The Adventures
Of Vix The Fox
By Tree Wyrm
Dedication
This Skyrim short fanfiction story is dedicated to my brother Baggins on his Birthday, set in the realm of Skyrim and home of my original character – Wyrmsong Waterfell, a white-haired, dark-skinned Dunmer who is in love (and accompanied always by) Erandur from the Nightcaller temple quest.
Baggins, you asked for a story telling more about Vix, Lucia's pet grey fox and I have delivered. I hope you like it.
Thanks are due to Bethesda, who own all rights to intellectual property herein, for making a game that managed to inspire me to write. Incidentally it's 'Vix' on the games wiki, not Vex, but you only find out the name of the fox if it dies which is a bit mean! So I'm sticking with 'Vix', may she live a long and happy life.
"Vix!"
That was the strange bark that the small, pale skinned biped with light brown mane usually made. It was a bark that the little fox had come to know as it asking (specifically) for her to come closer.
It was a bit like the call of a bird, crossed with the call of a Horker pup (which Little fox recalled was very tough to eat) – well that's what it sounded like when the small bipeds made that sound.
It wasn't the small biped though. It didn't have that softness to it, and rather had a coarseness instead more like the 'caw' of a crow with an upwards inflection in tone.
That, the little fox surmised, was a bad sound.
The little fox turned its head and its ears went back: trouble was standing in the doorway in a big lot of black shell that this particular larger biped often wore, dark and glistening red in parts and extra scarily spiky. It had (dark grey) fur on its (light grey) face which did nothing for its handsomeness (bipeds were mostly naked ugly things without their shells), and it had blood-red eyes peering through its dark grey mane that matched the blood-red on its shell.
If that wasn't scary enough, those eyes squinted into a most frightening scowl.
It was in this moment that the little fox recalled that although she had been brought to this constructed cave, was well fed and regularly petted by the white-skinned smaller bipeds – sometimes even by the dark skinned adult biped that didn't have fur on its face (who seemed to be the Horker bull of the group if you could think about it that way)…
That there seemed to be some territories within this cave (for which no scent markers she could recognise were left to draw the boundaries of), but that nonetheless constituted places of trespass should she be found in them.
...Or (this was particularly bizarre) on them.
With canted ears, the little fox realised that in this instant, it might be an 'on them'. Eyes wide in terror, the little fox leapt off the (very comfortable) grass green woven straw raised nest that the larger bipeds seemed to sleep on in this part of the cave, and fled.
There were still angry sounds coming from that portion of the cave as she skidded her paws (more pad, less claws!) around the corner. She passed the strange skin-bound leaves stacked in the polished tree bark and scurried onwards over the skins of far larger animals (this always gave her a shudder when she thought about it, for from them she had determined that these bipeds were capable of easily killing far larger beasts than she!).
Yet more angry sounds followed from the cave area around the corner. Little fox had learned two things in her time here about those sounds. One: unlike a natural cave carved from the mountain, she could hear sound through the sides. Two: if she heard more than one of those sounds and both were scary, it was time to run and hide!
Little fox found her heart pounding when she heard yet another angry bark join the other one. That was The Bull! The Bull (which wore a scary green shell with an extra part that usually covered its head and its otherwise white mane) was making angry noises too now.
Her heart sank as she remembered: she had needed to poo earlier when she woke up and nobody would let her out, so she'd… found a wooden box under the nest and done it in there. Little fox winced: The Bull did get especially scary when she did a poo somewhere that wasn't outside...
"Lucia I told you to keep an eye on that little fox of yours! It's been all over the bed, and...Gaw! It's pooed under the bed! You come and clean this up RIGHT NOW!"
Little fox whimpered with worry: Now the smaller biped who was usually the one who pet and fed her was joining in. That one also sounded angry, angry like that time when they had just come to live here, and little fox had marked her territory around the nest of that one because it was her favourite biped and she didn't know how else to make the point.
"I didn't know she even went in there! I went looking for berries – it's... It's Sofie's fault! Sofie said she'd look after her! Sofie should clean it up! Not me!"
Little fox couldn't understand their barks but knew from the tone that things were bad. She wasn't about to wait and find out what the bipeds would do if they caught her. She'd already heard the sounds that seemed to symbolise the identities of each of the other bipeds and when that happened it usually meant no food, no petting, and grabby hands that might shake her if they caught her (or eat her one day?! She seriously worried about it).
Little fox ran as fast as her paws could carry her. She dodged the dog (this at least was not hard, the dog was quite stupid!) on the stairs and ran between its legs to the sound of it barking after her as she did so. It was then she came face to face with a great troll to whom the bipeds had given shells to as well as themselves, and it roared at her fit to stop her heard that very instant!
That monster would definitely have eaten her by now if she'd been left alone with it, she was certain of it, so in fear of her very life she dodged its muscular white-furred arms, and there was a clatter behind her that put even more of a spring to her steps as she pelted towards the entrance of the cave. She begged for it to be open already – a mistake the bipeds did not normally make – but she was shocked and overwhelmingly relieved to find it opening just as she sprinted towards it.
"Oh! Stupid fox!"
It was the other smaller biped's voice – the one with whiter skin and the long dark brown mane had returned! And that one already didn't like her much… So the little fox dodged its white bony fingers as it's long brown mane fell down like a curtain of rain. She dashed through that and under the red flowing skin that wrapped around its legs as she saw finally her opportunity for safety: escape!
She ran, and ran… In absolute terror she past the astonishingly gigantic biped that loitered near the constructed cave. That one never came inside and usually it wasn't this close to the cave but of course it would be today, wouldn't it?! It tried to splat her with the rock it swung about from its shoulder but – praise her sleek pelt – little fox was far too quick for it!
So onwards she sprinted, past the tree stump and the cracked wood, past the dust bath where humans dug up the soil, past the trees and into the wilds where she had never before been.
It was only as the sun began to set and she had slowed to a canter that little fox realised she was quite, quite alone. She also didn't know this place, or even where she was relative to from whence she had come.
There was no soft warm nest to lay in. There were no delicious slabs of food to eat. There was nobody to stroke her ears and comfort her in her fear. Her whole world as she had known it was back in that cave, and now she was lost.
She couldn't go back anyway, she surmised with a whine. The bipeds were too scary! Eventually she huddled down when she got just too tired to walk anymore, but she was no longer used to the sounds of the outside, and it was very difficult to sleep. She also began to wonder if maybe there were things out here that were even more frightening than could be found in the constructed cave…
Her ears twitched. In the distance she thought she heard voices of the bipeds… So she got up and scurried further onwards as far as she could bear, but she was really so, so tired (she didn't think she got very far).
Her paws ached – she had never run for so long. Her belly grumbled – she had never gone hungry for so long. She had run out into the open where the wind bit at her nose and snow fell from the sky, and she had never been so cold.
Little fox whimpered quietly to herself to be so alone, so lost, and so scared, but she was just too exhausted to move anymore. so she lay down in a hump of grass on the edge of an icy pool, and slipped into sleep…
In her sleep she thought she heard the bipeds again. Their voices were more like whimpers. They sounded sad, and lost and lonely too. They called and called, and she thought she smelled food – and she was so awfully hungry. She thought about the constructed cave and how it had always been warm and dry. She thought about the fact that food might be waiting there. She wondered if she might ever have someone stroke her ears so gently ever again. Did wild foxes have people to stroke their ears? She thought not, and sighed mournfully.
When she later awoke for the first time fully, it was not to the sound of bipeds.
A shadow had passed over her, blotting out the morning sun for long enough to send a shiver down her spine. Whatever it was, it had been big.
Moments later as her eyes sprang open, she heard the most frightening roar she had ever heard as a great scaled monster swooped by and then – to her even greater terror – spewed forth fire from its terrible mouth! Several hapless mudcrabs across the pond were reduced to charred corpses, and little fox urgently feared she might be next!
It was then she heard the bipeds again, but this time she was absolutely sure it was them. She spun her head to look where her ears told her to find them, and saw them – just as the flying terror turned and headed straight for them!
The smaller ones fled as the larger ones shouted far louder and angrier than she had ever heard them shout before. Little fox found she couldn't even move – she was frozen to the spot as she watched them not run away but rather towards this horrifying monster! The Bull wielded a great green leaf that gleamed in the sunlight, and the other one a great carved bone on a long stick, and they swung at the monster as it breathed fire, landing right in front of them.
"Vix!"
She heard then the voice of the kindest small biped, and for the first time in her life the little fox actually feared not for herself, but that little biped. She found herself identifying the biped as mother or littermate, and in any case: someone with whom safety might be sought. A split second later and she was darting towards the origin of the voice through the long grasses but then…
"Lucia?!" - The Bull was shouting and there was desperation and almost a whimper of fear in that.
The little fox was spinning around to see why but 'why' was already upon her as the ground shook and a growl that reverberated right through her very bones came from above – through the terrifying toothed maw of the monster itself!
It's eyes were of spite and malice and little fox cowered before her inevitable doom… She shut her eyes and flinched, expecting to be gobbled up in that very instant…
Except she wasn't!
Her eyes still squinted shut she found herself being scooped up, not wounded, then the next she knew she felt herself being carried... She dared open an eye, realising from the brief whiff of a familiar scent that the small biped had her in its arms and was running! Little fox was so glad, so very glad to be held… but the monster– where was the–
-The monster let loose a terrible roar, and it became clear that it had no intention of letting either of them escape. The biped tripped and then they tumbled. Little fox scrambled to her feet only in time to look up in horror as the monster glared down upon them with another thunderous crash as it landed – over them. It's breath was fetid and hot as forest fire! It reared its head for another intake of breath, and little fox could do nothing but stare up at this winged terror – she had already seen what it would do when it let loose that breath and thought for sure they were toasted mudcrab this time!
Little fox turned to the small biped, and whimpered for them both in deepest sorrow. The biped was crying like a newborn, and little fox saw them reach hopelessly for her to try to shield her, as fire enveloped them and set flame to all around them with unbearable heat…
...But wait… They were not burning?!
Little fox had braced herself again, eyes tightly shut, muscles locking herself into the tightest little ball she could make and she had been even more certain that this time was the end of her life for sure. When it didn't come, she opened her eyes to see the spiky black-and-red shelled back of the grey-maned larger biped crouched between them and the monster! The world around it shimmered in a smooth round shape that parted the fiery breath of the monster either side and away from them – it had saved them!
Then, as if from out of nowhere she heard a terrible noise that really made her think another of those winged terrors had come! Her heart stopped as she tracked its origin with dread almost too much to bear…
Except it wasn't another monster: it was... The Bull?! The Bull's bark turned into a forceful gust that knocked the reptilian mudcrab-toaster off balance! Then with surprising agility for a biped, it leapt onto the head of the monster and plunged its shiny sharpened leaf into its eye socket over and over until finally the monster shuddered and dropped its head to the ground, spasming in its death throws.
The little fox was once again too scared to even move, frozen to the spot as it stared up at the black-shelled biped. To her surprise it turned kind eyes towards her and gently scooped her up into its arms. A warm, pale yellow light came then from its hands and she found herself feeling safe, and warm, and the sprained paw she hadn't even noticed until then she had, seemed to stop hurting completely.
The other larger biped scooped up the small biped and they were then she and them both carried by the big ones. The little fox buried her head in the facial fur of the one that carried her, closed her eyes, and shut out all else in the world, dazed and exhausted and quite suddenly asleep – safe and shielded from the bitter wind and wholly glad of it.
Her ears twitched and she stirred from time to time when the full-grown bipeds barked softly to each other, and the other smaller biped added their voice from time to time as they went along.,Little fox nevertheless did not open her eyes even once, not until she heard the familiar sound of the cave opening and closing.
Her eyes opened and darted about, and her nose twitched at the familiar scents abounding. Was that food she could smell..?!
She was passed from one biped to the other, and to her great surprise The Bull – who had since taken off its shiny green and golden shell – showed her tender affection and fussed her head. It held her and cooed softly at her.
Little fox thought back through the night to the day before, and found she felt really rather bad about the poo then. She earnestly wanted to make sure she did it somewhere else next time. Somewhere they would be happy with it, instead of mad.
Finally after all the bipeds had cleaned themselves and their shells, she was carried past the troll (who who was pre-occupied, playing with some strange thing that vaguely resembled a miniature biped), set down next to where her food was usually provided, and found that there was even more of it than usual! She gulped it down heartily, realising she'd missed many meals in her time outside, and then gulped down some water that had been left nearby for her.
As soon as she was done, the little fox found herself once again scooped up this time by her favourite biped – the smaller one with light brown mane. That one took her to curl up in its lap next to the fire. Safe and warm, little fox sighed with contentment to have her ears gently stroked once more.
She was very relaxed. Very relaxed Indeed. In fact she was very near falling asleep when she realised, with a nonetheless quite unavoidable apprehension:
She needed to do a poo.
Author note:
Cover image of 'Vix' modified by myself (Tree Wyrm) in GIMP from the original screenshot by TombRaiser posted to the Elder Scrolls fandom wiki webpage for Vix (I'd post a link but fanfiction won't let me!).