The bright yellow ball in the sky had gone up two times, and then fell, replaced by the big white disc that the pale human called 'The Moon'

It was the third time that the yellow ball had risen now, the third time since they attacked the pointy-eared woman and fled through the forest.

And still, Steal could feel the pain, not in his body anymore, but in his mind. When he slept, he heard whispers, and his every waking moment somehow made him think of the forest that was so, so different from the one he was in. The one with the goat-headed demon, evil plants and moving rocks. He had to go back, he knew how to go back. Part of him felt like he had to go back again.

But there was part of him he couldn't squelch out, a different voice that whispered different things. It warned him, told him that he shouldn't go to a place so dark and dangerous. Try as he might, he couldn't squelch that fear. It stuck in him like a row of jagged thorns, weighed on his shoulders like a boulder pressing down on his bones.

"Hey Kor'Ak-" Steal watched the blonde man in front of him tip his head high to sip out the last, cooling contents of a canteen, Kelvin let out a happy sigh before continuing on "-It appears we're out of water"

Kor'Ak just kept on marching ahead of them all, letting out no indication of anger or annoyance besides a lightly dissatisfied growl, and some murmuring about how Kelvin "Isn't paying me enough"

Naturally, the goblin didn't understand his words, but he could understand his emotions, when Kor'Ak turned to check on Kelvin and Steal, the goblin took note of the slight twitch in his eyebrow when his line of sight centred on Kelvin. Steal also took note of the frightened 'gulp' that Kelvin took when those eyes lined up on him.

Steal shrugged and kept following along, though his straightened and tingled as he heard something that the others seemed to not take notice of. Water rushing and crashing, striking and cascading over rock.

Water.

The goblin didn't know that they were out of water, he didn't know how many canteens were in Kelvin's bag, didn't know they were all empty.

He did know he was thirsty.

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Very thirsty.

Steal cackled wildly and sprang off towards the sound of rushing water, barely listening to Kor'Ak as he called out "Where are you going little green one?"

The sound of two sets of footsteps hitting the dirt, picking up their pace came from behind him.

At least they were following him.

It only took a few minutes of scrambling over twisted roots and darting around long walls of foliage until Steal reached the riverbank.

The rushing, rapid water was white at the top, and the river was almost twenty feet in width.

The heaviest set of footsteps was the first to stop beside him "Fuck, we need to get across this."

A lighter set of footsteps. "Kor'Ak, why do we need to get across this? Can't we just go around?"

"It runs down to the ocean and must come from the mountains..." Kor'Ak bent low, using both hands to snap off a rather thick branch from a bush nearby, before tossing it towards the centre of the river.

Steal watched the branch hit the water, sink below, then pop up again as it promptly zipped out of view in a matter of a few seconds.

Kor'Ak kept speaking, his voice seemed to be losing its energy, words seemed to slur out slowly now, rather than with any form of energy or vigor. "So we have to get across, and there's no chance we're going to swim or boat across..." his eyes swung to the rows of rocks that sprang from the water like a mouth full of jagged grey teeth. "unless you want to see yourself have every bone in your body pulverised against those"

The blonde stammered back "We could head up north and follow the river then right, I think I know what river this is. There'll be an outpost at the base of the mountains beside the river, we'll be safe there and can rest."

"And how do you know of such a place"

"I... Uh, I did work there, helped to fix up the place after an attack and enchant their walls"

"An outpost?... It might be a good idea, but it means more time in this forest, we need to get out of these woods as quickly as possible to avoid the kitt"

Kelvin crossed his arms at that "Well there's no chance we're gonna get across that river, if you're so desperate to cross it, why don't we just head towards the mountains, and if we see a good place to cross, we'll take that, sound fair?"

Kor'Ak nodded, voice still gruff and a little hoarse "That sounds okay... You said we were out of water, pass the canteens around and we'll fill them up.

Steal caught the canteen that was tossed at him, and he copied Kelvin's actions of popping off the cap and lowering the canteen below the river, Kor'Ak kneeled beside Steal and did the same.

The three pulled away and stood up in near-synchronicity. Though Kelvin and Steal were the only ones to start drinking instantly, Kor'Ak just watched them

Steal gulped down the sweet, cold liquid thirstily, whilst Kelvin swilled it in his mouth.

The rotted carcass of a deer shot past them down the river, Kelvin's eyes went wide, spitting the water onto the dirt below him as he retched and coughed.

Steal kept drinking.

And Kor'Ak just spoke "...Drink sparingly"