Ranger's Apprentice; The Final Pieces

The News - Lost Love

"Where is Lady Alyss?" he asked. "Is she still downstairs?"

The three soldiers looked at each other. They were clearly not comfortable with what had to be said. Finally, one of the soldiers stepped forward and said: "My Lord, there's something we have to tell you. It's – " But Baron Arald held up a hand and said: "Then I assume we can get Lady Pauline as well?"

The soldier who had spoken nodded nervously. Arald turned to the guard at the door and said: "Please get Lady Pauline and Ranger Halt as quickly as possible. Tell them it's urgent." He felt like the news the soldiers brought was anything but good. He wanted to know what had happened, but decided to wait until Pauline and Halt would be there. He especially wanted the three of them to know it first, before Will would hear anything. The Ranger's wife had been missing for a week, and now her escort arrived without her. Something was probably wrong, though there was also still a possibility that everything was fine. Anyway, he didn't want any panic if that wasn't necessary. This decision proved again, that he was a good and smart leader of a Fief.

It didn't take long before Halt and Pauline entered the office. Halt nodded at the Baron and said: "There was a case of an urgency, I heard, my Lord?"

Arald nodded and said, after the door was closed and he was sure no one but the ones inside the office could hear them: "Well, I hope it's not an urgency, but I thought I'd wait until you were there, until these men over here would explain some things."

He gestured at the three soldiers. Only now, Halt and Pauline noticed them. Halt didn't know them, but Pauline recognised them within a second.
"They're Alyss' escort," she said. "Then I assume they've returned?"

Instead of smiling, Arald shrugged and gestured again, now to the soldiers. The same soldier that had spoken the first time put a step forward, into the light. He was now completely visible, and so were the folds and dirt. A cold hand clutched Pauline's heart. She noticed that Alyss wasn't with them. She was sure that her former student would have gone to the Baron or her first, so if she wasn't here... then where was she?

"My Lady, my Lord, Ranger," the soldier obviously didn't want to get to the point. But everyone just waited. "Er, you're probably wondering why we're so late, I suppose. So, we left, some weeks ago, after Lady Alyss had finished everything well, as usual. And when we were travelling back, everything was just going well. Until..."

Lady Pauline, as well as Halt and the Baron wanted him to hurry with his story and tell them what had gone wrong. But they patiently waited, noticing how hard it was for the soldier to tell whatever he had to tell. Finally, the poor man continued.

"Halfway our journey, we had a break in a small village in Anselm Fief. There was an inn, Wyvern, where we would stay a few days, before returning on our journey. It was a nice village, smaller than Wensley and the inn was all well."

Baron Arald lost his patience and gestured at the man. "I understand, but could you please, please get to the point?"
The soldier nodded, but couldn't say anything. He had started to panic and so had his companions. But one was brave enough to step forward and he continued the story.

"So after a few days, we went to bed. We would start travelling again the next morning. Halfway the night, we woke up by the sounds of people screaming. The three of us," he gestured to himself and the other soldiers, "went outside to see what was happening, and we discovered that a gang of criminals, led by a former mercenary named Jory Ruhl, were followed by a posse of volunteers whom wanted to arrest the gang. Unfortunately, this attempted arrest badly bungles. Ruhl received warning of the approaching posse and he and his men were making their escape when the constable and his force arrived on the scene. A fight broke out and one of the posse was killed. Seeking to create a diversion while they escaped, Ruhl and one of his men set fire to the inn. The dry thatching of the roof was soon ablaze and smoke filled the yard. All the guest of the inn began streaming out. People were screaming, they were frightened and everyone was seeking safety, away from the fire. Clearly, no one knew who was who. In this confusion, Ruhl and his men escaped. For as far as we knew, everyone had left the inn. We were standing outside and Lady Alyss was standing next to us and we were helping to control the fire. But the flames reached too high, and there was nothing we could do. Luckily, we had hidden the papers with the horses in the stables, so those were untouched. As we were watching the flames reaching higher, and more of the inn disappearing, we suddenly heard a scream. We looked up and we saw the source of the scream. At an upper window was a five-year-old, struggling desperately to unfasten the latch on the window, which was jammed. As the girl's panic grew, smoke filled the room and she began to cough, her eyes streaming. Probably blinded by the smoke and disoriented, she staggered away from the window and was lost to sight. Without hesitation, and ignoring our warnings, Lady Alyss plunged back into the burning inn."