"What do we do? What can we do? Eliza, what say you? Say something!"

Adrianne dragged her hands in her hair, shaken; she tugged the roots ferociously and very soon her gripped fingers were white from the force.

Of all the feckless, idiotic, foul-hearted, rogue-minded, no good, stupid, snake-skinned, foolish, reckless, usele-

"Eliza?"

I paced about, stunned, as I stared at the empty clearing around us, a phantom carriage taunting me. Her voice fell out of my head as a heavy unease encroached upon my mind, threatening to drown me; the floor swayed heavily as dizziness overtook me.

I glared upward when the tears began to flood my eyes, staring at the bright blue sky above. It had taken more than a few moments to recover, yet I still could not begin to express how enraged I had been. My heart began to beat faster and faster and faster,

I cannot begin to recount the amount of repulsive, nauseating and abhorrent ideas which sprang up to me in that moment; it was as if a fountain of sickening abuse, putrid and rotten, welled up inside my heart to taint my thoughts with such an obscene vulgarity that even I was horrified at it. It was nothing short of a miracle that I had remembered Mother's pendant around my neck, heavy, gentle and comforting as the cool touch aided me in regaining my senses.

Soon enough, I had stopped pacing, yet all the while my skittish fidgeting did not cease, but rather grew fiercer still.

I was such a fool! I should've checked the coachman back at the manor and relayed the news to Denver, or even Mother. I should have checked the paper in his pocket; what if it were Marcus' orders? Why was I so naive to just believe everything he said? Why did I not do anything? What are we to do now?

"Eliza, what do we do?" Adrianne repeated, shaking my shoulders, troubled. I did not note her until far later, when sunrise had long passed and the bright light of day had moved closer to the late morning, when she proceeded to jostle my shoulders until I woke up from my self-deprecating tangent.

"What..?" I combed my surroundings, taking note of every object in sight before finally focusing back on her.

"What are we going to do, Eliza? Focus! Come on, don't you lose sight now."

Looking back on it now, I realised I was far more petrified in those few seconds than at any other point, for that was the first of the challenges I had to face which would threaten my life. It was not a situation I appreciated being tossed into and certainly not one I had any intention of ever placing myself into again, yet how funny it is when Fate throws our plans into disarray.

"Do not panic, Liz. Just breathe. That's it... Breathe..." She held my arm for a little while, breathing with me as we worked our way out of that all-consuming, wretched Fear.

We spent a few moments, simply calming our nerves and fairly soon, I was able to relax and think once more, reasoning my way to a plausible explanation.

"Alright..." I began, rubbing my eyes as I gazed at the abandoned camp, "Stop pulling your hair, you silly fool! You would sooner rip the strands out than solve any problem yet. Let's just think about this rationally; the most likely option is robbery, but I am not so certain, else our rucksacks would be taken first."

"True... the money and the food are all still there in the packs, Liz, plus your necklace too. It would be unlikely for him to rob only the carriage and nothing else of worth. If I may, it appears to be a bribery, but by whom? And what for? We have nothing of much value, nor do we hold any significant power either."

I shook my head, "For what it is worth, I believe Marcus may have played another little trick on us, especially when I consider his rather... particular farewell, though I cannot be certain."

I looked down, glancing at the fresh carriage tracks, though they seemed to be faded from the fallen leaves and stray twigs.

"Besides," I continued, " it seems to me as if Yore did not run far. Look, the tracks seem to point back to the manor."

She huffed, preparing herself to disassemble the tents. I could still see light bruises from where she had struggled putting them up and a small smile crept onto my lips.

Silly little imp.

Adri sighed once more, saying, "If that were the case, then it ought not be so horrid; Marcus is not one to cause serious harm and I highly doubt he would ever endanger our lives. Cheverton ought to be another four days' journey from here taking the side route, but we can cut it down to around two if we go directly."

I shut that idea down quickly, appalled.

"Adri, we cannot! We dare not! You heard what Yore and Denver said - the main road is blocked! We will not be able to go that way."

Adri ignored me, packing the tents into the rucksacks and stomping out the embers from our dead campfire. She did not answer for quite some time, yet I had a sneaking suspicion that she was mocking me in her silence.

She finally turned, smirking, "And this is why I'm better than you, my dear toad. Denver only mentioned that the main route was blocked and the carriage would not be able to pass. He never uttered anything regarding our walking."

Don’t slap her, Eliza. Keep your cool…

"Heavens above, help me," I gripped the bridge of my nose, praying for patience, "first, he did not say that and second, I doubt Denver even considered the idea that we would be walking, Adri."

"Well, it's either that or returning home in disgrace! Look, the sun is shining, we are a third of the way there and we must meet the Emperor soon. Once we get to the tavern, we can clean up, have a meal and get another carriage; it won't be that bad."

I sighed again. It would do us no good arguing here, in the middle of the forest, stuck between two estates and not yet home by nightfall.

We cannot risk the Emperor's ire and I still have the Order with me...

"Alright, let's get moving."

She smiled, handing me my rucksack and after a moment's deliberation, we had started down the road.

For all our griping, it was not actually as horrible as I had initially thought, with the twitter birds singing beautifully above us. The spring had brought about another bloom and all throughout the path we saw life spring up from the forest floor. The terrain was amicable, fairly flat and smooth with a well-worn trail, although it became slightly hilly with gradual slopes at certain times, but it was not difficult to traverse it.

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Adrianne had trouble now and then, twisting her foot on a stray root, snaking through the undergrowth, or getting her hair tangled in a branch, but for the most part, we had made good progress. Eventually, I took the lead for her sake and held her hand as we walked, making sure she did not stumble, the silly fool.

Along the way, I began to feel my soul lighten, watching the breeze whisper past and I felt my hair lift in its wake. It was rather freeing, walking down that path with Adrianne; I realised that even in my home, I did not enjoy these beautiful vestiges of life as much as I could have, nor did I visit the Butterfly Canopy often. Though I helped John with the gardens and trimmed the bushes, plucking weeds and pruning the roses, I did not at all stop to consider the simple pleasure of looking at them. Even as I walked around the courtyards, surrounded by camelias, I did not enjoy them as much as I could have and now, looking back, I realise that I would have found my life much more enjoyable if I had just stopped and looked around me.

Oberon above, this is beautiful...

We had walked on for roughly eight hours, trekking over roots and stones, singing old temple hymns all the while. At high noon, we had already made it halfway to Cheverton and were faster than if we had taken the carriage and the side route, just as Adrianne had predicted. All through the journey, I kept noticing birds and insects, squirrels and cats, foxes and even a deer pop in and out amongst the trees. It was the first of such encounters with the wilderness that I had experienced, yet I had loved every single moment of them.

Eventually, we arrived upon the mudslide Denver had spoken of and passed it with some difficulty; when the downpour occurred, the trees at the top of a particular slope had been struck with lightning and fallen to the ground, with their roots sticking up in the air. Because of the intense rains, the ground turned to mud, drifting those very trees to cover the trail where the carriages would travel.

We crawled over that rather rough area, hopping on various trees where the mud was not yet dry, until we had mostly crossed over that impasse. All was not entirely dandy, for it was not long before Adrianne's voice made her complaints, tired and irritated, well known to me.

"Heavens above, I don't doubt my feet will fall off if we continue at this pace! Can we not take a break? Even for a little while??" Adri whined, sitting on a fallen trunk as she rubbed her feet.

I laughed, weary from the long trek, yet as energetic as if I had just woken up from a deep sleep. The mud had smeared onto the edge of my pants, caked on by the journey, yet I felt strangely free.

The air smells much fresher now...

"Of course not, Adrianne! If we keep going, then we might make it roughly three stretches to the tavern. It won't be long now, but we ought to continue; just bear with it for a little longer." I walked back towards her, grabbing her hand in mine and tugged her along. We did not realise yet how close we were to Cheverton, for though the map had made it seem far, it was no more than about a day's journey from when we had started walking, however, the real issue occurred shortly after that impasse.

As we made our way forward, I could not help feeling elated by our progress, but Adrianne had finally had enough.

"Alright, that is enough, Liz! I can't walk anymore, my feet hurt too much!"

She set her pack down onto the flat ground, now free of any mud and pulled a blanket out; she drank heartily from her flask, eating more strips of chicken and finally laid down on the ground as I shook my head.

"I am not moving from this spot until we take a break."

"Very well then. We might as well anyway; it is no good pushing ourselves."

I settled down beside her and we enjoyed a small, humble lunch of dried fruits and the last of our chicken strips. By the time we had finished, we laid down to doze in the sunlight, our very bones aching and groaning with a satisfying pain. The first time around, it had felt rather strange for me to enjoy that pain, but the strain had assured me that our efforts were not in vain.

It was pleasant, being incapacitated there upon that blanket, unable to move any longer as only permitted by our bodies to watch the forest breathe organically, the small gusts of wind flowing from branch to branch. The clouds had passed over the sun by that point and although it was rather warm, I felt a sudden chill run down my tired, aching spine.

Eliza…

Something suddenly, unknowingly, felt wrong.

Eliza…

Another whisper echoed in my ears as I looked up again, glancing around the forest. This time, I struggled to stand, wary and exhausted. I paid that voice no heed earlier and our carriage had disappeared. There was no guarantee that it was merely a fluke, but this time, I would not be so foolish.

It is quite curious to me, though, how quickly I had learned to listen to that voice; nothing had told me of its nature, yet I feel now that my younger self knew enough to trust my intuition. It seemed trustworthy and I made sure to listen closely to it.

The left… behind the tree...

It spoke again. I checked the area to my left, squinting my eyes to clear my vision.

Was that a shadow I saw?

"Eliza?" Adrianne stared up at me, the concern seeping into her voice. She got to her feet, tapping my shoulder.

"Sh. Something's wrong..."

"What?" Her brow furrowed.

I turned back to her, putting a finger to my lips, "Listen."

She stopped, watching the trees around her. The forest had gone strangely silent, with the only noise being the shuffling of leaves in the wind.

Another quiet breeze raced through, shaking the branches until they mimicked the rain, but it was still far too quiet; no birds chirped in the sky, no squirrel brushed past in the undergrowth, no swish of a fox's tail as it poked through the underbrush. Somehow, every single animal had gone deadly still where we were, with only the wind making itself known.

As I listened, the snap of a twig in the distance made my heart race. It sounded roughly twenty-three horsetails away, but I was not certain, waiting for another confirmation. Adrianne stood next to me, listening intently and quickly picking up the blanket, rushing to clean up.

What is it? Is it an animal? A predator? Nothing else would make the forest this quiet. Oh, what if it's a wolf? Don't be stupid, Eliza; wolves only come out at night, never in the day. This is a well-worn trail - the wolves would never come here.

Panic began to rise in my chest and the ugly Fear lifted its head. My heart began pounding as I stared, desperately searching for the telltale snap again. Soon, our area was cleared of our tracks and we got low to the ground, apprehensive.

Another snap echoed, this time slightly to our right.

Eighteen horsetails.

I crouched suddenly, pushing my pack into a dense bramblebush to my left, the green berries poking through the foliage and Fear began to pump in my veins.

Fifteen horsetails.

Fear began to speak into my mind, clouding my thoughts.

You won't get out alive, Eliza. It might be a murderer on the loose, or a robber, or a mercenary. You never know, perhaps Marcus did indeed send an assassin after you.

I shook it off, pushing it down, wriggling and squirming, into the pit of my stomach as I scrambled up a rather mossy cedar, struggling to sit in its branches; my muscles screamed from the agony; the wood creaked and groaned from the weight, shifting and scattering fresh leaves down below until I finally found my perch in the intersection of three thick branches, old cobwebs and shrivelled spider corpses sticking to my shirt.

Ten.

The snaps drew nearer, but thankfully Adrianne had followed suit, scurrying up the trunk of a willow as its leafy hair covered most of her features; I lost her among the branches and soon, we sat completely still, simply waiting until we knew it was safe.

They quickened, making their way nearer to our trees.

Seven.

The snaps drew nearer still, getting louder until all I could hear was their horrifying crack.

Five horsetails.

My heart thumped in my ears. I waited there, up in that tree with baited breath, until the snaps reached less than a horsetail away.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

I could not tell if that noise was my heart or the nearing footsteps, light and cautious.

Suddenly, I saw the source of our terror; a man, dressed in black, carrying knives at his waist and daggers in his hands, marching through the undergrowth and searching carefully for something.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Moments seemed to shift from seconds into hours, infinitely longer than they actually were, as he slowed beneath my tree. He paused, crouching, to touch the ground and sift the dust through his fingers. He trailed a long finger in the dirt, tracing it towards my tree, until he slowly got back up, his finger never leaving the trunk of the cedar.

Suddenly, he glanced up and then we locked eyes, blue clashing with black.

Heavens above!