The building was on fire. I called for Andray, but there was no reply. I ran down the burning hallway and kicked his door in. He was passed out, probably from the smoke. I had to ram the double door several times before one of the door panels broke. I widened the gap and dragged Andray out onto the balcony with me.

In shock, I saw that someone had tied the door latches together with rope. Someone wanted us dead. I leaned over the balcony rail to look for help. There had to be some of the servants out in front. They could get help.

The park and the driveway out front were empty. We were going to die here. I heard the sickening crack of roof beams breaking. Then the entire facade of the building started to fall forward, taking the balcony with it. I turned to Andray, but he was gone.

There was nothing but burning debris raining down on me, retribution for my failure to protect the boy. Soon I was on fire myself, screaming from the pain as my skin blistered and melted and fell off me. A pit opened up where the ground should have been, and I kept falling into the inferno. Darkness overtook me.

"You'll be fine, child," my mother said to me, her lovely face framed by her blond hair and her hazel eyes. She took a cold damp cloth and wiped the sweat from my face. "The fever will break soon, and you will be fine. Rest now."

I woke on a floor mattress covered with blankets in front of the woodstove. Cat Rider was sleeping next to me. I was confused. I didn't remember falling asleep last night on a mattress and certainly not with Cat next to me. What happened with the fire? Who was that woman? Why did she call herself my mother?

Then I remembered the wolves who chased me. It looked like my mind shout spell worked because someone obviously rescued me. Were the fire and that strange woman just a dream?

I sat up and didn't wake Cat. That surprised me. He must not have slept well. No one else was in the guest house with us. That wasn't good since I needed to visit the great outdoors to relieve myself. I did think it strange that I felt so weak and wobbly on my feet.

My next surprise was no pain. Nothing hurt though I remember the bite in my hindquarters and the burrs digging in between my toes. I lifted my left front paw and inspected it. The skin on the pads looked pink and new and there were no nasty little burrs anywhere. My paw smelled like soap. My other front paw did too. I couldn't see my hindquarters no matter how hard I twisted around but I didn't feel any pain, stiffness, or bandages back there. Someone ---Cat or Cloud --- had healed me. That might explain the sleeping Cat Rider.

Since the goblins put up winter shutters over the windows, I couldn't see how late it was by looking outside. I couldn't avoid it. I had to wake Cat. I used my usual method for waking him and licked his face with my big wet tongue.

"Fuzzy, that's disgusting!" Cat sat up. "Why do you persist in doing that?" I loved that annoyed look on his face. Then it vanished and he hugged me, "you're finally awake. We've all been so worried about you. You came down with wound fever. You've been out for three days."

What? Three days? It must have been a bad fever. That would explain the fire and my human mother: they were fever dreams.

It took some effort, but I managed to cast the mind talk spell. * Cat, I need to go outside and empty my bladder. *

"On it, Fuzzy." He had fallen asleep with his false leg still on. He aligned it so he could get up to a kneeling position and then stood up, using my shoulder for balance. He carefully walked to the front door and opened it for me. He was still there a few minutes later when I scratched at it to go back in.

"I filled a bucket with water, Fuzz," he scratched behind my ears. "You need to drink some after a bad fever like that."

I didn't think I was thirsty but I emptied the bucket and wanted more. Cat was already waiting with a pitcher of water. That water was gone as soon as he poured it into the bucket.

I stumbled back to the floor mattress and laid back down. I was not feeling like myself. I had no energy. All I wanted to do was to rest some more. Cat covered me with some blankets. Then he sat down next to me so I could see him without lifting my head, "I can't believe I fell asleep. We've been taking turns watching you. I must have been more tired than I thought.

"I want you to rest for a few days, Fuzzy. You lost a lot of blood and then you had that fever."

* I am not fragile, * I protested. * All I need is some food and I'll be fine. *

"You think?" he gave me an exasperated look. "See this?" He produced a plate that was covered with bloody burrs and tuffs of my fur, "Cloud and I pulled out 42 burrs from your paws. It took hours and by the time we were done, it was dawn and you were already running a fever. There will be no hunting for you for a couple of days. You lost a lot of blood, survived wound fever and you need to recover. This is not negotiable."

Roaming Wren returned shortly after that.

"You finally woke up," Wren was smiling as she pulled off her boots. "We earned our first two gold for those wolves who chased you, Fuzzy. Owl and I followed your tracks back to the den. The boys are out right now counting up how many wolves live there. Once we know that, we can make a plan to get rid of them. We need to finish up here as fast as we can."

"Oh?" Cat straightened up. This was news to him too.

"Petel sent a message to Kizdangengar, the goblin capital, reporting our arrival. He mentioned that you, Cat, had magic that worked against wyverns." Wren had apology written all over her face, "the Goblin Queen requests our presence to hunt down a wyvern nest. Her courier arrived with four horses for us to speed up our trip."

"That's good, isn't it?" Cat looked confused.

"There's a problem," Wren grimaced. "She's invited another group that has also brought down a wyvern. Its nominal commander is Prince Willam Nordweg."