Page 10 of The Court the Fae Forgot
I started shifting my weight from where I sat, only to nearly pass out from the next shooting pain in my foot. I tilted my head back up again toward the treetops, this time to let out a scream of frustration.
The only ears that heard belonged to the birds that took off with dissatisfied squawks.
I’d really done it this time.
If I came home without the baker’s payment, well … I doubted there would be a home to come back to, at all.
A steady stream of ever-more colorful swears dropped from my lips as I prepared to work my way back toward the sack of coins on hand and knee. I’d barely begun to wedge myself off of the stump, however, when a noise from the forest made me pause.
It was only a rustle, the faintest noise in the quiet.
At first there was nothing, no sign of man or creature, but before I could start my attempt to get back up off the stump a second time, there it was again. The sound of a snapping branch, this time accompanied by the soft rustling of leaves. Before I had a chance to seek out the source of the noise any further, it appeared in a flash of red fur, whiskers, and golden, reflective eyes.
A fox, much larger than any I’d ever seen before, appeared at the edge of the forest on the opposite side of the road.
It was a beautiful creature, thick fur the color of sunset. Its nose twitched as it sniffed at the air, its whiskers quivering on either side of its pointed snout. I held my breath and sat still, hoping not to scare it away. After a second, the fox’s eyes met mine, and in that moment—I swore it cocked its head at me and winked, actuallywinkeddirectly at me.
Rather than run away, the fox began to move closer then, inch by inch. Soon it was at the edge of the road, its feet carrying it cautiously across the deep tracks. It’s eyes never left mine as it did, but there was no sign it was stalking me as prey. It wasn’t a wolf after all, even if it was practically the size of one.
Instead, our gaze remained locked in mutual curiosity rather than fear, two creatures cornered outside their familiar paths.
As soon as the fox’s feet touched the grass on the other side of the path, however, its attention suddenly shifted. It went straight from me to the glimmer of gold ribbon still tied to the coin purse now only a few steps away from where the creature had paused.
It bowed his head, that pointed nose sniffing out the bag on the ground.
Before I had a chance to try and shoo it off, it suddenly leapt toward the bag, snatched it up, and dashed across the road toward the far line of trees.
I was so shocked by this sudden turn of events that I forgot, for a moment, that my foot had been crushed. I leapt up, arms waving, as I shouted after the creature to stop—only for my own words to die in a strangled cry of pain.
I couldn’t just leave it like that, though. I had no choice but to follow.
I hobbled across the road, wincing at every jolt and brush against my foot as I followed in pitiful pursuit.
By the time I’d wandered not ten yards into the forest on the other side of the road, there was no sign of the thieving fox. Not a single flash of red fur.
It was gone as quickly as it had come, and with my coins now, too.
Coins I shouldn’t even have had on me.
Coins that were, by now, probably already owed with interest to whatever gambling den my mother had surely pulled my father out of prematurely.
I ran my hands through my dark hair, crying out in anger this time.
My parents were really going to kill me now.
But more than that … more than that …
I let out another strangled gasp this time, thick emotion coating my throat.
My ribbon.
The creature had taken that, too.
Somehow that wounded me deeper than any stolen coins ever could. A deep hollowness settled inside me, a sort of emptiness that left me staring, unseeing, into the depths of the forest. I was too tired, too worn down to fight the shadows when they reached for me this time.
Instead, I felt my feet begin to stumble forward beneath me. I ignored that pain in my foot and let the shadows lead me one shaky step at a time toward the deepening darkness beneath the trees. There was no point in fighting it.
I was tired of fighting it, tired of fighting everything. If today had made anything certain, it was that this life I’d led was not going to get any better. I’d grown, if not content with this life, then at least accustomed to it. I’d come to terms with the fact that I’d receive no love from my parents, but at least the abuse I suffered at their hands was less than I might find at the hands of another. I’d considered running away more times than I could count, but each time I came to the same conclusion.
