A Fox's Rescue

by Varnell, Brandon

  Phoebe closed her eyes as sadness invaded her heart. “There can be no recourse. They have broken one of the most important rules of our society. Those who try to usurp the role of chieftess must be put to death. It is the only choice.”

  “Uh… huh… you know, maybe this is just me not understanding anything about your people, but why do you have to put them to death?”

  Phoebe blinked. “B-because it’s tradition.”

  “Aren’t you trying to abolish those traditions and convince your people to integrate into human society?”

  “W-well, yes…”

  “Then why follow those traditions now?”

  “Well, I… I…” Phoebe tried to think of an answer. She tried to come up with a reason. Yet the longer she thought, the less sure she became, until, eventually, she was forced to concede defeat. “I don’t know.”

  “Thought so.” Kevin nodded to himself, then gave her a smile. “But don’t worry. I’ve got a better idea.”

  ***

  Morning came way too soon for Kevin’s taste.

  He understood that, logically speaking, it really hadn’t, and he’d simply stayed up too late. That didn’t really change how he wished morning could’ve waited at least a few more hours before deciding to show up. Thanks to the series of fights he’d been in, first with Clymene, and then with those other two yama uba, he’d only gotten maybe three or so hours of sleep.

  They stood outside of the entrance; him, Iris, Phoebe, Polydora, and the four women who’d tried killing the chieftess. Three of those four had looks that combined forlorn and grateful in a way Kevin hadn’t realized was possible. One of them, however, the one known as Clymene, looked ready to start shooting lasers from her eyes. She glared spitefully at him, Phoebe, and Iris. Oddly enough, the most hateful look was being directed at Iris. Had something happened when he dragged Clymene into their tent and told Iris to make sure she didn’t try anything? Seeing that glare made him wonder just what his mate’s sister had done last night to earn such enmity…

  … Actually, no it didn’t. The less he knew about whatever Iris had done, the better. He especially didn’t want to know because of the grin on Iris’s face. Anything that could make her grin like that was not something he needed to know about. Ever.

  There were some places that man was not meant to go.

  Iris’s mind was definitely one of those places.

  “Clymene, Coea, Cynna, Gortyessa,” Phoebe intoned, her voice formal, solemn, and more than a little disheartened. “You have violated one of our many laws, tried to kill your chieftess, and in doing so dishonored yourselves. You are henceforth banished from our clan on pain of death. The next time you four show your treacherous faces again, I will not be this merciful.”

  While three of the four accepted this sentence gracefully, one of them did not.

  Clymene’s face became a boiling pot of vicious hatred, a kettle of pure red. Kevin wouldn’t have been surprised if steam suddenly started pouring from her head.

  “You think you can just banish me! You think I’m going to let you banish me! I’m not the one who wants to abandon the old ways! I’m not the one who’s trying to abolish the sacred traditions that we hold so dear! You think you can hide behind traditions when it suits you and discard them when it doesn’t? Think again! I won’t let someone like you, a spoiled child who believes she’s entitled to having everything go her way. I’m going to—Gurk!”

  Dark eyes bulged from their sockets. A ragged gasp tore through a throat that refused to allow oxygen. Clymene choked, her hands rising to her throat, clawing at the now blocked air passage.

  “I will not have you disrespecting Lady Phoebe like that.” Polydora’s glare was surprisingly vitriolic. It dripped with acid, scalding the one it was directed at. “You should be grateful that My Lady has decided not to kill you where you stand, you dirty traitor. Speak ill of her again and I may forget myself.”

  “Peace, Polydora.” Phoebe placed a hand on her aid’s shoulder. Polydora blushed and swiftly complied.

  “Someone’s a little yuri,” Iris muttered.

  Kevin sent her a look. “Hello, pot. This is kettle. You are black.”

  “I hope you’re not trying to be witty,” Iris said, idly stroking one of her tails.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.” Kevin ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Iris would never understand his sense of humor.

  CHAPTER 7

  SERVANT OF PRINCESS KYO

  After Coea, Cynna, and Gortyessa dragged a nearly frothing at the mouth Clymene away, Polydora began apologizing to Phoebe.

  “I-I am so sorry, Lady Phoebe. I am ashamed of myself. At a time when you required my aid, I was not there to lend it. When you needed me to be your shield, I was not by your side to protect you. When you needed a comrade in arms, I—”

  “Polydora,” Phoebe’s tone held a hint of amusement but also reproach, “there is no need for apologies. It was I who decided that you would be on patrol last night. The fault lies with me, not you.”

  “That may be so, but—”

  “And besides—” Phoebe interrupted the woman before she could say anything else “—it is not as if I was alone in that fight.” She turned to Kevin. “I had help.”

  Kevin wondered about the look he was being given, but he quickly discarded it. He’d already made his point quite clear last night.

  “You’re welcome,” he said simply.

  Polydora frowned. Something passed through her eyes, a darkness that made him blink. It was gone in less than a second, but he’d definitely seen it: jealousy.

  Great. This is just what I need. A jealous yuri Amazon.

  “Thank you for protecting Lady Phoebe in my absence, esteemed prisoner Kevin Swift.”

  Kevin’s right eye twitched. “You’re doing that to annoy me, aren’t you?”

  Polydora’s innocent expression didn’t fool him for a second. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Neither did her words.

  They didn’t fool Iris either.

  “She’s totally doing that to annoy you,” the vixen said.

  “Now then,” Phoebe directed their attention toward her, “we shall be leaving within the hour. Polydora, inform Thoe, Euryale, and Menippe that they have been selected for this quest and are to meet us at the entrance. Tell them to get the horses ready.”

  “Yes, My Lady!”

  “Horses?” Kevin questioned as Polydora ran off to follow Phoebe’s instructions.

  “Of course.” Phoebe sent him a haughty look. With her blond hair, blue eyes, outrageous figure, and skimpy armor, she looked every bit the warrior princess. “You didn’t think we’d be walking all the way to Baku, did you?”

  ***

  Kevin discovered that he wasn’t very fond of riding horses. He’d never really done it before, and now that he had, he could say with all honesty that he hated it. His butt hurt, his legs were chafing, and it felt like his spine was being compressed. Maybe it was because they were riding bareback, or perhaps it was because they’d been riding for a long time, but he could honestly say that he never wanted to ride a horse again.

  “I think I have a rash, too,” Kevin muttered to himself.

  Phoebe turned her head to look at him. “What was that?”

  “Nothing.”

  They were traveling down a long stretch of road. There wasn’t much to look at. Azerbaijan had an arid climate. All he saw for miles was long stretches of barren desert, and large cliffs and mountains in the distance.

  He and Phoebe had taken point. He rode behind the Amazonian girl, his arms locked tightly around her waist, while her hands gripped their white stallion’s mane. A glance around revealed the others with them. Iris rode with Polydora, and the other three had their own horses; Euryale, Menippe, and Thoe. He and Iris had been introduced to them before leaving, but they hadn’t interacted much.

  On a side note, the looks they’d given him had been very disturbing.

  Like, really, really dist
urbing.

  “In a few minutes, you will be able to see Baku,” Phoebe told him, shouting to be heard over the galloping of hooves—and the roaring of cars, all of which slowed down to watch them as they rode by. Kevin didn’t know what was worse: how people gawked at them, or that he didn’t even care anymore.

  “Really?” Wanting to get his first look at Baku, Kevin leaned forward a bit until his head rested on Phoebe’s shoulder. The girl looked at him with a frown, as though slightly annoyed, but he ignored that in favor of looking at the city. “Ah! I can see it!”

  It didn’t look like much at the moment, just a line of buildings that appeared blue in the distance. However, as they began getting closer, he was able to make out more of the city, and when they finally arrived nearly half an hour later, he saw a sight that made him wish he had several more sets of eyes.

  Baku was gigantic. Far larger than he had expected. A jungle of gleaming steel and towering buildings. A masterpiece of cityscapes that seamlessly blended architectural styles together like a painter blends color. Hundreds of skyscrapers rose into the sky, some smaller than others. He saw different styles of architecture everywhere he looked. Some buildings appeared almost renaissance, while others looked like something out of Aladdin, and still others were purely modern. He spied one particularly large trio of skyscrapers in the distance, glass towers jutting up from the ground, their pointed tips arcing away from each other.

  As expected of a coastal city, there was a lot more greenery here than anywhere else he’d been to in Azerbaijan. Interspersed throughout the city were parks filled with grass and trees. Lining the sidewalks were more types of flora, trees and plants that he didn’t recognize.

  And then, of course, there were the many people who walked through the streets, or rather, who had been walking through the streets until his entourage showed up.

  “We’re getting so much unwanted attention.”

  Phoebe heard his muttered words and looked around. When she noticed that, yes, they were indeed getting their fair share of attention, she turned her head, gazing at him out of her peripheral.

  “Is attention a bad thing?”

  “Considering we’re trying to slip into China undetected, I would say that yes, attention is a bad thing.” Kevin ran a hand through his sweaty locks of hair. “I don’t know if the Bodhisattva has any spies here in Azerbaijan, but I would rather not take any chances.”

  “Your words ring true,” Phoebe agreed. “But still, I wonder why they are staring at us? It is not as if we have done anything wrong.”

  Kevin deadpanned. “You seriously don’t realize how much attention you cause, do you? Our group has six girls in it, all of whom are extraordinarily beautiful, and five of whom are wearing skimpy fantasy armor. We’re riding horses in a large, modern city. We look like something out of a medieval play. Of course, we’re going to attract attention.”

  Phoebe took in his words with a serious demeanor. She seemed completely ignorant of the heavy sarcasm laden in his tone.

  “So what you are saying is that our clothing and horses are attracting attention?”

  “That is exactly what I am saying.”

  “Eh heh, he finds us attractive,” Euryale said. Kevin glared at her, but she merely smiled back.

  “Then you know what we must do, right?”

  Kevin didn’t know why, but a large ball of dread dropped into the pit of his stomach like a lead weight upon seeing the gleam in Phoebe’s eyes.

  “Um, no. What must we do?”

  “We must go shopping,” Phoebe declared, the gleam in her eyes becoming nearly incandescent. Kevin shuddered some more.

  ***

  The first problem appeared when Kevin realized that they didn’t have any money. This… didn’t surprise him like he felt it should have. Having been kidnapped on that train by Phoebe, he hadn’t been able to grab his duffle bag, which contained all of the items they’d brought for this journey—minus his guns, ammunition, spare set of clothes, and the necklace around his neck. This included the money that Delphine Pnév̱ma had given him.

  Fortunately, Phoebe had a means of acquiring money.

  Unfortunately, her means of acquiring money involved stripping and presenting her armor to an acquisition agent who specialized in buying and selling relics.

  “How much can I get for this?” asked Phoebe.

  I will not facepalm. I will not facepalm. I will not facepalm.

  The words were repeated like a mantra in his mind. Kevin stood off to the side with Iris, watching as the blushing, stuttering old man gawked and sputtered like a preteen looking at his first porn magazine. Blood spurted from the fool’s nose, and his eyes focused more on the many sets of breasts.

  All five yama uba were pretty much naked now. Literally, the only thing covering their torso was a leather strip of fabric that went around their snuggle puppies. Even then, a healthy portion of their cleavage and underboob were exposed. Kevin could also see their nipples poking through the fabric.

  “I can’t believe this,” he muttered, his right eye twitching and a vein throbbing on his forehead. “I thought it was only you kitsune who lacked modesty, but I think these women are worse than even you.”

  That said, Kevin didn’t know if he had any right to speak since he was also shirtless. However, he wasn’t shirtless because he wanted to be. His shirt had been destroyed during his battle on the train.

  Iris took offense to his words. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that at least you’ve never stripped in public before. While you seem to have an exhibitionist streak around the house, I at least don’t have to worry about you randomly showing the goods to people you’ve never met.”

  Iris scoffed at his words. “You may not realize this because you’re still so ignorant of yōkai, but while we kitsune don’t subscribe to the human taboos of modesty, we are aware that we can’t just go around wearing nothing.”

  “And yet you still walk around the house naked.”

  “I should be able to walk around my own house naked,” Iris defended herself. “It’s my house.”

  “You mean my house,” Kevin replied in a succinctly annoyed tone. “You’re just a freeloader.”

  Iris’s saucy grin came complete with a wink. “But I’m a sexy freeloader.”

  “How can I argue against such flawless logic?”

  “Simple. You can’t.”

  Kevin rolled his eyes. Just then, the old man whom Phoebe had been speaking with began frothing at the mouth, his brain apparently unable to handle five sexy and unclothed females any longer. Blood spurted from his nose like water from a broken fire hydrant. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body crumpled like a doll whose legs had been torn off. Panicking, Phoebe knelt down and began shaking the old man by the shoulders.

  “Sir, excuse me, but you never told me how much you would pay for this armor! Sir? Sir!”

  ***

  In the end, they had somehow managed to haggle over ten thousand US dollars for the combined armor of Phoebe, Polydora, Euryale, Menippe, and Thoe. Although it came at a serious cost—namely, having to deal with a practically naked group of yama uba who didn’t understand why they couldn’t just walk around wearing what amounted to strips of cloth that barely covered their genitals.

  The following conversation regarding this issue had been quite something:

  Kevin glared at the five yama uba. “Look, you girls can’t just walk around like that. There are rules and laws against public nudity.”

  “I do not understand,” Phoebe stated inquisitively. “Is there something wrong with our bodies?”

  “It has nothing to do with your bodies!” Kevin exploded. “It’s because walking around like that is against the law. If any officer were to see you, they’d have you arrested and thrown into jail quicker than you can say yōkai.”

  Euryale leaned over to Menippe. “Is this boy what you call a prude?”

  “Maybe,” Menippe said, crossi
ng her arms. She seemed to be seriously considering the other woman's teasing words. “I've heard that some men are prudes.”

  Kevin glared at them both.

  “I see.” Phoebe looked down at herself, at the succulent breasts barely covered by a strip of fabric, at the loin cloth that only just covered her crotch. She then looked back at Kevin and nodded. “Very well, we shall wait here while you get us new clothes.”

  Kevin facepalmed, and then shouted, “Buy your own damn clothes!”

  Fortunately, while they didn’t understand what was wrong with public displays of nudity, they at least seemed willing to listen to his advice. He and Iris had then gone to the nearest store and bought several shirts and shorts for all of them. Kevin had also gotten himself a shirt since his last one had been shredded during his many fights. The disappointed look that Phoebe had when he re-entered the acquisitions store with a shirt covering his torso had greatly disturbed him.

  After that, it was off to find a ship that could take them across the Caspian Sea. With Iris acting as his translator, they’d managed to gain passage on a miniature cruise liner that ferried people across the sea. Unfortunately, even though they’d been able to find passage, a problem had occurred, one that couldn’t be solved easily.

  Kevin stood with Phoebe and the other yama uba as Iris spoke with someone, a woman with dark red locks of hair and a seductive smile. He watched as the raven-haired vixen made wide hand gesticulations, to which the woman nodded several times, her smile growing wider. At some point, the woman spoke, though Kevin could not hear the words spoken. Iris then pointed over to them, the woman following her gaze before scowling upon seeing him. He wondered what that was all about, but then the woman spoke some more, her manner harsh, before she stormed off.

  Iris walked up to them. Her face was a mixture of disappointment and bemusement.

  “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I found a ferry that can take us across the Caspian Sea. The bad news is they only ferry women.”

  “I’m guessing that woman you were speaking to doesn’t like men or something?”