FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Catherine’s calm had cracked, and the usually reserved woman flew into frenzied action. Her son had been missing for three full days now. Nobody had seen him leave Den nor did they know for sure when he had left. Add to that the hunters had simply lost his tracks as if Silvius had just walked off the edge of the world never to be seen again.

The time for calm had passed and she paced across the shop, tapping her foot on the floorboards until she found the right one. Pauric was following behind wearing a heavy frown as his wife knelt down and started lifting false floorboards.

“Catherine, calm down. Sil has my crossbow and he’s a very decent shot. The hunters are on the lookout. He’ll turn up fine.”

Catherine scoffed as she reached into a hidden compartment they’d dug into the foundation of the shop after buying the place. “Turn up fine? With a werewolf on the loose?”

Pauric groaned, rubbing his eyes. “Oh, don’t you start, woman. There is no werewolf!”

Pulling back, Catherine leaped to her feet with preternatural dexterity for a woman in her late forties. She still had the agility of the old days, Pauric noted. Which was kind of a turn on in some ways. And when he considered how the muscle he’d built in his youth had all but turned to flab, Pauric was suddenly ashamed... And afraid. There was that familiar blaze in Catherine’s eyes. The fury that had made him fall in love with her in the first place. The fire of a warrior woman she had replaced with motherly calm and affection for the benefit of their children.

She came up holding a pair of sheathed long swords. The leather bound, and silver gilded hilts were long enough each to be wielded in a two handed grip, and the enchanted blades were housed in finely crafted sheaths adorned with runes of the Sun-God.

“Are you certain about that, Pauric? Totally certain?” The blades rattled softly as Catherine turned and pointed in the direction of the forest. “What if Silvius was right? What if we missed one? What if there’s a werewolf out there… or worse?”

Pauric gritted his teeth thoughtfully for a moment. There was always that sense of never being sure, especially where monsters like werewolves were concerned. There was never a way of being sure you got them all. Finally he sighed and took his swords. As he did, Catherine knelt again and produced a suit of well-maintained leather armor, folded neatly in the same cubbyhole and a utility belt adorned with three finely crafted daggers. Seeing his wife’s old adventuring gear produced after all this time, and holding his old sunburst swords for the first time in recent history, Pauric gave another long sigh.

“This is going to be like the time you saved me from that succubus, isn’t it? I still haven’t heard the end of that.”

Despite her worry, Catherine managed a small roguish smile as she looked back at him as she donned her old gear.

• Earlier that day... -

Silvius let out a pained grunt as he fell back against the tree. The impact knocked all the air out of his lungs and momentary stunned the human. He opened his eyes and brought up the wooden sword that he had in his hands to parry the strike that was being swung his way with a loud klack. The offending weapon was drawn back and he rolled away from the tree as the the strike was made again. A dull thud was made from the spot where he was as he struggled to get back on his feet. He was panting hard, he wasn't used to this sort of thing. At least not yet.

A flash of gray drew his attention as he swung the wooden sword to block another attack. He shifted his weight forward and pushed the blocked weapon away as he made an attack of his own. He was surprised and thrown off balance again when his attack met with no resistance. He gave a startled cry as the opponent's came down and smack him on the butt. Turning around red face, he heard them stifling a light laugh. Sil gave her a glare as he thrust his sword forward, she sidestepped and grabbed his wrist in one fluid motion. The sudden and increased momentum that was applied landed him face first in the soft dirt. He rolled onto his back completely winded and barely reacted as another wooden sword was pointed at his face.

“I...” He panted, trying to get enough of his breath back to speak. “I yield...”

He could see the smile form on her muzzle as she withdrew her sword and replaced it with her hand. “Well Sil, might not seem it, but you are improving. Maybe in ten years or so, you might be as good as I am now.”

Sil rolled his eyes as he grasp Tayen's hand and let help pull him back to his feet. “If it takes me that long, then what kind of teacher would that make you?”

Tayen stuck out her tongue. “A teacher can't help when her pupil is a slow learner.”

“Come on Tayen,” A third voice spoke up. “Don't be so mean.”

“Yeah Tayen.” Another voice said from over Sil's shoulder. “You can make better jabs than that.” two black triangle ears appeared followed by a head a little bigger than the size of a spoon.

Sil sighed. “I thought you were on my side Aysel.”

The diminutive creature sat on the human's shoulders with a giggle. “Of course I'm on your side, I'm only saying that Tayen can pick on you better than what she said.” Sil rolled his eyes as the wolf gave Aysel a toothy grin in agreement.

Silvius regarded Aysel for a moment. Aysel and her brother, Calisarae, where what he called “Teacup Foxes.” Both looked very much like foxes with their fur, muzzles and tails, but their similarities with the animal basically ended there. Like Tayen, both stood on their hind legs and had finger like paws at the end of their arms. Though each were closer to the size of his foot and had small bat like wings that they used to glide around with ease. While the two were brother and sister, Sil would of never of guessed that fact. Aysel was a dark gray and black furred creature with dark red through out her fur with a warm and friendly yet mischievous demeanor while Calisarae was almost the opposite. His fur was a bright yellow that had black fur that capped his arms, legs, tail and shoulders that went down his back. Sil and Tayen never would have guess that such a bright looking creature would have such a shy and quiet personality.

It was a bit of a fluke that the four of them even met.

It was during the evening meal after Tayen had rescued him from the gorgon Stheno and brought him to her camp. He had been mulling over things in his head since they had shared their first meal together that afternoon, he came to a decision as he watch Tayen come back from foraging for some simple things like more berries and firewood. Steeling his nerves during supper and waiting for when he was done with the mutton soup he asked.

“Tayen, can you teach me to be an adventurer like you are?”

She had spit out her soup at him in surprise. “You want me to train you to be an adventurer? Really?”

“Yes, please.” he pleaded with her. “During the fight earlier, I was more of a hindrance, barely a distraction as you fought Stheno. Its been my dream for a long time to be an adventurer like those back in the golden age. Will you help me? Please?”

“Are you serious?” She asked almost dumbfounded.

“Yes.”

Tayen had just blinked at him, mulling over what he said. It wasn't till after she had finished that she gave him her answer. Soon afterwards, Tayen giggled to herself as she applied an aloe cream over his bare body after they were done with their first training session. His body was sore and covered in black and blue bruises. Sil didn't think that Tayen would be so brutal of a trainer at the time, but the way he felt afterwards she had used him more as a training dummy for herself.

Between how sore he was and the fact that he was in a strange place with a stranger that had recused him and agreed to help make him an adventurer, sleep didn't come easily that first night.

Sil was gazing up at the stars in his bed roll as Tayen did the same on the other side of the dying fire. He wasn't sure how long he was lying there, but out of the blue he heard soft muttering. He had glanced over to the fire and seen what he thought was a shadow of a squirrel or something small like that, trying to remove the lid and climb into the pot.

“Hey.” He spoke as he grabbed the creature haphazardly expecting it to bolt out of his grasp and pulled it away with a clank the lid as it settled back into place. Sil was shocked that it didn't try to run and dangled it in front of his face by a leg to examine what was raiding the mutton soup. The creature was froze with fear as Two wide green eyes looked back at him. Both of them just stared at each other in shock till the winged fox started wiggling and shouted.

“Aysel! Help! The giant got me!”

Before he could react, a dark shadow flew from where Tayen had been hanging her supplies. “Let My Brother Go You Evil Giant!” It shouted in a flash of small fangs in its muzzle. The creature, which he rightly assume was the same thing as what he had grabbed, flew into his face. Tiny claw grabbed his cheeks as it bit the end of his nose. Sil gave a startled cry and flung the creature in his hands around as he tried to knock the one off his face.

“Silvius...” a groggy voiced Tayen started to say as she sat up. “What gotten into you?” Next thing she knew, something long and fluffy landed against her bare chest. Two muzzles turned in their respective directions to look at each other. The smaller one grinned sheepishly as two paws grope the downy fur of her breast. Tayen's mind took a few seconds to catch up with what was going on and a startled shriek as she grabbed the miniature fox as she got up. The yellow and black fox thrashed in her hands before being stuffed into an empty sack. Tayen quickly made her way over to the thrashing human that his face was getting clawed and bit by a similar fox before it two was grabbed by the wolf and stuffed into the leather bag.

“You know you look like you were trying to swat a swarm of gnats?” Tayen laughed as she reached out, Sil just groaned as he took her hand and was pulled up.

After everyone calmed down, Tayen dumped the two on the ground and told them to start talking less she decides to add them to the stew. The would learn that the two Teacup Foxes had went on an adventure and somehow gotten lost. The two had mostly foraged for fruits and berries to survive. However with the onset of winter coming, things were now hard to come by. So when the little yellow fox, now known as Calisarae, smelled the soup on the night's breeze, he couldn't help himself as hunger drove him to check out what smelled so good.

Since then, the four of them stayed together at Tayen's camp.

“Hey Sil, you awake?” Tayen asked getting the human's attention.

“Huh?” Silvius said as his mind came back to the here and now. Aysel snickered as Tayen shook her head. “Sorry Tayen... I was a little lost in thought.”

Tayen gave a huff as she got up. “Figures.” she walked over to where their wooden weapons were and picked them both up. “Ready to go again?”

Sil sighed as he also got up and took the quickly fashioned sword from Tayen. “No... But sitting around won't make me better either.”

“Good.” The wolf grinned. “Now prepare yourself.” She said as she lunged at him, making Silvius backpedal away and parry her strike.

The two tiny foxes took their perch in the tree above the practicing duo. “Do you think that Silvius will get better Sis?”

The dark fox shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe.” There was a crack of wood as Sil gave out a yelp. “Maybe not.” The two continued to watch the sparing match below them in silence as Silvius got thwacked a few more times by Tayen.

“Maybe if he had a little guidence?” Calisarae mused. Aysel thought over what her brother just said before she stood up. “Aysel, what are you doing?” He asked worriedly. She didn't say anything as she opened her wings and glided down below to land on the human's shoulder.

“Aysel...” Sil said, catching his breath. “What are you doing?”

“Shush.” She commanded. “Just do what I say.” He glanced at her confused for a moment before she barked. “Left!” Without much thought, Silvius sidestepped left, dodging Tayen's lunge.

“Well someone is at least paying attention.” The Wolf taunted. Sil just gave a huff.

The Teacup Fox grinned as she perched herself on the human's shoulders. “Left.” She started and Silvius moved to his left again. Silvius made each motion as Aysel commanded and soon he was starting to deflect Tayen's attacks. “Thrust. Block. Parry. Right. Parry. Right. Parry. Block. Left. Swing.” She commanded as the two spared. The resulting swing ended with Tayen yelping as her hand was swatted by Sil's sword.

“Ow... That hurt.” Tayen said as she shook her hand.

“You think?” Aysel said as she crossed her arms. “What do you think you've been doing to Silvius?”

Silvius huffed. “Aysel... Its just Sil...”

“Hush you.” She said as she swatted her tail at his cheeks. “You've basically been going all out on a beginner. Is that how you've been trained? As its obvious to me and Calisarae that you had some formal training.”

Tayen looked away with a frown on her muzzle. “I... I don't want to talk about it...”

“Then don't.” Aysel said as she stood up. “From what I seen, Sil asked for your help but from my perspective, you've been using him to vent your frustrations on.”

Sil gave the wolf a questionable look. “Tayen, is that true?” Tayen didn't answer Sil. She just looked at the ground shamefully.

“Look, You don't owe us anything.” Aysel said as she leaped from Sil's shoulder over to Tayen's. “Least of all an explanation. That sort of thing comes in time and trust. Right now, focus on getting Sil trained so he can watch your back in times of need. Both Calisarae and I can see the potential in him as I'm certain you can too, otherwise, you'd never of agreed to this.”

There was a bit of a silence that fell over the group as Aysel's words sunk in. Tayen took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “You're right Aysel...” She said before looking up at Sil. “I'm sorry Sil. I... guess I wasn't really using my head like I should of.”

Sil gave her a meek smile. “Its okay. If it wasn't for you, then I would have been stuck back at Den with no out look on life. At least this way, you're able to beat some sense into me.” The four chuckled.

“Remember Sil,” Aysel started as she looked at him. “Do your best to stay on the move and keep your guard up no matter what. Every opponent has their own pattern that you can exploit, but you have to find it and wait for that opening.”

“Hey!” Tayen yipped dejectedly. “Who's supposed to be the trainer here?”

Aysel just gave Tayen one of her devious grinned before she leaped off the wolf's shoulder and caught a breeze to fly back to join her brother. When she sat down, Calisarae asked. “Do you really think that Sil has the potential to be an adventurer?”

Aysel shrugged. “No clue.” She wiggled to get comfortable again to watch the two. “But it sounded good at the time.” The two watch the sparing session, noting that Tayen wasn't as aggressive and that Silvius was starting to keep pace with the wolf and even going on the offensive on occasion. Things seemed to be going along smoother as Sil wasn't getting hit as much by Tayen, partly because of her pulling her punches but also because Sil was now moving about more than before. Instead of trying to fend off each of her strikes, he was dodging her swings and parrying her lunges. Aysel grinned to herself. 'Perhaps Sil does have some potential in him.'

After some time the two took a break and the group sat down for their meal.

“I got to admit.” Tayen said as she ladled some more of the mutton stew into her bowl. “You really improved after Aysel gave you that advice. Even if it was cheating.”

“What do you mean that was cheating?”

“Tayen,” Aysel said with a bit of anger in her voice. “You were the one who was cheating. You were basically beating up on Silvius.” Silvius sighed at the use of his full name.

“Yeah.. Well, but...” Tayen stopped in mid sentience as her ears perked on her head. Everyone got tence noticing the wolf going fully on alert and sniff and sniffed at the air.

“Tayen?” Sil asked, his voice full of concerned. “What's wrong?”

The wolf just looked at Sil, eyes wide and looking quite scared...

“Oh come on...” The girl whined to her parents as they told her to mind the store while they were gone. “Do I really have to?”

“Yes, Jehane.” Paulic said to his oldest daughter. “We don't know how long we will be gone and someone has to keep watch over the store.”

“But why can't can't mom or Alaina watch the store?”

“Because.” Catherine said as she came in with two packs of supplies. “I am leaving with your father and your sister has gone to intern in Bellegarde and won't be home till winter's break.”

Jehane snorted. “I don't see why you got to go in the first place. Silvius will probably just show up in another day or two covered in mud and crying about the 'Adventure' he had lost in the woods like he did when he was ten.” Paulic looked over at his wife. She barely looked back up at him as she finished fastening their packs, but the look she gave him was one he knew too well. She was leaving to find their son and nothing short of being chained in the stockades was going to stop her.

“We are going to look for your brother and that's that.” Catherine said as she came over to her daughter and placed both hands on her shoulders. “I know you'd rather continue to spend your time with Garron and the rest of your friends, but we need you to be responsible.” She smiled and lovingly cupped her daughter's face with a hand. “At least till we come back.”

“If nothing else,” Paulic added. “You can rope your friends into helping mind the store.”

After several more minutes of discussion with their daughter, Paulic was following his wife to the edge of the forest. Both of them stopped at the treeline and gazed at the daunting shadows before them.

“Are you sure about this Catherine? Jehane did have a point, Silvius could return tomorrow while we are looking for him in the woods.”

“Now Paulic,” She said as she looked back over her shoulder at him. “Where's that adventurer spirit that you had that I fell in love with?”

He chuckled. “It grew fat and cozy with age.” She couldn't help but to laugh too.

“And even though it did, I still love you.” She sighed as she looked back into the forest. “Call it a mother's intuition, but I know Silvius is in trouble. I can't sit around knowing that one of my children is in need and do nothing.”

Paulic sighed. “I'll admit, that intuition of yours did come in handy quite a few times back in the day.”

Catherine grin and turn so she could poke his belly. “And don't you ever forget that.” She said playfully before turning back to face the woods and started walking into the forest to find her wayward child.