Duncan looked over his shoulder and when he noticed the clearly amused Dwarf behind him he shook his head with a suppressed curse. "I'm sure you can find something more useful to do than to follow me," he said to Gnol as he followed the rugged trail his horse had left behind. 

"What? And miss this phenomenal quest of finding the knight's horse? Not a chance, I want to sing songs about this epic quest." Gnol said, not even trying to hide his amusement. "How's the knightly bum?" he inquired as seriously as he could.

"Are you mocking me sir Dwarf?" Duncan informed cooly. 

"Not at all sir knight Human, I wouldn't dare." Gnol replied as innocently as possible.

"Yeah, right, well I think you can..." he stopped mid sentence as he heard a horse whinnying. "There she is!" Duncan rushed to the sound and found his horse all tangled up in some chest-high bramble bushes. 

"It's all right, I'm here," he cooed as he tried to grab the reins. 
Gnol got off his horse and started to cut down some of the bush.
It didn't take them long to free the horse but it cost a lot of strength to keep the horse from fleeing again. Wildly the horse reared again but with Duncan and Gnol hanging by the reins the horse tired herself out and stopped. 

Duncan checked her for injuries and sighed. He looked at Gnol. "I'm not going to make it to the fortress with my horse."
Gnol nodded, even though there weren't any visible injuries it was clear it could go no further in the companionship of dragons.

Gnol turned to Duncan. "What do you suggest? Walking will take too long."

Duncan nodded pensively. After a short silence he turned around and examined the surroundings. "Are you well known in these woods?" he asked Gnol.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say well known but I can find my way and I know a couple landmarks." Gnol said as he stroked his beard.

"Excellent, Hawk Rock? Half Tree? You know those?" Duncan asked hopefully.

Gnol nodded slowly. "Yea." the Dwarf replied.

"Good, find the others and follow these directions, I'll meet you there." and he gave Gnol the directions.

Gnol climbed back on his horse and spurred him, back the path they had followed and in pursuit of Noble and Trevor.
When he reached them he made his horse set pace with Trevor's horse. "A slight change of plans gentlemen, Duncan gave me some directions to a safe lumberjack's house and he'll meet us there. He hopes he can switch horses there because he can't use his current one. It's either that or we walk all the way to the fortress at the border." 

 [hr]

"perhaps we can find some herbs as well to make a paste or something? Perhaps make a makeshift bandage or splint or something, if needed?" Alan asked. Not that he was a herbalist or anything of the kind, he only knew of a handful of medicinal herbs. He patted Mercury on his back reassuringly. 

The next meadow were the best words he had heard since travelling on dragon's back, he was starting to get sore and the strangest muscles he didn't even know he had were acting up. He shifted a bit to try and sit more comfortably. 

[hr]

RedClaws followed suit, when he flew through the opening in the canopy he couldn't deny that he felt a jolt of happiness going through his body. Of Course he remembered the bad days but the good memories were also still there. This was home. One of the places he considered home anyway.

Crreessa looked her eyes out, it all looked so majestic to her with the wide canopies, the huge trees and the vast amount of space between the trees. Dragons could fly here, train, practice, play. She could almost feel her brother going down the same path as they were.

RedClaws halted when Damien and Orian stopped. He landed behind Orian, still between the trees.
Crreessa tilted her head. "What's Damien doing now? playing hide and seek in the trees?" she asked although she could hear and smell Damien perfectly fine so she knew where he was.