Page 59 of Earth-Bound

Even when the dragons turned up, grinning, it didn’t stop me revelling in the new-found feeling of being among… friends, I guess.

Huh. I had friends. At least, I was pretty sure we were friends. Terrund certainly looked at me like a friend. Well, no, scratch that. He looked at me like I was a lot more than that. But the rest of them smiled at me and chatted and even Dee and Dum couldn’t scare me off any more, although they tried.

“What’s that old fox doing there?” asked Dee.

Arram said, “It’s unusual for it to be out during daylight hours.”

Terrund tilted his head and looked at the fox. I jumped up, not sure whether Dee and Dum would take it into their heads to go and torment the poor creature.

“She’s with me,” I said.

“Why doesn’t she come in, then?” asked Dee.

“Is she scared of dragons?” asked Dum.

I hurried over to her and she sat down, waiting for me to get there. As soon as I did, she leaned into my touch an I scratched behind her ears.

“No,” I said. “She’s not afraid of you. She got this close, didn’t she?”

“Huh.”

“Guess so.”

I smiled down at the fox. “Of course you’re not afraid, are you, girl?”

I jumped when Arram spoke from nearby. “Why does—?”

“Sheesh, Arram, scare me much? Have you been learning from Dee how to sneak up on people?”

“My apologies, Joe. I simply wanted to study the creature more closely.”

“Why?”

I moved slightly in front of the fox, and she leaned more heavily into my hand.

“Because I wish to know why it is here. As I say, it is unusual for foxes to be out in daylight.”

“She likes the company, I think.”

They all looked at me in disbelief. Dum pouted and said, “You got a pet fox and didn’t tell us?”

“She’s not my pet! She just… wanders around after me, sometimes. It’s mostly since I met Terrund.”

I glanced at him and was disturbed to see that he looked a little guilty. I asked, “Is there something wrong?”

“No, no, nothing is wrong. All of the earth creatures have been to visit me since I was freed.”

“But this fox hasn’t yet?”

“She visited on the first night.”

I looked back down at the fox. She didn’t seem to be afraid of the dragons.

“I can’t stay out here all day,” I told her. She looked up at me. “I have work to do in the garden.”

“She can come in,” said Dee.”

“Indeed it can,” said Arram.

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