FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

As the first rays of light kissed the ground, Shaman blinked repeatedly as she stirred awake. Turning to Silver, she was surprised to find him already up, watching the same scene off in the distance.

"Mmm, you're up?" She asked softly, nudging his body a little.

"Oh?" He glanced up, just as surprised to see her awake. "Yeah, for a little bit now."

"What woke you up?"

"Nothing, really. I was kind of in an out all night." He explained. Silver gave his shoulder a little spin, seeing if the sting from the scratches were still as painful as before.

"Feeling ok?" Shaman questioned, cautiously lifting herself off of him. The blood had caked a little into their fur in the night.

"Not bad, I'll manage just fine I think." He stated. Even rotating it didn't bring much pain aside from a quick ache as he moved it back. Shaman watched intently as he rose to his feet."See, I'm alright."

"Good." She sighed with relief.

"Thanks again for taking care of the scratch." Silver bowed politely. Shaman just chuckled and shook her head.

"You know, I get the feeling we'll be saving each other's backsides out here quite a bit. You don't need to thank me anymore; you're already doing enough for me." She insisted lightly, bumping her backside with his.

"Probably right, now." He trailed off, looking to the nearby tree. "Roque?! You up yet?!" He called. The two waited a moment before hearing the sound of flapping descend upon them. Roque fell from the tree, hitting the ground fairly hard before clamoring to his feet.

"I'm up, I'm up!" He proclaimed, dusting himself off. "Just resting my eyes a little."

"Tired?" Silver questioned with a smirk.

"Just a tad. I managed most the night, but as the sun came up I could barely keep my eyes open." He explained, constantly blinking.

"wanna ride?" Silver offered, Roque didn't hesitate to climb onto his back and accept. Wings spread on either side he laid his head between Silver's shoulders and closed his eyes with a deep sigh.

"Thank you my friend, I could use the nap."

"No problem."

"Poor little guy." Shaman cooed, seeing him slump on Silver's back as they started off. "He really did stay up the whole night for us."

"He's real good like that." Silver agreed, as they strolled along the water. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What's that?"

"Where did you get the cloth on your back?" He asked boldly. Shaman shied away and hung her head, trying to hide her face from his.

"It's, a long story."

"Have to do with the scars?" Silver continued to prod. Shaman shot back up and questioned him.

"How did you know of those?" She demanded.

"We found you with it covering your face, not your back. Scars like that tend to stand out." He explained calmly. Shaman thought back of to the tumble down the tracks. It made sense the cloak probably didn't land in her favor. "Sides, we got a long road. Tell us a long story." He encouraged. Shaman pondered the idea for a moment more. She had come to know Silver fairly well in the last while, even started to trust him. Particularly after the display of heroism with the bear.

She took a deep sigh, knowing she'd have to go over the story once more. Something she was not fond of doing, but complied when friends would ask and looked on ahead.

"Where do I start." She chuckled a little. "You're not going to like the human parts, and there's no shortage of em." She advised.

"I'll be fine." Silver stated. "Go on, I'm listening."

"I think I was born there, this rescue center they called it. It was this nice little house, nestled along the road near the forest. A few rooms upstairs and a kennel they called it on the main floor. The humans had lots of animals in their care. Wolves, dogs, cats, birds. You name it. If it was wounded or hurt, they brought it in and cared for it until they could release it back out. I was a puppy at the time, not more than a few months old. I had a little human girl who looked after me and she had a father to watch over her."

"Sounds nice."

"She carried this with her, all the time." She stated, pointing to her cloak. "It was her blanket. She would wear it on her head, drape it on her shoulders. I don't think I day went by she wouldn't have it with her."

"What was her name?" Silver asked.

"Sasha. Her father called her Sasha. She and I would play together all the time, her father letting us out in the back to mess around and play with toys. She kept calling me puppy-puppy, it was so cute." She giggled, recalling on Sasha playing in the yard.

"What changed?"

"At night, she would go upstairs with her father. She'd go in one room, him in another. I stayed downstairs in a kennel with the other animals. Some night's it was so noisy I could hardly sleep but, I loved seeing her come down, open up my cage just to come play. One night, she went upstairs. Usual routine, normal night. Except, a thunderstorm was rolling in. Nothing unusual about that either, at least from what I knew at the time." Shaman paused and took a deep breath. "That's when it all went wrong. I saw this bright flash and was nearly deafened by the bang that followed. All the lights went out and sparks shot from the bulbs. The next thing I know, I hear this loud crash upstairs. It came right through the roof and slammed the kennels. My door broke open, sparks flew everywhere, and the screech of the animals as they touched these wires that came through was awful."

"A power line." Silver mumbled. Shaman nodded, taking another breath before carrying on.

"I was careful sneaking out of the kennel. The door leading inside was broken so I went in. That's when I saw fire for the first time. I had no idea what it was. I moved toward it and the closer I got, the hotter it became. I was worried; Sasha might not know to stay away from it. I ran for the stairs, some of them were starting to catch on fire to. I ran hard and it hurt, but I made it upstairs just to find this massive gaping hole where the hallway was. I leapt across, her bedroom door was gone along with half the wall, so I rushed for her room. Her father was across the hall, lying on the ground moaning in pain. I could see he was hurt, but he was too big for me to move. The ground was getting hot, so hot my feet could barely take it. She was wrapped up in her blanket, so I started to pull her towards her father. She was heavy, and I was small, I couldn't really pull her too well. It took so long for me to get her even half way across the room. When her father started to wake up, grabbing his head, I gave it all I had but, that's when it happened."

"What?"

"Something from the roof fell, a big piece of wood. It landed, right on my back and pinned me down. I cried out in agony, it was burning so badly, in my panic, I let go of the blanket and squirmed out from underneath it. I could feel this horrible sting between my shoulders, smell it even, the skin went so tight it even hurt to move. Her father finally woke up, trying to get the chunks off wood off his body, he called out. "Girl, over here, over here! This way come on!" I leaned down to grab the blanket and the next thing I knew, the floor gave way, swallowing her up with it. I tensed up, clenching it tight in my teeth as it started to pull me in too. In a snap, it fell light, I looked behind me and there was nothing left. She was gone." Shaman cried. Silver stopped a moment and leaned into her body.

"It's ok, you don't have to go on if you don't want." Silver consoled.

"It's ok, that was the hardest part. I kept the blanket in my mouth, and ran to her father. He scooped me up and jumped into her room, looking down into the hole, he started crying. The house started to creek, the walls in her room lit up in flames. He rushed out and took me down the hall and out the door, shielding me from the fire. We got outside, it was raining hard, and there were these big trucks coming. The rest was, kind of a blur. The next thing I knew, we're sitting in a bed inside one of the trucks. He was still crying, really hard. After a while, he took a pair of scissors, and started cutting the burnt pieces off the blanket. He made two little holes, just big enough for my ears and put the blanket over me. He said, "She'd want you to have this, this way, she'll be with you too." He said a few more things, but, I'd rather not mention them."

"I understand." Silver whispered, tucking her head beneath his. She took a moment to settle herself down before withdrawing from him.

"You know, I've only told this to Brennin, Keledrin and Khari."

"I'm one of the lucky few, huh?" He smiled.

"It's just. When we get back, promise me you'll keep this to yourself."

"Of course." Silver compliantly agreed. "Just surprised by it."

"Why is that?" She asked.

"Humans that I've met. They aren't interested in taking care of us, or letting us play with their children. It'd kinda nice to know there are some decent people out there."

"You must have had a horrible experience with them." Shaman said, watching Silver's head slowly sink. "It's ok; I won't push for you to tell me."

"Thanks." Silver smiled shyly. "Sometime, I will. Just not now. But, I'm grateful for you being brave enough to tell me what happened."

"I trust you enough." She smiled warmly, the tears finally ceased as she nuzzled him.

"Come on." Silver smiled more brightly. "We got a lot of ground to cover."

Through the morning, they followed the stream as it fed away to a more flat and widened path. The once dense forest gave way to grassland, fenced in by distant mountains at all sides. The strands of yellow stood tall, tickling their bodies as they carried on. Save for the occasional root or gopher hole, it was quite a relaxing walk. Silver and Shaman had grown used to climbing and descending mountains over the last few days. The soft grass was a more then welcome change of pace and offered the chance at catching some smaller, easier prey.

Silver woke Roque up as the sun hit noon, his belly had begun to ache and he was craving fresh meat to satisfy it. The trio once again worked in tandem and managed to scour up a pair of prairie dogs that had made the mistake of leaving the comfort of their dens. Though not as filling as the deer, it certainly did the job for now. After finishing their meals, Shaman's ears perked up once more, finding something odd off in the distance toward the west.

"Huh." She pondered, slowly wondering toward it.

"Whats up?" Silver questioned, taking to her side.

"I hear something, odd now and then." Shaman explained softly, her ears twitching and turning. She gave a low hum and closed her eyes, trying to hone in on the sound. Once again it came, the wisp of something large moving by at high speed. "Let's go check it out quick."

Roque was scouting overhead and saw the two change direction. He looked off where they were heading and sighed as he swooped back down toward them.

"Where are the two of you off to?" He called out, brushing passed them.

"Were checking something out, she heard something go by." Silver explained.

"Yes, that would be cars, Silver." He briefly answered, swinging back around.

"Cars?" Shaman asked. As they ascended a small hill with an odd metal railing at the top, she look on down the road to see a car coming in fast. "Whoa!" She cried out, stepping back quickly. "Cars, huh?" Roque landed beside her and began to elaborate.

"Yes, the humans use them to transport themselves, their families or goods along these roads." Scratching his chin with his wing for a moment. "What did they call them again? I remember this, I know it." He continued to ponder. "Highways!" He exclaimed. "Yes, that's what these are. They are roads in between towns for humans to travel along."

"Uh huh." Shaman smiled, whisking her chin now with a paw. "Human towns, huh?" She asked, raising an eyebrow to Roque.

"What about it?" Silver budded in. Shaman giggled as she departed from the roadside and lead on.

"Come on, follow me." She insisted, continuing south along the road. Silver and Roque were both thrown off a little by her idea. During the entire walk, she would tease by looking back with this devious little grin. Each time making Silver chuckle and shake his head.

"I know you're up to something." He called up. Shaman just giggled more and more, looking back again with her smile. The road took them around a bend heading east then back south to reveal a large town up ahead. Shaman bounced for joy and started rushing off toward it, nearly leaving Silver behind in the dust.

There were houses that seemed to run up along the mountainside on their right along with an area with large buildings and signs where the road fed in. To the left was a large bridge that traversed a river, fed from a nearby lake. It stood between the town and the highway back into the mountains. Circling the water Shaman planted herself at the base of the hill that lead into the town. Silver nervously approached with Roque perched on his back and settled in beside her.

"Now, to follow the nose." She whispered to herself.

"I really hope we have a good reason for being here." He complained.

"Trust me, you'll love this. I have a great idea." She eagerly explained.

"We're all ears, my dear." Roque answered.

"Ok, Silver. You good at prowling?" She quickly asked.

"I know how to stalk, yeah."

"Good, ok, here's the plan." She stated, leaning into his ear she began to whisper the idea softly. Silver's expression tumbled between shock and concern. But as she concluded he broke a devious little grin of his own and nodded.

"Alright, just don't get caught." He cautioned.

"Yeah, Roque, can you fly overhead, make sure no one tails us after?" Shaman requested.

"Certainly." He complied, leaping from Silvers back.

"Let's go." She announced, as the two started their ascent up the hill.

Once cresting the top, they found themselves in a gravel ally. It was fenced for quite a ways around, save for a single pole that had fallen to the ground, allowing them to climb over and in behind one of the buildings. Staying low, they skulked around, checking the bend before heading down. Shaman shot her nose to the air every now and then, trying to catch a hint of the target she had sought after.

Peeking out toward the street, they could see the little shops that dotted the main street, cars parked here and there along the sides as well as a few people casually strolling the sidewalk smiling and chatting. Huddling back alongside the building, she guided Silver around back and under a metal stairwell towards the next structure. Coming around, she sent her nose up once more and smiled. "Mmm, that's it."

"Say when." Silver whispered. Shaman nodded her approval as he hung back at the rear of the building while she crept toward the street. She stayed close to the side and watched the humans going on about their business. Most ignored her, while some shot odd looks toward the wolf with a cloak on her back. Thankfully not giving her much more attention than a quick smile or laugh before walking on. It was growing tedious for Silver, watching her up ahead as she patiently waited an opportunity to make her move. A good half hour passed, with Roque still circling overhead before she finally called back to him.

Shaman's eyes fixated on a man exiting a bakery with a large, brown plastic bag in his hand. He had stopped at the door and seemed to be chatting a little more with the people inside before letting himself out. He descended the small staircase that lead to the sidewalk and began digging in his pocket. This was it; Shaman came out from the corner and made her move.

The man saw her come out and placed the bag on the car's hood.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed, backing off a little. "Easy there, don't get any ideas." Shaman let her tongue hang out as she playfully strolled over and brushed against his leg. "Oh, oh!" He exclaimed. "Friendly, aren't you?!" Shaman let a little yip escape before starting to bath the hand the human reached down with. "Haha, aren't you the cutest thing. Look at you, the little blanket there. Who's a good girl, huh? Who's a good girl!" The human continued to praise, brushing her cheeks and stroking her ears.

Thankfully he had completely relieved the attention on the plastic bag he left on the hood. Silver broke from around the corner and cautiously approached around the back of the car, skimming along the side. "What's your name pretty girl, what's your name?" The human carried on. Silver rolled his eyes as he quietly placed himself up on the hood and snared the bag in his jaws.

The human continued petting Shaman for a good while, blissfully unaware of the little thief. "Alright sweetheart, I gotta-" He paused, looking back to the hood. "Hey, where did?... Well." He turned to Shaman in confusion. Shaman looked back to him and tilted her head innocently. "Well isn't that the damndest thing!" He fumed. "I'll bet it's those stupid Erikson kids again; Dan is gonna hear it from me this time!" He carried on, heading back to the driver seat of his car. Shaman decided to make herself scarce and hid back around the corner.

"Did you get it?" She called. Silver showed himself from the back of the building with the bag in mouth. "Yes!" She cheered, bounding toward him. "Come on, let's get outta here and see what we got." She insisted. Back over the fence, the two made a cautious descent down the hill with the bag and settled down. Roque flew in and parked himself near the prize, shaking his head at the two.

"Shaman, what a silly thing to go and do." He lightly scolded.

"What? He'll get another one, humans always do." She played off.

"Let's see what we risked our necks for, really smells good." Silver wondered. "Roque, care to lend a talon here?" Sighing with a smile, he clipped down the bag, splitting it wide open. Shaman gave a gentle tug at the trey and revealed a rather lavishly decorated cake.

"Wow!" Shaman awed at the sight before her. "I haven't seen one of these in a long time!"

"What is it?" Silver wondered.

"It's a cake, or so humans call it. The words on it, they are scripted a little strange but." Roque pondered, gazing at the top of it carefully.

"What's it say?" Shaman wondered.

"Happy, Be-la-ted, Ann... oh gosh, Ann, i-vers-ary." Roque sounded out.

"Happy belated anniversary?" Silver wondered in confusion.

"Strange things humans celebrate." Roque shook off.

"You can read human writing?" Shaman questioned eagerly.

"Oh my yes. Well, most of it anyway. I was born in a shelter and taken in by a trainer. She taught me what words meant and how to respond to them, oh and quite the affinity for something she called the web. This screen on her desk, always reading articles. She kept saying them aloud so, overtime of course." He carried on.

"What changed?" Shaman asked.

"We we're doing this show, outdoors. During one of my rehearsals I caught the eye of this fine young thing in a tree not far from the stage. The shameless flirt took me away and off into the woods where we, well... I'll not say in your company my lady." He chuckled heartily. Shaman giggled covering her mouth. "Ahh but it was short lived a while after the owlets were born, she flew off, growing so bored with me."

"Aww." Shaman cooed.

"Oh yes. But I had many little adventures to follow, including apparently pilfering a cake from a poor, simple human." He winked. Shaman laughed aloud before returning her attention to the prize before her. Silver had managed to snap off the plastic cover and exposed the soft cake within. The two indulged in the sweet smell of chocolate, exhaling in contentment.

Roque took a quick dip in and nibbled away at the piece in his mouth. "Mmm, delicious, but I dare not have another bite."

"Why's that?" Shaman wondered.

"Oh, you'll see." He winked to the two with a little smirk. Silver took a quick lick along with Shaman. The cake was so delicious they decided to throw restraint to the wind. Within moments they were woofing down, huge bites one after another. Roque just looked on, shaking his head at the sight of the two of them. It didn't take long for them to resort to licking the bottom of the plate clean.

While cleaning up the last bits of frosting, Shaman and Silver felt their tongues flash across one another's. Embarrassed, she immediately withdrew and giggled, holding her paw to her chest.

"Sorry bout that."

"It's alright." Silver smiled up to her. Looking down at the empty trey he leaned back and gave a good stretch. "I suppose we should head out."

"Why not get a drink first from the lake?" Roque suggested. Silver reaffirmed his stance from the stretch and agreed.

"Sure, why not." The trio headed down to the water taking in a few good gulps. Silver took a moment to relax, flipping onto his back with a contented sigh, he closed his eyes.

"Want a break I guess, huh?" Shaman asked, joining in at his side.

"We've earned it." Silver nodded, still content with his eyes closed. She drew a good long breath and relaxed as well, taking in the warm sunshine overhead. Looking off to the west she could see some rather dark clouds, but they were moving quite slow as they tried to tumble over the mountains.

"This place, is really beautiful." She breathed.

"Hmm?" Silver looked over.

"Just, I never thought I'd see places like this. Mountains, human towns and strange new animals. Looking back on it, I kinda feel like I was too, sheltered, you know?" She carried on.

"Sheltered?" Silver questioned.

"Yeah. I had my friends to lean on; I was just a member of the pack, no one special in it. You know, I never really had to get creative."

"Like you did with the town idea?"

"Yeah." Shaman agreed. "I wasn't sure if it'd work but, it was really fun to try."

"Maybe you should hop a train more often?" Silver suggested with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Har har. I shouldn't have done it the way I did. But, I'm glad." She explained.

"Glad to get away for a while?"

"Glad I found you, and Roque." She smiled, looking to him. Silver returned one just as warm before fixating back on the sky.

"I'm glad to have found you too." He stammered a little. "Jeez, I feel funny."

"Butterflies in your tummy?" Roque quipped.

"I don't know, but-" Silver cut himself off with a hiccup. "Oh wow, oh no. This isn't butterflies." He urgently explained.

"I feel it to." Shaman announced, suddenly aware of a growing pain in her stomach. "What the heck is this?" Roque started chuckling louder and louder as the two struggled to figure out what was wrong with them. With no loss of poise, he covered his eyes and spoke to himself.

"Cake goes in." He began, as Silver and Shaman leapt to their feet. Within seconds, the two were quite sick, releasing the contents of their stomach in a hurry. "Cake, goes out."

After a fair amount of sickness, Silver and Shaman stumbled away from the mess. Dizzy and disoriented, Silver was the first to fall to his side. Shaman followed along after, the two groaning in unison.

"We ate it too fast?" She asked, coughing a little.

"No, my dear." Roque interjected. "I don't think your stomachs were ever designed for that much cake. Perhaps next time, you'll learn from my example, and just take a bite?" He suggested.

"Silver?" She called out.

"Yeah?"

"Let's not do that again." She groaned.

"Let's not." Silver echoed.

They picked themselves up eventually and started back out on their journey. Passing under the bridge, along the stream, it fed into another forest covered valley winding back into the mountains. The trees were close, the two were treading through a mix of wet, ice caked snow and roots protruding from the ground. Many of the trees were pine, adding a degree of combing and scraping to the journey. Shaman worried in particular for her cloak as it often caught on stray branches and had started a small collection of sticky, sap covered needles.

"I know this sounds, Princess-ey. But I really hope these trees don't ruin my cloak." Shaman commented, trailing behind Silver.

"Should be ok, when we get to a clearing I'll help you pick them out. I kinda like the sticky sap, it's really sweet tasting." Silver suggested, ducking underneath a protruding branch. They carried on, slow and steadily. Silver had a weather eye out for Roque who he could barely see overhead at times though the thick branches.

"Is that a clearing up there?" Shaman called out.

"Yeah, I think so." He acknowledged. Up ahead it was feint, but it did seem like a break in the trees was coming. They pushed on as the image became more vivid, it was as if something was a little off about the clearing itself. Some trees seemed skinned and shaped into a triangular shape. Silver was baffled by the structure, unsure if it was human or natural.

Breaking free from the pine forest, they entered into what seemed like a human campsite. Though it was long abandoned for sure, the three tree branches still stood, as well as a circle in the ground of stones.

"What is this?" Shaman wondered, trying to evaluate the area.

"I don't know." Silver answered softly, keeping her close to his side. "Stick by me, just in case there's humans." Shaman turned to him in disbelief.

"Ok, enough with the paranoia, I don't think there's any here. It's too, simple." She elaborated.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Well, there you are!" Roque called out, landing beside Silver. "Had a wonderful time trying to keep track of you in the forest there."

"Know anything about that?" Silver asked, redirecting Roque to the tree structure.

"Oh, no not much. If I had to assume perhaps some old human monument or, very old shelter." He guessed.

"Shelter, with three tree branches?" Silver countered.

"I'm sorry my friend, I really don't know for certain. My experiences with humans only taught me so much; I cannot explain everything about them."

"Alright, thanks anyway." Silver accepted. "Let's see what she's up to." Shaman was looking around the tree structure. It looked old; the wood was dark brown and had a very dingy, dry smell. Giving it a light tap with her foot, she found it was still fairly stable though. Even with a good shove it didn't budge an inch.

"Huh." She started to ponder, setting herself down for a moment.

"Make anything of it?" Silver asked as he approached.

"Not really. It's old, but sturdy." She informed him. Silver took a quick look around the other two pillars and sniffed around.

"Bleh, what a musty smell." He withdrew, shaking his head. Looking down to his left, something caught his attention. It looked like a small bird feather and metal disk, lassoed with a thin string with beads. "What is this?" He picked up the necklace and brought it over to Shaman. "Here." He called to her.

"Ooo! What's that?!" She awed at the item.

"Not sure, I found it over there."

"It's so pretty." She carried on, seemingly mesmerized by the shiny bits on the disk and beads. Silver was unusually pleased with the fact she liked it. He decided it might be something she would enjoy wearing if possible. Snatching it up, he meet her eye to eye.

"Take off your cloak, just off your left ear." He insisted. Shaman's eyes burst open wide as her smile bloomed. Carefully she removed the cloak from her ear and leaned toward Silver's mouth. He managed to get the necklace over her ear, but it hung fairly loose. "Huh, not exactly secure on there. Roque!" Silver called out. Responding to the call, he flew over to his friend and took to the object hanging off Shaman's ear.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Anything you can do to make that a little more snug?" Silver requested.

"Possibly. Down my dear." Roque gestured, pointing to the ground with his wing. Shaman complied happily and settled in. Roque went to work, fidgeting with the thread that was holding the necklace together. It seemed it had been wrapped just under the first bead. With a little work from the combination of his beak and claws, he managed to push it over, allowing the string to slide up and wrap up tight around her ear. "There, that should do it." He stated proudly.

Shaman rose to her feet, the feather and metal piece resting on her shoulder as she replaced the cloak over her ear.

"How does it look?" She asked, posing for the two of them.

"Very sporting on you, Shaman." Roque winked.

"Beautiful." Silver replied, his warm eyes fixated on her. Shaman shied away a little, giggling softly under her breath.

"Thank you, Silver. This is a very sweet gift." Shaman praised, letting her eyes relax with the same look as his.

"Here, let me get those pine needles off you now." Silver suggested, walking up beside her.

"Sure." She agreed, closing her eyes. Silver went to work, picking off the needles stuck to her cloak along with a few stray burs from the plants before. Shaman enjoyed the feeling of him gently tugging at the cloak as he cleaned off the stray pieces. A warm, subtle feeling began to stir in her, a closeness to him she had never felt with her friends. She trusted him, befriended him and now, something more was beginning to stir within her heart.

They took the opportunity to rest at the old human campsite for a while. The forest before hadn't been kind and up ahead was the mountain they would need to ascend to get back on track. Roque was circling high overhead, watching the northern sky in particular. Thick, dark clouds had begun to roll in. The wind was starting to kick up as well, rolling through the trees; it whisked its way through before finding Silver and Shaman's at their backsides.

"Oh!" Shaman perked up to her feet. "Jeez, that wind is getting cold."

"Yeah, I don't like the look of that. I think we should get moving here, and fast." Silver stated.

"Silver!!" Roque called out, his wings trying to cope with the gusts up above.

"Get moving?!" He shouted up.

"Now would be good!" He called back.

"Come on, let's move!" Silver nodded to Shaman. Getting up she started to run alongside him, heading straight for the forest ahead. Though the wind was at their back, the frigid gusts lifted their fur and cut right through. Shaman could feel her cloak flailing up with each burst as they hit, trying to compensate by turning to the left or right to stop it from bunching up too high or worse, covering her face.

After a good twenty minutes at a steady pace, they were able to put the forest behind them and started up a more spacious trail leading up the mountain. Rain had started spitting down; the smell was refreshing and troubling at the same time. It started to worry Shaman in particular; she had seen this kind of rain before.

"Silver, we need to find a den or something." She advised, keeping to his side.

"Yeah, I got ya. But I don't see any caves yet, worse, we might not find any." He replied between pants. The path bent and twisted for a good while before disappearing all together. With no worn trail, they had to make due making their own, cutting left or right when the hill became too steep or dense to traverse.

As the rain started to come down, they began to realize what made it so hazardous. The freezing wind, plus the cold weather made it feel as though it froze on contact with their fur. After a few minutes, they could feel it starting to clump, the water freezing chunks of hair together and stinging relentlessly on the skin beneath.

"Silver!! Help!!" Roque cried out above. Looking up he could see him coming in fast, tumbling in the air. Leaping up he caught the poor owl, and rolled to the ground, careful not to bite into him. "Ahh, oh that smarts!" He moaned.

"Roque, oh no." Shaman cried, seeing him roll on the ground in pain. His wings were freezing up and had grown too heavy to allow him to fly.

"Here, get him under your cloak." Silver ordered, picking his friend up off the ground, he maneuvered him toward Shaman's back. Letting him off near her tail end, he began nudging him further up. "Come on, Roque. Get underneath." Slowly crawling his way up, he pulled the cloak over himself and wrapped up as tight as he could. Shaman could feel him trembling on her back, feeling the need to join him as the rain started soaking in.

"Need to find shelter, and now!" Silver shouted, rushing off ahead. Shaman did her best to keep up, but had to remain cautious with Roque on her back. She could feel him moving with each step and worried about tossing him off. As they climbed up higher the wind was really cutting in. The clumps of freezing fur that had formed before were crystallizing into ice. Shaman could even feel her cloak becoming more rigid the longer they were outside.

"Silver!" She cried out, her legs stalling out behind him. "Its t-t-too c-c-cold" Swinging around he rushed behind her tail end and started pushing.

"Come on, you can do it." He tried to encourage.

"My legs hurt so badly." She cried. Silver halted his pushing a moment to examine them. Her fur was literally icing over as well as his own. Gritting his teeth, he ducked under her tail and much to her surprise began lifting Shaman up onto his back. "S-s-silver?" She stammered.

"Hold on tight to me." He advised softly, getting a proper fit for her on his back. She wasn't too heavy, even with Roque on her back but he pushed on up the mountain. Encroaching on the face of a sheer drop, he found a stone path and followed along to right, hoping it might lead somewhere. His feet started slipping on the exposed rocks, having been made slick from the freezing rain.

Thankfully rounding the left bend, he saw their salvation. A cave, fairly deep from what he could tell, on the side away from the strong wind. Even the freezing rain had trouble coming down with the mountain offering shelter. As he approached, he took a few quick sniffs, trying to catch any scent aside from the wet tree's and rocks. Relieved he could not find a one, he brought the two inside and set them down. The cave seemed to trail off into a dark and dank pathway, Silver gave it a few good whiffs but picked up nothing but rock and ice.

Shaman was shivering violently, but Silver hadn't noticed yet. Coming back toward them, his legs gave way as he fell to the ground, taking a moment to catch his breath. Shaman let Roque loose from her cloak and allowed him to settle in beside her.

"You ok?" She asked with a shiver.

"Yes, I'm alright. Just need to get warm." Roque confirmed, not showing any shyness about cuddling up to Shaman.

"Me to." She agreed, looking on to Silver who was still lying on the ground. "That's another one I owe him." She smiled.

"Hmm?" Roque looked up to her.

"You didn't notice? He carried me on his back."

"No, I didn't actually. I know he feels compelled to-"

"Cause I'm female?" She quickly cut off. Roque bobbed his head a little before continuing.

"Well I can't speak for him. But I know he's always felt compelled to make up for the past."

"Make up for what." Shaman wondered.

"That my dear girl, is not for me to say."