[color:"00cccc"] "You fly on ahead Viper, Meatloaf and myself will follow you from the ground."
Viper nodded, we paid up at the inn and headed out of the city gates.
"See yer later Fred!" I said on the way out.
"Yer better keep a close eye on that pig of yours! Old Joe the butcher almost had him until he saw the saddle on him!" He replied with a sneer. "See yer later, if you live!"
That thought chilled me to the bone, Viper looked cool and calm though, never in doubt that we would live through this.
Once we cleared the village Viper took off. "Stay in sight!" I called after him. He waved back.
"Come on then boy!" I spurred Meatloaf into action and we galloped into the forest.
We went on for a few miles when I stopped to let Meat drink at a brook. The wheel tracks from Jurak's 'buggy' carried on into the forest. How far could that thing go? Maybe we'd catch up to DQueene's captors? Viper landed to check we were ok.
"Just watering the Hog!" I grinned.
"Seems very peaceful around here..." Viper said.
"Isn't that what you usually say just before an arrow whizzes past our heads?"
"In a cheap story maybe," Viper grinned, "Cmon, we'd better get moving as its getting close to mid-afternoon."
Viper's tension was becoming obvious. His pround exterior could not hide his feelings for DQueene.
"Cmon Meat! We're going again!" Where the hell was he?
"Over there!" Viper pointed. Meatloaf was snuffling in the trees. I wandered over.
"What do you smell there boy? Hey, what's this?" I uncovered a rock.. There was a message on it.
[color:"orange"] 2 taking me to Aganeth. Follow. Wait for my signal.DQueene[/color]
"Viper! Look here! I knew she'd allowed herself to be taken!"
"Well I never" Viper grinned, "she'd better have a good plan ready."
The relief was obvious on Viper's face, though he quickly switched his expression back to normal.
"Let's go!" He said with determination.
A few miles further on we saw the tracks go off into the woods. Viper was waving and pointing to a spot there so I spurred Meat on. Poor little oinker, he was exhausted!
Through the trees we came to a clearing. There was Jurak, Jolie and Willow, sitting round a fire. They were glad to see us.
"Why stop here?" I asked when we were all together. Jurak looked down at his feet uncomfortably and pointed at the sled.
"Uh-huh. I see. Well the damage doesn't look too bad. Let me hammer out the dents and we'll rest here tonight. DQueene has a plan for Aganeth!"
The others grinned, none doubted DQeene's warrior prowess... [/color]
