Snippet #1948756

"Hey, hey, watch the shoes!" Gregory snapped at Felix, and abruptly stopped in the middle of harnessing a dopey, splotched horse with doleful brown eyes to his rickety cart, and turned his attention to Alexandria. "Don't touch anything!"


"Quit yer flappin," The Halfling retorted. "Your wagon's older'n dirt, and besides, ye ain't got naught but dirty linens and old boxes up there."

"I'll have you know, those are priceless antiques!" the errand-runner barked.


"Don't forget," the Halfling cautioned the duo, waggling a finger at Alex as she climbed onto the dusty platform, maneuvering boxes, and sat down next to a half-open crate with the words, 'Take to Arielis' scrawled in fresh paint on the side. "Be back at the Hall by tomorrow evening. Uthis' been working all day on that spell... Be a real pity to see all that magic go to waste."

"Wouldn't it," Gregory muttered under his breath.

...

On their way out of the city, sans one Halfling, the grumpy errand-runner, silent since leaving his house, maintained at least an appearance of aquiescence aside from the annoyed looks he gave Felix, until he suddenly cried out and yanked on the reins, bringing the horse to a full stop in the middle of the street.

"No, get off!" he shrieked, shooing at a lithe black creature that had jumped into the driver seat next to him and surreptitiously wormed its way onto his lap. "Bad, bad kitty. No!"

Gregory attempted to shove the cat away, but it nosed his arm and slinked underneath. He drew back, as if in horror, and tried to grab the feline by the scruff. The cat yowled and leaped, just missing his head, and scrabbled over his shoulder, onto one of the boxes next to Alexandria.

The errand-runner suddenly held his breath and put a finger under his nose, turning his face toward the late afternoon sunshine.

"Ah-ah-ah," he heaved, tossing his head back, mouth wide open, and sneezed, "Choo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!"

Sniffling, he wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve and glared over at the cat, who only blinked in response.

"Stupid animal. Fine, he's your problem now," Gregory grumbled and picked up the reins.

As the cart began to move again, the feline sat down and peered back and forth between the duo, licking his chops, probably looking for his next victim.