Will set the steaming dish of beef stew on the table and sat down, helping himself to dinner. His fellow Rangers also dug in, and for a few minutes, conversation was forsaken for the demands of hunger.

However, after all three had taken the edge off, conversation resumed.

"So," Halt began conversationally. "What happened on the road that warranted running to get here an hour early?"

Gilan sighed. "Not really sure what to make of it. You wouldn't happen to know if any children or apprentices have gone missing around here, would you?"

Halt arched an eyebrow at Will, who did much of the scouting around the outlying farms. Will frowned thoughtfully. "Not that I've heard about- but it's been a couple of days since I made a complete circut. I assume this is relevant?"

Gilan nodded. "It could be. Because, well- I found a girl out in the forest today."

Halt raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I'm sure that's very unusual. Especially since you didn't bring her back with you."

Gilan shrugged. Will, concentrating on him, felt Ebony nudge him for scraps, and absentmindedly handed her a few peices of beef.

"I couldn't. She just- dissappeared."

Now it was Will's turn to be doubtful. "A dissappearing girl, huh?"

"Here, I'll tell you."

"That would be appreciated," Halt said, in a neutral tone of voice that somehow managed to contain several layers of sarcasm.

Gilan glared at his former mentor before beginning.

"Well, I was riding along the path, and everything was normal. I heard a flute- Blaze heard it too. And then, about five minutes after that, this girl fell out of a tree overhanging the road, right in front of me. I'm pretty sure she broke her arm when she fell- and I tried to help her. She told me her name was Aspen, and she looked terrified, so I tried to calm her down. But as soon as I told her I was a Ranger, she took off for the trees like I was a Wargel or something."

Will chuckled. "Well done, Gilan! Half the kingdom thinks we're evil sorcerers, what's one more?"

Gilan turned his glare from Halt to Will. "May I finish?"

"Sorry. Go ahead."

"Well, anyway, I tried to follow her to wherever she ran off to, and for a while her trail was as plain as day- but then it just vanished."

Will, who had just taken a drink, spewed water across the table in suprise. "What?!" he choked out in between coughs.

Gilan shook his head in equal puzzlement. "No, really. I couldn't find the trail- it was as well concealed as any of ours. And, what's more, she-" he glanced around, as if looking for eavsedroppers. "She had a set of our knives on her belt- and she was wearing the remnants of one of our cloaks."

Even Halt's eyebrows shot up in suprise at that.

"That's not exactly illegal-" Will started to say.

"But it's important. Something's not right here- and the Baron needs to hear about this." Halt said over him. Gilan shrugged. "Be my guest. You're the one who lives at the castle, after all."

Will groaned mock-theatrically. "Please tell me we're not having a search party at the break of dawn."

Gilan grinned. "You're getting soft, Will. You aren't up already by then? Shame on you."

Will sighed and applied himself to the rest of his stew.

The dawn was just starting to pink the horizon as Will finished saddling Tug. The little horse looked at him reproachfully.

"Don't blame me," Will said. "This one is all Halt and Gilan's fault. I had nothing to do with them mentioning this mystery girl to the Baron."

The little horse snorted in disgust. I just got breakfast. The little horse said plaintatively.

"Well, so did I, just like the rest of us, so don't complain." Will replied, slipping the bridle onto his horse's head. Outside, Gilan and Halt were finalizing preperations. The Baron had been concerned, and agreed to a search party- but he'd requested that the Rangers precede it, on the chance they'd find anything that could be useful to the party.

And the Rangers had agreed, meaning that today, they were up before dawn instead of at it. Will sighed and swung into the saddle. It was going to be a long day.

Aspen woke a little after sunup. The light filtering in through the cracks in the wall hit her in the eyes- and if that wasn't enough, she felt stiff, sore, and once again, her arm was screaming at her. Obviously, it had gotten cold last night.

Groaning, she pushed aside the blankets that covered her, and shivered in the cool air. She spared a smile for the dog that yawned beside the pallet, waking up with her.

Grateful for the furs that carpeted the cold wooden floor, Aspen went over to the fireplace to re-kindle the coals she had clumsily banked one-handed last night. Grabbing the ironwood poker, Aspen knelt by the hearth, shivering a little as the cold from the stones shot through the thin, worn material of her shift.

Quickly, with the ease of the practiced, she found a live coal, and with her tinder box, managed to get a small cooking fire going within several minutes. Using the poker, she levered herself up, wincing at the protest of her stiff joints and cold-sore muscles.

Aspen set the poker aside in its place, and slowly walked into the kitchen, Wolf trotting beside her, to begin preparing breakfast. Carefully, she measured a handful of oats into a copper pot, adding some water from the still half-full barrel, and a bit of salt to season the bland mixture. After making sure the ingredients were thoroughly blended, she set the pot onto the spit over the fire to cook.

A few minutes later, a blackened kettle filled with water and willowbark joined the pot of cooking porridge on the spit.

Breakfast preparations done with, Aspen vanished into the bedroom to dress for the day. Her normal attire was out of the question- she could hardly manage the lacings of her normal vest one-handed. Searching through her few clothes, she found what she was looking for.

The dress was loose-fitting, made of good quality lightweight wool. The skirt was small and skimmed the body, lessening the chances of it being caught on something, and came up to the more close-fitting bodice with a cleverly constructed waist that could be tightened or loosened through concealed ties. The fuller sleeves also fitted snugly at the wrist with similar ties at the cuffs.

Aspen managed to squirm into the dress after removing her shift, and stuff her broken arm down the sleeve with only a few pain surges. Under, she slipped on leggings and her boots. Dressing done, and ready to greet the day, she went out into the main room once more.

Breakfast was ready.

The sun shone through the forest as the three Rangers trotted along the path, carefully seeking the place where Gilan had first seen the girl. It was a pleasant morning, only slightly marred by their mission today.

Certain things about the plan in particular sat uneasily on Will. Apparently, last night, when Gilan and Halt had consulted with the Baron regarding the girl, a healer had also been brought in- to be on notice to evaluate the girl.

Wild children were not unheard of- children abandoned or lost for months in the forest before they were rescued- and when such children were found, many of them were in poor shape; many of them fought their rescuers out of terror.

And judging by Gilan's testimony this girl was likely such a child. So, in Halt's saddlebag, carefully padded, was a tiny glass vial of some drug the Healer had promised would knock the girl out long enough to get her to safety, if she inhaled it.

Will hated that idea. It smacked a little to much of the Genovisian's methods to him. But deasperate times-