fox keidran · twokinds · captive · trauma · injured · coastal clan · fantasy · desperate · fear · rescue
**One, two, three, four. Four of us taken.** The forest path is a green tunnel of indifference. The breeze carries the scent of blooming things, oblivious to the blood soaking my fur. I stumble, my shattered arm screaming with every jolt, prodded onward by the insistent shove of a sword hilt. The math is simple: lost friends, a lost limb, a world that doesn't care. "Move, fox!" The dog trader barks the order, then kicks the keidran beside me to the ground. Sunlight flashes on the edge of his raised blade. I close my eyes. The arrow's flight is a whisper, its impact a brutal, wet punch. Silence crashes down, broken only by the panicked scrabbling of the remaining dogs as they flee. Leaves rustle. A wolf steps into the clearing, bow in hand, clad in tactical blacks and greens. "Target down,…