The mule whinnied and nipped at its pack saddle’s leather bindings with contempt. Louresa moved closer to the animal. She checked its bridle and strappings to make sure there was no chafing on the pack beast’s skin.

  “Stop being so dramatic Boog, you’re fine. I pay you plenty in grain and shelter to occasionally carry my stuff and when you finally have to you complain? You’re ungrateful, you are.” Louresa patted its hind quarters firmly, shooting it a look that brokered no argument. Boog rolled its eyes and snorted. “And no sass! I won’t brush you tonight if you back talk me.” The mule threw its head and retorted with a deep rumbling grunt. Louresa, not being one to back down, replied with a string of insults directed at the pack animal’s mother. The argument grew until both man and beast stood facing the other, exchanging verbal abuse in their respective languages, growing increasingly verbose as the squabble intensified.

  Clair stopped to watch the back-and-forth exchange in wry amusement. “See that, Doru?” she said to the cat creature walking by her side, “that’s why I haven’t gone to see a theater in years. Plenty of drama right here for free.” Doru smiled and heaved rapid deep breaths. He too stopped to watch the spectacle unfold, removing a pouch from his side and snacking on the contents inside.

  Though Clair stared intently at the squabble, her eyes occasionally darting to the cat thing beside her, she wasn’t really interested in it. Curiosity welled up inside of her and threatened to spill over into the rational part of her mind. Good sense and common courtesy acted as dams to the natural floodwaters of inquisitive thoughts blossoming inside of her, but they were not built to hold forever. The argument ceased, and the group continued their hike.

  They lasted, in total, all of two minutes. The floodwater eventually rose high enough and hit hard enough to sweep the dams, and all evidence they ever existed, away. She edged closer to Doru, who edged away until there was no more room to run. “Where are you from? Can you speak our language? Well obviously you can because you understand us but can you actually talk back to us is what I’m really asking. And if you can’t, what kind of noises can you make? Are you actually just a cat or an entirely separate species? Who are your parents? How old are you? What’s the average lifespan of your kind? Can you read and write? Why is your skin slimy and smooth, shouldn’t it be covered in fur?”

  Doru eyed her warily. She cleared her throat, creeping back to Louresa and her pack animal. Louresa looked at her companion quizzically but urged her mule on. “Any particular reason you’re badgering the poor fella?”

  “I didn’t get to ask him earlier. Snuck out of the cabin before we could notice and it felt wrong to pursue.” Clair rubbed her arm. “I should’ve apologized first, yeah?”

  The statement went ignored by Louresa, who grimaced and wiped her brow. The weather was far too hot for her liking. “Yeah, yeah you should’ve. Anywho,“ She said, “been talk of bandits recently hanging around this pathway. And before you ask Clair, I don’t know how many or how well armed and yes, its just an unconfirmed rumor. In the pursuit of not getting robbed blind I’d like you to keep your voice down and stay near me from here on out.” She looked over her shoulder at Doru. “You especially, Mr. ‘rear guard’, need to stay between me and Clair. They go for the smallest first.”

  Doru nodded, huffing and puffing as he pattered towards them a bit faster. He struggled to keep pace. His short legs took nearly three steps for one of either woman’s. The pace was hard on him, made even worse by his tail which dragged heavily along the ground and the oppressive heat of the sun.

  Louresa reached down to rub his head but stopped herself. Clair had given her one too many verbal whippings about personal boundaries and she wasn’t interested in receiving any more. She looked down at her miniscule companion. “They said there’s a clearing in the middle of the trail somewhere, a stream running through it too. The longer we take the longer it is until we get there, so don’t call it quits now.”

  Doru looked up at her, stumbling on rock the other two passed over with ease. His little legs lifted a bit higher than before, chest heaving with difficulty as he tried his best to keep up. Louresa sighed. “Bugger it. Come here, Doru.” She grabbed a pack from the mule, pulling the strap over her shoulder and lifting Doru onto the animal. He didn’t even try to resist, collapsing into the leather in front of him.

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  Clair, from her position on their right, silently passed him her mug of water. He drank deeply, gulping down the cool liquid until he was satisfied. She took the mug from his hands. “…do you mind if I ask you some questions?” His head turned towards her, ears perked up.

  “Is there any reason you’re wearing all that clothes?” Clair said. Doru’s finger pointed to the sun. She considered the gesture. “Will you dry without them?” He nodded.

  Louresa smiled and gently moved Clair to the center, letting their conversation run its course as they walked.

  The clearing was fairly small and very crowded. Trees drove their roots so deeply into the open area that the ground was no longer visible. Even the cabin was unable to stay safe from the invasive grasp of the forest, its foundations trapped in the strangling hold of the natural wood around it. The area was very clearly not kept properly by the village or the city, abandoned as the road stopped being used as a trade route. The lake, however, was oddly unaffected by the surrounding trees. There were no signs of their roots dipping into the body of water on either side of the pool, perhaps due to the runes etched into the slowly weathering stones at its edge.

  Doru chirped and bolted forwards, sprinting to the open source of water with all haste. Louresa followed close behind, though in pursuit of the cat-thing and not the water. He moved quickly and nearly outpaced his pursuer despite his small size. Doru got near the waterline and jumped, using his momentum to spring into the air at breakneck speeds, but found himself completely stopped just as his feet left the ground. Strong hands grabbed his torso and held him securely in their grasp.

  He looked back in surprise to see Louresa who scowled at him.

  “Mrrp?” Doru asked.

  The scowl melted from her face. “Listen, you need to have more awareness of your surroundings. See that?” Louresa pointed at the water and Doru followed her finger. “That’s corpse water. Notice the slight reddish hue and the literal arm floating down the river.” The pair stared as it passed them by. The limb, belonging to some kind of ungulate, was in the early stages of decomposition, its flesh being eaten by the small fish that swam around it. The river lazily carried it by them, slowly taking it downstream to gloat its newfound prize to observers. Louresa took a step back.

  “Oh shite, its corpse water.” Her mind and senses sharpened, now alerted to the faint scent of blood in the air. Hunting instincts activated and screamed at her to feed on the thing in her arms, but she kicked the urges to the side. Her eyes and ears couldn’t see or hear any movement besides that of the wind in the trees. She would have picked up the breathing of a man or animal in the surrounding area, and if not their breathing than at the very least their heartbeat. The bundle in her arms squeaked as her grip tightened.

  Clair spoke at Louresa’s back. “Put him down already and put those things away.”

  Louresa relaxed her muscles and swallowed hard, canines retreating back into her mouth. “There’s nobody here. Anything left’s either a body or a scavenger picking at the corpses.”

  “Why are you still holding him, then? Let the poor thing jump in if he wants to.”

  Louresa grumbled and set Doru down. “I lied about the bandits and the rumors, there shouldn’t have been anyone else near this place. Said it so you would hurry up and move faster. I don’t know who hunted whatever that leg was attached to.”

  Clair raised her eyebrow. “And we’re sure its not just a lost group of peasants wandering about the countryside? Or a pack of wolves?”

  “Quite sure,” Louresa said, pointing to the leg already much further down the stream finer details already much out of range to her companions, “The ax marks on that aren’t from anywhere in our borders. We make our tools sharper, whoever did that had a tool that bit into their bone like a saw. The cut wasn’t clean and its splintered, not bitten through.”

  More objects came from downstream, pieces of wood and broken, bloated bodies dressed in ripped up gambeson. The ramifications of the statement hadn’t quite hit Clair but now settled deep in her mind. She stripped her pack from the animal’s bag with shivering hands, fumbling with her bow and string. “Can… Can we get away?”

  Louresa followed her example and did the same, then handed Doru his equipment. She spoke simply. “The stuff came from downstream floating quite a big faster than average marching pace, and the largest bridge for crossing is a couple days away upstream. If we put the cat on Boog and hasten ourselves, we might be able to outrun whatever’s behind us.” She paused. “If they don’t have horses, and they aren’t riding ahead of their main force.”

  Clair frowned. “Why are you putting on your gear then? We’d go faster if you didn’t.” Her eyes widened. “And-and what about our homes? Our families? Where-”

  “Clair, for god’s sake, you studied the manuscripts with me!” Louresa ripped her arming coat out of her bag, grimacing as she struggled to undress and change as quickly as possible. “They’ll be gone or dead. You don’t leave something that ripe untouched.” She smiled, face grim. “We’re headed for real glory now, little mouse.”