Gilan woke up to a sudden kick in his leg.
"Get up," a familiar female voice commanded. He tried to place the voice."I said get up," the voice said again. Slowly, Gilan started to get up. "Don't even think about trying to get your weapons." From instinct, Gilan knew that this person, whoever she was, had a weapon. "Now turn around. Slowly." Before he turned around, he finally placed the voice. It was his apprentice, Carissa. She had an arrow pointed at him.
"Carissa? What's going o-". He got no further as the air was suddenly driven out of his lungs.
"Don't talk." He was aware that her voice was breaking. She was crying.
"Are you okay?" he tried again. She punched him in the jaw.
"I said shut up." Gilan decided that this had gone on for long enough. He feigned to punch right, then punched left. Carissa had expected that. She easily dodged it, and drove her fist into his nose. "Try something like that again and I'll- I'll put an arrow through your arm." Again, he was reminded of the fact that she was crying. "Now go out the door, and get on one of the horses out there. Not Blaze."
He walked outside, and saw two Genovian horses. He got up on one. Carissa got up on the second one. "You don't need to hold the reigns. They're trained to ride smoothly." Gilan realized this meant she could still point the bow at him while riding. "Follow the trail. Once we get to the fork, turn left. I'll ride behind you." They started off in a canter. After all, these horses weren't Ranger horses which could gallop and stay that way for hours without tiring.
They traveled some ways, and eventually Gilan couldn't stand it anymore. "Why are you doing this?"
"Shut up," came the reply. "If you talk again I'll put an arrow through your arm.
"I thought that was the punishment for trying to attack you."
"You have two arms." A little ways later, they reached a castle. "Get off," Carissa commanded. He slowly got off as did she.
Gilan suddenly lunged at Carissa, catching her off guard. He knocked her to the ground, sending the bow flying out of her grasp. He got it and severed the bowstring. Carissa regained her footing and pinned him down.
"I told you if you ever tried that again, I'd shoot you in the arm. But seeing as you've so kindly severed my bowstring, I suppose I'll just have to do this." And with that she punched him in the solar plexus. "Now come on, we're-we're going in." Again he was reminded of the fact that she was crying.
A little groggy, and confused he asked, "Going into where?"
"We're going into the moat." she said sarcastically. "The castle. That's where we're going."
"What is this place?"
"Since you're so curious, this is castle Balisk. The baron here is Baron Maltick. Now come on." She lead him into the castle, where the baron was waiting for them.
"Good job, Carissa. Very good job," the baron said.
"I did what you asked, now let us go," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"But that would defeat the purpose of all of this. These guards will escort you to the prison."
The guards led them up the winding stair case, and into their prison room.
They sat down on a stone bench. Gilan looked over at Carissa.
"Why did you do this?" Gilan asked.
"To save your life. And mine," Carissa replied.
"Maybe you better explain."
"Okay. But you can't interrupt me until the end," Carissa said. "This morning around four, I woke up to see five crossbows pointed at me. They gave me instructions as to what I was to do. They would kill you and me both if I didn't. They had five men trailing us. If I shot one of them, they'd shoot you and me at the same time. I'm sorry."
"Well why didn't you tell me when you first woke me up? We were in the house alone. We could have escaped through the back window. And why did you automatically believe what they said was true? And why-"
"Okay, okay, I get it. There are a lot of other things I could've done. But I didn't. It was under the heat of the moment, and I didn't know what to do except follow their orders. Will you please get off my case?!" Near the end she was almost shouting.
Gilan's face softened. "I didn't mean to belittle you. I'm sorry. I was just saying what you could do for future references. Will you forgive me?"
"If you'll forgive me for capturing you."
"Done. Now let's get out of this place. That baron was not very thorough with capturing people. I still have my sax knife in my pocket. He walked over to the windows and cut through the top of one of the bars. It made a scraping noise. He went to the bottom of the same bar and cut through. He repeated the same process with the other bars. "We'll scale down the castle walls. And there will be a ride waiting for us.'"
"But how?"
"Trust me."
Gilan went first, putting his hands on the rough stone sticking out. His feet found purchase on some rocks below him, and he slowly started to make his way down. Going down was always harder than going up. Carissa followed the same rocks he used and slowly went down. "What was that you said about a ride?" she asked once she had softly landed on the ground.
"Well I had the suspicion that we might need our horses later, so while you were dragging me out the door"-here Carissa snorted-"I whistled to both yours and mine horses. And with that he whistled, and out came Blaze and Carmel. "I can't believe you didn't notice."
"Maybe I did, and just decided not to say anything because I didn't really want to capture you." She swung herself up onto Carmel. And Gilan swung up onto Blaze. They set their horses into a gallop, and started back home. There was no sign of a third party following them. Once they got back home, they talked over what should be done about Baron Maltick. "Well we'll definitely need help. We should ask Will and Halt for help. I could write them a letter," suggested Carissa.
"Alright," agreed Gilan. "Ask them to help us find out who is the Ranger there, and why Baron Maltick wanted us captured. We'll need their help with going undercover to find out why he wanted us captured. We can go around town asking who the Ranger there is.
Carissa sent a letter saying the following:
Halt and Will,
Today we were captured by Baron Maltick of Balisk fief. We would like to figure out who is the Ranger there, and why the baron wanted us captured. We ask that you go undercover in the castle and figure out why he had us captured. We could ask around the fief and see who the Ranger there is. Please reply soon.
Sincerely,
Carissa and Gilan
That same day a message came with the following:
Gilan and Carissa,
We would be happy to help. We will travel over there as soon as possible, and be there by tomorrow afternoon.
Sincerely,
Will and Halt
"Well it's settled then," Gilan said. "We'll leave once they come. We should get ready for the trip."
The next day Halt and Will arrived. They greeted Gilan and Carissa, and then the small party of four left to travel to Balisk fief.
. . . . . . . . . .
Gilan and Carissa went into town. They put on plain green forester cloaks, instead of their mottled green and gray cloaks. People were often suspicious and afraid of Rangers. They entered a tavern, often the best place for information. Some people looked up when they walked in, but seeing as they held no interest, went back to whatever they had been doing. They walked up to the tavern keeper. "Me and my servant girl would like a place to sleep and something to eat." The day before they had already agreed on what the relationship between them would be. She was younger, and the best thing they could think of was her being a servant, much to Carissa's dismay.
"How many nights?" asked the tavern keeper.
"Three, at most." Gilan paid the tavern keeper and sat down at a table. A few minutes later, a girl brought out lamb stew and bread and coffee for the both of them. After a bit they overheard someone else's conversation.
"-too bad what happened to that Ranger, it is. It was a suspicious occasion. I think someone else had something to do with it. Maybe the baron."
"Aye," agreed the other, "But you mustn't go around tell'n people that. Someone's gonna tell the baron that you said that. Then you'll be dead."
The conversation from that point dropped down to whispers. "I wonder what that was all about," mused Gilan. "It sounds as if the Ranger disappeared or something."
"Maybe you should ask them what happened to the Ranger, or where he is. If they ask why you're asking, say you need his help, or have business to settle or something," suggested Carissa.
"Alright," agreed Gilan. And with that he strolled over to their table. "Excuse me gents," he began, "I couldn't help but overhear you say somethin' about the Ranger 'round here. I was wonderin' where he is."
"Why do you want to know?" questioned the first one.
"I need his help with something."
"Like what?" asked the second one suspiciously.
"Oh, there's this fox that's been eating all my animals, and I need his help."
"Well, look somewhere else. The Ranger here is dead. Besides, you're a forester. Shoot that fox yourself," said the second one.
"Wait a minute," began the first one, "I didn't think foresters had anim-"
He got no further. Gilan quickly punched him in the face, and he was knocked over. The second one clumsily lunged at Gilan, but Gilan stepped smoothly out of the way. Gilan caught the man's wrist and sent him flying against the wall, knocking him unconscious. The first man had recovered by now, and struck at Gilan. The blow never landed. Gilan blocked the punch, and kicked at the man's legs, knocking him from under his feet and knocking him unconscious as his head hit the floor. Everyone in the tavern had turned to look to see what was happening. Gilan looked at all of them.
"They owed me money and wouldn't pay," he said. That satisfied most of them, but a few looked reluctant to believe him.
Gilan walked back to the table where Carissa was waiting. "Well, what did he say?" she asked.
"The Ranger here is dead. And from what we overheard, they think the baron had something to do with it."
"So what do we do now?"
"We go to where the Ranger used to live, go through his belongings, and look for any clue as to why the baron wanted him killed."
"I wonder how he was explained to die."
"We should also figure that out," agreed Gilan.
. . . . . . . . . .
Halt and Will walked up to the castle. They had left their cloaks behind, and now looked like travelers.
"Who are you and what do you want?" asked one of the guards.
"We are travelers, and we wish to speak to your baron," said Halt.
The guards searched them for weapons, and let them in. As they walked in, a servant led them to where the baron was. They waited for quite some time before they were let in. "He wants to seem important," murmured Halt.
Finally they where let in. "What do you want?" asked the baron in a bored tone.
"We are travelers my lord," began Halt, "Wishing to speak to you about-"
"Get on with it," said the baron, "I do not have much time."
"We wish to speak to you alone, my lord."
"They do not have weapons?" he asked the guards. The guards shook their heads. "Very well. Everyone but these two leave."
Once everyone had left, Halt began again. "We would like to ask you why you did something."
"What is it?!" exclaimed the baron becoming quite annoyed.
Halt began to step closer to the baron as he spoke. Finally he was within arm's reach of him. "We would like to know why you've been kidnapping Rangers and holding them captive in your castle. As he began the sentence he pulled out his sax knife from his boot and held it to the baron's throat. "Don't call out for your guards, or I'll slit your throat. Now, answer my question."
The baron began to swallow, but then realized that such an action would drive the knife deeper. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you do. Gilan and Carissa. Remember them? Now stop fooling around and tell me why."
"I don't know anything about kidnapped Rangers, I don't know anyone named Gilan or Carissa."
"Stop playing around," Halt said angrily. He began to put more pressure on the knife, but not enough that it cut the skin.
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you. I was tired of being a baron. I wanted to have more power. I wanted to be king. So I decided to start kidnapping Rangers everywhere. Then I would threaten people they loved to do my bidding. They'd be a force so great, they'd be unstoppable. I'd overthrow King Duncan, and become king myself. Then I'd have all the Rangers executed so they couldn't overthrow me. It was a master plan."
"Except for the part where you let your first two escape because you didn't search them for a weapon," said Will sarcastically. It was the first time he'd spoken since they came in.
"I was wondering how they escaped," said the baron miserably. "I saw the cut bars, but I didn't know how."
"What about the Ranger here?" asked Will.
"I killed him. I knew he would be a threat, so I got rid of him."
"I think we better find Gilan and Carissa to tell them. As for you, Baron Maltick, you shall be arrested and tried before King Duncan." They snuck upstairs and knocked out the guards to the prison. They went inside, and scaled down the castle walls. For the baron, they threw him down. It wasn't too far a distance that he'd break some bones, but it would hurt. They tied the baron up and left him with their horses. Once they were in town, they asked around about Gilan and Carissa, describing them. A few people said that they had been in the tavern, and left after knocking two people unconscious. One person said she saw them going towards the Ranger's old cabin. They entered the cabin, and found Gilan and Carissa searching through the old ranger's stuff.
"Hello," said Halt. Gilan and Carissa jumped and looked relieved when they saw it was only Will
and Halt.
"We found out that the Ranger died, but we don't know how," said Carissa.
"Well, we found out that the Ranger died because the baron killed him. We got a full confession," said Will.
"Why was he kidnapping Rangers?" asked Gilan.
"We'll answer that on the way home. For now, lets go back to your cabin," said Halt.
The foursome left the deceased Ranger's cabin and went back to their horses. They put the baron on a pack horse, and went on their Ranger horses. They went at a gallop back to Gilan's cabin. Once inside, Gilan, Will, and Halt enjoyed some coffee while Carissa wrote a letter to King Duncan saying the following:
King Duncan,
We have captured a baron who kidnapped Gilan and I. He wanted to kidnap all the Rangers, then overthrow you. He also killed the Ranger in his fief. It is Baron Maltick. We will bring him to you shortly so he can be trialed and sentenced.
Sincerely,
Carissa and Gilan
After she had finished the letter, she joined the boys in sipping coffee. "Well if the baron was planning to capture and kill us all, it's just as well we stopped him," she said.
"Absolutely," agreed Halt, Will, and Gilan in unison.