The Forest of Der Ritter

Chapter One: Sneaking Out

"Get the marshmallows!" Gwyn barked as she and her sister rushed around the kitchen.

"Alright, I will!" Her sister snapped back. She let out a shaky sigh and said in a softer voice, "Gwyn…are you sure this is going to work?"

"Of course it is. We say we're going over to Greg's house, and then he says that he's coming over to ours. It's foolproof!" Gwyn explained as she stuffed a box of graham crackers into her bag.

"I get that…but would you like to explain to me why we're going out into the woods for the weekend?" Izzy retorted.

Gwyn sighed as she zipped up her overflowing bag, "I thought I already explained that to you, too. We're going camping. And that beats a regular sleepover any day! Now let's meet up with Greg, before it gets too dark out."

After they said goodbye to their parents and intentionally left their cellphones behind, they headed for the woods that were at the edge of the yard. Before they headed in, Gwyn looked around to check to see if anyone was looking. When she saw the coast was clear, they stepped into the woods.

"Wasn't Greg supposed to meet us here?" Izzy asked.

"Stop worrying! He'll be here-" Suddenly, there was the crack and snap of a tree branch, and someone crashed in front of them. The two of the jumped back and screamed. Their friend, Greg's laughter filled their ears, and he rolled around on the ground, picking up yellowed pine needles as he went.

"That wasn't funny, Greg!" Gwyn screamed, and kicked him in the back lightly with her boot.

When he regained composure, he chuckled one more time, and then stood.

"Did you bring the food?" He asked, picking off the pine needles as they went.

"Yeah." Gwyn paused, "Did you bring the flashlights?" Greg nodded.

"Mmm," His eyes suddenly lit up, "Oh! And I brought this!" He dug through his pocket, and brought out the video camera Gwyn and Izzy had bought for him for his birthday.

"A video camera? Why would we need a video camera?" Izzy asked as they went along through the woods.

Greg turned the camera on, "Because, this is my first time camping," He pointed it up towards the trees, "Who knows, we might see some cool animals."

The three of them walked for another five minutes or so, until they heard a branch snap behind them. They stopped dead in their tracks.

Greg waited a moment before whispering, "What was that?"

"Don't know…Might've just been an animal." Gwyn muttered.

Izzy whimpered, "What if it's mom or dad? What if they saw us going into the woods?"

"It isn't!" Gwyn hissed, "I checked to see if anyone was around before we went in-" More twigs snapped, and Gwyn fell silent again, "Who's there?" Gwyn bent down, scooped up a fairly good sized stone, and tossed it into the woods.

"What was that supposed to do?" Greg mumbled. He gasped when a face peeked out from around a pine tree, "Nathan? What are you doing out here?"

He stepped out of the cover of the tree, and he didn't look happy, "Following you. You're not very good at keeping your plans…secret."

Izzy laughed nervously, and began to speak a mile a minute, "What plans? You must be hearing things, Nate. We don't have any plans." Nathan nodded slowly.

"So…the camping trip you've been talking about all week at school isn't a secret plan?"

"You've been eavesdropping, Nathan." Gwyn said.

"It doesn't matter. Let me come with you, or I'll tell your parents." Nathan demanded.

"Man, whatever, Nathan!" Greg said, continuing through the woods.

"I'll tell your parents, too, Greg!" Nathan called. Greg froze again.

Gwyn sighed, "Fine. Come on, Nathan." She marched on, followed by Izzy.

Nathan stood there, dumbfounded, "Wait…really? You're letting me go with you?"

"Hmph…You really are deaf." Gwyn muttered. Nathan trudged carelessly through the woods after them, snapping even more twigs and trying to start a boring conversation about math class, which the other three weren't listening to.

Once it got dark out, they settled down for the night. The temperature had dropped, so Greg, Izzy, and Nathan huddled together while Gwyn tried to make a fire. After the fifth try or so, she managed to strike a match, light the kindle, and the fire started up.

She smiled, and a puff of steam poured out of her mouth, "Alright, we need to get some firewood." Gwyn looked back at the other three, who hadn't moved a muscle, "Come on, guys." They reluctantly got to their feet, and gathered the driest branches around their camp. In no time flat, they had a heaping pile of firewood.

"Dinner!" Greg said excitedly as he pulled out a pack of hotdogs out of his bag. They sat down in front of the fire, watching Greg hungrily as he roasted hotdogs over the fire. He handed one to each of them, and they wolfed them down.

"Mrf…I brought stuff for s'mores." Gwyn said in between bites of hotdog.

After they had all stuffed themselves, they settled into their sleeping bags they had set up around the fire, and did their best to sleep…