Gilgamesh cracked open an eye. His head felt like something was hammering into it and his limbs felt like they were weighed down by rocks. It took him a couple of moments to realize it wasn't his vision that wasn't the problem, it was night, the only light coming from torches held by soldiers. Suse soldiers.

Suddenly the memories hit him of what had occurred earlier, and he tried to get up but realized he was tied down to something. A look up told him it was a stone pillar.

"Looks like the King is awake."

Gilgamesh turned his attention to his captors. Eight soldiers from his quick count. Only four were armed with swords. His mind turned over all the information he had. Obviously whatever Urash threw on him didn't kill him but instead knocked him out. And it seemed like they were expecting him to awaken at this time. A quick check to the sky told him all he needed to know. The moon was full.

He gritted his teeth as he glared at the men. If it didn't feel like his limbs were soup, he would have torn through the bindings and throttled them. And then would ride to the palace no matter how foolish it was. If he was killed, Suse could keep Hakuno as a "diplomatic guest" and gain control of Uruk. And then they could even auction her off to another country in a beneficial marriage for Suse.

"Can we hurry up and be done with it?" asked one of the guards. He glanced nervously at Gilgamesh. "I don't like how he is looking at us."

"We need to wait a little bit more. The moon isn't directly overhead yet." The solider grinned and patted the nervous one on the back. "Relax, the magic must be still running in his system. He couldn't do anything even if he was untied."

"Why don't you untie me then and see how it goes?" growled Gilgamesh. He had no time for this. He had to get Hakuno and Enkidu out of there. Gods, she probably didn't know of Urash's deceit. And she spoke highly of that mongrel too. He fidgeted, glad to feel a little more of himself. Not enough though. His fingers barely flexed when he told them too.

Damn it.

The sound of metal against metal drew his attention back to the soldiers. One had pulled out his sword, the metal shining against the torchlight. "We just need to stab once right?"

"Yes, one clear stab through the chest. And then we'll be done."

"Honestly, why did we get stuck doing such a dangerous deed? I'll be praying to the Gods a lot after this."

A horse neighed from behind Gilgamesh.

"Tsk, something probably spooked the horses. Probably some wolves prowling about." The solider gestured for another to follow him and the two walked around the pillar and out of Gilgamesh's vantage point.

Alright, now there was six. Could Gilgamesh take them on before they stabbed him? He tested his limbs again. Thankfully they had tied him by the abdomen to the pillar, his arms pinned to his sides. It was still tight and he could feel the grooves of the pillar pressed against his back but it gave him some movement. He wiggled his toes and was grateful to see they all moved when he wanted them to.

Almost there.

And then he heard a scream.

The guards were on alert. One let out a cry in surprise as a green-haired creature erupted from the shadows.

"Gil, are you alright?"

He craned his neck back in surprise as his Queen popped out from behind the pillar.

"Hakuno, you're here," he said in disbelief.

"Yes I am." She began cutting the rope with a knife. "Damn, this rope is thick."

"Hakuno, you have to know, Urash-"

"Was working for me. He was the one that told us what happened. He might have betrayed you in the moment, but he wanted to let me know what was happening. I almost got it. Just a bit more."

Oh. Well he should not have been surprised by that. But damn, that slave mongrel made him mad. He heard screams and he checked on Enkidu's progress. Three soldiers were lying still on the ground.

One of the soldiers had broken away from the rest and he was coming towards them. "HAKUNO!"

Hearing Gilgamesh's warning, she looked up from her work. Her eyes widen as the solider flew at them, sword swinging.

The King pulled on the ropes. Hakuno had sawed them away enough that they snapped. His limbs still felt like they were weighed down by rocks, but he pushed himself in between Hakuno and the sword.

The sword bit into his back but the residual magic in his system numbed the pain to a dull ache. He glared back at the man. The solider would not lay a finger on her.

The solider was about to strike when a beast jumped on him. A creature of the forest with long teeth and nails and glowing blue-green eyes. The monster of the forest that Hakuno tamed.

The soldier's screams were loud.

Gilgamesh clung to Hakuno tightly so she would not see the sight. She did not move but her fingers did find his back, her magic getting to work on healing the injury. Her healing also seemed to have an effect on the residual magic in him as his limbs began functioning like they were supposed to.

"Are both of you alright?" Enkidu approached meekly, their mouth, hands and clothes stained with blood. Gone was the monster of the forest, now they were like a child looking for comfort. "I tried to get them as quickly as I could."

Hakuno moved to look at Enkidu but Gilgamesh moved so his body still blocked her view of the carnage. None of the soldiers had died quick and painlessly.

"I'm fine Enkidu and you are as well Gil? Good." Hakuno looked down at her blood-soaked hands and grimanced. Not finding anything to wipe them on she rubbed them against the dirt ground. "We have to go. Shub and Urash are waiting by the horses. We can take them. We must get out of here before anyone finds these guards. They will be on our trail before long. Gil, are you feeling alright to travel?"

Gilgamesh nodded and stood. Like always, Hakuno's healing ability was a power to be reckoned with. He felt better than he had in a while. "Let's go."

The group had traveled nonstop throughout the night to attempt to put as much distance between them and Suse as possible. There wasn't much talking then, there was no time for that. Enkidu led the charge, their sense of direction telling them exactly which direction they needed to travel to return to Uruk.

The group was forced to stop at mid-day, to rest the horses and themselves. Thankfully they had made it into a local forest and the group moved away from the path to rest hidden in the underbrush. From the scents around them, the largest predator around were wolves but they would give the group a wide berth because they could scent something was off with Enkidu.

"How many days until we reach Uruk territory?" asked Hakuno. She nibbled on a piece of jerky. Other than the jerky, their meal also consisted of berries and edible roots Enkidu was able to forage. Enkidu had offered to catch a rabbit but it was vetoed due to the group wanting to get moving as soon as they got some rest.

Enkidu thought that was silly. They would be able to catch a rabbit fast enough, they scented so many of them in the forest, but it did take a while to cook it for the rest of the group. And although Enkidu could eat raw meat, the taste of it did not have the same appeal it did back then.

"Probably a week if we're lucky," replied Gilgamesh. He chewed on the jerky like it had insulted him.

"I hope we can get back to the palace soon, we need to get you some amulets Hakuno." Shub had Shulpae's head on her lap. She had mashed up a small portion of food and was slowly feeding it to him with a bit of water to get it down. According to Urash, as long as the stone necklace was around the boy's neck, he would stay asleep. To make it easier to travel, they decided it was best to keep the boy asleep as long as possible.

"Amulets?" asked Gilgamesh.

Enkidu was confused as well. Hakuno did have her queen's amulets on her (although she had put them in her travel bag). Why did they need to back to Uruk for that?

"Shub, did you have to say something?" Hakuno let out a long sigh.

Shub winced. "Sorry."

"What is going on here?" Gilgamesh looked back and forth between the two women.

Enkidu was curious as well.

Urash looked nervously at the group. He was farther back, having been focused on setting up a magic perimeter around their camp that would alert him if any soldiers came looking for them. Which was a silly idea since Enkidu would probably hear them clomping around in the forest before Urash did but they did understand that humans, as well as animals did things to make them feel more in control.

"We'll talk about this later, once we're back in Uruk and safe." Hakuno pushed a few strands of hair out of her face. "It isn't life threatening, don't worry Gil. Just a little side project I have to do." She smiled. "It's related to a text I read in Suse about Nintur-"

"Stop with those texts, I cannot handle them right now."

Hakuno chuckled and the group returned to their meal.

Watching her though, Enkidu felt like they were missing something. The way she held herself was different and the scent of her was off. What was going on though? What had changed? Why did it take them so long to notice this?

Noticing Enkidu's stare, she gave them a questioning look.

Enkidu shook their head and returned to their meal. They would leave it for now since that is what Hakuno wished.

The group's trek had been slower compared to the first day. They had gotten rid of the horses due to the forest terrain being too uneven for the animals to travel without a risk of breaking a leg. Compared to the mad dash of the first night, they were moving like turtles.

Hakuno could not wait until they were back in Uruk territory. As a precaution for their trip, Gilgamesh had Uruk soldiers stationed at various points on the border facing Suse under the pretense they were training just in case something like this happened.

Although she didn't think any of them thought it would end up like this.

"Are you alright to continue traveling?" asked Gilgamesh. "We can rest if you need it." The King and Queen of Uruk made up the middle of the group, Urash and Shub in the rear with Enkidu meters in front of them acting as both a scout and the one leading the group. They had the bag holding Shulpae over a shoulder, the one only able to carry the boy without trouble.

Hakuno shook her head. "I am fine Gil. In case you forgot, I am not a delicate flower like Queen Ninki. Enkidu and I did travel over a mountain together on our quest to return to you. How are you doing though? No lasting effects of the magic?"

Gilgamesh shook his head. "I feel fine although I really did not appreciate having a spell thrust upon me." He glared back at Urash. The poor slave-boy startled and dropped his eyes to the ground.

"Gil, stop that, he did what he had to," scolded Hakuno.

"But he put a spell on me."

"Remember what I told you? He did that so he could get back to me and tell me what was going on. We did save you after all. And we got a bargaining chip out of it." It was odd, thinking of Shulpae like that.

Perhaps ironic was the better word. They were going to do to Shulpae what Suse wanted to do with Hakuno. A diplomatic "guest". Hopefully this will be able to draw out Nippur's royalty. Maybe it was the child growing in her but she thought about Shulpae's mother, the queen of Nippur. Was she worried about her son? Did she give her child over to Suse in order to secure a better life for the boy than being in hiding? Or did she "sell" her child in order to secure safety for herself and her husband? Could Hakuno do something like that for her future child?

"Does your stomach hurt?"

Snapping back to the present, she realized she had put a hand on her stomach without realizing it, a gesture she seemed to do now without thinking about it. "Oh no, I'm alright Gil. Just moon cycle cramps. Do not worry, there is still time before my bleeding starts, I assume we will be back in Uruk before that happens."

"Oh, uh, that is good then. Well, not good about the cramps but…"

He was getting better Hakuno noted. From what she was able to gather, Gilgamesh rarely spent time around women that he wasn't try to bed so through Hakuno he had gotten a very detailed explanation about the moon cycle. Although once he was used to talking about it, she was going to miss seeing how flustered he got about the topic.

"How are you doing though?" she asked softly.

"What do you mean?"

"About Ishne and the others?"

She caught the regret flash across his face before he could hide it. "They were soldiers of Uruk and my personal guard. They knew the risks of the job."

She noticed his clenched fists. From what she was able to pick up in the Uruk palace, Ishne had been part of Gilgamesh's private guard for years. The others rotated but Ishne had always been a constant. She had a feeling the Gilgamesh of the past would not care about the death of his loyal guard but now, this Gilgamesh, was hurting.

Maybe he was not ready to speak about it yet like Shub. When Hakuno had asked her friend how she was doing, Shub looked away. All Hakuno could do for her now was to not comment when she heard Shub crying at night or waking up with a tear-stained face.

Enkidu looped back to the group. Their brow was furrowed, and they were sniffing the air and glancing around like they were expecting something to jump out and attack the group.

Hakuno also did a quick look of the area but all she saw was cedar trees. Odd now that she thought about it. There did not seem to be any other type of tree in the area. Now that she was paying attention, it felt like the air around here had a crackling of energy. In fact, it reminded her of when she used her healing magic or Urash did something magus related.

"I did not want to say anything at first because I thought it was nothing, but I think we are on the territory of something not-human." Urash looked around nervously.

"I agree," said Enkidu. "There's the scent of something else here. And this whole area is unnatural. My ability to sense the forest has diminished but I know this is not a natural forest."

"So?" Gilgamesh crossed his arms. "We still need to go in that direction, correct?"

The ur-sal nodded. "Yes, that is the path we have to take but…"

"Then it should not matter, we continue in that direction and whatever we face, we take care of it," Gil said firmly. "Besides, what can we be expected to do? We cannot backtrack and risk them catching up to us."

Hakuno caught him glancing at her. She wanted to protest that they should not try to cut through because of her but she knew there was no point to it. They would all argue against her. "We should still be careful though," she put in. "Something that created this forest has to have power of some kind."

"I wonder if it is that…" murmured Gilgamesh.

"Gil?"

Gilgamesh shook his head. "I was just thinking of a story King Ditanu told me. It's probably nothing. Come on, we are wasting daylight."

Shub walked next to Hakuno as Gilgamesh ahd Enkidu took point. Urash was a few steps behind the girls and Hakuno could hear him going over spells under his breath.

"I don't like it here," said Shub. She looked nervously at the cedar trees.

"I do not like it either but if this is the quickest way home, then we have to take it." Plus the sleeping spell Shulpae was under was probably not good for him in the long term. Best they get home and be able to release the boy from the spell. Although, with what they were going to use him for, perhaps it would be better if he was not awake for that?

Hakuno's thoughts flitted to Shulpae's mother, the Queen of Nippur. What would she think when she found out her son was a diplomatic "guest" of Uruk? Would she care? She had to in a way if she sent her son to be with Suse's royalty. Or did she not care at all? She grimanced. She hated how one event changed her outlook on situations like this.

"Hakuno, stay back!"

Enkidu had dropped the bag holding Shulpae and was now on all fours. Gilgamesh stood next to them, his feet spread apart slightly, his hands balled into fists.

Hakuno moved up, her magic singing in her veins. If the two of them were like this then her healing would be needed.

"Gods, what is that!?" whispered Shub.

Standing in the middle of a clearing was a creature of some kind. It was larger than a horse, with the stocky body of a lion. However instead of fur, its body was coated in thorny scales. Two cruel, curved bull horns jutted out of its lion-like head. Its tail flicked back and forth and it took Hakuno a few moments to realize it ended in a snake head. Alive too as the tongue flicked in and out with the movement of the tail.

"Who are you and how dare you enter Huwawa's Forest!" roared the creature.