Phantom Knight

Quiet before the storm

The next morning Ajax awoke to his Father knocking on his door telling him to get up and Ajax quickly replied then looked around his room noticing the fox had moved and was now laying wrapped around itself on the pillow next to him. He tilted his head then got up and dressed for the day then grabbed the smaller of the two swords and attached it to his belt before walking out of his room heading towards the kitchen. Ajax's father looked up from his food and noticed the sword on his sons hip " so that's what was in the bundle yesterday, offly small for such a large bundle" Ajax smiled and shook his head slightly,"this is only one of two swords that I got" His father nodded then went back to eating. Ajax sat down at the table and ate his fill then thought of the fox before grabbing some extra food for it. He stood and left the kitchen heading to his room and entered to see the fox awake and sitting on his pillow and now staring right at him.

Ajax walked in ignoring the stare from the fox and kneeled down on the ground setting the bundle of food on the ground and unwrapped the cloth holding it all so that it layed out on the ground. The foxes ears perked up when it saw the food then jumped onto the ground and walked over to the food smelling it tentatively before looking up at him. "Go ahead" Ajax felt a little weird talking to a fox but something felt almost normal about the interaction.The fox after hearing him began to eat at a slow and steady pace while he stood and walked out of his room and house heading towards a shed grabbing a wooden crate and some cloth. After he walked back into his room he noticed that the fox had almost finished eating and he smiled slightly before setting the crate down next to the heated pipe and places the cloth and a pillow he had grabbed on his way back to his room into the crate making a small bed.

After he finishes making the small bed he turns and looks over to where the fox was to find it staring at him again. "You must love to stare" he said slightly joking and was surprised to see the fox begin to laugh. It sounded like a noise that a fox would make but was unmistakably a laugh. He stared at the fox for a bit in shock before shaking his head and standing to walk over to the fox and carefully picked it up. The fox tried wiggle out of his grip a bit but eventually went still and Ajax then walked it over to the small bed and set it on it before walking over to his own bed to sit down. The fox watched him as he moved to his bed then jumps off of the small bed and walked over to Ajax jumping onto his bed then sat next to him. Ajax was a bit confused as to why the fox wanted to be by him but he shrugged and lightly places his hand on the foxes head then froze.

A shock like feeling went from his hand throughout his entire body after he placed his hand on the fox's head. He jumped slightly from the shock then yanked his hand away moving to the other side of his bed opposite of the fox. The fox didn't react and stayed in one spot while watching Ajax tilting its head slightly. Both Ajax and the fox stayed still for a bit before Ajax Moved closer to the fox and tentatively placed his hand back on the fox bracing for another shock. Yet to his surprise nothing happened other then the fox pushing its head against his hand slightly."what on earth was that shock" Ajax said to himself as he started to slowly pet the fox. The fox had no reaction to what he had said and continued to rub its head on his hand.

Ajax sighed after a some time and stood up to walk over to his door, but as he stood he heard the voice from when he went to sleep the night before, "I wonder where he is going?" He stopped and looked around the room trying to figure out what the voice came from before stopping to look at the fox. The fox tilted its head when he looked at it and simply stared at him, ''Did you just talk" he said then shook his head "never mind you're a fox". He turned and walked out of his room heading outside and began to work on the field with his father while apologizing repeatedly for being late.After they were done Ajax and his father packed there harvest that they were going to sell onto a wagon and began their trip to the village

As they got closer to the village something could barely be seen above the tree and Ajax's father glanced at it from time to time as they got closer. When they got close enough to see what it was they both gasped and looked at each other yelling in unison,"SMOKE!" Ajax's father looked back along the path they had traveled then at Ajax, "you need to run Back to the house and check on your mother" Ajax" eyes widened slightly as he tried to think of anything that could worry his father this much, "why, What's going on?" His father shook his head and pushed Ajax off the bench before cracking the rains bolting towards the village. "Go now!!" Ajax stood there for a moment before coming back to his senses and began to run towards his house holding his sword steady ready to be drawn at any moment.