Thanks for all of the reviews! You're a bunch of stars:DSorry about the delay in updating butwell, i'm an complete eejit and got stuck with internet on one computer and the file on another withthe little added bonus of something in my house making every single floppy drive go kaput. To make up for it, i'll post chapter six shortly after the weekend. :)

Thanks again! And thanks to Binksbabe for the betaing services.

Heading single-mindedly for the tree line he stalked off without a backward glance. The part of his mind that cared - the part that, if questioned about, he would vehemently deny existed - listened hopefully for a voice calling to him, asking him to come back. He tried desperately to pretend that it wasn't one particular voice that he hoped to hear.

He reached the trees without a sound being uttered and without a pause he plunged himself into the dark, robbing himself of the safety of the group and the fire. Almost straight away, he felt the chill night air begin to seep into his clothes. However warm the autumnal days might have been, it was no doubt that winter was rapidly closing in on them.

Wrapping his arms around himself, he was suddenly glad for the thickness of the jerkin he wore and for the lightness of the chain mail. He was uncomfortably aware both of the cold that crept through his defences and that his environment was still giving off its last vestiges of heat; it would only get colder.

He knew that he should swallow his pride and go back, even if it was only to grab a cloak and some food but both his pride and an unwillingness to face such harsh appraisal again stopped him.

Instead he marched off, anger seething within him, betrayal gnawing on his insides, reasoning that he'd survived worse, regardless of which body he'd been in.

Plodding steadily onwards through the ache of overused muscles, his head pounding with each footfall, he initially dismissed the nagging feeling that he was being followed. Shaking his head to try to clear it, he pushed himself on, only to pause suddenly when he thought that he could hear the sound of footsteps behind him, only slightly out of time with his own.

Listening carefully, adrenaline beginning to seep into his bloodstream, he continued walking but deliberately took a long step, paused mid-motion and concentrating intently. Abruptly, he was certain that he was being followed as a soft footfall sounded before becoming uncannily quiet.

Taking a split second to think, he carried on again, knowing that if they'd noticed he'd stopped then they would have hidden themselves, expecting him to turn and look.

Instead, he carried on as he had been shortly before, listening and trying to gauge just how far behind him his stalker was. He quickly came to the conclusion that whoever it was was an excellent woodsman - or rather, woodsbeing - as the noises that he would have expected considering his recent intrusion continued as normal.

After what he judged to be about five minutes, he suddenly turned, whipping his head around in a jarring motion that his already tender muscles screamed at.

To his surprise and consternation, though, he could not see a thing. There were no sudden flashes of movement as his follower hid suddenly, no incongruously shaped shadows…not even the waving of a leaf disturbed in passing.

Resigning himself to that fact that his over-tired and overstressed mind was playing tricks on him, he turned slowly back the way he had been travelling before, shivering slightly as the sudden lack of movement relinquished the edge his body had gained over the intrusive cold.

After another period of monotonous marching, he was both surprised and relieved when he realised that he could see the flickering of a distant fire through the trees. Coming wide awake in an instant, he continued towards the campers, cautious in a way that thirty years of unexpected encounters with natives who weren't always on their side had taught him.

He'd barely gotten ten meters closer in his limping shuffle when a furtive figure appeared at the edge of the circle of light wearing a hooded robe and carrying a bundle slightly awkwardly. He paused in the shadow of a tree, realising almost right away that the person was going to be heading straight for him.

Sizing the figure up, he made a snap decision based on the behaviour and body language of the figure as well as his gut instinct; there was no doubt in his mind that they shouldn't be doing whatever it was that they were doing. If he'd been more awake, in a better mood, and not running low on energy, he might have taken a second and realised that it was not the best idea he'd ever come up with.

Nonetheless, as the figure passed his hiding place, he darted out, snaking an arm out and clamping over their mouth even as he twirled them around, completely disorienting and throwing them off balance before deftly pinning them to the tree he'd just hidden behind.

Using all of his body to pin the person, who was only a few inches shorter than him, he was suddenly aware of two rather important things. Silently cursing his hormones as he recognised the body as being slim and very definitely female, Jack focused on her eyes, recognising them and the terror in them instantly.

Stepping back, embarrassed, he motioned for her to be quiet. "Sorry!" he muttered earnestly before grabbing her hand and pulling her away, resolutely refusing to give into the urge to limp whilst he prayed for the ground to swallow him up where he stood.

She tried to comment several times, but he just hushed her and pressed on.

After about fifteen minutes, he finally slowed the pace and fell into step beside her, glancing at her face. All the time he'd been rushing away from the camp he'd been trying to figure out how he'd ended up back at the camp. When he'd set off he'd named a few of his own constellations and used them to make sure that he kept waking in a straight line. Despite being in the trees, he'd known that they were thin enough to allow him to glimpse the skies every few minutes, so why had he ended up going full circle?

He'd also been resolutely ignoring the little jolt of pleasure his emotions had dealt him when he realised that Karrena had come looking for him.

That one look at her face now, her hood thrown back as they marched away from the camp and the moonlight shedding enough light to see by told him it had been something else entirely though.

"What happened?" he demanded, his face darkening.

Karrena shook her head, refusing to meet his eyes. She had pulled her hand from his within seconds of starting away from the camp, and Jack could almost seem the revulsion coming off of her in waves. He'd forgotten what they thought of him now that they knew the truth.

Not willing to press the issue, Jack nodded once, his expression carefully neutral.

They continued on in silence for a time until Jack found that even the anger that was now simmering renewed in him wasn't enough to keep him going without stumbling.

Deciding that the small enclosed shelter provided by a fallen tree and a few dense bushes would be sufficient for them to rest, hidden from passing eyes, Jack propped himself against the trunk of a tree and folded his arms over his chest to try to retain a little of the heat he had generated whilst walking.

Sighing at the slightly pained relief in his abused muscles, he rested his head against the tree and closed his eyes, knowing that there was no way that he could stand to stay awake to keep a watch, even if Karrena had been willing to trust him now. In turn, he'd just have to trust that whatever had caused her to sneak out of the camp like that would be enough to keep her here and not to sell him out, though he doubted that Corrin and company were even interested in him any more.

Even with his eyes closed and half asleep, he was immediately aware of the fact that Karrena had seated herself as far away from him as she could get within their enclosed clearing. He knew that she'd most probably stay awake to keep an eye on him, uncertain of him now that she knew where he came from.

He repressed a sigh as he gave in to sleep, his breathing becoming deep and even, his eyes beginning to flicker and flutter behind his eyelids as he began to relive some of the worst times in his life, the recent massacre bringing it all back up to the surface again.

When he awoke to the half-light of the breaking dawn, he felt as if he had barely rested at all, though logic told him that it had been several hours between the Moon beginning to set as they had stopped for the night and the sun rising now.

Uncrossing his arms with a wince, he began to lift his legs and had to stifle a curse as he realised just how much he'd seized up over night.

Dropping his head back against the tree he'd been leaning on, he took a deep breath and tried to muster the energy to just get up. People underestimated just how much over-exerting muscles that weren't used to it could hurt. His new body might be young, spry, and lacking the infirmities of the knees that he'd had before, but it was seriously out of shape. Thirty years of regular exercise and long marches had toughened his old body so that he could go forever without even thinking about it, but this feeble little thing he had now hadn't even begun to come close in the time since he'd started school. Sure, he was strong for his age, even if he did look scrawny…it had been the same the first time around, so he knew that any time now, he was going to go through a major growth spurt.

The insistent pressure of his bladder and the lack of feeling in his buttocks were all the incentive he needed, though, and taking a deep breath, he forced himself to use muscles that screamed in agony as he pushed himself up and very nearly right over to land on his face.

Glancing at Karrena to make sure she was asleep as he caught his balance, he limped over to the gap in the bushes and pushed through. Force of habit meaning that even in the lumbering gait people who over-exerted themselves were well versed in, Jack moved almost silently, finding a convenient place to relieve himself as the pins and needles set in.

Moving more easily now that he was up and about, Jack was scowling as he returned to Karrena, rubbing his butt with both hands to try to get rid of the painful tingling.

Karrena was awake now and giving him an indecipherable look as he shuffled past.

"What? I have pins and needles!" he barked at her, annoyed at the look she was giving him.

A briefly confused look flitted across her face but she remained silent, which suited Jack in his irritability fine.

Leaving Karrena to herself for the time being, unwilling to look at her for fear of the disgust and revulsion he knew would be there, he stamped his feet and rubbed his hands together for a while, trying to ease the faint sluggishness that a night of chill air had brought to them. As he did this, he turned over his options in his mind.

Finally coming to a decision, he glanced at Karrena without really looking at her, noting everything with military ease except the expression on her face. "You coming?" he asked, adding a little nonchalance into his tone.

He started out again without waiting for her reply, moving again at a steady speed that he could keep going for hours. He knew that it could go one of two ways; she'd either ignore him completely and set off on her own, or she'd follow him and tag along. He suspected it would be the latter and was rewarded with the sound of a hasty rustling and a rush of footsteps that quickly caught up with him.

It was human nature to want to cling on to what was familiar and, despite the fact that she abhorred his existence, he was the most familiar thing around. Coupled with the fact that he'd rushed her off so that she probably had little or no idea where she was, he was the safest bet to her right now. He was glad, because he knew that if she'd ignored him then he would have had to follow her until he was sure that she'd made it somewhere civilised without being attacked by a bear - dumb bear - he corrected.

After a short while of walking, the sun finally crested the horizon, dappling the forest floor with a golden-orange speckling.

Turning so that the sun was in front and to the left of him so that he was travelling roughly northeast, Jack hoped to reach the Great River soon, remembering that they'd been on the west side of the river, and that it apparently ran more or less north across Narnia.

After a half hour more, Karrena finally broke the silence with an uncertain question. "Where are we going?"

"North East."

"Where North East?"

"The Great River."

Karrena nodded, looking down at the floor and frowning slightly and Jack held back a curse. Things were going to be bad enough without him being so unsociable and bad tempered. It was hardly a way to regain her trust, after all. "There's bound to be a town or village on or near the river; it's a universal constant. Hopefully, there'll be somewhere to rest, get food. We'll have to work for it, though. We can sort out getting you back to Cair Paravel." He added the last bit for her peace of mind, to let her know that he wasn't going to kidnap her or anything.

Karrena scowled at him. "No."

"…No, what?"

"I will not return to Cair Paravel."

"Ah. Feel like telling me what happened?" He was surprised at the rise of his anger within him, the urge to deck whoever had so obviously hurt her so much, rising despite his vehement refusal that, despite the betrayal, a part of him still hoped that she'd look past the whole cloning thing.

"No."

"You know it's gonna be a long way to anywhere. That's a lot of long, lonely silence to fill."

"I didn't ask you for your companionship," she bit back irritably, apparently not amused by Jack's attempts at being civil and sociable. He'd thought the fact that she hadn't run off on him or reminded him that he was an abomination was a promising sign but apparently not.

Jack stopped dead, his own temper, already stretched, snapping effortlessly. "Well then by all means, find your own way. I'm sure there's some wild coyote or something just waiting for a snack."

Karrena glared at him. "The creatures of Narnia are intelligent, friendly, welcoming and either way I've never heard of any creature called a Ky-oh-tee."

"Well okay then, little Miss Independent, you go your way, and I'll go mine!" Even as he stormed off, Jack was berating himself for letting himself get so angry. Again.

Although he knew he'd been able to control his temper before, he also remembered that he wasn't that person any more. He was a Xerox…and a bad one at that.

So, what do you think? I'm not so certain about this one but... It's up to you.