The road curved to the north and skirted alongside the village of Ryube. That was where Jillia and Rowd were when they smelled some horrible smell. It was like smoke, and something cooking, but it was stomach churning as well. As they approached the village, the smell grew stronger. And then, they reached the village, and saw the source of the smell.

Jillia's stomach tied itself in knots as she looked at what had once been a village. Burnt skeletons of buildings were all that remained of homes. And the people -

She averted her eyes with a shudder. Those people had not died quickly. They had died slowly and painfully. Jillia turned away and buried her head into Rowd's chest, who put his arm around her. Rowd just kind of stared blankly at the burnt corpses and didn't know what to say to Jillia.

Frank appeared next to the two of them, "Wow... looks like a lot more ghosts are gonna be joining me..." Rowd looked over at his dead brother, "Yeah..." he said without any emotion what-so-ever.

Jillia, who's head was still buried within Rowd's chest thought to herself, Damn, that Ruka! Why did he have to do this?! Tears flooded from her eyes and dampened Rowd's dirty uniform. The sky blue turned to a dark blue because of the tears. "It...it's okay, Jill..." Rowd said in a pathetic attempt to comfort the princess.

Jillia looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, "You're sorry? Don't tell me your sorry! Tell all of these people who died a slow and painful death, simply because my brother is a dirty, cruel, and heartless man that I'm too weak to stop! Tell these people's families who are out of town that you're sorry! Tell...tell..." Jillia stopped as she realized that she was hurting Rowd deeply, and all he was trying to do was comfort her. "Oh, I'm sorry Rowd!" she screamed as she burst into tears and cried into his chest again.

"It's okay Jillia...I uh...I understand..." Rowd managed to squeak out. He was trying his hardest to be a man and not cry in front of Jillia, but he couldn't hold out much longer. Tears began to trickle down Rowd's eyes, as he and Jillia stood outside of the town, holding each other.

"There," an archer, Aljail, whispered to his comrades in the trees. "Two Highlanders, returning to the scene of the crime."

Siesta rolled her eyes. "How can you even tell they're from Highland? They could just be citizens returning home to find ruins."

"I know these things," he replied mysteriously.

She glared at him.

"Okay, okay," he gave in, "Highlanders usually have either straight black hair or very pale hair. Both together, in a mostly dead area is too likely to ignore. If they aren't Highlanders, it won't matter too much, because we can just let them go."

"Fine." Siesta jumped lightly down from her perch in the large tree and dashed to where the rest of their party, two fighters, waited. She whispered a plan to them and dashed off to take her place.

An arrow planted itself in the ground less than an inch away from Jillia's foot. She stumbled backwards, confused by everything that had happened and now this. They were.. being attacked?

"Don't move a muscle, girl," a voice said from the underbrush. "Or you, Highlander. Move and a dozen arrows will be planted in her before you get half a step away."

Rowd froze. Man, what a way to ruin the moment. he thought to himself.

A tall man in leather armor emerged from the forest, walking towards them. He had a long sword at his side; he wasn't an archer. Even if the dozen archers was a bluff, there was at least one they couldn't see. It couldn't be risked.

"Get out of here," Jillia hissed between her teeth at Rowd.

"What?" he whispered back.

"I said get out of here. The instant that guy gets close enough they couldn't risk shooting me without hitting him. You have to run for the border and tell the King what's happened."

The man was getting closer.

"But I'm supposed to protect you!"

"They won't kill me if they know what's good for them. Jowston doesn't want this war, and killing the princess of an enemy country insures a bloodbath. You'd just be killed as an unnecessary risk, or worse if someone knows about the Unicorn Brigade," she replied.

Rowd's heart skipped a beat. Did she know about what happened? No, it couldn't be. She had to mean if Jowston found out they missed someone, right?

The man was close enough that all but an expert archer would have equal chance hitting him as Jillia.

Rowd bolted for it.

"Hey!" the man almost chased after him, but decided he'd better keep hold of the one prisoner he did secure.

Shots were fired after Rowd, but the archers had not been aiming for him originally. They fell short by quite a bit. Only two arrows. He was gone before they could get another pair ready.

"Dammit!" the man cursed. He bound Jillia's wrists tightly with a piece of cloth and lead her back to his companions.

Aljail lead the party, now five people, back to the fort. That girl hadn't said a word, no clues at all of who she could be. He didn't like that. She could be a Jowstoner, or a the brat of some rich Highland clan, for all he could tell. Well, they'd be safely within the walls of the fort soon, and then she would be someone else's problem.