FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 5: Second Chance

As with all bandits, greed was the sole drive. No decent person would go rape and pillage for coin, but bandits, thieves and other ilk were not decent people and weren’t the smartest at times either.

Big and Round had taken his band and began the long march to the slave states where they would sell their catch. They were excited for they had two humans, rare outside of the Kingdom of Sacra where humans reigned behind closed borders. Few ventured out of their old kingdom, ruled by the fallen angel Vessius.

When the strong had left, the weak, trailing, came bounding out to pick the scraps. While Big and Round was in the market for live slaves, there were plenty that would pay coin for parts of a fresh body for spells and potions. A human would make them rich by their standards and they heard there were humans, but they were met with the body of a canine. Not nearly as valuable, but still of worth.

Besus was a rat, small, smelly and in rags. He only had his knife as a weapon. Not much by nearly every standard set, but he was fast and bold. He had gotten to the scene well before the other vagrants.

“Not much. Not much,” Besus crept through the woods. “They leave so much other times. Not much this time.” His nose and part of his muzzle wiggles as he smelled for anything. There was always danger and always treasure.

He had been following the bandits for months now and it had been very profitable. They had sacked a small fishing village by the Darnes river two weeks back and had left more than enough for all the smaller vagrants to be satisfied. He had then taken a week to make a journey to another town to sell his goods. It normally would have taken a month to make the journey, but Besus had his secrets along with all other vermin. Under most of the world was a network of tunnels, connected by the spells of a long dead vermin mage. It allowed all vermin to travel great distances in small time.

Long ago, before when any vermin could remember, the tunnels had been used to rule the world. All other beasts had been vermin then. It’s unknown what had happened, because none remember, but it’s believed that the empire fell when the angels and demons arrived. Their ears tore the land apart. The angels brought humanity with them, who had no love of vermin. Humans. It was humans that ruined the vermin. So, Besus has no quarrel with potentially carving up some human to make a profit.

There was no human, Besus’ nose zeroed in on the smell of blood and quickly found the body of a canine. It laid curled on its side, clutching a gruesome wound in its chest.

“Belus of the Boars has been busy,” Besus said as he looked over the body.

Besus had the habit of talking to himself. Often he would be out in the wilderness alone for he didn’t trust anyone but himself. Those many months with no contact would drive even the hardiest of creatures crazy. So, to cope, Besus often talked his thoughts just to hear a voice to keep his mind sharp and will intact.

“Clothes,” Besus rubbed Jason’s shirt between his fingers. “Fine weave. Yes. Fine weave and foreign” Besus had never seen this kind of clothes before, then again, if he had been traveling with humans... Humans had strange things often and so, this wasn’t so strange. Plus, it would sell easily.

Besus was careful as he slowly unfurled the body so he could pull off the clothes. He was quick though. Even though he had been first to arrive, that wouldn’t be true for very long. Others would be arriving very soon and Besus wanted the clothes and be gone before he even knew that someone was close.

The shirt was torn and ragged, but enough of the scraps were large enough to sell. It came off easily, but Besus couldn’t figure out the belt. He didn’t want to cut it because it, like the rest of the clothes was of good quality.

It took some trying, but Besus learned how to undo the belt and then moved to the pants. He had never seen jeans before. It was fabric, but seemed to be as strong as thin leather, truly a gift from heaven to their followers. Lucky them. The vermin empire would still be flourishing if it weren’t for the angels. Besus growled to himself.

He was halfway done with pants, having pulled them down to Jason’s knees when the air shifted. It was very slight, almost unnoticeable and would have been if the air hadn’t already been still.

“No visitors,” Besus said and raised his pointed head. He looked all around him. The sun was up now and he could rely on his sights just as much as his smell and hearing now. There was nothing but the forrest now, a menagerie of orange and red leaves that never fell or turned green. The Autumn Woods were strange like that. It was said to be due to a spell from a mage who loved the colors of Autumn. Whatever it was, Besus didn’t care.

When Besus didn’t notice anything, he looked back to the body to see it sitting upright and looking at him.

“Necromancy!” Besus hissed and leaped back several feet and drawing his trusty dagger. “Forbidden magic.”

The once dead canine cocked his head to the side at Besus. His eyes flowed a faint blue. “Fret not small being.” The canine stood up and his body was enveloped it a light, hiding his nakedness.

Besus shielded his eyes and hissed.

When the light cleared, the canine was replaced with a shrouded figure with a massive metal wings and a halo of daggers, an angel.

Besus stood his ground. He held onto his dagger with both hands, pointing it at the angel. He was however, terrified. Vermin were great at sneaking and stabbing foes in the back, but were too frail for head on combat. He thought about running, but there was no where to run to.

The angel looked down at the frightened rodent. A grin came to the small part of a muzzle that stuck out of the shroud. “I won’t hurt you.”

Besus relaxed a little, the dagger dropping only a fraction of an inch. His eyes darted downward at the jeans that cling to the foot of the angel.

The angel looked won at the jeans and then with a quick wiggle of the foot, kicked it towards Besus. “There. Now scurry off. Others will be here soon.”

Besus eyes the jeans and then the angel. He slowly crept forward and snatched the jeans before running off. He would never speak of this moment to anyone. If other vermin heard, they’d become jealous and that led to murder. He would sell his prize quick and be done with it.

Antes watched the rodent scurry off. It felt good to have a body again. However, he was very aware that this one was on loan. In the back of his mind was the strong presence of Jason, who slept. Dying and then taking in another soul put a large stress on him. It was up to Antes to get Jason to safety and allow him... them to recover before pursuing both Anthony and Malus.

Now there was the question of the others that were coming. Antes felt them easily as seeing them. There was a demonic presence. No doubt a vanguard sent by Gorgon, the demon who had laid assault to Malus’ fortress in parallel to the Heaven’s siege. They would be investigating what had to be some sort of trail his soul had left behind as it was transported into Jason. Demons and angels had a natural affinity for knowing where the other was.

Antes didn’t feel that he’d be able to reasonably escape then if they were already close, but he’d definitely be able to fight them.

Channeling his mana, or rather, Jason’s mana, which wasn’t that much, Antes created a sword of ice. It would have to do because he already felt depleted. That would be an interesting problem to deal with later on.

The demons, four of them, came stalking out of the trees. Their eyes were on Antes.

The tallest, a gangly creature with four arms, each with a sword in hand, grinned. “Well well well. What do we have here? A lone angel. None of those annoying Templars around for him to hide behind.”

Antes knew this game well. They’d throw words at each other for a bit before fighting. He didn’t have patience for that right now.

The second demon was about to say something, but Antes spread his wings and leapt at them.

A short demon with a third eye was sliced cleanly in two before the expression on his face even changed.

Antes’ wings were more than just for show. He had them both out flat, tips of each blade like feather ready to slice. A set caught the tall demon across the belly and his innards spilled out as Antes moved past him. He clutched his spilling intestines covered in black and greenish blood. He looked up at Antes with a look of disbelief before collapsing onto the ground.

Antes landed back on his feet, skidding a few feet and then stopping and straightening up. He looked down at his sword and flexed his arms. This body was a lot more agile and responded much more quickly. He felt stronger as well. A match made in Heaven for the old angel.

The other two demons, standard and unspectacular compares to what Antes had seen in their armies, had their weapons at the ready but looked unsure. One was taking a step back, getting ready to flee at the first opportunity. Antes wasn’t going to let them go and report back to their masters. Not yet.

One demon charged in what was either fear induced courage or plain insanity. The other turned tail and ran, dropping his weapons on the ground.

Again, Antes spread his wings out and knelt. He felt power surge into him, calling on the world around him to recharge his mana. The wind swirled around him as he stood back up.

The demon came at him and swung. Antes caught the rusted blade on his wing and then with a flick of the massive metallic wings, decapitated the demon. The body stumbles a few times, unaware that it had no head anymore, before it fell down.

The fleeing demon shrieked in terror as it saw that it was the last one left. It’s short legs didn’t care him very fast.

The sword slowly began shifting in Antes’ hand until it was a long javelin.

It had been a long time since Antes had last thrown anything like this, but if felt familiar in his hands... paws. Another thing to get used to.

He feared back with the javelin and gave it a hard throw. The javelin whistled through the air gracefully before plunging itself into the ground.

“Missed,” Antes muttered to himself.

The fleeing demon didn’t even notice how close he had come to death right then. A foot to the left and the javelin would have gone right through his chest.

Antes sighed and then with another leap, propelled himself across the ground at amazing speed and quickly dispatched the last demon, stabbing him squarely through the chest. It was a quick and painless death, much more than what any of the demons deserved.

Once the deed was done, Antes sat down on a nearby stump. He was actually exhausted. His paws shook and he had an incredible thirst as well. Jason’s body just wasn’t used to the kind of work it had just gone through.

“Need to be more careful,” Antes said and clenched his paws to steady them. He took several deep breaths, closing his eyes and relaxing for a moment, letting the tension fade away. He felt a little better after a few minutes and readied to get to walking. Flying would put more stress on the body and Antes could feel that it was still recovering and frail.

He was about to get going when he heard bushes rustling.

Antes hadn’t sensed any demons, so it had to be another looter looking for pickings. Demon parts would sell in any bazaar.

However, when Antes turned and yelled, “step out into the light,” it wasn’t some vagrant, but Kieth.