Continued from Chapter 55
It was Nick's turn to sleep. It was beginning to get colder, and he and Judy had a system now. Being nocturnal, Nick would keep watch during the dead of night while Judy slept, and as soon as she awoke, it would be his turn to sleep. This strategy had gotten them out of many problems, and they'd been getting very good at avoiding approaching Reptavians. There was a close call here or there, but nothing they couldn't handle. Judy found herself sometimes cuddling up to Nick while he slept, and he likewise indulged in this when she slept. It was getting colder, so they had the excuse of the warmth, but Judy took it to reaffirm their trust in each other. Or was it anything more than that?
Bright one morning, Nick was fast asleep while Judy heard rustling in the foliage around her. Her ears perked up instantly and her nose began to twitch. She rose to her feet, her hands close to her hips, feeling for her long daggers. One was serrated and made from the longest rib of a fresh Racer Reptavian that she had very recently killed with Nick, and the other slightly larger and smoother one was wrought from the red talon of a Reaper Reptavian.
"Nick, wake up!" Judy hissed. "Get up!"
There was a small roar as at least a dozen spears suddenly burst through the foliage with the foxes holding them on the other end yelling at them. Nick's ears perked and he quickly leaped to his feet.
Cutting his roar short, a somewhat pudgy fox with a smattering of unkempt brown hair raised his eyebrow. "Nick, is that you?"
"Uh, yes," Nick said, gesturing them for peace with one hand and covering a yawn with the other. "I am indeed me, Gideon. Now, you all, lower your spears." Several did, but some foxes still held them up.
"What are you doing with a bunny?" Gideon asked suspiciously, motioning to her with his spear.
"Oh, we've been roughing it for awhile," Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Kind of off-again, on-again looking for you guys, actually."
"Look!" Another fox pointed at Nick's intimidating-looking, red-tinted poleaxe weapon. "He's got a weapon made from the talon of a Reaper!"
"By the Celestials, you're right!" Gideon looked amazed at this. "Hey, that's too big for just a talon... that isn't it's tail-blade, is it?"
"It sure is," Nick smirked, testing his weapons weight in his hands.
"You two didn't... take down a Reaper by yourselves, did you?" A female fox gasped in astonishment.
"Well doesn't it certainly seem that way?" Nick asked smugly.
"Those things are extraordinarily violent!" Gideon shook his head. "No way even a dozen foxes could take down a Reaper. We'd all get slaughtered in one move!"
"If you want to know the truth," Judy piped up suddenly. "We happened upon an injured one and stalked it, injuring it while it slept and draining its stamina. Eventually we secured the kill and made some weapons from its sharp bits. We had nothing to weave its black scales or violet feathers together with, or we'd be wearing new clothes, too!"
The foxes looked dumbfounded at Judy. "I don't know whats more crazy, that story or the fact that you can speak pretty good foxish!" Gideon marveled. "C'mon you two, let's go talk to the Tribe Leader!"
"Ugh, this again?" Judy looked at Nick in annoyance.
"Well hey, at least my tribe isn't pointing spears at us," Nick smirked. Indeed, the rest of the spears came up as the members of Nicks fox tribe led them to their settlement. The settlement in question almost looked like a work in progress. Judy saw foxes actively pitching tents and working on wooden walls. Nick frowned. "Must have been another recent attack. Sometimes I wonder if the Celestials just hate us."
"The foxes would have done better if we were here," Judy smirked.
"Brave words," Gideon said. "Now let's see what our chief thinks." Gideon slipped into a tent only barely more decorated than the others, and their chief came out. About the only thing that looked different about him compared to the other foxes was his green head covering with a single red feather from a Racer adorning it. Looking at him, the red fox in question looked only slightly taller than Nick, maybe two inches, and he wore a quiver on his back with arrows tipped with the dried plumage of a rainbow of different Reptavian feathers.
"Nick, good to see you still breathing!" The chief said merrily. He held out his hands as if he was going to hug him, but kept his distance.
Nick shrugged. "You as well, Tribe Leader Robin."
Robin clapped his hands and rubbed them. "So! Who is this we have here, a bunny?" Robin scoffed, placing a hand beneath his chin delicately and looking at her. "Gideon tells me a crazy tale of you two stalking and killing a Reaper!"
"That is what happened, more or less," Nick nodded. "We do have the armaments to prove it."
Robin held up his hands in caution and shook his head. "Now now, you may have just carved them off of a dead one. It wouldn't be the first time you've embellished the truth, Nick." Nick twisted his muzzle, but Robin was correct. Judy glared at Nick in distaste. "Wait, does the bunny understand our language?"
"I both understand it and speak it," Judy said proudly. "Nick is an excellent and patient teacher."
"Huh!" Robin smirked. "You two just get more and more fascinating. Well, I've got good news for you." He clapped three times, and a large brown bear exited a tent and walked over to them. "I've decided to expand our little tribe to include members of other species. This guy here we call Little John."
"Hi," the bear said simply with a blank face and waved at the two. Judy and Nick stared way up at him.
"'Little' John?" Nick asked in a tiny voice.
"Hi," John nodded.
"That's about all he can say in foxish," Robin chuckled. "And he's kind of small for a brown bear, hence his name." The bear was still about twice the size of even Robin.
"So, are you saying Judy and I can join the tribe?" Nick asked.
"You can, you've always been welcome here," Robin smirked, but then he flippantly waved his hand in Judy's direction. "However, I don't see what use we have for a bunny. She's tiny! Takes a cloud of them to do anything."
Judy's brow furrowed in irritation and she felt her hands opening and closing dangerously close to her daggers.
"But, I'm nothing if not a sporting fox," Robin chuckled. "Our tribe's been thinning, scattered by those blasted Reptavians. On one hand we've been lucky we haven't lost too many; on the other I feel like our tribe's one disaster away from falling apart. So! I believe a test of skill for the little rabbit is in order. Oh, Marian?" The Tribe Leader's vixen mate peeked her head out of his tent.
"Yes, love?" Marian called sweetly.
"Could you and John set up a test of skill for this little bunny here?" Robin asked. "Ah, and fetch my bow."
"Of course, dear," Marian smiled, and came out in some rather fetching purple-dyed leather clothes.
"That is, of course..." Robin flashed a wicked grin. "If you accept, dear small gray bunny." He held out his paw.
Judy looked cautiously over at Nick, who seemed somewhat alarmed, but Judy steeled her expression and shook his paw. "I do accept."
Foxes from all over the tribe gathered to the location of the test. At the far end of the wall of the encampment, a single target was set up. Marian pleasantly arranged it to be just so after John made sure it was stuck firmly into the ground on its supports, and the two retreated from it.
"Now, bunny!" Robin said with an adventurous edge in his voice. He drew his bow and notched an arrow that had a purple feather on it. "Stand no further than this point." Robin stood on it and marked it with an X with a foot claw. "And hit the center of that target way over yonder." He released his arrow and it sailed cleanly into the center of the target. "In one try."
John ambled over to the target and removed the arrow so it wouldn't be wasted, bringing it back to Robin. Judy stood on the X.
"All right!" Judy said courageously. She knew she wasn't as good of a shot as Nick, but she was preparing herself for her best shot. She held a paw out expectantly. "Let me have the bow."
"I'm sorry?" Robin tilted his head up and smirked. "This is my bow. Don't you have your own?" He chuckled, and Marian giggled a little.
"I... do not," Judy blinked. "How am I supposed to take this test without a bow?"
"How, indeed!" Robin chuckled. "Though I'm sorry, if you can't hit that target I'm afraid you're unfit for our tribe..."
Many of the foxes around her began to laugh and jeer at her.
"Dumb bunny!"
"Classic! Tribe Leader Robin pulls off the best pranks!"
"Look at her! I wonder if she's gonna cry?"
"Ha ha! That was a good one," Gideon slapped at his knee. "Just like a non-fox to agree to terms they don't know anything about!"
Judy stood her ground and balled her fists.
"What's the matter, bunny?" Gideon smirked. "Too proud to run? You fail this test! There's nothing you can do!"
Judy shot a look over to Nick, and her eyes widened in surprise at his expression. It was one of determination and encouragement. He was also making a bunch of confusing and indecipherable hand signs. A brief flash of bewilderment ran over Judy, but in an instant, she thought she understood what sort of message he was trying to desperately convey.
THHK!
The jeering and laughing stopped instantly. Sunk dead in the middle of the target was a long dagger made from the talon of a Reaper. Judy slowly lowered her paw, a grim look on her face. Silence fell over the foxes; they were too scared to even murmur.
Robin walked over plainly to the dagger and pulled it out of the target. He turned back and he was still smiling his almost interminable, coy smile.
"Cleverness!" The foxes voice rang out to the tribe, who had his rapt attention. He wiggled the dagger in his hand. "Resourcefulness! Oh and of course, skill." He tested the weight of the dagger. "Excellent qualities we associate with foxes." He walked over to Judy, bent over, and carefully offered her the very sharp dagger back. She betrayed a smile, accepted it, and sheathed it. "Also, excellent qualities for members of this tribe. What do you say?"
"I accept!" Judy said boldly. There was cheering. Judy shot a smug look over to Nick, who just seemed relieved.
"Oo de lally!" Robin shouted out.
"Oo de lally!" The foxes mirrored.
"We must have finally done something right," Marian smiled at Judy. "Not only have we recovered one of our own tribe members back from the lost, but have gained a brave new one."
"Golly, what a day! Mm, we should have a celebration tonight!" Robin grabbed for John's paw and shook it. John grinned and shook his hand enthusiastically, causing Robin's body to shake a bit before he calmed the bear down.
"No argument from me, dear," Marian chuckled.
"Well, you really wanna give up the duo act, Judy?" Nick said, walking over to her and rubbing her shoulder.
"These guys seem okay," Judy smirked. She shook her head. "And we've had to do enough running from those monsters. I think it's nice to belong to a group like this as well. That way, if there is a major threat from a Reptavian, we all work together to topple it."
Nick nodded in approval. "Gotta say, it's good to be back." He patted Gideon on the back. "Even though I'm pretty sure I thought you'd be eaten by now."
"Yeah, yeah," Gideon smirked, looking at Judy. "I guess you're pretty smart, for a dumb bunny."
Judy smiled haughtily. "I guess I am."