𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑤𝑛 | 𝐆𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐒𝐎𝐍

9⋆☾⋆ Return to Redmont

It seemed years I'd taken the road I rode on to leave. I'd vowed never to come back, but with recent threats I'd been forced to shatter that promise to the ground.

A light spring sun had melted away all the old snow, only here and there were traces that it had ever been there. I snorted loudly when I suddenly felt myself seeing a connection to my own situation. It made Gilan raise an eyebrow at me from the side, though he quickly dismissed it. It was likely he'd related it to the mating call of one of the animals in the forest.

My mind was constantly wandering off, finding a new topic to worry about every few minutes, resulting in the ride to Redmont flying by. I wasn't even able to find peace or comfort in my mentor being with me.

I shook my head, when I realised that every time I'd comforted myself on that porch with the thought that I was doing that for my family, it had been a-

My train of thought was abruptly stopped when Gilan softly called out my name.

Startled, I shot awake from my gaze and met with his gentle green eyes that tickled my skin from their look. I scanned the area and noticed that we'd already arrived at the cabin. For how long I'd built this moment up it ended up being pretty anticlimactic. For some reason I'd expected it would've caused the ground to crumble under my feet and sent me falling into an endless void. Guess not then.

With a swift movement Gilan dismounted and led Blaze into the barn near the small wooden house, leaving me alone with only Vacker as company. The black mare impatiently stomped her hooves, eager to follow her buddy to where the food and a warm stable were waiting for her. I then also let myself slide off, with my eyes glued to the oak wooden door with the slender iron handle. When Vacker threw her head up, and thus taking me with her, I finally fully focused on getting her into the barn.

In the end that was fixed in a nick of time, and it wasn't long before Gilan and I were sitting on the rocking chairs by the fireplace, drinking coffee. But it was only a short break from the raging storm, because before I knew it we were already at the castle, meeting with Baron Arald. Because he was a part of the King's inner circle, as my mentor had explained it, he was allowed to know about my identity.

"Coffee or tea?" The older, a bit pudgy man asked as he sat down and gestured for us to do the same.

"Oh a coffee would be great right now." Gilan replied longingly.

I rolled my eyes at him and then turned to the Baron with a polite smile. "No thank you, I'm good."

He nodded and threw his assistant, who was waiting by the door, a knowing look and immediately the slender boy of about twenty hurried out the door.

As soon as the door had closed something seemed to sparkle in the Baron's eyes which I could only estimate as curiosity. He opened his mouth, then hesitated, as if to contemplate what he'd say. After a moment he then had seemed to found his words.

"I'm very honoured to finally meet the Ranger who I've heard so many tales of. Was it not you who infiltrated Morgarath's castle? In danger of your own life?"

That name was like nails on parchment to my ears, forcing the hairs in my neck to stand upright upon hearing it. But my face stayed the same even though inside stress was starting to nag at my heart.

"We were all at risk in the war," I said, blushing a bit at the fascination of the Baron, which I found wasn't justified, "and I'm honoured to finally meet the Baron of the fief where I grew up."

His eyebrows sparked up. "You're from here?"

My eyes hurriedly wandered to Gilan as a plea of help, but he didn't answer, so I had to save myself. "Yes, I grew up here on one of the farms."

"Good," the Baron nodded, "you're familiar with these lands. You'll need that knowledge, because there has been a lot going wrong here after I've come back from the front lines."

"Really?" the tall man next to me leaned forward in interest, "like what?"

Sometimes it still perplexed me how all Rangers, myself included, were the same; we love it when there's something wrong that we can fix.

The Baron gestured over all the papers and scrolls spread out on his desk. "Break ins, missing persons reports, robberies and a few murders," he sighed heavily and I could see a storm building in his eyes, "war always comes at the expense of the innocent."

A cold sweat broke out in my hands.

Murders?

What if Steven has already found my parents?

I rubbed my palms on my pants in hopes of getting them dry, but it didn't help. My surroundings seemed to melt into the background and all of my focus was on my loud beating heart. With every thump it came closer to my throat, suffocating my air ways.

It kept getting worse until a hand suddenly landed on my knee and kept it down. Surpised, I studied it, only later registering that it was Gilan's. I looked at him, he was deep in a conversation with the Baron. But he did give my knee a little squeeze again.

They wrapped up pretty quickly after that, because Gilan had mentioned that it had been a long journey when he caught the Baron eyeing me. As soon as we were out of the castle my mentor stopped and checked to see if there was no one around, then he took my hands in his.

"You can go look for your family," he said, staring at me worryingly, "i'll take care of those cases."

I shook my head and was just about to object when he seemed to read my mind.

"And I don't want to hear any more about it. I'm going to be fine handeling it, I'm still a Ranger after all."

My eyes flashed to his left tight. In my head I could still see that moment so clearly, as if it had happened yesterday. I then ran my thumb over his large hands.

"You're not completely healed Gil, I don't want you to get hurt because of me-" I swallowed thickly and let my gaze fall to the ground- "again."

He cupped my face and took a step closer, grinning. "There's no bargaining this, love. After all I'm still your mentor, so you have to do what I say."

I leaned into his touch, allowing myself shortly to bathe in fantasy, before it would drown me.

"At least let me help a bit, okay?"

The croaking of a wooden door echoed over the courtyard, startling us both and Gilan hastily agreed before we got out of there. Though I did wonder why he'd had such a hurry, after all, we were just friends.

In all of the comeuppance I hadn't registered where we were going, until it was too late and I stood eye to eye with my childhood home...

A/N:
Hi guys!!! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, I've had a very busy week, but next week there will be a post as usual on Friday. Oh and I didn't have time to proof read this chapter so don't be surprised if there are a lot of spelling mistakes and sentences that don't quite make sense hahah. Love you and see you friday!!❤️❤️
Xxx. HeelsAreCute