Having listened to Daiga’s tale, Nedric didn’t know what to think. It was good to hear that Elsebeth was alive and as far as he could tell, in good health. It was scary to think of her being taken to who knows where. Nothering wasn’t known for the good treatment of women. They made their women folk cover their hair amongst other peculiarities.

He was going to have to wait for Scabad to return before he knew the whole situation but he could see that without some help Elsebeth was in a lot of trouble. It seemed that the Nothering government had something to do with this and once a government was involved people’s rights seemed to disappear.

He thought where he could go for help. There was the possibility of the Esteril government. Esteril was a poor country and couldn’t afford to be at war with anyone. Although a group of rangers could probably rescue anyone from anywhere, taking sufficient rangers to be sure of getting the job done properly would weaken the country’s ability to defend itself. At the most they would spare one or two and even that was unlikely. Esteril had spent most of its existence trying not to cause too much bother to anybody. It had survived as a separate country mainly because the majority of the land was forest and therefore of very little use to anybody. The one city it possessed was virtually as far from any border as it was possible to get.

The second possibility was to ask the Setherland government for help. The king would be unlikely to listen to one as lowly as him. If he was able to speak to anyone important then there was still the problem that Setherland and Nothering were in a state of unofficial war. Border skirmishes occurred regularly and Nothering was always looking for an excuse to try and invade.

The inhabitants of Setherland had once escaped from Nothering. The government of Nothering believed that it should be allowed to regain those peoples. Only the threat of trouble from its northern neighbours stopped Nothering from invading. If Setherland gave a suitable excuse then Nothering would be building forces on its southern border before Setherland could sneeze. A reasonable number of Setherland troops travelling through Nothering would count as an excuse to invade.

Nedric could be wrong, maybe one or the other government would find it unacceptable for a citizen to be taken but he had no great hopes. Probably if he was to ever see Elsebeth again he would have to find her himself.

Whilst he was thinking to himself, Daiga had taken his leave. Alhern had suggested that the ranger rest up in one of the spare rooms and arranged for him to be looked after until Scabad arrived. The ranger had looked weary as he made his way out of the door.

Alhern sat back down and looked over to Nedric.

“Not the best news there lad but at least she is being treated well. When we know where she’s going we might be able to arrange for her to be released. I’d contribute some money myself and I’m sure a few others here would as well.”

“Thank you but I don’t think she was taken for money. Why do you think that Nothering would want an impressor?”

“Perhaps because they have none of their own.”

Nedric didn’t know how to consider that at the time but he would think about that more. He had a couple of things that he needed to sort out with Alhern and he guessed that now was as good a time as any to speak.

“Have you contacted Elsebeth’s parents?”

“Not yet, I was hoping for something positive to tell them but I guess I can’t put it off any more.”

“Perhaps I ought to contact them instead. Whilst we haven’t met I know that she wrote to them mentioning me, so at least they know who I am and I was with her when she was captured.”

“If you could do that then I would be grateful. I know this is a big strain on you but now I have to sort out this explosion this morning on top of reassuring people that they aren’t going to be kidnapped. If anything else happens they will be leaving in droves.”

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Nedric felt the blood drain from his face. In the need to know what the ranger had to say he hadn’t thought about his experiment. Now, as Alhern mentioned one of the consequences he was hit by the implications of what he had done. He could have killed someone.

“What’s up with you lad?”

“I have an awful confession to make. I was responsible for that explosion.”

At first Alhern was speechless. Then he started to splutter out questions.

“What? How? Why?”

“I was experimenting on the planks. I wasn’t trying to do anything dangerous, I just wanted to improve the efficiency of the impressors.”

“What gave you the right, no ignore that for a minute, what did you do?”

“I impressed a plank at both ends at the same time. When the two impressions met there was that explosion.”

“Didn’t you think about it when you started? Couldn’t you guess that might happen?”

“I was thinking it might speed the process up, that was all.”

“Lad, what you weren’t doing was thinking. There are tremendous forces involved and any experimenting ought to be done well away from where anyone else might be. I guess you might not be thinking too straight at the moment but that was totally irresponsible.”

“Yes sir.”

“I guess I will have to do something about you later but not now. Now I really ought to tell all the other impressors so the same mistake is never made again.”

“Do you think that is wise sir?”

Alhern was going to shout something at Nedric but he stopped, blinked and paused before he spoke.

“What do you mean?”

“Well as it is, there are only two people who know how that explosion occurred and I know I won’t do it again and you’re not an impressor so you can’t. If you tell the other impressors how it was done then everyone will know and that was a large explosion. Would you want someone who was feeling malicious to cause a number of explosions with little chance of being traced? I know I would keep the knowledge very quiet.”

“You have a point, I will think about it. That doesn’t mean that I am going to let you get away with stupidity. I will have to deduct the cost of the damage from your wages and then there will also be a note on your record giving some idea that you do not always act responsibly even though you are in a position of responsibility.”

It was with a weary sound to his voice that Nedric replied. “Sir, although I deeply regret what I have done and will try my best not to be thoughtless in the future I have to say that the loss of money and the bad record are the least of my worries.”

Alhern could only nod to himself as he watched Nedric leave the room.

* * *

The next few days passed in numb misery for Nedric. He went about his work in a methodical but listless manner. It was all done accurately but without heart, he didn’t really want to spend his time concentrating on something that seemed completely pointless to him now.

He should be doing something to help Elsebeth but he couldn’t think what. He tried on several occasions to write a letter to her parents. They needed to know what had happened but there was so little to tell them. Your daughter has been captured and we sort of know who it was who did it. We don’t why, we don’t know where she is at the moment and although we think they are treating her well we can’t even be sure of that. It was not the sort of thing that could easily be written. Nedric was tempted to visit them instead but until Scabad returned he was not going anywhere. Anyway he had a job to do.

And then Scabad was there. Two weeks to the hour after Daiga had returned his colleague entered the compound, pushing his way through workers as they entered during the morning rush. An idle thought ran through Nedric’s mind as to why they should arrive at the same time. Perhaps they had both spent a night in the same cabin where he had been held.

It was almost déjà vu. The same office, Alhern, Nedric and a tired ranger but that was where the similarities stopped. Scabad was not one to elaborate on what he had seen and done, his report was terse, stating everything in the fewest possible words.

He told how the group had after entering Nothering territory travelled perhaps half a day to the nearest village. From there they had acquired horses and taken well-kept roads to a mansion house more than a weeks ride from the border.

Alhern had wondered aloud how a man on foot had been able to keep up with horse riders and had been told, “If you must, you can”.

The house had been well guarded and there had been no opportunity for Scabad to enter it or to see Elsebeth but it was not well enough guarded to stop a determined group of well-armed men. Furthermore the place was less than a day from the Setherland border. It almost seemed to be inviting an attack.

He had studied it for a day, seeing no easy way for one man to enter but not wanting to give up. Eventually he had realised the impossibility of the task and after visiting a nearby village had acquired a horse.

The return had been much quicker with the aid of the horse, which was now browsing outside the compound. He planned to rest for the day and then he and Daiga would have to return to their base. He regretted that there was nothing that either of them could do without permission from their government and he doubted that they would authorise an attack on Nothering soil.

Nedric couldn’t leave it like that. Whilst he had no choice other than to let the ranger leave the office and get a well earned rest, later that day he searched out the two rangers and interrupted their drinking.

“Is there nothing that you can do?”

“We’d like to do more lad but we can’t! Our government won’t authorise an expedition outside our borders.”

“Is there anything that you think might help?”

“Well….” Daiga sucked in air before continuing. “It so happens that we are both owed quite a bit of leave and what we do in our own time is our responsibility. However we aren’t going to rush into Nothering on our own. If there was a properly organised rescue attempt then we might be tempted to help out.”

Nedric didn’t know what to say. He wanted to say that he would organise something straight away but he didn’t have the money, enough information or any plans. Instead he just thanked the rangers and made sure that he could contact them again. He was told that they were based in Elith, a town near the border of Setherland, and that a message would find them there.