I... have nothing to say for myself.

I'm so sorry! Life caught up with me, and I somehow convinced myself that I had finished this story, and then came back to it last night and realized that I hadn't. I apologize wholeheartedly for it! You guys can get two more chapters today to make up for it - I continue to apologize!

Reviews:

Guest: My charger's working now, but thanks - and I'm sorry for the wait.

Hywel 1: I'm so sorry I didn't realize that I left it on such a bad cliffie!

15

Will managed to keep his head up as Harek came in, followed by a man built in a more recognizably Skandian way. He narrowed his eyes. This was almost certainly Fenn Yuman. The man they had been trying to track down for months. He was standing in front of Will, a victorious smirk plastered across his face.

"...The trouble is, Father," Harek was saying, and Will did a double take. It didn't last long. "That he's been unusually close-lipped. I was just about to try something, when you demanded to see me."

"Well, then, get on with it," Fenn's annoyed voice said. Will returned to his task of trying to undo the ropes holding him against the pole.

Maddie looked on with worry. Something had worried Will regarding these two - and him, come to think of it. He seemed to be in a rather large rush to free himself. Maddie would have crawled over and assisted if she wasn't terrified that Fenn and the other Skandian would notice her. She realized that she had left Evelynn outside, but was unsure how to call her over. She judged her chances. She might free Will, but he seemed in no state to fight, and she'd be left facing two Skandians. To her great relief, neither of them were carrying an axe, so she might have a chance, but she didn't like it. She moved incredibly slowly closer to the flap of the tent, being incredibly careful to not draw the attention of the two Skandians.

Then something made her stop cold. The shorter Skandian pulled out a handful of herbs, the sweet smell reaching Maddie. Something didn't seem right about them, though, and Will's face paled. Something definitely didn't seem right. She pulled herself up slowly against the wall of the tent and heard the shorter Skandian start talking.

"So, let's start over now, shall we? While I was gone, have you had a change of heart?"

Will stared up at the Skandian defiantly.

"No? Okay, then. I'm going to count to three. If you decide to share before I finish, lovely. If not…" He simply waved the herbs in front of Will's face, which continued to pale. "Right, so, one…"

Maddie pulled out her bow and nocked an arrow.

"Two…"

She pulled back and aimed, the movement fluid.

"Three."

Suddenly, the herbs went flying out of his hand, the little ribbon connecting them together pinned by a black-shafted arrow to the opposite wall of the tent. Three pairs of startled eyes cut to Maddie's location. Two of them got angry after they got over the shock. Will's melted into relief, and he motioned to the rope. Maddie nodded, rolling away from the Skandians who had charged at her and pulling out her saxe knife, cutting the rope.

"Let's go," Maddie said. "Evelynn is waiting with Midnight and Bumper."

"Where's Tug?" Will asked.

"Safe," she said, choosing to give no exact locations. She had a sneaking suspicion of what the warmweed - she recognized the plant now - prompt was about. Maddie managed to shove Will under the flap of the tent before sliding under herself, watching as the fabric was cut with a knife that had barely missed her head. She couldn't relax yet, however, as she rushed Will into the safety of the forest with Evelynn. She heard Fenn sound the alarm behind them.

"Get him back to Hallasholm," she whispered to Evelynn, who nodded.

"What about you?"

Maddie glanced back at the camp.

"I need to take care of a few things."

Will shook his head.

"You can deal with them another time. We need to go."

Maddie sighed, then nodded.

"Alright."

Maddie and Will got on Bumper, while Evelynn got on Midnight. They heard the sounds of pursuing Skandians behind them and set the two horses into a gallop. Once they were far away from the camp, Evelynn saw Will relax in the saddle.

"What happened?" She asked. Will turned to her.

"Do you know what warmweed is?"

Evelynn nodded slowly, willing her face to not give away her thoughts on it.

"Well...I've had some problems with it in the past."

"Problems you can explain - back at Hallasholm." Maddie interjected. Will nodded, and glanced at Evelynn. She was quiet - too quiet, he thought. Their horses slowed down a few paces, now that they were out of immediate danger.

With the horses, Maddie's racing brain slowed down enough to notice Will's condition. She gave a low sigh. Halt was never going to let Will go out on these adventures again, or at the very least, not for a long while. Nor was Horace and Evanlyn, which was a much more imminent issue. Maddie started to turn Bumper towards the road, when Will stopped her.

"No, we're too obvious out there."

"We're obvious here, following their trail the other way."

Will turned around to face her, and she was strangely aware of the half-dead look his face had taken on.

"Maddie, it's a no. I can deal with it if I'm caught again, but I'm not letting you get caught too. Or Evelynn." She's too young for that terror, Will added to himself, glancing over at her. Maddie sighed.

"Well. We're rather obvious no matter what we do, so if you can handle it, I want to ride straight through to Hallasholm."

"Fine by me."

That argument settled, the small group of Rangers moved through the forest in silence for the rest of the day.

"Where's Maddie? Usually she's back by now," Evanlyn said. Horace looked up at her, the worry in his eyes breaking the rest of his seemingly calm exterior.

"Maddie's been trained as a Ranger - by Will."

"I'm aware."

"She's probably fine."

Evanlyn sighed, and sat down next to Horace.

"Maybe they just found something leading to Will," Horace added. "He could be farther away than just a day."

"Yes, but even then…"

"Even then, you can't possibly think you can go out there too."

"She could be in danger."

Horace snorted, and Evanlyn glared at him.

"I'm sorry… it's just, do you have any idea how much danger simply comes with the role she's decided to play? Will and I were almost killed regularly on our adventures during and after our apprenticeships."

Evanlyn sighed once more.

"It is more than likely that they are all fine. If they're not, we'll handle it when the time comes when we need to handle it."

"I suppose you're right. I just feel rather useless, sitting here and doing nothing to help them."

"Don't worry, Evanlyn."

"It just makes me nervous, Will's been gone for so long, I'm just…" she thought back to their time during his apprenticeship in Skandia. "Worried."

"About?" Horace felt it had more to do than her feeling useless.

"What if…" Evanlyn paused. "What if, somehow, he's back on warmweed… and there's no one around to get him off it without killing him…?"

"If that happened, Maddie would almost certainly have some rough idea what to do when she finds him. Between you and Will, I'm sure she's heard plenty stories about that time in your lives." Horace saw Evanlyn's mouth opening, and he cut in before she could say anything. "Come on, let's get some rest. If we do need to go track down those trouble-attracting Rangers we've surrounded ourselves with, we should be well-rested to do so."

That got Evanlyn's cooperation immediately, and the two of them set down for the night.

Maddie gave a small sigh of relief as she saw Hallasholm start to come into view. It had been what she had judged to be a five-day trip, riding straight through as they had two days and three nights, but now they were in the home stretch. She didn't let either horse slow down, though, since it was still a little bit away. Once they were close enough to Hallasholm that they could get someone's attention quickly and easily if something happened, Will finally let Maddie return to the road. All three were in need of sleep and a warm meal. Evelynn, Maddie noticed, was half-asleep in her saddle. Yes, they all needed sleep and food. She'd have to keep Horace away from their food long enough for Will to get back on track to his normal physical ability, of course, but she got the feeling he'd agree as soon as he saw his best friend's current condition. Will, unlike Evelynn, actually had fallen asleep, and Maddie was once again startled by how far his condition had fallen from its normal state.

They finally rode into Hallasholm, and Maddie had to pull Will off of Bumper. She had Evelynn take care of their horses, since Tug would likely wake Will up, and he desperately needed sleep. She went inside their current home and noticed that her parents were asleep. Good, they had no way to wake up the sleeping Will. Maddie moved him quietly into his bed, and then waited for Evelynn before going to her own. Her task finally complete, she felt her body finally beginning to drift, and was relieved when her apprentice came inside and left towards her bed. Maddie took her own spot near the door. Their rescue mission had still left her on edge, and for at least this week, she wanted to keep a watch on their space in case they had been followed.

Halfway through, she drifted off to sleep, her body finally winning the battle.