“Aw, aren’t you just the cutest little guy ever?” Emily coos, as the creature squeaks and squirms in her arms, trying desperately to get free. “Yes, you are! Yes you are!”

  She lifts up its mass, grunting at the sheer weight of the thing. She waves a finger at Blue’s face.

  “But no slicing apart any more bags. You got it? And no more biting people! Your teeth are sharp!”

  Blue quiets down, staring at the finger in front of it. An understanding seems to happen between them, and Blue chirrups at Emily agreeably.

  With a satisfied nod, Emily slowly lowers Blue onto the forest floor once again. He stands up on unsteady legs, wobbling around a bit as he gets used to walking all over again. “Good. I’m glad we’ve sorted that out.”

  “It ruined my bag!” Alastair complains, holding up what remains of his pack, the remainder of the food spilling out of the massive gouges that it now sports. “I wouldn’t call this sorted! That pack held all of our food!”

  “Well, he said he was sorry.” Emily replies.

  Alastair holds out his bag towards her, shaking it for emphasis. “‘Sorry’ doesn’t fix it.”

  Emily watches as Blue spots the bag waving in the air. With a furious cry, he rushes towards the bag once again, flapping his wings to gain more air and bringing his sharp talons forwards.

  “No! Noooo! No more of that!” Emily says, as she catches the rampaging baby in midair, pulling him away and gaining another cut across her arm from his razor-sharp talons. “Bad Blue!”

  Emily scoops up a piece of dried meat from the floor and holds it towards Blue. “Here. If you’re hungry, just say so.”

  Blue stares at the piece of meat with confusion and longing, before snapping his beak at it. Emily snatches it away from Blue, holding up a finger in admonishment. “No, Blue. Take it nicely.”

  Nora watches as Blue pauses for a moment, the hamster wheel in its head slowly grinding to life once again. He gently takes the piece of meat from Emily, before lifting his head up and gobbling the piece of meat down its gullet. Nora feels a shiver run down her back, a feeling of primal fear building up in her stomach before she tamps it down. ‘It’s just an ostrich,’ she thinks to herself, ‘just some noble’s menagerie pet. Plus, it only comes up to your knees. What’s there to be scared of?’

  Emily strokes Blue, whispering encouragement at it for being such a good boy.

  “Wow,” Nora says, her voice smooth and level despite the still-there feeling of fear, “You really know how to handle it, don’t you?”

  Emily smiles, letting Blue down onto the ground to walk around once again. “Yeah. We used to have dogs back on the farm. It’s kind of like training a puppy. Just… Sharper.”

  Alastair lets out a loud sigh, dropping his ruined pack onto the ground. “Great. You’re on Blue duty, then.” He bends over and starts hurriedly picking up food, watching as Blue picks it up just that little bit faster. “Now, come on, if we split the food between your two packs, we should be able to get most of it–”

  “Shh!” Nora shushes the group as she crouches low to the ground. She smoothly pulls out her bow and nocks an arrow, ready to draw it back at a moment’s notice.

  Emily snatches up Blue, placing a hand on his mouth to shush the not-so-little squawker, while Alastair slowly pulls out his shortsword, straining to hear whatever Nora picked up.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  The air grows heavy with tension, the shadows dancing from the fireplace growing longer and more menacing. Nora slowly and carefully moves in a circle, listening out, her every movement slow and controlled.

  Alastair peers into the darkness, blinking away the glare from the fireplace and silently admonishing himself for letting himself go night blind. “Nora?” he whispers, “What is it?”

  Nora holds up a hand, stalling any further questions from Alastair. She sweeps her head from side to side, a frown forming on her face.

  Taking a deep breath, she shifts her shoulders, making sure her arrow is nocked correctly. She glances back towards her team, shuffling closer towards them so that her back is secure.

  “Hey,” she whispers, “Get in close. Back to back.”

  Emily shifts Blue’s weight over to one arm, her other arm ready for casting. She shuffles backwards until she’s close to her party, Alastair doing the same, the three of them - including Blue, whose impeccable night vision allows him to see exactly what’s got Nora so worried - peering into the darkness.

  “Trouble?” Emily whispers, contemplating whether preparing a spell in advance would be wise, or if the glow would just give them away.

  Nora leans in closer to Emily, her eyes flicking over to Blue for a moment, noting its intense gaze on one spot in particular. She shifts her bow towards that spot, her eyes staying locked on there. “I think we’re surrounded.”

  Alastair lets out a curse under his breath, the dark shadows from the fire shifting and changing before his very eyes into imagined monsters and little goblins with their weapons at the ready.

  Emily’s hands begin to glow a soft, white light as she decides that she’d rather be safe than sorry.

  “Do you think the goblins found us?” Alastair whispers to Nora.

  Nora squints her eyes, trying to spot any movement whatsoever to match the disturbance that she heard. Within Emily’s arms, Blue starts to wriggle, trying to get out of Emily’s grasp, his gaze locked onto the same patch as before. “Blue, stop it! I can’t let you down right now. There’s something out there.”

  Realization dawns on Nora, and she draws her arrow back, taking aim at Blue’s dark spot. “Emily?”

  “Yeah?” she replies, trying hard not to squeeze Blue too tightly.

  “Hit that spot, right now. As wide as you can.”

  Emily nods, sweeping her hand out and conjuring up a wide blade of wind that careens right for the foliage.

  Loud cries pierce the silence as the blade of wind slices through a group of enemies. A goblin bursts out of the foliage, brandishing a wooden club, a shallow cut across its chest.

  Nora loosens an arrow, catching the goblin right in its heart. As its body hits the ground, a hunting bugle sounds, picked up by yet another and yet another. The foliage around them rustles from all sides, the sounds of small footsteps pounding towards them.

  Alastair lets out a sigh. “Emily? How much juice do you have in the tank?”

  Emily checks her mana again, closing her eyes and seeking out that electrifying energy, finding it topped up. “Enough. I think?”

  Alastair adjusts his grip on his sword, as Nora sweeps her fingers over the arrows that she has left in her quiver, taking a quick count.

  “Let’s hope it’s enough. You’re on crowd control. Give us some breathing room when you can; I’ll keep them off of your back. Maybe we can get out of this in one piece, somehow.”

  Emily nods, her face turning serious.

  Nora glances at Alastair, her eyebrow raised in a questioning manner. “What about me?”

  Alastair glances back at Nora, a confused look on his face. “What about you? You’re an archer. This is a melee. Stay in between Emily and I.”

  Nora rolls her eyes, letting out a “tsk”. Nocking another arrow, she peers into the darkness, drawing the bow back. “Suure. Stay in between you two. Got it. It’s not like I’m just as experienced with a sword as I am with a bow…”

  Alastair smirks. “Did you pack a sword and I just didn’t know about it?”

  Nora blushes, turning back to look at the darkness in front of her once again.

  “Thought so.”

  “Shut up and use that fancy sword of yours to kill some goblins.” She bites back.

  Alastair rolls his shoulders and cracks his neck, a nervous grin on his face. “Sure thing. Watch how a pro does it.”