Herro, new chapter! I... have nothing to report. I think that's good? Anyway.

Reviews!

hopeweaver19: haha, I can't believe I'm keeping this unclear so well...

AreiaCananaid: thanks! I'm not the greatest at writing action, so that makes me feel better about that, actually. XD

Disclaimer: I am not John Flanagan.

9

They were greeted warmly by Erak when they got up to the Great Hall. Even if he and the rest of the Skandians didn't make a regular practice of riding, the Oberjarl had at least had stables built, for when he had guests who did. It came in very handy, having five horses in total, two of which who couldn't be trusted to stay where they were for hours on end without some form of restriction. They went back inside the Great Hall, where Erak briefed them on the events up until that point. Evelynn was aware that the Oberjarl was very worried about Fenn's group, and Evelynn was further regretting even talking to him, even though it had been months prior. Maddie's words of comfort rang in her head, but did little to relieve her anxiety.

They spent the night in a guest hut, Will rigging up a series of sheets to provide the female members of the party with some more privacy. The next morning, Will and Maddie were going to investigate Fenn's latest known location. Since Evelynn should still continue to practice and train on this trip, Maddie was bringing her along, though she didn't think that it would take more than two or three days, tops. Based on his normal pattern, Fenn would likely be long gone by the time the trio of Rangers arrived.

Evelynn still slept fitfully. She felt very strongly that they really, really shouldn't be chasing after Fenn. Maybe it was just because this was her first actual mission, but Evelynn was wracked with unease about the coming days. Despite Maddie's confidence, Evelynn doubted that it would really take only two o r three days. Of course, that could just be her, but she had no solid way to know this. As Evelynn lay awake, worrying, she didn't notice when she finally drifted off into uneasy sleep.

The next morning came quickly, and with it, a new wave of anxiety for Evelynn. She watched as Will and Maddie stowed the few things they were likely to need in the way of food, water, and medical kits in their horse's saddlebags, before the three of them set out. Evelynn found herself continuously looking back towards they way they came as they traveled, none of the words Maddie spoke to her truly reaching her ears. Maddie seemed confident, the exact opposite of Evelynn's current state. Every possible worst-case scenario was flying rapidly through her head, trying to plan for every single fault in the older Rangers' judgements.

"Hey, wanna hear a story to pass the time," Will asked, seeing Evelynn's nervous state. The poor girl was jumping at every single noise she heard.

"Uh… sure," Evelynn said, curious as to where this was going.

"It's about Maddie."

Now Will clearly saw the change in the young girl's mental focus. Maddie glanced over at him, shooting him a brief glare before continuing to scan the surrounding land. Never could be too careful, and despite Evelynn's worries, the elder Rangers were taking plenty of precautions to lower the chance of something going terribly wrong.

"Well, Maddie wasn't always how she is now," Will began. Maddie snorted. She used to be far from her current state of calm and alertness. She knew exactly where her former mentor was going with this.

"What do you mean?" Evelynn asked.

"Maddie, technically, was a princess."

Evelynn's jaw dropped, and Will knew he had achieved his goal in that regard.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She also was rather fold of sneaking out of the castle at night to hunt small animals, from what Evanlyn and Horace tell me."

Maddie smiled faintly at the memory. Oh, how different her life would have been if she had just obeyed her parents all the time. And how boring, she added.

"Then, her parents caught her, but it wasn't the first time she had been doing this, they knew. And I was being a very, very isolated man at the time," Will continued, his gaze going somewhat distant, before snapping back to the present. "So, she was apprenticed to me."

"I brought a maid," Maddie threw in, shaking her head at her younger self's strange needs.

"Why?"

"I thought it would be a few weeks with my Uncle Will, then I'd go back to the castle, and I'd get to run around in the woods and we'd have fun." Seeing Evelynn's shocked look, she added, "it's true. I had strange ideas of what a Ranger's apprentice did at the time."

"You told me they do housework," Evelynn said. Will snorted.

"Pulled a Halt on her, did you?"

"Hey, so did you."

They bickered about how close their personal mentorship tactics fell to Halt's, and Evelynn just watched them in strange, strange lack of understanding. Eventually, Will returned his focus to his story.

"Soon enough, Maddie and I ended up investigating a Ranger's death in another fief. That turned into… something much more complicated," Will recalled, remembering the mission in question. Maddie snorted.

"'More complicated' makes it sound much simpler than it was," Maddie commented. "If I recall, it was all Ruh's fault that it became 'more complicated'."

Evelynn cast a questioning glance to Maddie. Who was this Ruhl character?

She didn't get a chance to ask, since a loud rustling to the side pulled all of their attention away from the story of Maddie's apprenticeship. Will and Maddie continued to talk, but without detail. Clearly, they weren't very focused on their conversation, as Evelynn noticed both sets of eyes scanning the sides of the road. Something had moved, and they weren't taking any chances with their safety. Will motioned quickly for them to get down, and though Evelynn didn't see the cause of the alarm, she did so without hesitation. An instant later, a crossbow bolt went whistling over their heads, embedding itself at a tree on the other side of them - right where Will's head had been a moment before. Will dismounted quickly and silently, but Tug's print's didn't change.

"You two keep going - I'm going to trail our apparent assassin in the trees and surprise him," Will whispered to them, and Maddie nodded, and Will disappeared into the trees on either side of them. Maddie glanced nervously at both sides now, both hoping that she could spot their assassin and shoot him and hoping that he didn't appear again.

They were quite lucky, as Will came back half an hour later, pulling an apparently unconscious Skandian behind him.

"Didn't know Yuman was training crossbowmen," he said. "Though, I have to be happy he didn't start hiring Genovesans. That would be a disaster unto itself." Will seemed to grimace, remembering some long-ago event that had given him his hatred of the people. "Anyway, we should probably make camp," Will was saying as he pulled rope out of his bag and quickly bound the unconscious Skandian's ankles. "At least, if we're still thinking of continuing on to Yuman's last known location."

Maddie shook her head. "Erak's going to want to know about this. Not to mention my parents," she said. Will thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah. Skandia's making all three of us rather nervous."

Evelynn desperately wanted to know this story, but got the feeling it wasn't going to happen too soon.

"Where'd his crossbow go?" Maddie asked.

"I took it." Will pulled aside his cloak to reveal the confiscated weapon. "Apparently, he thought he'd only need the one bolt… at the very least, I couldn't find any others."

"He'd be quite the fool not to travel with at least one knife," Maddie commented.

"Yeah, he tried to use it on me. I took that as well. He seemed to only have the one. Yuman seems to be wanting his assassins to travel light."

They made it back to Hallasholm before night fell, and left the captured Skandian assassin with a very stressed Oberjarl before turning in for the night.

This wouldn't be the last attempt, Evelynn felt. Fenn had failed twice to get Will out of the picture, and now, it was merely going to make him angrier. Hopefully, the captured Skandian would offer some information about the rebel leader's plans.

I like this one.

Last week before... Evelynn's backstory is revealed... I'm very excited... and if you have any last guesses, throw them at me. I'm curious.