"Its fine, you're just in an overly eccentric world," Marcy mumbled to herself in the dark.

Around her she heard the soft breathing of all the others seeming to feel perfectly normal on the damp ground of the forest. Marcy could not understand how everyone had immediately fallen asleep knowing that all around them trees were moaning, groaning, and even bending down. When Weland had told her about the trees and she had witnessed them herself Marcy thought that everyone stayed clear of them. But no! They had to march right on into the forest and camp among those immensely creepy forms of death!...Alright maybe Marcy's imagination was over active that night but she had a point. For some reason she had the strange feeling that someone was out there...watching them. To Marcy the night seemed to strengthen her senses and she thought she heard the flutter of fabric in the trees. In fact it happened several times. Eventually Marcy decided to get confirmation and nudged Chandra who was right next to her, sleeping soundly. 

"Chandra," Marcy hissed in a barely audible voice.

Chandra did not move. 

Marcy nudged her again and when there was no reply she sighed and punched Chandra in the back. Eventually she moaned a little and turned half over, rubbing her eyes.

"What is it?" she asked in a muffled voice.

"I think we're being watched."

"We are," Adrastea said quietly from Marcy's left side.

Marcy thought Adrastea had been asleep like the rest of them, but apparently not.

"Well...well how do you know?"

Adrastea sighed and turned over, propping herself up on her elbow.

"You just said you thought we were being watched and I confirmed it. I haven't been able to sleep at all...not a wink. And that's sign enough in its self."

"What do you mean?" Marcy asked puzzled.

Adrastea sighed and sat up, dragging five fingers through her long chocolate hair.

"Look. I've lived all my life in the wilderness. If I can't get to sleep something is definitely wrong...Not to mention I made rounds of the camp earlier with what's-his name - Dagon I think - and we found some tracks. And then not five minutes go I saw a person with blonde hair peeking at us."

Chandra nodded her head a bit and rolled back over mumbling, "That would be confirmation all right."

"Well what do we do?" Marcy asked.

Adrastea was also tucking herself back into 'bed' and seemed not to care about the possible danger nearby.

"We wait."

"For what? Whoever's out there could kill us!"

"Its not likely. Not with eleven people in a camp. That would be stupid."

Marcy sat back against the log they had used as a bench earlier and frowned.

"Oh," she mumbled.

Then another thought struck her.

"What if he - or she - is a maniac?"

Adrastea let out an agitated grunt and pulled her blanket farther over her head.

"Then pray its not you they decide to kill."

.......................................................................................

"Gooooooooood morning!" Diomedes sang as he walked over to the campfire.

Chandra and Angelica were heating up some grub while others were either still asleep or just hanging around.

"What's good about it?" Adrastea mumbled.

"You're not dead are you?"

Adrastea did not answer but simply grunted and mumbled something under her breath. She obviously was not a morning person.

"Actually I think we should all consider ourselves lucky that we're not dead," Diomedes said honestly, sitting down by the fire and filling a tin cup full of coffee.

"So you saw our visitor too?" Marcy asked him.

Diomedes nodded while he sipped at his warm drink, letting out a delighted sigh.

"What visitor? You mean the blondy in the trees?" Dagon said, dumping a pile of wood by the fire and laying his hatchet down beside it.

"It would seem Blondy - as you put it -" Adrastea said, nodding towards Dagon. "Does not know how to do her job correctly."

"How do you know its a 'her'?" Marcy asked, trying desperately to put her unruly red locks in a braid.

"The footprints are too small to be a guy."

"So you saw the footprints too?" Dagon inquired, grabbing a cup of coffee as well.

"Of course I did. I'm not an idiot," Adrastea mumbled.

Dagon sighed and rolled his eyes, agitated and frankly tired of Adrastea's sour personality. Cephalus came over to the fire stretching and nodding immediately going for the coffee pot and sleepily pouring himself a cup. Adrastea grunted and stood up walking towards where the horses were tethered...far away from everyone else. 

"What's her problem?" Dagon asked quietly.

Marcy watched carefully as Adrastea brushed the dappled-grey horse. She was almost sure that she was talking to the horse but of course, Marcy knew if she had a horse she would do that herself. 

"She seems to treat that horse better than people," Marcy mumbled to herself.

"Most horses are a sight more dependable," Cephalus answered gruffly.

"Oh come on! You're not taking her side are you?" Dagon asked.

"I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm simply stating a fact."

There was a long stretch of silence before Weland came over to the fire and sat down next to Cephalus saying, "What are we going to do about our visitor?"

"I'm not sure. Honestly I think we should just leave him alone. At least until he does something."

"She," Marcy pointed out, looking over the rim of her cup at Cephalus.

"And how would you know?"

"Adrastea told us. Said she found tracks."

Cephalus grunted and gulped down his coffee, filling himself another cup.

"I wonder if their were any horse tracks," he muttered.

"There weren't. I saw the tracks to," Dagon answered.

Angelica stood up from the fire where she had been frying up some bacon and wiped her hands off, walking over to a bundle still asleep on the ground.

"WATCH OUT FOR THE AXE FENNEL!" she shouted right above Fennel's head.

Fennel immediately shot up out of bed and looked around quickly. Then when she saw Angelica's snickering face she rolled back up in her blankets and mumbled, "Why do you insist on ruining my sleep?"

"Well its breakfast time and if you don't get up it'll all be gone," Angelica shrugged.

Fennel sighed and stood up looking like a wild mustang, mostly because her curly hair was all flipped to one side and falling in her face.

"Bacon?" she asked.

"Bacon," Angelica answered.

"The eggs are ready!" Chandra called.

"How did you manage to get eggs?" Diomedes asked, looking at the eggs with the look of a skeptic.

"I cracked them and put them in a jar before I left home. Then I sealed the jar and kept them good by attaching a string putting it in the stream that was by the cabin."

"Interesting."

Diomedes seemed a little less than pleased by Chandra's creative food habits but everyone else took to the eggs gratefully. Adrianna had gone looking for some game and came back with a brace of hares which she took to skinning and cutting up before she ate her breakfast. She said 'work before pleasure' and Chandra had to agree so she kept a plate on the side for Adrianna. Dagon had quickly slurped his meal up and ran off into the woods. Diomedes guessed he was just looking for more signs of their previous night visitor. Adrastea had come back to the fire and ate in silence while everyone else chattered on about this and that. Marcy was pondering on the camp-fire-fried-bacon. She had never really gone camping before and had only ever cooked on a stove. Open flame cooking was a completely knew concept to her, even though most people had told her about their great camping trips back home. Fennel and Angelica continued to joke and bicker amongst themselves, making them sound like a flock of giggling hens at one moment and a pair of angry geese the next. Chandra was chatting with Adrianna about the skill of cooking eggs just right while Adrianna slowly ate her breakfast. The three guys left in camp, Cephalus, Weland, and Diomedes, discussed several random topics all of which revolved around meat.

It was a rather cheery camp all together except for the fact that Adrastea kept darting her eyes back and forth suspiciously giving off a tense air. Eventually Marcy gathered enough courage and got up, walking over to Adrastea and sitting down right next to her. Adrastea did not look away from the forest.

"So, whatcha looking for?" Marcy asked cheerfully.

Adrastea did not answer. Marcy coughed a little while trying to think of something to say but it turned out more like a choking sound.

"I heard you were from the mountains. Is it nice up there?"

"Not 'were', 'am'," Adrastea answered bluntly.

Marcy caught the eye of Chandra and shrugged her shoulders in a defeated gesture while Chandra just snickered a little.

"Well is it?" Marcy continued, determined to make Adrastea talk.

"Is it what?"    

"Is it nice up there?"

Adrastea still did not look at Marcy but continued to glare at the trees, her eyes squinted against the early morning light.

"Diomedes, did your brother go East or West when he went into the woods?" Adrastea asked, a layer of suspicion on her tone.

"East."

"Why?"

Diomedes, who had casually answered, suddenly looked up at Adrastea's sharp voice.

"Well, uh, I don't know. He goes into the woods a lot."

"I think Adrastea has a point," Adrianna quickly spoke up.

"Those woods aren't safe to go into alone. When I was hunting I found tracks of a rogue party heading North."

Adrastea continued to stare at the line of trees.

"But Dagon would have known that...wouldn't he?" she asked Diomedes quietly.

He nodded slowly, not sure what she was getting at.

"Adrastea, what are you getting at?" Cephalus remarked, waiting for her ever so blunt reply.

"He saw someone."

"Then why didn't he tell us?" Marcy muttered quietly.

She was always good at figuring out puzzles and this one caught her attention.

"Either it was someone he knew or someone who was innocent enough to walk up to," Adrianna answered, her hunting senses being drawn out.

Adrastea nodded and Marcy noticed she was fingering the heavy blade on her belt. Everyone had stopped chatting and looked around at each other, wondering what would happen next.

"Why are you staring at the trees?" Marcy asked Adrastea.

"You see something too...don't you?"

"Its not that I see something. I feel something. I get the sense someone is not happy with us being here...I think Dagon noticed too."

"Well we know someone was watching us," Marcy remarked.

"Yes but its not the same...Cephalus, who else did you tell about our little trip?"

"No one," Cephalus answered gruffly.

"Then why did you send Aileen off?"

Marcy nearly jumped out her seat and looked around at all the faces, realizing that Aileen was not among them.

"How long has she been gone?" Chandra asked.

"Since last night," Adrastea answered.

"I send Aileen off with a message to some of my men. They're posted in Rubin Soth and if I remember correctly you said that was the best route to take, did you not?"

"...I did..." Adrastea muttered.

"Well I hope Dagon gets back soon," Diomedes told them.

"If he doesn't we might have to go in and look for him."

As if on cue Dagon came crashing through the trees like a scared rabbit and bolted for the horses. He skidded to a stop before pulling his sword out of its scabbard.

"That can't be good," Marcy muttered.

"Everyone get down and find a weapon!" Dagon called as he ran towards them.

Automatically everyone went for their various weapons and crouched behind the logs, looking at the tree line.

"What's wrong?" Marcy asked once Dagon was inside the make shift barricade.

"About 20 men heading this way. I bet you a million their a rogue band."

Adrastea suddenly shot her cold eyes at Cephalus but he calmly shrugged.

"Why would I send for them? I picked all of you for this mission. I doesn't make sense for me to kill you."

"Well how did they know we were here?" Angelica asked fingering her stiletto.

"Maybe our friend in the trees told them," Weland suggested quietly.

Suddenly the woods came alive as several men clad in animal skins rushed at them, bearing cudgels, axes, swords, pikes, and many other make shift weapons.

"Remember," Chandra said quietly to Marcy.

"If someone swings at you...duck."