THIS IS A PRE-ORDER; ORDERS WILL GO OUT FEBRUARY 9th 2026

When your best friend insists that a legendary bell is “definitely, probably, maybe” in some random cave, you say no. When your friend starts showing symptoms of the plague you’re trying to cure, you grab your axe and pray the monsters are feeling friendly (hint: they’re not).

Before Theo ever set foot in the forest, three dwarves were already fighting for their people’s future.

Bells and Beasts is the short-story prequel following Bruni—herb-loving, sarcasm-wielding, hopelessly loyal dwarf—on a desperate mission into depths of the mountains. When a mysterious sickness begins sweeping through their homeland, Bruni joins his childhood friend Dorin and the steadfast (if slightly too blond) Hagarin in search of a legendary dwarven bell said to “ring with the heartbeat of the earth.”

But ancient legends rarely come easy.

What they find in the hidden caverns is no sacred relic… but something far older, angrier, and very much awake.

Packed with gruff banter, underground danger, found-family bonds, and the first clues to the mystery that drives Cookies and Claws, this prequel shows where the story began—long before a certain prince steps into the spotlight.