"Why do they want to kill him? Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you are involved. You know the Ranger the King spoke with, and that means you are one of the few people here who fully understands the situation for what it really is." The man was acting as though she should know exactly what he was talking about without saying anything directly, which served as a very confusing premise for a conversation. Alyss had no idea if she was thinking about the same thing he was. Was this about the druids, the King's secrets, the magic, or something else entirely?

"I'm quite sure I don't. Who are you, and what side are you on?" She took a step back from him, her head spinning as she tried to sort through everything he was subtly referencing. It was too much ambiguity and a severe lack of factual information. There was no wrapping her head around it.

"Please, my lady, my name is Athol. I'm one of the King's advisors, I want to help him. I'm on King Carr's side, Celtica's side." He was practically begging her, his hands raised in surrender and his eyes wide and pleading. "I'm telling you because I have heard about you and others in your group, like Sir Horace and Ranger Halt. I've heard tales from the villagers about the amazing things you and your husband have done for your own country and others."

Alyss raised her brow. He's laying it on thick, and I still have no idea what he actually wants. "I'm flattered, but you still haven't answered my question. Why are you telling me this?"

"The King refuses to tell me what he told Ranger Will. I'm not sure how much information he shared, but I need to know in order to save him." He wrung his hands in front of him, his tone lowering even further to just above a whisper. "I can't protect him alone here in a foreign country. I need allies that are willing to help me save him."

Alyss was still frowning. He was being too vague, and she had been told by Will that the King had told him not to tell anyone. "Protect him from who? Who are these rebels?"

His eyes darted back and forth at a nervous pace, his hands twiddling with the bottom of his green tunic. Drops of sweat were trickling from his curls of dark hair down his temples now. He looked close to fainting. "Please, I can't say here, but help me, my Lady. I must save my King."

Alyss glanced around for a brief moment. They still stood in the center of the courtyard, with plenty of servants, nobles, and townsfolk building around them. She knew he wouldn't dare do anything to her out here with so many witnesses, so she knew she was safe for the time being. But she remembered Will's warning to not take too many risks. If she wasn't careful, this could turn bad quickly, and she didn't know if she was willing to risk that.

Alyss was a careful, thoughtful person. She never did anything without thinking through every possibility, comparing it to others, before finding the most efficient option and then committing to it. Sometimes she would talk them through with Will or Pauline, the two people she most trusted to give her good advice. But most of the time, she figured everything out for herself and was proud when she did. She liked to feel confident in her decisions and celebrate excellent results. It made her feel accomplished, like she deserved the job she had and that she was capable of doing it better than anyone else. It made her feel useful, valuable, and respected.

Here was a difficult decision, where she could not be confident or have any chance of predicting the outcome. And something felt wrong about this, about everything. This man seemed harmless enough for now, but there was something lurking just over her shoulder that she could never spot. Someone was lying.

Alyss knew Cassandra would want to hear about this. "If I choose to help you, will you let me tell Princess Cassandra and allow them to launch an official investigation? They can protect the King much better than I can alone." Regardless of his answer, I'll be telling Cassandra immediately. Maybe even Halt and Pauline before her. 

The man looked even more stressed. "My Lady, the more people that know, the more likely it is for the people on the inside, in his royal court, to hear about it. I have told no one else about this, aside from you, because of this fact." He leaned in closer, and Alyss, in turn, leaned away slightly. "I am willing to swear on my life that I am telling the truth. I am begging for your help. I will pay any price you ask. Just, please, save my King."

Alyss sighed, almost imperceptibly. I'll help him... for now. "Where is the King? Here, or still at Araluen?"

He shook his head. "I rode here alone overnight hearing what had happened to the inn to ask for your help. The murderers, they're here in Redmont. They cannot be stopped if we don't stop them now. The King is still at Araluen."

"I'll send a message to the Princess, summoning both of them to come to Redmont to head the investigation into the fires." An odd thought struck her. The locations of the King and the fires the man mentioned didn't line up. This is getting stranger by the minute. "Why do you think the murderers are here, and not with the King? Why wouldn't they follow their target?"

"Because... because they are not who you think they are." He was looking around the courtyard almost frantically as if he were looking for a path to escape. "I don't want to discuss any further details in public, if anyone were to hear..." he shook his head in fear. "Can I meet with you later, somewhere private, to share more about what's going on?"

"Why not now? And no, I don't trust you. I will not meet with you alone when you could pull a knife out at any moment and kill me. I'm not stupid, Athol."

He winced, not because of her scathing comments, but when she spat his name. His name? Why does he not like his own name? What is wrong with this man?

"I suppose I understand. In that case, bring someone you trust, someone who knows about what the King said. Someone who will be willing to help." He reached out his a nervous hand, trying to take her arm comfortingly, but Alyss dodged it once again. "I promise I won't try to hurt you. I would be insane to ask for your help only to hurt you, that would betray my honor. I give you my word."

Alyss let her face stay entirely unreadable, and under her facade, she raised a metaphorical eyebrow, skeptical about every word coming out of this strange man's mouth. "Meet me this evening, in my office on the Courier's floor. I will speak with you more then."

He bowed to her, pure relief shining in his eyes. "Thank you, thank you, my Lady. You will not regret this. Truly." And then he turned away, practically running across the courtyard and back under the raised portcullis. He was gone within seconds.

"What did he want?"

The familiar voice of Halt called out softly from behind a stone pillar a few feet to her left. She smiled knowingly as she realized he must have been there the entire time. "Couldn't you hear him from your hiding place?"

He appeared from behind the pillar, materializing from the shadows. He only shook his head, his beard, which was now more gray than black, brushing against his collar. She would cut his hair for him later if Pauline didn't, she thought. "There wasn't a better place to listen in, unfortunately. I only caught a few phrases here and there. Something about murderers, and needing your help?"

Alyss nodded. "It was all very secret, he hardly told me anything out of fear of "the murderers" hearing him. But essentially..." she trailed off, glancing around inconspicuously. "Perhaps we should chat about this where prying eyes and ears can't interrupt. Want to go find Pauline?"

He nodded in agreement. "Yes, to both suggestions."

As they began strolling towards the stairs to the Courier' offices and she let her mind drift from the strange encounter, Alyss couldn't help but remember to the very first time she had spent had quality time with Halt. It was when she was very young, only sixteen, and a year into her apprenticeship with Pauline. Will had been taken by the Skandians and Halt, who had been exceptionally lonely and cranky without his surrogate son, had been forced to accompany her to her first mission with a rather difficult Baron. She had been a lot more innocent back then, just a carefree young girl. Now she had endured wars, battles, sieges, catastrophes, and had even negotiated peace treaties with other nations. Not to mention she had accidentally befriended and become an official advisor to the future Queen and King, and married the most famous Ranger Araluen had ever known.

She had come a long way as a Courier and as a woman, she thought. No longer was she a sweet, smiling little girl trying to break through the depressed old Ranger's hard shell. Now, she was confident, calculated, and professionally accomplished, and he was like a father and advisor to her, someone who looked out for her, someone she could always confide in. He trusted her, and she trusted him. It was all very lovely, she thought. Will wasn't the only one who loved Halt and his gruffness. She had a soft spot saved just for him, and Pauline had given her entire heart to him. It showed that Halt, however grumpy or abrasive he may be, was an incredibly loving and caring person underneath it all. He had loved Alyss like a daughter as soon as she and Will began to make their relationship known, and Halt had walked her down the aisle at her wedding. They had a truly special relationship, one Alyss wouldn't trade for the world. And it was moments like these that she was reminded of it, where Halt subtly protected her by slinking around in the shadows of the courtyard and also wanted to help her solve the situation.

"By the way," he was saying, "I know you suspect this, so I'll just admit it to you. Will told me to watch out for you, he's worried about you and the baby. I told him you'd be fine, and that I'd keep you safe, of course, but I wanted you to know that I won't bother you. I know you can handle yourself just fine."

"Of course, he did, I would expect nothing less," she rolled her eyes jokingly. "And thank you for having faith in me."

He held out his arm chivalrously, and she accepted it with a gentle smile as they climbed the steps to the offices. "But Pauline says that if you ever need help, if you feel sick, or anything at all, you can call her. I would say the same, except I have essentially no knowledge about pregnancy. So please, only call me if it's an emergency I'm qualified to help with." 

He shuddered slightly, and Alyss laughed as he said, "Pauline tried to tell me about morning sickness yesterday night, and how to treat it. It's all a mess to me frankly, but she knows everything, it seems. Call me if someone, like that man back there, tries to murder you. That, I can deal with." There was a dangerous gleam in his eye alongside his mischievous smile. Alyss loved that she could always make Halt smile these days. Retirement was treating him well, even if he would never admit it.

"I won't hesitate. Thanks, Halt." They turned the corner into Alyss's office, one door down from Pauline's. Cabinets and desks formed a half-circle in front of the wall of windows, and they were all covered in multiple stacks of neatly organized papers and reports. A series of chairs, set up for meetings and consultations, surrounded the outside of the tables, and Alyss's main chair sat in the center of it all, set perfectly straight and pushed neatly into the desk. It was ordered chaos, a lot of work perfectly arranged. The windows let in a lot of natural light, and a vase of flowers identical to the one in Will's and her cabin sat on a shelf nearest the door.

"Take a seat, Halt. Sorry about the mess, it's been a bit crazy with the communications from Celtica."

Halt saw right through her half-hearted politeness immediately. "What mess? All I see are impeccably organized sheets of paper. Don't apologize for this, you're doing your job." He sat in a chair across from her, his smaller stature making his eyes sit a few inches below hers even though their chairs were the same height. "Now tell me, what was he so stressed about?"

Before she could answer, Pauline's head popped into the doorway, holding a file Alyss assumed must be for her. "Who's stressed about what? Hello, darling." Pauline put the file on Alyss's desk and leaned down, quite far, to plant a kiss on his rough cheek. "You really need to trim your beard, next thing you know it'll be at your belly button." She wagged a playful finger at him.

He smiled sheepishly. "I will, dear. Alyss met one of the Celts in the courtyard and he had some secrets to spill. Care to hear?"

"Oh, please, I've been bogged down with reports all morning." Pauline sat down next to Halt, and they both looked expectantly at her.

Alyss smiled, leaning back in her chair to hide her apprehensiveness. "According to this man, somebody wants to kill King Carr. And he wants me to help him stop them." 

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A/N Sorry this is late! I've been sick while on vacation for the last couple days and I had zero time to write. No COVID-19, don't worry. I've been wearing my mask and social distancing constantly, it was just a small stomach flu. Hope you all are doing well! 

Alyss is my favorite character to write about, she's not mentioned much in the original books and I absolutely love developing her character and making her a real human being with feelings and thoughts. How do you like her so far? I'll update regularly from now on. See you tomorrow!