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."

Halt narrowed his eyes on Morgan. "And your plan was what, exactly?"

Morgan's smile grew colder. "You're participating in it, Ranger. I knew if I headed in this direction at least a couple of you would fly out to the rescue. Once that happened, the rest of you would come trailing behind, making it quite easy to pick you off like pigeons on a rooftop."

Mitchell felt his throat close with terror, though he'd never let the other man see it. That wasn't how a knight or a prince reacted. "You're not leaving this clearing."

Morgan threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Do you think you can beat me, Your Highness?" Morgan sneered.

Mitchell sat up a bit taller in his saddle and nodded.

Morgan assessed the young prince. The boy was terrified down to his toes, yet he stood tall, refusing to let anyone see exactly how frightened he was. The boy would never be able to defeat him. He made certain he was better trained than Sir Horace so he could defeat the man who had killed his father. The little prince wouldn't be an issue.

"Well then, I accept your challenge. I'll give you a few minutes to prepare and so there's no confusion, boy, this will be a fight to the death."

There was an eruption of anger from the gathered Rangers. It was an outburst he chose to ignore. They dismounted and gathered in a group around Mitchell.

Morgan dismounted as well, preparing himself for battle.

"Mitchell, you can't do this!" Deva whispered in an angry voice while shooting glares in Morgan's direction.

Will shook his head. "I'm going to have to agree with Deva."

"My father was able to defeat Morgarath, why shouldn't I be able to defeat his son?" Mitchell was a bit put out that no one believed he could do it.

"Because ... just ... because he's Morgarath's son! You don't think he's been waiting, preparing for this moment! He isn't going to enter into this fight ill prepared!" Deva thought she was going to strangle on the tears she was making every effort to hold back.

Holly rolled her eyes, ignoring the argument the others were having about whether or not Mitchell could defeat Morgan. They couldn't let him fight Morgan, not because Mitchell wasn't good with a sword, but because Deva was right, Morgan had probably been preparing to fight Horace and beat him. Mitchell wouldn't stand a chance.

There was nothing for it then, she couldn't let the prince die. Not only was he the heir to the throne, he was a friend. She glanced at the others and shook her head. It looked as if this was entirely up to her.

She took a step forward. "I challenge you, Morgan!" she hollered.

Morgan cut off whatever he was saying to his men and turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised. "You challenge me?"

She sent him a smile that she honestly wasn't feeling. "Yes, I do. Were the words too large for you to understand? Too many syllables? Would you like me to find smaller words to express myself with?"

"All right then, little girl, as soon as I've dispatched you I'll kill the prince." He finished with a shrug.

"Holly, what in blue blazes are you doing?" Halt yelled as he rushed to stand beside her.

She turned to her father. "I'm handling things. Mitchell, may I use your shield please?" She held her hand out, fully expecting him to hand it over.

"Do not even think of it, Mitchell," Halt thundered, his glare directed at Holly.

Mitchell edged forward, coming to stand beside them, his gaze focused on Holly. "Are you certain this is a good idea?"

She shrugged, hand still held out for his shield. "No, of course not, but you are the prince and vastly more important to this kingdom than a mere Ranger's apprentice. Now, shield, please."

He turned and went back to Sticker and grabbed his shield, returning and handing it to her. "Good luck."

She nodded, removed her cloak and held it out. "Logan, can you please hold my cloak?"

He rushed forward and took the cloak from her. "Holly, this isn't a good idea."

She shrugged and smiled at him. "It isn't in the least, but someone needed to do something."

He stepped back with a nod, hugging her cloak to his chest as Deva ran to hug her best friend. "Good luck, I know you're going to win."

Holly smiled at her best friend, nodded and turned to face Morgan. Deva may believe she could win, but she had no such delusions. If she could tire Morgan or injure him then Mitchell may have a chance. It wasn't something she wanted to consider, but her death was inevitable. If it served to give Mitchell a chance, if it saved him, then it would be worth it.

"Are you ready to do this, Morgan?"

He grinned at her. "Of course, a gentleman shouldn't keep a lady waiting." He pulled his sword.

"I'm not a lady, at least in this instance. I'm a Ranger. Now, are you done trying to insult me, it won't work. My anger will remain under control."

He jumped forward with a roar, his sword raised to slash down at her.

If he expected her to shrink from him when he launched his attack, he was sorely mistaken. Holly spun neatly out of his way, unsheathing her sword as she went. Her sword came around and up, parrying the blow he'd aimed at her head. Their swords struck, the sound reverberating throughout the forest and shivering up her arm painfully.

He was so much stronger than she was and she knew it wasn't going to take him long to overpower her, disarm her and ultimately kill her. She danced lightly out of his way, spinning to bring her much shorter sword around in a graceful arc, aiming to strike at his sword arm.

What she needed was to keep out of his reach for as long as possible, dance around him and force him to attempt to strike at her, tiring him out before he ultimately caught her and dispatched her from this world.

The man moved more quickly than she anticipated and her sword missed its mark, but only by a small margin. She spun away, again before he could strike back.

He had the training and strength to win, but he was allowing his anger to direct his swings, she could see his displeasure flashing in his eyes. He probably hadn't expected her to last this long and it was annoying him. She smiled and parried another blow before spinning away from him, dancing back several steps, putting space between them.

"Hmm, having problems fighting a female, Morgan?" she taunted.

He emitted a growl and circled her. "You aren't an issue, girl. You will die."

Her laughter rang out as she jumped forward and swung, her blade struck him but not where she'd intended the blow to land. It glanced off the mail he wore, causing no damage to him. Cursing the fact that she'd missed her target, she lost focus for a moment and he struck out, slicing a line over her ribs just below her breasts.

She jumped back, pressing the arm that held Mitchell's shield against the wound. It was shallow but still painful.

"Not so cocky now are you, girl?" Morgan taunted her while circling, still looking for an opening.

"Oh trust me, I am. Enough for both of us." She watched him, eyes tracking his every move and when he shifted, a smile lifted the corners of her lips. He was still favoring the wound she'd given him. His movements were quick, but slightly hesitant. He shifted again, moving his arm as if the shoulder was stiff.

"I see that nasty wound is still painful. Do you need a break?"

The smile he gave her was full of loathing. "I'm going to enjoy killing you. I know it was you who put that arrow in my shoulder."

She grinned back at him. "It's always nice to be recognized for one's accomplishments," she retorted.

Morgan's anger seemed to reach a new level at her words. "I'm done listening to your idiotic, childish tuants."

Holly twirled quickly out of the way of his swing at the absolute last possible second when he came at her. He stumbled a step, sweeping past her. The sword dropped from her hand and she pulled one of her saxe knives from the scabbard at her waist and thrust it up under Morgan's ribs.

He staggered forward several steps, stopped and turned slowly to face her, his expression full of shock. "Impossible!" His sword dropped from his hand, clattering to the ground.

Holly watched as he fell to his knees. The look on his face wasn't one of defeat, he looked angry. "No! I'll win. I will!"

His men rushed forward, one grasping his shoulder and lowering him to the ground as he attempted to look at the wound. His efforts were wasted, Morgan took one last, shuddering breath, released it and didn't take another.

Holly sagged. The shield seemed to be weighing her arm down. She quickly gave up on vertical and decided horizontal was a better idea and dropped to the ground where she remained. She'd never been so exhausted in her entire life, even after her first day of Ranger training she hadn't felt this awful.

Deva's worried face appeared above her. "Holly? Oh god, please, you can't die! Do you hear me? I'm too old to find a new best friend, no one else will put up with me!"

Holly choked out a laugh at Deva's words. "I'm not dying, don't worry. Just very exhausted and everything seems to be exceedingly sore. I want to sleep for at least a week. No, maybe a month."

Together, she and Logan helped Holly up from the ground, took Mitchell's shield and handed it back to him.

Logan swung up onto Marsh and waited until Mitchell handed Holly up to him. He tucked her cloak around her and settled her in his lap. "Go ahead and take a nap. I won't let you fall, promise."

"Better not or I'll put an arrow in you," she muttered before her eyes fluttered shut and she was out.

Morgan's men had fled while they were distracted helping Holly, taking their lord's body with them.

Mitchell waved a hand in the direction they'd gone. "Shouldn't we go after them?"

Halt shook his head. "We're outnumbered, despite the fact we have our bows. It wouldn't be worth it anyway. We know they're heading back to the Mountains of Rain and Night. Their leader is gone, what harm can they possibly do? Let's head home and get Holly patched up and let her get some rest."

They turned their horses and rode back to Castle Araluen. Most of the trip was accomplished in silence.

Morgan was gone, thanks to Holly and they all had their own thoughts about how things would end up playing out with his men. It would seem they now had very little to worry about for the moment.