Ice glanced down at the piece of paper that had been slid beneath the door, being careful to make sure she kept all parts of her body behind the door frame in case someone were to kick it in. The flimsy door bolted to the plaster wall would be easy enough for anyone to kick down on their first try. There was writing on the paper:

It’s Duncan. I’m dressed in civvies.

Her heart leapt. She hadn’t blown it! But Bat Team Alpha had taught her to be cautious. Perhaps even a bit paranoid. What if it wasn’t really Duncan? What if it was someone else trying to trick her into opening the door unprepared. She leaned forward slightly, still careful to keep all parts of her body out of the path of the door. She spoke quietly through it.

“Open the door and come in slowly. Walk straight in. Do not turn your head to the side. Do not attempt to turn. Stop when you are five paces in and do nothing until I say. Keep your hands where I can see them.”

The door opened, and a man wearing faded blue jeans and a red and black checkered flannel shirt stepped into the room. He was wearing a New York Yankees ball cap that obscured his hair and carrying a dented and chipped red aluminum toolbox in his left hand. As he walked past, she flared her nostrils, taking in his scent. There was a stale smell of Marlboros, but underneath it, she was able to determine that it was Duncan’s scent. He seemed to be trying to pass for a civilian contractor. He stopped five paces in as she had instructed, keeping his hands to his sides. There, he waited. Ice breathed a sigh of relief as she pushed the door closed with a forehoof.

“All right, you can turn around,” she said to him. He did so, a slight look of confusion on his face, as if he were surprised to see her standing there. Then again, she was just as surprised to see him, but certainly glad of it.

“How did you find me?” she asked.

“I uh … had a dream telling me to come to the inn and go to the last door on the left side of the second floor. The dream was oddly persuasive … It was your Princess wasn’t it … Luna?”

“Probably,” Ice confirmed with a slight nod, and a feeling of disappointment in herself that Luna had had to bail her out of this and fix her mistake. Still, she said a quick prayer of thanks in her mind to the Night Princess. “I went back to look for you, but you were gone. I spent the last three nights trying to find you.”

“You seemed pretty firm on not wanting anything to do with me. At least not when it came to any kind of … joint rescue operation.”

She looked at the floor. “I know … And I’m sorry. I … well, I changed my mind. Let’s get the girl.”

She walked over to the window and closed the shutters, then moved to the middle of the room, sitting on her haunches on the rough wooden floor and motioning him over to sit across from her. Even if they talked quietly, she was afraid their voices might reach the street if they sat at the table by the window. Duncan walked over to her and sat cross-legged on the floor across from her. He opened the red toolbox and pulled out a large piece of paper, which he spread out on the floor. On it was a diagram that appeared to show a top-down view of a fenced in building. It was remarkably detailed, noting where the windows in the building were, where copses of trees and other potential cover was around the building, and other such details.

He began speaking. “So this is what it looks like. There are two armed local police usually stationed outside of the building, but they are often a little complacent cause nothing’s ever happened there before. The place is fairly far outside of the village, so we won’t have to worry about attracting attention from anyone other than the guards.”

“How do you know so much about this place?” she interrupted, looking up from the diagram. He hesitated for several moments before answering, looking at the floor, that same feeling of shame she had noticed when she’d first met him at Bahram’s Coffee seeming to emanate off of him again.

“I’ve been doing recon on it for a while … Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve thought of going in there on my own to get her out. Thing that stopped me is I didn’t know what I’d do with her when I got her out. I had nowhere to send her. But now, I figure you can get her to safety.”

Ice nodded slightly and hesitated for a moment before responding. “You know … You don’t have to do this at all. I can go in by myself.”

“What? You still don’t want to do this with me because I’m a human?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s that if the guards identify me, it won’t matter because I’ll be safely back in the Crystal Empire. They won’t be able to touch me. But if they identify you … you’ll get in serious trouble. So I can do it. You don’t have to do anything, really.”

Duncan looked at the floor and she felt that hint of shame flowing from him again. He responded quietly.

“I’ve already spent too long doing nothing. If I get in trouble, then I get in trouble. As long as we can get the girl to safety. Even if we were only doing this to rescue the girl, that would be enough. But it’s bigger than just one girl. If you can get her to safety, and she can get her story out, maybe someone will finally do something to stop this shit from happening around here.”

Ice just looked at Duncan for several long moments, the damaged walls of her fortress starting to crumble more. But this time, she didn’t try to repair them. This time, she just let them fall. Duncan continued when she said nothing.

“Anyway, I don’t think one of us could pull this off alone. Someone’s gonna have to divert the attention of the two guards so the other one can go in. I’m thinking you go in, and I’ll divert the guards.”

Ice shook her head. “Wouldn’t it be better if you go in? She’s probably never seen a pony before. She might be afraid of me and scream.”

“I thought all girls liked ponies?”

Ice rolled her eyes. “Maybe the cute, pastel pink or yellow ones. But dark gray ones with vampire fangs in their mouths? I’m not so sure.”

“Point. But if the guards are gonna see one of us, it’s better if they see me. They won’t be able to identify me from any other human in the area. But it’s not exactly like there are many ponies other than you around here. And besides, the girl will probably scream long before she sees you. But the guards won’t hear her. They won’t be hearing or seeing much of anything for several minutes, and they’ll be disoriented.”

“What are you planning to do?” Ice asked, feeling a strong sense of suspicion.

“I’m gonna toss a few M-84s their way.”

“Stun grenades?”

Duncan nodded. “Probably they’ll think the building is under attack by insurgents. I don’t expect they’ll stick around to try to defend the place, especially given they won’t be able to hear or see anything for awhile. Most likely, they’ll flee into the trees and hide. Or they’ll flee towards the village. But you should be able to be in and out before they’d ever be able to get back with reinforcements..”

Ice frowned, not liking this plan at all. She said, “We can’t afford to kill anyone, Duncan. You better be damn good with your aim at tossing those.”

“Trust me. I’ll be able to get them close enough to stun, but not so close to kill or cause permanent injury. And I’ll err on the side of dropping them too far away. Even they don’t get the full stun effect, they are gonna panic and run cause they’ll still think they are under attack from a force armed with superior weapons. They’re poorly trained civilian guards. Not military soldiers.”

Ice still didn’t like it. But what other options where there? Reluctantly, she nodded her head. “Okay. So what do you need from me?”

“I’ll give you a flashlight. You get into the fenced area, and up along the back of the building. The side opposite the guards. Once you’re there, you flash me once then cover your ears. I’ll toss the first M-84. Once you’ve heard the blast, wait until the guards run away. Then go around to the front of the building. The door will be locked, but from the looks of the door, I don’t think you’ll have any problem kicking it down with your rear hooves. Once you’re inside, you’ll have to look for the girl. I’d suggest making your way up to the second floor and checking the bedrooms. He’s probably got her locked inside of one of them, but again, you won’t have any trouble kicking down the doors. When you find her, get to a window and flash me another signal with the flashlight. I’ll toss another M-84 to make sure your exit is clear. At that point, get to the ground floor and get out. Don’t come looking for me. Just take the girl and run. Get yourself and the girl out of here as fast as you can. And one more thing. If at any time you hear two explosions in rapid succession, hunker down, don’t leave the building, and don’t expose yourself at any windows. It means it’s not safe to exit the building. It shouldn’t come to that, but if it does, I’ll do what I have to to clear the guards out and then I’ll come in and get you.”

“Are you sure the girl will be the only one inside the building?”

“As sure as I can be. I’ve spent several nights watching the building. And other than the police chief and the two guards, I’ve never seen anyone else enter or leave.”

Ice took a deep breath and raised a forehoof, rubbing her muzzle for a moment. She really didn’t like this plan. It’s not that she didn’t think they’d be able to get the girl out. After all, it was only two poorly trained civilian guards, and she and Duncan would have the element of a surprise ambush. Her concern was that one or both of the guards were going to end up dead in the process. Finally, however, she nodded again, seeing no other alternatives.

“Okay … So … so when do you want to do this?”

“Now. The police chief is at work so we’ll only have to contend with the two guards. And I want to get her out of there before he comes home. I don’t want to leave her to suffer one more night there.”

Ice frowned. She was anxious to get the girl out as well, but rushing into an operation without more time to learn about the target was always dangerous. Of course, sometimes that’s just the way things went in Bat Team Alpha. Sometimes you had to move quickly and take advantage of an opportunity when it presented itself. But that was also how she’d lost her wing. The raid on the compound had been short notice. They had learned of an opportunity, and there had been a very short window of time to take advantage of it. So they’d gone in with less information than they would have liked. And because of that, the operation hadn’t gone as smoothly as they’d hoped it would. From what Shining Armor had told her in the dream, it had still been successful. But they’d taken injuries that they probably wouldn’t have taken if they’d had more information about the target before going in. She’d probably still have her wings today if they hadn’t had to rush that operation. But the idea of leaving the girl there to suffer for one more night turned her stomach. They had to get her out as soon as possible. Hopefully the Crystal Guards would be ready to leave when she showed up five hours earlier than she’d planned and told them they had to go now. She nodded her head and responded quickly before she had time to change her mind.

“Alright. Let’s go. But obviously, it would be best if the two of us were not seen together. We should leave at different times and meet outside the house.”

Duncan reached into the toolbox and pulled out a map, spreading it over the diagram of the building. Then he pulled out a marker.

“Alright, we are here,” he said, drawing a black circle on the part of the map where the inn was. “The compound is here.” He drew an X on the map. “You shouldn’t take the shortest route, though. It will lead you through areas of town that might have people about even at this time of night. Take this route instead.” He drew a line from the circle to the X that wound around a few side streets and alleys. “This will keep you away from populated areas. No one is likely to see you if you go this route.” The route he had drawn also backtracked on itself a couple of times – a safety measure to ensure that if anyone did see one of them while they were en route, it would be almost impossible to determine what their intended destination was.

“Alright,” Ice responded. “You leave first. You know the route. I’ll leave in ten minutes. That will give me time to familiarize myself with the map and the streets.” She had to memorize the map. There was no way she was taking it with her. If one of the local police officers, or an American soldier stopped her, she had no intention of trying to explain to them why she was carrying a map with a roundabout route drawn on it that ultimately lead to the home of the local police chief.

“I’ll meet you in the back of the compound. There’s a grove of trees there we can hide in. Will you be able to find me in there?”

“I’m a thestral. We can see almost perfectly at night. And even though we don’t usually bite, one thing we do have in common with vampire bats is that we can sense infrared thermal radiation. I’ll be able to find you. You might as well have a tracking beacon attached to you.” She flashed him a grin, letting some fang show. It was fair to mess with him a bit. After all, he had made that crack about wondering if he’d turn into a thestral if she bit him.

“Yeah … Okay … Good enough, then. As long as you can find me in the trees.” He had a slight hint of nervousness in his scent like he wasn’t entirely sure if she was joking about the biting part. She allowed herself the small pleasure of enjoying it. Like it was the faint scent of freshly baked bread wafting from the Crystal City bakery. After all, no one could expect that she would completely change overnight. But then, she frowned and thought better of it. Yes, he deserved it, but she didn’t want to risk him getting cold feet and bailing out on her. Better to make sure there was no chance at all of any misunderstanding. This rescue operation was too important. Reluctantly, she came clean.

“It was a joke. Well, the part about biting was anyway. We don’t bite. Not outside of combat anyway. The part about being able to sense and track thermal radiation is true though. So you don’t have to worry about me not being able to find you, no matter how well you hide yourself in the trees.” Duncan’s body language suggested he was relieved to hear it.

“Alright … I’ll be wearing black, though. I’m gonna find a place to change after I leave. It’d be too easy for the guards to spot me dressed like this.”

“Don’t worry about it. Unless you plan on lowering your body temperature to the same as the surrounding air, which I don’t suggest because it would mean you were dead and had been for quite some time, I’ll still be able to find you as easily as if there were a giant blinking arrow pointing right at you.” Duncan rolled his eyes slightly at that.

“Alright. Check your watch. Ten minutes,” he said. Ice lifted her foreleg, checking the time on the watch she had strapped to it.

“I’ll see you there. And Duncan?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember … no killing. If we get there and it doesn’t look like we can pull it off without killing the guards, we turn around and leave. I can’t investigate a murder by committing murder myself.”

Duncan frowned. “You still think we’re all violent, murderous sociopaths?”

Ice lowered her ears. She was stereotyping again already. But Cadance had told her change wouldn’t happen overnight. Not when she’d been thinking this way for twenty years now. And, it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, even if Duncan had contemplated killing the guards, there was a part of her that had pondered doing the same thing as well. In fact, if she were honest with herself, her own hunger for blood had probably played a bigger role in her admonishment against killing the guards than any fear about what Duncan might do. She had very few qualms about killing a couple of guards who stood around and did nothing while their boss repeatedly raped a twelve year old girl. And that wasn’t just her misanthropy at work either. She’d feel the same way if it were ponies who did nothing about a filly being raped. Such people deserved nothing less than death. But she wasn’t ready to share her own violent desires with Duncan.

“I just want to make sure there’s no room for any misunderstanding. It’s better to be explicit about the mission parameters and limits, is it not?”

“It is,” Duncan said quietly, in a tone that suggested he wasn’t certain if that was really all there was to her admonition against killing anyone on this mission. But he said no more about it as he closed the toolbox and picked it up then he turned and started for the door.

“Duncan?”

“Yes?” He stopped and turned around again.

“What made you so sure that the man at the coffee shop wouldn’t talk, even if he were able to understand what we were saying? That seemed like an awfully big risk to take.”

“She’s his daughter.”

“The girl we’re about to rescue?”

“Yeah.”

“He left his own daughter there? Never tried to rescue her himself?” A feeling of disgust rose inside of her. Who would do that? Leave their own filly to be raped? Any parent with their salt would have tried to rescue their own filly, even if it almost certainly meant their own death.

“He has no weapons and no military training. What do you think he should have done? Storm the house with his bare hands, get himself killed before he ever got anywhere near it, and cause the girl to be severely beaten for his failed rescue attempt?”

“The girl will be beaten if we fail? The feeling of disgust grew like she’d just swallowed rotting meat, although it was no longer disgust for the father, but disgust for anyone who would beat a child.

“Yes, she will be. So don’t fail. And remember, you get in, you grab her, you get out, and you go. Don’t stop to look for me. Just go,” Duncan said as he turned to the door and reached for the handle. Just before turning it, he stopped and looked over his shoulder again.

He said, “You know, I never did get your name.”

For a moment, she considered lying to him and giving him an alias. But then she decided that at least a small amount of mutual trust was necessary if they were going to work together on a joint rescue operation. And she already knew his name. Well, his last name at least.

“It’s Ice Moon. But most ponies just call me Ice, so you can as well. It seems I only know part of your name?”

“My first name is Wade.” he turned around once more.

“Hey, Wade?”

“Yeah?” He looked over his shoulder.

“Do you have any kids?”

“I have a wife and daughter. She’s six years old.”

Ice only nodded in response. Duncan turned his head forward again and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him, his footsteps slowly retreating into silence as he went down the stairs.

After he left, she bristled slightly. The fact that he had been telling her what to do, like he was some kind of commander giving orders, annoyed her. Who did he think he was? He was half her age and probably had one tenth of her command experience. And besides, she didn’t take orders from humans. As soon as the thought that, she caught herself and frowned. She was doing it again. And although he might lack experience, he had been studying the house and was familiar with the local police. She had never even seen the house and knew nothing of the local police or their tactics. And his instructions were the most logical course of action she could take anyway. He could take care of himself and get himself out of there. She just needed to focus on getting the girl to safety.

She looked down at the map he’d left her again, studying the route and the layout of the streets, quickly committing it to memory. She also noted where she had left the chariot and the Crystal Guards in relation to the village and figured out the quickest way to get there without going through the village again. Then she stood up and grabbed one of her saddlebags, tossing it onto the cot and dumping the contents in a heap. She rifled through the pile, pulling out a dark black saddle pad and two matching scarves. She also selected a black tail wrap from the heap, then shoved all four items into the saddlebag before closing and latching it. She removed a cobalt-blue saddle pad from the pile and wrapped it around her back. As she dressed, she continued to go over the map in her mind and the route that Duncan had planned out. She adjusted the saddle pad, then threw the now very light saddlebag over her back, securing it in place. She checked her watch again. Still six minutes before she had to leave. She used the remaining time to glance at the map again, making sure her memory was accurate. Then, she studied the diagram of the compound that Duncan had also left behind. She checked her watch again. Time to go. She folded the diagram and the map and hid them under the mattress on the cot before going to the door and stepping out into the hallway, then walking slowly to the end and starting down the steps, setting each hoof with a deliberate precision. But even with all her skill and care at moving quietly, she couldn’t keep the occasional board from creaking under her hooves. She arrived at the last step to find the lobby empty. The old man and the boy were nowhere to be seen, although the old man at least was probably asleep behind the curtain. She continued to be cautious about not making noise as she made her way outside.

The chill of the night air soaked through her fur and to her skin. It still amazed her that such an arid desert climate could get so cold at night. The streets were silent and empty now, the cafe probably having closed a few hours ago. There was very little light, indicating that it was a rare cloudy day with a heavy overcast sky, making it very dark by non-thestral standards Only the slightest of light penetrated through the scud, painting the clouds a volcanic ash like gray. But Ice could see just fine with the small amount of light that was available. There were street lamps lining the sides of the road, but none of them were lit. Electricity was probably a luxury around here and the outdoor lights were turned off after the cafe closed. Despite the silence, Ice remained vigilant, also tuning into her ability to sense thermal radiation. A very small thermal signature was coming from her left. Far too small to be a human. It was only a rat digging through a pile of refuse.

She turned on the street Duncan had indicated on his map and continued walking, then turned down another street a few minutes later. Shortly after, she turned again, taking the roundabout route he had given her. To her left loomed a burned out building that still smelled of smoke and charred wood. Only a large chimney remained standing, connected to what appeared to be a furnace and an anvil inside the building. The place had probably been a blacksmith’s shop. Next to that building was another one that had completely collapsed into a pile of rubble. To her right, a building with a collapsed roof. A battle had recently happened here, she realized with a shudder. Her mind fought with her, trying desperately to launch itself into another flashback of their raid on the compound and the loss of her wings. She fought back with all of her willpower, telling herself that if she lost it now, she’d blow the mission, the girl would remain captive and continue to be abused every night, and she’d blow her case as well. Slowly, her mind yielded to her will and the urge to tumble into a flashback faded.

Suddenly, she realized the buildings were completely gone and the road had disappeared altogether. Now, she was just walking on gray hilly sand filled with dips and dunes. Her hooves sank slightly into the surface. She cursed herself for losing situational awareness while she had fought the flashback. She hadn’t even been aware of leaving the limits of the town. She shook her head. There’d be time to chastise herself later. For now, she had to focus on the mission.

With no shelter from the village buildings, the wind tumbled off the dunes, throwing the gritty grains of sand into her face. She winced, then opened her saddlebag and pulled out the scarf she had brought, tying it around her muzzle to protect her nose and mouth, leaving only her eyes uncovered. The other scarf, she wrapped around her head, making sure to tuck her midnight blue mane under it, leaving no strands free. She also took off the blue saddle pad she was wearing and replaced it with the black one she had packed in the saddlebag. She wanted to put on the black tail sleeve as well, but with a growing sense of embarrassment, she realized she was going to have to ask Duncan to put it on for her. There was a tool for putting the things on yourself, but she so rarely wore tail wraps that she had forgotten to pack it. Her eyes started to water as the occasional grain of sand stung them. But once again, she was trained for this kind of thing, and she was able to ignore the discomfort. Besides, there was something else that bothered her a lot more about being out there than getting sandblasted. She was terribly exposed. Someone could be hiding behind any one of those dunes. Despite her exceptional night vision, she couldn’t see through solid objects. Nor could her thermal senses see through them. Logically, she knew there was likely no one hiding out here waiting to pick off unwary travelers. After all, there wouldn’t normally be any travelers to pick off this late at night. But the thought still unnerved her a bit.

She crested a dune. The compound loomed in the distance. It was larger than most of the homes in the village, no doubt indicating the police chief’s higher status and greater wealth (although Ice suspected much of that wealth had been accumulated through corrupt means. What else could she assume from someone who was allegedly keeping a child as a legal sex slave?) Fortunately, most of its size was up instead of out. That meant there probably weren’t many rooms in the second level, and it wouldn’t take her long to find the one the girl was in. The windows in the building actually had glass panes in them, which had been a very rare sight among the dwellings of the poorer villagers. But the walls were still made of the same mudbrick construction that was common for the area. The roof also wasn’t made of tin, and was covered in genuine tar shingles. There were no lights on, but she could see the two guards standing by the door, as well as sense their thermal radiation. Ice was exposed on top of the Dune, but she had no fears that the guards could see her from this far away, so she took a few moments to observe them. They were carrying AK-47 rifles, but other than that, appeared to be unarmed. To the left and rear of the house, she could see the copse of trees that Duncan said he would be hiding in. The copse was nearly a perfect square, clearly an artificially planted oasis. She dropped back below the dune and circled wide to the left, making sure to stay far enough out that the guards would not be able to see her in the dark. She moved like a shadow, making no sound as she approached the trees from the end furthest from the building. She scanned deep into the copse, looking for Duncan. There he was. She couldn’t see him through the trees, but she could zero in on his thermal radiation like a vampire bat zeroing in on its next meal. She smiled. She might not have wings anymore, but her ability to track thermal radiation sources was completely intact.

Moving like a ghost, she entered the copse, keeping her eyes locked on the exact point where her thermal sense told her that Duncan was hiding. She moved each hoof forward slowly, setting them down very lightly. Whenever she felt a stick or other potential source of noise under her light touch, she would move her hoof and try again. In this way, she moved through the copse like a phantom. The truth was, she probably could have charged through the copse like an angry rhino and the guards at the compound wouldn’t have been able to hear her over the noise the wind was making through the trees. But she didn’t want to take any chances, nor did she want to frighten Duncan.

A few steps later, her night vision spotted Duncan. He was crouched by a thick tangle of bushes, covered in black, including his head. She suppressed a chuckle. He looked like a ninja out of some low-budget Hollywood martial arts flick. But despite his humorous appearance, his dark colored garb was effective. No one other than a thestral like herself, a unicorn with a life detect spell, or another human with an infrared camera would have been able to spot him. Besides, with the black saddle pad and scarf covering everything but her eyes, she probably looked as ridiculous as he did, she realized with a tinge of embarrassment. Duncan hadn’t moved and appeared to be unaware that she was there. She took a few more steps before stopping and whispering quietly.

“Duncan, it’s Ice.”

He jumped slightly, a brief burst of fear flowing from his scent, but he got it under control almost as soon as it had happened.

“Wow, you really did find me.”

“I told you I would,” she said, feeling smug and giving him a fanged grin to match it. Yeah, she still had it. Although Duncan hadn’t been able to see her smug grin through the scarf, she realized with disappointment. Duncan only nodded slightly.

“No offense, but you look ridiculous,” he said to her.

“No offense, but I was thinking the same thing about you,” she responded, bearing her fangs again despite the fact that he couldn’t see them.

“You remember the plan?” he asked.

“Of course I do.”

“Alright … Let’s do this, then. Remember, cover your ears after you give me the signal. Even from behind the building, the blast from the M-84 might leave your hearing temporarily reduced if you don’t cover your ears.”

She frowned under her scarf, flicked her tail once in a fidgety way, then swallowed her pride.

“Duncan?”

“Yes?”

“I need you to put the tail wrap on for me.” She felt dirty saying it, as if she’d just volunteered to star in a cheap porn shoot. Although she’d been able to swallow her pride, it wasn’t nearly as easy for her to swallow her distaste of letting a human touch her there.

“What?” Duncan asked. She could see his raised eyebrow behind his mask.

“It’s a black sleeve that covers my tail like the scarf covers my mane. That way if I get spotted, no one will be able to tell what color my mane and tail are.” She reached into her saddlebag and pulled the tail wrap out with her mouth, then held it out in front of him. He looked at it as if it were on fire, or as if he thought the long tube of nylon might suddenly turn into a cobra and bite him. After a few seconds during which he made no move to reach for it, she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Would you just take it and do it?” she asked with annoyance.

Reluctantly, he reached out and took it, he change in his scent telling her he was as uncomfortable as she was with the whole thing. She turned around so her tail was facing him. He slowly reached out towards her as if he thought her tail might rear up and bite him. Then, he carefully took the end and started to feed it into the sleeve, saying nothing. Ice gritted her teeth, but was unable to resist the urge to turn her head over her shoulder.

“Touch anything other than my tail and one of my rear hooves is gonna be in your face,” she hissed.

“You think this is any less awkward for me than it is for you? You want me to put it on or not?”

She nodded slowly, then turned her head forward again, deciding she’d rather not watch, although she could still see him in her peripheral vision. He fumbled with the tail wrap a few times, dropping it once, acting as if he were trying to hold onto a bar of slippery, wet soap. Slowly, he threaded her tail into the tube, working as if he were trying to disarm a bomb that might go off in his face if he made even the slightest wrong move. As he got closer to the base of her tail, he moved even more carefully. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was probably no more than a minute, he had worked the entire wrap onto her tail. He raised the zipper, and closed the button at the base, securing it. Then he pulled his hands away and let out a sigh of relief, as if he’d just been allowed to remove his hands from a bucket of steaming water that someone had forced him to hold them in. Ice flicked her tail to her side, looking behind her now, making sure the whole thing was covered and none of the blue strands were visible.

“Nice job,” she said, feeling her own sense of relief. In retrospect, the whole tail-wrapping ordeal had not been nearly as bad as either one of them had made it out to be. She felt a bit silly about getting so worked up over the whole thing.

“Thanks … Anyway, you look good. With the long saddle pad, the scarves covering your muzzle and mane, and the tail-wrap, even I wouldn’t recognize you despite having already seen you.” He seemed to have recovered his composure and the uncomfortable embarrassment that had entered his scent was gone. That was good. He’d need all the self-control he could muster in a few minutes.

“At least you won’t have to worry about taking it off, huh?” she said with a lighthearted note. Then, she took on a serious tone again. “Alright. You got the flashlight? Let’s do it.”

Duncan reached into his toolbox and took out a black flashlight, placing it inside her saddlebag and making sure it would be easy for her to get at when she needed it. Then, Ice crept slowly, working her way through the copse and to the back of the building … Next Chapter: XIII Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 4 Minutes