before they could see me, I saw what it was they were surrounding. It was Kitsune lying on the floor coughing up a substance.

  "Mistress, Mistress! The young master is sick and can't protect the temple." The small foxes began as they see my half dead appearance. The blood and mud dripping on the floor in small amounts. The foxes crowd around me. And I stumble a bit.

  In height of all the commotion I had forgotten I was walking better than earlier but not great as I'm reminded in this moment.

  "Mistress, your hurt." Their faces were twisted into a hurt expression.

  "I'm okay, what's wrong with him?" I ask walking over to him.

  Kitsune is getting worse as his skin becomes pale and he begins to squirm around.

  "He's sick, his condition was made worse by the poison. He always had moments like this but this one we've never seen."

  "Well, we gotta get him out of here and to his bed." I grab him but they all stop me.

  "You are in no condition yourself! What must you be thinking?!" The toad says stepping in front of me along with Fairhid.

  I can feel him slipping as my feet give out and I collapse.

  I hear a light thud as I turn, a white fox is all I see on the ground next to me.

  "Hes changed?" I say staring at the white fox with red and blue markings.

  "That's not good, he's getting weaker, weak enough to not sustain his human form. Before long he'll go through every phase of the fox cycle until he is in his god form." I look up to see togi joining us.

  I began to feel queasy as the room around me spins and goes black.

  Not knowing togi was eying me intensely as I slept.

  At some point they had carried Kitsune and I back to his room.

  "What an interesting child."

  "What is it Sir Togi?" Said the toad.

  "This child, has a wound and yet she hasn't bled out, she healed herself. And as she holds the master, she is healing him, Aswell." Togi explained.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I came to in Kitsunes bed with Kitsune in fox form lying beside me.

  I sit up, my wounds have been cleaned and dressed again, the bleeding stopped. I look up to see Togi as he seems to be carving something in the chair adjacent to the bed.

  "Ah I see ye' awake, how yer' feelin'?" He asked not once taking his eyes from his work.

  "Ah, ok I guess." I rub my stomach but I feel nothing. As if the pain has vanished completely.

  "I wanted to tell you the story of how I met Kitsune and hopefully it will clear up such Malice." He puts down his tools and sits up straight to look at me.

  "I met Kitsune centuries ago, my village had burned down and my family slaughtered. I had managed to escape, but I was on the verge of death you see~"

  "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to?" I interrupted as the feeling a dread set in at the words "family slaughtered" and "village burned."

  "Nonsense, if I didn't want to tell ye' then I wouldn't have said nothin'." He clears his throat then began again with the story.

  "After I had lost everything, I resided in the woods for a bit. Not long after I had run into a young lad, a fox demon. He was badly injured so I didn't realize at the time that he was no ordinary fox demon but Kitsune, ruler over all the foxes. He hardly had any tails as some were only bloody nubs. He had been laying out in the Forrest near his palace. Luckily, I was on my way north that's when I spotted him. And from then on, we helped each other heal and I watched him grow. Unfortunately, however not for the better I'm afraid. I have taught him and stayed by his side. But he has changed, after what the humans did to him, he began to resent them. But I believe that'll change soon enough. But he's badly injured. And he needs our help still."

  "How?"

  "In the Forrest child, there is such a flower called the Nightingale. It possesses special properties unlike any flower. Once you plant the flower it could last a life time. Unfortunately, we don't have any and it takes a lot to get it and Kitsune hasn't been in any shape to go and get it himself. So that leaves one more option." He's still looking at me when he said that last part. He stays silent only clearing his throat.

  "Wait what?" I say curious as I know the answer all too well but I didn't want to except it.

  "Why you're the only one that can see them, being a god and all, it is a god flower." He finally confesses.

  "B-Bu- I'm not a god. I'm a human I- can't." He stands up and dresses my wounds again and to my surprise the wound wasn't a wound at all just an irritated bruise now.

  He walks to the closet and pulls out a fur poncho coat.

  "You are the wife of a god, that makes you nothing more, nothing less but a god yourself. Why do you think he can't kill you. He was never going to officially bind your sister in marriage but you sealed the deal making it official. You see. You may not have official authority but you aren't completely useless either. Have faith in yourself and your being, that's what will make you succeed." He places the jacket on me and hands me Kitsune.

  "Hes no use here, he will be better luck with you, protecting you on your way. We can manage here." I nod and wrap him in sheets and place him in a backpack.

  "What about the humans, without Kitsune will the palace be, okay?"

  "It'll be fine" he assures me but I don't feel very assured at all.

  The foxes bless me as I leave out of the wood and into the jagged mountain path. Fairhid had drawn out a map of where the flower outta be.

  The climb was steep as the dirt was dry and the path was clear with only minor trees and shrubs highlighting the path.

  "Why am I doing this, I should just let you die and run away honestly. Bastard." I say but as I did, I couldn't help but feel guilty. I look behind me to the backpack and see his narrow cat like head sagging out. It flopped back and forth as I walked, he looked dead in honesty. I stopped and checked his breathing, yep, still alive.

  As I head further up the mountain the dry dirt and cool summer breeze began to fade slowly. The path became rockier and more jagged as I felt my ankles being thrown around by the sharp rocks. Walking was almost impossible.

  I trip and fall, landing on my knees as they get scraped and bruised by the knife-like rocks. My hands were punctured and bled. My nails were dirty from digging into the grainy wet dirt. The wind whipping my hair loosely out of its bun as I look behind me at the temple. I can still see it in the distance.

  "Great, I barely moved" I say getting back up and brushing myself off only smearing the wet blood down my legs and on my thighs. At this rate we'll both be goners. I grip my bag and trudge fourth running into more havoc as I reach the lower part of the mountain into a tunnel that led inside the mountain and up onto its first hump.

  The weather changed drastically as I shiver despite wearing a coat. I can hear as I enter deeper a what sounds to be an old woman crying or dying, one of the two. I grab the lanterns from the bag and light it as quickly as I can.

  "Help me. Heeelp meeeee." Its speech is eerie as a more intense chill crawls down me. But I press forward as I am too far in and need to go this way in order to get out.

  After sometime walking I finally run into her. She was a lot further away than her voice had led me to believe. She was old as intense rinkles covered her body head to toe. Her eyes were blind folded and her hands and feet were tied behind her.

  "Oh, my goodness." I say without a second's hesitation to untie her.

  "It's okay, dont worry, your safe." As I finish untying her feet, I move up to remove the blindfold. When I get a pit feeling that's telling me not to.

  I removed it anyways as it revealed no eyes at all but grey marbles. No iris and no pupil. Just strained cloudy grey balls. They were rolling around inside her head as though they were moving as she smells the air.

  "Ah... a god... I've been waiting a life time for one." Her voice was high pitched almost too much to bare as I cover my ears and take off running.

  I drop my lamp in the process and it catches fire. As I frantically try to run and catch my breath at the same time. My legs began to feel numb as I see the grey sky ahead of me. I pick up speed but run into a sharp and pointy dead end of rocks.

  I can hear her insanity as she is describing all the ways she's going to ground my bone. I look at her and she's turned into a spider that is now crawling on the mountain walls, quickly gaining on me.

  I start to climb the wall as the rocks scratch me. I slide off but climb again breaking off every piece with each step. I frantically attach myself to any small groove I could find until I feel a pinch.

  She has my leg.

  In her mouth.

  The adrenaline slams into me as I feel no pain. She let's go and snags a sharp fang on the backpack and unhooks it causing it to slide off as Kitsune falls out.

  "Shit." I say falling backwards to catch the bag and the fox as the contents spill out hitting her gross hairy face.

  I'm unable to hold on and fall knocking the wind out of me as I hold onto Kitsune.

  "I've never seen such a weak and pathetic God before? Even better, I dont even have to try." As she goes in for the kill, I can feel her hot breath as it consumes my small frame.

  I hold out my hands in defense and shock her with a sudden bolt of yellow lightning. She falls forward onto me as there's now an apparent hole in her head.

  She's dead. I squirm out of her hold as one of her sharp fangs has my shoulder and her legs which weight at least 65 pounds a piece is on top of my scrawny ones. I wiggle but there's no use, Kitsune is stuck also.

  "Help! Help me! I began to cry as I try to move but I can't. My face is dirty, my hair is matted and the spider smells like dog breath after a meal. I must've passed out from all the excitement because when I came to my legs were numb and I could hear the faint sound of gnawing and small growls. I open my eyes to see what looked to be thousands of glowing yellow eyes. My heart jumps as I want to move but remember I can't as they look up at me. They seemed like a dream. Just thousands of glow lights in the darkness staring at me.

  Their tails light on fire, a blue flame as I see now that they are foxes.

  And they have been eating away at the monstrous spider. So much so they freed Kitsune and almost me Aswell. The spit at one of her bones and it ignites as they hand it to me to use as light.

  "But I can't move" I say to them but they just look at me. I try to wiggle but my legs are so numb that it tickles. I take in a deep breath as I slowly calm myself, I think about which part I want to move first and start there.

  Hips.

  I roll clockwise as I feel my butt skid across the rocks.

  Thighs.

  I sway with the rhythm of my hips as my legs reawaken painfully as all the feeling hits me the more, I move. I let out a laugh as the sensation is too much to bare as all the blood is quickly rushing to my legs as I easily slither out and my feet kick off the rest of it.

  The pain is excruciating as I lay my face on the dirt. The tiny rocks and dirt hitting my lips and crushing my nose. I forget I'm holding the fire which catches the ends of my hair slightly on fire as it singes a piece of my eyebrow causing me to quickly sit up and put them out. I look at the foxes who finish dragging off miss spider into the darkness of the tunnel. One of the foxes nips at my shirt to get my attention. As it does it guides me to a less rocky, leveled out part of the mountain to climb. I stand up as my legs wobble but support me as I follow the fox and climb up the side of the mountain. My hands are sore and shaking as the fear consumes me. I look down at Kitsune. He still hasn't woken up as I drag his limp noodle like body. "Why am I here? What am I doing." I make it to the top and rest on my back tossing the bag and taking a deep breath of strained air. I look up at the sky of stars.

  "This isn't going to be easy, is it?" I say to myself as I see another set of legs. I look up and see wolves surrounding me circling as they grab a hold of Kitsune.

  I use the fire to swat at them as they grab it and chuck it across the flat mountain groove. One charges at me biting my arm as I let out a yelp. It’s dragging me off and up the mountain as another grabs my hair.

  Damn.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I see another set of legs. I look up and see wolves surrounding me circling as they grab a hold of Kitsune.

  I use the fire to swat at them as they grab it and chuck it across the flat mountain grove. One charges at me biting my arm as I let out a yelp. It’s dragging me off and up the mountain as another grabs my hair.

  Damn.

  I frantically scramble kicking one of them in the snout as it licks its chops, shaking off the attack. It doesn't show its teeth but instead just stares at me. The other one still has Kitsune in its grasp.

  I dont know what possessed me to talk to them but something told me that if they wanted to eat me, they would have already. But they didn't.

  "D-Do you k-know w-where the n-nightingale is? T-The f-flower?" I ask them. Fear still in my voice as my hands shake.

  What an idiot, there animals for crying out loud. Animals that want me for lunch. Wild animals.

  As I hyperventilate the one, I hit nods at my question and it stops shortly only to come towards me a moment later.

  It licks my leg, the one the spider had attacked earlier and heals it almost instantly. The same with my shoulder.

  "T-Thanks." The wolf nods as it howls and runs up the side of the mountain and I follow them.

  I finally reach a clearing full of trees and another stretch of flat land.

  There was fire and what looked to be people. As I slide down the mountain trying my best to keep up with the wolves, I finally become level with the ground. The people all look at me in shock as I stumble onto their camp site.

  "Tiki what's the matter witcha' I said food, not people!" One of them is wearing wolf skins on his body and a wolfs head as a hat.

  I cough up dust as I frown walking away back up the mountain.

  The dog I had socked whose name was Tiki is barking at me. It was pulling at me trying to get me back.

  "Ah who's this little dude-" as he picked up Kitsune he quickly dropped him.

  "A god, a god, like the god. No way Kitsune, and you must be his wife! We've heard so much about you. A human god. Woe."

  "Please forgive us for being rude your grace but what are you doing over the mountain? And with the king?" The other one said politely.

  "I-I'm looking for nightingale, the flower."

  "Really? Well, that's quite a walk. Its past the forest and over those mountains, this is Wolves Pass but as you go over death's valley, you'll be in fairy territory. You should be able to get there before nightfall tomorrow, well if you don't get eaten." He says matter of fact as I look beyond the forest to more mountain this time no snow just dry desert.

  "My wife Tiki can like totally fix your friend; she has magic paws." The wolf cosplayer says.

  "Yes, you should get some rest. You have been through a lot at least that's what the foxes said." The smart one says and I join them around the fire as one gives me a blanket and something warm to eat.

  They introduced themselves as Mortin and Hunso. Mortin was the wolf boy.

  I take a sip of the questionable soup as its green broth and its odd odor threw me off. Not to mention the weird substance floating in it.

  I choke it down only to barf it back up.

  "Yeah, it's not the best but it's what we had to work with, spider is not exactly good tasting but it does have protein." Hunso says as they wait for the fire to slowly die.

  "You can sleep in the tent, we're more of the outdoorsy type." I crawl in and tuck myself into the sleeping bag. Without another thought I went fast asleep.

  -

  The next morning, I woke up to the sound of burning wood as my eyes slowly flutter. Kitsune is beside me and he no longer looks so dead. I grab him and our stuff and make our way out of the tent.

  "Mornin' you slept for so long I thought you were dead ha-ha." Mortin says gnawing on what looks like bark.

  "Want some rabbit Jerky." He tosses me the bag and I devore it leaving nothing but crumbs.

  "Man" he says taken back and my cheeks flush. I fix my backpack and sling in over my shoulder once again. I remembered the direction as I start to walk.

  "Woe woe, not so fast little ma'am, Tiki said to give your friend this nightshade along with lots of water, it'll help him regain consciousness and reduce fever. At least until you get where your goin." he hands me a cantine along with a blanket and a bag of jerky.

  "I Salut you, it's not easy gettin' that night gale. But once you do, the seeds last a life time. They just keep goin' nothin' can really stop em' well maybe poison but who has that stuff lyin' around."

  "Thank you, it means a lot for you two to help me." I bow to them and they bow back.

  "It's not every day we meet a queen now is it. It's our honor." Hunso says and I continue my journey up a scaling cliff and a horrible desert. Finally reaching a rainforest.

  I stop to get a drink as the water sparkled and tasted of magic, it cleared my head and ran down my throat smoothly. I could feel it falling to the pit of my stomach, so refreshing and clean as it seemed to give me an energy I didn't realize was there. I dip my head in the water fully submerging my head and hair.

  "You know if your plan is to murder me, please use less torture methods next time."

  I choke as water goes up my nose and down the wrong side of my throat, I frantically gasp for air.

  Kitsune is barfing in a bush as he wobbles drunkenly to me.

  "Your- your.... alive?" As he opens his mouth for rebuttal, I grab him in a long-drawn-out embrace.

  "You're okay." I say squeezing tighter. He's not burning up and he's not so noodle like but instead had substance.

  "Please stop hugging me it's weird." I can feel his fur slowly turn into skin as it becomes sticky and hard. I push myself back releasing him to see a human, white haired and naked. I frown and throw him the blanket.

  "Well could I have a warning next time sheesh." I stomp off deeper into the forest.

 

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