Extraordinary Zoology by Howard Tayler

time we went out, I found myself wishing for some book or another that I didn’t have along with me, and it was always something I never suspected I’d need. So I started packing more and more books, until the professor joked about pillaging and told me I was carrying too much.”
    “I believe you still carry too much, but go on.”
    “Well, I pared back to the essential references, and then, on a whim, I decided that essentials-plus-three was a good compromise.” He held up the book of trollkin verse. “So these days I grab three books I haven’t read. If there’s time, I make a point of reading them so I don’t have to bring them along next time.”
    “Two more trips out and you won’t need to bring any books at all,” Edrea said.
    “Then I will take over the carrying of books,” said Kinik. “I love to carry books.” She held up her beaten, dog-eared copy of Viktor Pendrake’s Monsternomicon , open to the farrow entry. “I can carry more than you, friend Lynus. I can carry all of the books.”
    “That,” said Lynus wistfully, “would be traveling in style.”

    Edrea liked Horgash’s choice of a campsite. They were perched on a bluff with one sheer fifteen-foot face looking west over a creek. The trees here were farther apart, but they were among the biggest she’d seen yet, giants whose canopy arched densely overhead, starving the forest floor for light.
    Horgash and Pendrake walked the perimeter, gathering additional deadfall for a fire, earnestly discussing approaches and retreats in the event of trouble. Pendrake speared a sturdy stick into the sandy face of the bluff and hung a lantern there, ensuring they’d be able to see the mounts come nightfall.
    While Lynus and Kinik made camp and laid out dinner, Edrea walked Greta, Oathammer, and Aeshnyrr down to the creek where they could drink and munch on the lush growth. Aeshnyrr had picked up a deep scratch in her run through the underbrush, which Edrea treated and wrapped.
    Poor Codex , she thought. Such a noble creature. And such an ignoble end.
    Edrea gave Aeshnyrr a loving pat and climbed back up onto the bluff.
    “Again, it is dinner. And again, I do not smell bacon,” said Horgash, eyeing the spread of canned beans, corned beef, and hardtack.
    “You’d eat bacon at every meal, and then we’d have none to coax us out of bed come breakfast,” Lynus said.
    “Someone should have thought of that when provisioning this trip,” Horgash said. “A square five meals of bacon would, I am quite certain, help the healing along.” He made a show of rubbing the leg where he’d been wounded by Lynus’ misfire.
    “Is that still hurting?” Edrea asked. She treated Lynus to a conspiratorial wink. “I just treated Aeshnyrr with some ointment from the stables. It smells lovely.”
    Lynus grinned at Edrea and blushed. She liked his smile when he blushed.
    Horgash laughed. “No ointment! I already smell enough like a horse, and I’m not even riding one! I certainly don’t need to wear their perfume.” Everyone laughed at that. Horgash’s voice might be ruined, but he still had the skills of an entertainer.
    Lynus passed tins around and the conversation stopped as mouths filled with food. Horgash aptly demonstrated the legendary trollkin appetite, eating more than five times as much as Edrea, and then casting about in search of something else to consume. Even Kinik, a head taller and at least eighty pounds heavier, looked impressed. Or perhaps distressed.
    “I’m happy to take the third watch,” Pendrake offered. “I rise well enough in the morning, but at my age an interrupted night’s sleep just won’t do.”
    “This bullet hole,” said Horgash, rubbing the mended spot on his leggings, “should be all healed up tomorrow, assuming I get a full night’s sleep on this belly full of it-still-isn’t-bacon.” He cocked his heavy brow and looked across the waning firelight at Lynus. “I volunteer Lynus for the second watch.”
    Lynus