Suri quickly grabbed his arm as her eyes got wide. "No! Stay put," she mouthed. A few bubbles wouldn't give them away and they could move deeper into the lake so they wouldn't be so noticeable.

jake was slightly confused, the bubbles were a clear give away, there was nothing else he could do

She was about to explain when suddenly she was jerked out of the water by a pair of huge rough hands. "Oh ho! What do we have here?" Suri found herself looking at a huge man with a full beard. He was very tall and she could feel her feet dangling in the air. She gave him one of her most lethal stares. "Put me down!" With a chuckle the man sat her on the ground. She brushed herself off and looked at the assortment of people staring at her. She only hoped they hadn't noticed Jake when they had pulled her out of the water.

Jake was a bit shocked, he drifted in the water a bit until he realised what had just happened, he growled a bit and burst out of the water "don't you dare touch her" he said standing in front of her "take me but leave her alone"

Suri looked over at Jake with disbelief. Of all the times to be brave and he had to pick now. "What are you doing?!" she hissed out at him. The big man looked between the two of them with a look of intense amusement then roared with laughter. "I think we'll just take the both of you!" Two others in the crowd came forward to grab them both, somehow managing to tie them both up in the process. "Look here c'tain! I found their stuff!" The big man grabbed their bags uo and tossed them in the saddlebags on the horse he had been riding. "I'll take a look-see at these later. He then grabbed Suri and slung her across the saddle in front of him.

Jake growled "let us go!" he demanded "we are on a important mission" he growled as he looked at Suri, he had messed up big time now, he tried his best to save her but they were thugs and wanted whatever they could steal

The leader just looked at him and laughed. "Important mission huh? You can tell me all about it on the way to camp." Suri shot a look at Jake, her eyes pleading with him to just go along for now. Her mind was racing franticly to figure out a way out of this mess they were in. Maybe once they reached the band's camp they would get an opportunity to get away.

The group set out, horses sending up a cloud of dust behind them as they rode further into the grasslands. After what seemed forever they finally came to a camp where it looked as though everyone was busy doing something. The leader pulled his horse up in front of a large tent and tossed Suri over his shoulder. "Bring the other as well. This should prove to be very interesting." Immediately the others brought Jake over and the leader pushed them both inside. Suri stumbled and fell into Jake, clinging to him for support. She looked defiantly up at the large man in front of them. He chuckled at the expression on her face. "You may call me Rolf."

Suri stood up straighter and looked straight into his dark green eyes. "I don't care what you have planned for us but don't think your going to have anything but a fight on your hands. We were just passing through looking for a new place for our village. Let us go."

Jake was slightly shocked, he was confused and scared, luckly he didn't so it or he would be the laughing stock "yeah what she said" he said as he remembered there stuff, he was scared of what would heppen or what they would say if they found his punchter repair kit

Rolf looked at the two of them with amusement showing clearly on his face. He laughed quietly. "I'm not going to hurt you. On the contrary, I just saved the two of you from certain death. A storm is coming and there would be no way either of you would survive it's fury out in the open like that, no matter how prepared you are. It was better for all of us if I made it look as though we had taken you prisoner."

Suri stared at him with something akin to disbelief. Whatever she had expected from this man, it wasn't this. She looked over at Jake, confusion in her eyes.

Jake was also confused, he looked at Suri just as confused "so you were saving us and not trying to kill us?" he asked looking at the guy

Rolf just grinned at the pair's confused looks. "Now you will just have to stay inside with me for a little while and then I will go out and announce you are friends of the camp and then they will accept you as guests instead of prisoners. Come with me." He walked towards the back of the pavilion, lifting one of the dividers. In this part was a lavish area with soft pillows and blankets. "Please make yourselves comfortable and rest here until I return for you." He had brought their bags and put them down on the floor.

Suri was still wary of the big man but followed him to the back after a pointed look at Jake, warning him to be on his guard. She looked around the lavish area and sank down on one of the pillows. It was very comfortable. She waited until Rolf had left them alone before she spoke quietly to Jake. "Come sit with me. I don't think we should let our guard down even if he is helping us. This could just be a clever trap. I don't trust him." She was exhausted from the long ride and wanted to just curl up beside Jake and go to sleep but she didn't dare until they found out for sure if they could trust Rolf.

(( LOVE your sig! That is so kick ass.))

(thank you =3)
Jake smiled, once they was alone, Jake slowly began to inflate from fear "hes planning to kill us... hes going to kill us" he said shivering and inflating "this is not good"

Suri quickly pulled him to her before he could inflate much larger. "Shh it's ok! I will never let that happen." She said the last part fiercely. She meant what she said too. She would fight to the death if it came down to that.

Jake felt her pull him in and her words made him feel calmer "r-r-really?" he asked as he smiled and kissed her while deflating "its a good job i managed to get you on my team"

Suri kissed him back tenderly. "Yes I do really mean it." She kept her ears open for any sound indicating that Rolf had returned to the pavilion.

Jake smiled as he looked into her eyes "thank you" he said snuggling against her "if he attacks us i will inflate myself so he can't get to you"

Suri just stared at him for a moment. It really wasn't that bad of an idea from a strategy point of view. "Jake is there a limit to how many times you can explode?" She was worried that there was and that he would die after they ran out. For the moment they were still alone but it couldn't be too long before Rolf returned to check on his "guests".

Jake watched her and giggled a bit, then when she asked about his limits he giggled and shook his head "as long as i dont burst three times in a row in one day i can never have limits to how many times i burst" he said hugging her, he knew she was worried and he felt bad for making her worry alot

Suri felt a wave of relief course through her. "Oh good, I was worried." She hugged him back and was about to say something else to him when she heard the sound of footsteps coming towards them. She stiffened and instantly went into alert mode. "He's coming back, be on your guard," she whispered softly in Jake's ear.

It was indeed Rolf coming back to check on them. He stepped inside the room and sighed as he noticed they were both on guard. "Look, I know you don't trust me and honestly I don't blame you. However I spoke with my clan and have assured them that you are no threat and that you are now our honored guests. No one will bother you. You are free to wander about the camp as you like. We have sentries posted in case of trouble and other people watching the weather. If you hear a horn blow four times in a row, get inside, the storm is coming." He shook his head at the pair of them. "You must be hungry. I would be delighted if you would join me for dinner." He gave them a remeasuring smile even though he knew it wouldn't do much good at the moment. They would just have to see that he wasn't trying to fool them and lead them into a trap.

Suri had her eye's narrowed and kept an eye on Rolf as he spoke. Nothing about him spoke that he was tricking them. At the mention of food her stomach growled audibly, making her flush slightly. "Well...I suppose we could join you..." Still wary she stood and stretched out her muscles. Rolf simply nodded at her and held open the flap for them to go through.

Jake listened to them both and giggled "im hungry too... infla... i mean... inflaming stuff is hard to do" he said blushing, he quickly ran to Suri's side, he was afraid of what would happen if the clan found out about his powers "suri... we need to escape" he whispered into her ear "it wont be long till they discover what i am"

Suri nodded in agreement before going out of the room they were in. Rolf held open the flap until both of them had passed and then led the way towards the front of the pavilion. He motioned them to follow him out. Suri looked around apprehensively with fear that they would be attacked. Other than a few curious glances however, no one appeared to be a threat. They followed him to another pavilion, this one four times bigger than the one they had just been in. Delicious smells wafted through the air and Suri felt her stomach rumble with protest.

When they entered the pavilion, she was amazed to see all the people gathered here to eat. It looked as if this were the main gathering place for everyone to eat. Tables were set up near the entrance and people were serving the others, with someone coming up now and then to take their place so that they could eat themselves. Rolf took them up to the tables with food on it and smiled at the dark haired beauty who was behind the table. "Jasmine these are our honored guests and this is their first time supping with us. I'm sure they are very hungry, make sure they get plenty to eat!" He gave her a warm smile and went to get his own food. "Please sit anywhere you wish," he called back to them.

Suri was still wary, but her stomach was overruling her caution. Everything looked and smelled so good! Jasmine gave her a warm smile and handed her a plate, heaped with food and then gave Jake a similar one. Suri looked around the pavilion and saw a table near the back of the room that seemed to have a few empty places. "There's a spot back there Jake." She had noticed a flap that had come loose near that table and thought maybe they could escape through that after they had eaten.

Jake was warery too, he had never seen a building so big and so many people "oh my" he wishpered as he looked around, everywhere he looked there was big muscly people with food, he saw women too, but they still looked stronger then him "i dont like this crowd" Jake whispered to Suri "there really scary" he whispered again with fear in his voice "lets eat this and plan a way out before i... well you know" he said shivering a bit.

Jake looked at his plate of food and smiled a bit, he looked over to where Suri had pointed and nodded a bit "o-ok" he said as he slowly made his way over there, he walked passed the vast amounts of men and women and gulped, the more he walked into the crowd, the more his plate began to shake with fear "i dont like this" he whispered.

Suri quickly reached down and grabbed his hand to reassure him. Jake blowing up was the very last thing they needed. She hoped the feel of her hand would calm him before he lost control. "We're almost there love. Don't worry I won't let anything happen to you," she whispered to him.

Jake's shaking stopped as she held his hand, the feel of her hand was like silk wrapped gently around his "o-okay" he said with a gulp "i-i hope w-we can get o-out of her s-soon" he whispered to her trying not to look at the people around, he dreaded what would happen if they found out what he was, so he bit his lip and sucked in his fear "i can do this" he whispered to her still holding her hand

Suri gave Jake a quick nod and a smile as they sat down near the opening she had spotted. There were a few people on this table but not anywhere near them. "We should eat to keep up our strength." She began to eat, pleasantly surprised that the food was quite good. She kept herself aware of what the people around them were doing, alert for any danger.