14. Found Resolve

Red sat and watched, just as he had the previous five nights since it happened. Before him the two ghostly images of Scarlet and her new mate flickered and danced as they played out their roles on the cobbles of the street before him. Red hated these images, he hated them more than anything else in the world but there was simply nothing he could do. Every time he saw Scarlet lean over and nuzzle her new companion he felt a sudden shockwave of unpleasant feelings wrack his body. He couldn't breathe, it was as if his lungs were full of sand.

"Hurts right?" a familiar voice called out from behind, it was Scout. The image in Red's mind of Scarlet and Bold shattered, returning the cobblestone street to its dark and quiet norm.

"Maybe," replied Red, closing his eyes in an attempt steady his emotions.

"What's this, third, fourth night you've sat here?"

"Fifth," answered Red, his eyes still firmly closed.

"Is it getting any easier?" pursued Scout.

"Not really," answered Red.

"So, what are you going to do about it?"

Red's eyes blinked open and his head snapped around to face Scout. "What am I going to do about it?" he snorted "I'd considered bashing my head on that wall over there, maybe I'll get lucky and lose my memory again!"

Scout met Red's stare straight on. "Why do you keep coming here?"

Red turned away without answering, facing the empty street once again.

"Punishing yourself?" continued Scout.

"It's what I deserve," answered Red quietly.

"Is it?" said Scout scathingly as he drew alongside his older companion. "Because you left her?"

Red refrained from answering once again.

"You were scared!" Scout continued forcefully "we all make mistakes when we're scared."

"I don't..." started Red before trailing off.

"Don't what, make mistakes?"

Red shuffled uncomfortably. "Scare, at least not like that." An awkward silence followed, Red's answer had taken Scout somewhat by surprise. "All those times we fought together, all those life-or-death situations we faced, I did it all with nothing to lose," he looked across at Scout "what was I going to be afraid of?" Scout didn't reply, he realised this wasn't a question he was meant to answer. "I had no home, no friends, no family, nothing!" the beginnings of tears began to form in Red's eyes making them glisten in the moonlight. "I'm a blight, everything I touch, burns."

"What about Scarlet?" asked Scout "were you a blight to her?"

There was a long-protracted silence while Red digested this. "I don't know, yes? Maybe?"

"No," answered Scout "for a brave and fearless fox, you've certainly spent a lot of your life running away from things when they got difficult, your family, your friends, Scarlet and even yourself!"

Red didn't answer, he knew Scout was right, but he was finding it hard to admit it out loud.

"Follow her, find her and tell her exactly how sorry you are," urged Scout "until you force yourself to face up to the things you've done you'll never be free of the guilt."

Red knew Scout was right once again. "But how do I find her? I don't know where she's gone."

"White Deer Park," answered Scout quickly.

Red furrowed his brow. "How do you know that?"

"I know things, things about this town, things about those that live here," replied Scout.

"Like what?" asked Red.

Scout took a few paces away from Red and began looking in the direction of the graveyard. "There are some things you need to find out on your own."

Red could see in Scout's body language that he meant what he said and that trying to press the truth from his friend would get him nowhere. Red let out a sigh. "So how do I get to this White Deer Park?"

"I honestly don't know," replied Scout as he turned back to face Red "are you really serious about following her?"

Red thought for a moment before answering. "I promised a friend I would try."

"Then we need to find you a safe way out of this town," said Scout with a smile "only you're not going to like my plan for that."

Red rolled his eyes. "Have I ever liked your plans?"

"Face your past, go to the northern fox stronghold and give yourself up."

Red recoiled. "What? Are you mad? That's not a plan, that's suicide!"

Scout took a few paces in the direction of the town dump and looked back at Red. "Ask for a trial, they will have no option but to comply."

"And then what, hope for a quick execution?" said Red as he reluctantly followed.

A grin formed on Scout's face. "Hope for a lenient judge."

Scout led Red through the streets of the town to the outskirts at its northern edge, the pace was slow as Red was clearly reluctant to follow. He didn't know what to think, the plan seemed crazy but he had no other ideas to suggest. Scout drew to a halt at the last house before the town ended.

"You'll need to grab something white to hold up in front of you from this point out," said Scout as he looked over the fence into the garden of the house next to them.

"Why?" asked Red as he joined Scout at the edge of the garden.

"Because there will be sentries from this point on, they will attack on sight if you don't wave something white."

"I think this might be the worst plan you've ever come up with," said Red as he dropped down from the fence and walked back into the street. He looked out down the road into the darkness beyond, it sent a chill up his spine, the last time he had stood here he was just about to invade the Northern fox territory to draw them out so Chief could massacre those left behind.

"Aha! That will work!" said Scout loudly as he hopped the fence. He returned moments later with a small white towel hanging from his jaws. "Take this, no matter what happens keep it in your mouth until I tell you otherwise." Scout dropped the towel in front of Red and moved off towards the town boundary. Red picked up the towel in his mouth and followed, he'd only gone a couple of paces before Scout stopped. "Red? Don't do anything to antagonise anyone, okay? The northern foxes will do things to try and make you react so they can ignore their own laws, don't give them the opportunity." The two foxes took another couple of paces before Scout stopped again. "And try not to stare at anyone, they won't take kindly to that." Red closed his eyes and sighed before following again, after another couple of paces Scout drew to a halt for the third time. "And Red, best you don't say anything, let me do all the talking."

Red tried to respond by talking through the towel in his mouth, it acted like a gag and all Scout could hear were angry muffled noises. "Perfect!" exclaimed Scout as he moved off again chuckling to himself.

The journey to the dump was eerily silent, Scout had stopped the two foxes several times as if waiting for a signal to proceed before moving off again. Red tried to spot what he was looking at but all he could see were dark fields and roads. The pair reached the dump just as the sun began to rise, the gates were open and Red could make out rows and rows of foxes lining the track that led into the heart of the site, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, there was no backing out now.

Scout led Red through the gates and into the pack of animals beyond, as he did so the arrayed foxes began to bark and growl. Shouts of "Murderer!", "Monster!" and "Beast!" could be heard through the din. The two foxes made it halfway from the gate to the northern foxes' earth when Red spotted a young very angry looking vixen moving quickly towards them on the track ahead. As she neared the two foxes her pace quickened, Scout tried to intercept her however she was too quick and dodged past him. She swung a clawed front paw at Red, it caught him across his right eye. Slashing into his brow and raking across his snout. The force of the attack dragged Red's head down into the dirt and he hit his jaw hard on the floor. Luckily Red had made the decision to roll with the blow before it fell, this had all but saved the vision in his right eye. A cheer went up from the pack of foxes that now followed the pair. Scout moved quicker this time and he was on top of the vixen before she could do anything else, he motioned to the sides of the pack that followed and two large male foxes broke off and came to his call.

"Get her away from here, put her in confinement, I'll deal with her later!" shouted Scout to the two as they arrived. As the two foxes began dragging her away, she resisted violently, spitting in Red's direction before disappearing from view into one of the many tunnels that lined the embankment at the edge of the track.

Red dragged himself upright, his face burnt with pain and the vision in his right eye had a reddish hew to it. Scout peered closely at Red putting his paw on his shoulder, he looked down at the towel Red carried, the right side was now crimson in colour and dripped blotches of blood on the dirt below. "I'm sorry Red, I didn't see that coming, remember, don't react, it's what they want!" Scout smiled at Red before turning and confronting the crowd behind.

"Listen to me!" Scout shouted into the group, the chanting and growling continued. "Quiet!" he shouted once more, this time in a commanding tone Red had never heard come from the young animal before, the gathering immediately quietened down to a whisper. "You are all in direct violation of the laws passed down by your forefathers and foremothers. You will disperse or I will direct the leadership to take action against each and every one of you!" The crowd began to murmur. "I know all of you, you are all better than this! The prisoner has handed himself in as per the laws of our land, and you have all acted against them. An embarrassment to all of us, now disperse!"

It took a moment but eventually the pack of foxes began to shrink until only a handful remained. Red recognised the remaining few, they were some of the scarred foxes that chased him from Scarlet's parents earth. Their eyes were fixed on him, every movement he made they followed like hawks. Red knew he had no chance if he tried to run or fight, all he could do was trust Scout had a way out.

"This way, we are almost there, just hold it together," said Scout as he nudged Red onwards with his shoulder. Red took a deep breath, his mind urged him to strike out at those around him, make them feel the pain he currently felt. It took all his will power to push the anger down and walk on after Scout.

The two foxes eventually reached the end of the track, ahead of them lay the heart of the northern fox stronghold, a large, interconnected foxes earth built into a grass topped mound at the far edge of the dump. Outside of the earth on top of a rusted flat-topped piece of machinery stood 3 elderly looking foxes and a young vixen. Scout stepped forwards and dropped his head briefly, "I've brought him here as we discussed." Red bit down on the towel in his mouth and let out a low pitch growl, had Scout set him up?

The vixen noticed Red's agitation, she dropped from the machinery and approached. "What happened to him?" she asked as she drew closer, raising a paw the vixen lifted the blood-soaked side of the towel that hung from Red's mouth.

"He was attacked inside the gates", said Scout "I'll deal with it."

The vixen nodded. "So, your real name is Red? This world is full of strange coincidences," said the vixen "that was my brothers name." Red couldn't help but notice the emphasis she put on the word was. The vixen paused for a moment before continuing as if lost in thought. "Do you understand why you are here?" she continued as she examined the towel and the wound on his face. Red looked to Scout briefly before nodding his head slowly.

"Our laws are there to protect all, northern foxes or not," she continued "equally they are there to punish where a crime is committed." The vixen moved her paw away from the towel and let it drop back down, her vision shifted and she looked Red directly in the eyes. "You will face trial for the crimes you are accused of, prove you are innocent, and you may go in peace, fail and you will face judgement here."

The vixen turned and walked back to her companions. "Everything you require to defend yourself will be provided, take him below."

The scarred foxes that had followed Red and Scout from the gate stepped forwards from the edge of the track and moved to surround the two foxes.

"I've got this," said Scout as he tried to place himself between the approaching foxes and Red. The foxes continued to surround them, they began pushing Red forward towards one of the entrances of the earth. "Stay where you are Red, I said I've got this!"

The leader of the group stopped and looked at Scout. "We heard you the first time, just didn't care for the instruction."

Scout looked up briefly at the elder foxes for support, they were silent, almost as if waiting to see how he would handle things. Scout let out an exhausted sigh. "Last time I'm going to ask nicely, move away and return home."

The scarred fox leader let out a snorted chuckle. "And leave this thing on our land to run wild?"

"If that's what I tell you to do then yes," said Scout, "or do we have to start judgement proceedings against you too?" Scout drew up close to the lead fox. "I know all of your transgressions during the war," continued Scout in a whispered voice. The encircling foxes stopped and looked at their leader, he paused for a moment his eyes locked with Scout's, eventually indicating with his head for them to leave. Scout watched them depart and disappear from view before turning back to Red. "Now we go." Red couldn't help but notice a crooked smile on his companion's face.

Scout led Red through one of the side entrances into the northern foxes' earth. Just inside was a small chamber with two tunnels leading off to the left and right that appeared to curve around the edge of the mound. Ahead was a third exit flanked by a large stone boulder that was just about the same size as the opening it stood next too. Scout stopped in the middle of the floor. "And here we are, we made it!" he turned to Red, a beaming smile on his face. Red sat expressionless, the blood-soaked towel still hanging from his jaws.

"Sorry, I might have forgotten about that," said Scout as he stepped forward to look at Red's wounds in more detail, the bleeding appeared to have mostly stopped however Scout recognised the injury as one that would leave permanent scars. "Looks terrible, but let's be honest your face has always been that way," Scout chuckled "you can drop that now." Scout motioned at the towel in Red's mouth.

Red spat the towel onto the floor and then used his body to push the younger fox away. "You set me up!" there was real anger in Red's voice.

"No I didn't!" replied Scout "why would you think that?"

"Out there," Red pointed a paw at the entrance to the earth "you told them you brought me as discussed!"

Scout nodded his head. "Yes I did, because that is what I told them I would do, it's what I told you I was going to do!"

Red sat motionless, his eyes drifted down to the floor.

"Do you trust me?" asked Scout.

"I don't exactly have much option, do I?" replied Red.

"Then stop moaning and let's get this finished!" Scout beckoned Red over to the exit flanked by the large boulder "inside."

Red peered through the exit, a small almost pitch-dark chamber lay beyond with no exits other than the one he stood in front of. "What am I meant to do in there?"

"Wait," said Scout "I'm not going to lie, this part is going to get uncomfortable."

Red shook his head and made his way inside. "Well that is going to make a change, I've been so comfortable up until now, I don't know how I'm going to cope!"

Scout waited until Red was inside before taking a few steps backwards and barking a command down each of the other exits of the chamber he sat in. A large well-built fox emerged from each of the exits and made their way over to the boulder. They then proceeded to slowly push the rock sideways until it blocked all but a small opening at the top of the chamber's exit. Red sat and watched in horror as he came to the realisation that he was being imprisoned for the third time in his life.

"Remember, just do what they say, don't react!" said Scout as he stepped up to the boulder, pulling himself up onto it with his front paws so he could look inside at Red. The small amount of light that bled inside was only just enough to light up Red's eyes, Scout could see the fear and anger behind them. Red didn't answer, he held Scouts stare for a moment before turning and disappearing into the gloom of the chamber he was now trapped in.