Magnus was apparently used to matching his pace to shorter people, because it was easy to keep up with him. The only times Cassie felt like she was slowing his down was when there was a rotten log or a boulder blocking their way; while Cassie clambered over or around the obstacle, Magnus often stepped over it with his long legs, or if the obstacle was too large he appeared to magic himself across when Cassie blinked.

It was late morning when a raven landed on a branch next to Magnus, cawing loudly.

"Is that your familiar?" Cassie asked.

"No," Magnus said to her. "They say there is a dog coming."

"The cultists were using dogs to track Angus," Cassie said helpfully. The raven flapped their wings and cawed again.

"A big dog," Magnus amended. "A very big...? Oh. Thank you," he said to the raven, who flew off. Magnus turned to Cassie. "A Big Dog is coming our way, most likely send in our direction by the cultists, since they are an invention of the Trickster. You should get behind me; I'll keep you safe."

"If it's just one dog, how bad can it be?" Cassie said.

"Not a dog, a big--oh, never mind, here it is." Magnus pointed to a group of trees a little way away from them. Cassie heard the alarm calls of birds, and a faint thudding sound. The trees rustled, and suddenly the Big Dog bounded through them. It was as big as a draught horse, with slathering jaws as long as Cassie's arm. Its grey, wiry fur bristled at the sight of the pair, and it growled, a low, thudding noise that went straight to your belly, bypassing your ears. Cassie looked at the dog, open mouthed.

"Holy shitting mother of the gods," she said. Magnus turned to her, outraged.

"Excuse me--!"

"Look out!" Cassie pushed Magnus out of the way of the leaping dog, and ducked underneath it, her head brushing past the fur of its open jaw. She rolled out from underneath the dog's belly, away from its large clawed feet. Her staff got tangled up underneath the dog, and she had to abandon it, scrambling to her feet and looking around wildly for a place to hide. The dog turned to face her and she pulled out her knife. Not that it would do any good, she thought, staring at the yellowed teeth nearly as big as her blade. She took a step back, and the dog advanced--

"Oh, for--!" Magnus got grumpily to his feet, and pointed a finger at the dog. "Hey, you! You horrible hound!"

The dog turned his head to look at him.

"Down," Magnus commanded. To Cassie's shock, the dire dog sat. "No, down I said!"

The dog whined a little, then lay down with a huff.

"They're tame?" Cassie said. The dog turned its head to growl at her, but didn't get up. Cassie edged carefully away from it.

"As I said, my brother made them, so they have some respect for me."

"When--how--why did he make them? Why so big? They aren't for riding, are they?"

Magnus snorted. "Goodness no. They are too stupid and angry for that. They are very good at two things: finding creatures and killing them, and not much else."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"If you're making strange huge monsters anyway, why not make a mean carnivorous horse or something more useful?" Cassie asked. Magnus gave her a look.

"Just how useful do you think a mean carnivorous horse would be?" he asked, then shook his head. "In any case, we should get out of here before the dog decides he's hungry and his hunger overrides his respect."

Cassie carefully retrieved her things.

"Stay," Magnus said sternly to the dog, who grumbled but did what he said.

"... good dog," Cassie tried, as she passed it. It snarled at her, and she hopped further out of reach.

"Don't antagonise the poor thing, it's bad enough that it lives with the cultists," Magnus chided her.

"All right," Cassie muttered, and followed him away from the dog. The last time she looked nervously back between the trees, the dog was still lying there, staring at them. She shuddered, and gratefully let the forest come between them.

In was a couple of hours later when Cassie reluctantly came to the realisation that she was starting to miss Angus. Magnus was not a particularly chatty travelling companion--at least to her. Cassie didn't know whether she should be insulted that he seemed happy enough to speak to any other animal in the forest. It was when they had stopped so Magnus could chat to a particularly boring-looking hedgehog that something suddenly fell on Cassie's head, startling her out of her sulks. It scrambled down, and sat in front of her. It was a squirrel. Cassie looked at him. He chittered at her angrily.

"...Angus?" she asked it cautiously.

"I don't think squirrels are capable of holding the Trickster," Magnus said, after looking over.

"No, they just have the same name. I think it's the same one. Hello, little squirrel!" Cassie said to it. It chittered to her at length.

"He says that you're a thief," Magnus said.

"Excuse me?!"

"He says that you stole something from him."

"What--oh." Cassie fished in her bag, and pulled out an acorn. "There you go."

The squirrel grabbed at the acorn, examined it, then threw it on the ground.

"What's your problem?"

"He says you can't trick him with inferior product."

"Oh for..." One by one, Cassie dug out all the acorns in her bag, and set them on the ground in front of the squirrel. Eventually, he grabbed one.

"Finally," Cassie muttered, and started to put the rest of them away. The squirrel grabbed another, stuck it in his mouth, and while awkwardly carrying the first acorn scampered up the nearest tree. "Who's the thief now, hey?!"

"I think he thinks it is compensation for the trouble you caused him," Magnus told her, after finishing his conversation with the hedgehog. He stood up. "We can walk a little longer before dark," he said, turning around and heading through the trees. Cassie hurriedly scooped up her acorns and followed.

After their fire was lit for the evening, Cassie scraped out the dregs of yesterday's dinner from the bottom of her kettle with some slightly stale flatbread, and set her remaining acorns to soak in the kettle by the fire overnight. Magnus put three small fish on sticks to roast. While he was waiting for them to cook, he pulled out something from his cloak.

"Is that a birthday cake?" Cassie asked, scandalised. Magnus looked at the intricate icing decorating the cake, and shook his head.

"It isn't my birthday," he said. Cassie watched incredulously as Magnus cut a piece of the cake, and put the rest who-knows-where underneath his cloak. He finished off his slice of cake, licking his fingers, then looked up at Cassie.

"Would you like one of the fish?" Magnus asked her. Cassie, startled out of her thoughts, jumped.

"What? Oh. Yes, please."

Magnus reached out for one of the skewered fish, and a floating ember from the fire landed on his hand. He hissed in pain, and flicked the ember into the dirt. He reached out again, and grabbed the fish on a stick.

"Are you alright?" Cassie asked, worried about Magnus's hand.

"Mm," Magnus grunted and gave her the fish.

"Do you need some water for the burn? I have some in my waterskin, but if that is not enough I can get more from the stream we passed."

Magnus ignored her and silently got his own fish out of the fire without incident. He glanced at Cassie.

"Eat up, we'll be leaving early tomorrow," is all he said to her. He retired to lurk by a tree away from Cassie, and didn't talk for the rest of the night.