Sin Of Greed (Greedy Fox Book 2)

~~ FOUR ~~

A/N: I'd been on such a great roll until I got to this chapter. There's always a chapter that just does not mesh well when you're trying to put the outline into scenes. But we got there in the end (I credit the motivation to getting this chapter out of the way before NaNoWriMo begins so it's easier to write later down the track) 

Hope you enjoy the chapter! 

"Follow the path around the bend. After you go under the overhand and crest the hill, you'll see the tops of the village's singular outpost come into view."

I left the poor woman grieving over the funeral pyre. I felt bad about forcing her to tell me where it was but she was nice enough to point me in the direction of the closest village amongst her tears. It had to be done.

She said Liones was quite a distance away, more than a few days and nights of travelling, but I had the right path. My heart lighter with that knowledge, I'd set off at a brisk jog.

I forgot to thank her.

She also warned that others wouldn't hear me. She had an uncanny ability to speak to animals, passed down by her father. Which sucked because trying to get people to point me in the right direction after the village would most likely result in pitchforks and fire.

~

I trotted through the overhang she mentioned, the monolithic stone speared towards the dropping sun. The shade was delicious on my sun-scorched fur. I'd been running for almost an hour. Foot weary, I let myself rest briefly.

The distance had been eaten up by my longer legs. I wasn't sure why I hadn't decreased size since dropping the ability to absorb mana but I wasn't exactly complaining. It made it so much easier to get anywhere.

And it would make fighting easier too.

The path sloped gently upwards in the distance, the trees thinning out once again. Surprisingly, I encountered no one else on the path. Worry was a knot in my stomach at the thought, for even the animals had been few and far between.

A quick stretch and I was on my way again. The demon stench began again not long after the overhang, confirming my unspoken theory that there was more than one in the area. Then came the smell of thunderstorms and dust interlapped with the stench.

Could it be?

No, surely not. I tried not to let myself hope. There had to be a reasonable explanation for the smells but a small part of me prayed even if it was outrageous, that they'd be this far from Liones.

The singular defense outpost was not hard to see amongst the shrove of trees in view. The roofing had either been made with gaudy red tiles or painted that way so it could be seen from a distance.

Farmland spread out in the land before the trees, little houses and lean-tos with smoke curling delicately from chimneys. Serene, peaceful, not a blade of glass out of place.

Except the people standing still as statues. Cautiously, I made my way closer, eyes searching for demons. I saw no evidence of them still around, just the slack-jawed humans, wide eyes pale and unseeing. The demon smell was almost unbearable this close to the humans.

The eerie silence made my fur stand on end and I passed through with barely a breath exhaled. The wind didn't even stir.

I was between a house and the trees when a scream tore the air. I darted into the shadows of a wagon, ears flattened, teeth bared. Nothing came at me and I clambered out when more screams and cries carried through the still air.