Smolder

Chapter 5:

Russell woke up with a odd, sweet taste in his mouth. His cheeks felt wet and warm. He put his hand on his cheek and found something sticky; possibly drool.

He looked back upon yesterday, all that happened, all that didn't. He hoped with all his mind that it was just a bad dream. But it wasn't. Waking up in the middle of the forest was proof to that.

He sat up and looked around. They were still in the forest, but this was much less dense than last night's camp. There wasn't any fire in the middle. A sharp and sweet edge hung in the cold morning air.

Bread.

They were close to a city.

A snapping sound drew his attention behind him.
Vivi was tumbling to maintain balance. In her hand was the slingshot he made her. It was empty. Ten or twelve feet in front of her, a stone had embedded itself into a tree.

He took in a breath to say something to Vivi, but instead of his mouth, his breath decided to come out through his nose at full speed.

Choo!

"And, that's what you get for pouring water all over yourself in a cold night." Vivi nagged, even though she didn't speak a word about it last night.

"Your hair is trying to attack people." Russel rubbed his nose. He was pointing towards Vivi's hair, which pointed towards him in return.

Apparently, sleeping in a magical updraft can give you a very interesting case of bed hair. In Vivi's case, all of them facing forward, like looking at a Porcupine from behind.

Vivi blew upward, "At least I still have hair."

Russell's hand went to his head, fast.

A mess of hair met his palm. Ruffled and short, but very much there.

Russell had that confused look on his face until  Vivi laughed out loud.

Russell threw a handful of moss at her(nothing else was around). It hit five feet to the left. Vivi laughed with renewed inspiration, as if him missing was the biggest joke. Russell threw another handful of moss, aiming for her mouth. It went above her head and hit a poor bird that was sitting on a branch behind her. It screeched and flew away.

Deciding that anymore isn't worth it, Russell took a deep breath and looked around. Their stuff were laying around scattered. The sun, shining through the trees, still hadn't picked up enough heat. There was a thin mist around. The sunlight passed through the mist, coloring it golden. Russell had to hold back another sneeze.

Russell spotted Arron and Elli  comfortably Laid down on the trunk of a banyan tree.

"Why didn't you wake those two up?" ,he asked Vivi.

"Meh," Vivi just shrugged.

Unbelievable.

Russell walked to the tree and called out to them, "Mr Arron! Miss Elli! Wake up!"

The sleeping princess grunted. Arron gave no response.

Russell put a foot on the trunk and jumped up to a branch. A lunge took him near the princess. He came closer said, "Wake up! We only have today!"

The princess was listless this time too. He touched her shoulder to shake her.

The princess punched him in the face.

He was falling down head first , but he grabbed a vine at the last moment and handled himself.

"Huh?" Elli woke up, and looked around, and then down. Her eyes went wide, "I'm sorry.. I woke up and..and you're touching!....and I thought! ...I thought.. I'm so sorry!..I was surprised!...I hurt you!... I didn't see!!" She stammered. Russell was standing on the ground now.

"It's okay, I'm used to getting punched in the face, actually."  A stone flew by dangerously close to his head and embedded itself into the banyan's wood. He seemed unfazed by it.

Princess glanced to the front. Vivi had another stone in her sling. She was spinning it, looking at an apparently very interesting kite in the sky, whistling some odd tune that sounds like it was sung by old men in bars, pretending to know nothing.

Elizabeth decided not to pry any further.

She shook Arron awake (he had a relatively peaceful awakening) and got down from the tree.

When they were standing in the middle, stretching , Russell was walking around collecting their stuff. And that's when he hit jackpot.

A basket full of berries and grapes and fruits unnamed, hidden in a bush so skillfully, the pallet full of colorful treats couldn't be seen unless you, literally, beat the bush.

Russell raised the damn heavy thing in the air and said, "Hey, Viv, did you gather this?"

"No," Vivi was coming closer, interested at the sight of food.
Russell picked it up and held it high enough so that Vivi couldn't reach and handed it to the princess. She took a blueberry from the mix and plopped it in her mouth, "So, breakfast , then?"

So to speak, they had a pretty fulsome breakfast.

They reached the town when the sunlight finally gained some heat, stampeding through thick maze of aerial roots and bushes, while Elli pulled her dress up, Vivi had to basically dance on the uneven ground, Arron was at the front, cutting through vines, and Russell was ravaging the bag, looking for something. At last he found it, the Yeir skin.

"What do you plan to do with that?" Arron asked from the front.

"Make money from it." Russell held up it's fluffy tail.

"Who's gonna buy that?"

"Oh, nobody. You see, nobody's gonna buy this," Russell flung the skin on his back, "They're gonna win this."

Arron turned back and looked at him for a moment. Then he said, "And how are you gonna profit from them winning it?"

Russell smiled, "You'll see. Oh, we're here!"

In front of them, as if magically appearing in the deep and cold shadows of the  forest, was a bustling town, bathed in the golden morning light.