" ...yes. Okay. "

"Very well, then. Follow me. And do try to keep up."

Easier said than done.

If you've ever tried following a cat through a dense forest filled with briars, bushes, and tangled undergrowth, you'll know how impossible it is. Grimalkin vanished from sight multiple times. Eventually, it was possible to catch a glimpse of him slinking through the trees ahead, only to go through the same thing minutes later.

She was easily tired out after the first 10 minutes or so.

Isiea calmly sits on Ares, calmly letting him take her wherever it is he wants to go.

Grimalkin disappeared again. The light was fading, and the forest was even grayer. Up ahead, the bushes rustled. Grimalkin had been completely silent up until now. "Human!" whispered a familiar voice, somewhere above them. "Hide!"

Isiea sighs, getting a bit bored.

She was quiet for a moment, and ran to hide anywhere available. (Lol)

By then, it was too late. Twigs snapped, bushes parted, and a slew of creatures spilled into view.

They were short, ugly things, standing two to three feet high, with knobby yellow-green skin and bulbous noses. Their ears were large and pointed. They wore tattered clothing and carried bone-tipped spears in yellow claws. Their faces were mean and cruel, with beady eyes and mouths full of broken, jagged teeth.

For a moment, they stopped, blinking in surprise. Then the whole pack of them screeched and swarmed forward, jabbing at Lise and Isiea with their spears.

"What is it? What is it?" snarled one. Laughter and jeers filled the air as they surrounded Ares, Isiea and Lise.

"They're elves, hissed another, giving the girls a toothy leer. Elves that lost their ears, maybe."

"No, they're goat-girls," cried yet a third. "Good eatin', them."

"They ain't no goats, cretin! Lookit, they ain't got no 'ooves!"

"Take 'em to the chief," someone suggested at last. "The chief'll know what they are, and if they're safe to eat."

"Right! The chiefll know!"

A couple of them rushed the girls from behind, and Lise could feel a blow to the back of her knees. The whole pack of them swarmed them, hooting and hollering. Blows rained down on them both..

,, {Beep} off! ,, Isiea snaps, slashing at them with her knife. She loosens the bridle a little so Ares can bite them.

Lise fell to the ground wth a hard thud.