The War and the Fox

by Tim Susman

  Kip looked around anxiously, but Grinda was not in earshot, thankfully. “It’s not just the power,” he said. “These are people providing the power for you, and the ritual must always be undertaken with respect, or else you end up with conditions like this, disaffected people.”

  “Of course, of course,” the master said. “We have nothing but respect for your people. Our older masters were taught by their masters that the best age of Dutch sorcery was when your people lived alongside us, and we want to bring that age back.” His eyes glowed.

  “I hope that your golden age may also be one for us,” Kip said. “It’s my pleasure to help you, and you will always have our deepest gratitude for helping us.”

  And then Peter said into his head, I have it, I think, and Kip excused himself to return to the roof.

  Clouds had covered the sun, but the day remained warm and humid and the stone of the Tower had soaked up enough heat to warm Kip’s feet as he landed. He hurried to the small piece he’d carved away and rested his fingertips on it. Are you here?

  Peter’s voice came to him, small but certain. Yes.

  Kip took a breath and lifted the stone away from the Tower. He levitated himself from the roof and hung in the air, the breeze ruffling his fur. And now?

  The stone in his paw felt as warm as if the sun were still shining on it. I am here.

  You did it! Kip pressed the stone between two paws. You came up with a new spell.

  It is…not likely to be useful to anyone save myself. Peter sounded amused. But I am pleased that it worked.

  It’s going to be useful to a lot of people. Kip held up the piece of stone, marveling at how extraordinary it could be while looking so unremarkable. May I take you with me now?

  Yes. Peter hesitated. May I cast a spell to see through your eyes? I promise I will not touch any other part of your mind. My perception is limited to what is around me, and I have not…seen…in two hundred years.

  Of course. Kip lowered himself back to the roof and slid the stone into his trouser pocket.

  He felt nothing different, but a moment later Peter said, Oh. It has been a long time since I saw the Tower from the outside.

  Kip climbed over the side and lowered himself slowly to the ground, being sure to take in the entirety of the Tower as he did. It looks older, Peter said. But still in good repair.

  You’ve kept it very safe.

  Maybe I…am I wrong to leave it?

  You can return, Kip said. It’s only for a day. And there will be nobody in it to protect.

  His feet touched the grass outside the Tower. Yes, Peter said. I suppose you are right.

  But he stayed silent after that as Kip returned to the Tower to see how the translocations were going.

  Their main worry was that the guards would notice the movements of the Calatians and come inside to investigate, but they were not very curious, and Malcolm was there to keep their attention off of the College. Once all the Calatians in the outdoor tents had been moved, they moved the ones still in the Tower. The Dutch sorcerers, though showing signs of fatigue, remained game, and more than once one of them told Kip it was a pleasure to “put a finger in the eye of Great Britain,” an expression they’d all doubtless shared at the beginning of the day.

  When the last group had been sent, the sun low in the sky, Kip convened the leaders, Bryce Morgan and Thomas Cartwright and the vixen and rat. “There are over two thousand Calatians there now,” he said, “and about to be two thousand more, God willing. We need you all to go and keep everyone calm. The weather is pleasant there—” Kip hoped it wasn’t going to rain; that would make everything more difficult. “And once we get all the Calatians off the Isle, it will probably take us several hours, if not a day, to reach an agreement. We’ll bring food as we can, but if you need to forage, send only people who have never met a sorcerer. That’s very important. If they stray outside the wards, then a sorcerer who knows them will be able to translocate to their side, and they will be trying as soon as they notice that everyone is gone. All right? I’m going to send Ash with Malcolm, so if any of you have a problem, Malcolm will be able to let me know right away.”

  The rat and vixen looked at each other and then nodded. Thomas cleared his throat. “What about my daughter?”

  “I’m going to go with you,” Alice said sourly, ears back, “while Kip goes to the Isle alone.”

  “The other people need protecting as well, and there are many more of them. Malcolm will have wards up, but he’s only one sorcerer and there isn’t another one there. If there’s rain, or wind, maybe your air elementals can help ease it. Keeping them comfortable is important too.” He smiled. “I wouldn’t trust just anyone with it.”

  “I know you’re only saying that to make me feel better about you sending me out of danger.” Alice’s ears didn’t come back up.

  “If I could send you out of danger, I would.” Kip sighed. “I don’t think there is such a place now.”

  That, oddly, seemed to make her feel better. “If I’m going, may I at least take Ash? Then I’ll know if you’re in trouble.”

  “Yes, all right.” Kip called the raven to him, opening the great doors for her to glide in and settle on Alice’s shoulder.

  Alice reached up to stroke the raven’s head. “I’ll take care of her.”

  “I’ll check in every now and then.”

  She tilted her muzzle up and kissed him on the side of his muzzle. “Good luck,” she said. “I know you’ll do this.”

  “I couldn’t do it without all of you.” Kip kissed her back. “And especially you. Be safe. When this is over I’m looking forward to spending more time with you.”

  “When we’re not fighting battles,” Alice said.

  “Or learning spells. Just…being ourselves.”

  With her smile lingering in his memory, he left the Tower and went to get Malcolm. The tents and the Tower sounded so quiet to him that he could not imagine that the guards were not suspicious, but they merely nodded at him and didn’t even seem curious that no other sorcerer came to take Malcolm’s place.

  Only he and Emily and the Dutch sorcerers remained in the Great Hall, and Kip was about to return to Boston when his ears caught the click of claws on the stairs leading up to the Masters’ rooms. He snapped his head up as Abel walked down into the hall.

  “I thought you’d gone with the others,” Kip said.

  The other fox shook his head and smiled. “I’m going with you to the Isle. I know I haven’t any magic, but I know all the residents.”

  “Abel,” Kip said, “that’s exactly the problem. We are going to be taking some of these people against their will. Maybe many of them. You’re part of their community; do you really want to throw your lot in with us?”

  Abel looked around the Great Hall. “Seems to me I’ve already done that,” he said with a smile. “Besides, I know which ones can be swayed and which can’t, and what’s more, I can find some people to help us go around so it’s not all human sorcerers with one fox.”

  Kip looked at Emily. “It makes sense to me,” she said. “But it’s your decision.”

  “Besides,” Abel said. “Are you going to bleed for these sorcerers all night? I haven’t given any yet so I’m ready.” He held up a bag that clinked, full of flasks. “And I have some that we haven’t used yet.”

  “All right, all right.” Kip reached out and took the other fox’s paw. “But at the first sign of trouble, I’m sending you away.”

  “That’s fair.” Abel smiled and squeezed his fingers.

  In Boston, Captain Lowell accompanied Kip to the military calyxes. Lowell told them they were being sent to New York, and then Kip sent them to Australia. The deception was necessary; as soldiers, they could be executed if they deserted.

  “Everything went well?” Lowell asked as they returned to Kip’s chambers.

  “So far.” Kip looked around the small room. “Thank you again for your help.”

  “I want to see us succeed.”
>
  The “us” made Kip’s tail wag for a moment. “The hardest part is coming up, but we have more help. Where do you think you can be most useful?”

  Lowell looked around the room. “Here, I think. In case someone questions your absence. But you’ll come get me when it’s over?”

  “I can. I don’t need to. You can stay here and—”

  The soldier held up a hand. “I told you. I’m part of this. I’m not afraid for them to know it. Now go finish this.”

  A knock came at the door, and then Captain Marsh’s voice. “Lowell?”

  “Go,” Lowell said in a whisper, and Kip went. One more piece of the plan done, the last and most dangerous to go.

  18

  The Rescue of the Isle

  Barges taking rope from the Isle of Dogs now received their cargo at a dock upriver so that they didn’t have to enter the warded Isle. Abel and Kip planned to join one of the crews loading a barge and return with them hopefully unnoticed. Once they were on the Isle, Kip would send Nikolon to find the sorcerer maintaining the ward once they were on the Isle. If the demon could take Peter to him, Peter could cast a spiritual hold that would trick the sorcerer into dropping the wards long enough for Emily and the Dutch sorcerers to translocate in.

  Peter was confident that he could do it, and Kip trusted Nikolon to find the sorcerer. Getting onto the Isle with Abel would be the hard part; one extra fox might pass unnoticed, but two could arouse suspicion. Still, it was hard to argue that the British fox’s help wouldn’t be well worth the extra risk.

  So Kip brought them to London and they dressed in worn clothes, and Abel had Kip rub paws full of street dust into his fur so he would have a London smell. Thus disguised, they made their way down to the dock where one of the barges was loading, away from the Isle. Abel had guessed when the loading would start, hoping to be able to join the crew as they began, but when they came in sight of the dock, the carts that had brought the rope stood half-empty and a dozen Calatians carried coils onto the waiting barge.

  “We could wait until they’re done,” Abel whispered. “They’ll load the carts with food to bring back to the Isle and then we can walk along with them. No sense in exposing ourselves too early.”

  The human dockmaster and ship’s crew leaned over the railing of the ship, not helping, just drinking from flasks and laughing when one of the Calatians tripped. “They can’t tell us apart,” Kip whispered. “Look, there’s a fox in the group already.”

  “So they’ll notice if two more show up.”

  “We’ll say we were late.” Kip sighed. “The faster they load, the faster we can start.”

  Abel looked keenly at him. “You hate sitting by and not helping, even when it’s the smarter course of action.”

  “That is also probably true.”

  The other fox sighed. “I suppose you’re right. They don’t even usually count the crew. All right, but let me go down first and join in. If after a few minutes nobody says anything, then you can come join me.” When Kip opened his mouth to argue, ears back, Abel said, “You can watch me the whole time. If anything goes wrong, there’s no wards, right? I’m safer here than I’ll be anytime after.”

  This, Kip had to admit, was true, so he watched with trepidation as Abel joined one of his fellows at the cart. There was a short greeting and then the fox shouldered the other end of a coil of rope and walked up to the ship.

  None of the humans noticed an extra fox. Abel returned to the cart, took another load, and returned again, and this time he looked toward Kip and beckoned. The badger next to him looked suspiciously in the direction Abel had gestured, but the fox spoke to him and he calmed down as soon as Kip came into view.

  When Kip reached them, the badger gave a short nod. “Welcome, then. Grab a coil.”

  And that was all. None of the others remarked on his presence; none of the humans spoke to him or said anything, apart from one who called out, “That’s a pretty tail, that is.”

  For a moment Kip panicked. Abel had lost his tail, and so had the other fox in the crew. His own full tail stood out; had he put himself in danger?

  “Probably a girl, Royce,” another voice said. “You want to take her to quarters?”

  “Ain’t no girl,” the first voice said. “Just a lucky fellow.”

  “All right, ain’t no girl,” the other replied. “You want to take him to quarters?”

  This got an epithet and a blow in reply, and a reprimand from an authoritative voice, reminding them that the Calatians were there to load the ship and not to be a diversion. After that, they finished loading without any more disruption.

  Kip itched to get back to the Isle, but first they had to pick up the crates of vegetables and meat that had been sitting waiting for them. By the look of it, many of them had been out for more than a day, and some of them had clearly been picked through already, but nobody commented on this to the dockmaster. They loaded each crate onto the cart without complaint and then climbed up into the carts.

  Abel guided Kip to the last cart, where they rode behind the badger who’d greeted them earlier. Kip hid his tail under a cloth as best he could. “So,” the badger said in a low voice, “you’re back for some more mischief.”

  “Ever the fox’s lot,” Abel replied lightly. “Can we count on your help?”

  “Depends.”

  “We’re taking the Isle out for a picnic. Lovely place by the sea, warm, lots of other Calatians there to meet. Just for a day or two, while our Penfold here tries to put an end to the war and the suffering.”

  The badger grunted. “All by himself?”

  “With a few well-chosen friends. They want to go start their own country where Calatians might be treated better, a sort of latter-day Promised Land, as it were. And for those of us back on the Isle, we may look to them for a better future ourselves.”

  “Huh.” The badger said not another word. Kip opened his mouth to speak, but Abel raised a paw and shook his head, so they rode on in silence to the Isle.

  Two guards searched each cart as it passed them. Most carts got no more than a cursory look, but the guards stopped Kip and Abel’s. “Foxes,” one said. “We was told to watch for foxes.”

  Kip’s chest tightened, but Abel remained outwardly relaxed, and he tried to follow the other fox’s lead. The badger, in front, addressed the guards. “These are Abel and Andrew,” he said. “They went out with me, they come back in with me.”

  “You.” The guard gestured to Abel. “Where you live, on the Isle?”

  “Millet Road,” Abel answered promptly.

  The guard turned to Kip. “And you?”

  Kip tried his best to imitate Abel’s accent. “Same house,” he said. “I’m his brother, aren’t I?”

  The guards retreated to confer, and though they whispered, Kip’s ears caught their words. He fingered Peter’s stone, making sure Peter was ready to ensorcel the guards if needed. “We was told to look for a fox…but just one fox…he don’t look like a sorcerer…we could go get Seamus and Rob, they were here when the carts left…ay, no, they’ll be asleep or drunk by now…what about Master Godwin? we were told to find him…ay, and do you know where he is? no, nor do I…stuck up snot…”

  Finally they waved the badger through, and Kip and Abel leaned back and relaxed as the cart rattled over the bridge and into the Isle.

  The carts stopped at the only place on the Isle with room for all of them: the plaza where a stone column commemorated the Calatians who’d died in the Blackstone bakery fire. The horses stamped as they were guided into the small space, standing still as the Calatians leapt down to unload the crates.

  A crowd stood around the plaza, ready to take the food as soon as it was unloaded. Abel climbed down and helped Kip down from the cart. “Go ahead to my house,” he said. “You can find it?” Kip nodded. “All right. I’ll start getting people ready and I’ll send them there.”

  “Thank you.” Kip held the other fox’s paw. “This is going to work.”

&nbs
p; Abel smiled brightly and then leaned forward to kiss the side of Kip’s muzzle, the side Alice had also kissed. “For luck,” he said. “Go.”

  Kip touched the side of his muzzle where the warmth from both kisses still lingered and then went, hurrying through the streets until he reached Abel’s empty house. Inside, he summoned Nikolon and bound her, then told her quickly that he was involved in a dangerous enterprise again. “But hopefully the last one,” he said. “You have helped me greatly and I pray you may do so again.”

  The demon vixen inclined her head. “I await your orders, master,” she said.

  Kip took the stone from his pocket. “First, find the defensive sorcerer keeping a ward over this island. He will be human and not one of the guards and you should be able to feel the spell coming from him. Bring this stone into contact with his skin and hold it there for fifteen seconds. When that is done, leave the stone and go to Emily, who is waiting with several other sorcerers at St. Paul’s church. Tell Emily that the Isle is open, and then return here to me. Is all of that clear?”

  “Yes, master.”

  “If any part of those orders fails, come back to me right away and tell me.”

  “Yes, master.”

  Good luck, Peter, he said, and held the stone out to Nikolon.

  The first Calatians arrived before Emily did. These were the eager ones, impatient to leave, carrying small sacks of food with them. They crowded into the small house, mice and rabbits and a hedgehog, asking Kip excited questions about where they were going, how the war was going, if they could come to America when it was over.

  He fielded their questions and asked them to keep their distance from him as the sorcerers had to arrive in the house. It soon became clear there would be no room for another dozen people inside, so Kip moved outside into the street where Calatians continued to pester him. Fortunately, Abel returned with a polecat and drew the crowd away a minute before Emily and the dozen sorcerers appeared in the street around Kip.