Lilith watched carefully as the boy made his way through the forest atop his battle horses. He was following the ranger, who had just been banished from the kingdom. Lilith saw the whole thing. Only days before, one of her spies reported back to her explaining the situation of the ranger. He was drunk and bad mouthed king Duncan. Sentenced to banishment for a year. Why must these men make her life so much harder? It was hard enough following them around everywhere, then they have to go and get themselves banished? Once Lilith heard from her spies that the ranger was making his way towards Skandia, she followed rather unwillingly. Foldar however encouraged her. He was too busy to go after him himself since he was still trying to keep the confusion going in the rangers corps long enough for Lilith to kill her victims. She had her spies keep watch on the boy, but he suddenly decided to join the little hunt for the apprentice. Now she had two baboons to follow. She couldn't kill them yet without exposing herself. She needed to wait for the right time. The last of her victims was an apprentice. He was captured by the Skandian pirate's right after the battle. Lilith couldn't keep all three of them in her sight for long. But she'd have them soon. She just needed to wait for the right moment.

"I'd like to see you out in the open." The deep voice of the ranger startled Lilith out of deep thought. Sudden panic overcame her as she feared she had been caught. She'd been waiting for so long to get caught! To her relief, the boy stepped out of the woods, clad in chain mail atop his massive battle horse. Some sight indeed, and not one a ranger would dare be caught dead with.

"What are you doing here?" The ranger scoffed. The boy hesitated before answering. Lilith shrunk back in the forage of the forests. The ranger was unaware of her for now. She planned on keeping it that way. She knew the ranger felt he was being followed, but the boy took that feeling away from him.

"Go back to your master, Horace." The ranger said. No! Don't listen to him, Horace! Lilith thought. If Horace left, then it would make her job harder.

"Come on, Halt!" Lilith could barely hear their conversation from the distance between them, but from the looks of it, Horace seemed to be winning.

"Fine, but I'm not explaining to Rodney if anything happens to you." She could faintly hear Halt say. That was all she needed. She slipped away from the foliage and ghosted around the forest to avoid the road. She needed to stay ahead of them so she could keep a close watch on them. Halt would sense if they were being followed, but she knew he wouldn't consider someone being a head of them. It was always a possibility, but most of the time, people don't expect someone to be lying in ambush right after hearing they were banished. He didn't exactly have any death threats...that he knew of. Lilith definitely had a death wish towards him and the boy, but they didn't know of her existence. If she was lucky, they never would.

***

Lilith's stomach growled as she smelt the roasting meat of rabbit. She couldn't risk a fire, but Horace and Halt didn't care anymore. They just wanted to get to Skandia, and from looking at Horace, the boy didn't care if there was an army after them, he wanted meat. Lilith hadn't had a hot meal in three weeks, since she left the Mountian of Rain and Night. Foldar told her it was simply part of the hardening process, that it would make her stronger if she could endure bitter meals for more than a month. She was starting to think Foldar was a little bit crazy. The only reason she listened to him was because he was her only family left. He understood her. But that didn't make him any less stupid. Sometimes rabbit stew can harden your soul too!

She grudgingly took a bite of her stale bread and watched at Halt and Horace bedded down for the night. Halt hadn't lost his edge after all. He set watch periods. Foldar had done well with Halt. After Lilith's father was brutally murdered, Foldar decided to make nuisance of himself around the kingdom, making sure all attention was on him. This insured that the ranger would stay put for the time being, rather than go off hunting for his apprentice. Lilith needed all three of them together to make her move. Halt was her best chance at finding the apprentice. And if they find the apprentice, Lilith hoped that Princess Cassandra would be there as well. Better to kill four birds with one stone. Or however that saying went, Lilith was never good at her studies. Something her father disapproved of.

Several hours later, it was Horaces turn for watch. This gave Lilith the opportunity to sleep. She knew he wouldn't notice her a good hundred metres down the road in the foliage. She wrapped up in her father's old cloak, and fell into a restless sleep, dreaming once again of that horrid day when her father was taken from her. The boy responsible, merely metres from her, scanning the trees for intruders.