Old Foxes

Chapter Two: As Siblings

'Old foxes want no tutors." – Thomas Fuller

"We don't care whether you're just passing through, or not," my brother, Kemp, growled at the intruder. His reddish fur was bristling with anger and distrust. "We want you off of our territory now."

While we were out hunting, Reese, Kemp, and I had come across an unfamiliar scent, and had chased after it to find an unknown fox on our land. He had made up some excuse about just 'passing through', but we knew he was hunting. We could tell by the fact that he had been in a hunting crouch when we spotted him, his ears perked in the direction of a mouse that was eating some seeds under the bushes. Usually, we might let someone who was hunting in our territory off with a warning, but since the Dying Season had begun we all knew that prey would soon be hiding from the cold, and so we needed to protect every bit of our territory from outsiders.

"Alright, alright," the unknown male muttered, casting a glance between the three of us and our predatory stances. Even though we were several months younger than him, he knew he didn't stand a chance against all three of us, especially not Kemp, who was already bigger than Liam. His gaze seemed to linger on me longer, but as Reese let out a low snarl and leaped towards him, he turned and fled.

We stood still for a moment longer, before my crazy brothers started laughing. "Did you see the way he ran with his tail between his legs?" Kemp gasped out, falling onto my side just as Reese did the same thing, causing me to fall over in between them. This, unfortunately, led to them falling on top of me, practically crushing me.

"Let me out, you big idiots!" I said, struggling to get out of the fox-pile they had put us in. They, still laughing, did as I asked, helping me get up. "Come on, we need to hunt."

"Oh, lighten up, Bella," Kemp said, following after me as I began searching for the scent trail we had no doubt lost since the beginning of the confrontation.

I turned and dragged my tail across his side, thinking of what to say to him. "We need to hunt," I said finally, walking away, knowing they would follow. "Liam told us to be back before sunset."

I could hear Reese mocking me, but I shrugged it off; he was always mocking somebody around here. I also catch the scent of a mouse nearby, and take off after it, being careful to be quite so as not to scare my prey away.

My brothers weren't quite as smart about it. They were always trying to chase I away, and so I shouldn't have been surprised when they came growling after me, and the scent of mouse faded as it scuttled away in terror. I rolled my eyes, knowing it would take forever to hunt with my brothers.


Laying in the den later that night, we were told that we would soon be expected to make our own den. Pups couldn't remain with their mother forever, and there was also the fact that it was almost time for my mother to birth again – she needed the room for her new denlings.

"We'll get started on it tomorrow," Kemp – always the wise one – promised her. I curled up closer to him, and allowed Reese to curl up on my other side. We were the closest litter of pups in the leash; the others had all split up soon after they were weaned off of their mother's milk. But my brothers and I were always together; the best of friends. They took care of me, and I took care of them.

"You have fun, then," Caron told us, her eyes bright with pride. "And be careful not to wander too far away while looking for moss; if you can't find any, ask Liam."

Reese nodded sleepily. "Okay, mother," he said while yawning. We all fell asleep quickly after that.

Sometime in the middle of the night I was woken by something. I started, wondering who was prodding my tail. I could still feel my brothers beside me, and I could see Caron and Liam curled up on the other side of the den, so that left…

"Cathal?" I asked through a yawn. "What are you doing?"

"Shh," he whispered, looking at my brothers. "Come on, we have to do this outside." He moved outside quickly.

Do what outside? I wondered, following after him until we were in a little opening just outside of the main den circle.

He was sitting on his back haunches, watching the moon. I didn't feel the need for interrupting the silence, and so I sat down beside him without making a noise.

"Our people have great magic within them, Bella," he began after a few moments of looking at the sky. I turned towards him, knowing his 'story telling voice' well. I hadn't heard this one before, though. "But hardly any of them know it. There was a time when we wanted to communicate with the other animals of the forest, and we had to learn a way. And we did.

"All the animals learned how to change their shapes, turn themselves into something else. They turned themselves into Uprights – or humans, as they are now known."

"Humans?" I cut him off, unable to help myself. "But they're our enemies."

He answered calmly, seemingly not upset about my interruption. "We didn't always label them in such a way, dearling. Once they were merely a way for us to communicate – we would change into a human body, and our language would then be the same as the languages of the wolves, the whales, the deer – everything in the forest would be able to speak the same words and understand each other."

He stopped talking for a while, thinking. I spoke up after a few seconds. "Why can't we change into human creatures anymore, then?"

And he turned towards me. "Oh, we can, Bella – but I am the only one who truly knows how at the moment. The magic has been passed down from fox to fox for generations, and at any given time only one fox knows how to shift. We keep it a secret."

"So, why are you telling me?" I asked, curious.

"I'm getting old, Bella," he said tiredly, but with wisdom. "It's time to pass on the magic. And I've chosen you to be the next carrier of it."


I'm so sorry for the long wait, and for the unexpected hiatus. As of this moment, I am still on a hiatus-of-sorts, but I'm going to be trying a lot harder to make up a schedule for updating. I don't know when I'll be able to update next.

I feel as if I need to explain why I didn't write for a while, and so – of course – I'm going to tell you all the truth. A little over a month ago – the day I got writer's block – I found out my father had passed away. So, if that helps at all, that's my reason for not updating. It's been rough going at home for a while, and I don't know if it'll ever get better, but I'm not giving up on my writing. You can expect more from me soon, I just don't know how soon.

Oh, and please don't write any comments about being sorry or anything like that – I've gotten enough people saying things like that around here, I don't need to hear it from any of you. (Sorry if that seems rude.)

Review, please, and remember me.