The Vixen Trials

Kill Them

"All Alyssia had to do was wait
and Jalen would be dead."

Alyssia

The mass of people surged towards Silsa's shrill scream that lengthened before abruptly ending. Alyssia longed to turn her head to reassure herself Silsa still lived, but there was no time. She had to get to the Hattavah and fast. She weaved through the eager, pushing hordes, daring the odd shove herself until the crowd thinned and she could to pick up speed enough to run.

Arriving finally at the back gate of the house, Alyssia shouted at the soldiers at the gate, demanding they send for the Hattavah, aware of how her hair now straggled loose at her neck, that her flushed face dripped with sweat, the dreadful fear that misted her vision.

He appeared almost immediately, a weary looking Malek behind him.

"In the square," she got out in a strange strained voice she hardly recognized as her own. "They've got Keilah and Silsa. They're calling them traitors."

Before she even finished speaking, the Hattavah ordered three of the gate soldiers to accompany him, sending another to get help before he dashed away in the direction she had come.

Alyssia gulped for more air, picked up the edges of her tunic and ran after him and the soldiers. Malek could barely keep pace with her and the strangeness of that hummed at the edges of her awareness, but the main question that strung through her as she pushed her body faster was if Keilah still lived and Silsa and Silsa's Rennie. She refused to think about Jalen. Had they all been torn to pieces by the crowd? Did they wonder why she had deserted them? Did they think her a coward? Her village of fifty people had been destroyed in minutes. Four people would take even less time.

By the time Alyssia reached the mob at the square, her breath came only in sobbing gasps. The broad shoulders and the wide bodies in front of her took her view. She ducked around the edges of the crowd until she could see. Her heart leapt then stilled. They were alive, but not for long. Lady Keilah and Lady Silsa were tied to wooden poles at the front of a large raised platform. Jalen and Rennie were on poles behind.

A burly cloaked and hooded Lord stood in between Silsa and Keilah and shouted against them as the crowd responded with wild cheers of agreement. "They've broken their shunning, walking with impudence in the streets as if the traitorous crimes of their house can be forgotten. They've dared to enter one of their own in the Vixen Trials. But the Fox does not forgive crimes against her or her chosen royal family and neither should we."

The cheer that burst forth turned to booing as the Hattavah flung himself onto platform, the three soldiers hesitating behind him.

Alyssia chased behind Malek, desperately seeking some way to help but coming up only with a prayer on her lips. Then she saw them. Two soldiers swigging from a jug that they were passing between them, their swords neglected on the ground.

"It is now time to rid ourselves of these traitors," the Lord bellowed as three Foxes romped onto the stage surrounding the Hattavah and cutting him off from the soldiers huddling around Silsa. "Let the She-Fox decide their fate." His long curved blade caught the sunlight for one brief moment, a glow that seemed to affirm his words at least to rabble around her who stamped and shouted.

They were going to die. Even as Alyssia knew it, she also knew she had to try to free them. This was her time then to be a martyr. As the drunk soldiers craned their necks forward, Alyssia scooped up their swords and used the pointy ends to force her way to platform.

She watched as the Lord bent over Jalen slicing open the side of his face before plunging into the battle raging between the Hattavah and the others. A fourth unnaturally large Fox appeared, sniffed the air and made straight for Jalen, snarling and knocked him to the ground.

Alyssia found herself arrested by the sight. Jalen was about to get what she had so often thought he deserved. She'd expected to feel grimly satisfied but instead compassion wended through her. Even Jalen did not deserve to be ripped apart for entertainment. She remembered now how he had tried to shield the village children, had got them water and food.

The two swords lay heavy in her hands. All Alyssia had to do was wait and Jalen would be dead. Beside Keilah, Dakkoul was facing two Foxes, Malek was shielding Silsa with the help of the soldiers. Rennie was ignored by everyone. No one else saw Jalen. She had never wielded a sword except in fun. Was it even worth trying only to fail now?

The Fox opened its mouth revealing sharp yellow teeth. Something hard within Alyssia snapped. She scrambled up onto the platform and tossed one sword with all her might at the back of the Fox. The sword skidded into its side before clunking to the ground. The Fox's muzzle pivoted in her direction. She danced backwards, the Fox sneering at her in a way that seemed strangely human before the force of its paws pinned her to the ground.

Alyssia would have her previous wish after all. She'd be eaten having prevented the death of the man she'd despised. The Fox nipped at her chin and as pain throbbed through her, realized she'd would much prefer to live. She began to flail with all her might against the beast but it pressed down even harder in response.

Behind the brute's shoulder, she saw Jalen with a sword raised and she closed her eyes as it fell, cleaving the Fox's head from its shoulder. Its grip on her weakened and she rolled free.

Jalen held out his hand to her and she took it with a gratefulness that surprised her. She had saved him, he'd saved her back and somehow through that something inside of her had mended. Despite the blood and the crowd and the on-going battle, she let herself smile at him.