The monk was shivering and second guessing his footsteps when the two fox-shifters finally led him through the thin winding streets of the old city toward one of the main roads—Tupet Road—and then one of the smaller alleyways branching off that road near the weaver’s district. In the late night, even the stalwart gas lampposts flickered and stuttered. Long’s apothecary seemed as dark as the closed tea house on top of it.
“Where are we going?” the monk whispered as he followed Zan and Caradon down the steps to the apothecary’s shop. “I sincerely hope that you are good luck spirits and not the demons leading me to hell that those blasphemers had shouted about.”
You will be safe here, Caradon replied. Knock on the door.
The monk visibly steeled himself and then pounded four times on the door. For a moment, nothing happened.
“All right, no one’s here,” said the monk in a thin laugh. “Let’s go somewhere else.”
Oh no you don’t. Zan grabbed the hem of his robe with her teeth and pulled the nervous monk back. Someone will be coming.
The door opened, revealing Long’s old, wrinkled face. The old man raised a lamp high and peered out the door and stared at the monk. “Who are you?”
“I-I-I’m Brother Thessalonius. Or at least that was the name I took on when I got inducted into the Church’s order. I was told that this was a safe place.”
“Told by who?”
“One of these foxes.”
“Foxes, eh?” Long opened the door a crack, revealing his black brocade dressing gown. He looked down at the monk’s feet and was met by two pairs of vulpine eyes. “Well, well. So you’re here with your lady friend. Decided to elope, eh? And you’ve brought a priest with you for the vows as well? But I have to tell you, I just got out of bed and the shop isn’t the greatest place for an impromptu wedding…”
Shut up, Long, Caradon interrupted, annoyed. And let us in.
“I’m not a priest, I’m a Brother,” the monk added. “They’re completely different ranks and occupations in the Church.”
“I never paid much attention to that sort of thing,” Long replied as he opened the door wide to let the monk and two foxes inside. “So, what seems to be the problem? I assume it is not health related?”
“But it’s a life or death situation!” the monk exclaimed as he followed the apothecary to the back of his shop and took a seat next to the flickering fireplace. “I was going to be killed!”
“Killed, hm?” Long poured some tea into a cup for the monk who hastily gulped it down. The apothecary took his time sipping. “Just slow down and tell me what was the matter.”
“Some cruel person locked these two poor creatures down in the wine cellar of the Cathedral. I don’t know what they were thinking. Wild animals deserve to be free.”
There was another entrance to that cellar, Caradon interjected. We were trying to find another way out.
Another entrance, eh? Long thought. This is not the beginning of the story?
Not by a long shot, Zan replied.
Oblivious to the mental byplay, the monk continued, “So I found them down there and we were about to go out of the basement when I heard something coming from one of the rooms. There was a meeting going on. I didn’t mean to overhear, but of course, they weren’t being particularly quiet about it. And you wouldn’t believe what I heard—some of the church elders were planning something insidious and treasonous against the Queen!”
Long nodded calmly.
“And the Church Emissary was in on the plot as well! I was about to be shot dead where I stood for what I overheard. It was by divine intervention, luck, and these intelligent animals that I even got out of there by the skin of my teeth!”
The apothecary poured the monk more tea. While he slurped it down, Long said, “Excuse me while I let these two out.”
At the door, Caradon turned to tell Long, Keep the monk here for the night. I will send someone to take care of him sometime tomorrow.
Take care of him? How? Asked Long.
I’ll put him on one of my ships heading out on one of the northern trading routes. I’ll have the ship drop him off at the Capital where he will deliver the news of a treasonous resistance group here on the Island to the Queen and her advisors. Meanwhile, there will be people looking for him.
So I suppose I’ll have to beware of anyone else claiming to be a man of God, eh? Well, there will be no worries there. They won’t be stopping at this heathen’s shop.
As Long closed the door to his shop, two foxes trotted up the steps into the street and began their trek south to Warden Street. Once they arrived in the neighborhood, they backtracked through the neighbor’s backyard. A dog began barking and the animal’s chains rattled. They jumped up on the wall that separated the next house from Zan’s residence and flattened themselves at the top of the wall as a light came on in the neighbor’s house and a rotund figure in night clothes walked out the backdoor toting a hunting rifle.
“Anyone out there?” the neighbor shouted out in the night. He noticed nothing as he scanned his back yard. Then he yelled at the dog to shut his trap. The animal whined at his master’s scolding and then became silent.
They leaped up onto the ledge ringing the second story of Zan’s house and carefully made their way to her bedroom’s open window. Once inside her own room, she finally gave a great sigh. Thoughts of sleep tumbled in her head as Caradon made his way down to the floor from the window ledge.
You’d better change first and go back to your room, she told him.
Right here? He stepped toward her and gave her a bold lick on the muzzle.
She barred her teeth and bristled. Behind the screen!
Caradon lunged and she suddenly found herself sprawled on her belly, his mouth on her neck, his teeth prickling her skin. You’ve ordered me around enough tonight. If you hadn’t gone out in search for your answers, you wouldn’t have been endangered three different times. Perhaps even more if I weren’t around!
You’re just surly because of all the excitement we had tonight. At least we saved a man. She twisted and broke from his grasp and the enforced submissive position. You’re just irritated that you didn’t think of this yourself.
He gave a disgusted snort and tugged at the knot on the bandage on his foreleg. It loosened and he took that and the pile of his human clothes in his mouth and dragged them behind her dressing screen. After he had changed, rewrapped the bandage, and pulled on a robe to cover himself, he stepped out from behind the screen and glared down at the small black fox swishing her tail impatiently. She gave an annoyed yip and then trotted behind the screen. She waited until her bedroom door opened and closed with a click before her own change.
She quickly pulled on a nightgown and stepped out into the rest of the bedroom. Abruptly, hands grabbed her wrists and pulled her arms behind her. She gasped and struggled. “Caradon, let go of me at once! As a guest, you’re acting abominably. And pretending to have left the room…”
She was dragged a few steps backward and then pressed into one of the wardrobe’s doors, the handle digging into her stomach. She turned her head to the side, feeling the cold wood against her cheek, and she saw that the other wardrobe door was open, revealing the mirror. She looked at herself, and then the man pressed up behind her, his mouth and nose in her hair. His gaze met hers in the mirror and sharpened. She couldn’t look away.
“The other form isn’t conducive for saying a proper good night,” he said, his breath whispering close to her ear.
“Proper?” she replied in disbelief. “Do you make it a habit to compromise ladies every time you feel the urge to say good night?”
“No.” He pulled away her hair to reveal her neck and then his hand drifted down to cup a breast. She froze, feeling only the heat of his fingers seeping through the single layer of muslin that her nightgown was made of and warming the skin beneath. “Only you.” In the mirror, she watched him lower his head and then his mouth pressed against the nape of her neck. He whispered against her skin, “Good night and sweet dreams, my little baggage.”
Then he released her.
She listened to his footsteps and then the final opening and closing of the door. After a moment, she pulled herself away from the wardrobe door and glared at the darkness. A hand closed into a fist. Sweet dreams, she thought in a huff, she would be lucky if she ever got any sleep after that.
