Wills eyes fluttered open. For a moment he was confused as to what woke him. But slowly realized something wasn't right, something tugging at the edge of his mind. He slowly threw the covers off and sat up at the edge of the bed, donning his soft but sturdy fur boots. He stood up, retrieving the saxe knife from his nightstand. Only then did he notice Karasu was not on it. His heart seemed to leap to his throat.

Will stepped out into the front room, remembering how he used to be afraid of the shadows and darkness. But, as he continued his ranger training he began seeing them as his allies, helping him to remain unseen. He stopped in his tracks as he felt someone's gaze on him. He slowly looked behind him and noticed the figure of Halt. The room was dark, causing his teacher's face to remain hidden, even without his cloak.

"So...I'm not losing my mind?" Will whispered softly.

"It appears not." His mentor replied just as quietly.

Will couldn't help a small surge of comfort knowing his mentor was with him as he slowly made his way to the front door, looking over his shoulder to find Halt close behind. Will slowly and as quietly as he could turned the door knob. Both he and Halt stepped out on the cabin veranda, the boards softly creaking under their weight. Both slowly scanned the front yard and the forest in front of it, the moon casting long silent shadows of trees against the short grass.

Will, who was scanning the far left, caught a sudden but faint silhouette of a figure as it darted from one hiding spot to another. "Halt…." Will muttered. Halt instantly turned his head to watch where his apprentice's gaze had fallen. Though faint, he could see a black figure with their back up against a tree.

Halt knocked an arrow to his longbow, having immediately grabbed his bow and his quiver when he woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He slowly stepped in front of Will, who in turn, gratefully stepped back a step.

However, the moment Halt moved the figure retreated back into the forest, leaving an annoyed Halt and confused Will alone in the quiet night. Halt cursed under his breath. Will, sure that no one else but him and Halt were there, pushed past his mentor and down the steps of the veranda. It had rained a bit during the night, making the ground soft and moist.

Will slowly crossed the open yard and crouched down to where he found a foot print clear enough to study in the moonlight. The stalker didn't do such a good job of covering their tracks, Will thought. In fact, as he scanned the area around, it was almost too obvious. The thought suddenly clicked in his head like a puzzle piece.

"They want us to follow…" Will muttered. He stood up, looking at the moon.

Why 2 hours or so away from morning too..? And who would think they were stupid enough to blindly follow the tracks!? Will's mind ran through question after question, never finding an answer to a single one.

Will walked back to the veranda where his mentor stood, ready to shoot anything that could possibly threaten his apprentice.

"It's all too obvious. It's almost as if they wanted us to follow it." Will reported, shrugging. Halt considered his words, knowing very well it was a large possibility. Will watched his mentor in silence. If any one could figure it out, it was Halt.

"I think you might be right." Halt said, slowly nodding. Will couldn't help but smile. He was always pleased to know when his report was useful to his mentor. "What are you smiling about?" Halt asked, not too unkindly. Will shrugged.

"Nothing." Will replied. Halt watched his apprentice curiously before returning to his thoughts. Will turned around to find Karasu perched on the wooden railing of the veranda.

"What the-!?" Will cried, staring at him. Halt head snapped up to the sound of his apprentices cry, his gaze falling on Karasu. True, Halt was confused as to how the bird made it past him, but what confused him more was how easily Will was scared.

"Trap!" Karasu hissed, his voice echoing that of a woman.

"Trap…?" Will asked a moment before realization dawned in his eyes. "It was a trap! I knew it! Wait...who said it? Who was she? Why was she stalking us?" Will asked quickly. Halt couldn't help but feel a tinge of pity for the poor bird. If anyone knew the pain of being asked a million questions at the same time, it was him.

"Will, He's not going to answer you." Halt replied sharply. However, he spoke too soon.

"Ashera. Assassin. reaction." Karasu cawed. For a second, Will and Halt stared at him in total shock.

"I guess we know this...Ashera...Is a assassin who wanted to know our reaction to them stalking us…?" Will concluded. Karasu cawed once, flapping his wings. Halt, unlike Will, was not sure if he should trust the bird. But then decided he had already sealed his fate letting Will keep him.

"Alright. I'm going to assume we can trust you. So what you are saying is assassins are after us?" Halt asked. Karasu nodded slowly as if saying, "Wasn't that obvious? I thought you were supposed to be the smarter one."

"Shut up." Halt growled. Will simply gave his mentor a raised eyebrow. He had gotten rather good at it in the 4 years spent in Halt's company.

"Stop talking to my bird and tell us what you think." Will scoffed. Halt glared at his apprentice. No matter how disciplined, teenagers are always going to have a little sass to their personality.

"What i think is we should inform Crowly about this matter. And in the meantime, get one more hour of sleep." Halt Said, opening the door to the cabin and walking inside. Will quickly grabbed Karasu and followed his mentor.

Will unfortunately claimed no sleep the rest of the night. All throughout the hour he continuously tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position. Worse, his head raced with questions and thoughts. And altogether, the fear of this strange Ashera returning. With about 20 or so minutes left till the sun began to rise, Will rolled out of bed and paced around his room with a very confused karasu watching.

"Well, i'm assuming you won't be able to answer my questions." Will said softly.

Try me. Karasu seemed to say.

Will took a deep breath (crap ton of questions coming your way in, 3…..2…...1). " I'm wondering who this Ashera person is. I know she's an assassin but there's something else, I just know it. Why would she come here? And why would she want to see our reaction? Why would she want us dead? Did we offend her somehow? Does she even want us dead? She left an obvious track so she wanted us to follow. Why would she want us to follow though? Did she plan to capture us? Does she hate Halt or something? Or me? Do we have information she wants? And why does she want to see what I did? To learn what we do? Does she know about rangers? Does she know about the ranger corps? Does she even know who Halt is? Is she araluen? Is she from some cult? Or a guild? I'm just so confused and it's all stuck in my head!" Will finished. He looked over to Karasu who's beak was handing open slightly and looked totally dumbfounded.

I do not have the brain to register anything you said past the first question. Karasu seemed to say.

Will shook his head, deciding it was useless to try and have a bird answer all your questions. He continued his pacing.

After some time, Will noticed the soft faint light shining through the thin curtains. Finally. He donned his scabbard and weapons as well as his cloak, exiting his room and finding Halt sitting at the table with a cup of coffee.

"Goodmorning." Will greeted, grinning. Halt raised an eyebrow.

"Why so cheerful?" Halt asked. Will shrugged.

"I mean, minus the fact that someone was sulking around our cabin an hour ago, I'm in an okay mood." Will said. Halt simply grunted his acknowledgement. Though he was rather pleased to know his apprentice wasn't in a bad mood. Halt had come to learn that whenever Will was annoyed or angered he was quiet. Much too quiet. Any movement was silent, such as simply setting down an object or opening a door. And for Halt, the first time it happened, such as after Will got into a fight with Horace, it made him think something was wrong with his new apprentice. But after a while, Halt found it best to leave him alone with his own thoughts. And those were the days Will got the most practice.

Will sat down by Halt with his own cup of coffee. None of them wanted to start a conversation, and Will knew perfectly well that Halt didn't want to answer his questions. A sudden knock at the door roused them both from their thoughts. Halt stood up to answer the door, Will following.

Halt opened the door to find Gilan, his former apprentice, standing in his doorway.

"Gilan! What brings you here?" Will asked as Halt moved aside to let him in.

"I came to see you guys! I hope you're not bone tired from all the housework Halt makes you do." Gilan said, unable to stop the smile from breaking out across his face. Unfortunately, Will's laughter was cut short by Halts glare. Gilan's smile soon faded. "I've been all around the kingdom. people are getting annoyed with the whole Assassins guild forming And I'm starting to owe a certain horse more apples then i would have liked." Gilan sighed. Will and Halt exchanged worried glances.

"Go sit down." Halt said, gesturing towards his couch. Gilan gladly obliged. Will sat by him as Halt handed his former apprentice a cup of coffee who accepted it without complaint.

"We need to tell you something." Will said. Gilan looked at him, slightly surprised.

"Since when did Halt let you do the talking?" Gilan asked. Halt was about to say "I don't" but his current apprentice replied quicker.

"We can get to that later. In the meantime, I want to know why you just happened to show up an hour and a half after someone was sulking around our cabin." Will asked.

"What…? I mean, I came here to warn you guys about some guild…" Gilan stuttered. Will glanced at Halt who seemed to be thinking over his apprentices, both former and current, words.

"I guess now is a good time to tell the bad news." Gilan sighed. Will couldn't help but feel worried. Unfortunately his mentor was just as worried, obviously showing no sign of it. Gilan clearly didn't want to tell them, leaving them both slightly concerned.

"Well, i'm already here so here it goes."

DUN DUN DUUUUN Cliffies! Please don't hate me for it. I know this chapter was kinda short but bear with me, I promise longer ones will be released!