Yvette didn’t move, struggling to think of what she should do now. Run away? Run at the man? What would a dog do? What was the natural reaction to this kind of situation. What was it dogs usually did whenever she was near them? She felt like an idiot when she realized what she had to do.

Yvette started to wag her tail.

“It’s a dog,” the man said, glancing back towards the tunnel. “Someone’s dog.”

“Here?” the other one said and a moment later she saw the other man walking around towards her. “Wow. Mangy little thing, isn’t it?”

“Eh, a bit dirty but with messy hair like that, I’m not surprised,” the man said before kneeling down and slowly putting his spear on the ground. “Here boy, come on. Don’t worry, nobody is gonna hurt yah.”

Yvette took a step forward, but then paused, her tail still wagging. Really, boy? Did he have to misgender her even as a dog? Sure, she doubted he could tell what she was and she knew he didn’t necessarily mean it as a gender so much as just calling for a dog, but it annoyed her far more than she wanted to admit.

Her life could depend on what she did now so she tried to push those thoughts aside and focus on the task at hand. What was a dog supposed to do in a situation like this? Would a dog go forward or run off? Now more than ever she wished she’d spent more time playing with dogs when she was in training.

“What’s it even doing here?” the second man asked. “I thought the phoenix scared all the animals off.”

“Probably ran away when the phoenix first woke up then got left behind. I’ll bet it’s hungry and came back for its owner,” the first said, still holding his hand out to her. “Come on, it’s okay. Nobody is gonna hurt you. Go get some of that jerky,” he said to the other man.

“You wanna feed it?” the second man asked. “What if it’s a trick? The merfolk might have left it out here to distract me.”

“You think a merfolk would have a dog?” the first asked, his voice dripping with annoyance. “Especially a thing like this? There’d be moss and who knows what else growing on it if it was one of theirs. No, this lil boy is a rat catcher.”

“I don’t like it,” the second said with a sigh. “We should snap its neck and--”

“We will do no such thing!” the first man almost yelled. “What the hell is wrong with you? Easy, easy, it’s okay,” he said in a soothing tone, looking back to her. “It’s okay, boy. Nobody is gonna hurt you. Just get some of the jerky.”

“Fine, fine,” the second man said before turning to walk away. “Wasting your time. It’s just a dog.”

“Don’t mind him,” the first man said with a light laugh. “He’s just grumpy because he wants to see all the action. He’s got some fool notion that he wouldn’t get his stupid self stabbed if he went out there. Come on, boy, it’s okay. Come on,” the man said, still holding his palm out to her.

Yvette took a small step forward, but then a half a step back, struggling to come up with a plan. If nothing else, he seemed to believe she was really a dog and, best of all, he was a dog person. That could be useful.

“Here,” the second man said before he came back into view, a small piece of meat held in his fingers. “Food for the mangy mutt.”

The first man rolled his eyes but took it, lowering it down to her height. Unfortunately she could tell just how this would play out. It was close enough he could easily grab her if she went for it. But if she didn’t go for it, would he know she wasn’t a dog at all?

Slowly she made her way forward, gently putting one paw in front of the other. At the very least she was close enough that if she did transform, she might be able to get them both. She’d try that if she got more desperate than she already was. She slowly inched forward towards the meat.

He moved and she started to jerk back. “Easy, easy,” the man said in a soothing tone, gently waving the meat in front of her. “Come on, it’s food. You’re hungry, aren’t you? I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“You know it can’t understand you, right?” the second man asked.

“Hey, dogs are very smart. You don’t know what they can understand. I hear in some places there are even dogs that can talk like people,” the first man said.

“You shouldn’t say stuff like that, if a templar hears that kind of talk they might get suspicious,” the second man said, his voice turning harsh.

“Of what? There being rumors?” the first man said with a sigh. “You worry too much. Come on boy. It’s good, you’ll like it.”

“Maybe you’re right, he might be smarter than I gave him credit for. Even he can tell these rations aren’t worth the trouble,” the second man said.

Yvette slowly inched forward, sniffing the meat. It didn’t smell bad, but she didn’t know what that smell on the man’s hands were. Fish and something else? Some kind of plant? Either way, she didn’t have much choice now. She lunged forward and snatched the meat up.

Only to feel an arm wrap under her a moment later and lift her into the air. She thrashed around wildly, but the hand refused to let her go. Instead, the other arm reached up and started petting her head. “Shhhh, shhhh, it’s okay. It’s okay. Nobody is gonna hurt you. Okay? You’re safe. There. That’s a good boy. See?”

“Wonderful, we now have a dog,” the second man said with a shake of his head. “His highness will be so proud.”

“Oh, stop your bellyaching,” the first said before walking back towards the tunnel. “Grab my spear.”

“If the prince returns and he sees you like this, he’ll be furious,” the second said.

“If he hasn’t left the phoenix for the merfolk attack, I doubt he’ll be coming out anytime soon. He’s too busy with that... mage,” the first said, his voice dripping with displeasure.

“Fine. But if you get in trouble for this, don’t expect me to stick up for you. I’ll tell them I told you to snap its neck and you ignored me,” the second said while shaking his head.

Yvette felt annoyance coursing through her. How could someone just want to kill a random dog so casually? She began to gently relax in the arms holding her, trying to come up with a plan to get out of this situation.

At the very least, she was certain Gervas was probably laughing his butt off seeing her being treated like somebody’s lap pet. Assuming he wasn’t panicking over her being captured and planning something really stupid to try and rescue her. She had to think of a plan before things got more out of control, though as much as she hated to admit it, the soft petting was making it very hard to think.

Yvette made a mental note to make sure she wasn’t so adorable next time. Maybe a bigger dog. Or one with shorter hair. However, a plan finally came to mind. She went entirely still all of a sudden, before letting out a low growl.

“Huh?” the first man said, looking down. “Hey, easy.”

“It’s gonna bite you,” the second man said with a laugh. “Probably diseased.”

“Easy now, boy, it’s okay.”

Yvette let out another growl, craning in the arms away from where Gervas and Nautia were. Then she started thrashing around wildly, letting out another growl. The man dropped her with a yelp.

The moment she touched the ground she tried to take off, but her feet went out from under her and she instead rolled forward a little. She thrashed around for a few moments before righting herself and then taking off.

Racing into the tunnel, barking while she ran.

“Wait, no, come back! Bad dog!” she heard the first man yell after her.

“Stop that crazy thing!” the second yelled. She turned her head back to look back towards them and, sure enough, they were running after her.

Well, her plan kind of worked, she supposed. It got them away from the entrance. Now she just had to--

Yvette slammed face first into a wall, her head jolting back a little and stumbling backwards before sitting down with an undignified yelp. Oh, she was so thankful Gervas didn’t see that. She doubted she’d ever hear the end of it. She started running again, focusing on where she was running rather than looking back. She could hear the footsteps racing behind her, they were already pretty close. She quickly had to slow down as the tunnel didn’t seem to have any torches in it and she couldn’t see.

Her pursuers had the same problem, unfortunately they didn’t seem to consider it as she had. She heard the footsteps right behind her moments before something slammed into her from behind, toppling and partially landing on her. She let out a yelp before clambering away, shoving herself up against the wall. A moment later she heard a clatter and a loud thump, followed by a steady slew of cursing.

“Get off me,” the first man said, at least it sounded like him.

“What are you doing on the ground?” the second asked.

“I tripped over the dog. Damn it, where’s the torch?” the first asked.

“With the prince,” the second said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You didn’t grab one?”

“I was too busy chasing you, you idiot,” the second said and she heard a loud thump followed by more cursing. “Where’s that mangy mutt? I’ll kill it.”

“It stopped barking,” the first said. “Head back and get a torch. I--”

“Why don’t you go get the torch?”

“Because I don’t trust you not to strangle the dog once you find it,” the first said. “It’s probably hurt and scared, the poor thing. He--”

“We’re going to be a lot worse than hurt and scared if we disrupt his highness,” the second said coldly. “The dog is the least of our worries.”

“The prince is too busy to worry about us,” the first said. “Just go get the torch.”

“Fine,” the second said and a moment later she could hear someone walking away. She couldn’t be sure, but she swore she heard other footsteps as well. A moment later her suspicions were confirmed when she heard a startled cry from the second man.

“What th--” the first man asked. Before he could finish his thought, blinding light filled the narrow tunnel. The man had only a second to react, most of which he spent trying to cover his eyes, before there was a loud thump and then Yvette saw the man collapse to the ground.

Gervas and Nautia stood in the tunnel now, the latter holding a strange, white orb in her left hand that was shimmering with a bright light. Yvette blinked a few times and tried to clear her vision before, slowly, she ended her spell and began to turn back into her normal form. Once she was back to herself she shook her head a few times before looking at the two collapsed men. “They aren’t dead, are they?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Gervas said before lifting his sword up once more.

“Wait!” Yvette said, holding her hands up. “Don’t, they’re unconscious, can’t we just—”

“They’re sentries,” Nautia said. “If they wake up, they will alert the camp to our presence and everything will be for naught.”

“But they’re helpless and--”

“They would kill us given the chance,” Nautia said before lifting her trident.

“Don’t!” Yvette said, struggling to resist screaming. “You want my help, don’t you?”

That, however, made the merfolk pause. She then gave a sigh before shaking her head. “Very well. If we’re lucky, their injuries will be fatal. But if they aren’t, it’ll be on your head, mage,” Nautia said before she stormed past the two, down the tunnel.

Gervas sighed before shaking his head. “As you wish. You know this is the wrong choice though, right?” he asked.

“Do you feel comfortable stabbing them like that?” Yvette asked.

“What I feel comfortable doing and what I have to do aren’t always aligned,” Gervas said before walking after Nautia.

Yvette followed after him and tried to reach out to take his hand, but he pulled it away. She glanced back at the two men on the ground and wondered if her actions were only going to get them killed later.

But she couldn’t just let them get killed like that, could she? Not when they were helpless. She wished she’d thought to bring some rope or learned some kind of spell that would have helped in this case. It was too late now, though. Yet another spell she’d need to try and learn in the future.

The tunnel was easy to navigate at least. While it did twist and curve as they went, it only went in one direction with smooth walls and ceiling. It was obviously crafted by magic of some kind as she couldn’t imagine it being stable any other way. In many cases it was as if stone had been flattened against the walls themselves.

Before long she could hear a light, loud hum.

“We’re nearing it, keep silent,” Nautia whispered back to them.

Yvette gave a small nod, trying to keep herself from worrying too much. Before long she’d see the nest of the phoenix and, more importantly, the phoenix itself. A being of pure elemental power.

The worry began to melt away to excitement now. It was going to be something entirely unique, something unlike anything she had ever seen. She wondered what her teacher would say if he got to see one.

When they came to the end of the tunnel it opened up to reveal a massive chamber and, to Yvette’s amazement, the phoenix itself. Any worry and excitement gave away to a single emotion.

Awe.

MelodyAvant

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