Above the clatter of armour and tack, the creak of leather and the rustle of undergrowth, the forset was still. This was a day past mid summer and the forest was in full bloom. The trees threw shadows from their leafy boughs, dappling the forest and making it seem alive with half seen shapes. Carpets of flowers covered the floor and shrubs and herbs made up the rest of the undergrowth. The main group were jittery, lack of sleep making tired eyes see half formed shapes in the shadows. As the morning passed, Samuel tried to sooth the children with a seeming unending jabbering " Is this your first time on a horse, Sam?" ... "This will be a fun adventure to seek out the hunting lodge. Have you ever gone hunting? I haven't, but perhaps I will learn some day." ... "When I was young I used to sail with my father. He's a merchant. I used to pretend that I was one of the crew, and the sailors were nice to me. They taught me how to swim. Oh, how I loved to swim on the bright sunny days. Have you ever learned to swim?" ... "What do you like to do for fun?" The children listened, occasionally answering, but as the morning wore on, they all began to nod. Eventually even Samuel ceased to talk as the morning became warmer. Insects added there song to the noise the party were making.

Sh'andras' arms began to ache as the morning passed, the strain of keeping the bow nocked starting to show. The horse was also starting to show annoying traits of moving where it wanted to go, but so far it was still keeping up with the rest, even if it was closer than she would have liked.
Edward had seen very little movement on the road. Some people still fleeing the city, but no mounted troops. He's kept to the trees and hopefully no-one had seen him. Eventually the road started to swing away from the trees and soon after that disappeared from his view entirely.

Shaq crept up to the shrub and parted the branches. Ahead was a clearing about twice the size of the one they'd left a couple of hours previously. Dominating the space was a single storey structure made of logs. Shaq grinned. He'd found the lodge and at first glance it appeared empty!

Shaq'il peered out from his position behind a tree and quickly scanned the clearing occupied by the hunting lodge. There were no obvious signs of occupation in both the clearing or the lodge. Still grinning from his success at finding the lodge, Shaq'il turned from his position and retraced his steps back toward the party, keeping an ear out for them in case they had strayed from the correct course.

Before long, Shaq'il heard the sounds of the group making their way toward him. Not wanting to surprise anyone with his sudden appearance, and not have some itchy trigger fingers make a pin cushion out of him, Shaq'il made an exaggerated coughing noise before stepping into view of the party.
"I've found the lodge," he announced, "however, it doesn't look as though there's anyone home at the moment. If you'd like to follow me, I'll show you the way."
Turning around, he began to make his way toward the lodge again.

As Shaq turned to walk off, a shrill whistle tore through the air
"Just hang on a wee while Jimmy," came Sardonicus' voice, "Have yu scout'd it oot, how d'ya ken thars nowin in, like?"
He moved his horse up the line to approach the short arsed one.

Turning around, Shaq'il replied to the lanky one, "No I haven't scouted out the lodge, stretch, and it is possible that there is someone there, however, at first glance it didn't appear that anyone was there. I thought the best thing to do would be to get everyone to the clearing first and then approach the building with caution to find out if anyone is in it."

Sardy grinned at the diminuative one "Weel, at least yer showin' ya gote brains" he said in reply " I dinnae suppose yer fancy the scouting jobbie, since ya did sooch a gud 'un last time. Eddy, if ya wanna go as backup. Me and Ulf will follows a wee bit back, with yon girlie" he pointed at Sh'andra, "and her bow like. The rest of youse waits here, fer tha ull clear, like"
Sardy dismounted from the grey, dropped his pack and grabbed his sword from were he'd looped the belt over the pommel. He looked around at the rest of the group "Weel, ya ull wiv mi, then?"

Edward grinned at the big warrior, "Aye, I'll reconnoiter with Shaq'il. Just don't hold too far back, in case those monsters are here too."
Sardy turned his grin to Edward "Nae worries, big man, we'll gie yie twen'y heartbeats start, then follow. That do yie?"
He then turned back to the rest of the group still on horseback "Ulf, yie ready to split sum mo' skulls, if needful?"

Sh'andra, having heard a shrill whistle coming from the main part of the group, moved her mount quickly to where they were, wondering what was about. She struggled a bit, trying to understand the northerner through his thick accent, but was able to get the idea. Hopping down from her mount, she was thankful for the opportunity to stretch and work out the kinks in her weary bones.
Somewhat refreshed, Sh'andra secured her axe at her side and gripped her bow, ready to follow the northerner's lead...

With a nod to the big human, Shaq'il turned toward Edward and asked, "Are you ready? Good, let's get a move on, then." With that, he drew his dagger out of its sheath, inverting the blade to hide its length along his forarm, and made his way along the route toward the lodge, trusting the half-elf would be right behind him.
Edward nodded to Shaq’il when asked if he is ready. He held tightly to the pommel of the saddle as he made a less then graceful dismount. Sculking along behind this friend, Edward tested the draw of his short sword, making sure it is loose in the scabbard, and would not catch on anything.
Before losing sight of the group, he looked back at Rebecca and gave her a conspiratorial wink.

Shaking the horse fluff from his ears and leaping from his saddle, which as he landed by Sardonicus caused the rings in his ears to jangle melodically, Ulf drew his sword. "Hey big yin, am always ready fer some mayhem and gizzard rippin'!" Looking round conspiratoraly he sqeaked "But I can be sly an' all, it's not all about killin' ya know. I can sneak around with the best of them. I'll cover ya back as we go in anything shows it's face ahead of us and they'll have a dart in it quicker than ya can say sneaky gnome bastard! If that doors locked I'll get it open in a jiffy! Coz....." and he cleared his throat theatrically and started to sing:

"....My name is Ulf deedle deedle deef
And I I'm a teef deedle deedle dock
If ya can't get in then I'll pick the locks
But don't blame if we're put in stocks!"

Samuel spoke to the backs of the departing party members, "We'll wait here. Be safe and return." The priest stretched as much as he could in the saddle. He wasn't used to riding very much. Idly he fidgeted with a dart hoping that he wouldn't have to use it soon.

Dorrin nervously looked around the little group that was left. "Well," he said "I guess all we can do is wait. I hope there's nothing over there, I for one could do with some food! Breakfast is long past, and it'll be lunchtime before too long. My poor stomach thinks my throats been cut!"

Samuel chuckled at Dorins remarks. "Perhaps a morning snack would be in order. I think I have some jerky somewhere." Samuel dismounted and pulled off his pack. After looking for a few moments he took out some jerky giving pieces to the children, Dorin, and the others before taking a piece himself. He then closed his pack and stood by the horse.

Dorrin tkanked the priest, and stood chewing on the dried meat, allowing his saliva to release the flavour of the smoky tasting food into his mouth before swallowing it.

"And I think..." Lufka offered he dismounted and started rummaging through his backpack, "that I've still got some of yesterday's bread." He pulled out a large chunk of bread wrapped in a cloth, breaks off a piece for himself and throws the remainder to Samuel. Chewing on the slightly dry bread he continued searching through his pack, eventually holding up a wineskin that looks half empty in triumph. "And I've still a few swallows of wine!"

After a quick swallow of wine Lufka turned to Rebecca and smiled. "So Lady Rebecca, I thought you said your father would be here? I'm guessing from the silence that there's nobody at the lodge. Were you expecting him to be here, or just hoping?"

The lady chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully, then replied, "Tis true, I thought he would be here, perhaps the defence of the city has taken longer than he thought it would and he is delayed?"
"But you're certain that he will be coming here as soon as he can?" quizzed Lufka.
"Yes, he gave Samuel, his senschal instructions to get my mother, her serving girl and myself to the safety of the lodge. The two dwarves were supposed to help...but our party got seperated" she paused, then continued "I'm as much in the dark as you are. But we should be safe there, until the invaders are beaten back".
Samuel felt sympathy toward the princess. Like many of the children she was unaware of what had befallen her family. "The lodge seems like a good place to wait. Llew will watch over us."

Shaq, being in the lead reached the clearing, just ahead of Edward. He paused for the man to catch up and they peered out of the underbrush.
Ahead of them across a stretch of open ground stood a long, single storey building made of logs. A closed door faced directly to them, with two sets shuttered windows on either side. The shutters were closed. All seemed to be quiet. The steeply sloping roof was made of tiles and had a chimney, but no smoke was seen coming from it.
By the time they'd both had a good scan around, Sardy and Ulf had reached their sides, followed by Sh'andra. All crouched down, waitng for someone to make the first move.

Scrabbling in one of the many pouches hanging from his belt Ulf reached into one and pulled out what looked to be a large bunch of blank keys with various other long pointed objects. Creeping towards the lodge he firstly listened at the door. Cupping his oversized ears over the door he strained to hear if anything is behind the portal.

Edward watched Ulf creep towards the cabin. The half-elf turned and whispered to the other three, "I've got his back."
Suiting his deeds to the words, Ed slowly made his way towards the cabin. He watched the ground carefully, trying to keep as quite as possible. The progress was slow, as he tried to make sure each footfall was on clear ground, winding around twigs and leaves.

Sh'andra's body tensed and she watched the cabin for movement intently. Her green eyes scanned the clearing sparkling as the day's sun streamed in through the trees, gripping her bow, ready to pull back and let death loose upon any foe.

Ulf heard nothing on the other side of the door. He noticed the door was barred on this side of the door, the heavy bar was kept in place by a hasp whch would swing open to enable the bar to be lifted. However the hasp was closed at the moment and a large padlock kept it in place.
Edward reached his side just as he was selecting a suitable implement from his tools. Ulf glances sideways at the man and whispered, gesturing at the padlock, "I'm gonna try and get this thing open, keep yer eyes and ears open." With this he attemptted to pick the lock.

Edward nods in response to Ulf's request to stay alert. The half-elf scanned the tree line visible from the front door, and tried to listen for the sounds of approach or life in the cabin. He gripped the hilt of his sword, trying to find comfort in the cold steel hanging from his waist.
Ulf inserted his skeleton key and after the third attempt, the padlock opened with a small 'snick'.

Having watched Ulf and Edward safely reach the hunting lodge, Shaq'il turned to the two humans and whispered, "I'm going to sneak around the edge of the clearing and have a look around the back to see if anything is there." Rising from his crouching position, Shaq'il stealthily made his way around about a third of the clearing until he was in a position to view the rear of the building, whilst also keeping the two humans in sight in case he had to signal them.

When he was in position, he noticed that the building extended quite far back. There was a lean to arrangement against the back wall, hay and a small corral type enclosure would make a guess that this was a basic stable type structure seem likely, this was empty at the moment.. There were a couple of other smaller, seperate buildings also viewable from Shaq's present position,

Taking just enough time to quickly check out the rear of the hunting lodge, Shaq'il removed himself from his present position and made his way stealthily around the edge of the clearing to report his findings to the two humans. Reaching the pair, he stated, "The building extends quite a way back and at the rear there looks to be a basic stable and several smaller buildings. The stable is currently empty and there doesn't seem to be any other signs of life."

Sardy looked to the girl-warrior and said "Ok, Yu two go 'n' fetch the rest, if this place is reely empty, then this is the best place to be, like."