Eric and The Fox
Chapter 9 - Freeing the Prisoners
Chapter 10 - A Surprising Bluff
Written by Karen Backway
Read by Rachel Anderice
Trotting down the trail to find the badger, Eric thought to himself, “Surprise is necessary here. A single badger is not difficult to overcome to free the prisoners. But I bet there is more to this than meets the eye.”
It was not difficult to find the cave holding the prisoners. The badger was berating the poor little ferret, who was cowering and apologizing for her mistake.
“What were you doing, you careless ferret? Talking to strangers? Do you know how dangerous that is? Never talk to strangers. Never,” hollered the badger.
“I.. I… I am sorry sir. Very sorry,” the ferret stammered sobbing. “Oh please don’t hurt me, sir.”
“Just don’t let it happen again,” said the badger.
The badger shoved the ferret to the ground then stormed off to sleep in the shade.
“What a terrible way to treat anyone,” thought Eric.
Eric decided Sylvie should approach the ferret and sweet talk with her. He would likely scare the ferret and that would alert the badger.
Eric returned to Sylvie and Misty and explained the situation.
“Misty you just have to stay here and be as quiet as possible,” explained Sylvie. “You will be fine. You are very brave.”
“Yes, yes. Wait here, birds nest, birds nest,” repeated Misty.
“Yes, birds nest, we will be back as quick as we can,” reassured Sylvie.
“Sweet talk the ferret just as you did with Misty and Mello, and free the others. If you can, convince the ferret to join us,” suggested Eric. “I will watch from a distance and if the badger guard tries to interfere, I will stop him. Once you have the others return to Misty and wait in the clearing for me. After you leave, I will deal with the badger as necessary.”
“Understood,” answered Sylvie.
As this very odd couple silently approached the ferret colony, the lazy badger was sharpening his claws while congratulating himself for capturing another prisoner. The badger did not notice Sylvie whisper to the ferret and gain her trust.
“Hi there miss,” said Sylvie. “I saw how nasty that badger was to you. I understand why you are afraid of him, but I can help you and the other ferrets so that you never have to put up with those nasty beasts ever again.”
“Oh you can? Please, that would be so nice. He is so mean and angry all the time,” said the ferret.
“My name is Sylvie, what is your name?” said Sylvie.
“Lucy,” whispered Lucy.
“That is a lovely name Lucy. Can you please show me where the pretty foxes are? Then, all of us will leave here. You will be safe and together we will make sure all of the ferrets are safe.”
Sylvie looked back at Eric who was watching intently. There was no movement from the lazy badger.
Lucy and Sylvie quietly walked past the self absorbed badger, and turned onto a narrow path that led up the ridge a short distance. A large rock blocked the entrance to a small cave holding the prisoners.
Sylvie peered in a crack, delighted to see Mama and Papa, chatting quietly with Mello. Sylvie very softly called to them with a bark-howl very characteristic of foxes. Mama and Papa understood immediately, their beloved Sylvie was calling.
“We need to move this rock,” Sylvie whispered.
They all tried to move the rock but it would not budge. Fortunately, Eric was watching from a distance and came to help. He shifted the rock just enough to free the prisoners who silently filed out of the cave.
“Follow Sylvie,” whispered Eric. “Meet you back at the clearing. I will be along shortly.”
