FSE

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Rising with the sun wasn't at all like Flinty's usual routine but it was hard to avoid out here in the marsh. No matter how well sealed the tent was sunlight shone through the thin, waterproof material and rousted him from slumber. For a moment the fox lay still and watched the play of light across the stretched fabric of the tent. It was his one joy, enjoying the play of light and the warmth of his bed before he faced the day.

Slowly sitting up Flinty pushed his blankets off and scratched his claws through the tousled white fur that covered his chest. It felt icky, matted, knotted, lank and unpleasant after five days living and camping outside. The blue fur that covered the rest of his body was in pretty much the same shape and his thick blonde hair was lank, greasy and unkempt. He really wanted a long hot shower, the best the marshes had to offer was the occasional sun warmed pool of salt water.

Wriggling free of his sleeping bag Flinty reached out and shook Aira's shoulder with one hand and unzipped the tent with the other. The other blue fox stirred and slowly opened his eyes and grumbled a good morning in Flinty's direction. With his white and blue body fur arranged in near identical patterns to his Aira could have been his brother. Or as they often teased one another a clone. Aira lacked the blonde hair and he was taller and buffer then Flinty but other than that their blue and white furred bodies were practically identical.

Pulling on his knee length cargo shorts Flinty sighed at the uncomfortable way they clung to his thighs. The humidity in the tent was awful and outside would be worse, he just knew it. He refused to wear anything else, he just wound up feeling grotty otherwise.

Clambering out of the tent Flinty turned to watch Aira dress, somehow despite nearly a week living outside and bring crushed in a sleeping bag all night Aira looked fresh. His fur was thick, fluffy and vibrant, dark eyes clear and bright and ready to face the day. Only his shorts and vest showed signs of wear and that was mostly wrinkles from where they had been stuffed in his bag.

"How do you do it?" Flinty asked as he knelt down by the stove and turned on the gas flame, "Manage to look so clean and fresh every day?"

Settling down on a rock Aira laughed and ran his claws through the thick bushy mass of his tail, "This is my element, living outside, being at one with nature. It's easy to keep your fur clean and tidy when you know how."

"Well I wish you'd teach me," Flinty grumbled as he put the kettle on the heat, "I feel rank this morning."

"At least we are here," Aira replied, gesturing towards the swamp, "We found the temple that kooky map of yours promised us."

Lifting his head and shading his eyes from the morning sun Flinty grinned, "Yeah, see told you that map wasn't a dud," rising out of a large patch of swampy looking marsh the blue fox could make out the temple. It was a tall ziggurat style of plain brown granite coated in moss and with the occasional sapling or tree rising out of cracks in the ancient stone.

"All we have to do now is get to it," Aira grumbled, walking down to the edge of the atoll they had camped on, "It looks like it is mostly mud, hidden under a thin layer of water or algae."

"We'll find a way," Flinty declared, standing up and stretching, "You watch the kettle and make the tea, I'll roust Felinus."

Crouching down Flinty stuck his head back inside the four person tent and reached over to pull the sleeping bag back from the third occupants head. Felinus' groaned as sunlight hit his face and squirmed with a mumbled protest as Flinty called out enthusiastically, "Rise and shine cat boy, breakfast then we have a swamp to cross."

"Ugh," Felinus grumbled, covering his eyes with his white furred paws, "Cat no like sun, mean foxes making me get up."

"You volunteered to come on this trip Felinus, come on, up and at em."

Sighing the grey and white house cat crawled out of the tent. Crouching just outside he licked his paws and settled down to clean and tidy the fur covering his muzzle. He hadn't taken well to camping and living rough, he had all but refused to join them when he found out it involved camping. Flinty had played on his natural curiosity however and desire to explore the unknown to convince him to come along with them on the trip.

"Back soon," Felinus muttered standing up and eyeing the bushes, "Nature and all that," he then scampered off behind a bush and Flint returned to the fire and breakfast.

Aira poured the tea, Flinty whipped up a breakfast of bacon and eggs and Felinus slowly shook off his sleepy disposition. Once they finished eating and cleaning up breakfast Aira jumped up onto a fallen log and observed the distant temple for a moment before turning back to the group.

"I say we leave the camp here and push on with minimal luggage."

"Not a bad idea," Flinty agreed, "Everyone grab a canteen of water and whatever gear you think we may need but try and keep it light."

"Then what?" Felinus demanded, frowning over at the temple, "We just wade out into the swamp and try to not sink?"

"Best way," Aira quipped with a laugh thumping the house cat on the shoulders, "It'll be fun, come on let's go grab our stuff."

Sighing Felinus climbed back into the tent, complaining about the mud they were about to have to go wade through. Aira grinned at Flinty and headed for the tent after the cat.

"This will be fun, come on fox, let's get ready to go tackle this thing."

-0-

Following along at the rear of the party Felinus used one finger hook mud out of one of his ears as he slogged through the swamp. The air was thick with the scent of brine, he was up to his knees in water and mud and his fur was a tangled mess. He was covered head to toe in a fine layer of slick, liquid clay like mud after he'd fallen into a deep pocket of the stuff about half a mile back.

"You know Flinty," Felinus shouted toward the blue fox up ahead, "When i agreed to come on this trip I was expecting a bit more fun and less... swamp."

Flinty looked back at him and grinned, "Trust me, once we get inside this place the fun will start! My map says there are great treasures to be had in this place."

"Joy," Felinus grumbled as he struggled forwards through the mud toward the temple, "Treasures... right now i'd settle for a bath and less muck."

Aira chuckled and shook his head, "You two need to get into the adventuring spirit, come on it'll be fun!"

Forging ahead the blue and white fox covered the last two hundred or so yards to the temple and clambered up the first line of moss coated blocks onto a ledge. Flinty scrambled up after him and the pair began pouring over Flinty's map, muttering about where the entrance might be. Reaching the edge of the temple last Felinus leant against the rock, hands resting on the stone as he watched the pair of foxes.

Sighing the cat moved back a few steps and settled onto another rock poking up out of the swamp. He wasn't feeling in the mood to clamber over ancient brickwork under the blazing mid morning sun. Settling onto his chosen perch he scraped his claws and toes back and forth across the stone, trying to dislodge some of the thick muck that caked his feet. It wasn't easy, the mud was mostly wet clay so clung in thick clumps and squished about beneath his toes in a most unpleasant manner.

With one ear raised Felinus kept half his attention on the discussion between his friends. It sounded like they were hunting for the entrance, it didn't sound like they were having much luck. The clues on the map were obscure and the temple itself seemed to be one sealed thing. Felinus mostly tuned out their voices, settling down on his rock and continued to try and clean his claws. He'd fallen over twice crossing the swamp and his hands were slick with muck. Digging his claws into a crack in the stone the fox wriggled his fingers back and forth pulling the mossy, muddy coating off the rock.

He was busy working on the secondary layer of moss when something caught his eye. Slipping down to kneel by the side of the rock, his knees squished into the mud Felinus frowned. The muck and moss here was only about three inches deep and beneath it was a solid, shaped mass of worked stone. What he revealed was a series of man-made etchings in a language he couldn't understand. Feeling across the rock with his paws Felinus found a part of the stone that seemed loose. It wobbled under his paws and with a happy mewl at having made a discovery the cat pushed it.

There was a click, the short pedestal of stone he had been sitting on suddenly sank into the ground. Pulling backwards Felinus tried to stand up as a circular patch of swamp eight feet wide with Felinus at the centre started to swirl and drain into the ground. Mud and water rushed past him, pulling at his feet and revealed a large circular stone, the solid surface beneath the muck the house cat had been kneeling on. Yelping in alarm he turned and tried to scramble to safety but he was much too slow. The central stone split into four, dropping open like a trapdoor without warning.

Rather than a terrifying fall to his doom however Felinus sank up to his waist in a thick layer of sticky, liquid clay and rushing water. Sinking slowly and struggling against the current the cat yelled for help as he was drawn back toward the whirling drain.

Flinty and Aira leapt off the temple and Flinty lunged forward to grabhold of Snack's hands whilst Aira held onto the other blue fox, struggling to defeat the suction of swirling mud pulling Felinus down.

"Help," Felinus mewled, wriggling his legs against the muck, wincing as his shorts were pulled right off, lost in the swirling drain of muck, "It's pulling me under!"

"I've got you," Flinty shouted, his wide eyes darting from side to side as he watched the cat sink. Felinu's hands were coated, slipping through Flinty's fingers until with a terrified mewl Felinus's hands slipped free of Flinty's hand and he vanished beneath the oozing clay. His hands stayed above the surface for a bit longer, gripping, frantically shifting and snatching at thin air before the suction carried him under.

"What the hell was that," Aira demanded, tugging on Flinty's legs to pull him back out of the draining pool of muck. Squatting down the pair stared at the slowly draining patch of swamp, "Did we just lose Felinus before we even got inside the dungeon?"

Flinty frowned as he pulled out the map, "No, this is it, it has to be the vortex of ingress!" without another word Flinty leapt forwards into the pool of mud with a thickening squelch. Aira watched Flinty starting to sink and squirm from side to side as he was pulled back toward the centre of the muck, "Well Aira?"

Hesitating for a moment Aira frowned then sighed and stepped off the edge into the muck, "Why do I let you people talk me into these things!"

Squirming from side to side the blue fox sank up to his knees, then his waist, sinking slowly but surely as he was drawn back deeper into the swirling pool. He was up to his chest when Flinty vanished beneath the surface with a gloop. Shifting from side to side Aira yelped and groped under the mud as it literally pulled his shorts off but he was too slow. Now naked and sinking Aira started to think this might have been a stupid idea.

Struggling the blue fox reached out with his mind, calling on his connection with nature and his powers to try and free himself from this. He quickly stopped trying when another source of power, a deeper, ancient magic revealed itself. For just a moment he felt it emanating from the otherwise dead temple, blocking his attempts to call upon nature to rescue him.

"Ok that's weird..." the blue fox muttered before he slipped beneath the muck. Taking a deep breath he wrapped his arms around himself, ready to fight his way back to the surface if this didn't work. For a moment the world was dark, mud oozed around the fox on all sides, dragging him deeper. Then it vanished, a teasing tingle travelled up his spine and Aira dropped through the bottom of the muck into an empty stone shaft.

Letting out a startled scream Aira dropped like a stone; the rush of air blowing muck out of his fur, leaving a trail of sticky droplets behind him as he fell. The majority of the thick clay was pulled off his body, leaving his fur smeared and mattered but not caked. Falling, tumbling end over end the fox plummeted toward the ground. Then the air around him seemed to solidify, seconds before he hit the ground, he slowed and then stopped only to land with a faint bump on the ground next to Flinty. Looking around and using his tail to shield his rather naked self Aira gaped at the room they had landed in.

Frescos depicting an ancient jungle covered the walls. The ceiling tapered to a point that then ascended into the shaft they had fallen through. Tilting his head back Aira could see the pool of mud lining the top of the shaft, barring the exit back outside.

"How..." Aira started but Flinty just pointed to where Felinus was crouched, watching the two small winged creatures who were flitting above his head.

One of them was purple, with green ears and a lilac underbelly, the other had orange fur with a soft creamy underside. They turned on their wings, flitting through the air, each one barely a foot tall as they flew around each of their heads in turn.

"Er, hello, who... what are you?" Flinty asked hesitantly

"I am Nibble," the purple one declared, "My brother here is Frisky," the cinnamon furred creature turned in mid air and smirked at Flinty.

"We are nimbats, see the wings, the eye stripes," Frisky said, gesturing at his eyes, "We guard the path through the temple to the Whisper of the Occult, are you here to challenge us for access?"

Flinty stood up, brushing mud off his fur as best he could, "We sure are, I.. we want to claim the Whisper! We totally accept your challenges."

"Very well," Nibble laughed, swirling around the blue fox, wings beating rapidly, "We accept you three as challengers!"

"Could we... maybe have our clothes back?" Felinus asked, "I mean isn't it a bit odd to have us spelunking your ancient temple nude."

The two nimbats exchanged a look, then a wide grin and Frisky flittered over to the cat and leered at him, "If you did not enter our temple prepared then it is not our fault."

"Indeed," Nibble smiled, "We are not responsible for your clothing or equipment. We are merely here to administer the challenges not provide for you."

"Maybe we should go back," Aira muttered, "I mean, we are so not prepared for this!"

"It'll be fine," Flinty said, "We have our wits and cunning, we can do this! Besides I bet if we refuse there are ancient curses that will do unspeakable things to us for daring to enter the temple then try to leave."

"Someone did their reading," Frisky laughed and flapped around Aira's head, "Of course, you can refuse... the forfeiture of your current existence is very pleasurable... for us."

"Ugh," Aira buried his muzzle in his hand and sighed, looking up to stare at Flinty and Felinus "Ok, ok, let's win this thing."

Flitting out of reach the two nimbats turned and pointed at three doorways that were rumbling open in the sides of the chamber, "Pick," Nibble declared in a grand voice, "Pick a route and face your first challenge."

"Do we get any clue as to what they are?" Aira demanded, standing up, one paw holding his tail in place across his groin, "You can't expect us to just play your games blindly."

"Ugh," Nibble grumped, folding his arms, "You adventurers always ask that question. Fine! Your choices are tubes, blades or blocks," he gestured at each of the doorways in turn, "That's the only clue you get concerning the puzzle that lays beyond."

"You will learn more when you have crossed the threshold, for then it is too late to change your mind," Frisky declared grandly, drawing himself up and smiling.

Flinty looked around at his friends then back up at the imp like creatures and pointed at a door, "We pick tubes, whatever you have in store we'll beat it, you'll see the Whisper will be ours."

"That remains to be seen," Frisky said with a smile, zooming through the air toward the door, "But follow, and we'll see how you do, against the tubes."