Crown of One Hundred Kings (Nine Kingdoms Trilogy #1) - Rachel Higginson Page 0,19
to be right.”
“I accept your apology,” he countered.
I held his gaze, acknowledging that he was, in fact, right. We had no idea what hid behind the next tree, let alone what evil thing could force a baby to make such a horrific sound. Still, I had to do something. And I was grateful for a friend that would do that something with me even when he knew better. I grabbed his hand and we sprinted.
Finally, we came to a ravine. We peered over the top and found the source of that horrid sound lying at the bottom of a muddy gully. Pushed to the far side, a trickle of a stream was nearly buried beneath wet leaves and exposed roots from towering trees.
Oliver grabbed my forearm in his crushing grip. “Tessana,” he growled. “That is not a baby.”
6
“It is a baby!” I protested. “Just not a human baby.” My feet carried me forward and I half-slid down the side of the embankment, kicking up dead leaves and dirt.
“Tessana!” Oliver cried. “I’m not helping you!”
“Up the hill or with the little one?”
Oliver thought about it for a moment. “Neither.”
“Very well,” I sighed. “Then I’ll be forced to send you back to Father Garius. You can explain to him how you failed your assignment.”
“Don’t be daft.”
My blood flashed with frustration. I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday’s meager breakfast, and I was far too tired from sleeping in a tree to find anything about this situation funny. “Push me, Oliver. We shall see just how mad I can be.”
He wisely shut his mouth.
The little thing fell silent as well when I stood over it, too terrified to make a sound now. Not a human baby, but a white fox kit. Its snowy coat stood out starkly against the dirt and gloom of the forest around it. It cowered in its den, almost hidden in the grooves of a large root. Startling green eyes watched me as it shivered in its nest. I could see its small heart beating rapidly against equally tiny ribs.
I held out my hand and it sniffed the air before lifting its muzzle again and letting out a howl of fear. I squatted down and shushed it.
“There now, wee one,” I whispered. “I mean you no harm.”
It couldn’t understand me. It was a fox after all. But it responded to the gentle tone of my voice. It stopped its wailing and inspected my hand again. Sniffing the air with its tiny pink nose, it pushed against my fingertips before sinking little teeth into one of my knuckles. Its baby teeth tickled, and I laughed at its desperate attempt to protect itself.
“What a fierce one you are. Are you hungry?” I asked. It scooted forward, revealing more of its little body and beautiful white fur. In answer to my question, it sunk its teeth into the tip of my finger, gnawing as ferociously as it could. “Where’s your mama?” I let it nibble while I looked around the clearing at the base of the ravine for clues.
The feisty pup kept chewing on my finger until I retracted it. I stood up, feeling uneasy. A mama wouldn’t leave her pup on its own like this. The kit moved to the edge of its den, following me without quite leaving its home. Its squeaking yips punctuated the quiet.
“Is it by itself?” Oliver asked from overhead.
“As far as I can tell,” I called back. “It’s just a little thing.”
“That’s too bad,” he sighed. “It shouldn’t have to suffer in this godforsaken place.”
I agreed. Beside a tall patch of winding roots, blood dotted the bark, growing thicker the farther from the den I walked. Finally, I found the carnage.
The mother had been torn to pieces by something bigger and meaner. Next to the mother’s broken body lay another foxling, this one with rich red fur that almost absorbed the dried blood coating its hide. A few feet away was the mangled remains of a larger fox.
Gutted.
Drenched in blood.
“Dragon’s blood,” I whispered. The pup had lost its entire family.
I looked back at its green eyes watching me from the edge of that root and felt my chest split open with pity.
“The mother and father are dead,” I called up to Oliver. “And a sibling.”
“Then he’s lucky to be alive. Although he won’t stay like that for long.”
A pang pierced my chest.
“Tessana, we should go while we have the light. We need to find our way out of this hell.”