Guy was curious and looked down into the woman’s bag as she opened it. She was holding it in a way for him to see, after all. So no one could accuse him of being inappropriate this time. He jumped back when something leapt or fell from the bag.
“Milady, get back! It’s a rat!” He jumped in front of the woman and held his sword to the small creature that had fallen to the ground. “Has it bitten you?” Guy knew the dangers of rats. They carried diseases, terrible ones. One bite from the foul creature could be fatal. Plagues could be started, whole villages destroyed.
He kept his sword pointed at the rat and tried to move the woman out of the way. It was then that it occurred to him that this rat had barked. Or rather had attempted to. It had more yipped and whined than actual barking. What kind of sorcery merged a rat with a dog? This was definitely a strange and perhaps deadly place he was stuck in.
He didn’t trust the rat-dog not to be as dangerous as a regular rat, so Guy was not about to move his sword. He did not take his eyes off the creature when he leaned his head back slightly to speak to the harem girl. “Milady, is this …thing your pet? If not, give me but a word and I will run the cur through.”