If she looked...

[Vanidor]

Then perhaps Rosamaria, erstwhile and effective guardian of Governor Helstone, would have seen the tracks of a good twenty men riding into the forest itself. Twenty men and a good fourty horses, which ment enough mounts to ride, and then fight if one was inclined too. If, also, she was of clear enough mind, and checked into the workings of the Brotherhood, this was the standard sort of arraingment for a patrol on long duty. The fact that Captain Aeryn lead the sortie was irrelevant.

It would also have been pointed out that Kerrak, demented as he was, had performed the same duties with new recruites as the current captain did. As had all the captains before him (at least as far as memories held to the truth about it). So, while it may have seemed... odd, that Aeryn would be absent at such a time, it was merely coincidence. The only out of place thing, of course, was the way the letter was written. And the fact, of course, that Aeryn seemed to be acting in haste. Oh, and if things weren't bad enough, this was a team of men trained by Sergeant Rautha, that being the Master of Scouts for the Brotherhood on a whole.

Strange indeed, that their trail was clear and plain up until they reached the edge of the forest. The hooves of horses clear for a good quarter mile into the heavy thickets and brambles. And then... Oh, and then. The horses seemed to seperate into groupes of ten, presumably five mounted and five remounts. Yet into the forest they went, wild and without seeming reason. Did she have the time to track all of them? Did she have the inclination? Or, would poor Rosamaria, stick to her duty and follow all of them...

Funny, how all the tracks would eventually meet together somewhere nigh the middle of the forest (this being a place claimed by the current Councilor of Agriculture, Vanidor Goldenhair)... and then the group as a whole (as the tracks told it) would... simply seem to head back to town...