Silas sighed as he bundled his nice warm robe about his small body. It was just a simple black color with one of his more liked object: A big hood. He pulled it up to a spot where the flash of moonlight gleamed about his glasses. Sighing, he held his chin up and began to walk the path of the forest.

It was cool, yet dark, and the palace looked stunning in the candle lit windows and the half moon off to the side. He was being stupid, sneaking out and coming into the Royal forest without a weapon. Not that it would be any use but heaving him down to the earth. Then again, his mind thinks that because others are asleep so are the monsters.

However, none of this crossed his mind as he rather nosidly made his way upon the hoof-beaten trail.

"Halt! Who goes there!" cried a voice from among the shadows.

Silas jumped and turned around, thinking for some reason that the person might be behind instead of to the side or in the front. His mind reeled with possiblilities onto who and what the one who spoke might be.

"Mother told me not to trust strangers in the shadows." Silas replied quietly, as he just continued to spin in a drunken matter. It was rather ironic reply too.

It could be some evil person, or some monster that could speak common. What if it was the training master, or an instructor? It definitely wouldn't be pleasant if it was the king. Does he take walks at night? Silas continued to think, unaware he was getting dizy and might fall over soon. What if its the provost and he thinks I'm theif, or something... But, doesn't he only stay in the town? What if it is a fellow squire, page, or knight? I could have some amusement if I knew, but either way they might have a weapon which I don't have. And on his mind went.

Katherine rode down the path on her horse Seabreeze when she saw Artemis walk in fron of someone. She pulled on the reigns to her horse to tell her to stop. "Hey...you..." She shouted to Silas "Aren't you a first year page?"

She looked at Artemis. "And Artemis of Tirragen I believe?"

Silas jumped at the sound of hoofbeats and quickly ran to stand at the tree, away from the tree.

Silas could of felt his soul lift and rise as the new arrival spoke. The person probably recognized his glasses or something. But he didn't care. Slowly, he nodded his head to confirm such.

Katherine looked at the boy. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you..." she told as she got off her horse. She gripped the reins in her hand and walked toward him. "I'm Katherine of Blackwater."

[[And I did it again. @#$! Sorry -.-;]]

Silas, taking off his hood part way, he watched as the girl came near him. He shook his curtly, as if it was a head shrug. Re-propping his glasses to the ridge of his nose, he moved slightly down the trail. When she was an arm length away, he would lightly shake her hand with a cold, small one of his.

"Silas of Heathercove." He introduced himself in a rather floaty voive. Warily he looked over his shoulder at Artemis, not sure if he was to trust him... Or the horse, for that matter.

"Nice to meet you" She shook his hand as she smiled at him. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I was just out on a night ride. Since the only way I can get out of the palace is sneaking out." She thought about what Lord Genlith had told her about not going out until her's and Falik's attackers were caught.

"It's rather cold out tonight, don't you agree."

Silas had quickly retreated his hand, stuffing both into his pockets. He just shrugged again at her apology. "Don't worry 'bout it, Lady Katerine." He stated lightly. He was scared... Honest. But that is just denial speaking. Right now, he just hoped no other horses appeared.

"I - I guess." He stated glancing back at Artemis. He stayed in his spot stiffly still, not sure what to make of the male yet.

"Is there something wrong? You seem kind of shaken..." She told the small page. "If there's something I can help you with?"

She looked at Artemis wondering what he was doing out here as well.

Slowly, he shook his head. "No... No, everything is fine. Just didn't expect more than one person out at night..." He confessed lightly.

"Wouldn't it be funny if llama's were blue?" Sil mumbled slightly.

[Oops! Forgot about this thread!]

Artemis' face was impassive, but inside, he was laughing, the strange comedy of the situation making itself apparent to him.

"I'm sorry," he said politely, fighting down a smile, "did you just ask if llama's were blue?"

[[No worries!]]

A smile slowly trickled itself onto Silas' face. Slowly he nodded his face. "Yes, just a what if." He replied casually.

For a moment, he had an imagine of a llama dyed blue. Slowly, he chuckled. The world would be a very funny place to be in."

Artemis smiled. It occurred to him that he had not used those particular muscles in a while, which worried him. Was he really overloaded?

"Maybe we should start walking in the general direction of the palace?" he suggested.

Slowly, Silas put a hand up, waving down the trail. From the way his arm was lifted, the sleeve's of the cloak were rather big.

"I was going to travel down the trail a bit. To just, you know, enjoy the outdoors with out Lord Whatshisface ordering us about." Silas replied quietly, shrugging as he feelt more at ease now. Both seemed friendly enough to him, he wasn't sure if he could trust them.

"If llamas were blue...hmm..That would be very interesting." She smiled.

She looked at Artemis. "What are you doing out here Artemis?"

She turned back to Silas. "I should be heading back to the palace, before my room mate throws a fit. It was nice meeting you."

Silas nodded his head. "Very..." He repsonded with a light giggle in his voice. He watched for a moment as she asked the other a question. When she came back to him, he tilted his head slightly as she spoke.

"All right. Nice to meet you too."

"Mm... I took a nap and overslept," he admitted. "Just started walking back - in fact, if it wasn't for you, I would have been utterly and completely lost."

"See you later, Katharine. Or so I hope."

Silas waved lightly to Katherine. Looking up at Artemis he smiled weakly.

"I'm going to keep walking into the woods..." He started lightly. "Even though I should probably walk back."

"Mm... Well, I suppose it helps that you've got a lantern. If something or someone attacks you, call out, I may still be in hearing distance." His voice was completely bland, giving no hint whether he was joking or not.

Silas shrugged lightly, absently rubbing the back of his neck. "Can't scare many Spidrens with a lantern though." Even though the chances of Silas missing are quite high.

"I... Might come back with you..." He started uncertainly.

Arty shrugged. "I think I might remember enough of my sword lessons to fend of any dangerous beasties. In any case, now there's two of us."

Silas smiled weakly. He was hopeless at anything with weapons. He's lucky if he makes it through first year. He has lived so far. He nervously chuckled lightly, beginning to walk in whatever direction they were going.

After a bit of silence, Sil finally said, "You know... When you really think about, turtles are funny creatures."

[Your tense switches are really beginning to confuse me. Is this on purpose, lol?]

"You mean because they never look young?" Arty whistled thoughtfully. "I always thought that it would be incredibly uncomforable living in a hard shell all your life."

[Eh - I don't know]

Silas shrugged his shoulders. "Eh - Not really. They're kinda interesting. Slow, and rather impassive." Sil thought outloud.

Releasing a sigh, he looked into the woods. Did something move? Nah, most be a trick of the night.

"Did - Did you just see something?" Arty asked, and then was immediately sorry that he had spoken up. His eyesight was notoriously bad.

Silas cocked a thin eyebrow up at the page. Out of the blue, Silas felt a shiver run down his spine

"Maybe." Silas remarked, reaching back. With somewhat shaking hands, he pulled his hood up. While doing so, his ken eyes caught movement. "I think... Its best we keep walking..."

"The castle's this way," said Arty, pointing slightly to the right. "C'mon, quicker now." Just to be safe, he kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, just in case anything did jump out of the bushes....

Silas glanced down at the direction he pointed too. The little page just nodded his head. Warily, he kept his ken eyes on the forest. Remembering who had the weapon, he crept a bit closer to the squire. Suddenly, Silas felt quite small and defneseless, like when he did something wrong infront of someone.

At the rustle of dead leaves, he tugged on Arty's sleeve, and nodded the left of the trail. "Its from over there..." He said in a whisper, keeping his eyes straight.

Rustle. There it was again. Rustle, rustle. From a different direction now...

Rustle. He swiveled his head around, trying to place it.

A branch snapped.

"It's right in front of us..." he whispered, barely daring to breathe.

Silas, if possible, had now moved behind Arty so that only half of his body was seen past the Squire. Whilest not steeping on the back of Tirragen's shoes, he continued to walk foward. Sil now squinted his teal eyes.

Shapes had now formed on the path in front of them and seemed to be still. Only a few were moving until at last, they were still. These shapes were obviously animal-like, and one or two seemed to have something sharp from their head. A soft breeze came, moving the leaves and allowing some of the moon to shine down.

Is it... a herd of deer?

A lone rabbit, gray in the moonlight, hopped out of a neighboring bush. Arty, who had drawn his sword upon first seeing movement, sheathed it again, feeling stupid [that seems to happen to him a lot, lol!]. He stared impassively as it hopped off into the darkness, then, slowly, found himself beginning to smile...

Silas glanced down to the side too at the rabbit. He blinked, feeling as if he should just sit in a corner and put on a dunce hat. Or maybe even apply for a jester. Looking around he realized how close he was to Arty and backed away.

"Just a trick of the night..." Silas stated, a small grin played about his face, as he had soon let out a few giggles of amusement.

Arty found himself beginning to laugh, nervously at first, but eventually gave way into whole-hearted amusement.

"Were just like the ladies at the castle who scream at the sight of a spider," he said, still smiling.

Silas broke into laughter at the comment. "Yes... We are."

Heathercove then paused at the deer, which were staring at the two with their ears twitching. Grinning childishly, he got on his tippy-toes, and swinged his leg in the block position, holding up invisible skirts. Immaturely, he screeched. "Eek! Somebody help me! Its a deer!"

Artemis laughed. The little kid was quite amusing to tell the truth.

"I think you'll marry wonderfully some day," he told him, smiling.

He didn't hear the loud rustle in the background. Neither did he see the large shadows moving in the nearby bushes, until...

Silas just grinned at the remark, adding his own two cents, "Providing I survive the training master." And his father, but thats completely beside the point. This has been the most he's laughed since he arrived here.

Silas' sensitive ears perked at the rustle behind him, raising an eyebrow at Arty. He smirked, teal eyes twinkling in mischeif. "Bet that noise is a harmless fox."

Sadly, it's actually a Spidren, but Silas is too caught up at the fools they made of themselves. Just ahead, the dim castle lights could be seen.

Kataru, being on her nightly patrol, saw the dim light coming out of the forest. She walked up to the forest edge to what it was and saw the two boys giggling and having fun. She cursed under her breath hoping that her patrol didn't have to involve fighting.

"You two, What do you think your doing out here after hours!" she yelled. She walked to the path that they were coming down on and saw a shadow behind them. When she saw it take form she realized that it was a Spridren. "Watch out, there's an Immortal behind you!" She started running towards them hoping that she could help them in time.




((OOC: Hope you don't mind...))

Artemis spun around, gaiety suddenly gone, just in time to avoid the sticky leg ready to catch him and draw him into the enormous gaping hole that was the creature's mouth. He remembered yelling, a kind of battle cry, and suddenly his sword was in his hands, and he was swinging it wildly, trying to get the creature back, away from the page.

His blade made contact with one of the legs, chopping part of it off, but the force of impact caused his spectacles to fly off his face, landing somewhere on the dark, leafy ground.

Arty, no longer able to discern the dark shapes in front of him, blindly waved his sword in front of him, hoping to do fend off any attack until help came. The immortal, sensing his weakness, quickly approached....

Silas raised an eyebrow at the patrol. An Immortal. Hesitantly, he glanced behind his shoulder. Teal eyes wide with fright, he wasn't sure what to do. When Arty yelled, it brought Silas back to the real world. Pushing his glasses back to the bridge of his nose, he backed away with stiff legs.

Silas watched, up against a tree, Arty battle off the creature. Wait Wasn't there a woman? He turned his head to look in her direction. She was running towards them. Good. Looking quickly back to the battle, Silas winced. What was Arty doing?

As the Spidren came in to take advantage, Silas frowned. This wasn't good. Moving from the tree, he sprinted. Ran right into Arty's torso, trying to drag the squire to the ground. Only when Silas would've fallen, would he realize that that was a stupid thing to do.