Ack! I'm sorry I missed a week! I'm just gonna say... health class. I know that's no good excuse, but... it's really the reason... anyway. I'm excited for this chapter. *rubs hands together, grinning* This is where things start to get serious... I had so much fun writing this one, I'm gonna let you know. However, since I'm an evil, plotting fanfiction author, I'll hold off the revelations... by answering reviews first!
AreiaCananaid: Oh, there's more comin'... much, much more emotional turmoil...
Disclaimer: I'm not John Flanagan... still in school over here...
Alrighty!
10
Will had left early the following morning, intending to find Yuman on his own. At least, to some degree. Without the distraction of Maddie and Evelynn, hopefully, he would be able to stay more alert. Also, alone, he had a better chance of drawing out any of Yuman's men who he had sent out after Will, If he could do that, he could probably track them back to Yuman's current hiding spot once they thought they had failed in killing him once more. However, he rode the whole day without a single attempt on his life by Yuman's men, which puzzled him. If their goal was to kill him to break the alliance between Skandia and Araluen, why hadn't they tried by now?
Will puzzled over this change in attitude for the rest of the day. Maybe they had only changed their tactics? Will had a bad feeling about this change of events. His instincts were telling him to go back, tell his group about this change of approach. Usually, he listened to his instincts. As he started to turn back, however, he almost didn't see the smooth, round stone sailing towards his head until it was just a couple meters from his face.
He quickly fell against Tug's neck, and the rock went over them, thudding on the road behind them, too close for comfort. Will pulled out his bow quickly, scanning for the unknown attacker. He heard the grass and leaves on either side of them rustling, so Will quickly amended his statement to be attackers before leaping up into the trees after sending Tug back the way they had come. It was much harder to see in the dim light leading up to nightfall, and he almost missed the black-clad figure running quietly after Tug as the little horse retreated. Will's eyes narrowed, wondering how on earth the relatively small figure had chucked the rock at his head without making enough noise to alert him to their presence.
Equally quietly, Will followed the figure, matching his footfalls to theirs. This lasted until the sun had fallen completely under the horizon, and the remaining shreds of daylight had left the sky. The figure seemed to be gone by now, so Will caught up to his horse and the two of them headed back to Hallasholm.
Meanwhile, the figure watched silently from the trees above until they were sure that Will was gone before dashing silently after them.
Evelynn wanted to run from the figure in front of her, to run as far as her legs would take her from them, but her legs wouldn't move. Though she could only see the silhouette, she knew exactly who it was. After all, that man had tormented her for years.
She had successfully gotten away from the ruin of her family, though their dead bodies didn't clear from her mind. She was more than a little troubled by the sudden change in her life, and she had know clue who could possibly have been behind the attack on her village. Only she and a few others had survived, and Evelynn knew that the sea raiders would be on her tail in no time. She had survived their attack, and they had already rounded up anyone else who had. She wiped her eyes as she darted towards the path leading to the Araluen mainland, from the island that Seacliff was on. No one had expected the attack, and certainly, they hadn't forseen the possibility of such a raid.
She glanced down the cliff for a moment too long, hoping beyond hope that the ship the raiders had come on would be long gone by then. She didn't, but then had quickly felt the rattling pain as the rock had slammed into the back of her head, knocking her unconscious, her small form stumbling forwards. It wasn't a very big rock, mind you - the man who had thrown it was still aware of her young age. Oh, well, not much he could do about it.
As soon as they had landed in the freezing cold terrain across the ocean, Evelynn had found a way to escape her captors. She had run as far as she could into the woods, hoping beyond hope that they wouldn't notice she was missing until she had been long gone. She had merely been thinking of her personal survival - nothing more. It hadn't occurred to her how her small, three-year-old body could possibly survive the freezing cold of the northern winters.
It hadn't been more than a week before she had been found. It hadn't been hard, either - the man had simply been hunting, as it was the season for such sport. He had run across Evelynn's cold form one day, and had taken her unconscious body into his home. She was treated well, until she was about nine. Then, the man started forcing her to work, to exert more energy in the cold winters than should have been necessary. Even summers were devastatingly cold, and Evelynn wasn't sure how she would survive. The northern land had become her prison now, and she wasn't sure how she'd escape the cold, the beatings.
Then her chances were slimmed even farther.
Because the warmweed started.
Evelynn jolted awake, panting heavily. This woke Maddie up, who was trained to be a fairly light sleeper in the case of danger. Evanlyn and Horace stayed fast asleep, while Will was nowhere to be seen.
"What's wrong?" Maddie asked, rushing over to her young apprentice's side. Evelynn just shook her head. She had figured out where her unease about Skandia had come from. Although the country itself had gotten rid of the use of warmweed in slavery, Fenn Yuman's group was forming up then, and quickly. They disregarded the rules of the Treaty of Hallasholm in all completeness.
She had been a Skandian slave for the first seven or eight years of her life.
No, Maddie wouldn't know that part. Or Will. She'd probably be kicked out by her new caretaker for giving in so easily to the drug. They just couldn't know.
Will was aware that he was being trailed back to Hallasholm. He just chose to pretend he didn't, and lure his pursuer out. He had no doubts in his mind that it was the same figure as before, despite the fact that he knew he had lost them. He wasn't too sure as to how Yuman had come across such a good silent mover, but to Will's trained Ranger senses, they were making an astounding amount of noise that allowed him to keep tabs on their location.
On his right. Now his left. Right behind him…
He turned just as the new rock came flying at his head. This one didn't miss, and Will was knocked out cold by the force of it. The last thing he heard before drifting into unconsciousness was his urging Tug back to Hallasholm. To get Maddie. He held onto consciousness long enough to get a glimpse of his attacker. Sure enough, it was the black-clad figure from earlier, facial features indistinguishable to his quickly fading consciousness. Then, he was out as cold as the rock that had done the job.
The figure was utterly impressed by their skills. Surely, the fabled Will Treaty that Fenn had warned them about wasn't so able to defend himself as they had thought. They shrugged, before hauling Will's unconscious form over their shoulder, and giving a harsh whistle. A black horse came out of the treeline, and the figure loaded Will's body onto the back, tying him down so that they didn't lose him on their way back to camp.
Now came the fun part. They grinned slightly, awaiting the chance to find out where Araluen's queen was hiding. Then, boom goes the Treaty of Hallasholm, and likely, all limitations on slavery. Their trade would be free to thrive once more. Of course, they realized, it would have been quite nice to have gotten at the other Rangers the other day. They grunted, realizing there was no way to redo the issue. They would still be a problem. However, not a problem entirely unable to be solved. They were probably wherever the queen was, they reasoned. Although, who the Maddie that Will had been muttering about was as much a mystery to them as what the Ranger was doing alone at night was. The figure shrugged. Oh, well, Maddie was probably just Will's wife, or a daughter. They knew that girls weren't accepted into the Ranger Corps. They never had been before. Maddie couldn't be a significant worry to Fenn's plans. The figure, their horse, and their Ranger captive disappeared into the night.
Bumper and Midnight gave warning calls some time between midnight and dawn, which startled both Maddie and Evelynn out of their uneasy slumbers. What could possibly be wrong? Soon, the warning turned to a greeting, echoed by another horse. Maddie relaxed, recognizing the sound as Tug's. When the two Rangers went outside, however, Will was nowhere to be seen. Just the shaggy Ranger horse. Maddie glanced around, hoping against hope that Will was simply pulling their leg, and that this was all a prank. He couldn't have gone missing, could he…?
As time went on, Maddie became less and less sure. She turned to Tug, and then to her own horse. Seeming to make a silent resolution, Maddie strode to Bumper's stall and saddled him up. Evelynn jogged up next to her.
"What's going on?" She asked. Maddie turned to her with a worried gaze.
"I think Will might be in trouble," she said, and Evelynn grew instantly quiet.
Hahahaha! I am evil, yes, I know this... and I hold onto it with a pride that cannot be diminished.
Nonetheless, this was fun to write ^-^ I'm honestly shocked that it wasn't obvious from the start, basing off the title, but ah well... just serves to show me that my foreshadowing is adequate while being unclear at the same time. Ah, well. In any case, see you next week...
I have much more planned, none of which you will like if you're glaring at your computer screen right now, mentally cursing me out for throwing all these curveballs all in one chapter. You're welcome! :D
