17. Found Lost

It had been more than a year since Red had left the northern fox earth, he was weary beyond belief. He'd travelled far and wide searching for the place called White Deer Park. He'd crossed motorways, railway lines, poisoned farmland, towns and cities. He'd travelled in all directions doubling back more than once as he tried to navigate based on word of mouth alone. Worst of all he had been constantly pursued by a group of northern foxes the entire journey, never getting a moment to think or plan where to go next.

It was the middle of the day and Red found himself trapped on some farmland, the sky was unusually dark and there was a stiff wind blowing that was strong enough to strip the leaves from the trees. Red was currently hidden inside a hedge at a boundary line between two fields. Ahead of him in the centre of the field were two men with their dogs, they had guns and appeared to be out hunting. The area was rife with pheasants, Red assumed this is what they were looking for. Behind him combing the area he'd already been were the scarred foxes from the northern fox stronghold. He could see two of them at the far reaches of the field behind him, the others were likely close by. Red lifted himself up, pausing halfway as he let out a stifled groan. The northern foxes had caught up to him once before, he'd fought his way out however it had left him with a set of deep claw marks across his left flank, reopening the wound he had received in the test lab. He willed himself through the pain and got to his paws, he was surrounded by two different enemies, he knew the only way out was to try and pit them against each other. He slipped through the bushes and out into the field the scarred foxes occupied. He needed to get their attention without alerting the men and the dogs or giving the foxes in the field the appearance that he knew they were there. Red looked straight ahead and began walking the horizontal length of the field following the hedge row. Out of the corner of his eye he could just about see one of the foxes, he made it to the middle of the hedge row before it noticed him, he could see the fox gesture to its partner on the other side of the field. Ahead of Red was a break in the hedgerow where an open gate stood, he needed the foxes to get closer. He slowed his pace slightly, if this was going to work he needed them to be unable to escape. Red crossed over the threshold of the open gate just as the two foxes were almost in striking distance. He stopped and held his head in the air and barked as loudly as he could before immediately throwing himself into the continuing hedgerow just beyond the gate. Shortly after two shots rang out, looking back through the leaves of the hedge Red saw one of the two foxes fall down, the dogs in the field began to bark and Red could hear the patter of their paws as they drew closer. Red forced himself forwards as quickly as he could, covering the remaining hedgerow and proceeding field at a pace he wasn't aware he had in him. As he burst through the hedgerow at the end of the second field he heard another set of shots, he instinctively looked back, they were not for him. Red was panting hard and his side burnt with pain, he knew the remaining foxes would catch up with him again if he didn't keep going, Red forced himself on. Ahead was a wide dirt track that looked like it hadn't been used in a while, the ground was soft and wet which made the going slow. The wind had continued to pick up and it was now strong enough that Red felt himself begin to get pushed around by it. The track led gently uphill where at its crest it entered a small wooded area before splitting into two. Red stopped for a moment to try and decide which direction to go. As he did, he noticed something odd in the middle of the track, he moved forwards to take a closer look.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you! Caw!" called a voice from above.

Red looked up, there was a crow sitting in a tree above him. "What is it?"

"Caw! It's a trap. You don't want to put a paw in there," answered the Crow.

Red looked closer at the device, it looked like a set of open teeth that appeared to grow out of the ground.

"Or maybe he should? It would do us all a favour!" growled a voice from the direction Red had just come. Red turned his head and backed up slightly, the scarred foxes had caught up with him again. Red was outnumbered and in no condition to fight so he turned to run down the track in one of the two other directions. He checked his run almost immediately, both routes were guarded by more of the scarred foxes, he was trapped.

"That's two more friends I lost today because of you!" said the scarred fox leader as he closed on Red.

"Was following me worth it?" answered Red.

"It will be," said the scarred fox leader "all together, he doesn't escape this time!"

Red gritted his teeth ready for the attack however something odd in his peripheral vision took his attention away from the incoming fight. Away in the middle distance just beyond the treetops was something he didn't understand, there was an object in the air that shouldn't be there. A shed from one of the human dens spun and floated high in the air before being cast down hard into the ground and shattering to pieces. Red looked closer at the sky, there were all sorts of objects in the air being thrown around. Instinctively Red slammed his claws into the ground to try and brace himself. The other foxes present were too late to notice the change in the weather and the arrival of the hurricane.

The hurricane winds smashed into the trees at the top of the hill like a battering ram. Leaves and branches swirled everywhere, Red felt his back paws begin to loosen from the ground as the winds tried to rip him free and toss him into the air. The other foxes around him had all disappeared, only he and the trap directly in front of him remained. It hadn't moved at all, still fixed exactly where it had always been. Red felt the winds strengthen and his grip on the ground weaken again, he knew he couldn't stay grounded on his own. Red removed his front right paw from the ground and reached it forwards into the trap. The mechanism triggered instantly, Red let out a horrendous roar of pain as the metal teeth of the trap sunk into his leg, he lost consciousness.

When Red awoke he found himself in a totally alien landscape. The trees had all but disappeared leaving just ripped out stumps, the track was completely covered with leaves and branches, there were no signs of the northern foxes. It was then Red registered the pain in his right leg, brushing away the debris from the top of the trap Red took a look at the damage. The trap was still tight around his leg, he could feel the cold teeth of the device continue to bite into his flesh, he let out another cry of pain.

"No point doing that! Caw!" said the crow "only attract more undesirables."

Red was panting hard by now as he tried to cope with the pain, he shot the crow a stare that could have frozen hell.

"Caw! Bite down on one of those!" called the crow as it gestured to some of the loose branches. Red took one of them in his mouth and bit down.

"Good, good, Caw!" said the crow as it hopped over to the trap "brave to do what you did, Caw! Look the other way, these traps can cause nasty eye injuries." Red turned his head away from the trap and closed his eyes, there was a mechanical click followed by a metallic spring, Red felt the pressure release on his leg. He opened his eyes and turned around to look. The little black bird was sat next to the trap, a tiny stick in its beak. Red flexed his paw, it hurt immensely but he could still move it. "How did you do that?"

The crow spat the stick from its beak. "Like anything, caw! Practice! Seen others of your kind get caught by these! Useful skill! Caw!"

"Other foxes?" asked Red.

"Caw! Friends of mine! Caw!" replied the crow as he nodded.

Red sat up and tried putting weight on his front right paw, he let out a snort of pain before thinking better of it. "You have friends that are foxes?"

"Caw! Not that unusual, is it? I know you have friends that are birds!" said the crow.

"How do you know that?" asked Red in surprise.

"The Boss, caw!" said the crow "sent a message out, find the black fox, help the black fox!"

Red shook his head and smiled. "He's always sticking a beak in somewhere, I don't suppose you know how to get to White Deer Park?"

"Caw!" the crows eyes lit up "you seek the animals of Farthing Wood? Know them!"

"You're kidding me!" replied Red "White Deer Park is the sanctuary from that fairy story?"

"Not a fairy story, really happened! You'll see!" said the crow.

The cogs in Red's mind started to turn and soon he had calculated what that all meant. Scarlet's mate Bold was one of the animals of Farthing Wood, he had to be. That's what he had meant about his blood and the reason Scarlet wanted to have her cubs there.

"Got close, was good try, almost there!" continued the crow as it flapped its wings and flew into the air before landing on top of Red's head. "That way, caw!" The crow pointed a wing towards the left fork in the track.

"And now I have another bird on my head," said Red out loud to himself as he began to hobble in the direction the crow had pointed.