A Fox in the Works Singularity Collapse By Fox Cutter Chapter Nine 01/24/2000: I felt like I was dead, though that was probably a bit of an exaggeration. The dead didn't feel anything so clearly as I did at that moment. My whole body ached, my eyes were stiff and my tail hurt like hell. My throat was still scratchy and my head was pounding in waves from front to back. With a cough I forced my eyes open, feeling the crust fall away from them as I saw a light brown fabric pressing against my nose. I turned my head, finding myself looking at a blurry fireplace a few feet away. Reaching up I rubbed my eyes, clearing away the last of the crust, and noticed that one was still tender. Most of the swelling was gone, but it still hurt to touch. "You're awake," a new voice said, one that was familiar from the previous night. "Awake," I croaked out, my throat protesting the action, "and I need something to drink," I told him as I coughed. He moved into view, bending down to hold a glass in front of me. I reached out to take it, feeling my paws shake as I did so. Holding the rough glass tightly in my paws I lifted it to my muzzle and drank it down. It felt good as it flowed over my tongue and into my belly. Licking at my nose I finished the last of the water and handed the glass back. "Thank you," I told him with another cough. "You're welcome," he replied as he moved to my side and helped me sit up. "You've been asleep for a full day, and the healing spells always leave you stiff." I nodded as I sat up, my head spinning so badly that I had to grab onto the bed to keep it in one place. I closed my eyes tightly as my ears pressed to my head as I tried to block the world out until I felt stable. "I could use something to eat," I said as I finally opened my eyes. "I'll get you something," Aster said as he walked out of my sight. A few moments later he returned with a bowl of something that smelled good. Taking it from him I ate it eagerly, pleased at the taste. It was a kind of stew that warmed me from the inside out. "Once again, thank you," I said as I finished the last of it, even licking at the inside of the wooden bowl. He nodded, but said nothing to me. As I set the bowl down, I frowned when I realized that the shirt I had on had twisted in my sleep, allowing one breast to hang free, and exposing the rest of myself. With a deep blush I readjusted my shirt and tucked my tail in my lap, using the tuft to preserve the rest of my modesty. "You've created a lot of problems," he told me as he walked over to the fire, throwing a log onto it. "Everyone is looking for you." "I can imagine," I said as I looked around, finding the blanket I had been covered with and pulling it around my body. My headache was starting to fade, leaving me feeling better overall. Aster turned to look at me, nodding his head. "They say you killed someone." I let out a sigh and lowered my head. "I had no choice," I replied, the image of the young man's face flashing behind my eyes. I know it would be one I would see for the rest of my life. "I had no choice," I repeated, more for my benefit then for his. He shook his head. "Are you sure about that? You did kill him while he was sleeping." "Sleeping?" I sputtered out. "He was trying to rape me!" I yelled as I pulled the blanket tighter around myself. The young man shook his head as his eyes tracked up over my body. "You were sent to his room, how could that be rape?" I let out a low growl as I pulled my arms about myself. "Sent!? I was given to the guards as a plaything! In my opinion that makes it rape." "You were created for sex," he said as he walked across the room to glare at me, "and what do the guards have to do with it?" "I was not created, I was born! As for the guards, they were the ones trying to rape me!" I snapped at him, my claws sliding from my fingers as I clenched my fists tightly. "So what the hell is your problem?" He looked down at me, as he rocked from foot to foot in annoyance, "I don't know why I'm protecting you, you killed a great man." I let out a sigh, "I killed a kid, who was barely old enough to drink, just to save my own skin. Whoever this great man was, that wasn't him." Aster looked confused for a moment, and then shook his head. "Don't lie, it's just making it worse." Letting one paw relaxed, I let go of the blanket and ran my fingers through my hair. I was trying to put things together. Unsure of what he was going on about, until a memory surfaced of something Alexander had said when I was barely conscious. "Let me guess, they are saying that I killed me?" "What?" he asked, confused for a second. "No, you killed the King's Hero." I shook my head and let out a soft laugh. "That makes perfect sense. It explains why I went missing, and he can use it to take care of me. It's what I would do if our positions were reversed." The young man looked baffled as he shook his head, "What exactly are you talking about?" he demeaned as he stalked back across the room. I gave him a smile as I leaned back on his couch. "I didn't kill the King's Hero, because I'm him," I said, tapping my chest. "When the King saw me like this he freaked and gave me to his men. I had to get away." "That has to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," he snapped back at me. A chuckle slipped out of me as I nodded my head. "I wouldn't believe it if I were you. No, that's not true, I would at least think about it first. I can prove it to you, or I can try," I said, frowning as I thought about my still uncontrolled power. Aster snorted and moved to stand in front of me, looking down with a touch of anger. "I would really like to see that," he said. I nodded and let out a long sigh, half closing my eyes. "Watch then," I said, lifting my free paw, the other holding the blanket closed. With a twist of my fingers I narrowed my eyes as I tried to wrangle my shape shifting ability. Ever so slowly I grabbed the power and forced it into the shape I needed it to be, and with a short blur my paws, both of them, as well as my feet, shifted into their human counterparts. He jumped back with a soft yelp, glaring at my furless fingers as I held the form. To my surprise I was really holding it. It took some effort as being half-way was unnatural, but it was less effort than it took before. With a smile at the young man, I tried to push the changes out to the rest of my body, to put myself back into my proper form. It felt like I had been slammed in the side of the head with a hammer. My concentration shattered as my limbs reverted to match the rest of the body. With a moan I touched the side of my head, feeling my eyes water as everything blurred out for a moment. "Are you all right?" he asked, rushing to my side, one hand on my shoulder, and the other against the side of my head. I nodded my head. "Yes, I'll be fine. It's just not that easy to do, and I'm tired. Do you believe me now?" I asked him as my eyes focused once more. "No, but I'm beginning to wonder. Tell me more about it, please?" he asked me as he sat down on the couch at my side, one hand still touching my shoulder. I nodded again, and started to explain how I had come to be in his home, leaving out quite a lot of the details, and everything involving the Multi-Verse. He took it all in with only a few questions, but he didn't interrupt me, and as I spoke my head finally seemed to clear of the last of the pain. "That is hard to believe," he told me as I finished my story. "What you're telling me sounds crazy, and I feel crazy for believing it." I shrugged. "I'm crazy for telling you. If you don't believe me that's fine, you can let me go and just forget about me." Aster shook his head. "It's hard to do that; there's a reward for your capture, and you are also suppose to be killed on sight," he told me. "That sounds rather confusing. Which one takes precedence?" I asked. "I don't know, the money was offered only this morning, but the warrant for your death came the night you escaped," he told me, his hand straying down my back. I shrugged it off, but he simply put it back on me. I let out a sigh. "So, are you going to take the money?" I asked him. "I don't think so, nor will I kill you. There's a lot going on here that I don't understand, but I do know it's not as simple as it seems," he told me. "Thank you. Do you think you can help me get out of here? I need to find my friends," I asked as I did some math. "Ravindar is only about a day and a half away; I might be able to catch up with him. With any luck he'll have Samantha, that just leaves Rhea," I said with a sigh. Aster shook his head. "You would have to be crazy to try to get her out of the Palace. Rodrick probably won't kill her, death voids all spells, but I'm no expert on magic," he told me. I nodded and said with a sigh, "I may have to bring in the heavy guns to get her out. It's a week at worst to find Ravindar, then three more to get back home, call it another two weeks to get everything worked out. Six weeks, I hope she can hold up that long." "You care a lot about her," he told me. I let out a sigh. "Of course I do. This is going to be a mess the whole way around. I don't like leaving her, but there's not a lot I can do without a small army." "So, what can I do to help," he asked me as he stood up to add more wood to the slowly dwindling fire. "I need some clothing, something that will cover myself, a horse, and a week's worth of supplies. I could also use someone to show me the way," I told him. Aster nodded again, then frowned as he turned to look at me. "Clothing I can manage without much trouble, the supplies will cost money. The horse is a problem. Mine are draft animals, only good for hauling my cart and plow. We'll need horses we can ride, and that will cost a lot of money," he said as he rubbed his chin. "More than you have?" I asked. He shook his head. "No, but it's going to take all of my savings if you want me to do this for you," he told me. "I'm sorry, but I need it. I can't stay here if people want me captured or dead," I told him, holding out a paw. "I know you need it, but it's not something that will come for free, you'll have to repay me," he said. I shrugged. "I will when I can, when I come back for Rhea," I told him. Aster gave me a small smile as he returned to the couch. "Partly that, but I'm also risking my life for you. If they catch us, I'm just as dead as you will be," he told me. "I can--" I stated to say, but he cut me off with a finger against my nose. "No, I'm going to need some payment in advance," he said. I frowned a bit. "I have nothing," I told him, and realized it wasn't true. He saw the look in my eyes, and his smile grew a bit wider. Gently he set a hand on my knee, using the other to tug at the blanket, "You have one thing," he said to me as he leaned in to softly kiss my lips. I shivered. "And if I say 'no'?" I asked him as he pulled away. "I'll give you what I can, but I can't get you a horse," he said as he pulled the blanket further away from me. "I won't turn you in though," he said. I took in a deep breath and weighed my options. I didn't know the city, or how to get around and find what I needed. With another shiver I realized that it would probably be very hard to get anyone else to help me. "Alright," I told him, and let go of the blanket. His hand was quickly rubbing my breast through my shirt, being surprising gentle for a man who had just blackmailed me into having sex. I leaned back, and rode it out, letting him use me as he saw fit. I would like to say that I didn't enjoy it, that I felt nothing, but that wasn't true. He was a gentleman, kind and experienced, and he cared about me as much as himself. He was simply to good with his body, and mine, to not take a measure of enjoyment from it. I even learned a few things I hoped to be able to try on Oriana when I got home. I relaxed, and enjoyed myself, but it was only a reprieve. * * * 01/25/2000: Rhea pulled her paw back as Rodrick poked the underside with a pin. She glared at him through the bars as a single drop of blood ran down the bone needle. "Sorry about that," he said as he stood up and walked towards the window. The lioness snorted as she curled up in the cage, licking at the wound on her paw. He had keep his word, and got her a larger cage than she had been in before. She had enough room to move around, even if it was still smaller then she would have liked, but it was an improvement. The High Mage sat down on the floor in front of the window, placing the needle, and the blood, into a small bowl that was sitting in a circle carved on the wooden floor. Once it was in place he stood back up and opened the curtain, letting in the glowing sunlight of the rising sun as it fell over the city below the tower. A shaft of light cut across the floor, moving swiftly towards the spell. Rodrick crossed his legs as he sat back down on the floor, and fought back a yawn. The older man had only been up for half an hour, and he looked it. He hadn't bothered to put on his gloves or his boots. His legs, in fact all four limbs, were heavily scarred up to the elbows and knees. As the sun rose, he worked his hands over the spell, muttering words under his breath as his fingers started to glow. Motes of light collected on his fingertips, gathering in the sunlight and making his skin glow. The moats built up over his ten digits, reflecting the sunlight down to glitter in the bowl on the floor. It filled the bowl with shifting light which started to glow on its own, and then the motes fell from his fingers and all the light faded away. "Nothing at all," he said, flexing his fingers. Cuts formed over them, blood weeping over his damaged skin. "I don't understand it, there's just no magic!" With a sign he turned the bowl over, a pile of ashes falling onto the floor. He slammed the bowl to the floor and stood back up. He hurried to his desk, and quickly started to wrap bandages around his bloody fingers. "If I didn't know better, I would say you're not a homunculus," he said as he looked back at Rhea. The lioness said nothing as she groomed her paws with her large tongue. Rodrick finished wrapping his fingers, and looked back at her once more, a frown on his face as he walked across to the cage. "I don't know better," he said with a look of realization. "In fact, I don't know or see anything that tells me that you are anything but a real living thing." Rhea snickered softly and flicked her tail in amusement. "You are truly amazing," he said as he sat down in front of the cage, looking intently at her. "You let me test you, even hurt you. You didn't try to run away when I moved you into this cage," he said, referring to the fact that for a few moments when she was between cages she could have rushed out the open door and out of the tower, but she hadn't. It wouldn't have helped anyway. She couldn't have gotten out of the Palace. "I sometimes think that you talk to me," he said with a smile. "Then I think I'm just going crazy, but you're real, aren't you? No one actually made you, did they?" She shook her large head. He sighed and sat down, leaning against the bars of the cage. "If that's true, I wonder if someone made Fox, or if she is real as well. If she is real, what Alexander did to her was inexcusable, and her killing of the guard was purely in her own defense. I need to find her, I need to learn what she really is, and how she was able to hide herself." <> Rhea said as she stood up in the cage. Rodrick snapped his head around to look at her, a look of surprise on his face that quickly changed into a smile. "So you can talk," he said. <> she replied as she moved to sit next to him. <> she told him. He nodded, flexing his bandaged fingers, as he looked deep into her gray eyes. "Why did you wait to talk to me?" he asked her. Her ears leaned back as she cocked her head to the side. <> The Mage blanched and shook his head, "You haven't seen what I've done... I hit Fox when I discovered he was a homunculus, or when it looked like that. You do know that she's no longer human," he told her. Rhea nodded, <> He blushed softly and covered his face with one hand. "I'm sorry, it was meant to knock you out, not to hurt you." The lioness laughed softly, her whole body shaking from it, <> "The King is my ruler, if he tells me to do something, I must do it," he replied with a sigh. "I did manage to save some small parts of the stone that was mounted in it. Strangely most of the magic on the pendent seems to have faded, and could have no effect on anything." She nodded her head. <> she explained. Rodrick nodded his head, rubbing his chin as he thought. "I think I understand, this change from being human to a--" <> Rhea provided. "To a lioness is something that's a part of her, and not just a clever spell," he said. <> she said, half lying. "I would like to look closer at these abilities of hers," he said with a smile. The lioness stood up and paced around the cage slightly, the tips of her claws tapping on the stone floor. <> she told him. <> she told him. "I understand. I hope she's OK. The King want's her dead and Zain and I have a bounty on her head. I just hope the money get's her first," the older man said. <> she told him. Rodrick turned his head to watch her as she paced around in the cage, her tail flicking slowly. "Won't they come back to rescue you?" he asked. She shook her head. <> she said. <> "It is a dumb idea, but why would he believe that you were safe here?" <> she said, her ears dropping low. She thought about what she would do if the situation was reversed, and suspected she would go insane for a few days. Rodrick shook his head. "What kind of rescue could he mount?" She chuckled and shook her head. <> she told him. "You might not have noticed, but the City is landlocked," he told her with a smirk. <> she replied as she walked back to where he sat against the bars. The Mage paused, then craned his head up to look at the roof. "I think that's not something I want to experience," he said after a moment's thought. "I'll do what I can to keep you safe, but the King is already asking me about you. If he can't deal with Fox he'll turn his attention to you; it also means I can't get you out of here without him knowing." <> she told him. Rodrick nodded, "I'll get the word out, and I'll do what I can for him." <> she said as she curled up in the cage. To Be Continued... ----- This story is copyright 2005 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy reprints limited to one per person, all other rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.