FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 3

"Russo... Russo... Russo you need to get up. If you sleep in much later we won't make it back to Tedrah before the sun sets." Jem said as he gently shook his friend awake.

Letting out a huge yawn, the mage slowly sat up in bed. Tongue dry and peeling off the roof of his mouth, Russo hunched forward and closed his eyes. He brought a hand up to his eyes and rubbed at the crusty flakes of sleep weighing down at the exposed pink flesh resting along the bridge of his nose. Stretching his arms and legs, he continued to tug at his limbs until he heard, and felt, something crack.

"Alright, alright... I'm awake." Russo said unconvincingly as he slowly pulled himself out of bed. Wearing little more than boxers he slowly shuffled around the room looking for his clothes. They consisted of worn and faded tan pants, a thin tunic that was beginning to unravel at the cuffs, and a blue cloak dotted with miscolored patches. Piled up in a heap by the door, Russo donned his attire in whatever order he grabbed them. After a little more searching he turned up his socks and boots. Only after trampling them underfoot first. Stifling another yawn after dressing himself, Russo began to speak, "I don't understand it Jem, I went to bed before you and yet you still got up before me."

"It's a force of habit. When you force yourself wake up at the crack of dawn for long enough, your body rouses itself awake for you. Regardless of how much or how little sleep you get the night before."

"I guess..." Russo mumbled as he slowly followed Jem out of the room and out into the merchant guild's main hall. The hardwood floors creaked under the patter of paws and tunks of boots.

"You didn't leave anything in the guest room did you?" Jem asked, turning his head over his armored shoulder.

"No, Jem." The human patted at his waist. "Everything's in my pockets or in the pouches on my belt. So long as I've got my pants I'm good to go."

Lips curled down, the rough collie erfed. "I really don't think you should keep everything in one place like that."

Hands thrown at to his sides, Russo prattled on. "I'm a mage, Jem. I don't wear big ass vests and armor, lined with pockets and compartments, like you do. Where the hell else am I supposed to put all my stuff?"

"I'm just saying... Look I can lend you a spare vest of mine when we get back."

"I don't need a vest Jem."

"Will you at least just try it on when we get back? Just humor me Russo." His tone angry and impatient, Jem nipped at the air.

"Alright, alright... no need to get so worked up about it." Rolling his eyes, Russo was too tired to be bothered to keep carrying the argument forward.

The canine fidgeted with his armor, furred fingers tracing along the dents and nicks in his chest plate. "It's... it's just better to err on the side of caution is all. Better to be over prepared than under prepared."

"You don't have to be so freaking overbearing about it though." That the rough collie doted and tutted at him so regularly was both endearing and infuriating. "Jem, I know I'm weak when it comes to matters of physical strength." Russo's eyes swiveled down to Jem's bulging and massively muscled arms swinging at the fur's sides. "In comparison to you, anyway. But I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. I can handle myself during a fight and if things get too hairy I can always teleport away. It's not that big of a deal."

"Russo... I'm sorry." The collie bit down at his lip. Darnit, he was getting preachy again. "I didn't mean to cause any problems for you."

"I know, I know, you're just the type to worry about these sorts of things is all. I'll try one of your old vests when we get back if it'll make you feel better."

"Thanks Russo," Jem said as he smiled at his friend and slowly wagged his tail.

Russo grinned back and smirked. "You know you're lucky you have someone so damn patient like me as your friend. I imagine most other people would get fed up with you trying to tell them how to do every little thing."

"Th-that's not true!" Paws locked in place, the truth easily pierced through all the layers of leather and metal wrapped around Jem's fluffy torso.

"Really now?" Lips curled up into a mischievous grin, Russo took to circling his best buddy like a vulture. "Are you sure that you wanting to team up with me was really about your old teammates being lackluster team players?" He gently poked and prodded at Jem after every couple rotation. "Are you sure it had absolutely nothing to do with some of them getting fed up with how you criticized, critiqued, and micromanaged everything they did?"

Jem's ears drooped against his skull. Looking down at his twiddling toes, tail tucked between his legs, he couldn't bear to make eye contact with Russo.

Russo proudly wore a smug grin. It quickly disappeared as he continued on, "Ehh I suppose it doesn't matter whether or not that's the case though. We're a team now, and that's all that matters. Even with all your nitpicking and complaining, I can't think of anybody else I'd rather work with."

Jem's ears perked back up at the lull in teasing. "Glad to hear it. On to more pressing issues though... what are we going to do for breakfast?"

"The merchant's guild has got to have something for us to eat..." Russo thought out loud.

Assumptions aside, the merchant's guild was more than happy to provide for the duo. For a price. Russo reluctantly parted with the gold required, his complaining only subsiding marginally when Jem pointed out that at least they hadn't been charged for room and borad.

Scrambled eggs, waffles, pancakes, ham, that guild had all sorts of delicious breakfast goodness! After Russo and Jem had had their fill they stocked up on what few snacks they could afford to carry. Bidding a mix of goodbyes and good riddance to their mercantile hosts, the mage and warrior departed towards Tedrah.

Noticeably more clouds than the day prior dotted the bright and cheery sky. Their wispy white forms looked like balls of cotton, that had been pulled apart into stringy sinews before being slapped against the azure blue backdrop of the sky. Sun shining and a gentle breeze rippling across the wild grasses and flowers flanking the path, it was a wonderful day for travel.

Quietly, the duo took in the warm sights and sounds buffeting them from all sides. It wasn't long before the relative peace was dashed by furious rustling in the tall foilage behind a notched and rotting fence. Before they could ready their weapons they heard a voice call out:

"W-wait don't draw your weapons! I'm not trying to rob you this time!"

The gray wolf from yesterday slowly poked his head out above the tall grass. Cautiously, he made his way towards the duo.

"Oh crap... you again? I thought I told you not to cause any more trouble." Russo said annoyed.

"I'm not causing trouble! I just wanted to talk to you is all!" Resting his wiry hands against the fence, the wolf's bony fingers twiddled against its splintered surface.

"...About what?" The mage drawled out in irritation.

"About... umm..." Ears flat against his head, the gray annoyance's eyes dipped down and rested on his paws.

"Umm... what?" Russo asked with a marked tone of impatience.

"...I hadn't actually thought this far ahead about what to say. I half expected you to not hear me out."

Russo blankly stared at him, unimpressed and not amused. "We're done here." He stated as he turned his back on the interloper. Resuming where they left off the human meandered down the path, Jem following behind him. The two of them didn't make it very far before the wolf started chasing after them.

"Wait!" Slipping through the parted planks in the wooden fence, the wolf collapsed into a heap onto the road. "Can I... can I travel with you two? Please?"

"No," Russo bluntly stated while he kept walking.

"Why not?" The wolf asked in a pleading tone as he rose to his feet and scrambled after them.

"Well, first of all it's against guild protocol to pick up somebody else during an escort mission. Not like we're being paid to shuttle your ass around. Second, you look and smell like you've rolled around in the dirt." Russo rattled off in a chiding tone.

"I didn't roll around in the dirt!" Brushing away at his disheveled fur, puffs of dust and dirt tumbled out from knots in the wolf's matted hair. "...I slept in it."

Brow furrowed, the mage sighed and picked up the pace. "Now I've even less inclined to hear you out."

"Please?"

"No." This kid will not take a hint, Russo mentally grumbled. "Even if we wanted to, we thankfully aren't allowed to let you travel with us so long as we're on a mission."

"But our mission is over, Russo. He could travel with us if we let him." Jem chimed in.

"No... our mission is over when we report back to the guild master." The mage shuddered at the explanation. He... he was actually reciting and abiding by rules. Tremors rocked his body at the realization. "Technically our mission is still active." Russo replied in annoyance.

"You're just splitting hairs now." The rough collie slapped a hand against the humans's back. "Come on, it doesn't look like he means us any harm, we can let him walk with us at the very least."

The wolf's ears perked up and his tail began to wag at hearing that.

"Whose side are you on, Jem? You had no qualms about just walking past and leaving him behind a minute ago!"

"True... but now that I've met him myself," Jem scratched at his fluffy chin, "like you said, he doesn't seem that bad. A little dimwitted maybe but he's not outright malicious."

"So does that mean you'll let me travel with you?" A hopeful look lit up in the rail thin canine's eyes.

Russo looked to Jem. A shrug of armor plated shoulders was the response provided. He then turned back to the wolf. Pleading puppy dog eyes tried their damnedest to bore their way into the mage's heart. Russo sighed.

"Fine... you can travel with us for the day."

The wolf's eyes came to life and a smile plastered itself across his face, grin stretching from ear to ear. Tail wagging furiously, pebbles and dirt shook free from the furry appendage as it swayed to and fro.

"Thanks for letting me walk with you!" He exclaimed upon trotting alongside Jem and Russo.

"Yeah, yeah." Russo said unenthusiastically. Within the reverberating confines of his own mind, he lashed out into a rant. "Should've just freaking teleported back to Tedrah last night! I..." Curling his fingers into balled up fists, the human's nails dug into his palms. "I can't believe I didn't think to do that until now! Ugghh but it's too late to now. Dammit"

As Russo walked along brooding, Jem tried his hand at striking up a conversation. "So... what's your name kid?"

"Dax. My name's Dax. And you're Jem, right?" The collie nodded in affirmation. "...and you're Russo?" Dax asked as he looked over to the human.

"Yep." The human replied in an atonal voice.

"Neat. So what do you two do? Escort people places or something like that?"

A gust of air blew across the backs of everyone present, punctuating an awkward silence that the mage stubbornly refused to address. Jem took it upon himself to keep the conversation flowing. "We do escort people from time to time but that isn't all we do. See, Russo and I are both part of a guild. What that means is we provide our help to others."

Dax nodded attentively, the faintest display of acknowledgement from his newly made travel buddies filling him with giddy delight.

"Be it to guarding someone on a trip, exterminating magical pests, retrieving lost or stolen items. On occasion we'll even take up offers on bounties, provided it can be proved that the person whose head we're after deserves to lose it. Basically people come to our guild asking for help for any number of reasons and we offer up our services if we feel they truly need it." Jem rapped a knuckle against his chest, the armored plate fastened to his torso letting out a low clang. "Granted, we don't do so completely out of the goodness of our hearts. Dignity alone doesn't put dinner on the table."

Dax licked his lips at the mention of dinner.

"Since Russo and I made sure this escort went off without a hitch, the merchants guild will provide our guild with a payment, probably in gold, and maybe some discounts to boot! The two of us will get to pocket a little of that reward while the rest goes to keeping the guild ship shape."

"Huh." Head cocked to the side, the wolf let out a soft bark. "So that's what guilds are for... I've heard of them but I never knew what their purpose was."

"Since when do giants know anything about guilds?" Russo asked incredulously.

"What, you think we don't take any interest in what you little folks do? We're uhh..." Dax tapped at his sunken cheeks in thought. "I guess we are giants to you, aren't we?" Huh. He'd never really given much thought to the fact that what was normal for him would be out of the ordinary for the collie and human. "A-anyway, we're plenty curious about your guilds and towns and magic and weapons." Giggling, he could imagine how he always wanted to just plod up to a town and rest his hands on his knees, hunched over and eagerly observing the tiny people milling about. "You guys live a lot differently than we do and it's kind of hard to not want to go take a peek at what you all are up to."

"Your lot sure as hell have a funny way of showing that curiosity." The mage replied with contempt.

Dax's ears drooped a little. "Not all of us attack your towns or try to hurt you."

Eyebrows arched high, Russo pffted at the wolf. "What was yesterday all about then?"

"I wasn't trying to hurt you." Chin tucked against his chest, Dax's voice grew quiet. "Just been really hungry lately and was hoping you might have some money so I could get food."

"And what about under the bridge?" Poking a finger into his bony shoulder, Russo cringed when the wolf practically crumpled under his prodding.

"You had me cornered and acted like you were going to kill me! What else was I supposed to do?!" Dax complained. A loud grumble from his stomach corroborated his earlier claims about a ravenous hunger.

"Whatever. Why did you even want to travel with us anyway?"

"Well... I've been roaming around this area for a while trying to not starve, but there really isn't much to hunt for around here. Nothing but farmlands and fields as far as the eye can see. Realizing that, I decided to change my strategy and my size and try to get some food from your towns... but I found out you need money if you want anything at all. So I tried getting some money from you all... and you know how that turned out. I followed you back to town and was hoping to run into you guys again."

"You still haven't answered my question." Russo interjected.

"O-oh." Drat, he had been had. "Well...umm, I wanted to travel with you guys because... you're the nicest people I've met so far."

"But we both tried to kill you," Jem gawked in surprise.

"I know."

"I tried twice," Russo chimed in.

"I KNOW."

"And we're still the nicest people you've met so far?" Jem asked incredulously.

"Uh huh."

Russo stopped talking to think for a moment before he opened his mouth again. "...You didn't happen to be oh say hugeish or looming when you interacted with everyone who wasn't us, did you? Because that MAY have played a factor in your poor treatment."

"M-maybe... "Dax stuttered out, turning his gaze back down upon his paws. As they continued to walk along the beaten path, trails of dust kicking up around their feet, the wolf's stomach bellowed. Dax unhappily put his hands on his nearly concave belly and let out a soft whne. He was broken from his displeasured focus when Jem outstretched his hand to offer him some jerky.

"Here, have some of this. I don't mind sharing."

Dax accepted the fluffy warrior's offer and hastily devoured it, thanking Jem constantly for his generosity. He began panting shortly after, the salt stained meat stinging at his tongue and throat. Before Dax could even complain about his welling thirst, Russo held out a canteen before him.

"Take it," the human plainly stated.

Furred fingers curled tight around the leather pouch. It sloshed and compressed in the wolf's grasp. Dax ripped the top off the canteen and drank graciously from it, thanking Russo liberally all the while for his kindness.

"Yeah yeah." Brushing off the wolf's praises, the mage shoved his hands into his pockets.

The trio primarily walked in silence as they continued towards Tedrah, save for a couple ultimately fruitless attempts by Jem to keep breaking the ice. After a couple of hours of walking, the unanimous decision was made to take a break.

Fences had stopped lining the sides of the road miles back and both sides of the dirt path were bordered by the fields of tall grasses that had greeted Russo and Jem just a day before. A little ways off to their left in the field was a lone oak tree, its branches swaying gently in the wind. The gentle and soothing shade called out to the trio, drawing them off the beaten path towards it. Plopping down upon the trees gnarled roots with their backs against the trunk, Russo, Dax, and Jem took a much needed reprieve.

Russo rolled an apple about his palm, the waxy red fruit being the cheapest piece of food he could pull off Neyv merchants. The collie and the wolf both contentedly nibbled away at some shared jerky in the meantime. For the first time in days, Dax's stomach settled down after having finally being provided some sustenance. Food straining at the wolf's atrophied belly, Dax walked beyond the shade cast by the tree and into the sun.

"Boy this is nice," he mumbled aloud as he laid down in the grass to soak in the warm sunshine. His form swelled slowly in the early afternoon sun while his focus faltered. When the back of his head slid over the bumpy and uneven tree roots he took that as his cue to throttle the brakes, and forced his growth to a halt. Dax's rail thin torso, the outlines of his ribs poking against his furry chest, rivaled both the mage and collie in size. Every now and then the emaciated giant would stretch out his arms and legs or wiggle his toes, but soon enough the food, the breeze, and the warmth all worked in tandem to put him to sleep.

Russo and Jem took a quick look back at Dax before resting their gazes on one another.

"So what are we going to do with him?" Jem asked.

"We could always ditch him."

"What and have him follow us back to Tedrah? All he has to do is follow the road. The town is kind of hard to miss. If he walks into town half naked and covered in rags or as a giant asking around for us that's not going to end well for anybody."

"Point taken." Exhaling loudly, Russo slouched forward. "Hmm... we can always kill him in his sleep. You take one good swing at his neck and nail an artery, and then I'll burn the body and take care of any evidence. We've got no witnesses."

Lips curled down, Jem glared at the human.

"I'm only kidding. Seriously though, I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas."

"Well..." The collie rubbed uneasily at an armor plated shoulder, "We could maybe bring him back with us to Tedrah and see if he'd like to join the guild."

"You're joking. Right?"

"Look Russo, he's not a bad kid. I'm sure that you find him plenty annoying but he seems harmless enough."

Arms trembling, the mage's fingers clenched at the air breezing through his digits."We've both made that point about a dozen times now. Yes, I think he's an alright, but that doesn't mean I want him in the guild."

"Give him a chance! It's not like we'd see him much anyway. Even if we both gave him recommendations, Master Varun would have him doing grunt work until he's at least sixteen. By then he'll be letting Dax only start to learn just the bare basics of magic or swordplay as an apprentice. While he's off doing that we'll be out and about doing missions. What is there for you to complain about?"

"Jem, I-" Russo choked on his words, struggling to find an eloquent way to put it. "For fucks sakes, none of that changes that he's still a freaking giant. What if Dax grows or slips up one day in front of somebody? Our asses will be on the line since we're the ones who recommended him and there's no telling what'll happen to him."

The canine nuzzled into his mane of fur, silently pondering his companion's concerns. "If we could find a way to forcibly make sure Dax always stayed at a normal size, would you be willing to let him come back with us to the guild?"

"I guess?" Entertaining all these hypotheticals was getting to be mentally taxing. "How the hell would we pull that off?"

"I think... I think I might have an idea. I'll tell you more about it when we get closer to Tedrah."

"Uh huh." Incredulous to say the least, Russo blankly stared back at Jem. The collie's response was to wag his tail and smile reassuringly. Oh forget it. Rolling his eyes, the mage papped his hands against his knees. "Want to start heading out soon?"

"We've rested long enough, sure. Come on, let's go wake up Dax."

Rising to their feet, both Jem and Russo sauntered towards the gigantified wolf's peacefully sleeping form. The fluffy maned warrior shook his shoulder while the mage kicked his face. Soon enough, Dax roused himself free from his slumber. After a good stretch and an ear splitting yawn he dwindled back down to something approximating Jem and Russo's size.

"That was a good nap." Dax said as he continued flailing his limbs about.

"Where did your ratty clothes go?" Russo asked in alarm, finally cognizant of the fact the wolf was donned only in his dirty and matted gray fur.

"Hmm? Oh! I guess those rags must've burst off of me when I grew during my nap. Hehe. Oops."

The human fumbled around with his cloak, tugging it up and over his shoulders before tossing it at Dax. "At least have some decency and wear this the rest of the way."

Wrapping the worn and faded blue cloak around his shoulders, Dax couldn't help but smile as he curled it around his thin frame. It came down to his knees and more importantly covered his nether regions. At least when the wind wasn't blowing too much. He had to admit it was pretty comfy and he did like the color. He secretly hoped Russo would let him keep it.

"Heh, hardly ever see you without your cloak Russo," Jem remarked as the grass beneath their feet gave way to dirt and gravel.

"Enjoy the striptease while you can Jem, because this doesn't happen very often." Russo dryly replied.

"Loving every second of it," the collie shot back with a smirk spread wide on his face.

Dax could only look on confusedly at the exchange between the two. Save for the whistling of the wind and the rustling of the grass, that playful bout of teasing between the collie and human was the only dialogue to punctuate their journey for hours. After the sun had risen to its apex, clouds blocking its path blotted black, Jem remembered a rather obvious something that both he and Russo had neglected to mention.

"Say Dax." One paw set before the other, the warrior's form rattled and clanked with every step. "There's something Russo and I have been meaning to ask you."

"Hmm?" Ears perked high in attention, the wolf trotted up beside him. "What is it?"

Ribbing Russo, Jem barked gently at the human. "Alright, alright, goddamn!" Rolling his eyes, Russo let out an exasperated sigh. "How would you like to join our guild?"