The Fox of Richmond Park Page 26
*
Sophie and the rest of the residents stared at the badger. He was old, with a torn ear and patchy, grey fur. His nose was streaked with pink welts, probably the result of a recent encounter with some claws. ‘Vermin, you say?’ he said in his deep growling tone. ‘Sid remembers that word.’
‘Sid? What are you… How…?’ Edward said. The crowd was silent, all thoughts of persecution temporarily on hold.
‘Remember Sid, do you?’ the badger said. ‘Sid remembers the twig-headed one, oh yes. I didn’t, but came back to me, it all did.’
Sophie looked at Jake, who shrugged. Even the deer behind them were inching away to get a better look at the stranger.
Edward composed himself. ‘Actually, after I kicked you out, I never gave you a second thought.’
‘Indeed. And a second thought Sid never gave to Richmond Park. Like a dandelion, my brain is. Floated from Sid’s memories, it did. Until the red-furred mammal and the pie-bird came by.’
‘Red-furred…?’ Sophie said under her breath, then shouted to the badger, ‘Vince? You met Vince?’
‘Vince, yes! The red-furred one! Are you his vixen? The one he left behind? Sid has information for you. Well, for Vince. But know how to find him, Sid didn’t.’
‘What information?’ Sophie stepped forward into the throng. The deer behind made no attempt to stop her, since she obviously wasn’t trying to escape.
Edward stamped a hoof. ‘Enough of this. No more interruptions. Stags, remove this badger! Get that vermin fox back in line!’ The deer went to move.
‘Wait!’ Sid commanded, his voice almost as loud as Edward’s. The stags stopped in their tracks.
Sid looked up at Edward and continued, his voice calm. ‘The only vermin here, Sid thinks, is you.’ Edward opened his mouth, but the badger kept talking. ‘I will say what I have to say, then I will leave. No skin off your nose, it is not.’ He looked at Sophie. ‘The red-furred one is looking for a park, yes? Its location Sid cannot remember, but this one knows…’ He pointed a paw at Edward, then looked up at him. ‘…Correct, am I not?’
‘He knew…’ Sophie whispered to herself, then looked at a confused Jake. ‘But he had Vince killed anyway. Why not just tell him and let him go there?’
‘Do you think there’s something or someone there that Edward didn’t want Vince to know about?’ Jake asked.
Edward snorted. ‘So what if I know where the park is. Vince is dead.’
Sid’s face fell. He looked at Sophie, who confirmed it with a nod. ‘And the pie-bird, too?’ Sid asked.
‘Pie-bird?’ Sophie frowned.
A voice chirped from the stunned crowd. A starling. ‘Excuse me, Mister Badger, do you mean a magpie?’
Sid nodded. ‘I suppose that’s what most animals call them, yes.’
‘Rita! We’d been wondering where she’d gone. It’s been quiet without her,’ the starling said. The other starlings around her chirped in agreement. A group of crows cawed, ‘I hope she’s okay.’ The ripple spread and birds twittered worriedly to one another, expressing their guilt at not having asked as to her whereabouts until now.
‘This is all very touching,’ Edward resumed his speech. ‘But can I remind everyone what this meeting is—’
‘Shut up!’ A jackdaw shrieked. ‘Rita’s missing! She didn’t do anything wrong… How can you be so callous?’
Edward rolled his eyes. ‘Perhaps you’re forgetting that bird’s ceaseless noise. Good riddance, I say.’
‘Singing’s not against the rules,’ the starling said. ‘Or should we expect the mammals to report us all every single morning from now on?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, birds are integral to this park,’ Edward said. ‘You all know that.’
‘Yeah, to do your dirty work,’ Sophie said as she scanned the trees, searching for Kara. ‘Kara! We know you’re up there. What happened to Rita? At least tell us the truth about that.’
Kara emerged from the leaves like a ghost, inching along the branch. ‘She’s dead. But it was nothing to do with me.’
‘But Vince was, wasn’t he? You found those foxes and had him killed, didn’t you? Tell everyone the truth, Kara.’
Kara looked down at Edward, who frowned back up at her with eyes narrowed almost into slits. She surveyed the crowd before shrugging her wings. ‘Yeah. It’s all true. Edward said I could hunt a rabbit every moon if I made sure Vince didn’t reach that park.’
‘You little runt!’ Edward reared up on his hind legs and brought his front hooves down to the earth with a powerful thud. ‘After everything I’ve done for you…’
‘Yeah, like go back on our deal…? Thanks for that, Edward ol’ friend, I really appreciate it,’ Kara shouted. ‘I admit I’ve done some questionable stuff, but at least I always stick to my word.’
‘It was her! You said it was a hawk! You lied to us too, Edward, didn’t you?’ a rabbit squeaked from the throng.
Murmurs began to fill the air.
‘Lies and deals and dirty work…’ Sid spoke to no one in particular. ‘Sid thinks he was lucky to leave when he did. Used to be nice here, it did. Sid remembers that, indeed.’
The crowd was quiet with confusion. No one knew who this badger was, but he had – purposely or not – chipped away at Edward’s authority and revealed the deceit that lay beneath. But the animals needed one final push to wrench away his power, and Sophie had to give it to them.
‘We can’t trust you to lead us anymore,’ Sophie yelled, ignoring her pain and moving further into the throng towards Edward. ‘You lied to the rabbits, you lied to Kara, to me and Jake, and you’re lying to everyone when you say you want equality here. You only want power for yourself, like you’ve always done. Park Watch used to be a good thing where everyone could help, but now it’s just bribery and favouritism. Now you want everyone to spy on each other, to live in constant fear.’
Edward curled his lip and puffed his broad, russet chest. ‘I’ve let you talk for long enough. Stags, get rid of her. I’ll deal with the badger, and the rest of you, go back to your homes. We’ll continue this meeting tomorrow.’
‘No!’ A rabbit ran forward. ‘We’re not leaving. Admit that you lied about the hawk hunting us. We want to hear it from your own mouth.’
Cries of agreement rose from the crowd.
‘This conversation is over,’ Edward said, then looked to the does, who were scrambling back to their positions in the circle. ‘You! All of you! Escort everyone home. Now!’
Cries rose from the animals as the does began pushing them with their hooves. One squirrel received a sharp kick, her mate yelling out, ‘Hey! Leave her alone!’ He lashed out at the deer’s foreleg with his teeth. The bite was minor, but the doe flinched and backed away from the throng.
‘Stop that, or I’ll report you for abuse!’ the doe said.
Edward snorted as a growl rumbled from his throat. ‘Mother Nature. Stags, go and help them! Disperse the crowd! Go!’
The stags rushed through the crowd as the squirrel replied, ‘Report us? To whom?’ He lunged at the doe’s leg again and sunk his teeth in. A bead of blood erupted through her fur. More squirrels joined in, flooding around her feet and nipping at her thick flesh.
‘Stop! No!’ the deer screamed as she stumbled backwards, then found her footing and galloped away to the safety of the trees, a trail of squirrels snapping at the air where she had been. A stag came up behind them, but he was no more of a match for them than the doe. They repeated their attack, growing fiercer with every bite. Some clung on, tearing off tiny chunks of flesh as the stag tried to shake the creatures from his leg. He lowered his antlers and swiped blindly at the gang of squirrels, but it only served for them to jump on board and nip at the thin flesh of his pink ears.
Edward was almost screaming. ‘What are you doing? Crush the damned things! Cowards! The lot of you!’ He looked up at Kara and the other owls. ‘Help me out, owls. You can have all the rabbits you want. Just get rid of everyone…’
Every stag and doe was now whinnying in pain, thrashing their heads and legs furiously. Less ferocious, but greater in number, the rabbits and rats took on a doe each, and drove them both away with grazed, bleeding legs from a barrage of claws and teeth. The songbirds fluttered around the head of a stag, needle-like beaks jabbing at his head and snout. He stumbled about, kicking and shaking the birds away, but they came back, pecking, again and again. The crows, jackdaws and magpies did the same, but quickly found only two or three were needed to see off a single deer. Their jabs were harder and deeper, and drew more blood. The foxes had joined in the fight, snapping their teeth down on any stray legs that came close. Many of the deer had retreated to the trees, but some – Edward’s most loyal – stayed to fight, the embarrassment of being chased away by the creatures almost worse than any punishment Edward might dole out later.
Edward snorted and pawed desperately at the ground as his herd were driven away one by one. A leap away to his right, watching everything unfold, was Sid. Sophie and Jake went to join him.
‘Sid thinks perhaps power doesn’t belong to the biggest and fastest,’ Sid said to Sophie and Jake as the last of the deer galloped away.
Edward moved towards them, eyes wide and wild. ‘You. I should have killed all of you as soon as you stepped out of line, like your friends.’ He reared up on his hind legs, nostrils flaring, sharp hooves dangling over Sophie’s head. She could smell his panic.
‘SOPHIE!’ Jake yelled.
Edward tipped himself forward and his hooves plummeted towards her. Sophie threw herself sideways. His feet slammed down into the grass where her body had been moments before, cutting grooves into the soft earth. Sophie howled as she landed, her bruised ribs screaming inside her. Jake rushed over and helped her to her feet.
‘Sid, get out of here! Don’t worry about us!’ Jake screamed.
Sid shook his head and said, ‘Oh dear. Botheration, indeed,’ then began to trot away.
‘Call off the animals. Make them stop or I’ll kill you both. And the badger,’ Edward said, one foot off the ground, ready to strike again.
‘You’ll kill us anyway. And what makes you think we can stop them?’ Jake said.
Edward clenched his jaw, the muscles in his cheeks twitching. ‘Your choice.’ He rocked back on his hind legs again, lifting his front feet high in the air. Jake and Sophie scrabbled to get away as Edward sprang forward, leaping clear off the ground. The foxes were quick, but Edward crashed to the ground right behind them, his front hoof landing squarely on Sophie’s tail.
She screamed, her paws scrabbling at the dirt as he pinned her to the spot.
‘Sophie!’ Jake doubled back to face Edward and crouched low, ready to pounce, as Sophie felt the smooth, solid point of an antler press into her spine.
‘Come any closer and I’ll make sure she dies very slowly.’ He twisted his hoof, grinding her tail into the ground. She screamed again, claws curling into the dirt.
Jake froze.
‘Run, Jake. Please,’ she said, staring into his eyes.
‘I’m not leaving you,’ Jake said.
‘This will be kinder, I promise,’ Edward said.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Tail still trapped, the antler disappeared from her back and she heard a scrape as he lifted his other front hoof off the ground. She tried to wrestle from his vice but, short of pulling her tail clean off, it was useless.
‘Vermin, all of you,’ Edward said, then grunted hard as he brought his hoof towards her skull.
‘NO!’ Jake screamed.
A roar ripped through the air. Sophie’s ears filled with the thump of Edward’s hoof slamming awkwardly into the dirt, a whisker away from her head. His other hoof disappeared from her tail and she scrabbled away. She twisted her head to find out what had happened, but as Edward stumbled sideways, Jake took his chance. He leapt towards Edward, wrapping his paws around his neck and sunk his teeth into his throat. With a gurgling grunt, Edward thrashed, trying to dislodge Jake. Blood spilled on the grass.
Then Sophie saw.
Jaws clamped around his left hind leg, claws clinging on for dear life, was Sid.
*
Vince woke with Rita’s squawks exploding through his ears and the sun beaming through the leaves above him. He crawled out onto the path, ready to yell at her, when he reminded himself that it was his idea for her to wake him as soon as there was any news about Laurie. He danced a little when she told him that Laurie was fine, and asked how long it would take to reach her.
Rita spoke as quickly as she could, hoping that it would somehow lessen the impact of the words. ‘Well, the place is called Tottenham Hale, and Del took Laurie there on the train…’
Vince’s face fell.
‘But…’ Rita continued, ‘We can walk it. I followed the tracks back here, and we can take the roads this time. If we leave at sunset, and Arthur keeps up a good pace, I think we can be there well before morning, no problem.’
‘And that’s where Laurie is?’
Rita nodded, a bit too enthusiastically.
‘What’s it like? You said he was taking her to a big nature reserve,’ Vince asked.
‘I don’t know, I didn’t see much of it. But does it matter? You want to find Laurie, don’t you?’
‘Of course. And we’ll try to send the message back to Richmond Park too. Find a bird or a cat?’
‘Yep. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Let’s all get some sleep. We’ll leave as soon as the sun sets, okay?’ Rita chirped.
Rita was holding something back. He could tell. She was always pretty cheerful, but she seemed to be over-compensating. Plus, Tottenham Hale didn’t sound like a nature reserve. He decided to forget it for now. He trusted her, and maybe being constantly on edge and sick with worry was making him paranoid too.
The two of them retreated into the bush, where Arthur was still curled up, and settled in for the day. It took a while for Vince to drop off to sleep again, with all the anxiety of their upcoming journey swirling around his head and stomach. He’d faced so many dangers already, and he was growing weary. A tiny, selfish part of him wished he could just settle down in Hampstead Heath, see his nights out in peace. But when he closed his eyes to sleep, Ajadi’s words still lingered in his mind.
His home was where his heart was, and his heart was with Laurie.
*
‘Jake! Sid!’ Sophie shouted as Edward flailed in front of her, the two animals still clinging on. The leg with Sid attached skidded out from under him and he fell sideways, his massive weight dragging him to the dirt. Jake let go of his throat and jumped back, away from his thrashing limbs. Sid opened his mouth too, releasing Edward’s leg, and Edward kicked him away. Sid tumbled onto his back, legs waving in the air like an upturned beetle. Jake rushed over to help him to his feet. Still in pain, Sophie stayed where she was, her sore ribs thwarting her attempts to inspect her probably broken tail.
Thanks to Jake’s teeth, Edward’s neck and chest were covered with dark blood. The deer pulled his forelegs towards him, bending them to rest on his knees, but as he went to straighten his hind legs, his left buckled and he fell, his bulk hitting the floor with a thud once more. He let out a long growl.
The rest of the deer had gone; driven back into the trees by the animals’ attacks, or fled in fear before they had the chance. The smaller animals remained, celebrating and comparing battle scars. But when they – one by one – began to notice Edward on the ground, struggling, they inched over, curious to see what they’d missed in all the commotion of the fight.
After another failed attempt to stand, Edward gave up and resigned himself to the ground, forelegs curled under his chest, his wounded leg splayed out awkwardly to the side. Sid’s teeth had done more dam
age than Sophie expected. Edward’s rear leg was a mess of torn, exposed muscle and bone, slick with blood.
The animals looked on in shock. The only leader they had ever known, protector of their homes and families, reduced to a helpless wreck on the bloodstained ground.
‘Go away, all of you! Get back to your homes or I’ll…’ He trailed off. ‘This isn’t over. I’ll be fine in a few days.’ He winced as his movement pulled at the raw flesh on his throat. ‘As long as I’m alive, then I’m in charge, do you understand?’
Sophie, trying to ignore the pain screaming through her tail, spoke as loudly as she could. ‘No, Edward. It is over, and we won.’
Edward spoke through sharp pants. ‘The deer are still… under my command… You just wait… until I’m healed.’
A rabbit piped up. ‘We’re not scared of you or the deer anymore, Edward.’
‘Give it up,’ Jake said. ‘It’s over.’
‘No… I…’ Edward let his head sink to the ground, a long exhalation rasping through his nostrils. ‘How could this happen? I did everything right… Vince never reached the heath… You… You didn’t even find out…’ He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.
‘Find out what?’ Sophie said. ‘What is at this heath? Tell us.’
‘The deer… They failed. They couldn’t control the residents…’
‘Sounds familiar,’ Jake said dryly.
‘No!’ Edward grimaced, his wounds reminding him to stay still. ‘It was their own fault… Too lenient. They stood idly while the animals organised… They let it happen… Everything was fine here. I knew everything. I had a plan…’
‘How did you know? Kara?’ Sophie said.
‘Surveillance… Another bird… I killed her seasons ago. As soon as she told me everything. No one could know…’
‘Twig-headed ones have a habit of underestimating other animals, Sid thinks,’ the badger said.