Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

My swifthart bleated contentedly as it felt my hand caress the light green fur on its neck.

"I'm glad you're here buddy. I really need your help…" I patted its neck softly. This earned me more happy bleating. "I really should think up a name for you… Just as soon as this current crisis is over."

My swifthart nudged at my cheek with its long nose, and at any other circumstance, I would have enjoyed playing with it.

Speaking of noses, I once learned on TV that a deer's nose was even better than a bloodhound's. Not only could it sense danger just by the scent of predators, but a deer's brain was devoted to deciphering different smells.

I looked into my swifthart's green eyes curiously. "You're part deer right? Does that mean you can do what deers do too?"

I hadn't expected a reply, but the swifthart gave me a series of snorts that sounded to me like it was laughing, as if to say, "Don't compare me with those primitive Mudgardian copies."

"I guess I can test that theory out later... just in case my vision from earlier was just some kind of magically induced hallucination," I sighed heavily.

There were just too many questions I didn't have answers to. Like what Luca and Pike were running away from, and if they were still breathing.

"We're ready to go, Dean," Ashley said from atop her white swifthart. She tightened her grip on her reins. "Let's get this over with."

"Yeah, we need to find Luca and Pike as quickly as possible," I replied.

I climbed up my mount's new saddle with the help of its stirrups.

The saddle had a simple elven design similar to that of Western Mudgardian saddles but without having a horn-shaped front and rear. A dark blue blanket lay between the saddle and body with only one strap looping around my swifthart from one side of the saddle to the other.

Once my butt was comfy on the seat, I glanced over to Varda who was riding shotgun next to the driver's seat of the lone wagon we'd salvaged from today's ambush. Jensen sat next to her while holding onto the reins of the brown elkin Ashley and her crew had brought with them.

"Get everyone to safety, Varda…" I glanced over to the covered part of the wagon and wondered if the dead bodies of my fallen comrades were comfortable inside it. Not that it mattered to the dead one way or the other. It was more a matter of principle. I just didn't want them to feel worse in death. "Make sure they get home…"

Varda nodded with a solemn face. You'd think I'd ask her to transport the empty throne itself.

"We'll handle it, Commander," she answered gracefully. "Good luck finding Luca, sir."

Varda reached out her hand to mine and passed me a sword hilt with a wide guard and a thick round ring for its pommel. It was Luca's broadsword hilt.

My eyes widened at the sight of the deep crack that split it from guard to pommel. It meant the mechanism inside was probably damaged.

"The guys found it underneath Shaqs," Varda said in a quiet tone. "I'm sure it doesn't mean what we think it means..."

Wordlessly—because I felt like my mind was strained from worrying over Luca—I tightened my hold on the reins of my swifthart and turned away from Varda.

Ashley followed behind me after I passed her, and together, we led our search party out of the lost campsite.

Our journey took us through an even denser grove of trees than the one we'd left behind and then up and down two hillsides. But even as our pace kept increasing, no one in my search party complained. After all, we were all riding atop reliable mounts that easily trekked through uneven paths like they were straight roads. Yep, our search for Luca and Pike was much smoother thanks to our swiftharts.

"You sure we're going the right way?" Ashley asked after twenty minutes of smooth riding.

I searched my memory for an answer to her question. It was all I could do as I didn't want to activate Fool's Insight and its new skill without further understanding of its drawbacks.

"Yup… we're roughly taking the same route Pike did while she carried Princess Luca in her arms," I joked after thinking it through. Not the joke. The joke was easy and helped me not think too hard on that broken sword hilt lying at the bottom of my pack. "They went south through that hill."

I pointed in front of us, to a narrow path that cut into the center of a small green hill.

"Isn't that too out of the way from the rendezvous? Why would they go this way?" Ashley asked skeptically.

I shrugged. "Looked like they were trying to avoid a collision with something…"

"Look's like?" Ashley's voice was even more skeptic now. "How would you know that?"

Having to explain my newfound power to her would take too much time. Especially since I didn't really understand it much myself. So I opted for some levity instead.

"Brotherly intuition?" I offered.

Of course, this just earned me a withering glare from the shieldmaiden who'd kicked my butt when I first met her.

I raised both arms in surrender. "Chill. It's hard to explain but trust me when I say I know where we're going."

"I know where we're going," Ashley repeated my words back at me another twnety minutes later. About the time it took for us to get turned around. "Well, we're lost, Dapper!"

I looked back to the path we'd crossed once already.

"This doesn't make sense..." I reasoned. "This is around the place were I watched them crash..."

My eyes darted left and then right but there was no indication of anyone other than us passing through this path which looked like the butt crack of two brown hills.

"Crack!" I yelled excitedly. "That might work."

"What might work?" Ashley asked.

"You'll see," I said as I got down from my mount. 

I reached into my pack harnessed to the side of my swifthart and pulled out the cracked sword hilt that belonged to Luca. I brought it close to my swifthart's nose, and only then did I think that this might be a really stupid idea.

"I hope this works..." I placed the sword hilt as close to my swifthart's nose without disturbing its personal space. "Can you sniff out Luca's sweat from this thing, boy?"

"Seriously? Ashley prodded her swifthart closer to me. "It's not a dog, you know."

"Oh ye of little faith," I said while praying to God that Luca's hands were still clammy like when he was a kid. "Come on, boy. Go find me Luca."

Thankfully, my swifthart seemed way more intelligent than Qwipps as it caught on quickly to what I wanted. It sniffed at the hilt, eventually grunting excitedly at me as if to say, "I've got this. Let's go!"

Its obvious excitement infected me with a dose of hope, and I quickly remounted my swifthart in anticipation.

"Ash, get ready," I said right before I urged my swifthart forward. "Ride, ride, ride!"

And ride it did. Into the path it went in a speed that would have been normal at an F1 race. The swifthart zigged and zagged along the narrow path without regard for the sharp cliff faces and hanging vines surrounding us on either side.

Inwardly, I thought about how lucky I was Aura recommended we add saddles to the mounts. Otherwise I might have fallen off by now.

Suddenly, the swifhart veered right and I watched as the cliff wall on the right loomed ever closer. 

Holy crap! I'm going to die, I thought.

But it wasn't the case. What a fantastic beast the swifthart was to notice the alcove hidden behind a heavy curtain of vines that would have been unnoticable to guys like me.

We crossed into the alcove and into a mud cavern that seemed to be hollowed out of the earth. That's where my mount decided to stop.

At the far end, close to the back wall, I could hear the sound of running water.

I dismounted my swifthart and then unsheathed my falchion just in case I'd stumbled into someplace nasty.

The shadowblade shot out of the hilt and lent a dim blue light to the creeping darkness around me.

I heard hoof stomps coming from behind, and then the call for light which was quickly followed by the sound of striking matches, and finished with the scent of burning wood.

Warm light filtered into the cave from the torch in Ashley's hand. She nodded to me, and then walked ahead so she could light the way. 

I followed cautiously. 

The sound of running water got louder the further in we went. Eventually, our boots stepped onto a dark and shallow pool. 

"Dean, look over there," Ashley pointed her light toward the middle of the pool where a small bank of sand rose above the water. Lying on top of it, half covered in mud, where two people whose arms wrapped tightly ahainst each other. Like Katniss and Peeta during their first Hunger Games. And though their eyes were closed their chests rose and fell at regular intervals.

"This is the pool they fell in..." I whispered. "Ashley, we've found them."