He would have liked Maddie or Will to be in charge of the sweep. They had a mind for this, Horace was more of a combatant.
Lead an army? No problem.
Fight man to man? He could go all day.
Train warriors? He had already taught some of the best.
Strategic sweeps of a foreign city? No, that was not something for Horace Altman, let the Rangers do that.
Not only did he not want to do that, the Skandians were growing bored with it as well. They were being deprived of braining people, so they cared less and less about the proceedings. Horace was about to let them leave, they had caught one of the assassins, Will had put an arrow through his thigh and pinned him to a wall. With the threat kind of under control, and the pleasure of braining the purple clad men denied, no one had much enthusiasm for the hunt.
He was about to make his announcement that they could all go when Maddie came running in. She veered straight to him, panic rising in her eyes.
"Angie's been hurt," she spoke as the Skandians gathered around them. "Down in the shipyard, some of the Genovesans ambushed her and Johnny."
"Is the boy hurt?"
"No, Angie saved him, but a pile of the beams for the hulls fell on her," pain rippled on the faces of the seawolves. They knew how heavy the beams where, having taken turns in the shipyard as teenagers.
"Let's go boys," Nils Ropehander bellowed the time honored Skandian battle cry, brandishing his battle axe over his head. Horace fell in behind the excited Skandian seawolf as he led the charge for the shipyard.
In true Skandian fashion the charge did not stop to make sure the area was safe before entering and they had no battle plan as they searched. Horace and Maddie cringed hearing the seawolves hack through massive wooden beams, watching the piles scattered as the Sakandians searched for their enemy, and allies.
Horace and Maddie found them, moments before the seawolves stormed through the area. Johnny was wearing one of the dull purple capes of the Genovesans over his cloak, kneeling in a circle of scattered timber. Will was at his side, his medical kit spread around them.
The Skandian's charge and ferocious battle cries died down as they saw the dead assassins. Horace and Maddie slowly approached Will and Johnny, followed by the quickly subdued warriors. Everyone feared what they would find.
"We need a healer," Will had fashioned a splint to Angie's left leg and her right arm. "Quickly," he snapped not turning from the still figure.
"Will," Horace reached out, ready to console his friend. Will shrugged his hand away.
"She's not dead Horace," Will's voice cracked. "She's not dead."
"Uncle Will," Maddie knelt beside the older Ranger. "Please, don't do this."
"She's not dead," Johnny whispered on Will's other side, his head shaking. "She's not dead."
Nils joined them, his battle axe left behind with one of the others. He looked down sadly at the girl, a single tear running down his cheek. He liked the girl. She had a fire in her soul that he could respect as a warrior. She was still a child, he shook his head miserably.
"I'm sorry general," Nils muttered, his massive hand falling on the knight's shoulder.
"She's not dead," Will repeated.
They looked down, all wanting to believe what Will was saying, but they knew it was not true. She was pale, too pale to be alive, her eyes were closed and she was not moving. Horace had seen it before, Maddie had seen it before, they had all seen this.
Angie was dead.
The sudden moan and shift of the body before them had half of the Skandians screaming about ghosts and several running from the shipyard. Horace felt his heart start again as tears streamed down his face.
She was alive!
The room in the Oberjarl's Palace was illuminated by a roaring fire, kept burning by a young slave Will pulled from the yard. They placed the unconscious girl on the bed, barely daring to breathe as they held her. Every move of the people carrying her sent ripples of pain across Angie's face, breaking hearts that had only just begun to mend.
The healer had made everyone leave, including Will. He and Horace paced the hall outside of the room. Maddie sat in a chair she had gotten from another room, watching the door with large grief stricken eyes. They had sent Johnny away with Nils, they all felt the boy needed to be removed and distracted.
Johnny had fought them, beating Nils frantically as he was taken away from Angie's room. "She saved me, you can't send me away! She saved me," he had shouted at them. All three of them could still hear the boy's frustrated shouting in their minds, "you can't send me away. She saved me!"
"She'll be fine," Will muttered to himself. She had survived this long, she was a fighter. Angie was a Ranger's apprentice. She was the child of Rangers. She could live through this. He stopped before the door, looking at the barrier between him and the child he had watched grow up. "She'll be fine."
"Any word?" the jarl Hal appeared at Will's side.
"No," Will and Horace answered dejectedly, their heads dropping solemnly. Horace stood on Will's other side watching the door.
"I can't take it," Will resumed his pacing. "There has to be something I can do."
"She's in the care of the most capable healer in all of Hallasholm," Hal offered watching the Ranger walk his circuit in the hall.
"I trust him," Will shook his head. "I just feel so useless."
Hal opened his mouth to comment when the door opened. The healer came out with his head bowed in exhaustion. Maddie came to her feet, upending her chair and stood beside her father as they waited for the news. His body language suggested the worse news, Maddie felt her heart drop to her stomach and sink lower and lower waiting for the healer to speak.
"I did what I could," the healer's voice was soft and laced with exhaustion. Will started to turn from the man. Maddie felt her father's arm around her shoulders and she turned to him.
"Ranger," the healer smiled looking up at Will, "she's sleeping."
"Can I go in?" Will started for the door before the healer could respond.
"Of course," the healer stood aside, allowing Will to enter the room. He turned his weary eyes to Horace and Maddie after Will was gone. "I had to give her warmweed, it was the only thing that would ease her pain." He seemed unhappy to have to resort to the use of the plant for healing. It was a sentiment that Horace shared.
"Is that so horrible," Maddie asked looking from her father's grief stricken face to the healer. "If it helps, then she needs it.'
"Warmweed had many side effects," the healer responded sadly. "Foremost among them is addiction."
"Addiction?" Maddie looked back to her father.
Horace looked past the healer into the room. "How much?" he knew Will would not approve of this. During his first trip to Skandia Will had become addicted to warmweed, it had almost killed him. Since then, the rangers had incorporated the plant in their healing balms. Will was reluctant to use it, his fear and hatred of the plant was so great.
"Only enough to ease the pain," he answered. "But she will want more when she wakes. She has four broken ribs, the warmweed relaxes her muscles making it easier to breathe."
"Will's not going to like this," Horace sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.
"She needs it," Maddie protested. "He can't be too angry if it makes the pain lessen."
Horace shook his head at Maddie's comment. "It's a long story Maddie."
"Warmweed is highly addictive, Ranger Maddie. Your companions know this," Hal sighed with a shake of his head. "I've seen dozens of good seawolves lose everything once they start the drug. Most never recover from it."
"How long will she need the warmweed?" If it was short time, they could avoid the addiction. If they could find another way to ease her pain they could avoid the trauma. Cassandra had told Horace about what had happened to Will while he was addicted to warmweed, he could not bear the thought of Angie is such a condition. He knew Will could not endure that.
The healer shook his head, "at least until her ribs heal. She will have difficulty sleeping until then without it and she will be in immense pain."
"Oh," Maddie gasped covering her mouth with her hand.
"He's really not going to like this," Horace shook his head, moving past the healer into the room.
Will had drug a chair up to the bedside, he was hunched over the bed stroking the girl's dark hair back from her face. Horace could hear him whispering to the girl, but he could not make out the words. He hated to take this moment from Will, he did not want to tell Will that the child was suffering so badly she had been given warmweed.
"Will," he laid his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Not now Horace," Will brushed Angie's hair back. "Whatever it is, it can wait."
"She's been given warmweed Will," the words caught in his throat.
Will continued to stroke her hair. He made no response to Horace's words. Horace stood ready to catch Will if he launched after the healer. But Will did not move from the chair.
"I remember when she was a child," Will spoke in a hoarse voice. "She was in the stables and she fell in one of the stalls with a battle horse. It was fifteen hands tall, and it reared back when she fell in his stall." Will reached out and took her uninjured left hand in his own.
"He, the stallion, knocked her in the head. She was unconscious in the stall when I found her. I thought she was dead then. She was only six or seven, and that was a Zander's battle horse. She was in the care of Zander's healers for a week, and Gilan sent in some of our healers to look after her."
"Will," Horace squeezed Will's shoulder.
"If she could survive that, as a child," Will's hand tightened around Angie's, unable to finish the thought. "How much did he give her?"
"I don't know," Horace could hear Maddie and Hal come in with the healer.
"Just enough to make her comfortable," the healer answered in his tired voice. "Four of her ribs broke Ranger, it was the only way to get her to sleep."
"And if she doesn't wake up?" Will forced the question, preparing himself for the answer he feared.
"I did what I could Ranger. We've used the warmweed for generations to ease pain."
"That's not all it's been used for," Will breathed releasing the girl's hand. "Thank you, for helping her."
Will stood, brushing Horace's hand from his shoulder. He gave a smile to the healer, offering the man his hand. The healer smiled, taking the Ranger's hand and gripping it firmly.
"I was glad too, I owe you Ranger."
Will's brow rose in curiosity, "really?"
The healer nodded, "you freed my father from slavery. He was trained as an archer under you Ranger Will. And because of that I'm here now."
Will's smile grew, looking at the man. "I did what I could."
"As have I, Ranger." The healer released Will's hand. "If she wakes, you will need to give her more warmweed. I can come back, if you would prefer me to administer it to her."
"I'll give it to her," Will looked back at his apprentice.
The healer nodded, "I'm sorry Ranger. It was all I had that could ease her pain."
"I understand," Will returned to his chair at Angie's side taking her hand in his own. "If it is what she needs, I'll give it to her."