[IMPORTANT]

Hear ye, Hear ye, the 13th instalment of the tale of Double or Nothing has been released! I am truly sorry that it took so incredibly long, it has been 2 months! It's just that… I dunno, I guess the inspiration just dried up or somethin', 'cause I just couldn't get this chapter right. The original plan was to make this chapter around 2000 words long. I've been doing this with Phantom Pain and it's going well, this one isn't. I rewrote this like 7 times and I'm still not completely satisfied with it. So, I have made up a plan:

I will not abandon this story, that would be akin to throwing (If I had one) my firstborn off a cliff and I won't do that. I will be rewriting this, hopefully with less grammatical errors, better sentences and longer chapters. I will then post this rewritten version once I am back at the point where I last left off. (this chapter) I hope you can understand and please tell me if you think I should have done something different in this story, now's your chance.

~Chapter 13~

I sat next to a boy my age, around seventeen years old. The wind blew through the branches of the tree they were in and I shivered. "How are you not cold?" I asked.

"The north is a lot colder than this, I actually like how warm it is here." He answered while chuckling.

"I can't wait until spring starts again, I've had enough of the snow." I said longingly.

"Yeah, It would be nice to see the ground again." He chuckled again, "Although that won't happen until high summer in Norgate."

"I really wouldn't want to live there, I like the warmth too much." I looked over to him but could not see his face. "What's your favourite season?"

"My favourite season?"

I nodded, "Yes, as in winter, autumn, spring or summer."

"Autumn." He looked around, "The leaves take the most beautiful colours and create a carpet of browns, oranges and reds on the ground. There is one good thing about snow though."

"What is it then, I fail to see any."

"It softens your fall." my eyes widened and I quickly grabbed his arm just before he pushed me off the branch, taking him with me. I could hear laughter from the boy and started laughing myself while I sat up. I saw him brush the snow off his brown tunic and did the same.

Suddenly I was picked up and started to laugh even harder while screaming to let me go if he didn't want to be woken up with a bucket of ice water the next morning and he quickly dropped me as if I was made of smouldering hot coals and he had burnt his hands. Once I was back on her feet I embraced him and he did the same back. Our lips almost met, but just before that could happen,

Autumn woke up from the dream she had had almost every night. She didn't know where it came from, she didn't know who the boy was, but she had the feeling it wasn't just a dream. No she was almost certain it was some sort of memory. How she got the memory, she didn't know. She couldn't recall any of them when she wasn't dreaming, in fact, she didn't really remember all that much about her past. A few memories of her parents, how her master had found her when she was seven years old and had taken her in.

Her master was a kind old man, he had told her, her 'brothers' Winter and Summer and her 'Sister' Spring how he had been a ranger once. They had betrayed him and had taken all that was dear to him; his wife, his son, his home. It made her angry at the damned Ranger Corps that they would betray him like that and she and Winter had been sent to spy on the gathering and follow a ranger with an apprentice.

She had wanted to shoot one of them, a man sitting by the fire with his companions and apprentices. She had nocked a white and black feathered arrow, drew back and aimed. But she couldn't do it, not only would she probably not get away with shooting a ranger at a gathering where fifty of some of the deadliest individuals in the country were present. Fifty men and women that were easily on par and in most cases even better than her in tracking, shooting and hiding.

But that was not the only reason she hadn't shot him; there was something… off about him, something didn't feel right. She had no problem with killing, she had killed plenty of bandits her master had told them to ambush and kill as practice, but he had stirred something inside of her. A long gone memory perhaps, or a forgotten childhood friend. She decided she wouldn't hesitate to kill him next time she saw him, she couldn't show weakness in front of the others.

Autumn turned around on her mat and peaked at their two prisoners. They were cuddled against each other, the boy had used his cloak to shield the shivering girl from the creeping cold. She didn't really care what happened to the two 'lovebirds', but the boy was an apprentice and could be a huge source of information and his love for the girl would keep him from escaping.

The darkness of night still dominated the sky and there were still a few hours till Winter would come to wake her up for her shift so she decided to drop those idle thoughts and get some more sleep.

"Ed, Ed wake up!"

Edward was on his feet in seconds, both his saxe and throwing knife drawn. "What is it! Are we being attacked?" he then noticed the look of shock on the girl half of the twins' face. "By Gorlog's fangs Emma!" he lowered his knives, but his face was stern and stone cold. "What is it." He snapped at her. The Ranger was tired and stressed from traveling with minimal rest for two days.

"Y-you were having a nightmare and were thrashing, I tried to ignore it, but it just got worse so I- I woke you up." She looked a bit ashamed of herself, "I'm sorry, I'm j- just- I just want to find Justin and Sarah" tears now started to form in the corners of her eyes and Edward immediately calmed down. He sat back down and motioned to Emma that it was alright. He looked at the sky to see that the moon had already finished three quarters of its journey through the sky.

He had indeed had a nightmare and Emma did save him from watching Ann die again. He glanced at the blonde girl next to him. She remembered him of her, of Ann, with her long dirty-blond locks and the usual know-it-all smirk that was now absent on her face. Well, since I'm up anyways, we better continue. He stood up and ran his hand through his short dark brown hair, "We better get going again, we could gain some ground that way."

Emma just nodded and got up as well. They mounted Shade and Dawn and spurred them up the trail they were following. These people were obviously professionals, but they couldn't top a ranger who's specialty was tracking and could pick up on even the smallest hints, even in the dark of night.

Dusk followed the tow rangers loyally, but she got more nervous the further they came. She started to whinny quietly, huff in frustration of the current speed they were travelling at and nickering in anticipation.

"North-west."

"What?" Emma asked confused.

"They are heading north-west." She still looked confused. "What would be the best place to hide if you were to kidnap a ranger." He asked, taking the opportunity to test his apprentice.

"Ehhhm… Well, it would have to be close by, but far enough away so that they could lose any people that are following them." She said hesitantly. "I guess it would have to be away from people as well, maybe in a forest, or a cave?"

"Or, a ruin." He added and her dark blue eyes shone as realisation dawned.

"Gorlan."

"That is what I thought. It is only two fiefs away, far enough from Old Rock and completely abandoned. The ideal hideout."

"so we know where they are going, what now?"

"Now, we go talk to the baron of Weston and tell him to send a message to the other barons in the surrounding area to send out patrols. They probably won't catch them, but it should slow them down, enabling us to catch up to them before they reach their friends." He said as he pushed his heels into Shadow's flank which hastened his steady trot into a neck breaking gallop, leaving Emma behind him until she gathered herself and caught up with him.

Thank you for reading.

Bye, or as they used to say in rome: vale.

Until next time, Mac Gustah