The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 141: Is It Time Yet?

A cacophony of bird cries attacked my ears. Behind us, palace guards pumped their wings and took off to defend their queen. Moments later, bodies began to fall from the sky. Silly spirits. Their "defense" was futile and ultimately unnecessary. They were throwing away their lives for nothing.

Not that I'd told Anthea that, of course.

I needed her to act like her normal self, and the raccoon dog simply wasn't a good actress. Right now she'd be in a genuine panic, scurrying about like a chicken with its head cut off and spreading her panic to all who saw her.

The wave of landbound demons broke in front of the platform and swept around the capital to surround it. Their front line seethed with motion. Demons snapped and snarled and lunged forward in small groups, only to get dragged back by the others. To the terrified residents of Goldhill, it would look as if the horde were just waiting for a signal to fall upon and annihilate the city.

"I sssee her!" Bobo sang out. "I sssee the fox ssspirit we're working with! Sssphaera!"

Where? Stripey and I asked in unison.

She pointed her tail into the mass of demons, but the foxling was too far away for my mortal eyes to make out.

All of a sudden, half a dozen wolves burst out of the main horde and charged at us.

What's that foxling doing? I complained. They're not supposed to actually attack us.

She doesn't have as tight control over them as you think, Stripey warned. I mean, have you tried herding a bunch of demons?

What do I look like – a sheepdog?

No, you don't. That's my point.

"Where are your cranes?" Bobo rose up to the tip of her tail for a better view.

I told them to stay near the back. Stripey flew higher, scanned the demon horde for his clan, evidently failed to spot them, and shrugged his wings. If they have any sense, they listened.

They were his responsibility, not mine, but still, I couldn't help flying up to his level and searching the horde along with him. You'd think a bunch of big white cranes with black necks would be easy to see, but no. They were nowhere in sight. Maybe they'd stayed well back.

"They're attacking!" shrieked Miss Caprina.

"No, they're not, they're our allies, it's just an act – " Floridiana's voice cut off with a yelp and a thump.

Dusty neighed a war cry, and up on the platform, Lodia screamed.

I spun in time to see the wolf demons barrel into the bear spirits, who roared and smacked them away. In one bound, Miss Caprina was on the platform next to Lodia.

A wolf leaped at Dusty's throat. The horse reared and lashed out with his front hooves. Floridiana, meanwhile, had vanished under another wolf, although I could hear her voice shouting, "Burn! Burn! Burn!" Wisps of smoke and the stench of burning fur rose, and the wolf howled.

What are they playing at? I screeched. Bobo! What's the foxling doing?

"Um, um, ssshe's – it's hard to tell, but I think ssshe looks excited? Yeah, yeah, ssshe definitely looks excited."

Excited?! Was she following my plan or not?

"Pip!" Lodia's anxious voice cried out from below. "Pip, what's going on? Is this supposed to happen?"