Ranger Rising

Part 8: Resolute

I blew out a breath and set my hand on the gate latch. If I'd been smarter, I'd have come up with something to tell Father before I'd made it this far. Now all I had was the disappointing fact that I'd been traipsing through the forest against his wishes. Not that Father would buy any other story though.

Here went nothing.

I started up the path to the house.

The front door swung open before I even reached the threshold. "Where have you been Magdalena?" Father snapped, stepping out on to the step.

His hair was disheveled and he looked more tired that he usually was. He also wore a simple cloak around his shoulders and clutched a lantern in his hand. "Good evening Father. Were you going out tonight?" I asked, forcing a smile on to my face.

A deep frown cut across his face. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

I winced. "I didn't mean to worry you... I just got distracted is all."

"Distracted?" he scoffed. "I send you to drop off pigs and you disappeared for most of the day? Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

"I brought back the money from Fields." I said sheepishly, fishing the coins out of my pockets. "Fields says that he doesn't have all of it yet and that he'll get the rest to you later."

Father stared at me. Hard and for several minutes.

"Get inside Lena."

Father stepped away from the door and pointed into to house. I slipped inside, not going far from the entrance. He wasn't finished with me yet. The door closed with a resounding boom behind me. Father blew out the lantern as he walked past me. He cast a look over his shoulder at me that clearly meant for me to follow.

In the kitchen he pulled out the chair I usually sat in before sinking into his own. Not so much as a word was spoken.

Silence hung oppressively between us. Like a thin wire waiting to snap back at me at the drop of a hat. I couldn't bring myself to look Father in the eye so instead I studied the grains of wood in the table and fiddled with the coins that Fields had given me in payment for the piglets.

Father finally got tired of me playing with them and took them out of my hand. "Where did you go after you left the Fields's farm?"

I pressed my lips together, trying to think of a way to say the forest without incurring his anger.

Father's patience wore thin before I had the chance. "Where. Were. You?"

"There's a King's Ranger in town. Did you know that?"

Tentatively, I glanced up to gauge Father's reaction. His face remained impassive and unreadable however. "I don't see what that has to do with anything," he finally answered after an awkward pause.

I swallowed my nerves. "His name is Aust. He's come to hunt the beast that Erickson found signs of on his property."

"I'm still waiting for you to tell me why this bit of information matters and how it factors into why you disappeared after talking to Andrew."

"Did you know I spoke to him yesterday?"

"This ranger or Andrew."

"Aust... the ranger. I told him about the tracks that Erickson found. Andrew told me that Aust had come around to speak to him too and mentioned that he was heading towards Erickson's to investigate."

Father leaned back. His eyes going wide and then narrowing as my words and their meaning registered in his brain. "The forest. You were in the Edirk forest, weren't you?"