A Whole New Mystery To...

Chapter 15

I got done early! Yay! And now we have Horace's POV! I know some of you have been waiting for a while for him to show up! Also apologize for OOC Halt... I'm not the best at writing him, and he is rather difficult at times. And without further ado, chapter 15!

"Horace!"

Horace was riding next to Sir Rodney, guarding the entrance to Three Step Pass until the King ordered the retreat, when he heard the shout. He stiffened in his saddle briefly before turning his head and peering into the gloom of the pass. It was past nightfall, and he and his mentor had been about to retire to their tents for the night.

"Horace! Over here!" Finally he could make out a group of people. He was about to ask Sir Rodney who it was before he exclaimed,

"Is that Halt? What the devils was he doing in there?!" Halt? Horace thought, what was he doing there. Last Horace had heard, he had been at the Gathering for Rangers and hadn't returned to Redmont since. He could make out four figures who he assumed were rangers. Then they emerged from the Pass, and Horace did a double take. Next to him, Sir Rodney seemed equally flabbergasted. One of them was definitely Halt, there was no mistaking him. Beside him was a tall man with a ranger cloak around his shoulders and the familiar bow and quiver, along with the trademark double scabbard. What confused Horace was the sword hanging from his belt. After all, everyone knew that rangers never used swords. He was even more surprised to find one of his comrades from Battleschool walking slightly behind Halt. He was a year above Horace and had been sent on an assignment to guard Three Step Pass quite some time ago. Horace had assumed him dead when he had come to the camp and Tobias had been missing. Horace had to admit though, that the most surprising thing was seeing a young girl with dark brown hair stumbling next to Tobias, leaning on him. She appeared to be limping so he assumed that she must have gotten hurt in a fight or something. She had two daggers strapped to her belt, one small one and a very large one that looked almost like a ranger's saxe knife.

Tobias had been the one to shout out to Horace and at the mention of his name, the girl with the dark hair had looked up quickly and stared at Horace for a couple seconds before her head dropped back down, staring at the ground. He had found it rather unnerving. As the group of four drew closer, Halt started running in a manner that was very unlike him. He ran up to the two of them while Gilan stayed behind and helped Tobias with the girl, who now was having trouble walking even with Tobias's help. Now that they were closer he could make out a very large, rather nasty gash on her leg leg that ran from her ankle up to her knee.

Halt reached them and started talking. Horace even noted with some surprise that there was some desperation inching into his voice,

"Rodney, thank goodness. I need you to take Sophie directly to the medical tent. Keep Tobias and Gilan here. I need to go after Will." Now Horace understood why Halt was nervous. He himself was staring to get scared, the way Halt talked led him to assume something terrible had happened.

"What happened to Will?" He asked before he could stop himself. Halt looked over at him.

"He was taken. By Skandians. We were about to be overrun by wargals and Will started firing after Gil and I ran out. We thought he was following us, the courageous idiot. Just like his father. So, we went back and fought. Then Sophie got injured and we started helping her get away from the fight. Those other girls stayed back to help protect Will from close quarters just in case. They were pretty handy with those daggers, but they got overrun. Luckily the Skandians stopped the wargals before they killed them but now they're leaving. Something about profit. By the time we realized what was going on we were already in the pass, and Sophie was in bad shape. We had to get her out. Now I need to go back and get Will!" Halt was practically shouting by the end of his little speech, and all Horace could do was stare. Halt then turned around and ran back the way he came, stopping once to talk to the other ranger, who Horace assumed was Gilan. He lost sight of him briefly after due to his cloak.

Horace shook his head to clear it while he tried to process the information. Sir Ridney's voice snapped him back to reality.

"Horace, let's go help those three get that girl to the medical tent." And so, Horace spurred his horse, Kicker, and they rode to the trio. The girl, Sophie, was practically unconscious by the time they reached the little group. She kept mumbling something though and refused to stop trying to walk. Her head lolled to the side and she was dragging her feet through the dirt and small rocks, her weight being held mostly by Tobias and Gilan. He reached a hand down to get Sophie onto his horse and managed it with some help from Gilan. Gilan thanked him quickly before Sir Rodney told him to get the girl to the medical tent as quick as possible.

He spared one last glance at Tobias before urging Kicker into a gallop and racing back towards the camp, the almost unconscious girl in front of him. Now that he was so close he could make out was she was whispering. It was a name, Abbey, whoever that was. Maybe he thought it's one of the girls Halt mentioned who stayed behind to protect Will. He was silently grateful for Abbey and the unknown girl for trying to help his friend. Horace wasn't too worried though. Halt was going after them, and Halt never failed. They would get back, and then Horace could scold Will for being so stupid and thank the two girls for trying to protect him.

He reached the medical tent and dismounted quickly. He had to be a bit more careful though when he got Sophie of the horse. Now she was fully unconscious and her dead weight was heavier than he expected. He almost dropped her getting her off of Kicker.

"Medic!" Horace shouted as he entered the tent carrying Sophie bridal style. People immediately rushed over and one woman shouted at them to make way.

"Put her over there." She said gently, pointing to a bed near the entrance. It was one of the only ones fully set up. He walked slowly over and gratefully settled the girl on the mattress. The head doctor bustled over with a tray full of medical instruments Horace didn't know the name of, but looked unpleasant enough. The woman called for an assistant and a young girl about a year younger than Horace rushed over. The girl slowly helped cut away the fabric of the legging where it had stuck to Sophie's leg. The piece of cloth was saturated from the wound, which was still slowly oozing blood. The assistant ran to fetch a pitcher of fresh water and when she got back, the woman dipped a cloth in it and started dabbing at the mess.

Sophie groaned in her sleep and tried to pull her leg away which only caused more pain, making her wince. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked several times before her eyes had adjusted to the brightness of the candles next to her bed.

"Wha-What's going on? Last I remembered there was a-a horse. I was on it. And-" She stopped and stared at Horace in wonder. "You." She whispered in wonder. She tried sitting up but instead had to just prop herself up on her elbow. Horace was impressed. She was definitely in pain, yet she seemed almost numb to it. "You." She repeated. Then she did the most unexpected thing. She laughed. "Gorlog's  teeth and beard hair! It's really you! Oh Abbey's  going to be so happy to see-" she stopped suddenly as if remembering. "No. No, she didn't!" She shouted desperately. "Horace! Where's Abbey? She has to be with you! Or Halt! Where is she?"

Horace only stared and shook his head, too surprised to respond. How did she know him? He had certainly never seen her before. Sophie grabbed his sleeve desperately as she sank back down, her elbow falling. "Please..." She whispered before once again, falling unconscious.

So there we have it! A bit of a cliffhanger, but you'll have to wait to find out what happened to the others! Although I'm guessing most of you can make a pretty accurate assumption. I don't know when the next update will be. I'm planning on having 3 more chapters done by the end of summer, but I might not have internet the last week so... It might only be 2 depending on how fast I can finish my homework. So, on that note bye! Lizzy out!