[b]On the road to the kingdom of Ancient[/b]

Through the darkness, a thin stream of light, lucky enough to make its way through the thick canopy overhead bounced off the blade's steel, momentarily brightening a six foot area of condensed shadow.  Not that there was much to see in that moment.  Only Abigail's annoyed face, matching that of her sister Melanie's with pale green covering everything else.  The two were tired of traversing the thick undergrowth of the jungle floor and longed for the mountains past.  They couldn't go a single step with bumping into one thing or another, most of which were sharp.  Bugs of every shape and breed buzzed angrily around them, complaining in their high pitched voices that something solid, that shouldn't have been there, kept them from being able to stick their teeth into the meat and enjoy the blood.

"You know," Melanie muttered as she hacked through another piece of vegetation "this whole ordeal would be a lot easier if you just carried us over these damn trees or at least walked in front of us, Jack!"

"Give it a rest," Abigail sighed, slicing through wood and moss.  "We've been over this before and it didn't go anywhere.  We just got laughed at."  In response Melanie hacked through another tree with much more force than was needed.

"Oh come on, girls," a booming voice rang out from a few yards behind them.  "You're both too young to be so spoiled.  A bit of walking and swiping never did anyone any harm.  Besides, cutting your way through a jungle floor builds character."

"We got plenty of character from our days in the new world, remember?"  Melanie spat.  "I'm pretty sure you're just being a lazy old man who enjoys seeing his wards suffer."

The bear of a man gasped.  "Such cruel words to speak to your dear friend and protect.."

Melanie opened her mouth to respond but Abigail cut her off.  "There's a light up ahead."

"It's a light at the end of the tunnel."  Melanie cooed.  "We've made it."

"This isn't a tunnel."

"You know what I mean."

"I know what you mean."  The bear snorted.  "I'm not sure if you know what you mean.  A light at the tunnel is what you see when you're dead."

"Or just coming out of the darkness."  Abigail offered.

"It's also just a figure of speech."  Melanie grunted.  "Either way the point is we're not going to spend the rest of our lives in a humid jungle filled with god knows how many creatures who'd like us for a snack."  She paused to glare back at the man.  "Which wouldn't be a problem if you just put them to sleep."  

With a grin Jack stopped to shake his finger at his late friend's eldest daughter.  "With great power comes great responsibility.  A king's sign isn't something you just throw around willy nilly like that."

"Didn't you once put a whole town to sleep because you didn't want to have to wait in line for a drink at the bar?"

"That's different.  A king's got to wet his whistle or he'll go mad.  Mad I tell."

"Hey!"  Abigail called up ahead at the spot where the sun met the shadows.  "Come and take a look at this!"  Her two companions quickly erased the distance that had been created thanks to their bickering to behold the next part of their journey.  

"More mountains."  Melanie muttered, crossing her hands over her chest and pouting.  I'm so freaking tired of mountains.

"Nothing wrong with mountains."  Jack said, stretching his arms over his heads.  "Their good exercise and you get the view at the end or middle."

"Funny how the person who can fly is the one whose bragging about mountains not being a big deal, isn't it?"  Melanie snapped.

"You two do realize there's more than just mountains, right?"  Abigail said, calmly.  She raised a hand and pointed towards forests, and forest.  The forest gave way to more forest, but after that there was something different.  It took the two awhile before they realize they were looking at some of kind of settlement.  

"People."  Melanie grinned as she hoped for joy.  "We'll finally be able to trade for some new clothes and supplies."

"Unless their hostile."  Abigail said.

"Which would make things a lot easier than trading."  Jack said, with a smile.  Melanie gave an enthusiastic nod in reply.

"Let's just go say hi."  Abigail said as she started making her way towards the settlement. "Keep your hands at your sides, weapons in their sheaths.  I don't sense any hostility at the moment but we all know how fast that can change."  With that she started moving in the direction of the settlement.