Tobais calmly surveyed the situation with his panoramic vision. He turned his body to face the leader directly, flared his nostrils and appeared ready to charge. But at the last minute, he took a few hurried steps backward, and unleashed a ferocious kick at the bandit trying to sneak up on them from behind, instantly cracking his skull and sending his body flying more than 100 feet away.
The remaining two bandits tried to rush them, but their weapons clanged uselessly to the ground as their hands fused into hooves. There was a cacophony of screams, shouts and shrieks punctuated with the ripping of fabric and the popping of bones, followed by bursts of hysterical braying as a pair of small brown donkeys scampered away in panic.
"Oh yeah! We make such an awesome team!" Mika hugged Tobias' neck a little too enthusiastically, causing him to neigh in surprise. Leaving Tobias a safe distance away, Mika dismounted, armed himself with a small knife and cautiously approached the boulder. Readying himself, he pounced forward.
To his surprise, behind the boulder lay a small boy no more than six or seven who had curled himself into a trembling ball. "Please no I don't wanna be a donkey, anything but a donkey, please please..."
"Keevin! Did you run away from home again?" Mika exclaimed with a mixture of relief and exasperation.
The ball uncurled into a tubby boy with a lumpish face and a shock of red hair. "I did not run away! They made me run, no I mean they kidnapped me, yes they kidnap... um how did you know my name?"
"You idiot! What you need is a big spanking!"
"How dare you! Know that you are in the presence of the grandson of the Archmage of Arlor! If you so much as touch a hair on me, my grandfather will turn you into a newt! Who do you think you are anyway?"
"I'm Mika." he signed and shook his head.
"Lying! Mika is my grandfather's apprentice, I know he's away on a quest, and besides he's a grown man, not a smelly stablebo... aaargh!" Keevin curled himself back into a ball as Tobias loomed over him, flaring his nostrils and baring his teeth.
After much explaining & cajoling, Mika finally bundled Keevin onto the saddle with himself, and they quickly covered the remaining distance to Arlor. With Keevin in tow, they moved rapidly & unopposed through the wizard's quarter, and were soon standing in the inner courtyard of the guild hall.
"Mommy I'm home!" Keevin shouted as he sprinted towards an ivy covered spiral staircase leading up to a brick tower. A window swung open and an enormous flaxen-haired lady leaned out. "My little baby! Oh my precious Keevi-Deevi where have you been? Darling, come let mummy kiss you.."
Mika cringed, and then stiffened as he caught sight of the Archmage approaching them from the corner of his eye. He was tall and frail, with aquamarine eyes, a craggy face framed by a salt-and-pepper mane, and wearing a dark velvet robe that shimmered faintly with iridescence. "Your Highness, it is my honor to welcome you to Arlor." he said in a gravelly voice as he bowed and restored them both to their original forms.
Mika's jaw dropped. Beside him stood a young, attractive lady clad in ocher leather armor and a crested breastplate. She had short amber hair fringed with streaks of white, and clear azure eyes that looked playful and mischievous on the surface, but seemed to also conceal a deep sadness within. She was about the same height as Mika and shared his lithe frame, but otherwise was all sinewy muscle and looked quite capable of extreme feats of agility. A bow and quiver of arrows slung on her back, and a waist belt groaned with a constellation of throwing stars, half-moon daggers and other improbably sharp objects.
"Princess Tobi, I trust that my idiot apprentice was not responsible for trapping you in that equine form?"
"Not at all." her voice was silvery and smooth like the wind on a moonlit night. "Mika is a great wizard," she paused as the Archmage skeptically raised an eyebrow. "He saved my life, and for that I'm eternally grateful."
Smiling warmly, she stepped forward and planted a kiss on Mika's cheek. He blushed furiously, turning a deep scarlet that spread all the way to the tip of his ears.