FSE

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"We're running out of time, we're running out of places to go, places to hide" said the tom. His voice was remarkably steady for a bird in his position: a turkey on the night before Thanksgiving. "I heard about you from some friends. But I haven't seen them. I don't know if I can trust you but we don't have many options."

His wife? Girlfriend? Whatever she was, clung to his arm. She wasn't as successful at keeping the fear off of her face. And who could blame her? They both looked absolutely delicious. I turned my head a bit and hoped it wasn't obvious that they were making me drool a little.but cash is king for me. Always has been, always will be.

"You haven't seen them because that guy I told you about took care of it. They're completely safe, as safe as you can imagine being. They're closer than you think, too..ready to come back to their old lives as soon as the coast is clear." I almost chuckled when I said "come back to life" but I didn't want to give away too much.

"How's your job tie into all this, Mr. Wahl? You're not just going to hide us in a big vault in the MRRD building, are you? I could have thought of that myself."

"Don't use my name out loud again," I snarled at the bird. "That right there should be the end of this little meeting. I don't answer questions unless you're a paying customer, and I don't answer questions you don't need to know the answers to even if you are a paying customer. You got me? My rep is all I have, I'm not going to blow it on promising to keep a couple of juicy turkeys out of someone's mouth only to fail to pull through, word would get out. I don't need this!"

Honestly, I did need it, but again.papa fox taught me to always keep them guessing.

"All right," the tom said as his tailfeathers sagged slightly, and his companion leaned her head on his shoulder.

I held out my hand, and he put the money in it. I made it disappear, as if by magic.

"The Magic Resource Rationing Division is part of this, yes, but there's no way I'd put my little black-socked feet anywhere on their property during my T-Day vacation. And aside from that, what you've just paid for is partially going to something I've appropriated from them. They'll never miss it. Now come on, and let's not draw attention to ourselves."

Even though they didn't know what I had arranged or what would be happening to them, they looked relieved. Like I said, my reputation is everything.

After a short sneaky trip that only a talented fox like yours truly could have pulled off, we turned up at a certain large sett. I passed the front door, a round fancy circular thing, with the turkeys following behind sticking so close to me that we might have looked like some weird multi-headed wannabe gryphon.

I knocked a special knock, and an old friend.well, let's call him a business associate instead of a friend.opened the door. "MORE of them?"

"Hello to you too Bruce, and yes, there's two more. Let us in please." I waved some money, which he probably didn't get too excited about, and a vial, which he noticed immediately. "That's.a bit much, for two, isn't it?"

"Consider it a bonus, your boy's been working hard for us, hasn't he? I figure he deserves a bit of a kick, if he wants it."

Bruce gave me a look that said volumes. He didn't like me much. His partner didn't really care for me that much either, but they needed me. Well, one of them needed what was in that vial a bit more than they needed me, but what's the difference? I doubt they would know any other raw tellical essence dealers. We all shuffled inside, and Bruce shut the door behind us. "Is it possible for him to overdose on that stuff? Last time he started saying a bunch of weird things.like, he was gonna lay me an egg. He can't do that, can he?"

"No, of course not." I had no idea, but it looks bad to admit to things like that. "Lead on, my good badger, lead on! I'm sure you don't want me here longer than necessary, and we need to show these two what we've got planned for them."

This was the wrong thing to say; the turkey gal started blubbering.

"No no no," said Bruce. "You're safe. You're totally safe. My husband's a bird.sort of. You're safe here. That's what we're getting paid to do, keep you safe. You can't be safer." He led us down a burrow that didn't seem too old, behind a curtain, and there they were: my little flock of protected turkeys.

"They're statues!" The tom held the hen as they looked at the other petrified birds, and the cockatrice Hauke scrambled to his feet in a corner, facing away from us. It always made me flinch, being around him, until I remembered that unless he'd dosed up with some tellical elixir he couldn't do much besides make me blink and start coughing.

"Yes," said Bruce. "Sign in here, and let us know when you want to be revivified. We've got a potion for that. We'll use it on the date you say."

"I don't know about this," protested the hen.

"It's quite all right," said Hauke. "It'll pass quickly." He sounded tired, Bruce gave him a worried glance. He came up to us and leaned behind me to say to Bruce "This is gonna hurt.how many more are there gonna be? My eyes are killing me already, just thinking about it."

I interrupted; I don't have time to listen to mythicals bitch and moan about how burdensome their powers are, and that comes up a lot in my business. "They paid up, so get to it my good bird." Hauke sniffed and gave me a dangerous side-eye.

Bruce turned away, giving me the cold shoulder and giving his partner the vial, which the mythical rooster guzzled.but only half of it, I noticed. I didn't think I wanted him hoarding too much of that, but I'd let it slide this time.

"Stand out there," Hauke said. The turkeys didn't move. "Be reasonable.you'll be rocks. Nobody eats rocks. We've got a lock on the process to reverse this. We'll do it, don't worry.I'd like to use this room as a rookery soon, I don't want all of you loitering around in it forever." Bruce gave him a look; I thought about looking up more information about Hauke's type later but figured I'd probably forget in short order.

The turkeys consented, and stood holding each others hands. "Make sure you're steady, stable. Don't' want to fall over." He rubbed his temples and stared at them hard.

Maybe it was my imagination, but I swear I saw something drift over from his face and cover them, but it's dim in badger setts and I couldn't smell anything, so I'm going with the imagination theory. The birds took in a sharp breath; they always do that. Then they froze in place.or at least, they almost did. I could see their eyes were still moving, with a light in them.

"I.I'm tired.I don't think I can." Hauke blinked a few times.

Bruce leaned down and grabbed the cockatrice's tail, and bit it.

"NNnnnngh!" He glared at the turkeys and finished his job. They were dull gray like the rest of the flock in a few seconds.

"That's it," said Bruce. "No more this year. None." He turned to his partner. "You okay, sweetie?"

Hauke sat down and rubbed his temples, and didn't say anything.

Bruce grabbed my shoulders and pulled me along. I learned early in life not to put up much of a fight with badgers if they're in their own homes. He took me to the side entrance and almost threw me through. "If Hauke didn't enjoy that stuff, didn't crave it like he does, I'd chew your tail off you piece of trash. I'm sick of you showing up here day and night with "business". We're not your employees, I'm not afraid of you or those clowns at the MRRD. You wouldn't dare turn him in, he's too useful to you and you'd get into even more trouble than he would. I'm sick of you using my husband like that! So knock it off."

He shut the door. He had to let off that steam.badgers just have to have the last word sometimes, and a smart fox knows when to let them bluster and bubble over. I'd be seeing them again soon.