Foxheart

Chapter Forty-Nine

Fox was glad to get away and, as he walked down the very fancy boulevard of Hornberg, his doubt dwindled. So far, there had been little in the way of White Wizards and police and lots of time for him to think.

Elenore had been mad. They had spoken over the phone in Bull's hidden thieves' den and Elenore was very quickly upset. She re-asserted the plan to abandon Esme and give her up to the Tower. He had known that tone that blistered down the phone. She had been testing him, so, when he said no quite bluntly, she went on a tirade on how stupid he was and that the Doe knew everything from Warbler and claimed to the Fox title was screwed. She was livid, claiming he was thinking with his groin and not his head. Survival was key.

Fox had stood his ground as he gazed at the Eye in his hand with a stupid smile on his face and recalled Dupont's anxious face. She had been so scared returning it to him but she had anyway. Even as Elenore tore into him, that she should've known that he wouldn't have had the balls to go through with it and should've gone with him to keep him in line, Fox felt certain in his decision. He wasn't going to abandon Dupont, not when she was so alone and he had dragged the Fingers into it.

After hanging up on Elenore who was still going on and on about how livid she was with him, Fox made another decision and pulled out the age-old crumpled piece of paper with an address and name scrawled on it. He was going to get rid of the Eye, quietly and without giving himself away. Warbler, Doe and Cuckoo had all left messages about safe-houses, passages and warnings that the Fingers were being hunted. He knew it was risky but it was worth it. He wanted the Eye gone. He told himself that handling two very hot items was not a good move, but his gut told him that was a lie. A small voice murmured that he wanted to prove something to Dupont but he didn't know what. He tried not to think about it.

He turned the corner, following the map in his had that had been imprinted there from Bull's den. He was surprised by how little activity here that he began to make him suspicious. Every beautifully made road was just filled with commonfolk or shoppers, beggars and businessmen, but no police or Wizards. By Bulls' reports, Hornberg was meant to be dangerous to traverse in. Was there a trap ahead? No, Fox decided. No one knew of the Eye and where it was going; Billy hadn't spilled that at least. Maybe the Fingers had planted false information, pulling the heat away and tossing somewhere far, far away. He hoped that was the case. It was the type of thing Warbler and Doe would do; setting up faking accounts of sightings and information leaks. He relaxed a little when he realised that was the case.

Fox marched up a long spindly road, pulling away from the main cluster of buildings and towards the manors that sat on the hills and dips with their vibrant gardens and very tall walls. There was little in the way of shade here, maybe the odd neatly cut tree, and his skin was begin to swelter a little and he felt his shirt sticking to his back. He hoped Bull wouldn't mind him bathing once he got back. He normally wouldn't mind be sweaty, Lakeside was a cesspool of heat with its metal and tarmac everywhere, but the idea of being in this state around Dupont bothered him a little. He scrunched his nose at the thought, scolding himself for thinking such stupid things.

As he trudged up, he began to see the surrounding areas more clearly. The roads that cars zoomed along, the railway where a train chugged merrily along and the three very distinct and large hills. If the information he saw in the tourist kiosks and windows, that had to be the Knoll Sisters. Apparently three very large earth Spirits lived there. Quietly he hoped he didn't need to go near it. Dupont seemed to be a magnet for magic and gods and, after the disgusting plague that animated the dead, he'd had enough of magic for a while.

Fox whistled as he drew close to the house he was looking for. The contractor's place was huge, the biggest house around by far. No doubt it was filled with many pointless rooms and idiotic trophies. He seemed to be a collector and the type to show it off.