"Alice?!" Will called at the door of Alice's place. There was nothing. Annabelle was gone, and there was another trail from an uknown horse. Will pushed the door open. He thought it might've been locked, but it wasn't. It swung open easily. There was Storm, sleeping in front of a dead fire. But, Alice was absent from the scene. Had she been called off on a mission? It seemed that way. Her sheath, scabbard and cloak were all missing, along with her boots. She must've. That's what Will was worried about. There was a group of bandits around. They would take anyone captive. Most people, wouldn't come back. But, surely not Alice.
Will followed the tracks, then swung off Tug as the tracks came to a stop infront of the forest border in a clearing, to find a simple farmer's place. He walked in, the door unlocked. There was Alice. Severely injured, but alive. He kneeled down hurriedly beside her.
"Alice, come on wake up" He said, gently shaking the girl. She opened her eyes weakly and looked up at Will. "What happened?" She asked. Will looked around. "I don't know" Will replied.
"Ashton. It must've been him that fucker" Alice said. Will stopped her from getting up.
"Alice, we need to get you medical attention" Will said, panic filling him at the amount of wounds she had. She slipped out of Will's grip and staggered to her feet.
"I'll be fine" She said, rubbing her eyes. "I'm just tired."
"Alice your wounded and bleeding" Will said. Alice laughed.
"That seems to be the case a lot lately" She said. "I'm fine, relax."
"I am relaxed" Will said quickly. Alice took one swift stride, grabbed Will by the wrist, and felt his pulse.
"Your panicking" Alice said, letting go. Will realised that Alice was a lot more specialised than he thought, and relaxed. Alice sniled.
"Good" She said before turning on her heels and walking out. She's faking that I swear, Will thought.
She wasn't. She felt completely fine, she didn't take acknowledgment to the fact she should be dead right now. She washed herself down when she got home and patched herself up. Then, she threw on her Ranger uniform and cloak she'd washed. Will was so alarmed by the fact Alice could be so calm and collected. Had she even been effected by the wounds?
"So, Ashton was his name?" Will asked.
"Ashton Smith, yeah" Alice replied. "I wondered why a 'farmer' would be so heavily armed. The weapons were rather advanced too. To advanced.Those would've cost an awful lot of money. And the name. The name seemed..." She drifted off, not sure how to explain it. Will raised an eyebrow, a question in his eyes.
"Seemed so...random" Alice said, finding her words.Will nodded. The , Alice's eyes widened.
"The kids" Alice asked, rising from her seat. "Where are they Will?"
"They're at my place still, Alice" Will said. Then, he realised his mistake. "Holy shit" He said at length, leaning back in his chair as Alice's furious gaze turned on him, boring into him.
"You, left, the, kids, ALONE!?" She said, her voice gradually rising to a yell. "WHAT THE FUCK!?"
Alice dashed out the door in two strides, swinging on her cloak she'd taken off in the process. Seconds later, she, and Annabelle, were gone, Will struggling to follow suit.
"R-Ryan?" Stuttered Amber.
"Yes?" Ryan replied in question.
"I-I'm s-scared" Amber said. Ryan put his arms around his sister, and held her close, the two sitting on the couch.
"It's alright" Ryan said, brushing his sister's hair out of her face. "Everything's alright." He was going to say 'everything will be alright', but realised that wasn't exactly reassuring, so changed it last second. It had been a while since the young Ranger had left, and the sun was beginning to set. Ryan ran his fingers through his sisters hair, kissing her gently on the forehead. The door slammed open, the two kids looking up, startled. It was their mother. She rushed in, dragging in Will by the hair.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow OW!" He whined. Alice let go, and Will fell flat on his face. Her kids ran to Alice, herself welcoming them, arms open. The two kids threw their arms around their mother.
"Thank god your both ok" She said. Ryan, once they let each other go, was the first to notice the partially red bandages.
"Are you alright?" He Asked.
"Yes" Alice replied simply, as she glared daggers at Will. He thought about running out the door, but then discarded the idea. That would just show he was scared.
"Leave him alone Mummy" Amber said. Alice turned her gaze on Amber, raising an eyebrow, a question in her eyes.
"Whatever he did, I'm sure he dosen't deserve the death stare."
Alice realised her daughter was right. She was still angry though.
"That's it" Alice said. She swung off Annabelle. She whisteled one, singular note, and Tug reared up unexpectedly, Will falling off. Alice grabbed him by the hair.
"Follow" She said to the horses. The two whinnied in acknowledgement. Then, Alice walked off. Despite Will's attempts to stand, he kept falling. Alice dragged him like that the whole time from Norgate to Seacliff, only getting respite on the ferry to Seacliff. Alice put the two horses in the lean-to-stable, still dragging Will by the hair. They had taken a detour through Redmont, and coincidentally, past Halt's.
He'd looked out of his window, just in time to see his whining apprentice, and Alice's furious stride, almost falling backwards himself at it. What a site, Halt thought jokingly. He must've done something bad to piss her off like that. I'll ask him later, he thought.
