FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Part 11

A few weeks later I find myself standing in the library looking out over the yard from a second floor window. Shadow is out there practicing his sword work under the tutelage of Rick and Jasper. The last few weeks have gone by rather fast and uneventful. We have all settled into a comfortable routine.

Shadow has been fully accepted by the rest of my pack, the girls gossiping finally having stopped. He has proven to be rather skilled with the sword though he still has much to learn. Today Rick is showing him how to fight against an opponent armed with a war hammer, something Rick seems to prefer himself much more than swords.

Luna's studies have been progressing as well, Shadow has joined her this past week after expressing an interest in furthering his own magic studies. Having someone to compete against has proven to be a good thing for them both, even forming a bit of friendly rivalry between them. Though we had to move some of their fire magic lessons outside after Shadow nearly burnt a hole in the floor with a fire ball.

Aaron has really taken to being Rose's new assistant, he is constantly running errands for her and seems quite happy to be off the street. Though I get the feeling that he wouldn't mind skipping some school now and again.

Tabatha and Eve are continuing to be the life of the pack, always keeping everyone on their toes. Today though they are out in the yard practicing their combat training along with the others, sparring with staffs while Shadow tries to fend off Ricks hammer with his sword. Jasper is off to one side of the yard shooting arrows at a target a dozen or so yards away with a well polished wooden long bow.

Standing in the window I watch as my pack goes about their daily training while I absent mindedly finger my ring that allows me to see my long dead father in my right hand. A couple times over the last few weeks I have put it on and talked to him asking questions about why he and the other leaders of the guardians made the ring, what its purpose was, what the coming storm that my father foresaw was supposed to be, as well as various questions about a home I barely remembered. His answers to the first questions were always vague and unhelpful, usually ending in the phrase "you will know when the time is right". Questions about Atlantis though seemed to delight him to no end and we spent hours at a time talking about it and walking together through the streets of the long lost city, only possible to the magic of the ring.

Rick launches a rather fierce attack with his hammer at Shadow who quickly steps around it at the last second and with a fast spin presses the edge of his training sword to Rick's throat. They both freeze in place. It is the first time Shadow has been able to best him in any of their practices. Looking down at them I can't help but let a smile of pride touch my face at how well my mate has progressed in his training. When the two of them back away from each other and begin another round I turn from the window and head out of the library talking quietly to myself "Looks like it's about time that I take a bit more active role in their weapons training as well. They are all doing well, but this old wolf still knows a few tricks."

Stepping out the front door I casually walk to where the others are practicing. Not wanting to disrupt them I watch quietly till they finish their practice. When Rick and Shadow finish their round with Rick knocking the blade from Shadows hand I stroll over and pick up the blade as I speak. "When fighting someone with a large weapon like a hammer it's important to keep an eye on the weapon and to be able to move around the blows, not try to block them."

I raise the sword to a ready position and turn to face Rick. "Come at me with your best moves." Rick swallows and gets a determined look to his face before hefting his hammer preparing to attack me. He swings the hammer around and over his head before bringing it down towards me. Instead of trying to block the blow I fluidly step to the side and move my body around the path of the hammer allowing it impact harmlessly into the dirt by my feet with a loud thud.

The others have stopped their own practice and have come over to watch Rick and me. His next attack is a wide sweeping blow aimed at my legs, this time I easily jump over the hammer as it flies past where my knees were just a second before. I land back on my feet and look up just in time to see the hammer coming back around this time aimed for my head. Leaning backwards I managed to drop just under the path of hammer feeling the wind flowing off it brush the tip of my nose.

Standing straight I get back in position to prepare for his next assault. I don't have long to wait as soon the hammer is once again coming towards my body, this time it is moving faster than before and I am forced to parry it with my blade altering its course into a larger arc at an angle away from my body instead of trying to stop it out right.

Time and time again I manage to either dodge or deflect Ricks attack though the speed of his attacks prevent me from being able to get in close to disarm him or go on the offensive. We continue our match till both of us are sweating hard and panting from fatigue. Eventually he sends a rather forceful swing coming in around from my right forcing me to drop down ducking under the hammers path before it can make contact and potentially break my ribs.

Straightening back up I bring my sword up to a defensive stance, a grin spreading across my muzzle as a bead of sweat falls from beside my eye. "You have improved my friend." Rick smirks at me as he readies his hammer again as he replies, "Practice makes perfect does it not Seeker?" "That it does Rick." I move in and with a quick flourish of my blade I rap the flat of my blade on his right hand, which is supporting the majority of the weight of his hammer, causing him to lose his grip and drop the hammer to the ground. My next move knocks his left hand to the side knocking him off balance. With a quick spin around I bring the blade up and settle the point so that it is gently parting the hair on his neck just above his Adams apple. I manage to pull off the whole combo in a matter of seconds.

Rick swallows and lifts his eyes from the blade to my face as I speak, "It would seem though that you still need a bit of practice before your perfect." Lowering the blade I reach down and pick up Ricks hammer and hand it back to him with a grin. "Though I must say you have come a long way from when you first arrived, you could barely hold the hammer then. Now you wield it like an artist." He blushes a bit under his fur as he takes the compliment, "Yeah, but you could have still disarmed me some time ago couldn't you?" I shrug and hand the practice sword back to Shadow who is standing there in a bit of shock at the match he just saw.

The others break off and go back to their practices Jasper taps Shadow on the shoulder and takes the sword to spar with rick himself freeing Shadow up to come talk to me. "That was intense love, where did you learn to fight with a sword like that?" I smile down at Shadow, "Oh, several places, didn't think that my trident was the only weapon I learned to use was it?" He shrugs. "I guess I never really thought about it. So are there anyweapons you can't use?" I let out a small chuckle, "I rather suck at archery. Once in a while I get lucky and hit the target but not often."

I stop Jasper's and Rick's match to give Jasper a few pointers on swordsmanship when fighting a hammer. Then I begin walking around the practice area watching them as well as Tabatha and Eve spar while Shadow walks along beside me listening to my suggestions that I give the others. "So what are you best at then, if you have learned different fighting styles?" Shadow asks. "Well my best area is going to be fighting with my trident of course, followed by swordsmanship, then combat magic. Though I try to avoid fighting with magic too much, one mistake can cost you your life after all."

We watch the others for a several minutes. I occasionally give pointers to the others having them tighten up their forms here, relax a movement there. Eventually everyone has practiced enough for the day and I call an end to practice. "Alright everyone that's enough for today. Why don't you all go in and get cleaned up and I will get some lunch started." With a couple barks of excitement the others put up their practice weapons and head inside to get cleaned up. Shadow hangs back with me while the others go in.

When the last of the others goes in Shadow tosses me a practice bow and a quiver of arrows. I look at him with a raised eyebrow, "What are these for?" "I don't think you're as bad a shot as you claim." Laughing I realize that he is wanting me take a shot and show him how bad I really am at archery. I head over to the target, notch an arrow to the bow, pull it back slowly, take aim at the target, and let it fly.

The arrow flies in a straight line...... straight over top of the target, missing it by several feet before impaling itself into a nearby tree. Turning back to Shadow with a shrug, "Told you I wasn't a good shot." He just looks at the arrow in the tree, "Well I guess you can't be an expert at everything even after all your years." I raise an eyebrow at that comment. "Was that a dig at my age?" His eyes widen a bit as he starts stammering, "N... no, was just saying... you're good at so many things already..." I just chuckle and he realizes I was just picking on him. He tosses a practice staff at me as he sticks out his tongue and heads inside to clean up. "You can be a pain sometimes love. You know that?"

I just chuckle and watch his fine ass as he heads inside. Once he is inside I grab a second arrow and take another shot at the target. This arrow also misses the target but it manages to impact the same tree as my first shot. I let out a disappointed sigh. "I at least managed to hit the same tree for once." With a bit of disgust I toss the bow over with the rest of the practice weapons and head inside.

On my way back to the house a cold chill runs down my spine causing my fur to stand on end. It feels as though someone is watching me. I turn around and look around the yard and surrounding forest, nothing seems to be out of place. The sounds of nature are the same as always, birds in the trees, insects in the grass, a gentle breeze in the air. All is as it should be but there is still something that has my instincts on edge but I can't put my finger on it. Eventually the feeling passes and I go inside taking one last look around before closing the door and heading to the kitchen to prepare some lunch.

Once in the kitchen I set to work fixing lunch for the pack. While I am cooking the door to the kitchen opens and closes and set of paws pad their way up behind me before Shadow wraps his arms around my waist and looks around me to see what I am cooking. "What's for lunch today love?" he asks. I spoon the vegetables I have been grilling into a bowl before checking on the steaks I have grilling on the opposite side of the oven. "How does steak and veggies sound to you?" He takes a deep smell of the food before letting it back out slowly as his tongue begins to hang out of his mouth as he begins to drool, "Sounds and smells great."

He starts to reach a hand around me trying to sneak a bite of the food before I'm through cooking. I lightly tap his hand with a spatula. He pretends to be hurt by my swat but quickly gets over it. "Why can't I have a taste?" he asks. "Just because you're my mate doesn't mean you get free samples before I am through cooking. Now why don't you go set the table love, dinners almost ready." I lean down and give him a quick kiss as he gets the plates and silverware for the table.

After setting the table he comes back in the kitchen and pulls up a stool to set next to me while watching me cook. He asks, "Where did you learn to cook Seeker?" I look up from flipping a steak and chew on my lower lip as I think. "I guess I am mostly self taught. I was on my own for so long that it was either learn to cook or eat raw food. Well needless to say I decided cooking was the better option." He chuckles as he watches me finish cooking lunch.

After swatting his paw back a few more times I finally get lunch finished and we take it into the dining room where the rest of the pack is waiting. I barely get the food set down before it is set upon by the pack. I swear one of these days I am going to lose a hand. After managing to get my own plate filled I sit back and slowly enjoy my meal as I watch the others eat, fending off the odd fork that gets too close to my plate.

Eventually the food is all eaten, the plates are cleared away, and the pack spreads out around the house for a lazy afternoon as we digest our meal. Shadow and I find ourselves stretched out on a couch in the library reading some books. He is leaning back against me snuggled close while he reads up on different fire based magic's. It's a while before I realize that he hasn't turned the page in a while, setting my book aside I whisper in his ear, "Your furs on fire love." He mumbles, "Yeah it's nice...." His eyes pop open and he jerks back to focus, "Wait what?"

I chuckle as I move our books to the side and look down at him. "What's on your mind love? Because it sure wasn't the book." He sighs and stretches out on the couch a bit more putting his head in my lap and stares up at the ceiling. "I was thinking about my old pack." I raise an eyebrow out of curiosity. "What about them?" He lets out a sigh, "I was just thinking about what the alpha would do if he ever found I was alive and not dead like he wanted. He gets very mad if he doesn't get what he wants, and he wants me dead."

I take one of his paws in mine and look him in the eyes and smile. "I will fight to my dying day to keep them from hurting you love and since I'm immortal, that will be a very long time." He smiles up at me then lifts his head and licks me on the nose. "Thanks love that means a lot." He settles his head back into my lap with a smile on his face. Soon his eyes drift shut. After watching him sleep for a few minutes I pick my book back up and go back to reading, making sure to keep his paw in my own.

I don't know how long we stayed there, minutes or hours I'm not sure. I was lost in the book I was reading and Shadow was wondering in his dreams with a constant smile on his face. It was then that a knocking came from the front door. I didn't think anything about then I heard Eve yelling from the entrance, "SEEKER, QUICK! I NEED YOUR HELP!!" Shadow is awake right away and the two of us race out of the library heading for the front door, his nap and my book completely forgotten.

As soon as we get in sight of the door I know something is horribly wrong. Eve is standing by the open door holding up a human boy who looks to be in bad shape. He is covered in dirt, his clothes are torn and stained with dirt and blood, and he is holding his right arm which has been crudely bandaged and hangs limp. He looks up and our eyes meet. It's Aaron.

I am by his side in an instant as he collapses into my arms. He begins speaking in ragged breaths. "Seeker.... I came... fast.... As I could...." I scoop him up in my arms and carry him inside. I turn to Eve, "Eve, go get me some water and clean rags. Shadow, go get the bed in the guest room ready for Aaron." They both nod and race off as I carry Aaron up to the guest room as quickly as I can without hurting him. He is light in my arms and feels as though he could be snapped in two with little effort, a lot different than that day we met in the market.

Along the way Aaron mumbles something about an attack just before he passes out in my arms. Reaching the bedroom I lay Aaron down on the bed that Shadow has prepped for us. The two of us begin taking off Aarons ruined shirt and start looking for any injuries he may have, aside from the badly bandaged cut on his arm, there are dozens of small scrapes on his sides and face that look as though they may have been caused by running through tree branches. Aside from that there doesn't seem to be any injuries to him. Eve arrives a moment later with a large pan of warm water and a pile of rags. Taking one of the rags I wet it in the water and begin wiping the dirt and gore off Aarons face and body.

While I work on cleaning him I talk to Eve and Shadow, "Eve, he mumbled something about an attack, did he say anything when you opened the door?" She shakes her head, "No, he just asked for you then started to collapse, that's when I called for you." "Ok, I want you to go gather everyone in the main hall, have Jasper go see if he can find any clues on the trail Aaron took to get here. Shadow I need you to go get a glass of water for when he wakes up, and to see if we have any smelling salts in our bathroom." They both nod and set off on their tasks saving their questions knowing that the only one who could answer them is currently lying on the bed unconscious.

Several minutes and many rags later I have Aaron cleaned up and his arm re-bandaged. The wound wasn't serious, but it was deep enough that it must have hurt like hell. Shadow returns then with the water and smelling salts, "Sorry I took so long Seeker, took a while to find them." I took the salts from him, "That's ok, it gave me time to get him cleaned up." I open the salts and hold them near Aaron's nose. Soon his eyes open and he tries to sit up beginning to panic, "Huh, where am I?"

I put a paw on his shoulder and push him back down on the bed, "It's ok Aaron, your safe. You're with me and Shadow now. Can you tell us what happened to you?" He looks from me to Shadow and back and visibly relaxes a little as the panic leaves his face. "Rose sent me, to tell you about the attack." My eyes go wide and Shadow and I exchanged concerned looks. I turn back to Aaron and ask, "What attack are you talking about?" He swallows hard, "The attack on the village. I don't know who it is, Rose and I were working in the back of the shop when there was a loud explosion from out front. She told me stay in the back while she went to look. A few seconds later she came back and locked the door and led me to a panel in the back of the room. She slid it off and it revealed a passage leading underground."

I can't help but grin as I offer him the glass of water, "Rosalie always did prepare for the worst. Go on Aaron, what then?"

He takes a sip of the water before continuing. "I don't know what it was that she saw but she was scared, she pushed me into the hole telling me to follow it to the end and when I came out to go straight east till I came here and to get you and tell you the village was in trouble. I ran as fast as I could, falling a few times, that's how I hurt my arm. When I got here I could barely knock on the door." He falls quite and looks down away from me, "Sorry I can't tell you more."

I pat him on the shoulder, "You did good Aaron. I'm proud of you. Now just stay here and rest, you're safe. The others and I will figure out what's going and will fix it." With that Shadow and I leave him to rest and head down to the main hall where the rest of the pack is gathering. We all wait in silence for everyone to show up and for Jasper to return for his scouting.

After several long silent minutes of everyone waiting Jasper slams the front door open panting slightly. He looks straight at me with a touch of panic in his eyes. Everyone knows that with that one look that the worst has happened and the village we have sworn to protect is indeed under attack.

I take a deep breath letting it out slowly. Holding my right hand out in front of me I summon my trident to my hand and slam the base on the floor once it is fully formed. With a loud voice that echoes around the room I tell the pack my decision, "We go to fight."