was aching almost as much as the rest of her. Her moaning eventually attracted the attention of the nurse. "Oh," she exclaimed, looking up from her scroll. "You're up!" Ying simply groaned in reply. The nurse hurried over and grabbed a pitcher of water off a nearby cabinet. "Here you, go, you poor thing," she cooed as she held it to Ying's lips. Ying snatched it out her hands and drank greedily. "My, you sure are thirsty!" exclaimed the nurse as Ying drained the last few drops out of the pitcher. "I take it that you're finally satisfied?" Ying's stomach growled loudly in response. The nurse giggled but understood the not-so-subtle cue. "You just wait right here," she said as she made her way to the door. "I'll be right back." Ying watched her carefully as she left. She was right, of course. Ying was starving. This wasn't a normal hunger, however, and it wouldn't be easily satisfied with a mere snack. No, it required something more... substantial. A few minutes later, she heard the sound of the nurse's footsteps coming down the hall. She licked her lips. Yes, she thought. She was so, so hungry...