Chapter Fifteen
Arkan and Jennifer were able to get a couple hours more sleep after their passionate night together.
Jennifer lay in his strong arms fast asleep until a voice woke them up.
“Looks like you two had an interesting night.”
Jennifer opened her eyes to see a figure standing before them, blocking out the sun. Her eyes focused and realized it was Garel. She immediately blushed and thought she needed to cover herself up but she wasn't even naked.
“What time is it?” Arkan asked, ignoring Garel's remark.
Garel looked up at the sun. “About two hours.”
“We should get going.”
“That was my thought exactly,” Garel replied. He walked back down the hill to join the rest of the Rangers.
“Well that was embarrassing,” Jennifer said. “I guess all the Rangers know about us now.”
“Don't worry about them.” Arkan kissed her and Jennifer forgot all about it.
“How do you do that? Make me only think about you.”
Arkan shrugged. “Did you get enough sleep?” He stood up and offered his hand to Jennifer.
“Not nearly enough,” she replied, taking his hand and getting up. She brushed off grass from her shirt and realized her hair was all in knots. “You don't happen to have a brush do you?”
Arkan laughed. “Definitely not. But you sure look beautiful.”
Jennifer tried to rake her fingers through her hair but it was a poor substitute. “I guess I'll have to make do.”
Arkan and Jennifer walked down the hill to find Belim cooking some eggs on a pan.
“Good morning,” Arkan said. “After breakfast we'll get going.”
Jennifer expected the boys to make a joke about the two of them but they all acted normal. Belim handed a plate of eggs to Jennifer and she devoured them in seconds.
The food was eaten, the fire was put out, and the Rangers geared up.
“Farondil, do you have their tracks?” Arkan asked.
Farondil looked to ground and then pointed to the hills beyond. “They were still moving in the same direction. If we move fast, we'll either catch up to them or find their village.”
“I would prefer to face them out in the open,” Garel said.
Arkan nodded. “If they get back to their village, who knows how many additional barbarians we'll have to face.”
The Rangers of the Dark Forest and Jennifer set out again. Farondil took the lead while Arkan walked with Jennifer.
The group climbed hill after hill, only stopping for a moment for Farondil to catch the barbarian's trail.
As they crested a hill, Demorac spotted a trail of smoke in the distance, billowing into the sky. “I think we finally caught up with them.”
Arkan got down to one knee and glanced up at the sun. It was just a couple hours after noon. “We need to be quiet from now on. Weapons out and everyone stay together. We'll get as close as possible and scout them out first before we strike. Everyone in agreement?”
The Rangers all nodded and took out their weapons.
Arkan looked at Jennifer. “You stay right behind me the whole time and do your best not to make a noise. We don't want to alert them of our presence.”
Jennifer took out her shiny dagger. “Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.”
The Rangers kept low to the ground as they conquered the last remaining hills. They got down onto their hands and knees and crawled to the top of the last one until they finally could see the source of smoke.
They didn't see a small camp.
They had reached the barbarian's village.