Chapter 7

After riding for over a week, Alyss finally reached La Rivage. She came rushing over the bridge, causing two women to flee out of her way and came to a sudden stop in front over the tavern. She flung herself off her horse and rushed into the tavern, her blond hair caught, flapping violently in the wind.

She burst inside, drawing attention for the patrons. Stopping, she bent over to catch her breath. Once her breathing had slowed, she looked up and spoke.

"Has anyone seen Halt O'Carrick?"

The occupants looked at one another, all asking the same question: "Who?" Alyss sighed.

"Halt O'Carrick? The Ranger"? Nothing still.

"Will? Halt' s apprentice? He died?" A small look of remembrance followed by a full-blown look of recognition, complete with head bobbing flooded through the tavern. Some were still confused but it was clear up with someone explaining it to them. They too finally got it.

Once everyone knew what Alyss was talking about, she went on.

"He's gone missing. No one can seem to find him. Have any of you seen him?" Everyone shook their head.

"Da**it!" she yelled, slamming her fist down on the table in front of her. The silverware jumped and feel back down. Alyss ran back out of the tavern.

* * *

Two of the men inside looked at each other. They both nodded in unison and slowly, silently, slipped out the back door. In the dark alleyway, the only thing they could see was the end of the alley, illuminated by the moon.

Both men crept to the end and one peeked his head around the corner. The girl jumped on her horse and turned it around. The man peering at the girl pulled his head back to avoid being seen prematurely and nodded to the other. Both men ran out into the street.

* * *

Alyss turned the horse around and urged it into a canter. Suddenly, two men darted out into the street in front of the horse. The horse came sliding to a stop, almost causing Alyss to fall off. The horse threw his head back and began pawing at the ground in nervousness.

"What are you doing?" Alyss yelled at them. "You could have been ran over!" One man, a taller one, walked calmly toward Alyss.

"Maybe we wanted to be ran over." Alyss was taken aback. The man was standing next to her at this point.

"You what?"

The other man spoke up now. "He said that maybe he wanted to be ran over." Alyss was confused. What did he mean? She turned her head away to think about the question. She had barely begun to think about when two hands grabbed her by the waist and yanked her off the horse. She tried to scream but another hand covered her mouth. One man began to approach her, a bag in hand.

"Don't worry, dear. This will all be over soon." he said as he pulled the bag over her head, blocking her vision. A pain suddenly flamed up in the back of head briefly before the entire world went even darker than it was inside the bag.

* * *

Crowley, Gilan and Jenny were following Andrew. The sun had begun to brighten the sky. As soon as they saw the first day brighten the sky, they had taken down what tiny camp they had set up. With a little more than twenty-five kilometers to the next village, they were determined they would make it there before dusk.

And they did exactly that. Twenty minutes after the sun had set, they rode into La Rivage. A horse stood in the center of the road next to the tavern. All thought it was odd but thought nothing else of it. Perhaps somebody's horse had gotten out and there it stood. Andrew had told them that he'd overheard a conversation in Dun Kilty's tavern of Horace being somewhere in or near La Rivage. They didn't bother tying their horses up and went inside.

Jenny went up to the counter and asked for two room, to which the tavern keeper gave them. Gilan and Jenny took one room while Crowley and Andrew took the other. It wasn't because Gilan and Jenny were dating; it was so each room had an experienced Ranger that could hear small noises if any danger was to occur. All went to sleep at approximately 11:30 pm.