Once word got around that little Evangeline had been taken, almost everyone volunteered to go after her, the first being Willy and MJ.

"We can't spare everyone." Erak said. "If they are takeing and killing our children, we need as many people as we can to help defend. Only two people can go to fetch the girl."

"I'll go." MJ said stepping forward.

"And me." Lydia said joining her nephew. Erak nodded.

"Start now. You may have to camp out if you don't make it back by dark." Will said. The two of them nodded, and supplies was packed for them, which included a medical kit, some dried meat and fruit, and a water skin each. Lydia had her atlatl with her darts and her dirk. MJ had his two knives as his bow. Hal approached the two of them and turned to MJ first.

"Watch after your aunt for me." He said. He chuckled when Lydia glared at him. He turned to her next, and kissed her briefly on the lips. Suddenly his expression turned dark.

"Bring her back home, Lyd." He said. She nodded and then she and MJ disappeared into the woods, following the footprints of Evangeline.

***

"Sentries will be placed in pairs and will be every hundred metres or so away from each other."Halt said, drawing out a map in the sand of the surrounding camp sight. It was after dark, so they were near the fire so they could see. The whole camp was silent as they listened to the ranger and their Oberjarl converse. Will and Maddie stood off to the side, ready to step in if they saw a need.

"The camp isn't too big, so if we are attacked, we will have men not of sentry duty that won't be tired to fight." Will mentioned to his old friend. Erak nodded.

"Alright. We'll assign sentry duty by birthdate. So Ulf and Wulf, Jesper and Stefan, Hal and Ingvar, Stig and Edvin will take the first shift. Second shift will be Olige and Kerk, Quint and Boyd, Dannie and Ferrel, Javat and Grong, and Willy and Tristan." Erak said listing off each sentry. Willy let out a silent groan as he and Tristan glanced at each other. Out of all the people, he had to be a week younger the Tristan! They hadn't even seen each other since The Hounds were kicked out of Brotherband training. They used to play when they were little because Jesper and Ulf would take them to the ship yard in the mornings. Tristan stopped trusting Willy when Willy stole a coin from him when they were seven. Not that is mattered much anymore, and Ulf did warn his son that it would happen since he was friends with a thief, but Tristan didn't listen. Now they had to be partners for a whole four hours.

   Erak and Halt showed the Herons where they were set up for sentry duty and everyone else readied themselves for bed. Willy moved his bed roll over by where his mother sat on her own. He laid down and looked up at her as she stared off into the distance.

"Something on your mind, mam?" He asked. She turned to him and gave him a small smile.

"Just hoping MJ doesn't get himself into too much trouble."

***

"We really should have thought this through more carefully." Lydia hissed at MJ as they tried to undo their bonds. While they were following Evangeline's tracks, dark fell and they were unable to see very well, but Lydia was so worried about her daughter, that she ignored Will's warning to make camp after night fall, and the two of them pressed on. It was too dark to notice that the tracks severed to the right and the Arridans were waiting to ambush them only a few metres down the path.

"They don't have her with them." MJ noted. Lydia and MJ were tied together by their hands, and stripped of their weapons. Lydia glanced around their escort of Arridans and noticed that as well.

"Maybe she was with another party?" She suggested weakly.

"No. Look at the tracks. If she was with another party her foot prints would still be fresh." He said. She let out a muffled sob and shook her head.

"Could they have killed her?" She asked.

"Always assume the worst, that way you'll be pleasantly surprised." He said quoting his friend, the grim Halt. Lydia let out a shuddering sigh. The Arridans led them deep into the forest until they were surrounded by hundreds of tents set up and trees had been felled to make enough room for them all.

"Gorlogs breath, that's a lot of Arridans." MJ muttered. A guard untied them and shoved them in a large cage where around five other people sat shivering in the cold. It was farthest away from the fires, so the most freezing part of the camp. The cage was locked once Lydia was shoved in.

"Lydia? MJ?" came a shy voice.

"Alina?" Lydia asked peering into the darkness. The small seven year old girl threw her arms around Lydia and let out a sob.

"We thought help would never come!" She said. MJ looked at the other four Skandians, he recognized their faces, but not their name.

"Is Evangeline here as well?" Lydia asked Edvins youngest daughter.

"No. But there another prisoner cage on the other side of camp. She might be there." One of the women spoke up.

"What are you all doing here?" MJ asked.

"We were captured during the raid. When they burned Hallasholm. They took several of us as prisoners since soliders noticed we escaped the fires." A teenage boy told MJ.

"You're going to get us out, right MJ?" Alina asked tugging on his cloak before shivering. He untied his cloak and drapped it around the girls shoulders. He knelt down beside her and rubbed her arms gently.

"Lydia and I will do all we can to get you out." He whispered to her. She grinned and hugged him tightly.

***

Jesper shook his son awake lightly and Willy mumbled under his breath as he stood and pulled on his sheepskin vest. He had been dreading the time he needed to spend with Tristan so much he barely got a wink of sleep. Jesper laid down on Willy's bed roll so it would already be warm, and Willy left his parents to go to his assigned spot. Tristan arrived not seconds later. The two of them stood in an awkward silence while they scanned the surrounding woods for attackers. Tristan, surprisingly, was the one who broke the silence.

"Do you think Aunt Lyida and MJ will be able to get Evangeline back?" Tristan asked Willy. Willy bit his lip.

"I hope. She's too young to go through that. If they don't find her soon, she'll be tramatized." He said.

"We can't loose any more people, Willy. There's so few of us left." Tristan said.

"Did you just call me Willy?" Willy asked raising an eyebrow and turning to him. Tristan blushed slightly.

"That's your name, right?" Tristan asked. Willy nodded.

"Yes, but you rarely ever call me that. It's either Will or Araulen." 

"The past month has been hard, Willy." Tristan sighed. Willy was suddenly confused. Hallasholm burning down was tragic, but he didn't know it'd effect Tristan of all people like that.

"We'll rebuild Hallasholm, Tristan." He reassured him. He never thought he'd see the day when he would be reassuring Tristan, his worst enemy.

"It's not that. My mam was killed in the fire. I could have saved her, but I couldn't move. It was like my body froze." Tristan said. His eyes were brimmed with tears and Willy bit his lip. "My dad won't talk about it. I think he blames me." He was suddenly startled as Willy hugged him tightly, not letting go for a few moments.

"I'm sorry, Tristan. For everything. I'm sure your dad just needs some time. He hasn't seemed to be affected much. He's really good at hiding." Willy said. Tristan scoffed.

"They fought so much the past few months. I thought they were going to seperate. That's why I was so glad to leave for brotherband training. Then this all happened." Tristan said gesturing back the refugee camp, where everyone was sleeping. Willy was about to speak when Emmy came running up behind them.

"Get your weapons ready boys, We've got company."

***

So what do you think happened to Evangeline? Alive or dead? For those of you who don't remember, Alina is Bente's sister, and Edvins daughter. And Tristan is Ulf's son. Tristan called Lydia Aunt Lydia because the Herons had their children call them their uncles, and since Lydia was part of the crew, she was Aunt Lyida. Yeah, so just to clear things up if some people got confused.  Hope you all liked it! Please comment and vote! Love you all!

~Avis