FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The forest was oddly green. It had life that Sylvi hadn’t really seen that much before and her eyes darted around as they took in the views. She walked among grass and trees something that she had rarely seen before, yet it was also extremely calming. She liked this place. It was comforting, easy to walk through. The harsh winds and sand of Gear were extremely hard to walk through most of the time. It was nice not to shield her eyes for once. Every once and a while she thought she would hear a twig snap behind her, each time her ears twitch and her paws reach to the knife on her belt, ready to defend her at any moment but nothing ever materialized. Not that she wanted something to.

It happened once again and she let out a sigh of relief before hiking her pack and continuing the trek. Her current expedition went much longer than she usually did but it was getting harder and harder to find good scrap in the areas around Gear and this caused the need to expand her perimeter out. However, the forest didn’t seem to yield much of anything. No tech, metal, anything and the growing lightness of the pack on her back was a constant reminder that she was running out of food and would have to head back. She grunted and started walking faster, there was no way that she was going to go back empty.

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye something glimmered in the sunlight peaking through the canopy of trees. With a sudden change of direction Sylvi darted toward the object. As she got closer the glint faded and revealed a post, dug deeply into the ground but still standing tall. Twice her height in fact. Sylvi wrapped her paws around the pole and tugged trying to get it free but it didn’t budge. Not even as much as a wiggle. Frustrated Sylvi looked to the sides and saw another pole, and another after that.

“What?” Her voice, although whispered, seemed to thunder through the quiet stillness of the forest.

The poles seemed to extend in both directions at regular intervals. She stepped toward one but the ground didn’t feel the same, it felt ridged. Looking down and kicking away some of the undergrowth revealed what the poles were for. Beneath her paws were interlocking wires that were once part of a tall fence, the poles were still standing but the actual fence part had fallen long ago. Sylvi’s heart jumped, if someone put a fence up, that means that they wanted to protect something. Stepping over the threshold of the fence Sylvi ventured into the perimeter. It didn’t take long before a grin appeared over her furred face. Sure enough ruins started to appear, mostly retaken by the forest but the concrete structures were still visible. Large cracks rippled through the sides of small buildings and she put her paw up to one to feel it. It was cold, hard, yet it was as though if she pushed hard enough the entire wall would crumble. She didn’t dare.

She walked around the first small building until an open doorway showed itself, the actual door had fallen off long ago and lay in front of the concrete frame. Peaking inside a distinct odor revealed itself to her, one she had grown accustomed to, one she always referred to as ‘old things.’ Though the interior was disappointingly blank. It seemed to have been cleared.

“Has someone been here before?” Sylvi muttered inching in to the building. Her eyes scanned the faded tiled floor. A few things jumped out at her, some metal cups, old lamp and a few ruined electronics. Normal things to find in ruins. Sylvi quickly bagged them up to she’d have something to bring back though it might only be enough for a few days’ worth of food. After thoroughly searching the building Sylvi moved onto the next one in a familiar pattern of searching. The key was to find the smallest stuff she could, yet that could deliver the best value. The more she searched the more excited she got, some of this stuff was fairly good and would have been taken by other scrappers if they had been here. Sylvi was on to something good.

With her eyes on the ground most of the time it took her a while to notice the large building that she was coming up to. But once she saw it her excitement tripled. It was huge! Quickly Sylvi ran around it to find the front and figure out what it was. It didn’t take long before she found the front double doors grown over with moss. Above them was a sign written in old speak, an even better sign. She couldn’t read old speak, in fact Sylvi didn’t know anyone who could or if anyone could but one symbol jumped out to her. A faded green star in a circle. Once seeing that Sylvi couldn’t help but jump into the air, she had her suspicions about what this was but that confirmed it without a doubt. Pre-war military.

Without so much as a breath Sylvi tried the doors, she pushed on the front. Whatever was holding them in place cracked and the fell back with a loud crash shattering the glass that was still inside the door. Sylvi winced and glanced around her hoping no one had heard. This was her find and no one was going to take it from her. She gingerly crept inside and found herself in a small room, no doubt some sort of reception area where decrepit chairs still stood falling apart after being exposed to the elements. Sylvi checked behind the front desk, a pre-war type yet it was so old that once she placed her paw on it the whole thing fell apart and crumpled inward. She jumped back at the sudden movement her heartrate slightly spiking.

“Gotta be more careful.” Sylvi thought and backed away from the desk in favor of the door that was just to the right of it. She gingerly poked at the swinging doors and surprisingly they swung open as they had done so long ago. Sylvi tiptoed in and started making her away room by room bagging anything that was small enough she could carry. But nothing really exciting caught her eye, which was actually quite disappointing to her. She was hoping for the big ticket items, prewar books which the Academy would usually pay handsomely for, or prewar weapons. None had shown though, anything she had found book or paper wise was ruined and either mush or disintegrated when she picked it up. She moved deeper into the base descending a few flights and searching every room she came across. She was quite systematic about the whole thing, first searching the room on the left and then working around the room in a left to right fashion. After that she’d move to the room on the right side of the hallway and worked from the right to the left, directly mirrored to the previous. Doing it this way reduced the amount of stuff she could miss though it did take time and after searching for the better part of the day Sylvi started to feel the fatigue reach her.

She drew in a breath slightly disappointed that one of those big-ticket items hadn’t shown up, it didn’t make sense! Why would a military base not have books or weapons? She kicked a cup down the hallway and it hit the end with a clang. In front of her was a large metal door with a very strong looking latch. Above the door a red light, long extinguished, watched over the door. Slyvi gripped the handle and tugged at the door. It wiggled giving her a little hope but beyond that the door was steadfast, locked from the other side. To Sylvi though that was a good sign, locked places usually meant good things on the other side. She unsheathed her knife and started fiddling with the lock but it was no luck. The door was sealed with an electronic system and the power had long drained from the system. She took a step back and set her pack on the ground. She reached into it, past the stuff she had picked up and pulled out a small device.

“Big Brother don’t fail me know.” She muttered and powered the it up. Its small screen illuminated and blinked “READY”. Her eyes glanced at the battery indicator at the bottom of the screen. 25%.

“Knew I Should have gotten some new batteries for this thing.” She cursed and took the wires coming out of the device. She worked the face of the lock off and found some of the deteriorating wires. Sylvi grounded one of the wires and attached the other to the wire. Content with the set up she pressed the only button on the device other than the power switch. Immediately the screen shut off and the wire it was attached to sparked causing Sylvi to wince. After a few seconds the screen of her device turned back on. Once again it said “READY” but this time the battery level showed 15%.

“That took ten percent!” she grunted throwing back her head. “This thing must truly be dead, or the wires can’t conduct.” She hovered over the button again. “If this doesn’t work just come back again, no worries.” With her eyes closed this time Sylvi pressed the button again and this time held it, more for effect than anything. After a few seconds she peaked and looked at the screen, it was still off. Not a good sign. She shook it and switched it on and off, still nothing.

“Dead.” She grunted and looked at the lock. Her face lifted as she saw the face of the lock showing flickering numbers. The flasher had done its job. Jolted the battery back up of the lock to life. But Sylvi knew she’d have to work fast, she probably didn’t have much time. Even though it took the full 25% to flash. The batteries were probably so deteriorated they won’t hold much of anything. She started arranging the wires in an organized way and found the battery along with the main controller. Exactly what she was looking for. She pulled out her knife and pinpointed the wire she was looking for, the emergency open control. Most prewar room locks had emergency open buttons on the inside of them in case someone was trapped in them, while being much smaller than one of those it no doubt probably shared similarities. The only problem being that in order for them to work they have to have some power running to them. Sylvi drew in a breath and cut the emergency wire with her knife. The controller, thinking that meant the button had been pressed sent the unlock command to the lock.

With a loud, firm THUNK the ancient mechanism pulled back the locks and the door became loose. Sylvi smiled and packed her Flasher into her bag again then put her paws on the handle. With a mighty pull the door opened ever so slightly. But as soon as it did a stench unlike anything Sylvi had ever known filled the hallway and she pulled back covering her feline nose with her arm. Her stomach churned and had the sudden urge to heave but swallowed the urge. Instead she took her scarf and wrapped it around her nose and mouth masking the smell ever so slightly.

“What is that?”

Sylvi, gingerly this time, pulled on the door and it pulled open, revealing a dark room. More of the smell wafted her way and she turned away for a moment. She tried to pierce the darkness with her own eyesight but it wasn’t going to cut it. The cat dug into her pack and pulled out a makeshift headlight, with a small match she lit the wick inside the cavity and wrapped it around her head Giving her a torch that she didn’t have to hold. Thought quick movements would often cause it to go out so she had to be careful. Sylvi stepped into the dark room and as the light reached the walls Sylvi’s knees melted and she fell to the ground at the sight. There in front of her were soldiers, prewar soldiers just as they had been. Clothed in the garb that had been described to her in stories from before the war. This was unlike any story though. She pulled together as much composure as she could and got back to her feet. The torch reviled that the walls of the large room were lined with the dead bodies, but it looked like they had died just before she had opened the door. There was no decomposition on them at all. Sylvi slowly moved to a wolf who was slumped over, it was like he was just taking a nap. She knelt down and pushed his shoulder, the head moved to the side and then the body followed. She saw his face. Frozen in terror, stiff for hundreds of years. She looked at the rest of his body, his paws clutched at his only comfort, his weapon. Sylvis eyes glimmered! It was much like the body, perfectly preserved.

“I’m sorry, I hate to do this, but I’m going to need this.” She mentioned looking at the dead soldiers’ face. She carefully uncurled his fingers and freed the weapon from him. She had heard stores of how they were used, and heard that there were some in the world that still worked. But had never seen one complete before. She had found just two before and both of them were missing more than half of the components, in fact it didn’t even look like the original anymore. Mostly because they had been found buried deep in the ground. Yet those were some of her biggest paydays, she couldn’t even imagine what this could bring. Her eyes examined it closely. It was about as long as her arm, made of some sort of metal that was very cold to the touch and of some plastics. A strap drooped below it that was meant to hold it over the shoulder. She slung it, feeling the weight. It was very light, much lighter than her pack, or a sword. It was amazing.

“Thanks.” She said toward the dead wolf and continued through the room there were perhaps thirty corpses in the room, each with their own weapon. Around them lay what Sylvi could only think of as provisions not a single thing had been opened.

“They didn’t starve.” She uttered. Her eyes scanned across the bodies, one caught her eye though. His clothes were different, more distinct. He also had a very special looking hat instead of a helmet. She moved to him and knelt down. He didn’t have a weapon like the others, in his left was what she could only assume as a handheld version and in the right was a small book.

“YES!” Sylvi exclaimed. A book and prewar weapons, she was going to be set for life with this. She gripped the small leather-bound book and pried it out of the dead wolfs paws. It was well used but showed no signs of deterioration from the time. Sylvi flipped through the pages, all were covered with handwritten oldspeak. She had no hope of understanding it but continued going anyway. Just over halfway through she found a folded paper tucked inside. Opening it she found a typed font, but there was very little to the body of the paper. Sylvi cocked her head to one side as her eyes poured over the strange writing. It had just a few sentences nothing else. With some futility she tried to decipher it as best she could be eventually gave up folding it back up and tucking it back inside the leather bound book. Flipping to the next page Sylvi found it blank, she looked back at the other page with the folded paper and saw that the writing had stopped. Whatever was written was the last words of these soldiers. She tucked the book into her personal pocket and reached for the handheld weapon. She looked it over, this one was all metal unlike the other one and was a whole lot more manageable. She stuffed it into her pack and hiked the other weapon before moving on.

She slowly moved from one soldier to another taking note of their terrified faces. This place was overwhelming but a straight up gold mine. Once her own excitement had diminished questions started to form in her brain the foremost being, How had no one discovered this before? Even the outside had not been touched by paws since before the war or at least if these bodies had anything to say right when it ended. Reaching the end of the room she found no other doorways making this room the very last. But it didn’t matter at this point Sylvi knew without a doubt that she had come across the jackpot but hopefully the forest would keep it safe so no others would find this. It was her key to riches.

Sylvi retraced her steps back to the reception room and with a quick nod to the building she left through the doors and started making her way back the way she had come. As for the large door Sylvi wasn’t about to leave just anyone find this and take it for themselves, so she did was any self-respecting scrapper would do and booby trapped it so that if anyone came across it and didn’t know they would be stabbed with her knife. Her paw reached for the empty scabbard that used to hold the cold blade to her person. Her paw went through the motion of drawing it as if it were still there. But with a sigh that grew into a smile she started off to the east towards Gear.

Butterflies danced, drank, and were having a grand time in Sylvi’s stomach as she approached the familiar town of Gaer. Apprehension wasn’t something Sylvi was accustomed to, but there was a reason this time. It was as if she was carrying a bag full of money and proclaiming “I know how to mint my own money! Ask me how!” But with reservations aside she walked along the well-worn path to the town. Gaer stood right in the middle of the valley with a small mountain range to the west, a river to the south and the great dunes to the north. Basically, it was in its own little pocket and nobody usually made the trek to it; a whole lot of nothing happened here. The mongers had their usual trade routes that connected the small town to other larger cities like Savall and even Morall but for the average person Gaer was a rundown seemingly dying town that served little purpose in the world. But to Sylvi it was the place she earned money and it had a special significance in that she was familiar with it and the surrounding lands so she never strayed away from it too far. To Sylvi it was as close to a home as she was going to get.

As the town grew larger she started seeing others mulling about at their lives. Other scrappers, obviously picked out by their tattered clothes and lithe form dotted the outside of the town with small encampments. Several fires had already been lit even though the sun hadn’t even started its decent and food wafted through the air hitting Sylvi’s nose. A grumble escaped her stomach.

Soon.

The word echoed in her mind. For the past two weeks the only thing she had be able to eat were some protein packs and what she could find along the journey but that smell meant food was coming soon. She put on the straightest face her tired face could muster and walked by the camps. Other scrappers looked up from their fires as they normally did to try and size up the cat and what she had found.

“Sylvi’s back?” One of them said with a grunt and careened is neck to try and see the bulk of her bag. Yet something else caught his eye immediately. “Holy fuck.” He jumped to his feet and raced toward her leaving is all important lunch behind. Sylvi noticed him quickly advancing to her, she instinctively checked for her knife and suddenly regretted leaving it behind.

“Oi, Sylvi what’ you got there?” The words went one through ear and out another to her as the brown furred fox slowed her progress to the town in front of her.

“My stuff.” She responded quickly and without thought with a watchful eye for others who had noticed the weapon.

“Is it now?” His voice sneered with a downward inflection and he grew closer. “It’s not everyday one sees something like that huh? Bet you killed a monger for it.” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

“Nope.” Sylvi replied quickly trying to side step Rai but he stepped that way and once again blocked the path.

“Com’ on Sylvi, both of us have been at this for a while, I’m not stupid.” He shifted the weight in his feet and leaned in to the cat. Sylvi took a step back.

“I did not kill a Monger.” She stated deliberately reaching back for the weapon as a circle of other Scrappers formed around her.

“Then where did ya get it?” Rai demanded keeping his demeaning tone.

“And you think I’d tell you?” She remarked once again trying to get past the fox blocking her. Rai moved in closer and sneered showing his teeth ever so slightly. His breath stunk of fish and Sylvi reeled. But just as she did Rai jumped back and cupped his paws over his black nose.

“Fuck! Sylvi what did you do, roll around in the shit pit?!” He blurted out with a slight heave in the middle. Sylvi hadn’t realized the stench had stuck with her fur her nose had become accustomed it but at this point she didn’t care. It was a way out.

“Some of your cooking, now leave me alone.” Sylvi pushed Rai and he fell to the ground, the rest of the group dispended and returned to their food. A few followed but she moved quickly to lose them. She entered the town with her heart racing and a frown. Though a sigh of welcome relief escaped her mouth. Attention like that was not something Sylvi very much enjoyed not that anyone would enjoy something like that. Though carrying this brought on some intense eyes from the other towns folk and even a few gawks but none were as predatory as the ones outside. For a reason at least, outside their livelihood, like hers, was purely biased on finds and boy was this a big one.

The market in central Gaer made up for its lack of variety in its size, it was massive compared to the town making up a good half of it. Most of the time the streets were packed with vendors and the odd traveler telling stories about distant cultures. Today was no different. Sylvi gripped the leather strap of the weapon to hold it closer to herself and pushed through the sea of fur making her way to the Monger. The town, even though having a massive market, only had one Monger shop. Sylvi had heard that some other towns had two or even three! But she had to make do with the shrewdest monger in the east. She beelined to the tallest building in the town, a whole two stories, which had a crudely red painted sign that read “MONGER BUY OR SELL” with buy or sell gradually getting smaller as if someone had misjudged the space the had to write and tried to fit it all on the sign. The rickety wooden door was propped open as usual indicating the shop was open for business, a good sign. Sylvi ducked her head under the low frame to find a somehow dimly lit room with about 5 other scrappers, a couple shelves, and the Monger himself. Ordained in purple, well-tailored clothes that marked the traders. Sylvi noticed the other scrappers all waiting around the desk as he looked over their goods, nothing but a few badly bent metal cups and broken electronics that wouldn’t even pass for scrap.

Avarici eyed each piece carefully with a small magnifying glass quick to render judgement of a few pieces of coin each, not even enough to buy a piece of bread. Each scrapper groaned as he judged their piece but Sylvi barged past them, pushing them aside and unslinging her find. They protested with jeers and sneers but quickly hushed when Slyvi slammed the prewar weapon on the desk with such force that the entire building rattled. Each ones’ jaw dropped once they saw what Sylvi was presenting and their noses wrinkled as her stench reached them shortly after.

“How much will this get me?” She asked in quite a monotone voice as if relishing in the other scrappers jealousy. A quick smirk curled in the corner of her short feline muzzle. Avarici dropped his eyeglass and marveled at the weapon. The thing was immaculate as if it had come out of the factory the day prior. He stood there for a few moments quietly stammering before shutting up and looking back at the cat that had brought him this.

“Sylvi, h…how did you get this? I haven’t seen anything this complete ever found before.” He gingerly picked up the piece and let his eyes pour over it as the other scrappers drooled over it and eyed Sylvi with a certain kind of jealousy like a starving man watching another feast.

“I found it.” She quickly replied keeping as much information to herself as she could but then thought for a second. “I didn’t kill for it.” She added trying to calm the fears of the monger.

“The ruins around have run through clean in the last two hundred years! I can’t imagine anyone would miss something like this.” His paws gingerly picked up the weapon and started to apprise it.

“I found it to the west, now what exactly is it? I know it’s a personal weapon.” Sylvi didn’t want to divulge any information about where she found it but the west was vague enough so she could easily head back and get most of the stuff before anyone even had a clue about it. Sure, enough the other scrappers quickly ran out of the door no doubt to start looking to the west. But it left Sylvi and the Monger alone, it meant that whatever he bought it for wouldn’t be known.

“Its what they called a ‘Rifle.’” He said using the oldspeak term. “An extremely accurate weapon but get this it was what they called standard issue. The common foot solider would carry one of these.” His paws turned it over, feeling along the plastic and metal stock.

“Right after the war and in the turmoil, they were a very powerful weapon indeed. However due to the popularity of them and the fact that new ones couldn’t be created and the amount that was already out there was limited, they began to disappear. Now you’d be hard pressed to find one that even works much less one that looks this good!” Averici set the stock in his shoulder and aimed it off to the side. “Extremely easy to use, basically point and pull the trigger. Just have to make sure that you have enough ammunition, the real draw back to these things.”

He set it down gingerly on the desk drawing in a short breath. The room fell silent for a few moments as the Monger’s eyes studied the small cat in front of him. Sylvi grew uncomfortable and fidgeted in his gaze.

“Sylvi I don’t want you in trouble for this. Did you kill one of us for this?” He finally spoke, breaking the tension that had built up. Sylvi had been anticipating the question, finding such a good artifact was extremely rare. Yet the question still threw her for a loop and she stuttered for a few moments before finally responding.

“Why do you think I’d throw away my life like that.” Sylvi blurted out finally. “I’m not an idiot like some of those others out there.”

“That may be,” Averici replied scratching his chin. “I mean, I’ve known you for a while and don’t think you would but I’m not an idiot either. Trusting someone in this world is a quick way to bring death.”

“How much will you take it for?” Sylvi pushed forward, trying to get the Monger to agree before he had more time to think about it. “And these.” She pulled out her other finds and dumped them onto the table including the small leather-bound book in her pocket. With any hope that would serve as a distraction from the thought of how she got the spoil. She kept the smaller weapon hidden though, it could serve has a nice bargaining chip.

“My my, you’ve been busy.” Just as with the others he inspected each individual item with care slightly mumbling to himself noting the quality of the piece and its condition.

“And a book too!” His eyes widened and he gingerly picked it up in his paws, thumbing through the pages just as Sylvi had done. Sylvi stood there quietly for a few moments letting him look through it. Once he got to the last page the paper fell out.

“Oh?” Averici picked the paper up, unfolding it and examining the contents.

“I didn’t know you could read oldspeak.” Sylvi uttered breaking the Coyote’s silence and concentration.

“Oh, I can’t, not many can.” He said finally looking up from the paper. “It’s just interesting that’s all.” Quickly his small paws folded the paper back up and placed it where it had been in the book, closing it gingerly and setting it back down in front of him. Sylvi didn’t buy it for a second though.

“Just interesting?” She questioned narrowing her eyes.

“Yes, now you see I need to wait for my next shipment in order to finalize a purchase on this lot.” Averici quickly stated. “I need to make sure none of us were killed or if we had anything like this.”

“Oh, come on Averici! I didn’t kill anyone and I need some food.” She pleaded but the shrewd owner wasn’t having any of it.

“If I rebought goods that we already owned it’s not just your head but it’s mine too, especially those of this caliber.” He quickly retorted gesturing toward the rifle and book.

“Just give me a number at least.” Sylvi pleaded. The Monger rolled his eyes and drew in a long breath. It was obvious he was running numbers through his head and didn’t quite know exactly what to say.

“I mean, I could…” He shifted his weight several times and scratched his chin again. “Maybe thirty for the rifle and book. I’d buy the other stuff at three hundred.” Sylvi had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming. Her fists clenched and her ear twitched ever so slightly. That was more money than she ever thought was possible. A scrapper could sell for an entire year and only make a few thousand. But thirty thousand! That was unimaginable.

“T…Th…Thirty thousand!” She shouted before once again forcing herself to pull back. Averici just watched as the black cat went through the whole gambit of emotions, excitement to denial, to anticipation.

“You’ll have to wait though, like I said, I need to check.” He said trying to reel Sylvi back to reality. It took a few moments but Sylvi finally felt her heart rate subside slightly and she could think again before ‘Wait’ brought her back to reality.

“Just how long are we thinking?” She quickly questioned.

“Two or three days.” Averici responded sitting back into his chair, logging the offer in a crudely bound book with a blunt pencil. Sylvi stayed silent, waiting was definitely the last thing she wanted to even think about but there was no getting past the Mongers rules.

“Fine.” She relented, “Can you just take the other stuff now? I could use the three hundred.”

“I don’t see why not.” Averici shrugged grabbing the other small stuff and placing it in a basket where he’d sort the stuff later. He reached under the desk and reviled a bag of coins, he grabbed a pawful and carefully counted out 3 of the largest ones.

“Here.” He pushed the coins towards her and quickly hid the bag again and logging the sale. Sylvi greedily snatched up the coins and pocketed them. Then, much more carefully this time, placed the book back into her back and slung the rifle around her shoulder. She turned and left without a word entering the market once again.

Sylvi stood for a moment and threw her head back. A deep breath left her short muzzle as she tried to calm her nerves. Squeezing her paws into a ball and relaxing them seemed to be doing a pretty good job of taking some of the edge of as well. Bringing her eyes back level Sylvi watched some other villagers scramble by walking up to a stand that sold some street food. Sylvi felt her stomach and felt the thick coins in her pocket. Should be enough. Sylvi pushed her way to the front of the stand and waited for the proprietor to notice her. His quick glance at her noted he had and she showed one of the coins she had received at the monger. With a slight nod the vendor, a small pudgy dark furred fox like creature, flipped one of the hot flat breads on his large fire heated skillet. He blotted what looked like a thick paste in the middle and rolled it into a cylinder with one end oozing of the stuff. He handed it over to Sylvi who exchanged the coin. His quick eyes scanned for any inaccuracies with it but it looked fine and with a quick flick of his wrist he tossed a smaller coin to her. She snatched it out of the air and noted the amount labeled. Her indulgent treat had cost 75 coins. For a moment Sylvi couldn’t believe that she had spent 75 coins on one thing of food but then she felt the weight of the rifle. She didn’t have to worry about money ever again.

Sylvi savored her treat. The bread was slightly bland but it was offset by the filling, a thick grasshopper stew. She tried to catch every morsel of the filling as it dripped down the sides of the bread but didn’t have much luck as she made more of a mess on her face. Sylvi easily made her way through town to the very edge where a fairly large, dilapidated building stood. Like most of the buildings in Gaer it looked as though it was going to crash to the ground in a spectacular fashion at any moment. But any hesitation that Sylvi might have had entering any of the buildings in Gaer had dissipated over the years. This building had a sign to the left of the once red painted door that read “The Red Door.”

She quickly walked through and into a familiar entryway. Behind the omnipresent desk attendant was a dimly lit room where a bunch of travelers and the odd scrapper laid back whooping at the entertainment. Sylvi gulped down the last bit of her treat and approached the desk.

“Where’s Saph?” She asked. Behind the desk sat the owner of The Red Door, Sylvi had never really quite gotten her species down but she had always thought it was some sort of fox-minx mix. Either way she was quite secretive and not too bad looking, even to Sylvi’s eyes.

“She’s busy.” Her usual blunt tone definitely contrasted her looks. She looked up from her desk. “Ah Sylvi, was wondering when you’d be back.” A sly smile crept up her face. Sylvi stood her face monotone, and sighed.

“Gabbi you know I’m never here for you.” Sylvi pulled out another one of her coins, a full one hundred piece. “I’m here for a room.” Sylvi flicked it toward Gabbi who snatched it out of the air and examined it very similarly to the vendor in the market.

“You know if you worked here you wouldn’t have to pay for a roof over your head and you’d get food every night.” Gabbi said placing the coin in a lock box behind the desk.

“You and I both know that’s never gunna happen.” Sylvi shot back. Gabbi grumbled and noted the transaction in her logbook with a tick mark.

“Fourth door on the left.” She said closing the book. Sylvi nodded and made her way to the room. The door creaked open and the smell of sweat and urine hit her like a wall but at this point Sylvi had grown accustomed to the smell of this place. She walked in, unslung the rifle and her pack, carefully setting the two down next the bed and then rolled onto the bed herself. The squishy plush matteress was a far cry from what she was used to, but a little too much. With a grunt Sylvi ripped the bedding off of the bed and made a small area to sleep on the floor. Finally being more comfortable with the hard floor she finally drifted off to sleep.

“Sylvi!”

Sylvi’s eyes shot open and she immediately shot up read to defend herself from any attack but the only person in the room was defiantly not a threat.

“Oh Saph. Hey.” Sylvi mumbled sitting back down on the bed. Saph, a small mix who had everything from fox to cat to coyote in her stood in the middle of the room with a huge smile.

“Sylvi! You’re back!” She jumped slightly and dove in to give the feline a hug but Sylvi narrowly dodged it so she sat next to Sylvi on the bed.

“Yup I’m back.” Sylvi sighed rubbing her eyes trying to get the sleepiness out of them. She glanced toward the boarded-up window and noticed that light no longer seeped through. “Must have been out for a bit.” She added.

“Yeah Gabbi said you got in a few hours ago. She also said you paid for the room! Why didn’t you wait? I can’t get you the discount after you’ve paid.” Saph crossed her arms and twitched her nose something she did often.

“I was tired Saph, and you’re the one who was busy when I came in, not to mention it’s still cheaper than the inn. Besides I’m not going to have to worry about money anymore.” A quick smile curled in the corner of her mouth as Sylvi thought of it again.

“Not worry about money?” Saph cocked her head to one side, “how so?” Sylvi turned to Saph, gave her a wink and reached for the rifle.

“’cause of this. Well, mostly because of this.” She handed it over to the small mix who gingerly held it in her paws letting her eyes scan every inch. Saph’s blank expression told Sylvi everything she needed to know. Saph had no idea what it was. “It’s a rifle” she continued.

“A rifle?”

“Yeah, a pre-war weapon, very rare and worth a lot.”

“oh.” Saph gave it back to Sylvi who placed it back next to her pack. “How’d you manage to find that?” Saph always had a certain inflection in her voice that made it one half annoying and one half indeering oddly enough Sulvi didn’t moind it.

“See that’s the interesting thing I found it in the firest ti the west! A place where no one had ever even been before! Untouched since before the war! I even found….” She paused for a second. “remains.” Saph put her paws to her thin muzzle and thought for a moment, not even noticing what Sylvi said about remains.

“Forest to the west?” She repeated.

“Yeah, any one of your customers mention anything like that?” Sylvi asked.

“Well, not really.” Saph quietly spoke.

“What do you mean not really? Have they or have they not?”

Saph hesitated as if trying to put the right words to what she wanted to say. “I mean, I have heard a few things. Mainly why many try to avoid that area, because it’s incredibly irradiated.”

“Irradiated!” Sylvi chuckled. “Yeah, no defiantly wasn’t and if it was I’d be dead before I even got to look around. Probably was at sometime but has dissipated.” She shrugged.

“Well, I had this one guy talk about it not to long ago. Said it was and that you couldn’t pay him any amount to enter the forest. He was from out of town though.” Saph shrugged and moved back to her goofy smile.

“Was probably talking about a different forest. Was fine to me.” Sylvi replied with a shrug.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Saph nodded. “Well I should get back before he notices I’m gone.” Saph moved to the door and looked back. “You know if you ever want anything just let me know, I mean you are well…here.”

Sylvi gave her a blank stare and a slight growl. “Cheaper than an inn.” She reiterated. Saph giggled and opened the door.

“Just saying.” She left, closing the door softly leaving Sylvi alone. That question was defiantly starting to get annoying, while having a cheap roof over her head defiantly outweighed the annoyance she’d really have to stop asking it at some point. Sylvi got up off the bed and slid the rifle under the bed in an effort to conceal it from anyone who may be snooping through tonight and slipped back into the bed, this time under the thin blanket. She gave a long, toothy yawn and drifted off to sleep thinking about the money she would soon have.

For the next few days Sylvi waited with palpable anticipation, almost every moment she watched the road looking for the Monger who would bring the news that she could sell the rifle and everything else. Needless to say the days seemingly lasted forever. She didn’t want to leave town at all and didn’t want to attract too much attention. She knew that Averici wouldn’t go around saying how much he would buy the artifacts for. That was just bad business. Sylvi didn’t stay at The Red Door the next few nights even though one hundred coins was cheaper than the inn it was still expensive and Saph had told her the next day that she would be taken up the next night. No discount possible again. Sylvi munched on a Protein cake similar to the ones that she had on her trip. They were disgusting but cheap and plentiful so she couldn’t complain too much about them. Her thoughts focused on Saph, really one of the only friends she had left though Sylvi didn’t really think of her much as of a friend. More as a way to gain cheap logging if she wanted. Maybe it was a good idea to keep in contact with her after she got her money.

Her eyes scanned the horizon once more and finally centered on her prize, pair of purple clad figures with large backpacks making their way slowly down the road. Accompanying them were four large guards, each with an exquisite set of light leather armor and a large sword at their waist. No doubt skilled with it as well making and would be assassin weary of attacking. It was a weekly sight that Sylvi normally didn’t pay much attention to but this time around was different. She hopped to her feet and quickly set about packing up her small camp and stuffing everything crudely into her pack. She shouldered the rifle again and made her way to the market. Looking busy, she kept one eye on the Monger stand. At one end of the market a loud booming voice cut through the din of peddlers.

“Move out of the way!” And instantly a path formed for the two purple clad merchants. They slowly mode their way down the path inside a box of protection. The Mongers definitely didn’t skip out on protection. Sylvi watched each step with baited breath.

“Go faster!” She muttered under her breath as they lazily strolled through the market, finally ending up in front of the Monger stall. Averici had come to the threshold of the shop to greet the others and he welcomed them inside with a greeting that Sylvi couldn’t quite hear. Though Averici did have a massive smile on his face, a rarity if there ever was one. The door closed behind them and Sylvi once again had to wait. Though this time it wouldn’t be that long. Around her the rest of the market returned to normal, everyone went about their daily routine. Sylvi found a spot near the door and leaned against the building resorting to people watching to pass the time. She recognized many of those who weaved around the market but none noticed her. Perfect.

After a much longer wait than normal Sylvi heard rustling from inside the building. Her heart jumped into her throat and pounded like a bass drum. From inside she heard snippets as they approached the door again.

“Good to see you again Darran, nice to see you’re on the rotation again!” Averici said to one of the other Mongers no doubt.

“Yeah, well it certainly pays more.” He chuckled back and the door started to open. “We’ll be at the Inn if anything happens with it let us know. We’ll be back tomorrow.” Out stepped the four guards who once again parted the sea of people. The two Mongers followed, all smiles on their shrewd feline faces.

“Shouldn’t have a problem, She’s not a problem most of the time.” Averici responded with a chuckle. The others returned the chuckle and nodded at each other. Then they quickly made their way through the market no doubt heading to the inn ready to rest. Averici turned and headed back into the building. Sylvi rushed up right behind him and closed the door behind her with her foot to prevent anyone from interrupting the transaction.

“Like I said, no problem.” She declared and a matter-of-factly tone. Averici reached his desk and sat on the stool, returning to his neutral expression he held most of the time. But a slight smile shined through after a few seconds.

“You’re right, no problems. In fact, no Mongers even attacked this last month.” He reached under his desk and pulled out a large case with a lock permanently fixed to the front. Just the sight caused Sylvi’s knees to buckle slightly and her muzzle to water.

“Now come here and we’ll take one more look at it.” He said moving the case to one side of the desk and clearing the clutter from the other side. Sylvi did as she was told carefully laying the rifle on the desk and pulling the book from her personal pocket. She eyed the other smaller weapon, better to wait, always nice to have a bargaining chip.

“Thirty you said.” She quickly brought up as Averici eyed the pieces again.

“That I did indeed say.” He gestured to his book that held the records of sale. “Problem is, I don’t have thirty thousand coins here. I only have ten.” Sylvi eyed the box with the lock on it as her heart suck out of her throat and into her stomach.

“Only ten?” She growled stepped toward the desk and felt a hiss emanate from deep within her. “You can’t go back on what you said.” She exclaimed.

“You mistook what I said.” The monger calmly stated. “I only have ten here, I’d have to wait for a shipment of new coins in order to fully pay you. I can only give you five today though.”

“Five!” The offer felt insulting after he first dangled ten in front of her. “Come on Averici!”

“Look, I need some coin to last another week of selling. Five is pushing it already.” His calm demeanor defiantly well practiced in the face of anger. Sylvi squeezed her paws together and drew in a deep breath to try and relax.

“What if I gave you something else too? Would you be able to do seven now?” She quietly spoke not really wanting to show her cards yet but if she had to take an upfront payment first, seven was defiantly better than five thousand.

“Well that depends on what you’ve got.” Averivi looked up from his examination of the book and cocked his head to one side. “Have you been hiding something from me Sylvi?” He set down the book. Sylvi reached into her back finding the smaller weapon. She pulled it quickly out of her back causing the hammer at the back end to pull back.

“What do you think of this?” she asked and slammed it down on the desk in an attempted ‘checkmate’ move. But instead of a surprised Averivi, a loud explosion, louder than anything Sylvi had ever heard rang through her ears. She closed her eyes and covered her ears with her paws.

“What was that!” Sylvi shouted, opening her eyes after a few seconds. The area was deathly silent, even the noise from outside dissipated after the noise. Sylvi fully opened her eyes to find Averici slumped over the desk.

“Averici?” Sylvi quietly asked moving closer to the Monger. He lay face down on the desk, unmoving and quiet. Sylvi tried to prod him to get him to move but instead he rolled off the desk and onto the dirty floor, back on the around and facing the ceiling. His muzzle was agape and eyes showed pure pain and a large dark spot now surrounded a small hold in his purple robe.

“A…Averici?” She said once again not fully comprehending what had just happened.

“What happened!” A voice yelled outside. Sylvi started shaking as the realizing started to hit her. No longer was she going to get a payday, no longer was her life set. Quite the opposite, her life very well just ended. Suddenly she heard knocking at the door.

“Averici? Everything ok?” The voice called. Sylvi recognized it as Darran, the other Monger he had been with. Sylvi grabbed her pack and started stuffing the small weapon and book back into her bag, she also slung the rifle around her shoulder again. Her eyes started to look for a way out but rested for a second on the box. She still might have her payday. Sylvi started reaching for the box but just as her paws grasped it the door opened and the light from outside illuminated the dark room. The world froze for a moment as Darran and one of the guards stepped in. Averici lay on his back the look of death covering his face and Sylvi holding the coin box. Darran’s face warped into terror as the guard drew his sword.

“Thief! Stop where you stand!” He called out. But Sylvi had no intention of following orders. Instead she dropped the box and pulled the rifle from her shoulder and pointed it toward the guard and Darran.

“It was an accident!” Sylvi cried. “I didn’t mean to!” Her entire body shook. The guard narrowed his eyes and a deep growl emanated from with him, filling the entire room.

“Killing a Monger is punishable by death! If you won’t stand down I’ll kill you where you are.” The guard lunged at Sylvi, without a choice she squeezed the trigger. Again, a loud noise, akin to a lightning strike, filled the small room. The guard crumple to the ground instantly as the bullet from the rifle, which had been chambered thousands of years ago, finally shot from the rifle and did its job. Darran shrieked with terror, threw his arms up and fled out the door calling for the help of the other guards.

“Killer! Thief!” He shouted falling in line behind the rest of the guards who had shown up outside the building. Sylvi stood, with the rifle still raised, and heart pounding trying to understand what she had just done. Not only had she killed a Monger now but also one of their guards. Her brain switched to survival mode, while everyone else was still stunned she shouldered the rifle, grabbed the box and ducked into the back of the shop. Behind her the sounds of swords being unsheathed sounded exactly like the gunshot to her. A noise that indicated death was coming, and it was pointed at her. Sylvi pulled as many of the shelves down in the back room as she could, blocking the entrance and giving her a little time. A small window at the end of the room indicated salvation and she dove for it right as the guards came through the door, stepping over the mess.

Sylvi threw the box at the window shattering it and dove through the broken glass. She landed on the other side in a back street with her arms bleeding from the sharp glass. Without so much as a thought Sylvi picked up the box and started to run. She didn’t even bother to glance back at the guards who were trying to climb through the same window but had no hope of fitting due to their size. She just kept her eyes forward and set on the edge of town. People started to come out of their dwellings and other stores in an effort to try and get an answer to what those loud noises had been. In front of her people peaked out and looked upon her in confusion. But she didn’t pay them any attention and instead pushed her paws as quick as they could run reaching the outer rim of town within minutes. Like usual it was inhabited with other scrappers who had stood up from their fires and careened their necks to try to look into town at what the commotion was. Sylvi weaved her way through the small camps, most jumped out of her way but one stood firm. Sylvi quickly stopped herself in order to prevent running into him.

“In trouble, are we?” Rai’s condescending voice boomed as he started to draw a knife. Sylvi hissed and let her teeth show at the scrapper as he pointed the knife toward her.

“Move Rai!” Sylvi yelled, redrawing the rifle and pointing it square at his head.

“I knew it was too good to be true, there was no way that you just found the Rifle just laying around.” He growled. Sylvi lowered the weapon for a second taken back.

“How…how did you know it’s a rifle?” She questioned, immediately bringing it back up to point at Rai’s face.

“Some bitch at The Red Door said that the thing you found was called a rifle and that you found it in the forests to the west.” He chuckled. Sylvi’s arms weakened and the weapon fell from where it was. It now pointed at the ground as Sylvi took in what the other scrapper said.

“S…Saph told you?” Sylvi whispered, taken back by the sudden betrayal.

“Pay anyone of them enough and they’ll tell you anything.” Rai smiled. “I’ve seen you talk’n to her before, figured it was worth a shot. Besides there’s no way you could have survived that forest so the only way you could have gotten it is by killing someone. Simple really.” He relished in his ingenuity and stepped toward Sylvi ready to pounce on her with his knife.

“Now the question is, what did you just do to make you need to run from town?” Sylvi tightened her grip on the rifle and hissed at the coyote.

“Get the fuck out of my way!” She rammed the barrel into his stomach. Rai dropped the knife and doubled over in pain, falling to the ground and curling up. Sylvi kicked him for good measure and continued her escape out of the town. Her lungs screamed for air and her legs felt that with every step they would melt but using the adrenaline running through her system Sylvi pushed on leaving Gaer behind. She stole a glance behind her and saw the guards had gained on her because of Rai’s interruption. Sylvi gritted her teeth and ran. She ran west, toward the forest. While it was quite far away from all the things she had heard about it Sylvi doubted that anyone would follow her into it. It was her only shot.

It didn’t take that much longer to lose the guards. What they had in strength they lacked in endurance, something Sylvi had from needing to survive days, sometimes weeks, away from Gaer. Regardless she continued at a fast pace to put even more distance between them. The more the better. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest though and she finally had to slow down. Moving to more of a quick walk Sylvi looked down at the weapon in her paws. She was a killer. But how! This thing was thousands of years old! How could it be capable of still firing! Sylvi drew in a deep breath to try and regulate her breathing.

It must have been the room.

Her brain finally said after a few moments of thinking. If the bodies had been preserved there’s nothing to say that the weapons were not like they had been when that door was closed. Read for battle with the enemy. Whatever the reason it meant that Sylvi could never go back to Gaer. She slung the rifle back over her shoulder and slowed her walk. She had to make it out of the valley.

Sylvi did not light a fire for the first few days of being on the run, in the valley it would have been easy to see the flames from far away but as the edge of the forest grew into view Sylvi started to grow more comfortable. At the mouth of the forest she was met with the river that ran through the valley. Last time she had just swam across but this time around keeping dry was a priority. She walked along the bank until she found what was for sure the shallowest part. Sylvi removed her backpack, stuffed her clothes inside and tied it to the end of the rifle. Then, holding it above her head, Sylvi slowly started to wade across. At first the water was quite refreshing, having black fur while the sun beat down on you really caused one to heat up. However, it started to creep up to her waist the current and its quick currents grabbed at her, trying to wash her downstream. The water reached her chest and Sylvi had to walk and lean into the current more than toward the bank in order to keep from being washed away. The water soon relented though and Sylvi felt her starting to rise and reach the shore.

Shivering from the cold, yet not wanting to get her clothes wet she set her camp up and finally lit a fire. The warmth radiated from the flames and Sylvi sat so close that some of her fur singed off. But, for the first time since her last night at The Red Door she felt a little comfortable, biased on the tales no one would come close to this forest and even then, the river would cause a problem, giving her time to make a break for it. With her guard finally lowered Sylvi was able to pay attention to the box. The split-second decision haunted her but in reality if she’s wanted for killing a Monger why not add stealing to the list. Due to the lock on the front of the box she really had no way of opening, but its wooden construction left her with another idea. She tossed it into the fire and waited for the wood to burn away. The next morning, after the remains had cooled off Sylvi dug through her little fire pit and gathered all the coins she could placing them in small piles to make it easier to count. After gathering all that she could it was obvious that Averici had been telling the truth. The box only had about ten thousand one hundred coins in it. He would have had to ask the other mongers to come back with more money and that could have taken weeks, if the next resupply stop didn’t have enough coins. Either way she would have had to wait.

The events played back in her head and she tried to run through what would have happened in every one of the scenarios and most of them ended with either her head being cut off, being stabbed in the gut or hanging from a branch. Out of all the scenarios this was probably the best outcome other than not accidently killing Averici. She kept the rifle shouldered but had moved the other smaller weapon to a pocket at her side. With this weaponry she could stop almost anything that tried to attack her which really bolstered Sylvi’s confidence of being able to slip away. Really the only thing that caused her concern was to run out of bullets. She had found the ammunition reserves in the weapons one night while looking them over. The rifle had eight left while the smaller one had nine. So she reserved herself to using when only necessary and hopefully not at all.

Once Sylvi packed up her camp the next morning Sylvi stood for a long while at the mouth of the forest. Her original plan was to head back to the base but honestly what good would that do? The reasoning of getting more ammunition certainly made sense but the worry about running out of food was a larger one. Last time while she was in the forest nothing that was edible seemed to show itself. No animals or bugs, plants or roots that Sylvi recognized. To make matters worse due to her express way out of town she only had a few protein packs. Going through the forest was not an option, there was no way to know how big it actually was and where it came out. So, with a sigh and hike of her pack Sylvi turned toward the north and started walking along the edge, hoping to find any sort of path sooner or later.

Along the way Sylvi found it surprising at severe lack of food, her stomach grumbled at every moment and even the grass to the right and the tree bark to her left looked appetizing. Instead she had her protein packs, the dense pucks of who-the-hell-knows still tasted terrible but they got the job done and staved the hunger off for about an hour. Even so, it made for a vicious cycle and one that was rapidly depleting her food stores. Fortunately, the river to her right made water a non-issue. Sylvi watched as the small foothills that were visible from Gaer gradually grew into massive hills just shy of a mountains height. Soon however the river made a sharp left turn leaving her cut off, just beyond the river though Sylvi could see hope. The markings of a path! It looked like it was nestled between to of the massive hills. Sylvi’s heart jumped at the sight and let out an audible cry of happiness, a way out of the valley and away from Gaer.

Her mind focused on the obstacle in front of her though but after searching along the bank similarly the way she had done it before a much easier way presented itself. A little way in of the forest Sylvi found a massive tree that had fallen right over the narrowing river. Sylvi nimbly hopped on top to the other side without getting a drop on her. Making her way back to the mouth of the forest Sylvi found the mouth of the path in her sights again and broke into a full-blown run. Getting out of this valley meant the world opened up, it meant she could hide. The thick grass eventually made way to the well-worn earth of a frequently trafficked path. Sylvi’s tail stuck straight up as a smile crept over her face. The path looked easy enough, fairly level elevation. Her eyes caught sight of a post that had been driven into the ground, on it two arrows pointed in opposite directions.

“Savall” The top arrow said, pointing in the direction of the path. While the other arrow was labeled “Gaer” and pointed in the opposite direction. She faced the open path and started walking away from the valley.

The path had proven to be easier than Sylvi had even thought. Except for a few sections that had some steep elevation she found it to be a breeze. Syvli even crossed paths with a few other travelers. She watched them from afar, giving them as much of a birth as she could on the path. One was another scrapper shown by his tattered look and dirty fur. He had even nodded at Sylvi as she had walked by. Another looked to be a private traveling merchant selling goods, but he wasn’t wrapped in purple robes and therefor not part of the Mongers. The short fox did have a single guard with him who seemed no nonsense and incapable of more than a two-word answer.

“Heya traveler! Need anything? A drink? Food? I’ve got it!” He called out as Sylvi walked by. Instantly she shunned him and his whiney voice, not even bothering to glance in his direction. Her instincts were to leave everyone alone and she thought she might be recognized. From the way he reacted, with a shrug, it looked as though it happened often to him. That night though as Sylvi set up her camp she regretted not talking to him, she was down to just two protein packs. Plus, how could he have recognized her if he was traveling toward Gaer, there’s no way that the information could have gotten out that quickly. Sylvi took a bite of the bitter tasting food and grumbled, she’d have to talk to the next merchant that came her way, even it was a Monger.

The day started out just had it had for the previous couple, Sylvi awoke with the sun, packed up her small camp and continued on her way but the sharp decline in elevation indicated that she was on the other side of the hills. Turning around a small bend in the path Sylvi stopped in her tracks. A vista opened up to her showing the entirety of the region in front of her. The landscape was mostly covered by a brownish haze from constantly moving sand yet she could still make out the opening of a massive canyon that broke the land into two. Beyond that Sylvi could see tips of massive mountains, absolutely dwarfing the current hills she was descending from. They even had white peaks, indicative of snow, something she had only heard about from traveling merchants and entertainers. To the west, while being obscured mostly, she could see a bay opening out to the ocean. But rocks blocking the view prevented her from seeing more to the east. Sylvi couldn’t keep her eyes off of the view, it was beyond words for her. Her eyes found the path digging through the desert. It made a wide curve around seemingly nothing, hugging the bay before continuing on.

Moving forward, Sylvi descended the hillside. As she approached the bottom she noticed a strange sight. A group of five individuals, wearing large hooded robes with the tips of their pointy muzzles sticking out, only showing their black nose. They all moved as one group, slowly yet with purpose. The defiantly did not have the look of any sort of merchant, no guards were around them and they didn’t look armed. Sylvi kept a close eye on the five as they grew closer, they seemingly didn’t even notice her as they made their way past. Unlike the others they kept their eyes down. Sylvi didn’t even bother, she just quickly moved past them. Once she was the path opened up and lead into the desert like landscape she had seen from above. Another post had been driven into the ground indicating that she was still on the right path to Savall. Sylvi stopped for a moment and sighed, Savall hadn’t even been visible when she was on the hill. She couldn’t help ask herself how much longer it possibly could be and what if that merchant she had seen pass by was the only one she would see.

“HELP!” A sudden cry broke her concentration and Sylvi twirled on her footpaws to see the five hooded figures standing still, with a sword pointed directly at them by two other scrapper like mixes. Sylvi back peddled slightly. They were motionless for a few moments almost as if they were talking, one of the hooded figures produced a small knife from under his robe followed by one other. In an instant the attackers were on them, the hooded figures didn’t even have time to parry the attack as each found a sword diving into their stomachs. The attackers yanked their weapons out from the dead figures and they fell to the ground. The quickly pounced on two of the others who were able to give a bit more of a fight now that they had a little warning. However it didn’t look good, the two attackers were much more skilled in weaponry than the hooded figures. The fifth figure frantically looked around shouting help again at the top of his lungs. He turned and Sylvi felt his gaze pierce her as the figure broke into a sprint toward her.

“HELP ME!” The voice shouted growing as it got closer. Sylvi took a few steps back, getting involved was the last thing she wanted to do. The hood of the figure flew off revealing a skinny coyote mix and even as he ran Sylvi could see the terror in his eyes and the tears. Behind him the other two hooded figures fell to the attacker’s blades and they turned to chase down their last victim. The small coyote tripped as he approached Sylvi falling directly into her and both of them crashed to the ground.

“You idiot!” Sylvi hissed kicking the dog away from her.

“Come on! We’ve gotta get out of here!” His voice quivered and he scrambled to his feet. Looking over his shoulder the attackers quickly gained on them.

“Give ‘em here! He’s ours.” One of them yelled to Sylvi.

“Yeah, stay out of it! Give that Academy bitch back!” The other growled as they stopped a few paces short of the two of them. Sylvi backed up a few paces distancing herself from the attackers and whoever this Academy mix was.

“Not any of my business.” The words left her mouth before Sylvi even realized what they said, she backpaddled some more but the mix grabbed her.

“You can’t leave me!” He shouted forcing his way next to her. The two attackers rolled their eyes and pointed their crimson stained swords toward their prey.

“We’ll just take care of both of you.” He sniveled honing his eyes on Sylvi. Without so much as a breath he pounced high into the air, lunging his sword directly at Sylvi but she dodged to the side letting the sword land in the softened dirt. The other attacker rushed towards her arcing his blade high and ready to slice Sylvi in half but she quickly rolled toward his legs swiping them with her arm causing the attacker to lose balance and tumble to the ground in a heap.

The other attacker focused on the mix who stood motionless, frozen in terror, as the attackers blade raced toward him. Only at the last second did he back away and circle around to find relative safety a few paces behind Sylvi. She scrambled to her knees as the other scrapper snarled scrambling back a bit. The attacker still on his feet arced his blade again but Sylvi jumped to her feet and turned so the blade impacted the sturdy rifle still slung on her shoulder rather than herself. Stunned slightly at the sudden feeling of metal upon metal he paused letting Sylvi jump back. With her heart racing Sylvi unshouldered the rifle and brought it up to her shoulder but by then the other assailant had recovered.

“Watch out!” The Academy mix yelled as the other attacker threw a pawful of dust right into Sylvi’s face. The dust attacked her vision and she cried out in pain, dropping the rifle giving him the perfect opportunity. In one fluid motion the attacker stabbed with his sword. Distracted Sylvi noticed too late and the sharp blade sliced through her left arm, sending waves of pain coursing through her.

“Ahh!” Sylvi dropped to her knees as the two, with their snarling muzzles stood over her raising their blades, ready to strike down. Fear of death washed over Sylvi, her paws trembled and breathing shortened. Both of the blades reached maximum height and both started swinging down ready to dig themselves deep into the cat. But before they could reach their target the noise of the rifle echoed off the hill and into the desert. Sylvi hunched over cupping her small triangle ears on the top of her head before realizing that the blades had never followed through. Stealing a glance, she saw that the attacker that was to her right had fallen where he stood, his blade still gripped in his paw but motionless. The other stood in utmost terror, his eyes were like those of the mix he had been chasing. Sylvi rubbed her eyes thinking that some of the dust was still obscuring her vision but just like before he stood, frozen. His eyes fixed upon something behind her, Sylvi glanced back to see the mix holding the rifle and pointing it directly at the terrified thief. He dropped the sword, slowly took a few steps back and quickly turned before making a break for the path up the hill.

Sylvi saw the mix start to follow him with the end of the weapon as if he were going to fire again.

“Stop!” She demanded. The mix jumped slightly and dropped the rifle. Sylvi, laboriously got to her feet and, while holding her left shoulder, moved toward him. The mix bent down to pick up the weapon but Sylvi ripped it from his paws before he could do anything more with it. Her eyes dug into him and a hiss even escaped her small muzzle causing the him to retreat back. A few moments of silence passed as Sylvi studied him. Light brown fur covered his entire face except for his ears which were sitting very tall on his head, alerted to any sound. They were darker. A black nose contrasted his light blue eyes. But everything was contorted in fear. Fear of her. Not taking her eye off of him Sylvi shouldered the weapon on her good shoulder and without a word turned on him, taking a few steps onto the desert path.

The coyote mix stood for a few seconds watching her leave. He looked back up at his dead companions. Their lifeless bodies just a few dozen paces away. Doubt filled his brain, doubt and fear. There was no way that he could survive out here alone and really, he shouldn’t even be standing here. His brain argued with itself on whether he should continue on the quest that they set out or turn back. He turned back to the black cat, she still held her shoulder and briskly made her way down the path.

“Wait!” He called racing after the cat. It was a split-second decision but was the best one for survival in his view. The cat didn’t even turn to look at him, she was in too much pain to pay attention to him. The idea of having someone travel with her also wasn’t ideal, it hadn’t been since Big Brother that someone had joined her on one of her expeditions. More pain surged through Sylvi’s arm and she winced. She moved her paw to get a look at the damage, blood covered her right paw and the deep gash kept bleeding. She put her paw back onto it and tried to push as hard as she could.

“I can help clean that gash!” The mix shouted again. Sylvi stopped and looked back at her pursuer, he made up some of the distance and slowed to a walk from his jog. “Savall is at least a week’s walk. That’ll be infected and you’d probably lose your arm before you even reach it. I can help.”

Sylvi didn’t want to talk to the mix but with the constant reminder of pain she had to at least let him help, even if it was just this one time.

“How?” The abrupt and stern tone threw him off slightly.

“I study plants and I know ones that can help with pain and closing it.” He said, now directly in front of her again.

“Study?” It wasn’t a word that Sylvi heard very often and it stuck out like a sore tail to her.

“Yeah, I’m part of the Academy. Couldn’t you tell?” He responded gesturing her to move her paw so he could get a good look at it. Sylvi didn’t respond but the mix didn’t pay any attention to it instead he forced the cat over to the side of the path. A small boulder served as a chair for Sylvi as the mix opened part of his cloak revealing a medium sized leather pouch with a single button on it. He used one paw to open it and dig through it. Sylvi got a glimpse of inside, it looked like he carried small vials of what looked like spices along with some empty ones. He looked at a few of them and finally decided on two, a vial that contained a very course, dried, green flakes and a clear liquid that looked like water. He also produced a gauze and wrap.

“Stay still.” He instructed and uncorked the liquid, the immediate smell of strong alcohol filled her nose, so much so that Sylvi grew slightly lightheaded. “This is going to hurt.” Without so much as a warning the mix used some of the gauze to clean the wound as best he could and then poured half of the liquid onto the gash. Sylvi recoiled in pain and a loud shriek left her muzzle, echoing off the hill much like the gun shot. The mix gripped her arm harder.

“I said stay still.” He grumbled and recorded the vial. He uncorked the next one with a pop and a dull smell radiated from this one, it was obvious it had been left in the sun or exposed to some heat source for a long amount of time. He sprinkled the small flakes generously over the wound. Expecting pain Sylvi recoiled slightly but the flakes did not bring any pain, instead a slight tingling sensation radiated from the gash and even started to grow numb. The mix quickly covered the remaining flakes and stuffed them into his pack. Finally, he produces a needle and some plant fiber and make quick work of some stitches, with each time he pushed the needle into Slyvi’s flesh she drew in a sharp breath. However, the numbness vastly reduced the pain she felt.

“That’ll hopefully keep it from getting worse.” He explained wrapping it with the wrap he had gotten out of his pack earlier. “But just to make sure I’d better stick with you. I’d hate to see you lose that arm.”

He finally relaxed his grip and Sylvi instinctively pulled her arm back and tested some movement. She studied the mix again, having someone with her was the last thing that she wanted but food was important and this mix might have some with him. Sylvi slid off the rock and turned her back to him.

“Fine. But Savall is where it ends.” She uttered between her teeth. He stuffed his supplies back into the pack and recovered his body with the robe.

“Basil.” Sylvi offered a raised eyebrow at the short response. “My name, it’s Basil.” He said matching her pace. “And you?”

Sylvi rubbed her wound slightly again and without thinking responded. “Sylvi.” Instantly she wanted to take the name back. She was wanted now but the Mongers what if he was connected with them? She drew in a breath to try and relax; any messenger was still days behind her. The news was still localized. Basil didn’t react much he just looked behind at the bodies disappearing to the distance behind them.

Setting up camp that night felt different. Sylvi tried to avoid talking as much as she could but even then, just having another person there felt strange. When he finally took of the brown robe Sylvi finally saw that he didn’t just have the two pouches but also a small pack. From it he produced a mat to sleep on and some small round black puck like things about four inches in diameter and one high. He sat with his legs crossed and started munching on the black object. Sylvi finished starting the fire and set her own small tent up.

“What’s that?” Sylvi finally broke the silence, previously only reserved for the crackling of the fire. Basil looked inquisitively at her.

“Food.”

“I know, I just haven’t seen food like that before.”

“Travel rations.” Basil shrugged. “Each member of a pilgrimage is given more than enough for the trip so we don’t starve.” Sylvi’s stomach grumbled, but her ears perked up when he said more than enough.

“Let me try one.” She demanded extending her paw out. Basil narrowed his eyes but didn’t move. Sylvi gestured again with her paw and he finally relented producing another one of the rations and dropping it in her paw. Much to Sylvi’s surprise it was heavier than she thought, much heavier. She inspected it closer it’s almost unnatural black color matched it’s odd smooth texture. It didn’t even have a smell coming off of it. Sylvi gingerly bit her fangs into it only to have a strong fermented taste explode into her mouth. Sylvi instantly retched and heaved before looking back at Basil with an expression of ‘why.’ He just laughed and finished his own ration.

“They’re not really food.” He added. Sylvi scowled, first she has to have this Academy mix following her and his food isn’t eatable. She set aside the ration and resorted to not eating, the taste of the ration scared away her hunger. Maybe that’s what it was supposed to do after all. Across the fire Basil stared at Sylvi in the same way she had done to him back when they had met. This was really the first time he had a chance to.

“Where did you get a rifle like that?” He finally asked, blurting it out and catching Sylvi off guard.

“Found it.” She answered keeping her answer short, though it was surprising to her that he in fact knew what it was. Explained how he was able to use it.

“A usable prewar relic like that is extremely rare only seen a few myself and the ones I have seen are so badly worn down that it’s a question if they’ll shoot or not. Even might explode in the users’ face. Where did you find it?” He asked again genuinely curious over it but Sylvi shut her muzzle it, giving away more information was not something she had any interest in doing. Instead, without a word, Sylvi kicked the fire out and retreated to her cloth tent to dodge any more questions.

“Night.” Basil said as she lay down in the small tent.

Even after the sun fully disappeared over the horizon and the stars revealed themselves Sylvi still found herself awake. Something felt strange to her. But as she lay there the soft sound of crying crept into her hears. Sylvi opened the tent flap and found Basil facing away from the camp on his side, shivering. Without a word Sylvi climbed out of the tent and draped her own small blanket over the crying mix. He suddenly stopped but didn’t move.

“Thanks.” He stuttered, trying to hide his crying even more. “You know, for saving me. They said it would be dangerous but I never expected this.”

“You were keeping me up.” Sylvi interrupted retreating back to her tent. Curing up in order to stay warm without the blanket Sylvi glances one more time at Basil. No more sounds of crying and he had stopped shaking.

Finally, the city of Savall materialized on the horizon. The haze gave the illusion of the city swaying back and forth in the dry wind. Sylvi did not know exactly what to expect from a city like this. The only experience she had was of Gaer and from what she had heard from other travelers in bars it was quite different. Regardless she’d figure it out, she would have to. Maybe this could be a place to start a new life, a place to blend in, to disappear. As the buildings became more distinct and the mass of the city became more visible Sylvi felt her stomach turn over it was absolutely massive. Similar to Gaer the buildings were largest in the middle and tapered off as they moved out from the center, however they stood over twice as tall. Each building seemed to have a life of its own in the desert air and drafts of wind around it pelted each side with sand giving them a weathered texture that could only be described as irregular. With her anticipation though Sylvi found herself starting to increase her speed toward the city leaving Basil behind not that she minded much. He had stayed true to his word and kept an eye on her arm which he had put in a sling. Yet if she wanted to disappear being followed wasn’t exactly the best way to go about it.

“Savall, city of shifting sands.” Basil coughed matching the pace of Sylvi. “Say, what was your business here anyway?” His voice turned up as his eyes met hers. Sylvi instantly broke the connection and looked forward again at the city. Her brain scrambled for an answer but after a few seconds of silence Basil shrugged.

“Eh, well, not that it’s much of my business anyway.” Sylvi let out a sigh of relief quietly.

Before Sylvi knew what to even expect she was passing by the city’s outermost buildings. Mostly homes it looked like save for the once in a while drinking hole that advertised a particular type of drink or food. The people who made up the city seemed to pay no attention to them, well not that they would have any reason to. Travelers were exceedingly common, being in the middle of the main eastern road they got travelrs of all times. It had also made the city relatively wealthy in terms of goods. Sylvi had heard it served as a hub for all the smaller cities of the east Gaer included, it was also where the Mongers came from on their resupply missions to Gaer. But that also meant that the news couldn’t be that far behind.

The further they moved into the city the denser it became. People were absolutely everywhere and widely dressed from colorful ornate tunics to more drab utilitarian garb. Sylvi was also surprised to see more indoor shops than she had ever seen before. Most of Gaer was an outdoor market except for a few, such as the Monger, inns, bars, those types of places but here there were even food stalls that had their own buildings with what looked like overstuffed, lopsided apartment type dwellings above them. But that didn’t mean there were not vendors about, they were all over the place shouting at each passer by trying to get them to look at what they offered. From strange fruit to fake pre-war relics. Suddenly Sylvi felt her feet catch on something and she fell forward, crashing to the ground with a puff of sand. Waves of pain shot through her arm as she accidently rolled onto it.

“Watch out there!” Basil said, a tad too late and offered a hand to Sylvi, who suffered more from a bruised ego rather than anything more serious. She batted it away and struggled to her feet to find that she stood on concrete. It was buried under quite a bit of sand but it certainly was there.

“Concrete?” She questioned kicking away some of the sand.

“Yeah, from the old city.” Basil answered. “Savall was built on top of an old pre-war city, you’ll still find parts of the it still visible.” Sylvi dusted part of herself off and carefully adjusted her arm so it rested comfortably again. She had never known that it was a pre-war city and for a moment she wondered if there had been any survivors from here, or if they had made their way to that bunker she found. Moving forward, not only did she pay more attention to where her feet were going but also to the architecture around her and she began to realize how the buildings were so tall. Most, if not all, of the larger ones had bases that were built off of the old buildings. She could still see large steel beams holding them up. No body knew how to make steel of that quality anymore, much less get the ore required to smelt it, it defiantly was pre-war.

While Sylvi not-so-secretly gawked at her growing surroundings Basil seemed to have a mission in mind. He forged ahead a few paces in front of Sylvi seemingly knowing where he was going. She brought her arm to the sling, thought for a few moments and then called out to the coyote mix.

“Hey, see ya I guess.” Basil stopped immediately and looked back at the back cat. She had stopped.

“Wait what?” He asked tilting his head to his side.

“I can make it just fine now, thanks for the help. You seem to have something you need to do.” She said trying to put the conversation in his court. Basil looked around quickly and gestured, referring to all the commotion around him.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” He said.

“I’ll manage.” Sylvi responded turning towards a street away from where the mix was headed. She didn’t want to give him the ability to argue against her leaving so she looked back at him and raised her uninjured paw.

“Thanks.”

Sylvi moved quickly away from Basil, the less baggage the better. She had paused for a moment and studied the crowd behind her to see if he had been following her but she didn’t see anything. It was nice to be alone again, to be able to go where ever she wanted to and no on would know. The first order of business was to try to find something to eat, having run out of her own protein packs and even needing to rely on Basil’s travel rations had caused her stomach to be in a constant state of nausea for the past day and a half and getting something real in it would hopefully help it. The deeper she got into the city the more food options became available and all the smells hit her nose like a bag of bricks but the tantalizing scent of something familiar touched her nose and she tried to pinpoint it. Sure enough around the corner she found a building which had a picture of a large locust displayed on the opened door. Without a second thought she ducked into it.

The shop was small, smaller than Averici’s Monger shop which was saying something. But there was a small counter with a equally small grill stuffed with coals and two oversized bugs on a stick laying over them. A very small almost childlike attendant stood behind the counter carefully eyeing the bugs and turning them at regular intervals. He hadn’t even taken notice that Sylvi had come in and she stood there in silence awkwardly for a few moments.

“Uh, one.” She quietly said breaking the grillers concentration who gave her an exhausted look.

“Not ready yet.” He responded turning them again which was rewarded with a sizzle that seemed to make him happy. A few more long seconds passed, only filled with the sizzling of the food.

“Is there a good inn around here?” She asked, might as well try to get some information while here. But the attendant just stole another glare at her and narrowed his eyes but suddenly, like an internal timer had gone off, he pulled off the bugs and sprinkled a bit of salt on top before sticking both of them in an empty hole in the counter so they were displayed to those who may come in.

“’round the corner, there’s a large red inn if you need a place to stay.” He said while doing all that. Sylvi reached for her coin pouch.

“How much?” she asked. The shop-keep just pointed to a sign that had several white outlines of different kinds of bugs along with a number next to them. The locust was associated with 100. Sylvi drew in a sharp breath and produced the required amount of money, no wonder this place was empty. She handed over the coins and he gestured toward one of the two as he turned around to place two more raw beetles on the grill. Sylvi grabbed one of the sticks and made sure to walk out before taking a bite. When she did though the familiar crunch and salty, bitter taste of the locust filled her mouth and she chewed loudly, finally enjoying some good food.

Following the crude directions of the shop-keep Sylvi turned the corner that rested a little way down the street to come face to face with a large building, built on top of an old building like the rest of the larger ones of the city. Its entire front was covered in a battered, dim red paint which made it stand out vs the rest of the sand colored buildings. Upon entry though Sylvi felt a rush of cold air and found herself standing in the lobby about as big as the entire vault she had found. Columns were spaced equidistant from each other and about an arm’s length in diameter. The large open space was odd, especially since she had never stood in something like it before. It still had the look of the rest of the city, battered and weathered, but it was magnificent none-the-less. She made her way to the group of what looked like attendants and made herself known. One of them turned to look at her and tilted her head to one side.

“Yeah?” She uttered as the rest of them scattered as if they were not supposed to be all together like that. Sylvi eyed them as they each found things to do. Usually cleaning.

“How much is a room?” Sylvi asked, being as ordinary as she could to not draw suspicion. The attendant studied Sylvi, her eyes moving up and down several times before she spoke.

“And you are?” She asked not answering Sylvi’s question.

“A traveler looking for a place to sleep.” Sylvi responded, she was expecting a question like that and it was the best thing she could come up with. The attendant huffed and made a slight face of disgust at the food Sylvi held in her good arm.

“One fifty.” She said. “Per night.”

Without another word Sylvi tucked her bug on a stick in her sling to hold it and produced her pouch, struggling a little bit she dug around for the largest coins she could feel and produced them. After a few moments she had one hundred and fifty laying on the small table between them. The attendant held out her paw and one of the others who she had been chatting with quickly ran up with a key and passed it to her. The vixen held it out.

“Number’s on the key…Traveler.” She bluntly said. Sylvi took the key, checked the number 204, and stuffed it into her pocket. “Up the stairs.” The attendant added. Sylvi stole a glance at her and twirled around making her way to the stairs suddenly realizing that the sign above the attendant clearly stated seventy-five for a night.

Sleep didn’t come easy; the bed was much to comfy and Sylvi felt like she was going to sink into the plush mattress. Needless to say, she tossed and turned the entire night to negate the feeling. It did have one good thing come out of it she reasoned with herself, if anyone came to steal her stuff in the middle of the night she would be able to catch them. But as the first rays of sun illuminated the sand particles that were omnipresent in the air Sylvi cursed and rolled out of the bed. The grogginess still in her eyes she gingerly reapplied the bandage as Basil had shown her and fit it into the sling again. Then she moved to the window and looked down at the street. It already was already bustling with people moving to and fro, busy with the morning’s activities. As she looked though one figure sent an icy shiver down her back. They were dressed in a purple cloak and carried what looked like a stack of parchment. She knew exactly what they were, a Monger. They made their way to each shop, spending several moments inside before moving on to the next. There wasn’t much time. Sylvi shouldered her pack as quick as she could with the sling, slung the rifle around her good shoulder and pocketed the smaller weapon; making sure it was within easy reach. Just in case. She bolted out the door and ran to the stairs quickly descending them. Once again, the attendants were all standing together chatting, a good thing, they wouldn’t notice her leave. She quietly moved to the door and stole a glance back checking to see if anyone had seen as she opened it. But before Sylvi could full look ahead she ran into someone causing them to fall back.

“Woah, hold on there. No rush.” The feminine voice spoke. Sylvi stopped in her tracks as she realized who she ran into. There in front of her was the purple clad figure just as she had tried to enter the inn. Suddenly her voice was gone and her feet wouldn’t respond, it was like they were frozen in place letting the monger get a good look at her. They looked up revealing a female wolf who stumbled slightly once again once they saw who had just run into them. Sylvi slowly reached for the pocketed weapon as realization hit the female monger. After showing a crude drawing of the guilty party who had killed the monger in Gaer all morning she had grown pretty familiar with it and the cat that stood before her was the spitting image of the one on the parchment. The world fell away. Sylvi drew the weapon and pointed it at the monger who immediately drew back holding up her paws.

“Sylvi right?” The wolf spoke in a hushed tone as to not draw panic. Those who were around had already dropped what they were doing to watch. Sylvi stepped forward to get out of the threshold of the door making the Monger step back more. Her paws shook violently and the words passed without any meaning. Behind the Monger two guards similar to those who had accompanied every other Monger broke through the crowd weapons already drawn read to kill.

“You have murdered a monger, punishable by death.” The wolf spoke again. The guards drew closer and Sylvi’s head spun. There was no way she was going to shoot another one, that would be even worse. In the span of a few seconds Sylvi raised the gun to the sky and fired. The report echoed off the old walls causing everyone to duck and cover their ears. Taking advantage of the flinch Sylvi kicked one of the guards back and made a break for it, running at top speed through the crowds to break the line of sight. Behind her shouts started to break out and Sylvi knew they were all about her. But there wasn’t much she could do other than run, and run she did. The sling bounced sending waves of pain through her arm as her arm went a long with it. She thought she could feel the wound start to open again but she’d have to ignore it. Suddenly Basil popped into her head. That was her only chance. She retraced her steps from yesterday and once she got to the point where they had gone separate ways she started down the way she thought he coyote mix had gone. As soon as she reached it however her arm burned with agony and her lungs screamed for her to stop, there was no way to appease them other than actually stop. Though it had been quite a long time and she figured with more and more people pouring into the streets to get to their business and as businesses opened up it would be easier and easier to hide. In fact, running would make her more obvious. For a split second she wondered how far much of the city had already seen her face but it wasn’t something she could focus on. She had to find a way out now.

She drew in deep, full breaths to calm her nerves and focus on her surroundings. Finding Basil in such a city wasn’t going to be easy but he had been looking for something. Her only shot would be to try and find what he was looking for. Sylvi thought back to the week they had spent together in an effort to remember if he had said anything about what he was going to do once he got to Savall. One word stood out to her, Academy. There had to be something called that in the city, it had to be what he was looking for. So, her narrow eyes scanned each building and the people as well, maybe there would be others that were like him. Most were extremely varied, even more so toward the center of the city than the outskirts. Sometimes Sylvi had to do a double take because she thought she saw the lanky mix duck behind other inhabitants, but it always turned out to be a trick of the eye.

She had been looking for what seemed like ages, always trying to move away from the side of the city where the commotion had taken place. Nothing had come up however and she began to feel more and more desperate. Her plan to settle down here had been shattered in the first day and within days the entire city would know her face. As a precaution she carefully tied some cloth around her short muzzle pretending it was a sand shield and not something to hide her face. She felt more comfortable with the identity blocking and thought asking for help might be worth the risk. The cat weaved through the crowd trying to find someone that she could ask for help. Eventually she came across a lonely vendor on a corner selling some equipment including some batteries that Sylvi noticed went to her Jumper. She stopped to browse the wears and the vendor huffed slightly.

“How much for the batteries?” She asked picking them up and examining them closely.

“Fifteen or so, don’t know if they actually have a charge but someone can use them.” He shrugged and made a waving gesture with his paw. Sylvi continued to look at them but changed the subject.

“So, do you know where the Academy is here?” She asked as non-chelauntly as she could. Sylvi didn’t know if they were biased here, had any sort of presence or even were liked. But it had to be asked. The vendors eyebrow raised and his long thin muzzle sneered.

“Why do you need to know that?” He asked with a scoff. Suddenly Sylvi felt her heart jump into her throat, had she said something wrong!? Was it not supposed to be something that was talked about. She scrambled for something to say but the vendor scratched his ear and huffed again.

“They’re where they’ve always been. Near the bridge.” Sylvi’s ears perked up and her heart fell back to its normal place she dug into her back and produced some coins. Counting them in her paw she gestured toward the batteries.

“I’ll take two.” She muttered. The vendor swiped the coins from her and Sylvi dropped them into her bag. “Thanks.” She added at the end and turned and started walking away.

“Hey! Where are ya going!” The vendor called out as she walked. The fur on Sylvi’s neck stood on end and she glanced back at the smiling vendor. “The bridge is that way.” He pointed towards a path that proceeded north. Embarrassed, Sylvi looked down to the ground and made her way down the path.

Sylvi precariously moved through the city, following the path that she had been told of. Gradually she could tell she was moving out of the central area as the crowds and din started to diminish. However, this made her even more fearful as it would be easier to recognize her. It felt like each pair of eyes were a knife digging into her knowing everything about her with just a passing glance. Then their ears flickered and it felt as though they could hear her thoughts. Sylvi half expected someone to shout out her name and she would suddenly be swamped by people. But fortunately, most people stayed to themselves, everyone once and a while someone would see her weapon and gawk slightly but then, along with the flow of people, move along. No one person stayed in the same place for too long and she used it to her advantage.

Though with the waning crowds Sylvi noticed a tall column of black smoke billowing up from the point she was headed towards. Sylvi cocked her head and glanced around, no one seemed alarmed which she thought was odd. She kept moving toward it hoping that whatever it was, it wasn’t dangerous. But that was a hard thought to keep in her head judging from the massive size of the cloud that formed yet she still pressed on. Moving forward Sylvi saw a medium sized building, it was smaller than other buildings that were in the interior of the city but still towered over those it surrounded. She could also make out that it wasn’t built out of a previous standing structure but was entirely ‘new’. Beyond it, the cause of the black column of smoke came into view. A large, rapidly moving river flowed behind the building and the wide path came to a sudden stop, right where what looked like a large bridge had once recently stood. On each side of the bank a wooden lattice structure had crumpled and still smoldered. From the look of each side it would have been a magnificent bridge.

Travelers would walk up to the bridge look around as if trying to find another bridge that wasn’t there sigh and turn around back towards the city. Though, in front of the medium sized building stood some familiar figures. Dressed very similarly to Basil, the two stood surveying the damage. Their hoods were down revealing very tall triangle like ears on both of them along with their long slender muzzles and yellow-brown fur tinge read desert jackal to Sylvi. She precariously approached them hoping that the news of her hadn’t reached this far out yet.

“It’s going to be quite a task to remove this debris.” One said to the other with a sigh.

“And with the Elconian ships regularly checking rebuilding it will not be easy. At least not as long as the war is going on.” The other responded. Sylvi approached them and stood behind waiting for the two to notice her presence, which took an uncomfortably long amount of time as they were engrossed in their conversation about how to rebuild. They seemed to be some kind of engineers.

“Don’t bother with it.” One said after they noticed Sylvi. “As you can see the bridge is out and the rapids are to much to swim.”

“I’m not interested in crossing.” Sylvi said, her heart pumping a mile a minute, she felt her tail droop behind her as the two turned to face her full on. It would be now if they recognized her. But after a few moments of studying the black cat in front of them the two jackals cocked their head to the side in unison.

“Medical help?” The one on the left asked gesturing toward Sylvi’s sling.

“No, I’m looking for someone. One of your own. Basil, know of him?”

“Basil?” The other chuckled, what did he do this time. As soon as he said that, the other pointed toward the rifle on her good shoulder.

“Wait, didn’t he report meeting with someone who had a rifle?” The two fell silent and Sylvi stood petrified. How much did he say? Couldn’t have been much considering she didn’t talk about a lot but he most certainly knew her name.

“Is he here or not?” She pushed.

“Certainly, trying to figure out a way back to Airam I imagine.”

“Thank you.” Sylvi quickly said wanting to get out of the open and moved toward the door. Fortunately, the two didn’t bother trying to stop her. Sylvi passed through the threshold and was quite surprised with what she saw, or rather lack of what she saw. Instead of there being much inside it was mostly bare. Very little actual décor or styling, instead it was remarkably clean. Running the length of the large room were tables with benches on either side where a few others sat working on things of every nature. Some were clad in a cloak while others were not, leaving them on small racks at the end of the tables, revealing very slim, lithe bodies. On the wall closest to the river a staircase led upstairs. No one stirred when she entered and she suddenly felt an immense sense of unease in the quiet. Suddenly, like he was highlighted in her eyes Sylvi noticed Basil, cloak-less, and sitting at the end of the table closest to the stairwell.

Sylvi shuffled over to him drawing the ire from others in the room but Basil kept is nose down. With a quick clear of her throat the mix finally stirred and looked up from his work.

“Sylvi?” He questioned.

“I need out of the city.” She interrupted. “Can you get me out of here?”

The forest was oddly green. It had life that Sylvi hadn’t really seen that much before and her eyes darted around as they took in the views. She walked among grass and trees something that she had rarely seen before, yet it was also extremely calming. She liked this place. It was comforting, easy to walk through. The harsh winds and sand of Gear were extremely hard to walk through most of the time. It was nice not to shield her eyes for once. Every once and a while she thought she would hear a twig snap behind her, each time her ears twitch and her paws reach to the knife on her belt, ready to defend her at any moment but nothing ever materialized. Not that she wanted something to.

It happened once again and she let out a sigh of relief before hiking her pack and continuing the trek. Her current expedition went much longer than she usually did but it was getting harder and harder to find good scrap in the areas around Gear and this caused the need to expand her perimeter out. However, the forest didn’t seem to yield much of anything. No tech, metal, anything and the growing lightness of the pack on her back was a constant reminder that she was running out of food and would have to head back. She grunted and started walking faster, there was no way that she was going to go back empty.

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye something glimmered in the sunlight peaking through the canopy of trees. With a sudden change of direction Sylvi darted toward the object. As she got closer the glint faded and revealed a post, dug deeply into the ground but still standing tall. Twice her height in fact. Sylvi wrapped her paws around the pole and tugged trying to get it free but it didn’t budge. Not even as much as a wiggle. Frustrated Sylvi looked to the sides and saw another pole, and another after that.

“What?” Her voice, although whispered, seemed to thunder through the quiet stillness of the forest.

The poles seemed to extend in both directions at regular intervals. She stepped toward one but the ground didn’t feel the same, it felt ridged. Looking down and kicking away some of the undergrowth revealed what the poles were for. Beneath her paws were interlocking wires that were once part of a tall fence, the poles were still standing but the actual fence part had fallen long ago. Sylvi’s heart jumped, if someone put a fence up, that means that they wanted to protect something. Stepping over the threshold of the fence Sylvi ventured into the perimeter. It didn’t take long before a grin appeared over her furred face. Sure enough ruins started to appear, mostly retaken by the forest but the concrete structures were still visible. Large cracks rippled through the sides of small buildings and she put her paw up to one to feel it. It was cold, hard, yet it was as though if she pushed hard enough the entire wall would crumble. She didn’t dare.

She walked around the first small building until an open doorway showed itself, the actual door had fallen off long ago and lay in front of the concrete frame. Peaking inside a distinct odor revealed itself to her, one she had grown accustomed to, one she always referred to as ‘old things.’ Though the interior was disappointingly blank. It seemed to have been cleared.

“Has someone been here before?” Sylvi muttered inching in to the building. Her eyes scanned the faded tiled floor. A few things jumped out at her, some metal cups, old lamp and a few ruined electronics. Normal things to find in ruins. Sylvi quickly bagged them up to she’d have something to bring back though it might only be enough for a few days’ worth of food. After thoroughly searching the building Sylvi moved onto the next one in a familiar pattern of searching. The key was to find the smallest stuff she could, yet that could deliver the best value. The more she searched the more excited she got, some of this stuff was fairly good and would have been taken by other scrappers if they had been here. Sylvi was on to something good.

With her eyes on the ground most of the time it took her a while to notice the large building that she was coming up to. But once she saw it her excitement tripled. It was huge! Quickly Sylvi ran around it to find the front and figure out what it was. It didn’t take long before she found the front double doors grown over with moss. Above them was a sign written in old speak, an even better sign. She couldn’t read old speak, in fact Sylvi didn’t know anyone who could or if anyone could but one symbol jumped out to her. A faded green star in a circle. Once seeing that Sylvi couldn’t help but jump into the air, she had her suspicions about what this was but that confirmed it without a doubt. Pre-war military.

Without so much as a breath Sylvi tried the doors, she pushed on the front. Whatever was holding them in place cracked and the fell back with a loud crash shattering the glass that was still inside the door. Sylvi winced and glanced around her hoping no one had heard. This was her find and no one was going to take it from her. She gingerly crept inside and found herself in a small room, no doubt some sort of reception area where decrepit chairs still stood falling apart after being exposed to the elements. Sylvi checked behind the front desk, a pre-war type yet it was so old that once she placed her paw on it the whole thing fell apart and crumpled inward. She jumped back at the sudden movement her heartrate slightly spiking.

“Gotta be more careful.” Sylvi thought and backed away from the desk in favor of the door that was just to the right of it. She gingerly poked at the swinging doors and surprisingly they swung open as they had done so long ago. Sylvi tiptoed in and started making her away room by room bagging anything that was small enough she could carry. But nothing really exciting caught her eye, which was actually quite disappointing to her. She was hoping for the big ticket items, prewar books which the Academy would usually pay handsomely for, or prewar weapons. None had shown though, anything she had found book or paper wise was ruined and either mush or disintegrated when she picked it up. She moved deeper into the base descending a few flights and searching every room she came across. She was quite systematic about the whole thing, first searching the room on the left and then working around the room in a left to right fashion. After that she’d move to the room on the right side of the hallway and worked from the right to the left, directly mirrored to the previous. Doing it this way reduced the amount of stuff she could miss though it did take time and after searching for the better part of the day Sylvi started to feel the fatigue reach her.

She drew in a breath slightly disappointed that one of those big-ticket items hadn’t shown up, it didn’t make sense! Why would a military base not have books or weapons? She kicked a cup down the hallway and it hit the end with a clang. In front of her was a large metal door with a very strong looking latch. Above the door a red light, long extinguished, watched over the door. Slyvi gripped the handle and tugged at the door. It wiggled giving her a little hope but beyond that the door was steadfast, locked from the other side. To Sylvi though that was a good sign, locked places usually meant good things on the other side. She unsheathed her knife and started fiddling with the lock but it was no luck. The door was sealed with an electronic system and the power had long drained from the system. She took a step back and set her pack on the ground. She reached into it, past the stuff she had picked up and pulled out a small device.

“Big Brother don’t fail me know.” She muttered and powered the it up. Its small screen illuminated and blinked “READY”. Her eyes glanced at the battery indicator at the bottom of the screen. 25%.

“Knew I Should have gotten some new batteries for this thing.” She cursed and took the wires coming out of the device. She worked the face of the lock off and found some of the deteriorating wires. Sylvi grounded one of the wires and attached the other to the wire. Content with the set up she pressed the only button on the device other than the power switch. Immediately the screen shut off and the wire it was attached to sparked causing Sylvi to wince. After a few seconds the screen of her device turned back on. Once again it said “READY” but this time the battery level showed 15%.

“That took ten percent!” she grunted throwing back her head. “This thing must truly be dead, or the wires can’t conduct.” She hovered over the button again. “If this doesn’t work just come back again, no worries.” With her eyes closed this time Sylvi pressed the button again and this time held it, more for effect than anything. After a few seconds she peaked and looked at the screen, it was still off. Not a good sign. She shook it and switched it on and off, still nothing.

“Dead.” She grunted and looked at the lock. Her face lifted as she saw the face of the lock showing flickering numbers. The flasher had done its job. Jolted the battery back up of the lock to life. But Sylvi knew she’d have to work fast, she probably didn’t have much time. Even though it took the full 25% to flash. The batteries were probably so deteriorated they won’t hold much of anything. She started arranging the wires in an organized way and found the battery along with the main controller. Exactly what she was looking for. She pulled out her knife and pinpointed the wire she was looking for, the emergency open control. Most prewar room locks had emergency open buttons on the inside of them in case someone was trapped in them, while being much smaller than one of those it no doubt probably shared similarities. The only problem being that in order for them to work they have to have some power running to them. Sylvi drew in a breath and cut the emergency wire with her knife. The controller, thinking that meant the button had been pressed sent the unlock command to the lock.

With a loud, firm THUNK the ancient mechanism pulled back the locks and the door became loose. Sylvi smiled and packed her Flasher into her bag again then put her paws on the handle. With a mighty pull the door opened ever so slightly. But as soon as it did a stench unlike anything Sylvi had ever known filled the hallway and she pulled back covering her feline nose with her arm. Her stomach churned and had the sudden urge to heave but swallowed the urge. Instead she took her scarf and wrapped it around her nose and mouth masking the smell ever so slightly.

“What is that?”

Sylvi, gingerly this time, pulled on the door and it pulled open, revealing a dark room. More of the smell wafted her way and she turned away for a moment. She tried to pierce the darkness with her own eyesight but it wasn’t going to cut it. The cat dug into her pack and pulled out a makeshift headlight, with a small match she lit the wick inside the cavity and wrapped it around her head Giving her a torch that she didn’t have to hold. Thought quick movements would often cause it to go out so she had to be careful. Sylvi stepped into the dark room and as the light reached the walls Sylvi’s knees melted and she fell to the ground at the sight. There in front of her were soldiers, prewar soldiers just as they had been. Clothed in the garb that had been described to her in stories from before the war. This was unlike any story though. She pulled together as much composure as she could and got back to her feet. The torch reviled that the walls of the large room were lined with the dead bodies, but it looked like they had died just before she had opened the door. There was no decomposition on them at all. Sylvi slowly moved to a wolf who was slumped over, it was like he was just taking a nap. She knelt down and pushed his shoulder, the head moved to the side and then the body followed. She saw his face. Frozen in terror, stiff for hundreds of years. She looked at the rest of his body, his paws clutched at his only comfort, his weapon. Sylvis eyes glimmered! It was much like the body, perfectly preserved.

“I’m sorry, I hate to do this, but I’m going to need this.” She mentioned looking at the dead soldiers’ face. She carefully uncurled his fingers and freed the weapon from him. She had heard stores of how they were used, and heard that there were some in the world that still worked. But had never seen one complete before. She had found just two before and both of them were missing more than half of the components, in fact it didn’t even look like the original anymore. Mostly because they had been found buried deep in the ground. Yet those were some of her biggest paydays, she couldn’t even imagine what this could bring. Her eyes examined it closely. It was about as long as her arm, made of some sort of metal that was very cold to the touch and of some plastics. A strap drooped below it that was meant to hold it over the shoulder. She slung it, feeling the weight. It was very light, much lighter than her pack, or a sword. It was amazing.

“Thanks.” She said toward the dead wolf and continued through the room there were perhaps thirty corpses in the room, each with their own weapon. Around them lay what Sylvi could only think of as provisions not a single thing had been opened.

“They didn’t starve.” She uttered. Her eyes scanned across the bodies, one caught her eye though. His clothes were different, more distinct. He also had a very special looking hat instead of a helmet. She moved to him and knelt down. He didn’t have a weapon like the others, in his left was what she could only assume as a handheld version and in the right was a small book.

“YES!” Sylvi exclaimed. A book and prewar weapons, she was going to be set for life with this. She gripped the small leather-bound book and pried it out of the dead wolfs paws. It was well used but showed no signs of deterioration from the time. Sylvi flipped through the pages, all were covered with handwritten oldspeak. She had no hope of understanding it but continued going anyway. Just over halfway through she found a folded paper tucked inside. Opening it she found a typed font, but there was very little to the body of the paper. Sylvi cocked her head to one side as her eyes poured over the strange writing. It had just a few sentences nothing else. With some futility she tried to decipher it as best she could be eventually gave up folding it back up and tucking it back inside the leather bound book. Flipping to the next page Sylvi found it blank, she looked back at the other page with the folded paper and saw that the writing had stopped. Whatever was written was the last words of these soldiers. She tucked the book into her personal pocket and reached for the handheld weapon. She looked it over, this one was all metal unlike the other one and was a whole lot more manageable. She stuffed it into her pack and hiked the other weapon before moving on.

She slowly moved from one soldier to another taking note of their terrified faces. This place was overwhelming but a straight up gold mine. Once her own excitement had diminished questions started to form in her brain the foremost being, How had no one discovered this before? Even the outside had not been touched by paws since before the war or at least if these bodies had anything to say right when it ended. Reaching the end of the room she found no other doorways making this room the very last. But it didn’t matter at this point Sylvi knew without a doubt that she had come across the jackpot but hopefully the forest would keep it safe so no others would find this. It was her key to riches.

Sylvi retraced her steps back to the reception room and with a quick nod to the building she left through the doors and started making her way back the way she had come. As for the large door Sylvi wasn’t about to leave just anyone find this and take it for themselves, so she did was any self-respecting scrapper would do and booby trapped it so that if anyone came across it and didn’t know they would be stabbed with her knife. Her paw reached for the empty scabbard that used to hold the cold blade to her person. Her paw went through the motion of drawing it as if it were still there. But with a sigh that grew into a smile she started off to the east towards Gear.

Butterflies danced, drank, and were having a grand time in Sylvi’s stomach as she approached the familiar town of Gaer. Apprehension wasn’t something Sylvi was accustomed to, but there was a reason this time. It was as if she was carrying a bag full of money and proclaiming “I know how to mint my own money! Ask me how!” But with reservations aside she walked along the well-worn path to the town. Gaer stood right in the middle of the valley with a small mountain range to the west, a river to the south and the great dunes to the north. Basically, it was in its own little pocket and nobody usually made the trek to it; a whole lot of nothing happened here. The mongers had their usual trade routes that connected the small town to other larger cities like Savall and even Morall but for the average person Gaer was a rundown seemingly dying town that served little purpose in the world. But to Sylvi it was the place she earned money and it had a special significance in that she was familiar with it and the surrounding lands so she never strayed away from it too far. To Sylvi it was as close to a home as she was going to get.

As the town grew larger she started seeing others mulling about at their lives. Other scrappers, obviously picked out by their tattered clothes and lithe form dotted the outside of the town with small encampments. Several fires had already been lit even though the sun hadn’t even started its decent and food wafted through the air hitting Sylvi’s nose. A grumble escaped her stomach.

Soon.

The word echoed in her mind. For the past two weeks the only thing she had be able to eat were some protein packs and what she could find along the journey but that smell meant food was coming soon. She put on the straightest face her tired face could muster and walked by the camps. Other scrappers looked up from their fires as they normally did to try and size up the cat and what she had found.

“Sylvi’s back?” One of them said with a grunt and careened is neck to try and see the bulk of her bag. Yet something else caught his eye immediately. “Holy fuck.” He jumped to his feet and raced toward her leaving is all important lunch behind. Sylvi noticed him quickly advancing to her, she instinctively checked for her knife and suddenly regretted leaving it behind.

“Oi, Sylvi what’ you got there?” The words went one through ear and out another to her as the brown furred fox slowed her progress to the town in front of her.

“My stuff.” She responded quickly and without thought with a watchful eye for others who had noticed the weapon.

“Is it now?” His voice sneered with a downward inflection and he grew closer. “It’s not everyday one sees something like that huh? Bet you killed a monger for it.” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

“Nope.” Sylvi replied quickly trying to side step Rai but he stepped that way and once again blocked the path.

“Com’ on Sylvi, both of us have been at this for a while, I’m not stupid.” He shifted the weight in his feet and leaned in to the cat. Sylvi took a step back.

“I did not kill a Monger.” She stated deliberately reaching back for the weapon as a circle of other Scrappers formed around her.

“Then where did ya get it?” Rai demanded keeping his demeaning tone.

“And you think I’d tell you?” She remarked once again trying to get past the fox blocking her. Rai moved in closer and sneered showing his teeth ever so slightly. His breath stunk of fish and Sylvi reeled. But just as she did Rai jumped back and cupped his paws over his black nose.

“Fuck! Sylvi what did you do, roll around in the shit pit?!” He blurted out with a slight heave in the middle. Sylvi hadn’t realized the stench had stuck with her fur her nose had become accustomed it but at this point she didn’t care. It was a way out.

“Some of your cooking, now leave me alone.” Sylvi pushed Rai and he fell to the ground, the rest of the group dispended and returned to their food. A few followed but she moved quickly to lose them. She entered the town with her heart racing and a frown. Though a sigh of welcome relief escaped her mouth. Attention like that was not something Sylvi very much enjoyed not that anyone would enjoy something like that. Though carrying this brought on some intense eyes from the other towns folk and even a few gawks but none were as predatory as the ones outside. For a reason at least, outside their livelihood, like hers, was purely biased on finds and boy was this a big one.

The market in central Gaer made up for its lack of variety in its size, it was massive compared to the town making up a good half of it. Most of the time the streets were packed with vendors and the odd traveler telling stories about distant cultures. Today was no different. Sylvi gripped the leather strap of the weapon to hold it closer to herself and pushed through the sea of fur making her way to the Monger. The town, even though having a massive market, only had one Monger shop. Sylvi had heard that some other towns had two or even three! But she had to make do with the shrewdest monger in the east. She beelined to the tallest building in the town, a whole two stories, which had a crudely red painted sign that read “MONGER BUY OR SELL” with buy or sell gradually getting smaller as if someone had misjudged the space the had to write and tried to fit it all on the sign. The rickety wooden door was propped open as usual indicating the shop was open for business, a good sign. Sylvi ducked her head under the low frame to find a somehow dimly lit room with about 5 other scrappers, a couple shelves, and the Monger himself. Ordained in purple, well-tailored clothes that marked the traders. Sylvi noticed the other scrappers all waiting around the desk as he looked over their goods, nothing but a few badly bent metal cups and broken electronics that wouldn’t even pass for scrap.

Avarici eyed each piece carefully with a small magnifying glass quick to render judgement of a few pieces of coin each, not even enough to buy a piece of bread. Each scrapper groaned as he judged their piece but Sylvi barged past them, pushing them aside and unslinging her find. They protested with jeers and sneers but quickly hushed when Slyvi slammed the prewar weapon on the desk with such force that the entire building rattled. Each ones’ jaw dropped once they saw what Sylvi was presenting and their noses wrinkled as her stench reached them shortly after.

“How much will this get me?” She asked in quite a monotone voice as if relishing in the other scrappers jealousy. A quick smirk curled in the corner of her short feline muzzle. Avarici dropped his eyeglass and marveled at the weapon. The thing was immaculate as if it had come out of the factory the day prior. He stood there for a few moments quietly stammering before shutting up and looking back at the cat that had brought him this.

“Sylvi, h…how did you get this? I haven’t seen anything this complete ever found before.” He gingerly picked up the piece and let his eyes pour over it as the other scrappers drooled over it and eyed Sylvi with a certain kind of jealousy like a starving man watching another feast.

“I found it.” She quickly replied keeping as much information to herself as she could but then thought for a second. “I didn’t kill for it.” She added trying to calm the fears of the monger.

“The ruins around have run through clean in the last two hundred years! I can’t imagine anyone would miss something like this.” His paws gingerly picked up the weapon and started to apprise it.

“I found it to the west, now what exactly is it? I know it’s a personal weapon.” Sylvi didn’t want to divulge any information about where she found it but the west was vague enough so she could easily head back and get most of the stuff before anyone even had a clue about it. Sure, enough the other scrappers quickly ran out of the door no doubt to start looking to the west. But it left Sylvi and the Monger alone, it meant that whatever he bought it for wouldn’t be known.

“Its what they called a ‘Rifle.’” He said using the oldspeak term. “An extremely accurate weapon but get this it was what they called standard issue. The common foot solider would carry one of these.” His paws turned it over, feeling along the plastic and metal stock.

“Right after the war and in the turmoil, they were a very powerful weapon indeed. However due to the popularity of them and the fact that new ones couldn’t be created and the amount that was already out there was limited, they began to disappear. Now you’d be hard pressed to find one that even works much less one that looks this good!” Averici set the stock in his shoulder and aimed it off to the side. “Extremely easy to use, basically point and pull the trigger. Just have to make sure that you have enough ammunition, the real draw back to these things.”

He set it down gingerly on the desk drawing in a short breath. The room fell silent for a few moments as the Monger’s eyes studied the small cat in front of him. Sylvi grew uncomfortable and fidgeted in his gaze.

“Sylvi I don’t want you in trouble for this. Did you kill one of us for this?” He finally spoke, breaking the tension that had built up. Sylvi had been anticipating the question, finding such a good artifact was extremely rare. Yet the question still threw her for a loop and she stuttered for a few moments before finally responding.

“Why do you think I’d throw away my life like that.” Sylvi blurted out finally. “I’m not an idiot like some of those others out there.”

“That may be,” Averici replied scratching his chin. “I mean, I’ve known you for a while and don’t think you would but I’m not an idiot either. Trusting someone in this world is a quick way to bring death.”

“How much will you take it for?” Sylvi pushed forward, trying to get the Monger to agree before he had more time to think about it. “And these.” She pulled out her other finds and dumped them onto the table including the small leather-bound book in her pocket. With any hope that would serve as a distraction from the thought of how she got the spoil. She kept the smaller weapon hidden though, it could serve has a nice bargaining chip.

“My my, you’ve been busy.” Just as with the others he inspected each individual item with care slightly mumbling to himself noting the quality of the piece and its condition.

“And a book too!” His eyes widened and he gingerly picked it up in his paws, thumbing through the pages just as Sylvi had done. Sylvi stood there quietly for a few moments letting him look through it. Once he got to the last page the paper fell out.

“Oh?” Averici picked the paper up, unfolding it and examining the contents.

“I didn’t know you could read oldspeak.” Sylvi uttered breaking the Coyote’s silence and concentration.

“Oh, I can’t, not many can.” He said finally looking up from the paper. “It’s just interesting that’s all.” Quickly his small paws folded the paper back up and placed it where it had been in the book, closing it gingerly and setting it back down in front of him. Sylvi didn’t buy it for a second though.

“Just interesting?” She questioned narrowing her eyes.

“Yes, now you see I need to wait for my next shipment in order to finalize a purchase on this lot.” Averici quickly stated. “I need to make sure none of us were killed or if we had anything like this.”

“Oh, come on Averici! I didn’t kill anyone and I need some food.” She pleaded but the shrewd owner wasn’t having any of it.

“If I rebought goods that we already owned it’s not just your head but it’s mine too, especially those of this caliber.” He quickly retorted gesturing toward the rifle and book.

“Just give me a number at least.” Sylvi pleaded. The Monger rolled his eyes and drew in a long breath. It was obvious he was running numbers through his head and didn’t quite know exactly what to say.

“I mean, I could…” He shifted his weight several times and scratched his chin again. “Maybe thirty for the rifle and book. I’d buy the other stuff at three hundred.” Sylvi had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming. Her fists clenched and her ear twitched ever so slightly. That was more money than she ever thought was possible. A scrapper could sell for an entire year and only make a few thousand. But thirty thousand! That was unimaginable.

“T…Th…Thirty thousand!” She shouted before once again forcing herself to pull back. Averici just watched as the black cat went through the whole gambit of emotions, excitement to denial, to anticipation.

“You’ll have to wait though, like I said, I need to check.” He said trying to reel Sylvi back to reality. It took a few moments but Sylvi finally felt her heart rate subside slightly and she could think again before ‘Wait’ brought her back to reality.

“Just how long are we thinking?” She quickly questioned.

“Two or three days.” Averici responded sitting back into his chair, logging the offer in a crudely bound book with a blunt pencil. Sylvi stayed silent, waiting was definitely the last thing she wanted to even think about but there was no getting past the Mongers rules.

“Fine.” She relented, “Can you just take the other stuff now? I could use the three hundred.”

“I don’t see why not.” Averici shrugged grabbing the other small stuff and placing it in a basket where he’d sort the stuff later. He reached under the desk and reviled a bag of coins, he grabbed a pawful and carefully counted out 3 of the largest ones.

“Here.” He pushed the coins towards her and quickly hid the bag again and logging the sale. Sylvi greedily snatched up the coins and pocketed them. Then, much more carefully this time, placed the book back into her back and slung the rifle around her shoulder. She turned and left without a word entering the market once again.

Sylvi stood for a moment and threw her head back. A deep breath left her short muzzle as she tried to calm her nerves. Squeezing her paws into a ball and relaxing them seemed to be doing a pretty good job of taking some of the edge of as well. Bringing her eyes back level Sylvi watched some other villagers scramble by walking up to a stand that sold some street food. Sylvi felt her stomach and felt the thick coins in her pocket. Should be enough. Sylvi pushed her way to the front of the stand and waited for the proprietor to notice her. His quick glance at her noted he had and she showed one of the coins she had received at the monger. With a slight nod the vendor, a small pudgy dark furred fox like creature, flipped one of the hot flat breads on his large fire heated skillet. He blotted what looked like a thick paste in the middle and rolled it into a cylinder with one end oozing of the stuff. He handed it over to Sylvi who exchanged the coin. His quick eyes scanned for any inaccuracies with it but it looked fine and with a quick flick of his wrist he tossed a smaller coin to her. She snatched it out of the air and noted the amount labeled. Her indulgent treat had cost 75 coins. For a moment Sylvi couldn’t believe that she had spent 75 coins on one thing of food but then she felt the weight of the rifle. She didn’t have to worry about money ever again.

Sylvi savored her treat. The bread was slightly bland but it was offset by the filling, a thick grasshopper stew. She tried to catch every morsel of the filling as it dripped down the sides of the bread but didn’t have much luck as she made more of a mess on her face. Sylvi easily made her way through town to the very edge where a fairly large, dilapidated building stood. Like most of the buildings in Gaer it looked as though it was going to crash to the ground in a spectacular fashion at any moment. But any hesitation that Sylvi might have had entering any of the buildings in Gaer had dissipated over the years. This building had a sign to the left of the once red painted door that read “The Red Door.”

She quickly walked through and into a familiar entryway. Behind the omnipresent desk attendant was a dimly lit room where a bunch of travelers and the odd scrapper laid back whooping at the entertainment. Sylvi gulped down the last bit of her treat and approached the desk.

“Where’s Saph?” She asked. Behind the desk sat the owner of The Red Door, Sylvi had never really quite gotten her species down but she had always thought it was some sort of fox-minx mix. Either way she was quite secretive and not too bad looking, even to Sylvi’s eyes.

“She’s busy.” Her usual blunt tone definitely contrasted her looks. She looked up from her desk. “Ah Sylvi, was wondering when you’d be back.” A sly smile crept up her face. Sylvi stood her face monotone, and sighed.

“Gabbi you know I’m never here for you.” Sylvi pulled out another one of her coins, a full one hundred piece. “I’m here for a room.” Sylvi flicked it toward Gabbi who snatched it out of the air and examined it very similarly to the vendor in the market.

“You know if you worked here you wouldn’t have to pay for a roof over your head and you’d get food every night.” Gabbi said placing the coin in a lock box behind the desk.

“You and I both know that’s never gunna happen.” Sylvi shot back. Gabbi grumbled and noted the transaction in her logbook with a tick mark.

“Fourth door on the left.” She said closing the book. Sylvi nodded and made her way to the room. The door creaked open and the smell of sweat and urine hit her like a wall but at this point Sylvi had grown accustomed to the smell of this place. She walked in, unslung the rifle and her pack, carefully setting the two down next the bed and then rolled onto the bed herself. The squishy plush matteress was a far cry from what she was used to, but a little too much. With a grunt Sylvi ripped the bedding off of the bed and made a small area to sleep on the floor. Finally being more comfortable with the hard floor she finally drifted off to sleep.

“Sylvi!”

Sylvi’s eyes shot open and she immediately shot up read to defend herself from any attack but the only person in the room was defiantly not a threat.

“Oh Saph. Hey.” Sylvi mumbled sitting back down on the bed. Saph, a small mix who had everything from fox to cat to coyote in her stood in the middle of the room with a huge smile.

“Sylvi! You’re back!” She jumped slightly and dove in to give the feline a hug but Sylvi narrowly dodged it so she sat next to Sylvi on the bed.

“Yup I’m back.” Sylvi sighed rubbing her eyes trying to get the sleepiness out of them. She glanced toward the boarded-up window and noticed that light no longer seeped through. “Must have been out for a bit.” She added.

“Yeah Gabbi said you got in a few hours ago. She also said you paid for the room! Why didn’t you wait? I can’t get you the discount after you’ve paid.” Saph crossed her arms and twitched her nose something she did often.

“I was tired Saph, and you’re the one who was busy when I came in, not to mention it’s still cheaper than the inn. Besides I’m not going to have to worry about money anymore.” A quick smile curled in the corner of her mouth as Sylvi thought of it again.

“Not worry about money?” Saph cocked her head to one side, “how so?” Sylvi turned to Saph, gave her a wink and reached for the rifle.

“’cause of this. Well, mostly because of this.” She handed it over to the small mix who gingerly held it in her paws letting her eyes scan every inch. Saph’s blank expression told Sylvi everything she needed to know. Saph had no idea what it was. “It’s a rifle” she continued.

“A rifle?”

“Yeah, a pre-war weapon, very rare and worth a lot.”

“oh.” Saph gave it back to Sylvi who placed it back next to her pack. “How’d you manage to find that?” Saph always had a certain inflection in her voice that made it one half annoying and one half indeering oddly enough Sulvi didn’t moind it.

“See that’s the interesting thing I found it in the firest ti the west! A place where no one had ever even been before! Untouched since before the war! I even found….” She paused for a second. “remains.” Saph put her paws to her thin muzzle and thought for a moment, not even noticing what Sylvi said about remains.

“Forest to the west?” She repeated.

“Yeah, any one of your customers mention anything like that?” Sylvi asked.

“Well, not really.” Saph quietly spoke.

“What do you mean not really? Have they or have they not?”

Saph hesitated as if trying to put the right words to what she wanted to say. “I mean, I have heard a few things. Mainly why many try to avoid that area, because it’s incredibly irradiated.”

“Irradiated!” Sylvi chuckled. “Yeah, no defiantly wasn’t and if it was I’d be dead before I even got to look around. Probably was at sometime but has dissipated.” She shrugged.

“Well, I had this one guy talk about it not to long ago. Said it was and that you couldn’t pay him any amount to enter the forest. He was from out of town though.” Saph shrugged and moved back to her goofy smile.

“Was probably talking about a different forest. Was fine to me.” Sylvi replied with a shrug.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Saph nodded. “Well I should get back before he notices I’m gone.” Saph moved to the door and looked back. “You know if you ever want anything just let me know, I mean you are well…here.”

Sylvi gave her a blank stare and a slight growl. “Cheaper than an inn.” She reiterated. Saph giggled and opened the door.

“Just saying.” She left, closing the door softly leaving Sylvi alone. That question was defiantly starting to get annoying, while having a cheap roof over her head defiantly outweighed the annoyance she’d really have to stop asking it at some point. Sylvi got up off the bed and slid the rifle under the bed in an effort to conceal it from anyone who may be snooping through tonight and slipped back into the bed, this time under the thin blanket. She gave a long, toothy yawn and drifted off to sleep thinking about the money she would soon have.

For the next few days Sylvi waited with palpable anticipation, almost every moment she watched the road looking for the Monger who would bring the news that she could sell the rifle and everything else. Needless to say the days seemingly lasted forever. She didn’t want to leave town at all and didn’t want to attract too much attention. She knew that Averici wouldn’t go around saying how much he would buy the artifacts for. That was just bad business. Sylvi didn’t stay at The Red Door the next few nights even though one hundred coins was cheaper than the inn it was still expensive and Saph had told her the next day that she would be taken up the next night. No discount possible again. Sylvi munched on a Protein cake similar to the ones that she had on her trip. They were disgusting but cheap and plentiful so she couldn’t complain too much about them. Her thoughts focused on Saph, really one of the only friends she had left though Sylvi didn’t really think of her much as of a friend. More as a way to gain cheap logging if she wanted. Maybe it was a good idea to keep in contact with her after she got her money.

Her eyes scanned the horizon once more and finally centered on her prize, pair of purple clad figures with large backpacks making their way slowly down the road. Accompanying them were four large guards, each with an exquisite set of light leather armor and a large sword at their waist. No doubt skilled with it as well making and would be assassin weary of attacking. It was a weekly sight that Sylvi normally didn’t pay much attention to but this time around was different. She hopped to her feet and quickly set about packing up her small camp and stuffing everything crudely into her pack. She shouldered the rifle again and made her way to the market. Looking busy, she kept one eye on the Monger stand. At one end of the market a loud booming voice cut through the din of peddlers.

“Move out of the way!” And instantly a path formed for the two purple clad merchants. They slowly mode their way down the path inside a box of protection. The Mongers definitely didn’t skip out on protection. Sylvi watched each step with baited breath.

“Go faster!” She muttered under her breath as they lazily strolled through the market, finally ending up in front of the Monger stall. Averici had come to the threshold of the shop to greet the others and he welcomed them inside with a greeting that Sylvi couldn’t quite hear. Though Averici did have a massive smile on his face, a rarity if there ever was one. The door closed behind them and Sylvi once again had to wait. Though this time it wouldn’t be that long. Around her the rest of the market returned to normal, everyone went about their daily routine. Sylvi found a spot near the door and leaned against the building resorting to people watching to pass the time. She recognized many of those who weaved around the market but none noticed her. Perfect.

After a much longer wait than normal Sylvi heard rustling from inside the building. Her heart jumped into her throat and pounded like a bass drum. From inside she heard snippets as they approached the door again.

“Good to see you again Darran, nice to see you’re on the rotation again!” Averici said to one of the other Mongers no doubt.

“Yeah, well it certainly pays more.” He chuckled back and the door started to open. “We’ll be at the Inn if anything happens with it let us know. We’ll be back tomorrow.” Out stepped the four guards who once again parted the sea of people. The two Mongers followed, all smiles on their shrewd feline faces.

“Shouldn’t have a problem, She’s not a problem most of the time.” Averici responded with a chuckle. The others returned the chuckle and nodded at each other. Then they quickly made their way through the market no doubt heading to the inn ready to rest. Averici turned and headed back into the building. Sylvi rushed up right behind him and closed the door behind her with her foot to prevent anyone from interrupting the transaction.

“Like I said, no problem.” She declared and a matter-of-factly tone. Averici reached his desk and sat on the stool, returning to his neutral expression he held most of the time. But a slight smile shined through after a few seconds.

“You’re right, no problems. In fact, no Mongers even attacked this last month.” He reached under his desk and pulled out a large case with a lock permanently fixed to the front. Just the sight caused Sylvi’s knees to buckle slightly and her muzzle to water.

“Now come here and we’ll take one more look at it.” He said moving the case to one side of the desk and clearing the clutter from the other side. Sylvi did as she was told carefully laying the rifle on the desk and pulling the book from her personal pocket. She eyed the other smaller weapon, better to wait, always nice to have a bargaining chip.

“Thirty you said.” She quickly brought up as Averici eyed the pieces again.

“That I did indeed say.” He gestured to his book that held the records of sale. “Problem is, I don’t have thirty thousand coins here. I only have ten.” Sylvi eyed the box with the lock on it as her heart suck out of her throat and into her stomach.

“Only ten?” She growled stepped toward the desk and felt a hiss emanate from deep within her. “You can’t go back on what you said.” She exclaimed.

“You mistook what I said.” The monger calmly stated. “I only have ten here, I’d have to wait for a shipment of new coins in order to fully pay you. I can only give you five today though.”

“Five!” The offer felt insulting after he first dangled ten in front of her. “Come on Averici!”

“Look, I need some coin to last another week of selling. Five is pushing it already.” His calm demeanor defiantly well practiced in the face of anger. Sylvi squeezed her paws together and drew in a deep breath to try and relax.

“What if I gave you something else too? Would you be able to do seven now?” She quietly spoke not really wanting to show her cards yet but if she had to take an upfront payment first, seven was defiantly better than five thousand.

“Well that depends on what you’ve got.” Averivi looked up from his examination of the book and cocked his head to one side. “Have you been hiding something from me Sylvi?” He set down the book. Sylvi reached into her back finding the smaller weapon. She pulled it quickly out of her back causing the hammer at the back end to pull back.

“What do you think of this?” she asked and slammed it down on the desk in an attempted ‘checkmate’ move. But instead of a surprised Averivi, a loud explosion, louder than anything Sylvi had ever heard rang through her ears. She closed her eyes and covered her ears with her paws.

“What was that!” Sylvi shouted, opening her eyes after a few seconds. The area was deathly silent, even the noise from outside dissipated after the noise. Sylvi fully opened her eyes to find Averici slumped over the desk.

“Averici?” Sylvi quietly asked moving closer to the Monger. He lay face down on the desk, unmoving and quiet. Sylvi tried to prod him to get him to move but instead he rolled off the desk and onto the dirty floor, back on the around and facing the ceiling. His muzzle was agape and eyes showed pure pain and a large dark spot now surrounded a small hold in his purple robe.

“A…Averici?” She said once again not fully comprehending what had just happened.

“What happened!” A voice yelled outside. Sylvi started shaking as the realizing started to hit her. No longer was she going to get a payday, no longer was her life set. Quite the opposite, her life very well just ended. Suddenly she heard knocking at the door.

“Averici? Everything ok?” The voice called. Sylvi recognized it as Darran, the other Monger he had been with. Sylvi grabbed her pack and started stuffing the small weapon and book back into her bag, she also slung the rifle around her shoulder again. Her eyes started to look for a way out but rested for a second on the box. She still might have her payday. Sylvi started reaching for the box but just as her paws grasped it the door opened and the light from outside illuminated the dark room. The world froze for a moment as Darran and one of the guards stepped in. Averici lay on his back the look of death covering his face and Sylvi holding the coin box. Darran’s face warped into terror as the guard drew his sword.

“Thief! Stop where you stand!” He called out. But Sylvi had no intention of following orders. Instead she dropped the box and pulled the rifle from her shoulder and pointed it toward the guard and Darran.

“It was an accident!” Sylvi cried. “I didn’t mean to!” Her entire body shook. The guard narrowed his eyes and a deep growl emanated from with him, filling the entire room.

“Killing a Monger is punishable by death! If you won’t stand down I’ll kill you where you are.” The guard lunged at Sylvi, without a choice she squeezed the trigger. Again, a loud noise, akin to a lightning strike, filled the small room. The guard crumple to the ground instantly as the bullet from the rifle, which had been chambered thousands of years ago, finally shot from the rifle and did its job. Darran shrieked with terror, threw his arms up and fled out the door calling for the help of the other guards.

“Killer! Thief!” He shouted falling in line behind the rest of the guards who had shown up outside the building. Sylvi stood, with the rifle still raised, and heart pounding trying to understand what she had just done. Not only had she killed a Monger now but also one of their guards. Her brain switched to survival mode, while everyone else was still stunned she shouldered the rifle, grabbed the box and ducked into the back of the shop. Behind her the sounds of swords being unsheathed sounded exactly like the gunshot to her. A noise that indicated death was coming, and it was pointed at her. Sylvi pulled as many of the shelves down in the back room as she could, blocking the entrance and giving her a little time. A small window at the end of the room indicated salvation and she dove for it right as the guards came through the door, stepping over the mess.

Sylvi threw the box at the window shattering it and dove through the broken glass. She landed on the other side in a back street with her arms bleeding from the sharp glass. Without so much as a thought Sylvi picked up the box and started to run. She didn’t even bother to glance back at the guards who were trying to climb through the same window but had no hope of fitting due to their size. She just kept her eyes forward and set on the edge of town. People started to come out of their dwellings and other stores in an effort to try and get an answer to what those loud noises had been. In front of her people peaked out and looked upon her in confusion. But she didn’t pay them any attention and instead pushed her paws as quick as they could run reaching the outer rim of town within minutes. Like usual it was inhabited with other scrappers who had stood up from their fires and careened their necks to try to look into town at what the commotion was. Sylvi weaved her way through the small camps, most jumped out of her way but one stood firm. Sylvi quickly stopped herself in order to prevent running into him.

“In trouble, are we?” Rai’s condescending voice boomed as he started to draw a knife. Sylvi hissed and let her teeth show at the scrapper as he pointed the knife toward her.

“Move Rai!” Sylvi yelled, redrawing the rifle and pointing it square at his head.

“I knew it was too good to be true, there was no way that you just found the Rifle just laying around.” He growled. Sylvi lowered the weapon for a second taken back.

“How…how did you know it’s a rifle?” She questioned, immediately bringing it back up to point at Rai’s face.

“Some bitch at The Red Door said that the thing you found was called a rifle and that you found it in the forests to the west.” He chuckled. Sylvi’s arms weakened and the weapon fell from where it was. It now pointed at the ground as Sylvi took in what the other scrapper said.

“S…Saph told you?” Sylvi whispered, taken back by the sudden betrayal.

“Pay anyone of them enough and they’ll tell you anything.” Rai smiled. “I’ve seen you talk’n to her before, figured it was worth a shot. Besides there’s no way you could have survived that forest so the only way you could have gotten it is by killing someone. Simple really.” He relished in his ingenuity and stepped toward Sylvi ready to pounce on her with his knife.

“Now the question is, what did you just do to make you need to run from town?” Sylvi tightened her grip on the rifle and hissed at the coyote.

“Get the fuck out of my way!” She rammed the barrel into his stomach. Rai dropped the knife and doubled over in pain, falling to the ground and curling up. Sylvi kicked him for good measure and continued her escape out of the town. Her lungs screamed for air and her legs felt that with every step they would melt but using the adrenaline running through her system Sylvi pushed on leaving Gaer behind. She stole a glance behind her and saw the guards had gained on her because of Rai’s interruption. Sylvi gritted her teeth and ran. She ran west, toward the forest. While it was quite far away from all the things she had heard about it Sylvi doubted that anyone would follow her into it. It was her only shot.

It didn’t take that much longer to lose the guards. What they had in strength they lacked in endurance, something Sylvi had from needing to survive days, sometimes weeks, away from Gaer. Regardless she continued at a fast pace to put even more distance between them. The more the better. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest though and she finally had to slow down. Moving to more of a quick walk Sylvi looked down at the weapon in her paws. She was a killer. But how! This thing was thousands of years old! How could it be capable of still firing! Sylvi drew in a deep breath to try and regulate her breathing.

It must have been the room.

Her brain finally said after a few moments of thinking. If the bodies had been preserved there’s nothing to say that the weapons were not like they had been when that door was closed. Read for battle with the enemy. Whatever the reason it meant that Sylvi could never go back to Gaer. She slung the rifle back over her shoulder and slowed her walk. She had to make it out of the valley.

Sylvi did not light a fire for the first few days of being on the run, in the valley it would have been easy to see the flames from far away but as the edge of the forest grew into view Sylvi started to grow more comfortable. At the mouth of the forest she was met with the river that ran through the valley. Last time she had just swam across but this time around keeping dry was a priority. She walked along the bank until she found what was for sure the shallowest part. Sylvi removed her backpack, stuffed her clothes inside and tied it to the end of the rifle. Then, holding it above her head, Sylvi slowly started to wade across. At first the water was quite refreshing, having black fur while the sun beat down on you really caused one to heat up. However, it started to creep up to her waist the current and its quick currents grabbed at her, trying to wash her downstream. The water reached her chest and Sylvi had to walk and lean into the current more than toward the bank in order to keep from being washed away. The water soon relented though and Sylvi felt her starting to rise and reach the shore.

Shivering from the cold, yet not wanting to get her clothes wet she set her camp up and finally lit a fire. The warmth radiated from the flames and Sylvi sat so close that some of her fur singed off. But, for the first time since her last night at The Red Door she felt a little comfortable, biased on the tales no one would come close to this forest and even then, the river would cause a problem, giving her time to make a break for it. With her guard finally lowered Sylvi was able to pay attention to the box. The split-second decision haunted her but in reality if she’s wanted for killing a Monger why not add stealing to the list. Due to the lock on the front of the box she really had no way of opening, but its wooden construction left her with another idea. She tossed it into the fire and waited for the wood to burn away. The next morning, after the remains had cooled off Sylvi dug through her little fire pit and gathered all the coins she could placing them in small piles to make it easier to count. After gathering all that she could it was obvious that Averici had been telling the truth. The box only had about ten thousand one hundred coins in it. He would have had to ask the other mongers to come back with more money and that could have taken weeks, if the next resupply stop didn’t have enough coins. Either way she would have had to wait.

The events played back in her head and she tried to run through what would have happened in every one of the scenarios and most of them ended with either her head being cut off, being stabbed in the gut or hanging from a branch. Out of all the scenarios this was probably the best outcome other than not accidently killing Averici. She kept the rifle shouldered but had moved the other smaller weapon to a pocket at her side. With this weaponry she could stop almost anything that tried to attack her which really bolstered Sylvi’s confidence of being able to slip away. Really the only thing that caused her concern was to run out of bullets. She had found the ammunition reserves in the weapons one night while looking them over. The rifle had eight left while the smaller one had nine. So she reserved herself to using when only necessary and hopefully not at all.

Once Sylvi packed up her camp the next morning Sylvi stood for a long while at the mouth of the forest. Her original plan was to head back to the base but honestly what good would that do? The reasoning of getting more ammunition certainly made sense but the worry about running out of food was a larger one. Last time while she was in the forest nothing that was edible seemed to show itself. No animals or bugs, plants or roots that Sylvi recognized. To make matters worse due to her express way out of town she only had a few protein packs. Going through the forest was not an option, there was no way to know how big it actually was and where it came out. So, with a sigh and hike of her pack Sylvi turned toward the north and started walking along the edge, hoping to find any sort of path sooner or later.

Along the way Sylvi found it surprising at severe lack of food, her stomach grumbled at every moment and even the grass to the right and the tree bark to her left looked appetizing. Instead she had her protein packs, the dense pucks of who-the-hell-knows still tasted terrible but they got the job done and staved the hunger off for about an hour. Even so, it made for a vicious cycle and one that was rapidly depleting her food stores. Fortunately, the river to her right made water a non-issue. Sylvi watched as the small foothills that were visible from Gaer gradually grew into massive hills just shy of a mountains height. Soon however the river made a sharp left turn leaving her cut off, just beyond the river though Sylvi could see hope. The markings of a path! It looked like it was nestled between to of the massive hills. Sylvi’s heart jumped at the sight and let out an audible cry of happiness, a way out of the valley and away from Gaer.

Her mind focused on the obstacle in front of her though but after searching along the bank similarly the way she had done it before a much easier way presented itself. A little way in of the forest Sylvi found a massive tree that had fallen right over the narrowing river. Sylvi nimbly hopped on top to the other side without getting a drop on her. Making her way back to the mouth of the forest Sylvi found the mouth of the path in her sights again and broke into a full-blown run. Getting out of this valley meant the world opened up, it meant she could hide. The thick grass eventually made way to the well-worn earth of a frequently trafficked path. Sylvi’s tail stuck straight up as a smile crept over her face. The path looked easy enough, fairly level elevation. Her eyes caught sight of a post that had been driven into the ground, on it two arrows pointed in opposite directions.

“Savall” The top arrow said, pointing in the direction of the path. While the other arrow was labeled “Gaer” and pointed in the opposite direction. She faced the open path and started walking away from the valley.

The path had proven to be easier than Sylvi had even thought. Except for a few sections that had some steep elevation she found it to be a breeze. Syvli even crossed paths with a few other travelers. She watched them from afar, giving them as much of a birth as she could on the path. One was another scrapper shown by his tattered look and dirty fur. He had even nodded at Sylvi as she had walked by. Another looked to be a private traveling merchant selling goods, but he wasn’t wrapped in purple robes and therefor not part of the Mongers. The short fox did have a single guard with him who seemed no nonsense and incapable of more than a two-word answer.

“Heya traveler! Need anything? A drink? Food? I’ve got it!” He called out as Sylvi walked by. Instantly she shunned him and his whiney voice, not even bothering to glance in his direction. Her instincts were to leave everyone alone and she thought she might be recognized. From the way he reacted, with a shrug, it looked as though it happened often to him. That night though as Sylvi set up her camp she regretted not talking to him, she was down to just two protein packs. Plus, how could he have recognized her if he was traveling toward Gaer, there’s no way that the information could have gotten out that quickly. Sylvi took a bite of the bitter tasting food and grumbled, she’d have to talk to the next merchant that came her way, even it was a Monger.

The day started out just had it had for the previous couple, Sylvi awoke with the sun, packed up her small camp and continued on her way but the sharp decline in elevation indicated that she was on the other side of the hills. Turning around a small bend in the path Sylvi stopped in her tracks. A vista opened up to her showing the entirety of the region in front of her. The landscape was mostly covered by a brownish haze from constantly moving sand yet she could still make out the opening of a massive canyon that broke the land into two. Beyond that Sylvi could see tips of massive mountains, absolutely dwarfing the current hills she was descending from. They even had white peaks, indicative of snow, something she had only heard about from traveling merchants and entertainers. To the west, while being obscured mostly, she could see a bay opening out to the ocean. But rocks blocking the view prevented her from seeing more to the east. Sylvi couldn’t keep her eyes off of the view, it was beyond words for her. Her eyes found the path digging through the desert. It made a wide curve around seemingly nothing, hugging the bay before continuing on.

Moving forward, Sylvi descended the hillside. As she approached the bottom she noticed a strange sight. A group of five individuals, wearing large hooded robes with the tips of their pointy muzzles sticking out, only showing their black nose. They all moved as one group, slowly yet with purpose. The defiantly did not have the look of any sort of merchant, no guards were around them and they didn’t look armed. Sylvi kept a close eye on the five as they grew closer, they seemingly didn’t even notice her as they made their way past. Unlike the others they kept their eyes down. Sylvi didn’t even bother, she just quickly moved past them. Once she was the path opened up and lead into the desert like landscape she had seen from above. Another post had been driven into the ground indicating that she was still on the right path to Savall. Sylvi stopped for a moment and sighed, Savall hadn’t even been visible when she was on the hill. She couldn’t help ask herself how much longer it possibly could be and what if that merchant she had seen pass by was the only one she would see.

“HELP!” A sudden cry broke her concentration and Sylvi twirled on her footpaws to see the five hooded figures standing still, with a sword pointed directly at them by two other scrapper like mixes. Sylvi back peddled slightly. They were motionless for a few moments almost as if they were talking, one of the hooded figures produced a small knife from under his robe followed by one other. In an instant the attackers were on them, the hooded figures didn’t even have time to parry the attack as each found a sword diving into their stomachs. The attackers yanked their weapons out from the dead figures and they fell to the ground. The quickly pounced on two of the others who were able to give a bit more of a fight now that they had a little warning. However it didn’t look good, the two attackers were much more skilled in weaponry than the hooded figures. The fifth figure frantically looked around shouting help again at the top of his lungs. He turned and Sylvi felt his gaze pierce her as the figure broke into a sprint toward her.

“HELP ME!” The voice shouted growing as it got closer. Sylvi took a few steps back, getting involved was the last thing she wanted to do. The hood of the figure flew off revealing a skinny coyote mix and even as he ran Sylvi could see the terror in his eyes and the tears. Behind him the other two hooded figures fell to the attacker’s blades and they turned to chase down their last victim. The small coyote tripped as he approached Sylvi falling directly into her and both of them crashed to the ground.

“You idiot!” Sylvi hissed kicking the dog away from her.

“Come on! We’ve gotta get out of here!” His voice quivered and he scrambled to his feet. Looking over his shoulder the attackers quickly gained on them.

“Give ‘em here! He’s ours.” One of them yelled to Sylvi.

“Yeah, stay out of it! Give that Academy bitch back!” The other growled as they stopped a few paces short of the two of them. Sylvi backed up a few paces distancing herself from the attackers and whoever this Academy mix was.

“Not any of my business.” The words left her mouth before Sylvi even realized what they said, she backpaddled some more but the mix grabbed her.

“You can’t leave me!” He shouted forcing his way next to her. The two attackers rolled their eyes and pointed their crimson stained swords toward their prey.

“We’ll just take care of both of you.” He sniveled honing his eyes on Sylvi. Without so much as a breath he pounced high into the air, lunging his sword directly at Sylvi but she dodged to the side letting the sword land in the softened dirt. The other attacker rushed towards her arcing his blade high and ready to slice Sylvi in half but she quickly rolled toward his legs swiping them with her arm causing the attacker to lose balance and tumble to the ground in a heap.

The other attacker focused on the mix who stood motionless, frozen in terror, as the attackers blade raced toward him. Only at the last second did he back away and circle around to find relative safety a few paces behind Sylvi. She scrambled to her knees as the other scrapper snarled scrambling back a bit. The attacker still on his feet arced his blade again but Sylvi jumped to her feet and turned so the blade impacted the sturdy rifle still slung on her shoulder rather than herself. Stunned slightly at the sudden feeling of metal upon metal he paused letting Sylvi jump back. With her heart racing Sylvi unshouldered the rifle and brought it up to her shoulder but by then the other assailant had recovered.

“Watch out!” The Academy mix yelled as the other attacker threw a pawful of dust right into Sylvi’s face. The dust attacked her vision and she cried out in pain, dropping the rifle giving him the perfect opportunity. In one fluid motion the attacker stabbed with his sword. Distracted Sylvi noticed too late and the sharp blade sliced through her left arm, sending waves of pain coursing through her.

“Ahh!” Sylvi dropped to her knees as the two, with their snarling muzzles stood over her raising their blades, ready to strike down. Fear of death washed over Sylvi, her paws trembled and breathing shortened. Both of the blades reached maximum height and both started swinging down ready to dig themselves deep into the cat. But before they could reach their target the noise of the rifle echoed off the hill and into the desert. Sylvi hunched over cupping her small triangle ears on the top of her head before realizing that the blades had never followed through. Stealing a glance, she saw that the attacker that was to her right had fallen where he stood, his blade still gripped in his paw but motionless. The other stood in utmost terror, his eyes were like those of the mix he had been chasing. Sylvi rubbed her eyes thinking that some of the dust was still obscuring her vision but just like before he stood, frozen. His eyes fixed upon something behind her, Sylvi glanced back to see the mix holding the rifle and pointing it directly at the terrified thief. He dropped the sword, slowly took a few steps back and quickly turned before making a break for the path up the hill.

Sylvi saw the mix start to follow him with the end of the weapon as if he were going to fire again.

“Stop!” She demanded. The mix jumped slightly and dropped the rifle. Sylvi, laboriously got to her feet and, while holding her left shoulder, moved toward him. The mix bent down to pick up the weapon but Sylvi ripped it from his paws before he could do anything more with it. Her eyes dug into him and a hiss even escaped her small muzzle causing the him to retreat back. A few moments of silence passed as Sylvi studied him. Light brown fur covered his entire face except for his ears which were sitting very tall on his head, alerted to any sound. They were darker. A black nose contrasted his light blue eyes. But everything was contorted in fear. Fear of her. Not taking her eye off of him Sylvi shouldered the weapon on her good shoulder and without a word turned on him, taking a few steps onto the desert path.

The coyote mix stood for a few seconds watching her leave. He looked back up at his dead companions. Their lifeless bodies just a few dozen paces away. Doubt filled his brain, doubt and fear. There was no way that he could survive out here alone and really, he shouldn’t even be standing here. His brain argued with itself on whether he should continue on the quest that they set out or turn back. He turned back to the black cat, she still held her shoulder and briskly made her way down the path.

“Wait!” He called racing after the cat. It was a split-second decision but was the best one for survival in his view. The cat didn’t even turn to look at him, she was in too much pain to pay attention to him. The idea of having someone travel with her also wasn’t ideal, it hadn’t been since Big Brother that someone had joined her on one of her expeditions. More pain surged through Sylvi’s arm and she winced. She moved her paw to get a look at the damage, blood covered her right paw and the deep gash kept bleeding. She put her paw back onto it and tried to push as hard as she could.

“I can help clean that gash!” The mix shouted again. Sylvi stopped and looked back at her pursuer, he made up some of the distance and slowed to a walk from his jog. “Savall is at least a week’s walk. That’ll be infected and you’d probably lose your arm before you even reach it. I can help.”

Sylvi didn’t want to talk to the mix but with the constant reminder of pain she had to at least let him help, even if it was just this one time.

“How?” The abrupt and stern tone threw him off slightly.

“I study plants and I know ones that can help with pain and closing it.” He said, now directly in front of her again.

“Study?” It wasn’t a word that Sylvi heard very often and it stuck out like a sore tail to her.

“Yeah, I’m part of the Academy. Couldn’t you tell?” He responded gesturing her to move her paw so he could get a good look at it. Sylvi didn’t respond but the mix didn’t pay any attention to it instead he forced the cat over to the side of the path. A small boulder served as a chair for Sylvi as the mix opened part of his cloak revealing a medium sized leather pouch with a single button on it. He used one paw to open it and dig through it. Sylvi got a glimpse of inside, it looked like he carried small vials of what looked like spices along with some empty ones. He looked at a few of them and finally decided on two, a vial that contained a very course, dried, green flakes and a clear liquid that looked like water. He also produced a gauze and wrap.

“Stay still.” He instructed and uncorked the liquid, the immediate smell of strong alcohol filled her nose, so much so that Sylvi grew slightly lightheaded. “This is going to hurt.” Without so much as a warning the mix used some of the gauze to clean the wound as best he could and then poured half of the liquid onto the gash. Sylvi recoiled in pain and a loud shriek left her muzzle, echoing off the hill much like the gun shot. The mix gripped her arm harder.

“I said stay still.” He grumbled and recorded the vial. He uncorked the next one with a pop and a dull smell radiated from this one, it was obvious it had been left in the sun or exposed to some heat source for a long amount of time. He sprinkled the small flakes generously over the wound. Expecting pain Sylvi recoiled slightly but the flakes did not bring any pain, instead a slight tingling sensation radiated from the gash and even started to grow numb. The mix quickly covered the remaining flakes and stuffed them into his pack. Finally, he produces a needle and some plant fiber and make quick work of some stitches, with each time he pushed the needle into Slyvi’s flesh she drew in a sharp breath. However, the numbness vastly reduced the pain she felt.

“That’ll hopefully keep it from getting worse.” He explained wrapping it with the wrap he had gotten out of his pack earlier. “But just to make sure I’d better stick with you. I’d hate to see you lose that arm.”

He finally relaxed his grip and Sylvi instinctively pulled her arm back and tested some movement. She studied the mix again, having someone with her was the last thing that she wanted but food was important and this mix might have some with him. Sylvi slid off the rock and turned her back to him.

“Fine. But Savall is where it ends.” She uttered between her teeth. He stuffed his supplies back into the pack and recovered his body with the robe.

“Basil.” Sylvi offered a raised eyebrow at the short response. “My name, it’s Basil.” He said matching her pace. “And you?”

Sylvi rubbed her wound slightly again and without thinking responded. “Sylvi.” Instantly she wanted to take the name back. She was wanted now but the Mongers what if he was connected with them? She drew in a breath to try and relax; any messenger was still days behind her. The news was still localized. Basil didn’t react much he just looked behind at the bodies disappearing to the distance behind them.

Setting up camp that night felt different. Sylvi tried to avoid talking as much as she could but even then, just having another person there felt strange. When he finally took of the brown robe Sylvi finally saw that he didn’t just have the two pouches but also a small pack. From it he produced a mat to sleep on and some small round black puck like things about four inches in diameter and one high. He sat with his legs crossed and started munching on the black object. Sylvi finished starting the fire and set her own small tent up.

“What’s that?” Sylvi finally broke the silence, previously only reserved for the crackling of the fire. Basil looked inquisitively at her.

“Food.”

“I know, I just haven’t seen food like that before.”

“Travel rations.” Basil shrugged. “Each member of a pilgrimage is given more than enough for the trip so we don’t starve.” Sylvi’s stomach grumbled, but her ears perked up when he said more than enough.

“Let me try one.” She demanded extending her paw out. Basil narrowed his eyes but didn’t move. Sylvi gestured again with her paw and he finally relented producing another one of the rations and dropping it in her paw. Much to Sylvi’s surprise it was heavier than she thought, much heavier. She inspected it closer it’s almost unnatural black color matched it’s odd smooth texture. It didn’t even have a smell coming off of it. Sylvi gingerly bit her fangs into it only to have a strong fermented taste explode into her mouth. Sylvi instantly retched and heaved before looking back at Basil with an expression of ‘why.’ He just laughed and finished his own ration.

“They’re not really food.” He added. Sylvi scowled, first she has to have this Academy mix following her and his food isn’t eatable. She set aside the ration and resorted to not eating, the taste of the ration scared away her hunger. Maybe that’s what it was supposed to do after all. Across the fire Basil stared at Sylvi in the same way she had done to him back when they had met. This was really the first time he had a chance to.

“Where did you get a rifle like that?” He finally asked, blurting it out and catching Sylvi off guard.

“Found it.” She answered keeping her answer short, though it was surprising to her that he in fact knew what it was. Explained how he was able to use it.

“A usable prewar relic like that is extremely rare only seen a few myself and the ones I have seen are so badly worn down that it’s a question if they’ll shoot or not. Even might explode in the users’ face. Where did you find it?” He asked again genuinely curious over it but Sylvi shut her muzzle it, giving away more information was not something she had any interest in doing. Instead, without a word, Sylvi kicked the fire out and retreated to her cloth tent to dodge any more questions.

“Night.” Basil said as she lay down in the small tent.

Even after the sun fully disappeared over the horizon and the stars revealed themselves Sylvi still found herself awake. Something felt strange to her. But as she lay there the soft sound of crying crept into her hears. Sylvi opened the tent flap and found Basil facing away from the camp on his side, shivering. Without a word Sylvi climbed out of the tent and draped her own small blanket over the crying mix. He suddenly stopped but didn’t move.

“Thanks.” He stuttered, trying to hide his crying even more. “You know, for saving me. They said it would be dangerous but I never expected this.”

“You were keeping me up.” Sylvi interrupted retreating back to her tent. Curing up in order to stay warm without the blanket Sylvi glances one more time at Basil. No more sounds of crying and he had stopped shaking.

Finally, the city of Savall materialized on the horizon. The haze gave the illusion of the city swaying back and forth in the dry wind. Sylvi did not know exactly what to expect from a city like this. The only experience she had was of Gaer and from what she had heard from other travelers in bars it was quite different. Regardless she’d figure it out, she would have to. Maybe this could be a place to start a new life, a place to blend in, to disappear. As the buildings became more distinct and the mass of the city became more visible Sylvi felt her stomach turn over it was absolutely massive. Similar to Gaer the buildings were largest in the middle and tapered off as they moved out from the center, however they stood over twice as tall. Each building seemed to have a life of its own in the desert air and drafts of wind around it pelted each side with sand giving them a weathered texture that could only be described as irregular. With her anticipation though Sylvi found herself starting to increase her speed toward the city leaving Basil behind not that she minded much. He had stayed true to his word and kept an eye on her arm which he had put in a sling. Yet if she wanted to disappear being followed wasn’t exactly the best way to go about it.

“Savall, city of shifting sands.” Basil coughed matching the pace of Sylvi. “Say, what was your business here anyway?” His voice turned up as his eyes met hers. Sylvi instantly broke the connection and looked forward again at the city. Her brain scrambled for an answer but after a few seconds of silence Basil shrugged.

“Eh, well, not that it’s much of my business anyway.” Sylvi let out a sigh of relief quietly.

Before Sylvi knew what to even expect she was passing by the city’s outermost buildings. Mostly homes it looked like save for the once in a while drinking hole that advertised a particular type of drink or food. The people who made up the city seemed to pay no attention to them, well not that they would have any reason to. Travelers were exceedingly common, being in the middle of the main eastern road they got travelrs of all times. It had also made the city relatively wealthy in terms of goods. Sylvi had heard it served as a hub for all the smaller cities of the east Gaer included, it was also where the Mongers came from on their resupply missions to Gaer. But that also meant that the news couldn’t be that far behind.

The further they moved into the city the denser it became. People were absolutely everywhere and widely dressed from colorful ornate tunics to more drab utilitarian garb. Sylvi was also surprised to see more indoor shops than she had ever seen before. Most of Gaer was an outdoor market except for a few, such as the Monger, inns, bars, those types of places but here there were even food stalls that had their own buildings with what looked like overstuffed, lopsided apartment type dwellings above them. But that didn’t mean there were not vendors about, they were all over the place shouting at each passer by trying to get them to look at what they offered. From strange fruit to fake pre-war relics. Suddenly Sylvi felt her feet catch on something and she fell forward, crashing to the ground with a puff of sand. Waves of pain shot through her arm as she accidently rolled onto it.

“Watch out there!” Basil said, a tad too late and offered a hand to Sylvi, who suffered more from a bruised ego rather than anything more serious. She batted it away and struggled to her feet to find that she stood on concrete. It was buried under quite a bit of sand but it certainly was there.

“Concrete?” She questioned kicking away some of the sand.

“Yeah, from the old city.” Basil answered. “Savall was built on top of an old pre-war city, you’ll still find parts of the it still visible.” Sylvi dusted part of herself off and carefully adjusted her arm so it rested comfortably again. She had never known that it was a pre-war city and for a moment she wondered if there had been any survivors from here, or if they had made their way to that bunker she found. Moving forward, not only did she pay more attention to where her feet were going but also to the architecture around her and she began to realize how the buildings were so tall. Most, if not all, of the larger ones had bases that were built off of the old buildings. She could still see large steel beams holding them up. No body knew how to make steel of that quality anymore, much less get the ore required to smelt it, it defiantly was pre-war.

While Sylvi not-so-secretly gawked at her growing surroundings Basil seemed to have a mission in mind. He forged ahead a few paces in front of Sylvi seemingly knowing where he was going. She brought her arm to the sling, thought for a few moments and then called out to the coyote mix.

“Hey, see ya I guess.” Basil stopped immediately and looked back at the back cat. She had stopped.

“Wait what?” He asked tilting his head to his side.

“I can make it just fine now, thanks for the help. You seem to have something you need to do.” She said trying to put the conversation in his court. Basil looked around quickly and gestured, referring to all the commotion around him.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” He said.

“I’ll manage.” Sylvi responded turning towards a street away from where the mix was headed. She didn’t want to give him the ability to argue against her leaving so she looked back at him and raised her uninjured paw.

“Thanks.”

Sylvi moved quickly away from Basil, the less baggage the better. She had paused for a moment and studied the crowd behind her to see if he had been following her but she didn’t see anything. It was nice to be alone again, to be able to go where ever she wanted to and no on would know. The first order of business was to try to find something to eat, having run out of her own protein packs and even needing to rely on Basil’s travel rations had caused her stomach to be in a constant state of nausea for the past day and a half and getting something real in it would hopefully help it. The deeper she got into the city the more food options became available and all the smells hit her nose like a bag of bricks but the tantalizing scent of something familiar touched her nose and she tried to pinpoint it. Sure enough around the corner she found a building which had a picture of a large locust displayed on the opened door. Without a second thought she ducked into it.

The shop was small, smaller than Averici’s Monger shop which was saying something. But there was a small counter with a equally small grill stuffed with coals and two oversized bugs on a stick laying over them. A very small almost childlike attendant stood behind the counter carefully eyeing the bugs and turning them at regular intervals. He hadn’t even taken notice that Sylvi had come in and she stood there in silence awkwardly for a few moments.

“Uh, one.” She quietly said breaking the grillers concentration who gave her an exhausted look.

“Not ready yet.” He responded turning them again which was rewarded with a sizzle that seemed to make him happy. A few more long seconds passed, only filled with the sizzling of the food.

“Is there a good inn around here?” She asked, might as well try to get some information while here. But the attendant just stole another glare at her and narrowed his eyes but suddenly, like an internal timer had gone off, he pulled off the bugs and sprinkled a bit of salt on top before sticking both of them in an empty hole in the counter so they were displayed to those who may come in.

“’round the corner, there’s a large red inn if you need a place to stay.” He said while doing all that. Sylvi reached for her coin pouch.

“How much?” she asked. The shop-keep just pointed to a sign that had several white outlines of different kinds of bugs along with a number next to them. The locust was associated with 100. Sylvi drew in a sharp breath and produced the required amount of money, no wonder this place was empty. She handed over the coins and he gestured toward one of the two as he turned around to place two more raw beetles on the grill. Sylvi grabbed one of the sticks and made sure to walk out before taking a bite. When she did though the familiar crunch and salty, bitter taste of the locust filled her mouth and she chewed loudly, finally enjoying some good food.

Following the crude directions of the shop-keep Sylvi turned the corner that rested a little way down the street to come face to face with a large building, built on top of an old building like the rest of the larger ones of the city. Its entire front was covered in a battered, dim red paint which made it stand out vs the rest of the sand colored buildings. Upon entry though Sylvi felt a rush of cold air and found herself standing in the lobby about as big as the entire vault she had found. Columns were spaced equidistant from each other and about an arm’s length in diameter. The large open space was odd, especially since she had never stood in something like it before. It still had the look of the rest of the city, battered and weathered, but it was magnificent none-the-less. She made her way to the group of what looked like attendants and made herself known. One of them turned to look at her and tilted her head to one side.

“Yeah?” She uttered as the rest of them scattered as if they were not supposed to be all together like that. Sylvi eyed them as they each found things to do. Usually cleaning.

“How much is a room?” Sylvi asked, being as ordinary as she could to not draw suspicion. The attendant studied Sylvi, her eyes moving up and down several times before she spoke.

“And you are?” She asked not answering Sylvi’s question.

“A traveler looking for a place to sleep.” Sylvi responded, she was expecting a question like that and it was the best thing she could come up with. The attendant huffed and made a slight face of disgust at the food Sylvi held in her good arm.

“One fifty.” She said. “Per night.”

Without another word Sylvi tucked her bug on a stick in her sling to hold it and produced her pouch, struggling a little bit she dug around for the largest coins she could feel and produced them. After a few moments she had one hundred and fifty laying on the small table between them. The attendant held out her paw and one of the others who she had been chatting with quickly ran up with a key and passed it to her. The vixen held it out.

“Number’s on the key…Traveler.” She bluntly said. Sylvi took the key, checked the number 204, and stuffed it into her pocket. “Up the stairs.” The attendant added. Sylvi stole a glance at her and twirled around making her way to the stairs suddenly realizing that the sign above the attendant clearly stated seventy-five for a night.

Sleep didn’t come easy; the bed was much to comfy and Sylvi felt like she was going to sink into the plush mattress. Needless to say, she tossed and turned the entire night to negate the feeling. It did have one good thing come out of it she reasoned with herself, if anyone came to steal her stuff in the middle of the night she would be able to catch them. But as the first rays of sun illuminated the sand particles that were omnipresent in the air Sylvi cursed and rolled out of the bed. The grogginess still in her eyes she gingerly reapplied the bandage as Basil had shown her and fit it into the sling again. Then she moved to the window and looked down at the street. It already was already bustling with people moving to and fro, busy with the morning’s activities. As she looked though one figure sent an icy shiver down her back. They were dressed in a purple cloak and carried what looked like a stack of parchment. She knew exactly what they were, a Monger. They made their way to each shop, spending several moments inside before moving on to the next. There wasn’t much time. Sylvi shouldered her pack as quick as she could with the sling, slung the rifle around her good shoulder and pocketed the smaller weapon; making sure it was within easy reach. Just in case. She bolted out the door and ran to the stairs quickly descending them. Once again, the attendants were all standing together chatting, a good thing, they wouldn’t notice her leave. She quietly moved to the door and stole a glance back checking to see if anyone had seen as she opened it. But before Sylvi could full look ahead she ran into someone causing them to fall back.

“Woah, hold on there. No rush.” The feminine voice spoke. Sylvi stopped in her tracks as she realized who she ran into. There in front of her was the purple clad figure just as she had tried to enter the inn. Suddenly her voice was gone and her feet wouldn’t respond, it was like they were frozen in place letting the monger get a good look at her. They looked up revealing a female wolf who stumbled slightly once again once they saw who had just run into them. Sylvi slowly reached for the pocketed weapon as realization hit the female monger. After showing a crude drawing of the guilty party who had killed the monger in Gaer all morning she had grown pretty familiar with it and the cat that stood before her was the spitting image of the one on the parchment. The world fell away. Sylvi drew the weapon and pointed it at the monger who immediately drew back holding up her paws.

“Sylvi right?” The wolf spoke in a hushed tone as to not draw panic. Those who were around had already dropped what they were doing to watch. Sylvi stepped forward to get out of the threshold of the door making the Monger step back more. Her paws shook violently and the words passed without any meaning. Behind the Monger two guards similar to those who had accompanied every other Monger broke through the crowd weapons already drawn read to kill.

“You have murdered a monger, punishable by death.” The wolf spoke again. The guards drew closer and Sylvi’s head spun. There was no way she was going to shoot another one, that would be even worse. In the span of a few seconds Sylvi raised the gun to the sky and fired. The report echoed off the old walls causing everyone to duck and cover their ears. Taking advantage of the flinch Sylvi kicked one of the guards back and made a break for it, running at top speed through the crowds to break the line of sight. Behind her shouts started to break out and Sylvi knew they were all about her. But there wasn’t much she could do other than run, and run she did. The sling bounced sending waves of pain through her arm as her arm went a long with it. She thought she could feel the wound start to open again but she’d have to ignore it. Suddenly Basil popped into her head. That was her only chance. She retraced her steps from yesterday and once she got to the point where they had gone separate ways she started down the way she thought he coyote mix had gone. As soon as she reached it however her arm burned with agony and her lungs screamed for her to stop, there was no way to appease them other than actually stop. Though it had been quite a long time and she figured with more and more people pouring into the streets to get to their business and as businesses opened up it would be easier and easier to hide. In fact, running would make her more obvious. For a split second she wondered how far much of the city had already seen her face but it wasn’t something she could focus on. She had to find a way out now.

She drew in deep, full breaths to calm her nerves and focus on her surroundings. Finding Basil in such a city wasn’t going to be easy but he had been looking for something. Her only shot would be to try and find what he was looking for. Sylvi thought back to the week they had spent together in an effort to remember if he had said anything about what he was going to do once he got to Savall. One word stood out to her, Academy. There had to be something called that in the city, it had to be what he was looking for. So, her narrow eyes scanned each building and the people as well, maybe there would be others that were like him. Most were extremely varied, even more so toward the center of the city than the outskirts. Sometimes Sylvi had to do a double take because she thought she saw the lanky mix duck behind other inhabitants, but it always turned out to be a trick of the eye.

She had been looking for what seemed like ages, always trying to move away from the side of the city where the commotion had taken place. Nothing had come up however and she began to feel more and more desperate. Her plan to settle down here had been shattered in the first day and within days the entire city would know her face. As a precaution she carefully tied some cloth around her short muzzle pretending it was a sand shield and not something to hide her face. She felt more comfortable with the identity blocking and thought asking for help might be worth the risk. The cat weaved through the crowd trying to find someone that she could ask for help. Eventually she came across a lonely vendor on a corner selling some equipment including some batteries that Sylvi noticed went to her Jumper. She stopped to browse the wears and the vendor huffed slightly.

“How much for the batteries?” She asked picking them up and examining them closely.

“Fifteen or so, don’t know if they actually have a charge but someone can use them.” He shrugged and made a waving gesture with his paw. Sylvi continued to look at them but changed the subject.

“So, do you know where the Academy is here?” She asked as non-chelauntly as she could. Sylvi didn’t know if they were biased here, had any sort of presence or even were liked. But it had to be asked. The vendors eyebrow raised and his long thin muzzle sneered.

“Why do you need to know that?” He asked with a scoff. Suddenly Sylvi felt her heart jump into her throat, had she said something wrong!? Was it not supposed to be something that was talked about. She scrambled for something to say but the vendor scratched his ear and huffed again.

“They’re where they’ve always been. Near the bridge.” Sylvi’s ears perked up and her heart fell back to its normal place she dug into her back and produced some coins. Counting them in her paw she gestured toward the batteries.

“I’ll take two.” She muttered. The vendor swiped the coins from her and Sylvi dropped them into her bag. “Thanks.” She added at the end and turned and started walking away.

“Hey! Where are ya going!” The vendor called out as she walked. The fur on Sylvi’s neck stood on end and she glanced back at the smiling vendor. “The bridge is that way.” He pointed towards a path that proceeded north. Embarrassed, Sylvi looked down to the ground and made her way down the path.

Sylvi precariously moved through the city, following the path that she had been told of. Gradually she could tell she was moving out of the central area as the crowds and din started to diminish. However, this made her even more fearful as it would be easier to recognize her. It felt like each pair of eyes were a knife digging into her knowing everything about her with just a passing glance. Then their ears flickered and it felt as though they could hear her thoughts. Sylvi half expected someone to shout out her name and she would suddenly be swamped by people. But fortunately, most people stayed to themselves, everyone once and a while someone would see her weapon and gawk slightly but then, along with the flow of people, move along. No one person stayed in the same place for too long and she used it to her advantage.

Though with the waning crowds Sylvi noticed a tall column of black smoke billowing up from the point she was headed towards. Sylvi cocked her head and glanced around, no one seemed alarmed which she thought was odd. She kept moving toward it hoping that whatever it was, it wasn’t dangerous. But that was a hard thought to keep in her head judging from the massive size of the cloud that formed yet she still pressed on. Moving forward Sylvi saw a medium sized building, it was smaller than other buildings that were in the interior of the city but still towered over those it surrounded. She could also make out that it wasn’t built out of a previous standing structure but was entirely ‘new’. Beyond it, the cause of the black column of smoke came into view. A large, rapidly moving river flowed behind the building and the wide path came to a sudden stop, right where what looked like a large bridge had once recently stood. On each side of the bank a wooden lattice structure had crumpled and still smoldered. From the look of each side it would have been a magnificent bridge.

Travelers would walk up to the bridge look around as if trying to find another bridge that wasn’t there sigh and turn around back towards the city. Though, in front of the medium sized building stood some familiar figures. Dressed very similarly to Basil, the two stood surveying the damage. Their hoods were down revealing very tall triangle like ears on both of them along with their long slender muzzles and yellow-brown fur tinge read desert jackal to Sylvi. She precariously approached them hoping that the news of her hadn’t reached this far out yet.

“It’s going to be quite a task to remove this debris.” One said to the other with a sigh.

“And with the Elconian ships regularly checking rebuilding it will not be easy. At least not as long as the war is going on.” The other responded. Sylvi approached them and stood behind waiting for the two to notice her presence, which took an uncomfortably long amount of time as they were engrossed in their conversation about how to rebuild. They seemed to be some kind of engineers.

“Don’t bother with it.” One said after they noticed Sylvi. “As you can see the bridge is out and the rapids are to much to swim.”

“I’m not interested in crossing.” Sylvi said, her heart pumping a mile a minute, she felt her tail droop behind her as the two turned to face her full on. It would be now if they recognized her. But after a few moments of studying the black cat in front of them the two jackals cocked their head to the side in unison.

“Medical help?” The one on the left asked gesturing toward Sylvi’s sling.

“No, I’m looking for someone. One of your own. Basil, know of him?”

“Basil?” The other chuckled, what did he do this time. As soon as he said that, the other pointed toward the rifle on her good shoulder.

“Wait, didn’t he report meeting with someone who had a rifle?” The two fell silent and Sylvi stood petrified. How much did he say? Couldn’t have been much considering she didn’t talk about a lot but he most certainly knew her name.

“Is he here or not?” She pushed.

“Certainly, trying to figure out a way back to Airam I imagine.”

“Thank you.” Sylvi quickly said wanting to get out of the open and moved toward the door. Fortunately, the two didn’t bother trying to stop her. Sylvi passed through the threshold and was quite surprised with what she saw, or rather lack of what she saw. Instead of there being much inside it was mostly bare. Very little actual décor or styling, instead it was remarkably clean. Running the length of the large room were tables with benches on either side where a few others sat working on things of every nature. Some were clad in a cloak while others were not, leaving them on small racks at the end of the tables, revealing very slim, lithe bodies. On the wall closest to the river a staircase led upstairs. No one stirred when she entered and she suddenly felt an immense sense of unease in the quiet. Suddenly, like he was highlighted in her eyes Sylvi noticed Basil, cloak-less, and sitting at the end of the table closest to the stairwell.

Sylvi shuffled over to him drawing the ire from others in the room but Basil kept is nose down. With a quick clear of her throat the mix finally stirred and looked up from his work.

“Sylvi?” He questioned.

“I need out of the city.” She interrupted. “Can you get me out of here?”