Quest for the Faradawn - страница 29

The mellow autumn golds eventually turned into the cold grey shades of winter and the winds came to blow off the few remaining leaves from the trees; only the oak leaves clung stubbornly to their branches, the last to come and the last to leave. Nab was out with Rufus in the late afternoon not many moons after the incident with the rabbits. The fox had been showing Nab the spot where he’d seen some chickweed growing at the back of the wood by the little stream and the boy had gathered a handful to take back for his meal with a few hazel nuts from his store. The fox’s head bobbed up and down beside him as they made their way back to the front of the wood.

‘You’ll be able to pick at that chickweed all winter; I’ve never seen it there before,’ said Rufus.

‘Yes. I had to go down to the big stream before. It will be a big help,’ the boy replied. He didn’t often go out with the fox who always foraged for food on his own, but Rufus often came to the rhododendron bush to tell the boy about places which none of the other animals had been to or else to recount legends of the Fox from the time Before-Man, when foxes lived, not as they did now in isolated individual holes but in a vast underground colony which stretched as far as the mind could think about and were ruled by the Winnat – three foxes whose bodies were covered in beaten copper wrought for them by the Elvensmiths in return for an alliance with the Elflords.

They walked in silence for a while until suddenly Nab felt a sharp tap on his leg as the fox knocked him with the side of his head. As he stopped Rufus motioned to him to get down. The boy dropped quietly to the ground and followed on all fours as Rufus silently led the way to some cover behind the base of an oak.

‘Look,’ whispered the fox.

Nab looked out over the bleak winter fields but could see nothing at first. Then he saw, just coming into sight on his left, two Urkku walking along the front of the wood, both with their guns tucked under their arms. They were talking very quietly and looking intently all around. Nab looked at the fox, who motioned him to lie down flat; he himself was crouched as if to spring, with his whole body quivering, his sharp ears erect and the black tip of his nose twisted to one side as it strained to pick up every scent on the air. The Urkku stopped and looked around them; for one long agonizing spell they seemed to be staring straight at the oak tree and then their gaze moved on. Suddenly, to Nab’s horror, he saw one of them motion with his head to the other in the direction of the part of the wood where he and Rufus were. They took the guns from under their arms and held them with one hand under the barrel and the other by the trigger, ready to raise to their shoulders and shoot, then they began to advance slowly in to the wood. Nab looked at the fox in panic.

‘Listen,’ said Rufus. ‘They don’t know we’re here but if they carry on as they are doing they are bound to find us. If they come too close I’ll run off towards the front of the wood so that they can see me. That should take their attention away. You must stay here and not move until you feel it’s safe. Then go straight for your bush and stay there. Above all, stay where you are until they’ve gone; I’ll try and get them to follow me.’

‘But what about you?’ Nab whispered.

‘I'll be all right. They rarely manage to kill us with their death sticks. We’re too quick for them. Now, keep quiet.’

They lay side by side on the earth behind the oak. Nab could feel the damp coming through his layers of bark and his knees were sore. As the Urkku came closer and he became more frightened, his hands reached out to feel the rough bark of the oak and he gained comfort from the power and strength of the tree. He looked at Rufus. The fox’s eyes were staring at the Urkku with a black intensity and his quivering body seemed about to explode with energy. They were now barely twenty paces away and Nab’s heart was pounding so strongly that he felt certain they must have heard his frightened rasps of breath. Rufus looked at him and put his paw on the boy’s arm; then he burst out from behind the tree and glided noiselessly away through the tufts of grass and around the fallen logs that littered the floor, his great bushy tail flowing away behind him.