“The darkfoe? Zalazar?” Mouse asked.

“They’re escaping! Hurry!” The messenger nodded and gestured at Felix.

Felix and Mouse glanced at each other, then sprinted for the door.

Dark shadows passed overhead as they ran outside. Mouse craned his neck and shaded his eyes. Dammit, I can’t see! The sun’s too bright!

Felix thrust his hand upward. A beam of fire blasted into the sky. One of the shadows darted, barely dodging, and Mouse made them out for a second as they veered away from the sun. Big, dark, feathery wings thrust powerfully from their back, and heavy horns curled up from their forehead. They scowled and darted back into the sun.

One of them carried a bundle, wrapped up in black fabric. The bundle struggled, and a man's head popped out, a shock of white hair in his forelock. "Zalazar!" Mouse shouted.

The demon frowned and flapped their wings, blasting toward the sun.

“They’re using the sun to blind us!” Mouse shouted.

“I know!” Felix replied, annoyed. He gestured again. A ball of fire collected above his head. With every passing second, the ball grew larger and hotter. Mouse wilted in the heat, subtly leaning away from Felix.

Silver dropped out of the sky. A dagger sliced into Felix’s hand. The ball of fire shrunk instantly, then winked out. Felix curled in on his hand, grimacing.

Mouse grabbed him and hustled him back inside, out of danger. “Your Majesty!”

“I—I’m fine,” Felix grunted. He grabbed the dagger and pulled. It moved half an inch. He flinched and curled around the dagger again. “This wound is nothing. I… should go stop them.”

Purple bruises spread rapidly from the wound. Mouse grabbed Felix’s arm and took a closer look. Damn, it’s poisoned. “Your Majesty, hold still.”

“Huh?”

With one quick motion, Mouse yanked the dagger out and threw it away.

“Ow!” Felix shouted.

Tearing a scrap off the bottom of his dress, Mouse tied a tourniquet around Felix’s bicep. “It’s poisoned. Let me fix it.”

Guards and courtiers crowded around, the courtiers trying to peek at Felix’s wound, guards rushing outside. Cel squeezed her way through and put her arms out. “Back up. Everyone, back up. Give him some space!”

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Mouse grabbed Felix’s hand and bent over it. Putting his lips to the wound, he sucked the poison out and spat the bad blood onto the floor. The achy-electric tingle of poison sparked over his tongue. Some slipped down his throat, but only enough to sting. Mouse winced appreciatively. Damn, that's a brutal poison. I can handle this much, but Felix, a human? Not so much.

“Mouse!” Felix called, shocked.

Ignoring Felix, he bent again, drew the poison out of the wound and spat it on the ground, then again, and again, until the blood ran red and tasted like iron, not acrid. Mouse straightened and wiped the blood off his mouth. “Cast a healing spell as soon as I release this tourniquet, understood?”

Felix nodded.

Healing spells don’t work against strong poisons, but as little as there should be left, the healing spell should be more than enough to counteract it. Mouse took a deep breath, nodded at Felix, and released the tourniquet.

Felix closed his eyes and murmured a few words under his breath. Gold light condensed around his hand and the wound. Under Mouse’s watchful eye, the angry red wound closed, flesh knitting back together, became shallow, then a scar, then vanished altogether.

He breathed out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness.

Felix wobbled. Concerned, Mouse wound a hand around his shoulders. “Is there still poison? Should I try to concoct an antidote?” I don’t know what poisoned him. It’ll take too long to figure out what. If I have to make an antidote, his chances are slim.

“No, I’m… fine. Just a little light-headed,” Felix sighed. He pushed off Mouse and stood on his own.

“Your Majesty!” Sabelyn burst through the crowd. At the sight of Felix standing on his own, she paused, then pressed on. “Are you hurt?”

“I was, but thanks to Mouse’s quick thinking, I’m fine,” Felix said. “More importantly, the demons!”

At that moment, a guard staggered through the doorway, a fresh cut on the back of one arm. He shook his head. “They got away.”

“Dammit,” Mouse muttered.

“There’s no helping it. His Majesty’s health is our first priority,” Sabelyn replied, hands tucked primly behind her back.

Beside her, Gawain stared upward, swaying gently. The top half of her dress wiggled with her, but the bottom half stayed steady.

Mouse cast Sabelyn a look from the corner of his eye. You showed up with awfully convenient timing, didn’t you? I wonder…

“Shiny!” Gawain leaped up out of her dress and snatched something out of Sabelyn’s hands. Mouse caught a glimpse of glass before Gawain kicked the other goblin in her dress, and the two took off down the hallway like a bat who’d had a little too much to drink on its way out of hell.

Enraged, Sabelyn whirled. “You awful gremlin—” She paused in the midst of her sentence and smoothed down her dress, a façade of calm wiping emotion from her face. “Excuse me.”

Mouse caught Cel’s eye and nodded. Cel melted into the shadow, quietly chasing after Gawain.

Felix stared out the window, then sighed. “There’s nothing we can do about it. They could fly—they could be anywhere by now. I suppose we’ll have to postpone the hot springs.”

“Not at all. Let the guards handle the chase. We all need a bit of a rest—especially after this latest debacle,” Sabelyn argued.

So you and Lilith are planning something at the hot springs. Something you don’t want us to miss. Mouse arced an eyebrow silently.

“That’s fair,” Felix allowed, nodding. "But we need to put the best guards on it. This is of utmost importance."

Utmost importance? You just want to go to the hot springs. Mouse smiled, sighing internally. Oh well. I want to see what Lilith and Sabelyn have cooked up, so I can’t be too annoyed.