Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks

Author:Dan Hanks [Hanks, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780857669391
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2021-11-14T22:00:00+00:00

Doc’s mouth dropped open. Her body froze, rigid with fear, just like in one of those dreams where you couldn’t move no matter how hard you tried, but yet you were still awake.

Sleep paralysis. That’s what this was.

Except, she was awake.

“Help,” she breathed.

It took all her energy to summon even that. Her throat was suddenly constricted, her lips dry and struggling to part with any words if they could help it.

Thankfully someone heard.

“Do not fear, Dorothy,” Tabitha said calmly, interrupting the conversation going on behind her. Her ears must have pricked up. Could foxes hear as well as dogs? “We are among friends in this house. Both inside and out.”

Doc felt that soothing warmth through her once more. She glanced over her shoulder to see Mrs Thompson catch her eye and smile. The author, who Doc was now fairly convinced was also a witch of some kind, was up to her tricks again. That was fine though. Doc decided to just lean into it and enjoy the magic as it calmed the rising anxiety inside her.

“Friends, eh? You sure have a lot of them out there.”

She let her gaze drift across the garden, watching the eyes staring at her. Gold, green, yellow. All kinds of sizes. All kinds of shapes. But thankfully none she could see that were glowing red, not like all the possessed entities that they’d been fighting recently.

Hopefully that meant she could trust the fox.

“You can trust me.”

Doc spun. “You heard that?”

Tabitha gave her a wry, toothy grin. “I didn’t need to. Once you have lived as many lives as I have, you come to understand the way of people and what they must be thinking.”

Doc frowned and peered out of the window again, but she couldn’t see the eyes anymore. Only the rustling leaves blowing across the grass, while from the dark, angry clouds overhead, a thick snow began to fall. Flakes quickly gathered in drifts on the windowsill.

“Hey, where’d your friends go?”

“They will be watching over us on our journey,” Tabitha replied. “They come and go when they please, but with you four returning to us I think word got out and they wanted to see for themselves that it was true.”

Michelle started. “They wanted to see us? We’re famous?”

“In a manner of speaking. The story of how you fought Deadman’s Grin and his minions on All Hallows’ Eve is one that has been told many times. Your story is known.” The fox suddenly tilted and leaned back to nibble at her crotch. The group’s faces pulled in awkward directions as they looked away, before Tabitha carried on as though nothing had happened. “However, don’t expect to be treated like celebrities where we’re going. You have aged quite substantially. I doubt anyone will–” She stopped as she saw their horrified faces. “What? I had an itch!”

Mrs Thompson chuckled under her breath. “She’s still a fox, you know. One that talks and traverses realms across the Cobweb and has seen more lives than you or I care to admit.

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