FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"... So I got Githy to come out to help me the day after I found the raccoon den. It looked like their mother had been missing for at least a day when we got there. So, my brother here sent me off to find his friend Mayel, a really nice old raccoon lady. I swear, Mayel never grows tired of kids! She doesn't have any herself, but last time I visited her, she had at least fourteen kits and pups and chicks of all sorts of different species running all around her house! And they all listened to her and did what she said! I swear, its witchcraft to me getting one kit to listen to you, let alone fourteen of them! I can't even imagine trying to watch fourteen kits. But anyway, so I find Mayel. She wasn't actually busy this time. I mean, she's a busy lady... tough too, she works in the farms. But the spring harvest had just come in, so she had time on her hands. Well, we walked back to the den and -"

"Reya, is this really necessary?" Gither snapped.

"You're just embarrassed!" Reya taunted, "so I brought Mayel back with me and -"

"Reya!"

"There's Gither, his face looking almost exactly as red as it does now. He's lying down on the den floor with all of the little raccoon kits gathered around suckling at his belly!" The spotted otter covered his maw like he was hiding a smile. She caught him steal a glance at Reya's brother. Gither was not happy.

"It was absolutely the most adorable thing," Reya cooed, "mommy Githy -"

"Reya, shut up."

"Despite what he's saying right now -"

"Reya, shut the fuck up."

"Jeez Gith, language! We have a guest here! Anyway Githy absolutely loved it -"

"Reya, I mean it - shut up!" Gither was a furious shade of red under his fur.

"But look at him! Our new friend loves my stories!" The mute grinned and winked at the angry otter.

"Can you be quiet for once in your damn life? If you have to talk, make it about something other than me!"

Reya sighed, exasperated.

"Oh yeah! Have I told you about the time that Githy dated a ferret?"

It was a long walk for Gither. For Reya, however, time passed quickly. She had never had someone around who was such a good listener. With how much she talked, she wore people out pretty fast; her brother rarely took the time to hear the bits of gossip that she had picked up around the forest.

Reya had almost exhausted her voice by the time that the mute indicated for them to stop. A large hollow tree lay on the forest floor, rotten and falling apart. Next to the tree were the broken remnants of what used to be a simple pull-cart crudely constructed from sticks, vines, leaves, and algae. The mute motioned inside the log.

It looked like the stranger had only spent a single night under the rotting wood. Leaves and moss had been pushed together for something to sleep on. There were still small twigs and dirt in the bedding; it looked hastily put together. Decomposing wood and lichen had fallen into the nest as well. Reya cringed at the thought of the mute being forced to spend the night inside the log.

He moved farther in; It was too thin for Reya and Gither to follow, but after rummaging around, he pulled out a coarsely woven sack. He nodded at the Gither who moved forward and accepted the package from him. As the spotted otter continued to rummage through the leaves, Gither cautiously sniffed the bag. Reya wondered what was inside that was so important. It looked light and limp in her brother's jaw. Finally, it looked like the mute had found what he was looking for. He backed out and motioned for Reya.

"What do you need?" She questioned, "Is there something else under here?"

He nodded. She found what he was looking for without much effort. The large male pulled a looped vine out from under the leaves gave it to her to hold in her maw. He moved to the other side and, after some more digging, uncovered another loop. He tentatively lifted the cord and Reya followed suit.

The otters slowly unearthed a small square package. It was about the length and width of Reya's head, but only about as thick as her tail. It was wrapped tightly with leaves and bound with twine. The two otters carefully moved it outside of the hollowed log and set it down on the grass.

"What is it?" Reya asked. The mute walked over to Gither, and nosed at the sack. Gither dropped it on the ground. The spotted otter pushed it open, and pulled out a short stub of charcoal with his paw. Gither's eyes narrowed.

The mute motioned over to a smoother portion of the log where less had rotted away. Reya and Gither followed his lead; Reya went enthusiastically, Gither suspiciously. He started to mark the wood, drawing small lines, curved and straight. His paw moved carefully and precisely as the charcoal scratched against the wood, relegating the strokes to the upper part of the open surface. He finally stepped back to reveal his message - short and simple.

"Can you read?"

Reya looked at the characters quizzically. She didn't understand. Gither had taught her basic writing, but she was terrible at drawing pictograms, so she never studied them. These characters weren't pictograms. They didn't look like anything she'd seen before.

Gither on the other hand looked like he had been possessed. The tip of his tail twitched back and forth. Reya hadn't ever seen his tail twitch before. Not even when he got so angry that his whole body trembled.

"Yes," Gither said after a minute of staring. The mute looked relieved.

Gither had told Reya about the old runes before. They were marks of the gods and the spirits, dangerous and not to be trifled with. She was shocked that Gither could read them.

"Please translate for Reya." Gither repeated the writing out loud.

"My name is Torren. I need help. It is three days since I lost my tongue. I must speak with others, but I am almost out of writing. In package is a way to speak with me."

As Torren wrote, Gither spoke the words. Reya guessed that it was more for his benefit than hers. Gither never told her about anything that seemed even slightly dangerous.

And she could tell that her brother thought that Torren was dangerous. His fur was standing and his tail was twitching even harder. Reya stayed quiet for a moment, but she couldn't help ask a question.

"So, um, why did someone do that to your tongue?" Torren's face contorted into a grimace. He tossed her the tiny fragment that remained of his chalk. It was obvious to her that he didn't have enough of the charcoal stick left to write any more.

"I guess we're back to yes and no questions then! Should we open the super mysterious package here, or take it back to our den first? I think we should go to the den... It might rain and that'd probably be bad for whatever's in there." He seemed conflicted for a moment, but the obvious choice settled in his mind quickly. The speckle coated otter nodded his head in approval.

"We're going back?" He nodded once more.

"Alright then, Gith, you and Torren can carry the thing back. We can leave that crappy bag, we have plenty of pouches back at the den."

Gither glared at the otter girl. "No. You are going to hold the damn bag in your giant fucking maw and I hope to the gods that it shuts you up long enough for us to get some peace! Look, your new buddy Torren agrees with me! Right?" Torren looked to the side, not meeting Gither's eyes.

"Gods-dammit!"

"C'mon Githy, let's get going!"

The sun had already set. Despite having her mouth free while Gither and Torren worked together to carry the package, Reya didn't talk very much. She started off the trip with one of her stories, but got distracted by a yowl from a creature off in the forest. Shivers ran down her spine.

Something about the darkness unsettled Reya. She liked being able to see everything around her; she liked having an air of certainty around her life. Right now, nothing was certain. The moon had waned until not a single sliver of moonlight lit their path. The stars dotting the vast sky seemed distant, but she felt like each of them - each departed soul - was watching as they marched forward.

Luminescent yellow eyes flashed from the bushes for a split second. They were her only warning before a large mass of teeth and claw shot from the darkness like a javelin aimed directly at the group of otters.

Everything was still.

She was frozen in place. The world around her ran in slow-motion. Thoughts raced through her head like buzzing hornets, disrupting the serene horror of the moment. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She wanted to shout - to alert her friends of their impending doom. She stood straight and still - unable to do anything.

The large creature - a massive cat - was terrifying. Two strands of disheveled fur hung from its ears down either cheek, dropping underneath its face into a point. It was like some grotesque furry war paint. Dark spots speckled its tan hide. Its eyes, however, bright yellow drops of neon, were surrounded with patches of ghastly white fur.

Everything happened almost too fast for Reya to register. Gither tried to duck back, but the cat's claws raked across his face. He yelped in pain as blood started to drip down his face and around his muzzle. He tried to compose himself to fight, but Reya could already tell that it was too late.

The large spotted cat drew back again, ready for the kill. Its legs pulled taut and it pressed its ears tight against the side of its head. The cat's long thin tail brushed across the grass with barely a sound. Its muscles reflexively expanded. Its rear legs pushed hard against the ground.

Gither tried to jump to the side, but Reya could see that he wasn't ready. He wouldn't be fast enough.

"Gither!" Reya screamed. She looked back and forth, desperate for something that she could do to help in the precious moments before her brother was slaughtered by the cat.

Torren collided with the leaping cat mid-air. He slammed into the ground on top of it. The beast tried to slash and bite at the otter, but it was growing weaker and weaker. Torren's teeth were wrapped around its neck.

Reya stared in horror as the cat spasmed once, twice before going completely limp. Torren let go and, as if in a trance, began to stagger towards the river.

It was as if the little otter knew what was going to happen before it did. She leapt at Torren with all of her strength and barreled into him just as sharp teeth clenched shut where he had been standing only a moment before. He recoiled, startled. The cat, with its dying breath, had lunged for its killer, hoping to exact a final revenge.

Torren stood still, breathing heavily. Reya leaned over him; she was motionless, but thankfully free from harm. Gither pulled himself up from the river back onto the shore, the water having washed away the most prominent signs of his wound.

"Why the fuck didn't you run?" Gither demanded.

"How could I run? That... Cat-thing was going to tear you two apart!"

"It's called a lynx; and you need to look out for yourself, Reya. You just fucking met this otter and you're already trying to throw your life away for him!"

"Torren would have cat fangs stuck in his fur right now if I hadn't helped! And you... you'd be nothing more than this... lynx's midnight snack if it weren't for Torren! Do you hate life that much? Because it certainly seems like you wish that both of us just left you to die! What if I ran away, Torren saved your sorry tail, and then was killed for it because I followed your stupid orders? You'd rather throw away the life of this person that you know almost nothing about than to show a little bit of gratitude! I'm so fed up with you Gither! You know what? Maybe Torren should have let the cat tear your... your _fucking_brains out, because you obviously would have let it happen to him!"

Reya started at Gither, out of breath. She was shocked her own speech. He looked back at her with a sudden determination.

Gither's voice rose with word he spoke, "Reya are you trying to kill yourself? You stuck your ass out for this blood-stained psychopathic piece of shit enough in the last two days. Do you realize how easily he could have killed you? Look at him. He's a killer! He's covered in blood - he just tore out the throat of a fucking lynx -"

"-That was about to kill you!"

"Reya, you will not be around him!" Gither shouted, "look at this, he's made me look like a villain here! All I've ever done was keep you safe!"

"Get the hell off my tail! I can live my own life!"

"Well, fuck off then. Live your own life." Gither turned in a huff and left. Torren stared on in shock, blood still dripping from his maw.

"You can clean yourself up," Reya spoke after a short period of silence. Torren nodded. With measured steps he walked over to the stream and rinsed out his muzzle. He still seemed shocked by Reya's fury and she couldn't blame him.

"Where are we going then?" She asked when he had finished.

Torren tilted his head slightly, confused, before nodding in the direction that they were moving beforehand.

"No!" Reya almost shouted, "I am not going back to my den." Her voice dropped to a low growl, "if I get what I want, I'm never going to see him again."

Torren placed a paw on her shoulder and then nudged her towards the package. "You're right, we better move that somewhere safer," Reya sighed. Torren nodded in agreement. He grabbed a handle in his mouth and Reya followed suit.

"I bet you've got more experience with this survival stuff than me," Reya mumbled through the strap, "lead the way." The spotted otter seemed to agree, gently pulling her along into the woods and away from the river.

"I guess I can talk all I want now, with Gith gone... if you'll listen to me, I mean," Reya spoke, her words slightly muffled. Torren grinned and nodded at her through his strap. "I mean, it's not like Gither was a bad brother to me... He could be nice sometimes.

"I remember back when I was just a pup... talking to Gither wasn't like pulling a thorn out of your paw back then. We'd just sit and talk for hours about all sorts of things. He taught me all sorts of stuff about different herbs and plants... He's a great healer, you know. He was pretty famous in our little corner of the woods. He'd have ten to twenty people lined up daily to see him and he helped as much as he could. It was really wonderful. I wanted to be just like him." Reya laughed bitterly.

"I could tell that he really cared about them too. Every single time I saw him lose a patient he would just mope around for days. I think that he put so much into helping his patients that his failures just hurt all the worse.

"I think that's what happened. As I grew up his temper just got worse and worse. He shouted at his patients all they time and before long they stopped coming as often. I mean, they'd still come for help because he was the best around, but they'd always get out as quickly as possible.

"It's funny actually, I got a lot better at medicine because people started asking me for help instead of Gither. Of course I had to go to this healer Talip in the next town over since Gither got furious whenever he found out that someone went to me instead of him.

"I started avoiding him around then too. Gither hated me helping the patients. I don't know if he was jealous or if he was worried about baby rabbits slitting my throat at night or something ridiculous like that. He got worse and worse every time he caught me. You know what that jerk did? He started following me. Every single day. At first he was inconspicuous about it and I didn't mind as long as he didn't bother me. Then he began to try to stop me from going near certain animals that were avoiding him, the ones that I was treating - I guess he thought that they might have a grudge against him or something.

"He didn't just stop there, though; he started keeping me from going more than an hours walk from the den. It was ridiculous. I let him stop me too, because somehow I had convinced myself that it was for the best. It's hard to explain, you know? Even though I was angry and upset at everything, I thought that he knew what I needed. Gods that was stupid of me.

"Don't get me wrong, though, I loved him for everything that he did for me as a kit. My mom and dad... I don't remember, but my mom and dad died when I was really little. He's taken care of me and kept me safe... And he was my friend too! He used to actually be my friend, but now it's like I'm just his responsibility. He treats me like I'm some feral animal he has to take care of...

Reya began to cry, "I want to be his friend again."

Torren gently set down the package and nosed Reya. She was biting deep into the vine handle. He rubbed his paw against her wet tear-stained cheek.

"Th... Thanks for listening, Torren. You're a great friend," she choked out, "I think that I need to talk to Gither... I... I want to at least try, you know?"

Torren nodded and nuzzled her.

"H...hey, I know this place... Are we?"

He nodded, and nudged her towards a line of brush, revealing the forested riverside where she had first found him.