Hola guys! I hope you didn't forget about our scouts, because they are in trouble ;)

Aurora: Oh don't worry, there is much more coming to tug at your heart strings! (maybe not in this chapter, but it's coming!)

/Zen

Gauis turned, a warning on his mouth like a melting peppermint, but before he could say a thing the guard turned.

"Crivens!" There was no point in staying quiet now. They were made. Where had that guard come from? Why hadn't Panne smelled it?

Cursing under his breath, Gauis knew he shouldn't have relied entirely on the taguel's sense of smell. He knew better than to rely on others to get the job done. He should have taken point himself, with Panne behind him.

The warning cry went out from the guard and the others came running. Boots thundered across the dry grass. There were maybe eight of them, but better armed. Gauis and the others had been outfitted for scouting and running, not for fighting. He gripped his sword hilt, hoping he wouldn't need much else.

Ahead and to his left, Panne roared, changing forms. On his other side, Stahl unsheathed his own sword.

Gauis took a fist-full of Lissa's dress and pulled her out of the way of the nearest guard who was charging them. Shoving her behind him, he met the attack with his own blade before whirling and slashing the man open from shoulder to hip. He fell like the dead weight he was.

"Whiskers, on your right!" In her beast-form, Panne dodged and reached out with a massive paw, taking down the two men who'd been trying to skirt around her. As if they could have found a weak spot.

He grit his teeth, watching Stahl struggle with yet another guard. The man was much better on his horse, but he was holding his ground at least.

"Look out!" Lissa used her staff to knock him out of the way.

"Crivens – Princess if you would just –" Gauis grunted, rolling to the side and coming up on his feet. It was hard to fight and protect someone at the same time. He made a mental note to make sure she got some lessons with an actual weapon when they got back. Princess or not, she'd need to be able to defend herself at some point.

Dodging the next swing of the guard's axe – and his foul breath – Gauis swung his sword up from the side. The contact jolted up his arm, but he didn't falter. The man fell face first into the dirt. Just to be sure he didn't come back up, Gauis stabbed through the guard's back, right around where the left lung would be.

"Was that really necessary?" Lissa demanded. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes wide – by fear or excitement he couldn't quite tell.

Sweeping a glance around the valley, Gauis saw Stahl propping himself up with his sword and Panne back to her humanoid form, brushing off her fur. The guards were all down.

"I don't like it when my enemy finds their feet again Princess," he responded, cleaning his sword with the guard's uniform. "People don't usually like being stabbed, kinda like I don't like it when someone sneaks into my candy stash."

She gave a little huff, but didn't actually look too mad about it. Then she seemed to notice Stahl hunched over as well and hurried over to him. He'd be in good hands. The princess might currently be a lousy fighter, but she was a top notch healer.

"That was unexpected," Panne said, a slight growl still edging her voice.

Gauis walked over to her. "You missed a spot." He reached up and pulled some grass from her hair. She merely raised an eyebrow.

"Are you not going to reprimand me?" she demanded. "I failed. We never should have run into them at all."

Gauis sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, bad Whiskers. You led us straight into a trap – it had nothing to do with that flock of crows taking off and cawing at us like the cravens they are. Or our good friend's noisy stomach," he jerked his thumb at Stahl, who was walking over to them unassisted now that Lissa had healed him.

Stahl winced as he heard the last comment. "Uh, sorry, usually I don't have to worry about my stomach being loud – I'm not usually sneaking around much."

"It's fine, cripes!" Gauis threw up his hands. "Let's just leave it lay – ain't any use crying over ruined toffee. What I really want to know," he added almost to himself, "was what the heck was with those birds."

"Oh my! You're hurt!" Lissa took his arm, staring at where one of the guards must have sliced through his leather glove.

"Huh, so I am," Gauis noted. It was bleeding a fair bit – his mum had always said he bled like a stuck pig – but it wasn't particularly bothering him. "Don't worry about it Princess, I'll heal –"

"Sh!" She grabbed hold of his forearm and frowned in concentration, channeling through her staff. She was petite, but she had enough determination for someone twice her size. Her blond hair blew across her face as the wind picked up, but she hardly noticed. The hand she held over his arm warmed to an almost uncomfortable temperature then and tingled as the flesh beneath it healed.

When she released him, he flexed his hand and shook his arm a little, trying to get rid of the tingling sensation. As handy as healing magic was, he wasn't entirely comfortable relying on it.

"Thanks. Now let's get out of this valley – it's takin' far longer than I'd like." They were all four in agreement and hurried through. There was no longer any point in being quiet – they'd roused any guards in the vicinity. Not, he thought, the kind of entrance I'd planned.

Stahl and Panne moved to take point, but he stopped them. "Whiskers, take the princess with you."

"I get to be up front?" Lissa's eyes lit up with surprise.

"Yeah well don't go tripping over yourself or anything," he said, waving her excitement aside. He shared a glance with Panne, hoping the taguel understood the princess would be her responsibility. He almost expected her to object – but she inclined her head ever so slightly. Good.

The two moved on ahead, leaving him and Stahl several paces behind.

"You think that's a good idea?" Stahl asked, looking after the two. He had a concerned look on his face.

Gauis shrugged. He went to dig a peppermint out of his pocket and glanced at the cut in his leather glove. It was a deep one alright. He'd need to stitch that up. And these were his favourite pair of gloves too.

"No one gets good at anything when you're breathing down their neck," he said, following after the other two. "Gotta make mistakes to learn!"

"Like this?" Stahl asked, jerking his thumb at the guards lying on the ground behind them.

Gauis grimaced. "Some mistakes are worse than others Munchies. You just gotta remember to keep moving forward."

"Munchies?"

"I'm trying it out," the red head grinned. They followed quietly for a bit, Gauis keeping his eyes and ears trained on their surroundings. He was also listening intently – straining, really – for the moment anything went wrong up ahead. Both Panne and Lissa had rounded a bit of a hill edged with thick-leaved trees, hiding them from his sight. He resisted the urge to hurry after them.

He'd told Stahl he meant to give Lissa room to learn, and Panne to teach. He meant to do just that.

Crivens but it was hard. He snorted softly, glancing to the right and into the trees as a bird flew up.

"Crows again?" Stahl asked softly beside him.

"Not crows," Gauis said, dread filling his stomach, "ravens."

Like the intense flavour you got from a cinnamon heart, alarm bells went off in Gauis' head. He was already running when he heard Lissa's scream.