Reverting back to their original plans, the group headed towards Gallica, searching for Halt along the way. They had almost started a civil war in Gasana Fief, which angered both parties. Will was extremely ashamed for his actions, but everyone else had immediately forgiven him. He was only too stubborn to realize it.

No one was particularly talkative after the confrontation with Baron Lynnyd.

Ember rode at the back of the group, and her mind started to wander as she looked at the trees that loomed above her and lined the pathway. Their thick canopy cast most of the path in a shadow. Chiaroscuro, she thought, remembering the art term that described shadow and light acting together. Her mind started to stray back to the castle's art wing, and she closed her eyes, halting the memories as they came. She forced herself to focus on the trees and remember what Gilan had told her about how to best remain concealed in a forest. Suddenly, something odd caught her eyes, and Ember put on a burst of speed and rode Ameerah close to Tug and Will.

"Hey."

"Hullo," Will said. "What's going on?"

"Well, ye said ye want us to be looking for signs of Halt, right?" she enquired.

"Exactly," he said flatly.

"Well, what's that?"

Will looked where she pointed, and gasped. "There!" he shouted, stopping the whole company, pointing at a scrap of fabric snagged on a tree. "You're right!" It was gray and green, and could have belonged to no other than a Ranger. And as far as Will knew, no Rangers had been this way, except for Halt. He swung out of his saddle and scrambled over to the bush. Gilan followed suit.

Alyss rode up and halted her horse next to the boys. She gracefully swung down, leaving Ember to clumsily follow in her wake.

"Halt's been here," Horace said deftly.

He looked up into the cottage in front of them. It was dilapidated and appeared as if the paint on the side had once been yellow before it was faded by the sun.

"So what do we do?"

"We go in, of course," Gilan remarked.

They all straightened up and shifted their quivers and sheaths and stared at the cottage.

"Alyss, Ember, you stay out here while we check it out. If it's safe, you can come in," Will said.

"No way," Ember and Alyss immediately argued. "We're coming in, too!"

"No, it's not safe," Gilan enforced.

"So, you can go in if it's not safe, but we can't?" Alyss cried indignantly.

Beyond words, and knowing that Alyss would win if it came to that, Will simply said, "I'm not letting this one go, Alyss." He placed extra emphasis and anger on her name. Then he stood stock still, staring at her while crossing his arms. Alyss did the same. They just stood there, frowning at each other. Alyss was taller, but because Will was normally so cheerful, his angry face more frightening than Alyss's.

Gilan, Horace, and Ember just stood watching their two friends fight. They awkwardly shifted their weight from foot to foot, not knowing what to do in this tense situation.

Finally, when it seemed that the Ranger and the Diplomat were on the verge of snapping, Horace stepped between his two old friends. "Come on," he said, putting an arm around Will's shoulder and the other around Alyss's. "If Halt's been captured, then we have enough enemies already without making enemies of ourselves. It's probably safe enough inside that cottage, but there is the slight chance that there could be trouble. So, why don't we compromise? Will and Gilan can check it out first, while the three of us can stay here until they give us the signal. That way, Alyss and Ember, you shouldn't feel like you're being left out of the fun because you're the girls. Alright?"

Alyss still looked skeptical, but she nodded. "Alright, Horace," she said, but then she leveled a decidedly stern glare at Will. "But mark my words, Will, if you end up in trouble…" She left the end of the threat unspoken.

Will put his hood up to conceal how scared he actually was by her words. "Let's go," he said to Gilan, careful not to let any emotion show through his voice. He led the way into the cabin, while Gilan followed, after one last glance over his shoulder.

Alyss, Ember, and Horace waited outside by their horses. Ember kept one arm draped over Ameerah's flank.

"Good, Ameerah, good," Ember called soothingly to the horse. She felt a little foolish for talking to her horse, but it was calming nonetheless. Besides, Alyss seemed to accept it, which made Ember feel better.

Ameerah shifted her weight from foot to foot, clearly distressed that she had to wait for so long. Can't you take my saddle off? her eyes seemed to plead.

"Sorry, girl," said Ember ruefully. "No can do. We might need to make a quick getaway."

Horace seemed even more anxious than the horses. He had begun to pace, one hand on the hilt of his sword, while he scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck with the other. The big warrior was trained for action, not for waiting while his friends put themselves in possible danger, but he knew he'd done the right thing. It had appeased the two girls, and besides, if there really was danger, two stealthy Rangers were the best choices for investigators. Horace was quiet for his size, but he'd never quite mastered the art of silent walking that Will and Gilan possessed.

Alyss unpacked some apples from her bag, needing something to occupy her thought and alleviate her anxiousness. She gave one to her horse, Butterscotch, and then ate one herself. She handed two apples to Ember, who then followed suit. The only noise was the chomping of apples in their mouths. They sounded like barnyard animals, remarked Ember.

Eventually, she and Alyss tired of standing around waiting. They sat in the shade of a tree and exchanged stories. They bantered lightly back and forth; they were both anxious for the Rangers' safe return. Horace stood a short distance away, still staring doggedly at the cottage.

"Do ye smell that?" Ember asked. It smelled like smoke. After a few minutes, she could smell nothing else. The smoke was encompassing and almost asphyxiated the rest of her sense of smell. As the odor became stronger and stronger, it triggered memories of licking flames and painful burns. She fought down the sense of panic that the memories and smells brought back.

Alyss looked around, a slight frown appearing on her face. "Must be a campfire," she said, pursing her lips.

But there weren't any campfires near them, at least, not any that they could see.

"Look!" cried Ember, rising to her feet in a flash. "The cottage is on fire!" And so it was. One minute, there was nothing, the next, there were five metre flames licking up the side of the cottage wall.

"Will!" cried Alyss, tears welling up in her eyes. "What do we do?"

Ember merely gulped. She knew what she would have to do, but as long as she didn't say it, she figured she wouldn't have to do it. The panic was choking her.

Horace held the reins of the horses. The animals tossed their heads fearfully at the sight of the flames, and all except the well-trained Rangers' horses looked like they would break away if Horace loosed his grip for one second. Even as it was, he was having a hard time controlling Butterscotch, Ameerah, and Kicker, whose eyes were showing the whites in their fear as they bucked and tried to pull away from the Warrior. "Do something!" he yelled at the girls, just as Kicker reared, almost dragging Horace over.

After no reply from the boys, and without any respite in the fire, Ember knew what she would have to do. She and Alyss would have to go into the cottage and rescue the boys.

The two frightened girls whipped their heads around as they saw four bandits dressed in black slinking away, laughing, out the back window. Ember wanted nothing more than to chase after them, but she knew she had to go inside, as neither of the boys had come outside yet. "Are ye coming?" she asked Alyss.

Alyss clenched her jaw and nodded her head.

Ember had never been more frightened in her life. Well, actually she had, but she had never willingly walked into a fire before. Normally, the fires found her and she ran for her life. But now, she had to walk inside one. It was quite possibly the most heart-pounding, terrifying moment of her life. Her pulse quickened, and she took short little breaths. Grabbing a large, dead tree branch, she used it as a battering ram and rammed the cottage door.

The door's bottom hinge broke, leaving the door hanging by barely a thread. It swung wildly back and forth, the bottom corner of the door dragging roughly on the ground while the top corner remained attached to its hinge. The changing air pressure in the cottage caused a large fireball to burst out the two windows on either side of the door. The girls shielded their faces with their arms.

What Ember saw before her was almost enough to make her run back outside. Gilan and Will were tied to chairs in the middle of the cottage, sitting facing each other. Gilan was unconscious, his head dangling loosely from his shoulders. Will was only barely conscious. He sat coughing deeply in his chair. Both were covered in soot and ash from the fire.

Thinking quickly, Alyss slipped a small knife from under her sleeve. She used it to untie the boys at a rapid pace, Will first, who then helped Alyss undo the bonds on Gilan; whom the three were able to drag outside with some effort. The girls were grateful for Will's help, and on the other end, Will was equally grateful for their help; just standing was proving a feat in itself for him.

Water was splashed on Gilan to revive him. He sat up, spluttering and coughing, and appreciatively took the towel handed to him from Ember to wipe his face. Horace had managed to tie the horses to the trees, keeping them from bolting, and as soon as they were secured, he rushed over, offering his friends the spare water flasks for drinking.

Slowly but surely, they recounted and pieced together the events inside the cottage.

"There were four bandits," Will started. The girls nodded their heads. They had seen them slip out the window.

"-and they knocked us out," Gilan said. "Three of them knocked me out. I figured they saw that I was taller and had the sword and thought I posed the bigger threat at close range."

"They didn't knock me out," finished Will, stating the obvious.

"So how did they get you tied up in the chair?" Alyss asked. Will was a strong fighter, and she couldn't see how he could be taken out of commission so seemingly easily.

"They started the fire right next to him," Gilan said. "And they had some sort of powder that they flung in our eyes. I couldn't see anything, and the fire was, well, distracting." Ember gulped. She knew firsthand what it was like to be in a fire.

"There was pine pitch everywhere," Gilan continued. "That's how the fire started so quickly." Ember and Alyss nodded their understanding. They wondered how the fire had appeared so fast. One minute there was only the smell of smoke, the next the entire wall of the cottage was on fire. "And Will was at the epicenter of the fire, so he very well couldn't do much. They pulled him to the side and tied him up while he was barely conscious. At least, I assume," Gilan ruefully added. "I was unconscious at this point, so I'm just putting the pieces together."

Will nodded, confirming Gilan's suspicions.

"So those bandits work for the people that captured Halt, right?" Ember asked.

Will and Gilan nodded. "It was a red herring," Will said. "They've got Halt, and that's where they got the cloth from. But he wasn't in there. It was a trap to try and kill us. They didn't count on you two, though," he added, glancing at Alyss and Ember. He tried smiling at them, but it was a very weak one, and it didn't penetrate through all the layers of grime on his face.

Horace frowned. He was obviously bothered by the fact that he hadn't been there to help fight the bandits, and that he hadn't been able to help the girls, either. "And I didn't count for anything. They wouldn't have knocked you two down so easily if I'd been there."

Will patted his friend's shoulder, knowing how Horace felt about missing fights and letting friends risk their necks instead of him. "No, but if you hadn't stayed out here, we would have been rescued and come back to find all our horses and supplies run off. That would make for a very long walk to Gallica."

Horace grinned slightly. "That doesn't sound like much fun."

Alyss dusted the soot out of Will's hair, giving him a small frown. "I told you you'd get into trouble. But if you and Gilan are well enough, shouldn't we be riding on?"

Coughing and wheezing, they continued on their way to find Halt.