Here's the next chapter! Sorry for disappearing for so long, our internet got bad again! XD I've got a few chapters of fanfic to get caught up on reading too! 👀

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The carts rumbled on and on for miles. They had only stopped once, when they switched out who was pulling the cart for fresh bucks, but this stop was for the night. The guards stood around, holding torches over their heads and glowers on their faces, watching the slaves climb out of their carts. The moon could barely be seen peeking down between the branches of the trees all around and above.

Weezie hated to leave Percy behind, but she figured it would be better for him to not be moved, especially out into the nighttime chill. She was becoming increasingly worried for him the longer he went without waking up. She stretched her aching body with her arms up over her head and took a look around.

They had stopped in a clearing made from the crossing of several roads. The one they had come down ended here, while another road took up where it left off, stretching as far as she could see to the right and to the left. Weezie wondered which path they would be taking when morning came.

The slaves stood around in shivering huddles, watching the soldiers as they made fires and joked amongst themselves. She frowned, getting as close as she could to eavesdrop on their conversation without being conspicuous.

"Well yeah, but this is going to the last load we pick up," a dark brown buck was saying, poking at the fire he was building with his unsheathed sword. Another buck- slate blue with white around his muzzle- chuckled.

"That's true," he said, shifting his weight with crossed arms. "Although I thought the last load was going to be the last, but here we are."

"Overseer Morten wasn't very happy," a light brown officer who was younger than the rest said.

"Did he say why?" The brown buck asked, nudging him with his elbow.

"Of course not," came the response and all the guards nearby burst out laughing. The two bucks who'd made the exchange grinned as though they'd made a great joke as their fellows patted them on the shoulders, several walking away to their posts laughing and shaking their heads.

"Hopefully we won't have any trouble with the locals," an ashy grey buck said, squinting into the forest. Weezie recognized him as the one who had stopped her earlier. "I don't fancy getting into a fight with that useless lot around needing protected." he gestured with his head in Weezie and the other slave's direction. In turning his head he noticed the one doe standing apart from the rest.

"Hey you!" He shouted, turning around and pointing at her. Weezie felt a jolt of alarm but kept herself as outwardly calm as possible.

Don't let them know you are afraid, her mother had always told her, and Weezie had nothing to lose. She calmly held her ground as the buck marked up to her menacingly.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"My friend is sick," Weezie said with all the confidence she could muster. "He needs water."

"You're that doe with the dead body," he said, wrinkling his nose.

"He's not dead," Weezie flashed back. He might be now- Delia had said he could slip away at any time now- but she refused to accept this truth.

"What's all this?" A large white buck asked, walking up from the other side of the camp. Weezie wondered briefly where he was from, he had an unfamiliar accent to his speech.

"This is the girl that brought that dead buck and his shipment paperwork." He replied, putting emphasis on the word "dead" and giving her a pointed look. Weezie bit her tongue.

"Why are we being delivered a, 'dead' buck, Silas?" The white furred officer asked wearily.

"I don't know, sir."

The white rabbit turned his dark eyes to Weezie. "Explain?"

"Please, sir, he's not dead." Weezie said, meeting his gaze levely. "He's only been roughed up and he just needs water so I can wash his wounds. I don't know what happened, I was just told to bring him to the carts and no one else would take him."

The white buck studied her face. What she had said was mostly true, she just hoped he wouldn't press her any further.

"Hm," he said, after staring at her for an uncomfortably long time. "Officer Kipley will accompany you to a stream to get water for your friend." He squinted his eyes at her then shouted for Kipley. The young officer ran up and to attention, giving a quick glance to the doe with blood smeared into her dress.

"Yes, sir?"

"The slaves need water. This doe will accompany you for the first load and will be given as much as she asks for. Then you will find someone else to give water first to the bucks who pulled the carts and then the rest of the slaves."

"Yes, sir."

"Keep your eyes peeled for wolves and signal if you run into trouble. There should be a stream north from here."

Kipley nodded and saluted his superior.

"Come along," he said to Weezie and began walking briskly to the empty carts.

"Thank you," Weezie said to the white rabbit as she turned to follow. He nodded his response.

After the two had stopped at the carts for buckets they had plunged into the forest, Weezie walking ahead tripping on roots and rocks in the dark, and Kipley following behind with a torch held over his head and one hand on his sword hilt. Eventually they found a stream as the officer had predicted. It ran along in its own little valley carved through the trees, twinkling in the patches of moonlight that made it past the leaves.

Weezie clambered awkwardly down the hillside with a bucket in each hand while Kipley stood erect, listening with his ears and sniffing the air for trouble. Weezie was a little confused why they were worried about wolves, weren't the bad guys all on the same side?

She reached the creek bed, stepping into the cold water and feeling the sharp pebbles beneath her feet. She got herself a drink first- she realized the last she had eaten or drunk that day had been breakfast with her mother and sister.

She thought of them as she dipped the buckets beneath the surface, lifting them out full of moonlight-kissed water. They would be sitting in the family room now- the lamps lit all cozy- mother at her knitting and Layra her sewing. She hoped they were- that they would be able to move on and live without her.

"Hurry up now," Kipley's voice came as a harsh whisper. Weezie rolled her eyes, knowing he wouldn't be able to see them in the dark and started up the hill. She had carried buckets of water before all over her farm, and was a little smug at the officer's surprise at her ease.

Her stomach complained loudly as they made their way back through the dark woods. Kipley walked quickly, now in the front with Weezie trotting behind to keep up. He was muttering under his breath and looking from side to side as he went, jumping over fallen branches and around awkward rocks. Finally he came to a stop in a small clearing caused by a fallen oak. The moon finally found a place to shine down in the absence of the large tree's leaves, casting strange blue shadows on the leaf strewn ground.

"What is it?" Weezie asked, looking around in confusion. Kipley glared in her direction then around the clearing, holding the torch higher over his head.

"Well?" Weezie was impatient. She wasn't comfortable with being gone from Percy this long. What if that rude grey buck did something while she was gone?

"I think we're lost," Kipley said with a frustrated blast through his nose.

"What?" Weezie asked, trying not to laugh. Had this buck ever gone through the woods before?

"We're not lost," she said, an amused catch to her voice. "The camp is just up there. Keep going- actually just follow me."

She stomped on past him, not sure if she was more irritated or more amused by his ineptitude. Kipley spluttered something incoherent, but ended up following along behind her.

"You're going to get us more lost," he said angrily.

"More lost? How does somebody get more lost?" Weezie said over her shoulder. "You're either lost or you're not. There is no more lost, so if you're lost at least let me try to get us unlost before we, what- sit down and hope someone will come and find us?"

"That is no way for you to speak to me, slave," Kipley said angrily.

Weezie didn't really care. She just gave him a look over her shoulder and continued walking. She didn't have time for this. What was he going to do? Draw his sword on her? He didn't say anything else, but she could sense him stewing on her words as he followed behind her.

They made it to the camp with no further incident. While Weezie had never been in this particular area, the Great Wood was her home, and she had grown up tromping the hills and forests of her family farm. She laughed at the idea of getting lost in the woods.

Kipley was obviously embarrassed and gave her a dirty look before stalking off to find a new person to carry water for him. Weezie lugged her water buckets to the entrance of the cart, setting them down and scrambling up into the cart check on her friend. She half expected to see him sprawled on the floor, last shred of life ended by the grey buck, Officer Silas' sword. But to her relief he was exactly as she had left him, wedged into the corner fast asleep.

"Good, I'm glad you're okay, " she whispered, patting his shoulder. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go find Delia."