Read Online Puss in Boots (Timeless Fairy Tales Book 6) by K. M. Shea - Free Book Online

up straight and let her legs hang down. “This is pretty fun,” she said. Even though she was only a few heads higher, everything seemed farther away, and she felt tall and adventurous.
    “Indeed. At some point, we shall obtain an equine for you,” Puss said, gazing out at the countryside like a king surveying his kingdom.
    “A horse requires feed, visits to the blacksmith, and tack. I thought you meant for us to travel without coin?”
    “Perhaps you are right. We will wait until you acquire land to make such a purchase.”
    “What?”
    “Nothing. How far is Wied from your village?”
    “It shouldn’t be too much farther. It strikes me as rather odd that the bandits camped so close to the village they ransacked.”
    “I imagine they didn’t expect to run into anyone able to counter them so soon after the raiding. You said yourself that it takes time for the crown to dispatch soldiers and help.”
    “I guess,” Gabrielle said. “So are you going to pretend you can’t talk?”
    “In Wied? Why would I do that?”
    “For secrecy?”
    “You are being a clodpoll, Gabrielle. Low will be the day that I pose as a less intelligent being. Besides, you cannot expect the villagers to believe that an outrageously handsome cat with no special powers and one slip of a girl took on nine bandits.”
    Gabrielle hugged the horse’s neck to shift and slid a little. “I should have expected your ego would never allow your good deeds to go unnoticed.”
    “Hmph,” Puss said.
    The two didn’t speak again until they paraded up to Wied.
    Gabrielle’s estimation of the situation was correct. The reek of ash and cinders reached them before they could see any of the buildings, and plumes of smoke hovered in anxious clouds. When they rode closer, she could see that four stores had been burned, a number of doors were smashed or missing, and debris and ruined goods littered the street.
    When Puss, Gabrielle, and their parade of animals trooped into the village, everyone stopped to stare.
    They ended their animal procession the middle of the village, and a small crowd assembled around them.
    Gabrielle shifted, uncomfortable with the attention and fixed stares. “I brought back your animals,” she said to her audience.
    “I brought back your animals? Is that the best you can do?” Puss hissed before he leaped to sit on an ox’s broad back, scattering the chickens. “I beg your pardon, kind townsfolk, for my beautiful mistress is too humble to continue. I, Roland Archibald Whisperpaws the Fifth, shall explain matters plainly to you. My mistress—the dazzlingly beautiful Lady Gabrielle—and I encountered a group of the most dastardly bandits. Using my magic and the cunning of my mistress, we outsmarted the fiends and found their treasure trove. As my mistress has a generous, giving heart, we thought to return your plundered goods to aid you brave and valiant villagers of Wied. We bring you your animals, your treasures, and word of the deviants who have wreaked such villainy upon you.”
    All was quiet for a moment, with the exception of the chickens who clucked and scratched in the ground. After several tense moments, the villagers broke into applause, startling their animals and filling the air with joyful cheers.
    Gabrielle almost fell off the horse’s back as he danced a few steps and tossed his head. She was clinging to his neck when Puss jumped back on the gelding.
    “And I didn’t even use the word hero,” he said, sounding smug.
    “That’s because we’re not heroes,” Gabrielle said.
    The villagers surged forward, reclaiming their animals and items with big smiles and hearty laughter. None of them blinked twice at a talking cat, nor did they seem to notice her great beauty. They were too overwhelmed and overjoyed.
    Gabrielle slipped awkwardly off her mount’s back, staggering a few steps. She brushed horse hair from her skirts and looked around, expecting the horse’s owner to step forward from the mass. She was