Outside Misthalin: Chase

Jen got back to the cart with a full waterskin. Eric glanced at Chris, then faced foward. The cart began moving. Eric was right; Jen's story seemed unusual, but he just couldn't think of a reason for her to lie to them.
While he was thinking, Jen spoke up. "Eric, get these horses moving. Fast."
"What? Wh-" Eric turned around, looking just over Chris's shoulder. He swung back around and shouted. "Hold on!"
The cart quickly picked up speed. Chris nearly fell backwards. He gained his balance and turned around. The guards from Misthalin were chasing after them, and gaining fast.
The guards' horses looked much stronger than the two pulling the cart. Chris looked ahead. They seemed to be coming out of the forest. The trees were quickly thinning. It seemed they might be able to keep out of the guards' reach. But the feeling quickly faded. The cart's left wheel hit a large rock, knocking the cart off course. Chris was knocked off balance and nearly fell off the cart. The horses whinnied and slowed to stop. Three guards surrounded them.

Outside Misthalin: Suspicion

It was a little after noon when they stopped again. Eric turned around from the front of the cart. "There's a stream nearby. Here, Jen. Fill this up." Eric handed her what looked like a bag. Jen nodded and went off into the forest.
When she was out of sight, Eric turned to Chris. "I don't trust her," he said, quite bluntly.
Chris was (as usual) confused. "What? Why not? She seems nice enough."
Eric shook his head. "Something's not right. Remember how she said she had been here fifteen years?" Chris nodded. "Back in town, she was going crazy wondering what was going on. Why would she just now be wondering about everything fifteen years after it happened to her?"
Eric looked toward the forest. It wasn't like Eric to be distrustful. But he was right. Something was definately off about her story.

Outside Misthalin: morning

Chris woke up early the next morning. It was chilly, and he was hungry. He looked over to where Jen and Eric had slept last night. They were already out of bed. He turned around and saw the fire going. They were cooking breakfast, it looked like.
"Morning, Chris. Hungry?" Chris nodded. Last night's dinner was less than filling. "Roll up the beds and we'll take care off this."
After he had gotten the beds rolled back up, he sat down on the edge of the cart. Jen handed him a bowl of something the resembled oatmeal. He picked up a spoon and tasted it. It had a consistency of wet cardboard, and a taste to match. But he was still hungry, and downed the bowl pretty quickly.
After a quick check make sure they had everything, they got back on the road.

Outside Misthalin

About half an hour out of town, the group stopped by the side of the road.
"Might as well set up camp for the night," Eric said. He grabbed the bedrolls out of the cart and set them up on the ground. "I'll go grab some firewood."
Chris decided he'd clear out some space for a fire. He swept away some brush with his foot. Eric got back soon after with some wood. He put it down in the spot Chris had cleared. "Hey Jen, can you start the fire?"
"No problem," she said.
Chris turned to Eric. "Anything you need me to do?" he asked.
"No, once we get the fire going, we'll be done for the night."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jen already had the fire going. "Wow, that was pretty fast," Chris said.
"Yeah, I'm pretty good at starting fires."
It was a pretty cold night. Chris just hoped he'd be asleep before the fire went out. It was an odd feeling; this was only his second night. Nothing had become routine yet. He figured he had a better chance of finding a way home with this many people. Things were definately looking up.