Hey, I'm back! So this chapter is a bit shorter than the previous one. Sorry! But anyways enjoy!

After walking for the best part of a day we finally arrived at the end of the woods. Laid out in front of us was a vast, flat, rocky terrain. Halt quietly cursed. And with good reason. Covering the barren rock as far as the eye could see were wargal camps. Looking to the right I could see a crevice in the rock, made small from the distance that separated us from it.

"Is that Three Step Pass?" I heard Will ask. Halt followed Will's pointing finger and nodded. I shielded my eyes from the setting sun as it sunk below the Moutains of Rain and Night, taking with it the last vestiges of warmth. The only light now came from the hundreds of camp fires sporting 5-7 wargals each. Gilan even spotted some Skandians in the distance, recangnizable by their helmets, and pointed them out to Halt. His frown was reminiscent of one who had just had a pop quiz surprised upon them. After several minutes of relative quiet, he finally spoke.

"We'll have to flank around them. It will take longer, but it's the only chance we have. Just be especially careful when we pass those Skandians." He motioned for us to follow him as he carefully stepped back inside the tree line and made his way across the rocky terrain, headed towards the looming rock face about a kilometer away. It took 20 minutes of slow progress to get to the base of the steep mountain.

"We're not climbing that... Are we?" Evanlyn asked tentatively. Tobias shook his head.

"I should hope not! It looks impassible." Halt looked around at them grimly.

"Nothing is impassible. Especially if you don't have any regard for how many lives you could lose."

"So, that's probably how the wargals got into Celtica." Evanlyn pointed out. "I've been wondering how they got out of this cursed place." Halt nodded and continued along the base. Will and Gilan followed walking side by side, after them, Tobias and Evanlyn, and finally Sophie and I.

"The Wargals that were following us should be here soon." Sophie whispered. I just nodded and replied,

"And let's hope Morgarath isn't with them. 'Cause if he is, we're screwed." Sophie laughed.

"Ye of little faith. Just you watch. We're going to beat Morgarath, and then we're going to stop Will and Evanlyn getting sent to Skandia." She punched her fist in the air and I smiled at the familiar cheerfulness. Sophie was one of the most optimistic people I've ever met. But, despite what she had said, I wasn't so sure it would work out the way she had described. First off, this entire "trip" had just been one disaster after another, compounded by the extra Kalkara and the fact that Araluen had virtually no warning for the coming war.

"I hope." I sighed and continued sadly, "Honestly, I've been waiting all my life for an adventure. I never actually believed I'd get one. And, now that it's here, I'm not sure it's what I really wanted, you know? Like, I just expected it to be... different I suppose. And I didn't want anyone I cared about to get caught up in it, just in case..." I stopped myself from finishing that sentence. It was too painful to think about. Just stop worrying I told myself Everything is going to be fine. Just like Sophie said. I wished it could be true. I wished that I was like Sophie, always optimistic, even in dire situations. What would I do without her I thought fondly.

Sophie had let me think and had taken instead to letting her gaze travel over the many fires coming from wargal camps. I too turned my head and noticed something in my peripheral vision. Before I could turn I heard Halt whisper urgently to us,

"Get down!" (A/N thought of ending it there but then I thought, mhm.... Better not...) I immediately fell into a crouch, Sophie doing the same besides me. We knew not to question Halt ever, especially not now. I fully turned my head and saw what had caught my eye. With a sinking heart I watched Morgarath emerge from the trees, twenty wargals visible, fanning out to either side of him. He must have sent a mental order to the rest of the wargals on the plateau because simultaneously they started getting up, grabbing torches and weapons.

I felt despair settle over me. There was no way we could get out of this. Least of all Sophie, Evanlyn, Tobias, and I. Sophie grabbed my shoulder, startling me and nodded her head in the direction of the others. Halt had started moving forward, deceptively quick for the amount of stealth he was using. Even now, it seemed impossible to pinpoint his exact location for more than a couple seconds. Gilan, Will, Evanlyn, and Tobias were all moving behind him in single file. I nodded my understanding, and started moving forward just behind Sophie. We were all hunched over except for the rangers, as they had their cloaks for concealment. My shoulders started aching within minutes, but I ignored the urge to stand up and stretch.

The wargals were starting to spread out across the plateau. Most were moving towards the tree line, probably to check if we were still hidden somewhere in the forest. About a third of the remaining wargals remained in a loose circle near the center of the mass of rocks. The rest started coming towards the outside edges of the plateau, where the steep jagged mountains formed a barrier, and where we were currently, running as fast as we could while still maintaining some air of secrecy. I knew that it would take about 15 minutes before wargals reached the outside if they stayed at that shuffling gait. And maybe another 5 before they spotted us. That was probably the best case scenario. The problem was it would take no less than 20 minutes to reach Three Step Pass. That was cutting it way to fine. Then there were the Skandians at the entrance to it. Hopefully they had already left the area and were searching somewhere else.

"We need to speed up." I whispered to Sophie, "those wargals are going to catch us if we don't!" I pointed to a group of wargals coming towards a spot close behind us. Sophie passed on the message to Tobias who relayed it to Evanlyn and so on. It remained me strangely of the game telephone that I played with my friends. I felt a lump in my throat at the reminder that I might never see them again, before once again pushing the negative thought to the back of my mind. We are all going to make it out of this. I argued with myself, Nothing to worry about. But as I glanced back again, I doubted myself. The wargals were closer than I expected. I realized that we had sped up finally, and I quickened my pace.

We were jogging now, just short of full out running, and I could see that we were staying even with the wargals now, neither gaining any distance towards the other. Luckily they still hadn't spotted us; the torches they were carrying must have been ruining their night vision.

After about 20 minutes of running we were finally, almost out. I sighed in relief as we stopped in front of the menacing rock walls that loomed above the entrance to Three Step Pass. We were about to enter when a shout rang through the darkness.

"Hey!" I turned quickly to see a Skandian standing up and pointing straight at us.

Hey guys! Hope you liked it!! Hehe, CLIFFE!!!!! I have a pretty busy schedule coming up, and I still have math and recent events homework so that sucks, but what can I do about it besides finish it. So... Possibly another chapter by next week... Maybe Friday?ish... I don't really know but luckily I have some ideas for this story and not another round of writers block, yeah!!!!! So, bye guys, until next chapter! Lizzy out!