The Rogue Tribe - Ranger's Apprentice

Chapter 13: Traitor

" ....After my meeting with the Temujai Shan, Berrigan and I never saw anyone else, and rode as fast as we could here." Will swallowed hard, and what was left of his saliva oozed down his throat. He had been talking for a long time now, and had just managed to finish his story. The room was completely silent, all frozen in shock after hearing the horrific and sudden events that he had described. After the long moment of silence, the King gestured, and Will sat back down. Now that he wasn't speaking, he had the chance to really look around at everyone.

Alyss was sitting nearer to the back. Will had seen her the whole time, and her face had been carefully blank for the entire briefing. But even she had winced a few times when he described something particularly terrifying, such as when he described rolling down the river bank under the Temujai's feet.

Cassandra had entered silently sometime halfway through and sat down next to her. Her previously swollen stomach was nearly back to it's normal size. Will remembered back to when he had just returned from an extended mission and received a frantic letter from Horace that described in detail the excitement of his wife's last few weeks of pregnancy and then the birth. They had been blessed with a beautiful healthy baby girl that they had named Madelyn. Both he and Alyss had left immediately to visit them in Araluen. Will smiled slightly to himself as he remembered holding the little girl's hands the first time he met her, kissing her soft spot in the top of her head, gently squeezing her tiny toes. Her hair had been fine and golden like her mother's, but her grip on his finger had both of her parent's strength combined. He felt his smile widen as he remembered the moment Horace and Cassandra had asked him to be her godfather. Then he had held her in his arms, this tiny, pink, sleeping baby wrapped in thick blankets, and nearly cried. After visiting a little longer, reporting to the King, and then saying goodbye, he and Alyss had rode home. "You know," she had said hesitantly, riding next to him, taking his hand, "Maybe you and I should think about doing something like that." Will had laughed. He had said the exact same thing to her when he had first proposed to her as a much younger, less experienced Ranger on the Skandian duty ship Wolfwill on the way back from Nihon-Ja. She had told him off at the time for such a sad attempt at a proposal, but he had suspected later that she had actually loved it. It had been one of those little moments that reminded him just why he had married Alyss and just how much he truly loved her.

Will, lost deep in thought, was suddenly snapped back into reality as he saw Alyss reach out and clutch Cassandra's hand tightly.

Focus. Thinking about things like that and smiling about it isn't appropriate... Not after everything that's happened, and certainly not in front of this many people.

Also sitting in on the briefing was as many of the Rangers that had arrived and could walk, which was quite a large number of them, at least ten or so. And even more Rangers were arriving at Araluen by the minute, as all the individual groups made their way into the castle. Accompanying them was a throng of soldiers, both common infantry stationed at the castle and Horace's battalion of the Royal Guard. In short, the room was jam packed full, but stayed nearly completely silent as Will had described what had happened to him. He had been careful not divulge certain bits of information, such as the location of the Gathering, and the rather important bit about a traitor in the castle. He had also only briefly glossed over what Halt was doing, assuring everyone that he was alive and tracking the Temujai as they spoke. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice his deception, perhaps, except for the King and Horace.

Will sat through the rest of the briefing in a daze of exhaustion and pain. A few other Rangers stood up and told their tales but Will had talked to most of them already and knew what had happened. Nearly every small party had been attacked by varying sizes of Temujai, according to their reports. As soon as everyone had said their piece, the room became so silent it could have been empty.