Ch2
"Ariel, are we lost?"
Ariel huffed out a flustered breath. "Of course not! I know exactly where we are."
"And where is that?"
"The Northside of the Verdant Woods."
"Sounds specific."
She looked annoyed. "I told you, I know exactly where we're going."
"Forgive me for doubting you, but nightfall's about to set in and I don't see much progress towards civilazation. We've been out here for days."
"The Verdant's huge!" She snapped. "It takes days and days to get through! At the thickest, wildest parts, like Tansdik, it takes weeks or even months. It's no small task to cross it at the thinnest edge. It's a big, feral, perilous place, and you would be lucky to get through at all without someone who knows the way."
"Why don't we travel on a path? There are paths through it, aren't there?"
"There is a path, and in some ways it's more dangerous that the forest. Thieves, marauders, mercinaries, and not to mention real threats, like vampires looking for easy prey on the road and werewolf packs that plague the area. The few villages you can stop at along the way are so suspicious of strangers sometimes it's better not to stop at all, not to mention these outposts are like catnip to werewolves, undead things and socerers. Much easier if you can transverse the forest itself."
Leo felt suddenly nervous. "But aren't all those things in the forest too?"
"Yes, but the forest provides cover, and places to hide. The path is just out in the open, easily seen and perfect for ambush."
"And you're sure you haven't lost your way? Because honestly I don't know what you could possibly use for a landmark out here."
"Trust me, okay? I can't get lost here; it's my talent. A bloodhound couldn't fined you a safer path."
She read the worry in his face, sighing aggravatedly and stopping to turn to him.
"Look, okay, even if I did get us lost, all we have to do is go in a straight line in a vaguely northward direction, and we'll make it to our destination. the city of Myran is so big it spans the entire northern edge of the Verdant. So getting there is not really all that hard to do, navigation wise."
"You said the Verdant was so big it was months of travel to get across in some places. And this city is big enough to cover the entire north side?"
"It's one of the biggest metropolis's in the world, what do you expect? It's not very wide, the city, but it's very long, like a crescent. The only one it's equal is probably Silvergaurd, and that's the capital."
Leo asked no more questions, and Ariel extended no other conversation. He seemed to have offended her by suggesting she was lost earlier.
"The reason we can travel here and not be killed in some horrible way is that magic of yours, isn't it? The green, claw stuff you used to fight the angel."
"Sharp one, you are." She quipped, still mad at him from before.
"Are you a socerer?"
He caught her so off gaurd she forgot she was angry at him. "What?"
Leo clambered over a fallen tree Ariel had jumped over like an acrobat. "You said one of the things that hung around the woods were socerers. It occured to me a young woman in the middle of the forest who faces down angels with some sort of forbidden magic may indeed be a socerer. Soceress." He corrected himself.
