Fox Of Greed (Greedy Fox Book 1)

~~ THIRTY FOUR ~~

I caught my breath around the other side of Vaizel's remains.

I couldn't stay there, not while they were regrouping. One Sin I could take barehanded, probably two at the same time if I had a sword. But I didn't have a sword and they had a freaking giant.

Didn't know how I could have forgotten about Diane. Jeez. I straightened, cracked my back, and looked in all directions. There was no traces of Guila, Jericho and Helbram. Either they'd been killed in the attack – which might be likely – or they ditched me.

I blew a raspberry and continued along what remained of the path, careful to keep an eye out should the Sins hunt me. My legs quivered with fatigue but the whole body ache I'd harboured had disappeared. My arm too was healing – tingling and twitching. The bruising wasn't as dark. I dropped Kitsune; swamped by faintness, I paused in the middle of the road.

"Hey, you okay?" I looked up from my hands on knees. A farmer stood in front of me. He held a flask in his hands and the other held the small hand of a boy.

"What are you doing here? You guys should be far away," I said, standing tall and pushing away the weariness that ate at my muscles. "You should have evacuated with the others."

"We did. Everyone's over there." The farmer's eyes scoured my body then he pushed the flask out to me. "Here. Looks like you need it."

I wrinkled my nose at the sickly bitter smell as I uncapped it and took two deep gulps. "Thanks." I repressed the shudder from the taste – obviously not Vanya ale. The little kid peered at me with dark blue eyes, vacant in the stare. Shock? Probably.

"Who was in charge of the evacuation?"

"We had some Holy Knights helping out but they've left now. Taizo's running it, keeping everyone calm."

"Take me to him," I commanded and the farmer cocked an eyebrow at me.

While I might sound like a Holy Knight, I probably did not look it. I had no armour, my sword was a splint on my arm, my hair was most likely a tousled mess I'd never be able to tame in time, and I was pretty sure I was caked in blood and mud – some of which was not mine.

"I'm a Holy Knight of Liones. I'll assist where I can."

"You look ready to fall over," he stated but still turned on his heel and led the way. The child kept looking back at me with those vacant eyes. It was unnerving to say the least.

We went over a rise and down below in the valley was a large farmstead with a herd of cattle rounded up and an even larger crowd of displaced citizens milling about.

The farmstead had not escaped the attack either. The land was pocked-marked with craters and scorched earth. Projectiles from Diane's Mother Catastrophe had speared the ground in haphazard patterns, splinters of Earth that could crush you in half before you had the chance to wonder what was going on. There was a pool of blood near one of them; my stomach flipped flopped over the fear that my assumption was right.

The citizens were crying and yelling but they kept to themselves. Shaking, sobbing, shocked. They parted like skitterish sheep as we entered the ring of people. Our destination seemed to be a large barn that looked to be recently touched by fire. It groaned and swayed in the gentle breeze wafting around.

My eyes widened. I dragged my feet as far as I could before they froze to the ground. My shoulders trembled. This. This destruction.

This hadn't just been the Sins. It had been us too. Holy Knights sworn to protect those in the jurisdiction of Liones.

And we had destroyed it as easily as the Sins had. Guilt ate at me. The sounds of the people faded away. I wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't come. Not sad tears though. Angry tears. I clenched my fists and raised my head. The sounds returned and I let them morph into my anger.