Hello dear readers! Sorry for the long wait (again... :/) but here is chapter 7! Enjoy!
Hal contently looked out over the deck over the Heron. For the first time in days, the sun had managed to break through the thick clouds and the wind had become less rough. In a steady course they headed for Stormwhite Sea. The crew hadn’t forgotten the attack of the previous night, but they had gotten over the initial shock. Every now and then, Ulf and Wulf would tend to the position of the sail, but besides them, everyone had some time to relax. Hal was standing at the tiller. The cut in his arm that he had got in Araluen, had started to bleed again during the fight, but Edvin had given him a proper bandage, so he only felt a slight nagging pain. He didn’t really bother; he’d had worse.
Evanlyn had taken a seat with Lydia. After their first encounter, the girl had gotten very curious to one another and now they didn’t stop talking. Hal didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, but he figured it would be a girls’ thing and he wouldn’t want to know anyway. A grey-green shadow appeared besides him and Hal smiled for a moment.
“Hello, Will,” he greeted the shadow calmly. The ranger pushed back the hood of his cloak, revealing his face.
“Hello, Hal,” he replied. “How long till we reach Skandia?” Hal thought about it for a moment.
“If the weather allows it and if we go straight to Skandia, it would take us a week,” he then explained. “But we’ll have to go via Skorghijl to restock. The original plan was to do so in Araluen, but as you know, we didn’t really get a chance for that.” Will nodded and looked out over the water. Hal, noticing his sombre look, asked him what was going on. Will turned back to the skirl and after a slight hesitation he started telling about a wild journey to the castle of Araluen with someone named Halt and about the flight with his friends.
“When we were stuck underneath that cliff, they told me to take Evanlyn to safety and get help. For some odd reason I called down that we’d reunite in Skandia…” Will concluded his story. Hal let it all sink in for a moment.
“So that’s why you want to go to Skandia so badly,” he understood and the ranger nodded in acknowledgement. They both kept silent, lost in their own thoughts.
Evanlyn came running past them, squealing happily. Hal followed the little girl with his eyes and noticed how Lydia was running after her; both laughing, the two girls chased after each other all over the deck. Hal tried to think of something to get Will to lighten up a bit as well, but since he barely knew the ranger, he had no idea what he could say. He sighed and remained silent, regarding Evanlyn as she climbed on one of the rowing benches in between Ingvar and Jesper. As the girl took off again, the two boys burst out laughing, before diving out of Lydia’s way, who was still in pursuit and jumped over the bench without any sign of effort.
“Well, she does know how to turn your ship upside down,” Will stated amusedly. Hal decided this was his shot at cheering Will up and made up a quasi-indignant reply.
“I should tie you two to the mast, considering all of the trouble you cause me!” I worked: Will chuckled and Hal suppressed a satisfied grin.
“Yes, maybe you should, but you’d have to catch us first!” the ranger replied, pointing at Evanlyn who managed to dodge Lydia. Hal laughed and decided to make a surprise attack at Will. His arm shot outwards, but it met nothing but emptiness. Confused, Hal looked around, to find Will on his other side, grinning cheekily. He tried again and the ranger jumped in front of him, just out of his reach; Hal couldn’t abandon the tiller.
Thorn, having noticed the mock battle, apparently felt like joining in, as he soundlessly crept forward, inch by inch. At least, Hal didn’t hear a sound. But clearly Will did, as he again jumped out of the way at the last moment, causing Thorn to nearly loose his balance. Hal regarded the ranger admiringly, as he easily managed to stay out of the reach of the cursing Thorn. He knew there couldn’t be many people who’d be able to do so. Stefan and Edvin, who dared to laugh, hastily tried to look serious again, as Thorn threateningly turned towards them. Hal shook his head, a slight smile on his face, and looked at the horizon. The sun had started its way down. They had about three hours of daylight left. During that time, they could still cover quite a distance, so Hal decided they’d let the anchor down at night again. This time, though, he would make sure someone would stand guard, just in case there were more Scoti following them. He sincerely hoped there weren’t any, for he could use a decent night’s rest. The storms and previous attacks had kept him awake often enough already.
Will and Thorn quit their little game and Thorn came to stand besides Hal. Will went over to Evanlyn and Lydia, who had sat down again by now.
“I don’t trust that ranger,” Thorn stated. Hal raised an eyebrow at him.
“Well, you’re not making a secret of it,” he replied. Thorn shrugged. A moment of silent passed between them.
“What did he ever do to you then?” Hal dared to ask. Thorn just looked out over the sea. Just as Hal thought he wouldn’t reply, Thorn turned back.
“I’ve got my reasons,” was all he said. Hal didn’t question him any further. If Thorn didn’t want to tell it, nothing would be able to change his mind. And nothing did. He turned to look at Will, who was telling Evanlyn an animated story, accompanied by a large amount of gestures. Evanlyn was giggling so loudly she needed to gasp for air. Even Lydia looked amused.
They coursed on for two more hours, until the sky started to show shades of orange. As planned, Hal set up a guard for the night. Slowly, it got silent on the ship, except for the sound of sleeping people. Nobody noticed the ship appearing on the horizon…
Bewildered, Horace followed his friends. They let them go? Just like that? Why would that man do that?! Obviously, he wasn’t interested in Araluen, then he would never have made this decision. Halt and the man clearly had a history, nothing needed to be said about that. But something was not right. Horace couldn’t make out what and it annoyed him extremely. The guards led them down a long, tortuous road and then pushed them through some gates, off of the terrain. Then they turned around and marched back. Astonished, Horace shook his head. They didn’t seem to see any danger in the Araluans.
“What do we do now?” Cassandra ask after a moment of hesitation. Horace noticed everyone looked at him, an expectant look on their faces. With Will and Halt out of their little group, he apparently was in charge. Yay.
“We can’t just leave Halt here,” he said determinedly. “We need a plan to get in, get Halt and get out.” He folded his arms over his chest. He had given them the plan, they could do the thinking work. Alyss shook her head.
“No,” she said. “There’s something we don’t know about this. Halt obviously knew exactly what that man wanted. You’ve seen Halt’s behaviour for yourself when we were in the cell. This is clearly all about Halt, otherwise he would never have let us go. Halt can take care of himself perfectly fine. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. He is a ranger. I have no doubt he would have been long if it weren’t for us being with him.” Horace frowned. She had a point, but what did they need to do then? They could hardly sit here and wait for Halt, could they?
“I believe it’d be best if we go to Skandia, as Will proposed,” Duncan suggested. “Will is probably already on his way there. I agree that Halt can take care of himself just fine; he’ll be following us soon, I’m sure of that. Maybe he’d even arrive in Skandia before we do!” Horace nodded slowly. That was a good idea. The he could let Will do the thinking again; this was giving him too much of a head ache.
“So, what do we do? Are we going to Skandia?” he asked. He received three positive answers. The only one not to say something was Pauline. She stared off into the distance, not a sign of any emotion on her face. Horace felt a wave of guilt hit him. How could he ask her to abandon her husband like this?
“Pauline?” Duncan said softly. Horace was relieved he didn’t have to persuade Pauline himself. “Halt will be fine. You know him, right?” Pauline smiled slightly, but the corners of her mouth were shivering.
“Yes, let’s hope I do by now,” she answered silently. Alyss smiled at her encouragingly. Pauline straightened her back and nodded. “You are right,” she continued with a strong voice. “We need to go to Skandia.”
And that’s exactly what they were going to do. At least, Horace hoped it would be as simple as that. Sadly, things rarely happen the way you hope them to happen. The Scoti might have set them free, but they were far from safe: there were soldiers from Picta throughout the entire kingdom and there was nothing keeping them from killing the Araluans on sight. Besides, Horace had no idea where on earth they were, which didn’t really make it easier to get to Skandia…
Horace tried to cover as much land as possible during the last hours of daylight; the sooner they got to the country in the north, the better. The others followed him silently. Nobody really cared for the idea to leave Halt and none of them had much faith left in what the future might bring. Horace tried to think as little as possible about what they were going to do once they reached Skandia. The Scoti wouldn’t magically disappear. And this handful of companions wouldn’t make a difference against the thousands of invading soldiers. He sighed. How on earth had they gotten themselves into this situation? He remembered the afternoon, only a week ago, when he had gone picnicking in the palace gardens with Cassandra and Evanlyn. Now Evanlyn was who knows where and Cassandra burst out crying every few minutes or so. It was one hopeless mess. Horace straightened his back. He was not going to give up. Ever.
“No,” the king said gruffly. Evan froze. This couldn’t be happening. He needed the Scoti.
“This also provides you with advantages!” he tried. “Possibly even a treaty! That would save us many raids and thus costs.” The king stared threateningly at him.
“As I said before: no!” he snapped. Evan tried to hide his frustration. Why did that man need to be so terribly stubborn?! It already cost him years to only try and persuade him to attack Araluen. The leader of the Scoti hadn’t had a single need to attack his neighbouring country, which had made it necessary for Evan to waste precious years. “The only thing this will provide me with is more costs! Give me one reason why I should send a fleet of expensive ships to Skandia! Skandia! The only thing that country knows is barbarians. There is nothing to win out of an attack.” The king crossed his arms and leaned backwards. From his higher position on his throne, he looked expectantly at Evan. Evan rapidly summarized everything he knew about Skandia, hoping to find an acceptable excuse for his mission. He needed to convince the old nitwit in front of him, or all these years of work would have been in vain.
“The Skandians have enormous halls, filled with all of the treasures they collected during their years of raiding other countries,” Evan remembered. “Including you son’s shield…” Satisfied with his achievement, Evan watched as the old man flinched, thinking of his only son. The boy had been kidnapped by a group of rebels in their own country. At least, that was what the king thought. Coincidentally, Evan knew what really happened. He had been part of the court for so long now, that the prince practically grew up with him around. He trusted Evan as a brother, what gave Evan the necessary extra leverage over the royal family of Picta. The boy had fallen in love with a girl from a lower class and they had run away together. Evan had covered for him, on condition that he would play along.
“Alright,” the king said defeated, resting his head in his hands. “I’ll send a fleet. But if this ends up a failure, you’ll pay the price!” Evan smiled. Finally! This time it would work!
“Of course,” he answered, before bowing to the king. “Naturally, I’ll accompany the fleet, to make sure everything happens according to the plan.” The king made a vague gesture, shooing him off, his other hand still covering his eyes.
“Fine,” sounded the muffled voice of the man. “Make sure you’ll return with my son’s shield!” Evan didn’t answer anymore and left the throne room.
“Sir!” a guard called. Evan gestured to the man to say what he had on his mind. “The prisoner has escaped!” Evan cursed.
“Well, what are you still doing here then? Make sure he gets behind bars again!” he ordered. The guard nodded and ran off, shouting orders to his fellow guards. Evan frowned. Halt had already told him everything he wanted to hear, but he wasn’t finished with him just yet. Halt had caused all these rotten years of loneliness and he was going to pay. But first Evan would go and get Will. That was his priority. Then he would no longer need the Scoti and he could return to his old life. Evan smiled. He had nearly reached his goal.