Adept Paws: The Village
#2 of Adept Paws
A headstrong young vixen falls for the keeper of her village's greatest secrets.
Adept Paws
by Tempe O'Kun
I've been itching to write another fantasy piece. Finally got the chance to start this series in earnest. :) Have fun!
Rea had always been a contrary child. Ever since she was a kit snapping at her older brother's tail, her parents had deemed her so. In most other villages, such a strong will would have made her unsuitable for eventual marriage, but Lagan was a town of misfits and banished rebels. The village itself sat isolated by untamed woods. It took folk stout of heart to live with the threat of some beast crashing through the barricades at any hour, or to live in the shadow of the Dragon Tower, which blotted out the sun a few times a year.
In the village of Lagan, a little vixen with a stubborn streak was considered amusing and troublesome in turns, but none too concerning. Her mother had been the same way, and folk still told stories about the time the older fox had driven her pitchfork straight into the heart of a charging boar. The world was a dangerous place, and her parents knew that it won't be any less dangerous to their daughter than it would to their sons.
Of course, no one counted on the vixen setting her heart on a young adept...
* * * * *
Late one evening, she walked to the edge of town, a satchel at her side. The aging badger stopped her at the Sanctum gate. "You can't just see him whenever you like, Rea."
"I knew him long before you took him up here for training. I'll see him as I please." She tried to push past the badger constable, but he clamped a paw on her shoulder.
The constable's whitening muzzle set in a scowl. A head taller than the teenage vixen, the hint of muscles under his fur. Little sparks of magic flicked off his claws, sputtering out on her blouse. His body had been magicked so much that it now beat inside him like a second heart.
Rea only glared up at him with childish willfulness. If worse came to worse, she could hit him with the fish, but then she couldn't give it to Jax.
"Oh, let her through today, Toskun." A gentle voice chided. "Haven't you learned by now she'll just be back tomorrow, twice as loud?"
The old badger eased his grip. The fox girl shook his paw off in defiance. She almost stuck her tongue out at him, but had found that there were limits to what she could get away with.
One of the druids from the Sanctum strode up, robes swaying. Her floppy canine ears framed her face as she smiled and regarded the fox. "Go and see him, but do not make a pest of yourself. Jax gets lonely without you, and the constable's patience is finite."
Toskun unlocked the gate with only a small grumble at the druidess, letting the young fox slip through.
He closed it after her. Perched atop the Sanctum walls, a sleek, spotted feline chuckled down at him. "She certainly showed you, Boss."
The constable adjusted his sword belt around his bagerly bulk, muttering loud enough for the fox to hear: "The druids can keep her for all I care. Less trouble for me."
Inside the walls, Rea trotted up to one of the buildings, peeking around the corner. Her ears cupped forward as she listened.
One of the druids, a rabbit, was leading the others in meditation. The seven young adepts, her age or younger, sat silent and contemplative. How could they stand to sit so still?
Slowly, the silky black tendrils of magic rose from the ground before them. Each thread was no thicker than a strand of fur, nor more substantial than a wisp of smoke, but they ran straight down to the worldbones.
The adepts reached out, moving the threads with care. They twisted them into shapes, bent them in precise ways. The smokey fibers hung unmoving in the air, even as a breeze stirred the grass.
Jax wasn't quite as steady as some of his peers, but had his long feline tail to assist him when both paws were occupied. He was no prodigy, but the druids had an old saying: There'd be no color in the woods if only the most vibrant flowers bloomed.
Watching the practice was starting to get boring, but Rea didn't dare disturb them. The last time she had startled them, most of the threads had cracked like chestnuts, spitting sparks of magic onto their shapers' laps. She had thought it was funny, but Jax had just looked sad that his had fizzled away too.
The young fox sat down. She pulled out her small knife and started whittling at an interesting knot of wood she had found earlier. Perhaps this one would be a sea monster. She'd always liked the stories about the many-legged beasts that rose up from the deep to attack ships.
After the monster was only half formed, her ears perked up at the sound of footsteps. She looked up to see an orange-furred tabby walking up to her.
"Hi." Jax's tail swished under his robes.
"Hi." Her cheeks felt a little warm. They had known each other since they were cubs, but lately he had started looking more and more like a man, growing into his ears as her mother said. She thought of it more as him growing into those long, lanky arms and legs, but the idea was the same. He offered a paw and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet. Was he taller than her now? It had only been a week since she'd last gotten in.
"I brought you a present." She pulled the waxpaper-wrapped fish from her satchel.
"Wow! That's a big one." His smile shone right though her. "Thanks. I get tired of beans and chicken." He hugged her, getting fish juice on her back. Oh well. What's one more smear of fish? She'd had it far worse helping the fishers sort their catch. She hated, hated, hated the smell of fish, but really enjoyed Jax's reaction when she brought him the choicest ones. Yes, she hated, hated, hated the smell of fish, but Jax's reaction to her gifts of the choicest ones were truly adorable. That meditative calm of his fractured just a little, and she was reminded of the excitable kitten she'd grown up with.
Jax was seventeen, a little over a year younger than her. His parents had come to the village to escape being hanged as thieves. They insisted it wasn't true, but Rea soon decided that was a lie. Their young son had a habit of stealing from the shops in town. At first she had wanted to torment him right along with her peers, but then she had felt sorry for the scrawny little cat. Though her more valuable possessions tended to wind up in his pockets for the first few months, they soon became friends.
Other folk in the town were less easily convinced. They said the parents were thieves who needed to be chased out of town. Rea figured they were simply masters of their craft; unlike their son, no one could specifically say what they had taken. The unease never died down, however. Three years ago, the druids had proposed that the boy be sent to train in the Sanctum. That way, Jax could become someone of greater use to the village (and his parents couldn't just slip off into the night). The feline couple readily agreed.
The young cat's ears flicked back shyly at her glance. "Hey, want to see what they taught us today? I think I've got it figured out."
She tucked her knife back into her belt and pocketed the monster. "This isn't like the last one, is it? Where I went home and crushed a brass doorknob with my bare paw?"
"It's nothing like that. This is just a vision charm. It's harmless."
She nodded. "Alright."
"Just... hold still."
"Don't turn me into a frog or anything, okay?"
He laughed, almost disguising his nervousness. "Magic can't do that. Besides, you'd make a weird looking frog!"
She cut off his laughter with a sharp look.
"Hey, I was just kidding. I just like my frogs without fox ears, that's all. They're cuter where they belong."
Had he just said her ears were cute? She looked up at him, but he was already humming a mantra. The young fox lowered her ears, bracing herself.
The cat spread his paws, breathing in deeply. In front of him, those little wisps of magic rose from the ground, spiraling up. Biting his tongue in concentration, he curled them around his fingers. This charm looked simpler than most of the others they had him do. A few pokes of his tail and the charm hung in front of him: a web of black strands dangling between his paws.
He lifted it just a bit. "I have to put it on you for it to work."
She nodded and closed her eyes. With delicate skill, he settled it over her face. It weighed nothing, of course. The only feeling was that of his pawpads tucking the threads into her fur. She held still, even though her stomach jumped and tumbled. "Is it on?"
"Almost... There." He sounded proud. "Now look around."
She did. The world was a vast green plain with ley lines and ridges. A caterpillar ripping chunks out of it in silence, every hair on its body the size of a spear. She jumped back with a squeak and the world changed again. Now it was an endless valley of stones and boulders. It lead to a mountain thick with orange grass, a mountain that looked a lot like Jax's foot. She reeled backward, catching every detail in an endless blue sky, even seeing the stars that hid behind it. The ground slipped from under her.
Jax's paws steadied her. She looked at him. The cat was a world of oranges and tans and browns, a great sea of mottled green surrounding a narrow black abyss.
He touched her forehead, sweeping the magic away. "You alright? You look like you're about to throw up."
"I think so." She staggered, holding onto his robes. Afraid to open her eyes for a moment, she eventually steeled herself enough to chance a look at her friend. Just a concerned tabby. No valleys, no mountains, no seas. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Sorry. I guess I should have warned you." His green eyes, slitted just like hers, were apologetic. He helped her sit down.
Her paws still clutched his robes, as if the world might shift again. "Jax?"
He sat down next to her, tail swishing out of the way. "Yeah?"
She looked him in the eyes, tail swishing. "Next time, just turn me into a frog."
* * * * *
Rea lay in the cool grass, ears perking up at the distant strains of music. "Hear that? There's dancing down at the inn tonight." She looked at Jax. "You should come with me."
"I really shouldn't. The teachers make us get up before the sunrise. Something about it being a key time for meditation. I think it's just because it's quiet and pretty." Silence for a moment. They stared up at the clouds and the Dragon Tower, the only structure visible over the Sanctum walls. 'Thanks for visiting me again. I haven't seen much of anyone else besides the other adepts the last few years."
"That's because everyone else is scared of Toskun!" She laughed. "Soon enough, you'll be out of here and you'll have time to spend with whomever you please."
"I'd like that." She saw him smile in the dark. "But you're the one I'd miss most anyway."
In a moment of bravery, she slid her paw over the soft grass until it bumped his. He froze for just a moment, then took her paw in his more carefully than any strand of magic. His fingers felt warm.
Neither one said anything, just breathed. She rolled on to her side to study his face. The dim starlight dulled his orange fur to a russet brown. An old saying in Lagan claimed that "all fur is the same color in the dark." The saying wasn't really about fur color, of course. Most of her friends were already finding out what it meant, but she hadn't yet. She had been a late bloomer, for one, and there was something about Jax, always had been. When he was chosen to become a druid, it was like a piece of her was taken away, something she didn't realize she needed. Just one more winter and she could have it back.
The cat squeezed her hand. "I like you, Rea."
She giggled. "Only because I bring you fish."
His gentle smile stayed, but he didn't laugh. Instead, he got on his side to face her. Their muzzles mere inches apart, she could feel his breath. He hadn't had time to cook and eat the fish, so it smelled fine, sort of nice.
Shaky, he slid his free paw to her hip.
She squirmed. It felt nice to have him touch her. Her paw settled over his. "You feel cold."
"I am, a little." His voice sounded unsteady.
"Come here." They scooted closer. Her arms wrapped around him, and and his followed suit. His tail swirled up and curled along hers. It called to her mind when, years ago, he would stay over on cold nights and the two of would curl up in front of the fireplace. Her parents had thought it was darling. She was thankful that her parents were not observing this particular cuddle.
She stroke a paw along his ears. "Warmer?"
He murmured into her blouse: "Yeah..."
"Good." She rubbed her muzzle against his. She could feel his whiskers twitch.
Her paws roamed. His chest felt more shapely, defined now under those robes. He moaned. She lead his paw toward her own chest, hoping he would get the idea. He brushed the bottom of her left breast, then gasped softly and pulled his paw back. After a moment of rubbing along her stomach, he dared venture up again, this time lingering just a little longer. She licked her lips. His fur felt so silky against hers.
Their foreheads touched, then their noses, then their lips. They kissed. Both smiled shyly. She had kissed him! Every other kiss in her life seemed to melt away into insignificance; this was clear as a winter sky, warm as a summer field.
She rolled to her back, pulling him on top of her. Her paws traced down his back. His tail twitched around hers as she found where it met his rump. Pawpads slipped down, feeling the lean muscles of his body. He started shifting around. His member bumped against her here and there. It really did feel hard.
He rubbed his muzzle down hers. "Oooh, Rea... I'm not really supposed to be doing this."
"You're the one... rubbing." She glanced down at his wiggling hips."But we should probably stop."
"Yeah..." He didn't.
She'd heard conversations at the tavern about the things they were doing, she'd gotten little snippets of stories from her friends, but, now that the moment was upon her, she didn't really know what to do. Hesitation hadn't gotten her anywhere, so Rea started claiming the territory of her more sensuous dreams. She touched the side of his face. She slipped her tail along his. She brushed her toes along his calves. Her blunt claws scritched through the fabric over his back.
He stretched, back arching at the pleasure. After savoring her efforts for a few moments, he returned the favor. His claws extended, sticking through the fabric of her blouse, through her fur and itching along the skin of her back.
Her heartbeat skipped like a stone at the sensation. "You really do have magic in your paws."
They giggled together, rolling in the soft grass. His textured tongue licked along her muzzle. Her hand traced down his robe. Through the loose fabric, she could feel his hard length. Very warm, welcomingly so. Her paw slipped down of its own accord. She felt around his erection, the fabric parting--
"Well, Adept, seems you are out late." The even voice cut through the dark.
The feline went rigid as iron, and not in the way Rea had been enjoying. "Tara!"
The vixen looked up. A glass lantern illuminated the floppy ears of a canine druidess. The lantern was for their benefit, of course. The druid no doubt had her own means of seeing in the dark. She stood a little distance off, allowing them some measure of dignity as they sorted out whose tail was whose.
Rea pulled her paw from his robes. She stumbled to her feet. "Please, don't kick him out! It was all my fault."
"We are not kicking him out. You are young. These things happen." Robes swaying in the breeze, the druidess regarded her with serenity. "We are, however, kicking you out."
* * * * *
Rea sat on her parents' steps, her small knife flicking between her fingers. It wasn't fair that they were keeping her from him. She hadn't done anything wrong. Not really. Not yet. Oh, but once she got the chance...
The vixen whittled faster. The figurine was coming along nicely. One of her better ones. It helped to not think about it too much, just let her paws do the work. Long neck and tail, sharp claws, powerful wings. There was something about it. Something important.
The knife pricked her in the finger. She swore and put the cut to her mouth. Her other paw scooped up the knife and figure as she scrambled to her feet. The elders would all be in bed and she didn't dare wake them up. She'd gotten in enough trouble for now. But she had to ask someone about it. The young fox dashed through the sleeping village streets, her paws ringing against the boardwalks.
Atop the wall of the Sanctum, a sleek form moved. Rin. The constable's loyal right paw. Her golden eyes shone down at the young fox.
"You need to let me inside."
Rin was from a faraway land, her voice as exotic as her spots, of a race called 'leopards.' She paced atop the wall as though it were a level street. "If this is about that little druid--"
"I need to see him." Rea planted her paws on her hips, resolute.
"Slow down, foxling." Her chuckle was like spiced wine. "I remember being your age, but there are other ways of meeting your womanly needs."
"This isn't about my 'womanly needs!'" Her vulpine tail lashed. Did everyone know about that? She hurled her figurine at the leopard.
The feline caught it deftly, her gold eyes studying it. It looked tiny from where Rea stood, just like the real thing had until recently.
The young vixen flexed her paws into fists, the prick from the knife stinging. "When was the last time you saw the dragons?"
There you go.
This is my first try at writing anthro fantasy. Let me know what you think!
-Tempo
P.S.-
This story is in the same storyline as [The Last Journey](%5C).