The forest grew thick and grim around them over the coming days of travel, bringing a pall over the party’s morale. Old Man Horse was perhaps most affected by the increased gloom after the open plains—with Lily having to get down from her bench and encouraging him every now and then with apples, comforting pats, or compliments, depending on what he needed most.

They had only been in the forested region proper for a few days on their journey all the way to the lakeside town of Lilypad, but during that time, it became apparent that this rough section of the road was both more difficult to traverse and full of creatures that needed dealing with.

The bumps—as the group had agreed to call these things—that Dottie had encountered near the outskirts of the region were no fluke. In fact, the traveling troupe’s guard had needed to sweep away no fewer than six packs so far. Some were just a traveling duo or trio, and some groups were as big as six or seven in number. They were still just as harmless as before, due to their slow approach and lack of any form of attack, but their increasing numbers caused everyone some level of alarm as they went on their way.

Old Man Horse was the most affected by the closed-in, shadowy environment the most, and it made him take on a slower, uneasy pace. But it was also having a strange effect on the rest of his companions. Lily became more curt and observant, focusing more on Old Man Horse than the others, for example. Then there was the guard Dottie, who became both more energized and more manic. She was now always either patrolling on foot around the wagon or keeping watch from atop the wagon. The inventor, Jefferson, meanwhile, withdrew as he heard that these mysterious bumps kept appearing and didn’t speak up nearly as much, claiming that he had much planning and thinking to do.

“Hey, Guard,” Lily called out when Old Man Horse came to a stop all of a sudden. “We got more ahead.”

“I see them,” Dottie said, hopping off the wagon with her garden rake in hand. “This is the biggest group yet. What is that, a dozen?”

“Well, sweep them aside, so we can keep moving. I’m pretty sure we’re falling behind schedule,” Lily complained, waving Dottie onward and then directing her next comment to the horse. “Not that it’s your fault, of course, you sweetie pie. You’re doing your best considering how many of these weird insect beetle things keep blocking our way.”

“The bumps. And I don’t think they’re beetles,” Dottie said, her voice muffled in the collar of her coat as she walked ahead and took note of the beings that had appeared from the forest on the southern side of the road.

The shuffling masses of bumps met her with the steady forward movement with which she had become familiar. Having dealt with this before several times now, she went ahead and began moving the front half of the group around before flipping them each upside-down with her rake. When turned over, each bump just displayed a flat, dotted, undulating surface that was altogether harmless. They also became incapable of turning themselves upright, which was the reason for this strategy.

Dottie had just finished flipping a third bump off to the left of the road, under a low-branched tree, when the predictable nature of the encounter changed. She had just turned to look at how close the next bump was when her eyes widened and took in two new fungus-covered creatures that came up to her waist, both of whom were trotting toward her at speed.

“Agh!” Dottie yelled, throwing up the long handle of the rake in front of her and holding it between her hands. She was looking at creatures that looked like elongated versions of the bumps she was used to. But these creatures also had four wide, bendy-looking legs along with a bulbous head-type feature at the front. “What are you supposed to be?!”