Triss's heart skipped a beat as fear washed through her body. She scrambled to pull her wand, her fingers clumsy in her haste. She finally managed to pull it free from the holder on her arm and quickly drew the runes for the light spell. A glowing orb appeared in front of her, the brilliant light blinding her. She stumbled a step backwards, throwing her arm over her eyes with a curse. She lifted her wand to bring the orb above her head where it wouldn't blind her and uncovered her eyes, ready to cast another spell at the creature in the woods.

  She blinked at the sight. It wasn't a wolf or any other deadly creature she could identify. Instead, it was a short, round furry animal about the size of a small cat. It stood on two thin furry legs, and held its two arms curled like a miniature kangaroo. Two long tan ears stood tall above the creatures head, one flopped over slightly at the top. A pale pink base sat between two oversized round eyes that reflected the orb light back like pools of dark water. It was absolutely adorable!

  "Hey little buddy." Triss cooed softly at the creature. "You're a cutie, aren't you?" The creature cocked its head slightly as she spoke, it's one ear flopping all the way over. Triss slowly backed up a little bit until she reached her tent. She felt around in the open doorway until her hand touched her saddlebag. She pulled it out and rummaged through it, keeping one eye on the round fuzzy creature at the edge of the camp. She found a small package of biscuits near the bottom of the pack and pulled one out, stuffing the rest into her pocket. She slowly approached the creature, bent low with one hand holding out the biscuit. “Hey buddy. You hungry?” She asked softly.

  The little animal watched her approach, a curious look in its eyes. Its little pink nose wrinkled as it sniffed at the air. Then its already large eyes widened as it looked at the biscuit in Triss’s hand. The barest hint of a pink tongue appeared in the corner of its mouth, its eyes locked on the biscuit. Triss stretched to hold the biscuit as close to the creature as she could without invading its personal space. The animal hardly even noticed her presence, completely focus on the food. It stretched its two front paws out and grabbed the biscuit in one swift movement, spinning away with its prize. It didn’t run though, which surprised Triss. Instead, it began noisily devour the food, the entire biscuit disappearing in quick series of loud crunching bites. The little animal examined the ground at its feet, searching for crumbs before it turned to Triss with wide limpid eyes.

  “You want another one, eh? Triss asked the little ball of fur as she reached into her pocket. “I think we can manage that.” She pulled another biscuit, but instead of handing it over she held out a few inches in front of herself. The creature looked at the biscuit, then at Triss. It seemed that either the creature was highly food motivated, or else it trusted Triss, because it hopped over after only a second of consideration and grabbed the biscuit. Once again it turned away and devoured the biscuit in only a second. Triss reached a hand out and gingerly touched the top of the creatures head. It froze, and for a second Triss wondered if she’d been too forward, if she’d touched it too soon and lost it’s trust.

  The creature continued to sit still. After a few seconds, Triss moved her hand, rubbing it gently over the soft, tan fur of the creature’s head. It cocked it’s head slightly. She pet the creature one more time, and it started purring!

  “Triss, animal whisperer.” She said to herself in a hushed tone. She spent a few more minutes petting the creature, then fed it one more biscuit. It again turned away and devoured the treat before turning to look at her again, its round eyes hopeful. “I can’t give you all my food.” She said with a smile. “I need to save some for me.” The little creature’s lip quivered slightly, and she couldn’t help but feed it one more biscuit. “Ok, now that’s enough.” She gave it a few more head rubs before standing. “If you’re around in the morning I’ll give you another one. Ok?” She told the creature. She idly wondered what the creatures name was. It would be nice to to be able to call it something other than ‘the creature’ in her head. She turned and headed towards her tent.

  The creature hopped along behind her. She gave it a final pat at the entrance to her tent, then climbed inside and wrapped herself in the blankets. She shivered for a few minutes until her body heat warmed up the blankets, then finally fell asleep.

  Morning came far too early, the sound of iron pots banging around interrupting a pleasant dream. Triss rolled over and tried to remember what it was she was dreaming about, but the memories disappeared like mist before a hot summer sun. All she could remember was that it was a nice dream. She stretched her arms wide, then nearly jumped as she felt something warm and furry touch her hand. She sat up and found that the creature from the night before was curled up beside her pillow. It stretched it’s thin furry arms and sat up, looking at her. Then it crawled closer, seeking the warmth of her blankets. “I’m going to need to put them away soon.” She warned the creature. It ignored her, curling up on her pillow. She gave it a few gentle pats then got out of the tent.

  “Good morning.” Reginald said when she finished climbing out of the tent. “Sleep ok?”

  “Not too bad. Where’s Naiela? Is she up yet?” Triss replied as she stretched again. Her muscles were still sore from the horse ride, but it wasn’t as bad as the first night.

  “She’s up. I think she went into the woods to relieve herself.” Reginald said. He poured coffee from a pot over the fire into a tin mug and handed it to Triss. “Either that, or she was just offended that I was making coffee and decided to abandon all this and set off on her own.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Triss looked around and spotted the horses tied up nearby. “I doubt that. She’d have taken her horse.”

  Reginald sighed. “True, but I can dream, can’t I?”

  Triss laughed and took the cup from him, sipping at the hot bitter liquid. “I suppose you can.” She took a seat on a stone near the fire. “So how long until we reach the next town?” She asked. “Or is it all faceless forest from here to wherever we’re going?”

  “We’ll pass by a town probably this afternoon, but we aren’t stopping. We probably won’t stop until we reach Hortin, which will take probably another three or four days.”

  Hortin. That name reminded Triss of something. It came back to her in a rush, and she gasped. Hortin was the place Naiela planned to turn them over to the council! And she'd forgotten to tell Reginald!

  As she opened her mouth to begin explaining what she'd found, a series of loud curses split the air. "Damnable blood of the ancient gods!" Naiela screamed as she stumbled into the clearing. She was holding the front of her pants with her good hand, struggling to hold them up and fasten them at the same time. It was obviously a job that required the use of both hands.

  "Do you need help?" Reginald asked, the faintest hint of a smirk on his lips.

  "Not from you." She replied, clutching at her unfastened pants and turning slightly away. "I mean, no. I don't need help."

  Triss sighed and stood up. "I'll help you."

  "I'll manage on my own." Naiela replied coldly as she tried to fasten the button. Her fingers slipped and her pants started to slide down. She quickly grabbed them and pulled them back up, shooting Reginald a sharp glance. The draconic was too busy working on breakfast to notice.

  "As funny as it would be to let you, I have no desire to see your ass." Triss said dryly. She grabbed the front of Naiela's pants and buttoned them swiftly as the other woman held them up by the waist.

  "Thanks." The other woman said. "I would have gotten it eventually on my own."

  "Sure." Triss replied, ignoring the woman's bravado. "Eventually."

  They are a light breakfast of dried meat and some small flatbreads Reginald cooked over the fire. The flatbreads were like an odd combination of pancakes and tortillas. "Some maple syrup would go great on these." Triss mumbled around a mouthful of food.

  "What's a maple syrup?" Naiela asked in a suspicious tone. "Is it a kind of coffee?"

  "No, it's a thick, sweet liquid. Comes from tree sap."

  "That sounds disgusting. Why would someone want to drink tree sap?"

  "Because it's sweet and tastes good?" Triss replied. "I would think that's obvious."

  "Nothing about what you like is obvious. You drink coffee after all." Naiela said.

  "Don't knock it til you try it." Triss replied with a grin. She held up a steaming cup of the liquid. "We've got plenty left."

  "You're obscene." Naiela snapped. She stood and brushed bits of leaves and grass from her clothes. "I'm going to get Nightfang ready to go. At least he's better company than I can find here."

  "Makes sense. A horse and a horse's ass should get along nicely." Triss said sweetly. She smiled at Naiela, who scowled and stomped away.

  "That wasn't nice." Reginald said with a grin.

  "I'm not nice." Triss grinned back. She finished her coffee in one large swallow and stood. "Probably time to pack it up." She said. Reginald nodded and stood as well. Triss grabbed one last flatbread and headed towards her tent.

  "Still hungry?" Reginald said.

  "Oh! No, you need to see this!" Triss gushed. She hurried over to her tent and crawled in just enough to reach the creature. It was snoring softly on her pillow. She gently picked it up, and was surprised when it didn't react. She crawled backwards out of the tent, careful not to crush the creature clutched against her chest. She turned and displayed it proudly to Reginald. "Look what I found last night! Isn't it adorable?"

  Reginald stepped closer and peered at the tan ball of fluff in her arms. He sighed. "Only you would take a Puffren as a pet. Please tell me you haven't fed it?"

  "Only a little bit. Why?"

  "Because it'll never leave you alone now. And neither will it's family."

  Triss shrugged. "What's wrong with that? It seems friendly."

  "Oh, yes. Puffren are very friendly. They're also voracious eaters. You'll have to leave it behind, otherwise it'll eat nearly as much as a person."

  "Oh." Triss bent to put the Puffren down.

  "Not yet!" Reginald said with a gasp.

  "What? Why?" Triss said, stopping.

  The sudden change of motion must have woken the Puffren. It sat up then and rolled out of Triss's arms onto the ground. It looked around sleepily, then noticed Reginald. It's black eyes went wide. "Grab it!" Reginald snapped, leaping forward with clawed hands outstretched. The Puffren squeaked in fright and took off towards the woods with Reginald in hot pursuit. For a second it looked like Reginald might catch the surprisingly quick fuzzball, but then he slipped on a wet patch of grass and face planted. The Puffren disappeared into the woods, squeaking loudly all the way.

  Triss couldn't help but laugh at the sight, but her laughter died as Reginald jumped up ran back to the campsite, his eyes wide and his scaly skin pale. "Naiela!" He screamed as he ran. "We're leaving right now. Hurry!"

  "What's wrong?" Triss tried to ask, but Reginald ignored the question, yanking down the tents and roughly rolling them up.

  "We're on the road in two minutes. Two!" He snapped. "I'll explain later. Just hurry!"

  Triss stuffed her questions down and ran, grabbing Buttercup's saddle and throwing it on her, fingers fumbling with the straps. "What's going on?" Naiela asked. She had Nightfang saddled up already.

  "Not sure. Reginald seems to think it's some big emergency though." Triss replied as she finally managed to tighten the saddle.

  "What's the emergency though?" Naiela asked as they led the horses to the fire.

  "Triss fed a Puffren." Reginald said as he stepped up with both sets of saddlebags slung over his shoulders. "And it got away."

  "Are you stupid?" Naiela demanded.

  "No time. Up." Reginald commanded the council wizard, holding out his hands to help her up. She accepted the help without protest. "You too. Up." Reginald said to Triss as he pushed Naiela onto Nightfang. As soon as both girls were on their horses her flung the saddlebags at them. "Just hold them. We've got to go."

  "Too late." Naiela said grimly, staring at the woods behind them. Triss followed her gaze.

  Lined up along the edge of the woods in shades running from dark brown to nearly white were hundreds of dark eyed Puffren. "Shit." Triss said.

  As though her word was the trigger, the Puffren began as one to run towards them like a fluffy, adorable tsunami.