The adventure continues! thanks reviewers, you really keep me going and i appreciate every single one of you! however, now i have a new bargain. i am determined to finish this story regardless of comments... but i promise that if i get reviews, i wont harm jarogen or imogen or fiona.. much...

With every passing second, we were getting further and further away from Roden, the camp, and safety. I felt like the branches were reaching down to grab at my hair. I held onto my sword a little bit tighter as the trees got more close together. The young man leading us glanced back at us every so often, and told us that we were close.

"How do you know?" Asked James. "I can't see anything."

"I feel it in my gut," said the young man. He looked back to Ari. "How are you holding up?"

Ari shrugged, and said nothing, but she did retie the scarf around her head. I wondered why she was so insistent on covering her hair, but said nothing. I still felt bad about being so mean to her. There were other things that I needed to be worrying about too. Like where in the name of the devils was this young man taking us.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I could no longer hear the faint muffled conversations that were happening back at the camp. We were completely on our own. And something didn't feel right.

"Stay on your guard," I said, and I drew my sword. Ari whimpered behind me, and I gave her my knife.

"Good thinking back there, sunshine," said the young man, and I scoffed at him.

It all happened so fast. The trees burst out of their state of sleep, and bandits came running to us with their blades and arrows shooting everywhere. I was still shocked and almost missed defending myself, but snapped back to reality just in time for my blade to lock against a handsome young thief with a scar dipping into his eyebrow.

"How did you find us!?" He yelled right in my face, and he kicked my knee, sending my spiraling to the ground. His accent was distinctly Avenian. My sword fell and I scrambled for it, yelling insults at my attacker. Probably wasn't my brightest idea. He chased me into the trees, farther and farther away from any help.

"You idiot! You left a trail for us!" I lied, my sword now in hand. My attacker jumped on my and wrestled the blade from my hands.

"Get off of her!" Screamed the young man who'd led us here. My attacker rolled to the side, and with my sword and his, met the young man's blade in a clash of metal. I reached for my knife and remembered one thing… I'd given my knife to Ari.

I grabbed a rock, and just as the scarred attacker was going to hit the young man, I threw it at him. More bandits poured into the clearing we'd ran to. A flash of pain exploded across my back, but it wasn't enough to drag me away from the fight. I had to save my friend, even if I didn't know his name yet.

"Here!" Yelled the young man, and he threw his knife at me. I caught it, and charged at the attacker. I cut his arm, but he also cut my arm.

A scream ripped through the forest. The young man and I both jerked to the scream, and our common enemy ran past us, seizing the opportunity to escape. We both charged after the fleeing bandit and ran to the source of the screaming, My back screamed in pain, but I still pressed on, our task wasn't over just yet.

"Duck!" Yelled the young man, he had a knife in his hand. I did as he asked, and I heard the whistling of a knife. The blade had sunk deep into the chest of one of the bandits, and he fell to the ground, dead. The young man kept on running after the scarred man.

Suddenly the source of the screaming came into view. A young woman with white-blonde hair had been slung over somebody's back, and she was screaming for help. Her eyebrows had been smeared with brown, and I knew who she was in an instant.

It was Ari.

The bandits ran faster and faster, there were too many to count. All I could see was my friend's crying face getting smaller and smaller with each step her kidnapper took. I screed her name, and she cried out. Something hot and sticky dripped down my back, but I couldn't check what it was, it would've cost me too much time.

"That's my friend!" I gasped to the young man next to me, and then I had an idea. I wasn't sure if it was going to work, but I had to make do with what I had.

I took my knife in my hand, and threw it at Ari's kidnapper as hard as I could. By some miracle, the knife found its mark deep in Ari's kidnapper's back, and he tumbled to the ground, taking Ari with him. But the pain in my back was too great, and I stumbled to my knees. I could see the young man from before racing to help Ari as all of the bandits charged onwards.

I pressed my hand to my back and felt something wet. When I drew my hand back, it was covered in red… I wiped it on the snow, and forced myself to stand back up. The last of the bandits made a break for the trees, and James was coming into the clearing with a prisoner. I stole a sword from one of the fallen bandits, and bit back the pain in my back. I put on a stolen coat of armor to hide the wound. The young man and Ari came to me and James.

"Figured we could ask him for information," said James. "He talks a lot."

The young man squinted, "Why did you attack the king's betrothed?"

When the prisoner didn't speak, the young man slapped him, and then words spilled from the prisoner's lips. He couldn't talk fast enough. "We wanted to hold her for ransom, but then we found the princess of Avenia in her entourage, but the princess escaped. She's a reminder of king Vargan, and we were about to take her back to Isel and kill her but the brat escaped because of the king's betrothed. So now… We will make her pay!"

"I hope for your sake the king's betrothed isn't harmed," spat the young man. He pulled a rope from his belt and tied it around the prisoner's hands. "And I also hope the nearby wolves have eaten today."

We left the man behind, and decided we would follow the bandits to their camp. I told Ari a small story about when I tried to steal a horse to distract her, and it worked for a moment. She touched her very pale braid often, almost like she was uncomfortable with it being seen. I slipped in another apology for being rude to.

I was grateful for the opportunity to tell her a story, it distracted me from the pain from the wound on my back. I needed to be there for my friends, and I needed to help rescue the king's betrothed. He might not have cared for me the same way I cared for him, but that wouldn't stop me from helping him.

We found the bandit camp not long after passing through more burnt trees. The camp was small, but there was a large bonfire and cooking meat, there were also several wagons and several young men and women tied to a tree. This had to be where the king's betrothed was.

I promised myself that I would save her for Jaron, no matter what the cost was.