“Be safe,” Lance said, as Justin, Chris, Josh, Willow, and AJ prepared to leave early the next morning. “May the gods travel with you and protect you in your journeys.”"If we’re not back in a month,” Justin told him, “don’t bother to come searching for us.”
Lance paled slightly, looking at Josh. The thought of them never returning hadn’t crossed his mind. “What should we do if you don’t return?” His question was directed to Josh, since Josh was king and Lace his advisor, and Lance would have to deal with the kingdom if Josh didn’t return.
“Find someone to take my spot as king,” Josh said. “I would say you should do it, but I know you wouldn’t want to, so try to find someone else who would make a good king. Or maybe a queen.”
“No one will like it,” Lance warned.
“It’s only if we don’t come back, and I’m planning on returning,” Josh said.
“We’ve got to leave,” Justin said.
Silently, the five turned towards the west, departing camp in the chill of early morning.
After they had disappeared, Lance turned to the others. “We should be off.”
***
“Do you know what way Kevin would be traveling?” Justin asked AJ around noon.
“He would have been taking the long route,” AJ told him. “It lies about ten leagues that way.” He pointed north. “If we travel for about another six hours, then make our way north, through the forest, we should be able to find them.”
“Then that’s what we’re going to do.” Justin looked at the others. “We’ll find her tonight, and make our way to the caves where the Sword and the Stones are kept.”
“Do you know where they are?” Chris asked.
Justin shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“We won’t be able to find them until you and Sam are reunited,” Chris told him. “And one of you has a dream about where they are.”
Josh frowned at the mention of his sister being reunited with her lover.
***
“Do you think AJ’s actually helping them?” Brian asked Nick as they walked along the road, following the group.
“AJ’s a fucking coward who only cares about his life,” Nick responded. “Of course he’s helping them.”
“We’ll have to kill him, too, then,” Brian said.
“It will be done with great pleasure.” Nick’s blue eyes brightened at the thought of killing. He and Brian were following the group because they wanted to avenge Howie’s death. They couldn’t wait to get their hands on the bastards.
***
“You’re a fool, you know,” Sam told Kevin. “Serpienta isn’t going to hold up her end of the bargain.”
“Shut up, Princess, before I shut you up,” Kevin ground out between his teeth.
“Go ahead, shut me up,” Sam shot back. “Unconsciousness would be preferable to seeing you.”
He grabbed a fistful of her black hair. “I’m going to make sure Serpienta let’s me have you after she’s done with you. There are so many lessons I want to teach a mouthy bitch like you.”
“You won’t be able to teach me anything.” Sam smiled sweetly at him. “You’ll be dead by the time she’s done with me.”
“We’ll see about that,” Kevin said.
***
Chris peered into the forest and gulped. He wasn’t looking forward to traversing that dark, forbidding expanse. “We’re going to be crossing that at night?”
“Yes,” Justin said shortly.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Chris asked. “We have no idea what type of animals live in there.”
“Oh, just an occasional wolf and lion- they’re very vicious, the ones that live in there, which is why they’re still alive,” Willow said conversationally. “And of course, there’s the usual griffins, dragons, trolls, ogres.”
Chris paled. “And we have to go in there in the middle of the night?” he squeaked.
“Don’t worry, Chris,” Willow said. “We’ll use our magic and create a few shields, place a protection spell over us. Maybe an invisibility spell, too.”
Chris nodded his head, still pale and shaking, dreading going into the forest come twilight.
***
“We should wait an hour and then start crossing the forest,” AJ said. The sun had just set and they were preparing to cross the forest.
“No, we should go now,” Chris said, in his high, squeaky voice.
“We wait,” Justin said. “It’ll take us a few hours to travel though it. That’ll give Kevin time to stop and make camp, and we’ll have more darkness then.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Chris whispered, sitting down, his back to the forest.