FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Original story by: Courgus

Translated by: Erazaa

After Vashgar collapsed in Adriana's arms, they took him with them. Adriana had promised Vashgar that they would get him out of there and it was important to her to keep this promise.

So Adriana and her companion wandered through the forest for a few days. The distance they covered was so long that they had to spend two nights in the open on their journey. Even if her friend and companion would have liked to spend the night in one of the innumerable taverns, this was not possible. Vashgar was still unconscious on the back of his horse and was carried by him.

In the morning of the third day they reached their destination. A small hut in the nearby mountains.

The knight took Vashgar off his horse and brought him to the hut while Adriana took the horse to the small stable.

She joined him again just as he was putting Vashgar down on the bed in front of the fireplace.

>>How is he, Sir Brannigan?<< asked another voice sitting at a work table.

>>Well, as far as I can tell, he's still alive. Unfortunately, I can't say more.<<

The other person nodded and stood up. She walked over to Varshgar without a second thought.

>>I hope that my experience, though it may be none at all, will be enough to get him back on his paws.<<

Sir Brannigan nodded and waited.

>>I understand, Darios.<< Adriana said, still standing in the doorway.

Darios and Sir Brannigan looked up and over at Adriana.

She seemed slightly saddened but still willing to fight. Varshgar had to get through. He couldn't possibly have made it this far and then not come back.

>>He will make it. The ointment you gave me was really helpful, Darios.<< Adriana said, sitting down on Vashgar's bed.

>>Yes I can see that very well. You did a really good job. The wounds look good. Although I wish we could have done something sooner.

How did we actually get it to happen so quickly?<< he asked further.

>>Well, we have Sir Brannigan to thank for that.

>>Not at all.<< he said and waved it off.

>>The bottom line is that I just put a flea in someone's ear and the person willingly believed it. That's all.<<

Sir Brannigan began to laugh as he elaborated, and Adriana had to laugh along with him. Darios, on the other hand, did not understand why.

>>Actually, it was quite simple. I made the baron believe that I was here on behalf of the prince and he let himself be announced by me. Then everything went very fast. Galrond and Dorakk brought him to the Dark Forest and wanted to decapitate him. We intervened and ended up here.<<

Darios nodded at what Sir Brannigan had said.

>>So you had to kill them?<<

>>Well, no. Not quite. Varshgar had some kind of... experience, I'd say.<< He said to Darios and he brightened.

>>Experience? How am I to understand that?<<

Sir Brannigan didn't know how to elaborate exactly and at that point Adriana jumped in for him.

>>So Varshgar was different. He was full of anger and rage. It manifested with him or in him. It was disconcerting. The wolf clan warrior, who was actually so dear, became a fury.<<

Darios nodded and considered. It took a moment and then he elaborated on what he was thinking:

>>I've heard something like that before, I think. At least, I've come across it in old tales. Clan warriors who fight like furies...<<

Darios thought hard, leafing through one of his books.

>>Where did I put it...<<

Adriana looked at Varshgar and his wounds. They were still very pronounced and she could not hold on to herself. She put both her hands on Varshgar's right paw. Gently she pressed his paw as if to say - I am with you.

Then she looked at Darios who was about to lunge.

>>Ah yes! Here it is. In the old lore from the days of war it says: We came across warriors of the clan who fought like wild furies. They are fearsome opponents who know no fear nor pain. They fight until their body fails or they are killed first. As long as their opponent lives, they live only for this fight. They do not know exhaustion. They fight or they die.<<

Darios looked up from his book and was very sobered.

>>That's not good.<< he said and looked at Adriana.

She was still squeezing Varshgar's hand, hoping for a reaction from him. But so far the hoped-for reaction was absent.

Sir Brannigan, on the other hand, was still very agitated by Dario's descriptions. What he had seen described exactly what he could observe in Varshgar. His behavior was exactly like Darios description.

"If that pain had not come, then perhaps he would have continued to rage." he pondered for a moment.

Then he thought of Adriana coming out of the bush. She pressed herself against Varshgar and a moment later he was back to normal.

"Can she stop the raging? Does she have any influence on it?" he wondered.

He looked up again and glanced at Adriana. Finally, Darios joined in.

>>So we can assume that our friend here is a wild fury as she described?<< Darios asked hesitantly.

The thought alone was a horror vision for the scholar. As a scholar, his fighting skills, as Sir Brannigan would describe it, were severely underdeveloped. In mere hand-to-hand combat, Darios was not worth a copper. But he knew this all too well himself. He feared the possibility of Varshgar losing control and forgetting himself completely.

No one could say for sure what would happen to him then.

Whether he would still be able to distinguish friend from foe. No one knew, but Adriana was sure. He would never harm them.

Neither to her nor to anyone he is close to.

>>Well, I don't know what could happen. In the end, I hope Adriana can make the difference if it comes down to it.<< said Sir Brannigan.

Adriana and Darios looked at the knight.

>>You were able to calm him down. Didn't you feel it?<< he asked you.

Adriana considered for a moment. Of course she had felt something when Varshgar was in that state.

>>Yes. I know. There was something. It felt like... hatred and anger. But then it faded away. What I felt was contentment. Balance inside of him. It was strange to feel it at all.<< she said.

Adriana thought again of the moment when Varshgar was overcome by pain. She had seen it before. In the torture chamber of Galrond. There, too, he held both arms in front of his chest. As if he wanted to keep something inside.

It was strange for her, but she still held on to the fact that Varshgar was on her side.

>>Well then. You know I must be on my way soon. My prince is expecting me back.<< Sir Brannigan said to Darios and Adriana.

>>Yes, I know. But please return to us in one piece. We will need you, Sir Brannigan.<<

Sir Brannigan placed his right hand on Darios' shoulder and nodded.

>>Of course I will return safely, my friend. We have already overcome so much. We'll get through this too, together. Isn't it Adriana?<<

Adriana smiled adorably and nodded.

>>Of course! We can do it. And Varshgar will be with us. I'm sure of it!<<

She was very euphoric now that the time had come. They had made it that one of the Wolf Clan would be with them. This war had lasted far too long and had claimed far too many victims on all sides.

It was clear to everyone in this room. But the Wolf Clan had always distrusted humans for this reason.

Sir Brannigan and Darios hoped that Varshgar could make the difference and bring this war to an end.

>>Good. Then I will be on my way tomorrow. This night I will stay with you and take care of some supplies.<<

With these words Sir Brannigan put down his shield and sword and went outside.

Once outside, he paused for a moment, taking in the silence and seclusion of the place. In his mind there was silence for a short moment.

But actually he was more worried than he wanted to admit.

He did not know how to deal with Varshgar. Now that he was present, the situation changed fundamentally.

Adriana firmly believed that Varshgar would make the difference and that he was definitely on her side. But even Sir Brannigan had to deal with some of the Wolf Clan. And those encounters were not particularly friendly. Even if it was clear to him that it could not have been different on the side of the Wolf Clan.

The constant war that dominated the country only made life difficult for each other. But the actual trigger for this war knew no one more. Or no one wanted to say it openly.

After he had given himself up to his thoughts, he sighed and went around the house to a small shed. There was a chopping block there for cutting firewood. He reached for the door and opened it. There was already a considerable amount of wood in the small storehouse ready to be burned. However, he wanted to add a little more because he didn't know how soon he would be back here.

He grabbed the axe and went outside where there was already a log on the chopping block. Then he raised his arms up and dropped the axe on the block.

In the meantime, Adriana had tended to Varshgar's wound and was just getting up from the edge of the bed. Darios sat at his desk again and devoted himself to the past of the Wolf Clan. Even for a scholar, this situation was not particularly easy. He was in need to explain how everything was connected. The trigger for the war. The fighting and slaughter of innocents. So much depended on what answers he could elicit from the past.

He had, always, countless thoughts on the subject. His colleagues saw it differently. For them, it was simply a conflict that would one day come to an end. Moreover, they were convinced that this end could only mean that the Wolf Clan would surrender and follow the demands of their rulers. But for Darios already this thought was unbearable. To subjugate a people, a whole culture, because there was something in the past that no one remembers or wants to remember.

Adriana always knew what responsibility Darios had burdened himself with. Even though she kept telling him that he could not be responsible for the actions of others or for the past, he could not let go. So he continued. As long and as far as he could.

Then Adriana turned to the fireplace. There she had already put on a pot with water. Next to it stood a table on which she already had some ingredients. Some fresh meat that Sir Brannigan had procured in the morning, some mushrooms and herbs from the surrounding area as well as Ashbar tubers that came in as the main ingredient.

Little by little she put everything together and began to make the stew. But her thoughts had always been with him.

An hour passed and a wonderful aroma filled the room.

Little by little, the interest of Darios was awakened, who actually only had eyes for his notes and books. Gradually he peeked out from behind a wall of books and looked curiously at what his sister was conjuring there.

Adriana knew that Darios could not help it, because it was the same game every time she cooked this stew. At first Darios acted quite uninterested, but then he came sneaking up.

She grinned inwardly because she knew she was right. But then Sir Brannigan opened the door and entered.

He, too, was surrounded by the wonderful aroma of food.

>>That smells wonderful!<< he said.

>>Thank you! Our meal is almost ready, too,<< said Adriana, who would have liked to be a little more cheerful. It would have made her even more cheerful if Varshgar had joined in the meal. But she couldn't say that. She preferred to keep what she felt to herself.

>>So sit down slowly. It's about to start!<< she said, trying to cover her feelings. So she often gave the smiling girl that everyone likes to look at because her smile was so charming. Even though it looked quite different inside her.

Finally, she turned her attention back to the pot and its bubbling contents. The stew smelled wonderful and a waft of this scent rose to her nose as soon as she stood in front of it. She grabbed the bowls and filled them up.

When they were well filled and everything and everyone was in its place, it was only to enjoy.

Later in the evening Adriana sat again at Varshgar's bedside. Still he was unconscious.

"It has been several hours. I hope he comes back to us. He just has to. We need him... so badly." she thought silently in front of the roaring fire that warmed her.

She was still looking at Varshgar and his silky soft fur. She enjoyed the sight very much, and since many of the Wolf Clan wore no armor except for iron claws, she had a good view of it.

To her it seemed comfortably soft and warm. So inviting that she couldn't help but slowly sink her head down onto its fur.

"Oh my. It's even so much softer and warmer than I would have guessed!" she thought briefly before drifting away. Her eyes quickly fell shut and she fell asleep peacefully.