by Aron Lewes
“Also,” Emi continued, “The Elder would like to speak to you. I don't know why.”
The Elder would have to wait, because Kylin was in charge of the children's daily activities, and their current recess was far from over. Kitsune children split their time evenly between lessons and play. Kylin wasn't in charge of their studies, but she was in charge of their recreation, and she hated to abandon the task.
The children quickly grew tired of their kites, so Kylin suggested a game of tag. Five minutes into the game, she had to break up a fight between Rai and another boy, who had accused her little brother of using wind magic to knock him off his feet. The boy was probably right, but instead of scolding her brother, Kylin made them resolve their dispute with apologies and a promise to play nice.
She had other activities planned—painting and herb picking—but Emi reminded her of The Elder's request and insisted it was urgent. She left the children in their teacher's hands and returned to the caravan. The kitsune were nomads in canvas-covered wagons, always moving from place to place. Humans were constantly on the hunt for them, so they never stayed in one part of the forest for more than a few days.
Before visiting The Elder, Kylin removed her muddy slippers and swept her long, black hair into a bun. It was impolite to enter The Elder's wagon with one's hair down, and shoes were not allowed.
Kylin felt an instant sting in her eyes when she climbed into the wagon. The herb in The Elder's pipe had soured the air. He was wearing a mask, so she whispered, “Elder?” to get his attention. His given name was Kogorsh, but no one was allowed to speak it.
“Kylin.” He identified her by her voice, removed his mask and doused his pipe. “There was a matter I wished to discuss with you, but it will have to wait for another time. We must pack up and move the caravan soon. There are humans in the area.”
“They're found us already?” Kylin asked. “But we've only been here for a day!”
“It doesn't matter. The spirits tell me they're on their way,” Kogorsh said. “I need two favors from you. First, assemble the children. They'll be a target when the humans come, so make sure they're well-guarded.”
“When the humans come...” Kylin whispered The Elder's words. “You sound so certain. Are they definitely going to find us this time?”
“An attack is not only imminent, it is inevitable.” He stroked his beard, which was more black than gray, despite his advanced age. “I'm going to ask you to summon a storm. The rain should be as torrential as you can make it. That might slow their horses.”
“Won't that slow our horses too?”
“Yes, which is why you should send the rain further to the east. We're heading west,” The Elder explained. “Try to remain calm when you speak to the children. They don't need to know the urgency of this threat.”
Kylin was already overwhelmed, but she asked anyway, “Is there anything else you need from me?”
“I can offer a reminder,” Kogorsh said. “When the humans come, don't speak to them. Don't make eye contact with them. They only wish you harm. I give you this advice because I know you were once enamored by their kind.”
As a child, Kylin used to hide in fox form and explore human cities. Her parents and The Elder always scolded her for such behavior, but it had been years since she ventured anywhere close to human civilization. She no longer needed his advice, but she accepted it with a graciously uttered, “I understand.”
“Go to the children, then. Do as I say,” The Elder commanded. “Most of the adults should already be preparing for travel. When you're finished with the children, don't forget to—”
There was a sudden whistle, followed by a sickening thwack, and a bloody arrowhead popped out of The Elder's forehead. A scream was stuck in Kylin's throat as she watched him slump over, his eyes lifeless.
The Elder was dead. She barely had time to process the horrific turn of events before a bow-wielding human jumped into The Elder's wagon. Kylin barely caught a glimpse of him as she scrambled outside. He tried to dive for her, to grab her waist, but his fingers only grazed the soft material of her dress.
“Everyone!” Kylin screamed. “Everyone, we're under attack!”
It was too late for a warning. More arrows, most of them blazing, sizzled through the sky. Half of the caravan was set aflame by a single volley. The spreading fire forced the kitsune from their homes and into the shackles of slavers.
Kylin's first instinct was to find her brother. The entire clan was like family to her, but Rai was her only blood relative. Six years ago, she lost everyone—her mother, her father, and a baby sister. The humans had taken everything from her, and she refused to lose the only person she had left.
“Rai! Rai!” She screamed his name until her throat hurt, but no matter how much she yelled, she could barely hear herself over the growing commotion. She wasn't the only one shouting a loved one's name. There was a cacophony of pleas, cries and bellowed pain.
Kylin's ears pricked as they honed in on a single voice. “Kill the old ones, but keep the young ones alive. The pretty ones fetch the highest prices.”
Ignoring the shiver on her spine, Kylin vaulted over a stack of crates and raced back to the forest where she left the children. She found their teacher first—facedown in a ditch with an arrow in her head.
Kylin was breathless when she reached the children's grove. Spending the last wind within her, she screamed, “Rai!” She spun around, searching for any sign of her brother or the humans in pursuit of her. She saw tracks in the mud, stamped by human boots.
Horror simmered in her stomach as she studied the boot's ominous outline. “Oh no...” she whispered. “No, no, no...”
Kylin's fist popped up in defense when she heard the unmistakable crackle of foliage under feet. It was a mindless reflex, because Kylin was no fighter. If she had time to prepare, she could have summoned a storm, but the clouds needed time to move in her favor.
A fox popped out of the trunk of a hollow tree, making her jolt. Relief temporarily replaced her fear when she saw the fox's familiar ringed tail.
“Rai!” She gasped.
Her brother shifted out of fox form and ran into Kylin's open arms. He crashed into her, clapped his arms around her, and let out an uncommon sob. She couldn't remember the last time her brother ever cried or hugged her, but it was a welcome change.
“They took the others!” Rai reported through sniffles. “They hit them with some kind of paralyzing dart and carried them away. Emi, Yuri, Isha... they're all gone. The darts missed me, so... I hid. I should have done something to help them!”
“You shouldn't be ashamed of hiding,” Kylin said. “We can't do anything to help the others if we're captured too. Anyway, we need to get out of the area. If we stand around in the open too long, they're going to find us. Let's—”
A dart hit Kylin's leg before she finished. As she toppled into a bed of crushed leaves, the last thing she heard was her brother's scream.
Chapter Four
KYLIN WOKE TO A POUNDING head and a thundering heart. Rai and Emi were beside her, and they were inside a moving vehicle. It wasn't so different from her people's covered wagons, though it swayed a lot more. The constant motion unsettled her stomach.
Her brother's eyes were closed, so she gave him a nudge.
“Rai,” she whispered. “Rai, are you awake? Please be okay.”
A voice, deep and male, replied, “It'll take the wee ones a bit longer to recover from the sedative, but they should be up and about in a few more minutes.”
Reluctantly, she forced herself to meet the speaker's gaze. He was a middle-aged human, half-bald and grinning. His legs were as far apart as he could get them, and he cradled a sword in his lap. Everyone always told her not to look directly at a human, so her eyes left his face and dropped to the floor.
The man said, “It's good to see you awake, sweetheart. Now I have someone to talk to. My name's Taka. Well... it's actually Takemikazuchi Nowakowski, but I know that's an ugly mouthful, so
my men just call me Taka.”
Don't speak to humans. Don't look at humans. Those rules were burned into her mind, and she had no good reason to break them.
“You're a lucky little lady, getting to ride with the boss,” Taka said. “That's me, by the way. I'm the boss.”
Tears welled up in Kylin's eyes as she listened to him. If she was alone, she wouldn't have been half as worried, but she had Rai to look after. Years ago, she held the hand of her dying mother and promised to take care of her little brother. How could she forgive herself if she failed to uphold that deathbed promise?
“You kitsune don't like to talk, do you?” Taka asked. “That's okay. You're pretty to look at, so I'm sure your buyer won't mind if you're the quiet type. Hell, a quiet woman can be a blessing. I'd give my right nut if I didn't have to hear my wife chatter no more. She's always talkin', and she's always got an opinion about something.”
Kylin gave Rai another nudge, but he didn't move. She brought her head to his chest and listened for a heartbeat.
“Don't worry. The boy's still alive, I promise.” Taka took out a bag of nuts, and with his bare hands, he cracked open two shells and extracted their contents. “Are you hungry? I'd be happy to share some with you.”
Kylin didn't respond.
Cracking open another shell, Taka said, “Open wide!” He didn't wait for her to react—he pitched the nut at her face. It hit her cheek, just below the eye.
“Sorry about that, sweetheart.” Taka's snide chuckles stripped his apology of any sincerity. “Here, you can have these.” He shook a few nuts into his filthy hand and sprinkled them on her lap.
Kylin ignored the nuts. She didn't want to eat anything that had been touched by human hands.
Taka continued their one-sided conversation, undeterred by her silence. “You don't want the nuts? Maybe they're not a part of your diet, eh? You're a fox-girl, after all. I've got no idea what you eat.”
Her people ate everything from fruits to nuts to meat—whatever they could forage in the forest. She could have told him that, but she was afraid to interact with humans. Even if she wasn't, her captor didn't deserve a reply.
“I don't understand the appeal, honestly,” Taka blurted. “Why would anyone want a girl who was part-fox? Don't get me wrong, you're lovely and all, but your ears give me the shivers.”
Tall, pointy, and tipped with red fur, her ears made her stand out from a human.
“Do you have a tail? I've heard that some of you have tails, but I've never seen one before. How about you lift up your dress and give Taka a glimpse?”
Kylin's entire body went rigid at his request. He wasn't serious, was he? She glanced around the carriage, desperate for a way out.
“You look confused, so let me make it clear for you.” Taka rotated his sword until it was pointing at her. “I wasn't asking, I was telling. Lift up your dress and let me have a look.”
Kylin shook her head and snapped her legs together.
“Oh, you do understand me? You haven't said a word, so I was starting to think you could only yip or bark or something.” Taka rose, moving closer to Kylin's side of the carriage. In the wobbling vehicle, it took him a moment to find his footing. “Lift up your dress, or I'll make you do it.”
Kylin wrapped her arms around her legs, resisting his request.
“Lift up your dress!” Taka roared. “I won't look at your little bum. I promise! I only want to see the tail.”
Before Taka could touch her, Rai woke up from his slumber and kicked their kidnapper with both of his feet. The blow was strong enough to knock Taka into the seat across from them.
“You little shit!” Taka growled. “I'll have to hurt you for that.”
The flat of Taka's hand connected with Rai's cheek, stamping five red fingers on his flesh.
“Maybe I'll cut off one of your ears,” their captor mused, raising his sword. “It might effect your value, but I captured enough of you to make up for the loss.”
When Taka pinched one of Rai's ears, Kylin panicked, and her brother's whimpers boosted her magic. She summoned an instant cyclone and sent it slamming into the carriage. The vehicle toppled over, as did its passengers. They slid down a hill, into a mucky ravine.
If she was injured in the crash, Kylin was too scared to notice. She kicked open the carriage door and climbed out of the overturned vehicle, pulling her brother out with her. He looked unscathed, but she asked anyway, “Are you alright?”
“Uh huh.”
She didn't have time to check him for bruises. She grabbed her brother's hand and dashed away from Taka's carriage.
Glancing behind them, Rai asked, “What about Emi?”
“I'm sorry, Rai. We have to leave her behind.” Kylin winced at her answer, but it was the only answer that made sense. Protecting her little brother was more important than anything in the world. “We should find a place to hide.”
Taka was already out of the crashed carriage and whistling to his men. Without a head start, hiding was no longer possible. Kylin tried to weave between trees, to put them out of the slavers' line of sight, but there were three men after them, and they ran faster than Rai ever could.
Kylin stopped running and said, “We need to shift!” In fox form, she thought they would be harder to catch and follow. “Rai... do it!”
“I can't!” Rai cried.
“Why not?”
“I'm too scared! I can't do anything when I'm scared. I'm sorry, Kylin! I—” Before he could finish, a crossbow bolt plunged into his shin. “Ow!”
Kylin's eyes bulged when she saw the bolt sticking out of her little brother's flesh. “Can you still run?” she asked. Rai shook his head, so she lifted him onto her back and continued at a reduced speed.
Taka and his men quickly caught up to them. One of them pulled Rai from her back and roughly dragged him away. The flailing little boy threw punches whenever he could, but the man who carried him was much larger and stronger than he was. “I'm sorry, Ky!” Rai screamed. “It's my fault! I'm so sorry!”
Kylin was tackled by Taka himself. On his knees, he pinned her to the forest floor and unbuckled his belt. Her throat made an involuntary whimper when she saw the strip of leather sliding through belt loops.
“What a stupid little girl you are,” Taka said. “I was trying to be gentle with my stock, but I can't be gentle if you're playing rough.”
Kylin freed a hand and sent it sailing at Taka's face. Her fingernails swiped across his cheek, marking his flesh.
“Now you're really testing me!” Taka roared. He grabbed her wrist and forced it back to the ground. With his other hand, he smacked her cheek with his belt. She barely had time to gasp before he rolled her on her stomach and forced her arms behind her. “I didn't want to hurt you, girl. I swear. I didn't. But I get a little less nice when my merchandise makes things hard on me.”
Kylin felt his belt wrapping around her wrists. He tied them together so tightly, the hard leather chewed into her flesh.
“I have to admit, though, that was an entertaining trick you tried to pull,” Taka said. “That was a nice little tornado you whipped up. And that's another reason why I wouldn't want a kitsune for a pet. Thinking about magic gives me the shits and the shivers.”
Taka rubbed the entire length of her tail, hidden under her dress. Kylin grunted when his hand brushed her bottom.
“Well, I guess I'll carry you back to the carriage now.” Taka said as he started to lift her up. “You're heavier than you look. You know that? I can't even pick you up. Maybe I've gotten weak in my old—”
An arrow came from nowhere and landed in Taka's eye. A second arrow followed, striking him in the throat. He tried to speak, but the only sound he made was a haunting, raspy wail.
Kylin, still on her stomach, couldn't see where the arrow came from until a man rolled her onto her back. He was tall and handsome, with windblown blonde hair and a bow in his hand. He freed her wrists and pressed a finger to his lips, encouraging her to keep silent.
Kylin gasped at the sight of him—not only because he was handsome, but because he was The One.
She knew it when she felt it. Deep in her heart, she felt the warm, fluttering, pleasant feeling that all kitsune felt when they found their Chosen.
It was an inconvenient time to feel The Resonance, but there was no mistaking it.
Chapter Five
KYLIN DIDN'T WANT TO believe she could Resonate with a human, but it wasn't unheard of. She heard a few stories about kitsune who were paired with human mates, but she never thought she would be among them.
The men who accompanied Taka were long gone—they returned to the carriage with Rai. However, two more men, tall and lumbering, were investigating the absence of their boss. Before she was spotted, Kylin's Chosen pulled her behind an oak and clapped a hand over her mouth.
There was a woman with Kylin's Chosen. She was heavily scarred with brightly colored hair, and she hid behind a different tree as Taka's men scoured the area. They found Taka's corpse, checked it for a pulse, and murmured a few words about the “little bitch” who had taken him down. They stayed in the area awhile longer, searching for their boss' murderer. Kylin's Chosen sidled along the tree's edge, dragging Kylin with him, keeping them out of the slavers' view.
She needed to get back to her brother, but to show herself would be suicide. She decided to put her faith in the man at her side—he was, after all, supposed to be her soul mate.
Taka's men retreated and returned to their carriages. When they were out of sight, her Chosen let go of her.
“Vala,” he spoke to the other woman. “That was a little too easy, wasn't it?”
“Way too easy,” she agreed. “Are you sure it's safe to come out of hiding? What if a few of those bastards decide to come back for Taka's corpse?” Vala pointed at the wide-eyed, lifeless body on the ground.
“Then we hide again... or take them down. It shouldn't be that hard.” Turning to Kylin, he asked, “What should we do with the girl?”