Morgan was already regretting his moment of bravery. He was tired. He was hungry. His shoes were at least dry, but it turns out putting wet feet into dry shoes wasn't much better than walking through a creek with shoes on.

And worst of all, he couldn't sleep. Morgan knew he needed to get some sleep, or there would be hell to pay tomorrow. Casey would likely wake him at the crack of dawn to keep moving, but between the wet feet, cold ground and empty stomach, sleep was next to impossible.

The spooky forest noises didn't help either. Sometimes, he swore he could hear a twig cracking or leaves rustling, but it had to all be in his head, right?

Morgan rolled over and very abruptly noticed the sword that was most definitely not in his head. Before he had time to do more than yelp in surprise, there was a grunting sound of someone lifting something heavy, then the sword vanished from his view.

Sitting up, Morgan saw that it was Casey who had heaved the guy with the sword off Morgan and thrown him to the ground. Without giving the guy time to stand up, Casey plunged his sword through the aggressor's chest. Then, he turned sharply to face the attacker behind him.

It was over in seconds. Two bodies on the ground and blood spattered all over Casey's clothes.

"Thieves," Casey was saying, as he cleaned his blade on one of the bandit's sleeves. "Probably saw the royal symbol on our bags and thought we'd have something worth taking." He finished cleaning his sword, sheathed it, and then turned to Morgan and added, "Get up. It's almost dawn, anyway. Time to go."

Morgan wasn't about to argue. He got up, tied up his sleeping bag and packed up camp. Going into their rations, he divided the remaining bread between him and Casey.

"Is this all we have left?" Casey asked.

Morgan shook his head. "I think we should save the dried meat and cheese for lunch. Otherwise we won't eat again today."

Casey grumbled, but in the end agreed, and they started walking. They'd been travelling in silence for at least two hours, when Morgan noticed something he couldn't keep quiet about.

"I know I've seen that tree before," Morgan stated, pointing to the tree to his left. He knew he'd seen it before because he remembered the moss growing on it was shaped like a beard.

"Remember this was your idea," Casey grumbled. "If you didn't know where you were going you shouldn't have suggested staying behind." He sounded mad, really mad. Morgan knew a part of this aggression was hunger-based, but he couldn't help being mad back. Morgan was also hungry.

"You didn't have to come along," Morgan snapped.

"Oh, so you think you'd have survived out here all on your own, then?" Casey shot back.

Morgan had to admit the man had a point, but that raised another issue.

"That's another thing, since when has my safety been such a concern for you," Morgan replied. He'd lived in the castle for years, and never before had the colonel shown any interest in Morgan's well being.

"You're an idiot, you know that," Casey snapped.

"That hasn't stopped you from repeatedly saving my life, though, has it?" Morgan reminded him.

And just like that, Casey stopped walking. He turned to face Morgan with a slight growl and if Morgan didn't know better, he'd call that stare murderous.

"My daughter is in love with you," Casey growled. "Do you really think she'd forgive me if I let you die right in front of me?"

And just like that, Morgan understood why he was an idiot. "I guess I hadn't thought about it like that," he said.

Casey just growled and faced forward again. They walked in silence for a while. Morgan kept repeating the colonel's words in his mind over and over. It was kinda an interesting thing to be told your girlfriend loved you by her father before you'd heard it from her. Morgan had known he loved Alex for well over a month now, but he hadn't told her yet. He'd been worried she didn't feel the same way. It seems he'd been worried for nothing.

All he had to worry about now was keeping Alex happy, because if he ever hurt her, even by accident, Morgan fully expected to be found dead the next morning.

"I've definitely seen that tree before," Morgan said, breaking the silence. "I think we should go left this time."

The colonel didn't argue. He just turned and started walking left. They continued on in silence again. Morgan kept thinking of things to say, but each time stopped himself. He wasn't used to this kind of silence, but he also didn't want to annoy Casey any more than he already had. Just because he knew Casey wouldn't kill him, didn't mean it was safe to poke the hungry bear.

They'd been walking for a couple more hours, when they heard a muffled noise. Neither of them had to speak to know they were going to follow it. Casey broke into a run and before long they were turning a corner and saw the source of the sound. Morgan's heart sank like a rock.

There was Sarah, tied to a tree with a gag in her mouth.

While Morgan was still in shock, Casey rushed forward to untie Sarah. The moment he removed the gag, she started talking.

"What took you guys so long?" she snapped. Sarah had a huge bruise on one side of her face and she looked more than worse for wear, but she didn't seem to care. All she could do was talk about Chuck and the guy who'd taken him. Her words were coming too fast, and there was such a rage in her voice, it was getting harder and harder to understand her.

"Calm down," Casey stated firmly. His tone left no room for reproach. "And explain, one word at a time, Walker."

That seemed to do the trick. Sarah calmed down enough to become coherent. As Morgan listened to Sarah describe the events that had led to her being tied to the tree, he thought he sensed something familiar.

"Wait," he said. "Did you just say the guy who took Chuck had messy brown hair and a greying beard?" Sarah nodded. "Did he also have, like, an oval face with the kind of glare that makes you feel like he could kill a man with just his hatred?"

"Yeah," Sarah said, understanding written plainly on her face. "You've seen him."

"Seen, been terrified of and ran away from," Morgan replied before telling Sarah all about the fight they'd had near the creek.

"Coward," Sarah spat. "He ran off, sacrificing all his men to get away and then came up behind me with a knife. No honour at all!"

"Which makes him even more dangerous," Casey reminded them. Sarah agreed with a sober nod of her head.

"You should head back to the castle," Casey said. "You've done everything you can, and you are injured."

But Sarah was shaking her head even before Casey finished talking. "We have to go after Chuck!" she exclaimed.

"And we will," Casey replied, calmly. "But you need to head back. Someone needs to update General Beckman and send reinforcements."

"Can't Morgan do that?" Sarah asked.

"He can't travel alone," Casey reminded her.

"You said Shaw went back to report," Sarah reproached. "I'm sure the king or the general will send someone after us eventually. I'm coming with you."

Morgan could see the tightening of the colonel's jaw. He was her superior by rank and yet she would not follow orders. This did not improve the Colonels mood.

"You can court martial me after we find Chuck," Sarah told him. She was not backing down, which, as far as Morgan was concerned, was very brave of her given the glare Casey was currently sending her way.

"You can glare at me all you want," Sarah added. "I am helping you rescue the prince."

After one more murderous look, Casey seemed to give in. "Fine, have it your way," he said. "But I don't want to hear any complaining about how bad your injuries hurt. If you slow us down, even a little, you are out."

"Deal," Sarah said. Her reply was short and sharp. Morgan felt like it reflected her mood. The woman seemed wired for action, like a wildcat about to pounce.

Morgan couldn't help but wonder what had happened between Sarah and Chuck while they'd been on the run to make Sarah so dedicated to his rescue. As far as Morgan knew Sarah hadn't so much as met the prince until she'd been assigned to be his guard. Could this all just be dedication to her job? Morgan doubted it somehow.

"Now the question is how do we track Chuck?" Casey asked, to no one in particular.

"I can track him," Sarah stated and Casey didn't need telling twice.

"Seeing as this idiot has gotten us lost for the better part of the day, you are officially in the lead, Walker," Casey ordered her.

Sarah looked quite happy about this. Morgan heard her mutter under her breath 'and you wanted me to go back' but he was pretty sure the colonel hadn't heard it.

After that, they followed Sarah. Morgan didn't know how she was tracking Chuck and he didn't ask. Sometimes Sarah got down low to look at what Morgan had to imagine were broken branches or footprints. Then she'd stand up again and indicate a direction.

Morgan felt sure he needed to check if Sarah knew what he knew, but there didn't seem to be a good time to confirm this with Casey around.

When they made camp for the night, Casey went off in search of food. He and Morgan had eaten all the last of their cheese and bread at midday, and Sarah hadn't eaten anything.

"I won't be long," Casey said. He turned to Sarah and gave her strict instructions for her not to start a fire. "Unless I come back with something we can cook, it isn't worth the risk." And with that, he left.

Morgan waited until the Conolol was out of sight before turning to Sarah and asking his question.

"What happened between you and Chuck?" Morgan asked.

"You are going to have to be a little more specific," Sarah replied. Her tone wasn't all that friendly, but Morgan decided that was all the hunger talking and pushed on.

"Chuck, well, Chuck is different, but not a lot of people know how different," Morgan said. He was trying to imply without explaining. The last thing he wanted to do was tell her if she didn't know.

"You don't have to be so vague," Sarah answered. "Casey is gone and I know you already know. Chuck said he told you years ago."

"I was right, then!" Morgan exclaimed. "He did tell you about his superpower."

"His magic you mean," Sarah corrected.

"Isn't it awesome?"

"It's pretty impressive."

"What did he do to show you?"

"He borrowed my hunting skills and made me breakfast," Sarah replied.

"Breakfast in bed for his girl," Morgan said grinning. "That is so Chuck. I shouldn't even have needed to ask." He was laughing to himself, but then very suddenly he wasn't.

Sarah was right up in his face with one of her hands firmly gripping his clothing.

"What the hell do you mean by 'his girl'?" Sarah asked very intently. Morgan felt like the situation didn't require quite so much force.

"I mean- nothing," Morgan tried, but Sarah pinched him and he yelped. He hadn't meant to say what he'd said and explaining Chuck's feelings to Sarah felt very much like a breach of their friendship, but looking into Sarah's eyes, Morgan knew she wasn't exactly giving him the option of remaining silent.

"Chuck's talked about nothing but you for weeks now," Morgan explained in a hurry. "Ever since he first caught sight of you in the training yard from his reading tower window."

Sarah promptly let go of him. Morgan felt himself slump a little. "Was that drama really necessary?" he asked.

"You wouldn't have told me otherwise," Sarah stated blankly. Morgan didn't bother agreeing with her. Instead, he turned away to assess their supplies.

"No matter how many times you look at that bag, it isn't going to fill with food," Sarah snapped at him. Her empty tone had suddenly been replaced with anger.

"Do you have a better idea?" Morgan asked. "Or are you just going to keep yelling at me, and hope that feeds you?"

Sarah took a deep breath in and then slowly out before speaking again.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I spent most of the last day tied to a tree. I'm hungry, in pain and all together uncomfortable. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"Apology accepted," Morgan told her. "Also, I think we should go look for some mushrooms or fruits or something. Even if Casey manages to kill something, if we don't find some roots or something, we'll be eating nothing but meat for dinner."

"Good idea," Sarah agreed.

The two of them set out to look for something edible without getting too far from camp. Luckily, Sarah knew quite a bit more about what plants were edible than Morgan did and steered him away from some rather brightly-coloured berries. By the time they made their way back to camp, they were each carrying a respectable amount of roots, small fruits, and even a couple edible mushrooms.

Casey arrived back at camp shortly after they had finished splitting all their spoils into three even piles. He'd managed to kill a small boar. The three of them ate well that night, and fell asleep around the embers of their cook fire.

I must confess after my rather unavoidable hiatus (pregnancy = complete writer's block for me. No clue why, c section recovery and postpartum sleep deprivation didn't exactly speed things along either) I had forgotten basically everything about this story. So to try and get back into writing it, I went and re-read it. This may be a strange take, since I wrote the story, but damn this story's got suspense! I forgot how action packed it was. I usually write romance, so the action theme was a big change for me. I forgot how much I liked this story, and am very excited to be writing it again! Especially now that I've finished my 'Just a Cover' story, this one should be the only one that needs updating… that is until I weaken and start another story. Sigh. So many projects so little time for writing.