This story is the same as Fred 3's story up to the point where both Fred and Astra (still apparent demifoxs) meet the were-bear Synizn. They give him the Crystallic for his to study so he can return them to normal....but soon find him murdered and the Crystallic gone! All attempts to track down the murderer fail and the Crystallic remains gone.....
Fred's and Astra's tails droop in dismay at the turn of events. Dismay that a man has been murdered. Dismay that this murder happened when they were in the next room (why didn't they HEAR the struggle). Dismay at the FACT that the only man that they knew could cure them in the time alloted is PROFOUNDLY dead on the floor with a silver axe in his skulll! Extremely DISMAYED at the fact that the only magical item that could cure them.....is gone!
The demi-foxes try, futilely to track down the killer....and the Crystallic. One the last night, the demi-foxes, crying, stare up at the rising moon. Somewhere in town, midnight is struck, and then a feirce JOY sweeps through the saddened couple.
The demi-foxes howl in pleasure up at their Mistress and then, after petting and muzzling (and "other") each other, the foxes arise and look at each other. Their demeanor is a bit different than before. They dress and then....
"Let us go down to see our employee," murmurs Astra. "I have a bone I'd like to pick with him!"
"True," Fred says with a slight sneer in his voice. "While she's reputed to alway get her assignment done....I don't approve of her methods in this matter!"
The demi-foxes scamper down to a table where the meet is to take place, and soon a darkly cloaked figure walks in and sits across from the small people.
"I believe you have something for me?" the lady says in a husky voice. She pushes forward a familiar....gawdy figurine.....
"Shakespear," sighs Astra as she pushes across jewel.....slightly less than agreed upon, and then plunks down the silver axe (cleaned.....of course) next to the jewel. "You were a little too loud with the last job."
"We never asked you to KILL the mage," Fred murmurs as the thief gathers her payment and her ax. "Not only was that well and beyond what was called for.....it raised awkward questions with the Guard!"
"Well," mutters the thief. "What possessed you to call the Guard in the first place, if you didn't want to talk with them?"
"It was the Frederigo D'Honaire and the Warrior Princess Astra," sneers Fred. "That guy was so anal about Honor and knightly virtue.....all because of him not wanting to be like his father! And he NEVER wanted to use a bit of stragetic sneakiness when a frontal attack presented itself!"
"And Princess Astra," Astra says, rolling her eyes. "Little common sense and she was about as bad as that windbag. I'm glad that their gone!"<p.
"Well," smiles Shakespear. "That's why you hired me while the other 'people' were asleep. You were only trying to protect yourself and your little kits from harm. I only did what I saw as necessary....for a fee, of course. Good day."
The thief leaves, Fred and Astra smile. The thief wouldn't be in this line of business much longer because.....they smelled the taint of the Folk on her and they had smelled the stench of her blood back at the scene of the crime. Shakespear would soon be joining the ranks of the werefolk out in the woods....
"So..... Mr. Freddy Vulpine," smiles the vixen. "What do you and your mate want to do now? Can not very well take up the old sword and shield occupation now, can we?"
"Freddy" smiles and......
Suggest taking up the roles of thieves. It was something that their new, nimble bodies and hands were suited for.....
About three years ago in the Duchy of Suffex
A stern-looking man eyed his son and said, "Go with the gods, boy. The Guard D'Honaire shall stay with you until you reach the Centerstone, from there keep on the King's Way until you reach Caemlyn. Study well the ways of the Dragon and practice the sword as if it were your life, for one day it may well be."
Over one year ago in the Seat of Allaria
A king stood on a parapet and announced to a festive throng, "And so we send our most heroic warrior, Lord Fred, to vanquish the most terrible Dragon of the Southern Caves..."
Some ten months ago in Walants, a city within MalBoncton
A strange red-furred she-fox whispered to a red-skinned fox-man, "So...Mr. Freddy Vulpine, what do you and your mate want to do now?"
Today, somewhere in MalBoncton
The woods erupted in laughter as three creatures with flames flying off their tails ran into the nearby stream. "Mother!" screamed the first one to leave the cooling waters. "Moe lit our tails on fire...again!"
From out of a patchwork cabin came a creature that seemed part fox, part human, and all woman. Her snout sported reddish whiskers that twitched in the sunlight, her eyes were a deep auburn, her long, full tail was a light brown with a tinge of violet. Her children called her 'mother' while others had come to hear of her as 'the Vixen.' She looked about, smelling for her sons Moe, Sam, and Godfrey. They were the love of her life...and the terror of their sisters. Wherever Moe was, the other two were sure to be as well. Kirsten, dripping from her submersion, went to her mother followed by her sisters Tess and Angie. They were a queer sight, the three small girl-children whose heads were part fox, part human, and whose colors ranged from black to orange. "Boys!" yelled out the Vixen. "If you don't come out now, I'll let your father nibble your toes!" With such a threat, three smallish boy-children scampered out from behind a large boulder.
"Aw, mom," said the tallest one. "It was only for fun."
"Well, your sisters didn't think it was all too fun, now did they? No more fire-play. You should be practicing the meditations. We are not of this earth, we are of the spirit. Never forget that."
Indeed. This was a family of Kitsune, shape-shifting spirits that inhabited earthen bodies. It has been said that the spirit-creatures exist in the 'inbetween' and that they survive within a complex hierarchy of stations and figures and ranks. This particular family of Kitsune took their existence from the forms of two humans who were now long dead.
The Vixen sniffed the air as her children returned to their more serious play. She smiled for she could smell her mate approaching upon the winds. The form of a man with red skin and a full beard came into view. He wore tan breeches and a blue shirt that flowed at the wrists.
"Well, if it isn't ole Freddy Vulpine!" said the she-creature with a wicked wink.
"And his curvaceous woodwife Vix," he replied with a beam in his eye.
They embraced with a long and deep kiss. They stood like statues for quite a time, for humans it would've been a bizarre act, but for the Kitsune it was their way. In their embrace, their touch, they sensed each other, knew each other. They communicated in a way that no human or dwarf or other earthly creature could fathom or hope for. When they disengaged, both knew how each other's day had gone.
"That bad, huh?" said Vix.
"Yep," answered Freddy. "The Syndicate called in an Assassins Guild to finish off the lower rabble, which includes our most pliable clientele."
"First they 'cleansed' Rydar, then Greyton, and now Malevlant," sighed Vix.
"And they've got plans for Walants too."
"At least that's not our concern, too far away to bother us. Walants is eight days ride from here, but Malevlant is only one."
"Humans are a strange folk," said Freddy. "Let them kill each other, I say, its what they're good for. We'll continue to thieve in Malevlants as long as we can, and besides, picking the pocket of an assassin sounds fun!"
"It is a good life," murmured Vix as she led her mate into their cabin.
The Kitsune continue their thieving pursuits until the day the 'Blackrobes' arrive in Malevlant...
The Kitsune continue their thieving pursuits until the day the 'Blackrobes' arrive in Malevlant...
Now, you may think that these "Blackrobe" fellows belong to that Assasin's guild or some other sinister organization. Not so! Would any killer worth his salt wear something so obvious as to advertise to the world (and their potential victims) who they really are? Don't think so.
Rather, the "Blackrobes" are the Elders of the local Kitsune Clan!
They came out......
Came out of left field.....and changed everything!
Oh, it started seemingly innocently enough. Kitsunes can have a real sense of humor, even with their own kind! So when the Elders started to say something about the now defunct mage..... it sounded like a real knee slapper!
Then, later on in that same week, their old keepsakes (the rings that acted as translators).....start to give off some unexpected noise! It sounds like some type of conversation is going on....and the Kitsune listen in.....fascinated. Whoever set this up..... Well, it's got to be some type of prank. Kitsune are known for stuff like that......
At least they'd stopped with the jokes about her body's former owner having been a werewold....and then a sex-starved fox person!
Hey, it had been a one night fling with the now departed Frederigo D'Honaire..... Or would have been if Irana hadn't stepped in and implanted Freddy Vulpine into the now defunct knight. It happened.......
Though, frankly, she felt that she and Freddy made better use with these earthern bodies than those stuffy old humans ever had now......
That aside....
They all listen in, rapt with attention (and finally awaiting the punch line) when the Vixen hears somebody who sounds like......that dead mage from so long ago?!
"Who is this?" the Vixen asks, perplexed, as she looks over at Freddy Vulpine and her children, "Synizn is dead!"
Not through any fault of our own, she grumps, remembering, We only hired that woman to steal the Crystallic, not kill that werebear. (Re: 1728)
She and her mate had kept the magical translator jewelry they'd inherited along with their earthern bodies (the old human owners no longer needed them) and had kept them as keepsakes. Boy, it was surprising to hear those keepsakes talking! That and the voices coming from those keepsakes.....sounded just like those now departed humans!
They'd paused and listened, spellbound, as this strange tale unfolded. It was fascinating! And as one may guess, fascinating things draw kitsunes interests like a moth to a flame!
That is why they remained silent until now!
The scene freezes before they get another word out.....
However, unlike the scene back in Synizn's home.....the family of kitsune gasp and fall to their knees and kneel, frightened nearly silly by a large gathering of golden furred nine tailed kitsunes....and one ten tail kitsune!
"Oh no," whispers Freddy Vulpine, a sinking feeling in his stomach.
I thought the rumbling by the Elder was nothing but hot air, the Vixen thinks fearfully to herself.
It was so rare, and the two parents had thought that the warnings of a debt to that now dead mage had been.....a joke! Something about a ghost hanging around, moaning about dying before getting a chance at a release.......
"It has come to my attention that you have contributed a fellow spirit not being able to Pass on," the ten tailed kitsune purrs softly. "You know such is.....a very serious crime amongst the fox spirits.....even though this dragon spirit isn't one of our own...... Still very serious....."
Dragon? Freddy Vulpine and the others think to themselves, looking at each other in askance.
"The mage the thief you hired killed Synizn.....a dragon who'd been cursed into the form of a were-bear," one golden furred kitsune chimes in, seeing the confusion. "You failed to see to even burying him. Shameful. And you ignored our subtle....and not so subtle hints."
Kitsune are not of this earth, they are of the spirit. One should never forget that. Kitsune are, shape-shifting spirits that inhabited earthen bodies. It has been said that the spirit-creatures exist in the 'inbetween' and that they survive within a complex hierarchy of stations and figures and ranks. This particular family of Kitsune took their existence from the forms of two humans who were now long dead. That was done well within rules of the kitsune, as it were. However, the pain they'd inadvertantly caused this mysterious Synizn character was dire. This hidden dragon had been hoping to finally be free of his lycanthropic curse.....really had his heart set upon it (in addition to aiding the ones who'd come to him)...... The thief had killed him before either could happen, leaving a task undone....a desire unfulfilled that anchored the angry mage to the realm of the living....as a ghost.....suffering. As complex as the hierarchy and station of Kitsune was, that was as simple a crime.....a taboo punishable by the most terrible of punishment. Punishment that this council and the very leader of kitsune was about to met out.
No appeal would be listened to, despite how just it may seem to a human being. Kitsune are not humans. The punishment would be met out on the parents (a painful death...and never coming back to the mortal plains again) and the children swept into other households appointed by the council.....separating them all....unless......some unlikely Higher spiritual forces come in....and claims the offenders for themselves.
"May we speak?" a plane sounding voice says, right before a Rule and Agent appear. "I and my associate had made an offer that they are eligible for....."
Stunned, the other Kitsune allow it, disowning the family of Kitsune forevermore. The Vixen and Freddy Vulpine were offered the chance to become Champions....and took it up in a blink of an eye once they learned of all the ins and outs of what it entailed (no painful death, no boring eternity in the realm Kitsune dwelled between Earthly "visits", and the family stays together)! Oh, it meant that they would forevermore be stuck in their earthern bodies....but.....
"So....what do you wish of us?" Freddy Vulpine asks.
The Rule then begins to speak.....
But we must now turn back to those trying to get out of a Pyramid......