Morning came fast, but the rangers were up before the sun raised up. The paulin they had set up was moist because of a little drizzle. Clyde removed the paulin and folded it as Bryce collected the blankets and Merlin prepared the horses. It was colder than yesterday, and the droplets the drizzle formed on the grass had frozen, painting the ground to white.
"I-Is Norgate... this cold?" said Clyde, already feeling cold as he felt the warmth from the blanket disappear much faster than it settled in.
"No." Answered Merlin, making Clyde feel relieved, before continuing his sentence with "It is much colder.", destroying the relief of the boy just as instant as it arrived.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." said Bryce cheerfully.
"Okay..." Clyde rode on Gale and followed the other rangers on the road to Norgate.
The vibrant sunset was flashing on the forests and mountains as the time flowed quickly and the path towards the Fief was getting more lumpy and hard to cross as they proceeded through the hardened soil and the rocks that started to appear all around them. Dried grass on the soil was slowly leaving its place to bright, pure white snow, and as they kept treading the cold white sheet, the paths used by common travelers showed themselves as the parts of the road that had the snow on it melted down.
"Let's move a bit towards that part, shall we?" Suggested Bryce, pointing to the pathway of melted snow.
"Er... Why?" Clyde paused for a moment.
"Because moving on the fresh snow leaves obvious footprints. Do you actually listen to your lessons, or is Bry just that bad?" Merlin uttered in a condescending tone.
"Ah, yeah... Sorry." Clyde kept looking down as the rangers shifted their path.
"It's fine. It's not like we see a lot of snow in Greenfield, right?" Bryce tried to lighten the mood. The winters of Greenfield were not really cold and most of the time, it didn't snow at all. Clyde felt even colder remembering the soothing sunshine of his town. He never really liked cold places.
"Ah, here we are." From the horizon, the tall ranger had seen the towers of the Fief showing. The journey to Norgate was soon to come to an end.
"Oh... Thank God..." Clyde shuddered and dreamed of an inn warmed with log fire.
"Alright. Time to question the townsfolk." Said Merlin, focused on the mission.
"Hmm, I hope they didn't make their way in here before us." Bryce thought aloud. His usually calm voice sounded rather unsure.
"How can we... know?" Asked the curious apprentice.
"Well, I hope that it isn't the case, but if there were, say, anyone missing... Murdered... Or worse-" Bryce was listing the possibilities to a disturbed Clyde, but the seasoned ranger went silent for a moment.
"Or worse?" The ginger haired boy questioned.
"Well, arson." Bryce quickly said the first crime that came into his mind.
"So arson is worse than murder? I guess that kind of makes sense if people are trapped in or something." Merlin commented, uninterested.
As they talked, they were already in the gates of Norgate. Approaching the gate guards, even the color of their capes were enough to convince them to let them in, so Merlin didn't have to do any talking.
Now inside Norgate, Clyde looked around the large town surrounding them. There wasn't many people around, likely because of the snow, The boy thought. Besides the towers and castles, what caught his eyes was that noticing and discerning objects was much harder when everything was painted white by the ever falling snow. Despite that, he could see the gray cobblestone covering the ground, many houses made of stone bricks, or rarely, wood. There was an inn with a sign that had a drawing of a lizard on it. Looking at the sign once more with focused eyes, Clyde noticed that the writing on the sign read 'Slumbering Chameleon'.
"I'll take the horses. You do the talking." Merlin went to take the horses to a stable as he left Bryce and Clyde to do the questioning. Briefly considering his options, Bryce decided that the inn was the best place to start.
Walking towards the slightly worn out building, the mentor and the apprentice were silent.
Inside the inn was bright compared to the dim lighting outside, and it was definitely much warmer, too. The rangers were greeted by the innkeeper, who was glad to have some visitors in the current season. Winters in Norgate meant less work and even less money for innkeepers, because there were no travellers that would prefer the gloomy air around, and the difficulties in travel was not making it more likely. Something like a foreign, travelling bard was also a rare sight, so this inn lacked the cacophony of noise that almost every other inn had.
"Must be very tough days for you, pal." Bryce started the conversation to learn the latest news. In any town, the person that had heard the most gossip always would be the innkeeper.
"So it is, so it is." The chubby man with a rather large moustache complained to Bryce. He was tired of waiting for new customers all day, yet it was all he could wait for, having been well past the age to handle heavy work, and without any children to hand the work over. Patiently listening to him, Bryce waited for an opening to ask his questions.
"So, have you heard the news about those magicians?" He asked with a curious look on his face.
"Magicians?.. Well, not magicians, but some weird folk with red clothes left a few hours ago after preaching about 'happiness', or so I've heard." The innkeeper spoke.
"Hmm... You wouldn't expect cultists around this place, would you?" Bryce tried to keep the conversation flowing.
"I don't know much. They left with no harm done, that's a relief, my friend, it sure is." He replied, avoiding the stare of the ranger in front of him.
"Really? I've heard worse things, to be frank." Bryce kept questioning the man. He knew that the old man was hiding something from him.
"Er... Well... I think a man might have disappeared, but it's a bard, so might have just left the town on a whim."
"Yeah, probably." Bryce concluded his interrogation.
"Say, can you send three cups of coffee over here?" He added, to end the encounter on a sweet note for everyone involved.
As soon as they were finished talking, Merlin walked in, whitened with the snow all over his head and shoulders.
"Okay, I'm done. Now, are we moving in or not?"
"Oh, right. We'll have a room as well." Bryce checked his pouch as Clyde shifted his gaze over to the empty seats. The inn really had no customers other than them, or they were all asleep.
As they waited for their coffees, Merlin inspected the room as well.
"Where is that bard guy from before?" He asked the innkeeper.
"Er... He left a few days ago. Didn't even pay for the room, that cheap skate!" The chubby man answered as he put a tray with three cups over it on the counter, somewhat more forceful than usual as he probably was upset about the money.
"But that's not possible. I know him, he told me he would stay until spring to practice, even before the gathering." The ranger questioned him.
"People change, boy, they really do. Probably got fed up with this freezing weather and left without a noise." He answered again.
Merlin got up and went inside the room silently. Bryce paid for the coffee and left as well. His young apprentice, now with a warm body, sluggishly followed the couple of rangers as the innkeeper wished them a good night, counting the copper pieces in his hands behind the counter. Clyde briefly looked through the curtained window. The sun was long gone and now the sky was darker than before.
"We should look around the gates to see if we could find a trace. A missing person and people in red robes... I'm afraid that settles that they definitely were here." Bryce spoke as he sat on one of the beds in the crowded room.
"Darn it!" Merlin spat out furiously. "If we made it just a bit sooner, we could have caught them here and then."
"We still have some information, though." Bryce tried to lift up his friend's spirits.
"For what? A group of red turnips waltzing around is something we already would be on lookout for." He continued ranting.
"Well, we can ask around the place. There has to be some people staying home." Bryce tried to explain.
"Do they have... Horses?" Clyde asked, wondering if he could help.
"Probably. I mean, why would they walk on foot in winter? They leech out a lot of money, too, they can afford it." Merlin answered, still moody.
"And even if we were to follow footprints, they probably took the pathway and we can't discern them from other people unless they walk over fresh snow." Bryce told his apprentice. Clyde thought of something to suggest, but he was confused, and he could clearly see the others were, as well. For now, there was nothing to do but sleep.
After a few hours' rest, The rangers woke up before the day broke and took the horses out of the stable. It looked like they were still far from catching the cultists, because even after they asked around the town, they could only learn that the suspicious people were intolerable and annoying.
Scratching his beard, Bryce thought to himself loudly.
"That feels wrong. I'm aware that the gossiping and rumors change the situation often, but something clearly doesn't add up."
"I... I don't know..." Clyde was still trying to make sense of the situation.
"I got it." Merlin chimed in suddenly. "It's the worst outcome." He spoke with a grim tone. Bryce sighed loudly.
"Is that so? Then we need to take action at once."
"What is..." Clyde couldn't ask his question as Merlin yelled as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Aha! Look over there!" He pointed to the gate. Behind the doors, there was a far away, obscured object that had sunk into the snow.
Moving swiftly, they made their way just outside Norgate's tall gate where the object laid.
"It's a broken lute. That's curious." Bryce said, pulling the stringed instrument out of the pile of snow.
"Don't speak without knowing. That's a mandola." Merlin said, snatching the instrument from the tall ranger's hand.
"This wasn't there when we arrived, and there are no other bards in the town." Merlin turned towards the others.
"This clears out my suspicions. Look at the pathway, there are traces on the fresh snow. The bard didn't really leave the town, nobody actually saw him leave. The cultists came in and took him away!"
"So he didn't leave the inn voluntarily?" Bryce asked.
"You know cultists and their honeyed words. Probably preyed on him to be the new method of spreading their fame over the country." Merlin said as he checked the traces.
"I'll risk it. We are following the traces!" He jumped on his horse Ace and went after the marks left on the fresh snow.
"Merlin!" Clyde rode on his own horse and followed after him.
"See, that's why I went with you. So impatient..." Bryce went after the duo, fearing that his friend would put himself in danger with his overflowing confidence.
The traces really did lead up to something, and that something was three horses carrying two people each, with all but one wrapped in bright red robes. Merlin had already closed the distance, while Bryce and Clyde were behind him.
"Stop right there! I am The King's ranger!" Merlin shouted as he shot an arrow from his dark coloured longbow. The arrow missed by a notch and caused the cultists to notice the ranger catching up to them.
"I won't miss the next shot, so you better stop!" He shouted again.
"Oh, are you really going to go against our dear lord Hyrd'mis? Such troublesome rangers." The cultist leading the group spoke.
"I don't care about Hydr... Whatever that is. Just release the bard!" Merlin said as he held his bow and shot another arrow. This time, the arrow skewered through one of the horses' body, scattering the group and causing them to slow down.
Bryce and Clyde finally caught up to the dark haired ranger.
"Merlin, what do you think you are doing?!" Bryce said furiously.
"My job! Why are you all upset? I figured it out on my own, so I took off knowing you would follow." He answered.
"I..." Bryce took a deep breath. "Sorry, I got tense. Still, rely on us a little. You are putting yourself in danger." He explained more calmly.
"Fine, cut the small talk. We got a cult to deal with." Merlin ended the conversation and rode towards the horse that carried the bard. Bryce took his bow out and watched for his friend's back.
"Clyde, slow them down. I got both of you." He said without looking at his apprentice. The ginger headed boy nodded and pulled tighter on the reins of Gale while taking a bottle of cloudy fluid out of his medicine bag. He lobbed the flask forward and watched as the smokescreen he made covered the sight of their target. He looked at Merlin, who now had the chance to save the captive bard.
"Come on!" Merlin reached out his hand to the bard, but the eyes of the young man was blank.
"Why? I am going to meet Hyrd'mis! Isn't that nice?" He smiled in the most uncanny way. Merlin looked distraught for a moment, and noticed the crimson coloured crystal the man had hung over his neck as a pendant.
As he reached to grab it, the cultist riding the horse pulled out a long knife out of his robes, but was halted by Bryce's arrows before he could attack Merlin.
"Not bad, Bry!" Merlin shouted at his old friend, then he reached over and grabbed the crystal pendant. At that moment, something that he couldn't predict had happened.
"W-what are you doing?! Keep away from my enlightenment, monster!" The bard tried to throw the ranger off his horse, but the adept ranger didn't budge. However, when another cultist riding a horse rammed into Ace, he almost tumbled over the snow. Cornered by the cultists and the surprisingly hostile bard, Merlin threw his bow aside and pulled out two saxe knives from their sheaths.
"Bold of you to underestimate me like that." He uttered as he fought back against the four remaining cultists using both knives to block their strikes with expertise.
Suddenly, one of the cultists took out a bottle of red liquid out and raised it high.
"Merlin, run!" Clyde screamed in terror, raising his voice abnormally high as both rangers looked over to him.
Merlin signaled his horse and instantly fell back, nearly being engulfed in the crimson mist produced by the bottle thrown by the woman in red robes.
"That's... Devil's Cap..." The young apprentice said, breathing heavily. "It would... corrode your body..."
"So that was close. Nice one." Merlin thanked the apprentice in his own way.
"That kid... How does he know?" The leading cultist looked at the ginger headed boy in disbelief.
"I don't know, but let's not waste this talent." Answered the woman in red clothes.
Suddenly, the bard was knocked off of his horse and Merlin instinctively rushed to help the man. Little did he notice, several bottles of smokescreen was thrown in the air as he wasn't looking.
As soon as the bottles crashed on the ground, an unimaginable amount of dark smoke filled the air, getting into the lungs of the rangers and blinding them completely.
"Bry, where are you?" Merlin said, coughing as he leapt to the ground and held the young man in his arms.
"Clyde! Clyde!" Bryce yelled as his eyes frantically searched for the ginger headed apprentice.
"Bryce! Don't-" Clyde's voice was muffled as Bryce ran past the cloud of smoke. Seeing the apprentice on the cultists' horse, struggling to escape their grasp, Clyde looked at his mentor in terror.
Bryce quickly aimed at the leader and threw his strikers, but the metal weapon missed as his eyes hurt from the charcoal that got in.
Bryce nearly caught up to the cultists, but at that moment, he couldn't see the red flask thrown directly at his path.
Instinctively, Feder threw his owner off him and got caught in the red mist.
"Feder!" Bryce screamed as he rolled on the sea of white. The horse was struggling and shrieking in pain, fallen down to its knees.
By the time the clouds dispersed and Merlin approached his old friend, the cultists had left with Clyde and had disappeared into the forests covered with snow.
"Where is Clyde?" Merlin asked, but he already knew the answer from the tearful face of the shaggy bearded ranger.
"Feder... Clyde... I..." He looked down and slammed his fist on the ground again and again.
"Again... I did it again... I can't believe it." His eyes blinded with despair, he didn't see his friend standing next to him.
"Bryce, Bryce!" Merlin yelled loudly and finally caught his attention. "I'm calling the veterinary." He pointed to the suffering Feder. His chestnut coloured coat was burnt away in parts, now turned into a bright red. "Don't you see it, he's dying, come on!"
The tall ranger got up silently and stood there as Merlin rode back towards Norgate. One thing happening right after another with no suspense, his deepest fears coming true one by one, the cheerful mask that the shaggy bearded ranger once wore was shattered into pieces.