“Woof woof. Polly want a cracker!”

Jynet raised a brow. “What… is that?”

Claude laughed, the sound a bit too high-pitched to be entirely normal. “Nothing.”

She cut her eyes to the man. “A bird that sounds like a wolf? I was preparing for hades to fall on our heads, and it’s a bird?”

The bird ruffled its feathers in indignation. “Parrot,” it squawked.

She ignored the creature. “Do you have something you wish to tell me?”

“I would be delighted, but it seems neither of us may share the other’s secrets without dire consequences.”

“He’s a pirate. Sqwauck!”

The prince glared at the bird.

“A pirate.”

“It was an old life. The rigors of court merely overwhelmed me in my childhood. I took a break from the responsibility, saw the world.”

“What dashing young prince would wish to see the world as a pirate?”

He mumbled something.

“What was that?” Jynet leaned forward.

“He—squawk—said he read it in a book.”

The witch shook her head. “Fine, there are less admirable things than trying to replicate a book.”

The pirate prince looked up with wide, hopeful eyes. “Really?”

“No! Books are intangible realities. Just look at you, a prince, friends with an insane parrot—“

“I wouldn’t say that, exactly,” he said.

“—under guard for threat of your life, and I can’t say a word for fear my heart would stop! Did you ever think about the consequences of your actions?”

“I was thirteen,” he said, defensive.

Jynet deflated a bit, sitting on a crate. “And your parents let you?”

“That is beside the point—“

“Mother and Father know not,” the parrot said in a haughty reflection of the prince’s low voice.

“Enough. We have bigger fish to fry.”

“Why’s that?” She glared at the prince for his words. “Oh, of course. Heart stopping is not for the faint of heart.”

He had a knife at his throat before the last word left his mouth. “Sorry, sorry. Bad joke.”

She stood, sheathing the knife at her waist, her dark cloak billowing around her.

She touched the seal at her heart. If only there were a way to prevent the information from having such dire consequences… but no. Even the thought of sharing with Claude what he needed to know, needed to understand, brought a spasm of pain from the seal and caused her heart to skip a beat.

She sat back on her crate, unsure what to do next. She could leave the dastardly confusing pirate prince to his fate, but she feared what he’d do if she did.

She should stay. But the tantalizing thought of a nice, warm dinner at an inn almost tempted her away from the prisoner.

A wolf howled again, and Jynet glanced up warily. “Is that one of yours, Polly?” she asked.

“Run away! Run away! Squawk!”

The bird flapped into the opposite direction, spooking a horned rabbit looking creature from hiding.

Jynet touched a seal on her arm, bringing a gust of wind that was unnatural and tugged at the prince’s hair.

“That was helpful,” she muttered at the retreating tail feathers of the red and purple bird.

A wolf emerged from the depths of darkness, the trees swaying high above, its eyes locked on the prince.

It snapped its jaws, making the prince jump. The creature had only one ear, the other a stub where an ear should be. A scar trailed like jagged lightning from the missing ear, right through a milky white eye and down beneath his jaw. On his head was a silvery crown-like device, and Jynet could see where dried blood clung to spikes imbedded into the creature’s head.

“What is that thing?” the prince asked, scooting back until his back hit a rock.

The witch touched another seal, fire surrounded her in a ring, but the prince was out of range of her magic.

She cursed when the wolf flung itself around her ring of fire and leaped for the sitting duck of a prince.

She should let the prince have his fate. This was what those who blackmailed her wanted, after all.

He yelled, his wide eyes reflecting the light. He brought up his chains, and the wolf bit down with a crunch, gnawing the chains as if it were a bone.

“Could you help me here?” the prince asked as the wolf shook its head, shaking the prince attacked to the chains like a rag doll.

The witch cursed again, her finger tapping the different seals along her neck… and… there. She tapped it three times.

A ball of ice flew from her hand, but the wolf ducked as if it sensed the magic.

The prince’s eyes grew somehow wider as he saw the ball of ice coming straight for his head.

He sucked his head into his shoulders like a turtle and the ice scraped against his hair, splattering on the rock behind him and raining down icy shards of hail.

“Not like that!” he yelled, pushing against the wolf with his legs as the creature tried to get past the chain and at Claude’s throat.

“How was I supposed to…. know… the wolf would… DUCK!” the witch said between tapping seals.

“What do you…” the prince looked up. He sucked his head into his shoulders again. A fireball splattered against the rock above his head, singing his eyebrows. “WOULD YOU STOP THAT?” He twisted the chain around the wolf’s muzzle, and it whined as it tried to pull out of the biting metal, its claws scraping against the man’s arms as they locked in a deadly wrestling match.

The witch growled something, then stepped out of her ring of fire and plucked the crown-like metal from the creature’s head.

Or, she tried to.

The moment she jerked, it shook and whimpered, its jaws still caught in the chain snapping shut.

She pried harder, the wolf trying to crawl away, when it popped off, throwing Jynet backwards onto her tail.

The wolf tucked his tail, shivering, looking between the two with his one good eye forlorn and anxious. The other was still a hazy white from the scar, and Jynet thought he was likely blind in the eye.

The wolf whimpered as Jynet eased herself upright, snarling a little with its tail tucked as it backed itself into a corner of rocks.

The witch clenched her fist, and the ring of fire snuffed out, smoke drifting from hot coals left in the dirt.

The shimmering fire had brought curious pixies to flutter into the clearing, their light like miniature stars just out of reach of the witch and her prince.

Jynet touched a seal, and she could sense her mana getting low with each cast. Her shoulders bowed under an unforeseen weight, but it was worth it to ease the animal’s pain.

“Awww,” she said, easing close enough to reach out to him. He snapped at her fingers, and she pulled back with a gasp.

But his eyes only showed fear, his posture rigid. He didn’t press his attack, only moved as far from Jynet as possible, pressing his tail against the cold rock at his back.

“What are you doing?” the prince demanded, his haughty tone causing irritation to spiral up the witches spine and the wolf to growl and cower further from her reach.

She banished the annoyance as best she could, thinking of puppies and magical seals that didn’t kill you but gave you amazing gifts. She knew the wolf could sense emotions as well as any empath. Animals were gifted in that way. “Shhh. It’s alright, little guy. You didn’t mean to do any of this? Huh? No, you sure didn’t.”

“Quite trying to make friends with a bloodthirsty monster.”

“He’s not a bloodthirsty monster, now are you?” She eased closer, and his ears pricked at the sound of her lilting voice. He took a tiny step forward, and she inched closer.

He watched her, his gaze turning a hint curious. She touched his forehead.

A light burst at the touch, frightening the pixies, who scattered to watch from the trees.

The wolf unwound from his crouch, blinking his eyes in confusion as the light faded.

He took two steps forward and shoved his nose into her neck.

She about had a heart attack, thinking the seal to tame wild animals hadn’t worked and she was about to have her throat ripped out. But no!

He licked her ear, his tail wagging just slightly as his eye brightened from the fear into something a little softer.

She laughed. “You’re a cuddly creature who loves hugs!” she wrapped her arms around the wolf, and his tail wagged between his legs and his one good ear perked on his head as his mouth hung open and his tongue popped out in a wolf grin. It mattered not to Jynet that his teeth were yellowed or that his breath stunk like a rotten oyster. She was just glad to help something without accidentally killing it… for once.

“That… is not right.” Claude watched with something like surprise and a hint of annoyance in his eyes as the wolf lapped up the praise like a puppy.

“He was imprisoned, see the seal there?” Jynet pointed to the bloody spikes, a circle in the silver crown that had a triangle and what looked like bramble bushes in the center.

“Someone made him attack. He’s just a sweetie otherwise, aren’t you, boy?” The black and grey wolf licked her fingers, the jagged scar from ear to chin almost seemed to glimmer in the moonlight. “We shall call you… Jack. What a good boy you are, Jack!”

“Sure. Make friends with a creature who tried to kill us, but do not share a thing about why I’m here.”

“I cannot, as you well know.”

“Of course, your heart would stop and all would be terribly inconvenient.”

“My heart stopping would not be terribly inconvenient for me. It would be quite a disaster, seeing as I would no longer be on this planet.”

“That would be quite terrible.”

Jynet shook her head, trying to deny the smile trying to lift her lips.

She was just too happy that something had gone right… for once.

That was when more wolves stepped from the edges of the forest, growling and snapping their teeth as their eyes glowed. Each had the silver circlet of control on their forehead like Jynet had saved Jack from.

The black wolf whimpered, getting behind Jynet’s legs and watching the advancing wolves with fear in his one good eye. The sad part was that she was almost tapped out of mana from the fight with Jack before she freed him of the crown. She had no idea how she was going to get Claude, Jack, and herself out of this one. She again had the thought of leaving Claude to his fate, but those who wanted him dead also put the seal on her heart to prevent sharing any pertinent information with the prince.

She would stay and save Claude if only to spite those who betrayed her.

The parrot came down from the trees, landing on Jack’s forehead between his ears. “Polly—squawk—wants a cracker!”