DQueene came out of her dreamless sleep completely alert, gazing around the camp swiftly to see if everything was as it should be. “Mari is practically falling asleep standing up, poor child,” she thought as she rose from her warm spot by the fire.
She got up, slowly stretching like a cat to loosen up all the kinks in her body, and walked over to Mari, “Go to sleep, child, I’ll wake you in a few hours and we’ll continue our journey.” Mari nodded tiredly, and walked over to snuggle up to Shana by the fire. She appeared to fall asleep almost before her head was resting on her makeshift pillow.
Time passed swiftly for DQueene, she was alert to everything in her surroundings, but took the time to puzzle out the spell that had forced her change into the elven form she had worn for so many years. “Ah ha, so that’s how they did it!” She whispered to herself. “So if I do this … and this … Done!” She thought triumphantly.
She looked around the camp, gazing longest, and fondly, at the two girls sleeping so soundly and then lastly at the elf. “No, I stay as I am for now. They need not know I’ve found the key.” She mused. “They will let me stay with them if I’m in this form. I can protect them better this way.”
She walked over and shook both girls awake. Shana reacted instantly, jumping up and grabbing her knife from where she kept it hidden, prepared to fight.
DQueene, pretending it didn’t hurt her to see someone so young, so fearful, just held up her hand and told them both, “It’s time to go. The army won’t march again until at least morning, if then. The commanders won’t be able to rouse their men to march with their heads swollen from so much alcohol.”
She turned to look at the elf and asked the girls, “What do we do with him?”
