The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories by Kyell Gold Read Free Book Online

Who?”
    “ Tally. He gave me a couple of your regulars, said you weren’t feeling well.”
    Jonas felt his fur prickle. “Who?”
    “ A redcoat and a cougar.”
    “ The fox…was he tall? Thin?”
    “ Yeah, he said to say goodbye to you. I guess he’s leaving town or something.”
    “ Shit!” Jonas ran for his room, not bothering to close the door, rummaging through his chest and grabbing clothes from it, throwing on his heaviest pair of pants and his shirt and vest.
    Alicar appeared in his doorway. “What’s the matter?”
    “ Pike, damn him. He told. He told Tally, and they fixed it.” He grabbed his money, what little there was, and slipped a pendant over his neck, one he hadn’t worn in years. It carried his family sigil on it and was his only link back to them. Even though he never expected to see any of them again, he couldn’t force himself to leave it behind.
    “ Don’t go dark,” Alicar warned. He blocked the door as best he could.
    “ Get out of my way.”
    “ Listen, don’t…”
    Jonas pushed the bobcat aside. “I heard you the first time. Tell Tally goodbye.” He stalked out and down the corridor.
    “ Jonas, wait!” Alicar grabbed at his arm and Jonas pushed him aside. A moment later, Jonas could hear him running back down the corridor to get Tally. The cougar didn’t care. He pushed the back door open and walked out into the cold early morning.
    He didn’t know exactly where Pike lived, but he’d heard him talk about the Kingsbridge quarter, and the main road that led there was not crowded at this time of night. Once his eyes adjusted to the dimness, Jonas saw two figures down the road. He ran up the road toward them, eyes fixed on them, hoping they wouldn’t notice him.
    And they didn’t, not until he was close enough to see that the closer of the two had a long ringed tail. Then he saw Pike and the rabbit ahead of him turn and look at him. Pike squeaked; they both started running, but Jonas focused on Pike. The distance between them melted away; if Pike had ducked into a side alley, he might’ve lost Jonas, but he ran straight down the open street and Jonas caught him easily.
    He threw the raccoon to the ground and landed on top of him, cutting off the plea of “Jonas!” with a hard paw to the muzzle, claws out. Pike’s nose smacked against the stones of the street and blood welled up in the white fur around his whiskers. His eyes widened until Jonas could see the whites behind them. “Darkness!” he panted.
    “ Darkness take you !” Jonas snarled, and lifted his paw to strike again. Pike flinched, and Jonas’s paw glanced off his muzzle, raking through the raccoon’s cheek ruff and tearing out some fur.
    “ Jonas! Please!”
    “ You told!”
    “ I was trying to help you!”
    “ Help me!” Jonas’s anguish echoed off the buildings. “Help me stay trapped, imprisoned?”
    “ Prison? I was trying to stop you from making a mistake.”
    “ What could you know about that?” The blood on Pike’s muzzle was black in the dim light. Jonas couldn’t stop looking at it. The scent had just reached his nostrils.
    “ You’re still young. You’ll believe anyone who asks you to run away with him.” Pike coughed. “It never ends well, that sort of thing. Just save your money, kit, you can quit in a few years. You don’t have a family to support yet.”
    “ I don’t have any money!”
    In the wake of that cry, as Pike stared at him, footsteps approached at a run. Jonas saw shapes coming down the road and got up, taking a few steps back in a panic before Pike grabbed his arm and pulled him into an alley. Too confused to do anything else, startled at how quickly the raccoon had gotten up, Jonas just followed.
    They splashed through puddles that chilled their paws and then huddled against a dark wall, listening to the would-be rescuers shout. “Hey! Call out if you’re hurt! We can’t find you!” They held silent, a couple feet apart, until the noises of searching