The Surprise Siege - Ranger's Apprentice

Stampede

Mario looked out over the sprawling lands around Castle Remont and nodded to his partner, Giovanni. "This looks like Redmont. They should have what we need."

"We will go in, grab them, and then run. Those Rangers just got back. They are both still in the Castle and are too far away to be a threat. This should be fairly easy. They might not even notice we were here right away," Giovanni replied in a strong accent.

"And what will we do if we are caught?"

"We won't."

"But what if -"

"Then we will do what we must. Go and tell the others." Mario ran back into the trees while Giovanni prepared to go into Wensley village. They were ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So what did you actually do this time? I'm sure you probably almost died several times, but Will never really tells me. He doesn't want to worry me, but he doesn't realize it actually makes me more worried to not know," Alyss said to Halt as they strolled down the lane from the Castle towards Jenny's diner. Halt had left Abelard back at the castle with Tug and now they were walking to lunch.

"Well, we got word that a Genovesan had been spotted in the immediate vicinity, which we were very concerned about. Most of the time when these assassins come around they are only there to make trouble. But we managed to catch up to them before they did anything. It turns out all they were planning was to steal some precious and rare gems from the village jeweler. Halt and I transferred the gems ourselves to the secret palace safes and then caught one of them in the forest before he managed to do anything and sent him packing. We followed them out across the border of Redmont and saw them off. We sent some scouts after them from Norgate to make sure they went all the way to the border. Then we returned home." Halt saw Alyss's eyes widen as he said 'one of them'.

"You mean there were two?" Alyss asked.

"Yes, there were two. We caught one of them and then sent him back to take the other with him."

Alyss frowned thoughtfully. "Interesting that two of those assassins would get paid to steal some gems... that seems a bit much for a simple robbery."

Halt nodded in agreement. "Will and I thought so too. But apparently their employer was very wealthy and manipulative, and wanted those stones so badly he paid two of them."
Alyss pursed her lips. "Yes, but all the same, maybe I'll look into some of the paperwork coming from around that area to see if I can catch any anomalies. This should probably be investigated further."

"Of course. I'd be happy to help." Halt smiled at her.

Alyss smiled back, and said, "I don't know if Will will want to help us, since you've just left him to deal with all the paperwork for your mission."

"True, he really does hate that. He'll probably take a while to bring around for that one."

"I still can't believe how many people there were to see you. That was really something - " Alyss fell silent as Halt, who was looking off into the distance, suddenly put his hand on her arm. He peered intensly at a spot off in the distance, farther down the road. The heat from midday rose up from the ground in waves, blurring everything far in the distance, but as Alyss forced her eyes to focus, she could see it was a group of riders mounted on horses. There seemed to be a lot of them, at least 40. Halt already seemed to suspect something was wrong, and she turned to ask him, "Wait - who -" but he grabbed her elbow and pulled her off the side of the road in between some vendors' stalls.

"Listen to me very carefully. Run for the nearest soldier you can and send them up to the castle, telling them there is a pack of very dangerous riders headed for the castle, possibly for the gems. They need to lock down the castle. Will, the Baron, Pauline, and who knows who else are still in there and they need to be warned. GO!"

Alyss ran back up the street as fast as she could, hitching up her skirt and sweeping her long hair out of her face. "Soldier! I need a soldier!" she cried at the top of her lungs, and a young man in uniform came out from behind a stall.

The soldier said, "Miss, miss calm down! What's wrong?"

Alyss grabbed his arm frantically, and said, "I have a message from Ranger Halt! He spotted a group of very dangerous riders, at least forty, moving at full speed up the road just a little ways down! They want to steal some rare jewels! Get on your horse and ride for the the castle, you need to warn Ranger Will and lock it down immediately!"

The soldier looked at her in disbelief. "Miss, are you sure? Did you really get that from Ranger Halt?"

Alyss's eyes narrowed with frustration and she hissed, "My name is Lady Alyss, Ranger Will is my husband, and Ranger Halt is one of my dearest friends! Now get on your damn horse and warn Will!" The soldier, hearing that this lady was related to the two most famous Rangers in the country, ran for his damn horse. Alyss turned to see Halt sprinting toward her she started to say something to him, but he crashed into her, sending her sprawling to the ground a little off the road. He put his arm over her protectively as the huge pack of horses and riders thundered past right where she had been just standing. Alyss cowered in fear as the thundering drowned out all sounds except for her thumping heart and rapid breathing. She could feel Halt's strong arm over her, but the vibrations from the horses seemed too strong. Just as she thought she couldn't stand it anymore and was about to break down, the horses passed and there was sudden, surreal, and blessed silence.

Alyss kept her head down for a moment, catching her breath and regaining her composure, and then sighed, accepting Halt's hand to help her up. They both stood in silence for a moment, and then Halt said, "I'm sorry about knocking you over like that, but you were about to get trampled. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you, I would much rather be a little scraped up than trampled to death." Alyss brushed herself off, ignoring her skinned knees and elbows and dirty dress, still trying to calm her pounding heart and shaking hands. "What were you doing after I ran off?"

"I managed to shoot quite a few of them, but there must be forty people in that pack. I only managed to shoot two out of their saddles and injure one horse, which didn't make much of a difference, since they were riding too quickly for me to get in a good shot. Did you warn a soldier?"

"Yes, he's probably already at the palace."

"Good," Halt nodded at her, and then turned toward the castle. "I'm going to send more soldiers into the surrounding countryside and off to the surrounding fiefs to warn them."

"Why?"

"Because those riders are at the castle right now for the jewels. They are going to take over the castle to get them, but then when a small army of soldiers appears outside their door, they are going to occupy the castle. We are going to need some help."

Alyss's eyes widened. "Are - are you sure? Will - and the Baron - they're all in there..."
Halt glanced at her. "We have to hope that soldier gets there in time. Normally I would ride up up there myself, but since Abelard is at the castle, we have hope that soldier is speedy."

"And what if he's not fast enough?"

Halt looked her in the eyes. "Then we'll have a very big problem, because those men were
Genovesans and hired hands and they will take hostages."

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Well, something exciting happened... Yay. There's some action for ya. Things are still building, and next chapter you get a nice long update on Will and Pauline. Thanks for reading, and please vote and comment to let me know how I did! ❤️;)