FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

**Reviewed and Corrected 11/01/2013**

Chapter Four

It was the most small and insignificant I have ever felt entering the Capital Aldri, we arrived at the South gate at noon, it was temperate, in Daram it would be sweltering by this time in the day, it was summer after all. The South gate was massive, larger than anything I had ever seen before, only superseded in height by the trees at the heart of Malendri. The gate itself had enough room for two queues of people to walk through, those entering, traders and travellers like ourselves, and those leaving, made up mostly of merchants and occasional travellers who must have business in Daram, probably in Sipak, I reasoned. It was busy, very busy, and it was a quiet day, we walked quickly as if with great purpose to the merchants quarter at the centre of the city, the great palace with its white marble stone was in the East. I have never seen such organisation, the city itself was built in a cross shape, the river meandered through the centre with a straight road bridging the gap between the two halves of the city, anyone who has been to Arben will know that you can see the bridge and the North gate as soon as you enter the city from the South. Enclosed within high walls the city has four easily discernible areas, the merchant district, filled with warehouses, and industrial buildings, producing wares and selling them in the markets around the centre of the city. There is the rich district, populated by the Aldrian aristocracy, a place of scheming and money making, it closely hugs the palace which is the third area, with its own walls it is cut off from the city, yet is open to the people through a gate. The southern area through which we now travelled is the fourth area, the poor district, filled with workers and other furs lower down the political ladder, many of the people there worked in the fields which surround the city. Our convoy was headed towards the merchant quarter, yet myself and Faral had planned to go to the great library, so I imagined that we would be leaving soon.

"Faral will we be off soon?" I said to the dog, we were at the back of the group now on foot.

"Aye, I think we will say our goodbyes at the bridge, and after that we need to do go round the market." He replied.

"What for?"

"Well, you don't think they will let us into the rich quarter and the library looking like this do you?"

I looked down at my clothes, I looked fine, I thought I did anyway, in Daram there is no such thing as high society, but apparently I looked like the lowest of peasants.

"If you say so, you should do the choosing."

"First I need to think of a background story."

"What do we need one of those for?"

"Leave it to me Zerah, you really are hopeless aren't you" he chuckled, leaving me wondering what kind of story he was inventing, and why. The market was based on both sides of the river which runs through the city, called the Faren, the Faren minor to be precise, the major runs into the Farengir basin and forms Lake Farengir. It was far busier than the market square in Highbank which felt feeble in comparison to the stalls of produce, wares and goods, arranged that day.

"Friends, it is time for Zerah and I to leave you" Faral said as we approached the bridge, he had started adopting a more 'scholarly' manner of speaking as we progressed on our journey, I suppose it was part of his elaborate cover story, it worked well.

"So soon?" Lucea said as the rest of the convoy gathered round us.

"Yes, I'm afraid that our business has a tight schedule." Faral returned quickly.

"Faral, Zerah, You have been stalwart companions and my door is always open to you, look for Duloren's Fabric shop in the merchant quarter here." Duloren clasped both our paws strongly as did his three employees, they went on ahead as wasted time means no money earned.

"Goodbye both of you" Lucea said as the rest of the wolf family waved, I returned the gesture, smiling back at the young Sal who gave us a wolfish grin.

Ogondo and Mikaki were the last to say goodbye, Mikaki was still in lost state, Ogondo merely nodded, they came here to start a new life, and now their dreams were shattered, I couldn't imagine what they were going through at that point in my life. The convoy moved on, I was sorry to say goodbye we had been through so much together in the brief time we were travelling companions. Faral and I immediately headed for the Market on the richer side of the River Faren, the dog leading the way, whilst I marvelled at the sheer size of my surroundings, many things caught my eye, the stone bridge was decorated with murals from the wars of unification centuries ago (Although I didn't know the subject of the artwork at his point I did appreciate it), it depicted figures of Lions in splendorous metal plate battling barbaric looking wolves and bears in blackened armours, spiked and fierce. The market we approached on the North east side was bustling, I felt out of place seeing all the fancily dressed furs milling about the place, velvet, damask and many other fabrics were on sale as well as tailor shops which is where we headed. The market was permanent and therefore stalls were built into the ground and other built shops were present amongst the tarpaulins. The shop we approached was a fine and reputable tailor. Upon entering the establishment a middle aged goat with a long grey goatee introduced himself with an air of self importance.

"Good day Sirs, how may I help you today?" The goat said loftily.

"My colleague and I were looking to purchase some clothes more fitting for the fine streets of Arben, we have just arrived from Sipak after business venture and all we have is our travelling clothes, now we are not knowledgable in the current fashion, perhaps you could prepare us something suitable?" Faral replied with an equal measure of elegance to his voice, his upper class act was back it seemed, I would try to follow suit.

"Of course, where will you be visiting?" The goat continued

"The Great library and some areas of the palace, the rest of our time will be spent in the merchants quarter", Faral answered, as the tailor removed our leather overcoats and took our measurements.

"Very nice, I will prepare you both some suitable attire" The goat stated and left us alone in the shop, he went to fetch the clothing I presumed.

"Faral how are we going to afford this?" I asked.

"Our friend the cheetah" I looked at him skeptically, "You know, the one we bumped into at Mistvale?" he continued.

"Ah, the one you stole from?"

"Accidentally"

"It's not the same!"

"Shush! He's coming back," we both reassumed our upper class poses and smiled warmly at the goat as he retired with the clothes.

"Would you care to change into your new clothes?" He indicated towards a cluster of changing rooms at the back of the shop and we headed towards them.

"Yes, of course" I said. The clothes were very fine, I had been given a pair of brown linen breeches and matching green velvet doublet and a white shirt. They fitted perfectly. I returned to the shop putting my previous clothes into my backpack, once we set off again we would need them. Faral entered the room dressed in red. A similar type jacket to my own, but crimson, and a white shirt, yet done up with a cravat which was also crimson, round his waist were black breeches. I thought we looked ridiculous.

"Excellent my good fellow!" Faral proclaimed, whilst I smiled as well as I was able.

"Yes, now your fit to go about your business" The goat said, chuffed with his handiwork.

"How much do we owe you?"

"No more than four gold pieces, or four hundred silver, pay how you wish." Again my lack of knowledge of currency and trade hid from me the fact that we were actually being charged more than we should. Faral had noticed, however.

"Being a businessman it would wrong of me to walk away without asking, how does three hundred and twenty silver sound?" Faral questioned.

"Hah! That is too low for the quality of fabrics I have used here" the tailor replied.

"Is it? Sir your prices are fitting of last year, this year there has been a boom in cotton and silk as Sipak has expanded its fields, now due to this the prices of these fabrics are lower and therefore your clothes are now over priced, I wondered why your shop has only had myself and my companion as customers in the time we have been here perhaps it is because you do not know what I know?" During Faral's economics lesson the goat spluttered and coughed in shock. "So I shall go as high as three hundred and fifty and that is the maximum of their worth." Faral finished triumphantly.

"I will agree to that price, you are right of course and I cannot afford to turn you down" The tailer sighed, clearly out done by Faral in the haggling game, although I have no idea where he obtained this knowledge, perhaps Duloren had been talking to him about it on our way through Malendri. Faral handed the male his money and bid him good day, after which we left the shop promptly in an easterly direction, heading for the Great Library. The rich district was much more extravagant than the area we had just come from, flowers and other decorations were placed on window ledges, gardens we present at regular intervals along the streets, complete with statues of heroes and other great people. Males tipped hats at the females as they went by, it was a place of extreme politeness, it all seemed a bit much. The Library itself was a huge building, a large single story ground floor surrounded the large white tower which stood at its centre, the guards at entrance waved us on though as soon as they had gauged that we were of a high enough class to enter. The ground floor was filled which old scrolls and leather bound books on huge shelves, tables and alcoves were neatly tucked away, where scholars sat with their noses in the pages.

"So what are we looking for?" I whispered.

"A certain Bear, Ulex by name, he's big and brown, like all bears really, except he looks extremely out of place in the library, bears are not usually scholars you see." Faral replied.

"I'm assuming he knows something about your scroll?"

"You could say he's an expert in this kind of thing."

"Ah, then lets find him quickly." We looked for a good half an hour before we heard a loud gruff voice bellowing two shelves away.

"I told you to file the Meran Codexes in the ancient history section! Are you completely Inept?" Shouted a bear who we now saw to be Ulex, he was towering over a terrified looking adolescent cat, who was clearly an acolyte of the library and was shaking his head frantically.

"Well, be off with you!" Ulex continued as the cat scurried away to the correct area of the library.

"Wasn't that a little harsh old friend?" Faral smirked as he approached the bear.

"Faral!" Ulex boomed and clasped the dogs paw in a grip which looked bone crushing. "What brings you back here? It's been a year since you came here last. Who's your friend?"

"I'm Zerah," I said and I also received a bone crushing paw shake.

"Excellent to meet you Zerah." Ulex said.

"Well, Ulex I'm here on a little adventure regarding Xorox"

"Faral, I told you it was just a myth, you really are a persuadable drunk you know"

"A myth you say?" Faral said a familiar mischievous tone entering his voice, "Have a look at this." He said as he brandished his scroll at Ulex. The Bear looked over the scroll, his eyes widening with each second, a gasp of disbelief escaped from his muzzle.

"Impossible! Come to my office we cannot talk of this here." He said and turned storming towards the central spiral staircase. We followed quickly, entering the central column of the library, and to a room with a desk littered with scrolls and maps, Ulex's office it seemed.

"I told you I'd find it, all rumours are based on a shred of truth rare they not?" Faral said. Again I was left in the dark.

"Yes, but not all, Faral do you know what you have found here? So much to discover!" Ulex stammered.

"Of course I know, I'm going to find it Ulex"

"It's extremely dangerous, no one has ever been that far west, and those who have tried, do not usually come back. I'd say your mad Faral, but I know you. I hope you know what you're letting yourself in for Zerah, but, if anyone could pull this off it's this crazy mutt." Ulex said with a smile on his face, which Faral returned.

I chuckled, "I'm sure we'll find something making it all worth while"

"What you find there will be more than worth while, if I was ten years younger I'd drop everything and follow you." Ulex sighed.

"You could always help by translating that scroll and pointing us in the right direction old friend?" Faral asked hopefully. Ulex nodded and began rummaging through scrolls and maps.

"It will take me the rest of the night, if you come back in the morning I should have it ready. I can let you have a room here for the night, they are free as two acolytes decided that this life wasn't for them this morning." Ulex grinned.

"You are going to have to let some of them get to the scholar level sometime Ulex." Faral said.

"I will do that as soon as they stop being incompetent!" We all chuckled at that, as Ulex showed us two rooms which were one floor above.

"Once again I am grateful to you Ulex"

"As am I" I added, heading straight to the room.

"Think nothing of it" Ulex said and left us to our rest.

I was ready for a good nights sleep, and the beds were very comfy in comparison to recent sleeping conditions out in the forest. Once inside the room which was well furnished, rugs and writing desks made it feel warm, we began to remove our clothes and prepare for the sleep we had been longing for. After I had removed my clothes I noticed something that I did not expect to see in the corner of my eye, Faral's body was covered in dreadful pink scars, mostly on his back although some were on his lower body and chest, and a few on his thighs, one even reached up from the middle of his thigh and curled round until it finished just above his tail hole, they were old, no longer angry and fresh, and looked like the wounds from a whip, the sight made me gasp slightly involuntarily, Faral heard it.

"How did you get those scars?" I asked hesitantly, knowing how he was about his past I wondered if I should have. The small dog turned standing before me looking down at himself as if for the first time. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked you Faral." I said hurriedly turning away as if to get into bed, yet I felt his paw on my back, the situation making my fur stand on end.

"No, you've asked... I'll tell you, you wanted to know my past didn't you? Well now you can know." I looked at him, his eyes full of anger and pain. "When I was young, about fourteen summers, my family did not have very much money, I hated seeing all the rich furs walking around the streets as if they owned the place, they had far too much money and I though they wouldn't miss some, I stole jewels, coin purses and slowly sold the jewels, making money out of it, I would give the money to my parents and say it was part of a job working in a factory, they were proud and we were able to live comfortably. I got complacent, took a purse without making sure no one was watching, and a guard was watching, and followed me home. My family sat down for tea and the door was kicked in, and I was arrested, My family was ashamed to call me their son and I was thrown in a mine for five years." The dog became more and more agitated as he carried on, his fists clenched in rage. I wished I hadn't asked the story was a miserable substitute of someones young life, one which should have been happy.

"I was forced to mine coal in the northern mountains, it was pitch black and unbearably cold, many people died of frostbite, especially the old, I was young and fresh so it didn't affect me as much but I stopped growing, lack of sun does that to you, I rebelled and tried to escape a few times, but I was always caught, the mine guards would have me whipped every time I tried to escape, after five years they let me go and branded me with this" he indicated a scar in the shape of an X on his left shoulder. "It means thief... that was six years ago."

It was a moment where it was impossible to say anything, all I wanted to do was try to make the dog feel better, get him back to his old cheeky self, yet he was a stood with a morbid expression across his features.

"What did you do in the six years between now and then?"

"Travelled, explored, lived off the land, only two years ago did I find a new purpose, I heard about the scroll and that brings us to where we are now really."

After a few moments pause I rested my paw on his left shoulder to show my support, he immediately withdrew, "Don't try to comfort me Zerah, it was six years ago not last week, it is in the past now."

"Like you said only the future matters" I returned, feeling rebuked as the Dalmatian nodded, turned and clambering under his quilts, remained silent for the rest of the night. I followed suit resolving to leave him alone and never bring up the subject again, I should have felt like I new him better but his life and mine were so different it felt like there was an ever growing gap. My body sang as it was laid down on the bed, the comfort lulling me to sleep in seconds.

Faral woke me, he was dressed in his travelling clothes and urged me awake with a few shakes and slaps to the muzzle, as soon as I was sat up he darted from the room without warning, I quickly clothed myself in my own travelling attire and followed, jogging to Ulex's office. The Dog and bear were in deep discussion both looked extremely excited and the bear looked exhausted.

"Ho Zerah!" The bear Ulex boomed, "I have found its location, the great temple of the Xorox."

"Haha! We must go Zerah, look here," Faral indicated towards a map on the desk, it covered western Aldri and as much as was known about the land to the West at this point in time, "The Xorox were an ancient intelligent race of reptilians, they inhabited the land to the far West in tropical jungles much like Sipak's foliage." Faral said whilst Ulex pointed to an area of illustrated forest, which covered a large part of the land west of the mountains. "Explorers, like the author of this scroll, have told us that Malendri simply continued for miles and miles, The one thing that separates the author of this scroll from the rest is that he claimed to have broke the tree line, and come to an alien place, old buildings and a mighty temple are hinted at in the text."

"How do we know it is true then?" I asked, "If only one scholar says it exists."

"We can say it is very possible that it does because, this scroll has directions, land markings and a record of how long it took, all of which I have marked on this hear map" Ulex finished, handing the map to Faral who, with a rather large grin on his face, quickly tucked it inside his overcoat.

"Do we know what is inside this temple?", thoughts of that treasure Faral mentioned entered my mind.

"The scholar who wrote about it came back with a statue of some sort, it was bejewelled and made of solid gold, priceless in worth, rumours of it spread and before long he had been killed and the statue lost for ever." Ulex said sounding more sad about the statue than the scholar.

"Come on Zerah, no time for all this questioning we must be off, Ulex I'll be sure to bring you back something eh?" Faral bundled up all the papers and deposited them in his backpack.

"Good luck you mad dog! Zerah Make sure he doesn't do anything reckless" he said as Faral went for the door, "Good luck to you both."

I wished the old bear good bye from both of us, quickly following my cheery companion out of the door and out of the library, in no time we were navigating the obstacle course that is the streets of Aldri, somehow it was possible for the streets to get busier, Faral explained to me that it was the official market day, even though the market operated permanently anyway. We left through the West gate in the direction of Amulon, the city famous for it's herding of Carek, we predicted that all in all the joinery to the edge of known civilisation should take us roughly three weeks, after that we had a prediction of a month to find the Xorox temple, as hinted in the scroll translated by Ulex. The beauty of the country captivated me as we walked at a leisurely pace, birds frequently sang their melodies and the wind in the trees created a sweet sounding background to our adventure, being a bard I found music wherever I could and quite often I used nature as my muse. At noon of the first day of our travels we stopped for a break in a coppice of low branched trees with large rounded leaves. Faral began pouring over the charts and other historic details Ulex had given, most were in the form of riddles, hinting at places which could be used as landmarks. I took out my Lute and began playing a few improvised melodies.

"Did you hear that Faral?" I said abruptly coming to a stop mid scale.

"Hear what?" The dog inquired to engrossed in his scrolls to pay attention to his surroundings.

"Hm, it sounded like footsteps."

"I hear nothing," His ears twitching changing their angle as he listened in different directions." It was probably just a long of herd of Carek."

"Probably" I said continuing the scale I had just been playing, attempting to get back into the rhythm of the melody I was improvising an imitation of the sound of a song bird which I had heard earlier than morning. I ignored the sound I thought I had heard, if Faral hadn't heard anything I most certainly couldn't, the dogs ears were accustomed to quiet situations.

"Wait..." Faral said his ears pricked.

"Charge!" A loud cry came from behind us as we both leapt to our feat, quick heavy steps were approaching, a galloping pace. As we turned four Carek bearing armed riders charged towards us, the males were wearing helmets.

"Run!" Faral shouted gathering up his bag and scrolls, I ran with my lute out of the coppice, Faral close on my right. My heart leapt to full pace, looking over my shoulder I spotted two of the riders positioning a net between them which was getting closer no further than five meters away. I yelled as the net took me out from under my feet, myself and Faral falling and rolling tangled up in the net, which was thick roped, making it impossible to stand or to even reach a knife to cut ourselves loose. Cursing Faral attempted to reach his sword but as soon as the dog had tried a boot fiercely collided with his stomach, making the dog moan as the wind was forced from his lungs.

"Don't try anything mutt." A sly and cruel voice said, the male who stood above us was dressed in metal plate, and a red and blue uniform, he undid his helmet and a weasel's grin looked down upon us.

"What do you want?" I shouted.

"Well, Faral, I didn't think you took accomplices on, how very strange, from Daram as well." The weasel sneered. Who was this? How did he know Faral I thought, and why, in the name of all things, was I being labelled as an accomplice?

"Curse you Simeon! I thought I'd left you in a sorry state back in Arok?" Faral snarled, which the weasel returned viciously.

"Hold your tongue thief! You should be careful who you bad mouth, a certain tailor was left very unhappy with your custom and when I came in for my new uniform, he told me a very horrible tale about a certain rude Dalmatian" The weasel laughed.

"It's not here Sir, it must be on his person" One of the other soldiers said. What were they looking for? The scroll?

"What do they want Faral?" I whispered.

"Keep quiet, if you say nothing, they might let you go" he whispered back. Immediately after he was cut loose of the net and the soldiers began searching, tearing off his upper clothes, a deep red amulet around his neck, I had never seen that before.

"There it is" The weasel removed the amulet and placed it in his left coat pocket. "Now was that so hard? The lady of Win Güden will be pleased to know that you have been captured and that her priceless jewel can now be returned to her."

"I'll go quietly this time Simeon but let my friend go, he knew nothing about any of this!" Faral pleaded, his voice surprisingly genuine for once. I was regarded with a cold stare from the weasel known as Simeon.

"Travelling with a wanted fugitive is a crime, running from the law is a crime, aiding the escape of a criminal is a crime, it seems your headed to the same place as our dear friend the thief here." Simeon said cruelly, enjoying every second of it.

"What? You can't do this!" I shouted.

"Take them to the spire!" The weasel instructed to his underlings, as he remounted his Carek, and waving goodbye to Faral sarcastically he galloped off back towards Arben. I had no idea what the spire was or where we were going. Faral struggled as we were both pulled to our feet and was hit with a pommel of one of the soldiers swords, I lurched forwards to try and see if he was still conscious as he slumped forward, a sharp pain hit my own skull, and all faded into blackness.

Thanks for reading this chapter!

Feel free to message or comment with any feedback, I can only improve with it!

I try and post a chapter every week or so.

Thanks again, Faral ^.^