The New Rangers

Chapter Twenty-Five

Holly twisted in her saddle, squinting into the darkness. "Did you hear something? I swear I heard something."

Logan slowed Marsh and turned the horse around. "Go on ahead, I'll ride back and check to be certain we aren't being followed."

"All right, but be careful," Holly told him.

He was the best at silent movement and concealment, he was the best man for the job. The others rode ahead. Leaving him sitting atop Marsh in the middle of the road. Once the others were gone, he nudged Marsh off the road and into the trees.

"Stay here, boy, and stay silent," he told the horse.

Once he'd obscured all signs that he'd left the road, he slipped into the trees on the opposite side of the road from where he'd left Marsh. In a matter of seconds he was safely hidden in the concealing branches of one of the trees, waiting and watching the road.

It didn't take long for the source of Holly's discomfort to show itself. Logan grinned as he watched Will and Halt ride down the road. Slowly, he slipped down from the tree and quietly moved through the foliage until he was lurking just inside the treeline, watching the two senior Rangers until they rode past where he stood.

Once they rounded the bend in the road, he sprinted across to the opposite side of the road and jumped up into the saddle. "Let's go boy." They moved through the trees as quickly as he dared, attempting to get in front of the other two Rangers so he could warn the others.

He nudged Marsh back onto the road once he passed the other two Rangers and hurried to catch up to the others. Logan pulled Marsh up when he reached the others. "It's Halt and Will. It looks like they followed us."

Deva cursed. "We need to move, not that it will matter, they're both expert trackers."

"That is an excellent observation, Deva, however it looks as if there's no need for us to track you."

Holly cursed, turning to look at her father. "Really, Dad, can't we ever do anything on our own?"

Halt arched an eyebrow at her. "Yes, of course, but if you'll remember you are still an apprentice. So, at the moment, no, you'll do as we say."

"Where exactly are the four of you going and what are you planning on doing when you arrive?" Will asked.

"We hadn't gotten quite that far yet. Our goal was to find Morgan and figure out the rest when we got there," Logan answered with a shrug.

Will pinched the bridge of his nose. "The lot of you are going to get yourselves killed."

"We haven't yet!" Holly answered with a fat grin.

"Not the appropriate answer, Holly," Halt told her with a deep scowl.

"I must agree with your father. All of you are going to come to an extremely bad end at this rate."

At the sound of the unexpected voice, they turned to look at Morgan as he and his men emerged from the trees.

"Great now there's trouble! See, if you hadn't followed us we never would have been caught sitting here in the middle of the blasted road!" Deva accused the two senior Rangers.

"Aww, now don't be so hard on them, my dear, after all it is a father's natural instinct to protect his young." Morgan's smile didn't come close to dampening the dead cold in his eyes.

Mitchell urged Sticker forward a couple of steps. "We aren't going to let you get anywhere near Castle Araluen."

Morgan clicked his tongue at Mitchell. "My dear little princeling, I wasn't planning on it."