Chapter One

"They Perfect Nature, and are perfected by experience."--Francis Bacon

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Sunlight and shadows worked magic on the forest floor, turning ordinary moss into a rich carpet with a wild, shifting pattern. Calls of birds and insects were all around, yet the forest retained a solemn, mysterious stillness. It kept its own secrets and stood, green and moist and living with a vengeance.

A huge tree, one of the hundreds-of-years-old giants that filled this section of the forest, had fallen some dozen or so years ago, and now lay, surrounded by moss, creepers, grasses, and dirt, upon the forest floor. And a beetle was sitting on it.

It was a fine, big, blueish-black insect, with a glimering carapace that reflected light in all different colors. It sat there, on the log, so sure of itself. It was the king of all beetles!

It was being hunted.

In the underbrush, not far away, a small body shifted, stalking closer. The hunter had buff-colored fur, with just a small trace of charcoal-gray fluff remaining around the head and neck. Not a fuzzy kit, anymore, no. Now a mighty hunter about to defeat the king of all beetles!

Closer, closer. Little black paws, paws which seemed almost oo big for the creature which stood on them, lifted and fell silently on the emerald-green moss. A black nose was raised just below the level where the beetle sat. Muscles tensed, praparing for a mighty spring...

Gotcha!

"ERIN!"

"Thump!"

"Swffft.."

The beetle, alerted to its peril, spread its translucent wings and flew away. A fox kit nursed a bonked nose.

"ERIN!" A voice called from a distance.

With a disdainful sniff, the kit began trotting in the most dignified way possible towards the source of the voice. However, after a short bit, she forgot the embarrasing episode and began to run with the gawky gallop of a young creature whose paws are still a little too big.

Bits of forest flashed by, distractions like flitting butterflies got ignored, for once, the mighty hunter, after all, was just a kit.

She bounded into a small clearing, a cozy place ringed with Oaks, Gingkos, Cocoa trees, and large, moss-covered rocks.

Sunlight slanted between the boughs of trees and illuminated a small, stone cottage, and the creature standing in its doorway.

He was a tall, well-built, full-grown dog fox, with broad, noble-looking faetures. He bore scars of many battles, but that only seemed to add character to his likeable personage.

He wore an ivy-green tunic which set off his glossy, flame-colored fur nicely. His tail brush was long, busy, and white-tipped. His black-tipped ears and paws stood out against the white stones of the doorway.

His eyes, though, were what appealed to most creatures. They say that you can see a creature's soul in their eyes, and that may well have been true with Sir

Bratis, former grand knight of the king's sevice. His eyes were golden, with the faintest flacks of green, but their expression went far beyond color. They spoke of pain, tough descisions, comrades dying, betrayal, revenge, fear, anger, devotion, sorrow... promises.

It was with these eyes that the old fox watched his young charge bumble up the path and into the clearing. An inexperienced kit, for now, but someday, he knew, she would be as graceful and beautiful as her mother, and as strong, determined, and resourceful as her father.

Bratis sighed, remembering his old friends. Before the assault of the palace, they had cleverly hidden away their offspring, making him promise to survive the battle and take care of their young, should they themselves perish. So long ago, it seemed, but Erin was still a kit...

He blinked hard, shutting otu the memories. He had the present to attend to. He smiled warmly at the young vixen kit as she approached.

"Dad?" said Erin brightly. "Did you call?" She knew he had called. He had a voice that was loud enough there was no mistaking it for anything else.

"Yes I did, little one." Replied Bratis, turning back toward the house. "We're having dinner a little early tonight." He led the way inside.

Erin knew what that meant. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"I have some business to attend to elsewhere." Said Bratis. That was what he always said.

The inside of the cottage was painly furnished, with paw-made wooden furniture that was not even polished or laquered, a few knick-knacks that both Bratis and Erin had collected over the seasons, a few weapons and tools. The only thing that spoke of anything out-of-the-ordinary, was the fact that almost an entire wall in the main room was covered with bookshelves. Bratis was teaching Erin everything he knew, and a bit more than that, as well. She was a fast learner, and could already read quite well, despite her young age.

They sat down at the small kitchen table table and ate in silence, as always. Supper was bread, a bit of cheese, and a thick, delicious stew made with mushrooms, roots, vegetables, and meat from a phesant that Bratis had killed earlier that day. They always ate a big meal before Bratis left.

When the meal was over, Bratis cleaned up the dishes and picked up his satchel, double-checking to make sure he had all his necessities.

"Now, Erin," he said, "you know how things go. You're to make sure that you study your lessons," he indicated a stack of books lying on a smaller table in the main room, "and make sure that you don't wander too far into the forest, because I won't be here to come and find you if you get lost again." He smiled. Erin rarely got lost, but it was something that had to be said anyways. "There's plenty of food in the pantry, only make sure you don't eat it all at one meal, or else you'll go hungry until I get back." He said it gently, but he meant it. Erin played at stalking and pouncing, but she was no hunter.

Erin jumped into his arms and gave him a big hug. "I'll be good, don't worry." She said, nuzzling against his shoulder.

"I know you will, dearie." Chuckled Bratis, giving her a squeeze. "You never get into trouble, right?"

"Right!" Yipped Erin.

Bratis slung his pack and his sword over his back and moved to the door. "Well, I'm off." He said. "Goodbye, little fox."

"G'bye big fox!" Called Erin, going over to the door.

Bratis smiled, then turned and trotted off down the path. Erin watched until he was gone, then went back inside.


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