Sparks Flying - A Ranger's Apprentice Story

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Morning could not have come any slower. Daylight found the master and apprentice pair exhausted from restless, dreamless sleep. Anxiety from all the unknowns pervaded the air around them. It was thick and suffocating, and they secretly longed for release, for information, for anything.

The only way to go was forward.

After a quick, cold breakfast of bread and dried fruit, Will and Maddie broke camp (or at least what passed for camp in this situation) and headed out, following the trail. This time, Will put Maddie in the lead, letting her read and follow the tracks. He knew something new to focus on would help her forget her worries a little bit.

He for one, was trying to put out of his mind the images from the fresh nightmares that had plagued him the past night. Alyss burning, screaming, bleeding, dying. And to make matters worse, Maddie had begun to creep into the mental pictures, joining Alyss in being tortured, in the pain. Will had been paralyzed, trapped in his own mind, watching Alyss bleed to death over and over again, watching Maddie get shot, speared, stabbed...the possibilities his unconscious mind conjured were myriad and terrifying. 

"Will?"

Maddie's voice startled him from his thoughts, and Will could have cried in relief. "Yes?"

"The tracks are changing," she said, her voice small and worried. She coaxed Bumper to a stop and slid out of the saddle, crouching on the ground to look closer. Will hurried to join her.

"See? One of them got off his horse," she said, pointing to the place where human tracks appeared. "What's he doing?"

Will shrugged. "We have no way of knowing what's going on here," he said. "We have to keep going, and we have to be careful. I'm going to take the lead again."

"Okay, and I'll keep lookout," Maddie said. "He could have gotten off to sneak around and ambush us." Her voice was steady, but her face was pale and she looked terrified.

"It's a possibility, but it's more likely that he's going to try to cover their tracks," Will said. "Look ahead - you can already see signs that he's wiping out and obscuring the trail. This must be where they were when the rain stopped yesterday. It's going to be slow going from now on."

Maddie sighed in frustration. "Of course it will be," she said peevishly.

Their progress slowed down significantly after this development. Whoever they were following was very skilled at covering tracks, and while Will could still read the faint marks on the ground, he had to do so on foot, leading Tug behind him. 

The afternoon dragged on in this fashion, the kilometers passing slowly underfoot (or underhoof, in the horses' case), and Maddie felt herself growing more and more restless.

"Do you think we're gaining on them at all?" she asked Will.

He shrugged. "I certainly hope so," he said. "Whoever is covering these tracks is on foot, and we'll overtake him eventually, even if the rest of his party is far ahead. And then, at the very least, we'll have information."

"At least we know they still have Alyss, or they did when they split the trail," Maddie said.

Will nodded, closing his eyes momentarily. "That is true," he said. "There's been no sign of a body or someone being abandoned. We don't know if she's hurt at all though, or if she and the baby are okay."

"But while there's life, there's hope," Maddie said suddenly. "I refuse to rest until we find her."

Will glanced back at his apprentice. Maddie was sitting straight up in the saddle, determination and anger glowing in her eyes. Will felt a sudden surge of pride for his stubborn, strong young apprentice.

"Yes, Maddie," he said. "We will find her. I refuse to consider anything else."

They fell back into silence as they continued along the trail. By unspoken consent, they decided not to stop for an dinner rest, instead eating more dried meat and fruit as they kept going.

Both of them could feel it. They were getting close. The two Rangers slowly became more and more focused, more hyperaware of their surroundings, as the daylight began to fade. The slight impressions in the ground they were following were growing newer and newer. They were gaining on their quarry.

Unfortunately, the fading light meant Will couldn't see well enough to follow the nearly-obliterated tracks, and he groaned in frustration. Maddie sighed. It was torture to know that they would have to wait the whole night to get back on the trail. And to make matters worse, it would be another cold camp. At the very least, it wasn't raining, but there would be no tents, no campfire...

Maddie spoke aloud as something very strange occurred to her. "Uncle Will?" she asked in a small voice. "Do you smell that?"

Will glanced at her. "Smell what?" He lifted his face and took a deep breath of the night air.

It registered as soon as she said it.

"Woodsmoke," she said. "There's a campfire somewhere nearby."

Will was in the saddle instantly. "They're close," he said. "Let's go."

"Will! Wait!" Maddie cried out, the instant before Tug could take off. "We don't want them to know we're here!"

Will hesitated, before accepting that she was right and swinging out of the saddle.

"And stealth is our specialty," he said grimly. "Leave the horses here. Let's go."