The sun had barely begun to rise when Jesika awoke the group with a loud, sharp whistle. Rowan groaned with the group as he sat up, looking at her through groggy eyes.
"Great, now the whole blasted forest knows where we are," Rowan complained.
Jesika ignored him, grabbing her bag and putting it over her shoulder. "Time to rise, my friends and person I tolerate. Rowan, you know who you are. We must continue on our trek; daylight waits for no one."
Rowan rolled his eyes as he stood, grabbing his own bag. "What a surprise. Something that actually doesn't have to follow your orders."
Rowan suddenly felt something sharp poke his back. He arched his back in reaction, looking back to see Jesika glaring at him, with her sword pointing at him.
"If you have a problem with me, I suggest you speak to me about it face to face in a respectable tone, Mr. Rowan."
He laughed, moving her sword down with his hand. "That wouldn't be nearly as fun, Your Majesty."
Her glare deepened, but he again ignored her, going to tend to Kronos. Darryn and Aquila watched the whole interaction, their expressions showing the confusion they felt at Rowan's boldness.
They prepared and started back on their way through the forest. All around them were varieties of sounds coming from varieties of beasts, letting them know fully they weren't in their own territory. They passed flying alicorns and heard the screeches of banshees. Every once in a while, a black-eyed being would peek around a tree, their soulless eyes spooking the groups' beasts.
After they had traversed a couple miles, around midday, they came to a bit of a crossroads. The mountains were still days away, and they had come to a spot in the forest that branched off in two ways, both leading to the mountains. One was a quick trail to the mountains, heavily forested and practically crawling with some of the most dangerous beasts. The other way was an easy-to-navigate path with very minimal danger; however, it would set them back several days.
This, of course, led to an argument between Rowan and Jesika as they tried to decide which path to take. They argued back and forth, Jesika sitting behind Darryn on Rocky, Rowan on Kronos, standing next to her.
"If we go that way, we are going to get ourselves killed before we ever get to the mountain range! Not to mention, the incline is ten times steeper than the other path!" Rowan yelled.
"If we don't go that way, we're going to get killed anyway, being out here for so long! We'll barely be on the path long enough for anything to harm us anyway! Besides, I'd like to say we'll fare pretty well against beasts with a griffin, phoenix and a flipping giant wolf!" Jesika yelled back.
Rowan huffed, jumping off his griffin to stand beside Rocky as he looked up at her. "Why'd you bring me with you? Hm?"
Jesika glared at him, hopping off also to stand nose to nose to him. "Because I figured your knowledge of beasts might be somewhat helpful!"
Rowan's eyes widened, his face reddening with frustration as he leaned even closer. "Exactly! Don't you think that if I've spent my whole life studying beasts and this freaking forest, that I MIGHT know something about how dangerous these beasts can be?! Some of these beasts can kill a weak-minded person with a simple look in the eyes!"
Jesika laughed, void of humor. "The only weak-minded person I see is yourself," she bit out, her eyes darkening.
Rowan stumbled back at her insult, his jaw clenching. "I'm weak-minded, eh?"
"Guys--" Aquila said, sensing trouble was brewing.
Jesika huffed, rolling her eyes, ignoring Aquila. "Yes. That's what I just said, isn't it?"
