FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Three weeks after a rather embarrassing trip to the planet of harpy elves, Silverine announced that our party was to take the entire Hunted from this year for a week long trip to a planet. Nothing was known about it, but this was not enough deterrent to Silverine himself, who had taken it on him to come as well, taking his little reindeer Kodey with him. As Devlin practically made us take him, this brought the list up to a very impressive fourteen people, And all fourteen were very impressive as well.

I had arranged some leave with my boss, fortunately it didn't clash with any major holiday, so I could do so easily, and I arrived on Central on the Friday evening, and wearing a plain black T-shirt, and my usual black trousers, although this pair was a little more worn than the other six pairs I have. I am perfectly aware that's an excessive amount, but when you hold down two jobs, both with outdoor work with heavy lifting, it's a precaution I thought was sensible.

I arrived in a corridor not far from the food store, and walked down there, hoping to find someone. I was indeed correct, the food store was, as usual packed. I had long since realised that the place was always packed during weekends and evenings. I was informed by Devlin, after the usual greetings, that Iris was in bed, her child was due any time in the next couple of weeks, and she had been laid up. Valmeero, Doran and Propani had headed off to Grant's planet with the panther, quite often C.E.O would revisit planets, keeping note of how things were progressing.

I had my usual kit. Rocket launcher, rifle, sword, dagger gifted to me by Veronica, six pack of Lift Plus, food, water, book, shells, ammunition for rifle, and a couple of pairs of clothes to change into. The only difference was instead of my back pack, I had hauled out my massive pack, which had to be strapped around my waist as well as my shoulders, and when full weighed in the region of thirty five kilograms. Everything was in there, save for weaponry, and as I heaved it off, Time Dancer saw how heavy it was.

"Are you going to this planet for a month?"

"Are you intending to eat, drink and clothe yourself for a week?" I retorted.

"Have you got a banquet prepared?"Time Dancer smiled, enjoying this light hearted banter.

"You'd be surprised just how much food a person needs for a healthy diet." I replied.

"So how much have you got in there?"

"A couple of kilos of food, in total. Most of the weight is in fact the ammo for my weapons, I modified my Raptor to let me fire .303 rounds, so I have about three hundred rounds in there."

"Raptor?" Draco looked confused."I thought you said your plane form was called Lightning."

"It was, until I realised I could make modifications to original designs. It's not quite as stealthy as before, because of two aerodynamic pipes running along underneath the skin of the craft, but I made it capable of vertical take off. Four special jets blast off downwards, and lift the entire craft in the air."

"Can we see it?" Ryan asked. I obliged, changing into the old Raptor form, except there were a few slight differences, running along side my jet intakes were two raised sections where fuel ran through, and underneath were four small jet engines, pointed downwards at strategic points.

"This way, I can fire both."I said, igniting the vertical engines. There was a deafening roar, as all four engines powered into life, and the Raptor shifted, and then rose slowly, on four flames.

"So why go to all the work of designing it?" Simba asked.

"What's my name?" I said patiently.

"It's Alduin Raptormaster."

"Exactly, I want to fly a Raptor. Besides, the Raptor is supposedly faster than the Lightning."

"So how fast, in scale?" Ryan asked, over the howl of my engines.

"Well, I tried it out at St Clair on Wednesday, I got it to Mach with no problem, but I didn't go any further."I replied, settling back down to the ground. I cut the engines, and sat there, the raptor at rest.

"Well, it looks good, Alduin." Billy said,"Now do you have anything for deafness?"

Blake laughed."I imagine the amount of power he needs to get off the ground is a lot more than normal."

"It is louder than the Lightning, but that's because it needs to go up, and it is doesn't do it often. You might have noticed this craft is one inch shorter in height compared to the original, due to the extra weight in the jets."

"So Simba's unmodified Raptor is a bit bigger, just because of that?" Salbar asked.

"Correct, except he doesn't have the Raptor anymore, he's gone back to his Challenger and Apache mix, correct?"

"Indeed.Have you seen Draco's new form?"

"Oh, that's right, he was dumping his Land Rover, but I haven't seen it yet. What is it?" I looked at interest in the dragon. Draco smiled, and transformed. It was instantly recognizable.

"O.K., I didn't expect that."I admitted, looking at the form," You picked a LAV-25?"

"Good offroad, and good on road, or at least faster than Simba's sedate tank."

"Speaking of off road, are you aware I'm bringing my Crusher on this trip tomorrow?" Ryan asked.

"Total blank on this, what is a Crusher?" I replied.

"Automatic vehicle, used for carrying all sorts of things."

"How big is it?"

"About two metres in length, eight knobbly wheels, and a metre high.I sort of borrowed it from our army depot." the tiger replied.

"Is this the sort of borrowing which involves sneaking in at the dead of night, and teleporting it out?" I suggested.

"Yes, that sort of borrowing it." Ryan replied, trying to keep an innocent complexion, which he didn't managed to pull off.

Thus we teleported the next day, completely stocked, and facing the unknown. Ryan had brought his carrying unit down the corridor, and it was loaded up with equipment. I decided to ping the planet.

I arrived in a miniature clearing. I planted the scanner, looking around through my camera glasses.

Thick tropical jungle greeted me. Every direction was just covered in thick bush, tree, and mud. The temperature was soaring, and the place's atmosphere felt thick and enclosed. Birds flitted from branch to branch, and there was a constant humming noise of insects.

"Come on over, and bring the sun lotion, it looks fairly hot here."

There was a bang, and I removed all my kit save my rifle and sword moving to the edge of the clearing to give the Hunted some room to arrive. They did, and quickly set out a perimeter, with all our gear in the centre. Landon and Ryan booted up computers, and set running scans, while I ventured into the jungle with a few prox alerts.

I went out ten metres, and placed one. It lay idle while I shifted through the bush to place a second. The moment I placed the second down, there was a high pitched whining noise, as it went off. That was strange. I activated my camera glasses, and set them to X-ray, turning full circle.

Correction, trying to turn full circle. As I drew my rifle, there was a lightning move from the undergrowth, and I was caught unawares. I changed into my bionic form as I felt myself tossed into the air, and land in a giant mouth. My rifle fell to the ground, and I hit the bottom of the mouth hard, sliding down a very dark throat. I was still too surprised to speak, and all the air had been crushed out of me.

I landed heavily in a strange slimy substance, and as I felt it, I heard my T-shirt hissing. I got to my feet, and switched on my glasses light, and saw myself in the stomach of a monstrous creature. The interior was all red, and the floor was covered with this acidic compound. My sword's scabbard was leather, it had survived the landing,as had my dagger, but my clothes were shot to pieces. My steel alloy skin was gently hissing, but the acid was not penetrating the metallic DNA. I switched to X-ray again, looking around where I was crouched.

It was a giant serpent. Easily twenty metres long, although I couldn't see much of it, only the skeleton.I decided that the best thing at this point was not to panic, so calmly I spoke into my head piece, communicating with the rest of the group.

"Devlin, this is Alduin, over."

"Alduin? Did your prox's go off?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"What did you find?" Dev asked.

I ran a hand along the side of the stomach wall, allowing the liquid to run across my hand. It dripped nastily off my hand. I wondered how to put my predicament to the Hell fire dragon.

"It's very big, it's very dangerous, and I'm currently standing in it's stomach." I said. There was no other way that I could have put it.

"You in one piece?" Devlin asked, sounding worried.

"Fine, although my clothes aren't. If someone could just load my Eryx,and get ready for a large fight?"

"So what type of creature is it?"

"Giant snake."

"Ah." Devlin said, totally unreadable.

"I'm sorry?" Silverine chuckled,"Alduin's been swallowed by a serpent?"

"Indeed.Tease me later. I think it's hungry."

"Is it moving this way?" Draco asked.

"Not yet, although I swear it could hear you guys.But my clothes have melted, it has a weird concentrated acidic chemical in it's stomach."

"Oh good." Blake said sarcastically."Can't you keep out of trouble?"

"This is Alduin we're talking about." Landon replied, drawing my rocket launcher and loading a round.

I looked around, drawing my dagger from Veronica, and looking upwards.

"Let's give it some indigestion." I smiled.

I thrust hard into the roof of the stomach, and there was a huge lurch as it writhed from this attack. I was knocked down, but kept dagger and sword clear of acid. My boots were fine, for some strange reasons, but my socks had melted.

"No, it didn't like that."

"We heard." Billy commented drily. There was the sound of many weapons being drawn.

"About that,"I said," Don't worry about me.Just blast the hell out of it."

"Cheers for the encouragement." Javid said, loading his sniper rifle.

"O.K., here comes one pissed off snake." I said, thrusting up again. Again there was a huge lurch, and it charged forward in agony.

There was an explosion of sound.

"Jesus Christ!" Draco said, as the C.E.O blasters sang.

Then there was another noise.

"The entire place is covered with snakes!" Salbar shouted. I heard his swords humming through the air.

"Landon, I order you to fire that rocket launcher!" I shouted. There was an explosion, and the entire snake lurched. I was flung to the ground, but immediately I felt it move again, it was still alive. I started hacking wildly with the dagger.

Outside, there were hundreds of baby snakes, we had just teleported into the nest, or nearby. Everyone was trying to keep away from them, but at the same time reduce their number. I opened out Devlin's camera, and saw the chaos.The Hell fire dragon was struck at by the giant snake, but the dragon moved in time, and was merely hurled backwards as the nose of the serpent bowled into him.

"That's it." I said, drawing my sword," No one hits Devlin except me."

I thrust, and there was a louder high pitched shriek.

"That's scary." Kodey commented. "There's one spike sticking up from it's chest.I don't think it liked that." he continued blasting.

The battle turned as the small snake were decimated by blasters.But the big snake was invulnerable against the blaster, even when turned up to the high settings.

Kodey backed away from a cluster of small snakes, shifting sideways while methodically blasting them. The snake whirled forward into the midst, biting first at Blake, and then Takori. Both dived sideways, and then the beast went for Kodey. I was so glad Devlin wasn't looking at that moment, he was busy blasting small snakes. But Silverine gave an unbelievably loud and piercing howl, and everyone turned, and I saw something very bad. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

The snake had bit down at Kodey, and while the reindeer had moved, one twelve inch fang had gone straight through the reindeer's upper arm. Kodey had dropped his pistol, and was looking confusedly at his shoulder. Red blood soaked his skin, but even though his arm was impaled, he seemed not to notice anything or anyone. All that happened in half a second, and then reality came flowing back in.

Silverine raced forwards, his face a picture of hatred as the snake took advantage of Kodey's paralysed reaction, and swallowed the reindeer whole. I turned just as the reindeer landed beside me, and pulled him off the floor, holding him in my hands. I felt so helpless, my medical equipment was with my bag. There was no point trying to draw any poison from the wound, it went straight through him. He responded weakly as I kept my balance on the floor.

"Alduin." he said.

"Hold on, Kodey, we're going to get through this. Silverine!"

"He's busy!" Devlin howled, while blasting the giant snake with blaster on max. Silverine was on the giant snake's head, attacking the monster with his claws and teeth.The Lupogriff had gone berserk.

"Devlin, inform the glowers! Get Arachno on stand by. I'm teleporting."

"You can't!" Draco shouted. "You're inside it, you'll teleport it there as well."

"For hell's sake, who designed this thing?" I shouted, wildly flailing as the snake lurched from another attack. Things were not going well for it.

"Recriminations later!" Takori shouted, pumping rounds from his pulse cannon on his arm. I activated my thermo, and started looking for the snake's organs. After three seconds, I smiled evilly.

"I'd say a lousy joke at this point, Kodey, but it's not worth it." I said, drawing my dagger and hurling it directly at a particular point. There was a thwop, as the dagger punched through the lining of the stomach, and the dagger pierced a bit further, before coming to a direct halt.

The snake howled, arching back and forth, writhing under what had happened. Silverine described an arc into some foliage, and a mud puddle, soft landing, and then it crashed down on the turf with a final thump that brought leaves down from the trees. I splashed through the acid, still carrying the reindeer, and grabbed the dagger.Everyone looked somewhat confused by the sudden change.

"Thank you, Veronica." I said softly, cleaning the blade and sheathing it. Then I grabbed my sword.

To Devlin, my sword appeared at the top of the carcass, point first. It went some way either side in sawing motions, as I one handedly tried to get us out. Everyone rushed over. Devlin and Blake climbed up onto the side of the beast as I sheathed my sword, and lifted Kodey as high as I could through the gap. I saw Blake and Devlin's hands wrap around the back of the reindeer, and I felt his weight lift. Then the Hellfire reached down for me, and pulled me up one handedly, while Blake took Kodey over to Silverine. Simba lay down by him, urgently applying medical salve and various chemicals.

All of which had the same effect as a gnat.

"This is not good." Simba said, as I boldly took Kodey underneath his unmarked shoulder. Silverine took my hand.

"You guys stay here, we shall be back soon." Silverine ordered, and then I hit the teleport.

Somebody clever, probably Alecto, had placed a scanner thoughtfully in the medical unit, so we arrived directly beside the operating table. Arachno and five other nurses were standing around us.

Silverine and self let Kodey collapse onto the operating bed, and then hurriedly made way for Arachno.Now normally no one tells Silverine what to do, but I couldn't bare him watching the spider working on the reindeer's arm, I forcibly led him out of the room. Silverine didn't put up enough to argue, so I shut the door, and lay against the wall of the corridor. The Lupogriff slumped against the wall, and slid down until he was sitting on the floor.

"If there is anything I wish," he said briefly," it's that I never have to see that again."

I said nothing. Kodey's look of surprise with that fang through his arm made me shiver, no matter how many times I thought of it. We sat there, both unable to speak, until Alecto came out. He looked very grave.

"The wound's cured, but there is a problem."

"What?" I asked.

"The poison, it's like nothing we've ever encountered. We've set it through the scanners, and everything, it just will not be cured."

"Are you telling me there is no antidote for it?"

"We've thrown everything at it." Alecto looked downcast." It's incredible. The good news is that soralium in small doses halts it's progress."

"The bad news?"

"If we keep injecting soralium into his body, we're going to kill him."

Silverine was thinking, breathing deeply.

"Right, there's only one thing for it. Alduin, I need our best three spellcasters, Dev, Draco, hell just rope together about as many of our best.We're going to visit someone."

"What sort of miracle worker could heal Kodey?"

"Drason."

"You're fucking kidding!" Alecto said what was on the tip of my own tongue.

Silverine looked patiently at the fox." He said he could heal or cure any poison, we're going to challenge him to that."

"Silverine's got a good point." I nodded,"but I'm just wondering how we're going to convince 'old dictatorate' to come back here.I highly doubt he'll welcome us, especially me, after his last visit. I broke three fingers against his chin, and threatened him with his life."

"That's why you're coming.Drason will be aware of your virulent temper."

"I'm sorry, was that Silverine making a joke? At a time like this?" Alecto wondered what had come over our chief scout.

"Enough." the Lupogriff replied."Get them to the Great Hall now. Alecto, if Arachno's free, could you get him to run up a few bottles of that immunizing potion?"

"He keeps a couple spare. He can't do anything, save inject Kodey with anaesthetic. Mutineer's got his hands cut out with this one."

"That's the point." I said, rapidly taking off down the corridor. I spoke into my head set.

"Devlin, I need you, Draco, Simba, et al to teleport back right now. Leave all nonessential gear there for camp."

"Alduin, what happened?"

"The poison is unstoppable."

"And?"

"So we're going for the most unlikeliest of cures."

"Alduin, just give it to me." the Hell fire sighed, while giving orders to everyone.

"We're going to visit Drason."

"Who suggested this?" Dev asked, while I heard a series of bangs behind his voice.

"Silverine."

"I'm not arguing or anything, but is he unwell?" the Hellfire suggested.

"Well, Drason said he could cure any poison, so I think Silverine's taking up that."

"Good point." Devlin replied, before he too hit his teleporter. I had arrived at the food store, out of breath. Lots of people were in there.

"You looking for someone?" Time Dancer asked.

"Winslo, Orion, you, anyone else who's prepared to pay a visit to someone, and to bring him back by force if necessary." I wheezed.

"Who, and why?"

"Kodey's been poisoned, and Silverine thinks Drason could be able to cure him, as Arachno's tech can't."

"I can't think which is worse, Arachno not being able to, or having Drason here."

"I can, I've got a mental picture of a twelve inch fang running through that reindeer's arm, and it's not something likely to leave me for a while."

We arrived in the Great Hall at a dead run not half an hour later. People had grabbed their weapons, equipment and everything. Silverine stood in front of the head table.

"I don't like this any more than you do, but Arachno confesses he's stumped. Find Drason, Winslo will know where, and get him back here, I don't care how as long as he's in one piece and able to work."

We were all given a dose of the immunizing potion, and we teleported to Drason's planet, being led by the return to sender spell that Winslo had uncovered.

We arrived, and looked around. We were in a murky moor, in the middle of a forest, and we could see a huge fortress not twenty metres away. Mist hung heavy on the air, and everything smelled rotten.

"You weren't kidding when you said this wasn't a tourist destination." Brendan said, his blaster in his hand. Takori's pulse cannon was directed at forest, while Landon was running scans of the area.

"No, the place is as dead as a graveyard. The fortress is thick, I'm not getting any reading from inside."

We went over there, and found the main gate. It was wooden, but with steel running around it's length, and a few through the middle. Devlin heaved at them, but even with his cousin, the damn things wouldn't move. I drew my Eryx, and everyone else retreated.

"A variant on knocking on the door." Ryan said, ready to run forwards, gun cradled in his arms. Javid and Thomas were likewise prepared. I fired.

The gates were demolished. The tiger, the wolf and the snow leopard charged forwards as the fireball lost it's intensity.

Ryan was the first, he charged through the entrance, getting down onto one knee, surveying the corridor they were entering through his laser scope on his assault rifle. He raised a hand, and Thomas double timed past him, until he got a junction. He waited at a corner, as Javid took over the tiger's position, and Ryan joined Thomas at the junction, checking both ways together. They were a special ops team in full covert mode. I entered next, Eryx reloaded, keeping behind the army colonel as he moved forward. Salbar was beside me, swords gleaming in the half light from our ear lights.

Winslo was at the back, standing just beside Orion and Felicia the elf. She did ground magic, Orion fire, and he ice and lightning, so we had a range of ways to obliviate anything here. Draco was directly at the back. He had his greatsword out, carrying it in both hands, walking backwards covering the magicians. Devlin was directly behind me and Salbar, and it was a great comfort to me to have the Hellfire on my shoulder. After two minutes of commando creeping through the dank passage, all of us making practically no noise, we came to a door. It had a sturdy old fashioned lock, and Time Dancer went to the door, drawing out a old school hair pin.

"I'm going to do this." she said firmly. Thomas stepped aside, very hurriedly.

"Is Time in a bad mood today for any reason?" I whispered to Devlin.

"PMT." Dev whispered back.

"And no one thought to tell me!" I replied, in an undertone. Dear God, Time Dancer with Post menstrual tension, Drason should be warned.

After about fifteen seconds, Time clicked the door open, smiling in a evil way, and Ryan sidled forwards, rifle levelled. I could see his faint red dot as he targeted along the walls. Javid went in second, sniper rifle aimed in the opposite directions to the tiger, and Thomas went after them. I went fourth, and saw what we were looking at.

We were in a simply massive tomb. Directly in front of us was a huge raised dais, which extended about two thirds of the room in width and length, and about ten centimetres high. In the centre of it was a large lectern, on which was placed a heavy book. It was open, and marked by a blood red ribbon page marker. Along both sides of this room were huge amounts of books and tools, potions and bottles of ingredients. Simba was already along one side, reading a list.

"Liquid insanity? Essence of will? Cat's blood?Jeez, this is some weird collection."

"Sound like the sort of thing a witch brews.Into the cauldron poisoned entrails throw." I said, smiling,"Still, don't ask, don't touch."

We entered, and as Draco came in, the door slammed to with a heavy sound. There was the sound of a bolt sliding into place, and a lock clicking. We turned in alarm, and Draco was staring in shock.

"I didn't touch it."

Behind the lectern, on the back wall, was the picture of a ghastly creature, some sort of undead beast. The problem was while it looked like a picture, it somehow seemed alive, as if trying to force it's way into reality, and in this light, it was practically moving. Underneath was a stone coffin, the lid fully on. Devlin and Brendan went over to it, and lifted at the lid. It grated, and then fell off.

Drason was there, and looked like he had been for some time. His body was rigid with time, and there was a certain amount of confusion taking place. He had tried to take over Central nine weeks to the day almost, but Simba's reading showed he had been here for a couple of years at least. This did not add up, so I decided to go over to the lectern and see if the book would reveal anything. Setting up my optical translator, I walked onto the dais and over to the lectern, turning the page back to the last entry.

As I did, there was a huge flash of light, and I felt like something picked me up and hurled me across the room, some kind of magical force. There was a shout from several of my friends as I described a backwards arc into a bookshelf, and the entire thing fell on top of me as I landed on my face.

Fortunately, I was in bionic form. Books rained down on me, and the bookshelf broke rather than crushed me.

Winslo looked at the lectern.

"Nobody magical is to try and read that book.I mean, seriously magical.It appears to have some kind of dispelling curse on it."

"Well, I got thrown across the room." I said, as Orion came over and hauled books off me. I felt somewhat bruised. Devlin gave a me a once over, and then we heard a noise, like that of whistling wind, from outside the room. Winslo went over to the book, and started looking at the entry.

"My time on this mortal world is drawing to a close.Not through old age or any kind of disease, of which I seem to be immune, but due to the lapsed creatures of my own hand and blood I summoned. I can only hope that my end will be painless, or that when I try this one last idea, I will be released freely."

"To those of you here that are reading this book, you are not aware of the things I have done in this fortress, the carnage and havoc I have wreaked in my laboratory, the remains of which you see around you. I can only tell you that in the next couple of pages, you will learn something of what I have done, and why I am no longer of this world."

"For those who are reading this, yourself, you must be of great magical power, for I have placed a curse upon this book, so no one can read this without the power of serious magic, for only those with the powers of the greatest magicians can read what is to follow, for they will understand the power they hold. To give this book to a person unguided in the realms of magic would bring a calamity to the world as bad as what I have done."

"If you have time, read on, and read of your own danger, and your only way of escape."

Winslo turned the page.

"There's nothing written here, or at least in normal eyes.He seemed to be regretting something." Salbar came over to him, but did not read the book.

"He's got a lot to regret, that much I do know. But surely he knew of our teleport system?"

"Er, guys, I hate to be the first with bad news, but they aren't working." Felicia looked at her arm and pressed the button. The gem was dark, a sure sign it was out for the duration.

There was a creaking sound from above.

"Why does this always happen to me?" I complained,"You'd best read on, Winslo,I have a feeling we're going to need all the help we can get."