The fox girl studied the worn surface of the inn table, trying to both enjoy her drink and avoid prying eyes. Coincidentally, the drink was also the first thing in long time that she had actually paid for. Although, she didn't think it really counted if the money with which it was purchased was itself stolen. Not that she minded. Stealing was her only method of survival, for now. At first, she had just stolen food from shops in the villages she had wandered through. But that had eventually proved too conspicuous. On more than one occasion, she had been forcibly thrown out of town. But that had little consequence in the grand scheme of things.
To alleviate the problem, she had taken to walking through the crowded streets and cutting the coinpurses off the belts of the passing people. She had gotten quite good at it. In fact, she had only been caught once. Despite escaping with the money, it was a hit to her pride, and she had made sure it hadn't happened since.
Such had been her life the past few weeks; drifting from town to town, stealing and scavenging. No one would accept her. The humans all feared her, fleeing from her as if she were some unholy creature. She sighed and resumed listening to various conversations at the tables in the room. One in particular caught her attention.
Two men were sitting a few tables over. Their heads were completely shaven and covered in tattoos, and both were heavily armed, and were drawing nervous looks from the bartender. They were talking in low voices so they would not be overheard, but the girl picked up on their conversation with her sharp hearing easily.
"They say it looks like a woman," One of the men was saying. "A beautiful woman. But if you get too close, she'll steal your soul."
The girl's ears perked up. She had taught herself to understand the language of humans, more or less, though she still had some trouble speaking it.
"Don't tell me you're drunk already."
"Not yet, but listen, there's a bounty on it. 300 gold pieces, alive or dead. Our specialty." He snickered.
His partner gave a low whistle. "A lot of cash. But I'm not going to waste my time chasing fairy tales."
"This ain't a fairy tale!" the first man snapped, slamming the table. "It's real, and word is, it was sighted not too long ago in a village a little ways north of here."
"If it looks like any other woman, how will we know it when we see it?"
"That's the easy part. A contact of mine said it had ears on top of its head like an animal."
The girl tensed. Damn her luck. They were talking about her. She slowly rose to leave.
"What, like a dog?" the other man asked skeptically.
"Yeah, I guess," His friend responded. "But that's not even the weirdest part. It turned up about a week later in another town, and get this; they said it had tails too."
The girl kept her head down and moved for the door.
"Like, more than one?"
"That's what they said. Maybe when we catch it I'll make a fur coat." He said with a grin. The comment had them roaring with laughter. They were obviously drunk, despite what the first man had said.
The girl continued edging over to the door. She had to get out before the two men noticed that she was not entirely what she seemed. Her fingertips brushed the doorknob when a shout rang out.
"Hey!" One of the tattooed men shouted. "Yeah, you at the door! Wait."
The girl swore inwardly and turned around slowly. The man was clumsily rising from his chair and moving over towards her.
"Did you hear? There's monsters about," He said, cackling like a hyena. "Better come back to my place….so I can protect you."
The girl flashed a nervous smile and shook her head. It was the wrong move.
"No?" the man said, stepping uncomfortably close to her. "Don't you know it's impolite to turn down such a generous offer?" He leaned in close to the girl's face and smiled menacingly. She caught a glimpse of broken, yellow teeth, and the scent of his breath was worse than anything she had smelled in either of her lives. She gave her most winning smile and shook her head again. The man cocked his head. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Let me loosen it up for you." He hissed as he procured a knife from a hip sheath and pressed the point to her neck. She let out a choked cry and cast a glance at the man's partner. He was laughing and slapping his thigh, clearly enjoying the spectacle. The bartender was nowhere to be found, so no help there. She was on her own.
With a shout, she shoved the man away, backing up and bumping into the door as she did so. It swung open, and she fell down the short flight of stairs that led up to the door from the outside, finally landing hard on her back. The man reeled backwards, cursing, having been taken off balance.
The girl bolted upright and jumped to her feet, but stopped in her tracks when she heard a familiar sound. A metallic rattling sound. She looked down. Her stomach dropped as she saw helmet was rolling across the paving stones. She looked back up to see both men staring at her dumbly, frozen to the spot, finally able to see her ears.
The helmet toppled over with a ring, breaking the spell. The two men were after her in an instant.