The positive response to the last chapter really blew me away. Thank you so very much for your support! I am really happy that you enjoyed the previous chapter so much. It was very important to me, and it feels amazing to know that you liked it. I have no words… Just: Thank you!

As always the biggest cyber-hug to the awesome people who took the time to write a review. It was a pleasure to read every single one of them. My biggest thanks to: sakura-blossom62, Yelena89, FelicitySkye, lizb1813, NorthernLights25, Gin2a (hey! Good to have you back!), Ariel Princess of the Sea, LachesisBenton, NyGi, TygTag, 11-Dino, Aneeta Potter, snr3231, Melcole24, Horsebot3000 and the guests who left me a message. You all rock.

And now let's move this story along. ;-)

6. Here be dragons

This was a bad idea. But Felicity just had to go and be all... Felicity. She just had to go and give him her no-nonsense attitude. It involved her entering his personal space with that determined stare while she said one very pointed sentence. Just one.

When Felicity got nearly monosyllabic Oliver knew that there was no swaying her.

It was when she was talking a lot and quickly while stressing certain words and flailing her hands around that he knew she could be persuaded. When Felicity put on a show like that she had some anger to vent and wanted people to know she wasn't happy. It was when she fell quiet that he knew she had made up her mind. And once she had done that she was as stubborn as he was.

Okay, maybe not exactly as stubborn, but close enough.

Felicity had pinned him down with a stare this morning in the cave and had told him that there was no way that she would spent the third day in a row in there alone while he scouted the area. Period. He had been stubborn enough to argue, to mention her lacking footwear, the wind that was really picking up today and the fact that he would be back sooner, if he didn't have to carry the backpack.

All that had been a waste of time. But he didn't really mind, because he could understand her. Waiting alone in their hideout, not knowing how and where he was and if the next person who entered was Oliver or somebody else, must be nerve-wrecking – especially since there was nothing to do but worry. Last night when he had returned after six hours he had realized that she had gotten in her own head too much. That was why he hadn't argued too much. It might be easier for him to be out here alone, he wouldn't get as far as he had planned, but having her with him would at least quench the worry that had constantly accompanied him the previous two days. At least he could keep an eye on her.

They were heading west for two hours. Felicity was walking behind Oliver watching her every step just like he had asked her to. She wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion; an oversized sweater over a blouse and a skirt combined with naked legs and two pairs of oversized socks must be the worst outfit ever for exploring a wooded area.

It was debatable if it was going to be better for walking across the field of hip-high grass they were looking at right now. Calculatingly, Oliver let his eyes travel over it. The green sea moved by the steady wind spread out in front of him without an end in sight. The ground was steadily sloping down which probably made the grass covered area seem bigger than it really was.

"This is a landmark I can place," Felicity said now from his left. He took his eyes off the landscape and placed his attention on her. She quickly glanced at him, making sure he was watching, before she pointed at the map. "I'm certain we're here." He studied the faded computer print for some time, then he nodded. She had waited for him to agree before she pointed to another spot on the map where green was abruptly met with blue. "It seems like there's only grass ahead. And the sea." She looked up and her eyes settled on him. "Does it make sense for us to go there?"

He thought for a moment, before he made up his mind. "No," he decided and explained his reasoning to her, "I don't want us to be caught out in the open like that. The trees at least offer some cover."

"Would you check it out if I wasn't with you?" She sounded defensive to him.

"Probably," he admitted. He knew what she would say next and so he hurried to add, "but I don't think it would do much good anyway." He took the map from her to get a better look. His face was hard as he thought about what their next best action could be. Knowing their surroundings was important. It was the best way to reduce the many disadvantages they had against the people they shared this island with. The others were bigger in numbers, better equipped, better fed, better rested and had better knowledge of where they were – and why. If they suddenly popped up from somewhere, it was important to know where the safest place to go was. And it most definitely wasn't this field leading them to the sea where a guy with a gun and a steady hand had a very good chance of hitting them.

He let the other areas he had scouted in the previous days parade in front of his inner eye. The north – that was were the camp was. He hadn't gone back there after he had killed the two guys he believed to be mercenaries. He had had to agree with Felicity that it was an unnecessary risk to take now that they had the map. There was nothing good waiting for them in the north. East wasn't an option either. It had only taken Oliver one hour until he had reached the end of the forest and stood on top of a chalk cliff. He had seen huge white chunks of chalk come undone and fall at least one hundred meters onto the rocks poking out of the crashing waves far below.

"We have to go south," he said and motioned at the map. It was the biggest part of the island left, which could mean many things were waiting there for them – good things as well as bad things.

"There's the waterfall," Felicity stated now. "That's in the direction where we woke up when we first arrived." Regained consciousness would be a better way to put it, but that didn't make the basics any less true. Felicity's finger landed on the map and a very worrying area in the south, "There are blank spots." That was true, too. "You want to go to dragon-country, don't you?" she asked. He lifted his head and looked at her in question. She met his gaze. "You know like 'here be dragons'."

He ignored her quip, because he was too much in tactical mode to deal with stuff like that right now and instead answered her question, "Yes, we should go there. If they haven't explored it yet, it might give us an advantage to be there first. We might find something useful or set up some traps for them. But we'll go there tomorrow." He folded the map back up again. "We should head back to the hideout."

They turned around and started walking back to where they had come from. "I really hoped we'd find some lake or river or spring where I could wash up. I know we're in nature-survival-mode, but I haven't washed my hair in a week. And that means I'm counting the jump from a fifty meter high cliff into a lake as washing up." She added a muttered, "I really lowered my standards since I started living in a cave."

"That cliff was no more than thirty meters," Oliver corrected.

"Right," Felicity sent him a glance, "'cause that makes it better."

"We'll stop by the waterfall tomorrow and see if it's safe to take a swim."

"Finally, a light at the end of the cave." The prospect of getting her hair wet really seemed to lift Felicity's spirits. Her steps turned lighter somehow, Oliver thought. This in return made him feel a little better, too.

They took a different route back, but it was just as uneventful as the other one had been. Oliver knew he should be relieved that they weren't encountering anything or anybody dangerous, but it only made him wonder. Why – the fuck – had somebody dropped him and Felicity on this island when there was just nothing here? And why was another group of men here? He knew that there was something he was missing, something he hadn't found yet. But he would find it – probably somewhere in dragon-country.

They had nearly reached their hiding-place when the hairs on Oliver's neck stood up. Immediately his hand snapped toward Felicity's arm. He stopped her dead in her tracks with this. She followed his example and together they crunched down. He listened. There was most definitely somebody very close to the cave. He motioned for Felicity to stay behind him and together they snuck forward using the trees as cover. Not even thirty seconds later they saw the first man. He was standing guard, watching his surroundings, but he obviously hadn't noticed them yet. Oliver moved his hand back and rested it on Felicity's waist. It stilled her instantly. She crouched close behind him, while he craned his neck so he could see around the trees to where he knew the entrance of the hideout was.

What he saw made his face harden, his mouth tighten, his jaw clench. They had found it. The anger didn't last long. He felt a jolt rush through him in the next instant that was pure relief. Thank God Felicity been so stubborn and forced him to take her with him on the day these guys found their supposedly safe hiding-place.

He turned to her and their eyes met. She nodded, understanding his unspoken order and turned around. She moved carefully as to not make a sound. Oliver felt his heart beat heavily in his chest as they crept away. Again, he was waiting for a sign that somebody had noticed them – a shout, a shot – but nothing came. When he felt like they were far enough away from their previous hiding-place, Oliver straightened up and reached for Felicity's hand, making her go faster.

Fuck it! The cave had been far from comfortable, but it had provided them with the most basic shelter. And now he had no idea where to go. All he knew was the basic direction: south, into unknown territory.