The Rares

Prologue

~~~~Third Person POV~~~~

Russet woke up on a cold stone floor, her paws in freezing iron shackles.

Groaning from the pain in her head, she looked up.

To see the fox grinning at her.

"You're awake." He said, simply.

Russet closed her eyes tight, not willing to be drawn in.

"I'm not going to do that now, Genna. I have you right where I want you."

"My name isn't Genna." Russet whispered.

"Alright, Russet." The fox shrugged. He took a step forward.

Russet, having opened her eyes, shrank back against the wall. She glared at him, hating how she could barely move her paws.

"Just to make sure you don't try to escape." The fox attempted to assure her. "We can't have that, can we?"

"I'm getting you some food." The fox left.

Russet took the time to survey the room, and assess her situation.

She was in a small stone room, with one barred window. From the light filtering in, she guessed that the sun was setting. The last time she had been awake, it had been a little before noon. She had no idea how many days had passed since she had last seen Cosan, and her pups.

Cosan

Russet heart ached. She had a vague idea of what the fox wanted to do to her, and she didn't like it.

Next, she tested how far she could move. The shackles were nailed against the wall, allowing her to move in a semi-circle with about a one-foot radius, either way.

 She gazed sadly out the window. The sunlight was weak, but not as weak as it would be if it was really deep into the winter. She guessed she either had been asleep for a few hours, or two, maybe three days at most. Or all of winter.

She shook her head. Not that long. She would be weak, starving. And Cosan would have rescued her by then.

She saw a rag lying close to her. She went as close to it as she could, and sniffed at it. It smelled faintly like ether.

She guessed that was what the fox had used to knock her out. Judging by how fast it had worked, it was chloroform, not ether.

Explains the headache, She thought, humorlessly.

The fox came back into the room, carefully locking the door.

He set a meaty lamb leg in front of her.

"I'm not eating anything you give me," She growled.

The fox laughed. "You think I drugged it? After using chloroform? I'm not stupid, Russet. I'm not looking to kill you, just keep you contained."

He stepped closer to her, eyes searching. Russet pressed herself against the wall.

"Russet, do you really want to escape?" He asked imploringly. "We could be so happy together, you know."

Russet shook her head. "I'll never be happy, when I'm anywhere near you." She hissed.

The fox gave her a pitying look. "I think you'll change your mind, in a few days."

Russet took a deep breath.

"Help!" She screamed. "Help me! Anyone!"

Instead of jumping on her to shut her up, like Russet expected, the fox laughed. 

"There's no one here, Russet," He smirked. "No one to hear your cries."

"I hate you," Russet hissed. "You...You..."

"Call me Zerrec," The fox told her.

The fur on Russet's back stood up. "I hate you," She growled again.

Zerrec laughed.

________

Unknown, two birds, a hawk and a falcon, were circling above.

"Did you hear that?" The falcon asked. 

The hawk nodded.

"Let's go tell Cosan."

They flew away.

_______

"We found her!" Haley yelled as she and Adrian ran through the doors. "We found Russet!"

Cosan stood up immediately.

"Where?" He demanded.

"She's in some sort of half-underground tower." Adrian stated. "The only reason we found her was because she screamed for help."

"Screamed for help?"

"I flew down to look in the window." Haley assured him. "She was pressing herself against the wall, but she didn't seem hurt. She was saying some really bad things to the fox, though."

"Zerrec," Adrian added. "That's what he said his name was."

Cosan growled.

"We're going to find Russet. We're going to find her, and I'm going to kill Zerrec. He'd better be ready to die!"