A/N: Wow! 20 whole chapters. Jeb, DG, and Raw have a few more adventures. They're having all the fun while poor Cain and Glitch are chasing the bad guys.

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Tamesis

"Hey!" DG scolded Speedy as the horse splashed in the water. "Look, I know this game, okay? It's the one where you wait til my back is turned and then roll around in the stream with all of my stuff. I don't like this game."

Upstream where he was filling canteens, Jeb called to her. "You know he doesn't speak English, right?"

"For your information," DG panted, hauling the horse's head up as his knees started to buckle. "It happens to make me feel better."

"What ever you say, Princess." He laughed before turning back to the task.

DG couldn't help but smile a little herself at him before turning her attention back to the obnoxious horse."All right, that's it. If you're not thirsty, you're getting out of the pool."

According to Jeb, the Dark Forest wasn't too much farther up the road. He didn't know much about it. No one did, since the locals apparently steered clear of the area. Choosing to be safe rather than sorry, Jeb had found a small stream to fill their canteens and water the horses. He expressed a doubt that they would want to be drinking anything in the Dark Forest anyway.

Speedy looked a little disappointed when she hauled him up the stream's bank and led him to a tree. She tied him and reached for the reins of Jeb's horse next. The bay wasn't the obnoxious brat that Speedy could be. He would go to the stream and drink his fill, all without benefit of a wallow.

"Hang on." Jeb was coming back, tightening the lid on one of the canteens he was carrying. "I've got one more in the saddle bags."

DG pulled the horse to a stop and watched as Jeb patted the horse's flank fondly and unbuckled the bag. He found the canteen and pulled out three pears, the last of the provisions given to them by the residents of Fielder. He handed one to her and tossed one to Raw who was still standing near the stream with his horse.

As DG took a bite of the delicious fruit, her mind drifted back to Fielder and Crowley. She prayed with everything she had that they were still alive. Looking down the brick road, she wondered how much farther they would have to go. Hopefully, the City of Emeralds wouldn't be too far beyond the Dark Forest. She had a nasty feeling that time was running out.

The core of the pear went to the bay horse before DG started him forward again. She had made it all of two steps when something fluttering across the ground caught her eye. As she stooped to pick it up, she realized it was a photo. Flipping it over, she smiled, recognizing the woman with the wavy, honey colored hair and Jeb's blue eyes.

It was of Jeb and his mother. Adora Cain stood with her hand on her son's shoulder, smiling at him. DG realized with a pang of sadness that this must have been taken not too long before the woman's death.

Adora was dressed in dark pants and a light shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up her forearms. With a tinge of confusion, DG realized there was gun on her hip and in the background, tents not unlike the ones DG had seen when Cain, Raw, and Glitch had brought her to the Resistance camp.

"Hey!" The picture was snatched from her hands. Jeb was furious. "Where did you get that?"

"From the ground." DG replied hotly, almost surprised by the tone she hadn't heard from him in days. "It must have fallen out of your bag when you were rooting around in there. I saved it from blowing away."

She saw the anger ebb away to be replaced by a sheepish look. "Well, then thanks. It's pretty important to me."

"I'll bet." DG softened and asked. "Your Mom was part of the Resistance, wasn't she?"

Slowly, Jeb nodded as Raw approached. "She led the Southern Resistance for three years. I took over from her after she was killed."

"Three years?" DG felt her jaw slacken. "You mean all of those things, those raids and attacks? Your mother planned those?"

There was a sad smile on his face. "Yes, she did. I learned from one of the best."

"I don't get it." DG said, astonished. "Why didn't you say something? Your mother did great things. You should be proud."

"My father's not." There was hurt in Jeb's blue eyes as he looked at her. "He told me, I should have protected her. I shouldn't have let her do it. He blames me for her death."

"Cain didn't say that."

"He didn't have to." Jeb's voice was hard. "He'd rather have her than me."

"Father love Jeb." Raw put in. "But has much guilt for himself."

"Listen to me." DG grabbed Jeb by the shoulders and looked him square in the eye. "I know he's your father and I haven't known him that long, but there are few things that you need to know about Wyatt Cain."

"And you're going to tell me?" The expression was half-irritated and half-amused by her presumption that she could tell him more about his own father than he already knew.

"If anybody has that right, Raw and I do. We have traveled the O.Z. with him. He's one of the best men I've ever had the privilege to meet. He's a good friend."

"Brave man." Raw put in.

"He's got a heart as big as the all outdoors, no matter how tough he tries to be. When somebody suffers, he feels it. He makes it his responsibility to stop it. Geez, Jeb, that's for people he doesn't even know."

"Like DG and Glitch and Raw." Raw smiled.

"Yeah. Who else was going to chase after us?" DG laughed to Raw before she squeezed Jeb's arm. "And through that whole trip, all he could think about was finding you and your mother. He is so proud of you, Jeb."

"Maybe he was. Before."

"Still." DG corrected. "You know that tin horse that he made for you?"

Jeb nodded.

"He carried that thing all the way from the cabin. Every where he went, he had it." DG smiled, "And he still does."

The young man looked at her, still not speaking. He wanted to believe this so much. She saw it is in face.

"You can see it. Right under his vest in his shirt pocket. Right over his heart. Does that sound like a guy who wishes his son was dead?"

"Is that true?" Jeb's voice was quiet.

"Yeah, it is." DG replied just as softly. "You two are going to have to help each other through this. You've got a lot of time to make up for. Don't waste it just because you think you know what he's feeling."

Jeb ducked his head and nodded. "I'll try."

"No try. Just do." DG let him go and smacked him lightly on the chest. "It's easier than you might think with your dad."

"Okay." There was an accepting air about Jeb as he stepped back, a little embarrassed that for once, his emotions had gotten the better of him. "Let's get moving. The sooner I get back the sooner I can face my father."

DG smiled at Raw. There was an underlying cynicism, but she was confident it would all be okay. "Look, the worst he can do is kill you."

Jeb shook his head. "The worst he can do is walk away."

"He won't do that."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Going back to Speedy, DG checked her cinch and swung up. She rode back to where Jeb and Raw stood waiting for her as Jeb allowed his horse to drink.

There was a mask of unreadable neutrality on Jeb's face again. "You know, Dad just might kill me, considering I'm letting you run rampant all over the O.Z."

She noted the use of 'Dad' instead of 'my father' as she grinned. ""I'll protect you."

"I bet you will." Jeb said as he nudged his horse forward and guided him down the road.

"I don't like this place." DG said as Speedy danced around nervously beneath her.

Jeb had to concur as a large bird cawed strangely from the dead trees above them. They had entered the forest hours ago and the oppressive atmosphere had only gotten thicker as they went.

Heavy purple clouds had inexplicably moved in as soon as they reached the gnarled trees of the Dark Forest. He could feel eyes on him, even spotting several sets of amber, glowing orbs peering out at him from the gloom until the animal attached to them darted into the underbrush. There was always something watching them and it was making his skin crawl.

His own mount, usually unflappable, snorted and pricked his ears. "Let's just keep moving."

DG ran a hand down Speedy's neck in an attempt to calm him. "Take it easy, fella. There aren't' any bears out there."

"There are bears." Raw replied.

"You're not helping."

Jeb sighed as his horse jumped backwards, frightened by some small, shapeless animal that had skittered across the road. He was done. No way was he getting dumped on his butt in the middle of the brick path. Kicking away his stirrups, he slid from the saddle.

DG and Raw followed suit as he said. "We're going to have to find a place to camp, soon."

"Jeb, I will give you five bucks if you tell me we can just keep on riding." DG looked around, making sure nothing was sneaking up on them.

"Is 'five bucks' really something I'd want?"

"I don't know what the O.Z. / American dollar exchange rate is, but I'm telling you it's a good deal."

A noise on the road ahead caught his attention. "Did you hear that?"

"That's not funny." DG scolded, apparently thinking he was trying to be juvenille.

"I'm serious." He shushed them all, and then it became clear. There were voices, yelling, threatening and the sound of hooves on the brick road. "Get off of the road!"

They dragged the reluctant horses off into the trees, hiding them in the shadows and staying close to them to keep them from making noise. Still, they were close enough to see who had also found this old route.

They didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, the source of the noise appeared. Half a dozen Long Coats were coming down the road. Two were mounted. The other four had guns, holding them on the roughly twenty people they had shackled and chained between them. As they watched, one of the Long Coats used the barrel of his rifle to hit a boy of no more than twelve annuals right across the back when the exhausted youth stumbled.

Jeb was getting good. He was on top of DG before the princess could rush out and attempt to tear the man apart with her bare hands. He clamped a hand over her mouth. "We'll do something, all right? Just hang on."

The men led their charges past and Jeb released his grip on DG. Surprisingly, she was calm. "What'll we do?"

"They're going to have to stop soon, too." Jeb replied, pulling his rifle from the scabbard. "I'll follow them and see where they make camp."

"I'll go with you."

He thought about arguing, but one look at her face remedied that. "Raw, stay with the horses."

He gave the Long Coats a few more seconds before taking DG's hand. "Stick close and be quiet."

Making sure there was no rear guard, he trotted quietly up the path, keeping alert for any sounds of trouble. DG's wide blue eyes searched the growing darkness as she squeezed his hand a little tighter.

They didn't have far to go. About a quarter of a span up the brick road, Jeb heard the unmistakable clamor of camp being set. Motioning to DG he pulled her into the woods.

The Long Coats were setting up in a small clearing. Jeb and DG settled on the rise above it to observe the proceedings. Two of the men guarded the prisoners who had been settled about fifty feet from where two tents were being pitched. Another man was starting a fire near the center of the camp.

The men and women being held captive huddled together miserably, looking fearfully about them as they considered the dangers of their captors and the Dark Forest. Jeb felt for them and the heat in his blood rose as one of the guards bullied a woman and her child that sat near his feet.

They were close enough to hear the men's voices as they crouched together in the darkness. The guard sneered. "Better be good. We're all that's keeping the beasties of the Dark Forest at bay."

The other picked up the vein. "That's right. I've heard tell of all manner of strange creatures in here."

"Would it be the Kalidahs you speak of?"

The people cringed at the name. The first guard laughed. "Nasty bit of business they are."

"Good," Jeb said softly, "They're already scared."

"What?" DG asked. "They're scaring those poor people. They aren't scared."

"Trust me. They're scared." He nodded. "C'mon. We need to go get Raw."

He grabbed her hand again and together they quietly made their way back to the road. As near as he could tell, the suns had set. The clouds were beginning to part a bit and by his reckoning there would be a nearly full moon. Perfect.

When they were a fair ways from the Long Coat camp again, DG spoke softly. "What were they talking about? Kalidahs?"

"It's an old legend associated with these woods. Its part of the reason very few people come in here." Jeb hurried along. "Supposedly, they have bodies like bears and heads like tigers."

"But they aren't real, right?"

"I guess about as real 'Sass Mo' or whatever you called it."

"Sasquatch." DG replied as they turned off of the road towards where Raw was still hiding. "And that's not reassuring."

"It should be." Jeb grinned. "Because we're about to bring a legend to life."

His eyes fell on Raw as he pulled the silver whistle from his pocket.