Who was the man who had captured Halt, and who was he working for? That was the question that Halt thought about as he walked behind his captor, stumbling every so often and falling sometimes. It was sometimes the only thing that kept Halt awake as he mindlessly walked through the dark forest.
He knew they were generally travelling north-east due to glimpses of the stars as they walked, but where exactly they were, and which fief they were in was a mystery to Halt. They hadn't gone near any villages, and his captor had never yet looked at a map, he was relying on the stars for his travel.
It was their fourth day of travel and Halt had gotten little sleep so far, leading to him struggling to stay awake. How a nightmare could be so real it overruled his whole mind and make him believe so sincerely that he was there, his mind slipping away as he struggled...
Halt would never admit it, but he was frightened of his nightmares, he'd rather struggle with sleeplessness than live through another nightmare. He didn't understand nightmares, why they'd just disappear for a year, and then come back full force every night. It just made no logical sense.
His captor always seemed to be awake on the occasions that Halt fell asleep and was awoken gasping desperately for breath. He watched Halt with dark, keen eyes, which slightly frightened Halt as he had no idea what the man was thinking. Normally, Halt would be unfazed, or glare at the man, but the stress and insomnia was getting to him, and he had the strength to do neither.
Crowley was nowhere to be seen. Halt feared the worst, but still tried his hardest not to think of it. But surely, someone would have realized and some Ranger would be sent after him. Unless they thought that Halt had done something to Crowley and left, but that didn't make much sense.
And as for his captor, Halt doubted he was more than an assassin, hired by someone - likely Morgarath - to capture Halt. He had some skill in sneaking places, but his woodcraft was terrible. He hadn't covered their tracks well, and even a poacher could track them seeing the amount of times that Halt had fallen. Though he was a good navigator, seeing as Halt had not once seen him with a map on their travels.
By the time they stopped that night, Halt was developing a chill, and days later, it became serious, with a nasty cough combined with bright, sleepless eyes and exhausted expression. Halt hoped desperately that they would stop travelling soon, he didn't know how long he could last.
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Halt's Test (Gone Wrong)
ActionWhen Halt is captured one night and taken from Castle Araluen, he has no idea that it's a test. But things go badly wrong, very badly wrong, and neither can do anything to prevent anything getting worse. But it still gets worse.
