The Journey to the North

Chapter 1

"We'll set up the camp here. It's almost night time, and we covered a lot of ground today." Lysandros said. "The first watch will be Sir Redmont...." Matthew didn't pay attention to the rest, because him and Jordan started setting up the tents. They were in a forest, with many wild animals. As they attached the fly to the tent, Lysandros came up to them and told Matthew, "You're going to be the third watch, and your friend will be the 4th watch. Wake up your friend after one hour. Got it?"

"Yeah," replied Matthew. After a few minutes, they had set up two tents, one for Jordan and Matthew, the other one for Lysandros and Sir Redmont. They had borrowed sleeping bags from the castle, and they had now unrolled them. They put them down. "Ugh. The tent stinks of sea salt." complained Jordan.

"At least we have tents." said Matthew. "Or you would you rather sleep outside..?" Matthew raised one eyebrow. "No!" Jordan hastily climbed through the door, and lay down on his sleeping bag. Matthew smirked, and went in as well. He opened the bag that he had packed, and pulled out his staff. It had been poking out the top since it didn't fit, but it looked alright. He would be needing it for the third watch.

When he heard Lysandros calling him and Jordan, he went outside and walked over to Lysandros and Sir Redmont. "What did you call us for?" asked Matthew. "We made plans to go north, because we know the Sramatic clouds come from the north." Lysandros explained. "We will head north tomorrow."

"Is that all?" asked Jordan. He was annoyed, because he had just got comfortable in his tent.

"Yes. You can go back now," answered Sir Redmont.

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When it was past midnight, Lysandros woke up Matthew. Matthew groaned and got up. He rubbed his eyes, and fumbled with his pack of supplies. He grabbed his staff and stumbled out the tent opening.

When he was outside, he blinked a few times so that his eyes could get used to the darkness. From time to time, he heard a low growl, but it disappeared quickly. In no time, it was time for him to wake up Jordan. Halfway back to the tent, he heard the low growl, very close this time, and he paused, and turned around to see a wild wolf staring at Matthew. The wolf's red eyes seemed to see that Matthew's heart was beating so fast. Matthew quickly raised his staff, and was about to cast a spell that would make the wolf unable to move when he was tackled by the wolf.