Sparrow cautiously tiptoed around the camp, hoping a surprise attack would make the rescue easier. The girl's paranoia rose as she continued to find the place to be quieter than a tomb. Provided there were no hollow men in said tomb. She suspected an ambush (not too unsurprising in her line of work, but irritating none the less), and prepared herself for the difficult battle that would inevitably occur in a minute or two, or perhaps a couple more steps to the left.
She sighed, almost nostalgically, when the predictable sound of sneaking footsteps crept up behind her. Sparrow pretended to not hear, hoping to surprise the attacker. As the sound got nearer, she thanked heavens that the prince wasn't there to screw things up, and waited for her golden opportunity.
Only it never came.
Instead, the rate of the footsteps suddenly jumped, and sounded suspiciously less human. Like the person had four legs instead of two.
Whoever it was was fast; Sparrow didn't have time to react (unusual in her case) before she was pushed face-first into the mud. It was through all this goop that she heard a familiar bark.
Successfully coating any remaining clean part of her clothing, the girl swiftly spun around to her back. A hairy face pressed itself to the girl's, and she smiled for the first time since her partner had gone missing.
Sparrow rubbed the dog all over as he just as enthusiastically returned the greeting by licking her face all over.
"Yuck, Chips! Why do you have blood all over your face? Did you give all those nasty hunters what they deserved?" The dog barked happily, and Sparrow praised the creature for its good work.
Looking up at the muddy and bloody creature, an idea sprouted, and Sparrow grinned.
"Hey, boy. I met this, uh, prince on the way here…"
No more than a few moments later, a girlish scream filled the humid air.
"That was not funny, you know," Reginald pouted later from his position on Sparrow's back. "And did you have to get covered in mud in there? You are grinding it into my clothing, and this is my most expensive coat!"
"Well, you'll just have to deal with it, won't you?"
Though it wasn't obvious to the prince, Sparrow's mood had gotten significantly better after finding her best friend. Her snarky replies became less snarky the closer they got to civilization, as she got closer to getting rid of the prince.
Finally, after much complaining and snarking, the two plus one dog made it to the pub. Sparrow dropped Reginald less than gracefully in a chair, glad the man was at last unable to whine directly into her ear. She stretched, and then began to head out.
"Wait, where are you going?" he called after her. "I, um, haven't thanked you properly!"
Sparrow rolled her eyes and stuck her head back into the pub.
"Calm down, O Lord of Complaints. I'm just getting a potion to heal your leg. I'll be right back."
"Right back" turned out to be several hours. For Sparrow, those hours were fantastic. She got to go talk to people she hadn't seen in a while, and managed to play with her dog without having to lug around that sack of expensive complaining potatoes. For Prince Reginald, the hours were less than pleasant. Despite the "brave front" he put up, as he liked to call it, he couldn't stand being stranded in such a cheap place. Happy hour didn't make the situation any better.
Eventually - when Sparrow was good and ready - she returned with the potion. Reginald was overjoyed, to put it mildly. In a matter of minutes, the man's leg was healed, and Sparrow was finally free. She hoped.
"Oh, my poor leg," he sighed, stroking it and wiggling his toes. "Don't worry, you're all better now. The nice lady fixed you." Sparrow turned away to order a drink and then proceeded to wipe her memory of what she had just seen.
The night began to fall, and Sparrow became increasingly more drunk. At the time she enjoyed herself immensely, and so did the people in the pub. In the morning, however, she found that her night had also included a letter, and agreeing to help Prince Reginald become an actual prince for his dear darling mummy.
As if the hangover wasn't bad enough.