Shade and Kitsuno spent a few days in the motel room before the wolf guy started looking around for Shade to see if it was her that stole his credit card. The duo left in the middle of the night before their room got searched, to where they left the credit card on the nightstand. Hopefully they don't meet the guy again cause it will cause an uproar.
Over those few days, the two gathered as much information of the area as they could. From the wildlife, to general conflicts, to landmarks so they can navigate these lands with slightly better care. Kitsuno even snagged a health book in the market to see what other people were talking about. According to the book, heat cycles form for those of age that are ready to mate and produce offspring. Shade and Kitsuno were equally confused as the book describes them producing a scent that would help attract males for breeding and that their bodies would be receptive in wanting to attract a mate. Shade has a penis of her own and has not noticed anything different about her body or her sister. Kitsuno was the same way, but both took this as precaution that the week that they are in heat means they need to be extra careful around males, or anything with a dick.
What baffled Shade more was that the book never specified between anthros and ferals as she brings up Beatrice and how she went into heat during the heist. All in all, it probably explains why the wolf went into a slight lustful state of mind when both of them were near him. He was smelling both of them. Had Shade not placed his hand on her cock to shock him, he would have tried to continue.
Morning had long peeked over the trees as the two walked more towards the east. Kitsuno and Shade had found a map and asked other of the townsfolk about anyplace that was hiring. Several point out towards a bigger city to the east that has lots to offer. From multiple markets, to guilds, even courier duty. Despite there being digital concepts of emails and such, a lot of people around here prefered the main method of delivering mail by hand.
While the girls wanted to settle down for a while and enjoy some peace and quiet, that unfortunately was not going to happen soon enough. So the one thing Shade thought of was that they become mercenaries. Odd jobs for pay, and they can train to protect themselves better so another cultist incident doesn't happen again.
Along the way to the city however, the duo stumble upon two cars. One of them was wrecked into a tree. The other was parked right beside it and had some questionable things inside it. Shade takes a peek inside and saw supplies stacked up in the back. "I wonder what this spells sis?" Kitsuno inspects the car further to the front and saw crossbolts on the dashboard. "I'm not sure, but something about this just spells trouble." Both of their ears perk up as they hear rustling from the tree folliage in the distance and they scattered to a nearby bush to hide.
Out from the treeline came a thuggish looking wolf wearing leather armor over his red fur. He was grumbling a bit as he slung his crossbow over his shoulders as he opened the car door in the back and started grabbing stuff out to find something. "Damn bastards leaving the rope behind. I swear they do this on purpose just to piss me off when we are capturing people." Shade glares from the bush as it appears the wolf was part of a bandit group that doubles over as a slaver of some sort.
Kitsuno places a hand on Shade's shoulder to make her look at her. Kitsuno shakes her head as a sign to not jump out and attack the wolf. Instead, they need to have him get away from the car for a different reason. "Seriously? You mother fuckers jammed the rope under the seats." The bandit pulls out some yellow cord bundles and began walking off back into the forest.
Shade, beginning to fume with slight rage, looks at the car before thinking. "Okay. We don't know how many people they have captured... but this looks like their only ride. What can we do to take care of them?" Kitsuno stares at the car for a few moments before her eyes lit up. "I might have an idea sis. How good do you think your illusion skills are?" She raises an eyebrow as she looks at her sister. "What do you have in mind Kit? I might be able to pull it off."
Moments later the wolf bandit comes back with three other wolves that were towing back two rabbits girls, one in her adult years and the other in her child years. The other was a male horse in his teen years. The red furred wolf was annoyed with his group with how this went. "And I need to not only remind you dumb assholes that not only are the merchandise to not be tampered with, but when we go for people to capture, don't... leave..." The wolves stare at the state of their vehicle. It was in shambles with a door ripped off it and tossed haphazardly on the ground a few feet away. Claw marks littered the car along with the insides being mangled.
One of the brown furred wolves in black clothing looks at their leader. "Uh... boss? The car wasn't like that when you left, right?" Their leader immediately looks around and aims with his crossbow, ready to shoot whoever was responsible for this. "Someone must have followed us. Keep your eyes sharp you idiots."
"What about the rabbits and horse?" One of the henchmen held a tight grip on the young rabbit as their leader looked at them. Before he could respond though, he caught a whiff of something. He sniffed the air a moment before turning to a general direction. "Something is in heat... but I don't know if I want to tangle with it."
And that was when Kitsuno, who was hiding up in a tree, threw a box down onto the ground. When it make impact, everything inside it rattled around and the group became startled. "You, hand the girl over to me and check it out." The lackey stared at his boss, "What? Why me?" His boss snaps, "I'm not the one who buried the ropes, now give me the girl and go check." He complies and walked over towards the box as he pulled out a dagger, readying himself to attack whatever comes out at him.
This was when a shadowy figure starts emerging out of the bushes and approaches him. His eyes go wide as he looked at the towering figure looming over him. The wolf's grip on his blade weakens and he slowly backs up. The red furred wolf however, saw the towering figure and immediately threw the young girl down onto the ground. "It's an alpha direwolf!" He immediately bolts, "Forget the slaves and the car, make a break for it now!"
The rest of the bandits threw their captues forward and retreated in the direction their leader went. The shadowy direwolf blinks before looking over at the captured people, who were trembling with fear. The direwolf then looks around the area as the coast was clear before looking up at the tree Kitsuno was in. "That went easier than expected... are direwolves that big and dangerous of what you said?"
Kitsuno jumps down from the tree and lands on the ground with ease. "Apparently so. Either way, we got these guys saved and that's what matters I guess." Kitsuno goes to each one of the tied up victims and works on untying them. Shade shines brightly with her magic and transforms back to her normal self and helps out.
Once this was done and over with, the victims still stared at the two. Shade cocks her head and looks at the group. "Uh... you three going to be okay?" They just stared before Kitsuno reaches out with a hand. The older rabbit stammers, "K-k-kitsune!" In a flash, the three scrambled to their feet and fled from the area.
This left both Shade and Kitsuno not only confused, but slightly offended. Shade watches as she sees the horse boy disappeared over the trail and huffs, "Wow, no thanks at all. What kind of people live here anyways?" Kitsuno shakes her head and walks into the bush where they had hidden all the supplies into. "Well, that's done and over with. Let's just grab what we need and keep going. We're probably not far from the city anyways."
Both of them dig through the supplies to grab some food and water to satiate their growling stomachs. Mostly food wise in the supplies though was trail mix and packets of preserved meats. Neither of them could place the taste of the meat, but it was tender and sweet, much to Kitsuno's delight. Once the twins were good and ready, they took off from the area and journeyed further on their path.
And, as Kitsuno predicted. They have arrived at a large city area. Shade was a little weirded out by the environment though as it was vastly different to where they previously lived. Sure, there were buildings that towered over some and there were paved roads of stone, but the way it all looked architecturally felt like a blast from the past. Many buildings looked like it belonged in the castle ages, which was confusing both kitsunes.
Even so though, the city was alive. People were out and about in the streets and walking around the crosswalks. In and out into many shops that the two passed by were people of many races doing business. Shade nudges her sister and points over to a bakery she saw that had fresh bread being placed out in display.
Kitsuno blinks before turning her attention to a large clocktower across the street. "Shade... this place. It's like we just went back in time." Shade's nose twitches as she walks towards the bakery. Kitsuno notices her moving and immediately grabs onto her tail. "Shade! Come on, we need to focus." Shade pouts a bit as the smell of fresh pastries was calling to her nose. But she shook her head and looked around the town. "Gonna be honest Kit, this place beats where we lived by a long shot."
Kitsuno rolls her eyes and grabs her sister by the hand to walk her away from the market district they were in. "I know, but let's not get too enthusiastic about it. Who knows what this place has?" Shade's tail was wagging in delight as she was feeling pumped for this being the first place they enter.
Eventually the two found a local map board of the city and started looking over to where they were located and looked at locations of the city that they needed to stop by. Shade points onto the map where the mercenaries guild was and both of them took mental notes on what to look for. Right before they left the map, someone taps on their shoulders. The two turn around and Shade nearly freaks out as a tall blue lizard man in green robes was standing there with a brown and white striped ferret in blue robes right next to him.
The ferret boy wore a bright inviting smile, "Greetings kitsunes. What brings you two to the fair city of Sarydia?" Shade and Kitsuno composed themselves and Shade extended a hand out to the boy. "We're just exploring. Looking for the mercenaries guild to see if they are hiring. All that fun stuff." The ferret reaches out with both hands and shakes Shade's hand. "So you two are adventures? That sounds amazing!"
The tall lizard chuckles to himself, "Please excuse my apprentice for his overenthusiasm . It's not everyday that kitsunes come out in the open like this. Many like to play tricks and pose as others with their illusion abilities." The two started to realize why those people fled now. "Oh! Master Wilhelm, maybe we can show these two the mages guild too? I'm sure they will love it there."
This instantly brought back a flashback for the twins as Shade lets her hand retreat from the ferrets hands. Wilhelm seemed to have taken notice of this and pats his apprentice on the shoulder. "Now now Liam, we can't rush these two into joining too many factions all at once. Plus, we are in the middle of a task ourselves, are we not?" Liam's eyes shoot open and he turns around towards his mentor. "Ah shoot! That's right. We were suppose to deliver some herbs and papers to Miss Johanne."
The young mage turns back to the twins and bows, "It's been a pleasure to meet you two. I hope we meet again." Liam immediately rushes down the street. Wilhelm shakes his head, "Ah to be young and full of energy. He is going to be a handful. I wish you both luck in applying for the guild. But, as my apprentice pointed out, if things don't work out as mercenaries, feel free to pop on by. I'm sure you two will catch on quickly with our studies." He then walks off to catch up with Liam.
Kitsuno holds onto Shade, "The mages guild... I remember Ashley wanting to sell you to one." Shade closes her eyes before nodding. "Yeah, but that's not important right now." She then turns into the opposite direction where Liam and Wilhelm went and started walking away from the map. Kitsuno follows and the duo begin searching for the mercenaries guild.
Thankfully there was signs posted on the streets that said "For Hire" on them and had general directions where the guild was. The kitsunes made their way inside a large two story building and were greeted by a well furnished establishment. Fine wood flooring and polished wooden furniture, with fancy looking candle lights on the walls illuminating the place. There were some strange people in weird green clothing hanging around the area that were foreign to the kitsunes, but they seemed to have caught attention to the two.
One of them taps the other and points over to the twins and they stared. "What are kitsunes doing here in Sarydia?"
"And out in the open no less."
The person, who was a silver maned fox girl wearing in a light pink dress, happened to look up from some paperwork she was going over and grew confused to why the girls were here in the guild. "May I help you two young ladies?" Shade and Kitsuno walk up to the counter and Shade responded, "Are there still positions open? We'd like to work here." The fox girl laughs a bit before realizing they were being serious. "Are you two sure you are ready for this? You don't look like you are capable of some of the jobs we get here."
Kitsuno looks into her eyes and crosses her arms. "That doesn't mean we can't try now, can we?" The fox raises an eyebrow, "Exactly how old are either of you?" Both of them answer, "Sixteen."
She was flabbergasted that two teens wanted to join the guild. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to deny your request. Like I said, some of the jobs we get are very harrowing and dangerous. Perhaps you two can try the bakery downtown? I hear Penelope can show you how to make a mean souffle."
Shade huffed as she stood there, not taking no for an answer. Kitsuno looked at her sister before looking back at the fox. "Unless someone else tells us no, she's not budging. We traveled far for this and she really does not want it to end here." This was where the door behind the fox girl opens and a large armored minotaur walks out. "Mally, what's going on out here?" His voice echoes in the building before looking down and locking eyes with Shade. Mally looks back at the bulky minotaur, "Sorry Zhutto, I was just trying to turn these girls away."
Zhutto walks out closer to lean down to eye level with Shade. "So, the little ones here want to join the guild? Well, look here young lady. I'm sure Mally here has already mentioned how dangerous this can get, and for your sakes, maybe it's best you head home." Shade immediately snaps back, "What home? We lost it in a fire because of some fucking cultists."
Everything in the guild went silent as everyone starred at the two kitsunes. Zhutto blinks slowly before responding, "Cultists you say? This... by any chance. Are you two from the south?" Mally looks at her boss, "Zhutto, you can't be serious?"
He places a hand over her back and pats away, "Let's here them out Mally. I want to know what happened from these two. After all, it was our fault for not investigating that issue sooner after we lost Reeves." Mally goes silent before Zhutto opens up the wooden latch on the counter and walks out to the two. "Bernice, Kleau. If Maurice comes back looking for me, help Mally keep him distracted. This may take a while." He then escorts the twins to the back office.
When they were in the office, he closes the door and walks over to a large desk. "Come, take a seat you two. Feel free to explain everything that happened that day. It's not unlike someone to escape cultists these days and live to tell the tale."
Shade and Kitsuno each take a seat across the desk as Zhutto sat down. Both of them sighed as they had to bounce back between each other in explaining to the minotaur what happened. Or at least, what they remember happening.
