FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The pungent scent of smoke wafted over Sharra's senses as she drifted through the flat grey borderland that ruled between the dream world and the real world. The scent brought forth such a powerful surge of emotions and memories that she wondered what it was about a simple smell that could trigger such a strong reaction. Driven by the smoke that intruded from the waking world, long forgotten images flickered in the greyness around her and old pain stirred to life. A Dream was beginning, she could feel it waiting on the other side of the border. Something dark and old and empty writhed about there and she braced herself against it as she drifted helplessly towards it. At the last moment a familiar touch swept the nightmare aside and replaced it with something that was different, brighter and altogether happier. As a gentle and warm sensation wrapped her in a friendly embrace, Sharra stirred and smiled in her sleep, letting the dream sweep her away and happy to have the warmth of a close friend hovering nearby.

...Bright sun. Tall pine trees. Birds chirping cheerfully in the forest. Snow capped mountains reaching up into the clear blue sky on all sides...

...Standing by a clear and quick running stream of deep blue-green with a long thin rod made out of an astonishingly flexible material clutched in one hand, a furless hand she suddenly realized. Light brown skin with fine brown hairs captivated her as her eyes moved up the arm that seemed to be hers but wasn't. It was a human's arm, John's arm, she realized as the dream spun gracefully around her. The arm and the rod whipped back out of sight and then forward again, and a long thin cord flew gracefully by overhead, curling out from the tip of the rod to lay straight out across a slow moving pool of water with hardly a ripple...

...Affixed to the end of the cord by a thread so fine and clear that it was nearly invisible was a lure, an ingenious and striking imitation of an insect made out of feathers, fur and thread wound around a barbed metal hook. There were trout in the cold, clear waters and Sharra suddenly understood that the fly would be a nearly irresistible meal to the fish that lurked among the smooth stones at the bottom of the pool. Her heart quickened as a large shadow detached itself from the rocky bed of the stream and moved up to intercept the fly that floated ever so delicately on the surface of the pool...

...The fly disappeared from view in a small splash and concentric rings of ripples spread out across the water. The arm whipped back and the hook was set, the cord pointing arrow straight into the depths of the pool. The rod bent an impossible arc under the tension and the fish thrashed about in the depths, sunlight glinting silver off of bright scales. The rod, a fishing rod she had come to understand, throbbed and twitched under her fingers as the trout fought against the line. A high pitched buzzing sounded as the fish pulled more line into the water. She pulled back, her other hand coming in to turn a small reel that was clamped to the handle of the rod, just below her hand. Slowly but surely she reeled in the fish in to the shore. The tip of the rod danced side to side and jittered as the fish thrashed about on the surface of the stream. She jumped into the shallows, heedless of the cold water that stung her feet and balanced precariously on the slippery stones, clutching at the exhausted fish as she pulled it up to the bank...

...Such a beautiful fish, its multicoloured scales sparkled like a rainbow under the light of the midday sun. It lay gasping and twitching in those strange, hairless hands and she felt a sting of sadness well up from deep within her. She knew that the fish was going to turned into a meal and while she understood that that was the way that life worked, she still felt sorrow over the loss of a life, even though that death meant life for another creature...

...A small fire crackled among polished stones near the edge of the stream. The fish, cleaned and gutted was skewered on a stick and propped up over the fire. The scents of smoke and cooking fish, even as severely dulled as they were when experienced through the human's poor senses, still awoke her hunger...

...A hairless hand reached out to turn the fish over the fire and her eye caught movement off to one side. An animal lay there, something canine and vaguely wolfish looking but its colouring was all wrong. Its pelt was a shaggy and long wealth of midnight black. Its ears were peculiar as well. They did not stand fully erect but instead folded over about half ways up like a young pup's often did. Black fur gave way to light brown on the animal's lower legs and paws. Benevolent brown eyes met hers and the animal wagged its tail. Sharra couldn't help but smile at the familiar gesture and she wondered why such an animal would be anywhere near a human. A word slipped into her mind as the dream flowed around her. Dog, an odd word, but it felt good. She rolled it around in her head. A companion, a worker, and a loyal friend. Slowly, she began to understand why John was able to understand the subtle nuances of her body language and why he seemed to be so comfortable around her. Maybe that was part of the reason a Link had begun to form between them...

...The fish tasted unbelievably good and the dog stared at her intently as she ate. A small morsel was tossed to the animal and was gobbled down eagerly. The dog sat there, ears perked and tail wagging, waiting expectantly for the next piece...

...Sunlight sparkled off of the clear waters and the dog ran out ahead of her over the rocky shore, a stick clenched in its jaws. The animal came running back to her and dropped the stick at her feet. The stick was picked up, thrown a goodly distance away and the dog chased madly after it. It brought the stick back again, a picture of panting, tail-wagging happiness. Sharra smiled. A good memory, and she was thankful to her Linkmate for sharing it with her...

...Crouching down at the edge of the stream, the dog snuffling noisily away at some obscure scent trace nearby. In the soft mud at the edge of the water, picture perfect imprints of a bear's large clawed paws were easily visible. They were fresh, no more than a day old. Worried eyes scanned the banks of the river and sought to pierce the depths of the forest that suddenly seemed to darken and draw in on all sides...

...The dream changed in a bright flash and terror suddenly took her in a vise-like grip. A huge grizzly bear was barely at arm's length, yellow teeth bared in an angry roar. A knife was clenched in numb fingers, the narrow blade the only barrier between life and death as blood coursed down a bare arm...

...Another flash, one so bright that it made her wince and the dream changed yet again. She was sitting on some sort of soft material. Darkness enveloped her on all sides except for directly in front of her. Twin cones of light pierced the darkness and she could see snow drifting down through the light. The shadows of trees whisked past her at frightening speeds on each side of a narrow trail. Her hands rested on a large spoked wheel and strange round dials glowed curiously in front of her. Ten different kinds of noise assaulted her ears as she was bumped and rattled on her seat. Over the cacophony of squeaks and rattles and somewhere below the pervasive loud hum was something she thought could almost be some kind of music. She listened intently for a moment and was able to pick out a raspy voice singing against a background of drumbeats and some instrument that screeched and wailed in strange tones. It made her want to flatten her ears. Suddenly her path started weaving erratically and her hands yanked the wheel back and forth. She was thrown side to side in her seat and suddenly there was a jarring impact and the world spun away from her in a jumble of screaming, smashing, crunching black and white until the black was the only thing that was left...

As the dream wound down Sharra slowly drew back from the dream world and floated quietly in the endless expanse of grey that marked the border between the asleep and the awake. Good dreams, for the most part, but the ending troubled her. There was fear in John's dreams as well, lurking like and old scar somewhere below a slash of fresh pain, pain that hadn't been in the rare few glimpses of the human's dreams that she'd had over the last few weeks. Something had happened just recently, something to do with a bear. Unease tugged at Sharra, pulling her inexorably to wakefulness and she struggled against it for a moment, her gaze drifting back to the murky depths that lay over the border. For nearly two years she had been so afraid of what lay waiting for her in those depths when she closed her eyes. She found now, as she stared back behind her, that while there still was some pain and fear in that world, much of it had dwindled away. Pain shared is pain lessened, she had learned that from her family and friends long ago. Whether or not he realized it, by sharing his dreams with her John was starting her down a path that she had not travelled in a long time. She felt happiness and contentment grow deep within her and she let herself begin to wake up, a smile growing along her muzzle.

Consciousness returned slowly, dragging its feet and being generally unhappy about having to take over again. The real world kicked the door open and came crashing in shortly after and tore away the happiness and contentment she'd felt before she woke up. There was a sharp, gasping intake of breath as Sharra tried to sit up. A web of fire shot through her left side and she collapsed back to the floor, a pained whine escaping from between clenched teeth as she waited for the pain to fade to a tolerable level. Worried eyes roved around and Sharra wondered how exactly she came to be lying on the floor of the cabin. Memories were slow to return, rolling ponderously through the cluttered mess that suddenly occupied the space between her ears.

A memory seized her in a painful flash and pushed everything else in her head to the side.

...Something crunched quietly in the trees behind her. She cocked an ear back, waiting for the noise to repeat and continued working on cleaning out the deer carcass. After a moment of silence the noise grew louder and more sinister, setting off warning bells. She jumped to her feet and whirled around just as a wave of bear stench crashed into her senses. The bear was not far behind. It came at her faster than she thought such a huge animal should be able to move. There was no time to run. With no other choice, she brought her knife up in a desperate attempt to defend herself but the grizzly slapped it and her aside as if she were a pup's toy. Fur and skin ripped, ribs cracked and the breath was torn from her lungs. The knife went spinning from her grasp in a glittering arc to land somewhere amongst the lush undergrowth. She landed hard on the forest floor, each breath a lance of agony biting deep in her left side. The bear reared up on its hind legs and eyed her suspiciously. When she tried to crawl away, the bear dropped back to all fours and lunged at her again. She snarled and twisted away, trying to avoid the bear's claws. She felt claws and teeth tear lines of fire down her legs and she lashed out with a foot, catching the bear squarely in the nose. The bear jerked its head back and Sharra snarled viciously at her attacker. The bear hesitated briefly and she was able to pull herself up to a pile of deadfall. The instinct to survive drove her to find sanctuary from her attacker under that gnarled mass of timber. The bear followed slowly and pawed at the obstructing branches with an ineffectual paw. Satisfied that its opponent had been driven away and was no longer in competition for the carcass of the deer, the huge bear dropped back down to all fours, wandered back to the deer and began to feed. Sharra crawled deeper into the deadfall as fast as the pain would let her, leaving a slippery red trail through the tangled branches...

There was a commotion outside the cabin and the door swung open and bright light cut a swath through the interior of the old shack. A giant figure loomed in the doorway like some ancient monster and Sharra drew away from it in terror, her hackles raised and squinting painfully into the bright light. A growl began to well up from deep in her chest.

It was John's voice that brought her back from the brink. She both heard his quiet words and felt them through the Link. She sensed his concern, his compassion, and she felt her terror wash away with John's help.

"Hey furball, how are you feeling?" His pale eyes never once left hers. She felt his worry ebb and flow through the Link.

Sharra actually managed a small smile, no small feat considering the way she felt. "Sore." She mumbled through a parched throat.

"I know the feeling." He quirked one his half smiles and she noticed as he walked into the cabin that he favoured his left leg. The leg of his pants was ripped and torn and there were dark stains on the cloth. "That bear managed to take a few chunks out of both of us." He sat down heavily in one of the chairs at the table and eyed her closely. Sharra noticed bandages on his right hand. She was confused. She didn't remember anything about John getting hurt. She forced herself to a sitting position, wincing as something in her left side sent a lance of pain through her entire body. John watched her closely and she felt a wave of sympathy accompany his gaze. However, there was something else beneath it. He was wary about something. He seemed to be on edge and she noticed that he unconsciously clenched and unclenched his injured hand.

The human felt differnet to her. He was out of sorts, worried, nervous and borderline twitchy. Sharra had no idea why he was being so distant and that disturbed her. She couldn't remember anything since the original attack by the bear. Something else must have happened since then, something that made the human a little edgier than she remembered him being before. She ran her claws through her unkempt pelt. Dried blood had knotted a few strands of fur together here and there but overall her pelt wasn't in all that bad shape. Her claws stopped suddenly when they encountered something wrapped around her chest. She peered down curiously and saw that a brownish white bandage was wrapped around her chest. She looked up sharply at John. He sat in his chair, unmoving, but watching her with wary intensity. She suddenly noticed that he was no longer wearing one of his cloths. He was bare from the waist up and she sniffed the air curiously. She smelt smoke and human sweat, burnt meat and old blood. She looked down at the bandage in wonder and then back up to John's level face.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked in a haggard voice.

John scratched his beard. "A little over two days. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to wake up."

"Two days!" Sharra's voice was incredulous. She stared at the human in shock.

"You were hurt pretty bad Sharra. I thought for sure you were gonna die on me." She heard the tension in his voice and for a brief moment she saw through the emotionless exterior that he was fighting so hard to maintain and realized the honest fear that he held for her well being. A brief, numbing flash of memory arced through the link and her head was filled with frantic terror.

...A limp weight clutched in his arms, fur sodden and sticky with blood. Running, fleeing, must get back to the cabin. On the edge of exhaustion, stumbling through the thick trees as white hot fire jolted through his body with each step. Blood, so much blood...

A pained frown darkened John's face and the memory abruptly ended as he clamped down hard on his feelings. Sharra reeled from the echo of that memory and stared at the human with an awed expression. It took her a moment to find her voice.

"What happened? How did I get back here?" She looked down at her bandaged chest and back up at John again. "I do not remember anything other than that bear attacking me after I killed the deer." She shuddered at the memories that suddenly pushed themselves to the surface.

John regarded her silently for a moment.

"I..." He began, but his voice trailed off and he bowed his head for a long moment. He pushed himself up from his chair and limped over to the door. He stared out at the beautiful green spring meadow stretched out in front of the cabin for a moment before turning back to her.

"I ... I felt you inside my head Sharra. You cried out for my help." His eyes were wide, almost frightened. "I was outside practicing throwing spears when all of a sudden it felt like I got run over by a truck." He shook his head and limped back to the table. "I thought I was going crazy."

"Somehow, I knew it was you and I knew that you were in some sort of serious trouble." He sat down heavily and held his head in his hands. "I saw glimpses of what was happening. I saw a bear, I felt your terror..." his voice trailed off and he looked at her with moist, hollow eyes. "I even felt your pain."

John stood up again and pulled his good hand down over his face. He limped over to the stove and then back again. "I came and found you and brought you back here. The bear was still there and gave me some... Difficulties." He stopped his pacing and scratched his head. "I still don't understand how I survived that." There was shock and disbelief written all over his face.

He moved slowly over to Sharra and knelt down painfully in front of her, a nervous, worried frown on his face. "You gave me quite the scare hairball."

Sharra looked at John in awe. Despite his strange looks and huge size, and all that he did to hide his emotions, beneath that strange, emotionless exterior this human was showing himself to be a person of great depth. Sharra smiled at him despite the pain in her side and wagged her tail, grateful for the human's presence and for the help that he had selflessly given.

There was more to the story that he wasn't telling her, she knew that. He was clamping down so hard on his feelings that even the link between them was dark and almost totally silent, with only the vaguest hints of his thoughts and feelings reaching her. She wondered why he was doing that. Hints of things that John had left unsaid swirled around in the back of her mind and she eyed him carefully. She wanted to know, she needed to know what had happened over the last two days. There was a way to find out. Despite the pain it caused her, she reached out to her friend and surprised understanding flickered in his eyes. She felt the flare of pain that ran through his wounded arm as he caught her gently by the wrists and held her there, his pale, worried eyes searching her face.

"I must know what happened." Sharra pleaded. "I can sense that there are things that you do not wish to tell me about what happened over the last few days." Her eyes fixed on the angry red cuts that ran over his forearm.

John's level expression didn't change but she felt his emotions churn through the Link.

"Are you sure you want to know?" He asked softly. "I'm not sure if I want to deal with those experiences so soon. Maybe it's better to try and forget."

"I need to know." Her voice cracked and she looked away. "I feel your anguish over what happened." When she looked back up at John, tears had begun to form in her eyes. "I can ease the pain that stems from it if you will let me. I can feel how it tears you apart."

John regarded her silently and she could almost see the thoughts churning away behind his eyes. His choke hold on his end of the link remained as tight as ever. Slowly, gently he pushed her arms down and away from him.

"Maybe later Sharra." He said evenly, "but first you're going to have something to eat and drink. You need to regain some strength before you do anything crazy."

It was as good as a 'yes'. Sharra smiled and her tail wagged a few times.

The human's face relaxed into a smile and Sharra's mood took a turn for the better. She tried to climb to her feet but John gently restrained her.

"You stay put furball. You're not exactly healed up yet." It was a good point. She settled for a sitting position.

"What do you want for lunch? Deer? Or Bear?"

Sharra's ears came up and her head cocked to the side. Did he just say bear?

"Uh... Deer."

John nodded and was out through the door of the cabin before she could voice her question.

Bear? She scratched her chin thoughtfully. He had to be joking. She craned her neck and peered out the door of the cabin. She couldn't see much outside but she swore that she saw smoke drift past the open doorway. She sniffed the air. The wooden walls and floor of the cabin were so saturated with the scent of smoke that she couldn't tell if there was there was anything fresh on the air. She sighed and winced as pain flared in her ribs. She knew, with the certainty that came from many years of experience as a Healer that she had at least two, maybe even three cracked ribs on her left side. She gingerly brushed her fingers over the injured area, clenching her jaw against the pain. Through the bandages she was able to feel where the bear's claws had torn away fur and cut through flesh. She flattened her ears and cursed. She would be a while in healing. She carefully checked over the rest of her body and found no other really serious injuries. Her legs had a considerable collection of cuts, scrapes and punctures, but they were minor in comparison to the damage done to her left side. There was going to be lots of scarring there. She hoped that eventually her fur would grow completely back in and cover up the damaged areas.

Sharra gingerly eased herself back down to the floor. John was right. She was in no shape to do much of anything for a while. Neither of them were. John's injuries, while seemingly not as severe as hers were still enough to impair his movement and prevent him from doing much of anything for at least a couple of weeks, maybe longer depending on whether infection reared its ugly head or not. Sharra sagged in despair. She wasn't going to be able to do any healing for quite a while either. While she wouldn't have been able to heal herself in any case, she could have done something for John were she still strong and uninjured. Trying to use her abilities to heal in her present condition would do far more harm than good. Healing required a great expenditure of strength and energy and she had little left to give. Even trying to attempt a healing in her current state could have dire consequences. The strain of it could kill her and the backlash could knock John unconscious for days. They were going to have to let their bodies heal their injuries and deal with infection as best as they could. Sharra frowned and stared at the door of the cabin. The next several weeks were going to be a struggle. There wasn't much food left and she wasn't sure if it was enough to keep the two of them strong while they healed. The deer that she had killed just before the bear had attacked her would have bolstered their food supplies considerably. Too bad the bear had chased her away from it. They could have used the meat more now than ever.

The porch outside of the cabin creaked and groaned under heavy feet and the door was swung open. Sharra looked up expectantly. John limped in, a large plate balanced awkwardly on his bandaged right hand and a bowl in the other. A sizable mound of meat occupied the center of the plate and Sharra sniffed the air hungrily. She pushed herself up into a sitting position again as John made his way over to her.

The human sat down painfully beside her and placed the plate and the bowl on the floor between them.

"There you go. All sliced into bite sized chunks and warmed up a bit and some nice cold water to wash it down with."

Sharra wagged her tail and licked her lips. John chuckled.

"I'll bet you're hungry. You haven't eaten in over two days."

Sharra grinned at him and popped a piece of meat into her mouth. It went down seemingly without even chewing. John raised an eyebrow as she went for another piece. She gulped it down lightning fast again and wagged her tail at the human as he sat and stared at her, a faint smile on his lips. He chuckled a bit and forced himself to his feet.

"I'll leave you alone with your dinner. I gotta go stoke up the fire outside. Yell at me if you want some more food."

Sharra looked up at him, tail wagging, but too busy eating to say anything. John smiled and limped out the door. She finished the rest of her meal in short order and leaned back with a contented sigh. She had been hungry, more so than she thought and she eyed the empty plate thoughtfully. She would have like to eat a bit more but considering the state of their food supplies she decided that she would wait. She and John would have to be very careful over the next few weeks if they were going to have enough food to survive. She picked up the bowl and lapped lazily at the cool water. It wasn't long before she had drained the bowl dry. Three days of sleep made one very thirsty indeed.

A mostly full stomach brought on drowsiness and Sharra fought off a yawn. She blinked lazily and shook her head briskly to try and stay awake. Realizing that she didn't really have anything to stay awake for, she eventually just lay back down and stared at the wall. Sleep slowly took hold of her and she drifted away. The dreams stayed away this time.

---

It was dark and quiet inside the cabin when Sharra woke up. The oil lamp burned on top of the table and John's shadowy figure was seated in one of the chairs there. He had a chunk of wood gripped in one hand and a sharp knife clenched awkwardly in the other. He worked with the utmost care, removing a sliver of wood here and there, shaping the piece of wood into a vaguely familiar form. Sharra pushed herself into a sitting position and watched intently for a moment.

"Welcome back." John said without turning. "I felt you wake up. You feeling any better?"

"Still sore."

The human nodded but didn't turn. The knife grated along the wood and a thin sliver curled away. "Not surprising. I think that's something we're both going to have to live with for a while." He put down the knife and the chunk of wood that he had been working on and turned to her. His eyes glinted in the lamplight and the features of his face were lost in shadow. "I don't suppose you could do that 'healing' trick again, could you?"

Sharra's whole body sagged. She had expected this question and she hoped that John would accept the answer she would give. She looked down at the floor and shook her head slowly. "No. It would be very dangerous to try such a thing. I would be unable to heal myself in any case and until I heal up I lack the strength to do anything for you. I really wish I could though." She looked up at John, sadness all to evident in her eyes.

"I suspected as much." John nodded. He looked her straight in the eyes and smiled reassuringly, feeling her despair over not being able to do anything. "Don't worry about it Sharra. We'll just have to make do without." He picked up his knife and the piece of wood. "The only thing I think we have to worry about is infection. I cleaned the two of us up as best as I could but you never know." He shook his head and Sharra felt his uncertainty through the Link.

Silence reigned for a moment, interrupted only by the sound of the knife scraping on wood. Sharra decided that she'd had enough of sitting on the floor and forced herself to a standing position. John stopped his carving and watched her silently. She could feel his concern for her and she smiled at him as she walked unsteadily and painfully to the table. The Link between them was open, fluid, and the human wasn't clamping down on his emotions as he had earlier. She sat down heavily in the other chair and stared across the table at the human.

John didn't look at her. He ran a thumb along the edge of the piece of wood that he had been carving and let out a sigh. He cleared a spot among the shavings on the table and carefully set the wood and his knife down. His grey eyes found Sharra's and he gestured towards the tools he had deposited on the table.

"A new throwing stick for my spears. I lost the other one during my encounter with that bear." His eyes became distant, clouded, and he looked away. Sharra felt the sudden change in his mood. She remained quiet, sensing that he needed to say something. Several moments of silence passed before John spoke. When he found his voice again, it was almost a whisper.

"I've never been so sure that I was going to die." John stared intently at the table and moved a few shavings around with the tip of a finger. When he looked up at her the hollowness in his eyes mirrored what she felt through the link. "You gave me what I needed to keep fighting. I could feel you inside my head. I knew you were hurt and I had to do something..." John's voice trailed off.

Sharra could feel the turmoil inside of him and she reached out to her human friend. He looked down to where her hand rested on his arm and then up to her face. His eyes glistened in the feeble light. She could see the muscles in his jaw working spasmodically.

"Show me what happened." Sharra's voice was quiet and gentle and she let her feelings on the matter flow openly through the Link. "I can help you deal with it and you can help me understand it. That is part of being Linked. A pain shared is a pain lessened."

"You said that earlier." John's eyes searched her face. "But do you really want to know what happened?" He looked away again, shaking his head slowly from side to side, a storm of emotions brewing just below the surface, fighting to escape one way or another. "I don't know if I can relive that experience." He tightened down on his end of the link for a moment, trying unsuccessfully to keep his feelings hidden.

"I need to know." Sharra pleaded. "Your pain affects me too." At her words, John looked up sharply and a flicker of understanding flashed in his eyes. His shoulders sagged and he sighed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize..."

"Will you let me help us? "

John was silent for a long moment. He avoided her gaze and stared at the table between them, fingers tracing random patterns in the wood shavings that littered the tabletop. Sharra could sense the turmoil churning through his mind and she waited patiently for him to decide. Finally, and without looking at her, he nodded.

Sharra smiled and her tail thumped against the leg of the chair. She stretched her other arm out across the table and took John's huge hands in hers, ignoring the pain that flared in her cracked ribs. He didn't resist and he looked at her questioningly. He was tense and uncertain, she felt it now more than ever because of their close contact. Sharra closed her eyes and smiled. She concentrated hard, seeking to channel her thoughts through the Link.

Try to relax. You are far to tense.

John's eyebrows drew together in confusion. The wolf in front of him sat motionless with her eyes closed. Her mouth hadn't moved but she had just spoken to him. He looked all around him and then finally up at the ceiling, wondering what strangeness was going on now. When he looked back at Sharra, there was a silly grin plastered on her muzzle and her eyes were still closed.

Yes, that was me you big oaf.

John swore he heard her chuckle.

Physical contact and hard concentration allows us to share our thoughts and feelings in much greater detail. Now, I want you to close your eyes and try to relax. Speak not to me with your voice , but with your thoughts instead.

John closed his eyes and withdrew into his thoughts. He floated silently in a sea of greyness, surrounded on all sides by a comfortable warmth. He concentrated hard on his thoughts and tried out his mental voice.

Can you hear me? Surprise bubbled through the Link and he felt Sharra's smile.

Very loudly and very clearly my hairless friend. Sharra's voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. He felt that she was close, that he could reach out and touch her if he wanted to...

Wow. This feels really weird. I'm not used to having another person inside my head with me.

Your kind do not Link then?

John did the mental equivalent of a head shake. No. I've never heard of anything like this before. He experimentally poked the thread that bound his mind to Sharra's. A flood of amusement washed over him and Sharra's chuckle echoed in his mind.

When you are done playing I want you to follow the link to me. I will help guide you on your journey.

Umm... How do I do that?

Visualization is the key. It all depends on how your mind perceives the thread that binds our minds together. John felt her draw back and watch him, waiting to see what he would do.

He thought hard for a moment and gradually an image took shape, fading in from the mental greyness that surrounded him.

Pine trees solidified out of the fog and he found himself standing on the hard and dusty surface of an old gravel road that stretched out before him. The trees were dead silent and the road was empty. A short distance away, on the weed infested shoulder of the road stood a battered old yellow road sign. The reflective paint had been abraded and dulled by decades of snow and gravel thrown up from the graders and a few bullet holes added some extra character. A black arrow slithered a snakelike path on the face of the ancient sign and John squinted into the distance. The road curved out of sight behind the trees barely a hundred metres away. Mountains with a vague hint of last winter's snows jutted up over the trees. He kicked the gravel and a cloud of dust was raised up from his boot. Stones bounced and rolled away into the ditches.

Interesting... Sharra's thoughts drifted up the road to him. This... Path should lead you to me.

He began walking.

The sun beat down, hot on his back. Sweat trickled down his forehead. Boots crunched on gravel. The thick forest that lined the edges of the road was eerily still and quiet as he walked. He sensed that Sharra was holding back, testing him, letting him find his own way to her.

The road narrowed as he walked down it, the trees drawing in closer and the gravel under his feet slowly breaking up and fading away into the forest floor. Soon, the last remnants of the road had disappeared behind him and he found himself walking a narrow path in the depths of a thick forest. Tall pine trees reached up on all sides and blocked the heat of the midday sun. It was wonderfully cool in the depths of the woods and he stopped for a moment and wiped the sweat from his brow. He breathed in deeply, revelling in the earthy scents of the forest and he felt much of his tension melt away. A sudden feeling of warmth and contentment embraced him; Sharra was watching him, a happy smile on her muzzle, he could feel her presence from somewhere up ahead. Her voice sprang up in his mind, as clear and as happy as the sun that shone down on the forest.

It is wonderful, is it not? Your mind has chosen a land of spectacular beauty. I can feel how this place tugs at the very heart of who you are...

John smiled in return. It was indeed a place of great beauty and he felt its relaxing embrace push his worries away. For a mental projection, this place was pretty real, he thought. The trail wound through the trees ahead of him, curving around a large moss covered boulder and out of sight. He could hear water flowing somewhere close at hand.

He walked out from behind the boulder and into the warm sunshine. There, stretched out before him, a clear and quick flowing stream flowed over polished stones. The crystal waters glittered brightly in the sunshine and he shaded his eyes from the glare. His gaze followed the trail up to the edge of the waters, to a squat stone bridge that arched gracefully across the creek.

A solitary figure waited patiently on the opposite bank of the creek at the foot of the bridge, a familiar figure cast against a background of poplar trees dressed in their autumn beauty.

Sharra.

John stopped at the foot of the bridge and looked at her in wonder. She looked so different in this mental landscape. She had a content smile on her muzzle and her well groomed grey pelt was the picture of glossy beauty. A curious pendant hung from a leather thong tied around her neck and a wide leather belt tanned a deep, vibrant red was bound about her waist. A small pouch hung from the belt above her left hip and a knife was sheathed on the belt at her right hip. A long iron tipped spear was gripped loosely in her right hand. Her tail waved gently to and fro as she watched him from the other side of the creek.

John turned and looked back at the pine forest from which he had emerged, then ahead again to the autumn poplars. He suddenly understood that the creek marked the border between to worlds, between two minds. The bridge was the link, the mental image of the thread that bound he and Sharra together. A grin split his face and he raised a hand and waved at the figure across the creek. He stepped out onto the stone bridge and crossed into a different world.