Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 70 – What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

After I woke from that dream, I immediately apologised to Ovia for not speaking to her… although I wasn’t able to tell her why.

Admittedly, even after that, things were still a little awkward for a day or two, but I thought it got better after that…

Around the same time as that, we stopped travelling through the open fields and entered a large forest. Elwyn had told us that as soon as we got out on the other side of the forest, we would finally be able to see both Haelmor and the sea it borders.

Travelling through the forest was a little different, although it didn’t really change what we did each day. The biggest change was probably that the wagons had to move a little slower due to both the condition of the trail and the lowered visibility from all the trees.

Just like the first half of the journey, the view didn’t change much from day to day; the only difference was that instead of watching large open fields go by, we were watching the trees as they did the same.

That wasn’t to say that the forest wasn’t interesting; quite the opposite. While it might not have done much for my eyes, the sounds and smells were completely different from anything I had experienced before.

No matter where we were, I would constantly hear the scurrying of small animals or the sound of birds breaking through the canopy. At one point, I even heard a low growl from what I could only assume was a bear far off in the distance. Thankfully, the bear didn’t seem to have anywhere near as much interest in us as I did in it.

And just like that, as quickly as this trip started, it was already coming to an end.

The four of us were sat around the fire, watching on as Ava was busy putting together dinner.

“Not much longer now,” Elwyn spoke up first, “I’d say we’ve got about a day and a half left if we keep going at this pace. It’s funny how time just slips past you like that, don’t you think?”

…

We’re almost there…

…

What does that really mean?

I… Why am I even going there?

…

“The sooner, the better,” Joran huffed.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Elwyn poked Joran in the side, “I know you enjoyed your time more than usual. We got quite lucky with our wagon buddies, don’t you think?”

Joran just sighed in response.

“You weren’t the only ones who were lucky,” Ava started to ladle her soup into bowls, “This little trip of ours could have been very different with the wrong kind of people.”

She started to hand the soup out to everyone; however, just as she was about to hand one of the bowls to me, I heard a rustle followed by a low growl off in the bushes. Evidently, I wasn’t the only one who heard this as Joran’s ears twitched in sync with my own.

“I think we’ll have to hold off on dinner for a bit,” Joran stood up and drew his sword, “It’s probably nothing serious… But better safe than sorry when it comes to something like this.”

“Do we have ourselves a visitor?” Elwyn asked.

“Yeah, it’s probably just a wolf, albeit only one, which is a little unusual.”

“Ah, then we have nothing to worry about. Just go and work your magic over there.”

“It’s not- Ah, whatever, you wouldn’t understand… You three just stay by the fire. Ms Wolf, if anything happens, you’ll be the first to notice, so just… be ready.”

I nodded before pulling out one of my knives and gripping it tightly.

“Good, I’ll be back as soon as I sort this out,” He started walking directly over to where I heard the growling.

Is he going to be okay?

…

“Hey, you really don’t need to be so tense,” Elwyn let out a slight giggle, “He’s a wolf beastkin; if we really have been visited by a wolf, we’ll have no issues at all. He can do this interesting thing where he can both understand and be understood by wolves, but it apparently isn’t the same as talking…  although I don’t know why I’m telling this to other beastkin… force of habit maybe?”

He can do what?

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Wait… can Ava do that?

Can I do that?

…

But… is it even useful?…

I’ve never seen a wild fox…

“Didn’t you say that wild animals would usually avoid the wagons?” Ava asked as she started eating, “Shouldn’t we be a bit more worried that one got so close?”

“Hmm? No, not really,” They joined Ava in eating, “He said it was only one wolf. They might have been injured or got separated from their pack for whatever reason. If they’re desperate, they’ll do whatever they think they need to in order to survive. But don’t worry about it, Joran will take care of it. If they’re just hungry, he’ll probably throw them some meat, and they’ll leave.”

Despite Elwyn’s words, I didn’t loosen my grip on my knife.

But… what if something goes wrong?

…

As the other two continued to eat, I focused on my ears in an attempt to try and check on what Joran was doing.

“Whoa there, big guy. What’s got you all riled up now?” Even from this distance, I could hear Joran sheath his sword, “Look, I ain’t gonna do anything to you.”

The wolf just continued to growl.

“You don’t seem to be injured…” He took a step forward.

However, in that brief moment, I heard the wolf start running towards us, probably slipping past Joran in the process.

“No!” Joran shouted loud enough that the other two also noticed.

I could hear it getting closer and closer, its paws viciously slamming into the ground.

W-What am I supposed to do?!

I leapt out of my seat and drew my second knife in preparation for when the wolf came into view.

“Watch out!” Joran shouted as he started running towards us himself, “He’s been spooked by something! I don’t know what he’s going to do over there!”

I thought this was supposed to be easy!

I was told that there would be no issues!

Right at that moment, the wolf came out of the bushes.

…

We both froze in place, staring the other down.

The wolf continued to growl, broken up only by occasional panting. Its fur was full of various sticks and leaves, but apart from that, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it physically.

…

I was very glad that I was wearing gloves; if I wasn’t, my knives probably would have slipped out of my hands from how much I was sweating already.

Please just… back away.

The wolf suddenly snarled at me, and I instinctively took a step back, widening the distance between us. Thankfully, the wolf didn’t move at all and just stood its ground.

I wanted to look over my shoulder to see what Ava and Elwyn were doing, but deep down, I instinctively knew that as soon as I looked away, the wolf would pounce on me.

Do I need to make the first move?

…

It seems tired… but…

As if responding to my thoughts, the wolf snarled once again, although this time I held still.

…

I-In Beni’s stories, a wolf didn’t seem like a big deal…

…

I had to keep tearing myself away from my thoughts in order to stay focused on the wolf in front of me. If it tried to do anything, I needed to be able to react fast enough to stop it… or at least be fast enough to get out of the way.

Why isn’t Joran here yet?

If he could just come up behind it…

…

*Snap*

It just was a twig off in the distance. But due to how tense I was, I instantly turned my head towards the sound.

…

…

Time slowed. I knew I had just made a big mistake.

I heard their paws slam into the ground with a single heavy thud.

No!

I immediately tried to turn my head back, to bring my arms up. I was yelling at my legs to move. To get out of the way. To do anything!

But it was just too slow. I could see it coming out of the corner of my eye. The wolf’s teeth glistened in the warm light from the fire.

“Kierra!” Ava screamed.

I heard her take a single step. She was too slow. It would be too late.

…

I did what I could to brace for the incoming bite. All I could do was hope that the wolf wouldn’t have the strength to bite all the way through the leather that was protecting my shoulder.

…

Ava could just heal me… Right?

Please…

I started to close my eyes in preparation for what was coming.

However, right before I closed my eyes completely, something unexpected happened.

*Thud*

The wolf was knocked out of the air by what seemed to be a tree branch that came flying out of nowhere.

“Are you okay?” Joran called out as he came out of the bushes.

As I watched him step into the light, I immediately noticed that something was very wrong.

Wait…

The branch didn’t come from there.

I looked off to where I guessed the branch must have come from, only to see vines creeping along the ground towards me.

“What’s-!” I jumped back to avoid getting tangled up in them.

As soon as I had gotten out of the way, the vines shot forward, entangling the wolf before rapidly dragging it back into the bushes.

“Get back!” Joran called out, “I don’t know what those are, but I’d rather not be the one to find out!”

Despite the warning, I just stood in place; I had traced the vines back into the forest and saw something… or someone standing there. Even though I could see in the dark, it was hard to make out what exactly I was looking at behind all the cover provided by all the trees and bushes. All I was really able to take note of were their bright blue eyes as they were looking directly at us.

They must have noticed me staring pretty soon after that as they started running… or at least I guessed that they started running, but based on what I could hear, they were moving much quicker than I would be able to.

“I don’t know if we got lucky because whatever that was decided to run away or unlucky because we ran into it in the first place,” Joran placed a hand on my shoulder, “I’m sure you heard it too. It seems like it’s decided to leave us alone… for now at least… but… it’s going to be a long night.”

What was-

Ava came up from behind and hugged me, “Are you okay? Didn’t you hear me shouting?” Her hands started glowing as she started using her magic on me.

“She’s alright; nothing touched her… although she could probably use some calming down… She still hasn’t let go of her knives…” Joran then looked over at Elwyn, “Go wake up the guy in charge. Tell him we’ll need to pick up the pace tomorrow. We’ll aim to get into town just after nightfall; it’ll be better than risking another night out here.”

“Y-Yes, I’ll do that,” Elwyn scrambled to his feet before heading over towards the tents.

“As for you two…” He paused for a moment, “Just go sit by the fire… Try to eat something if you can. I think whatever that was was only after the wolf… If I had to guess, it was just cleaning up a straggler that had gotten away. So we’re probably fine… for tonight at least… But stay alert just in case.”

You said it was fine last time!

But the wolf came right for us!

And then…

“I imagine we won’t get a chance to sleep until we get to town. We’ll have to listen out for it throughout the day as well, so conserve your strength,” He let out a sigh before guiding us back towards the fire, “I wish we could just get going now, but it’d be even worse to try to move in the dark…”

“We’ll be heading out as soon as the sun starts to rise,” Elwyn called out from over by the tents.

“Good!” Joran called back before sighing once more, “You know?… at least we haven’t seen any remnants from that group that was ahead of us… I can only hope that’s a good sign…”

Ava handed me a bowl of soup, but I just found myself staring into it, not really having much of an appetite after what had just happened.

…

What have I gotten myself into?