The Red Fox (Part-2)

By Eindra's Story Corner

He led them out of the twisting and turning tunnel they had made just in case they might get caught. Red fox’s green eyes glowed in the dark tunnel as they find their way out of the tunnels. Their father walked pass another hole from the hole they were passing through from. He realised that there were two tunnels and one of them lead to their home and the other one was a trap or was a cover for them. The tunnel was a bit too small for bears or any big animal to come through. If they had, the stony walls of the tunnel would brush their fur and tail making loud noises to alert the family.

That made him knew that their family was pretty protective. When they went out of the burrow at last, their father covered back the hole with leaves and crumbled a dry leaf with his paw to know that the burrow was here. Red fox thought that it took a lot to be one of the best fox hunters in this forest. As soon as he had finished that, without a word he leaped down from the sloped grassy spot and flicked his tail as a sign to follow him. Red fox sprang to his paws and leaped down to join his father who was racing across the stream. He could hear Hunter racing behind him the sound of his paws running on the dry leaves. He could also hear Rocky trying to catch up with them. 

He splashed the water of the stream with his hind legs. It had seemed like their burrow was on another island from the other side of the stream. When he had crossed the other side their father, Todd sat on the rock nearby. Red fox waited as Hunter leaped across the stream. Rocky followed close behind him. He leaped over the stream like how Hunter had done.

Red fox watched them and Rocky shot a glance with disgust at him. “Show off” he murmured. Red fox glared back at him. His eyes were blazing like fire as he said “Like you fell behind”. He whispered under his breath so only Rocky could hear. Rocky flinched his ear showing that he heard what he had said. Their father was staring at something that looked like it was far away from them that they could not see. 

The tumbled off to him. His gaze was still resting where they were. Red fox looked up at him trying to draw his attention to ask him what they were going to do. But he didn’t move except for his tail swishing from side to side. His brothers paid no mind to him and rolled around the green grass. Red fox looked up at the sky to see the sun high above the blue sky. He sat down his tail curling around his paws. He stared at the sunlight as it slowly moved higher up to the blue sky. “You’re the only one who relaxes and stay calm like me.” murmured his father. His father looked up to him. But his father was not looking at him. He was still looking at something he could not see. He didn’t ask anymore. His father continued “You’ll get a name someday. I want to give a name either.” He told him. 

“My father didn’t say anything to me because I have a red nose.” he explained to him and went on. “My father ignored me and we kits were taken out of the forest and a toad landed on my head and stayed there until my dad shook him off.” He stopped for a while. Red fox perked up his ears to listen just in case he continued again.  His father took a deep breath and as Red fox thought he continued where he left off. “Then as a joke they called me Toad at first and I changed it to Todd. I proved them that I can be like any other fox and I became one of the greatest hunters in the forest now.” He shifted his paws. Red fox looked down at his paws and twisted his head to the back. He could see Hunter and Rocky jumping on to each everything they see and smelling everything. He stood up to join them but before he did he looked up at his father to see if he’ll say more. His father turned his head to him and nodded his head. “We’re soon going to hunt some rabbits and other small animals.” he murmured. “Tell them to get ready and I expect much from you.” Red fox nodded his head back to him. Then he patted towards Hunter and Rocky. The sharp green grass stung his paws but he didn’t care. When he got to them, Rocky sneered “What were you talking with dad? Better not be about me or I’ll rip your ear off.” Red fox froze on his next step by those words. But he ignored him and bent down to sniff at a yellow flower in front of him.

Hunter ignored Rocky too and patted to him. “You’re not the only one who doesn’t like him, you know.” he whispered in his ear. Red fox shot him a grateful glance at him. Hunter nodded back to him. Before Rocky could say anything, they heard a loud yip telling them to come to him. They all raced to him eagerly to hear what he had to tell them. “Alright” yipped their father when they came to him. “We’re going to hunt small creatures such as rabbits like the ones I always bring back home. I’ll show you how we hunt the bigger animals later but let’s start with rabbits first.” Hunter and Red fox nodded their head but Rocky just stared at Red fox his eyes burning with hatred. 

“First we track down the prey” he told them. “ to do that you have to find a fresh rabbit’s scent.” His father pointed his nose in the air. “Smell” he said. Red fox started sniffing all over the place with Hunter hard on his paws. Rocky snorted and pressed his nose to the ground. 

Red fox remembered the time he smelt his father carrying the lifeless body of a rabbit. He had smelt the scent before and it would be pretty easy for him to track it down. Then a familiar scent hit his nose. He lifted his nose to see if the scent would be stronger there but the scent only seemed farther away from him. “I smell rabbit!” yipped Red fox. Hunter nodded in agreement. His father looked at him and sniffed the air. Then he yipped “There, now, follow the scent to where the rabbit is” he told them. Rocky grumbled at Red fox. “That was just luck that you found the scent.” he gekkered at him. Their father ignored him and followed Red fox as he tracked down where the rabbit was with Hunter.

They went deep into the forest. The tall trees were covering the light from the sun. Red fox made its way with the scent to see a rabbit scuffling among the tall grass. He stopped and pointed his nose at the rabbit. Their father nodded with satisfaction as he told them what to do. “Let me tell you how to hunt a rabbit.” he whispered so that only they can hear. “You have to creep up on it really quietly so that it won’t hear you.” he told them. Hunter and Red fox nodded. “So who’s going first?” asked Red fox silently. “You go” said Hunter. “You were the one who smelt it first.” Then they heard a quiet rustle from the bushes behind them. “I’ll go!” said Rocky as he appeared from the trees. 

Red fox turned his head to the rabbit to see if he had fled but it seemed as if it hadn’t notice anything at all. Hunter gekkered to Rocky “Like you found the scent.” Rocky glared at him. “Like a red fox would be noticed so easily that the prey would see him easily by his red coat.” sneered Rocky without keeping his voice down. The rabbit must of heard because when Red fox turned to see if he was there his white body was out of sight. Red fox gekkered at Rocky. “There! He’s now gone. Are you happy with that?!” Rocky looked at the place where the rabbit had once been and yowled. “I can’t believe your loud voice scared him off!” he snorted as he added “Shame on you!” Their father swished his paw to silence him as he said “Rocky, you could have listened while I was explaining how rabbits can hear us very easily. Now that the rabbit is gone, let’s find another one instead of blaming it on Red fox.”

Rocky looked up at him and nodded sulkily. When their father disappeared into the trees, he glared at Red fox with burning hatred before running off to catch up with Todd. Red fox ignored him but he was still angry of how he had scared off his first prey he could have caught. He bared his teeth at the memory that had happened a moment before but forced himself to follow, Todd, their dad to find another prey to catch. When he caught up with them, he could see Hunter hard on his heels when he turned his head. Ahead of them, he could also see Todd sitting on a rock around lots of trees. 

“Now find a scent we can prey on.” he told them as they came near. Red fox nodded eagerly and pressed his nose to the ground. Hunter was a bit far away from him and Rocky was eyeing him closely and was sniffing near the stone where Todd was sitting on. 

While he was sniffing, he saw something in the air caught his eye. It was a brown creature flying in the air with his wings. Red fox thought that it could be eaten and flung himself in the air to catch the strange creature. He covered his paws at it and reached his head to it to give him a bite on his neck. When he landed on the ground again, the creature was in his jaws dead.

Hunter came to him and yipped in applause. Rocky grunted at him and went on sniffing. Todd jumped down and came toward him and yipped “Excellent!” Red fox raised his tail high as Todd added “I didn’t even tell you a single thing about it!” Red fox could see Rocky staring at him his eyes green with envy. “let’s go to the river now.” he told them. Without another word, their father sprinted away from them into the trees. Red fox sniffed the air tasting his father’s scent and racing after him. The bird was still in his jaws but he tried to catch up with him. He could hear Hunter racing behind him too. 

When they got to the river, they could see their father near the river dropping his head to take a sip of the water. Red fox slowed his pace and patted to him. He licked the water to taste how it was. When he did, his tongue was cool and there was no favour in the water though he drank some water before backing away from it. He twisted his head to see Hunter doing the same too. Curiosity was burning in his eyes when Hunter saw the river. Red fox sat down and wrapped his tail beside him. He could see the blurry shadow of Rocky as he came to them. Rocky panted for a while and when his eyes rest on Red fox, he swatted his paw at Red fox’s ear. His claws stuck there for a moment as he gekkered to him “Get out of my sight you nameless fox.” He shook his paw away from him and patted to Hunter who was still drinking some of the water. Red fox could hear him ask “What’s that?” Hunter looked up to face him but did not reply and went to Red fox. “It was really amazing when you caught the bird in mid-air!” he yipped. “I-I guess” said Red fox hesitantly. Hunter swatted his paw at Red fox playfully on his fur. “I’m not like Rocky.” protested Hunter. “Yeah, you aren’t.” said Red fox in reply.

Red fox looked at Todd and waited to see what he would tell them but he kept silent and was staring at the depth of the water. Red fox was stunned for a moment. He curiously looked at the water. First he saw another fading fox in the river. He had red fur and green eyes like how he had. He was surprised at first but the fox in the river was also surprised to see him. Red fox tilted his head in confusion and the fox in the river did the same too.

He swatted his paws at the red fox in the river and the fox did the same. Then he realised that this was his reflection. He called to Hunter as he waved his paws at the river. Hunter patted to him. “What is it?’ he asked. Red fox stopped waving his paws and pointed to the river with his nose. “See for yourself.” he told him. Hunter bent his head to look into the river. He saw his reflection and jumped in surprise. The other fox did the same too. The fox in the water looked exactly like Hunter. Hunter turned his head to Red fox and asked “Who’s that fox?” he pointed with his paw. Red fox chuckled. “It’s you, you dummy.” he yipped. Hunter glance back at the water then he nodded. “That’s so cool!” he told him. “It sure is!” said Red fox. He held his tail high and looked back at the water. He saw something moved in the water. He turned to Hunter and asked “did you see that?” Hunter looked confused. “See what?” he asked back. Red fox looked at the water again. He saw it move again. “That!”  he told him. He pointed his paw at the river. Soon, Hunter’s eyes were fixed on the river looking for any movement in there. Red fox twisted his neck to see Rocky. He saw him hitting his paws onto a rock. He was about to go to him when he felt a splash of water drenched his coat. He turned around and saw Hunter holding a fish in his jaws with his eyes filled with satisfaction. “You drenched me!” Red fox told him. “Well at least I caught something!” said Hunter. Then he laughed “I guess I did to both of us.” Red fox looked at his fur to see water all over it like his too. “That was so cool though!” yipped Red fox. “Even though I didn’t see it.” he said under his breath to himself. 

Their father came to them and nodded to Hunter. “Great catch!” he praised him. “Now let’s go home. It’s getting late” he told them. Red fox and Hunter nodded and Red fox picked up the bird he had caught again. Rocky came to them and asked “We’re leaving already?” his father nodded. Todd slowly sank into the forest trees and he was out of sight. “Too bad” continued Rocky. “I didn’t even get a chance to catch anything because you two were too noisy and won’t let me have the chance.” he sneered. He turned his head to Red fox and added “Especially you Red fox! I could have had that rabbit.” he snorted. “It’s not like you’ll catch it anyway.” before Red fox could say a word Rocky jumped on his paws and raced after Todd. Red fox stared at him until Rocky was out of sight. Hunter snorted “that little liar.” Red fox grunted. “Come on!” said Red fox. “We better get going or Hunter might lie to mom without us knowing!” he told Hunter. 

They raced into the forest. They ran as fast as they could to catch up. Red fox heard a faint sound of paws running on the dried leaves. “I can hear them ahead of us!” said Red fox to Hunter who was hard on his heels. When they got out of the trees, he could see the rock Todd had once sat on. Up ahead, he could see Todd and Rocky crossing the stream. They raced to them. They caught up with them as Todd arrived to the entrance of the burrow. He pushed away the leaves on top and climbed inside. The tree other foxes followed him close behind. 

When they finally got inside, Red fox could see his mother waiting for them. Red fox raced towards her. He dropped the bird in front of her. “Look what I caught mom!” he yipped. His mother nodded her head with approval. Hunter patted to her and showed her the fish he had caught. “Very nice” commented Felix. Rocky and Todd came last. She looked at Rocky and asked “ Did you catch anything?” Rocky turned his head to her. Todd went to the side of the burrow and started to sleep. “Yes I did!” he told her. Red fox looked at Rocky with disbelief. Felix blinked. “Then where is it?” she asked him. Rocky sat down with his tail high and told her. “I caught that bird and fish! Hunter and Red fox were so proud that they offered to carry them for me” blurted out Rocky. Hunter and Red fox stared at him. Red fox gekkered at his brother and Hunter snorted at him. “Like she’ll believe you” snorted Hunter. “This is what we caught and you can’t lie your way out.” Red fox just swatted his paw at his brother’s ear and pushed him off balance. “I caught this and you can’t just use us like that!” gekkered Red fox.

 To be continued...

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