The woods had grown quiet. The ever-present song of distant birds died out, and the occasional rustle of leaves sounded far too loud to Jig’s ears.

“Barius probably wants us to get killed,” Riana said, voice soft. “If we die, that’s two problems he doesn’t have to deal with anymore.” Another noise, this time a grating sound, came from the right. Like someone rubbing two sticks together, only much louder. “It sounds big.”

Jig felt naked and exposed with no walls around him. He backed toward a large tree. The tree was a poor substitute for hard stone, but at least it would guard his back. On his last step, his heel caught on a root. His head smacked the trunk, and his sword flipped end over end and stabbed into the ground.

The noise stopped for a second. Jig held his breath, hoping the thing hadn’t heard. Riana didn’t speak, but her eyes shot profanity that would have done a patrol captain proud.

The beast charged. Clomping footsteps tore through the dirt and the undergrowth toward them. Jig scrambled for his sword. Before he could find it, the thing leaped over a fallen tree, straight at Riana.

It was enormous. Sharp branched horns topped its narrow head. Rocklike hooves kicked the air with every bound.

“Dragon!” Jig yelled. He curled into a ball and covered his head.

Riana ducked, and the thing sprang right over her and disappeared. Jig tried to listen, to make sure it was really gone, but the pounding of his heart made it impossible to hear anything else.

“Are you okay?” he asked. She wasn’t bleeding. Though she trembled with fear, she hadn’t been wounded.

Jig looked closer. That wasn’t fear after all.

The elf was laughing at him. Jig’s face grew hot. It wasn’t like he had intentionally fallen. “We should get back, in case there are more of those things.”

“Jig, it was a deer,” she gasped. “Not a dragon. And I hope there are more. I haven’t eaten venison in years.”

Jig blushed harder. He knew it wasn’t a dragon. Dragons had scales, not fur, and he had never heard of a brown dragon. “I didn’t see it that well,” he said sheepishly. “I panicked.”

Riana’s eyes widened, and she laughed even harder. “Jig, don’t worry. Deer are the biggest cowards out there, and they only eat plants. Not goblins.”

She stood up and brushed dirt from her clothes. “Come on. He was probably rubbing the velvet off his antlers. I’ll show you.”

Jig gathered up his wood and followed. He ignored her giggles, as well as her warnings about flying squirrels and other terrible surface monsters. Sure enough, they found a tree whose bark showed long gouges. Other places had been polished smooth by the deer’s antlers.

She smirked. “Alchemists sometimes collect deer velvet. They use it for an aphrodisiac.”