Terrin felt as if they had been walking through the dark and the dampness of the Lost Forest for weeks. He kept tripping over roots across the path that seemed to appear out of nowhere and constantly had to duck to avoid overhanging branches. He wasn’t the only one having all these problems though, and as he glanced up from scrutinizing the forest path he noticed Kenta tripping and just managing to catch his footing… by stumbling into Sola. She simply gave him a look of contempt before continuing on her way. “She doesn’t seem to be having to much trouble,” Terrin thought gloomily.
Finally, when Terrin’s stomach had begun to uncontrollably express its distaste for having missed his morning snack, Sola called a halt.
“We’ll be restin here for no more than five minutes,” their guide said as she passed about some though journey bread. “Now don’t ye be strayin *cough* don't stray away, I’ll no be comin to look for ye - you when the time comes to be leavin.
Terrin glanced over at Kenta to see him rolling his eyes and muttering something under his breath.
“And,” Sola continued as she turned to Kenta, “ye can be returnin - return that dagger ye took from me any time now.”
“What!” Kenta said as he jumped up from his seat on a nearby fallen log. “I’ve done no such thing. Besides, even if I had, you couldn’t prove nothing!”
Sola, to Terrin’s horror, marched over to Kenta with a glower on her face and unceremoniously kicked his pack over. Out spilled a multitude of items… among them one of her daggers.
“Why, how did that get there?” Kenta mumbled as he pointedly avoided her eyes. “I’ve never seen anything like it! It must’ve jumped right into my pack.” He began to shake his head and shake his finger at the dagger. “Bad dagger! Very naughty of you, jumping in there to get me in trouble.”
“Oh now he’s done it….” Terrin thought.
Sola’s face took on a dark look and she was just about to reach out a hand to grab Kenta when a piercing shriek was heard from deep within the forest. Sola looked up, said something utterly unladylike and quickly snatched up her stolen dagger. Kenta’s face had taken on a definite pallor as he gathered up his things.
“What, what’s going on?” Terrin asked, looking into the forest to see where the noise had come from. Just then, the shriek was heard again, closer this time, and was answered by another on the other side of the path.
“Now look what you’ve got us into!” Kenta yelled. “I knew we should never have come in here, but no! Little miss perfect guide won’t listen to me! Now we’re all gonna die and it’s YOUR fault, Why, if I were…”
Sola, ignoring them both for the moment, dropped her pack and climbed up a nearby tree. She looked around briefly, muttered something under her breath, and then quickly descended the tree. She then hefted her staff and turned to the others:
“We’ll have to be fighting,” she stated. “They’ve got us surrounded.”
Kenta finally shut up as this sunk in, but Terrin was getting frustrated. He turned, red in the face, to Sola. “What the heck is going on here?! What has us surrounded, why do we have to fight and why are you all so freaked out about it?!”
