Even as experienced as he was, Halt couldn't help but cringe at the sight. Truth be told, the lecture Lea had been going to get had been indefinitely postponed.

The scene before the two Rangers was rough, to say the least.

Ranger Geldon lay in a pool of what they could only assume was his own blood, already dry beneath him. Knuckles busted, his saxe lay limp in his right hand. Slash wounds covered his forearms and a large gash trailed horizontally across his chest. Of all the wounds he had sustained, the killing one was obvious, a cut throat.

Halt stepped forward and crouched down next to Geldon's body and closed the man's eyes.

"We may be dealing with more than just angry common folk." Halt said in a low tone. He reached down and grabbed Geldon's saxe knife, turning it over in his hand once. The blade was covered in blood. "At least he didn't go down without a good fight." He stood up and looked out over the counter at the common area. "Judging by the state of this place he drew a good chunk of his attackers blood as well." He looked at Lea, who hadn't managed to pry her eyes away from Geldon's body, or her hand away from her mouth. "Go get Will and see if the two of you can't scrounge up a shovel or two. We can't leave him here like this now can we." He placed Geldon's saxe on the counter and put a firm hand on her shoulder. "Send Horace in here to me will you?" He made intentional eye contact with her, drawing her back to the present.

Lea cleared her throat before nodded. "Right." Her voice was ever so slightly wavering. This isn't the first time she'd seen a mangled corpse certainly, but it was the first time she'd seen one of someone she'd known. Geldon was a senior Ranger among the Corp, and one of the friendlier ones. He had always been the one to do her evaluations when she was still an apprentice. He was always fair in his gradings and offered good advice. She held him in high respect. "We'll go ahead and start digging once we find some shovels." She straightened herself and turned towards the door.

Walking out onto the porch she could hear Will hushing the horse in the stable and looking towards it she saw Horace emerging, hand unconsciously on the hilt of his blade. Their eyes met and his hand grasped the hilt when he saw the look in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" Horace said as he increased his gait to make up the distance between them. "Did something happen? Where's Halt?" Lea pointed inside, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"He's inside." Lea said. Horace walked up the porch steps but Lea grabbed his arm before he could pass her. "Brace yourself." Horace met her gaze and nodded. She let go of his arm and he walked into the Cabin.

In the stable Will had finally managed to calm down Geldon's horse when Lea walked in behind him. "We need a few shovels." Lea said and Will turned to look at her.

"I was wondering what was taking you two so long." Will said in a somber voice. "You found Geldon." Lea nodded and Will sighed sadly. "I saw a couple shovels in the corner over there. I suppose we're on digging duty."

"You assume right." Lea walked to the corner and grabbed the shovels, handing one to Will as he approached. "It was bad Will." They started out towards the tree line. "Geldon may have been older, but I can't imagine him being overpowered like he was." They picked out a spot and started digging.

"We must be dealing with more than angry common folk." Will said and Lea nodded.

"That's exactly what Halt said." Lea sighed. "I'm guessing our plans are about to change."

~

Once they finished burying Geldon, the party backtracked a ways and set up a temporary camp in a small grove off the road, hidden from passersby.

"Alright." Halt set the freshly brewed pot of coffee down between the four of them. "I don't think I need to explain to you three what's happened here, but bear with me." He poured himself a cup and passed the pot to Will. "Now not only do we have a group said to be wanting to overthrow the King, common folk angry with the state of our government, rioting in their Fiefs demanding change." He paused to make sure his companions were paying attention. "We have someone who's after Rangers as well."

"Not just that." Will added "This someone, or someones, know enough about us to not only get the jump on a Ranger" He let his sentence hang in the air.

"But knows how to kill one." Horace said grimly. "Judging by the mess he left," He took a sip of his coffee. "They knew someone would find the body."

"They could know well enough how we operate that they knew taking down the Ranger of the Fief wouldn't be enough." Lea added. "They knew the King would send more."

"Which means," Halt interjected. "That we have to assume they're expecting us. We have to be on our guard and assume that whoever this person, or people" He nodded at Will "are, that they know at least some of the tricks we have up our sleeve." He tapped his forefinger thoughtfully on the rip of his cup. "This group at large may be a lot more organized than they'd let on."

"Well, from what King Duncan told us, they've already managed to take hold of this Fief and the Fief to the south. Apparently they've spread rather quickly." Will said thoughtfully. "Whatever rhetoric these rebels are spewing must be pretty passionate."

"On top of all of this." Halt said, a twinge of annoyance in his voice. "All for this hullabaloo started during the Gathering, when all of us Rangers were away."

"From the look of Geldon's body" Horace chimed in "He'd been dead for a while. A week or so, maybe a bit less."

"About the time he would of been getting back from the Gathering." Lea said. "Someone must of been waiting for him."

"And if they were waiting for him." Will said. "Then they have to be expecting us."

"Then I say we subvert their expectations." Halt said pointedly, looking between Will and Lea. "You two wouldn't have brought your jongleur outfits by chance, would ya?"

~~~

Authors Note

Hey again! I know I just wrote an update but I figured I'd write one of these things down here too. I hope that cliff hanger was worth the wait for some of you. I would love to hear your thoughts on it! If you have any criticisms or just want to tell me what you think, you can comment, or you can message me. I'd love to hear from you. This will probably be the only Authors Note for a while so I hope you enjoy whatever I end up writing next!