Vixen's Magic

by Aron Lewes

  Vixen's Magic

  The Fox and the Assassin, Volume 2

  Aron Lewes

  Published by Aron Lewes, 2021.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  VIXEN'S MAGIC

  First edition. April 12, 2021.

  Copyright © 2021 Aron Lewes.

  ISBN: 978-1393021971

  Written by Aron Lewes.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Author's Notes

  Vixen's Challenge - Chapter One

  Also By Aron Lewes

  Chapter One

  AXTON ALBRIGHT PINCHED his wife's arm and flung her into the carriage. She landed on her knees, flinching as her husband growled, “Sit down and be quiet! I'm tired of your protests.”

  “But I really don't want to go!” Mary cried. “I don't think it's necessary. Do you honestly think someone's out to kill you? It's ridiculous!”

  “Why wouldn't I?” her husband croaked, leaping into one of the seats. “I owe a lot of people a lot of money, and I don't have the coin for any of them. Would it be that surprising if one of them wanted me dead?”

  Mary had yet to rise from the carriage floor, so Axton grabbed a fistful of her dress and dragged her into the seat beside him. He heard the fabric rip, but it only made him laugh.

  “You drag your entire family from their home, at the crack of dawn, because of a single anonymous letter...” Mary slipped a sigh into her thought. “Who, apart from you, would go to such an extreme?”

  “First of all,” Axton held up a finger as he started his rebuttal, “I value my life. I don't want to risk an assassin's blade at my throat. Secondly, my entire family consists of you and a child who isn't mine.” He pointed at the blonde, pigtailed child sitting across from them. The girl was whispering to her rag doll, seemingly oblivious to the adults' conversation.

  “Milla is as good as yours,” Mary said. “She loves you.”

  “But she's not mine. How am I supposed to forget that? She looks everything like you and nothing like me.”

  “I wish you would think of her as yours,” Mary said. “Hasn't it been long enough?”

  “I didn't realize I was required to accept your previous husband's offspring as my own,” Axton said. “Also... didn't I tell you to be quiet?”

  Mary's head shook at her husband's crass response. She looked down at her arms, where red blotches had appeared on her flesh. He had squeezed her too hard, and it hurt, but she doubted he would care.

  “Should you treat me like this in front of Milla?” Mary asked. “Should you throw me into the carriage and order me around like a—”

  “Yes,” Axton interrupted before she could finish. “I think I'm setting a fine example for the girl. Your daughter must realize that man is king. Perhaps she, unlike you, will put her husband's needs before her own.”

  Mary's tongue tutted with disgust. She wanted to disagree, but it was pointless. Her husband's mind would never change.

  “Why isn't the carriage moving?” Axton stuck his walking stick through a window and banged on the side of the carriage. “Get moving, driver! I'm tired of sitting here!”

  Seconds later, the carriage lurched forward, and a satisfied smile spread across Axton's sallow face.

  “If you were actually worried about our lives, you should have hired a guard,” said Mary.

  “I'm worried about my life,” he corrected her. “And... with what money would I have hired a guard? I'm only in this situation because of the great debt I've accumulated.” Glancing out the window, he said, “Don't fret so much, Mary. When we change continents, everything will be fine.”

  “You are the one who's fretting,” she said. “You're taking us across the sea because of a vague warning in an unsigned letter. This is such nonsense, Axton! No one is out to kill you, and no one's going to—”

  Mary was silenced by the unmistakable twhack of an arrow striking the carriage.

  “What was that?” Axton cried, shifting in his seat. Hearing another twhack, he shouted again, more shrilly than before, “What was that?”

  His wife peeled back the curtain that covered one of the windows. Peeking outside, she reported. “There's a lady on horseback.”

  “A lady?” Axton's hand moved to the hilt of his sword, though he had no idea how to use it. It was more decoration than protection. It was a shallow pretense of strength. “Well... what does she look like?”

  “She's dressed in all black,” Mary said. “Black breeches, black vest, black coat. The coat has fancy stitching and some of the shiniest buttons I've ever seen.”

  “I don't care about her damn buttons!” Axton growled. “What does she look like? Her hair... face... are there any defining features?”

  “Her hair is purplish, and... I think I see a scar on her face,” Mary said. “There's a man with her.”

  “And what does he look like?”

  “Young, blonde. He's in a brown leather duster.”

  “Damn,” Axton hissed. “It's the assassins. The famous ones. I know they're after me. I know it!” A horrified squeak slipped from Axton's throat when a third arrow hit their vehicle, and a lady's voice demanded, “Driver, stop the carriage! I'd rather not kill you, but if you stand between us and our job, we might not have a choice.”

  Four horses whinnied in unison as the driver brought the carriage to an abrupt and immediate halt.

  “They're dismounting,” Mary reported to her husband. “And... they're coming. Ohhh, Axton... I don't like this!”

  Axton's fingers clenched around his sword's shiny hilt, but he had no time to draw his weapon. The lady assassin knocked open the carriage door, raised her bow, and admonishingly clicked her tongue.

  “Nuh uh uh. No weapons,” she said, pointing her arrow at Axton's sword hand. “This will be much less painful if you do as I say.”

  While her arrow was fixed on Axton, the male assassin reached into the carriage and claimed their target's sword.

  “I'm Vala. He's Wilhelm,” the lady introduced them. “Remember our names, and feel free to share them. Our jobs get better as our fame increases.”

  Vala's voice softened when four-year-old Milla started to cry. The little girl balled her fists, rubbed her eyes, and unleashed a shuddering wail.

  “Aww. Don't cry, girl,” Vala said. “We're not here to hurt you. We're not bad people, I swear.”

  “That's debatable,” Axton muttered. “I know you're here to kill me. My wife had her doubts, but I knew you were coming.”

  Wilhelm hopped into the carriage, sat next to Milla, and tried to distract her from her tears. “What's your name?” he asked.

  “Milla.”

  “What's her name?” He pointed at the rag doll in Milla's lap.

  Milla's nose was already clogged when she answered, “D-Dolly.”

  “That's cute. No name's more appropriate than that.” Wilhelm's gaze wandered back to Vala,
and he said, “I don't think we should kill the man in front of his daughter.”

  “You shouldn't!” Axton agreed. “Do you want to traumatize a child for life? Even assassins can't be completely heartless, can they?”

  When Mary spoke, her voice was ice cold. “Milla isn't your daughter.”

  “What an awful thing to say!” Axton inserted a whimper so dramatic, even the devil would pity him. “I'm the man who provides for her. I care for her, I love her. I am her father in all but—”

  “Love her?” Snide chuckles poured through Mary's lips. “A moment ago, before the assassins came, you were saying she was not your daughter.”

  “Are you trying to get me killed, Mary?” Axton asked. “I always knew you were a stupid bitch, but I didn't realize you were that stupid.”

  While both assassins had their attention on his sobbing step-daughter, Axton kicked open the carriage door and scrambled outside. He didn't get far. Two seconds into his sprint, Wilhelm tackled him, and Vala's arrow was back in his face.

  “Should I loose my arrow and get this over with?” Vala asked.

  “I don't know,” Wilhelm said. “Maybe we should drag him a bit further away? Even if that girl isn't his daughter, it seems wrong to kill a man in front of a small child.”

  “Really?” Vala raised a thick eyebrow. “I didn't think you'd care about something like that.”

  “Normally, I wouldn't, but...” Wilhelm shook his head. “Lately, I've been asking myself... what would Kylin want me to do?”

  “Good lord.” Vala groaned. “That girl has really gotten to you, hasn't she? She's turned you soft.”

  “I don't think so,” her brother protested. “If I'd gone completely soft, I would find a new occupation. I do think we should carry him away before we finish him off, though. I wouldn't want to be the cause of a little girl's nightmares.”

  Vala fired her arrow before her brother could sway her. “Oops. Too late,” she said. “Look, I landed a head shot. Not bad, eh?”

  Wilhelm had no praise for her—only a scowl. He shook his head and marched away to apologize to Axton's family.

  Chapter Two

  A WHOOP OF EXCITEMENT echoed as Vala and Wilhelm boarded the ship with their steeds. It came from Rai, who raced around in circles when he saw the majestic beasts. Kylin, who was standing behind him, shook her head at Rai's excessive zeal.

  “Horses!” Rai cried. “I didn't know you had horses!”

  Wilhelm stopped to let Rai pet his mare, while Vala headed below deck with her mount. The horse had to bow his head as he clopped down the stairs.

  “Of course. We often need the horses for missions,” Wilhelm said. “Actually, we have a small stable in the basement. There are horses, chickens... and two goats, if you can believe it.”

  “I want to see the goats!” Rai exclaimed. “Will you take me to see them? Please?”

  “Sure.” Wilhelm put a hand on Rai's shoulder and led him in the direction of the stairs. At the same time, he motioned for Kylin to follow. While the assassins were away, Kylin and her brother were trying to fish, but their net never hauled up anything better than seaweed.

  “I like goats. They're one of my favorite animals,” Rai said. “They have funny eyes... and have you ever seen one jumping around? It's hilarious.”

  “Tizzy and Laurel won't be doing much jumping, I'm afraid. They're quite old,” Wilhelm said. “I do have a young dog, though. His name's Giorgio. Ever since Kylin boarded the ship, he's lived in the stables with the rest of the animals. He's a natural born hunter, so I had to keep him away. I thought he might be tempted to chase a fox.”

  Rai chuckled at Wilhelm's reply. “Yeah... I've been chased by a few dogs before. It's not fun.”

  Kylin chimed in, “We weren't chased by dogs, Rai. Those were wolves. We lived in the forest. You can't find domesticated dogs in the forest.”

  “Really?” Rai cocked his head. “I didn't know those were wolves. That's scary.”

  Wilhelm studied Rai's clothes—though it might have been more accurate to call them “rags.” It had been six days since Rai was rescued from the slavers' hold, and since then, he had been wearing bedsheets around his small body.

  “You know,” Wilhelm spoke up, “I can buy you some clothes, if you'd like. You don't have to wrap yourself in blankets.”

  Rai's feet smacked against the floorboards as hard as they could. He seemed to enjoy the clack of his sandals against the wood. “I can't,” he said. “If you bought me trousers, I wouldn't know what to do with my tail.”

  Tail. The word echoed in Wilhelm's head. Kylin must have been hiding a tail beneath her dresses. It was something he never considered. “What do males of your species typically wear?” Wilhelm asked.

  Rai replied, “Robes. Big robes. Woolly robes. I kind of miss them. They were really comfortable.”

  “You could always wear one of Kylin's dresses,” Wilhelm teased. “I'm sure they would look lovely on you.”

  Rai took him too seriously. His nose wrinkled, and he whined, “That would be weird. Dresses are for girls. Robes are for boys.”

  “Personally, I think everyone should be allowed to wear whatever they want,” Wilhelm argued. “I've been to a few houses of ill repute, and there's usually a boy dressed up as a girl in there. While such companions are hardly my personal preference, I think they're—”

  “What's a house of ill repute?” Rai asked.

  Kylin wrapped an arm around Rai and quickly changed the subject. “Rai... humans have robes too, you know. If you ask nicely, maybe Wilhelm would be willing to buy one for you?”

  When Rai spoke again, his voice was sickly sweet. “Will you please buy me a robe, Mr. Stroud? I really, reaaaaally would like to have one!”

  “Of course,” Wilhelm said, ruffling the boy's hair. “I don't know what our next job is, or where it will take us, but if we're anywhere near a town, we can stop for a shop.”

  Kylin's smile was erased when Wilhelm mentioned his “jobs.” While she would never approve of her Chosen's line of work, she was trying to accept it.

  Wilhelm led his horse to the stable and guided her into one of the stalls. Giorgio immediately pounced on Rai, who accepted the mutt's affection with open arms and giggles. A pair of doddering, bleating goats greeted him too, but they lost interest much faster than Giorgio.

  Kylin followed Wilhelm into his horse's stall and said, “I didn't know you had a dog.”

  “Like I said, I kept him away for your protection.” Wilhelm grabbed a tortoiseshell brush and gently worked a tangle from his mare's black mane. “Giorgio's part hound... the kind that tracks and hunts foxes. Letting him roam free could have been a disaster.”

  “He seems to like Rai, though,” Kylin noted. Her brother was on his back, enduring countless licks from the dog's relentless tongue. “As long as we stay in this form, I'm sure we have nothing to fear from Giorgio.”

  Kylin's smile returned as she watched her brother play with the mutt. Rai found a ball on the floor and used it for a game of fetch. The ball was covered in teeth marks, but it still had a bit of bounce in it.

  “This is the happiest I've seen him in days,” Kylin said. “I think he's been bored. Rai needs stimulation, and with no other children around...”

  “Actually, I was afraid of that,” Wilhelm said. “A boy his age needs school. He needs friends. He's not going to get that on the ship.”

  “Still, I can't imagine leaving you. Ever,” Kylin said.

  Wilhelm stopped grooming the horse when Kylin laid a hand on his arm. The light touch was enough to make him freeze. Quietly, he confessed, “I wouldn't want you to leave.”

  “That settles it. I must stay,” Kylin decided. “I can tutor Rai, and I'll try to find time to play with him. Besides, he has Giorgio now.” She pointed at the dog, who scampered back and forth in pursuit of Rai's ragged ball.

  Wilhelm whispered to Kylin, “I want to kiss you. I've wanted to kiss you for the last six days. You really won't make an exce
ption for your Chosen?”

  “No!” Kylin laughed and slapped his arm. “I can't. As much as I enjoyed kissing you, I really must wait until we're married.”

  Wilhelm grumbled curses, too quiet for Kylin to hear. “But... you know how I feel about marriage,” he said. “It's not for me. What if you never tie me down, and that one kiss is all we ever get?”

  “Tie you down?” Kylin shrilled. “What a terrible way to think of marriage!”

  Wilhelm stroked her cheek with his thumb, deflecting her aggravation with affection. He had a tendency to say the wrong thing, and a light caress was the quickest way to win her forgiveness. “I think you're adorable,” he whispered.

  “You... do?”

  “Of course. And if anyone can get me to open up to the idea of marriage, I'm sure it's you.”

  “That... is slightly reassuring,” Kylin murmured. “You know, I'm not trying to bully you into marrying me. It's just that... my people have very strict rules when it comes to affection. Kisses and intimate touches are meant for our spouses and no one else.”

  “I know. And it's killing me,” Wilhelm said. “Every time I look at those pouty little lips of yours, it's torture.”

  “I can't say I'm not tempted as well,” Kylin admitted. “I... want to try one of the open mouth kisses that humans sometimes do.”

  Color poured into Kylin's cheeks when she confessed her secret desire. She turned away, hiding her blush from Wilhelm.

  Rai stood up and plucked a piece of straw from the bedsheet he wore. Snorting, he asked, “Are you two talking lovey talk again?” When his sister confirmed it with a nod, he whined, “Ewww.”

  “One day, when you've found your own Chosen, you'll understand,” Kylin said. “And if you're lucky, she'll be more amenable to the idea of marriage than... a certain someone.”

  Chapter Three

  “I DON'T SEE WHY YOU don't just marry the girl.” Vala shared her opinion between bites of tender beef, prepared by their Silenced chef. “You're obviously smitten with her.”