Sonica the hedgefox: I appreciate your reviews! Even if only one person is reading this... I shall continue! It's so hard to get readers on a board this size... :sighs: I'll try to update more often.

That night Tails looked at the ceiling. He could not sleep. Something was bothering him... then he realized what it was.

He got up and tiptoed to Alene's room.

She was still awake, and looked as if she had been expecting him.

"You are leaving." It was more of a statement than a question.

Tails nodded wordlessly.

"Then I'm coming with you. Besides, you'll need someone who knows to the land."

"It's too dangerous," protested Tails.

"I've been in the middle of a battle and faced death from discovery of my role as a spy. This can't be worse than that."

Tails looked at her.

"All right, you can come," said Tails. He had expected her to come anyways. Now he could not imagine a journey without her.

Alene made a sound of contentment and lay back down. "Go back to sleep now."

Tails didn't sleep another wink that night.

The next day was full of goodbyes and packing. Sonic was so busy afterwards he didn't know how he survived the day. There were many metiyas that simply wanted a glimpse of him, and he was followed by many admirers.

Sonic and the others were glad when the day ended. Exhausted, they went to bed.

The next day dawned bright and clear. Sonic and company made some final farewells and last-minute packing, and then they set off. There wasn't a cloud in the sky above them, and the air seemed fresh and clean.

Retio and Saermore seemed to have a general idea of where Kerrigan's citadel was, and told Sonic that there were three ways to get to it.

"We can take the river course, the forest course, or we can head straight over the plains," Saermore informed Sonic as they all took a rest break. It was midday.

"Which way should we go?" asked Rouge.

Sonic thought.

"I think we'll take the forest route," decided Sonic. "It may be long, but we'll have plenty of cover and no problem finding food."

Everyone agreed with him and they set off, Retio in the lead, with Tails, Alene, Harry, and Rouge in the middle, and Sonic, Knuckles, and Saermore bringing up the rear.

They traveled in this fashion for three days. It was on the morning of the fourth day that they were attacked.

They were walking single-file through some particularly soggy parts of marsh in the forest. Rouge stepped in a pile of muck.

"Ewwww," she complained. "I don't want to know where that came from!"

Then suddenly a trio of bats swooped down from the sky. One started biting Sonic, and the other two fluttered around harassing the rest of the party. They were charged by four lizards.

"Ambush!" shouted Saermore as he tried to beat off the bat attacking Sonic with his quarterstaff. The other party members were having similar difficulties.

"Attack them all!" shouted Sonic. Everyone started trying to beat off their attackers. Knuckles walloped one of the bats and sent it spinning off, where it hit a tree hard and never got up again.

Rouge kicked one of the lizards in its snout and as it bent over in pain, Saermore smashed its skull in with his staff.

There were two more bats and three lizards left. Alene jumped on the back of one bat and started whacking it as it frantically flew in various loops trying to dislodge her. Finally it crashed into a large tree and lay still.

Retio and Saermore surrounded the remaining lizards while Knuckles punched the last bat into a nearby river. Its wings became waterlogged and it floated off with the current.
The lizards snarled, and then charged Sonic. He was caught by surprise and was knocked backwards into a particularly soggy patch of marsh. Harry helped him up while Knuckles, Retio, Tails and Saermore beat off the three lizards. One fell into the river and was carried off.

Now there were only two lizards left. Madness glinted in their eyes as they rushed forward, sharpened pikes lowered for the kill.

They were aiming for Sonic but Harry threw himself in their path. They tripped over him and a pike scored his back. One of the lizards landed next to Sonic and flipped over, raising his pike. Knuckles crashed into him and broke his neck. The last one fled, howling... but not for long. He tripped over a root and went headfirst into a patch of quicksand. With barely a sound, he was pulled under and out of sight to a silent death.

Panting, the others regrouped. Alene attended to Harry's back while the other dragged the corpses into the quicksand.

"Look, Sonic," said Retio. He held up the back of one lizard's hand. On it was the mark of a metiya.

"They were slaves under orders," said Saermore. "And we just slaughtered them."

The group was silent with this disturbing thought. Sonic sighed.

"Let's clean up and stop for the night," advised Retio. "It's getting dark, and it's not safe to be wandering around in this forest after nightfall."

"Why not?" asked Rouge.

"In the dark we might blunder into some quicksand, or worse," replied Retio, pointedly looking over where the lizard had disappeared into quicksand. Rouge got the hint.

Alene ordered Harry to rest while Knuckles, Saermore, and Tails set up camp. They flung up tents on solid ground and started a fire. Everyone washed off the muck and mud in the river, and then had a hot dinner before going to sleep.

The next morning the group awoke feeling refreshed. They packed up camp and stuck off across the forest. Soon, however, it began to rain. And not a gentle sprinkling, either. This was a full-fledged downpour. Soon the party's spirits were as soaked as their bodies. The trees did not help much in holding off the water.

The marsh soon became a bog. Water pooled everywhere and in some cases threatened to suck them down into the suffocating sands that would have been harmless when dry. For every step they took, their feet sank about half a foot before stopping. Then they would laboriously pull them up before placing the other foot down, sinking and becoming stuck. It was not pleasant. Soon the air was dark as night, though it was noon, and an unpleasant stench began to waft through the trees. The rain came on.

"Sonic, we must stop!" shouted Saermore through the rain and thunder. "We cannot keep going like this!"

"No, we have to go on! Shadow's life may depend upon us!"

"We won't be much use to him if we drown in water and quicksand!" pointed out Knuckles.

Sonic reluctantly agreed, and the party halted and attempted to strike camp. However, the ground was semi-water by now, and the tents kept floating away or leaking, so they gave up and just huddled under the nearest trees, shivering. No one even tried to start a fire, for all the wood was soaked through.

The rain continued throughout the day, and all through the night. No one got any sleep. When the darkness above them got slightly lighter, meaning morning, it was still raining hard.

"This cannot be natural," muttered Harry. Most agreed with him.

Retio turned to Sonic. "We must do something. We cannot sit like this for much longer."

"We will continue!" shouted Sonic through the rain. "We can't go back!"

The party wearily got up and slogged along through the marsh, which was by now almost a very shallow lake. Fortunately, they were not attacked by anything else. However, morale was at an all-time low. No one said anything, concentrating on laboriously putting one foot in front of the other. The sky above them was still dark, even though it was close to noon.

Retio, who was in front, thought he felt the rain lightening, when from behind there came a scream that was abruptly cut off. He whirled around in time to see Alene's tail vanish into the water.

"Quicksand!" shouted Saermore. Knuckles and Harry felt themselves sinking fast. They had blundered into a whole area full of quicksand!

"Help!" shouted Knuckles and Harry.

The others looked around frantically.

"Quick!" shouted Sonic. "Retio, get Knuckles! Saermore, get Harry! Tails, help me with Alene!"

Tails grabbed a rope that he had in his pack, tossed on end to Sonic, and dived into the pit that Alene had vanished into.

Sonic was surprised, but held onto his end of the rope as it became taunt. Behind him, Saermore and Retio weren't having too much trouble pulling Harry and Knuckles out.
Sonic felt a slight tug on his end of the rope.

Sonic pulled hard on his end of the rope, and Tails reappeared, gasping and carrying Alene. She was unconscious. Behind Sonic, Harry and Knuckles were now freed. The group ran out of the quicksand pits before anyone else could start sinking.