Falling Ashes (20 page)

I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d been foolish to think Hawthorne was getting sick of me. The real story was: he had a girlfriend.

‘There was no need to sneak around,’ I said to Hawthorne as Emilija cleaned her second baby.

Hawthorne watched as his two offspring bumped blindly into one another; their tiny, featherless wings flapping uselessly.

‘Are you done, girl?’ I asked Emilija. ‘Are there any more?’

I had to admit, she looked much better now that she had given birth to two fat babies. They were larger than newborn Labradors, but smaller than a fully grown cat. I didn’t know how many offspring a Vulmessian could have; these were probably the first naturalborn of their kind.

I knew dogs could have a litter of puppies in the teens, but I had no idea about foxes. Though ‘fox’ didn’t really describe the animals before me.

Again, Emilija began to push as the third baby made its way into the world. It was by far the biggest of the three, and a far lighter grey than the others.

~

An hour later, the three pups were suckling happily on their mother’s teats, Hawthorne brought Emilija a dead rabbit to feast upon, which she ate greedily, and I was re-bandaging my damaged leg.

I had to admit, Emilija looked much better now she had given birth. She was sitting up, breathing normally, and cleaning her babies. Hawthorne had not touched the pups yet, and eyed them warily, as if unsure what to make of them. His head tilted whenever they made a squeaking noise.

I had not touched the babies either; Emilija was not familiar with me, and I didn’t fancy having my arm torn off. So instead, I sat back and observed the family longingly, wishing Jack could be here to witness this miracle with me.

I was beginning to miss him dearly. We hadn’t spent such a long time apart before; except for the period when I’d been locked in Master Sebastian Forsythe’s dungeon for breaking his nose. I tried to block that period of my life from my memory.

I allowed my thoughts to wander, thinking of Jack and the moment we’d shared before everything had been torn apart.

~

By the following morning, I was able to put a small amount of weight onto my leg. The wound had formed a scab, which was reassuring, and there was no sign of infection, either.

After Hawthorne had caught everyone breakfast, I managed to hop to the stream that he’d taken me to the previous day. Once there, I washed, drank, and relaxed in the cool water. Unfortunately, I had no way of holding water to take back to the windmill.

As I sat on the stream’s edge, I turned my locket between my thumb and forefinger. The ruby lit up like fire as the sun shone through the canopy ahead, its rays dappling across the grass, forming strange patterns.

I sighed and flopped back onto the grass, my hair sprawling out behind me, and I pictured Jack lying by my side. I missed him dearly, to the point where I felt nauseous.

‘Why the worried expression?’ said Jack in my minds eye.

I stared at the leaves above and said, ‘It’s not fair.’

‘What’s not fair?’ said Jack. I imagined him watching me, propped up on his elbow, his face resting against his palm.

‘Everything,’ I said to myself. ‘I must have the worst luck in the world. I mean … can’t things just go smoothly for once?’

‘What are you going to do?’ asked Jack.

‘I don’t know.’ I pondered this for a while. ‘Dagon thinks I should rally human supporters to take down the Realm.’

Jack eyed me beadily. ‘Who is Dagon?’

‘Oh, just a man I met in Port. Don’t worry, he’s just a-’ I stopped as I realized that I was talking to myself.
Stupid
, I thought.
Jack isn’t here. I don’t know where he is.

Calling it a day, I grabbed my things and began the painful walk back to the windmill.

As I hopped along, I noticed that the clouds overhead were becoming darker. In the distance, a rumble of thunder sounded.

I hated the rain, and the windmill was sure to leak. At least I would be able to keep the babies from getting cold.

It had already started to sprinkle by the time I reached the windmill. Hawthorne and Emilija were huddled together, fast asleep, while the kits were trying to hold their own weight up.

It had only been twenty-four hours, but I’d already noticed a small change in their appearance. Their eyes were no longer completely closed. Instead, a sliver of colour could be seen between their eyelids. Not only that, but hair was beginning to grow on their naked, grey bodies; it was wispy and transparent -but nevertheless, they were growing fur.  I wondered whether they would grow as fast as Hawthorne had; he’d grown from pup to the size of a horse within a matter of weeks. I tried to imagine hiding in the windmill with five fully-grown Vulmessians. I wouldn’t go unnoticed for long.

While Emilija slept, I took my chances and tried to interact with the pups. I didn’t want to startle them, so I sat a couple of feet away, and watched them.

They seemed to sense my presence immediately, lifting their tiny noses and testing the air while squeaking as they staggered around. I couldn’t help but smile as one toppled over another.

The smallest of the three came closer so I reached out a hand for it to sniff me. The pup was interested; it licked my fingers before losing its balance and falling over. I stifled a laugh, not wanting to wake Emilija. The other babies wound their way towards me, until all three of them were trying to climb into my lap. I assumed they were cold and sought my body heat, but that didn’t bother me.

Having the fat, wriggling babies in my arms was enough to make me forget about all the bad things that have ever happened to me. It was as though they were instant anti-depressants.

I picked them up one by one and inspected them; there were two girls, and one boy, who was the largest of the three.

‘You’re going to be just like your daddy,’ I whispered, holding him close to my face. ‘You’re going to be a big boy and look after your sisters.’

I secretly named the three Vulmessian kits. I decided on a nature-theme, just like Hawthorne’s.

I called the smallest female Willow, because she had the skinniest legs, and the longest fur so far.

The second female I called Rue, after the flower, as her eyes had a lilac hue similar to the plant that grew in my mother's front garden.

And lastly, I called the male Shadow, in anticipation of the shadow he would cause when fully grown. I had a feeling he was going to be big.

‘Willow, Rue, and Shadow,’ I said out loud.

I looked up and saw that Emilija was watching me with narrowed eyes. I froze, worried that she would become protective over her young and attack. However, she simply groaned and curled up, placing her bushy tail over her face, continuing to sleep.

I let out the breath I’d been holding and smiled. Emilija, it seemed, trusted me with her babies.

~

I was beginning to feel like a sitting duck.

Two days passed, and we were still in the windmill because we couldn’t travel. I was able to walk on my leg again, with a slight limp, but I couldn’t take Hawthorne away from his mate and children. He brought her food when she couldn’t hunt, and the babies were not old enough to travel.

So we stayed in the windmill. I made myself productive by cleaning the space as much as I could, removing most of the owl droppings and broken items that littered the floor. The kits had doubled in size over the last forty-eight hours; their sparse fur was becoming thicker and whiter with each passing hour. Their eyes were now completely open, and each had a different colour.

Willow’s eyes were hawk-like, and yellow just like her mother’s, whilst Rue’s eyes had become a brilliant purple, and Shadow took after his father, with shocking blue eyes.

I was glad that Emilija did not mind me interacting with her young. I played with the three Vulmessian pups while the parents slept, ate, or went hunting. Hawthorne was teaching Emilija to find her own food, which she brought back for her babies, who were already beginning to eat meat.

The Vulmessian pups preoccupied me, meaning there was hardly any time left in the day to worry about myself.

Willow, Rue, and Shadow played rough and tumble with one another while their parents watched. I could see in Hawthorne’s eyes that he wanted to join the fun, but he was far too strong to play so roughly. Instead, he let the trio climb all over him, nipping and tugging on his fur, their bushy tails wagging excitedly.

On the fifth day at the windmill, I sat at the top of the hill, just outside the windmill’s door, and watched Emilija, Hawthorne, and the triplets tumbling down the grassy slope. The pups bounded back to the top, before allowing themselves to roll all the way back down to their parents again.  It was quite a sight watching the playful family, but it made me miss my own family even more.

Willow, Rue, and Shadow were now completely covered in thick, white fur. They looked no older than the day I’d found Hawthorne. Had he really been only a few days old when I’d taken him? Did this mean the triplets were now old enough to be taken away from their mother? I couldn’t imagine separating them from Emilija, but then I remembered that Hawthorne didn’t have a mother; he’d been created by a Mage.

As I watched the three balls of fur wrestling in the grass at the bottom of the hill, I daydreamed about Jack, missing him more each second. It was getting to the point where the thought of him was physically painful; it was like a tight grip wrapped around my heart, squeezing every time Jack entered my mind. It had dawned on me how much I really needed him, and I wondered why I’d taken his company for granted. I’d always been really hard on Jack, holding him at an arm's length, and now I wanted nothing more than to hold him and never let go.

Ugh, what’s happening to me?
I thought.
All of these sappy, romantic thoughts are so unlike me.

Hawthorne and Emilija retreated to the windmill for a nap while I watched their children. It was nice to be trusted with the three troublemakers, even if Hawthorne had become dull since fatherhood. These days he and Emilija slept for a most of the daylight hours, waking up every now and then to catch something to eat. I didn’t mind; it meant I got to bond with the pups.

I daydreamed as I watched them play, my mind travelling a thousand miles to be with Jack. I envisioned him walking through the trees and appearing on the bottom of the hill. I’d probably run down the slope and jump into his arms. The thought brought a smile to my face.

I was so caught up in the fantasy that I thought I saw the trees rustle as though someone were pushing their way through them. Perhaps I wanted to see Jack so badly I was beginning to hallucinate.

And then a figure appeared between the trees; it seemed I really was hallucinating.

I stood, ready to run down the hill, but realized very quickly that it was not a hallucination; someone was watching me through the trees.

I took a step forward, squinting at the shape, trying to distinguish the features. I could see that it was a man who stood there. At the bottom of the hill, the three pups stopped playing and stared at the figure, their tails between their legs. Suddenly, I felt a wave of foreboding; something terrible was about to happen.

I began to run down the hill but tripped on a rabbit hole and tumbled down instead, coming to a painful halt a few yards from the tree line where I had a clear view of the man. At least I was faster at falling than running.

I scrambled to my feet, my knees and elbows stained from the grass, and Willow and Rue ran to me and hid behind my legs, quivering with fear.

Finn the hunter stood before us, holding a dagger identical to the one he’d embedded in my thigh five days ago. Its twin was still at the bottom my rucksack in the windmill. I’d been using it to skin the dead animals Hawthorne brought me.

But it wasn’t the dagger in his right hand that made me freeze on the spot; it was what he held in his left hand that frightened me more than anything.

Finn held Shadow by the scruff of his neck, the dagger at his throat. Shadow was crying and wriggling, trying to break free of Finn’s grip while Willow and Rue whimpered behind me.

‘What are you doing?’ I said at once. ‘Drop him, right now!’

Finn smirked. ‘It just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it? I came here looking for you and the monster, but here I find three little monster pups.’

‘
Let. Him. Go
,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘Or there will be hell to pay.’

Finn shook Shadow a little, making him squeal. ‘Make one move, and I’ll slit his throat,’ he said, pressing the dagger against Shadow’s stark white fur.

‘You wouldn’t,’ I said, my hearth thumping wildly. ‘Are you really so heartless you’d hurt an innocent animal?’

Finn shrugged. ‘It’s all in a days work, Sweetheart.’

There was nothing I could do except stall Finn until Hawthorne and Emilija woke up from their nap. Hopefully the cries of their young would rouse them from slumber.

‘You got here rather quick,’ I said, thinking on my toes. ‘Boat?’