My Royal Pain Quest (The Lakeland Knight series, #2) by Laura Lond Page A

dagger. “Let’s go. It appears Reggie is very valuable to them. They’ll waste no time to hide him—or worse.”
    “Worse?”
    I looked at Cassandra. She clearly hadn’t given any thought to why the witches would want a Swirg.
    “I hope they have captured him to blackmail the Swirgs for the emerald apple or to find out the secret of the berries,” I said, “but there is another possibility. They might want him as an ingredient to their potions.”
    Cassandra wanted to run; I held her back.
    “Running in a swamp isn’t a good idea, you don’t want to step on a bad spot and get bogged down. Let’s fly. It will be faster, too.”
    We ate red berries and took off. I was amazed at the ease of it. The ability to fly came naturally, as if it was something I’d always known how to do. I did not have to learn or get used to it; the moment I swallowed the berries, I just knew staying on the ground was optional.
    “Let’s turn invisible, too!” Cassandra suggested. “Those witches won’t know what hit them.”
    “Good idea. We have no time for a scuffle. Grabbing Reggie and getting out of here is more to my liking.”
    We flew at a quick pace, dodging trees and branches, searching the grayish-brown landscape below. I wondered why we hadn’t thought of this earlier; not only it would have saved time, we would not have alerted the witches. Oh well. Live and learn, I suppose.
    “Over there!” I pointed, noticing dark shapes lurking ahead. “See those?”
    Cassandra looked. “Yes… Although I can’t tell what they are. And what’s that? A shed?”
    As we drew nearer, we saw four huge wolf-like creatures circling a crude hut. Teeth bare, the unnaturally long-legged beasts were sniffing the air, turning their heads this way and that.
    “Oh my.” Cassandra’s eyes widened as she took a better look. “Their snouts have no fur. They’re almost like… faces!”
    “Ugly mugs is more like it. They’re expecting us.”
    “The witches must be inside,” Cassandra said, drawing her blade.
    I drew the sword as well. “These things will smell us, but we should still be able to dispose of them quickly enough.”
    We were about to sweep down to the hut when I saw three more silhouettes hopping in the distance, getting smaller as they moved farther away.
    “Wait! Look over there. I bet it’s them—trying to flee while the beasts are left here to distract and delay us.”
    “Shall we go after them or check the hut first?”
    I took a moment to think. “You fly after them, I’ll check the hut and catch up. I’m certain they’ve got Reggie with them, but I need to make sure.”
    The beasts must have heard us talk, in addition to catching our scent—they were all looking up, growling, their creepy hairless faces showing confusion and fear.
    Scared, are we? I noted. Good. Let’s build on that.
    As I flew over them, I gave each one a quick pull on the tail. They yelped and spun around, snapping their teeth, frantically searching for whatever was attacking them. Leaving them to it, I flew straight to the hut and hit the door open. Just as I expected, it was empty, except for an old cracked table and shelves filled with dusty bottles.
    I checked in the corners, under the table and turned to leave. Two beasts were blocking the doorway.
    Rats. Should have chopped off a head or two instead of pulling on tails.
    They couldn’t see me, but they knew someone was in here, and they seemed determined to get their teeth on the invisible intruder, despite their obvious fear. I drew the sword, paused… and sheathed it. My invisibility was an unfair advantage. Using Jarvi’s sword in such circumstances could be considered questionable.
    This is getting ridiculous. I’ll need to get myself another blade…
    The clink of the sword gave the beasts an idea of my location; one charged, aiming pretty accurately at my throat. I dodged, grabbed a bottle off the shelf and brought it down on its head. It was quite a head, let me tell