Alex watch the two walk away. If what Ser Elvaughn is saying is true then my sister is in trouble!

The Baron galloped across the palace, startling many servants and clerks along the way, to head to his carriage. He signalled the stableboys to prepare double the amount of horses. Seeing his frantic face, the stableboys, acquiesced quickly to his command. They brought out four horses and started attaching their harness and connecting them to the carriage.

"Can you all please hurry up I'm in a hurry."

The stableboys sped up their actions not wanting to anger the impatient noble. Then they called out the driver for the carriage.

Alex chewed his nails as he fidgeted in his seat inside the carriage, and was only brought out of his frightened thoughts by a the driver climbing unto his carriage.

"To my castle please; the Barony Hensfield." The Baron snapped curtly at the driver, causing him to flinch slightly.

The driver just nodded back and whipped the horses to a trott.

"Is it possible for these horses to gallop? My castle is only a half an hour away."

"It is milord. These horses look strong enough but it would be a bouncy ride and It would be unsafe to gallop in darkness."

Alex exhaled a huge sigh of relief to that and promptly ordered the driver to gallop. Its fine. The sun may set in a couple of minutes but there'll be some residual lights left. I should be back by the time it gets completely dark. And at least I'll be distracted thanks to the bounces.

The carriage lurched upwards then downwards as the horses galloped across the gravel roads. Finally arriving at the Baron's castle.

Alex was greeted by a host of men at arms saluting and with his mother and raven master standing by her side. As he exited his carriage, his mother ran up to him and hugged him. Tears ran down her eyes as she tried to rein in her sobbing. He could instantly recognise the incoming dreadful news from the way her mother abandonded her aristocratic etiquette and traditions.

Baron Hensfield didn't know if he wanted to cry with his mom or not. No I shall be strong. I promised my dad that I would take care of Florice and mom.

He quickly scanned the number of men at arms assembled and did a quick count on his head. Around fifty, is that enough to satisfy Count Hunstman's inevitable call to mobilise?

The Dowager Baroness realised her mistake and clumsily separated with her son. "Alex, I'm sorry for that."

"Mom it's fine."

"Well, let's go inside before I embarrass you again."

They opted with his father's solar. I keep forgetting that it's my solar now. As they walked in Alex saw his unfinished painting next to his balcony door. A lot happened this day that I forgot about the painting I was making.

Dowager Baroness Gertrude took the letter Florice wrote, and the message from their liege from the raven master and gave them to his son.

With shaking palpitations of worry, Alex took the letter from her sister and started reading.

'Dear Alex and Mom,

'I am writing to inform you, that at about three quarters sunclock approaching noon, Wendell, my dearest husband, organised a hunt. Sadly, they did not find deer or boar but well armoured men instead. They, without provocation, attacked my husband's party and it is deeply regretful that my husband hasn't returned. Instead, a dozen men that accompanied Wendell came back to the castle in various wounded state. Unfortunately, the court physician couldn't save them all, but they managed to give us enough information. That they, numbered at least five dozen were outnumbered at most six to one. There could be nearly four hundred men that could besiege the castle, and we barely have a hundred men. We have enough food to last for two weeks. This may be my last letter to you so I hope whatever piddling amounts of information I send is useful to you and Count Huntsman, and they might be capable of shooting down our ravens, so the information may be outdated as I am hurriedly writing this.

'Know that I love both you and wish I could survive this ordeal.'

The letter abruptly ends there. Four hundred men! They're well armoured too. To think that Ser Elvaughn thinks that they're a rabble of disorganised bandits.She's fine.She's a strong girl. At the very least she's trapped in a fortified castle. And by looking at this letter to mobilise from my liege, gives me hope that she can be liberated from her besiegers in a short amount of time.

Mother must've been heartbroken reading this. She's been possessive of me and Florice ever since dad died of a violent wheezing fit. That's why, me at the age of twenty two, is still a bachelor. She was disheartened to give Florice away but she had her hands tied by a treaty dad signed ten years ago; betrothing her to one of the marcher barons at the edge of the duchy's borders.

His mother reached out and cupped his left hand tightly. "Please save her!" Gertrude pleaded to his son.

"I've already assembled our men at arms, and I already sent a notice to village cheiftains and mayors to assemble the levies at our castle. We should be fully mobilised in two days." Gertrude said with a sob threatening to come out.

Alex looked awkwardly at her mother. Despite her noticeable grief, she still managed to do her duty when I was absent. He couldn't help but admire her mother.

Looks like there will be some change in plans. I have at least two days to spar with my men at arms, and build my martial prowess from scratch again. Damn. I focused too much in studying and not enough in training my muscles. I've always smugly thought myself as a man of culture, and I like to think I'm learned, not enough to be a scholar but enough to fulfill my feudal duties. Maybe even better than most lords.

"Mom, please calm down. Your scaring me a little bit here." Alex exagerrated.

"I... I'm sorry... It's just Florice."

"Florice will be fine." Alex said with firm confidence and was quickly followed by, "I promised this to you mom."

"The walls fortifying the castle of Surman are stout and high. Layers upon layers of stone has been used to build the castle. It truly is incredible, I've seen it myself. I've read that House Surman have descendents that used to be kings, and their 'petty kingdom' sat between three others. So they had to fortify and build stout keeps that stood the test of time. Wendell used to boast how their castle is the oldest in the duchy! In fact their castle used to be a point of reference when borders would change in treaties for centuries! So they're fine! Florice did mention they have enough food to last them weeks."

Gertrude gave a half laughter, half sob snort at his son's infamous ranting. Remembering him arguing with his lecturers about minute details that they got wrong. Of her husband, Edvar, trying to drag him for his daily sword practice. He'd always struggled to pry Alex from his precious books. She nearly broke down when recalling precious memories about Edvar.

Alex slowly stood up from his seat, to not startle her mother, and gave her a tight embrace. "Please stop crying, and just relax. You need to sleep mom. This day has not been kind to you."

"No it hasn't. I just hope Albrecht can pull us through this."

"I hope so too." As Alex escorted his mother to her bedroom and went back to his desk in his solar.

He took his quill, an ink well and some parchment. I need to write back to Count Huntsman and inform him that we'll be ready in two days. Also to Duke Albrecht to apologise about my absence as a lecturer to his son. Suprisingly, he started personally writing to Seirun. It only took a few agonising months for me and that brat to be in first name basis. Despite his arrogance, lust and gluttony in drink, he's a good kid. Just needs a little... Massive prod to make him fall in the right line.

He took the letter from Florice and read it again. Hang on... This letter didn't explicitly say Wendell is dead. I hope he managed to escape those marauders. But, it's highly unlikely. He took a mournful sigh and prayed for him.

Wendell of house Surman woke up with damp leaves stuck to his nose. Confused and dizzy he lumbered into his feet and pried the leaves off his nose, only to realise it was stuck. What happened? Did I pass out drunk? He forcefully picked it off this time and was rewarded with a biting sting in his nose. Ugh! He was shocked and scared to figure out his dried-out and brown blood stained the leaves. Frantically, he started wiping his nose with his tunic only to recognise that his arm ached and wouldn't do as it was ordered. My nose is bleeding and both my arms ache. He brute forced his arms and flexed his shoulders to see if they were working, and repeated exercises that he learnt from knights and men at arms. Arms and shoulders seem to be fine. He just noticed he was standing up. Legs too.

He surveyed his surroundings and was greeted by a forest littered with corpses. Some had their guts spilled out, some had several arrows stuck to them and some had no heads at all. What happened! Wendell forced his mind to start working, but got excrutiating migraines and headaches instead and involuntarily fell back to the ground. His landing was fortunately cushioned by something soft. Wendell was battling to slow down a rapid surge of memories that seem to come out of nowhere. He went back up again and stepped into something. He looked down to see Ser Danver's face with a slit throat. He staggered back. This can't be happening! Why did this happen to me!

Wendell took a heavy breath in and exhaled out in staggered rapid intervals. His body frozen except for the minute muscle movements that caused his hands to writhe and shake. He continued this breathing technique for twenty more seconds. Concentrate. I went hunting with a large retinue then... I was very lucky. Wendell stopped his line of though to praise Allure for such divine intervention, but quickly stopped as he looked towards the corpses and he shivered again. This time because of guilt. I was shield bashed by a brute that managed to damage my nose and hit me in the solar plexus, knocking me out cold. He probably thought I died and moved on. Seriously! Who carries a four foot shield in a middle of the forest! These invaders seemed to be uniformed and well armed, and armoured enough to withstand bows made for deers. Are these enemies to the Empire? Who would dare invade the Empire? Surely, the Leidorf duchy probably isn't the only one suffering this disaster.

The Baron of Surman analytically back-tracked his mind to remember most of what happened. After five minutes of internal deliberation he took a decision and tried to run towards the most isolated villages within this forest. I can't travel back towards the castle.Those invaders seem to be going there. Wendell snorted in disgust. If they are insane enough to besiege it, then let them. That castle is impregnable. Sadly, I won't be seeing Florice soon.

But going to the villages seem to be a good idea because they're unlikely to be harmed. They've been kept hidden and safe by my ancestors. He passed by rivers, travelled across a few deer paths and followed a 'road' for a few hours. This road would've been ignored by people without knowledge of the Trapped forest. It's not even wide enough for carriages to pass through. Those fools thinking they can invade my lands and bypass a forest that was aptly named 'Trapped'. He huffed in indignation. This forest was used by my ancestors to wage dozens of defensive wars against their neighbours for centuries. None no it better than the Surmans do.

He quickly arrived at an earthen mould that seemed to rise as a hill, but he knew better. He carefully approached the hidden village and was instantly and aggressively saluted by spears and bows with arrows knocked; aimed at him.

The marcher Baron held both of his hands straight through the air, successfully conveying his harmlessness.

A guard-captain instantly realised who this was and ordered the rest to lower their weapons.

"You there! Report to the Marshall that our liege has come to visit us!" Ordered the captain.

"At once sir!"