Mr. Snuffles's Story

Green robes billowed out from behind a hooded, thickset man jogging into a maze of squat houses with weathered wood frames and shingled roofing. Angry shouts of, “Watch it!” and startled cries died away, until only hurried footsteps echoed in the narrow streets as the stranger turned down another alley and disappeared into the deepening shade of nightfall. The street split off near the end, where rain gutters dripped muddy residue onto the cobbles.

Of the green-clad stranger, there was no sign, to his right, Leofric could see clear down the next alleyway to a street lined with nondescript buildings, while from his left came the sound of rustling followed by a resonating clatter as a little, slinky black figure, illuminated by an oil-burning lamp hung from a hook on the siding of a brown house, jumped out of a wooden barrel, knocking refuse out onto the walk.

Tail sticking straight up, the feline crept across the stones on silent, padded paws, regarding him with a subtle, yellow-eyed glance before momentarily disappearing into the shadows and poking its head out to blink thoughtfully at him from behind a battered wooden crate. "Mreow?"

"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.

"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.

"He's right, Ferdy," Felix added jokingly as he clambered aboard the cart. "Those boxes are priceless antiques. They've even got some valuable-looking mildew on 'em, too!" Meanwhile, Alexandria listened to what Ferdirand told her before assuring the Halfling that she'd make sure they were back in time for the spell.

...

The journey to Gooseneck was pretty uneventful, but to the duo it was a welcome break from the usual adventuring career. It seemed like, for the first time in ages, they could just sit back and watch the world go by for a while. Felix put one arm around his friend as they watched the clouds in idle contentment. Suddenly, they were surprised by Gregory's loud sneezing. Just like that, their little moment was gone.

When the cat decided to take a closer look at the two mages, Felix wasted no time in picking the cat up, probably to do the very same thing. However, before the pyromancer could utter the blatantly obvious concerning how adorable the little feline was, both he and Alex started sneezing uncontrollably. And yes, quite a bit of it went in the poor cat's face.

"Blast it!" Gregory griped, barely giving the feline a backward glance as they turned down the last stretch of road into the outskirts of town. "That's 'Mr. Snuffles', he said mockingly. "The old hag Gertrude's cat got out again. I don't know why she lets that thing run amok. She thinks he's some master magic-sniffer. Well, I'll tell you something, all it does is wreak havoc and make trouble. You can't even get near it without sneezing your head off!"

Mr. Snuffles shook his head, and with a noise that sounded very like a sneeze, wriggled out of Felix's hold using the mage's lap as a launchpad to propel himself into one of the open crates. He poked his head out and glared evilly at the pair before slinking down out of sight, where he remained until at long last, just after nightfall, they pulled into town.

When the errand-runner finally brought the cart to a stop by a group of mages standing near the sundial, the town's local landmark, a tall, white-haired woman clad in a belted slate blue robe met the arrival with a stern face. Several of the younger men and women stopped talking amongst themselves and looked up as the duo stepped off the rickety cart.

"Well, well, would you look what the cat dragged in?" someone hollered in the crowd.

No one noticed the black feline creep out of the box and slip to the ground, disappearing into an alleyway, silent as a ghost.

Archmage Tess gave Felix the slightest of nods, whether in approval or acceptance, it was impossible to tell, but her clasped hands twitched in the slightest, as though she wanted to open her arms in that matronly way, but as ever, due to her station, she had her reservations and as such, remained placid.

"Phoenix," one of the guys called, waving him over. "Hey, Phoenix! Man, it's been too long. Where've you been?"