Lost In The Woods

"Are you sure you tied the horses to the tree?"

Reagan heaved out a sigh before he decided to respond to me. "For the umpteenth time woman, yes I did!"

"Then how the hell did they get missing?"

"Well, that's we are trying to find out, is it not?" Reagan responded and I refrained from slapping the back of his head. "Besides, they are well trained horses bestowed to me by the king himself, they wouldn't just wander off."

Snorting, I rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah well perhaps, they are not so smart after all."

Reagan sighed as he whirled around to look at me, "Are you going to help me look for the horse, or are you just going to be whiny about it all day?"

"Whine?" I asked him in disbelief, "We've been wandering in this godsdamned forsaken forest for hours Reagan, we've been venturing deeper and deeper searching for two horses which I'm sure we would have found them by now if you had properly tied them!"

"I did properly tie them, I told you!" Reagan snapped at me.

Laughing, I looked around the forest as I laughed harder, though the sound had no humor at all. "Here's the thing Reagan, in case you missed it, I'm going to tell you this. If you tied the horses properly, we would have found them and if you haven't you noticed, it's evening already!" I yelled the last part.

Reagan huffed at me, muttering something under his breath as he looked around and I saw the way his eyes widened in realization. Muttering a curse under his breath, he turned to look at me. "It's getting late, we should probably head back."

"You think?" I asked him.

Bumping my shoulder, with his, I walked past him. I decided to walk back towards the direction from where we came from, frustration crawling right across my skin. It was fully real now: the forest appeared gloomier, neighboring trees were farther apart, and shadows stretched over the grounds increasingly. Birds' songs that had filled the trees when we first arrived had now gotten quiet, now only the sound of leaves and the hoot of an owl could be heard.

I marched ahead of Reagan who was constantly muttering something under his breath. Instead of asking what he was saying I withheld. He was really pushing my buttons, and I cursed myself for agreeing to follow him out in the woods earlier, like what the hell was I thinking?

"Take a left." Reagan ordered from behind me.

I'll do as I damn please! I wanted to yell at him but again, I swallowed my words and did as he asked. I continued walking, listening to Reagan's absurd directions of take a left, take a right, then a left and a right and a right again and at this point! I couldn't hold it anymore, so I stopped walking.

Reagan appeared in front of me in an instant, a worried look on his face. "What happened? Why did you stop?"

Drawing in a deep breath, I raised my head up to stare at him. "Reagan, I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to answer me honestly?"

"Depends on the question." Reagan responded with a shrug.

Not exactly the time for you to be a wise ass mister! I muse but I smiled at him, "We are lost, aren't we?"

He opened his mouth about to say something bit then as if he thought better of it, he nodded his head at me. "Unfortunately." He said his tone almost sheepish but his sharp eyes scanned the forest.

We are doomed! I thought to myself with a weary sigh but I willed myself to calm down. "You know for a knight who spends month in the woods, you are terrible at this!"

"Do not dare judge me!" Reagan stated with narrowed eyes, "This is my first time deep in this woods, I wanted to make thing special for you, so I asked Miguel for directions."

"Miguel?"

"Yeah, he said he knows a great place!" Reagan affirmed.

I shook my head with a weary sigh, "You know what? I am not entirely surprised."

Reagan arched a brow up at me, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Look," I said drawing in a deep breath to calm myself down, "Arguing back and forth, isn't going to help us. We need to get out of here fast which means we need to figure out something."

Reagan stared at me for a moment, then he nodded his head at me in agreement. Turning towards another direction, he began walking. "We keep walking, if we continue, we might find the road if we continue."

"And how long will we keep_" I trailed off when Reagan turned to shoot me a look. Swallowing my argument, I rolled my eyes at him. "Fine!" I thought to myself as I hiked my gown up so I could cross over a log in the woods.

Reagan and I continued walking in the woods with him slowing down his stride just so I could catch up to him. We must have walked for an hour or so when I noticed something shiny through the trees. Reagan must have noticed it because he headed towards that direction and I followed after him.

"You saw it too, right?" I asked as I ran too keep up with him, "What do you think that is?"

Reagan furrowed his brows as he stepped towards it, "It looks like a house!"

A house? Good, temporary sanctuary! I thought to myself as I moved towards the light not waiting to hear his verdict. The hem of my dress snagged on branches as I moved faster. Reagan called out to me softly, warning me to slow down but I was just too excited.

The cottage appeared as we emerged from the trees. It was a small house but clean with a strengthened wooden door and lights on the windows. Gray, thin smoke floated upward from the chimney and sliding inside, I could smell something good and feel my appetite stirred.

"Well?" I asked as I turned to look at Reagan whose look had changed into that of a warrior as his eyes made a quick scan of the environment, probably looking for any sign of threats.

Heaving out a sigh, Reagan turned to look at me. "Guess we will just have to hope that they are friendly and welcoming towards their guests!"