FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"I made this," the old man beckoned the other two of his companions over to his side, but only the child came over, laughing lightly at Bolro's antics.

"It's the best painting I have ever seen," Bolro looked at himself in the painting in the three parts he featured, leaping over the log house, speeding past a shot arrow, and resisting the strange green fire of the beast with nothing but his bare paws. "You really made me happy," he said as he put a thoughtful paw up to his face. I thought that the face looked absolutely frightful, all teeth and huge eyes and ears like massive horns.

"You should have made Akiko look angrier, though," he said as he pointed to the portrait of me facing the beast with glass daggers and scowling with an overstated expression. I scowled at this remark, and he pointed from the painting to my face without even bothering to look, saying, "more like that."

I stepped closer, as well, coming cautiously with the middle-aged man. The depictions of me facing the beast with daggers, burning out it's nest with black magic, and lifting it over my head with my bare paws all had terrifying expressions on them, but the center figure was different. The old man looked into my face eagerly as he tried to judge my reaction, licking his lips with anticipation. In my forehead was the royalty rune, and my purple robe was torn and flowing around me like ribbons as my golden axe floated overhead. My face looked nearly perfectly accurate, a representation nearly as good as looking into a pool. The old man started to give small hops as I stared at it closely and my face broke into a smile.

"I honor you, Akiko-sama and Spirit Bolro. Rabbit spirit, I always knew I would see your face one more time before I died," he grabbed the child, who was a bit confused by everything, and the three of them danced in a small circle happily as I rolled my eyes.

My face fell as my eyes turned to the picture of Kiera. The black bear was somber as I remembered, and had arms thrown open in a magical gesture that appeared to be conjuring the entire painting into existence with her words. She was also shown scrying for the lair of the strange creature, building a well to get the villagers water when they couldn't get to the river, and raising the huge spike of stone that finally impaled the beast.

The old man stroked her figure and said, "Now that you two are here, she will arrive to help. I have seen it. But I always thought that it would be in a time of war, not a time of peace." He adjusted his robe from the impromptu dancing and went to stare up at the smoke hole. Bolro and the child seemed to completely buy into the possibility that the bear spirit could just drop in through the ceiling at any moment, and stared up as well. I turned and shared a short conversation with the slightly older mortal.

"Have you any path that leads into the mountain lands?"

"No, Spirit. Our tribes do not reach that far into the north."

"Very well. Please continue to hold my horse until we return."

"As you wish, Spirit." The man regarded me warily, and I could tell he was just as afraid of me as before. He was brave enough to push past it and treat me like I was a normal member of his society while we were in their sacred space.

"We are spending a day to rest in your house before we journey on," I called out to the trio of sitting figures. The old man stood up again with a series of popping sounds that must have been louder than his voice and then bowed with a creak that any spirit in the room was able to hear.

"Of course, you should wait for Kiera the Bear to come!" he showed us into the guest room, and I quickly shut the door.

"Wow, he was great," Bolro leaped into the room and sat on a huge skin stuffed with rice, falling into a lounging position fairly quickly and sighing with relaxation.

"He was. Now let's rest," I said as I threw my weather-resistant cloak up against the window to block out the sun and heat, using the fasteners to secure it to the bare wood. I fell to the bed and stared at the ceiling in the dark thoughtfully. Behind me, Bolro shifted so that our heads were near each other, both looking straight up into the dark or into the back of our own eyelids. I rubbed my eyes as I started to allow the adventure so far work its way into my muscles, and sniffed to try to introduce sound into the room before I spoke again.

"Do you really think Kiera is just going to appear here, Bolro?"

"That guy said that she would. Don't be so suspicious of people, Akiko. Fifty suns since I left the house, no wonder my Dad was so sick of me."

"Do not try and distract the subject, Bolro. I'm not suspicious, I just don't think he could know that."

He sighed and a rustle that I could clearly hear was his shaking head met my ears. "He knows if he knows. Kiera does long magic, so maybe she knew that we would be coming here."

"Perhaps the old man just thinks that she will come because we were all here together before, and he doesn't know us any other way. He would... dream of us, or what have you, as three of us."

"I don't understand anything that comes out of your mouth sometimes. Not as bad as Kiera. For all the words she knows, she doesn't really know how to talk."

We slept deeply until we were awoken by screams coming from outside. We both snapped upright at the same time, but before I could even think about moving, my cloak had been ripped away from the window and Bolro had bounded out with a head start, landing on the ground before I could grab my cloak from mid-air and wrap it around myself as I rolled out the window myself.

We were greeted by even more screams, probably looking very frightful as we pounded our freshly-rested way towards the forest in the twilight. We split to surround the area on two sides, and I drew in, searching with every sense to try and find a spirit or wild beast that could be menacing our sacred hosts.

"Akiko!" I arrived at Bolro screaming as loud and as highly-pitched as the first human scream as a dark figure stood near.

The frightening black figure turned towards me slowly and lowered their hood, showing a shallow grin of bone white pointed teeth.

"Why are you screaming," the figure turned to Bolro without letting a single emotion come into her tone.

"Kiera!" he screamed in a high-pitched voice again, and then coughed and repeated "Kiera!" in a more normal jovial shout.

I slapped her on the shoulder and nodded a slight bow to her, and she did the same back. We had studied in one of the dimesions of the underworld together, for only a few years, but then traveled together for quite a count of years going into dragon lands.

"Kiera, it is wonderful to see you again."

"Akiko, I sensed that you would be here when doing a long spell," she answered back, releasing me easily and accepting Bolro's hug from the side without breaking the stride of her voice. "It seems to be of grave consequence that you make it to the bear lands quickly." She was released by the rabbit and patted him on the head softly- showing affection in a completely pre-meditated way, but he didn't seem to notice or care.

"You are correct, Kiera. How did you know?"

The bear blinked back at me. "How did I know what? I saw that you were the key to solving the crisis in the bear kingdom."

I stared at her confused this time. Bolro popped into our huddle, saying, "So when you said she needed to get to the bear lands quickly, you meant to have an adventure, not get you."

"This isn't an adventure. It's a dispute between major bear families."

"That sounds mad boring."

"I'm sure you would think so," the bear seemed to have forgotten all about happy greeting and was looking behind us now. "What are they doing?"

There was a line of men holding hunting spears and a cluster of women holding hunting bows behind them. I turned and bowed to them, wanting to make an exit before the old woman that let me stay under the condition that we wouldn't cause problems was awoken from her daytime slumber.

"Thank you for your hospitality. Tell the old painter that he is greatly blessed." We all started to walk away as they turned amongst themselves and tried to understand what had happened. Living in the strange dark forest, though, they knew a threat when they saw it, and knew friendly spirits when they saw them. They waved goodbye and hooted and hollered, and Bolro waved back with a huge grin, lagging slightly behind as I tried to catch Kiera up on the mission so far. The rabbit kept leaping into the air as we walked further away, and the villagers could be heard shouting "hey!" as they saw him go up above the trees and come down again.

When the shouts were too far away to hear past the muffling of the trees, he landed and came back into the conversation.

"Where are we in the story?" He asked, obviously too impatient to listen in on us. He rose over Kiera's blue robe on each shoulder as she walked.

Kiera turned back to him and narrowed her eyes. "Please try to inhibit your natural reactions to history lessons," she said to him as I giggled slightly. "We were already discussing my side of things, as a matter of fact."

"Kiera knows a quick way to get us to the bear kingdom without taking a short road. There's a river that runs near here that the Ursus control as a trade route."

Kiera further explained, "It runs in a canyon from a mountain in Snake Demon territory, from east to west, against the current of the rivers that flow from the tiger seas."

"That's great," he nodded, just as his eyes started to drift to a particularly interesting bird flying overhead. I giggled again as Kiera frowned, and then tucked the expression to the side as if she were saving it for later as she plodded on ahead in her large boots. "What am I going to do? I'm a- wait, what was that word you used again?" the rabbit turned to me and pointed.

"'Onmitsu'? Oh, no, you liked 'ninja'."

"Yeah. I'm a ninja, not a dictator."

"Dictator?" The bear frowned and said, "No, you are not."

"So what am I doing here?"

"You will at least be able to reacquaint yourself with Shonja."

"Shonja!" The rabbit's ears would have perked up if he did not keep them tied behind his head. "She's there? I guess it's been over fifty suns now, hasn't it? I hope she-" he ran his paws over his head, put on a completely neutral expression, and started to walk a little more hurriedly. "What are we waiting for?"

"That changed your mind fairly quickly," I grinned back at Bolro, who came up to walk beside us now.

"Akiko, you have not had the pleasure of meeting Shonja, have you?" Kiera placed a paw on my shoulder as I shook my head.

"She comes from the Ox Plains-"

"The cows are the allies of the rabbits," I looked meaningfully at Bolro, who kept walking silently.

"As I was saying, Shonja comes from the Ox plains. She has inherited a large estate in the last few centuries and is trying to keep away from the drama that is inevitably involved in such matters. Her father was a Regent."

"High born!" I went far enough to try and punch Bolro in the shoulder, but he avoided me seemingly by blinking out of existence- he was always on high alert while traveling. "That's what you're after, son of Grand Master-"

"She's not-" Bolro started to say something, but just shrugged and shook his head, smiling silently.

"Our recent dialogues would suggest that she would very much enjoy meeting with you again. She seems to find you an interesting enough topic of conversation."

"Wait, are you saying you told her about last time? Even the neck thing?" Bolro's smile and silence fled from him.

"She never asked. My intent was never to embarrass you, Bolro. You are my friend." She said this last point as if it were an obvious observation, not a sign of affection.

"Oh. Well, good."

"Shonja the Ox Princess," I patted Bolro on the shoulder. "I think I can guess what it is about her you like."

"Hey, look, we're here," Bolro gestured to a river that was crossing our path and smiled lamely.

"Don't try to change the subject, Bolro."

"He's not," Kiera walked over to the river and started to raise her hands into the air. "Give me a moment."

After a minute or two of chanting a mantra over and over again, a huge splash of water signaled that the spell was over. As I looked up from meditating, I saw that a raft of solid wood was on the water's surface, in the shape of a circle, with a hemp rope connecting it to a tree on the bank near us.

"Well done, Kiera. Just like at the academy, right?" Even though it was nothing but wood and rope, I was still greatly impressed by the structure.

I got onto the raft first, testing it out with my bare paws. Bolro jumped on and sat down on his knees in the center, always a little nervous in the open. I gave Kiera a helping paw on and she sat down alongside Bolro, her boots making heavy sounds on the wood. I cut the rope with a slice of my claws and we started off on the long journey by river, winding through the dark forest.

Though no eyes peered out of the wood, and no noise came from either bank, my two companions were wary of the shore when I proposed we camp as the sun started to fall. Instead we took turns staying awake and gathering food from overhanging branches while others slept.

While he was sleeping was the only time Bolro made any noise, but the heavy breathing provided a fine backdrop to Kiera's story of what was happening in the bear lands. By the time she was done, my head was swimming with all the new terms she had thrown into the conversation.

"Can I try saying it back to you?" I offered as I scratched my chin thoughtfully. She nodded her consent with a small grin.

"You were trying to figure out how to solve the problem in the Bear Kingdom, so you cast a long searching spell to find who had the answer." A nod. "Your spell told you that it was me, and you knew that I would be at the place we last met- because of- because of-" I scratched my chin and scowled, trying to remember how she popped up out of the forest.

"The cyclical nature of your destiny is undeniable, but it was yet another searching spell that found you in this human forest."

"Right. You found me, and we're going back to figure out this dispute between a member of the two bear families. One of them- correct me if I'm wrong- one of the families is trying to say that the humans that live in their lands don't do enough and need to be organized. The others claim that humans and spirits need to have even more separation."

"You have the basic premise of the situation down, yes. I can't say that I agree with either one of them, but I am not as high-born as the two of you," she said this matter-of-factly with a small gesture of the paw.

"I see. I believe I know why your spell told me to come. My father has demanded the help of a cousin of his, Hastigor."

"Hastigor!" Her eyes went wide. "That is the very bear that is demanding the humans work for him. I could have guessed by his philosophy that he was from a Tiger-influenced family. However, he has gained much pull from the courtiers, even those like Shonja have started to adopt some of his extreme philosophies."

"Extreme philosophies?" I lifted an eyebrow as I turned the words over in my mouth.

"Forgive me, Akiko. I meant that he wishes to have more intimate contact with humans, to the point where he claims to be the master of his castle."

"How terrible," I folded my arms, "Just like a Tiger."

"No, Akiko. He does not live in the underworld and then come to survey his domain. He rules from afar, sending orders while he stays in the Ursus Castle."

I furrowed my brow at this. "My father was convinced that Hastigor would be able to help me defend the fort."

"Well, he has a reputation among his friends of being the most capable bear there is. I remember that he was requested to leave, but he thought it was a scheme to get him away from the debates that are happening. I wonder if that might-"

"Yes, surely that was my father. Doesn't this Hastigor know better than to inspire the wrath of a Phatom?"

"Hastigor fears nothing. He charms any Lord, Lady, or human that talks with him, according to Shonja."

"I see." I stared up into the overhanging branches, picking out a star here and there. "A commander with no love of commanding. And he was worried about...." I couldn't stay angry at my father, since I knew from experience with Bolro that he was susceptible to honest-seeming scoundrels.

The hare with us started to sleepily rise. Bolro rubbed his ears and turned, no longer asleep but staring at us.

"Bolro, you still have an hour and twelve minutes left before you have to awaken," Kiera tilted her head as she looked at the reflective eyes of our male companion.

"Well, I guess I better get out my hourglass, then," the rabbit turned over grumpily, but did not start to sleep again.

We made our way quickly through the forest, arriving in the outpost the Kiera was heading for before the sun set. We were received by the bears that stood guard there and given horses to help us make our way into the mountains.

By the time the sun was setting, Kiera was leading us past the sculptures of trees and bushes that marked the edge of the bear palace. Great statues of bears, tigers, dragons, tortoises, rams, and boars seemed to grow straight out of the ground, with no signs of a tool ever clipping the branches. The high towers of the mountain castle stood at every corer, far apart from each other so they could contain all of the lavish accommodations of the royal palace. I didn't have time to take in much more than the path we were on, as two tall bear guards flanked us and led us down the cobbled road, blocking our view of anything but the low bridge that led over a river that had been diverted down the mountain into a moat. We passed through the first defensive gates, as thick as the mansion properties that it protected. The bears carried on the totemic patterns into their ice sculptures that stood all about the path.

As we entered, a blast of warmth enveloped us. As I looked about at the multitude of bears, they seemed to be mostly concerned with feasting, as every room that we walked past had at least one table piled with food. We were handed over to another huge bear in an antechamber. He was wearing a thin golden wire around his ears and beckoned the three of us to sit near a fire.

"Hello, hello, Kiera. Welcome back, please sit, all of you. You've brought back the eclipse heir you were talking about?"

"This is her, Akiko."

"Greetings, Sir. I have come on behalf of my Father to bring Hastigor to the Mountain Tiger Fortress."

"I see! This is a bit of good luck. The last time that he was called away, he said that it was a trap set by his enemies, and that if one needed him they would come to gather him." He sighed and held up a document that had my father's seal on it.

I rubbed my temples as I realized that Hastigor was going to try and fight me on this point. "I am here to show him that my Father truly needs him, then. Please give us a night to rest, and get us an audience with him tomorrow."

The old bear nodded and handed Kiera a stack of papers. "Of course. And Kiera, you have a bit to catch up on if-"

"Kiera is also part of this mission, now," I growled forcefully, not believing that he was trying to get her to work as soon as she walked in the door. All three of the spirits who were standing up gave a small jump as the fire cracked and collapsed at the same time. "Thank you for understanding how valuable she is as a magical asset and a trusted veteran."

The brown bear started to drip sweat from his dancing eyebrows and gave a small series of noises as he withdrew the papers, then nervously waved the guards over to take us to our chambers.