Cat Rider sat up in his bedroll, "Fuzzy!"

"What?" Roaming Wren opened her eyes in confusion from a sound sleep.

"Yes, Cat," Cloud Eye sat up, "I heard it too. Fuzzy's in trouble, Wren. Get your boots on. Owl, you awake?"

"I am now," the tall youth had already exited his bedroll and was pulling on the first of his boots.

"If Fuzzy is in trouble," Wren said in a grumpy half-asleep voice, "how do we find her?" She groped the darkness for her boots.

"Good point," Cloud Eye stood up to get his bow and quiver. "How do you normally find Fuzzy, Cat?"

"I cast a spell of finding and then I follow it," Cat pulled the top of his false leg over his knee."

"You can't run, Cat," Wren told Cat apologetically. "We'll find her and bring her back. You'll slow us down."

Cat grimaced and said something foul under his breath.

"I could carry Cat," Owl volunteered, looking at Cat's upset face.

"You're our fastest runner, Owl," Cloud tied his long hair back into a ponytail. "It'd be bad to slow you down if time is important, and it sounds like it is."

"I can try casting the finding spell on Owl," Cat offered. "I've never tried it before. I don't know if it will work but I can try. There is the danger of bad casting, Owl."

"I know that," Owl said, cutting Cat off. "You're wasting time so do the casting."

"Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you," Cat held a hand out and used it as a focus. "Ικ ῥοπ δε κρηφτ φαν 'ε ἱλλιγε Παλας ὀπ ὀμ βοντε ûλε δε ει νει ἰτ γοδλικε βιστ φυζζ τε σjεν!" A soft golden glow surrounded Owl and then sank into him.

"Ow," Owl flinched.

"What's wrong?" Cat looked panicked.

"That hurt," Owl grimaced, "but not too much. I can see the way. She is not far. She fell into the leat for the village mill and she's not moving. Two wolves are trying to get down into the gulch where the leat runs. I'm going. You ready?" He picked up his bastard sword and buckler and looked at Wren and Cloud.

"Let's go." The three elves ran out of the room and out of the guest house, leaving the front door open. The wind blew in, cold enough to make Cat shiver as he worked to fasten the buckles on his false leg.

"Open it up," Cloud Eye shouted at the goblin with watch duty on the gate. The young goblin lifted the heavy wooden beam that barred the sally port door from the inside. Owl, Wren, and Cloud were through it without breaking pace into the night.

Owl sped up, "the wolves are in the gulch." He started to pull ahead of Wren and Cloud with his longer stride.

"Make noise, Owl," Cloud shouted at him from behind, and then cast a spell. "Τροχ δε τρúκjες φαν 'ε εασελ, Μειε τûζενεν úς στιμμεν εἁρρε!"

"Aaaaaaaaaa!," Owl yelled. Cloud and Wren added their voices and the sound was so loud it made their ears ring painfully. In seconds, no living thing with ears was left sleeping within a league of the village. The three elves didn't stop yelling until they reached the gulch.

Looking down, Owl saw Fuzzy was bleeding from her hindquarters, side, and head. The two wolves were trying to scramble up the other side, spooked by the noise of Cloud Eye's amplification spell.

Motley Owl took a running leap and landed on the other side of the narrow gulch. He drew his bastard sword and wielded it two-handed, beheading one of the two wolves. When he looked up, the other wolf was already dead with three arrows in its chest. Wren was in the gulch with a light spell cast on her hand, checking for a pulse in Fuzzy's neck.

"She's still with us," Wren pronounced. Cloud Eye produced a small jar of glowing blue powder, uncapped it, and sprinkled it on Fuzzy's wounds. He pulled a wide roll of linen ribbon out of his belt pouch and bound up those still bleeding.

Owl watched Cloud work and started to shake his head.

"What's wrong?" Wren asked.

"Fuzzy is not a small mountain cat," Owl said with a frown. "Hard to carry."

"We can make a travois," Wren got up to start cutting down two saplings for the frame. After a second, Owl joined her.

"Do either of you have any twine?" Wren started cutting pine branches to lay across the two sapling poles.

"Don't need it," Cloud Eye said as he dragged the limp Fuzzy out of the gulch. Out of breath, Cloud remarked: "I can use the binding wood spell. Just cut enough branches as cross pieces."

After several invocations of "οὑτ βινδε," the three elves had a useable travois. It took all three of them to lift Fuzzy onto it. Then they took turns pulling it through the half-mud and half-snow of early spring, one elf on each pole and one elf taking a breather. They were back at the sally port door an hour after they left. Cat Rider was huddled in his coat along with Petel the village head, waiting. Many curious goblins were standing and watching with lit torches.

"Fuzzy!" Cat was distraught as he limped up to the travois.

"She'll be fine, Cat," Cloud sounded confident. "She's been bitten and has lost some blood. She needs to rest a few days, and she'll be fine. It's a good thing she's not awake because she has burrs in her paws, and we need to dig them out. I hear your healing magic is decent, which is good because you'll need to use it."

Once Fuzzy was offloaded at the guest house, Owl built up the fire in the woodstove while Cloud Eye made light and Cat tended to Fuzzy's paws and other wounds. The sky was getting light when Cat finished. He fell asleep next to her, hugging her around her neck.