Amilya panicked, cheg the house again. Dawn had been pining about the fox not visiting for a few days, and now she had snuck out at some point during the night. She had no doubt as to what had happened; Dawn had said she would bring the fox to Morris, which they had assumed was a joke at the time. Fumbling with a box in her bedroom, she pulled out a lock of hair and cast her trag spell. It poiowards the forest.

  She sprinted for the guest house Morris was staying at, nearly tripping in her haste. Upon reag it, she pou the door until she heard grumbling and the door opened, bursting in and shouting at Morris, “Hurry a ready to go, Daw into the forest!” Before promptly rag back out, heading to Monti’s house at a slightly slower pace.

  Monti greeted her from a chair in front of the house when she arrived, “Hello, Amilya, slow down a bit and tell me what is wrong.”

  “It’s Dawn,” Amilya excimed, panting, “she ran off into the forest, we need you to e with us in case she is hurt! We ’t be too te!”

  As she ran to the eastern gate, she called out to the guards, “I need several people to e help, my daughter is missing in the forest!” Agitated, she then began shuffling from foot to foot as she looked babsp; A moment ter, Morris arrived with his staff and his familiar, the hawk Kel, perched on his shoulder. Shortly afterward, Monti hobbled along with his e, moving at a surprising speed with it.

  Amilya waved at the guards to opee ahe small group through, three guards joining them with spears resting against their shoulders. Along the way, Morris cast a spell oossing him into the air to scout from above with his now enhanight vision.

  A moment ter, Morris spoke up, “Kel found her. She isn’t in good shape, and there is a snake around her but it is bloody and not moving. She is breathing and also … holding something furry.”

  As they approached, they heard muffled screaming before they could see her, finally arriving as Dawn sobbed against the furry bundle in her arms.

  The guards quickly spread out in case anything showed up to threaten them, as Amilya ran to her daughter, g. Monti stepped forward, casting a spell on the snake’s body, then sighing and remarking, “We got lucky, this is a non-venomous s is going to take a while, but we fix the damage. Venom is far harder to cure than broken bones.”

  Morris stamped his staff into the ground, solidifying a thi of dirt into a storetcher, as Monti cast a paiion spell on Dawn, looking curiously at the furry bundle in her arms as it shifted around. After a moment, a fox’s head was revealed, causing him to scramble back as Amilya steadied him. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I fot to inform you that we found a fox that was most likely awakened. This is why Morris is here in our vilge. It already saved Diara from being bitten by a different snake when she was injured.”

  As Monti’s magic blocked most of the pain, Dawn sighed in relief, loosening her grip enough for the fox to bolt out of her arms. It’s head darted from side to side, taking in that it was surrounded before it stilled for a moment and darted back trabbing the snake’s head and shaking it. It then looked back at Amilya and id down, shivering.

  **********

  The fox was terrified. He was trapped by his human, who was badly injured, and now there were other humans approag. He tried again and again to get loose, only to get held closer once more. He couldn’t see from where he was being held, but he could hear footsteps, g, and talking.

  After a moment, his human rexed a tiny bit, allowing him to get his head free. The human before him recoiled, and the huhat threw light was standing there talking to him. His human rexed more, letting him slip free pletely. His head darted from side to side as he took iuation he was in. He was pletely surrounded by humans, including ohat had hunted him before. After just a sed of hesitation, he grabbed the head of the snake and shook it around before dropping it again, looking at the hunter again and ying down in submission.

  He felt hope that they would uand, and was gd to see them unig more instead of harming him. One of the others stepped forward as a bird nded on his shoulder, using his stick to draw a series of lines in the dirt. As they fihey looked towards the fox and poi the dirt beside the lines. He crept forward carefully and looked at the lines in the dirt.

  First one lihen two, then three. It almost looked like the humans’ dens he had seen from the hill he vilge. But there had to be significe to each being one more line. He looked up at the human which tapped the dirt beside him. Guessing the iion, he used his o draw anure with four lines enclosing the space between, then stepped back, looking towards the human.

  The human hen they scuffed the dirt with their foot, drawing a handful of circles. First ohen three, then five, with no particur arra. Taking a moment to look, he began drawing circles beside it, cheg the existiwiake sure he was right, ending up with seven circles and then sat back again. The human nodded again, pointing towards his human, who was being untangled from the snake.

  He moved back to them, hissing at the snake before curling up against his human who began scratg his head and talking.

  A few moments ter, two of the humans grabbed his human and dragged her over to an odd looking patch of ground. He whi them and followed, curling up o his human’s head again on the odd ground. Almost as soon as he was in pce, he felt himself rising into the air, watg the ground fall away to the sides as the odd sheet icked up by the two that had walked to either end of it.

  Looking around, he spotted the dead snake being carried by one of the other humans behind him, and the oh the bird up ahead with the light-throwing hunter. Despite his situation, he felt safety radiating through the link with his human and decided to stay. Surely if they hadn’t harmed him yet they wouldn’t if he stayed with them.

  A while ter they approached the vilge, passing by the watchtowers he had previously tried to hide from, and headed towards the gate which opened for them without hesitation. His head swung from side to side as he took in the sights, watg as they headed towards one of the humans’ dens.