Alana's Trail

Chapter 4

Early the next morning, Alana awoke to the smell of hay and fresh manure. She wrinkled her nose, opened her eyes, and discovered the stablehands had draped one of the cleaner horse blankets over her when they came in. They were bustling about, feeding the horses, cleaning out the stalls.

No one noticed her until she pushed off the blanket. She quietly picked up a tack box and went to brush down Celandine. Even after they finally noticed she was up and about, the stablehands left her alone. They were used to her caring for her own horse.

She'd nearly finished saddling the horse when one of them finally approached her, "Are you going out, Lady Alana?"

"Yes. I'm afraid I have another mission." She searched around for the bag she'd packed the night before.

"To find Lord Moorhawk?" The stablehand shrank from Alana's glare. "Well, have a safe journey."

Alana shook her head. The last thing she needed was her brother's disappearance being sensationalized. She mounted the horse and nudged her toward the estate gates. The wolfhound took off as soon as they were in the open, staying just at the edge of Alana's vision for a bit and then racing back toward Alana before running out ahead again.

Aspenfields was over a day's ride from the estate, and Alana was in no mood to make camp anywhere along the way. She'd grown up in this province and had come to consider it home. But that night, an uneasiness settled in her stomach and for the first time in her life, she was afraid of the forests that separated Thornwood and Aspenfields. The small tremors that periodically shook her bedroll didn't help. The horse whined, eventually refusing to be spurred on any more, forcing the ranger to find them shelter for the night.

The next morning, a translucent mist rolled into the forest, giving it a more haunted look. But Alana wouldn't be deterred. She made breakfast, the wolfhound pacing at the edge of the camp. Seeing her companion on edge did nothing to quell the worry in her own heart. She broke camp and readied the horse, "Come on, team. We'll be in Aspenfields by late afternoon."

The fog and her growing agitation drove her to push the horse on hard, and they arrived in Aspenfields with the bells of evening chapel filling the air. But no one was headed for the local chapel, and then Alana felt the ground move under her feet. The tremors were brief, but she quickly tied up the horse and murmured a small prayer of thanks to the goddess of the forest for protecting them during their journey as she made her way across the plaza to the town hall.

Rania, the scribe who served as the mayor's assistant, rushed to meet her, "Lady Alana. What an unexpected surprise. Is there anything we can help you with?"

"I'm looking for my brother. According to my father, he should have been through here just over a month ago."

"Yes, he was. He went over our books, met with our local clerics and town leaders. I was under the impression he was pleased with us?" The scribe's handwringing grated on Alana's already worn nerves.

"I wouldn't know."

This was the wrong response. Rania scurried back to her desk and came back with a small pile of notebooks, various town ledgers. "Perhaps we could-"

Before she could bore or stall her any further, Alana held up a hand. "I'm sure you completed this process with Aidan. But his report never made it home, and neither did he."

The scribe paled. "If your ladyship is suggesting-"

"I'm suggesting nothing. My brother hasn't been heard from in weeks, and I'm trying to bring him home. Now, if you have any information that could possibly help with that..." She let the question hang in the air.

Rania shook her head. "He didn't say where he was going from here, although it would make sense for him to visit Friar's Hill next and then...I believe Oaks Knoll is the next town after that?"

"Pine Glen, actually," Alana responded, mentally tracing out the province in her mind, assuming her brother was taking the most direct path through the area and back.

"Ah, yes. Of course. The smithies."

Alana nodded. Friar's Hill was a little far to reach starting out this late in the day, so she found accommodations for her horse in the city's stables and for herself in an inn just a few blocks away. Senna curled up by the fire in the tavern that occupied half the first floor of the inn while Alana had dinner. The ranger tossed her companion a bone, and then sat beside him for a bit, watching the town's residents and visitors mingle over food and drink. As much as she didn't enjoy being around people, she hoped someone might mention something of her errant brother.

But the hard ride and the sleepless night wore on her, and before long she and the wolfhound retired to their room. She secured the room and then crawled into bed, braving the building's sudden shudder as she reached the bed. Sleep didn't come as she spent most of the night staring at the ceiling and worrying about Aidan. Even the gentle tremors couldn't rock her to sleep.

The next morning, she admired the tavern cook's hearty oatmeal, and brushed out her wolfhound before heading out for the next leg of their journey. The creature stretched and smiled at the attention, and Alana regretted it couldn't be more. Their routines calmed her, especially in crowded areas, and calm felt like a luxury she would be foregoing for a while.

The horse had been groomed and fed, and she paid the stablehand handsomely for it. "Come on, girl. Let's see if we can find where my dear brother's wandered off to this time." For all the reassurance in her voice, she knew it wasn't as simple as that. Aidan hadn't just wandered off this time. He'd vanished without telling her where he was going.

Maybe that was what was gnawing at her the hardest. She'd always known where he was since they were five years old. It was their own way of looking after each other since neither had their mother to look after them. Something was wrong. She spurred the horse on toward Friar's Hill.