The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories (13 page)

“
Does he blame Alexan?”

“
Oh no! He knows Alexan did the best he could. He said the king told the guild that it was a very difficult decision, and that he weighed the different sides very carefully. He even almost apologized to Alexan’s sponsor, I guess.”

“
I wonder what the other side was,” Jonas mused.

“
Master Talid said that the king preferred to err on the side of caution. The assassination,” he said that word in a whisper, “still hurts him to think about, and he said that the one thing he would never forgive himself for would be if a Tephossian assassin succeeded in his mission using a Ferrenian weapon.”

“
I guess I can see that.” Jonas sighed. “Alexan isn’t happy.”

“
No, I don’t imagine. What’s he going to do? Where is he?”

“
I don’t know. He ran out.” Jonas looked toward the kitchen. “Benton, could you do me a favor? I want to make a nice dinner, but I don’t have any vegetables or fresh meat, or any money. Can you pick up a couple things for me? I promise I’ll pay you back.”

The fox smiled. “Sure.” He patted Jonas on the arm. “I hope you can help Alexan get over this.” But as he said that, his ears flicked partway back, and Jonas knew he was remembering his last visit.

“
I’ll try my best.” The cougar returned Benton’s smile. “I appreciate your help.”

Watching the fox’s bushy tail as he walked away, so much calmer than Alexan’s, Jonas realized that he hadn’t been overreacting, that night after Benton’s last visit. He knew that things would not get better with Alexan. He sat alone in the living room, thinking, and the decision was not hard to make.

Benton returned before Alexan did, with a bag of vegetables and a freshly killed fowl. “You’ll have to pluck it yourself,” he said apologetically.

“
That’s fine. That’s great.” Jonas took the bag with a smile. “Thank you so much.”

Benton’s tail wagged and his ears perked up. “Take care of Alexan.”

“
Listen, Benton…” Now that the moment had come, his resolution wavered. He shored it up. “I might need to find some work, and…and a place to live.”

The fox’s ears flattened. “To live?”

Here was the hard part. Did he tell Benton everything? The fox had seen Alexan the other night. He settled for generalizing. “I’m just...I don't know if he'll be able to afford to keep me here. I know it’ll hurt him, but I can’t stay.”

Benton chewed his lip. “I don’t know if there’s anything I can do.”

“
Just keep your ears open. Please.”

“
A-all right. You know, you could stay with us for a couple days if you really need to…”

Now he felt guilty; obviously he’d made Benton feel bad so that the fox was offering something he didn’t really want to. “No, I don’t need to. Just…if you hear anything…”

“
I’ll let you know. I promise.” Benton clasped his paw before leaving.

Jonas occupied himself with plucking the fowl, normally a job he detested. Today he was happy for his paws to have something to do so he wouldn’t be occupied with worrying about what Alexan was doing or what his future would be like, or about what he’d just done. He was afraid of leaving, but he was more afraid of staying, and however Alexan felt about his departure, the fox would have to deal with it. Jonas wanted badly for it to work out, and he still hoped that maybe it would, but he would have to prove that he could do something other than prostitution.

But even though he kept telling himself he wanted it to work out, a part of him told himself that he was running away, betraying Alexan. For that reason, maybe, he put extra work into the meal, attending the stove more faithfully than he usually did and roasting the vegetables with some of the spices left over from former meals.

The first warning Jonas had of Alexan’s return was the slamming of the front door. He heard the fox’s claws click on the wood floor and called, “Give me fifteen more minutes for dinner.”

Alexan appeared at the doorway to the kitchen. He held what looked like a golden circlet in one paw; it took a second glance before Jonas realized it was a wooden crown, painted gold. “Later,” he said roughly.

Immediately wary, Jonas backed towards the stove. “Just a few minutes.”

Alexan jerked his head back into the house. “Now.”

Jonas glanced to the stove, then back at the fox. He nodded. “All right.”

He followed Alexan into the fox’s bedroom. Alexan kicked the door closed and held out the circlet. “Put this on,” he growled. “Take everything else off.”

“
Alexan…”

The fox shook the circlet at him. “Do it. I need this.”

Jonas breathed hard. Didn’t he owe Alexan this one last time? One last time for now, he amended. Please, Felis, let it be quick.

He took the circlet and settled it on his head. As quickly as he could, he removed the rest of his clothes and got up onto the bed. Alexan muttered behind him, “Do that to me, will you? Your Highness, you’ll pay for this, yes you will.” He didn’t have to turn around to know that the fox was aroused; he could smell it and a moment later he felt it as Alexan pushed up behind him and into him, hard.

He winced and tried to take it, but he was starting to feel sick. Each thrust burned and Alexan was trying to force his already swollen knot in. And then the fox’s teeth met in his shoulder, and he yowled.

“
Shut up!” Alexan half-panted, half-growled, and his claws dug into Jonas’s chest.

Jonas rolled over, unable to take any more, and pushed the fox away. Alexan was already breathing hard, and his eyes were wild as he stumbled back. He still wore his shirt and his pants were half down. He lunged back at Jonas, and Jonas scrabbled wildly, getting a foot pulled back and planted in Alexan’s stomach.

“
Don’t,” he gasped.

Alexan swiped at his face. “Get back on your knees.” His breath was coming in ragged gasps.

Reacting to the swipe, Jonas kicked and then kicked again when Alexan came back at him. The fox stumbled back and slammed hard into the wall. He took a step forward and then collapsed back against the wall, wheezing. Slowly, he dropped to the floor, his back against the wall. He put a paw to his chest, muzzle gaping open.

Jonas sat up and backed away on the bed, watching with wide eyes. “Alexan.”

“
You…” Alexan’s gaze was fixed on him, his ears flat back against his head. “You…”

Jonas watched as the fox fell forward, clutching his chest with one paw while the other supported him. “Alexan?” He crawled cautiously to the edge of the bed and only clambered off it when the fox fell to the floor.

The fox’s eyes were not angry now. They were scared and pleading. “Can’t…breathe…”

Jonas’s paws traveled over the fox’s chest, but he didn’t know what to do. His paws hovered, helpless, as Alexan struggled to pull air into his lungs. He knew he should go for help, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the fox. Jonas held him for five more agonizing minutes, until the light went out of his amber eyes and his slender frame stopped struggling.

Terrified, Jonas let the body drop to the floor. He moaned, shaking his head and trying to pull his eyes away, but he couldn’t make himself move. This must be another dream, he told himself, and any minute now I’ll wake up. The room’s eerie silence reinforced that feeling, until it was broken by a low whimper that it took him a moment to realize he was making.

Alexan’s body stared vacantly at his paws. Jonas backed away from the body and then grabbed his clothes and fled the room. He dressed as quickly as he could and then he ran.

Chapter 8

The tears finally came when he realized he was lost. The houses around him were unfamiliar and no familiar smells came his way. He stumbled around corners and past startled-looking people, and only when a cub called out, “Is that the king?” did he realize that he was still wearing the fake crown. He threw it into the gutter and ran away from it.

A plan formed in his mind as he wandered blindly through Caril, and he turned towards the reddish light of the sunset. When he came to the wall, he followed it until he came to the gate. Three wagons stood in the small area there, and he approached them cautiously, listening to the people inside talk.

In the third wagon, a pair of rabbits was talking in low voices. He listened to them and his spirits rose when he heard one of them say “With Herbivora’s help, we’ll be there in a week.” Herbivora. Not Rabbit.

He coughed and said, “Excuse me.” The talking inside stopped. One of the rabbits poked his head out and looked warily at Jonas.

“
Yes?”

“
Please take me with you,” Jonas said. “Back to…back across the mountains. I was brought here against my will to be a prostitute, and I need to go back.”

The rabbit considered. “You have money?”

His spirits sank. “No.”

Dark eyes flicked down to his neck, to where the golden chain disappeared into his shirt. “Let’s see that pendant.”

His paw covered the small bulge in his shirt where the golden cougar head rested. “No.”

“
Well…”

“
Wait! I have information…that the King will pay you well for.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. The idea had come to him suddenly.

“
What’s that?” The rabbit’s eyes narrowed.

“
There’s a noble in the palace who’s a Ferrenian spy.”

“
Lots of nobles in the palace.”

“
I’ll tell you his name when we get there.” Jonas didn’t know the name, but he could find out from Richy. The thought of seeing the young wolf lifted his spirits unexpectedly.

“
What’s his species?”

“
I’ll tell you when we get to the mountains.”

“
He doesn’t have any information,” a lighter voice inside said.

“
He’s a fox,” Jonas said quickly.

“
Red or grey?” came the voice from inside, but the rabbit watching him raised his paw.

“
Enough,” he said. “All right. Be back here at daybreak and we’ll take you.”

“
Thank you.” Jonas stepped back as the canvas at the back of the wagon dropped again and was fastened in place.

He found a sheltered store entrance where the slight wind couldn’t reach him, and huddled in it to try to sleep the night. Worried about the rabbit’s interest in his pendant, and fearful that someone else might come by, he took it off and slipped it into a pocket before resting his head against the chilly wooden door and closing his eyes. The wood was cold, hard, and unyielding, like iron…

The cage was made of iron, but he knew he could break it and get away from the jeering crowd if he could just find the right tool. He was alone and the cage was bare, but on his head was a golden crown. He pulled it off and looked at it, and then it was snatched away by a rabbit in the crowd, who put it on himself. ‘Look, I’m King Cougar,’ he said to great laughter.

‘
Give it back!’ Jonas reached through the bars, clawing to reach the crown. His paw caught a fox that he knew, it was the noble who had called him “Your Highness” back at the Jackal’s Staff, just as Alexan had done. “Give it back or I’ll kill him!”

He watched, horrified, as his dream-self said those words and held the struggling fox against the cage. The crowd laughed at him and he felt his arms crushing the fox, felt him struggling to breathe, and then felt him go limp.

The crowd grew silent. He let the fox slide to the ground.

The cage door swung silently open.

But the fox’s body lay across the threshold, and now it was Alexan’s blank eyes who stared up at him, and Jonas couldn’t cross those eyes because as soon as he put a paw near them, he knew they would reach for him and drag him down, and then when the dead body started pulling itself toward him anyway, and put a cold paw around his ankle, that was when he started to scream.

“
Easy, easy,” a voice said roughly, and it was a familiar voice, but Jonas in his half-awake state thought it was Alexan’s, and he moaned wildly, trying to scoot over on the bed. Only he wasn’t on a bed, he was on a cold stone slab and the paw wrapped around him was not slender and black, it was large and brown.

“
Taypha?”

The bear looked at him, and only then did Jonas notice that he was in uniform, and flanked by two other guards. “You okay?”

The sun was up. He twisted his head around to see the gate standing open, all three wagons gone. “I killed him,” he said.