You Damn Foxes

Leaning against a tree, Red flexed his fingers. "We should be safe now. I can't sense the people following us anymore."

Panting, Blue exhaled as he sat down. "God's I hope we did, you said you felt a strong mana presence and then told me to follow after you. We've been on the move for half a day! They probably got bored." Resting his hand on his mask, Blue fell back. Now lying down, Blue turned to Red. "I don't have mana to boost my stamina as you do, Red."

Peeking around the tree, Red smiled, pulling out his bag of sweets. As Red was about to take a sweet for himself, he glanced at his partner lying on the ground. Crouching next to him, Red shook the bag. "A sweet for your trouble's sir?"

Holding out his hand, Red dropped two sweets into his open palm.

Putting the sweet into his mouth, Blue pushed himself up. "So what are we going to do now, Red? Onto the next contract?"

Sucking on the candy, Red looked around the forest. "Mmm… No. If we're being hunted, it's safest we don't draw any attention to ourselves. Besides, there are somethings that have recently caught my attention. You know, Blue. I think we're due for a holiday, don't you?"

Hearing this, Blue laughed. "I like the sound of that." Crossing his legs, Blue stared at the ground. "I know I've asked this already. But do you think the others will be okay, Grey and Yellow, I mean?"

"Aww." Ruffling Blue's hair, Red teased him. "I didn't know you cared about them so much. I'm sure Grey will love to hear about how concerned you were for their safety."

"Ay-" Batting Red's hand away, Blue stood up. "Don't you dare, she'll never let me live this down."

As Blue glared at Red, the old man couldn't help but feel something welling inside him. His mind drifted back to when Blue was younger, his first words, his first steps, his first sword.

"That last memory is very different compared to the other's." Red thought to himself.

As Red was about to speak, a sudden surge of mana erupted behind him. "They found us!"

A ball of sand shot out from the darkness. Unable to react in time, the ball of sand hit Blue in the chest, sending him flying into a nearby tree.

"Blue!" Red shouted. Red was about to run over to Blue as a voice spoke up from the direction the sand ball flew from.

"You damn foxes. Did you have to run so far?"

Flexing his fingers, Red created a ball of orange energy in his palm. Throwing it upwards, the ball began to glow, casting a bright white light over the woods.

The assassin, Nuru stared Red down, his sword drawn.

Holding his hands up, two swords appeared above his palms. "You shouldn't have done that." Flicking his wrists, the swords began to move forwards, rapidly spinning as they flew toward Nuru.

"Predictable." From under the ground, a wall of sand shot upwards. The two swords jammed into the sand. Jumping through the sand wall, Nuru closed in on the Red fox.

As Nuru approached him, Red pulled his hands back. Pulling themselves free from the sand wall, the swords began to spin again.

Stopping, Nuru ducked under one of the swords. Gripping his sword with both hands, Nuru slashed the second sword, the resulting impact causing the sword to shatter.

Hearing a twig snap behind him, Nuru spun around just in time to block Red's attack.

Struggling against each other, Red grit his teeth. "Why are you people attacking us?" Red demanded. "What has the Kitsune done to anger the Eastern Kingdoms?"

"There is a reason, but I don't care." Stepping back, Nuru brought his arm up. "This vendetta's personal." A tendril of sand shot out of the ground, arcing towards Red's chest.

Without skipping a beat, Red jumped forward, an orange platform appeared under his feet to block the sand attack. Jumping off of the platform, Red continued his assault on Nuru.

"So you have some kind of sand magic, do you. I can tell from how refined your mana feels, you must know what you are doing with it."

Their swords clashed as the two fighters conversed.

"You speak so casually, you don't even know who I am, do you?"

"Should I. Forgive me, but, a lot of people have attempted to kill me over the years. They all start to blur together after a while."

Backing away, Nuru brought his sword up. "You're the Red fox of the Kitsune. Twenty years ago, you killed my brother, Fouh. I Nuru am here to avenge him."

Looking around, Red was lost. "I'm sorry to let you down as this seems important to you, but. I don't know who that is?"

Hearing this, Nuru could hardly contain himself. "How could this man not remember killing Fouh." Nuru tightly gripped his sword as the surrounding ground began to shake. "Bastard! I'm going to kill you!"

Erupting out of the ground, larger tendrils of sand the size of small trees rose around Red.

"Oh, you're definitely not mentally stable." Red sighed. Throwing his sword into the ground, Red threw his hands up, a barrier of orange energy appeared just in time as the tendrils crashed against it. "You shouldn't let your temper get ahead of your assassin, you're going to give away your tricks. Such as how you're breaking up the rocks under the dirt to create sand, which you then harness with your magic."

"What- How did you guess that in such a short time."

"Oh well, that's-" Red was cut off as the tendrils continued to smash against the barrier. "I know you're awake, Blue. Stop being lazy!"

Nuru watched in shock as all the sand tendrils collapsed onto the ground. Blue stood where one tendril just was.

Dusting his hand off, Blue rolled his eyes. "Figures, all of that sand was connected. So when I was able to nullify your magic."

"So it's true, the Blue fox really can negate anything that utilizes mana… I no longer like my chances."

Crouching to grab his sword, Red flexed his fingers. "Agreed." Forming an orange blade behind Nuru's back, Red pulled it back, attempting to stab Nuru from behind.

The blade pierced through Nuru's armour with ease, but the two foxes were surprised by the result. Sand burst out of the wound.

"What?" Nuru asked smiling. "You didn't think I'd face you in person, did you? As you said, I shouldn't give away all of my tricks. You're the Red fox, I would be a fool to do that." Nuru's features began to fade away as the sand construct broke down. "Just know this Red fox, the next time we meet. I will get my revenge."

Looking at the now inanimate pile of sand and then back at Red, Blue put his hands up. "So, what did I miss?"

Kneeling, Red picked up a handful of sand, allowing it to slowly pour out of his fist.

"I believe that that person, Nuru I think his name was, is the leader of the assassins who have been attacking the Kitsune. A strike force from the Eastern Kingdom… Although why they are doing this is a complete unknown. One thing that isn't unknown is how he snuck up on us."

Prodding the sand with his foot, Blue looked up at the light Red had made earlier. "Why's that?"

"I was paying attention to the mana above ground, but Nuru's sand was travelling under the ground. I'm sure it has been following us since we left Basincliff. He was probably waiting for us to stop. So," Red's tone of voice lightened as he walked over to Blue. "Are you ok? You hit that tree pretty hard?"

Rubbing his head, Blue nodded. "I'm fine, I got knocked out for a minute there, but I'm back on my feet now. I came to around when he said you killed his brother. Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Kill his brother?"

Hesitating, Red glanced at the sand. "Fouh, Saint of the Sands… I did." As Blue was about to ask another question, Red shot him down. "And no, I don't feel like talking about it." He snapped. Rubbing his head, Red yawned. "Sorry, I think I'm tired. Come on, let's find somewhere safer." Reaching up, Red dispelled the light. "We need to get some sleep or else we won't be doing anything productive tomorrow. Who's going to do the first watch."

"I call first watch!"

~~

Stood not far from Elenwen's home, Iseul was tending to the horse Tushin gave the party. Feeding the horse an apple from his right hand, Iseul gently stroked the horse's main with his other hand. For once, Iseul wasn't wearing his armour, as that had been left inside Elenwen's house.

Lying in the grass near him, Rio looked up at the sky. "Hey Iseul, do you feel like we haven't done much recently?"

As usual, Iseul didn't attempt to respond to his friend's question.

And as usual, Rio took Iseul's silence as having a deeper meaning. "No, no, you're right. Savina's been asleep for four days. It's not like there's anything we could get up to without her. I just," Sitting up, Rio held his hands together as he thought about the state Savina was in. "I just hope she wakes up soon."

Turning to look at his friend, Iseul was about to try and walk over to his friend, to try and console him when Elenwen's voice shouted from the front door.

"Hey, Rio! Come over here. I want you to help me change Savina's bandages!"

Standing up, Rio shouted back. "Coming Elenwen!"

Feeling Rio run up to the house. Iseul sighed as the horse ate the last of the apple.

"Idiot." He thought.