The next morning shined bright and Romulus groaned as a beam of light hit his face. He turned over and opened his eyes slowly. The fire that Wendell had started last night was now just dying embers and Romulus sighed. He sat up quietly and glanced around the camp. Surprise filtered on his face once more when he caught sight of the Troll sitting against a tree sharpening her sword with a stone. They were the only ones in the campsite and Romulus bit his lip. The woman glanced up and she smiled. "Hello, little Wolf. Have a good sleep?"

"Um…yes, ma'am, I did. Did you sleep?" The Troll smirked and stood from her spot. Beside him, Mer growled softly. The noise caused the Troll to glance down and her smirk widened.

"Pretty little puppy you have there, little Wolf. Mind if I nimble on her a bit?" Romulus leapt to his feet, Mer gathered safely in his arms, and backed up quickly. He smacked into a solid form and he turned his head to see Wendell staring down at him. The man had a hard frown on his face and his eyes lifted to meet the Troll's.

"Blabberwort, please refrain from scaring Romulus. He has no idea if you are being sarcastic or not." Blabberwort snorted and took her seat once more.

"Not my fault if little Wolf is too thickheaded to know joke from reality. Where did you pick him up from, Princey?" Wendell rolled his eyes and groaned at the nickname.

"Little Lamb Village. The villagers wanted to murder him for being a Wolf. Obviously, I could not watch it. Do you know who he is, Blabberwort?" The Troll Queen snorted and shook her head.

"Course I do. He's the Witch's little boy. Her and that Wolf. I'm not stupid, Wendell."

"I wasn't saying you were, Blabberwort. I just wanted to see if you knew or not." Blabberwort rolled her eyes and went back to sharpening her sword. Wendell moved over to where three horses were tied. Romulus bit his lip and placed Mer down. The little puppy yipped up at him and wagged her tail. Blabberwort glanced up and watched the longhaired Wolf, who seemed a bit lost. His eyes never left Wendell as the King began to saddle up the horses. The small, black pup at his feet was gazing up at her master in adoration and yet the Wolf was ignoring her.

"Hey, Pup!" Romulus glanced over at her and she beckoned him closer. "Your little minion there is hungry. Feed her." Blabberwort tossed him some jerky and he caught them. He nibbled at his bottom lip, his eyes never leaving her, and he seated himself. Mer bounced over to him happily and he gazed down at her.

"Eat up, girl. I wonder what the others are doing?" Mer huffed and Romulus smiled softly. He tore a piece of the jerky and fed it to her. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't see the knife come hurtling toward him until a hand appeared in the line of his vision and catching it before it hit its mark.

"Blabberwort!" The Troll Queen shrugged her shoulders and stood.

"Little Wolf should be prepared for anything that comes at him, Wendell. He'll be useless unless we teach him something about protecting himself." Romulus glanced up at Wendell and then down to the knife in his hand. The design was crude and somewhat barbaric. The hilt was made of wood and the blade a shiny looking metal. Romulus frowned as the two royals continued to speak and he stood slowly to his feet.

"I agree that he needs training, but throwing a knife at him is not going to teach him anything." Blabberwort sneered.

"If anything it would teach him to not space out when there are two armed warriors in the same space." Wendell glared at her and turned to Romulus. The young Wolf was staring silently up at him.

"Blabberwort can be a bit insane, so I want you to keep your guard up. Can you do that, Romulus?" Romulus nodded and began to nibble at his bottom lip. Wendell arched an eyebrow and smoothed his hand over the Wolf's lip to stop him. "Don't chew on your lip. You'll eat it off, eventually." Romulus blushed and did as asked.

"Are you done molesting little Wolf, Wendell?" Wendell frowned at the Troll before he moved back to the horses.

"Romulus, do you know how to ride?" Romulus shook his head.

"There aren't many places to ride horses in New York and the places that do have them are very expensive. My siblings would know, though. They enjoy horses."

"And you?" Wendell watched the little Wolf carefully.

"I went to the library during my free time. I enjoy books rather than horses. It made my parents worry sometimes, but Remus could always get them to stop and let me go do what I wanted." Wendell nodded before pointing to a small brown mare.

"You'll be riding her. Come here." Romulus moved over to him and watched silently as Wendell explained how to get on and off. "Understand?"

"Yes, sir." Wendell nodded and left Romulus to mount up. The Wolf stared at the mare in silence before moving cautiously to her side. The mare's doe brown eyes never left his even as he broke eye contact with her to settle himself on the saddle. Once situated he glanced to his left where Blabberwort was hard pressed not to laugh at the sight she was watching. A blush worked its way up his neck and along his cheeks. He peered over at Wendell, but the king was mounting his own steed.

"Are you ready, Romulus? This is going to be a long ride."