{"sf1_id":579294,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Guns of Legend: Chapter Seven","author":"ThisAdamGuy","words":1080,"posted_at":"2013-08-21T03:50:00.000Z","tags":["Fantasy","Indians","Pistol","Rifle","Shotgun","Western","cowboy","furry"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/579294-guns-of-legend-chapter-seven","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/579294","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=579294\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nChapter Seven\n\"What the heck are these?\" Kulgan wondered out loud, knowing there was no one\nwithin ten miles to hear him.\nHe had been following the trail for\nover half the night, and he was utterly perplexed by them.  The prints looked as if they were made by a\nzik, if zik were able to grow ten feet tall. \nThere also seemed to be toola prints among them, judging by the small,\nround pockmarks that ran through the sand as if someone had stuck a giant\nneedle into the ground.  The odd thing\nwas that these two tracks did not run side by side, but rather directly on top\nof one another.  At first, Kulgan had\nthought that the second person had simply walked directly behind the person in\nfront, but a closer examination revealed something that was difficult even for\na Ranger of his skill to notice.  The\ntracks did not simply cover the same ground, they had been made at the exact\nsame time.  Kulgan scratched his head in\nconfusion before pulling out his hip flask and taking a swig.\nIt would seem, he thought, that he\nwas either chasing a giant zik that was carrying a toola on its back, or a\ntoola that that had somehow grown the feet of a zik.\nWith a nervous glance, Kulgan\nreached down and patted the comforting cold iron of his pistol.  He had no idea what was waiting for him, but\nhis trusty six shot had gotten him out of worse situations.  One bullet to the head, and everything would\nbe...\nThere was something in the\ndistance!\nIt was roughly fifty feet\naway.  He could only see the vaguest of\noutlines in the dark desert night, but it appeared to be lying down.  From here it didn't look very big, but there\nwas no telling what the shadows were hiding from him.  A fire surged up within Kulgan's heart, and\nwithout a moment's hesitation he charged at it. \nHe pulled out his pistol and skillfully loaded each of the\nchambers.  Flipping it closed, he took\naim and prepared to fire.  But then the\nmoon came out from behind a cloud, and Kulgan could see clearly what he was\naiming at.  He skidded to a halt, sending\nsand flying everywhere, his tail twirling to help him stay balanced.\n\"Vikka!\" he shouted, holstering his\ngun and kneeling down over the child.  It\nwas Kilo's lost child, all right.  The\ncreature must have abandoned him here the night before.  And judging by the state the boy was in, he\nhad been a very good meal.  One of his\narms, half his torso, and both his legs had been ripped clean off.  His face was calm now, caught in peaceful\nslumber of death, but Kulgan couldn't help but imagine what it had looked like\nwhen this had happened.  There was no\nabsolute guarantee that the creature that had stolen Vikka had done this.  For all Kulgan knew, it had abandoned him\nhere and the child had been picked off by one of the countless other predators\nthat lived in the desert.  Whatever the\ncase was, Kulgan could only hope that the child had already been dead before\nthis happened.\nWith a sigh of resignation, he\nreached out to scoop the child into his arms. \nThe moment the backs of his hands touched the sand, though, a strange\nfeeling came over them, as if he were dragging them through swamp sludge, not\nsand.  It was a familiar feeling.  Forgetting the boy for the moment, he reached\nout and scooped a handful of the sand up from the ground and held it close to\nhis face.  Even in the dark of night, it\nwas impossible for him to mistake what he now saw in his hand.  Tiny flecks of black stone dotted the\notherwise pale sand.  If that hadn't been\nenough, the familiar sensation of unnatural magic coursed across his palm and\ninto his hand, too weak to do anything but still strong enough to be noticed.\nIt was vashiil, the unnatural stone\nthat was crafted by magic users in secret and forged into very specific magical\nitems.  He, himself, wore a piece around\nhis neck.  Vashiil was illegal, and had\nto be bought and sold on the black market because Twisting Pendants were all\nthat it was good for making.  People\nfeared it because of its ability to twist nature itself out of order by giving\ncreatures body parts they were not meant to have.\nWith a grim look on his face,\nKulgan allowed the tainted sand to run through his fingers, back to the ground.  Suddenly, the tracks he'd been following made\nsense.  Only a Twister like himself could\nhave the feet of both a zik and a toola. \nBut why would someone Twist themselves like that?  As a general rule, Twisters only gave\nthemselves body parts that would benefit them in some way, like Kulgan and his\nwings.  What benefit would having two\ntypes of feet give someone?  That also didn't\naccount for the creature's apparent size. \nVashiil could create new body parts, but increasing or decreasing one's\nsize more than the slightest amount was beyond its abilities.\nWhatever the case, if another\nTwister was involved in these kidnappings, that only meant that the situation\nwas worse than he'd originally thought. \nIt meant that Kulgan was not dealing with some mindless beast that had\nhappened upon Everdry in search of a meal. \nHe was matching wits with another sentient creature, one that was able\nto use magic.\nKulgan glanced down at Vikka's shredded\ncorpse once more.  The right thing to do\nwould be to bring him home so he could have a proper funeral.  But Kulgan already knew what he was going to\ndo.  He was hot on the trail of another\nTwister, one that had taken a liking to children of Everdry.  It would be worse to return to town now than\nit would be to continue chasing his quarry, and collect Vikka on his way back,\nright?\n\"I'm sorry,\" he said softly,\nknowing that the boy was somewhere his voice could not reach.  \"I'll be back for you.  I promise!\"\nWithout another backwards glance,\nKulgan began walking again, his eyes never leaving the trail.  He could feel the cold stone of his vashiil\npendant under his shirt.  It pulsed\nsoftly against his chest fur, as if it knew that it would soon be put to use\nagain- and eager."}