Fox Hunt; Chapter 1

The water splashing beneath my feet is jarringly loud in the silence of the forest. I miss the soft crunch of leaves underfoot. Part of me wants to slow, to quiet my passing, but I can't. I continue to plunge forward, water splashing loudly. The soft mud of the brook's bed slows my progress a little, though the track of my passing would soon be gone.

Go to the brook. Run and don't look back; don't slow down. Make it to the brook and you'll have a chance. Follow it north and stay in the water. It will hide your tracks and your scent. It will give you more cover than the forest. Only when the bed turns to stone and slows your progress do you travel by the river instead of in it.

I can hear Tiberius's voice ringing in my ears. How many times had he told me that? How many times had he warned me this day would come? How many times had he ordered me to run and not look back when it did? I couldn't count. Yet when the wind shifts, I can't help but come to a halt. The silence washes over me as the faint scent beings to weave through the air. Smoke.

A voice urges me in my mind to get back to running. If that was smoke, that means the cottage is on its way to being nothing but ashes. They wouldn't let anything remain. There would be nothing left. They could leave nothing behind. That means, if they weren't already on my trail, they soon would be. The further upstream I got, the better. There would be nothing left to go back to. Tiberius would be gone, just like the cottage and everything in it. The pack on my back and I were all that remained. He would be relying on me to get the box and notebook inside across the border to Sorchal. They would be my ticket to safety and protection within Sorchal. One last kindness from Tiberius. The only way he could look out for me now.

Had they killed him, or had they locked him in the cottage to burn with his life's work? Or were they forcing him to watch it burn before they killed him? Or even worse, were they keeping him alive long enough to see me dragged back first?

I turn, looking in the direction of the cottage, searching the sky. As my eyes scan the sky, I whisper a silent prayer. Please, don't let it be there. Please, don't let it be over yet.

I can feel tears stinging at my eyes when I finally see it. A small streak of nothing in the night sky; a trail of smoke blocking out the sky. So, it was over. I squeeze my eyes shut. Please let it have been quick and painless.

Before the tears can begin to spill over, I turn, resuming my sprint. I could get further if I sprinted. A dead run would wear me down faster. I couldn't let him down. Not after all he had done for me. He was counting on me.

Follow the brook north. Stay with it after it becomes a river, but don't leave it until after the rapids. Head east from there. You should be able to find the town easily. Stay long enough only to get directions to the next town and grab any supplies you may need. Don't let them know where you're going and don't give anyone your name. Reto will be the challenge. If a Sorchalian delegation is there, don't bother trying to cross the border or looking for a document forger or smuggler. They will be your safest and fastest way out of Xechrin. My work will be safe there and so will you.

Everyone in our town may have thought he was just another doctor, a healer looking for a quiet life. None of them knew of his life's work hidden within the cottage. I knew of it, but only bits and pieces of what it was. They thought I was just the orphan he had taken in, purely out of kindness. Some knew of the training he had put me through: the hunter that had taught me how to track and hide in the forest, all the tricks of hunting and surviving as a favor for Tiberius treating his children free of charge; the retired soldier who had taught me some self-defense, merely a kindness to a crippled doctor who had concerns for his orphan's safety; the town trouble maker who taught me, arguably unsuccessfully, how to hide in plain sight, steal, and pickpockets, kept silent of my training by Tiberius's generous payments; the previous mayor's widow who had taught me diplomacy and manners, oblivious to the true reasons Tiberius sent me to her, just happy to have company. None had ever been aware of the other's training and none ever fully understood why Tiberius allowed it. I knew why: it was all to prepare me for this day, but I didn't understand how he had been so sure it would come or why it would come. No one else even knew something like this would ever happen.

Would the militia still be there when the town woke up or would they be waking up to an unfortunate accident? Would the hunter, soldier, town troublemaker, and previous mayor's widow now start to question our time together now that we were gone? If the militia went looking for clues, would they spill everything or keep quiet?

I knew Tiberius better than anyone, but he had still had secrets from me. Like the truth of his work. What exactly he had done in his life before the cottage, before finding me, I knew so little of. All I knew for sure was that it was important. Important enough that one day, someone would come to bury it for good.

Whatever past haunted him; he was ashamed of. I had asked him many times, not wanting to believe this day would ever come. There had been times I doubted it, but he was always so sure about it. His fear is what made me sure of it. All the preparations, the warnings, the training.

Yet I had still almost frozen, almost blew it. Finding the militiamen at the door had been a rude awakening. Any doubt I had had had been gone, replaced by fear. I had wanted to believe it was just a coincidence, it hadn't meant anything, but Tiberius had given me the signal. So, I did what he had drilled into me.

I had gone into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Then I had gone back to my room, closing and locking the door behind me. I had dressed quickly and quietly, slinging a light jacket over my shoulders. Dressed, I had opened the truck, not bothering to be careful as I dug out the hidden pack, tossing the clothing, blankets, and other fabric materials to the ground. I hadn't bothered to put it back, going straight to the window. Once the kettle went off, it would only be a matter of minutes before one of the militiamen came to see why I wasn't coming only to find my door locked. If he knocked first, I would have a few extra seconds. If he went straight for kicking the door down, I would still have a few extra seconds, not as many as I would if he knocked, but every second counted. Once my door was open, mess or no, they would realize I had fled. It made no difference what state I left my room in, there would be no going back. I hadn't even bothered to close the window behind me, pausing only long enough to make sure the coast was clear. I'm not sure how far I made it before the kettle went off, but if it was anything like the dry runs, I would already have about a mile between the cottage and me. A mile that would be useless unless I reached the brook. The brook would only afford an advantage if I didn't stop. Distance and speed were my only safety. The closer and faster I got to Reto, the better my odds of reaching Sorchal. Only in Sorchal could I stop running and looking over my shoulder.

If I got extra lucky, I might find answers there too. There I might finally learn what Tiberius's life work had been. Find the missing pieces that would connect the little bits he had let slip over the years. Even if I didn't, I had to make sure it got there. He had given me a home, a life. Even if it had been so he would have someone to carry his secrets to Sorchal when the time came. He had still been kind to me, had still wanted the best for me. His past haunted him and having to put this burden on me had weighed heavily on him. He had never been harsh or cruel. I was the only person he had trusted in that town, the only person he cared about. His life's work, and just being so closely associated with him, had brought a death sentence on me, but he had given me the right to use it as a bargaining chip, to make sure I would be safe and cared for in Sorchal. Which only made me question what his work was even more. If it was that important and I didn't know what it was, couldn't I just as easily use it as a bargaining chip here in Xechrin?

No.

I shove the encroaching doubt down. Tiberius had never been wrong before. He had never given me any reason to doubt what he said. If he said I had to get it to Sorchal and Sorchal was the only place I'd be safe, I had to go to Sorchal.

Run and don't look back.

My life in Xechrin was over.

Xechrin has never done anything for you. There is no reason to feel any loyalty for it. You cannot betray something that you owe nothing to and certainly doesn't care for you.

The proof of the truth of his words was slowly falling away behind me. The past that haunted him had been the result of loyalty he had once felt for Xechrin. Xechrin had betrayed him. Xechrin had never done anything for me. I owed Xechrin nothing. I owed Tiberius everything.

I would get what remained of his life's work to Sorchal. Even if it's the last thing I ever do.