When Saya woke up, she was in a dark room with gray stone walls. She sitting in a chair hands shackled behind her back. She was alone and worried about what they would do to Will and Halt, and wondering if they had also gotten to Alyss and Pauline. She couldn't think about it. She knew she needed to focus on getting out of here, with Will and Halt, alive. It wouldn't be easy, but it's what she needed to do.
Will and Halt came to; they were in a dark room with gray stone walls. Their minds immediately went to Saya. Will hoped she had escaped or they left her at the cabin, but the last time he saw her she was being dragged away from them, screaming their names, desperately. Halt looked back to that moment and remembered Will who screamed his name like that when the Skandians took him away, and when he was shot with a poison in the forest. He remembers Gilan screaming his name when he was about to have his head removed from his body, but hearing Saya's scream was more heart wrenching then theirs, maybe even combined.
"She'll be fine, Will. Even if they did capture her she knows how to stay alive."
"I know Halt… but what if they already killed her?"
"They didn't. That head of the Kasai clan, told her that she would know what pain was and meant it as emotional pain because he believes she betrayed him." Halt paused. "If anyone's getting killed around here will it's us."
"And they'll do it right in front of her." They both looked down, trying not to think about it.
That morning when Horace, Alyss, and Pauline came back to Halt's cabin it was not good. From a distance they could see wagon marks in the snow. As they got closer and closer Horace noticed something about the door it was cracked open, which Will and Halt never did. He stopped and looked up at the chimney, no smoke. He dashed toward the door and inside. There was no one. Alyss and Pauline were close behind him. The inside of the cabin was destroyed they checked the rooms there was no one, but all over were signs of fights. Horace saw something on the counter a knife was holding it down. He handed the letter to Alyss who read it aloud.
"'To my friends of Araluen,
I have had a confutation with your friends and I would intently wish not to harm them, but in the finding that my own friend dearest to me has betrayed me in the worst of manner of my people. I have the right to show her what she has done to my spirit, by breaking hers. It is a strong part of our culture. I did not mean this personally to anyone else effected, except for Saya Kage.
I wish you well,
Ryuu Hanshou, head of the Kasai clan.'"
"Let's get this to the Barron. Horace you tell Crowley, we need someone to start tracking now before it snows more."
They quickly got back on their horses and went to where they needed to be. Horace was able to get to Crowley and told him what happened and that they need someone to track the trails their captors had made. Crowley went with Horace and quickly started tracking. Meanwhile, Alyss and Pauline were taking to the Barron who sent word to the King. When Horace and Crowley got to Halt's cabin, Crowley knew that it was a group of at least 8 people. They started heading down the trail the Kasai clan left behind, as fast as they could. They hoped that their friends could stay alive long enough for them to get there.