FANG 6 Teaser - While the Wind Shook the Barley
This story is a sequel to my story, "The Rising of the Moon Over the Atlantic". The story appeared in Taboo, and came out last year. This story is set six months later and revisits Charlie and Liam to see what they're up to. You don't have to read the previous story, but it helps fill in the character's backgrounds.
You can get FANG 6, which has the complete story and other great writers in it at Anthrocon 2015 next week or preorder it online now.
It was getting on toward evening when I reached the village of my birth. The train station sat a mile from town, and no one else got off at the stop. I walked down the lane with growing apprehension. It had been years since I had last come home, and the closer I got, the more I wondered if I should have just stayed away. My red fur stood out against the dusty road, and the expensive suit I wore made me a distinguished looking gentlemen. While I looked the part, I was just a humble fox, even with everything that had happened the last three months. The white fur at my throat no longer bore the stain of coal dust in it, but my paws were still a natural black to remind me of my past.
As I walked into town carrying my suitcase, I felt the pull of eyes on me. My erect ears picked up whispered words like catamite and fairy. I had come to pay my respects, but that didn't matter. They still remembered me for what I had done ten years ago. Only one person commented about my clothes and how well dressed I was.
Of course, there were the lewd ones about me whoring my way through Southampton. Those I knew weren't whispered just for the benefit of the people nearby, but so everyone could hear. I meet their eyes and most of them stopped. A few just grinned. One of the whisperers didn't back down when I looked at him. Instead he stepped away from the door of the local tavern to confront me.
"Funny seeing ya here, Liam," said the lanky red fox. "I didn't think you were evea' going to come back 'ere." He lifted his eyes and met me squarely, definitely. "Finally coming back to pay your dues are ye?"
"Shawn O'Dowd," I nodded. "Funny seeing ya outside of the tavern. Are they out of beer?"
One of Shawn's ears flicked as he walked up close to me. "I'm surprised to see the boys of Southampton haven't whipped that cocky attitude out of ya, or is your cock why they 'aven't?"
I smirked. "You never did seem to mind before."
Shawn snarled and dropped into a fighting stance, but someone rushed up from behind to grab a hold of him.
"Calm down Shawn me boy. Liam hasn't been back in town for five minutes and you're already barking at 'em like a jilted lover," said the badger who held Shawn.
Of course, Shawn was a jilted lover. It had been a long time ago, but Shawn had wanted me to stay in town. He didn't want me to go to England for work. He'd written me a few times after I had lefty, angry about how I'd gone about dissociating myself from Kiltail at his expense. The last I heard, he married a pretty lass, which he showed little interest in except when drunk. His final letter had been the most vitriolic and after that, I had not written him again.
"I think he just needs to sober up a little," I said. It wasn't even dark and the fox reeked of stale alcohol.
The badger patted Shawn on the back and when he didn't calm, he slipped a hand down towards the base of Shawn's tail and pressed. This caused Shawn to relax. The touch was so intimate, that I could tell who was sleeping with the fox now.
"He just needs to get out a bit more. He and the misses are on the rocks again," said the badger as he tried to shoo Shawn off.
I just nodded and watched the two of them walk off. The other person by the tavern door turned his back to me to smoke. The strong smell of Turkish tobacco tickled at my nose.
I looked up. The sign I remembered as a kid was still there, a willow swaying in the breeze, with the name The Sassy Willow written above. I walked up to the door and entered the tavern.