“Why do you call me policeman? What’s that mean?” abruptly Fox threw a question to me.
For the very beginning I thought I misheard. After he repeated, my stare at his side face for a while tried to one trace triggering that idiot question. If it were a wrong time, I really wanted to blow his head open to see what kind of structure it was.
“Some kind of person like guardian, who protect people when they need.”
“What? You just told others I am your dwarf?” his shrill almost trapped my clumsy pace.
I gasped. “What make you connect with dwarf?”
“Guardian is basically dwarf.”
This connection baffled me. “Fine, in other word, like dad protect his kids, understands? Cos-play alien?” When my scoff mused, an assumption ran through my mind. His appearance turned up with the veil of mystery, and he could jump as high as ten feet, ran fast like the Flash and the most importance was the absence of human common sense. Would it possible he was an alien, like a witch or something? Could I ask that?
“That’s just an excuse! If Shawl knows I am with a Cos-play alien, he would kill me!”
“But you should have better description for me, more elegant, younger…”
This topic was brainstorming, and soon?torturing because his questions rapidly exposed his nature of dobe.
My great effort to pent impulsion of punching him had reached breaking point as the corridor turned into gloomy hall, where the gleam of reflection from the silhouettes was flickering in the dark. Narrowing eyes, I?tried to trace their frames, picture what?I?was looking at. And yet, I?could feel that I?was missing something?important. Something?that would explain why they still hung around in this house—but distraction was too strong
“You are incredibly uncivil to be absentminded in the conversation!”?Fox shrieked, but his pace not slower. “, especially not listen to the speech of your elder!”
“Now you want to admit to be my DAD?”?I?sneered impatiently, half mind still blocked by the strange decorations in the houses that we were passing. It was the first time that I noticed this house was big-too big to be understood. And ...Where were we?now?
“I AM NOT THAT OLD!”?he said, through gritted teeth. Quite suddenly turn, he was facing down to me, but I?had been running into his chest without any notice. With an?oozing bump, I?was rebounded backwards. A?blurring hand caught me even before I?realized. The next moment, half dizzy, I?found I?was clutched in his grip again.
“Please stop this misunderstanding joke, my girlfriend is jealousy.”?His hot breath was so close in my ears, itching my cheek.
I?yanked my head in a safe distance, looking up. Breaking into my sight was a concerning look, but just for an instance. I?hesitated a second, and then, as if I?spoke advisedly. “Are you talking about yourself?”
Fox’s eyes narrowed once.
“You—”?I?case a very serious?look, up and down, him. Somehow, the picture of his good-looked face wobbled. I?swayed my head, trying to clear churning mind. “You, really don’t know how easily your ability casts a shadow of having a feeling of inferiority on any female who standing beside you?”?I?sighed. “For a man with beauty beyond?match, girls basically keep distance with this kind, understand? So your worry is wasted.”
“Really? You think I?am matchlessly handsome?”?
I?was surprised to get a glint of excitement?in his eyes. The corner of my lips twisted. He seemed always miss the point?
Then, the floor under my feet was gone. Fox heaved me up in his tightened grip without a warning. My protest had barely screamed out while a wail echoed around. A?cold trickle of fear shot down my spine. “Is…is that monster?”?my voice shivered.
A?slight snort humored. “Whose?voice will be more ravishing than theirs?”
Ravishing? I?couldn’t help twisting my lips again. Should I?admire his powerful humor under such dangerous situation or bite the thumbs at his poor term capacity? “Didn’t You shut it down somewhere?”
“Trap!”?he corrected, holding me into a comfort place. “Phoenix tree root can’t coop it up for a long time. Sounds he’s close to get a way out…h(huán)ey, do not keep fidget!”
“Get me off, we need to get out here—”?I?wriggled in his grip, but another wave of daze, stronger and felt like seasick, cut off my power and my head collapsed on his shoulder. The surrounding picture started running backwards into blurry colors. The wind whooshed?up my hair, blocking my sight. It was seconds later I?realized?we’re running. “Get me off, Fox…this will slow us…”
“If you can keep up with me, I?don’t mind to remove you this burden. It’s really a myth that a girl has a weight of pig!”?His words that deserved a whacking chuckled.
His metrical accents provoked my nerve. My fist flew up, trying to smack that dick. But the violent action only sent a spasm of convulsion?through my shoulder, and pain followed. I?balled with a moan. “…YO..U…”?
“Shhhhh—, don’t move,”?something?covered my wound, and then a stream of coolness wrapped the muscle. Slowly the pain eased. But I?just couldn’t stop shivering. “Strenuous exercise is easy to aggravate venom in your wound. So stay still, okay?”
“Venom?”?I?mumbled, “You say its fish tail has venom?”
Fish tail? Fox broke the sentence for seconds. “It is the venom for the other creatures. Now, stop talking, I bring you out of here.”?He shook me upper?and sped.
I?felt he was fast, as if flying. Everything was?whirling overhead. I?closed my eyes, trying to ignore the burning hurt and accumulating more strength to find my voice. “Fo…x.”
“En?”?
A?drop of sweat leaked into my mouth. It’s bitter. “Not that way…Shawl’s people are in the south wing. We can’t go there. The north back yard is our only exit.”
His pace even not hesitated. “I have better.”
“…the back yard isn’t in that direction.”?I?said through the gritted teeth.
“Who said we are going outside?”?
“What?”?My eyes broke open. I?struggled to straighten up, but only being pushed back. “Are you crazy? There’s a monster running behind us, you really have a mood for hide-and-seek?”
“Ah—”?he seemed to remember?something. “You remind me, Old bird’s pet, old bird’s game…”
It looked that there’s an inclination?of digression?again. I?interrupt him in a hurry. “Forget about that stupid game, where are we going now?...wait, wait, wait…?not hospital!”?I?couldn’t turn up in front of Shawl by such miserable?appearance. Or I?would be grounded forever.
“Easy, we’re going to find Old camel…”
A?loud shriek overwhelmed his words. Then the floor under our feet quivered with the shower of sharp fragments of gray stone down on our head. Before I?could get the first syllable out, I?felt as if a heavy slope rumbled his grip and then I?felt as if I?was being flung through the air. But Fox’s hands never let go of me. I?was being moved, so quickly that the sensation was like breaking into a door.
Head churning like chaos, I?supported myself by the elbow and found myself with my back pressed against the wall. Fox stood in front of me, holding a posture that I?knew at once.
Fear washed through my mind.
Fox held a defensive position—half-crouched, his arms extended slightly—that I?recognized with sickening certainty: something was coming for us. The rock at my back should have been the only ancient brick wall where?it had stood between us and monster. But when my fingers touched surface, it was felt like something?bronze. My eyes slipped around and widened. It was a bronze statue of bird head. The fierce look on its face made my stomach drop through the soles of my feet. I?shivered. An odd feeling that we were watched from everywhere wrapped me as my fingers traced the bird frame. My glimpse ran around rapidly, piercing hard into the thick dark, where something was ambushing.
“Where…are we?”?the instinct told me I’d never seen this room before.
“Beneath the Phoenix tree…”?he said curtly, and the casual tone of his voice was gone.
I?swallowed. “Did we go…the wrong way?”
A low whimper escaped through behind the wall. My body stiffened to the sound. I?didn’t realize left hand was clenched into a fist, nails biting into my palm, until Fox took it and gently smoothed my fingers out. “No, it’s just…put the door in this place, is really beyond my thought…”?he spit the word, making it a curse. “Old bird—SHHH!”?his words abruptly broke.
The sudden absence of sound was the only warning.
Simultaneously, his hand shot out backwards, covering my mouth at once. The?deep rush of Fox’s breathing cut off. I?stopped breathing, too—too frightened to even make my lungs work as I?realize that Fox had frozen into a block of ice beside me.
The creepy echo let my scalp spins and needles. Fox’s body shifted—only infinitesimally, but it told me where to look. I?stared at the black shadows of the direction toward the door.
A?scarlet mask floated slowly into the house, empty eyes intent, missing nothing. The snow white frame glistened like ghost in the dark. Tension rolled off of it, nearly visible in the air. I?could feel the desire, the all-consuming passion that held it in its grip.
An immense distance away, from far over the head, a wail broke the still air. Too loud, there was, however, no way to interpret the sound. I?looked at Fox from the corner of my eye, question what was this time. I?thought I?heard the fluttering rippled the air—Bird?
Fox jerked his chin toward the floor, wordlessly ordering me lie down.
My mind had still been a little blocked. Was it a sort of out-of-date to pretend a corpse for survival? Apart from the surviving rate…Wait—perhaps that monster had weak sight, which seemed to be lack of credibility?though. When I?was miles away in the imagination, some words smashed all the possibility, pulling me back. They came through his teeth in a snarl that was louder than I?expected. Too loud, it meant it was far too late to hide. “GET—DOWN!”?at the mean time, there was only one question in my head: were you in a hurry to start a new life, new-half?
The next second, my body was pinned down against the floor by an impulsion from the back. My curse had shouted for hundreds inside before I?caught a frantic glance around his direction. Over head, the simmering reflection from the bronze statues cut my breath again—the whole room was embedded?of hundreds of bronze?bird heads, which orange surfaces were brighter than they should have been, more like flame. There was no wind here, but the carven feathers around statues’?neck seemed to shimmer slightly, as if they were alive. Or they were ALIVE.
A?shrill ripped from their beaks. The room started shaking. Waves of flaming birds seemed to be wakened?and struggled to get rid of the concrete restriction. A?fraction of a second before my eyes could catch, something fluttered down with a hideous, grating screech. Another heavy white chunk flew into the wall with a thud. The birds roared in fury, and the yak skipped back—amazingly light on its feet for its size.
My jaw dropped. My imagination had been tired of commenting for all these things. Was this world too wild or my head was knocked a little hard? What’s wrong with these birds? Did Old Feng get any idea of this whole room of crazy collection? As to his friend, I?threw a dark eye to the air—he was smoking! He was in the humor to smoke? “Is this reality TV show floating your boat?”?
“If…?get some tea, it will be perfect.”?His lips pulled up on one side as he tapped his smoking pipe on the floor.
I?didn’t want to comment and turned my eyes straight ahead, looking after the dark shadows that I?could no longer see in the thick smoke. Coughing, I?looked around and almost jerked to feet. “Damn it, your pipe is on fire!”
“Bullshit, that is misty tobacco treasured by the royal place. Just one tuck, can create the beautiful picture of dense fog. Isn’t it working with this background?”
I?shot him a dark eye, pulling at the threads of my concentration. “What are these…”?I?hesitated, wondering using which word to describe. “…birds?”
Fox took a sip. “They are Guardian birds, responsible of watching Phoenix Tree. I?hope they can buy us some time.”
My eyes rolled around, around the misty. The bounding echoing was terrifying. Questions churned in the head. But when my lips moved, I?changed my mind. “You think which side is stronger?”
“You want to know?”?Fox smiled, voice velvet soft as he moved another inch closer to me. “Then I’ll go first. Remember to tell me the result!”
My eyes popped wide open, and then began flickering wildly to Fox, who shifted lower into his crouch, a worm, and stalked deliberately forward. “You know how to get out?”?I?mouthed, clutched one strand of his long hair in time.
“Ouch—”?Fox cried in his woman’s soprano. “You’re going to cut me a break, are you?
