Disclaimer: All Valdemar related items in the below story are the possessions of Mercedes Lackey, not me.

            A/N Right then, another chappy for all y'all.  Stee thanks for the review, just to attempt to clear up your question, Elsa had the potential to be a really good person (or a really bad one depending on the path she chose); Asia saw that as well as the fact that she was having some major problems when she was chosen ... and companions never choose wrong J.

            Rain beat at the road, our backs, and our chosen as we neared that end of our third day pursuing the magic users of the clan.  I was particularly interested in locating the missing heralds.  The longer they were captive the more things could go wrong.  We did, however, hold the advantage of having a full knowledge of their plan.

            I snorted regretfully as the large raindrops removed that last signs of the trail we were following.  It was by purest luck that we had managed to actually find it, but at least after three days following the path Elsa had recognized it and was able direct us to the way house they used in that area.  We had set out that morning warm, dry, rested, and well fed.  It didn't get much better than that.

            :They're up ahead,:  Garth told Ralph and I with a sudden snort and a lengthening of his stride.  Ralph and I didn't waste our time asking how he knew, grove-born just know things like that anyway.  We simply followed his lead and picked up an easy ground-eating canter.

            :You see 'em?: Elsa queried as we sped up.

            :Garth says they're close,: I responded picking up my pace to stay even with the others, no fair having longer legs than me!

            :What happens when we catch them?:

            I gave her a mental shrug and broke into a full gallop to keep pace.  I was getting rather aggravated with my boys, they should have known to slow down for a lady!  I pinned my ears back briefly and then shrugged off my anger, it wouldn't help us any.

            The road swung abruptly left and as we rounded the turn the departing backs of eight double mounted white horses and one big black stallion confronted us.

            :It's them,: Ralph confirmed unnecessarily.

            I looked at the laboring horses; a forced run with two riders apiece had taken its toll, especially on the black.  They maintained a staggering jog by sheer will, yet they managed to stay in a three by three formation with the black in the front right.

            Without any conscious consent we charged for the tightly assembled ranks and were soon right on top of them.  I looked with mounting horror to see that the white horses were not horses at all, but companions.  That would certainly verify our theory on the missing ones.  I searched for familiar faces, hoping that I wouldn't find any.

            :Worry about them later,: Garth snapped at us, :First we get rid of the clansmen, then we care for the others.:

            I knew he was right so with no small measure of regret I told Elsa to get her bow ready.  We had no real option but to kill the thieves.  Any other way was too risky.  I could feel her trembling as she nodded shakily to my instructions and nocked an arrow.  She leveled her bow and shot.  The arrow hit one of the riders in the shoulder; he fell against the other rider and clutched his wounded arm simultaneously and agonized mind voice reached my mental ears.

            :Noooooooooooo,: the familiar motherly voice shrieked, :Chosen…:

            :Stop shooting!: Called to the others.  It was quite apparent who Elsa had hit, :Stop shooting, I said,: I repeated as I saw Bart leveling an arrow.  Ralph jostled his chosen and the shot went wide, :Our missing heralds are down there, we can't just shoot them.  We have to come up with a better way.:

                        :Like what?  They knew the risks Asia, we can't risk Valdemar for the lives of a few heralds…: Garth growled pointedly.

                        :If we don't try to save them then Valdemar isn't worth saving, they are family Grove born, we cannot leave them!:  I snapped back.  Garth looked at me, and then I felt the strangest sensation from him, approval and something else, I wasn't  sure what.

                        :Very well, we will try to rescue them.: Our exchange lasted only a moment but in that time the group on the road ahead of us had turned and was arrayed against us.

                        The companions, now that rescue was in sight, fought back; they balked whirled, kicked, bucked, reared and generally gave their riders grief.  I can only imagine what they would have done had they not carried their chosen as well as their captors.  Miss Elmira, on her black stallion, tried to cuff and chivy her trainees back into control but was altogether unsuccessful, they were exhausted and soon the road was littered with unhorsed white clad youths.

                        The rider-less companions were once more calm, and stood patiently as we joined trotted up to join them.  Miss Elmira saw that the situation had soured and wheeled to run, laying about her horse's flanks with the flat of a sword.  Without urging Garth took chase while Ralph and I tended to the others.  Elsa and Bart had to bind eight stunned and dazed teens while the eight heralds stumbled to their companions.

            :Asia, what do we do with them?: Elsa asked wearily after the eight clansmen were bound.

            :The same thing as with any traitor,: I responded dully.

            :I can't do that,: she responded, an edge of queasiness in her mental voice.

            :You can make it easy, no one else will.:

            :I can't!  If you love me at all you won't even ask it of me, Asia …:

            :Hush chosen, you don't have to the boys will take care of it, you did your part, relax.:

            :What about the other heralds?:

            :We should help them, the one you shot needs a healer.:

            :Alright, make sure Mew and Ralph do … what needs to be done,: Elsa clung to my neck and we joined the bruised and beaten heralds off to the side of the road.

            :Ralph?  Will you take care of them?:

            :How?  I am not doing the dirty work, besides shouldn't they be tried?:

            :Yes, but if they aren't alive for a trial there's no chance they'll get off to keep up their treason.:

            :You're forgetting something.:

            :What?: I asked puzzled.

            :The truth spell.:

            :Oh,: I practically squeaked.  I mentally smacked myself in the forehead, how could a companion forget the truth spell, :You guys still need to take care of it, Elsa can barely manage it at level one.:

            :Okay, that's fine, but she has to help with it.:

            :Fine,: I relayed our plan to Elsa while Ralph did the same for Bart.

            I glanced down the road where Garth had disappeared in chase of Miss Elmira.  There was no sign of their return.  Elsa and Bart soon had our prisoners ordered for their testing.  Each was asked three simple questions: Do you have any harmful intentions toward the queen, will you be loyal to Valdemar and her current ruler, and with whom does your first loyalty lie.

            As the eight students were put under the second level of the spell and questions it was revealed that a good half of them had been compelled to serve through threats and promises.  Maggie, Selwyn, Jared, and Georgette all tested clean.  Selwyn was serving for his family's safety, Jared and Georgette had been born into the clan and had no choice in the matter, and Maggie had been bribed in and then kept loyal through threats.  Harold and the three others were there for their own potential positions in Miss Elmira's proposed court.  Those four would be dangerous, they said so themselves, although not in as many words.

            :We can't leave the glory grubbers,: I told Elsa calmly.

            :I know, but …:

            :Don't worry about it, Bart will take care of them, we have the heralds and the four who were loyal to care for.:

            :Very well,: Elsa agreed on the verge of tears.

            :It'll be painless El, and it's gotta be done,:

            :I know,: Elsa sighed and leaned against me for a moment, abruptly she pushed away, "Garth and the queen's own will be coming," she muttered and made her way over to the eight bedraggled heralds.  I followed her; she would need the medical supplies from my saddlebags.  Ralph was helping Bart with a much less pleasant task.  Argonel, the deadly painkiller, a quarter bottle each would put the four traitors into a sleep from which they would never awake. 

            Having administered a full dosage, and then some, to each of the four Bart silently joined Elsa at her work.  She shed silent tears as the two worked at bringing the injured heralds and the four ex-clansmen to a state in which they could at least sit their mounts.  Ralph and I went among the lost looking companions to try and comfort them.

            :Hi there,: I whispered to one of the companion mares as I sidled up to her.

            She snorted at me and pinned her ears.  Shocked recognition dawned on me.

            :Tally?  Oh, Tally, is that you?:  I received no civil answer, just another uncertain flicker of her ears, she back away from me testily.  I took a tentative step toward her, :Are you alright Tally?  What happened to you?:

            Again I got no real answer, an idea struck me, :Elsa, make Jared put down the shields on Tally please?:

            A moment later Elsa responded, saying that it had been done.  I didn't really need that information though because simultaneously I heard Tally's raw mind voice whispering in my mind.

            :Is he gone?:

            :He's gone, it's alright Tally, you're safe.:

            :Keep him out of my mind, please?  Help me …: From there Tally broke into incoherence and I was left sending her mindless feelings of comfort and safety.  She finally quieted.

            :There now, Jared is gone, we won't let him hurt you alright?  Elsa and Bart are taking care of Fred for you, you're safe okay?:

            :Asia?  It's really you … they're not tricking me are they?:

            :No, ask Fred, you're really safe.:

            :Really?:

            :Really, I wouldn't lie to you Tally.:

            :Fred?: I heard her call with so little control that anyone receiving within her range would likely hear it.

            :Tally?:  a rusty sounding mind voice responded.

            :Why don't you two speak privately, alright Tally?: I said, subtly reminding her that just about everyone was being unwittingly included in she and Fred's reunion.

            Tally took my advice without even acknowledging it and I moved onto the next companion.  It was simple to repeat my conversation with the other companions, especially since Ralph was doing the same.  Just as the final Heraldic pair was reunited Garth came pounding back down the road an exhausted farm horse, a big black Friesian, at his side.  Bound and struggling weakly was Miss Elmira.

            :You should get that tack off the others, it's not theirs.: Garth said simply as he approached.

            :What's wrong with it?: I asked, reluctant to disturb my nervy patients.

            :It's for horses, the saddles aren't bad, but I doubt they'll be liking those bits.: Garth said flatly.

            :Bits?: I cried in abject horror, :What fool would even try to  put a bit in a companions mouth?!!!:   This certainly called for some serious payback, as if kidnapping companions and heralds, impersonating heralds, a regicidal conspiracy, coercion, murder, and pillaging weren't enough … Oh no, Miss Elmira had to go just that one step further.

            I glared at the woman's face with my ears flat to my head, sometimes ears are a good tradeoff for human facial features, and blasted her with such a strong sending of hatred that I nearly staggered under the impact of it, :You treasonous wretch, I ought to kill you, good and slow ...:  I added for good measure, and I would have made as if to charge her, maybe even actually done so, but Ralph was conveniently in the way and he made it quite clear that in order to reach her I had to go through him.  I flicked my ears back, stomped my left fore, and then turned away with an aggravated snort.

            By the time my theatrics were over with Elsa and Bart had removed the offending tack, and they were working on a way to transport the arrow-wounded herald.  Herald Milton was not too concerned with anything but his Cassandra.  The mare had lain down beside him, lipping his hair and nuzzling him as if he were a sick colt.  They eventually rigged up a stretcher as the Queen's own secured Miss Elmira.

            While the humans who were able constructed a camp for the night, dug a grave for the dead traitors, and readied everything to start for Haven in the morning, we heard what had happened to the missing heralds.

            :We were just starting out  on a regular circuit,: Tally started, :We weren't even that far from Haven.  We were talking and not paying much mind to anything when they ambushed us, it was the shields they put on us more than anything that scared me.  We hesitated and they had us separated and bound.  In the whole time I was there I didn't even feel Fred.:

            :Wasn't he riding you the past few days?: Ralph commented.

            :No, they made sure not to put us with our chosen,:  Cassandra replied.

            :Not that we would have noticed with the amount of drugs they put into us before we started.  That and the shields …: An old stallion put in wryly looking up from the food his chosen was giving him.

            I shuddered at the very remembrance of those shields; it was no wonder poor Tally had been so upset.  Not that the others had been much better.  There wasn't much more forthcoming after that, it wasn't as if they wished to relive the whole experience and the time would come that a full report would be required of each of them anyway, so we let the subject drop and settled in for the night.

            Being the lucky ones who were comparatively fresh and emotionally stable Ralph and I, along with our chosen, drew watch duty.  We were to trade off with Garth and his chosen.  With each set taking two watches it was not exactly a fun plan, but it was better than dying in our sleep.  I snorted at that, after losing that much sleep I would almost rather have been dead, especially since it entailed staying up in the dark out of doors with a bunch of older companions and a psychotic traitor.

            Well, I didn't care so much about the companions, my chosen being almost a full herald we were practically peers anyway, but the dark and Miss Elmira were not exactly pleasant.  I sighed; at least I would be awake when she tried to kill me. 

            Bart and Elsa were sitting by the fire quite comfortably and Ralph had elected to keep an eye on the prisoner so I wandered around by myself for a while.  I paced the perimeter of our encampment.  Then I tried to sing, not exactly easy with equine vocal chords.  Eventually I ran out of creative excuses to stay away from the warm brightness around the fire and intruded on Bart and Elsa's alone time.  Not that I was nosy or anything.

            I placed myself comfortably within hearing distance of the two heralds and listened intently to their lazy conversation.

            "… any boyfriends?" Bart's voice floated to me, oh, checking out my girl's past was he, naughty boy.  I listened carefully for the response.

            "No, there wasn't time for that sort of thing with the clan or at the collegium, I had enough to keep me busy.  What about you?"

            "No boyfriends," he said with a laugh.

            I could just picture the look on Elsa's face, disgust.

            "That's not even a good joke Mew, seriously, that's just plain gross … where in the world did you get an idea like that?"

            "What?" Bart truly didn't seem to know what Elsa was so upset about.  I could have told him that Elsa didn't like that kind of thing, but of course he hadn't seen fit to ask the pretty horsy.  It wasn't a surprising view; the clan had held an opposing position.

            "You having a boyfriend, that's just wrong!"

            "Not in some places, some people are just like that."

            "Not any that you'll catch me with!"

            Bart seemed to know when to leave a subject alone, points for him, because he simply shrugged and moved on, "I've had a few girlfriends, nothing too serious though …"

            "Define serious," Elsa said skeptically, ah smart girl.  I always knew Elsa knew more about heralds than she let on.

            "You know, long-term …"

            "You've kissed other girls …" Elsa said leadingly.

            "I've done more than kiss them," he said bluntly.

            "That's what I thought, do you have any kids then?"

            "No," he said with a chuckle.  Bad move boy, I thought fiercely, she's serious.

            "How can you be sure?"

            "No one told you about the medication?"

            "What?  No one told me anything …" Elsa said uncertainly.

            Bart launched into an uncomfortable description of the birth control medication commonly used by heralds, "… no one ever told you this before?" he finished.

            "Who would?  I wasn't that close to the other females in Haven.  Maybe they just assumed I already knew," after a moment of thought she added, "it's probably best they didn't, I would have punched them for even suggesting it … in fact I ought to slap you for mentioning it!" that's my girl I crowed in my mind.

            Reassured that Elsa could, and would, take care of herself I once again set off on a perimeter scan.

A/N okay, maybe the last bit was a touch corny but oh well.  Asia was pretty funny there to make up for it.  I will post this as soon as I get it to a computer with internet, it's kinda long to make up for not posting in a while (and because I had some loose ends to tie up in this chap).  Plus I got to attend SCUBA (my little sister's vacation bible school) go to a wicked cool horse show (New England Morgan Horse Show) where they retired an awesome stallion (HVK Courageous Flaire), and even visit a college, so I do have a nice list of excuses ( I freely admit they are only excuses) plus I enjoyed spending time with the half of my family that actually spends time together!!!!  Right so, luv y'all g'night and …. (ya probably won't like it but oh well(if you do like it then mention it in a review ;-))) God bless ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!