The Surprise Siege - Ranger's Apprentice

First Encounter

The moon didn't come out that night. The sky was a deep dark blue with scattered clouds smeared across it in grayish black streaks, but the moon made no appearance, and everything was black. There was only the distant cold glow of far off stars, bathing the land around Castle Redmont in faint cold light. The trees creaked and groaned in the frosty wind blowing from the north and leaves were disturbed from their rotting patches and flew along the ground. It was a dark and ominous night, perfect for disguising the barely discernible crunch of Will and Halt's boots on the forest floor. They both ghosted easily between the trees, barely even trying to move carefully, since the near blackness masked all chances of them being seen. They both stopped behind a large grove of trees, giving them cover from all sides. Will leaned in closer toward Halt's cowled face a whispered, "Are you sure he's still ahead of us? I can't see him anymore."

"He's still ahead of us, but it's so dark I can't see him all the time. We should close in faster, the sounds of the forest should mask any accidental noises and the darkness will hide us visually. We need to stop him before he gets closer to Redmont. Remember what planned earlier today. Go on around," Halt murmured back. He glanced off into the distance and Will followed his line of sight. A flicker of dull purple flicked across his peripheral vision and the snap of a branch drew his eyes and the feathered cap of the shadowy figure disappeared once again. Halt raised a finger to his lips to signal Will to be quiet again, and then gestured for him to go around to the right. Then Halt slipped out from behind the trees, heading straight for the man. Will left a few seconds after Halt, sliding out from behind the tree and jogging lightly in a larger arc, trusting the forest to hide his sounds. He caught another flash of purple and froze just in time. The man ran by just a few meters in front of him, and then a few seconds after he caught sight of Halt slipped through the trees a little farther back in the trees. Will hoped Halt was ready for the next step in the plan, but he had no time to hesitate. Will timed it so that just as the man started forward towards another patch of cover, Will jumped out in front of the him, stopping him in the middle of a clearing. The man stopped suddenly and jumped at least 4 feet in the air, his hands scrabbling for his knife. Will pulled his already notched arrow back to full draw and stuck the sharp head in the man's face, whispering, "I wouldn't move if I were you."

The man froze and muttered something menacing in Toscan, but then Halt materialized behind him and grabbed his mouth to smother his yell, at the same time pulling his knives out of his belt and throwing them far off in the tall grasses. Halt leaned in and hissed into the man's ear, "Don't scream again, or your dagger will find its way between your ribs." Will was already pulling out a pair of thumb cuffs and he handed them to Halt, who looped them onto the mercenary thumbs behind his back. Will also produced a strip of cloth and Halt took it and tied it around his mouth, effectively gagging him. Halt kicked his knees out from under him and the man stumbled awkwardly to the the ground, landing painfully on his bound arms. But Will noticed with grim satisfaction that he managed to do this without making a single noise. Will loosed his grip on the arrow from full draw to half draw, settled in the keep watch for unwanted visitors as Halt drew his save knife and stood over the sprawled figure. The man shrank away from Halt's cold stare as he leaned toward him, hissing, "I want you to listen to me very, very carefully, because I will not be repeating myself. We know why you are here, how you got here, who you are with, and what you intend to do after you achieve this. So don't even think about lying to me, because I will know. And if you do, I'll have my friend Will here shoot you in the leg. And then in the other leg. Do you understand me?" The man grudgingly nodded, and Halt loosened his gag, stepped back a little, and crouched next to the man. "I know that you think your disguise is pretty genius, but it's pretty obvious you are a Genovesian. What is your name?"

The mercenary hesitated slightly, but after seeing Halt's expression darken, he whispered faintly, "Mario."

Halt glowered at him and replaced the gag. "My friend and I, we have what you might call a quarrel with your kind. But since you have not committed any serious crimes here yet, we have only one thing to say to you: leave. Leave now before you do anything worse or get any ideas." Halt leaned in further, staring him down. "Because if you do, we will hunt you down, find you, and kill you. I know that you still have some of your buddies left at that camp back there, and they need to leave too. We will follow you and your friends all the way across the border into Picta or all the way to the sea. You have no where else to go now. My friend here is going to lower his bow and I am going to untie you. You are going to run back to your friends, pack up, and leave. Leave and never come back. Do you understand?" Halt paused, waiting for Mario's answer. He nodded hesitantly, all resistance gone from his demeanor. Halt turned to Will and nodded slightly, and Will lowered his bow. Halt unclipped the thumb cuffs and Mario sprung to his feet, ripped out the gag, and ran headlong through the trees, and was soon out of sight. Will and Halt watched him for a time in silence, and then Will started with surprise as Halt actually laughed a little. "The sight of that assassin running through the trees like a dog with his tail between his legs is just too funny after all that," Halt said softly, the ghost of a smile still lingering on his face as he turned toward Will. Will smiled slightly, but then exhaustion washed over him and his smile drooped back into an tired frown. Halts smile also melted as his fatigue settled in and his adrenaline dropped.

Will muttered, "Are we really going to follow them all the way to the border? That could take days, and I'm already so tired."

Halt sighed and replied, "I realized as much. I don't really want to follow them all the way to the border either. I was thinking about following them to border of Redmont fief and then letting them go. We just need to make them think we are following them. We scared that one pretty well just now, I think it will probably suffice."

"I hope it will, because if we have to follow them all the way to the border, I'll drop dead from deprivation of a good hot stew," Will said sourly. His stomach rumbled longingly for the hot savory food, which neither of them had had in weeks.

Halt frowned at the memory and said peevishly, " Why did you have to go and remind me about that? Now I'm starving."

"After we follow those mercenaries for a while, I'll stop and catch a rabbit or two for our ride back." Will slung his bow onto his back.

"That sounds positively marvelous," Halt said sarcastically as he dropped his saxe back into his scabbard. "But before we go worry about our stew, how bout we go trail this troublesome Genovesian?" Will sighed, but whistled for Tug, who came running through the trees with Abelard promptly. Both Rangers mounted reluctantly and began a slow pace back towards the camp.

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Well, there's the first chapter. I promise it gets better. Thanks for reading! Please vote and comment if you enjoyed! ;)