Chapter Ten up... I think there's about two more chapters to put up.I haven't finishedChapter Thirteen yet. But now that I've finished school, I guess I can write more often... maybe. No! I'll try, I really will.

Enjoy...

Chapter Ten: Round About

After three hours of solid trekking Robert turned to face the group to stop for the night. It had begun to grow dark quickly in the forest, giving off an eerie feel, of which Tyson didn't agree to. After several more moments it had suddenly turned really cold, the soft wind leaving an icy feeling behind.

"I think we should stop here for the night. This looks like a safe place." Everyone sent sceptical glares towards Robert as they surveyed their surroundings. Robert sighed and looked to Enrique, "Well it's as safe as we're going to get. Look around, there's not an inn within miles…"

"There's not anything here for miles. And we're left with the deep and dark, creepy woods?" Tyson huddled closer to Max (AN. This is meant in a friendship/cowardice way only. lol.) and both shook with fear. "I vote sleeping in the middle of the group."

Tala raised an eyebrow and crept up behind Tyson and Max. Slowly lifting his mouth towards Tyson's ear, he took a huge breath and, "BOO!"

With a huge jump, both young boys ran for the cover of their strong Team Captain, only to find a huge smirk on his mouth. "What's the matter, scared?" He let go of his breath in irritation, "Plus. Why do you want to sleep in the middle of the group anyway?"

"Because the people on the edge usually wind up getting into trouble first."

"Good." They all looked to Brian who still couldn't contain his almost menacing laughter, "Then you two can go on watch first."

Tyson and Max gulped as the thought of being the only ones awake in a place like this sunk in.

Tala stepped up and shook his head, "Don't worry about it, I'll keep first watch. Besides, five gold coins says that they would fall asleep a quarter of the way through their watch anyway."

Everyone agreed with Tala's choice and made camp for the night. A small fire was set in the middle, with everyone's bedrolls around the outside. And after a quick meal, the whole group had soon fallen asleep. No matter how scared they had been, all their fears were soon lost as the weight of their journey caught up with them.

Tala kept watch over the group until the fire had all but hot embers left, sending shadows dancing amongst the dark. A glow of red from the side of the camp, sent Tala alert. Slowly he stood up, with sword in hand at the ready, waiting for the slightest movement. It came, but the movement was of the light, slowly moving closer to the spot where he kept watch. Suddenly a second light appeared, but it shone a pink hue. Tala recognised the colour from that morning.

Silently he swore and stood in a fighting pose, ready for whatever came at him. But nothing moved. Both coloured lights had disappeared, and Tala was left in silence.

"Bloody fairy." He kept on his guard, circling around as he watched every corner of the forest… Please don't tell me it's brought a friend…

Trying to think about what he had done to upset his little foe kept ending him up at dead-ends. He had done nothing, but stumble across him… or her. So what was its problem?

A gush of wind sent a chill down Tala's back as a rumble was heard near-by. While trying to pinpoint where it was coming from, he made his way quite a few metres away from the edge of camp. The rumble started to grow in intensity until he heard a noise, which terrified him. It came as a familiar sound, having lived in an ice covered country, and just to see if his instincts were right he looked up, towards the sound. In doing this his icy chill turned to dread. Wasting no more time, Tala turned towards the camp and ran. He was a few feet away as the rockslide hit. He had managed to move out of the way in time and was now standing at the edge of the slide watching as the rocks and dirt, tumbled down, just a few feet away from him. Looking up he noticed that there was a tall hill, now missing almost half of it's top and just in his view, shone a tiny pink dot.

"How could a stupid little fairy do something like this?"

As if the fairy had heard him, it flew down the hill and stopped right in front of his nose. Taking a step back Tala viewed his foe with more detail. It was definitely a girl, wearing a small pink dress which was shaped like a rose, and had delicate pink wings, shimmering behind her. Her dark pink hair stood out, making her seem almost harmless. Almost. That was until she came right up close to him, that Tala swatted her away with his right hand. Almost immediately afterwards, he had regretted it. She came so close up to him that his vision was blurred with her light but a few seconds after, the light suddenly swooped down, and Tala yelped as a pain hit his right hand. Bringing his hand into view, he noticed small teeth marks just under his thumb, on the palm of his right hand. Turning around to look at the pink fairy he found only darkness left around him.

The danger was over, and the fairy gone. How he regretted doing first watch that night.

After several moments of silently debating whether or not to wake someone else up for watch, left him with one question … Did I just imagine that rockslide?… He turned around and viewed his travelling companions …Why didn't they wake up from all that noise? They're not deaf…

Walking over to Steve, he bent over and softly shook him. Getting no response, Tala turned to drastic measures and began violently shaking him whilst shouting in his ear to wake up. Sitting back in disbelief Tala tried the same on both Gary and Rei, getting the same results. He peered over Kevin's shoulder and thought he noticed some glitter on his face.

The light from the fire had all but gone out, so it left Tala wondering why Kevin's face glittered. Looking around him, he noticed that all of them had the same glittery effect. He swore once more.

"That bloody fairy." He looked upwards and yelled. "Why do you keep doing this to me."

Punching the air, he began to let all his frustration out on the space in front of him.

The sun had risen to reveal a fresh morning filled with the bright hope of finding their direction. Almost all at once, the group began to wake…all except Tyson who remained blissfully unaware of the morning sun. It took Kai, Rei and Max to wake him. He groaned as he sat up then looked to everyone else. "Is it just me, or does everyone's feet really hurt?" A few people chuckled or nodded in agreement as they too stretched, yawned and woke themselves up. Tyson groaned again. "Using a log as a pillow isn't the best idea."

Enrique just laughed and looked to everyone else. "So, how did everyone sleep?"

"Like a log. He he he."

"Tyson, what do you find so funny?"

Tyson looked to Enrique with a grin. "Didn't you get the joke? You asked how we slept and I said 'like a log.'"

"Yeah. So?"

"I slept like a log…and I slept on a log…see? Log." He pointed to where his bedroll was laid out, a log for the pillow. But seeing everyone's blank faces he gave up on the joke. "Nevermind."

Brian glanced around for his team captain and noticed him sitting against a tree fast asleep. He raised an eyebrow then motioned for Kai to look over to him. Kai saw his friend and contained his hidden laugh, but looked to Brian confused as a thought crossed his mind. He looked to everyone else in question. "Who took watch last night?"

Kai only received blank stares and no answer. He looked to the sleeping Tala and started walking over. Softly shaking him he startled Tala out of his sleep.

"What! Where is it?" Jumping up, Tala pulled out his sword and looked around, "Huh?"

He heard a few muffled laughs and turned towards his two friends. Kai stood there, arms on hips, with one raised eyebrow, while Brian had a hand over his mouth, trying to keep his laughter hidden. Brian put both hands on his waist and started to walk away, whilst shaking his head. Kai pulled Tala's attention away from the back of Brian's head as he lightly hit him on the shoulder.

"What are you talking about? And what happened last night." He motioned for the large pile of rocks and dirt, which lay almost seven metres away from their campsite. "None of us woke up and I find that hard to believe seeing as though it was only a couple of metres away. And more or less, when did it happen?"

Tala didn't want anymore criticism about the fairy and kept his mouth shut, until he noticed all eyes directed at him.

Tala sighed and began his explanation, "I know you won't believe me, but I'll tell you anyway. You know that fairy I told you about?" He saw a few nods, and heard a few giggles, "Well, it must have followed us. It even bit me on the hand."

He held his hand in view for all to see. But still no one took it serious.

"Tala, you're probably overreacting. Some little animal probably bit you. You did fall asleep on watch. Besides, how could it be a fairy? Like we said. Fairies. Don't. Exist."

He glanced over at Johnny and scowled but he still continued on. "Yeah? Well how do you explain that?" He pointed to the pile of rocks and put his hands on his hips.

Kai raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "Are you saying an itty bitty fairy caused a huge rockslide from that there hill? You have got to be joking." He took a step forward and put a hand on Tala's forehead, "Are you feeling alright? You're not sick are you?"

Tala pushed his hand away and glared, "No!" He ran his right hand over his hair and turned his back to them. "Look let's just go. Forget I said anything."

Picking up his belongings he shouldered them and began to head for the road. Enrique looked over and was about to follow when he turned around and stopped. Scratching his chin he turned around once more and sighed.

"Great." He muttered,"Hey Tala! you're going the wrong way." Tala stopped and peered over. Enrique shook his head and pointed to the pile of rocks. "That's where we're meant to go, but it's blocked up."

Rei came over and inspected the pile. "It's too dangerous to climb. There's too many loose rocks. Maybe we can go around?"

They looked through to the forest on either side of them and shuddered. Tyson gulped and stood next to Rei, "Are you sure we have to go through there? I mean, look how creepy and dark it is. Why not head back now… While we're still alive."

Rei shook his head and began to look for a game trail; anything that might lead them through the thickest part of the forest. Looking closer he spotted a small dirt trail a few metres away from the edge of the forest.

"Let's follow that. It might lead us around, or even better, to a river."

Eddy shuddered and peered over Rei's shoulder, "What's so good about finding a river? Especially if we have to walk through there."

Mariah put her hands on her hips and stood on Eddy's right, "Because. If we find a river we can follow it. It has to lead somewhere and besides, it could take us to a village who might use that river for their water supply."

Eddy sighed and picked up his gear, "Alright then. If it'll lead us to a nice warm fireplace, let's go."

After packing up camp and putting out the fire, they all began the long hike through the forest. It was only wide enough to go along in two's so they had developed a buddy system, to ensure that no one got lost and no one was left behind. Several hours had passed since they had last stopped and soon quite a few people were complaining of hunger and sore feet.

Finding a clearing they let their bags down and relaxed. They still hadn't found a river, and Rei was beginning to wonder if they were going around in circles. Looking up at Robert he saw leant over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Robert. Do you want to fly up and see if you can find anything? Even if it's the road we were on yesterday. I just need some clue as to where we are headed."

Robert nodded and quickly flew into the trees above. A minute later he landed, looking very puzzled. Rei looked over for an answer and in return Robert moved over to his left and pulled some of the shrubbery away. There, right behind the bushes, they could see a road. But what had puzzled Robert was to the left of the road. There, where they had left it that morning, was the big pile of rocks from the rockslide and their campfire.

The whole group looked over in disbelief and quite a few swore. All turned to Rei and saw an equal look of surprise.

"How could that be. I swore we were following the path the whole time, so how could it go in a circle? That doesn't make sense."

Tala growled and thrashed at a tree. "The question is more or less, who would create a path that leads around in a circle. That's stupid."

In answer to him a small high-pitched giggle was heard. All turned around to find who had laughed at them, but no one was there. Keeping quiet they listened for the destination of the laugh, but then another laugh was heard elsewhere and another, until the sound of laughter had surrounded the whole group. They all looked around in a confused daze as whispers began to be heard.

"…They're strange looking things…"

"…Look at that one…"

"... So Big!..."

Suddenly an audible voice was heard, but they still couldn't find where it had come from.

"I have a question for you all." A small pause was heard and then the voice continued. "What's the best way to keep milk from going sour?"

Looking around confused Lee spoke up, "What? What kind of question is that?" He looked to Mariah and shook his head, "But I have a question for you, though. What are you and where are you?"

Mariah looked around and nodded, "And how do we get to where we want to go?"

The forest filled with silence, until a rustling was heard to the back of the group. "You guys are no fun. You haven't even answered our question."

Ian rolled his eyes and spoke. "I don't know. How do you keep milk from going sour?"

A chorus of voices was heard as the answer was thrown at them. "Leave it in the cow!" After the last word was spoken laughter once again filled their ears. It was almost too much to bear and a few smiles had broken out onto the faces of the travellers.

Kai raised an eyebrow to Brian as he mouthed the answer to him in question. Brian shrugged and shook his head.

"Okay. Loved the joke, but we need to be going now." Eddy turned to leave but heard rustling to his side, and jumped away in fright.

Rustling came from all around them and a small head popped out of a bush. "You can't leave yet. It's been such a long time since we've had human visitorshere."

They inspected the little creature that stood around one metre tall. He wore a green tunic with matching green bottoms, for camouflage. He wore a little green hat with a feather sticking out of it, and they noticed a slight point on the end of his ears.

Max bent over him and poked his nose. "Are you an elf?"

Kevin laughed and stood next to him, "Ha! He looks like Robin Hood to me."

Spencer smirked and motioned for his height, "He also looks taller than you, to me."

A few giggles were heard and more of these little creatures began to crawl out of their hiding places. All stood at around the same height and wore the same type of clothing, fitted out to be either male or female wear.

One young malewalked over and looked up to Spencer, not even reaching halfof Spencers height,"I like you, you're good at telling jokes, and I like jokes."

Oliver slowly walked over and touched one of the young girls on the head, "I thought you said it was only Faeries, Avarians and Neko-jins who inhabited this world. You never said anything about there being gnomes. Or are they goblins?"

"We're too cute to be gnomes."

Another one stood next to the young girl and smiled, "And we're too nice to be goblins."

Once again they all joined in as a chorus, "We're Elves."

Tyson's eyes opened as he looked at each one, "Santa's little helpers?"

What seemed to be the leader stepped forward, "No. I am an Elve, not an Elf... They are our cousins."

The laughter erupted around them once more as each Elve took a hand of one of their visitors. They lead them through the thicket of the forest and suddenly came out into a little village, with a river by it's edge and flowers in bloom all around.

Emily looked around and sighed, "It's beautiful."

"Come. You are our guests here. If you have any problems don't hesitate to call me."

"Okay." Steve looked around and then back to the leader, "So we call you? What's your name?"

"What."

"What?"

"Yes?"

"No I mean, what?"

"Yes, what?"

"What's what?"

"I'm what."

Michael covered Steve's mouth and put a finger to the leader. "You're names what?"

"Yes."

Michael nodded and let go of Steve. "Steve, his name's Yes."

Quite a few Elves hit their little heads and erupted into giggles. Kai looked over and was ready to hit Michael's.

"His name is What, Michael, not Yes."

"Okay. I think I get it now." He rubbed his head as he turned away, "I don't think I'm gonna like it here."

Steve looked over and smirked."What?"

Two replies were heard; one fromWhat and one from Michael.

"Yes?"

"I said that… Oh. Ha ha Steve. Very funny."

And once more the air around them filled with the giggles of both the inhabitants and their guests.

He he he... funny lil elves aren't they? A hidden village no one found, which the group found by accident... hmmmm... what else do you think the group might come across, I'd like to hear your responses... hint, hint, (cough) review (cough)...