12 Into The Forest

Russel woke up as he felt a weight fall upon his chest.

"What the…" He said sleepily.

He opened his eyes to see a familiar blonde girl sitting on his chest looking down at him expectantly.

"Hi." She greeted him.

"What are you doing here Elizabeth? What time is it?" Russel asked.

"It'll be dawn soon. So we have to get going, and I came to return this." She said, putting his gambeson next to him.

"Thanks…" He murmured. "Is Oliver gone?"

"No. He's still asleep." She informed him.

"Perfect." Russel said mischievously.

He pushed Elizabeth onto the bed and got up. He walked over to the sleeping Oliver and bent down. He sharply clapped his hands next to Oliver's ear and jumped back. Oliver awoke with a start, jumping up and looking around.

"What was that!? What happened!? Are we getting attacked!?" He yelled frantically.

Russel started to laugh loudly at the man's misfortune, soon being joined by Elizabeth.

"What the hell Russel?" He complained. "Why is she here?"

"No clue." Russel shrugged.

"I came to get return Russel's clothing." Elizabeth blushed slightly.

"What was that about anyway? You were asleep in Russel's arms and wearing his clothing." Oliver laughed.

Elizabeth quickly got up and slapped Oliver.

"That is not for you to know! Why would a woman reveal why she was sleeping in a man's arms." She whined.

"Are you implying something?" Oliver asked.

Elizabeth slapped Oliver a second time, leaving him with a red mark on his face.

"How dare you ask what a man and woman do together." She stated.

"She may be implying something, but nothing happened like your thinking." Russel sighed.

He quickly threw on his gambeson and grabbed his sword. He also took the initiative of putting on his chainmail and plate armor. He packed up things like his pillow and bedding into his chest and placed it upon his bed.

"Should we worry about the tent?" Russel asked.

"No. Rachel has people to take care of our stuff." Oliver yawned.

"A noble born like you should be used to this kind of service, but I still find being given stuff and taken care of quite weird. Though we haven't eaten much lately." Russel sighed.

"Yeah, but we've been busy." Oliver observed. "And Rachel is nice enough to get us all these services. Not that I'd expect less of my family's organizer."

"So she organized everything for nobles… That makes sense at how much of a leader she is. Still, I'd kill for some good cooking." Russel chuckled.

"Then how about I make dinner for you tonight Russel? We can find a nice place to sit in the forest and enjoy it…" Elizabeth blushed.

"Um… Ok…" Russel awkwardly replied. "You wanna join us the Oliver?"

"Dummy! I mean just for you and I!" Elizabeth complained.

"Oh…" Russel sighed.

Oliver laughed at Russel's awkward behavior, only to receive another slap from Elizabeth.

"We best be going." Elizabeth stated, walking out of the tent.

Russel sighed in relief and got up off his bed.

"You ok?" He asked Oliver.

"Yeah… You must be dense to not know she meant it like a date." Oliver chuckled.

"I had a feeling… I was just trying to shut her down." Russel sighed.

"Well she isn't exactly bad looking, and she seems nice enough." Oliver observed.

"I guess. But I've had my heart set on someone since I was a kid." Russel said, fiddling with his necklace.

"You still need to tell me the full story." Oliver reminded him.

"I will… Eventually. I trust you, so it can't hurt." Russel shrugged.

"Are you coming or not!?" Elizabeth yelled from outside.

Russel sighed and walked out of the tent to where Elizabeth was waiting.

"What took you so long?" She complained.

Russel sighed and motioned for her to follow him. The two walked along until they reached the command tent. They went inside to find Rachel looking over a map of Sylizen.

"Goodmorning." She greeted them.

"Hey. So we go back and get people from our areas now, right?" Russel asked.

"Yes. Grab some horses from outside and go collect everyone." She ordered.

"We only need one horse." Elizabeth exclaimed, grabbing Russel's arm.

"Um…" Russel started.

"Great. The less resources the better. Get to it." Rachel ordered.

Elizabeth dragged Russel out of the tent and over to one of the horses.

"You get on first." Elizabeth insisted.

"Ok…" Russel said awkwardly getting onto the horse.

Elizabeth jumped on behind him and wrapped her arms around his stomach and buried her head in his back. They stayed still for a moment until Elizabeth got irritated.

"What? A pretty girl is cuddled into you on a horse and you just stay still like an idiot." Elizabeth complained.

"So… This is kinda awkward, but I've never ridden a horse before." Russel admitted.

"Huh? The almighty warrior has never ridden a horse? You've got to be kidding me…" She sighed.

"How do I work this thing?" He asked.

"Take the reins in your hands and pull on them to steer. Hit the thing with your feet in order to make it move. Yell woah at it to stop." She sighed.

"Is that all?" Russel asked.

"Pretty much. Now let's go." Elizabeth said.

Russel spurred the horse to move and the two started towards the slum dweller area. At first Russel had trouble controlling the horse, but with a bit of time managed to get the hang of it.

A few moments later they finally arrived. Dawn had passed a while back and many people were waiting with all their stuff ready to go.

"Good Morning everyone. I hope you are all ready for the migration. We will be going around helping people, but please make sure to check on others to help them be fully prepared as well." Russel yelled out.

Russel and Elizabeth rode around chatting with people and trying to encourage people to join them if they weren't already. After about three hours they had gained a group of roughly ninety.

"Not a bad size group." Elizabeth commented.

"No. It's not terrible." Russel agreed. "Everyone please line up in rows and follow us!"

Russel guided the large group back towards the command tent, where they met up with the other three groups that had a group double the size of Russel's. Oliver rode over to them and started to give further details.

"We have two hundred and twenty people. And you have ninty or so? So we are only missing around sixty people… My math may be wrong though." Oliver said.

"Regardless, we have more people than we could have hoped for." Russel smiled.

He turned back to his group of people and saw them all carrying loads of gear.

"Do they have to carry all their stuff?" Russel asked.

"No. We have an entire carriage for it." Oliver said sadly.

"That many died?" Russel questioned.

Oliver nodded sadly before addressing the people.

"Everyone place your gear in the back carriage! We will hand everything out again when it is time to set up for the night!" Oliver yelled.

Russel and Elizabeth started off towards the front of the group and inspected everything. There were two large carriages at the front and back, each pulled by four horses.

"We have a lot of stuff… That might make us much slower." Russel sighed.

"Everything will work out in the end." Elizabeth assured him.

"I hope you're right." Russel sighed.

Russel pulled up alongside the front carriage and greeted Frederick who was driving the carriage.

"I got your companion." Russel said. "Care to take her off my hands?"

"Sure." Frederick laughed.

Elizabeth jumped over to the carriage and sat down next to Frederick. They all waited as everyone got into a formation and after another half hour or so they were given the all clear by Rachel.

"Let's get going! Southbeach here we come!" Frederick yelled.

With that the group started off towards the forest, and continued down a worn, yet slightly overgrown path.

Russel was impressed by the forest. Once they were one hundred feet in or so it became much darker and the forest seemed to envelope them in its density. Frederick noticed his looks of awe and started to chuckle.

"There is nothing like being on the road, and with how unique this forest is it is even more fun than normal." Frederick exclaimed.

"I'd never left Eastcliff other than the surrounding area. I'm just excited to be going on a trip, it feels like I'm on an actual adventure." Russel laughed.

"I see! You're one of the young ones who yearns for adventure! You would've done well to travel around as a caravan guard for merchants. All the adventures you could ever want all across Ocasia! Ah yes, those were the days." Frederick said nostalgically.

"Does that not happen anymore?" Russel asked.

"No, it does. One day I was young and going off for months at a time to all the different countries, seeing all this world could offer. And before I knew it I had wound up in Eastcliff with a shop, wife and four kids. Until the attack that is…" Frederick trailed off.

Everyone fell silent, the only noise being that of the carriage wheels and horse hooves.

"I'm sorry." Russel spoke.

"Don't you worry about it boy. I'm sure you lost people and things you loved as well. What is important now is that we continue with our lives." Frederick smiled sadly.

The group remained silent for a few moments more before Elizabeth sighed.

"What is on the way to Southbeach that makes it so far away?" She asked.

"We have to go through this huge forest that we are in now, and then we will be passing through the town of Redwater to resupply, and then we have another week until we reach our destination." Frederick said.

"So it's going to be more than a month!" Russel complained.

"Yes. We only said that to make it seem like it wasn't a terribly long time. I'm sorry but it is more like two months." Frederick apologized.

"So if we only have enough food for a month… Then we have to hunt in the forest here in order to save it…" Russel sighed. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"Have you never seen a map of Sylizen?" Frederick asked.

"I have… I just never paid attention as to where Southbeach is. I was going by your guidance." Russel growled.

"So you are too trusting it seems. I keep thinking that you're the opposite!" Elizabeth laughed.

"I'm not trusting, but it seems I am negligent." Russel sighed.

"Well anyway, I'm sure they won't force you to hunt. They might have you guard them though." Frederick mused.

"To me that's the same." Russel said.

"Elizabeth could you grab the bag behind me?" Frederick asked.

Elizabeth grabbed the bag and handed it to Frederick, who quickly took something out of it.

"Look at this. It's a map of the entirety of the Ocasian continent." Frederick smiled, handing the map to Russel.

Russel took it in his hands and studied it.

"So the seven countries that make Ocasia are Sylizen, Walton, Shakao, Culcheth, Keld, Acrine and Miraceaa…" Russel observed, staring intently at the map.

"Yes. Three Hundred years ago this continent was but one empire, it had lasted over two thousand years before the giant war tore it apart. But that's ancient history." Frederick informed him.

"Thank you." Russel said, handing back the map.