KARFUNKEL - Heart of Stone

Chapter 27 - The Fourth Heart

Cian saw the red gemstone flash in the air. It was such a familiar glimmer as if Heilyn was winking at him with her beautiful ruby eyes. His mind was clouded with the battle, the fight for life and death, and the princes' threatening, promising, goading words that had haunted his mind for far too long.

There was only one thing: he was here for Heilyn's life.

As the stone spun in the air, Cian knew he would never get there fast enough in his human form to catch the crystal. His body reacted before his mind - and he vanished into a mist of midnight and rain clouds.

The cloak closed around the fox's body, bloody and tattered as it was, shrouding him in his true form, and only fractions of a second later, a night-black fox rushed through the throne room. It skilfully jumped over corpses, rushing to the spot where the stone would hit the floor...

Then, two bodies collided.

For a moment, the fox didn't understand what had happened. Something pulled him off his feet, and he automatically rolled his strong body around the small, white feather ball that had almost crashed into him with total momentum.

The force of their joint fall hurled the raven and fox several meters until they came to rest against a wall.

The black fox gasped, his skull aching because he had crashed into the stone at full speed. Blood was running down his temple, but that wasn't important now.

Something... something he had wanted to do.

What had it been?

And why...?

Red light bathed his black fur in a warm glow and wetted his bright white, blood-soaked feathers.

The heart stone lay on the ground between him and the shimmering bird.

The raven must have reached the falling stone while it was still in the air and rolled around it so that it had fallen on him unchecked.

But... Why?

He blinked, his gaze sliding back and forth between the stone and the raven, who now picked herself up, just as dazed as he was, and shook her little white head.

They looked at each other for a moment, questioning, uncomprehending.

A scream tore the air so suddenly that both animals whirled around.

The sound came from one of the strange, black corners of this large room, and it belonged to a man lying there, his hand outstretched. His eyes were glued to the red gemstone that lay between them.

The fox did not understand what the man wanted. Thick clouds of mist had formed around them. They shone and flickered golden, white, and blackish orange like embers of fire.

Hadn't there just been figures there?

The fox was no longer sure.

The man lying there suddenly slumped to one side. Thin threads of black blood ran from the corner of his mouth and eyes; his chest rose and fell weakly.

The smell of death and rotting flesh lingered in his nose. No, that was not a good sign. He should get out of here as quickly as possible. He didn't belong here. He belonged... To the forest.

Home.

Confused, his gaze slid back to the white raven, which was already beginning to rise, fluttering into the air. Blood splattered from its wings onto its fur, and he shook the dots from his face in disgust.

Their eyes met again briefly - and for the last time.

They had known each other once.

Perhaps they felt it.

'I love you.'

The last thought dripped from their souls and was lost again in the essence of the world.

The fox and raven were left behind.

Wings flapped, then white feathers fluttered out of the nearest window arch.

The fox paused for a moment, its ears twitching.

How had he got here in the first place?

He didn't know, but his instincts would unerringly find a way out of this eerie labyrinth.

So he trotted off, too.

Home.