Several pregnant moments of silence passed, disturbed only by their laboured breathing. Eventually, the roots holding Altan captive fell to his feet as The Prince stepped back with a suddenly dazed expression. His knees buckled, and The Prince collapsed with a grunt onto his back, perspiration leaving muddy trails though the dirt on his forehead. Had The Prince just saved their lives twice? Yes. Was Altan still going to be an asshole? Also yes.
       "What, need some beauty sleep, Goldilock?"
       "I had been under the impression you would stop calling me that."
        "I can call you dog, if your majesty would prefer it."
        Though The Prince has draped an arm over his eyes, Altan honed in on the scowl that tugged down his lips. You may have fixed your embarrassing hair, but the name still gets under your skin, and I fully intend to exploit that. Altan thought to himself smugly.
        Just then, the fennecainx, who had taken shelter under a bush during the skirmish, came bounding over to The Prince with all the energy of a puppy. In stark contrast, The Prince pushed himself into a sitting position to escape its incessant licking, devoid of any strength with an exaggerated slouch. Though The Prince had said it was a baby, it was still as tall as a greyhound, and persisted in crowding his space.
The wolffish creature had jet black fur, and two fox-like tails that wagged excitedly. Forming the latter half of the two tails, as well as a full mane, were plumes of electric-blue flame that streaked through the air as it moved. Also electric blue were its slitted eyes, claws, two rings of fur near the base of each tail and each front leg, and the hooves replacing feet on its hind legs. Even so allegedly young, muscle rippled under its fur as it forced its way past The Princes pushing arms. He was gazing at it with a thousand-yard stare that Altan decided he didn't want to ask about. Instead, he surveyed the area.
Puddles, trees, and a massive stretch of mountains. Yep, that summed it up pretty well. Until, that is, Altan wandered in the direction the yipping ball of fur had come bolting out of. Across a low line of bushes, in a small clearing several meters ahead, he saw two wet, unmoving mounds.
"Hey, there's something over here."
The Prince unsteadily rose to his feet, the Fennecainx at his heels, and shambled after Altan as he pushed through the bushes.
"Um. I think I found it's parents."
Or, rather, the remains of them. The carcasses were massive, at least from what he could tell. Easily larger than the largest of horses, with the same coloured fur though no fire. One was essentially a smear on the ground, mostly intact though it laid in a large puddle of congealing blood, and there were several broken bones jutting from its ruptured skin and flesh- completely disfigured. Like it had been dropped from a large height. The other was merely the back half of one, sheared cleanly in half and bearing deep gashes, caught ten feet up in the branches of a tree. The area smelt of of burning hair and flesh and Altan gagged as the putrid stench assaulted his nostrils, physically recoiling. The baby Fennecainx ran up to the splattered corpse, whimpering as it pushed its little snout into the flesh mound.
The Prince frowned, also making a face at the smell. "It appears the thunderbird, in its possession by the morapede, had been hunting these royal creatures."
"...thanks captain obvious. What's a... morapede? One of what was his name's? Xorvad's monsters? The worm thingy that came out of the thunderbird?"
The Prince blinked at him. "You are learning."
"You know, I think what pisses me off most about that is you seem genuinely surprised."
"Morapedes. Not the most dangerous of abominations on their own, but they tend to infect and corrupt much larger, more dangerous creatures. Also, the incantation's needed to dispel them are complex and require precious time in often precarious situation. This is a remarkably formidable ability, and it is their sole design." He elaborated, blatantly ignoring Altan.
Altan glared at him, fists clenching tightly at his sides. "I really, really want to shove your face into the mud right now."
"I am aware."
Atlan was about to fulfill that desire but then he watched as The Prince gathered up what little belongings he had, orientate himself with his back to the mountains, and begin walking back out into the forest. Altan paused, glancing back at the Fennecainx pup which sat cowering beside its rotting parents. It whined sadly, gazing at him with its large icy blue eyes, curling in on itself. With all the excitement over, now it seemed alone and frightened, almost sad, even. For an animal, Altan was taken aback by how clearly it's demeanour wailed 'defeat', and he felt an annoying twang of empathy for the small creature.
"You're just going to leave it?" He called out after The Prince, motioning haughtily towards it.
The Prince paused, only turning half over his shoulder to respond saying, "We are not on a mission to retrieve pets. It will likely die, but that is life." He gained a faraway look in his eyes, continuing, "One day, you will understand that forming bonds, permitting yourself to care for something or someone, is a weakness."
Altan shot him an incredulous look. "Okay, you have some serious issues." He took a moment to reflect on the fact his own relationships and attitude was not entirely dissimilar, but a puppy? Really?
The Prince shrugged, continuing on as he called over his shoulder, "Very well! Take it under your stead, but she is entirely your responsibility. The consequences are your own."
Altan swallowed hard and suddenly felt incredibly unsure in his decision. He shivered as a gust of cold mountain air swept through the holes of his shredded clothing, and wondered how he was going to sustain this dog-like creature he had otherwise absolutely no information on, as well as himself. But then the little thing skulked over to him, nuzzled right into his leg, and he thought, well it can't be that hard. He kneeled down and pet her cautiously, fascinated as the vibrant blue flames licked around his fingers but didn't burn. Actually, it felt kind of relaxing. He stood up, looking down and meeting those icy blue eyes, then looked back towards where The Prince was walking further and further away.
"Well, this isn't exactly what I meant when I said I wanted a hot chick. Like Bridget. Why couldn't it be her dragging me on a life-threatening journey, huh? At least then this could be a bit more fun. But..." He scratched her between the ears, "I'm sure you're gonna be a lot better company than Goldilock over there."
Altan turned to pursue The Prince when suddenly the Fennecainx perked up, her head snapping to the right and staring directly into the forest. She looked back at Altan as if to make sure he was paying attention, and he was, stopping to look in the same direction. Her ears twisted forward, and her nostrils flared, becoming eerily rigid.
"What is it, girl?" He squinted hard into the foliage, "What do you see?"
Five, ten, twenty seconds passed as Altan froze, scanning the bushes. But there was nothing there. Just some leaves swaying in a gentle breeze. From a significantly farther distance he heard The Prince calling for him.
"ALTAN!" He yelled, "IF YOU FALL BEHIND, I WILL NOT LOOK FOR YOU AGAIN."
"Come on," Altan muttered, ushering his newfound companion along, "princess is throwing a tantrum."
He left the clearing briskly with the Fennecainx on his tail, not daring to look back.