“You will be taken to Adariel and if you are proven worthy enough to join us, then and only then, will I tell you my name or want to learn yours. Time to go.”
Not waiting for him to respond suddenly Rinan felt himself shifting towards the waters edge by a force he lacked the will to fight. The vixen submerged herself and began to swim under the wall and through the hidden passage. Only wide enough for a single fox she kept her focus on Rinan feeling his rough limp form being towed behind her. Her perception was skilled enough that she kept him facing forward and ensured his small shape did not drag across the sharp walls of the passage. Several tail-lengths and only a few moments later they drifted back to the surface where a rising sun caused Rinan to close his disused eyes.
There was no land and they floated in between two tall cliffs of stone open to the sky above. On one side the wedge gave out to an infinity of blue and on the other another cliff boxed them in.
Rinan stared in disbelief at the small portion of horizon visible to him.
“It is the sea. Across which is another land where they speak another language. The distance of water is so vast that we cannot see the other side even if we were to swim for days out into the void. You will have time to appreciate the sea in the days to come. Now, we must pass through the door, however.” She indicated with her head towards a banded iron door set in the opposite wall just at the level of the water. “The tide will be in soon, which is why they need to close the door. This entire cavern will be filled with water.”
They paddled across the short expanse of water with the call of seagulls crying from above and disappeared once again into darkness. Rinan managed to swim on his own for several minutes but then gave in to the weakness once again allowing his head to sink below the water.
Just as he was on the verge of taking in a jawful of water he felt himself lifted free of the suffocating channel and pulled forwards. The vixen calmly paddled while Rinan floated half-dead tethered behind her by the power of the Art. Relaxing her mind she began to whistle again the haunting melody echoing throughout the roughly cut tunnel and lulling Rinan into an involuntary sleep.
When he awoke he was on soft grass the fully risen sun drying off what remained of his burnt and scarred fur. A fire crackled not far behind him and the pleasant smell of burning wood tempted him to return to sleep but the voice over his shoulders kept him awake.
“You have been out for over two hours, little one. Which has given me ample opportunity in the bright daylight to examine your wounds. You did not get these from your journey through the wild Burrows. I have never seen burn marks like these before. It looks almost as if they were branded into you.”
Rinan rolled over and looked through the haze of smoke at the hooded vixen on the other side of the fire. She sat upright, poised considering him from beneath her black hood. He turned away again and surveyed his surroundings. They were on a pebble beach, tucked at the end of an inlet, with high sandy cliffs rising behind them. The wave polished stones shone glossy and clean and clicked as he struggled to rise to his paws and shake his sore sides.
“The Isle is half a day's sail out into that stretch of blue. This inlet is only accessable by boat when the tide is in as it is now and is very hard coming from sea. Fortunately we have a competent navigator, but unfortunately his Art of Wind frequently blows us off course. Adariel prefers him to use nature's breeze to make the crossing. His name is Tally and although he is young he can make the wind blow with real power. There is a gift there. Sadly, we don't have a master on the island to help us in our use of the Art, to help us improve, especially for the young ones who left the Great Burrow shortly after they were born. Adarial doesn't think this is a weakness though, he thinks it helps us to reconnect with the land and the air and the starry sky. 'Someday, one will come'. That is what he has been saying the last ten years and I suppose we trust him. He does have the Art of Sight after all.”
A salty breeze cut violently through the inlet and whipped the tenacious grass growing in tufts on the side of the cliff.
“So is that you little one? Are you a Master come from the School of Orb? I have no sense of what if any craft you have.” The tone of her question and comment was slightly off-hand and Rinan could sense it. He looked back at her but said nothing.
“Here eat this, maybe it will help you get your voice back.” She tossed several flakes of dried meat from where they had been warming on a round piece of granite near the flames. As they arced though the air another burst of wind changed their trajectory with such intensity that they were swept up and on to the cliff above.
“It's Tally. Two bursts of wind in quick succession up the inlet to let me know they are approaching. He should be coming around that bend in the next few minutes. We should make the crossing fairly easily and before nightfall. There is no guarantee that you will be able to join our community. You are not a charity case and you're getting to old to be considered a pup, so you'll need to be able to offer something. Adarial is going to want to know where you came from. She's going to want to know what gift you have in the Art and who is going to be missing you from the Burrow. You'll have the trip across and then you are going to need to start talking.”
“But I can't.” Rinan said looking at his scarred and ragged body.
“What do you mean? You can speak very well. You just have to put a little effort...”
“No, it's not that,” he whispered. “It's because I can't remember. I have no memory of anything from before I woke up and saw you coming out of that tunnel.”
She considered him for a moment then pulled her hood back and let the fresh breeze filter through her hair. She had a pretty face made more so by the three black lines died into her red fur below each eye.
“Well, I'm not surprised. Look at the state you are in. It is a rough ride through the wild pathways to the coast. You probably hit your head. I guess we will take you anyway and I guess you are a charity case.”
Four short barks made them turn their heads to look down the inlet towards the sea. Cresting over a series of white waves was a small row boat made of pitch sealed overlapping boards and rigged with a thin mast and black sail showing the same three lines as those on Rinan's rescuer but stained in white.
“That would be Tally and as usual he is making the approach much too quickly. He likes to use the contained space of the inlet to practice his Art of Wind thinking there is only one way to go so no chance of going off course.”
“No, just a chance of smashing the boat on a cliff.” Rinan responded, calmly backing away from the waters edge and path of the boat.
She laughed and he couldn't help but smile slightly in return.
“Tally! Not so much wind. Not so much wind. I tell you every time,” she called as the boat started skidding across the waves towards them.
“It's not me! It's her!” He yelled back just as the boat crunched onto the beach and most of the way to the cliffs before coming to a stop.
Standing behind the young fox dressed in a tunic of white leather and steel rings was an old vixen with her eyes shut holding a small glass ball between her jaws.
“Adariel! You have come? What are you doing off the island? It is far too dangerous. There is nothing of so great an import that you need to risk being here.”
Adariel shivered for a moment, the ball between her jaws glowing blue than fading to clear, then opened her eyes and looked to the younger vixen who had been addressing her.
“There is,” she said her voice deep and soothing. “Him.”
She stared at Rinan and the smug bravery which he held in his heart melted away and all that was left was a hollow and cold fear. He could not take his eyes off of her.
*
Storm clouds chased each other across the horizon and the occasional torrent of rain forced the small group of foxes to hunker down under an old piece of sail nailed to the gunwales of the boat. Adariel remained silent during the slow voyage from the mainland to the island. Her eyes were closed again
and she continued to bite down upon the small glass globe. Occasionally Rinan thought he could see a flash of blue beneath the curved surface as if the finest silk was being blown about within a dense and gaseous haze. The dance of it was mesmerizing.
Unable to control himself he fell asleep asleep again and awoke on his side, his hind legs soaking wet but his head resting upon the forelegs of his mysterious saviour. He looked up towards her and with the way she shifted her gaze across the horizon he could tell she knew he was awake, but she did not look down at him. Her paw rested lightly on a tiller which she shifted occasionally making minute adjustments to their heading.
As he struggled to his paws he finally let curiosity get the better of him.
“Why did our navigator remain behind?” he asked looking into the dark void of her hooded cloak.
As she answered she indicated with her head towards the horizon. Rocking along the edge of the sky was a single masted ship the simple square sail taught and pulling the vessel with conviction in a single direction. A structure looking like a small castle was positioned aft and Rinan could just make out the shape of Hantsa moving on the deck.
“That is a fishing vessel,” the vixen said now looking to Rinan. “There are shoals of cod several trots from the island's north shore. If we keep them to our port side at about this distance the colony should be dead ahead. That's how I'm navigating us anyway.”
“What if they see us?” Rinan asked watching the Hantsa pull at a net they had been trolling over the side.
“From this distance? Our boat is considerably smaller and they appear to have their hands full. Besides in an emergency we always have the steam engine.”
She removed a small square of flooring from the bottom of the boat where a heavy iron block sat bolted to the hull with a mix of copper tubes riveted to the top and sides. Smeared with black grease a drive shaft thrust from the rear of the device and into the aft section of the boat presumably attached to a propeller under the waterline.
“You have a machine like that and here we are languishing on these sickening waves,” Rinan scoffed a part of his usual arrogance returning to him.
“First of all you should know why Tally remained and therefore be aware of the need to keep our meeting and launching point a secret. We take it in three days shifts to monitor the meeting point for any new arrivals. The Royal Inari Guard have regular patrols along the mainland shore. They have been seeking our colony for years and according to our sources within the Burrow they do not know where we are let alone that we live on an island. The fact that only foxes have the technology of steam and the black smoke produced by the engine would clearly give us away to any scanning the shipping activity out to sea.”
She glanced at Adariel, hoping the older vixen might come out of her trance and add to the conversation. But she remained at the furthest point at the bow of the boat, seated upright, the orb still in her mouth and her whiskers wavering in the brisk breeze. Although her eyes were closed there was something about the serene and open expression on her face that gave the impression she could see everything and was watching the journey ahead.
“It was pure chance that you came to the meeting point wasn't it?” the vixen asked Rinan beginning to understand that the little pup was not one of the disaffected seeking to join their cause.
He paused for a moment then looked at her and said, “I told you, I remember nothing from before I awoke to you in the cavern.”
“Perhaps,” she began eyeing him with suspicion, “ or perhaps you are lying and we have no way of knowing. It looks like you are going to stay with us, but not as a member of the colony, not at first. At first you will be our prisoner.”
“There is no such thing as chance, but yes Rinan is to be our prisoner.” Adariel said from her position at the bow, the soft glow of the orb illuminating the underside of her jaw from its resting position in her upturned paw.
“Adariel, I am bringing him in to our community and as head of the enforcement of our rules I take on the responsibility of keeping close and keeping him safe.”
“Yes of course you will. I can see the breakwater to the starboard side ahead. We should arrive home within the hour.”
Adariel placed the orb between her jaws once again, turned her eyes to the sky then closed them and became still.
“Rinan is it? Well, I guess I know your name, pup, but don't think you will learn mine any time soon.”
Rinan considered her for a moment having recovered from his initial surprise at Adariel use of his name. Then he relaxed back against the side of the boat, smiled at the vixen, and let the waves rock him back to sleep.
*
It was a soft and sandy beach the boat glided on to when they finally reached the island. The width of it was broad and it tumbled into a series of grassy dunes and a squat whitewashed cliff. The jagged edge of a path was visible as it cut back and forth into the cliff face until it reached the flat summit a dozen tail-lengths above.
Adariel on one side of the boat and the vixen on the other the pair bean to growl until it formed into a choral hum. Rinan couldn't help but gasp as the boat lifted off the beach and floated between them. Shifting it with ease and after only a few moments they had crossed to the cliff. On silent and hidden hinges a tall wedge of stone slowly gave in to gravity floating to the ground towards them and revealing a black space within the cliff. The boat was taken inside and secured on several purpose built oak v-shaped supports. As quickly as the large stone had opened it swung back up and closed seamlessly with the rest of the cliff.
They followed the path through a short barricade of blackberries on the clifftop then stopped in a seemingly random place within the midst of it.
“Sidgil, it is me, Adariel.”
“I know,” a voice said from within the sharp hedge. “I could see the approach of your sail. I am glad you made it back quickly and before nightfall. The evening meal should be set.”
“Will you be joining us?” Adariel asked.
Rinan looked closely through the mess of vines and could just make out a heavy form sitting within a sphere carved within the hedge of thorns. From his position he had a commanding view of the sea and all vessels that would approach the landing site.
“Sadly no.” the guard answered. “My watch has just begun but Kanen has packed me a dinner so you need not worry about saving anything for me. Although I am partial to cold leftover berry pie for breakfast.”
“Now, you are hoping for a miracle,” Adariel chuckled as she moved along the path, “but I will see if I can hide some away. Have a good evening Sidgil and try to keep dry a rain is coming.”
They continued through the thick wall of blackberries before it opened into a broad undulating field of grass and wild flowers. Evening was approaching and a full moon had scared the sun to just below the horizon. The trail they had been following became indistinct and for several trots they seemed to turn back upon themselves. Finally they reached a wood of ancient oak and ash and as they wove through the gathering darkness Rinan could hear the sound of a village ahead of them. Foxes called down to them from their position keeping watch from the trees but they did not stop again as they moved forward. A wall of woven willow blocked their path and they were required to pass beneath it through a brick lined tunnel. Another guard nodded to them as they passed.
A clearing suddenly presented itself bathed in moonlight once they emerged from the passageway. The ground fell slightly into a small valley with a gently flowing stream at its centre. A mix of mounds with chimneys and stone built dwellings were scattered on either side of the water. In the distance a multitude of small orbs hung in the air illuminating a crowd of tables and foxes already sitting down to eat. The village extended beyond and into the darkness.
“Welcome to Willowall, Rinan, and the burrow of the free. You will call this home for however long we will have you,” Adariel said as she descended down the gentle slope heading in the direction of the gathering.
Rinan watched the
two of them go, then looked towards the tunnel behind him. He thought briefly to walk in the other direction and leave but then he turned back. Adariel had stopped and was watching him. A short hantsa female girl had joined the pair of foxes, her dark curly hair fell in ringlets from the gaping mouth of a ragged cloak and she to looked at Rinan with black and wary eyes. The fear rose in him again for a moment, but then something within him brushed it away and as his eyes flared briefly in red, then in white, a look of surprise came across Adariel, a look which turned into a smile and then a nod. The vixen and hantsa had continued along the path and Adariel followed not looking back again. The pair disappeared behind a mound of earth with a wall of bricks circling it.
Rinan paused for only a moment to look at the scars swirling across his body, any uneasiness had drifted away and he then followed them with a cool certainty towards the much anticipated meal.
*
Peter S. Case studied theatre at the University of Minnesota and Columbia University in the City of New York. Along with writing he has worked for many years as a theatre director and performer in the United Kingdom. He lives in London with his family.
*
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
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
Glossary
Burrow of London Series part two Able Asunder
The Progeny of Able (The Burrow of London Series Book 1) Page 38
