A Whole New Mystery To...

Chapter 11

Hello!!!! I'm back again!!!! Miss me? No... Okay then... This is awkward... Just read!!!!!!!!!!!

"Gilan!" I exclaimed. He looked over at me and then his gaze swept the rest of the room. Then he grinned, but it was a forced smile.

"They got you too, huh?" He sighed. "The guards had hinted I would be having company soon but I was hoping it wasn't you guys."

"Yeah." I replied solemnly. Then I looked back over at Will and Evanlyn and my voice took on a worried tone. "They didn't by any chance mention Sophie did they?" He recognized my worry and hurried to reassure me.

"They wouldn't have hurt Sophie. They don't know who she is. My worry is Halt. Morgarath definitely wouldn't miss a chance to get back at him and now that we're at his mercy..." He shuddered. "I don't even want to think about it."

Are you, are you, coming to the tree
Where they strung up a man, they say who murdered three

At first I thought I was hallucinating but then I heard it again and I smiled.

Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be,
If we met, at mid-night in the hanging tree.

"Sophie?" I called out quietly. I heard shifting in the cell across from us and then a voice.

"Abbey? Is that you?" I laughed out loud and Gilan looked at me.

"What?" He asked. I realized he hadn't heard our exchange. I pointed towards the cell opposite us.

"Sophie is over there." I laughed in triumph. "Which probably means Halt is too." I turned towards the cell entrance.

"Sophie, is Halt in there with you?" She was quiet for a second before answering.

"He was. They took him out a while ago. That's how I woke up." My smile faded as quickly as it had come. They had taken Halt. Fear washed over me in an icy wave.

"How long do you think it's been?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"Maybe an hour or so?" She replied uncertainly. "I'm sorry, I haven't really been able to keep track of the time." I dismissed her apology immediately.

"It's not your fault." I was about to add more when I heard voices down the hall. I strained against the shackles, trying to get closer to the bars to see what was about to transpire. It was useless and the bonds held tight but the voices were getting closer. Then they stopped and I heard one pair of footsteps receding. Seconds later, five pairs of footsteps continued to come towards us.

I looked anxiously around our cell and saw Evanlyn and Will stirring. I looked more closely and saw Wil had a nasty gash on his head. I mentally winced. It must have come from the surprise Kalkara attack that I should have noticed. I silently berated myself for my mistake. If I had been more careful, more observant, then we might not be in this mess. He groggily stood up and looked down at his wrists, noticing the bands of running around them.

He must have noticed the footsteps too because he suddenly froze. The sounds of talking began again directly outside our cell, and I started in surprise. I had lost track of how close they were to us. I heard a door opening and made out the figures of four guards pushing someone into the cell Sophie was in. I sighed in relief as I realized this must be Halt. Then I realized he seemed in bad shape as he stumbled, almost falling, into the cell. After what seemed like an eternity, the guards finally left.

I watched through the cell doors as the blurry figure of Sophie rushed over to him just as he sunk to a sitting position. She tried to help him but he waved her off

"I'm okay. What do you think I am, incompetent?" He asked indignantly. I could feel Sophie's confusion, but I realized they can't have done anything too serious if he was acting normal like this.

"Halt," Will asked hopefully. He was peering into the gloom, his eyes trying to adjust. "is that you?"

"Yes." He replied curtly. I frowned. He usually didn't snap at Will like that.

"Halt," I started cautiously, "what's wrong?" I could almost feel the heat of his glare from the other cell.

"Nothing." He replied irritably. "Now if you could kindly stop bothering me, I could actually come up with a plan." And with that I heard a shuffling noise before I saw a gleam of light that caught Halt's face.

"Wha-?!" He shushed me and moved over to the cell door. In the guards haste, they had forgotten to redo Halt's bonds. He stuck whatever he was holding in the lock and twisted it until we all heard a clicking noise. Then the door swung open. As he walked out I realized he was holding his throwing knife in his hand.

"How?" I asked gesturing to the knife he was now using to unlock our door. He didn't look up as he answered, still intent upon unlocking the cell.

"I hid it." He said simply, just as the lock clicked and the door swung open. I tried to step forward before remembering the bands of metal around my wrists. I held them up for Halt.

"A little help here?" He nodded and strode over to me. He stuck the knife into the small lock and I heard two clicking sounds, one right after another. Then the bands fell free and clattered to the floor noisily. I winced. That seemed loud enough to bring the guards back. I heard a cough as I stepped out the cell. I peered into the cell Halt was in and realized Sophie was still secured and looking rather annoyed.

"He skipped me!" I laughed and called to Halt.

"When you're done over there you might to help Sophie. She seems a little... stuck." She tried a swipe at me, but I jumped nimbly out of her reach. Sophie glared at me warningly but I ignored it.

After Halt finished unlocking us all we sat in Sophie and Halt's cell while he explained to us what had happened.

"Morgarath wanted to know about our army. Weak points, strengths, things like that." Halt explained. "Obviously I didn't tell him anything so he said he would get his 'equipment' ready, and I don't fancy being here long enough to find out just what he meant by that." I looked at him skepically.

"So you weren't hurt?" He dissmissed me casually.

"He hit me twice." Then he snorted in contempt, "As if that was going to get me to tell him all of Araluen's secrets." I sighed in relief. I was afraid that Morgarath's temper would have flared, and his thirst for revenge would outweigh his practical side. Halt continued.

"And now I know the way out of the dungeons, if not the exact way out of the castle." He glanced down the dimly lit hallway outside the open cell door. "We should hurry before the guards come back. I don't kow how long Morgarath is going to take."

With that Halt got up and exited the cell, walking briskly and confidently down the hallway. We all hurriedly stood and walked after him, Just as I was wondering how long this hallway could be, I saw a light ahead. I sighed in relief that we hadn't been stopped yet. I'd been harboring a fear that the guards would be standing in the shadows, ready to pop out at us at any moment. We were mere feet away when I heard a noise behind us and my shoulders slumped wondering where the guard had sprung from.

"Hey!" But the voice that followed seemed surprising young so I spun around to see...

MUAHAHAHA!!! I'm so evil!! Okay, couldn't think of a good place to stop but I figured that this aught to keep you readers on your toes!!! Next update should be sometime next weekend. Maybe Friday if I have enough time. So for now I say goodbye all my rangers in training... GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!