"Do you feel like we're being followed or is just me?" Lori glanced around with a frown.

Rosemary looked around, hugging herself. "No, it's not just you. I don't like this, Lori. Something's wrong. What do we do?" She wanted to run back to the inn where she felt safe.

Cal clenched his teeth. What was wrong with him? He'd been people hunting since he was a kid, and no one had ever sensed him before. Were these girls just extra perceptive, or was he doing something wrong? Either way, he consciously started moving slower and more quietly.

"I don't know." Lori bite her lip and nodded to the inn. "It's either back or forward." her eyes landed on a thick section of shadow. She looked away slowly but not slow enough to cause suspicion. "I think we may have to chase the fox." she looked to her sister conveying that she may see there problem.

Rosemary nodded. "If you think so, then we should." She said.

Cal paused again, watching. He watched Lori's eyes land on a patch of shadow in the opposite direction from him and felt a spark of relief- and a knot of something else he didn't recognize, but didn't like. He made a snap decision, pulled out his hunting knife and threw it, letting it stick into a tree before he started forward after it. He stumbled directly into the girl's path. He looked over at them, looking startled, then smiled. "What are you ladies doing out here so early? That's dangerous, you know. I nearly skewered you."

Lori stared at him hard. "Ginny plan b." she kicked Cal as hard as she could in a very sensitive area. "Attack!"

Surprised, Cal had just enough time to dodge the kick. "What the hell?!" He didn't have to act fake the shock in his voice. He moved to the side when the younger princess came at him, then turned and ran for it. "Crazy women!"

Rosemary didn't hesitate to attack. She ran forward, swinging hard at Cal, but he managed to dodge it. She was surprised when he started to run. "Hey, get back here!"

Lori seized the knife and threw it as best she could. She turned to the stables and freed the horses. "HA!" she chased them out. She turned to her horse and struggled on not bothering to put her saddle on. "Come on." she held her sisters horses lead.

Cal dodged the knife- his knife!- and ran as fast as he could to dodge the stampeding horses. Of course, he wasn't going to give up that easily. As soon as he saw an opening, he grabbed a horse and started after the princesses again.

Rosemary jumped up onto her horse, took the reins and kicked hard. "Go!" She shouted as the horse shot off at a gallop. She spared a glance to make sure Lori was still with her. They couldn't get separated.

Lori scanned the forest finding dip she turned towards it. With the cover they hopped from the horse gave her a hug then sent her running. "Yours as well." she turned to her sister."Quickly."

Rosemary followed her sister's lead, jumping off the horse before it had even come to a complete stop. "Go on home." She told it, giving it a kiss and then sending it off. "Where now?" She asked Lori.

Cal lost sight of the girls briefly, then saw their horses running free. He jumped down from his horse and started looking around. He followed the hoofprints the horses left behind, this time being even more careful than before. He would track them, rather than following them directly.

"Up." Lori pouted to a tree and linked her fingers together. "We can either hide or attack from up there."

Rosemary nodded and, with Lori's help, climbed up into the tree. Once she was up, she reached down to pull Lori up after her. She waited for the man to show up, and tensed when she heard footsteps...but they stopped. Someone was there, but she couldn't see them. She nudged Lori. "He knows we're around." She mouthed the words so that she wouldn't be heard.

Cal came to a point where he could see where the horses tracks stopped, and paused. The girls could have gone on foot from there, but something seemed wrong. There weren't any more tracks after that, neither human nor animal. If they had run, there would be tracks. Instead of moving forward to where the tracks stopped, Cal moved backwards, quietly hiding himself in the bushes.

Lori glanced down and frowned deep in thought. She was trying to think of a plan. They needed a way out and a way to get rid of him. She let her eyes scan the ground trying to find him. They could out last him up in the tree for a few hours but they would need to come down eventually.

Down below, Cal was thinking along the same lines. He could outlast them, wait until they came down and then follow them, but in order to do that he'd have to make sure they didn't know he was there. That would mean he couldn't move, eat, or make any sound for hours. But, that was what it took to hunt, and he was a hunter by nature. Making his decision, he made some rustling sounds and started walking away- at least, that's what they would hear. The sound of retreating footsteps filled the woods and then faded, leaving silence.

Rosemary heard the footsteps and glanced at Lori. Had he really given up that easily? It didn't seem likely.

There was no way he had left. She judged the distance between the trees and where the rustling came from. "I have a dangerous idea." Lori whispered and stood carefully jumping for the other tree. She managed to get there and not make a sound.

Rosemary's eyes widened as she watched her sister jump to another tree. She held her breath until Lori was safe, then sighed silently in relief. Gritting her teeth, she took the jump next, managing to make it- but only just. She ended up hanging from a branch by one hand, and had to struggle to get herself up. The struggle, unfortunately, caused a rustling in the leaves.

Hearing rustling, Cal looked up. He thought he saw a flash of something, but couldn't tell for sure. It may have been just the wind. Or it may have been something else. He was willing to be it wasn't the wind. His eyes narrowed as he thought over his options. These girls were smart. As long as he was following them, they were going to try to outwit him. His only chance was to simply stop following them. Sighing, he stood up, making sure he was clearly visible, and walked back towards the village.

Lori cursed. "Damn it." she had had hoped to jump him. There was always a slight chance that she could still drop on top of him. "We'll have to cover are tracks and be extra careful."

Rosemary sighed in relief and nodded. "Right. I hope he's not good at tracking. Should we go now, or wait until we're sure he's gone?" She asked.

"Lets move now." Lori jumped to the next tree. "We could just stay up here." she chuckled then spotted there horses. "There such good babies." she smiled and climbed down hugging her horse. "If only we could take you with us and cover are tracks."

Rosemary followed her sister from tree to tree until they reached the horses. She hopped down and patted hers fondly. "I know...I learned to ride on this one. I'll miss him." She said. "But there's not much we can do. Covering horse tracks would take too long."

Lori sniffled and patted her horse. "So long baby girl." she headed away the horse tried to follow her but she shook her head. "Go home girl." she ordered. Her horse snorted looking confused then jumped away when she threw a rock. "GO!" Lori screeched with a whiny her horse raced away.

Rosemary didn't let herself cry- she had to be strong, for Lori- as she said goodbye to her horse. "Go on home, now. You'll be well taken care of." She told him. The stallion looked at her sadly, but snorted in acceptance and turned away, trotting after Lori's horse. Rosemary took deep breaths to keep from crying. She hugged her sister. "They'll be alright. Maybe someday we'll see them again."

"Yes they will be." Lori took a breath and started walking. "I hope your up for a long walk. I don't plan on stopping till we drop." she watched where she put her feet. The fewer tracks they left the better and maybe the horse tracks would lead them astray.

Alex stretched carefully wondering if his brother had caught up to the girls yet.

"I'll walk as long as I possibly can." Rosemary said, following after Lori. In order to further confuse anyone following them, she made sure to step in her sister's footprints, making it look like only one set of tracks instead of two.

Cal walked into the doctor's office, dreading telling his brother about the princess' ill-timed flight. "Alex." He said, walking over to him. "We've got a situation. Change of plans. We have to go right away."

"Um...about that. If you had forgotten I got kicked by a horse who bruised my insides." Alex raised his eyebrow at him. "Kind of hard to forget since I can't even get up."

Lori did her best to erase there tracks not sure which way to go she stopped at a trail that split into two. "I have no idea which way to go." she sighed.