A TAIL OF NINE

CHAPTER SEVEN: A Fox among Wolves

Dancing bananas.

I'm not saying dancing bananas like some people say oh my goodness. You know, swearing without swear words. It's just the first thing that pops into my mind. The second is--

"Kon?"

"Shut-up!" somebody who definitely isn't Kon growls at me.

That voice sounds awfully familiar, but it's not one of the Widow Boys.

Somebody shoves me down. I know I wasn't on my feet. Was someone carrying me? Everything's all blurry.

I'm swimming in voices. None of them are Kon's. My head hurts like somebody smashed a shovel over it.

"You know, hon, Luc'll let us have it if you mess him up anymore," a woman says. Wait. Wrinkles? "And the way that fox-bitch is looking at us ... she's taking a tally of every scratch on him and wants to pay it back in spades."

"So?" another familiar voice answers--Kirby. He keeps going, "She's getting hers when night comes."

Wrinkles isn't giving up, "But Luc--"

"He'll understand," Kirby says.

"Kirby, leave Kon alone. She didn't do anything," I say.

Kirby snarls something to me as he looms over me. "Don't beg for your bitch's life! She doesn't deserve it."

"Watch your mouth!" I snap. "I always thought wolves were supposed to be honorable." In most of the stories, they are. Well, not the really old ones like Little Red Riding Hood. I'd like a little more of the wise creature of the future and less of the rip-my-face-off kinda wolf.

Kirby jumps down my throat again. "We are honorable! More honorable than this fox-whore!"

Kon ignores him and helps me to my feet. A cut oozes just below her right eye.

"A bunch of wolves take on a fox. Really honorable," I mumble.

"You gonna do something about it?" Kirby pushes a fist in my face. Now I know some of his buttons to push. Make somebody mad enough at the right time, and they do stupid things. Things that just might leave an opening for Kon and me to escape.

My eyes narrow. But the more I look at that cut on Kon's face, the more I want to hurt Kirby. Diving at him now won't accomplish anything, though. He's stronger than I am, even when I'm not hurt. My shoulder hurts so bad that I think it's gonna fall off. If it fell off, it probably wouldn't hurt as much as it does now.

But the more I think about Kirby hurting Kon, the madder I get.

Kon's hand tightens around my wrist. <<Koto, remember our ways. Do not give into theirs.>>

While we were in Bedford, Virginia, when I was a kid, I saw what was left of a cat that a pack of feral dogs had killed. Is that what Kirby and his pack are gonna do to Kon?

Don't think like that ... Keep a clear head ... Look for a way out ...

Kirby and his pack drag us through the woods. Even in the grim gloom of dusk, I can still tell that it doesn't look like where we made the shining house. I glance over at Kon, but she doesn't say anything. She has her hands clasped in front of her. That's when I realize that they're tied with a length of cord.

They're going to do anything they want to her, I think to myself. Are they going to make me watch? They're gonna have to kill me. I'll do my best to rip through all of them to help her.