While Adam was out fetching branches, Scarlet checked what was left in her bag. Originally a beautiful sack made of fine red cloth, it is left with a large tear at the top from where she tore off a part for Cress' hoof.

Inside the bag was only a lightweight map. The bag can contain quite a few things and is essentially empty after she threw out the food earlier. Scarlet took out the map and set it down on a nearby flat stone.

She traced the map and mumbled, "The general's encampment should be near Lion's Peak based on what Dunlas told me, while we should be around the far end of the Unpen Forest. A two-hour horse ride or about 6 hours on foot."

Lion's Peak was a steep hill in the middle of a large clearing. It was a great defensive position and would have been a fortress had construction been completed in time. By the time war broke out, the fortress was only partially completed.

Now, the general is camped there.

While waiting for Adam to finish gathering branches, Scarlet walked around the area and occasionally cut a few vines with her dagger to bring back.

After a while, Adam returned with an enormous pile of branches. His face was still filled with ash and covered in sweat which created a funny picture when he chuckled and said, "You won't believe how hard it was to find branches that were not particularly thorny. You might as well have asked me to find fifty needles in a sea of hay." He let out a breath and tossed all the branches on the ground.

Scarlet gave a light smile as well and replied, "Well I guess your reward is an opportunity to clean yourself once we get to the stream."

She walked over and helped grab half of the branches and begun tieing the branches together with the vines. After she was done, she tied a large knot around the whole pseudo-raft and dragged it over to Cress.

Scarlet gestured for Adam to come over and said, "Adam, help me lift Cress up and pull her onto this raft."

Adam grabbed onto two of Cress' hooves while Scarlet grabbed onto the other two. "On my count. One, two, NOW!"

Adam and Scarlet both rapidly dragged Cress onto the raft. Cress whinnied in pain as she was dragged onto the raft as Adam accidentally touched the injured hoof directly. In protest, it used its other hoof to kick at Adam but Adam quickly jumped away, dodging the blow.

Scarlet said embarrassingly, "Cress was slightly spoiled in the castle stables since she was bred specially for royals, because of that she had been treated as a royal compared to the other horses."

Adam waved her off and said, "It's alright. Let's just get this over with and drag this horse to the stream."

Scarlet grabbed one of the vines that were tied around the raft, "Alright then, let's go."