Wolfgang watched Abby carefully through to cover of the undergrowth. She was fetching a bucket of water from the well and hauling it back to the kitchen, holding it away from her body so the icy water did not splash on her. Wolfgang smiled to himself. She was perfect.

***

   That evening, Abby and Hal were walking along the shore where Eraks old ship, Wolfwind was usually moored, but at the moment it was taking Will and Maddie back to Araluen.

   "Are you ever going to visit your father?" Hal asked. She shrugged a bit.

  "Yeah, I guess. I want to see Halt and Pauline again too." She said. He let out a deep sigh.

"I'm just glad you're still here, Ab." He said taking her hand. "And I think the crew is happy too." She smiled in return.

"Well that's good." She said. She looked up and froze.

"What is it?" He asked, following her gaze. In the sky, was a column of smoke, coming from the area where the Heron was moored. Hals eyes widened and he took off at a run towards Bearclaw creek with Abby following him at his heels.

     The boat shed was in flame, and several Skandian men were trying to calm the fire by throwing buckets of water on it. Thorn was among them. When he caught sight of Hal, he rushed over too them.

"Who did this?" Hal asked, suddenly panicked. Thorn let out a disgusted sigh.

"Wolfgang. I saw him do it as I was headed down here to check on the Heron." He said. At the mention of his boat, Hal looked over too where she was moored in the jetty. She was fine, much to their luck.

"Why would he do this?" Abby asked. Thorn shrugged, but Hals eyes went cold.

"He must have still been mad about the incident with Ninas cat." He said gruffly. Abby rose an eyebrow.

"Come on, We have to move the Heron, She's still to close to the shed." Abby said. They quickly rounded up the rest of the crew and carefully rowed her away from the shed. When she was a safe distance away, they headed back to Hallasholm. The fire was now under control, and Hal was able to salvage a few of his inventions and drawings. The rest had no hope, much to Hals displeasure.

"Why would Wolfgang do something like that?" Edvin asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because Stefan drowned Ninas cat!" Jesper said sarcastically.

"But he thinks it was me." Abby said. A sudden realization dawned on her. "He knew how much the shed meant to you." She said to Hal, "It's your work space and where you think. He must have thought that if he burned it down, then it would make you mad. He didn't expect for Thorn to catch him doing it. He was going to blame it on me!" Hal nodded a bit.

"He's trying to destroy our family." He said bitterly.

"Why would he do that?" Ulf said.

"Easy." Came a voice behind them. "They're a family of Araluens, They don't belong here." They all spun around to see Wolfgang leaning up against one of the wooden structures. He had his battle axe rested on his shoulder. Hal slowly drew his sword, knowing it would be no match for the huge battle axe. Wolfgang chuckled.

"You're cute, kid." He said. "Now why don't you and your family go hop on that row boat you call a ship and head back to Araluen." Abby drew her sword also.

"We're not going anywhere." She said. Her voice sounded more confident then she felt.

"Gorlogs breath, these Araluens are as annoying as they come." Wolfgang mumbled to no one in particular.

"I have Skandian in my blood." Hal said.

"And my father has history with Skandians." Abby said. Wolfgang glared at her.

"Yes, The famous Will Treaty. I'm not to fond of him. Fourteen years ago he ran my crew out of Seacliff. We were almost starved to death. We had no stores and it was dead of winter. We were stranded with no where to go, and he kicked us out." Wolfgang growled and Abby shifted uncomfortably.

"He was sent on that mission the morning after I was born." Abby said sadly.

"I lost six men on that raid. All because of that bloody ranger!" He said. Abby bit her lip.

"Why take it out on us? Yes my father was the cause, but if you've forgotten, I'm no longer his daughter." Abby said. Wolfgang chuckled and let out a whistle. Abby felt two sets of hands grab her arms.

"Yes, but his blood still runs through your veins." He said. She felt searing pain go through her head as one of Wolfgangs men hit her on her scalp. Her vision went blury for a few moments. She heard a twang of a crossbow and a cry of pain, but she couldn't tell who had gotten hit because everything went black.

***

Abby woke the next day with a throbbing head ache and she felt sick as she felt the sway of a deck beneath her.

"Chief, She's awake." Came a low growl. She blinked a few times until her vision cleared and she saw Wolfgang. He had a black eye and his lip was split and it looked as if his nose had been shattered. Hals doings by the looks of it. Her brother had taught her how to take down a person with only two punches, The way Thorn had taught him. He had obviously not expected to have to go up against the Maktig of coarse, because he had only gotten in one punch.

"You listen here, lass, you're going to cooperate, other wise you'll never see her again." He said. Abby already had a pounding head ache. And the confusion didn't help.

"Who?" She asked. Wolfgang hoisted her to her feet and pointed to where Abby could see Maddie tied tightly too the mast.

"What is she doing here?!?" Abby asked. This was bad. Wolfgang obviously didn't realize that he had the princess of Araluen held captive on his ship.

"Oberjarl seems to favour you, Abby. Because you're the daughter of Will Treaty. He will pay a ransom for you. She is simply here to make sure you cooperate. Try to escape, and she dies." He said. He let Abby drop to the deck and he kicked her in her ribs. She grunted in pain and held in a scream.

"Tie her up next to the Ranger snot." Wolfgang said.

   Maddie was unconscious, and there was blood crusted down her scalp.

"Maddie." Abby whispered. Maddie stirred a bit, but remained still after that.

"Maddie." Abby tried again a little louder. Maddie woke with a start and let out a moan of pain.

"Where am I?" She asked.

"You're on a wolfship. Maddie, tell me my father is alright." Abby pleaded. Maddie nodded.

"Yeah. Svengal was going to talk to the other wolfships Skirl, but they captured me and fled. Will jumped in and tried to swim after me, but Svengal pulled him out." She said. Abby let out a deep sigh and thanked her.

"Listen to me Maddie. Wolfgang can't find out about your birthright. He'll demand payment from your parents. It'll put all of Araluen in danger." She explained. Maddie nodded.

"Then what are we to do?" She asked. Abby bit her lip and shrugged.

"Wait and see if anyone comes after us." She said.

***

Wolfgang had shot Hal in his left shoulder, leaving his whole left arm unusable. Thorn, Karina and Erak had told him to stay behind while Stig led the rescue mission for Abby. But Hal wouldn't hear any of it. Yes, because he couldn't move his arm, he couldn't control the steering oar or any oar for a fact. So Stig handled the helm while Hal directed orders. He knew the Heron and her every move better than anyone. He had lost a lot of blood, so Edvin, being the ships healer, watched him closely for any signs of feinting or paleness. Hal wasn't the usual cheerful Hal. None of the Herons were their usual selves.

"I can't believe he got away with her." Jesper said staring at his hands. Though everyone was mad about the situation, Hal and Jesper were the angriest because they had failed to protect her.

"Wolfgang will pay for this." Hal growled.

"We'll catch up to him by dawn at this rate." Thorn said as he eased himself down onto the deck with a sigh.

"Good. Loki help Wolfgang when I get my hands in him." Hals tone was deadly and all the other Herons said nothing after that.

***

"Abby, I'm scared." Maddie whispered to her. Abby nodded a bit.

"Just keep your voice down and don't make eye contact. If my dad and Svengal don't reach us soon, than Hal will." She said. But Wolfgang over heard them and laughed.

"Hal won't be doing anything for quite some time, lass." He chuckled.

Abby glared at him.

"What did you do to my brother?!?" She yelled at him. He smiled.

"Little crossbow bolt to the shoulder. Wouldn't be surprised if he never used his arm again." Abby wanted to launch herself at him, but her bonds restricted her. He simply laughed at her and continued to man the steering oar.

"Abby, what if they don't come?" Maddie asked in a scared whispered. Abby went to answer when all of the sudden one of crewmen called out two ships approaching.

"One is Wolfwind Chief." Said one.

"And the other has a funny sail." said the other. Wolfgang mumbled a curse under his breath about Gorlogs toenails and handed the steering oar off to his first mate. He grabbed his dagger and cut Abby free, gripping her sheepskin vest that Thorn had given to her as her thirteenth birthday gift. He pressed his dagger to her throat and made her walk to the edge of the deck, where the approaching Heron crew could now see her.

"Abby!" She heard Edvin yell.

"Stop right there!" Wolfgang yelled. Abby could see the Herons pull back on the oars when they saw the dagger against her throat. "Stop or she gets fed to the fish."

"Why are you doing this?" She heard Hal ask. She was relieved to hear his voice.

"Hal? I didn't expect for you to make this journey." Wolfgang said.

"That's my sister! You expect a little nick in my arm will keep me from rescuing her?" He asked. While Wolfgangs attention was focused on Hal, Abby could see Ingvar slowly loading a huge bolt into the Mangler. She'd never seen it in action, but she knew it would cause massive harm to any ship that crossed it's path. If they hit the middle of the ship, it would put a gaping hole in the side, making the ship sink and allowing Abby to swim to the Heron, And that was exactly what they were going to do. But Abby saw one little problem, If the ship when under, Maddie would go with it.

"We're warning you now, Wolfgang, hand her over or you and your men will all die." Said Hal.

"Hal..." Abby started. There was fear in her voice and Hal could definitely hear it. But she was cut off by Wolfgang, who pressed the dagger harder against her neck, to where use could feel blood trickling down it. Hal ignored Abby when he didn't realize why she was so scared. They were about to rescue her! Wolfwind suddenly came up to the starboard side of Wolfgangs ship.

"Maddie!" Abby could hear her father yell. Hal had heard the yell too and quickly spotted Maddie tied to the mast.

"Stop." Hal told the Heron crew, but Wulf had already fired the Manglers bolt. The deck lerched beneath Abbys feet and Wolfgang let go of her to steady himself. In that moment, Abby kicked him in the crochet, and ran to untie Maddie. The ropes were thick and she had no knife on her, so she tried to untie the knots. The ship was already leaning dangerously to port side.

"Just go, Abby. Save yourself." Maddie said, her voice full of fear.

"And get killed by your parents? I'd rather take the water." She said. "Help me!" She yelled at one of the passing crew members, but they were all clinging to their weapons for dear life. It was a Skandian myth, that if a Skandian was to die without their weapons in their hands, their souls would wander forever. So no one was willing to give up their weapon to Abby. Just when she was loosing hope, She saw a shadow next to her and the ropes fell away from Maddie. Abby looked up and to her great relief, saw Jesper. The Heron was pulled right up next to Wolfgangs ship.

"Come on, hurry!" Stefan yelled. If Wolfgangs ship went down, they would have to abandon them to save their own ship. Abby and Jesper grabbed Maddie by her rangers cloak and helped her stand. The deck was at a slant now, and the three of them stumbled over to the Heron.

"Grab them!" Hal yelled. Stig watched in horror from the steering oar as the others rushed to help Abby, Jesper and the princess. Once they were safely on deck, Hal began to scream at Stig to, in his his exact words, By Gorlogs breath and nosehair, get them the hell out of there. Stig heaved the steering oar and get them away just in time. The ship went down, dragging several men down with it. A little ways away, The Herons could see Wolfwind picking up several of Wolfgangs men. Hal followed their example, and they began to pull Wolfgangs crew out of the water.

"Help me!" Hal heard Wolfgang scream. Ingvar hoisted the Maktig out of the water and set him down on deck. He stood and gasped for breath. He bit his lip when he saw all of them were glaring at him, even Wolfgangs own men. Hal went to approach him, but Abby glared at him.

"No Hal. He's mine." She said. Jesper passed her a sword and than gave Wolfgang a different sword. "Let's see how mighty the mighty one really is." She said grinning. Wolfgang and Abby soon began to fight, But Abby blocked his strokes easily, As if a two year old could have been sparing with her. Wolfgang soon began to look worried and before they knew it, he was kneeling on the deck, begging for her to stop. She chuckled.

"Thorn?" She asked looking over at the one armed seawolf. "Is this proper behavior for the Maktig?" She said. Thorn gave her a wide grin and shook his head.

"Not at all, and I should know, since I have been the Maktig...three times." He said. Abby laughed.

"Well, I think it'll only be fitting then for Wolfgang to show all of Hallasholm who he really is!" She said. With that being said, she hit him over his head with the hilt of her sword, and he fell face forward onto the deck, unconscious.