“We’re here,” Clark said, “Irris city limits.” The northwestern border gate of Irris was a fairly simple barrier for the size of the city it protected. It was a large wooden fence approximately 18 feet tall, built like a log cabin, with the entrance and exit from Irris being a large square in the middle wide enough for a half dozen horses to fit in side-by-side. As far as either of the two could see, the only things of note right outside the city were a windy cobblestone road and a great deal of pine trees; this structure was clearly not built for defense, as it didn’t seem there was much that needed to be defended against.

“Right,” Arthur replied, “and if we take the fourth dirt road on the right in these woods, we’ll be on our way to The Black Cairn?”

“Indeed. Are you nervous?” Arthur knew that Clark already knew the answer to that question, but also that the insect wouldn’t ask something like that for laughs, so there must have been a good reason behind it.

“Yeah. Are you?”

“Definitely. This is a big step, even if this area looks nicer than Irris. Not like an actual big step, ‘cause my feet are the same size they’ve always been, just like this is something new that I haven’t done before.”

Even though he was still concerned for his friend, Arthur couldn’t help smiling a little at his friend’s explanation of an obvious expression. “We could go to Fletcherville or something if you’d like, you know. We don’t have to do this.”

“Not literally, but I feel like I must. These keys unlock something important, and they may help you with your memory.” Clark noticed Arthur start to feel guilty, so he added “plus, like I said, this should be interesting. Are you okay with all this?”

“Yeah. I think a lot of it is just nerves, that and I feel bad leaving Morris and Marissa. They’ve been good to us.”

“They’re great people and they helped us out a lot. They wouldn’t have done that if they didn’t know we’d be okay here. We should move forward and make sure their efforts weren’t in vain.”

“Right.” After saying this, Arthur adjusted his helmet slightly. It was a simple steel helmet that lacked any fancy ornamentation, but still covered the back and top of his head effectively. “Let’s go to this Cairn.”

-----

The night before Arthur and Clark’s departure from Irris, Marissa walked into her husband’s forge, watching him make armor for the amnesiac.

“You know, if you keep this up, you won’t have any energy for tomorrow’s dinner rush,” she teased.

“I could say the same about your journey in the publishing field,” Morris retorted as he took a break from his work. More sorrowfully now, he continued. “Those two, though, this journey of theirs reminds me so much of Marvin’s. I feel like if I helped our boy more before he left-”

His wife cut him off, enveloping him in a hug. “Don’t blame yourself, dear. It all happened so fast we couldn’t even meet the people he was with. I’m sure wherever Marv is, he feels the same way.”

“I know,” the big man agreed, returning Marissa’s gesture. His voice still contained sadness, but there was a small hint of acceptance as well. “It’s still hard though.”

“I know, dear. I miss him too.” After a few moments of holding each other, the husband and wife separated, with Morris returning to his crafting and the woman returning to their restaurant, finding more items to pack for the amnesiac and cricket.

-----

In the early afternoon after Arthur and Clark left Irris, three individuals were having a conversation in the vestibule of an old, disused jail building in the city. Gordon, Roland and the Chief didn’t want anyone to disturb them, so this was the perfect place to talk.

“...and our boss has agreed to create a story for his escape,” Gordon concluded.

“I am grateful; please tell Edgar his generosity is appreciated” the Chief responded.

“Of course,” the tall man said with a nod of his head. “This benefits us both, after all.”

“Certainly. Just be sure to kill those two. I don’t care about the keys, but nobody makes a fool out of me in my city,” the City Guard’s leader said as he opened the door. The lockup was empty, save for one cell, and it was that cell’s door that the Chief proceeded to unlock as he spoke to the prisoner.

“Remember, if you hurt anyone besides Arthur and Clark, this deal is off. We can’t have people asking questions.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah” the prisoner replied, sounding more bored than anything else. He then turned his attention to Edgar’s men and continued speaking, this time much more eagerly. “Remember, I don’t care how you end Arthur, but the cricket is mine. I’ve been looking forward to that snack.” The frog menacingly licked his lips, looking forward to his gruesome fare.

The Black Cairn was, inconveniently, located about a day and a half of a leisurely track away from Irris. Conveniently, there was a hunter's lodge a little past the halfway mark of the journey, and Arthur and Clark had directions from Marissa that would let them reach it before nightfall. To add to that, some kind soul had painted marks onto trees that Arthur noted every couple of minutes, helping him ascertain that they were on the right track.

That is to say, Arthur felt at ease regarding their current situation, and the remnants of tension he'd been carrying ever since their job gone wrong were finally seeping out of his body. He could not remember why, but it seemed that he liked hiking in the woods, the simplicity that nature brought. A bush rustled, and he spotted the ears of a hare prancing by. Arthur took in another lungful of rich, clear air, and marched on.

A little behind him, Clark was also clearly having a good time. Every once in a while, he paused to munch on a herb or another, sometimes veering off the path. Whenever he fell behind, he would take a series of leaps that made wildlife scatter in all directions.

Clark was silent, too. It seemed that even his usually talkative self needed to recharge after their time in the city.

They had a quick break for lunch near a cheerful brook. Arthur gladly ate a hearty sandwich Marissa had packed him, while Clark, claiming not to be very hungry after his snacking on the go, found a particular weed growing near the brook that was apparently something of a delicacy, and was munching on it thoughtfully.

Once they were done, they walked, and walked, and walked some more, and just as the day turned towards the evening, they reached a clearing where the cabin stood.

The cabin was spartan but functional. It was certainly no more than ten by ten feet, with log walls and a thatched roof. The door had a token latch on the inside, but both windows were just square holes in the walls, letting in both fresh air and drafts. Inside, there was a shelf and two logs that could, if one squinted, pass for a table and chairs. About half of the remaining area was covered with a layer of straw that was evidently intended for sleeping on.

And that was it.

Arthur guessed they had about an hour until dark. He debated going out to scout the surroundings but, in the end, decided against it. He did a token lap around the cabin and found lumpy, uneven ground and a rusting shovel against the cabin's rear wall. Evidently, this area had already been thoroughly searched for treasure.

He stood for a while, taking in the landscape. The trees were majestic; the grass of the clearing tall; the sky was faintly coloring pink as the sun got lower. The leaves were rustling, the birds were chirping, and there must have been a pond nearby, as Arthur became aware of frogs croaking in the distance.

They croaked, and they croaked, and they croaked...

"Hey," Clark called out, leaning out of a cabin's window. "Is it me, or are the frogs being unnaturally loud?"

“Yeah,” Arthur responded. In fact, they were getting louder. It was almost as if they were right next to them, the amnesiac thought.

And then the pair saw them: a huge throng of regular frogs, surrounding them and the cabin on all sides. It was as if all of the grass on the ground had turned into a different type of green, this kind being one that ribbited constantly.

However, even this phenomenon didn’t last, as the entire amphibian assembly started jumping at Arthur! Normal frogs by themselves lacked much in the way of offensive capability against a creature much larger than itself, but the man had no idea what hundreds of them could do to him.

Not that he intended to find out; the amnesiac drew his sword and started stabbing them, slaying the amphibians as quickly as possible. He even used his feet to kick some of them away, which gave Clark the idea to exit the cabin and do the same. And like Roland yesterday, the impact of his foot sent these frogs flying. They creatures didn’t look out of the ordinary at all, so neither of the two was sure why these amphibians were doing this, but at least their defense against it seemed to be working.

That is, until a much larger and more familiar frog lunged down from one of the nearby trees, slamming Arthur into the ground.

“No!” Clark exclaimed, both alarmed at the damage his friend took and in fear of the ex-convict right next to him. And the frog did not waste any time; he immediately flicked his tongue out at the cricket, grabbing him with it. Unfortunately for the criminal though, Arthur did not either; he had landed with his back to the ground, so he was easily able to use his sword to stab the frog’s right leg. This clearly wasn’t something that the enemy was expecting, as the frog screamed in pain in response. Clark took the opportunity to jump away from the creature’s tongue and onto his back.

“Get off of my friend!” the cricket commanded with tears in his eyes as he assaulted the frog with a series of kicks, holding onto the amphibian’s skin with his hands in the meantime. Clark was absolutely terrified of being eaten by this frog, but the thought of Arthur being killed scared him even more.

“Do it now!” the frog raged in response before jumping off of Arthur with Clark holding on for dear life. Both amnesiac and cricket were wondering what “it” was until the man saw a silver ball zooming right towards him. Roland - it had to be Roland.

Arthur couldn’t compact himself into a ball, but when he saw the small fat man attempting to strike him, he knew what to do; the amnesiac rolled himself out of the way, just narrowly avoiding a spiked ball of pain. Fortunately, Roland had bounced off of the ground and landed a little further away from where he was, so Arthur had time to get up and take a defensive stance while he evaluated the situation. He knew Gordon had to be close by if his associate was there, he just didn’t know where he was yet. More worrisome than that, the amnesiac didn’t know where Clark and the frog had gone either.

----

“Get off of me, you stupid bug!” the frog yelled as he continued jumping, leading both of them away from the cabin back in the direction of Irris. As much as he hated to admit it, the cricket’s kicks were getting painful at this point and the amphibian knew his arms wouldn’t be able to reach either.

“No! Leave us alone!” Clark countered. He knew he couldn’t hold on forever though, as his arms were already in a great deal of pain just from holding on as long as this. He’d have to find a way to - wait, maybe he should listen to the creature trying to kill him, just this once.

The cricket knew he wasn’t much of a fighter, but jumping, he definitely knew how to do that. And landing was an important part of jumping, so he knew he could do that too. Adding another part to that process wouldn’t be too hard, then. So with as much grace as was possible in this situation, Clark let go of the frog once he was halfway to the apex of one of his jumps and kicked the amphibian’s stabbed leg with as much force as he could muster on his way to the ground. And like every other jump of his he could remember, the cricket made it to the ground perfectly.

“Son of a toad!” the frog screamed in pain. He had clearly not expected this, as his jump turned from something typical of his species to something much less skillful as he convulsed in pain. And instead of landing on his legs like he normally would, the frog landed head-first, indenting the creature’s dome in the process.

The cricket stood there in shock for a few moments. This was not what he expected to happen. Clark thought maybe the amphibian would be stunned in pain for a few moments at the most, but the creature was not moving at all. Not moving from a splayed position with his head facing the ground and bleeding. Yeah, that confirmed it - the frog had croaked. Somehow, he had won.

The cricket felt awful, both because of what had happened and because of the fact that Arthur was probably still in danger. Despite his exhaustion, Clark began jumping back towards his friend as quickly as he could, hoping he wasn’t in too much trouble.