44

The number of footsteps multiplied. Dozens of feet stepped and there was something else. Les didn't understand. She glanced at the fox who had her turned towards the sound. Looking like she was expecting whoever was coming there way. Les didn't know what to think. She didn't know where they were going. This wood was farther than she'd ever been from home, and it was an oddity that there was a lamp hanging here, at a crossroads in the wood. Les let her mind wander as the group marched closer to them. She wondered if this fox had been nefarious and set it up to sell her to slavers, or hold her for ransom, or some other terrible deed. But Les remained calm and stood by the fox in silence. Soon, she could make out some shapes coming towards them from the distance. It seemed to be horses, and a closed carriage moving at an excruciatingly slow pace. She then thought the fox had heard them coming and had simply stopped to torment her. Whatever the reason, she stood there and waited.