It's irritatingly dark, at first he can't make out anything, but then there's a darker spot against the dark with a very non-organically-grown square shape – a cottage or hut of some kind, it looks like – and there's flickery light creeping through a crack that might be the edge of a door. 

:I see a building. Some sort of light coming out of it. Maybe fire?:

:Can you peek inside? Should be possible unless they've warded specifically against Farsight, which is rare. Er, don't push against resistance though, if they are warded it could trigger an alarm: 

He moves the locus of his Farsight forward, loses it entirely and suppresses a groan while he rubs his temples, re-establishes it, and starts over from Savil's location. This time he reaches the cottage door and slows down even further, tentatively poking forward to see if it will admit him.

It does!

The cottage is small, single-roomed with a soft of half-attic loft – it looks like a couple of people might be asleep there. There's a simple fireplace, with a fire, and a lantern. A man sitting on a stool by the fire with a cup between his hands–

–And the two young scouts, Rivertree and Sun...something-or-other, both tied up and gagged and apparently unconscious in a heap on the floor. 

:I got in. The scouts are in there, tied up. One guy holding a cup, one or two more asleep on a . . . platform, thing.:

:...Goddamnit: Pause. :I'm going to throw up a barrier around them, and I need you to get here as fast as you can. Once they know they're under attack, they might– well, there's someone there willing to use blood-magic, and they've got hostages: 

Shit. Abras shivers, and not from the cold this time. :Alright.: As Yfandes starts moving, he adds, :I don't know how much use I'll be. Almost out of reserves. Never mind, it's fine, I'll tap a node.:

:All right. Go!: And Abras feels the burst of her magic off in the distance. 

Yfandes doesn't need any further instruction to explode forward in a gallop. She can follow Kellan's trail through the trees, avoiding obstacles, sailing over a creek - jarring Abras' teeth together when she lands–

Abras tries to tap a node like he said he would, but he has so little reserves left. If doing magic without a node right now is like trying to move a pile of dirt with his hands, this is like trying to use a shovel one-handed. He focuses on staying balanced on Yfandes; they can't afford her slowing down to keep him from falling off.

And between one breath and the next, they burst out between the trees and are there. Savil has a shimmering barrier around the cottage, as promised, and a mage-light. The man who had been by the fire is screaming at her – it's in a foreign language, but sounds like probably a string of swearwords.

–He's apparently not the mage; a skinny young man who can't be much older than Abras staggers out the door in his long johns, and throws a fireball at the shield.

Savil winces. :Ack. Blood-magic is - really good for piercing shields. I can hold this but I can't take him out at the same time – we need to do it carefully, can't afford to set the cottage on fire, but fast. Can you tap that node and – get in rapport with me, so you can slip through my shield, and get him out of commission? Lethal force is fine, we can question the other two: 

Abras centers and grounds and grabs for the node again, but now his head is screaming and he can't quite manage to open up and get into rapport with Savil. :I can't--aah, gods--Yfandes what do I do?:

:Chosen, what–: Yfandes breaks off, and then yanks Savil into the mindlink as well. :We've got a problem:

Savil peers closer at his mind (ouch). 

:Oh, gods and damnation. Abras, put the node DOWN. You're too drained to channel it safely. Just - I don't know - go sit back there somewhere? I'll handle this: 

Why he had to pick tonight to make himself a useless piece of shit . . . aah, who's he kidding, he's a useless piece of shit every night. And a lot of mornings. : Should I dismount?: He asks Yfandes. :You can still fight.: Letting Yfandes go into a fight without him feels horrible, but he knows she would never walk away when she could help.

Yfandes is very clearly torn; she wants to stay with him, she's desperately worried, but it's too high a risk for Savil to take on three enemies alone, when it might delay the rescue. 

Finally, she trots back a ways. :All right. Just - stay here, be quiet, try to at least shield your thoughts so you're not projecting? I think you'll be safe: She blows at his hair. :I'm sorry, love. I should've realized you weren't rested enough for this: 

:I'm the one who should be sorry.: He slides off, hides behind a tree and tries to keep his fear for Yfandes and Savil and his smoldering hatred of his own uselessness firmly inside his own head. :Go, I'll be fine. Help Savil, stay safe.:

The rest of the fight isn't easy for Savil, but she manages it. Concentrating enough to aim when she's holding the barrier too is a challenge even with her years of experience, when the target has mage-sense and can dodge. She gets him with the third levinbolt, though, and then he stops moving long enough for her to whack him with a lot more. She's mad. He - is definitely not getting up again. 

The first man and his companion, now out of bed, are both going at the barrier with swords. With approximately zero effect. Yfandes bolts through the second it comes down, and nails the older man with a kick to the chest, not quite hard enough to splinter ribs but enough that he lies in the snow twitching and doesn't try to move. Kellan takes care of the other one. 

"Abras?" Savil calls out into the night. "If you're up for it, can you give me a hand? These fatheads will keep till morning, I don't care if they lose some fingers and toes, but I want them tied up, and we've got to get our people home. We'll each ride double with one of them, don't see a better way – I've alerted the Vale, but it's not worth a Gate and our Companions can have us back before help could even get here." 

"Yeah, of course." He scrambles out from behind the tree and goes to join her. "Gods, Savil, I'm so sorry."

"Shh, ke'chara, later." She leads him into the cottage, kneels, quickly checks that both of the scouts are breathing. "Sunstorm? Wake up?" Nothing. She rolls him over, gently– "Oh, damn, he took a good blow to the head. I hope he'll be all right - nothing to do for it but get him back where there's a Healer." 

Rivertree at least can be roused a little, though not enough to say intelligible words or sit up on his own; his hair, dyed in brown-and-green to blend with the trees, is crusted with blood. "You take him," Savil says briskly, "I'll take Sunstorm – I'll have to belt him in my saddle or something. Let's get them untied – free up some ropes for our prisoners – should haul them in here so they survive the night, at least, then we'll be off." She peers out at the sky. "Reckon we'll get back before dawn." 

He is at least capable of untying knots, though retying them on their prisoners has enough room for error that he figures Savil will want to do it herself. Eventually everybody is the correct one of tied up and not that and he gets Rivertree belted onto Yfandes in front of him. He hopes they do get back before dawn; the fewer people he has to look in the face any time soon the better.

They do. Rivertree wakes up enough on the journey to mumble something to Abras, asking what happened. And then they reach the Vale and only a few people are awake to meet them, a couple of the Healers and one of the elders whose name Abras is far too tired to remember. Savil directs their Companions to a particular ekele, and then instructs Abras to help Rivertree out of the saddle, and the injured scouts are handed off to the Healers' care. 

Yfandes gives Abras a ride back to their ekele.