Chapter 3

Chapter 3
It took about a day and a half to get there because the river stalled me a bit until I found a rickety old bridge going over it.
The forest was cool and damp when I entered it. I could hear the sounds of what seemed like all the animals in the universe.  So full of life, I thought, now this is a place I could get used to!  I continued on through the forest for about half a day, not caring where I was going and stopping occasionally to sleep or just sit and rest.  I stopped for lunch and sat on a rock to eat an apple and studying Efrum’s map out of sheer boredom, then found out that someone had been following me. I heard undecipherable speech from the bushes just to my right.  You can imagine, I was startled enough to jump into a pose I’d seen the army learn for hand-to-hand combat.  The voice spoke again, still in that different language.  I narrowed my eyes. “Who’s there?” I finally asked.
A boy slowly drew himself up and stepped forward. I dropped the pose.  He looked to be about two years older than me, and a couple inches taller.  His hair was dark brown, kind of long, and rather shaggy.  I’d say he was fairly handsome and, best of all, didn’t look the least bit like a prince.  I nearly laughed at the leaves in his hair, but thought it best not to, for I still wasn’t sure whether he was friend of foe.
I suddenly realized I was staring and immediately bent to pick up my apple and map. When I stood back up, he had moved to be about a foot away from me.  I jumped back, but collected myself faster than before.  I put my stuff on the rock and asked him his name.
“Atwood,” He replied “What and who are you?”
“Princess Ell from Harper kingdom,” I said, “and it should be obvious what I am.”
Atwood looked slightly taken aback, “I’m sorry.” He started to bow.
“Oh, no no no no no! Don’t bow! I’m only here because I simply couldn’t take that. Plus my parents were trying to marry me off.”
“Sorry,” he apologized again. “I was just confused over whether you were human or elf. Like me. You look human, but that’s the symbol of the royal elves on your necklace, and your ears are a bit larger than those of the other humans I’ve ever seen.
“My necklace?” I looked down at it, fingering it, “I’m not sure about that. My mother gave it to me for my sixth birthday.”
He looked skeptical about that. “Whatever,” he said and his face turned back into interest. “So… Where are you going anyways?”
I shrugged, “Nowhere in particular. Just anywhere away from Harper and Cormena.”
“Really?” he asked. His face lit up. “Well, this forest is technically inside Harper. It ends on the border at the Sathen desert in Mason. I can take you there if you want.”
I smiled a little. He was sweet. “That would be nice, but I’m content staying in this forest for awhile.”
“Well, it takes a couple days to get from here to that end of the forest. Plus you can’t very well get away from Harper unless you actually leave.” He smiled at the look I gave him. “And… and… you never know what creatures might get you!” He lunged forward, trying to be scary. I didn’t blink and turned around to get my map off the rock. “OK, not the easily startled type…”
“Alright, you may escort me to the edge of the forest.” I turned back around and stood up to find he wasn’t there. I looked to either side? “Arma… no… Alge… no… Atwood! That’s it!” I whispered to myself. “Atwood? Atwood!?” something pinched the back of my neck and I jumped a couple feet up, screaming. When I fell to the ground, I looked back to see a laughing Atwood behind me.
I stood up, brushed myself off, and  started walking. “Let’s go.”
“Fine,” he said, reluctantly stopping laughing. “But it’s the other way.”
Without missing a beat, I turned around and went the opposite way. “Not a word.”
The two of us walked for a few days telling each other of our lives. He showed me some “secrets” of the forest like the animals, the magic animals, the plants, the magic plants, etcetera. I simply explained the lessons, the marriage, the sister, the getaway, etcetera, since that’s been my whole life.

*      *     *     *     *
I awoke on the third day to the sound of someone walking through leaves. I sat up and realized it was just Atwood putting dirt over the fire.
“So,” I said, walking over and startling him a bit, “How long until we get there?”
He moved over to where he slept the night before and started packing, “just a little while longer.”
I grinned, suddenly in an argumentative mood. “A couple is two, you know.”
He stopped and looked up. “What?”
“You said a couple days to reach the edge. A couple is two.” I went over to my spot and gathered my things.
He was obviously getting annoyed, “And…”
“This is the third day since we started.” I held up three fingers. He saw and started walking. I followed.
“We started in the middle of that day.”
“And…”
“It’s two days if we get there in the middle of today.”
“Will we get there in midday?”
He shrugged. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On many things. How fast we walk, how often we eat, how often we rest, how fast the day goes…”
“How fast the day goes?”
“Yeah.”
“How does the day change speeds?”
“It’s never the same length as the day before or the day after.”
“Ok, so it can be longer or shorter, but that doesn’t change the speed. And of course it’s never the same as the day after when it’s not the same as the day before! From the point of view of the day after, the current day is the day before!”
He looked at me for a second, smiled, and shook his head.
“What?” I inquired, “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing…”
“No, tell me!”
“You. Just you. The way you think, the way you talk, the way you try to keep dignity no matter how little you have.”
I looked at him, confused. “I don’t know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment.”
He shrugged “Meh… a little of both.”
I looked over to him and noticed he was doing the same to me. Our eyes locked and just wouldn’t let go. I stared at him, he stared at me, both completely unaware as to just how close our faces were getting. I closed my eyes and…
Ran into something in front of me, falling backwards onto the ground.