'You have?' Guildmaster Urzo asked rhetorically. I was surprised that word of my misadventure in the Dreadwood Forest two years previously had been so quickly forgotten. After recovering from his initial surprise, Urzo continued, 'you must be either very intelligent or very brave to have survived. Or both.'

The unexpected compliment left me blushing like the girl I'd been days earlier, and my mind immediately assessed his suitability as a husband. He looked to be about thirty, which I thought to be young for a guildmaster, and dashing in a safe but rogueish way. He had the confidence of a man of twice his years. Furthermore, I was unable to avoid considering that if I had wanted to marry within the realm, as Father had, he would have been a good candidate. A union between the two of us could significantly increase the tax revenue of Trackford, and from what Timoth had said the folk of the city were already fond of me. Certainly they were fonder of me than the churlish soldiers of Haelling Cove.

Alum. I had to remember that Alum was waiting for me in Hollowhold, or at least I hoped that he was. Soon we’d have been parted for a month, and was looking increasingly unlikely that I would be able to return to the capital in the near future. Even if I’d left that day, it was a two week journey through roads plagued by bandits. I had not consciously realised it previously, but the sinking feeling in my stomach told me that I was worried for our relationship.

I seized my mind and forced it to return to the present. 'Thank you, but I would still prefer to take a guide who knows the woods. Would you be able to direct me to one?'

Urzo's affable smile spread into a grin, and I realised that I'd walked willingly into his trap. 'My guild is responsible for the logging of many of the eastern woodlands. I would be honoured if you would choose me as your guide, Countess.'

I felt myself grinning girlishly in response to his flattery and good cheer, and it was all I could do to suppress it to a more respectable smile. 'I accept your offer. But only because it would take more time to find another guide,' I teased him. He took it in the good humour I’d hoped he would, and led him out of the market hall to where my escort was waiting.

'Are these all the soldiers you’ve brought?' he asked me in apparent dismay, gesturing at my four bodyguards.

'What of it?' I asked him.

'Steib will be escorted by his own mercenary bodyguards,' Urzo told me. 'At least eight or nine of them. Probably eleven or twelve.'

I frowned. From all the liberties that Steib had been taking, it seemed that Father had been unaware of or unwilling to crack down on the Baron’s use of Trackford as his personal demesne. Hopefully the coming trial would put an end to it and set an example for the next elected Baron.

In the meantime, I had to deal with the issue of how to subdue the Baron once I'd caught up to him. I needed to take more men with me.

'No problem,' I eventually said, having remembered the second task with which Timoth had entrusted me. 'Follow me.'

I led Urzo and the four housecarls through the city, stopping occasionally to ask the local soldiers I encountered where their commander was. I found him near a tavern which he had no doubt occupied before being forewarned of my search. He disguised his liquor intake well so I did not admonish him for it.

'Countess,' he greeted me.

'Commander, you are to take those men not bound to Trackford by oath to Haelling Cove and assist in the rebuilding efforts,' I ordered him.

He nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief that he did not question my authority. Though I was the heir to the throne of the County and the bearer of the Count’s orders, those were just immaterial concepts. In the physical world, I was a teenage girl and he was a six foot tall man with broad shoulders and a heavy sword at his hip.

'Aye, Countess,' he replied.

'I also need a dozen men on horseback to accompany me into the Dreadwood Forest to capture Baron Steib,' I told him. 'Choose men who know the lands east of Trackford, and have them meet me at the eastern road out of the city as quickly as possible.' I thought to give him a hard time limit, but in reality every minute that we wasted waiting to form a travelling party was a minute that Steib put metres between us.

'Aye, Countess,' he replied. He did not strike me as a man gifted with an especially large amount of intelligence, yet his unquestioning acceptance of my commands led me to believe that he would carry out my orders. As such, when the soldiers departed, I led my current group back to the stables and mounted our steeds. I took a moment to retrieve the dagger that Timoth had gifted me from Lilac's saddlebags and strap it to my ankle.

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'An odd accessory for a Countess,' Urzo commented from atop his own horse, a piebald stallion that stood at least a foot taller than my own steed. Then he added, 'The Dreadwood Forest is a dangerous place at the best of times and we enter it seeking a fugitive. Perhaps it would be best if you remained in Trackford.'

As if to add dramaticism to his words, a stablehand walked past us lighting torches. Night was cloaking the land just as we sought to leave the city. I hoped that Steib would think himself safe enough to make camp early. At least there was a full moon keeping us from the total embrace of darkness.

'I would love to stay behind,' I admitted, feeling familiar pressure on old bruises as I settled in my saddle, ‘And I would were I a mere messenger of the Count's will. However, he has entrusted me personally with the capture and trial of Baron Steib, and he is burdened enough without the half-hearted pursuit of my duties.'

Even as I said the words, I was shocked by how mature they sounded. The loss of my family had thrust a great deal of responsibility upon my shoulders, and my love for my homeland and for my brother drove me to act on it as best I could.

Urzo seemed to understand as he was nodding thoughtfully. I quickly braided my hair in the most practical manner I could manage and the six of us rode to the eastern edge of the city. We were met by fourteen mounted soldiers from Trackford. Perhaps the commander had been unable to count, but I was glad of the extra numbers. Several of them carried torches which I knew we would need in order to traverse the dirt road during the night.

A number of eyes tracked our departure from the city. Their wideness expressed the fear they associated with the forest. I sat straighter in my saddle to pretend at fearlessness. Certainly I felt fear, for who knew what other monsters lurked in the Dreadwood Forest? I doubted that nymphs and faeries were its only dangers.

I drove our horses as hard as was safe. As the deciduous and fir trees began to surround us with increasing density, I rode at the head of the party despite the possibility that Steib might have laid an ambush for us. It was necessary for none other than myself possessed the drive to lead the party at a sufficient pace, nor did many of the soldiers possess the courage or desire to ride so nonchalantly into this den of evil. Personally, I was only able to maintain my outward stoicism due to the thought that the sooner we'd catch up to Steib, the sooner we could turn back.

'This is as far as my woodcutters travel,' he said at one point, indicating a rotting wooden picket fence.

'It feels as if we are already well within the Forest. Do they not fear the vengeance of the faeries?' I asked him.

'The faeries honour an ancient deed long forgotten to us. It is the belief of the woodcutters, successive generations of whom have cared for this land, that the picket fence marks the true border of the Dreadwood Forest. The foliage has spread past the fence over the years but the faeries do not lay claim to the new lands,' he explained.

'If this land is the province of woodcutters, then why are the trees so dense? Do not the woodcutters fell them?' I asked him. He smiled in a manner which would have been patronising on a less statuesque face. Then he screwed his face up, possibly because he realised who he was talking to.

'You come from western Ebonreach, Countess, where there are few trees and no true woodlands. It is only natural that a city-dweller such as yourself would know little of the ways of woodcutters,' he began. I said nothing, inviting him to continue so that the conversation would become less personal. 'If a woodcutter cuts down every tree then they will profit greatly, but they will no longer have a source of income. Flooding the market with timber would greatly reduce its value, meaning that timber sold over time is worth more than the same amount of timber sold in one transaction. The greater part of the woodcutter's duty is therefore to care for the forest by felling trees only in sustainable numbers, and to plant new trees in areas which have been harvested.'

'Interesting,' I said, fearing that to speak further would be to betray my ignorance on the subject. Certainly the task of a woodcutter sounded more multifaceted than that of a soldier.

Conversation died as our journey became increasingly taxing. Soon even the moonlight had failed us on account of the thick forest canopy, and the torches became our only guides. Several times they needed to be relit. We dared not stop to breathe the horses for fear that dismounting would make us an attractive target for whatever lurked beyond the treeline. Lilac began to tire. I did not feel greatly more energetic than her, having been riding almost non-stop since dawn. My companions felt much the same way except for the affable Urzo, whose eyes scanned the forest's depths with an expression of curiosity rather than terror.

'Douse the lights,' he whispered suddenly. The call was repeated through the party, and I halted our movement as we were suddenly plunged into darkness. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and said nothing as my eyes adjusted to the blackness of the night. A wolf howled in the distance. It occurred to me that if anything in the forest wished to do us harm, now would be a very opportune time in which to attack.

Then my eyes noticed a light flickering in the distance. A campfire, I suspected. Guildmaster Urzo's keen eyes had picked it out despite the hundreds of feet which lay between us.

'Steib?' I asked him. If Steib had decided to make camp when dusk had fallen we would expect to encounter him at about this time, yet I was wary of springing an ambush upon innocent travellers. Or upon vengeful monsters.

Urzo cocked his head in thought, and then shrugged his shoulders. 'There's no way of knowing until we get closer. We have to assume it's him. They're on the road anyway, we have no choice but to pass them.'