Foxheart

Chapter Eight

When Fox woke at dawn to a blaring alarm, he was happy. His body felt refreshed, the air wasn't shimmering with heat yet and he was excited at the prospect of showing the Eye to the Doe a day after she gave him the task. She was going to be amazed and have no choice but to call him Fox now.

But his joy and giddy whistling was brought to a sudden stop as he leapt naked from bed and noticed his window was unlocked and curtains wide open. His gut twisted. He never left his window unlocked during the night, or at most he put it on a secure latch to hang open if it got unbearably hot. Around here there were burglars who had no sense of code or business and mugged anyone.

Suddenly a felt a little wary as he latched it and pulled the curtains to. Just to be safe and certain it was still there, Fox found the flimsy floorboard and pulled it open. He was relieved to see the safe there, locked and secure.

'Gettin' paranoid.' He said, laughing at himself as he clicked it open.

In an instant, his heart was in his mouth and his good mood shrivelled. Panic was taking him. The safe was empty. They Eye was gone.

'What? Where is it?' He stammered and noticed that, while his equipment was untouched, the book he found wasn't where he left either. That didn't matter so much though. The Eye did.

He felt inside but all that was there was the empty velvet bag he'd kept it in and swaths of wool. Nothing else. The Eye of Autumn, his task, his ticket to locking down the title Fox, was gone.

Fox gaped. His heart had stopped beating and his stomach was doing some kind of circus act. Where was it? He was certain he had put in there, secure and safe. Had someone seriously stolen from him? But how? He would've woken up by the racket of a man moving in his room, lifting floorboards and fiddling about with a safe right beside his bed. It can't have been an Obtainer either as the Doe would have their hide if they delivered someone else's task to her. She hated petty competition and ego building.

'This is a nightmare. Just a nightmare.' Fox pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut then opening them sharply in the hopes he was mistaken and the Eye was actually in the safe after all. It wasn't.

Fox felt sick. He stood, trying to breathe and figure out what on earth had happened. It was then that he noticed the scrap of paper on his bedside table. A piece of paper that hadn't been there before. He picked it up and read it slowly.

'Fingers' thief, I have your prize. If you want it, come find me at the burned fishery where the River Oak meets Lake Tranquil at dawn tomorrow. If you do not, I will make it disappear forever.' He read aloud. 'Blackmail.' He rubbed his face in despair. 'This is insane.'

So someone had stolen it and it wasn't someone from a middle or lower class, not by how pompous it sounded. So some rich guy had somehow sneaked in here and stolen his Eye without waking him. He just had no idea how they did or who or why. How did anyone know he was a member of the Fingers and his task? He couldn't think of anyone and no one in the Fingers themselves dared to breathe a word of their jobs to anyone not involved or risk certain appendages and tongues. Either they were a Wizard or this guy was good. Way too good.

However Fox had little choice but to respond to the calling. It was dawn now and he wanted that Eye back. He could quiz them about how they did it after he had the Eye back in his hands.

Fox was quick to splash water over his face and dress himself. He tucked the old switch-knife his father gave him years ago and slipped on the Gloves, hoping they had charged up enough since he last used them. He didn't eat or drink, there was no time for that. He had to get his Eye back.