The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

Interruptions, Interruptions, Interruptions (Spring 19)

XIX.

"Returned hue-hue, hee," the horse's ears perked up when he noticed Madoka arriving. "This ones good, hee!"

She scanned the ground for any sign of the King Wolf, but all she saw was horse dung and chewed grass. Their tails swished nonchalantly. Who was she trying to fool? How could a team of adventurers and researchers miss a giant Wolf monster trampling about? Those other adventurers who returned seemed calm as well, with not a wary look on their faces. One waved at her, but she instinctively ducked behind the wagon. One of the horses acknowledged her by snorting, which she guessed was a good thing.

"Have you two seen anything strange lately?" She asked them with her mind. The spotted horse's ears tilted, apparently understanding her but having trouble believing that she spoke to it. "Predators? Wolves?"

"The pity-pity speaks to us, hue," it whinnied. "The weird one is you-you."

Madoka groaned. That was true, enough. She was the one speaking to a mere horse after all. The beasts had nothing but thoughts of hay and running burrowed inside their thoughts when she read them. Audrey sighed, making both the animals and Madoka turned to her.

"What's wrong?" She asked the princess. She hoped that it was not the fact that she was speaking to animals. Audrey stood in thought, peering up at the sky and then back at the woods of Petal 4. Those woods were supposed to be the most peaceful, compared to Petal 1 or 2, with no leaves disturbed besides the crushed trees from the wolves and whatever ate the researchers.

"Those trees back where the goo was," Audrey mused. "They were torn to shreds. I didn't bring it up with the research nerds because they were embarrassin' us, but..."

"To shreds, you say?" Madoka asked. She did recall that the King Wolf was much larger than the alpha wolf they fought in the mountains, but even that monster did not even reach the towering branches of the forest. She only shared the fear that it had in its deep thoughts. Audrey nodded.

"It was like something reached in through the branches and scooped them up," she kept glancing at the sky. Madoka peered up at the sky. It was clear and blue, lacking any trace of free Knotting Strands floating about in their usual jagged paths. A couple of clouds floated lazily above, but nothing else but the sun and the vastness of the heavens existed up there.

"Could something big be flying up there?" She wondered. A small silence covered them as the two beheld the awesome sky and felt their smallness under the universe. Audrey reached for her hand, but they were interrupted by the grunts of the Terros.

"Oi, House Dalion!" He yelled. "Give us a hand with the wagon, will ya!"

The two looked at him and shrugged. To avoid thinking of the sky monster, Madoka went immediately to work. She found it odd that the princess of all people was doing manual labor. She was tempted to sieze the boxes in Audrey's hands and secure the loads by herself. However, she shook off Gromrak's offer of help and effortlessly lifted them one by one in the wagon. Madoka simply had to get over it, she supposed, though that was difficult after years of looking after her. She focused on her own work. Despite helping, the princess still kept glancing skyward.

"I think I might sound like a tinfoil hat spinner, but yeah," Audrey ducked under the wagon's canvas as they prepared to return to Gladeban. They pulled it up since it was going to rain. "There might be some spooky UFO shit going on."

"Language," Madoka chastised her. A pouting scoff came in response, but she decided to investigate what she meant instead of kicking her shoes. "UFO?"

"It's ah, a flying creature that we do not know of yet, right?" Audrey asked Gromrak.