Where Foxes Hunt with Wolves (Folk Lore 2)

Yev’s hair was just long enough to touch his cheeks when he leaned in, and as Radek looked up at him, he wished there was a way for him to verbalize how sorry he was about his initial behavior. But the moment was soon gone as Yev’s face stiffened, and he pulled away, switching on a flashlight.

Radek sighed and jumped to his feet. As usual, a pang of pain resonated from his stump when he touched something too firmly, but he followed Yev. What was he to do? He’d been turned into a fox, and was now being led to a witch through a valley of endless summer. In this new world he inhabited, this made perfect sense.

He sensed other animals in the gorge, and spotted rabbits peeking at him from behind thatches of grass, but their presence didn’t turn on his hunting instincts, as if this were the Garden of Eden, where even the fiercest of predators lived as vegetarians.

The glade soon transformed into a miniature version of an ancient woodland, and the farther they went, the larger this place seemed. Radek could no longer see the rock edges on either side, as if the forest of massive trees that belonged in fantasy movies stretched for miles, and anyone who strayed from the path might not be seen again.

Radek wasn’t sure how long they walked, since Yev first adjusted to Radek’s speed, and then picked him up, but they eventually stepped into a small clearing and faced a wooden cabin made of gingerbread.

He blinked, unable to avert his eyes from the strange building, but as he took a whiff of the air, all he could sense was wood and herbs. When the beam of the flashlight licked the walls, it became clear that what Radek had initially taken for pieces of cake were in fact wooden elements cut into shapes associated with gingerbread. And the colorful icing? Paint.

Radek curled closer to Yev, intimidated by the witch who lived inside, even though he hadn’t seen her yet. He now realized that no matter how insane it was, she was the real deal, and just thinking that someone possessed the power to turn him back or leave him in this form as punishment for all his past transgressions left him trembling in Yev’s arms.

The oval door opened in invitation, uttering a melodic creak, and Yev walked toward it, cuddling Radek more tightly to his fragrant chest. “It’s okay, Ember. She’s a very nice lady, you’ll see.”

The woman who stepped outside had grey hair pinned into a bun at the top of her head, secured with flowers and ears of wheat. Her long green skirt swept along the porch while her loose white shirt was crumpled, as if she didn’t care for it despite the elaborate folk embroidery adorning the sleeves. There was a tightness to her wrinkles, as if they’d been artificially added to the face of a young woman, but the veiny hands with dark spots betrayed her true age.

Radek’s heart beat faster when she spoke in a voice so raspy it sounded as if she didn’t often use it.

“What do you need?” she asked. “My agreement with you wolves has been smooth so far. Don’t make me regret it.”

Did this have something to do with that time Yev had fed wolves outside his house? Had that been about something magical too?

Despite Yev’s reassurance, so far the witch seemed irritable rather than nice.

Yev exhaled and presented Radek. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know who else could help. This one is some sort of shifter. Says he’s human.”

The witch frowned, her pale, wide lips stretching. “That is a fox.”

Yev groaned in time with Radek’s bark. “May I come in so that you can examine him?”

Radek whined, hating the sound of that, but the witch cocked her head. “How curious. Tell me more.”

Yev followed her inside the dusky cabin illuminated by candles. The hot coals left in the hearth provided additional light, but their true purpose was to keep warm a cauldron that smelled of mushrooms and broth. The interior, while dusky and small, felt surprisingly cozy with air aromatized by herbs, dried roots hanging on the walls, and vegetables stacked in boxes taking up all the shelves in sight.

Yev didn’t waste time and told the story of how he’d found Radek in snares, and how they communicated today, but as Radek listened, his attention shifted to a shadowed wall on the other side of the kitchen. Not nearly as wholesome as the area he’d noticed first, it had shelves heavy with rats, bats, and all sort of small animals and insects preserved in jars of different shapes and sizes. He could have sworn a toad suspended in jelly winked at him from its confinement.

This was too much.

Radek tucked his head under Yev’s armpit, seeking solace in the earthy scent of his sweat, but then his paws hit a counter made of raw wood, and he looked up at the two giants staring at him.