Sarris smiled and looked at the map. The words moved around but it gave her an idea of where they were going.
“I am use to being in trouble with guards,” she said then blushed.
“I use to climb the walls and escape into the market and visit the port,” she clarified.

She followed along with the men looking for land marks and plants that she might know. She wished Ulrich was her, he knew a lot more plants.

Squirrels ran and played chasing each other up trees. Birds cawed and flew around. A fox ran across their path with a rabbit in it’s mouth.

Edward strides forward through the thick foliage with caution. Howls ring out in the distance as Edward looks around for some landmarks that he is familiar with. He motions for the others to stay low and walk silently.

After a while, the group comes across a group of tall and thick oak trees that have yellow leaves and patches of blue bark upon it. Edward recognizes this as a group of Screeching Oak Trees. He whispers to Beist, “These are Screeching Oak, their blue bark are great for staunching blood and making healing potions. I also heard that their leaves can emit large amount of smoke when lit on fire.”

Sarris reached up and plucked some leaves, she liked things that made smoke.
“Why do they call it a Screaming Oak?” She asked in a whisper.
She wanted to collect the Acorns and try to grow some back home.

Beist saw Sarris plucking some of the lower leaves and reached up a hand to pluck some leaves as well, adding them to a leather pouch on his belt. "How fascinating. I wonder why the volume of smoke from the leaves of this plant is so much higher than the leaves of other plants? Impurities in the leaves, perhaps? They seem to have small spots on them" he noted as he held one of the leaves close to his face to take a closer look at it. "I will have to study them further" he added as he placed the leaf in his pouch.

He turned to the trunk of the tree and approached it with a little caution. "Yes, why are they called Screeching Oak? Do they make noise when touched? The leaves didn't seem to react, but perhaps the bark..." he looked at Edward, an eyebrow raised. "I would like a sample, but if it will attract the attention of any nearby beasts, perhaps we should be ready to leave quickly afterward, unless that's not the reason for the name..."

He reached a hand toward the bark and grabbed a section that seemed a bit loos. As he pulled it off, the sound of the bark peeling from the tree made a faint sound like a screech. "Ah, well that's not nearly as bad as I was expecting" Beist said with a pleased smile before adding the chunk of bark to his bag. "And what about these blue acorns? You didn't mention they have any uses, but perhaps..." he said as he reached up and grabbed one of them. Suddenly, a loud screeching noise started to emit from the tree.

Edward looks around carefully and tries to hear for movement from any other creatures besides their group. He hears the howls and snarls of beasts in the distance in the north. He also can see in the distance shapes that pause in their tracks in the east. He looks at the group and says, “We might need to go, my friends. Maybe to another area. It seems like we attracted unwanted attention. Well, we could quickly take some more bark and acorns if you want in the meantime. It’s not like we’re trying to be stealthy anymore.” 

Sarris took a little bit of the bark and leaves and put them in the pages of a book and wrote in Elvish what they had said. She picked up a handful of acorns and put them in the bag to try and grow back home.

“Sir Edward, your guards are not Treants are they?” Sarris asked watching tow large oak trees moving towards them one from the north and the other from the west. Squirrels, foxes, deer, and even the bears were running away.

She looked at the two of them with a little shock and horror.

Beist quickly added a few handfuls of the acorns and leaves to his bag before turning to his companions.

"I believe leaving now would be wise!" he shouted over the screeching noise.

At Sarris's question he turned to see the approaching trees. Oh, this is bad. But also, Treant bark, leaves, and branches were valuable potion ingredients and crafting materials. It was very tempting to stay and try to acquire some, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Especially with the screeching sound possibly attracting other dangerous creatures to their location. No, they should definitely leave while they can.

"Let's go, before anything else arrives!" he shouted to his companions as he started moving to the Southeast, away from the two towering Treants. He glanced behind to make sure they were following behind, not wanting to run off into these woods without them.

Edward runs forward, passing Beist, and waves at the group to follow him. He knows several secluded clearings that can help hide them for the moment. A loud howl sounds right behind them and he turns around to see a large black fur coated wolf with red eyes just right behind Sarris. Edward forms a glyph of light in the palm of his hand and throws it at the wolf. It forms into a small dagger of radiant energy that grows to the size of a small spear when it pierces the side of the wolf. When he looks straight forward to find a path to a specific clearing, a huge branch slams down on the ground before him. Edward pivots and runs to the right and yells, “Just keep following me. It’ll be fine.”

Sarris watched the light fly past her and heard the howl of pain and rage. This was motivation to run harder.

“Your kingdom is a strange place,” she panted as she ran.
Strange did not mean bad, it was unique.

Sarris had no desire to fight a wolf or trees.

Edward runs faster and faster, yelling at the group to follow. He takes a right path that has several red bark trees with flaming leaves, He motions at the group to stay low as the red leaves burns the large humanoid tree entity, preventing it entry into the Burning Grove. The wolf is still chasing, although it is clearly injured and can’t run as fast as it was a few moments ago. Edward sees a marking and removes a camouflage tarp that was hiding a trap door. He pulls it open and motions at the others to follow.

Following behind the others, Beist flees into the burning grove, banding low to avoid the flaming trees. He wonders again if this might be a good opportunity to acquire some Treant materials, but the snarling of the wolf behind him reminds him that it is certainly not. The group stops as Edward uncovers and opens a trap door in the ground.

After the other two had entered, Beist enters the trap door opened by Edward and descends down a ladder into the dark. He is a bit hesitant at first, but decides to trust his guide. It also seemed like a better idea than fighting the wolf and treants if they found a way past the flaming trees.

"Do either of you happen to have any kind of light source? It's rather difficult to see in the dark." he says as he closes the door above him before the wolf can reach them.

“I will give us light when we get away from the wolf,” she said as she climbed down the ladder.
She prayed no one tried to touch her as she reached the bottom rungs. She hated dark confined spaces.
“Creo Luminum,” she said making the handle of the dagger glow.

The handle gave off a glow that gave them some light to see by. She also held the knife to throw if something tried to attack.

Sarris’ breathing was quick from running and being shut in.

Edward leads the group down into a large underground room filled with supplies of food and weapons. “Well, this is one of the safe places my family has all over the forest. We use this to hide from monsters, restock on supplies, and just recuperate. I believe we are safe here at the moment. We can wait here for an hour or so until the wolf would leave. But I’m sorry for getting all of you into this mess.”

Beist looked around the room with the help of Sarris's light. He found shelves filled with boxes. He opened one to find it filled with salted meat. It seemed they filled this place with preserved foods that could stay down here for some time. He also found some water and some bandages and medicine. He took a seat on top of a crate with a sigh and looked at the others.

"Well, as long as we're stuck down here, we might as well rest and relax. I'd like to hear more about your home and why you're on the run. Or, I could talk about my studies. I can always talk about plants and animals. Do you know that tomatoes are actually a vine? People tend to grow them with supports so they resemble a bush, but they're actually supposed to fall over onto the ground. Those little white hairs all along the stem can tell when they're touching soil and will start to grow into more roots, letting the plant have access to more nutrients and water in the soil. Those hairs are also why when transplanting a tomato plant from a container to the ground, you should pick off some of the lower branches and bury part of the stem, so the roots are deeper and the plant can establish itself better."

Beist continued rambling on about the fascinating world of tomato plants and gardening tips until he was interrupted by someone.

Sarris found a cleanish place to sit on the floor.

Sarris listened to the lecture on tomato plants, thinking she might need to try to grow some or if beast was pulling her leg.

When he paused, Sarris jumped in.
“I would like to know what happened in this forest to make this such a unique place,” she said with some interest.
“I had never heard a tree scream, I had seen Treants in the land of the Fea,” she added.

She hoped that someone would light a lantern that produced more light and required less concentration.