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Plum in.... The Snow Demons of Winter GreatBritainBill (DeadCerberus) https://www.furaffinity.net/user/greatbritainbill/

"There is a chill in the air Emi, the Snow Demons will be upon us soon, and I'm not sure that I alone can defend the village." "Yeah! My winter coat is coming in! Just feel how soft and fluffy my tail is getting!"

Plum turned from where she was observing the lone mountain of Griffinglen Island in the distance, dusting's of snow already starting to cover its peak.

The tiny, purple kobold couldn't help but shake her tail in irritation at her friend, sending the bells that she always kept tied there clanging. With a puff of her cheeks she squeaked out "Is your tail fluffy enough to protect you against the snow demons?! If they aren't warded off then the entire town will be buried forever in eternal winter!"

"That's what you said last year and we barely got a dusting." The little fox was to busy smoothing out her white and pink dress, ruffled from the climb up the hill just outside of town, to even look at Plum. "I barely got to use my new boots at all, and daddy worked really hard on them!"

"Whu-well" Plum was never very good at arguing with Emi, she always seemed to win. "That was because, uh, me and Peaches managed to fight them off last year. But Peaches got injured the other day, after we came back from slaying the ghouls of the dead forest, and now she can't help me. How is a knight supposed to go into battle without their trusty squire?"

"My mom is teaching me how to sew, isn't yours?" Emi always liked to rub her face in things she didn't know. "Why don't you just stitch that rip back up?"

"Well, ugh, yeah. Of course I know how to sew!" Plum was real glad Kobolds didn't sweat or blush right now. "But I'm not a healer, I don't know to sew up a wound. A-and you don't either! So while Peaches is healing we have to find another solution! Isn't that right Peaches?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm in total agony. Oh, the pain! I'm not sure I can go on." The lanky Owlbear swooned to the ground clutching the arm where she had gotten cut and that was currently wrapped up in every rag Plum could grab before her mom noticed.

"Hmmph" Emi was giving her that look again, the scrunched up one. "Well I'm not going out to fight anything! What if I get my dress dirty? Momma will tan my fur!" "It's OK damsel! The great knight Plum always has a plan!" The little kobold was finally back in her element, Emi just rolled her eyes. " If even my prog-prodigious physical might can't defeat them then we must call on a different power. The Dark Arts!"

Emi was pretty used to Plum's exclamations at this point but this one really turned her head. "What are you talking about?"

"The Dark Arts! We have to construct a magical ward to keep the Snow Demons away!" Plum had quickly started walking down the hill, back toward Griffinglen. "The only question is if I can make the ward in time."

Emi stumbled to keep up with her, grabbing Peaches up in her arms as she went by. Plum was always forgetting her all over. "First, you're being dumb again. Second, since when did you know anything about magic? Even if she's a kobold too there's no way Miss Trillium would ever teach you any of that."

"You're right! No matter how many times I've asked her she hasn't taught me anything, except what berries not to eat, and other dumb stuff like that. She just keeps saying stuff like 'shouldn't you be helping your mother' or 'please stop stepping on my herbs' or 'where did you get that knife!?' and keeps hiding the good stuff from me! Lucky for all of us I'm so smart that I came up with this magic ritual on my own!"

"I don't think you understand what lucky means." Emi brusquely shoved the doll back in Plum's arms, who barely seemed to notice. "But what are you going to do?"

They were almost back to the village now, weaving between the rough log cabins that dotted the outskirts, toward the older whitewashed buildings that made up thew towns core. The majority of the towns roughly 1000 inhabitants were Vulpines like Emi but there were a fair number of humans from the mainland and, of course, a smattering of odd ducks like Plum.

"Well first I need to gather supplies. I've already got most of what I need but there's one thing I'm having trouble finding." Plum went silent then, and remained uncharacteristically so as they continued to weave their way through town, sometimes even jumping right through groups of residents talking. Finally, as they were closing in on the other side of town Emi gave in and let Plum have what she wanted.

"Uhhh, so what is the last thing you need?"

"I'm glad you asked! As any mage knows the one thing that every ritual needs is... Candles!"

"Candles. The thing you need but haven't found yet are candles. The things that everyone has in their houses? Those candles?" Plum was really setting a record for the number of times she was making Emi sigh today.

"Oh poor, pure Emi. Of course you wouldn't know anything about the Dark Arts! Not just any candles will do, they have to be special candles."

"Special."

"Yeah, special. They've got to be ummmm, well it's some big word, I forget. But they can't just be regular. So I was going to go out to Andriy's farm and collect some beeswax. I figure some fresh wax will make the right kind of candles."

Emi had to stop at that proclamation, simultaneously reaching out her hand to grab Plum's tail and pull her to a stop. "You're just going to get stung all over again! And I'm not dragging you back home again!"

"Last time was different, I was going after the honey not the wax, the bee's shouldn't bother me this time. Sides, it was Peaches fault with the honey. You know she can't get enough of the stuff."

"It's true, it's my bear heritage." Peaches managed to look very smug and entirely unapologetic.

"That's what you always say, but do you think the bee's will know that you want the wax instead of their honey? Besides, you don't even know how to make candles right. I've seen you try and they always come out lumpy and sideways."

"Well, hmmm, you'll help me right?

"Ewww,gross!" Emi physically recoiled at that suggestion. "No way am I picking wax out of my fur for days"

"Oh, come ooooooooon. You have to help me."

"No, no, no, no, no, no. Not happening. No!" Emi was really channelling her mother now with her tiny hands on tiny hips. "Ok, maybe there is something else you can use. You know who has special candles?"

Plum was clinging to her arm now, shaking her head back and forth.

"Trillium. She's got all those special candles that she puts out all over the sanctuary, don't she?"

Plum's eyes went wide at that proclamation. "Oh she does, she does! And I bet they're all magic and stuff!"

Plum was already tearing off toward the sanctuary, with Emi struggling to keep up on her slightly shorter legs. By the time they got near to the old, ivy covered sanctuary she was gasping for breath but Plum, as ever, seemed inexhaustible.

"Ok, so here's what I think. There's no way Miss Trillium would ever let me have some of those candles right?"

"Yeah, cause your dumb"

"Cause she's afraid of my great power! So, this is going to require a sneaky mission." Plum tried to pull Emi down into a bush near the sanctuary, but she wasn't having it.

"Are you sure about that? Besides, since when do you know how to be quiet?"

"I'm a master of many skills! Besides I'll have Peaches helping me. Now, I need you to stay here and stand guard. Can't have anyone sneaking up on me." Plum didn't even wait for a response before she started creeping toward the sanctuary. Emi just brushed off a bit of grass and stood back to watch the chaos.

While she would never admit it out loud Plum did know that stealth was never her forte. Her colouration and general 'run around while yelling' method of acting didn't really help matters. But that didn't matter, she had a plan.

"Squire Peaches, are you ready?"

"I don't know sir, my wound is still pretty fresh, not sure I can go on."

"Hmmm, then we may have to move on to plan D." The two quickly fell silent as their target came into sight. Trillium was possibly the only other kobold on the island and couldn't have been further removed from Plum if she had been all the way in the capitol, at Diminiwren. The first time Plum had seen her she had been crying over a butterfly she had accidentally hit with her tail, while Plum was covered in hornet stings and guts from agitating a hive of them.

She had stepped out of the sanctuary to tend to her herb garden, careful to avoid stepping on a single sprig or staining her cherry blossom robes (Plum didn't know what a cherry blossom was and when she had asked Trillium about them she hadn't told her if they were tasty or not).

"Alright squire, this is our chance. Now there is a the possibility that you may not come back alive from this operation but it is of utmost importance that we succeed. Our fight against the Snow Demons demands it!"

"Wait, what are youuuaaahhhhhh!"

"I believe in you!" Plum yelled as she chucked Peaches at Trillium's face, before turning and spiriting round the corner to pilfer the sanctuary's supply cupboard. She could still hear Miss Trilliums gentle exclamation of surprise as she went.

"Oh, I never... were did you come....Peaches? Plum? Plum! Where are you? What are you doing child?" Trillium was still not used to that child antics. She tried to educate her, along with the other island children but despite being the same species there seemed to be no connection. That child was just out of control!

"She must be around here somewhere, who else would throw her doll at me?" Trillium started turning the old Owlbear doll around in her claws. " Ugh, I see she has not been taking care of you again Peaches. Well let's get that seam looked at, and when she comes to get you she's going to get such a talking to!" The sanctuary door slammed behind her as Plum snuck back around the side. Mission successful.

"So what the heck is this supposed to do?" It was late in the evening by now, Eri and Plum having snuck off after dinner to a small hill just outside of town. Peaches had tragically been lost in the line of duty and was now held prisoner by the sinister priestess of the sanctuary. It would require a daring raid to free her without being subject the most potent form of torture of all. The heartfelt lecture.

" I said already, this is whats going to ward off the Snow Demons this year!"

"Right, this..."

To call what Emi was looking at nonsensical would be giving Plum a bit too much credit. Randomly drawn patterns in the dirt, over a dozen of Miss Trillium's good candles placed in a 'very' loose circle, and a single lone sledge sitting in the middle of it all, dragged out of storage early.

"It will work, all that remains is the final incantation and we will be safe all winter!"

At that Plum began the most bizarre... dance? That Emi had ever seen.

Twist, bow, spin, jump, crouch, spin, jump again, and.... pose. "Snow, Snow" Plum squeaked out in her usual tone, "High and low! Wherever we go! Do not blow! To and fro! Hi-De-Do! Snow, Snow, Snow!"

"Ummmmm" This was really a new... high(?) for Plum Emi guessed.

"Well. That's it." Plum suddenly broke her pose and began walking back toward the village without even a backward glance. "Our village is safe from disaster for another season!"

Emi raced around putting out all the candles before she followed. Safe from weather maybe, but never from Plum.

And as the two got back to their houses and received their scoldings for staying out past dark, the first snowflake of the season began to lazily drift down from the mountains.