Taiga snoozed against a large tree a few meters from the lake’s edge. Mouse slid his own cloak over Taiga, tucking it up to his chin. The cold never affected Mouse the same way it did Taiga. When a breeze shook the tree, Taiga snuggled beneath the cloak.

  Satisfied, Mouse looked out across the lake. He guessed it must’ve been a dozen or so kilometers around. He didn’t know why more people didn’t venture out here, but he liked the quiet. And it only took two hours to walk from the bustling streets of the marketplace.

  Birds flitted from a branch, and he followed them with his eyes until they passed over the tree on the other side of the lake. Sweet Bun looked up from where she lapped water. She grunted at the birds before eyeing Mouse. He smiled at her, and she huffed, returning to her water.

  Maybe now was the perfect time to try it. She was relatively relaxed and hadn’t bitten him once today. Just remain calm and confident. He snuck around the tree, stepping over roots and sliding behind it. He crept forward, silence in his steps.

  When leaves crushed into soft soil, he paused. Sweet Bun’s eyes flicked around, but she didn’t turn towards the noise. She didn’t notice until Mouse was upon her. With a quick jump, he leapt onto her back and laced his fingers through her feathers.

  She squealed, more from surprise than anything, jerking around and trying to nip at him. Her black eyes glared at him, and she raised her front arms up, shaking viciously and trying to wrangle him off.

  Mouse held tight, even as she threw herself back, whipping around and nipping at him. She hollered over his soothes, calling and grunting with every breath. He hushed her, patting her with his fingertips when he felt secure enough to do so.

  Her eyes flashed, not with anger but… was it exhilaration? It was the look she gave before diving at him with her beak to annoy him. She enjoyed it. Well, maybe not him being on her, but perhaps what was to come. A pit of regret jumbled in his stomach.

  Then Sweet Bun froze, her talons and toes digging into the earth. She tensed beneath Mouse, and he twisted around to see where her gaze fell. Latched to the side of a tree was a large, black, scaled demon. Its legs bloomed from it and folded down like a frog’s. Oversized blue eyes sat to each side of its head with two more smaller ones faced forward.

  A line across its wide face opened and revealed thin white icicles, yellowed around the roots. It blinked, each eye closing and opening one at a time. Horns rose from beneath its head and wrapped around over the top, points parallel to its inner eyes.

  Mouse reached for his sword on his hip. “We can take—”

  Sweet Bun bolted in the opposite direction without warning. Still clutching her feathers, Mouse was yanked away. She sprinted at full speed, running over roots and around trees.

  “Hey, no, go back!” Mouse smacked her lightly, but she just chirped in response. “We can take it!”

  Sweet Bun leapt into the air, skidding to a halt once her toes touched back to the ground. Taiga lay there, his eyes following them as they skid past. “Ah, did we wake you?”

  “Who could sleep through all that?” Taiga pulled himself to his feet.

  “There’s a demon.”

  He froze as he wiped his pants. “Where?”

  “On a tree back near the lake.”

  Taiga followed Mouse’s point. “Inside the wall?”

  Ah. Mouse hadn’t considered that. How… did the demon get inside? And it was a larger demon, not something small and capable of living off corrupted scraps. He looked out towards the way they’d come. The black body wasn’t visible from where they stood.

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  Taiga took his sword from where he’d left it packed on Sweet Bun. He patted her, shushing her when she made a series of small chirps to him. Mouse gripped his sword tighter in his hand. Taiga never mentioned any rise in corruption here. So how’d a demon find its way in?

  “We’ll take care of it here, got it?” Taiga turned from Sweet Bun, starting in the direction of the demon. “Was there only one?”

  Mouse followed behind him. “Only one I saw.”

  Taiga nodded, cocking his head to the other side of the tree, and Mouse understood. He walked around the roots of the tree, rounding it and walking parallel with Taiga. They silenced their steps. Mouse flipped the sword in his hand, spinning the handle and testing his grip.

  Taiga raised a hand, and they both stopped. Mouse peered around the tree, spotting the demon eyeing Taiga with its deadly grin. Mouse moved forward while it focused solely on Taiga.

  When he’d made it around the tree behind the demon, pinning it between them, he struck towards it. The eyes on the sides of its head rolled to him. It leapt from the tree, bouncing onto the ground and back against another tree.

  Taiga swung across it, skimming its back. It let out a small cry in surprise. Taiga whirled around, swiping at it again. It jumped back, slamming into the wooden edge of Mouse’s sword as he sliced in front of himself.

  The demon dropped to the ground, hopping around Mouse’s legs in an instant, and leaping off faster than they could react. They pursued, running against the edge of the lake. Taiga’s feet splashed when they hit water.

  Mouse raced ahead, hopping over any obstacle in his path and running just out of reach of the water’s edge. He gained on the demon, bringing his sword beside him and slashing upward once the demon came in range.

  It jumped away, and Mouse pivoted around, cutting off its path. He launched at it, swinging his sword across the thing. It let out a panicked screech of clicks, before spitting at him. He blocked, a majority of the black spit hitting his arm.

  Mouse turned, slamming his arm against the tree behind him and wiping the spit as soon as it hit him. It burned, but briefly and mildly. He wiped the remainder on his pants before whirling around, whacking it across its head. The demon bulldozed ahead, one of its horns nicking one of Mouse’s legs as he jumped to avoid it.

  When Mouse twisted around and batted it back with both hands, the demon jumped into the lake. It swam out of reach, glancing between he and Taiga as the two of them approached the water’s edge. Deciding retreat was best, it pushed further into the lake.

  “They can… swim?” Mouse let out a laugh.

  Taiga’s head hung a moment, watching the demon as he panted. “I didn’t know that either.”

  They watched the demon grow the distance between them. Taiga cracked his neck to the side, and they looked at each other. Mouse wandered his eyes back to Taiga. “Now what?”

  “After it, I guess.” Taiga stepped to the water.

  A low hum from ahead made Mouse grab Taiga’s arm, pulling him back. He looked out ahead of them, towards the demon swimming further away. Before Taiga could speak, a monster lunged out of the water from beneath the demon. The creature swallowed around the demon, dragging it beneath the water’s surface. It happened in an instant, and it took a moment before Mouse even considered the size of it.

  At least three meters across, and who knows how long, the creature wasn’t something Mouse had ever seen. And… it was in a lake, within the walls of a city? He didn’t know of human customs; maybe this was normal?

  He glanced at Taiga, who stared wide-eyed at the rippling water. So no, it probably wasn’t. “What in Ancient’s name was that?”

  Mouse shrugged. “A fish?”

  Taiga turned to look at him, his eyebrows furrowed. “I’m so glad you cleared that up for me.” His voice was oddly monotone.

  “You think the demon is still alive?”

  “Doubt it. But we need to report seeing it within the walls.” Taiga brought two fingers to his mouth, whistling low to high.

  The water across the lake stilled, and only now did Mouse realize how eerily still the water had been the entire time. No wind or movement created any waves, and the trees across it were reflected in a near perfect mirror.

  Sweet Bun sang, coming up to them. Taiga refastened his sword to her, and patted her. “Good girl.”

  She accepted the praise before shooting a glare at Mouse. He raised his hands, revealing no tricks. “You taught her to come on command?”

  “A few different whistles. Next time danger comes to us, we can tell her to flee a ways and wait.” Taiga led the way back towards the road. “I’ll teach you them, though I’m not sure she’ll listen to you.”

  “She might someday.”

  “Not if you keep getting on her bad side.”

  “What bad side?”

  Taiga shot him another glazed look. “She’s never going to let you ride her if you keep invading her boundaries.”

  Sweet Bun nuzzled against Taiga’s shoulder, and he placed a hand on her nose. Mouse signed at the scene. “Fine, I’ll give her space. But I won’t stop giving her treats.”

  Taiga laughed, and they made their way to the guildhall.