FSE

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Loot

Written by Amethyst Mare (Arian Mabe)

Commissioned by Seraphon

"Come now, Jaya," the old brown fox said, peering around the wall. "We must hurry."

The decrepit jail had fallen into disuse, deemed dangerous as the years crept upon it, though it had been a very different establishment the last time Maxim had been there. Of short stature, the brown fox's tail was tipped with white and his eyes had faded to a dull grey with age. He was almost as old as the prison had been in its prime. Tucking his long, green scarf more securely around his neck to ward off the cold - clothing was optional as all genitalia were held internally in his world - he hopped forward, groaning as his bones creaked.

"Why? Why must we hurry? What are we even doing here?"

The jittery grey fur at his side looked up at him, one eye covered by a miniature telescope, much like an eye patch, which magnified everything she saw with that eye: a handy device. He had told her that it would damage her eyesight if she kept it in place but she would not listen, too young to be wise to the wisdom of his years. Jaya, snorted and stomped one large foot on the ground. Even being on the edge of the city made her anxious and she repeatedly cast her eyes towards the lights, watching like a hawk for any movement. Despite her painfully shy nature that made her avoid cities like the plague, Maxim was glad of her company as a lookout. Nothing would sneak up on them while she was there, whether anthro or animal.

With short bowed legs like that of a hopping rodent or kangaroo, Jaya bounced to Maxim's side and tucked her head beneath his arm. Her warmth seeped into his fur and he leaned into her, stroking back her floppy ears, with the little black spots, comfortingly. She hated those spots.

"We need more money, Jaya." Maxim sighed as he was forced to waste time, lest her curiosity pester him through the night. "I have some stashed here, from earlier days. We are fetching it, as I told you."

"Stolen?"

Her eyes gleamed.

"Yes, stolen."

He grimaced. It was not part of his life that he was proud of when speaking to Jaya. Secretly, he missed the thrill but he did not want her to know anything of that. Jaya would grow up to be a good fur, he would make sure of it.

She blinked in the dim light of the moon and made a motion of zipping her lips closed as Maxim slipped into the building itself, stone crumbling about his paws. The land had already begun to reclaim the jail and weeds sprouted through the floor, vines and seedlings taking root in walls and any bare patch of earth they could find. Maxim smiled, long ears (which tapered to a point) drooping contentedly to either side of his head: it was good that the jail would now serve a purpose.

But they must find the loot that he stashed and quickly too. Who knew if guards still swept the jail on their rounds? He listened intently, tail raised and tense.

"Come, Jaya."

Padding deeper into the prison without a light, the fox relied on his senses to guide him, much as he had in his days of thievery. Less sure footed than the older fur, Jaya hopped behind him, avoiding debris wherever possible and still managing to clip her bare foot upon several occasions.

Maxim did not realise that she had dropped behind until he heard a low 'oooh' of surprise and inwardly groaned himself.

Here it comes...

"What's this?"

Backtracking, Maxim joined her in the doorway to a larger room with chairs scattered about, most broken, and a raise 'stage' at one end. Upon it sat several wooden devices. Ah, he recognised this room. A smile broke his lips and he thanked the heavens that he had had Jaya with him. He would have bypassed it entirely otherwise.

Nice work, Jaya.

She bounced on the balls of her feet, wanting an answer and he walked into the room, gesturing at the device with one paw.

"It's called a pillory," he explained, eyes roaming slowly across the room - they were not as strong as they had once been. "Bad furs are locked into it as a punishment."

"How does it work?"

There would be no peace until he explained. He tilted his head, thinking. There could be a quicker way to alleviate her questions. Or keep her in one place while he took care of what he had come there to do.

"I'll show you," he decided. "Get up on the stage there."

Following his directions, the small, grey fur sprung up with ease, circling the pillory as she inspected it. With some effort, the brown fox picked her up and placed her behind the device, swinging the top half over to the left on its hinge so that the lower halves of the circular slots, where a fur was to place their neck and wrists, were exposed.

"Arms and head in, Jaya, I'll show you."

Tongue sticking out from the corner of her mouth, she wriggled into the pillory, laying her wrists in carefully but bumping her nose as she tried to pop her neck on to the gap too. Wrinkling her nose, she rested her throat on the wood, looking up as Maxim carefully closed the upper half of the pillory over her limbs and neck. He leaned on it to imitate the locking mechanism, his weight more than enough in such a position to ensure Jaya could not simple bound out of the restraint. She squirmed, realising that she was trapped, and flicked her leonine tail, the feathery, fluffy tip waving gently. Maxim would have locked it too, in order to demonstrate exactly how it worked, but he could see no key nearby and didn't want to cause unnecessary noise by breaking the wood to free her. It was a necessary sacrifice in teaching.

Jaya giggled.

"This is fun!"

Maxim rolled his eyes and coughed into his paw.

"Not so fun when you're having rotten vegetables lobbed at you," he muttered, sliding his gaze away. "Right bunch of lunatics. I didn't even steal anything that much that time."

He had been on the wrong end of the pillory more than once and he shook his head as he released Jaya, stepping away from the godforsaken device. Bored with the stand, Jaya jumped away, scampering to another wooden device with four openings, designed for limbs, on display.

"What's this one?"

"That is a standard set of stocks, for paws and feet or hind paws, whichever a fur has."

He scanned the room, trying to find what he searched for before the little fur asked more questions of him. But it was not to be. She inspected the stocks with a keen eye and then looked to him.

"Can you get in it to show me?" Her nose twitched. "I want to see how it works. Show me?"

She demanded rather than asked and hopped from foot to foot, eyes bright with the prospect. Exhaling heavily, the old fox padded closer to the stocks, tail pressed over his rump unhappily.

"All right, all right, for you."

Seating himself behind the wooden stocks, Maxim lifted the top half and rested his wrists and ankles on the half-moons cut out of the wood, waiting patiently for Jaya to finish the job. She flipped the top half down gently, enclosing his limbs completely in the device. Shuddering, Maxim tried not to think of the last time he had been locked in this manner of stocks - it was far from a pleasant memory and one that he would rather not revisit. He took no notice of her fiddling with something at the side until the distinct sound of a lock clicking rang through the silent room.

"Jaya?" Alarm raised the pitch of his voice. "What are you doing? You're going to have to break this open now to free me! We'll draw attention! Jaya!"

The grey fur leaned down to scoop a small piece of metal from the ground, passing it between her paws.

"Don't worry," she chirped. "I think this is the key here."

"Good," he said. "Then let me out."

"Maybe..."

Crouching down, the little fur grinned with a mischievous glint in her one visible eye. Her fingers danced over the male's exposed soles and he convulsed, holding in his laughter. Spurred on by his reaction, she used both paws to tickle him, laughing herself at his attempts to stifle his chuckles and giggles, a bodily reaction. The old fox cursed mentally, refusing to say the words aloud within earshot of Jaya. How had she known he was ticklish there? The little demon!

"Jaya! I demand that you let me out right now! That's an order!"

"Aw come on," she blinked innocently. "You're no fun. Wait - I have this!"

Delving into the miniature satchel she kept slung over her shoulder whenever away from their humble home, tucked within the forest, she withdrew a single feather with a flourish. Coloured brown and white, it had come from a barn owl, a prize in any young fur's mind. Holding it in one paw, she used it in lieu of her fingers to tickle his terribly exposed hind paws, mirth overcoming her in a child's delight at playing a trick upon her surrogate father and 'teacher'.

"Jaya!" His mouth twisted, body shaking with the effort of trying not to laugh. "Stop that right now! Ah! Unlock this now."

"Where did you hide the money then?"

Her words caught him off guard as she giggled, eye bright and playful, childlike. He shook his head incredulously. She was learning too many of his ways. Yet he feigned ignorance.

"What on earth - ah! - do you mean?"

"Where is the loot? The loot you stole?"

"That's none of your business, Jaya," he snapped, frustration clouding his better judgement.

She swapped the feather to the other hind paw, chuckling wickedly at how his toes curled and flexed with the tickling.

"I won't stop until you tell me."

With ruthless determination, she tickled each of his hind paws in turn, driving the fox into fits of giggles, twisting and squirming in the stocks. The stiff feather was a vindictive tool in her small paws and she spared him no mercy, letting the feather dance over his toes and soles in turn, leaving no spot untouched. The wicked little fur! She had him good and proper. Grumbling between bursts of laughter, he pulled against the stocks, finding that the aged wood held firm. Why couldn't it have fallen prey to rot? Damn it!

"All right, all right!" Maxim conceded. "Under the stage, there's a loose stone three - ah! - Jaya!"

"Sorry."

She stopped tickling, allowing him to finish.

"There's a loose stone four from the right hand side of the stage," he said finally, exhaling with relief; his lungs and ribcage ached from suppressed laughter.

Dropping the feather back into her satchel, Jaya darted down to the front of the stage, counting the bricks aloud in a childish way until she reached the desired one. She pulled it away from its fellows, revealing several brown, leather sacks filled to the brim with gold coins. She squealed in delight and played them between her paws for a moment, tossing each bag up on to the stage. Recapturing her attention, Maxim cleared his throat and she sheepishly scampered back to his side, unlocking the stocks with a quick turn of the key.

Standing slowly - sitting on a hard stone floor was difficult on the old bones - Maxim glared down at Jaya, folding his arms across his narrow, brown-furred chest. The scarf hung loose around his neck, dishevelled over his ruffled fur. Jaya smiled sheepishly.

"Don't be mad," she said, ears flopping back cutely as she scuffed a toe over the floor. "It was just fun."

She was impossible to stay mad at, his little fosterling.

"It was a good trick," Maxim admitted with a sigh. "But not one you should play again. There is too much risk of discovery here. Would you want furs from the city to find you here? Chase you? Catch you?"

Jaya shook her head with enough force to rock her body back and forth. No, she certainly did not want anyone else to find her! She should not be in the city as it was. Looking over her shoulder, she eyed the door warily as if expecting furs to burst through at any moment, demanding to know what she was doing there and why. The fox patted the top of her head gently.

"Don't worry, no one is here right now," Maxim reassured her, collecting the bags of money from the floor. "Not this time. Remember for future. These places are dangerous, not only for their age. I am as _dangerous_as they are."

He held up his paws and waggled his fingers at her, the mirth on his muzzle taking any ferocity from his words. Straightening with a groan, the fox grinned at her, the light of his younger years shining in his grey eyes.

"An old fox still has some tricks up his sleeve."