FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Vaelianne sat quietly under the awning of the stables. From there she could watch the comings and goings of the poor folk about the village. The weather was dreary, moisture hung in the air like the fetid smell of a wild badger, thick, clinging to you as you did your best to avoid it. Her sharp green eyes scanned each furson as they walked past, most pointedly avoiding her gaze. Being a witch and soothsayer, even a young attractive enough one, earned you no respect and often outright hostility.

Before her lay a simple plank of wood on a bail of hay to act as a table. On that table, a set of cards and small bone shards lay spread out. Her feline paws occasionally drifting over them as instinct and intuition guided her while her eyes scanned the meager crowd. A poor field mouse male came scampering over, as nervous to draw near as he was to risk turning immediately away.

"My daughter is terribly sick, I've tried everything I can to help her. The fever will not break and the closer we get to her, the worse the symptoms. Can you do anything for her?"

Vaelianne's paws drifted over to the bones on her table, casually rolling one around beneath her finger. Her lips an unreadable line of thought as she remained silent.

"My insight and company are not free, Master Mouse. Bring me one blouse she has worn in the past two nights, two silver pieces for my sight, and three drops of her blood in a glass vial. Bring me these things before the sun sets and I will see what I can learn."

The rodent visibly balked at the request. He slowly backed away and then once he thought he was out of sight, took off in a run towards the path out the backside of town. She smiled lightly, the bone under her finger having turned to follow the path the small rodent would take.

The afternoon was spent in dank, slightly cold, contemplation outdoors. Folk came and went, once in a while one would stable their horse and spare an angry or fearful glance to the feline witch parked there out of the direct sunlight.

Her left ear jingled as it pivoted sharply at a sound not yet heard, the tokens and charms painstakingly crafted as per her mothers instruction tapped and shifted at the motion. Not a minute after, the mouse came back with a bundle under his arms. The sun was below the treeline, darkness caused by the surrounding trees and foliage making the light poorer and poorer.

"I've picked up everything you asked, please, tell me how to help my sick girl." He laid out the items before Vaelianne's gaze.

Firstly, she took the two coins and eased them into a small pouch at her side. That would cover a few meals. Then she took the top and laid it out atop her makeshift table. Thirdly she took the small container of the daughters blood. One drop, she tapped onto her claw and tasted. Her eyes in the dull light starting to glimmer an eerie and unnatural brightness behind the insightful green gaze. The second drop she let fall on the center of the shirt, soaking it into the material. The third drop she left within the vial for now.

Slowly, she peeled the shirt up from her table to the cards and bones she'd left there beneath it. There, the blood had soaked through to a single card.

"Master Mouse." She paused a moment before her gaze sharply locked onto the unsteady fathers. "Your daughter will not get better for she is not sick. At least, the sickness won't start for several weeks yet. Take the sap of a pine and boil it down until it is black and rich in scent. Outside of her window on the ledge you will place a thin line of this sap without her knowledge. Do it tonight, while she sleeps. When you return from the fields tomorrow, you will find fur on the sap and the scent of pines upon your daughters bed." The gleam in her eyes slowly faded back to the dull green typical of felines.

He looked confused for several moments before his eyes opened wider, the reflections dim in lamp light. Slowly his fingers curled into a fist and is jaw sternly set.

"Go now, Master Mouse, I must retire." Vaelianne slowly stood, delicately packing her cards and the strange collection of bone fragments into the folds of her simple robe. "May fortune smile in turn for your broken trust."

The morning found Vaelianne deep in the forest gathering herbs and moss. Each handled with a delicate paw, each tended in a way that only one with knowledge of their properties could. A touch of elders moss ground and mixed in a child's milk will settle the stomach and ease into a comfortable sleep. Add the sap of a root wrapper vine and it becomes a powerful paralytic capable of locking the stride of a horse solid in seconds. A fairies wing fruit, scent drawn in while the stem is pressed into a wound in the neck spreads the paralysis to the heart. Each herb, fruit, vine, and twig has a property, a power that it reveals. This deep in the woods, there was only one force to be wary of, The lupine packs. Wolves that have forsaken the rest of civilized society to return to their feral roots.

Vaelianne returned from the trees by midday, her pockets and pouches replenished and many nights of preparation ahead of her. As the young feline slowly walked along the cart path through the village, the familiar bubble of avoidance followed her. There ahead of her, a step before her own foot would have landed, a twig snapped neatly in half. Lesser eyes would have never registered that the small piece of wood broke before her foot had reached it. This was a fate sign, a manifestation of life's path that should not be taken lightly.

Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd, looking for the source. Through the crowd she spotted an equally shunned character, a lupine buying supplies with furs. They were uncommon and untrusted, but paid well in goods and were wise enough to know that the loss of trade would only hurt themselves.

The stables again were mostly clear and beneath the awning was dry, Vaelianne settled in with a small stone mortar and pestle carved from the wood of a petrified oak. These items lent their strength to the herbs and plant matter that she began to grind up quietly. Absently she whistled into the air, a raven replied in kind from somewhere in the rafters of the stable. "Bring the wolf to me." She murmured aloud while her eyes focused on the paste she'd made of the elders moss.

A sharp caw was the reply as the bird flew out into the crowd. A startled yell shortly came from across the road at the tanners, a lupine growl afterward. Slowly, she scraped the paste from her mortar into a wrapping of waxed paper and tucked that way. With her workspace cleared, she raised her head to find the gaze of an angry wolf as he was being herded towards her by the pecking and attacks of an angry raven.

"Hold, Master Wolf. I would have words with you." She calmly stated, a tip of her head signaled the raven that her request was fulfilled. The dull green iris behind her cunning feline gaze shimmered brightly just a moment, forcing his gaze to lock with her own. Slowly, she scanned over him, taking in what was before her as well as what was unseen by most.

"There is blood on your paws. Innocent and not. Your spirit is chained to what you believe...." The view of his aura faded away until all that was visible was a dull gray mist. In all directions a void was all that her eyes could find. Slowly, her vision came to the dreamlike state of foresight. Here she could gleam information. But, this time it was her own fate that was being shown to her.

The sick twist of fate, is that by viewing even the smallest part of your destiny you will irrevocably change it. All that dabble in such arts learn this truth, and some even share it. Vaelianne knew this, she never once had dared examine her own fate for fear of changing her destiny. Here it was, forced firmly before her. It was a dirt road, well traveled. Cart wheels had worn ruts into the soil. It was the road to Rotharn, a neighboring village a few days travel by carriage. The road faded away as her minds eye was drawn back, it swooped away as the ground before the flight of a hawk. Then she could see the sun setting, today's sun.

Vaelianne's vision blurred painfully, snapping back to the wolf standing impatiently before her. "Daft woman, leave me be. Keep your pet bird away, next time, I'll kill it." He growled, finishing his turn as he went back to finish his negotiations with the hide tanner. It took a few moments for her to realize that her entire vision had happened in the span of a breath.

It was still midday, the sun was high and the town fairly busy. She scanned the crowd again before slipping from her spot in the shade. Slowly, the feline's natural grace guided her through the towns folk to find a portly porcine male grinning cheek to cheek as he wandered the small open air market.

"Master David..." She murmured softly as to not raise her voice against the crowd. "Who leaves for Rotharn tonight?"

David stammered for a moment, his grin fading at the familiar and not entirely welcome voice. "Goldson's older boy, Thane, is taking a load of grain down to trade I heard. He's loading up now, probably heading out within the hour. What business do you have with him?" He asked, his voice finally leveling out into a concerned tone.

"None at all. Good day, Master David." Vaelianne quietly rasped, wandering towards the mill. A dark shape flowing nearby along the rooftops, a raven bent on staying comfortably close. The mill was just on the other side of the market. Along the way, she drew close to a vulpine male tending to a box of dried and jerked meat.

With nay a word, she locked her gaze to his and then chose several pieces that were dryer than most and would weather well. The fox looked conflicted and concerned. "Ma'am, You can't just take that food..." He meekly replied to the young witch.

A slender orange and tan bengal patterned paw slipped to her side and drew from her belt pouch the paste of elders moss she'd made fresh that morning. The packet was left there in the place the meat had previously occupied. "Rub half of this into the base of your wife's back above the root of her tail. Wash your hands immediately afterward in fresh clean water. It will dull the tremors in her limbs for two days or so. Wait another day, and then you can apply the rest. A week without symptoms is a small price to pay for barely more than a meal."

The males jaw hung open in mid protest, his wife was starting to fade, her hands constantly trembled and her legs no longer steady enough to carry her more than a few steps. He took the packet very tenderly and set it with delicate care under his cart seat to protect it.

With food for the journey, her pace and direction turned towards the mill once more to catch a cart loading up with the last heavy burlap back of grain. "Master Goldson, might I accompany you to Rotharn?" She smiled softly up to the ursine male easily twice her size and thrice weight. "You keep your witchery to yourself woman. I don't want you anywhere near me for an hour let alone days ride to the next town."

"As you will, Master Goldson." She nodded curly and without a word started along the worn road out of the village on foot. A smirking and proud bear behind her resumed hitching his cart to an oxen for the same route.

Night fell swiftly in the dense company of the trees on each side of the road. Behind her, she could hear the grunts and even pace of an ox pulling a heavy cart. Thane passed her shortly after, smiling broadly in the dim remaining light. "Fine night for a walk isn't it, witch." He throatily teased.

"A fine night indeed Master Goldson, a fine night to walk in the company of friends." She replied with a sly cryptic smile of her own. With that simple statement, her smile widened into an almost sadistic sneer. "It is well you are rested and not tired on your feet like I am." Her sentence was not replied to by the proud bear, but rather the single deep howl amongst the trees of a wolf. A lupine on the hunt, followed by the call of many others. "It is well indeed." She finished as the howls quieted down.

In the pale light of the moon as it rose, his face appeared more white than normal. With a growl and snap of his wrists, he drove the ox on in an attempt to put some distance away from the wolves before resting for the night.

Low growls and hungry calls started to filter through the trees and underbrush, echoing in the forest as the savage wolves zeroed in on the scent of travelers. Vaelianne slowly strolled to the side of the trail and picked up a small branch, discarded and dry. Once more in the dull light her eyes began to gleam and shimmer with an unnatural light behind them. The branch slowly lost twigs and shoots while she traveled, leaving her with a straight piece of slender wood in her paws and the scent of lupine heavy in the air.

The pack of wolves burst free of the trees and readily surrounded Vaelianne. Slowly, the pack of males closed in. The gleam in her eyes unnoticed as she gazed past them, knowingly up the road. She snapped the branch of wood in her paws smartly in half. Within the beat of a hummingbirds wings came a dull crash further up the road and the swearing of Thane.

"The goods you came to steal are there up the road. Go, and leave me in peace."

The wolves looked to each other and all but one sprinted away up the road to loot. One highwayman remained, smiling darkly in the pale moonlight at the lone female he cornered. "Looks like I have you all to myself kitty...."

"Master Wolf." She replied calmly to the lone male, the same she'd spoken with earlier in broad daylight.

"Lets call this payback for that damned bird, behave yourself and you might even walk away from this with a smile on your face." He teased, a deep rumbling growl in his throat while he approached the young feline.

Eerie eyes glowing a rich earthly green bore into the approaching males face. With a focus beyond the here and now, she found the thread of his fate, his destiny. Once more, she reached out to the path he was to walk and gave it a subtle tug with willpower alone, binding him momentarily to her own. In her right paw, the sharp leftover tip of the branch remained firmly held while her left opened wide to expose her palm. A snap of her wrist brought that weapon across her exposed palm, splitting a shallow but painful wound across the length of it...matching a duplicate wound that immediately tore open and bled in the wolves left paw.

"Join your friends Master Wolf, and leave a simple woman her nightly walk in the woods."

A soft yelp of pain slipped from his lips before the lupine stopped in his tracks to eye the painful gash that throbbed and freely bled into the dirt before him. He growled again, deep and angry. A victorious howl up the road distracted his gaze before he turned to leave and join his pack.

A leaf of daughters bloom pressed into a cut would clot the blood within moments and prevent infection. It also releases a soft aroma when crushed that makes a delicious tea. The small bloody wound on her paw took only a few moments to treat. The bloody soil before her, several small clumps formed by dirt road meeting with lupine lifeblood, quickly were claimed and tucked away.

Morning found Vaelianne napping not far from the road in a copse of trees, the morning as damp as the evening before it and the smell of vegetation filled the air. Slowly she stood, arching and stretching into impossible angles that felines always managed to pull off without effort. The morning light burned her sensitive eyes, forcing her to blink out the rest of her sleep.

With the casual stubbornness of knowing what must be done, she strode out into the dirt road and resumed her slow walk. A small piece of the meat made for a quiet breakfast while the the rustles of leaves nearby hinted at another forest denizen shadowing her trip. Around the bend ahead came into view splinters of wood and spilled grain amidst drag marks in the dirt.

Her bengal tinted paw casually extended out towards the undergrowth where a small pair of red eyes were peeking out in return. "Come now Master ferret, I'll not have you skulking along in the dirt. I'll share my breakfast with you if you'll share your company." Slowly she knelt down and offered her paw to the weasel as he scampered out of the woods in an instant. Tiny claws gripped into her sleeves, propelling the small ferret up to her shoulder and there safe and warm against the back of her neck. Sharp intelligent eyes gazed this way and that while he waited for the promised morsel of jerky.

The rest of her journey was without incident, save the occasional lupine howl in the air. Upon arrival though, she was met with two farmers at the gate of Rotharn. Each male was powerfully muscled and armed with a pitchfork, both obviously worked hard for their bread. "Gentleman, good evening. Could you show a young traveler to a place to warm herself?"

"Thane came in the night before, told us about you witch. Let us know you've been the one calling those savages in the woods down upon hard working folk." The one on the right accused, his canine muzzle turning into a slight snarl as the words slipped free.

Vaelianne's laughter could be heard over the soft toils of men and women inside the village for a few moments, a light-hearted pleasant sound. "That bear would blame the rain for making too much sound." A heavily decorated and pierced feline ear flicked back to the soft chitters and sounds of her ferret traveling companion at her shoulder. "But, it seems my reputation for good or ill has preceded me. Very well. You'll know where to find me soon enough." Her eyes flared a brilliant green for a moment, setting both men back a pace. "And you will."

Two years passed.

A husky quietly wandered deep into the forested outside Rotharn, his breathing quick and eye constantly in motion. The other having gone milky a year ago, almost taking his still good eye with it. Every time he had to make this visit, he managed to get lost as though his senses and eyes were reading from different maps. The only way he knew he was close was the sickening sensation deep in his gut when he passed through an odd ring of trees.

"Master Callius, welcome." Came a small sing song voice from inside what barely amounted to a shack in the center of the clearing. "Blame your lupine grandfather for the queasiness, but it does keep the locals clear of my small home."

Slowly she stepped out from her meager home, fierce green eyes locking onto the blue eye that remained on her guest. "As I recall, I did mention that you'd seek me out. A year later, and you can thank me for what remains of your sight. But, you didn't some all this way to pay me a kind visit. What do you want?"

From out of the underbrush came in a burst of excited motion a small ferret. His coat glistened dark and glossy brown in the light from the caring touch of another. Eyes reflecting from deep pools of insightful intelligence caught a thin piece of fabric in Callius' belt. The material was deftly freed before the canine could swat him aside. "I see, you were bringing this to me. Why?"

Callius cleared his throat with a nervous cough. "There was a fire last night. Right there in front of the inn. Not a soul there and not a thing to burn!" He growled low in frustration. "All we found was that piece of material. It felt queer and no one wanted it....they made me bring it to you."

The material was burned black safe for a few spots that revealed its original white color. The unique part was that the gold designs in the cloth remained entirely untarnished from the fire. "You served your old owner well...." She mumbled aloud while her fingers rubbed over the surface of the gold patterns. "But you don't belong here....no, you are far far from home..."

Glimmering green eyes turned to the sky, the remains of a long glove burned black were held tight in her paw. "This is the start of something Callius. This is only the beginning."

Her gaze still on the sky while she murmured, speaking inwardly as much as out.

"I foresee wolves at the shoulder as tall as a man and conflict, great conflict."