FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was past dusk as Red sat alone in her living room above her office. She had her long muzzle stuck in a book. It was a quaint little adventure novel. She found the plot to be formulamatic and the characters to be rather cliché, but it was a decent read.

Her long ears moved back and forth with interest. It hadn't been a very productive day for the hunting guide. No one had even come in for so much as a scenic tour of the Badlands. Thunder rumbled overhead. It was nothing unusual; the planet Caligula was known for its fierce lightning storms, but rarely any rain.

Red sighed contently. She was dressed for bed in a blue robe covering a simple gray chemise with her bare feet upon a battered settee. The Daedalian was about to call it a night because tomorrow would be a new day. As her thoughts were turning to bed, there was a loud banging noise on her downstairs door.

Red flattened her ears in annoyance. This had better be important if someone was pounding on her door at this hour. She pulled her robe closer to her as she made her way down the stairs. Her hand strayed to her thigh as she patted the knife she kept there. It didn't hurt to be prepared.

Red flung open the door to find Geoffrey Parsons, the Sheriff of Chohe. His face was set in a grim mask.

"Sheriff? What brings you here," Red asked.

She'd worked with him a few times before. Her keen senses were invaluable to the small department. Oftentimes he'd deputized her to assist him with one case or another.

"Red, get your stuff together. We need you," Parsons said.

"Two minutes," Red responded. She rushed upstairs to get the rest of her stuff.

Red tossed off her robes and shift. She pulled on a tank top, shorts, boots and a khaki coat with the sleeves rolled up. She paused to make sure she had everything together. After strapping on her Daedalian blade, the short chopping sword of her people, she grabbed her rifle and slung it over her shoulder.

As Red hurried down the stairs, she found the sheriff was still at the door.

"I'll brief you en route," he told her.

She nodded her head in consent and followed Parsons to his skimmer. As they set out the lawman wasted no time informing her.

"I need your nose and knowledge on the terrain. We've got a kid who's gotten lost out in the badlands."

Red parted her ears.

"A kid! How old? And how long has he been missing?"

"He's ten and he's been gone for over four hours now," Geoffrey said gravely.

Red cringed.

"Ten! How did he get lost in the first place?"

"His parents are offworlders. They thought it would be a good idea to have a picnic and take in the scenery."

Red shook her head. "And they didn't consult with anyone or hire a guide? That is stupid! Not to mention irresponsible! Especially, with a young one along!"

"I agree, but let me handle that. Right now we just need to find that kid."

"Of course," Red agreed.

It was a short drive away from the walls of the city and onto an escarpment at the edge of the badlands. Red exited the vehicle and made out the figures of Parson's deputies. All were in their utility uniforms. She also noticed a man and woman that were obviously offworlders. It was not just from their impractical clothing, but also their worried expressions. The woman's eyes were also red from crying.

Parsons was the first to speak,"This is Red. She knows the planet better than anyone. As you can see, she's Daedalian and her senses will not fail us."

Red wanted to start off by reprimanding the parents for being so idiotic, but she restrained herself as she spoke, "Do you have something of your young? I need it so I can recognize his scent. Everyone has their own distinct scent and I need to be able to recognize his."

"Yes of course." The woman said and handed over a small backpack to Red.

It was very colorful. It had a bright blue background with little spaceships in an assortment of colors. It was most definitely a child's backpack. The name was even embroidered upon the bag and in yellow letters it said, "Peter."

So his name's Peter. Red thought to herself and took a sniff of the bag. She shut her eyes as she took in the scents and memorized them. Finally, she took one last sniff to refresh her memory.

"Show me where you last saw him," Red insisted.

The father led her over to a spot by an odd shaped boulder. "Right here. He was leaning against this rock."

Red took a sniff of the air and detected the same scent from the backpack. She kept sniffing and followed the scent. It led through some shrubbery and ended in a ledge. It was hard to see. Anyone could have stumbled off that ledge. Peter's mother gasped at the sight. Red held out an assuring hand and pointed down to a shelf. It jutted out a few feet below the ledge and Red lowered herself down. Peter's scent was definitely present there.

"Hmm," Red muttered running a finger along her muzzle and glanced up. She could jump and pull herself up easily, but a human child certainly wouldn't be able to do that. For whatever reason, the boy hadn't called for help. It seemed to Red he had made his way down where the ledge began to slope. It was uneven, rocky terrain and he could have easily fallen off. Red shook her head.

"Peter! Peter!" The rest of the search party began to call as their voices echoed off the landscape.

There was no response.

Red lead on. Carefully placing one foot in front of the other, she guided the group down the sloping rock ledge.

"He could have toppled off the cliff! Oh, it's all my fault," Peter's mother sobbed.

The sheriff looked over at her. "Easy ma'am. We're doing the best we can."

One of the deputies, a dark skinned woman named Sable, nodded patting the near hysterical woman on the shoulder. She reassured her by saying,"We'll find him."

Red moved on a bit ahead of the rest of the search party. The scent was still present. That was until she caught whiff of another scent.

Blood!

She stopped and found a slight discoloration on the rock. It was a small bloodstain, barely noticeable. Red figured that the kid must have stumbled and skinned his knee. It was the best that she could determine given it was the only evidence of violence found. She knew that there would have been more if a predator had gotten the boy.

Sheriff Parsons was speaking into his radio. Red's sharp hearing caught a bit of the conversations. There was something about storm bands heading their way. That probably wasn't good news. Her suspicion was confirmed as Parsons made his way to her.

"Bad news," He said.

"Storms," Red asked.

Geoffrey nodded. "Yeah, high winds and increased lightning strikes."

"I got bad news too," Red said.

The sheriff frowned, "What?"

Red twitched her ears. "I can smell blood. So I think Peter hurt himself. What's bad about that is, if I can smell it, other things out here can smell it too."

"We need to pick up the pace," Parsons said.

Peter was running as the horrible creatures flew over his head. They looked like stingrays that flew and they had nasty looking barbs on their wings. They also made shrieking noises as they pursued him. They'd burst out at him when he stuck his hand in a crevice on accident. Now they were relentlessly chasing him down the path. He tripped and tumbled, scraping his elbow.

Peter lay where he was. The creatures shrieked a few times as they hovered over him and then they stopped. The boy looked up hesitantly and saw the creatures fly back to where they'd come from.

"Yeah keep flying!" Peter shouted.

But despite his bluster, he was terrified! He'd just wanted to explore for a bit as his parents did boring things. He'd found a seemingly undiscovered path and went down it. Not thinking about getting back up.

He lost his footing once and that's when he realized how foolish it was to wander down so far. He'd called for help, but no one responded. The roll of thunder and the whistle of the winds drowned him out. He'd huddled against the rocky cliff face until he had enough. Finally, he set out trying to find some sign of how to get back to the top.

Now he seemed to have found his way to the bottom, but now he was in a maze of rock and sand. There were no helpful people around or signs to help him. He was lost, alone, and admittedly scared.

Hoping for the best, Peter struck out for one of the corridors of stone. As he went, he proceeded to call out, "Mom! Dad!"

As the Totht crawled across the sand and stone it could smell prey. It was an odd creature that stood on four crablike legs with long talons. These helped it climb and tear through flesh. It's skin was a blotchy brown to blend in with the sands. A long thin barbed tail helped it keep its balance. It also had a long triangular head with slits for a nose and a maw of sharp teeth.

Totht were mostly scavengers that picked over the remains of dead animals, but occasionally if they found easy prey they would go on the hunt. This Totht in particular could smell easy prey.