Rilden heard Chiron's words he nodded a bit under the tree, he thinking about it as well. "I don't think we can stop that, or see what that was any time soon, my friend. Rhovanor said that it came from a far distance, so the villagers here are safe... But we will address it later today..." Rilden had no idea what the thundering was, he didn't think of the Giants though. He heard the stories of long ago about the great tall creatures... "In the mean time, please enjoy yourself. If you plan on staying with us through this journey, it will be a long time before we have this luxury again."

---

Rhovanor listened to Alura as she spoke, staying close to her side. "No one outside of this village has touched this land in. Very long time... Im sure we will find your supplies" he said, pushing a branch back so they could pass. She kneeled down and picked up a red flower. She started to tell her tale about the small innocent looking plant, but when you've been around for as long as he had, it was a conman occurrence, especially nowadays.

Rhovanor was a bit of a shy spirit when it came to socializing with allies, so he stayed quiet when she talked. She then plucked some berries. She offered him some, and with a smile he gently took the berries, tossing them in his mouth. "It's good to see such a peaceful place... I assume my homeland is still at bay, but I wouldn't know... It has been quite some time since I have set my eyes on the graceful houses, and stunning waterfalls... But recently I have seen a lot of beautiful things..." He glanced over at Alura with a small smile. He was talking about the vibrant forest, but also meant it towards Alura.

After looking around with Darlith and finding no tracks, no signs of fighting or anything at all except common plants, he could only agree with Darlith. "Aye, they were most likely pursued through a different path. Though I'm sure it's the same people here. Nobody would rush so fast with a wagon through a narrow forest path without a reason. They probably knew that they will be pursued after the spectacle in Damascus." Nat spat to the corner of the path after saying that and pulled his water bottle out. After swallowing a few gulps of water, he looked at Darlith, who was already moving. He quickly followed her.

The path they went through soon reminded of a tunnel, made out of vegetation, however occasionally they would enter clearings, where the trees and plants would not seem to overwhelm everything else. It was at one of those clearing's that Darlith has asked why did Nat not know of his mother's goals. He was about to answer, but the half-elf spotted a raven land somewhere to his left, That immediately caught his attention and looking at the landing spot he saw a body that the raven was about to feast on. "There's a body..." he wanted to say however Darlith already spotted it too. Without too much hesitation, she ran to the body and after a few seconds of examining continued running forward. Nat wasn't in such a rush and taking a few more looks, he could tell that there were not only orc tracks around, but some hoof marks as well as blood and metal shards. All these findings formed a path that led Nat to the same place that Darlith went running.

"They were fighting while running, it seems" the half-elf said and looked at Darlith. "And that seems to be the wagon we followed." He descended to take a closer look and looked around. The first thing to notice, obviously, that there were no horses or their bodies to be seen. "The horses are missing.They had to be either stolen, or those being pursued dropped the wagon to gain speed. Since this is a ditch, the former is more likely than the latter to me." There were also lots of different tracks, he couldn't tell all of them, but that was certainly a mixture of human, orc, troll, possibly even goblin feet marks. they were evenly distributed, what probably indicated that the pursuers did not find their pursued here as they expected. That means, they'll be back.. To a rendezvous point, which can even be here . "This.. This is not a safe place to be." He said and quickly walked out of the ditch. "We should look around and get to a location, that is safer. We can get surrounded from any side. I can't tell any tracks apart. And the followers seem to have went all directions, instead of a single one. That means they didn't find what they were looking for, and that itself means if they aren't back yet, they might be any time." After saying that he cursed thinking where he got himself into and waved Darlith to ascend out of the ditch too.

"We really need to find out what the he-"

Robyn quickly stopped her story and fired a glance over her shoulder just as Chiron cut himself off. Satisfied, she passed a glance over the other two as well. She couldn't tell what Jamlamin was up to, maybe thats what got to her so much about him. Rilden, however, seemed content in overlooking them all. She could only imagine the thoughts going through his mind as he looked out at the scene before him. Could a rag-tag group really overthrow a King?

For the purpose of her story, the answer was yes. She turned back to the children and continued on.

“Then the orcs attacked!” She threw her hands up like claws and make a roaring sound at the group, one halfling jumped slightly.

“They fought and fought as the orcs got deeper and deeper into the town, looking for the incarnates. Even with the true King's mighty sword and the aid of a mighty centaur there were too many to take on. They would have to find another way. They retreated, but not before escorting civilians to safety. “

“The true King lost?” one spoke up.

She paused her story, “Not quite. They just needed to think of a plan.”

She continued on.

“They hid for the night in a nearby town and began to think. They would need a good plan to save the kingdom from the evil tyrant. They quickly thought of a plan. They would have to sneak in to the castle. As luck would have it, the shadow incarnate was happy to help. They made their way to the castle and waited till nightfall to sneak in.”

“They made their way inside through a secret passage which lead them right under the feet of the castle guards. BUMP-BUMP BUMP-BUMP” she said imitating the sound of feet on the ground, “They had to be quiet for they could be found out. The passageway lead them not far from the throne chamber where the evil King's voice rang out. 'I WANT THEM FOUND!'” she tried to say in her deepest most sinister voice.

“Guards rushed from the room leaving the King alone with his thoughts. They rushed inside. Now inside the centaur barricaded the door so the guards couldn't get back in, but they also couldn't get out. It would seem the King was about to be overthrown but he was also a very powerful sorcerer. His powers knew no limits. They rushed into battle.”

She waved her arm as if wielding a sword in the heat of battle, “CLANG! CLANG! They fought. In a fair fight it would've been quickly over, but the Tyrant was no fool, no sir. He cast a spell that sent the entire group: the heir, the two elves, the mage, the thief, and even the mighty centaur were cast aside like toys. Thinking all was lost the two elves clasped hands, and the mage looked up awaiting their demise. It would be the heir that would fight to stand again. He summoned all his courage and with the last of his might struck down the tyrant.”

She paused as she took a slow breath before continuing on.

“Of all the powers found in the group, the power of courage was the most powerful. It was courage that won the day, not blessings. Courage in the heart is much more powerful than any gift bestowed upon a life. Courage alone has more power for change than healing, or even lurking in the shadows ever could. The best part? Courage doesn't only have to reside in one person. It can reside in everyone, in their own little way. You don't have to swing a sword to be brave, you only have to stand up.”

She sighed and leaned back a bit at the completion of her story. One of the older children gave the others of her group a speculative look. His eyes first went to Robyn, then the centaur, Jamlemin, and Rilden before returning back to her. She could already tell he pieced it all together in his mind.

“What happened to them after?” the little girl spoke up.

“Well,” she said contemplating an answer. “The kingdom once again became prosperous and the people lived without fear of war for many generations. The heir married a noble woman from across the Kingdom and had many sons. The two elves became ambassadors for the King's court. The shadow incarnate started this own business and became very wealthy. The centaur remained doing what he loved and roamed the forest, but visited the castle often.”

“And the mage-?” one asked.

She fell silent for a moment, unsure of how answer.

“The mage didn't know what to do after it was all over. She finally got her chance to see the ocean and sailed away on a ship. Never again did she step foot on land.”

Robyn let out a heavy breath at the end of her story just as a motherly voice called out to the flock.

"Thanks for the story Miss Lady," the eldest said as he led them towards the voice, "Coming!"

Robyn watched as they headed off before turning her gaze back to the sparkling river.

Wargoth walked through the night. He had been on his journey for many months now possibly a year, earlier than the group had been. His ambitions were still set for the throne, and to create his own age of darkness. Wargoth planned to jam his sword of darkness, into the kings gut and light him on fire watching him slowly die. Then he'd make all bow to him.

Later in his journey a pack of Orcs came and a small band of Goblins had came into his path. They were laughing at him and said "Looks like our bellies will be full with his big man." Wargoth made his demonic smirk finding them stupid enough, thinking they could kill and eat him. He pulled out his massive sword, then raised it up. the accursed eye in the center of the crossguard had opened, and the blade lit on fire. The Orcs and Goblins stupidly charged at him, with their simple axes and spears they were marching to their deaths.

Wargoth swung his massive sword, and chopped the first orc in half. Another came at him and stabbed his chest plate with a spear. Wargoths superior armor made the poorly made spear break in half. The Orc looked up in fear at Wargoth, then was grabbed by the neck with Wargoths massive hands. He was choking and the face of mercy on him, Wargoth smiled and jammed his blade into him. The Orc screamed loudly as he began to be lit on fire from the demonic blade while suffering from his insides being penetrated from his impalement.

When the Orc had died Wargoth threw his burning body at two other Orcs whom came at him. When they were hit by the burning body, they went on fire too running around screaming. The Orcs and Goblins stopped fighting and were stepping back away from Wargoth, they were terrified of him now. Wargoth looked to them as they cowered away, it was amusing to him. His bloodlust made him approach them, he began swinging his sword around, setting on fire to any whom were touched by the blade. Their screams of struggle, fear and horror as they were slaughtered like animals, could be heard.

Jamlamin sat and quietly listened to Robyn's story he listened when she mentioned "The Shadow Incarnate" he even leaned in when she mentioned the lesson on courage and he pondered on it, he must of been pondering for quite awhile because he looked up the children had left. "You know I like that thief fellow, but i think like me he will never be free from his abilities." He said the word abilities with a hint of venom in his voice but he continued.

"I'm sure even after happily ever after there will still be enemies to find and root out, so maybe the thief and the others won't find peace for a long time, besides like me I'm sure the thief isn't very predicable. Maybe he will settle down with someone and live a happy life, maybe the life of a thief is freeing and he continues to steal we wouldn't know, Because that guy is a bastard."

He let out a long sigh and sat down beside Robyn and looked off into the distance "But besides all of that I think the mage needs a happier ending." with that said he sat quietly looking down at his feet, or off into the distance, or to look at Robyn and the others. There was great hope for the heroes to succeed in her story, but for them there was a slim hope that their little group would get off the ground, but he found himself thinking about if he would slow the group down, if his thirst for greed and power would cause him to betray them, and even worse would he kill them without hesitation if it came down to it. He thought perhaps that annoying centaur would be easy, but the others would not be so easily taken care of, there was so many conflicting emotions within him that they showed on his face in the form of a scowl.

"Shoma Othea... well its a pleasure to meet you. You as well little Tin and Jar," he chuckled as his eye looked upwards in reaction to the fae suddenly plopping herself on his head with a small bag of food. He accepted the gift from the fae and even gave the little entity a small rub on the head for thanks. He rested while the giantess was question by the Avian. He, however, raised a eye at the last question and gave out a chuckle of his own.

"Oh my seems we may have ran into someone important. So based on that question I would assume you are the equivalent to a knight, or possibly someone of power," the human chimed in to the conversation as he took a bite of venison he then took to of the berry in the satchel and handed one to the Fae on his head before whistling softly to grab the crows attention before extending a opened palm in offering of a berry to it. He continued to keep his ears on the conversation in curiosity how the giantess would response.

Alura smiled warmly to Rhovanor as he popped the berries into his mouth. "Oh, yes, this place is quite peaceful. The Halflings are definitely a very calm people. The centaurs were loud and boisterous, but always so humerous." Alura chuckled as she thought back to the time she had spent in the previous village. "When I had passed through the city to provide my abilities to an Elder that had grown weak from fever, everything seemed quite calm. There had been a recent harvesting season and many people said it had been one of the best they have had in many years." Alura recalled as she thought back to her other travels.

She blushed when Rhovanor spoke about the beautiful things he had seen and looked to her. "You flatter me, Rhovanor." She spoke gently and move down through the forest. She stopped though when she saw a trap set up more than twenty feet before them. She picked up a rock and nailed the trap with deadly accuracy, activating it. It snapped shut a deadly clamp crafted of crude metal and sharpened spikes. "My, that's the strangest Halfling trap I've ever seen." Alura growled sarcastically. Her beautiful face no longer sweet but a dark light held behind her eyes.

Darlith quickly ascended from the ditch, but on her ascent she slipped and slid back down into the ditch. She cursed silently, raising back to her feet, now trying to climb up with more care, but midway through she stopped. "Nat, do you think they would check the wagon again? They checked it the first time, they didn't find anything inside and went off to the forest to sweep it." she slid down back into the ditch herself. "I'm risking it, I'm staying here in the wagon. I don't know about you Nat. You can try running." she crawled into the wagon and tried her best to hide herself using what was left of it. She put the cloth from the top of the wagon on herself, trying to hide inside. It was extremely uncomfortable, lying there, with her bow and quiver, as well as her heavy backpack, but it must have been done. Darlith was so focused on hiding herself, that she didn't notice where Nat was. He could have been in the wagon with her as well, or he might have run off or tried to hide somewhere else. She couldn't tell. But now she started listening and feeling, trying to hear anything.

"Steps! Loads of them!?" she thought to herself, and tried to remain calm and not move a muscle. She could feel that a big crew of beings came this way and they stopped on the road, near the ditch. No one was coming close to the wagon and Darlith celebrated inside, for finding the best place to stay.

"They're gone." said a rather unpleasant voice of an orc in orcish. "We haven't found anything in this direction either.". A punch and a body falling down could be heard. "How can this be?! There has to be someone in here! They ran away and you incompetent trash missed them! What are we going to report now, huh? That we let our petty rebel lord go? When we almost had them in our own hands? Is this what we tell them? WHAT I TELL THEM!?" yet another punch could be heard. "Useless bunch... Everyone pull back, there's no use in trying to find their tracks." the group could be heard packing on and moving. It became silent around, only the sounds of the forest could be heard and it felt eerie. Darlith didn't risk it and waited just a little bit longer, until she was sure that the orcish camp had really moved away. And only then did she decide to peek out.

She got her head out and cautiously ascended, looking if somebody had stayed in the place, yet there weren't anyone present. Darlith sighed deeply, and got up on the road and stretched. It seemed like a few hours has passed when she was inside the wagon, and as she looked at the sky, it seemed that the light was getting rather dim. She looked around, hoping to find Nat, and looked back into the ditch and the wagon, laying there. "Nat?" she asked in rather silent voice. "Nat?" she asked a little louder.

Robyn wasn't aware that Jamlamin was paying her story any mind; it was a kid's story after all. Still, he approached from behind and spoke words that caused her to think.

Free of his abilities? A bastard?

She listened well to his words, even noting a certain bitterness among them. She did not make eye contact as she pondered his words for a moment, her eyes still fixed on the water's glittering surface. The thief's words were much as he said, unpredictable. While she was generally a very good read of people Jamlamin left her stumped. He seemed like a very conflicted man, but she could gather little more from him than that.

“You talk as though the thief's abilities make the whole of him and even control him, “ she said without sparing a glance back at him.

He sat down beside her on the grass,"but besides all of that I think the mage needs a happier ending."

This time she did spare a glance as she caught him sharing her view of the river before them. Chiron apparently overheard the story as well. She almost was ashamed at herself for forgetting their presence, Chiron's in particular was hard to forget.

"This might be the only time, I will ever say this, I agreed with the...spy, the mage should have a way better ending. I like the centaur part, he sounds like an amazing fighter, brave, strong, handsome. He sounds familiar."

She refocused her gaze back at the water, and pulled her hair over her shoulder and let it rest over her breast before mindlessly running her fingers through the red locks, “Maybe to the mage, that was the best ending she could have hoped for.”

Jamlamin laughed aloud "You believe that don't you? well i know your new friends wouldn't like that, us included." He said gestering to the centaur and Rilden. "As for the thief and his abilties, they kinda do, most people know that us bearers can use the abilties of our patrons. My patron being a dark god makes people assume i'm going to eat their childrens bones, it's kind of tiring." He sighed and countinued

"But then again one could argue it's the bearer who twists it, i mean look at me my friends are as shifty as me and I'm greedy,selfish and in love with myself." He laughed at that and true to the enigma he contradicted himself and threw people off by changing the subject "Or maybe i'm trying to pick your pocket." he lifted his hand and moved it slowly toward Robyn.

He smiled at her, his smile was warm, but on the inside he was kicking himself for having to do this backtracking, "You've done it before." something seemed to say from the deepest part of his mind, while it was true it was just Robyn seemed diffrent Jamlamin had a hard time imagining her using his secrets against him or sinking a dagger in his ribs.

His hand stopped short of Robyn, his mind was fighting a war and he was afraid it would show so he got up and brushed himself off "Uhhhh if you will excuse me i forgot something back at the house." He said then he faded into a shadow and was gone.

Rilden listened to the story from a distance, smiling a bit at the things said, and frowning a bit at others... Then Jamlamin started to yell. When the kids were there, that wasn't good. He stood up walking over, but not making an entrance. He stood behind everyone, listening to the words the thief said. "Nothing controls any of us. At times, not even the gods." Rilden said to them all. "The gods gave you all a gift for a reason. Because you have something that no one else does, and the ability to control these gifts." Rilden's voice gave authority, but he was not yelling. "The centaur in the story. Strong, Brave. Loyal. One with the forest. The forest yields to the centaur, and although he is large, his stealth is compared to no other."

He turned to Jamlamin. "The shadow Incarnate, bestowed with a gift mostly thought to be evil. but there is more to him. Like shadows, he hides it. He's conflicted, a bit greedy at times, thinks that he is the slave to his powers..." Rilden stopped for a second. "But I think when the time comes, and he is left with an option that cannot leave him conflicted... He will know that these powers will not persuade him, but his own mind will." Rilden gave a nod and small smile towards Jamlamin.

"And as for the Mage... She is smart, caring, a hidden beauty... and she is insecure on what exactly she can do. But just like that Shadow's Incarnate, she will soon understand that willpower is much stronger than the power of all the gods combined." Rilden looked at Robyn. "But these are just stories, and these are just my inputs... it is the true heroes of these stories that will have to truly realize their potential.

---

Rhovanor gave a smile and looked away as she blushed, glad she accepted his compliment to her. They continued on their way, collecting and talking as they went on until she stopped at what Rhovanor saw almost as fast as she did. She activated it, and the trap seemed more than a simple trap to get food... "It is defintitely not Halfling..." he said quietly as they made their way to it. "A bit too close for comfort... He looked over at the way they came from, then back at the trap. "They dont' know where the town is... too well hidden, and a treacherous path to those who are not skilled in walking through dense forests like this..." He looked up at Alura, seeing if she knew anything or anyone who could make this type of trap.

Robyn gave an estranged look, and felt rather insulted as Jamlamin laughed at her response.

"You believe that don't you? Well I know your new friends wouldn't like that, us included."

What did he mean by that? She couldn't tell. She continued to find comfort in stroking her fingers through her hair as he continued on his rant.

"Or maybe I'm trying to pick your pocket," Jamlamin finally said.

 Rilden walked up upon them, but did nothing to stop Jamlamin's advances, maybe he did not see them, she didn't know.
 She instantly began to feel most uncomfortable as she could sense his hand moving closer. Her body tensed with his words as his hand moved closer. What in the world did he want from her? Why was he saying such things? Why was he doing this? From the corner of her eye she saw his warm smile, but it only served to further strain the air between them. Her fingers stopped their gliding just as rested as she anticipated him touching her. She wouldn't allow that to happen.

Rilden said something but it fell upon deaf ears, the words went unnoticed, but the tone was sincere. She was waiting to retaliate. He finally halted his advance, "Uhhh... if you will excuse me, I forgot something back at the house." With that, he was gone.

A chill ran up her spine as she gripped her mane, seeking comfort in its warmth. Was he really gone? She couldn't know. Maybe he was her shadow right now; she'd never know and didn't know how to find out. She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She didn't want to look at either Chiron or Rilden.
What could I even say? Jamlamin creeps me out? Sure, that would be enough of an excuse to have the centaur fly off the handle, but what of Rilden? Am I just overreacting?

She thought back on the short time she has known him. He appeared looking into her home from a window. Why would he do that? What was his purpose? Was he there to rob her? Was he or is he still under the authority of Fusos? Was she to be a captive? She could see what kind of asset having a healer would be to Fusos. What of Rilden? Was he after him too?

The more she thought the more uncomfortable she became. She had to break the silence lest they get curious.

She allowed her hair to block her face as she focused on the horizon. "So how do you think the story should've ended?" she asked no one in particular.

Nat kept looking out and listening if somebody would come at them while waiting for Darlith to come out. And then his ear caught it. A mere crack, but it was inevitably by someone walking. Walking towards them. He heard sliding behind him in the ditch and assumed that Darlith also heard it, that's why she went back. Knowing he won't be able to descend and hide himself in the debris of wagon, Nat quickly sprinted towards the nearest tree and grabbed one of the bigger branches. Pulling himself onto it, he carefully went over the branch, to stand closer to the trunk and froze. He was only partially hidden amongst the leaves, but if most of the followers were orcs, he hoped that their day-vision was not good enough to see him in between the leaves.

It was a few minutes, though those seemed to go very slow, as he finally heard louder steps on the forest's moss. Many different Orcish sounds suddenly filled the clearing. Nat could make out a word or two in Orchish from his mercenary days, especially those that were associated with fighting, tracking, basic needs, and, obviously, swear words. However, the language always seemed to complex for him to grasp. Right now he could hear words like "failure", "death", "idiot", "hunger", but they didn't add up. He was growing tired of listening to that constant Orcish growl. Not to mention that crouching on a branch was a very uncomfortable and unstable position to be in.

Soon he heard an intense orcish voice shout "Brazgak". He knew that word. It meant "Attention". The same voice then started rumbling something very fast and Nat could not understand anything. He heard somebody being punched and plumping on the ground. He heard a few insults then, thus assumed that the Orcs failed and their commander was furious about that. After dozens more heartbeats of shouting, he finally got silent. By the sound following he assumed, that everyone was ordered to move out.

Nat dared to peek out through the leaves a little and saw the commander, a black orc with green armor, counting his subordinates, who were forming up ranks. They marched out, not even closely to how swift they marched in, probably only coming here, to meet up with everyone.

Nat waited until the orcs could barely be heard and only then did he carefully hopped of the tree. His legs felt rather numb, after spending a significant amount of time on a tree branch. The half elf sighed. He wanted to regroup with Darlith because she knew of his family, yet he felt conflicted as she had somehow gotten his vigilance away from him, making him think of things that were his goal throughout whole life. However, the goals were so unreachable that he almost put them aside knowing it was impossible. And now they seemed in his grasp. He did not even know how should he approach them. The questions that bothered him. He shook his head chasing these thoughts away and raised his head. Darlith has already peeked her head out of the ditch and silently called his name, then once again with a little more voice. Nat sighed once again. "I have to go there" he thought.

He moved away from the tree trunk and showed himself in the clearing, making sure that Darlith would see him. The half elf waved her once, as if he wanted to tell her to come here and then put a step back. He was being cautious should the orc commander have left scouts here.

Alura looked carefully around the forest before she moved closer towards the trap. She crouched beside the trap and gently ran her hands over it. "It's human made. You can tell by the crude metal and the way it's been crafted. No fae would use this type of metal." Alura stated as she pointed out the way the prongs had been welded together to the base of the trap. "I heard of something were humans were actually making Halflings part of game. The way they hunted deer or rabbits. You don't think that's what they're trying to do do you? There's rumors of the Halflings village located in this part of the forest, but nobody knows of the exact location. It's scary how close they are to the village." She said softly, so softly that if anybody listening in wouldn't be able to hear her. Only Rhovanor would be able to hear her and that was due to their Elven heritage and their sensitive hearing.

It was due to their hearing that Alura was able to detect the people moving through the forest towards them. Alura knew by the way they crashed about that they were human men. Almost as if she was frightened, Alura threw herself against Rhovanor. She hit him so hard, that she pushed them back behind the closest thicket of trees. "Sorry." She squeaked as she held onto the front of his shirt, listening to the men come closer.

Darlith looked around, noticing Nat. Before she tried to cross the road, she kept trying to see, if everything did indeed seem to be as calm as it seemed. She gathered the courage and quickly crossed to where Nat was. Before she said anything she put her fingers on her neck to check on her pulse. It was rather high. Even after all those years of running and hiding it put a lot of pressure on Darlith and her heart was beating fast. She let out a deep sigh. "Rebel lord... so basically that's what they were trying to catch. No wonder they've had an awful lot of troops pursuing them." she scratched her head. "Fusos is like that." she shivered. "And what are we doing now? Shall we still follow the path? I don't think we have a lot to lose."

Darlith kept going down the path, and the trees were getting more and more dense, suddenly the road disappeared. The path further was overgrown with flora. It seemed that every single plant that could grow there - grew there. She looked at the knife that she had and shook her head. Using this knife to cut themselves a path wasn't going to happen. "How much do you usually get, for cutting a path for people, through the forest, Nat? I might just need your help here." she looked at him with a smile.

Nat waited for Darlith to come over and then agreed to follow her. But it was quite soon that they basically bumped into dense wall of vegetation, trees, bushes and other plants combined, Darlith asked Nat for help to cut through here, but Nat looked around a bit and said "No way that somebody went through here. They couldn't have." he waved at the trees that Darlith wanted to cut "And right now we are going to eastern part of this forest. I don't even know where it ends. Nobody would run to hide there."

He examined the area and drew his sword cutting a few brushes in front of him to make some room. However the bushes were not easy to hack through, as they probably grew here untouched for years and their leafy branches were sturdy. As he eventually got rid of every shrub around him, Nat repeated what he said earlier, more to himself than anyone else "Nobody would run here. At least not through here." The half elf shook his head and went couple of steps back, carefully examining the path they came through. "Wait here a bit." he said as he went back. The path meandered, but the tracks were only recent -- left by Nat and Darlith. A couple of minutes and he was back where they started. Nat sighed, as he was not able to find anything. Nat saw the tree that he hid on earlier. The tree is an obvious hiding spot for anybody, who 's looking somehwere to hide in that clearing. Nat contemplated. There were many tracks around the tree, what suggested that it was checked earlier. Nat plumped on the ground on his back and sighed again. There is no clue to grasp. Nothing. Looking at the sky, who was almost completely blocked out by trees he started laughing loudly. This whole search is just like my search for mother: I don't know why am I even bothering instead of living my life and I don't even have the slightest clue where should I go next. He stood up still laughing.

The half-elf eventually came back to Darlith, still smiling and shaking his head. He then sat and leaned by a tree saying. "I don't think were finding were they went, Darlith. The orcs were split up and didn't." He then smiled, though not happily and looked to the ground. "Rebel lord or no, he must have more than good agility at his side if he managed to outwit the pursuers. Why should we even bother anyway?" he smiled again, this time with more happiness. "We were just brought together by chance and now we are pursuing shadows, for no tangible goal."

He remembered he had some bread in his backpack, and took it off from his back. After finding the food in there, he offered some to Darlith and raised his eyes to the sky while eating.

"The very fact that you're saying that they wouldn't have went here to hide tells me that there's so much more reason to think that they've went through here." Darlith exclaimed, because there was a feeling in her gut she couldn't shake off. She was really intrigued by what she heard and she wanted to find out who was trying to escape the orcs. "And while, yes, it's eastern part of the forest, and the maps do not show anything, here we have a path, that ends abruptly. If this doesn't say that something used to be that way, then I don't know what would. But of course, it haven't been used for longest of times."

Nat asked her to wait here for a little while, as he himself went back the way they had come. Darlith decided to take out the map of the land and check if anything was there. The map was dated and old, yet it had served Darlith well. And just as she remembered it - the eastern part was completely taken over by a forest. And this intrigued her even more. What was the reason for them to come through this road? It must have been a diversion, and if she hadn't heard the orcs, she would've simply accepted the fact that people in the wagon were captured and that's the end of it, but they managed to escape. That means that they must be here, in this forest. Suddenly an idea popped in her head and now she had to wait for Nat.

When Nat came back, Darlith looked a little surprised. He seemed overly happy about something. She listened to him. "You're thinking greatly about Orcs, but you know that they aren't the brightest of beings? They are horrible at tracking, they didn't manage to catch me in two years." she snickered to herself, and then came over to him, giving her hand out. "But I do agree, we won't find anything here. Let's head back."

As they were going back, going past the wagon from earlier "Nat, before we go further, there's one thing I want you to check. That's where the trail would have started." she pointed down into the ditch. "Look, you're way better than me in regards of tracking and let's just take a look. I really need to sate my curiosity." she descended down into the ditch herself, and started to look around for a trail of sorts, even if there were a bit of footprints of orcs.

Rhovanor looked at the trap more and more with disgust. If it were truly used to hunt Halflings, he wanted no part of it. he knelt next to the trap, examined it, and pulled a few parts apart from it. The trap was beyond repair now. "The halflings are smart to exclude themselves... a lot of dark and cruel people who would pay to see these creatures make a fool of themselves." Rhovanor said just as quietly, glaring down at the trap. Then there was movement. Before he could do anything himself the elven woman pushed in to him, and they went in to the trees. They were so close together in the dark, her hands grabbing his shirt. Rhovanor was speechless of this situation, but also he had to stay quiet to listen to their new guests.... Maybe they were there to check on the trap... Or they were looking for the High King... "We should go back... It is almost sunset." Rhovanor said quietly in to her ear, keeping his dark green eyes scanning the area. He wasn't afraid of the people around. He simply didn't want to cause trouble so close to a peaceful town.

Nat muttered with a mouth full of bread "Orcs are quite intelligent.. In their own way. As for the path.. It's a hunter's path. Or a halfling path." When Darlith suggested going back, even though Nat just came from there, he frowned and put some of his bread back into the backpack. "Alright, alright. Let us waste some more of our time, not like we're in a rush." he mumbled silently to himself.

He followed her back into the ditch, that started their whole search. She asked him to examine the ground for footprints as, according to her, that's where the trail should've started. Nat threw a glance at the broken wagon once again, then looked around. He knew it was pointless to look around a place that was ransacked left and right by orcs. Footprints were all over the place. The only thing that could be seen clearly were the wagon tracks, that led Darlith and Nat here. Wagon tracks.. The half-elf thought and suddenly got an idea. He shouted to the elf woman disagreeing to descend into the ditch. "Incorrect. Should the wagon have tumbled down this ditch with our passengers, they would be either dead or injured and captured." He slowly walked away from wagon debris site before waving the elf woman to go up instead of wasting time down there.

"They jumped out earlier. Wagon tracks looked obscure in the forest moss, but I think it started wobbling here. If the wobbling actually started, it means nobody was guiding the wagon at that moment." he said pointing to the ground not twenty steps from the crash site. Nat rubbed his chin thinking and looked around some more. "If the wagon started wobbling it must've hit something on the ground." The half elf examined the area once again "There we go, a stone right here." he pointed to the ground, to a small boulder no bigger than a man's head. "This is our search start point, going backwards."

Nat then followed the wagon tracks carefully studying the ground around them. He stopped about thirty steps from what he called the start point. " A half rotten log. I can see some wobbling here, that ended about 5 steps later, so right here the wagon was still guided." Nat streched and smiled "This is our end point. If you're that determined to find them.. They left the wagon somewhere here."