Story: Emergency Mules (Patreon)

Premise: After narrowly avoiding some hazard on the forest trail, a trio of merchants lose their only transportation. Fortunately they are more than equipped for a makeshift solution.

Contains: Anthros to feral donkeys TF

For Yuki

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“Cool. So now it’s only two miles after crossing the stream.”

“You mean the stream we just crossed or another stream to cross?”

“Pretty sure it was just the one stream... and then a bunch of boulders shaped like a big…”

“You dipstick! That’s the path west. We’re going south! We should have passed a giant oak tree that looks like it’s got a pair of big…”

“Watermelons? Hey, I think I see some wild melon patches down that hill. Think we can fancy a stop.”

“... yeah, I’m actually pretty hungry. Jason? How you feeling?”

For being a merchant of pride, the raccoon driving their rickety wagon wished for about the fourteenth time she had one set of earplugs among their pile of garbage wares. Desmond and Yuki had been arguing almost as soon as they had left the last town. It only took about ten minutes upon entering the woods between territories for them to wind up completely lost. Truly, Jason felt her comrades’ map reading abilities were beyond comprehension.

When no answer came from their grumpy driver, Yuki stuck her head out the closest window to check on their health. The slight overbite of her white fangs contrasted with her black fur in the waning sunlight.

“Jason? Honey? You sure you don’t want some watermelons?”

“I think we got plenty of melons in the cart already.” Jason did not look anywhere but straight at the forest path ahead. It was clearly unused, overgrown with vegetation, but if she kept leading their donkey on they were bound to end up somewhere.

Desmond popped his head out to rest atop an annoyed Yuki’s. His blue and yellow markings adding some flare to all the black fur. Although his weight was crushing on his four-foot Nemian friend. “We’re not fruit merchants, Jason. Unless you’re holding out on us.”

“The only thing I’m holding back is my boot up both of your...”

THUNK!

“AAAAHHH!!”

The sound of something solid striking wood gave all three anthros pause for alarm. Jason only needed an extra second to realize an arrow had embedded itself into her seat, missing the crotch by inches. She snapped at the reins to make their burrow move its fat butt, only to find her action too late.

A multitude of shadows descended from the trees to encircle their wagon. As the last rays of daylight slipped between branches, Yuki and Desmond climbed out to find their forward path blocked by several humans baring weapons. Jason had quickly raised her hands free of her mount’s restraints upon noticing bows aimed for her.

“They scurry so loud through our lands, you would think them to be worse than regular animals,” chided a slightly fancier bandit. He strode forward with an air of confidence befitting his feathered cap. “But alas, even on these old roads there are certain levies to be made for order and maintenance.”

Jason rolled her eyes in a huff. “You’re really doing the high road act here? In the middle of bum-fuck nowhere?”

The man blinked before getting a grin that Jason immediately regretted. “Well, if you insist. Men! Take their wagon... and perhaps... their clothes. We can let these beasts wander their way back to a town in their best fur, or just kill each other for warm…”

FWOOSH!!

Jason had a second to see the bottle-shaped object fly past her before it struck the bandit leader square in his shit-eating grin face. The mans ragged dry clothes immediately burst into flames. And thanks to the panicked flailing, so did most of the clothes of his nearby men.

The scene unfolded into utter chaos while bandits either tried to thrash out their flames are get distance to keep their own dried leaf clothes from catching a spark. Jason admired this sight for a moment before turning to glare at Desmond. Another flask of red fluid sat poised in one hand while a ceramic jar rested in the other.

“What?” Desmond recoiled defensively upon catching his friend’s stink eye. “Who just stands here letting the bad guy rant?”

“Much as I can appreciate a proactive outlook on trouble, I’m worried your passion for fire might burn down the whole... is that a grenade!?”

Desmond held up the jar quizzically. An unmistakable fuse snaked its way out the neck, thankfully unlit.

“Heck, yeah!” Desmond beamed before turning to face the three bandits that had been approaching their wagon’s trunk. “It’s for those guys back there!”

A splash of red alchemist’s fire fluid lit the fuse before either of Desmond’s female companions could comment. He did not need to dish out a threat, either. The sight of a lunatic holding an active bomb was enough to make every bandit not on fire flee for their lives.

“Hah!” Desmond puffed out his chest in pride, grinning up at Jason. “That’s how you deal with second-rate bandits.”

Yuki took a step back from behind Desmond. Her eyes spread wider than plates. “Uh... Dessy?”

“I’ll take your guys’ apology with a slice of your pie rations. We still have apple pie, right? Or was that last week?”

“Desmond? Jason and I really think you should…”

Jason realized the source of Yuki’s distress and began side stepping to put the cart between her and Desmond.

“Yeah, we probably should get out of here first. Those guys won’t stay on fire forever. You still got the map, Yuki? We can circle back to that other stream and…”

“LOOK OUT!”

Yuki snatched the still lit grenade from Desmond, knocking him on his thick tail in the process. With a panicked heave, she tossed the explosive far as both her arms could manage.

It was not far enough. The little jar flew in a high arch only descending when the fuse reached its limit. The fresh twilight was broken by a thunderous explosion of green fire that briefly lit up the forest. Most of the bandits now had the grave misfortune of being blind, deaf, and on fire.

Their ultimate fate would never be known to the trio of anthro merchants. While they had the sense to dive into their wagon for cover, not a thought was spared for their donkey pulling it. Now rendered senseless and scared for its life by the blinding loud colors it broke into a panicked run well off the forest trial.

To say the wagon’s cabin got chaotic would be an understatement. Yuki found herself getting hands, feet, butts, and even Jason’s tits shoved into her face during their bumpy ride. Not to mention Desmond taking opportunities to grab at her own breasts and penis sheath. There was just no time to reprimand the tiny, horny squirrel.

Unlike much of the salvaged wares it carried, the wagon was sturdy. Over and over, its wheels bounced off rocks or logs, sending its cabin high into the air. The three passengers would have almost found it fun, were they not falling over each other.

CRRRKK!

Sadly, the bouncing ride had to stop eventually. Everyone heard something give in a loud snap before being promptly flung against the front of the cabin in a jumbled pile. The trio somehow managed to roll out and separate across a muddy forest floor.

Jason was the first to make sense of their new surroundings. A thick bundle of tree roots had ensnared their wagon wheels for the sudden stop. Of course, that had done nothing to stay their panicked donkey. Poor thing had broken right off its bonds to continue its blind escape. Much to Jason’s dismay, it was nowhere in sight now. Then again, neither were the lights of fire to show their would-be robbers. Nothing but black silence came from the maze of tree trunks around them.

“Damn it, Desmond!” Jason whirled back to huff at her companions. “Who the fuck brings a grenade to a knife fight?”

“Someone who wants to win,” Desmond huffed back, trying to look uptight covered in mud and grass stains.

Both of Jason’s hands clenched and relaxed repeatedly, trying to calm her nerves. Getting angry would certainly not help their current situation. “Oh, yes. Thank you so much for trying to set the forest on fire and almost killing all of us.”

“You’re welcome!” Desmond broke into a relaxed grin. “Was it so hard to express some gratitude? At least I take initiative around here.”

He had already turned to check the back of the wagon, so could not see Jason picking up the small log to bash his head in with. She promptly dropped it when Yuki had blinded them both by finding a lamp to light during their exchange.

“Seriously, Desmond?” The nemian was no more pleased with this evening’s events, ruffling her feathered wings in a pout. “You almost blew both our faces off. Wasn’t setting them on fire enough?”

“I’m more happy my reagents didn’t get mixed in the ride.” Desmond’s fluffy tail bounced from around the side of the wagon while heavy shuffling noises broke the forest's silence. “We could have ended up melting them, or fused into some kind of three headed chimera beast... which might look pretty sexy, depending.”

Jason exchanged a worried look with Yuki, who refused to comment. “At least the wagon is still in working condition once we dig it out of these roots.”

Yuki bit her lower lip, which naturally showed more of her overbite fangs. “Yeah, but, we lost our puller.”

“Eeyup! We lost the one ass that was useful and got stuck with the bigger ass that’ll probably get us killed.”

“Hey!” Desmond poked his head around the wagon, holding a flask of various colors in each hand. “Don’t put yourself down so hard when you volunteered to be leader. It’s not going to be good for morale out here.”

Yuki took a silent step back from a seething Jason. The lamplight she held made her raccoon friend look even more terrifying than the usual angry fits. Bloodshot eyes twitched violently, taking in Desmond, Yuki herself, the surrounding forest, then oddly at the flasks in Desmond’s hands.

To both their surprises, Jason straightened back up with a smile. “Yes... well... nobody’s perfect, right? Let’s work on getting out of here then.”

“Um…” Yuki let out a squeak from the way Jason’s head snapped to her like a possessed doll. “H-how are we going to do that without our donkey?”

“Oh, I dunno. Maybe Desmond could help with that.”

Jason almost pranced to the back of the cart. An act that unnerved Desmond enough not be out of sight with her for very long. Jason ignored him hurriedly putting the potions back into his trunk before rushing to Yuki’s side where the light was. He never noticed the trunk’s latch failed to lock in his hurry.

“I... I suppose I could make us a strength potion,” Desmond said over the sounds of more violent shifting of objects from their wagon’s trunk space. There was a lot of glass clattering and thudding for such a short raccoon woman to make. “Or maybe turn Yuki into a taur. You like taurs, right?”

“Dessy, I’m the smallest one here.”

“So? We can make you a very LARGE taur. You’ll be so big we can load all the stuff on you to ride into town.”

Yuki’s pointed furry ears dropped against her head. “I’m not your pack mule, Desmond!”

“Would you like to be?” Desmond retreated from Yuki’s even sourer expression. “Then again, if we could find a squirrel or something we could have a new donkey in seconds. You just have to mix the golden liquid with the brown for the polymorph potion.”

The sounds of Jason’s activities stopped for exactly two seconds before resuming in an earnest clicking of glass. Neither really noticed over their conversation.

“You...is that why your reagents look like a unicorn vomited a rainbow?” Yuki raised an eyebrow at her friend.

“Look, writing things down in a book takes too long and is easier to lose. A little color coding never hurts if it gets results much faster.”

A second light erupted from behind the wagon, with Jason coming around with their spare lantern. Two water-skins were tucked firmly under her other arm as she approached the others. “Well, can’t argue with results, right? Like the kind that got us stranded out in the woods.”

“Ugh!” Desmond shook his head sadly. “You really got to stop beating yourself up about that.”

Jason’s smile twitched a little crooked for the briefest of seconds. “So anyway, I’m going to go fetch us some water. We’re a bit low and if our genius alchemist can’t get us out of here tonight we might as well make camp.”

That got a confused glance from Yuki. “Where are you going to get…”

“From the stream, silly!” Jason almost shouted the answer through clenched teeth, even going so far as to give her tiny nemian several rough pats on the head. “You two just get the wagon out, and maybe a fire started. Some of those roots look pretty dry.”

“But…” Jason ignored further questions as she turned to vanish into the woods. Her raccoon figure phased into the darkness until all either Yuki or Desmond could see was the lamp light hovering around. Yuki then turned to Desmond still looking disquiet. “I don’t hear a stream.”

“Me neither, but she seems to be under a lot of stress tonight. Best to let her cool off and get over it alone for a bit.”

“But you’re the one who…”

Desmond interrupted Yuki’s protest to toss her a shovel from the Wagon’s lockbox. It nearly made her drop her lantern. “Less yapping, more dislodging!”

Despite both anthros having the size and strength to rival teenagers, the job was not nearly as bad as they were expecting.

It was SO much worse…

After a long time of trying to dig, and then pry, the wagon out it became apparent the roots were deeply entangled with their wheels. That was when Desmond had the brilliant idea of ‘take an axe to everything’ and retrieved hatchets from their trusty tool box. While that did eventually remove enough to push their wagon back onto a solid surface it also left Desmond face down in the dirt heaving for breath by the time Jason returned. Yuki had propped her butt up against the tree trunk itself looking no better. Her tongue was hanging off to the side of her vulpine muzzle, looking ready to crumble to ashes.

“I guess building a fire would be asking a bit much of you two right now, huh?” Jason giggled in high spirits. That would have surprised her comrades, but they were too tired to barely register her words at all. Exactly as she had hoped to find them. “Good thing I brought the refreshments, eh?”

Desmond looked up to see a waterskin dangling inches from his dirty muzzle. His eyes glanced quizzically at Jason’s sparkling one’s behind that raccoon mask before a trembling hand reached up to take it.

“Minemineminemineminemine!”

There came a loud whoosh of wind, sending Jason staggering back with hair going in a tussle. When she recovered, the leather pouch that had been in her hand was gone. The sounds of hurried gulps and splashes resonated softly through the clearing, noise Jason identified as Yuki not three feet away. The entire waterskin was pitched over their canine muzzle to douse her whole face in refreshing river water.

“Y-YUKI! You can’t... I mean, you shouldn’t… that was for...” Jason tripped in a panic over her words, as if stopping herself from saying something. That somehow got Yuki’s ears to flick before lowering the pouch to start confused back. “D... Don’t you eat energy or something?”

“Well... yeah, but it’s not nearly as refreshing as cold water all over hot fur.” Yuki giggled and resumed gulping more than her share.

Something that annoyed Desmond enough to climb onto his feet. “Going to share with the rest of the class, short stack!”

“Oh, like you don’t enjoy my stack. HEY!”

It did not take much strength for Desmond to snatch the waterskin away from the smaller Yuki. Not that he needed to be so brash. Jason had filled the pouch up to its limit and Desmond could easily see she had another one bulging full as well. He saw little reason not to guzzle most of the contents before passing a limp bag back to Yuki.

“So what’s our pla-HAWW for the... night?” Desmond blinked in a stupor at the involuntary bray that had escaped his throat. A startled yelp quickly broke that, directing his attention to Yuki.

“D-Desmond, you’re teef!?” Yuki gasped feeling an odd itching sensation in her gums. Reaching up to feel, she yelped again at finding her cute canines were losing their overbite. The fangs dwindled back into her upper jaw seemingly to feed the growing bulk of both upper and lower incisors. “M-my teef!? What’s HAWW-ppening!?”

Her identical involuntary braying had her and Desmond staring blankly at each other for several seconds. Even from lower down she could see his front teeth also growing into incredibly large biters as well. Almost as one the wheels clicked into place and they whirled to face Jason. Unfortunately, the raccoon had already gained a considerable distance from them. Only half of Jason poked out from behind a pile of rocks used for cover.

“Sorry, Yuki, that was supposed to be Desmond’s little medicine for our troubles,” Jason explained with a shrug. “But you know what he said; a little mixing gets us a new donkey in seconds right?”

Desmond’s face went pale at the realization of what they had really been served to drink. His nose was already looking a bit wider as his tail shed a lot of blue fur.

Yuki was going red more from the growing heat that was developing into an uncomfortable pinch in her pants crotch. “Y-you’re kidding right? Aahh haa-HAAW!!”

“Definitely no-HAWW-t! I know a polymorph trap when the changes get started.” Desmond muttered with a nervous fidgeting in his own posture. He looked more resigned to their fate. Not like he would have hands long enough to make the antidote. They were already getting stiff.

“Nggh! Haa haa haww!”

Yuki was having worse problems with stiffness, shown by the inflating bulge of her crotch. Friends may have always known about her altersex nature, but Desmond also knew for a fact she was never that well hung. There was also little that could be done outside watching the little Nemian fumble around with the buckle to her waistband. Yuki could see her claws melting into caps of hard chitin across the tips of her fingers, which were getting very hard to keep from pressing together.

Eventually Yuki ripped the peg completely from its buckle. Immediately, the rest of her pants crotch exploded in a loud rip. The giant donkey dick sprung out with a force that caught both changing anthros by surprise, almost smacking Yuki on her chin before landing on the forest floor in a flaccid state. While once Yuki had a bright blue glow of magic about her male organ, she could only watch it fade helplessly into a drab grey skin as it continued to snake along in a steady growth.

Desmond would have made a joke about such an enormous one-eyed snake, were he not going through similar tribulations. While he was distracted by such spontaneous growth, his own pants creaked in protest at the rapid expansion of his hips. With two loud rips, the seams along his sides gave way to some very muscular flanks, which flowed down into thighs that were also bulking for some hard labors ahead.

“Yeep!” Desmond grimaced as his entire posture changed. From inside his broadened pelvis came the constant groaning of joints under pressure. Despite his resistance, he continued to hunch forward the louder the groaning became. Yuki could see his expression going from annoyed to panic as his balance teetered.

CRRRCK!

“Hee-HAWW!”

Desmond cried out along with the loud snap of his hips finally giving way. Hands squished deep into the muddy ground from new configurations working through his pelvis. The entire flank pulled back with another loud crack that smoothed out the shape of his butt. This proved to permanently lock Desmond in a quadrupedal state. He tried again and again to rear himself back onto two legs, only to crash down in harder thunks. With a gasp, he watched his fingers sink deep into the mud as hard chitin encased them into useless hooves.

SHRRP! SHRRP! SHRRP!

“Nggh! Awk! C-come HAWW-n!”

Desmond whimpered softly, watching over one shoulder as his ass exploded out what remained of his shorts. Donkey glutes puffed up with hard muscle as his once proud tail hung like a lazy noddle between their crack. The only remnants of its former fluff being the small tuft of fur at the end.

Yuki could not help giggling at the display, watching Desmond’s shins lengthen into tight towers of sinew. His toes flexed once before flowing together into hind hooves to match his dis-proportioned, former hands. Poor guy had the complete hindquarters of a donkey, with a dick slowly descending between his thighs as it steadily grew to rival the nemian’s in length.

“D-desm-HAWW-nd, joo lhook sho f-HAWW-nny!”

Suddenly talking with a heavily nasal’d lisp reminded Yuki she had her own horrifying transformation to deal with. Her partial hands flew to her face in shock. Judging by the way Desmond glanced over and smirked, it was just as bad as things felt.

By now, Yuki’s muzzle had grown both in length and width. Huge nostrils flared after becoming flush with thick upper lips. Her piercings stung a little now stuck in ears over a foot long with full rounded tips. Somehow her ponytails had remained but found her hair continued growing down her neck in a snow white man.

CHHCK!

“Breeee!” Yuki whined as the bridge of her nose reversed. The entire shape of her skull became streamlined with her forehead while her face continued to extend downward.

“Why the lo-HAWW-ng face, Yuki!?”

“HAWW-ck you, jerk!”

Hard to believe Desmond could still commit to puns with the hindquarters and front legs of a donkey. Perhaps he still wanted to make use of speech while he still could. Yuki could feel muscles in her neck tighten to rob her of the privilege. Her charm necklaces pinched only a moment before the mounting muscles snapped their cheap clasps off.

Another cramp forced Yuki’s shoulders to scrunch together. Moments later a sharp numbness struck joints back there, causing both wings to flop to the ground completely lifeless. Yuki looked back with equine jaw hung in shock at seeing her glorious feathers molt off in a messy pile as the appendages were pulled back into her body. She would have reached for them, but her arms no longer had that kind of flexibility. It was all she could do to paw at the air with increasingly useless lumps.

KRRFFTT!!

“Naah-HAWW!”

Yuki cried out as her chest billowed out into a stronger ribcage. Her stomach and waist equally helping to shred the buttons off her vest as they filled out into a thick donkey’s barrel. The flesh of her wings apparently helped to feed her torso with lots of developing muscles and fats. As her shirt tore away, Yuki was especially alarmed at how flat her chest had become.

Until she looked further down to find her breasts now resting at her crotch, partially blanketing the thick rod of her dick.

Desmond was not far off from matching. An unusual expression overcame him as he tried to wiggle his forelegs. With each deep breath, his stomach gained an increasingly deep bulge to it. His waist puffed out soon with it, becoming more matching to the giant donkey rear bobbing about in the air. His face turned into a grimace as he bunched up forelegs close to his chest.

“Neeighed HAWW!”

It was a futile struggle that lasted seconds. Desmond collapsed forward onto his hooves again while the front of his own shirt tore down the middle to let his chest swell outwards. He always did like to wear baggy clothes, so it was kind of funny to see the sleeves tear but still have a mostly intact shirt hug around his equine torso.

“Breei hee-hee!” Yuki gasped at suddenly feeling her back legs shift and lengthen. Their growth forced her to fall forward onto her own forehooves. Settling into a quadrupedal stance, it only felt natural the more her legs bulked up. She gave her toes one last wiggle before the mounting grown of hard shell sealed them into what would become her hooves.

The increasing change to equine legs steadily rose Yuki’s butt into the air until it became perfectly level with her wingless shoulders. At which point the main seam of her pants split asunder to let her rears muscles bulge forth in an explosive surge. She watched the three fluffy fox tails atop it wag as if to say goodbye before their fur molted even faster than her feathers. The last traces of her nemian self were soon nothing but fuzzy sticks with tuft tips swishing across her enormous, feral backside.

Desmond groaned as his own neck cracked and swelled with muscles. “Jas-HAWW-on! Awh shwarrr yourreeii ariigh goiieeng toh P-HAWW-y t-HEE-is! Hee-haww! Haww! Reei haww!”

Yuki gave him credit for at least trying to talk to the very end. Even attempting a little threat as his mane grew out and muzzle dropped into the widened dork smile of a donkey. A bit fitting considering how he brought this whole event around on them both, the ass.

After a few more angry brays, Desmond realized the ability to form words was now far above his new form. The two mules clopped around clumsily among their remains of clothes, fur, and feathers attempting to get used to the four-legged variety of motion. Of course, instincts always had a way of carrying over with potions. It made it fairly easy to at least to get the basics down.

Just as Desmond was sure he could walk without falling flat on his big snout, he noticed Yuki was actually scanning their little forest location. She shot him a questioning head tilt, which was when it became apparent Jason had not made sight or sound of herself during their transformation.

“Neiigh? Haww?” They both glanced around, braying softly into the surrounding darkness. Some semblance of fear could almost be taken away from their senseless cries.

“Oh, hey! Are you guys done finally?” As if on cue, Jason popped out from some thick beds of berry bushes. One hand was holding a lantern to cast fresh light on her new mules, while the other clumsily fumbled to tuck her shirt in. “Sorry, I had to take a piss, and it’s not like you guys needed me around.”

The two changed mules exchanged an awkward stare before watching Jason approach.

“I must say, though, Desmond has got to make the best potions for anything. You guys look really adorable.”

She reached out to give Desmond’s nose a pat. That seemed to have snapped something because she spotted those donkey eyes narrow and barely pulled back in time from getting her fingers bit off. Yuki looked equally surprised, but tripped over her hind legs trying to back off. At least her mule ass landed in a soft muddy patch.

“Hey, chill the fuck out!” Jason huffed, but backpedaled when Desmond stamped a hoof aggressively. She took a deep breath, using her free hand to reach for a hip pouch. “You want to get out of this forest or do you want to waste your potions’ time limit beating me up.”

The way Desmond’s upper lip retracted to show his enlarged front teeth almost looked like a cartoonish smile. Somehow Jason could tell which option he was favouring right now.

“B-besides, there’s a whole patch of these right beyond the bushes!” Jason almost dropped the bundle of wild carrots in her panic as she pulled them from her pouch.

The mud caked roots immediately got Desmond’s attention. Ears raised and lips sputtered apparently all but forgetting his reason for having ire towards the raccoon. Jason’s muzzle curled back into a grin as even Yuki clopped curiously over.

“Yeah, you guys want these, huh? All that transformation has got to have left you hungry.” Jason slowly set the lantern down before splitting her prized treat into each hand. Offering it to her currently feral friends, she found it adorable how greedily they nipped them up. “Good asses. I’m not a monster here. There are tons of wild carrots around to get fat on.”

Jason giggled as they finished their little meal only to lick any traces off her fingers. Desmond even went so far as to push his snout into her chest with a gentle bray to beg for more. Any anger or doubts about their current situation had simply become clouded memories for the two mules. They just wanted to make their masked friend happy in the hopes she had more treats.

And Jason was all too happy to lead them back over to the wagon by the rot end of more carrots. They neither noticed nor cared about how she rigged fresh reigns to the broken pole. Once her new mounts were secure, with bridles in their happy mouths, Jason made her way back to the driver’s seat to get some bearings straight. One look at the parchment her friends had been fighting over almost made the raccoon drop her lantern.

“You dumbasses realize you were fighting over a map of the wrong area, right!?” Jason looked down at the mules, who were seemingly more interested in some passing fireflies. “Oh, right... sorry, Yuki. At least Desmond’s potions wear off after a while. I’ll make this up to you by having Desmond buy us new clothes or something, I promise.”

The donkey that was Yuki gave a curious glance back at the strange yapping woman. It became obvious such words were no longer of her comprehension, at least for the time being. She just resumed looking forward with a lazy flick of her three tails. Who knew carrots were a bit of an overdose for equine instincts?

Jason absently wondered what would have happened if she had found some apples.

But then she was wasting time. Setting the lantern on a safety peg, Jason collected the reins for her new ride and gave them a gentle whip.

“YAH MULE!”

The pair of burrows immediately began clopping forward as if always trained for such labors. Their combined strength was nothing to pull the wagon over the roots that had once held them prisoner. And the speed at which they could move even for rough terrain was so much better than their last mount, if uncomfortably rocky.

Still, Jason’s only worry was that they could find civilization before her friends changed back. She wanted a comfortable bed and armed guards to hide from their inevitable retribution.