Foxheart

Chapter Twenty

Fox was familiar with Clockton. He had been born here and his mother died in the hospital giving birth to him. He remembered running about the crooked streets, annoying Cuckoo but those were distant memories. He had been very young when his father had moved him into Lakeside as the Doe wanted him closer and Cuckoo had all the help he needed. So, as Fox moved about the town, warily keeping attention to the people passing him, he had the faint sense of remembered as old memories dusted themselves off and made themselves known. It was the more recent memories that were the most prominent ones however. The times he'd pass through here, the times he'd help out Cuckoo for the Doe, the times he'd have a job here.

He moved through the streets with ease and, while he liked how quiet Clockton was, how few people and cars roamed about, it also made him uneasy. One of the things he loved about Clockton was the quiet, lazy feeling to the place but, when he was on a job or trying to hide a murderess from angry Wizards, he felt too exposed. Too easy to spot. So he kept to the narrow streets and would veer around to go back on himself the moment he saw a Wizard dressed in white, checking the red haired men.

He managed to find a bus stop but without a nice blue bus. He frowned. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to stay put and wait but at least there was an overhanging shrub he could hide under. Maybe the Wizards wouldn't notice him.

Settled beneath the shade, Fox waited. He intended to ask the bus driver what the roads were like and where all the fuss was. Taxi drivers would be better, being far more gossipy, but Clockton had few of those and their routes didn't go nearly as far as buses.

As he sat with his hat pulled over his hair, elderly folk came to stand before the bus sign with the sun rising higher, making his back grow sticky with sweat. It made him want to be back at Cuckoo's. Cuckoo always had the best ice cream and had one of those modern fans that would cool a room down. But no, Fox was stuck out in the glaring sun and boiling heat while his blackmailer Dupont was settled in safety and being cooled in Cuckoo's house.

As Fox grumbled to himself and slowly disliking Dupont even more, the deep rumble of an engine and groaning of gears and steel drew close. Fox raised his head and watched as the blue rusty bus rattled along the narrow cobbled street before screaming to a stop.

The doors slowly opened, letting in the cluster of elderly and a mother with a child on board. Fox stood unhurriedly and dusted off his trousers before stepping forward and hopping onto the bus. It stank inside of hot metal and sweat and didn't have an ounce of respite from the heat, in fact it seemed worse in here.

As the mother took her screaming baby down the isles of mostly empty seats, Fox stepped up to the greying old driver.

'Got some questions.'

'Yeah? Prices are on that board.' The driver gestured to black and white printed paper stuck to the side of his chair.

'More curious if you know about the Wizards. The white ones.'

'What of them?' The driver asked impatiently.

'How far are they out? Seems weird they're so far outside of Lakeside. The murderer was still in the city I thought.'

The driver shrugged. 'Don't know why but they're along my route from Lakeside all the way down to Wilver. See them through every town I go through. Seems they think this murderer has got out of Lakeside.'

'They trackin' transport?'

'Yeah. Check my bus now and then.' The drive peered at Fox. 'Not good with magic?'

Fox laughed. 'No. Trying to keep out of its way. The white ones unnerve me.'

'Don't blame you. Hate them on board but they're looking for that woman who murdered our Grand Wizard. Has to be done. Can't have someone that powerful running about.' The driver said. 'Now are you paying or not?'