Crimson Waters
Chapter One: "Children of the Irish"
Kinsale, Ireland - August 8th, 1773;
Felix trotted down the path with his younger sister, Madeline, following behind him like an innocent shadow. The stones crunched beneath the feet of the two fox kits as they made the long walk home from the beach. Their family lived on a small farm, only about an acre large, in a small, two-room shack. Their father was an average potato farmer and their mother did laundry for the other anthros in the village.
As they passed through the human area of town, the humans glared at the two kits. Felix grabbed onto Madeline's paw and helped her walk a little faster. Felix was eleven and Madeline was ten, they both were in the British's age range of kids to sell into slavery. If one of the humans decided to kidnap them, there would be nothing their parents could do. Anthros were majorly mistreated by the humans to the point where they aren't even near being equals. They could be brutally murdered and nobody would care.
"Where do you think you're going, kiddies?" A man in his mid-forties stepped out of a dark alleyway. His dark hair was matted and slimy, his clothes were in tatters, and his brown eyes shown with a cold emptiness. As he talked, Felix could see the man had exactly three teeth and some sort of gum disease.
"Home." Felix growled. The man chuckled.
"I'm sure them Brits would pay quite a few pretty pennies for your hides." He snickered. Felix brought Madeline closer to him in a protective gesture and whispered into her ear.
"When I say 'go'," He told her, "do what you do best. You climb, I'll run."
"What'cha sayin' boy? I can't hear ya." The man made a grab for Felix, but the nimble crimson fox avoided the move.
"GO!" He shouted. Madeline immediately turned to the nearest building and jumped. Years of climbing trees in the forest finally came to good use as the snow-white vixen skillfully climbed her way to the rooftops.
Felix, meanwhile, took off charging towards his house. From the sound of it, the man had decided to chase him instead of Madeline. That was a huge mistake on the man's part. Felix smiled as he put on a burst of speed and heard the man panting for breath, left behind in the trail of dust.
He didn't stop running until he made it to the edge of the village. When he finally stopped to take a breather, Madeline came trotting towards him.
"Let's not tell Mum and Dad about that." She said, barely out of breath. "I don't want them to get mad at us."
"Agreed." Felix huffed out.
Once he had recovered from his long sprint, Felix once again took hold of Madeline's paw and they continued towards their home.
"You're late." Frank Fox scolded his children as they approached the garden.
"Sorry Daddy, we lost track of time." Madeline told him. Frank sighed.
"Just don't let it happen again." He always had a soft spot for Madeline. She could get him to do pretty much anything. "Go head on inside, supper's almost ready." The kits nodded before running into the shack. Frank scratched at his scarlet fur and sighed.
This season wasn't turning out good for his crops. If the weather didn't change soon... He sighed again before making his way into the shack as well.
Francine Fox was just putting the final touches on the lamb stew she was making when the door creaked open. Inside walked her two children.
"Where have you been?" She asked. "Do you realize what time it is?"
"Sorry Mum, we got sidetracked." Francine rolled her eyes.
"Madeline, how many times have I told you that your sweet talk doesn't work on me?"
"About a million times." Felix answered. Madeline shot him a dark look.
"Go get your father and tell him that supper's done." At that moment, Frank walks into the room.
"Don't worry, I'm already done tending for today." Frank turns to his children. "Sit down." He orders. They sit down.
As Francine passes out the bowls of soup to her family, she catches Felix trying to take a spoon out of his stew already.
"Felix, we don't eat until after we pray." The kit growls and places the spoon down. The family hold their paws together and hold them up to their heads. Frank begins the prayer.
"O' Lord, blessed are we who-" A loud, sharp knock on the door stops the fox from continuing. Frank gets up and heads to the window to see who's at the door. When he opens the curtains, his face pales. "Kids," He said, "get in one of the cabinets."
Francine stands up and grabs the kits by the scruffs of their necks. She opens a cabinet door and ushers them inside before closing it and standing by the sink. Frank opens the door...
"Mr. Fox, I believe you have two children living in this residence, correct?" A British voice is heard by the trembling fox kits through the cabinet door.
"No, just me and my wife." They hear their father reply.
"If this is true, would you care to explain to me why there are four bowls on your table?" Silence lasts for about a minute before Frank replies.
"Get out." He said. "This is my property and you have no business here. Leave now."
"Is that so?" The British man didn't sound the least bit intimidated. "Very well then. Mr. Fitzgerald, could you kindly get this thing out of my way?" Seconds later, a bang is heard and then a thud.
"FRANK!" The kits hear their mother cry. Felix tightens his hold on Madeline as they hear the sickening sound of metal scraping against flesh and then two more thuds.
"Fitzgerald, Hillock, check the house. Check every nook and cranny. Find those children." Rummaging is heard as the men ransack the house. It takes them two minutes to reach the cabinet the kits are in. With a creak, the cabinet doors swing open and the kits are now face-to-face with Jeremy Fitzgerald, a blonde man with brilliant cerulean eyes. His red outfit didn't look quite right with the rest of his appearance.
"Found them!" He yelled as he plunges his hand in to grab the kits. In a fit of panic, Madeline bites Fitzgerald's hand, making him recoil slightly before he recovers and slaps the girl, hard. Felix starts to charge at the man, only to be knocked out cold with a single punch to the eye.
Madeline whimpers as she is pulled from the cabinet and placed in chains. The three British men chain Felix up the same way, and drag the kits outside. Along the way, the poor children are dragged past the corpse of their father, shot in the heart. Blood poured out of his every orifice. Madeline forces herself to look away. She was glad Felix wasn't awake to see this.
Once the kits were thrown outside, the British captain that had lead the others stood in thought. "I think we should send them a message, don't you Mr. Fitzgerald?" Jeremy nods.
Jeremy rushes inside the house. A crack is heard and the man returns with a leg from one of the chairs and a roundish object Madeline couldn't identify. Jeremy plants the leg into the ground and smushes the object onto the top of it.
As the kits are being dragged away, Madeline gathers up the courage to look back towards her home. When she does, she chokes back a sob. The last image of home she sees is her mother's head on a spike, her usually white fur stained blood-red...