A/N: So many reviews has made me happy! Enjoy another rapid chapter!
Raider: By the way, start with the Testing. It's amazing!
RedRebel: Hehe...that would be funny. Maybe next time :)
TheRanger'sDaughter: Oh...you're about to have a lot of fun with Robin.
Hammy: You're enjoying the predictions, aren't you? I know I am :)
AER: Oh, Lina would have been all over hunting these people down indeed. At least her grandson is involved in the hunting.
Disclaimer: I'm not John Flanagan.
Russ, Reese, Hazen, and Robin rode into the night until early the next morning. The trail went cold at the harbor of a small fishing village built along the water. They had yet to actually see Maggie or her kidnapper, but the man was moving quickly rather than covertly. He stuck to major roads. They described Maggie to every person they passed. By the answers given, they assumed the man was keeping her drugged. Every single passerby told them the only girl they'd seen matching that description had been sleeping in her father's saddle, and that her father was a middle aged man with blonde hair, blue eyes, and dressed in furs.
Coming upon the fishing village they happened across a space behind bushes clearly used as a quick cover. They found locks of golden brown curls carelessly left on the ground and splatters of a dark paste likely used to color her hair. They'd found the ground was softer than it should be. Some light digging revealed the dress Maggie had been wearing the morning she was taken. Sky blue, brown laces, and a tell-all singed hem.
"What do you make of it?" Hazen had asked when they found the remains. "Do you think he hurt her?"
"No," Russ had replied after inspecting the dress for signs of struggle beyond the fire. "He's made her a boy."
"Do you think he knows he doesn't have Mara yet?" Reese asked.
"We'd better hope we find her before he figures that out," Russ answered. "Despite some hasty mistakes running off with her, he made it to Lorelei's bridal suite without raising alarm. Maggie's just a child."
"She's a Ranger's daughter," Robin argued. "That counts for something."
"She was quick enough to give Mara's name as hers," Russ said. "That's all."
"How do we find her now?" Reese asked.
"He can't leave the port. My parents' ship is just beyond the harbor blocking off the bay," Hazen pointed out.
"So he's in a corner," Reese went on. "That's not a good thing."
"No. It's not."
"Do you think Maggie could escape?"
"If she's being drugged, no."
"What's our next move?"
Hazen pulled out his seal. "I can order the local men-at-arms to block off the city. We can search for her from there and have her within the hour."
"No," Russ cut him off. "He may decide to cut his loss and kill her. Or, he may decide to add to his collection. We don't have time to play your body guards and find Maggie."
"What do you say we do?" Reese asked.
"We look for a man traveling with his child, perhaps even his ill child."
Robin only half-listened while the boys rattled on. Reese and Hazen both approached their problem from prince standpoints. Hazen, being in his home, wanted to use his title to shut down the village and pick it over until they found her. Russ wanted them to split up and see what intel they could gather from the local tavern, the fishermen's hangout at the docks, and the brothel operating in an abandoned ship. He wanted Hazen to lay low. The Hibernian family made a point to be among their people, just as the Araluens did, and Hazen would be too easily recognized.
Russ' plan, however, had many flaws. For one, Reese couldn't be caught in a Hibernian brothel. He wouldn't be as easily recognized as Hazen but girls who chose that lifestyle were often infatuated with all men of power. One may have been a maid or other in the castle at some point and recognize him as a frequent foreign visitor. Next, Robin had no interest making rounds in a tavern spending gold she knew would mostly go to waste and drunken fabrications. Hazen also wouldn't be still. He wouldn't wait while the others searched. Unsupervised with no task to keep him busy he'd surely get into trouble.
Their group huddled near a river. The boys continued discussing their plan while Robin took off her boots and socks and let her feet dangle in the cool water. Reese rambled through some half-baked plan of his own. Robin allowed her mind to wander while the boys argued over their next move. The man tried to kidnap Mara. He got Maggie, but he wanted Mara. Why?
Mara wasn't a crown heir. Hazen would ascend after their parents, not Mara. Mara was too young to have much political influence yet. The only people she was truly valuable to were her family. Her family, however, was full of influential people. Which member did a male stranger who gained access to Lorelei's bridal suite target? Lorelei? No. He would have kidnapped Gabe if that were the case.
Mason and Scout? What heinous favor did this man want that would make him steal their daughter? And so efficiently at that? Had Maggie not lied he would have likely succeeded. What favor could he possibly want?
Gold?
Robin turned her gaze to where the river met the bay. Her aunt's ships were out there, blocked by the royal embargo as they searched for Maggie. Aunt Lucy was too savvy to send out even half-empty ships. She was a trader. Her merchant vessels had holds for gold as well as cargo. Sure, those leaving their western home were heavier than those coming in from the east, but the value was always exchanged at a profit.
Those ships would have gold and Robin had the authority to claim it. Did he want gold? Did he and his mates plan to demand a large sum? A sum that could only be gathered when so many important allies were visiting? If he wanted money, he'd go for as much as he could get with as little extra risk as possible. Her aunt's ships were just there in the harbor. Three of them. They were designed with speed, durability, and climate versatility in mind. Her aunt guarded the ship blueprints more closely than she guarded her riches.
And Robin had dominion over them.
"I have an idea," she said.
"Perhaps we send Robin into the brothel?" Reese suggested. "She can handle it."
"Hell no," Russ answered.
"Well…" Hazen trailed.
"I said 'hell no'," Russ repeated.
Robin sighed. The boys were useless. She stood up, dried her feet, and walked barefoot into the middle of them.
"I have an idea," she repeated.
"What is it?" Russ asked.
"Find the man and pay him off."
"We don't negotiate no matter the captive," Hazen interrupted her.
"Not even Maggie?" Russ asked. "She's my Commandant's daughter."
"It could have been my sister. My parents would still refuse to negotiate."
Robin sighed. She walked back to where she abandoned her footwear and pulled on her socks and boots. Hazen and Russ continued going at it. Reese, however, came next to her.
"You want to pay them off," he said. "How? Hazen and I didn't exactly come with our purses full."
Robin nodded down the river towards the sea. Reese peered down.
"Lucy's ships?"
"Yes."
"Think she'll let one go?"
"I won't tell her."
Reese frowned. "She will be furious, Robin. All that lost gold…lost stock…"
"She'd be most worried about a lost ship," Robin said as she walked down the bank.
"Right. How do you plan to keep your apprenticeship if you let one of her ships go?"
Robin scanned the coastline. "Skandians dock in Roscrea, correct?"
Reese nodded. "Yes. Uncle Frey and Aunt Rosalina are planning to take one of the Skandian ferries back with their girls."
"The ferries still retired war ships?"
"Well, yes…" Reese trailed. "Robin, you don't…"
"We make the trade, then the Skandians run down the ship."
"They can't take one of your aunt's ships. She hired Skandian shipbuilders to specifically fortify them against Skandian raiders."
"A Skandian ship can outrun my aunt's ship. They can block it off while Hibernians ships finish it off."
"So, you are risking your aunt's merchant ship and also a Skandian ferry."
"Mason and Scout can afford to replace two ships. It's likely less than whatever ransom he'd demand anyway."
"You'll still get a lecture from Mistress Lucy."
Robin shrugged. "I can take a lecture. She's about to ship me off for two years anyway."
Reese nodded. He looked back over to Russ and Hazen. "How to convince them of this plan?"
"First we need to find the kidnapper."
"Yes," Russ agreed, cuing in to the conversation. "We need to find the kidnapper."
"How?" Hazen asked. "Have you two figured that out in your whispering over there?"
"Yes," Robin answered.
"We did?" Reese raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," Robin repeated. "I'm going to the brothel."
"Didn't I already shoot that idea down?" Russ asked, throwing up his hands. "You're not going there."
"Yes I am."
"Over my dead body."
"If you let Ranger Daniel's daughter slip away it may come to that," Robin pointed out. She faced her brother squarely. "Look Russ, women talk to other women, not men. If any of you go in you'll not only risk being recognized, but the women will tell you want they think you want to hear, not what's necessarily true."
"She has a point," Hazen said.
"She does not!" Russ exclaimed. "Robin, no. Mum and Dad would never let me hear the end of it."
"So we won't tell them," Robin shrugged. She walked over to her horse and began rummaging through her pack.
"You're asking us to lie to your parents?" Reese asked.
"You were all for my plan a moment ago, Your Highness."
"That was before you wanted me to lie to your parents."
"Our parents?" Russ gasped. "Have you ever tried lying to our mother? Dad you can get away with if he thinks you're hiding something worth hiding, but Mum? She presses until she knows everything."
"I'm not saying lie to them," Robin rolled her eyes. "Just don't tell them the whole truth."
"What would you have us tell them?" Hazen asked.
"Simple. After locating the kidnapper we ransomed him with Aunt Lucy's ship and then arranged for it to be sunk. You can credit everything to me if you like."
"Anything else?" Russ asked.
"One of you taking the credit would be good," Robin answered without missing a beat. "Aunt Lucy would semi-contain her wrath if a prince or Ranger was the one to order the sinking of her ship."
"No she wouldn't," Russ muttered.