FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The silent sorcerer sat alone at his usual private table in the overcrowded Teloger Tavern. He held his stove pipe hat in hand and fiddled with the ribbon wrapped at the base. He reached into the pocket of his duster, as it hung on the back of his chair, and pulled out a pin. Sotiris lowered the black grosgrain ribbon, tinkering with a normally hidden gear on the side of the hat. Satisfied with his work he sighed and set the hat on the table before him.

Sotiris tried to stem his mind from the difficult task at hand, as he had already waited over an hour for his food to arrive. His stomach's rumblings served as a constant reminder that he had only had time to eat half a boysenberry tart in the morning and nothing else since. That had been many hours prior and as time crawled by in the tavern, the battle against hunger proved a task harder than his defeat of the black beast of the wastes.

He nursed the mug of beer that the bar mistress brought him shortly after he'd ordered his food. Nearly gone, he hoped that its contents could continue to sustain him until his food arrived. His mind begged for distraction as he simply looked about at his surroundings. He stared at the steam pipes across the ceiling, as they supplied power to the mini-generator lamps that kept the bar dimly lit that night. No art on the walls, just a very basic wood-walled building. Various brass hangers drooped from the ceiling for the mirror glass relays that allowed the owners to keep an eye on the place from elsewhere unseen. Sotiris gave a sigh as he rapped his fingers on the table before him.

The sorcerer leaned back in his chair and suddenly, his inner pleas for a distraction were answered rather abruptly. He felt something new and possibly dangerous on the approach before it happened. Two young men quickly approached him from the bar and loudly sat down at his table directly across from him. The sorcerer had a rather startled expression cross his hazel eyes as he looked at the unexpected company.

"You're a wizard, aren't you?" asked Benjamin.

"Oh, please. Won't you sit down?" the sorcerer replied with an air of sarcasm.

"Sorry, but its incredibly important." replied Benjamin,"Aren't you a wizard?"

"Is it the hat that gave it away?"

"I apologize for my brother's manners," said Clogwid, "We are in a terrible need for a wizard and, at first glance, you seemed to fit the bill."

Sotiris gave a nod, "Well, you are somewhat correct in that, though a title of sorcerer would be more appropriate, and by your current state of dress I would say you are either chimney sweeps or miners."

The brown-haired brother seemed in a bit of a worried rush, "Neither, but that's unimportant presently. We really need to purchase a glamour or some sort of concealing enchantment."

The sorcerer held his hand out, then drew a finger to his lips shushing the worried young man. "I thought as such, just calm down. You'll only draw attention if you panic."

Several people stared at the two young men. Benjamin spoke quieter, after a few of the patrons looked away, "So what do we do then?"

"Well, you look young and innocent. That and being a sorcerer, I've got a more accurate bead on your intentions than most. I really want to help you but I don't know either of you for certain," said the sorcerer as he looked at the brothers. He drew a vial of powder from his hat before he continued, "So we stay calm and have a polite conversation."

The Clox brothers looked to one another. Clogwid interrupted the silence, "I suppose, in polite conversation, introductions should be the first order of business."

"In most polite conversations, yes." replied the sorcerer tilting the vial to better examine its contents.

"I'm Clogwid Clox, and this is my brother, Benjamin."

The fiery haired sorcerer gave a nod saying in turn, "Sotiris, formerly the City Sorcerer of Hollontown," then popped the cork on the vial of powder.

Benjamin swallowed hard and his worried look returned, "City Sorcerer?"

"Former. I retired... its a long story as to why."

"What sort sorcerer are you?" asked Clogwid.

"The retired sort. However, if I'm going to be of help to either of you I like to know who I'm working with and why. Why not start with what it is you two do as a profession?" said the sorcerer.

Clogwid looked to his brother and then back to the Sotiris, staring at the sorcerer's disheveled fiery red hair for a moment before he replied, "We're clocksmiths and gadgeteers. We own a shop out in Grangerion."

"Sounds impressive," noted Sotiris, "And, not to ignore your plight, but where the hell is my food?!" He threw up his arms in frustration from the ever building hunger, "Bah! They don't care."

"We ordered up at the bar. They said it shouldn't take long to have our food out." Clogwid added as he pointed, in an almost mechanical manner, to the bar in question.

"That's well and good but it really doesn't make me any less hungry,"saidSotiris, distracted from the conversation with the brothers. He took a deep breath then restored his composure before he looked to Clogwid and added, "I'm sorry for this."

Before Clogwid could respond, the sorcerer tossed half the vial of powder in his face. It puffed out and then vaporized. Clogwid shook the substance from himself, "What was that for?"

"Its event powder," said Sotiris a bit surprised as he looked to Clogwid and then the vial before he added, "It's supposed to give me a flash of recent things that you've done; only it appears to have no effect on you."

Clogwid blinked and resumed dusting off his jacket, "There's probably a reason for that."

Benjamin added, "You don't have to tell him-" interrupted as Sotiris hurled the remaining event powder right onto his face.

Benjamin had a more animated reaction. He flailed his arms a bit as the sorcerer read his recent actions of note like the words from a book. Sotiris saw a large commission for mining equipment. They finished on time with an extra drill to spare. A stranger came to their place of work. A female with blond hair, blue skin, pointed ears and only wearing a set of very revealing silks. She asked for their help with promises of treasure. Time read sped forward to a day's travel later. The incident with the mine and the bank played through. They hoped to drill up and out, outside the city but ended up in the stock room of a tavern. After they replaced the floorboards, they climbed in and sought a wizard but found a sorcerer. Then events came back to the present.

"You're right," Sotiris stated in a solemn tone, "You do need quite a bit of help, but you do know that you let the black beast of the wastes loose into the city, right? It did a lot of damage. It killed people I knew..."

"I don't know what that means. We heard a roar of something in the cave and we fled further in, using the map. We didn't mean to loose killer thing," Benjamin begged, "We just were just two fools looking for a treasure that didn't exist."

The sorcerer thought it over, studying the two young men who were practically at the brink of tears. His stomach irked and moaned. With a sigh, he gave a response he felt he would live to regret, "Okay, fine. But I do this for you and you owe me."

"How much?" asked Clogwid with his money purse in hand.

"Not money," Replied the magic savior, "I might not look it but I've been around a while. I've got money. What I need is a favor."

"What kind of favor?" worried Benjamin.

"The kind that we don't have time to discuss right now," Sotiris nodded to the door. Two Gunsmith guards walked into the tavern with red armored chest plates, and gun-spears in hand.

The two glanced and quickly turned back to Sotiris, "Maybe they didn't see us in the mines?" pondered Clogwid.

"We'll do it. Whatever the favor, just make us hidden," Benjamin hurried.

"Then we have a contract. Something I can work off a bit faster," Sotiris said as he pulled two blank paper talismans from his coat pocket. As before, the strips of yellow paper were ordained in an ornate design drawn round their edges. He pulled fountain pen from thin air and wrote something in silvery ink on the talismans. He threw the talismans at the two young men sitting across from him and, very suddenly, they simply vanished.

The gunsmith guards worked their way through the crowd in the bar, asking people about something as they pointed to a wanted poster they held up. Sotiris patiently waited for the guards to work their way to him. The guards finally approached and spoke the sorcerer.

"Good evening, sir Sotiris. Very sorry to interrupt your meal" one said to him.

"Good evening, sir guard. Is there something I can help you with?" he asked as though completely innocent.

"Just a few questions sir, if you don't mind," said the first Guard as the second held up a wanted poster, "Have you seen this woman? We have reason to believe she was somehow involved in the incident with the black beast." he asked, with his voice muffled by the face plate of his helmet.

Sotiris looked over the picture and recognized Lashta from the visions gleaned off Benjamin. She had blue skin, blond hair, pointy ears and all. Though he noticed the name on the poster read 'Tyrnna'. He simply smiled and replied to the Guards, "I kind of wish that I had seen her."

"So is that a no?" asked the second guard.

"Yes, that is a no," he replied.

"Eating alone again, then?" asked the first guard of the sorcerer.

"That I am," he replied and immediately regretted. No sooner had the words escaped his mouth, than the food arrived for all three that were to have been at his table previously. Though the sorcerer was glad that his food had arrived, at last, he wondered how the two young men received theirs at the same time.