WARNING: SPOILERS FOR BOOK 12 OF THE RANGER'S APPRENTICE SERIES. CONTINUE UPON YOUR OWN PERIL.

Hey everyone! I'm REALLY sorry it's taken me so long to update...it's been how long...? Three months? Four? I had a good case of writers block for a while and got sidetracked a little. Ok, sidetracked a lot. But I told you not to hold me to it. Yeah...so once again, sorry!

This chapter's all about Alyss and her brief stay at the Wyvern Inn. What she did there and what happened before Jory Ruhl came by and trashed the place. Enjoy!

Hm...I wonder if you've noticed or not, but I'm not John Flanagan. The Ranger's Apprentice belongs to him, not me.

The Wyvern Inn was a big, warm, comfy looking place. It was both an Inn and a tavern, with two massive floors that could contain over 50 people with room to spare. It was an old building with dry but sturdy wood holding it up. It had dirt beaten vines that grew up around its sides so that it looked almost as if it had risen from the ground. The dusty building had seen many people in its time, from strangers to locals to people who come in every now and then for a nice drink. The Wyvern Inn had survived many decades of keeping both men and women entertained, and now the structure stood proudly with all it's years of service. Nobody would have ever guessed that that day would be the last they would ever see of it.

Alyss and her guards barely made it through the front door before the rain started to come down. They had left their horses tethered outside in the stalls and she'd made sure that they had plenty to eat before she came inside. Alyss stood there for several seconds shaking off the few drop of water that had managed to land on her. She looked around and studied her surroundings carefully. There were men and woman laughing and drinking away the night, enjoying nice cool tankards of ale. It was the time of night where all the children were sent off to bed and the only ones left were the adults with a little extra money left over.

Alyss told her guards to mill about while she asked for a place to stay for the night. She approached the inn keeper who was standing behind the bar chatting to a nearby man. She looked about forty years old with deep tan a friendly face. She noticed Alyss standing there and quickly finished her conversation before turning to Alyss. "Anything I can help you with?" she asked.

Alyss nodded. "Yes. I was wondering if you happened to have a place for me and my group to stay for the night," she said motioning to her guards.

The lady studied them closely. "Soldiers, are they? And what would that make you? Daughter of a noble?"

Alyss shook her head. "I'm just a courier on a routinely trip." She decided not to mention that she was also the wife of the famous Will Treaty, one of the most well known heroes in all of Araluen. Courier Alyss suited her just fine.

"Alright," the inn keeper said, clearly satisfied. "I'll set you and your soldiers up with a night at the inn. 'Long as the lot of you don't go around causing trouble you'll be just fine." Alyss smiled back in thanks. The inn keeper looked over the group once more before turning back to Alyss. "There seems to be four of you, so I guess you'll be needing two rooms; a large room can keep all three of them and you can have a small one for yourself. They'll cost you five Royals. Diner's included. Unless you'd want just two medium rooms if one of these soldiers were..."

Alyss quickly shook her head. "No, no, it's nothing like that! They're just my guards! I have a husband, but he's not here with me. Two rooms will be perfect."

The inn keeper shrugged and put out her had. Alyss dug around in her bag and then deposited the five Royals into her hand. The lady reached down and pulled out a couple of keys from her desk. She handed both over to Alyss and said, "Very well. The rooms are on the top floor two doors down from the window." She looked past her at the door as another person walked through the door. "I suggest you enjoy the night down here though, it seems like the entertainment has arrived," she said, turning around to get back to work.

Alyss looked behind her shoulder to see what the inn keeper had been talking about. A man wearing colourful patterns and traveling clothes had just walked into the inn. He was holding the case of a musical instrument. Alyss smiled: It was jongleur. A jongleur was just what she needed to lift her spirit when she was away from home. They've always reminded her of Will and all the times that he had to pretend to be one, playing his lute. Or whatever it was called. She never really paid close attention to the name.

She hurried over to her men and told them the arrangement. Each of them grabbed their room key and hurried upstairs to freshen up before the show started. Alyss followed them and entered her own room. It was a decent sized room for one person and contained a bed, a small bedside table, and an area to store possessions. There was also an adjacent room connected to the main one that held the bathroom. She quickly entered it to wash off the grim and dirt from her travels.

Alyss was on her way down the stairs when she noticed how quite the main floor was. Immediately, alarm bells went off in her head. Taverns were never this quite, there would always be noise, laughter, and chatter no matter what the circumstances were.

From where she was standing, she couldn't see anything in the room, and could only guess at what was happening. She went though the possibilities. It probably wasn't empty; it was too early for everyone to have gone home for the night and there would always be a few stragglers left anyway. If a fight had broken out, there should be yelling and arguing along with people exchanging bets on who would win. If someone had broken in, people would be whispering and comforting each other, and most likely the intruders would be yelling and threatening them to shut up. There would also be people, like her guards, who would try to challenge the criminals.

Unless they were already taken care of, Alyss thought suddenly. She shook her head angrily. She was getting ahead of herself. There's probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for the silence, I shouldn't jump to conclusions, the diplomat in her argued. But she still felt herself tense up as she softly tiptoed her way down the last few steps of the stairs. She winced at the slightest noise she made and wished that she had Will's ranger skills. Or better yet, that Will was here with her. Alyss held her breath as she slowly craned her neck to look around the corner...and was completely surprised by what she saw.

And that's where I'm going to end off chapter 2. Sorry! I'm not sure if this is as much of a cliff hanger as I wanted it to be, but I tried my best. I'm really curious to know what you think that Alyss saw down there. Keep reading to find out!

Once again, I'm really sorry it's taken me so much time to update, but I'm still going to refrain from promising anything. I will try to update as soon as possible though.

I really hope you've enjoyed this story so far and I'd really appreciate any reviews, suggestions or ideas.

'Later everyone!