Slothy padded happily down the ramp from the Bear’s Fall and sat down to wait. It didn’t take long for Bud to come bounding out of the Waystation and give her a few head pats and scritches.

No one gave skritches like a skeleton. Bud’s bony fingers were perfect for a really good scratch. Usually, Slothy would be happy just to get skritches and pats all day, but she was excited to get going.

She shuffled, nudging his hand away, and her faithful Bud immediately mounted up. His heels pressed against her fur to let her know he was ready.

It always made her smile how he thought it was him that balanced in that saddle. Slothy knew the truth. She walked carefully forward, using her shoulder muscles to hold the strange seat stable as she moved.

Preening at the stares of fear and respect from the assembled masses as she ambled carefully out of the gate, Slothy felt every inch the Princess that she was always told she was.

As she strolled into the forest, sniffing for any likely prey scents, Slothy reveled in the normality of it. So much had changed lately, and everyone was always so busy. Slothy was sure that was why she was given the central car in the Waystation. No matter where they were headed, everyone always took a moment to stop in and give her a few pats and hugs.

Even her human, who didn’t feel or smell so human these days, and her pixie, who felt much more human these days, stopped by for hugs every day.

Hugs were nice.

Slothy made a mental note to give Gavin more hugs. Her pet needed to know she cared about him, even if he still struggled and swore whenever she washed him.

Bud whistled softly, and a slight pressure on her left side directed her towards a new direction. She sniffed, but the wind was blowing the wrong way for her to get a good sense of things.

Bud put a hand on her neck, and Slothy lowered herself to crawl forward on her powerful legs. There was movement ahead, and it smelled… tasty.

Pushing a shrub aside with her muzzle, Slothy saw their target. It was a big thing, with horns and large muscles. Dark fur covered its body. It smelled good, like the meat that her human called steak.

Mouth watering, she tensed herself to charge but slumped as she heard Bud’s stick thrower’s string pull taught. She never got to do the killing when he did that.

The string twanged, and a stick with a glowing tip slammed into the head of the beast. It slumped, dead.

Slothy huffed in irritation.

“Sorry,” Bud laughed, “The next one is yours, I promise.”

Slothy thought she should have gone first but padded forward and let Bud claim the kill anyway. She liked Bud, so she would be generous.

Bud was just climbing back into his funny chair thing on her back when a tantalizing scent tickled her nose. It wasn’t the same as the beast they had just killed; it smelled… stronger. Slothy let out a low growl and shifted her head to face the direction the scent came from.

“Got another one?” Bud asked. “Lead on, then.”

Slothy stalked forward, trying to keep her heavy paws from making a sound as she moved through the forest. She was just passing one of the large, strange green things with big fans on it when the scent changed slightly. Anger and fear were mixing into the smell.

She began to lope forward, the need for stealth gone as it must have sensed her somehow. Crashing up ahead and snarls.

SOMETHING WAS ATTACKING HER PREY!

Slothy roared a challenge, shouldering aside trees as she raced through the forest. A yelp from Bud made her hesitate, but a command to her vine pet sent it up to hold him in place.

Slothy burst out of the forest, seeing a large squat reptilian creature covered in scales. It was on all fours, with long, powerful legs and a thick tail that stood stiffly out behind it. Large jaws lined with sharp teeth were currently clamped around the strangest creature Slothy had ever seen.

It looked like a ball of fur, with short, thick legs and powerful arms. Large eyes stuck out from between the fur near the very top of the ball. Slothy stopped, her head turning this way and that as she tried to figure out what it was.

Bud was yelling something, but she was busy, so she ignored him. The strange thing pulled itself from the jaws of its attacker. Long rivulets of blood flowed over its fur as the ball of fur opened.

Slothy felt her jaw hang open as a huge mouth was revealed, almost half of the body as a single mouth! Sharp teeth clamped down on the reptile, digging deep into the scaly flesh.

Slothy was impressed!

She chuffed happily as the reptile began to thrash uselessly.

“Slothy!” Bud yelled, “We have to go!”

Slothy blinked, looking around suspiciously. More of the reptiles were slinking out of the forest, low to the ground, hissing ominously. With a mighty twist, the furball finished off its attacker, turning to face the newcomers.

“Slothy!” Bud yanked on the fur on the back of Slothy’s neck.

Rude!

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Slothy huffed and pulled away.

“Slothy, behind us!” Bud called urgently.

Slothy looked behind her, seeing a pair of giant lizards creeping towards her.

Ruder!

Slothy looked back at the furball, now being attacked from all sides… and saw the little ones.

A small cave was revealed as the furball tottered under a new attack. In it, she saw the cubs.

Cubs.

Slothy felt the rage rushing through her body for a fraction of a second before she heard Bud.

“Are those babies? Oh fuc-”

The rest was lost as she surged to her back legs, roaring a challenge to the reptiles, the forest, and anything that would attack a cub!

Her powerful paws slapped off the head of the first lizard to answer her challenge. She ripped the throat from the second as she heard Bud swearing as he began to fire as fast as he could.

“Dammit!” He growled. “I didn’t bring enough arrows for this!”

============

Slothy began to think she had made a mistake as the fight began to drag on. The first few lizards had been easy, but the larger ones were tougher. She was driven back, closer to the furball, as more and more of the creatures came from the forest. Bodies began to litter the clearing.

Bud was out of arrows, and she saw his swords flashing in the edges of her vision as she fought.

She could run, Slothy knew.

But if she did, those cubs would die!

Slothy roared and reached for more power… and came up empty. She was fighting as hard as she could already, and she was starting to tire.

She growled in frustration as she stamped on a lizard, crushing its spine beneath her weight.

She had seen her human and pixie fight for longer than this! Was she some kind of child? She chuffed at the thought. Princess Slothy, a child! As if! She was a big girl now!

So how did they do it?

Another one of those annoying messages popped up, and she shook her head to clear it. A lizard tried to take advantage of her inattention, darting at her neck, but a sword skewered it before it could.

It wouldn’t clear!

Level Up!

Evolution Available!

Fae Compatibility Detected!

Perform Fae Evolution?

Chuff/Huff?

What was that all about?

Slothy was too busy to worry about it, but the floaty words got in the way of her being able to see. She took a moment to consider it while she tore the head from a particularly large lizard.

Fae… that was what her human and pixie were… right? She was sure they had said something like that.

A loud roar in the forest proceeded the most giant lizard she had ever seen. It was even bigger than her!

Slothy let out a chuff, looking forward to the challenge.

Evolution Accepted!

Wait, what?

Slothy whined as pain raced through her body. She felt herself tremble and felt as if she couldn’t breathe for a moment.

And then…

Fire traced a pattern all over her body. She couldn’t focus on what it was… but it seemed familiar.

The fire faded in moments, and Slothy saw the great lizard rushing towards her, mouth open.

Slothy reared, and the world changed.

Something roared into and out of her body in a torrent. It felt like sunrise and rain on hot fur. It felt like cool morning air and waking up from a good nap.

Most of all, it felt like power.

Slothy grabbed the power as it moved through her and felt her body absorb it. So she did it again.

The lizard in front of her arrived, mouth open.

Slothy caught the jaws in each paw and pulled. There was a moment of resistance, so she took more of the power, feeding it into her arms and shoulders.

With a wet tearing noise, the jaws parted, snapped, and came off in her paws. The lizard wailed in pain. Slothy darted her head forward, her teeth passing through thick scales and skin as effortlessly as she had ever felt.

The lizard gurgled as it died.

Looking around, the other lizards were scattering, fleeing into the forest.

Slothy threw her head back and roared!

And then she did it again.

And again.

“Slothy!” Bud complained. “I’m going deaf back here!”

Whoops! Slothy lowered herself with an apologetic chuff.

She had forgotten he was there!

============

The strange furball had survived, sort of.

It lay bleeding on the floor in front of the cave, rivers of blood pumping from it. The poor thing had lost an arm.

It tensed as Slothy approached, but she whined and nudged it, showing she was friendly.

It let out a long keening noise as it reached for its cubs with its one remaining arm.

They came out of the cave, clustering around it with cute little chirping noises.

Slothy sat down, watching.

The big one keened and chirped at its young. A blood-covered hand reached out and pushed them towards Slothy, one at a time.

Then it stilled.

The little ones keened and wailed.

Slothy nuzzled them, giving them kisses and head pats to try and calm them.

“I’m sorry, Slothy,” Bud patted her neck. “You did your best.”

Slothy nodded sagely; she really had.

She gathered the little ones into a hug, nuzzling them as they keened. Eventually, they all quieted, nestling into her fur.

She let them nap there, in her arms, as Bud went around and collected some of the dead bodies. When they woke, she tore off strips from the reptiles and fed them.

“We have to head back,” Bud said a little later from his spot, watching the little ones. “They are safe now, I think.”

Slothy nodded. They were safe now. With her. She chuffed at them as he climbed up onto her back. The tottering little furballs, with their big eyes, lined up behind her.

“Well, I guess we can look after them for a bit,” Bud said. “If you want.”

Slothy chuffed again, thanking him for being a good friend.

Slothy held her head high as she walked back into the Waystation. Her new family followed happily along behind her. Her human hurried past with only a confused look. Slothy smiled happily to herself.

See, she knew he would be fine with it. He might have complained a little when she adopted Gavin, but he got used to the idea… besides her new ones were cute!

The Waystation obviously agreed as she felt it examining the new ones and making cooing noises.

She seemed to be the only one who heard the Waystation in her head, but that was okay.

She was special, after all.

She was a Princess.

Everybody said so.