Here's the first chapter from a novel I am working on at the moment it is call the Red Fox Tales. Hope you enjoy it, please tell me what you thought of it!
Eyes wide open
When Syet opened his eyes for the first time, the very first thing he saw was a black feather, a raven’s feather to be more precise. It was black in colour with a small stripe of blue across it. It was a mystery to how it had gotten there since Syet’s parents had never hunted a raven. Though, at this point Syet didn’t have any idea what a feather or a raven was. And he felt like there was so much he did not know and understand.
It had been two weeks since Syet had been born and, like his mother had explained to him a week before, he opened his eyes. He would have never been able to imagine all the colours and shapes of the world around him, let alone his home. Syet, like most red foxes, lived in a den. There were two dens in his family’s territory – the largest out of the two was used for the family to live in and the other was used only for food storage and emergency.
It was dark within the den. The walls consisted of rock and dirt, the floor was the same but Syet’s parents had lined the floor with grass as to soften the ground since it could be uncomfortable to sleep on without it.
Syet touched the feather with his nose and sneezed as it tickled his nostrils. A small bark sounded from behind him and he turned to gaze upon his five brothers and sisters. They seemed so different now that Syet could actually see them. Their fur was hardly grown, but he could see that they all were a brownie shade and their small cat-like eyes were coloured light golden. They were tiny little things and could hardly even take a single step. Syet’s parents, Hakan and Ivory had named them all with names fairly common to red foxes. His two sisters were Neo and Raine, and his three brothers were Silva, Feofil and Lyndon.
Life was very simple for Syet and his siblings in their first few weeks of their life. All their time was spent only by drinking, sleeping and barking and yapping. Time went slowly for the kits, but they didn’t even know what time meant.
The fifth week in Syet’s life came quicker than he had imagined. The kits had grown more fur and become larger in the few weeks between their fifth, and they were finally able to walk. It was the week he was most looking forward to, it was the week that he would be able adventure around outside the den with his siblings under the watchful eyes of his parents. But since his father, Hakan was out hunting, their mother, Ivory, would be the only one watching them.
The kits seemed to buzz with excitement, and it seemed that all of them had been looking forward to this day. Syet’s mother led the way through the tunnel that lead to the outside world with the kits following closely behind her and Syet began to feel a little bit nervous. The tunnel was made of crumbled up pieces of rock and dirt. Some roots of plants stuck out and they had to be careful not to trip. Syet tried to see what was at the end of the tunnel, but his older brother, Feofil was in the way which was slightly annoying to Syet. At first the tunnel began to get brighter, and then it turned sharply upward and the kits had to climb up the slope. Syet watched as Feofil climbed out from the tunnel and then it was his turn. He took a deep breath – he had been waiting for this moment for weeks!
Syet poked his head outside of the tunnel and felt the warm air brush his fur. His eyes had to adjust to the sudden sunlight, but after a moment he could see his beautiful surroundings and his heart almost skipped with excitement. His mother pushed him to the side and he realized he had been in the way of his other siblings. Syet was embarrassed for a moment, but he glanced around the place and was amazed at all the things he could see, and soon forgot about it. The ground was a mix of half dirt and half grass. The sky was clear blue and cloudless, and a few gum trees grew around near by.
“This place is awesome!” Syet heard Silva bark beside him.
“Why didn’t you show us this earlier, Mum?” Feofil asked.
“It’s too dangerous to let kits out in the open when they are not ready.”
Neo looked around, “But what could possibly happen?”
“A lot can happen; an eagle could snatch one of you away, a dingo could take one of you, you could wonder off too far and get lost, and the list goes on.”
“But how often does that happen?” Silva said.
“You’d be surprised, it happens a lot.”
Syet’s mother glanced up at the sky and scanned it, “That’s why it’s always wise to check for eagles, dingos, or anything else.”
Syet pounced on an insect once he noticed the tiny thing resting in a small patch of grass. The insect jumped from the ground and Syet caught it in his paws. Feofil saw what Syet was doing then joined in on the fun. He began to fight Syet for the bug and it slipped from Syet’s paws.
Feofil pounced for the bug, but Syet pushed him aside. He reached the bug, but just as he did Raine reached him and snatched it up in her teeth. She swallowed the bug and laughed. Syet at first was burning inside with anger, but soon joined Raine in laughter.
“Keep your voices down!” Their mother barked, “A serious matter has befallen us!”
Syet and Raine stopped laughing and looked up at their mother, but her gaze was somewhere else. Syet followed her gaze to the clear blue sky and at first saw nothing, but when he looked closer he realised that a very large bird was soaring in the sky – an eagle.
“If we’re lucky it will fly off,” Syet’s mother told the kits, “But it is unlikely, we’ll have to take cover inside the den.”
The kits groaned with disappointment and annoyance, but obeyed their mother and climbed back into the tunnel that led to the den. The kits and their mother stayed inside their home for the rest of the day, waiting for their father to come home.
It was already night when Hakan returned to the den and all the stars were out in the dark sky. His fur was long and a shade of orangey-red. He held two large brown rabbits in his mouth and dropped the kill at Ivory’s feet. Syet gasped as he realized that Hakan had a deep red wound in his shoulder, which was oozing out dark blood. He wondered what could have happened to his father, but dared not ask. Ivory ran to his side and investigated the wound. She ordered the kits to leave the rabbits for her since the kits couldn’t eat solid food just yet and hurried Hakan out of the den. She was worried for him and couldn’t stand seeing him in pain. The two of them reached the other side of the tunnel and felt the cool night air against their checks. It was a beautiful night, the stars were shining brightly in the cloudless sky and apart from the crickets it was silent.
“Hold still while I clean your wound,” Ivory told him. “How did you get such a deep injury?”
Ivory began to lick at Hakan’s wound to clean it and he winced from the pain.
Between winces he began to tell her about what had coursed his wound, “When I was out hunting, I found strange tracks and scents outside our territory. I followed the scent and found these strange creatures walking around on two legs. There were a whole pack of them and they were discussing something in strange voices I couldn’t understand. They saw me eventually and I was attacked by something flying through the air.”
Hakan sighed, “I ran off and found the two rabbits which I brought back here.”
Ivory took hold of something in his wound and withdrew a small, strange, shiny object in her teeth, which she put down on the ground. It was a strange little thing and they had never seen anything like it before. But if they had known that the creatures Hakan had saw had been humans, and if they had known about guns, they would have known that the strange thing before them was a bullet. If that had been so, they would have realized that there were hunters near their home which could possibly kill them, and therefore they could have stopped a terrible event which was about to take place.