Li Mei ran until her feet were torn to bloody shreds, until her lungs threatened to burst from her chest and her throat burned from trying to drag in enough air. Bao kept pace a few steps ahead, tongue lolling from his panting mouth, spindly legs scrambling to kick aside tangled undergrowth and clear the way for his gasping human friend.

Roars and shrieks filled the forest. Trees as big as skyscrapers blocked most of the sun with vast canopies while bushes bearing thorns like swords ripped at the flesh of the fleeing pair as they passed. Many trees had exposed networks of roots crawling with entire ecosystems, clusters of glowing eyes blinking at them from behind curtains of moss.

Gritting her teeth, Li Mei dived into one such root network through a wall of flowering vines. "This way, Bao!"

The horse skidded to a halt, hesitated, then jumped in after her. Both of them crawled deeper into the roots, mindless of biting insects and hissing creatures scurrying into the shadows, until they hit a chunk of wood they couldn't find a way around. Li Mei turned to look for another route and froze in place, eyes wide.

Enormous curved claws ripped into the tangled mass of roots, sending a shower of splintered wood and bark into the air behind the furiously digging creature. But no matter how the hulking scaled behemoth snarled in rage, it could not dig deep enough to reach its hiding prey.

It let out a disappointed snarl, exhaling sharply through slit nostrils. Huge silver eyes fixed their predatory gaze on a fearful pair of mauve ones watching it from the shadows. As though to mock its prey, the giant lizard licked its chops with a forked tongue before slinking away through the undergrowth.

Li Mei coughed and gasped for breath, her entire body trembling in pain and fatigue. She pulled a thermos and bowl out of storage, pouring water into the bowl for Bao before she sipped at the rest. The poor horse collapsed next to her, barely mustering the strength required to drink.

"Storage... stores items... In stasis. I thought for a... a moment we shrank, but... the stuff in storage is the same size so... so the forest is just huge?" Li Mei muttered to herself between deep breaths of sweet, sweet air. "I don't think it would... shrink items... along with me. Probably? Maybe it did... And it has to still be the estate... because of my Enslavement Bind thing... Man, what is going on?"

She felt sick. Stomach churning, muscles aching, face warm. Her poor feet were a disgusting bloody mess with no sign of the makeshift bandages she used to wrap them earlier. Every injury throbbed with intense pain, like thousands of needles stabbing down to bone. A strange static feeling wrapped her lungs and made inhalation difficult.

She set her thermos aside, unable to stand drinking any more water that tasted strangely sweet on her tongue. Several notifications popped up, but it was getting harder and harder to focus. Her eyes didn't recognize written characters anymore.

"Bao, I... I don't... Feel..." Li Mei's lips trembled, blood draining from her face. The forest spun again, eyes rolling back as she fell unconscious.

The exhausted little horse was greatly alarmed. When she didn't respond to his frantic nudgings, Bao exhaled sharply. His adorable fuzzy expression changed to something a bit more cunning.

Li Mei knew Bao was clever, he learned his name right away and responded to her words. What she didn't know was Elysium horses in general possessed intelligence comparable to humans - their chirping noises and body language were all part of an intricate language. They had their own pride, opinions, and even desires. To obtain an entire herd for his estate, Adalrich Agilo had to pay a hefty price and negotiate some very good conditions for them.

Bao nudged Li Mei until she was laying against the chunk of wood that initially trapped them, using his muzzle to manipulate her limbs into a comfortable position. Then he drank some of the water in the bowl and got slowly to his feet.

His glorious blanket cape was lost in their frantic escape through the forest, so he had to make do with something else. The forest was full of ferns, he didn't have to wander far to obtain some choice fronds. Once Li Mei was covered with a warm layer of greenery, Bao left to harvest some very important ingredients.

He took several trips, piling various herbs and flowers and plant roots until they dominated the small hiding space. By the time he finished a few hours later, Li Mei managed only to curl up like a shrimp under the pile of fronds. She hadn't moved otherwise.

Bao cleared out an area big enough for both of them to stand comfortably. Roots and biting insects were shredded by sharp claws, while moss and vines were moved aside and rearranged. He started picking herbs and flowers from the pile, crushing them with his feet. Pulp was smeared on roots around them by surprisingly dextrous claws, then worked into the loam.

Protected by the network of roots overhead, the dirt at the base of the tree was spongy and soft like a comfortable mattress. Unfortunately that made it easy for insects and burrowing creatures to tunnel through, so Bao paid special attention to it. He gently rolled Li Mei with his muzzle to get at the dirt beneath her body, adding extra herbal pulp to that spot in particular.

Small blue flowers were carefully plucked of their heart-shaped petals, which Bao scattered in the dirt just outside their shelter. Using the rest of the water in the bowl and various different roots, he mashed up a gross lumpy paste with a brilliantly rancid smell.

The giant lizard that hunted them shredded several tree roots into splinters with its sharp claws. Bao spent a few hours using them to build a makeshift wall - large pieces were arranged into slanted angles, while smaller shards were mixed with the rancid paste as mortar to fill in gaps. Moss, ferns, vines, and leaves were piled up on the outside of the wall to make it look less suspicious, also serving to cover the only exit with a curtain of greenery.

Once his job was done, Bao laid down between Li Mei and the shelter's exit. Her body radiated heat, lips cracked and bleeding even as sweat dripped down her brow. Bao manipulated the thermos with his claws and tongue to periodically give her sips of water. He knew as much about the care of humans as she did of horses, but creatures needing plenty of water to stay hydrated was a universal truth.

Between blistered and bleeding feet developing an infection, various insect bites sustained as they fled from the lizard into the roots, and injuries from the thorny bushes during the initial escape, her poor little body couldn't take anymore. Li Mei tossed and turned for three days and nights, her small body tormented by fever. Bao stayed by her side, his fluffy tail draped over her feet, keeping watch for anything vicious that might sniff them out.

When she ran out of water, he took the thermos in his mouth and sniffed out a spring for a refill. Leaving her alone for any length of time made him nervous, but the sick human needed hydration! He moved as quickly as he dared without alerting predators to his presence, sneaking from bush to bush on his journey to and from the water source. Bao also crushed different herbs every few hours and dropped them on her healing wounds to fight the raging infection.

Li Mei awoke on the fourth day to her stomach growling loud enough to wake Bao from a deep slumber. The horse rolled over in surprise, kicking his legs into the air to attack the invisible enemy. She chuckled softly, wincing when it made her head throb.

Her eyes took in the crude makeshift wall, the wilted frond blanket, and a weird pasty residue on her feet. Li Mei glanced at Bao, who rolled back over and laid his head on her lap while his tail wagged. Fuzzy memories drifted across her consciousness, brief moments of watching the horse busy himself around their new shelter. "Did you... Really do all this?"

His tail wagged harder, the expression on his face clearly waiting to be praised. Li Mei grinned and smushed his cheeks with her palms. "What a good, clever boy you are!"