Salcheck Island
Salcheck Island
By: Matt Adey
Authors Note:
The three main Fox characters in Salcheck Island are origin and property of Adam "Cirrus Kitfox" Davis.
Part One:
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
A piercing needle stuck into the forearm. His vision was clouded and blurry, and his nose and throat caught tightly as he coughed out smoke and dust. His vision did not allow him to see his helper and with raspy weak breath he managed to huff.
"The Kid! His sister? Are they...?" His lungs filled up with more smoke and whatever was in the needle acted quickly to sedate him. He passed out long before he ever heard the answer. He woke up with a startled yip! His lungs felt fine and he used his claws to scratch through his red colored fur. He massaged soreness out of his ankles and a few tufts of torn fur were found on his shoulders and stomach. Groggy, but awake, the nose twitched as a couple drops of water splashed onto his whiskers. Brown fox eyes stared up at a large broad leaf attached to an amazon-sized tree. He caught another large drop right in the face. Wisely, the fox rolled off to the side and stood on his four legs.
"Ow." His right forepaw was tender, wrapped in a bandage that he didn't recall putting on himself. The sting was light and he could put enough weight on it to walk around. Some kind soul had saved him from the plane crash and pulled him free of the wreckage, however he didn't know whether or not his two friends survived the crash. His fox nose tried to scent the air to see if he could sense them nearby. The increasing dampness and splashing of the large raindrop from the trees muted any smell or scent. His fur was getting more and more wet.
"Eccch! I hate the smell of wet fox, especially when it's ME."
He continued to stay low on his four legs while he searched for his friends and some better cover from the rain. He talked to himself to keep his thoughts in order.
"We went down over the islands. The emergency mayday must have gone through. Jeez, how far am I away from the crash site? Hell of a parallel parking job between trees. I remember smelling smoke, that plane must've been on fire! Why don't I feel singed fur or smell smoky? Oh! Gentle vixen of nine tails, please let that kid and his sister be alive somewhere! Help me find them. If they died it is my fault and I am damned. STUPID FOX!!"
He laid his head down as he curled onto the ground. Wetness dripped down his cheeks, but not due to the rain. The fox cried a long moment howling out his sorrow and helplessness.
Lost in a thickness of giant woods, running from tree base to tree base, a younger kit fox constantly shouted out yapping barks. His ears telescoped back and forth turning radar-like listening for any reply. His desperation echoed with his numerous calls among the thick trees. Looking up to the small bit of sky he was able to see through the trees a cold gray occasionally threw down bucket shaped drops of water.
"Ah, screw this. HEY! I'm HERE!! Anyone? Sis? I'm okay! I'm alive! Someone saved me and I'm FINE!! I'm OKAY!! Where... are... you?"
The young fox stood up straight walking between the river bed path, which cut through the large forest. He stuck to the downward flow of the water. He actually welcomed the rain, because it meant that the flow of this trickle of a stream might actually fill up to the trench more suited for a decent sized river. His sense of time was confused. Three or maybe four days since the plane crash and the fox kit's brain felt a bit screwy while
he tried to make sense of the giant forest.
"Wow. I've heard of old growth forests and giant redwoods but this is intense. The trees are almost like city buildings, jeez the leaves alone could double as a blanket if I needed one, if I could just reach one!"
His fox foot paws stepped one over the other and the toes and soles of his furred feet soaked in the warm stream water, bringing some of the dampness towards the tops of his fuzzy foot paws.
"Splash and dash. Follow downstream. I'll hit the shore of this island and get a signal boat or even swim out to one if I have to! Then bring help and a search party!"
More optimistic and enthusiastic, the younger fox fur bristled when a breeze flowed through the trees. He reasoned if HE was alive that meant his sister and his pilot friend were still alive too. Somewhere.
Calling names was getting boring, but to keep his voice up just in case someone would hear him, he sang.
"The Diner of Dundas is down in the dumps. Their mash may be mushy but mine's marvelous! They serve seven siblings so seldom in style. The whales there are willing to eat for a while!"
She woke up to a wetness that doused her all at once. A waterfall of rain which was cold and damp cascaded into her fur and she shrilly screeched a fox curse. The source of the waterfall came from the
canopy of giant leaves in the monster tree above her.
"Great! Just great. What the fox? Last thing I remember is nose-diving into a few trees. Hell, they weren't THIS big, though. Anyone around?"
No answer.
Even worse, she was alone and abandoned and nowhere near the crash site. "Who the fox would save me and then leave me out here in the middle of nowhere?"
The soft tingle of her muscles made her wince a bit. She shook the excess water from her silken vixen fur and she wrung out her shirttails as she untucked them from her pants. She noticed next to her was a knapsack which she didn't recognize as hers, nor did she think was her brothers. She concluded her Good Samaritan savior must have left the small token gift for her. She unzipped the bag to examine the contents and was glad to find a good pair of hiking sneakers exactly her size in the bag. She also found and dug a paw full out of a plastic bag full of trail mix and gnawed on the treat. She surveyed the giant treed forest around her and stood up and huffed.
"Piece of cake! Let's rock and roll helpless little damsel. No waiting for the save! Don't know where I am. HEY, I'm lost here! You, the idiot who saved me from the plane! You could have at LEAST left me a foxing MAP and COMPASS in the bag!"
Joe Russel let himself believe that his injuries were not as bad as they felt. He still walked four feet balancing his fox stance. He tenderly trod along a clearing when he encountered a small stream at the bottom of a larger riverbed. His paws slid on a damp clump of mud and he splattered nose first into the muddy edges of the bank. He shook off the dirty slime from his muzzle and spat the gritty taste away.
"Good going, Russel. From one nosedive into another. You'll never fly again."
Joe's haunches slopped into the water and he decided to stop for a restful drink. He swished his muddy nose clean and then sprang his ears up suddenly. His head lifted and hoped. The light trickle of stream could not hide the sounds he heard echoing off the banks.
"Di...du..may...velous. Sev... lings.... domin... you... ale...whi.."
Joe's head lifted further, again hearing the sounds that echoed through the trench and the echoes were coming his way. Joe's tail flared full and long and he lifted it like a flag while he carefully navigated closer to the song!
"Hey! Who's singing? Can you hear me?" Joe thought the singing sounded like the kid.
The teenage fox muffled his song for a moment. The mixture of rain and splashing through the water soaked completely through his jeans-shorts and T-shirt but he heard something and realized he would not be alone for much longer. To test his hearing he shouted down river, running as his ears flared wide and open.
"Everywhere I GO-OH!??" His ears perked as young fox blood coursed and raced through his veins.
"Everywhere I GO-OH!!" Joe yelped back. It WAS the kid!
"Foxes want to KNOW-OH!" The young fox heard for sure. That had to be the pilot shouting back, but he still ran down river.
"Foxes want to KNOW-OH!" Joe kept responding and stayed put, the kid was following smart instincts.
"Who I am, so I tell them...."
"SO, YOU'LL TELL ME!!" Joe really shouted helping to draw his searcher closer.
"My name is Chris Scott!" Chris knew he was close, just a bit further down because he thought he saw a flash of red tail fur.
"I can hear you loud and clea-aar!" Joe shouted more.
"Gonna show you what I got!" Chris turned a corner of the bank and passed a thick wad of flowering plants. Though he was soaked fur-through he didn't seem to care anymore.
"So hit me with your best shot!" Joe laughingly add-shouted. "Lucky fox your name rhymes so well. Chris, you're getting closer!"
"Hey! I got a riddle for you." Chris followed his ears downstream and then got visual contact of the tail-tell sign of the fox 'flag' and the rest of the fox attached to it.
Joe scampered up to one side of the bank as soon as he saw Chris turn the corner. He managed to shift his weight to stand straight.
"Forget the riddle, I'm found! You're alive! I'm so relieved."
Chris ran up and got a strong paw under the pilot and helped him stand. "You're hurt still!" The younger teen found himself in a gripping strong hug. "Oof. Erh. Okay, maybe not so bad."
"You really have no idea how happy I am to see you, Chris. I thought I lost you both in the crash. Where's your sister?"
Chris tensed and broke away from the hug uncomfortably. He shook nervously.
"You mean she's not with you?"
The female fox had an easier time dodging the occasional waterfalls that spilled from the leaves above her. With the pack securely crossing her shoulders and with her new hiking shoes well tied she followed a clearer path in the deep woods. She filled her mind with positive thoughts. "After a day or so Mom and Dad will miss us. That alone should get some search parties out. I bet it'll make the newspaper. Missing: Karen Scott (23) and younger brother Chris (15) lost in a plane crash over islands. Pilot Joe Russell (25) unaccounted for. Karen, Karen, Karen."
She sighed a bit, but still kept confident and kept to her chosen path. Karen heard a loud crack-snapping in the trees to her right. She stayed silent and still listening to the sounds of the sticks and shuffling of dead leaves on the forest floor. No doubt something was coming her way and it sure didn't sound like any sort of help.
Karen stepped another thirty paces and smartly kept away from the approaching noise. It could be a bear or deer but Karen had an eerie sense it was much bigger from the more frequent snaps and the closer shuffling sound. She even imagined, just for a moment, the ground actually shook under her and her imagination played a few more tricks on her until the creature finally broke into a clearing ahead of her.
She stared.
A large monitor lizard easily twice her size lumbered across the jungle floor. Green diamond shaped scales shined with the wetness of the forest and turned the lizard sides a darker shade of brown and black. Large jaws clasped a clump of leaves and chewed. A long sticky tongue flicked and caught more of the dampened leaf pile. The mythic monitor merely a short sight away surveyed for more sources of food and reared up his long thick scaly tail. It thumped and cracked through some smaller brush and the monster continued on his way.
Karen sat panting in and out. Only in her imagination. No, only in her schoolbooks and in the science fiction movies did she barely mutter what she still didn't believe that she actually saw.
"D..D... DI.. DINO...SAUR!! That was a FOXING DINOSAUR!!"
"She's still alive, I mean she's GOT to be!" Chris said while the two foxes walked four-legged just above the trench of the stream. "I mean, you made it. I made it. SHE made it. We just need to FIND her!"
"I agree." Joe Said, "We were close together in the crash. She's around too, kid, your sister is tough. No fur off her tail. I'm worried if we're going the right way to find her."
Chris wrinkled his nose and sneezed. He leapt across to the other side of the bank and smelled some fresh sap of some broken branches. He let Joe's 'kid' comment slide because he knew he wasn't a helpless
young pup anymore. The sap smell grew stronger and it mixed with a pungent stink of something rotten and decaying.
"Are the bits of brush broken on your side, Joe? What do you think here, campers or feral animals?"
"Yeah. Broken by my side too, and I see a good gap between the trees. I can just see a clearing and a pond beyond. Do you SMELL that stench?"
"Hard to miss it, yecch! It reeks like old socks and worse!"
"Doesn't look like it's raining much anymore. I bet if we hit the clearing we can dry off in the hazy sun if you want."
The young fox dashed into the clearing and stripped off his T-shirt and wrung the soaked fabric out while he spread it over a mostly dry rock.
Karen heard a helpless squawking chirp and a rustle of batting and fluttering wings. Piercing screeches filled the air and a grumbling roar from another dinosaur creature echoed hungrily. She ran towards
the begging sound of the screech desperate to help the victim of the dinosaur. Karen felt compelled to find the gruesome Gila monster which was fighting in a thicket somewhere near. Two ebony feathers flew into the air nearby, after the nearby dinosaur raised his head and spat them out.
"My feathers!" A mystery voice chirped and twittered. "Away! Begone! I fly from you!" An ebony raven managed to hover over the monitor's head. As large as the lizard was, the plucky bird had a quick height above and would not be caught easily despite the green stretching neck and the gnashing jaws, which snapped at the air.
"Here!" Karen yelled. "Over here! Help yourself and fly this way and we can out race him on the path! That fat lump can't move fast!" Karen saw as soon as the raven was up in flight the few of his lost feathers hindered him and only took him a few feet until the bird spiraled back to the ground. "Forget flying! Just follow my voice and RUN!" Karen quickly opened up the knapsack and looked for anything that might hold off a giant lizard. She found nothing so the sack re-hitched to her back.
"The path! My precious voice, call out your path!"
"Twenty paces this way and I see a river bed ahead for more cover!"
"The green monster DOES move slow, bless my feathers!" A black beak and beady eyes seemed to appear suddenly right next to Karen. After they both had run far and fast they took a moment to catch their breath. Karen looked closer at the bird. The raven's crest and head was covered in wispy shiny black feathers. He wore a colorful breastplate over his torso and a ceremonial tasseled pair of shorts made from woven cloth. Gangly long bird legs ended in dangerous sharp talons that kept him planted on the ground. He preened at his wings and straightened the feathers covering the short gaps that were just made by the dinosaur.
"You must be a native of the island. Oh, I'm rude, of course. My name is Karen Scott. Our plane crashed and my brother and my friend are lost too. Do you know where I am?"
"Nevermore!" The raven squawked.
"Nevermore," He continued, "will I feel safe from these wretched large beasts!" Karen kept silent and shifted uncomfortably as the raven shook out his dark plumage and stared at her with his void-like eye.
"This is a false world young miss Karen. You are not at home nor am I. We are both lost and with your thanks I am saved."
"What do you mean a false world? I don't like riddles."
"Now. I am being rude. My name is Patrick, and I am known as the Salcheck of ravens. A mystic healer if you please."
"So! You ARE native. This must be the Salcheck Island we crashed on. It's exotic! I never knew!"
"This is not my home." Patrick repeated with a flustered flutter of wings.
"But, it HAS to be. Maybe..." Maybe he's sick or an outcast Karen suddenly thought so she kept it in the back of her mind. "Maybe you can help me find my brother and the pilot."
Patrick crackled the edges of his beak together thoughtfully. "If your friends are hurt I am pleased to help them get well. Perhaps it would lift the curse we've fallen under."
Karen did not like how Patrick used the word WE. Still, she suspected the raven knew more about this place than she did.
"I suppose follow the river a while. If we find a clearing and you are strong enough to fly some more...."
"I may never fly again because of the horrors I have seen on the land and in the sky. There are worse monsters yet than what we've just seen!"
Chris and Joe baked in the hazy light of the sun and they knew it would be a slow process but the afternoon was still in the prime. The two foxes lay naked in the center of a ring of rocks; their clothes scattered along the stones. A distant buzzing and humming sound danced in their wide fox ears.
Buzzing turned into a soft hum.
The hum turned into a whipping chop sound.
The choppy sound turned into a higher pitched zooming noise. Chris and Joe both sat up listening to the changing sounds.
"An airplane you think?" Joe wanted the kid's advice. "Helicopter, maybe. Hear the chop in the air?"
"Almost like a small jet, too. A little sound of each it seems."
"Both? Both!" Chris concluded. "Definitely more than one!" Joe nodded and agreed. "Good ears, Kid. I'm betting three searchers. Let's stay put if they fly over the clearing we're good as found."
"Right-O, Old Timer," Chris punched the tease back. "Old timer? C'mon I'm not THAT old!"
"Well," Chris dared some sass to the older fox. "Don't call me kid. I'm not that YOUNG."
Joe choked an apology, of course Chris wasn't, not that Joe was staring but he did notice the nicely developing sheath on the nude teen fox body. "Point taken. I didn't mean it like that. You just remind me of, well, ME when I was your age."
Chris nodded to the apology as he checked if his clothes were dry enough. Satisfied with the results, he gave a thumbs up to Joe and they both dressed up again while the buzzing whirr noises drew even closer. The echoes of the buzzing made him think of invisible planes over head.
"That's so weird! I can hear 'em but not see 'em."
"Chris! Get DOWN!" Joe tackled the thin lanky younger fox off the rocks and they both fell off the edges of the stone. No sooner than Chris had been comfortably dry that he found himself newly soaked through when he and Joe fell into the shallow pond.
"What the FOX!?!?" Chris screamed at Joe as they bobbed heads up in the water. Joe's paw clasped hard across Chris' muzzle and pushed eyes towards the sky. Dark shadowy hornets hovered and flew in the air just above them and they made the air drone and vibrate with their buzzing, humming, and chopping sounds. The whine of their wings shook the surface of the pond and created ripples. "Those aren't airplanes. But they are almost the SIZE of them! Jeez, ever seen bugs this big? It's insane! Not even on the remote islands have I ever heard 'em get this big."
Joe and Chris sloshed in the water as they tried to stay afloat. Hornets swarmed and swayed buzzing and diving towards the splashing surface. The six-legged insects shot over the surface just missing Joe by the scruff of his neck. Joe saw Chris dunk under and he followed down soon after. The pair of foxes resurfaced at the nearer edge of the pond only to realize too late that they made a poor mistake. One of the three massive hornets hovered in the air. Its abdomen bared the barbed stinger from the hind end. A lethal glistening
thick hornet poison coated the hooked weapon. Chris and Joe yelped and howled in desperation as they were caught on the shallow edge of the sand and rock shore of the pond. Three flying bus sized hornets closed their murderous circle as they gnashed bug mouths and drooled insect saliva.
"KYEE-AHH! AWK! AH-AH-AH! Fly away and begone buzzing bastards!"
A black feathery streak bowled through the center of the buzzing circle. Shrieks and caws followed a cloud of dust thrown into the eyes and wings of the flying insects. "Foxes to me! AI CAW! Run to the woods away from the open! The blinding is only momentary!"
Chris and Joe dashed as quick as their newly wet fur and clothing would allow but they did make it to the thicker trees back into the giant woods and towards the cover of the river bed.
"You saved us!" Chris chuffed happily with a thankful yelp. "I'll say it again, Hornets do NOT get that big!" Joe Growled.
"Are you guys okay? Chris, Joe! We found you just in time!" Karen stood and greeted them both, a happy strong hug for Joe, and kisses for her younger brother. "Thank the vixen of nine tails you're both still alive! It's a miracle we found you!" She added with her sisterly informing voice to Chris. "You're WET!!"
"Better WET than hornet lunch, Sis. I..." Chris choked a bit and he admitted, "I've never been so scared, Karen. I'm Afraid! Totally freaked!" Patrick landed nearby with his wingtips still dusted with the powder he used to blind the hornets. He carefully shook off the residue. "By the way," Karen asked, "What's that intolerable smell around here?"
"I smell nothing." Patrick said. "We smelled it earlier." Joe explained, "The giant hornets aside, this smells like rotting garbage."
"Giant hornets, a dinosaur, huge trees and leaves. If this is Salcheck Island..." "Salcheck Island? Joe interrupted Karen. "Of course. That explains our new friend here." The raven blinked and nodded and shook more powder from his wings. A sudden yip warning from Chris put the other three instantly back on guard for the hornets.
"I found something! Over HERE!" Chris led them to a pale chalk white stone. "This stone is more than we think." Patrick explained. "It is a skull of a penguin." "That is impossible!" Joe yelped, "The bone structure and the size of the skull would make that penguin 30 foxing feet tall!"
"It gets WORSE!" Chris whimpered and dug out around frames of giant sized glasses. Inscribed on the side of the plastic frame of the glasses was one word.
'Tim'.
Later in the same day, the fading sky speckled up with the first stars of the evening. The four friends made camp in a secure thicket after digging out a small burrow under the large tree trunks. They
all sat around a flickering campfire eating the last paw full of snacks in Karen's bag. "Do you suppose the same who ever it is who pulled me from the plane left you with the bag of goodies?" Joe asked. Karen shrugged unsurely. She watched Patrick while he brewed some sort of stew over the fire.
"At least you remember a little after the crash! I got knocked hard in the head and passed out. I didn't wake up until who knows when." Chris said. "Same here." Karen agreed. "Chris and I were in the back and we
smacked our heads pretty good against the back of the seats. It puts your lights out pretty good."
"You are not where you think you are." Patrick cawed while his wings fluttered at the steam escaping from his stew. "We all are not home. Though I've known this as home for near a year."
"Fine." Joe agreed. "If we're not on Salcheck Island, where DO you think we are?" "A lost land. Giants, dinosaurs, mystical beasts. We are cursed with no way to escape. Believe me I have tried." Patrick clicked
his bill, seeming happy about the ordeal.
"But, if we were saved by someone from the crash, that someone still has to be around somewhere. I'm not so sure about curses but I'll bet the mystery helper knows how to help us out of this mess." Karen's tail flicked as she talked, her stomach rumbled as the smell of the stew was taking effect.
"Is that done yet?" Chris impatiently slobbered "I'd hurry that meal along, Patrick." Karen warned, "Before you find my brother wanting raw raven on his menu."
"Do me in. I care not. Perhaps being eaten is my fate." Tail feathers fanned at the stew. Karen shifted uncomfortably, "That's now how I meant it. I'm sorry."
Joe reassured Patrick. "We're not that stupid. You say you've been here near a year. With your flight you've obviously seen a lot. Do you know where this river bed ends?"
The raven didn't answer.
Patrick dished out piles of stew onto cleaned leaves that served as plates. The raven took a few pleasant smelling roots and fresh ground them over the meal. Eating slow became difficult and the three foxes eagerly lapped up their leaves cleanly. Chris let out a pleasant belch and sighed in satisfied fashion. He settled and curled his face towards his tail and the tufts of his fur tucked in tight to keep his body warm. In the silence of the night three foxes stared at a moonless sky and they eventually took shelter of the small dug out burrow and slept together.
The sound of rushing water and the mild yellow of morning woke the sleeping foxes. Joe shook off the morning chill and went to check around the campsite. He rubbed his blurry eyes with the back of his paw and saw a second knapsack, similar to the first, right in the center of the campsite. "Everyone UP!" Joe gently commanded, "We've had company here during the night."
Chris and Karen joined him quickly and the nearby riverbed they saw was full churning with a heavy rushing water. "Seems that is not all that changed over night." Karen said, "That river was barely a trickle yesterday."
"Oof!! You had to say trickle! I'll be right back!!"
Chris took a fast dash behind a tree. He desperately pawed and clawed at the button on his jeans. He unzipped as quickly as he could and put a paw carefully in his pants. He pulled out his somewhat swollen maleness, perky and pink and bulging with the yearning sting. A golden river flowed from his tapered tip, splashing yellow streams against the tree. He sighed in exquisite relief. He admired his own cock in his paw as he peed gloriously until he was empty.
"Where's Patrick? Joe questioned about their missing friend and his fur tingled suspiciously as he sniffed at the new bag not able to pick up any definite scent from it. Karen said, "He's probably around. Open that bag because I'd like to see what mystery man has left us."
Joe ruffled through the contents of the bag and found more sandwiches and snacks along with a small pistol that included some extra ammunition. Chris returned a smiling relieved fox and scowled at the gun.
"Like THAT will help against Godzilla Company!"
"It's just too weird. A bag is left off, but what ever fur isn't helping us out of here. It's like they are playing a game with us." Karen said. Joe found four good-sized canteens. "Somehow, I think we are in for a good hike. We should fill these up." He took the water containers to the river and watched bubbles escape
as the jugs became heavy. Far off noises in the woods made three foxes nervously attentive. Joe said, "Let's NOT go that way. I have had enough scare to swear I will never swat at another bug for as long as I live!"
Chris and Karen pointed a direction down river and the trio skittered across the trail that followed next to the bank. Just as they were about to go further, another large lizard blocked their path. Two large multi-toed claws balanced a slender salamander giant against a tree. Long lower legs arched the slim lizard body to the lowest hanging leaves. The scene seemed eerily tranquil and Joe just held a silencing finger to his muzzle and pointed at the different looking dinosaur. The salamander's extra long and double wide tail curled in a spiral
circle behind him as the creature benevolently nibbled on the leafy snacks above him. Joe, Karen, and Chris quietly sneaked around while they also dared to occasionally stop and watch this dinosaur gracefully eat his meal.
"For the love of an instant camera! Why couldn't one of those be left in the bag!" Chris complained.
"Okay. What do we all know? Let's review as we walk." Joe stepped faster and favored his two-legged stance over his four-legged stalk. He grimaced as his ears picked up Karen's voice behind him. "I know that this sucks and it's because your stupid plane picked a stupid foxing time to just stop working!"
"I know that even if Patrick helped us he is very strange and I don't trust him." Chris added. "If Patrick didn't pull us from the plane and isn't dropping the goodie bags, that means there is someone else who is watching us." Joe said.
Karen decided to forfeit her personal gripe with Joe and spoke more. "I know that we're on Salcheck Island. I think Chris is right that we can't trust the raven but we have no choice. We'd be dead otherwise."
Chris said "We know this river wasn't this full yesterday. We know it leads out of here!"
"No." Karen gently disagreed with her brother. "We don't know that Chris. We just HOPE that's right."
"I'm sorry!" Joe said, "This is all my fault. I crashed here and then expected you two to pretend it was okay. I may never fly again after the horrors I've seen here!"
Karen breathed in a gasp!
"What?" Chris asked in a curious panicked tone of voice. "A ghost just walked past me," Karen explained, "I heard Patrick tell me that when we were trying to find you two. Wow, that's freaky." The moment hung in silent suspension. Joe's muzzle froze in place. Chris felt a funny little tingle of sympathy for them both.
"We know about dinosaurs and giant hornets and penguin skulls that wear glasses!"
Chris broke the tension. They all laughed. They laughed until they started to go teary-eyed crying in delight.
Then they laughed the same cycle again just when they thought they all had control over it. Then they did it AGAIN, not really meaning to. They laughed so much it was hurting their sides. The foxes shared mirthful long moments of insanity.
"RAWK!? What do foxes find funny? Fly away! I've found the way out down river!" Patrick appeared from somewhere unknown, and landed to share the good news.
"What we KNOW is funny." Chris wiped happy tears off his fox whiskers. "Where have you been Patrick?" Joe asked as they walked along further. "To find your way out of these woods. The path leads to a beach
with an ocean. Beware, though, foxes! The ocean is glass and false. I flew there and saw! Miles of rocks to cross, too!"
"I've got MY shoes ready." Karen teased her bare pawed brother. Chris shrugged it off and smiled a toothy grin. "Piece of cake! Let's rock and roll! Right, Sis?" "No helpless little damsel HERE!" Karen agreed.
"We're NOT taking another step." Joe halted them short in their steps. He turned to Patrick and crossed his paws over his chest and bared his dangerous teeth. "Tell us what you KNOW Patrick."
"Ooh! SLY fox!" Chris had to admire.
Patrick's feathers fluttered and he shook the beads on his colorful breastplate. "I know this is a false world. I know my home is outside this false world. I know there is one possible escape. Now follow! Or Don't!
Obsidian raven eyes gleamed and twinkled in the daylight.
Joe was blunt. "We don't trust you."
Patrick cawed and begged. "I know you don't. I barely believe myself. This land changes sanity and it starts with the mad laughter you all just had. With your thanks, I am closer to home than ever."
"We'll follow." Karen's fur raised and puffed defensively. "Besides, I'll be damned if we go back. If the Salcheck of ravens says he's closer to home, I think WE are too."
Patrick glided above the three foxes as they crossed over piles of packed rocks that made up the surface leading towards the ocean. Only mid way on their crossing each fox worried about any giant bugs deciding to attack again. The humidity in the air was dampening the fox fur with sweat each step they took was a wearier struggle. There was no direct sign of the sun in the sky but a bright white and yellow nearly washed out the usually blue color of sky. Joe swigged deeply from his canteen. He passed the jug around to the others who also took a long lapping drink. "I'm so tired. Can we nap just a little?" Chris pleaded but didn't whine or beg.
"We're so close." Karen encouraged. They walked over uneven stones and around larger boulders occasionally having to climb up and over a 'mountain' of a rock. They saw an edge of a blue glimmer just ahead and ran forward.
Karen, Joe, and Chris scampered to the edge of the ocean. Their paws met a solid resistance, not the cool wet liquid as they had hoped. Their paw pads scattered and slipped across a glass surface. They tumbled and scrambled around on their fours, slipping as if on ice, tiring them out further.
"I TOLD you!" I did! Now you see the ocean of glass and I am damned!" Patrick fluttered healthy in the air as the foxes below him slid against the smoothness of the blue glass underfeet. They slid and bumped into a wall of clear glass and left nose prints on it. "I am damned! I am damned!" Patrick repeated, "My home and my freedom for these foxes! You PROMISED!" He shouted and cawed madly into the air.
"We've been sold out!" Joe bitterly spat. "Who is he squawking at?"
A feline stared at them from the opposite end of the glass wall. A giant cat face pressed her nose into the corner, surveying and looking over her tiny treasures. The foxes gaped and gawked at the cat impossibility on the other side of the glass and heard Patrick caw.
"Toys! I KNOW we are toys and playthings in this playground cage! NOW you see the truth! The truth sets you free but there is no escape! I KNOW we have been shrunk! This world is not ours and we are cursed to remain! Free me! I have done my dirty deal!"
The cat face, which took up the side of the glass, laughed happily at the helpless fox trio and the mad flying raven. The female feline mewled in delight at her toys in her terrarium.
"She's a madman with an evil mind!" Karen yowled and cried, wearying from the constant scramble of her paws made against the glass bottom. The three foxes fainted from exhaustion, and a giant paw picked
into the terrarium, clutched the lot in her paw, and put them right back to the center of her cage-maze. She placed a shrunken knapsack nearby, swatting the raven occasionally to keep him from escaping too. The giant observer from above waited until the foxes stirred again.
Joe's stomach churned and boiled nervously. He reeled in sickness with his friends doing the same. He was barely holding his guts together when he heard the sweet purr of the giant cat captor.
"Don't worry. I won't hurt you."
Joe recognized the voice. He realized their savior and their captor were one and the same. He turned his head and spilled vomit.
***END***