The Fox of Richmond Park

by Kate Dreyer

  ‘Alright, alright, enough of your jabbering, badger. But if I find out you’ve lied to me, I’ll make sure you get more than sore ears, do you understand?’

  ‘Sid thinks the moon-faced bird is rude. Goodbye to you.’ Without another word, Sid faded away into the dark sett.

  Kara still had a few hours before sunrise. If the badger was telling the truth and Vince was heading back, she had to get to him before he reached the park. Who knew whether Edward would hold up his end of the bargain if the fox turned up unharmed. But if the badger was lying, she’d find out quickly. There weren’t that many routes, and there were other animals she could extract information from. She flapped into the air and turned south, gliding back over the trees she’d passed before, her eyes scanning the ground for red fur or black-and-white wings.

  *

  Something slapped onto the wood behind Vince, droplets dashing his rear. He dragged one eye open. The sky was painted with a wash of purples and pinks, the sun peeking over the horizon. Turning to identify the noise, he found a fish thrashing on the edge of the platform. Vince jumped up, reached out a paw and slammed the writhing creature firmly against the wood. On the water’s surface, a trail of bubbles erupted, a dark shape underneath zipping towards the shore, its long tail swaying back and forth.

  Strange…

  On the other side of the platform, the geese police were asleep, their long necks doubled back to face their tails, black heads resting between their wide, grey wings as they bobbed on the water.

  ‘Rita…’ Vince whispered. ‘Rita?’

  She was gone.

  He looked towards the bank, then squinted at the sky. No sign. He pulled the fish towards him and took a bite. It was the best thing he’d tasted in a long time, despite the situation.

  ‘What’s that? Heeeooonk!’ Roger extended his periscope neck and glared at Vince, who had his back to him on edge of the platform. ‘What are you doing, fox?’

  ‘I was just stretching my legs and slipped. This thing’s wobbly, you know.’

  ‘Hmmm… well, just as long as you weren’t thinking of trying to escape. You wouldn’t be the first, let me tell you, but never in the history of the wetlands have we had an escaped convict, no sir.’

  ‘Do you memorise those lines?’ Vince said. ‘Like, do you all stand in a line and recite them?’

  ‘I… I don’t know what you mean.’ The goose puffed his chest.

  Frank chipped in, ‘Hey! Just stay still and be quiet, or we’ll—’

  ‘What? What will you do? Bring those Screamer birds over here to have another go at me? Pah!’ Vince snorted, acutely aware that his temper was flaring but ignoring it. His ego had taken a battering the previous night and he needed a pick-me-up. And it just so happened that he had a couple of geese on hand to taunt.

  ‘They’d enjoy that, I’m sure, eh, Frank? Heeeeonk! Best security guards we got here. They’d attack a tree if we told them it was after their eggs! HEEEOOONK!’ Roger tipped his head back and flapped his wings, hooting with laughter at his apparently hilarious joke.

  ‘Keep it down, Roger. We’re on duty,’ Frank said.

  ‘Oh, shut up. Oswald can’t hear us out here.’

  ‘No, but he’s trusted us to watch the fox, so you should take it seriously.’

  Roger rolled his eyes. ‘I do take it seriously, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make a joke, does it? It’s not like there’s any other fun to have around here.’

  ‘You sound like a gosling. Just do your job and be quiet,’ Frank said.

  ‘Oh dear, do I sense some unhappiness in the ranks?’ Vince asked.

  ‘I won’t tell you again, fox.’ Frank flapped his wings and kicked his feet, sending a wave towards the platform. Vince dug his claws into the wood as it undulated wildly underneath him.

  ‘Whoa! Okay, okay! I’m shutting up. Please, carry on with your pointless posturing.’ Vince waited for the platform to settle and curled up on the wood.

  Idiot birds.

  Birds…

  Rita.

  Vince looked over his shoulder towards the distant trees back on land. Maybe Rita was hiding, watching the water birds, waiting for them to show some kind of vulnerability. Or maybe she had ignored his pleas and flown back to Richmond Park. If Sophie came…

  Sophie won’t come. Don’t be stupid, Vince.

  All he could do was wait, but that was easier said than done; Rita was gone and he didn’t know where, or if she was coming back. His stomach still burned with hunger and the bloody cuts strewn across his skin throbbed with his heartbeat. Plus, he had to get through a whole day of trying to sleep in the uncomfortable sun. If forced to swim for his life later, he wondered if he would be able to summon the energy to make it back to land, let alone escape the wetlands completely.

  *

  It was almost impossible to sleep through the day. The sun was too bright and warm, beating down on Vince’s unwalled prison from high in the robins’-egg sky, and the geese honked loudly to one another intermittently in what he was sure was a deliberate attempt to keep him awake. Humans arrived too; the playful shouts of the younger ones were high-pitched and carried across the lake. Earlier on he’d barked to signal their attention, but he was too far out to be seen, and the geese threatened to hold his head under the water if he tried it again.

  He must have dozed off at some point, though, because he woke to an orange sky and cool air around him. The platform rocked lazily as he rose to his paws and gathered his bearings. He was ravenous, aching inside and out. The unknown animal’s gift of a fish had briefly calmed him, but Rita’s absence kept his anxiety gently simmering.

  ‘I see your friend’s disappeared,’ Frank said, flapping his wings before briefly dipping his head under the water. Droplets cascaded down his long black neck and plopped back into the lake. ‘Just as well. Not much point in an outsider bird waiting around here, if you ask me.’

  ‘Well, no one did,’ Vince said, his heart sinking as Rita’s absence hit him once more. ‘How long do I have to wait for this vote, then?’

  ‘Just sit still and shut up.’

  ‘At least tell me how it works. Will I have a chance to defend myself?’

  ‘You’ll find out soon enough – here’s the security team now,’ the goose said as Oswald and the other swan from the night before glided across the water towards them. Following behind in a perfect arrow formation were seven more swans and geese, wings arched over their backs, heads held high, eyes locked on to Vince. As they arrived, the newer birds waited while the two swans exchanged pleasantries with Roger and Frank, intermittently dipping their heads under the cool water to refresh themselves. On the bank, an enormous crowd of birds gathered, their hubbub of calls a faint hum from out on the lake.

  ‘It’s nearly time, fox,’ Oswald said.

  ‘My name is Vince,’ he replied, standing.

  ‘It doesn’t matter. Come on, team.’ Four of the newer birds circled the platform, lined up along the back edge and pushed it towards the bank. It tilted, the front almost rising out of the water, causing Vince to stumble.

  The journey took a minute or two, and the chattering from the bank grew louder as they approached. The whole of the wetlands had arrived to watch, it seemed. Vince crouched low, ears flat.

  The birds stopped pushing and the platform slowed to a halt, still some way from the bank. The bottom of the lake remained indistinguishable, but now he could swim the distance, if he had to. As they saw him arrive, the birds on the bank began to surge forward into the water; swans, geese, ducks, coots and grebes of all species and sizes, along with the infamous Screamers, Felipe and Gabriela. They filled the pond, leaving a strip of open water a couple of leaps wide between themselves and Vince. The platform rocked wildly as the birds stirred up the water with their paddle-like feet. Dark excitement buzzed through the air.

  On the bank, all the resident non-water birds remained. Among them, a crowd of squirrels, rabbits, mice, rats and four otters, two large and two small
. Vince’s eyes rested on the otters for a few blinks, as he tried to make out their expressions. It had to be one of them who’d brought him the fish, but why? Their faces, so far away, gave him no clue.

  He searched the crowd for Rita, knowing full well she wouldn’t be among the residents. He was right. Hundreds of small birds chirped and whistled from the bank – blackbirds, starlings, tits, finches, sparrows – but not a single magpie among them. A tiny part of him still hoped she had gone back to fetch Sophie. Any of his friends. Even Jake. But he doubted Mother Nature was in a wish-granting mood.

  Six of Oswald’s team fanned out, circling the platform, while the head swan himself paddled to the front and faced the crowd. A hush fell over the wetlands like a heavy blanket of snow.

  ‘Good evening. You all know why we’re here. Last night, this mammal was found trespassing and in direct breach of the laws of the wetlands. As leader of the elected security team, I ask you to listen to the evidence provided by the witnesses and the mammal himself, then make a decision regarding his guilt. Following this, a punishment will be decided by the panel of representatives of the wetlands, chosen by the security team earlier today.’ He gestured to a small group of birds to his right who had separated themselves from the others. Three ducks, a goose, two grebes, a swan and a cormorant.

  Row upon row of small feathered heads nodded enthusiastically, a low babble rising from the carpet of feathers undulating on the water. At the back, Vince could just about make out the otters, sitting on their haunches, stretching their long bodies to see over the throng. Some of the squirrels had left the group and climbed a tree to get a better view. Rabbits hopped on the spot or piggy-backed one another.

  They all want me dead.

  ‘Right! Let’s get started!’ Oswald shouted. ‘Our first witness is Gabriela. Please swim forward, Gaby.’

  She did as instructed, the rest of the water birds parting to create a path for her.

  ‘Gabriela, please tell everyone what happened last night.’ Oswald smiled at the crowd.

  ‘Eet was the middle of ze night – very dark – and I heard a noise. Eet was a bird squawking, but I didn’t recognise eet. Then I heard another voice. Eet was zis mammal here.’ She twisted her neck and pointed her beak at Vince.

  A chorus of boos rose from the birds at the very front, some flapping their huge wings and hissing menacingly. Vince balanced on his hind legs and peered over their long necks. The otters were looking at each other, shaking their heads solemnly. Frowning, Vince sat back down.

  ‘Ee was trying to steal my eggs!’ Gabriela continued. ‘Heem and zat magpie! They just walked right een!’

  The boos grew louder.

  ‘Calm down, everyone, calm down,’ Oswald said. ‘Please continue, Gaby.’

  ‘I was so scared! I thought ze fox would try to keel me after eating my eggs. Ee was barking at me, and ze magpie was scratching me with her talons. I… I paneeked. I pecked heem, and I hurt heem, but I was so scared! I deedn’t mean to!’

  ‘Are you saying you lashed out at the fox in self-defence?’ Oswald said calmly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

  ‘Yes. I’m very sorry. I know I should have let ze security team deal weeth eet, I just…’ Gabriela began to sob.

  ‘It’s okay, Gaby. No one’s blaming you. Anyone would have done the same in your situation.’

  A murmur of agreement emanated from the water birds.

  ‘What in Mother’s Name…?’ Vince said to himself.

  Oswald continued. ‘And Felipe came to your aid, is that correct?’ he asked, reaching a comforting wing around Gabriela.

  ‘Yes,’ she sniffed.

  Oswald called Felipe to the front and he obliged, settling next to his mate and offering yet more sympathy for her fictional hardship. Oswald asked Felipe to tell the crowd what he saw.

  ‘Eet was dark and I was sleeping, but I heard Gaby scream and woke up straight away. I rushed to where I heard ze noise and found ze fox barking at her, threatening to keel her, and ze magpie was attacking her face.’

  Vince jumped to his feet. ‘That’s not true! They’re lying!’

  The lakeside roared with noise. Feathers flew in all directions as the birds flapped in outrage.

  ‘How dare he!’

  ‘Disgusting behaviour!’

  ‘Expect nothing less from a mammal.’

  The platform lurched as the commotion sent waves swelling towards it. Vince dug his claws into the wood. Despite everything, he kept shouting: ‘I don’t even like eggs! I just wanted some frogs! I’m sorry for trespassing, I really am, but I would never hurt anyone, I promise you. Neither would Rita.’

  Oswald calmed the crowd and glared at Vince. ‘Well, I think we’ve heard enough. The fox clearly has no respect for our way of life. Shall we move on to the vote?’

  ‘What?’ Vince yelled. ‘What about the other witnesses? The otters? They were there! They saw those birds attack me. Rita was protecting me! She barely touched them!’

  A collective gasp seemed to freeze the air. The birds looked around as Vince scanned the bank desperately for the otters, but they were gone.

  ‘Ahem. Let me get this straight.’ Oswald looked at Vince. ‘Are you – an outsider and a fox –’ he spat out the words like mouldy bread crusts, then turned back to the crowd ‘– accusing Gabriela and Felipe – two upstanding members of this community – of a crime against yourself?’

  The birds erupted into boos once more.

  ‘Er… I…’ Vince floundered. Hundreds of accusatory faces glared at him from the water, their jeers jostling his thoughts.

  ‘We will not tolerate this insolence from a mammal. And I don’t know why you’re expecting the otters to help. They have no part in this process. They’re here to watch, that’s all.’

  ‘I… I don’t understand…’ Vince said.

  Oswald shook his head sternly. ‘There is a hierarchy. Water birds, land birds, mammals. Any respectable animal would know this.’

  ‘What? That’s ridiculous! And how could I possibly know that?’ Vince said. ‘Is that why you’re taking Gabriela and Felipe’s words as truth? Because they’re water birds? I don’t even get to defend myself?’

  ‘Ridiculous, is it? Maybe out there –’ Oswald pointed a wing towards the outer fence ‘– you creatures run wild, doing whatever you please. In here, we have a system. A system that has worked for countless seasons.’

  ‘And what do the mammals think of this system?’

  ‘The mammals here are safe and looked after by the humans, just as previous generations were. That’s the way it’s always been.’

  ‘At what cost? Silence? Cowering in the corner while you order them around? How are they any better off than me?’

  ‘Let me remind you that you are the one on trial here, fox. All residents here are free to do as they wish, within the rules set out by those who first dwelled here, our ancestors, who believed – quite rightly – that no animal should pass in or out of these fences, especially your kind. And you would have had a chance to say your piece, if you’d remained quiet and waited your turn. Now, I fear, a vote would be a waste of time. You have proven yourself to be disrespectful and a menace to our community. The panel shall commence with deciding your punishment.’

  ‘That’s not fair! I demand to give my evidence!’

  ‘That’s not for you to decide,’ the swan said. ‘Now be quiet or—’

  ‘I left my home because of a bully like you,’ Vince interrupted. ‘But at least where I’m from the rules applied to everyone. Mammals and birds. We were all in it together.’ Vince couldn’t believe he was defending Edward, but he persisted. ‘I made a mistake. I broke your rules and I’m sorry, and I respect your right to punish me however you want, but shouldn’t I get the same trial that any bird would? Shouldn’t I get to tell my side of the story?’

  Oswald’s face was pure fury, but Vince carried on. ‘I get it. You want to show me – all mammals – how powerful you are. That we can’t mess
with you. Trust me, I get it. But the fact is, I did nothing to their eggs and they attacked me!’ He pointed to the Screamers. ‘And you’d rather believe their lies than my truth, because they’re water birds and I’m not. That doesn’t make you powerful. It makes you wrong. And it makes you worse than any mammal I’ve ever met.’

  The lake was silent. Birds stared up at Vince from the water, shaking their heads, or looked to Oswald for a response. Oswald waited a few blinks, then began. ‘Typical mammal, trying to turn everything round on us. Whether you are guilty or not, you’ve now disrupted this whole affair. You could have let Felipe speak, said your piece and let the residents vote based on all the evidence, as is customary. You speak of power, as if it is not you mammals who have it, who crave it, who have always craved it. You think you own the ground you walk on just because you have sharp teeth and long claws. Well, they mean nothing here. This is a democracy, and now the panel will decide your punishment. As you are clearly in favour of fairness, surely you will not dispute their right to choose the most appropriate death for you?’

  ‘You’ve already decided that I’m guilty! What about the residents’ vote? The otters’ evidence? You won’t even give your own community a choice! All we’ve heard is lies from those birds!’

  ‘Again, we hear your accusations against the witnesses! This anarchy will not stand!’

  ‘This is rat scat!’ Vince barked over the heads of the birds bobbing in the waves. ‘Rabbits, squirrels! Aren’t you sick of this?’

  ‘SILENCE!’ Oswald honked, flapping violently. The other water birds did the same.

  ‘Blackbirds! Sparrows! Where are your representatives on the panel? Aren’t you part of this community too? Or is it just the biggest and strongest who get a say? Do you really think that’s fair?’ He raised his voice, but it was drowned out by the water birds’ heckling. He stepped towards the front of the platform. ‘You think this is democracy?’