 Miriam squeaked when Mortimer nuzzled at her dress, taken a little by surprise. Tristan could tell by her body language that she wasn’t very sure about what to make of an animated skeleton horse. She probably smelled of vegetables from the kitchen...did skeletons eat? Wouldn’t the food just fall out onto the floor? He made a mental note to ask Torram at a later date. He didn’t think it was the kind of conversation Miriam would appreciate. He was saved from having to say anything more when an owl swooped in through one of the doorways and landed on Torram’s shoulder. Tristan was used to bird familiars, both his father and his aunt often marched around with them on their shoulders so the bird’s piercing stare wasn’t too disconcerting.
“It’s nice to meet you” he said politely to the familiar with a nod, “Min, was it?”
First things first Tristan needed his own familiar. He knew he was in the stable block somewhere as they had entered together. Where on earth could a giant green dog hide in such a small building? The prince caught site of Celidon’s green tail poking out of a pile of hay at the far end of the block and rolled his eyes. He placed his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and whistled loudly. Miriam squealed again as Celdion suddenly jumped up, emerging from the hay like some monster creeping out of a swamp. Lengths of dried grass and seeds clung to his long coarse fur, and he shook himself vigorously causing all the debris to rain down upon everyone in the vercinity.
“Thanks, Cel,” Tristan smiled, pulling hay out of his hair and brushing it off his clothes as the cu-sith looked at them all sheepishly.
“So,” the prince began rubbing his hands together and crouching down on the floor. He grabbed hold of a nearby broom and began to draw out a very rough map of the stable yard in the dust on the floor with its handle. “We’ve got the three of us, a skeleton horse, an owl and a giant green dog...The stable master’s office is here” Tristan drew a little lopsided cross in the correct place, “the tack room where the grooms are is here,” he marked it was a star, “and the way to the kitchens is here.” Finishing drawing the circle to indicate the doorway Tristan looked between Torram and Miriam with a thoughtful expression.
“Has anyone got any ideas?” he asked, leaning casually against the broom as he stared down at the diagram visualising the actual thing in his mind. “The most obvious thing seems to be to close and lock the doors...but that depends on everyone being where they’re supposed to be, and the stable master’s office has a window which we’d need to take care of...” Tristan fell silent, still frowning...and then after a pause he looked up at Min.
“Are you up for a scouting mission?” he asked her respectfully, “you could let us know where everyone was. Stable master, grooms and guards.”
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