The White Fox Read Online Free Page B

The White Fox
Book: The White Fox Read Online Free
Author: James Bartholomeusz
Pages:
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his gesture to the platform exit.
    People were queuing in front of the ticket office. A newspaper vendor was selling
The Birchford Chronicler
. His sandwich board declared Youths Killed in Mysterious Twilight Murder on one side and Excavation Begins for Roman Remains on the other. Nearby someone was standing, surveying the ground floor below.
    “Yeah,” Lucy said. “You know, those guys are popping up everywhere.”
    “Really? She looks a bit strange.” The figure, a woman judging by her stature, was dressed from head to foot in a hooded black cloak. Her hands were clad in shiny dark gloves, her feet in similar boots, and her face was indiscernible. She could have been a Halloween costume enthusiast, but there was something in the way she held herself that was more professional. She was looking down, but as Jack and Lucy watched she looked up at them. They quickly averted their eyes.
    “Yeah. There was one down my road last night leaning against a signpost. Then there was another one—a man—sitting on a park bench. They don’t seem to do anything. Just hang around.”
    “So there’s more than one?”
    “Yep.”
    “Maybe it’s something to do with religion,” Jack suggested, stealing another glance at the strange figure in black. She was still staring at them.
    “Maybe,” Lucy said thoughtfully, “like some of those Wicca groups?”
    “Could be,” Jack admitted. There was something else about the figure that his brain was telling him he didn’t want to see. It was slightly unnerving. He checked his watch. “We’d better go. The train’s leaving any minute.”
    Lucy nodded, and, taking their coffees with them, they left.

    The sky was showered with stars, a thick ribbon of smoke wound its way to the east with the wind. Its source was a crude fire—a few dried logs and loose pieces of coal—glimmering like a greedy firefly in the middle of the small plateau. Buffeted by the wind, its glow flickered off the rock faces, dancing in between the shadows of the many watchers. Humanoid shaped but shorter than humans, skinny and bowlegged. Their heads more like lizards or trouts than mammals, with the same aquatic-reptilian sheen, they clustered around the affair with mingled fear and fascination.
    The chief goblin dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. Sweat rolled excruciatingly over every inch of his body. His armor suffocated him, even in the freezing night breeze. He lifted his arms and removed his helmet, an effort in itself. He now had a better view of the scene before him. His elven adversary stood above, the remnants of their battle swirling around him. Two scepter-like lances were held in his hands, the rest of him covered completely in spectral black. The only bit of skin visible was his face, mostly obscured by a mane of wind-ruffled, feral hair. His emerald-green eyes shone with an evil triumph, the scar that disfigured his features twisted slightly with a smile.
    Surrounding them were the rest of the goblin’s tribe, holding on to any armor they could lay their claws on. Several banners depicting his many totem spiked symbols fluttered feebly in the wind, yet none of their bearers stepped forward to assist him. Beyond them, the mountains rose up, pitch black against the deep blue sky. A sea of stars blinked down at him, and the moon’s wide grin seemed to mock his defeat.
    “You see, he is a weak leader.” The adversary spoke slowly in the local dialect, more scratchy hissing than actual syllables. “All he has to offer you is the pillaging of a couple of villages, a few captives, some pathetic, gristly meat. Admittedly, he was the best you could muster. But you now have the opportunity to
really
sink your teeth into something.”
    The reflection of the flames danced in the bulbous eyes of the assembled goblins, all fully attentive and listening with the unmistakable scrutiny of a crowd that knows it is about to get a better deal.
    “As we speak, my associates are being accepted as envoys

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