The Fox of Richmond Park Page 15

  The foxes – almost at Vince’s sleeping spot – turned to see what had caused the noise. Their faces grimaced with confusion as they saw Laurie pulling herself to her feet.

  ‘Who are you?’ Bonnie shouted.

  ‘Never mind her, just kill Vince!’ Kara screeched, flapping on her perch.

  Laurie howled. ‘Raooowl! Vince! Wake up! If you’re there, wake up! RUN!’ The foxes looked up at the frantic owl, then at Laurie, then faced the wood pile. Blake was closest to the stack and poised to dive behind it when Vince’s head appeared from the darkness.

  ‘Laurie?’ He looked around, blinking as he emerged from his hiding place.

  ‘Run!’ Laurie yelled.

  Before Vince could move, Blake arched his back and snarled, his lips curling away from his teeth. Vince did the same, looming over the smaller fox, fur bristling. In an instant, they each reared back on their hind legs, jaws wide, and pushed their paws into the other’s chest.

  Laurie rushed towards them but Bailey intercepted, gekkering loudly. She lunged at Laurie’s neck. Laurie twisted away, stumbling, then sprang back. The pair of vixens grappled with each other as Bonnie crept around to the side of Vince and her brother. Vince shoved Blake hard and he hit the ground, rolling onto his back in the dirt. Bonnie pounced before Vince could regain his balance and bit down viciously on the fleshy scruff of his neck.

  Vince yelped. Laurie wrenched herself from Bailey’s grip and dashed towards him but Bailey was quick, seizing Laurie’s tail between her teeth, pulling her backwards. Blake got to his feet and joined Bonnie, swiping his claws across Vince’s face before baring his incisors and driving them into his throat. Vince screamed.

  ‘NO!’ Laurie dug her claws into the dirt, dragging herself forward and Bailey along with her, but Vince was just out of reach. Blood dripped from his neck onto the pale, dusty ground. Bonnie clung on still, Vince too hampered by Blake to shake her from his back.

  Laurie kicked back with her hind leg, landing a glancing blow to Bailey’s face. As the vixen lost her grip, Laurie leapt forward, slamming her paws down on Bonnie’s back and sinking her teeth into the side of the younger fox’s scrawny neck. Bonnie howled and let go of Vince, Laurie’s weight dragging her to the floor. Her mouth full of fur and flesh, Laurie kept hold. She couldn’t break her neck like she would a rabbit’s – Bonnie was too heavy – but if she could just hold on…

  Now with one less assailant to deal with, Vince lashed out with his paw and struck Blake hard enough to dislodge him. Vince staggered backwards, gasping for air, but Blake reacted immediately. He aimed for Vince’s neck again and grabbed it between his fangs. Vince’s eyes bulged as Blake’s teeth crushed his windpipe.

  Bonnie gurgled between Laurie’s jaws, lungs nearly empty, as Bailey approached from behind and clamped down on Laurie’s tail again. She yanked Laurie backwards, but Laurie’s jaws didn’t budge from Bonnie’s neck. Releasing her tail, Bailey tried Laurie’s back leg instead. Teeth squealed against bone. Laurie squeezed her eyes shut and a growl of pain rumbled from the corners of her full mouth.

  Bonnie’s air finally ran out. Her eyes rolled back into their sockets and the dead weight of her body dragged Laurie to the ground as she collapsed. Laurie let go and Bonnie’s head thumped into the dirt. The grip on Laurie’s tail slackened as Bailey realised what had happened. Laurie quickly pulled her leg free.

  ‘No! What have you done?!’ Bailey shoved Laurie aside and nuzzled her sister’s lifeless body. The male released Vince’s throat and rushed over to join her. Vince’s legs buckled. He slumped onto his side into the dirt, breath rasping through his open mouth, his heaving chest wet with blood.

  ‘Vince!’ Laurie limped over as quickly as she could, sank to the floor next to him and nudged his head with hers. He whimpered as blood dribbled from four deep punctures on his neck; two on the side, two under his chin. She licked the wounds, desperately trying to stem the flow.

  Behind her, Bailey wailed to her brother. ‘Is she…?’

  ‘I don’t know… I…’ Blake stuttered.

  Laurie ignored them. If one fox had to die, fine. But not Vince. ‘Come on, Vince, get up. Please.’

  ‘Laur…’ Vince’s eyes closed.

  ‘No, Vince! You are not allowed to die! I came all this way for you…’ Laurie half shouted.

  He said nothing. His breathing slowed.

  ‘No! Wake up!’ Again, Laurie frantically lapped at the blood seeping from his neck. ‘Wake up!’ she yelled into his ear. ‘You can’t die. Not now. WAKE UP!’ She nuzzled him fiercely, a sob catching in her throat. ‘I’m sorry I called you a poodle.’ She sniffed and buried her head in his side. ‘I’m the poodle. I’m so stupid. I told that stinking owl where you went. It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.’

  Laurie lifted her head and turned towards the hoarding. Kara was still there. She’d watched the whole scene unfold.

  *

  The sky was turning berry-pink as the sun stirred from its sleepy hideaway, but Jake didn’t notice. The rats he’d consumed that night were threatening to make an appearance again and, as he walked, he swallowed hard to keep them down where they should be. Edward would be waiting by the pond for him and he still hadn’t decided whether he should mention Alice’s transgression.

  Betraying his friends was one thing, but lying to Sophie was far worse. It ate him up inside, but he couldn’t let her find out exactly what he’d agreed to. Her mood had improved instantly when she’d found out Edward was sending a message to Vince and it wasn’t worth ruining that to ease his own guilt.

  On top of everything, another question plagued his mind: what was Edward planning? Alice seemed to think he was agitated too. It could be nothing, but if there was any chance Edward was screwing him on their deal, Jake wanted to know about it.

  Edward was awake and already chewing on his breakfast of nuts – gathered, no doubt, by some other lowly creature stupid enough to try to bargain with him. He looked up as Jake approached. ‘You have an update for me?’

  ‘Yes. But I want you to tell me something too,’ Jake said.

  Edward snorted. Steam clouded from his nostrils and dissipated into the cold morning air. ‘I think you may have misunderstood our agreement. I send Vince a message, then you report any misdeeds to me. That’s it.’

  ‘I’m aware of our deal. I just get the feeling you’re not telling me the whole truth, and I don’t like being messed around.’

  Edward smiled. ‘The truth about what? Look, if you’re going to listen to every bit of idle prattle you hear…’

  ‘So, there’s no job? Kara’s just sending Vince a message… That’s all, yes?’

  ‘What else would she be doing?’

  ‘I don’t know, I—’

  Edward moved towards Jake, chest puffed, and spoke slowly. ‘Listen, fox, you are on very thin ice. Do you really want our relationship to sour? This arrangement is beneficial to both of us, remember, so just keep your head down and do your job, okay?’

  Jake wanted to tell Edward that they had no relationship. That the deal was a one-off. That his lack of denial and thinly veiled threats only made him sound more guilty. But – terrified of what the deer might do to him and Sophie – he simply nodded. Pathetically.

  ‘So,’ Edward continued, twisting his neck to scratch his side with an antler. ‘Anything to report?’

  ‘Uh, yes… I…’ Jake swallowed again. ‘A cat. On the outskirts. He’s offering human food in exchange for rats.’

  Edward stopped scratching and glared at Jake. ‘To whom?’

  ‘Animals.’

  ‘Don’t get smart with me, vermin.’ Edward lowered his head and aimed his antlers towards the fox. ‘Who is it? Foxes? Which ones?’

  ‘I don’t—’

  Edward lunged, jabbing with the hard spikes of his antlers. Jake leapt out of the way, a whisker’s width from being impaled.

  ‘WHO?’ Edward roared.

  ‘Alice!’ Jake yelled, breathless, then whispered the name again,
‘Alice.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Edward smiled. ‘You can go now.’

  Jake narrowed his eyes and thrashed his tail, a low growl rippling from his lips. Edward stared, his muscles taut under his short, glossy coat.

  There was no point. Jake exhaled, then stepped back, dropping his tail between his legs. He turned and walked away. His ears twitched as Edward’s deep laugh thundered through the air behind him.

  The contents of Jake’s stomach rose into his throat again.

  This was bad. Very bad.

  But his den awaited, Sophie curled up inside, ready to sleep the day away. Would she dream of Vince? She had loved him once. Jake didn’t blame her for caring about him still. Her compassion was what he loved about her the most. But among the lies, the betrayal, the fear, another feeling – dormant until now – sparked into life.

  Jealousy.

  Even a thousand leaps away, Vince had Sophie’s attention. Why was Jake doing all this? Because he loved Sophie and wanted to make her happy? Or because, deep down, he still wanted – needed – to prove to her that he was the better fox. But how could he? Vince had made the ultimate gesture, standing up to Edward, making his mark on the park – and Sophie – for ever, leaving Jake to pick up the pieces. And a right mess he was making of that.

  Sophie had chosen Jake because he was sweet and generous and reliable, which Vince was not. But now he was just a coward and a traitor. A coward and a traitor who loved her more than anything in the world, but who didn’t deserve her.

  Vince may have been unreliable and stubborn, with the temper of a hungry crow, but he was not a coward, and he was definitely not a traitor.

  *

  ‘You…’ Laurie spat the word at Kara.

  Bailey moved her gaze from her sister’s body to the owl. Tears streamed from her yellow eyes. ‘She’s dead. This is your fault. You didn’t tell us he had a mate. That’s a whole different situation. We would never have agreed…’ She trailed off.

  ‘You didn’t ask. And what am I, your mother? It’s not my fault if you can’t handle yourselves. Anyway, looks like Vince is dead too, so the deal still stands. Look at it this way, there’ll be more room for the two of you.’

  ‘Screw you!’ Bailey ran across the building site towards Kara, teeth bared. Kara arranged herself for take-off, crouching and stretching her long wings. Bailey jumped onto the pile of rubble as Kara flapped, her talons leaving the perch. The vixen pulled herself up onto the edge of the board, found her balance, then leapt out over the building site, paws outstretched towards the owl.

  Kara flapped, gaining height above the other foxes, but Bailey clapped her paws together, catching Kara’s tail feathers between them. Kara squawked as Bailey dragged her to the ground, landing awkwardly and skidding across the dirt. Bailey went to bite her but Kara lashed out with her talons, scraping long, red welts across Bailey’s cheek. As Bailey recoiled, Kara pulled away with a furious beat of her wings, leaving the fox in the dust with nothing but three tail feathers.

  Laurie filled with anger as Kara vanished over the buildings. The orange sky glowed through the empty stripe in her tail, but it gave her little solace as she turned back to face Vince’s body, prone in the dirt. Behind her, blood oozed from the deep scratches on Bailey’s cheek, but her expression was blank. She walked over to her brother and dead sister, slumping in the dirt next to them.

  Laurie ignored them. She’d killed the vixen to defend Vince. He was just minding his own business, trying to get somewhere, and they’d attacked him – all three of them – for their own gain. They deserved everything they got. They remained in silence for a while until Laurie’s ears picked up the shuffling of paws behind her. She quickly rose to her feet and turned around. Blake was marching towards her, teeth bared. ‘Someone has to pay for this,’ he growled.

  ‘Blake, come on, no…’ Bailey shouted from beside her sister’s body.

  ‘You want to kill me too? Bring it on,’ Laurie snarled and snapped the air with her teeth. Another fight was the last thing she wanted, but if Blake thought she was just going to sit and let him rip her apart, he had another thing coming.

  Blake stopped in his tracks, obviously not expecting her to retaliate. He shook his head and grunted.

  ‘Stop it, Blake,’ Bailey said. ‘Killing her won’t help.’

  ‘Nope.’ Laurie went back to Vince’s side. ‘No reward for killing me. You’ll just have to make do with your fancy new home, I’m afraid.’

  ‘We won’t go there now,’ Bailey said.

  ‘Like I care where you go,’ Laurie spat. ‘Except out of my face.’

  ‘Leave her alone,’ Blake snapped. ‘We didn’t know—’

  ‘Didn’t know what? That killing an innocent fox three-against-one wouldn’t be quite so easy for you?’ Laurie said. ‘You’re only sorry because your sister is dead. If I hadn’t turned up, you’d all be scampering off to Richmond Park now, happy as moles in holes.’ The two foxes looked away. ‘Exactly,’ Laurie finished, before turning her attention back to Vince.

  Laurie held her ear against Vince’s chest. His heartbeat was barely discernible. She nuzzled him again but his head lolled, heavy and unresponsive. He smelled of pond water and grass, a scent so incongruous with their dusty surroundings that it made Laurie feel even worse.

  ‘Come on, Vince. Help me out here. I don’t know what to do!’ She let out a pitiful howl. She couldn’t leave him. The sun was already peeking over the horizon, which meant the humans would be arriving soon. Perhaps they could help him, like Socks’s owner helped Rita. But he was a fox, not a bird. In his state, they’d more than likely just finish him off.

  ‘Vince, you have to hang on,’ she pleaded. ‘You can get through this. Rita’s alive, you know. She’s coming to find you. You can still find your park together.’

  A brief flicker of his eyelids, a twitch of his tail…

  She held her breath.

  He fell still.

  9

  The sky above the building site was aglow with lilac, pink and orange, the sun’s early morning greeting burning the clouds away to wisps. Despite the approaching daylight, Laurie remained at Vince’s side, babbling softly into his ear.

  He was fading in and out of consciousness, but the mention of Rita had stirred him enough to give her hope. The rise and fall of his chest was almost imperceptible, but it was there. She had cleaned his wounds as best she could and the blood had stalled, crusts now beginning to form around the small perforations in his neck. A few blinks longer in Blake’s grip and he would have suffocated. Like Bonnie. He’d lost a lot of blood, though, and the fight had drained the very last of his strength. But if she could just keep him from drifting away…

  Bailey and Blake had gone. They’d sat with Bonnie for a while, quietly grieving together, before saying their final goodbyes and leaving her body where it lay. Humans buried their dead with a tall stone slab – creating the cemeteries that gave the animals some of their safest, quietest homes – but other animals had their own rituals. Rabbits prayed that their departed would go into the afterlife, an endless field of grass, to be cared for eternally by Frith, their sun god. Foxes, like many animals, had no afterlife or god – Mother Nature was not a god, but the earth itself – and believed only that the dead returned to the earth, to be reborn into the world as Mother Nature saw fit. Once Bonnie turned to dust, she could become grass or air, an acorn or frogspawn. That was why animals killed only to eat, or defend themselves or their family. Their ancestors were a part of everything around them.

  Generations of stories didn’t stop some from forgetting, or ignoring, that, though. Selfishness was a new trait, learned from humans who took what they wanted from nature without giving anything in return, and passed down as young grew up around the busy city, where cars, trains, traps and meaningless slaughter taught them that they had to do whatever it took to survive.

  The triplets were perhaps the worst of the afflicted, as if a diseased blood coursed through their veins. The
swan at the wetlands too, confused by the humans’ artificial barrier, driven to destroy anything that threatened his sanctuary. Laurie was not immune, either. That was why she’d killed Frank. Not for nourishment, or safety, but to prove her strength to a stranger. A stranger she’d thought weak for protesting at the death of a harmless goose. A stranger who, she now realised, was stronger than her in every way.

  That stranger was now beside her, taking what might be his final breaths, someone who, in the short time she’d known him, had shown nothing but compassion to the animals around him. Even those out to kill him.

  Yet, he was the one suffering, not her.

  She spoke to him as he floated just beyond consciousness, telling him of how she’d found Rita, how the geese had returned to the wetlands to bring Oswald’s leadership to an end. She told him she’d met the otters and heard about his trial and his speech, and witnessed their joy at knowing he was alive. She recounted the trap in the allotments, embellishing the story with danger, exaggerating the geese’s nasal honks, as though she were telling it to a pack of cubs before bedtime.

  Finally, as he lay motionless in the dirt, she described their meeting in Hammersmith. Then, after giggling – despite everything – when remembering his bewilderment of poodles, she began to tell him more than the bare facts.

  ‘I’m sorry, Vince. I didn’t know what you’d been through, with the water birds and everything, but that’s no excuse. I wanted to help you, but… I couldn’t admit that I was being a stubborn bitch. I couldn’t because I’m… Well, I’m awful, and…’ The words caught in her throat. She sniffed, chest heaving. ‘… And I helped that owl too, and now… Oh, I’m so sorry, Vince. This is all my fault.’ A solitary tear fell onto his bloodstained fur.

  Suddenly, his front paw twitched.

  Laurie jumped up. ‘Vince!’

  ‘Lau…’ he breathed.

  ‘Yes, Vince! Yes! Wake up! Come on, that’s it!’

  He opened his eyes and blinked as the pale sunlight hit his wide pupils. ‘Laurie…’ He coughed, then winced from the pain.