The next morning, Will prepared to leave the camp as soon as everyone was awake and packing up, ready to move on for the day. He tried to roll over and crawl out of his tent as silently as possible in case Alyss was still asleep, but as he emerged on hands and knees he was surprised to see her there already, sitting by the coals of last night's fire.

"Here," she said, raising a package of clean bandages. "Let me."

He gave her a small smile, and sat beside her, pulling aside the collar of his tunic to reveal the bandage on his shoulder. As her gentle fingers separated it from his skin, he pressed his lips into a thin line, clenching his jaw as the burned skin met the cool morning air. It was somewhat soothing, but still painful, even if it was cold.

His shoulder was only marginally better. The skin was red and blisters still remained in some places next to the site where the metal had actually been pressed into him, but the black ink that made up the design of a swirl had settled into his scars. The design was starting to look almost recognizable, and the raw skin was nearly sealed. It would likely take at least a month, if not more, for this burn to heal completely, but for now, Will was thankful he could still move his arm. He was thankful he was still alive, and that Halt and Alyss were too. It was worth being burned like this for them. But that didn't mean he didn't hate the design now etched on his skin, never to fade, it would be there when he died. He hadn't decided if he would regret it later. He hoped not.

Alyss swiped the last of his dressing across the burn with fast fingers, having learned by now that shortening Will's pain was preferable to trying taking too much time to be gentle. She was just folding the fresh bandage over itself, ready to cover the burn, when a now familiarly irritating voice interrupted them.

"That looks painful, Ranger Will. Let me have a good look at it."

King Carr, in his morning splendor of a silken dressing robe and long nightshirt, sporting a tangled beard, the hair on his head flattened in the back and sticking straight out on the sides, came waddling up to where they sat. He slipped on patches of mud a few times in his languid approach, his shiny slippers getting caked with mud from the early morning dew.

Will, blinking once at his strange appearance, and being used to it by now after their days of travel together, kept an entirely straight face as he quickly said, "It's alright, your Majesty, Alyss was just re-bandaging it. It's healing fine."

"No, please, I'd like to see it. Reminds me of my old days, when I got my first mark." He sat down uncomfortably close to Will, who scooted away subtly to avoid the King's too-warm sweaty arms inches away from brushing against his own. Alyss reluctantly lowered her hands, letting the bandage fall back to reveal the damage.

The King looked at for quite a while, twisting and turning his head to view it from every possible angle. "It was a rough one, that's for certain." He glanced up at Will, pursing his lips with a perfectly serious expression on his face. "If you hadn't struggled this would have been a whole lot cleaner, and it would have healed faster, it'll always be a little lumpy..."

He felt Alyss tense beside him, and he gripped her hand tightly in an attempt to stop her from lashing out, but he was too late. She narrowed her eyes menacingly at the King, and hissed, "We have your maniacal son to thank for that, your Majesty, and don't you forget it. He was about to murder us, after burning us, and there was nothing any of us could have done by ourselves to stop him, including you. So I advise you to speak carefully, as I don't want to hear anything more if you're going to criticize us for your son's sins."

The King gazed at her, speechless for a moment. "You're right, Lady Alyss, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything. I was simply commenting on the quality of the mark, and how it may not heal as smoothly as it might have."

Alyss inhaled sharply, as if to strike back again, but Will squeezed her hand with quite a sizable amount of force. She glanced at him and his conciliatory face, and reluctantly sat back in silence. He didn't even spare a glance at the King as he muttered tightly, "I couldn't really help it, your Majesty."

"I suppose you couldn't. After all, this was a ...unique ceremony." Before Will could think of anything to say in response, the King gave him a mild look, the most calm and almost apologetic Will had ever seen on him. He held out a small meaty hand, resting it on Will's forearm. "I wanted to apologize for that, by the way. By druid law, Athol thought he was doing the right thing, and I don't think he took any great pleasure in hurting you as he did. In his second lifetime, when he is reincarnated, he will see your scar and all the damage he caused, and repent."

Alyss twitched beside Will again, no doubt wanting to fire back about Athol's so-called good intentions, but she didn't get the chance.

King Carr leaned in close, his morning breath hitting Will squarely in the face. It took all of Will's experience as a Ranger not to recoil. "It will heal in time, and it should not pain you after that. It is only a surface burn, albeit a deep and painful one. Each of mine took around that long to heal."

He gazed intensely at Will, like he expected an answer. Still not sure exactly what the expected response was after such a strange speech, he settled with a timid, "Thank you, your Majesty... I'm-I'm glad to hear it will only be a few more weeks until I'm healed."

He gave a firm nod, his spikes of wiry gray hair brushing against Will's shoulder. "I'll leave you two alone then. I've got important business to attend to; I have to put my kingdom back together in a few short days and it's going to be a madhouse."

Will gave him an obligatory nod as he turned, waddling back the way he came toward his large tent in the center of the camp. "Oh! Wait!" The king whirled around like a top on his short legs, and after piercing Will's gaze with his fiery eyes, spoke several phrases in Celtic in rapid succession that Will didn't understand at all. "Now you say, yes, I promise."

Will blinked again, lost in total confusion. "What am I promising?"

The King only grinned slyly. "You know what you're promising."

"I'm quite sure I don't."

He huffed angrily. "Do I really have to spell it out for you? I'm finishing your ritual. We can't have you enduring all that pain and getting no reward."

Will's jaw dropped. "You're... appointing me as a druid?"

The King rolled his eyes. "Of course I am, what else would this be?"

"But why? I'm not Celtic, and I'm not a born druid, I don't deserve it."

"Because even though you're a foreigner, a native Araluen by blood, and skeptical of magic, you now know more about druids that anyone in the world ever has. You've witnessed our most sacred ceremonies first hand, you've spoken with me and with all our druid leaders, and you've spent several days with a tribe. Based on these outstanding qualifications, you must become an honorary member of the tribe."

"R-really? But, I can't - "

The King waved his hand in the air dismissing Will's objections before he could even voice them. "You don't have to commit to a god or a tribe, or come to Celtica to live there to assume the title, that wouldn't work very well. Let's call this an honorary Druid title then. It lets you continue your lovely little life here, while still being sworn to secrecy, and, of course, having access to druid knowledge and nearly every secret in Celtica."

Will raised an eyebrow. "I see, it's all about the oath of secrecy, then?" He doesn't want me spreading this knowledge far and wide, he wants to maintain the lore of the druids. I can't blame him for it, either.

"You're right, I'd rather the events of the last few weeks not be spread too far and wide, and even if you have to report them, I'd appreciate it if you changed certain facts to help hide us. After all, the druids did nothing wrong. My son and Lewellyn are the traitors, and they will be dishonored and removed from the druids," the King replied amicably.

Alyss cocked her head to one side. "So, King Carr, must I take an oath of secrecy as well?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, it would comfort the council and myself to know that those of you who know the most are sworn to not reveal important information we would rather stay a secret. I cannot, unfortunately, offer you a druid title, as you don't have a mark."

Alyss immediately shook her head. "And I don't want one. An oath of secrecy is just fine, thank you."

"So?" The King turned his fiery gaze back on Will. "Will you give your solemn promise? Complete your ritual?"

Will looked sidelong at Alyss, a question in his eyes. She shrugged gently, but gave him a soft smile and nodded. No harm in it, she seemed to say.

And he knew exactly what Halt would say. An invitation to join a secret society with none of the downfalls or commitment? Access to Celtic secrets? A friend to the King? Why are you hesitating?

He nodded, once, meeting King Carr's gaze.

"I promise."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, Will stalked through the trees, breathing in the familiar smell of the forest around him. After days of being cooped up in the castle, escaping burning buildings, and camping with bloodthirsty druids, he was relieved to be back in his favorite place doing something he was good at. Returning to his standard Ranger tasks, in times like these, felt like a breath of fresh air in the cloud of politics and lies.

The trail Lewellyn left was brutally obvious. She had stomped her back through the forest in the darkness, focusing on speed instead of stealth. For Will, it was almost insulting how easy it was to see exactly where she had run, the kind of boots she was wearing, the color of her clothing. He even found strands of red her hair snagged in low hanging branches.

It took him only an hour to reach the camp. The smell of smoke from their massive bonfires grew stronger with every step, and the sounds of friendly chatter leaked through the trees at an ever-increasing volume.

Will paused in his ghostly approach under an old elm, drawing his bow and laying an arrow on the string. But in the same moment, he put them away again. Lewellyn was right. These other druids, they don't even carry weapons, they're peaceful folk. I've seen them in action, I have nothing to fear from them, he thought to himself. But then he rested his hand on his saxe. Lewellyn, however, is not peaceful. She almost stabbed Alyss last night.

As he crept up on the camp, the knife lept from its scabbard into Will's hand, his apprehension growing the closer he got.

To the druids, he seemed to rise up out of the ground, emerging out of the shadows of one of the trees created by the angled morning sunlight. Several of them shouted in Celtic, and others backed away in fear. None of them drew weapons, but Will wasn't convinced yet. He waited until they had all seen him and had a chance to take in his appearance, and then called out, "Where is Lewellyn? I need to speak with her immediately."

"Ranger Will? Is that you?" One of the younger women in the tribe, who Will recognized from his extended stay with them a few nights prior, stepped forward, a wary look in her eyes. All the rest of the tribe members, around twenty in total, had now gathered in a semi-circle of white robes around Will to watch what was happening.

Will realized his cowl was up, and he reached up slowly to flip it off his head. The druids all heaved a collective sigh of relief as they recognized his face. "It's good to see you again, Ranger, we didn't know why you left. It's good that you're back," the woman continued.

"Lewellyn? Is she here?" Will glanced around, not seeing her. He could see their fire pit, burned down to only a wheelbarrow full of embers and coals, and there was no evidence of blood or a sacrifice.

The woman looked puzzled. "I was just about to ask you the same question, Ranger Will. First, our leader, Athol, left, and has been gone for weeks now, never coming back to lead our most sacred rituals. And now Lewellyn, the designated representative of Esus himself, has been gone since last night. Why have they left? Have you seen either of them?"

Will narrowed his eyes. "Didn't Lewellyn tell you about what happened at Castle Redmont? Are you aware that she and Athol are traitors to your King?"

They all gasped, looks of utter shock splaying across each of their faces. None of them answered except someone further back in the crowd, who called out, "That can't be true! What have they done?"

Will raised both eyebrows in surprise at their sincerity. So Lewellyn didn't lie about them after all. They truly know nothing. Absolutely nothing!

Will's hand slipped off the hilt of his saxe after one last sweep around the clearing, searching for Lewellyn hiding, and finding no one. He beckoned them closer, sitting comfortably on the ground.

"It seems I have a lot to tell you about your leaders, and what their true motives were for bringing you here." He told them everything he could think of, including the events of the last few days, the showdown in the throne room, the death of Athol, and Lewellyn's sneak attack from the previous night.

The druids stayed dutifully quiet throughout his entire story, and at the very end, they all sat in stunned silence for several minutes.

The woman finally broke the silence with a shaky voice. "Ranger Will, I speak for all of us when I say that we had no idea of what was really going on. Many of us noticed their strange behavior, but we were ordered not to ask questions, and punished when we tried to dig deeper."

Another druid spoke up, an old man with a peg leg and a missing hand. "I'm so sorry about all the damage we've caused in your country. We didn't understand that it wasn't Esus's will, that it was their evil plot."

"We didn't know, Ranger Will," a mother cradling her young son called out. "We didn't know."

Will nodded. "If you return to the King's camp with me right now, and explain your innocence, the King will pardon you and allow you to travel back to Celtica with all of us in safety. Will you come?"

They all glanced around at each other. Many of them were crying softly, and all the tohers had gone very pale at the revelation that their entire tribe's beliefs were a lie. Will couldn't imagine how horrible it must be to realize that your family and friends had been manipulated by corrupt people. For someone with strong beliefs, he knew it could be devastating.

With an ashen face, but a determined look in her eyes, the druid woman spoke one last time.

"We must atone for the mistakes our leaders have made. We will come with you."

"All of you?"

They all answered in practiced unison.

"We will come."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alyss and Will were wary about the inn at Ipswitch Fief.

A few days later, only one fief north of the Araluen-Celtica border, directly north of Stamford Fief, the final night of travel that Will, Alyss, and the Redmont soldiers would have to endure with the Celts, they insisted upon staying at the local inn instead of camping outdoors like they had done all the way south so far. Ipswitch was another fief that bordered the Solitary Plains, and all the Araluens in the escort weren't very happy about how close they were to the edge. There were too many legends, and stories of strange sounds and visions that involved people traveling across and around the Plains. But Alyss figured that druids liked folklore and mystery. In fact, they thrived off it. So they'd be the last people to have reparations about sleeping close to a haunted flatland.

Will had searched for Lewellyn every day of their journey, but with little luck. The forest was far too big to find one person traveling alone, and he found too many trails on the road from the druid's past journeys that made tracking her very difficult. Unlike her run back to the druid campsite on the evening she confronted Will and Alyss, she was now being very careful to hide her trail as much as possible. Combining that with the other overlapping trails, and Will's inability to predict where she may hide, it made it nearly impossible for him to find her.

He knew that on their journey back to Redmont he would keep looking. It had only been a couple days since her disappearance, after all. But for now, her trail had gone cold.

But that didn't make Alyss feel any better about staying in a wooden building, ripe with kindling, ready to erupt in flames at a moment's notice. She still vividly remembered her mad rush to escape Jenny's diner, and she knew Will had even darker memories about burning inns. After all, he had just barely escaped with his life from one just a week and a half ago.

Both of them had advised the King strongly to camp outside the village, and were utterly ignored. "I want a bed, a real bed, not this cotton cot I've been breaking my back on every night. We're nearly in Celtica anyway, we should celebrate our final night together with some cheap Araluen beer and a nice room at the inn." The King then insisted upon purchasing rooms for both he and Alyss, as well as the captains of both the Redmont and Celtic guards. The other men and the twenty druids the King had pardoned were to camp outside the village as they had every other night. The King had reasoned the inn didn't have enough rooms to house fifty or more people on a moment's notice.

After declining an entire liter of beer the King tried to buy Will, Alyss quietly slipped out of the tavern room and up the stairs with Will on her heels, moving so silently she had to check over her shoulder several times to make sure he was still following her. They unlocked their room and sighed in relief as the door clicked shut behind them. After locking it securely, Will ripped his boots off and left them in a heap on the floor as he flung himself onto the bed, sighing heavily. "I still don't think this is the safest plan. But I can't deny that a real mattress feels excellent after so many days on the ground."

Alyss peeled the sheets off one corner of the bed, peering down at the seams of the mattress with a dubious expression. "It may feel good now, but wait until you've been bitten within an inch of your life by all the bed bugs in there."

"What?" Will sprung off the bed even faster than he had fallen on it, swiping frantically at his arms and legs. "How many are there? Did they get on me?"

Alyss only smirked, tucking the blankets back into place. "There aren't any on you, because there aren't any bed bugs. That I can see, anyway, who knows about deeper inside." Oh, how she loved to tease him gently.

Will gave her a sheepish grin. "I suppose I should have checked it before lying down anyway. Serves me right, I suppose."

After stowing their bags in the corner and Will returned from feeding and grooming Tug in the stables across from the inn, they both lay down in the bed, their arms around each other.

"One more night, and we get to go home and leave this all behind us," Alyss murmured drowsily, tucking her head against his chest.

"One more night," Will agreed. She felt him fall asleep first, his breathing evening out, and his chest rising and falling against her palm. The lines in his face smoothed out, his jaw relaxed, and his closed eyes softened. She smiled gently before whispering, "Good night," and drifting off into her own blissful sleep.

She awoke, sometime much later in the night, to the smell of smoke.

*****************

A/N Thank you so much for reading! The next chapter will be the final one of this book, and I can't believe it. There will be a chapter 31, and an epilogue, and probably some bonus chapters too. 

Thank you for being patient, I really appreciate it. See you soon for the end of this book!