Will had to give Angie credit. The horse was more than half way up the mountain stomping around to make it look like she was riding him. It was only a few hours after dawn, since there had been no sign of a place where they had stayed the night, Will could only assume that she had sent the horse away the night before. Will was surprised she had even thought to do that. She seemed so unfocused that he doubted how much she actually knew. He was going to have to be more careful in the future, this girl was more ingenuitive than he had originally thought.
"Why is her horse stomping around up here without her?" Johnny snapped watching the horse stomp a few more steps in a circle. How long had the horse been up there stomping around without a rider? Why would it even do that?
"It's a trick the Ranger horses are taught," Will explained whistling to get Starburst's attention. The little pony stopped with one hoof up in the air to look back at Will and Johnny. The horse snorted shaking his head as he came to stand next to Tug, "To fool pursers."
"It works," Johnny muttered drily looking back down the mountain imagining the warm fires of Hallasholm.
He had not wanted to come on this adventure up the mountain. He had wanted to stay in Hallasholm. If Angie was gone they would never learn the truth of what had happened between him and Angie. He determined that Anige had never told them about the argument, so they did not know about the verbal bullying that had basically rendered the girl senseless. And Johnny found himself able to live with that. But instead he was climbing a mountain looking for her because the Ranger horses, for some crazy reason, were trained to fool people trying to track them.
"Can we go back down now?" Johnny asked while Will checked Angie's horse over. For what, Johnny could not begin to guess.
"Yes," Will swung up in Tug's saddle and signaled for Starburst to follow. "We'll have to find where they separated and follow her trail."
"Then we're not going back to Hallasholm?" he asked already knowing the answer. The Rangers and Horace were determined to find Angie, even though she apparently did not want to be found.
"We have to find her, make sure she's not hurt." Will turned Tug to go back the way they had come.
Johnny had a comeback, but he decided not to speak. He had so far managed not to anger the Rangers and Horace, but he imagined it was a close thing. So he followed the Ranger and the spare Ranger horse back down the mountain.
They were close to a quarter of the way back down when Starburst stopped suddenly and whinnied looking off toward the south. Will drew Tug back looking to Angie's horse and where he was trying to direct them. Then Will looked at the ground. Johnny could not see anything, but the Ranger did.
Will swung from the saddle and knelt by Starburst, his fingers tracing something on the ground. "She came through here."
"How can you tell?" Johnny leaned over in his saddle to see what Will was looking at. As far as Johnny could tell, there was nothing special about the spot. "It looks like everything else."
"Her steps are light," Will traced a small footprint out for Johnny to see. "And she's trained in the art of unseen movement, mostly," he added as an afterthought. "She came through her last night."
Johnny shrugged accepting the information. He knew nothing about tracking and only saw the print because the Ranger had pointed it out to him. This was what Rangers were supposed to do, so Johnny prepared himself to follow where the half visible tracks would lead him.
The tracks led to a giant tree, Will disappeared into it and came back shortly after.
"She hid here during the night, probably form the hunters who came through." Will remounted guiding Tug around the tree to where her tracks emerged on the other side. "She has almost half a day's lead on us, if she stayed here during the night," the Ranger looked up at the sky calculating the time.
"So we should be able to catch her?" Johnny ventured. "I mean we are on horseback and she running up a mountain on foot."
"I don't believe she'd being running up the mountain. The general direction of her trail is heading back down to level ground."
"But we've still got the horses," Johnny prompted. "That should give us some advantage, right?"
"It's easier to navigate the mountains on foot," Will responded. Then he added: "Unless you have horses trained for that." Will was stroking his beard in thought looking down at the trail Angie had left.
"And we don't have those," Johnny feigned regret, thinking he was finally going to get to return to Hallasholm. Half a day of this tracking stuff was more than enough for him.
"I do." Johnny's hopes were cut short. "Tug's trained for that since I'm part of the Task Force, we've seen more mountains than I care to count."
"So now what," Johnny knew he could not ride the Ranger's horse while the Ranger rode it, and he did not want to try Angie's horse after it bucked him at the cabin in Redmont. They were either going to give up or try to catch her with Johnny riding his leggy battle horse. He really hoped they would give up, his battle horse was not good for this mountain and Will had insisted that Johnny stay with him.
"I'm going to keep tracking her. I should be able to catch her before dark. I want you to take Starburst back to Hallasholm and wait for Horace and Maddie to come back, tell them where I've gone."
"Okay," he hid his excitement with a hesitant response.
"I should be back tonight, unless something goes wrong." The Ranger tightened his grip on the reins as he prepared to leave.
"Do you expect something to go wrong?" Johnny asked looking over at the Ranger carefully.
Will looked at ease but his eyes betrayed him. Will's eyes spoke volumes about what he knew would happen, things that always seemed to happen to him when he went off alone or sent an apprentice off by themselves. The Ranger knew what could happen, but he had already made his choice. Johnny had to go back to Hallasholm to tell Horace and Maddie that Will had found Angie.
"It always does," the grey bearded Ranger smiled at the battle school apprentice. "Don't worry, I've survived Skandia before, I can do it again."
"But," what was he so concerned about?
Johnny did not want to be out looking for Angie, he would have preferred being beaten to a pulp in a practice session with Horace. But something about that last statement from the Ranger made him want to stay. It made Johnny want to know what the Ranger had gone through, he wanted to be part of whatever was going to happen that day.
The Ranger shook his head. "No, its best that you go back to tell Horace and Maddie so they don't worry anymore. The senior jarls too, they can call their search parties back."
Johnny turned his battle horse away from the Ranger, still looking over his shoulder. He hated being sent away, he felt like he needed to be with Will while he traversed the Skandian countryside. Will smiled and signaled to Starburst, then clicked his tongue and rode off on Tug.
Once the Ranger was gone Johnny pressed his heels to his horse's sides and started down the mountain. He was not any good at tracking and he was not going to chance trying to find his way back the way they had come. He was going to ride down until he found some type of trail then ride for Hallasholm.
Starburst followed closely after him; occasionally whinnying and tossing his head toward the left. Johnny was certain the little horse was going to wander off on its own. Will had not told him to tie the horse and so far it had obeyed whatever command it had been given, but Johnny was still waiting.
The going was slow. The battle horse balked at just about everything and would not even attempt going over fallen logs. Johnny felt most of the journey was them walking in circles to keep his horse from suffering a panic attack. Starburst trailed along behind, plodding after the huge battle horse and the battle school apprentice.
Finally he came across a road.
He started in the direction he hoped was Hallasholm with the horses at a walk. They had traveled about a kilometer when Starburst stopped and turned to face the opposite direction with a snort. Johnny pulled his horse to a stop and twisted around to see what the little Ranger horse was doing.
At first he saw nothing. The road was completely deserted except for Johnny and the horses. He had just about given up on whatever the horse was trying to tell him when the horse whinnied, bobbing his head frantically.
"What are you doing," Johnny walked his horse over to Starburst, meaning to take hold of the reins and guide the animal to Hallasholm. Just as he reached out to take hold of the reins something flashed through the undergrowth at the edge of the road. Johnny stopped looking for it again. He never saw anything, but something appeared on the road.
Running down the track was a small figure in a mottled green cloak. Starburst neighed happily and stomped his feet, debating whether or not to run to the person coming toward them. When the runner saw the horses they quickened their pace and came to a staggering halt between the two horses, rubbing her mount's neck as she tightened the girth strap.
"I'm glad you found him," Angie panted mounting her horse. "I don't think I could have run all the way to Hallasholm."
"Then you shouldn't have sent him away," Johnny retorted, uncertain of how he felt about Angie being back. "And you shouldn't have run off like that. All three of them are freaking out about it."
Angie rolled her eyes at him, "well I'm back now, so let's get back to Hallasholm. I have something important to tell Will." Angie spurred her horse into a gallop.
"Will's not in Hallasholm," Johnny raced after Angie. "He's somewhere on the mountain looking for you!"
Angie's horse made a tight circle and started back the way Angie had come, rushing past Johnny like the wind.
"Where are you going?" Johnny turned his horse as well, struggling to maintain his seat. The large battle horse was horrible at turning like that, twice Johnny thought he would be on the ground before the turn was finished.
"I have to find Will," Angie called over her shoulder disappearing around the bend.
"He's somewhere on the mountain, you'll never find him," Johnny urged his horse to greater speeds trying to catch up to Angie and Starburst. They were losing distance faster than Johnny thought was possible. How could such a small animal run so quickly?
"If he's looking for me, I know where he'll end up."
"Wouldn't it just be easier to go to Hallasholm and tell Horace and Maddie?" he shouted just before Angie vanished around another bend in the road.
Angie drew Starburst to a stop and waited for Johnny to come along side her. She glared at him from beneath the cowl of her mottled cloak, which had amazingly managed to stay up during her ride. She seemed unaffected by the ride, while Johnny was winded.
"Are you sure they're going to be there when I arrive?" she asked.
Johnny hesitated. He had no idea what Horace and Maddie were doing or when they would return to Hallasholm and the Oberjarl's Palace. But surely that would be better than racing up a mountain to find Will.
"Are they in Hallasholm or not?" Angie demanded with a growl.
"They're out looking too," Johnny gasped. As soon as he spoke, Angie touched her heels to Starburst's sides and raced off again. "But they'll be heading back, since they wouldn't have found anything," he shouted after her, but she was already too far away to hear him.
"Why do I even bother?" Johnny turned his horse around once again and started off the direction he had been heading before.