Fox Magic

Chapter 3

Blaze's pov

I woke up with a start in the cramped den. I needed to stretch but there was no room so I went out into the cool night air. My sisters and I have gotten bigger since that first hunting day a few weeks ago and that just means less room to breathe inside the den. I stretched and slicked down my ruffled fur, still shaken from the strange dream I had. Wait, what did I dream about? It was all fuzzy and confusing but I could make out three figures almost clearly.

One was me, I could easily recognize the red fur, red-orange eyes, and white stripe down my tail. The other two were a bit harder to make out. One was grey and the other was white. They were both my size but I couldn't tell exactly what kinds of animals they were.

After thinking about my dream for a while, I grew restless and needed to walk. I'm strong enough to take care of myself and I can hunt really well if I get hungry. So I quietly slipped into the forest, eager to explore, with the idea of walking as far as my paws could take me.

I've never been in the woods at night, especially alone, because of all the large owls that hide in the trees and wolves that dominate the ground. But I couldn't sense anything around. The cool night air was calm and quiet as I walk through the forest, completely relaxed. The soft breeze gently ruffled my fur as the crickets sang to the stars.

I walked far into the forest, soaking up the sounds and smells of the night, until I finally grew tired and had to stop to rest. I found a hollow fallen tree that looked safe enough to nap in and quickly fell asleep.

When I woke up, the sun was already rising. As I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I could hear a sound in the distance, getting closer. It sounded like a fox's bark, but it was much deeper, like it belonged to something big.

As I listened, I suddenly recognized the sound and my blood ran cold. I've only heard the loud barks once when I was tiny, but I could still smell my mother's fear as she pushed me and my sisters to the back of the den. I still don't know exactly what it is making that sound, but I knew I had to hide, so I pushed myself as far into the fallen tree as I could go. The barking stopped but I could hear the creature sniffing around right outside my tree.

Suddenly, two big brown eyes appeared at the entrance and the creature howled in triumph. Then it started crawling into the tree towards me! The space wasn't very big but it wasn't small enough to keep the beast out either and it continued coming towards me, snarling and drooling with anticipation. Desperately, I looked around for another way out, but there wasn't any. I gulped, knowing what I had to do.

Gathering all the courage I could muster, I lunged forward. I sank my teeth the howling creature's big, floppy ear and it yelped in surprise. Snarling, I climbed on top of its head so it couldn't get to me and I bit down harder. I felt my canines click together and blood began to fill my mouth. The creature screamed in pain and pulled away. I let go of its ear as I fell off its head. As soon as it was out of sight, I made my escape. I ran past the creature as it whined and rubbed at its ear, which is now soaked and dripping with blood. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't alone. I ran faster as I heard the frantic barking of more creatures behind me, along with another creature shouting gibberish.

I ran through gaps in bracken and swerved between trees, hoping to lose them, but they never faltered and I was beginning to grow tired from running so fast.

As I darted through another bush, I nearly crashed into a grey-furred fox. Before he could say anything, I panted out a quick warning: "Run!"