Halt's Test (Gone Wrong)

Chapter 5

"Crowley?" Halt cried, stepping away from his captor - his friend - in shock. "It was you? You kidnapped me?" It made sense now, Crowley could have ordered the guards away and left the gate open, and if he left a note, then no one would think twice about the two Ranger's going on a mission, after all, it was their job

"Ah. Halt." Crowley looked slightly bewildered, pulling his hair out of the leather band he'd used to keep it out of his face as Halt glared at him. Crowley winced under the glare, knowing it was mostly deserved. "What are you doing out of the chair?" He asked weakly, trying to figure out what to say

"Why did you capture me for nine days?" Halt demanded angrily, stepping back again, surveying the clearly uncomfortable Commandant in front of him.

Crowley looked at the floor awkwardly. "It was a test." He admitted slowly. "I got permission from King Duncan to test you guys on how you respond to capture, and he agreed. You're the only one so far to figure out it was me and escape, and I've done this to most of them."

Suddenly, he smiled, looking up from the floor, the cheeky glint back in his green eyes. Halt wondered how he'd ever thought that the eyes were dark and mysterious, but when they were shadowed by the hood, they looked considerably darker than the green they actually were, and since he didn't think he knew the man, he assumed the eyes were mysterious. "They'll be surprised when I tell them about this at the Gathering." He chuckled, then looked apologetic, and rather embarrassed at Halt's scathing look. "I'm sorry."

Halt sighed and turned away, letting the sword fall to the floor with a loud clang. "I'm exhausted, Crowley."

"And your nightmares have returned." Halt scowled at the blatant reminder. "I did consider ending the test once your nightmares returned, but people who capture you won't let you loose if you get nightmares. It wouldn't be a real test then." Halt leaned against the barn wall, suddenly very tired, as Crowley took stock of the room.

"You honestly deserve that silver oakleaf, Halt." Crowley nodded at the destroyed chair and the cut rope near the weapons. "Very clever."

Halt only nodded to show he heard, though he was a little proud of the praise from the Commandant. Later on, he'd have the time to be proud of this, when he didn't feel like he was seconds from passing out. "Where are we?" He sat down on the floor, and Crowley realized he looked more than a little pale.

"Near the north of Araluen."

"Is there an inn nearby?" Halt whispered and Crowley looked on with alarm as his friend proceeded to faint from exhaustion.

"He was more tired than I thought." Crowley muttered to himself; almost regretting pushing Halt this hard as he knelt beside Halt to check his pulse. Once ensuring that Halt was still alive and just very tired and unconscious, he stood up and headed over to his pack.

He quickly changed back into his Ranger uniform and repacked his stuff, leaving his and Halt's weapons out, before putting his weapons in their normal places. Halt was still in his uniform, though it looked rather crumpled and dirty after nine days of travel, and Crowley put Halt's cloak which he had grabbed and weapons near him.

Then Crowley took the bucket that he normally used to water Cropper and headed to the nearby river he knew was there to fill it up. When he returned, he dumped it on Halt unceremoniously, waking him up instantly. Halt groaned as he opened his eyes, feeling how wet and cold he was now. It wasn't comfortable, but it got the job done, and since Crowley wasn't the biggest Ranger, he didn't think he could haul Halt all the way to the village he was heading for.

"How dare you?" Halt groaned, but there was no feeling behind it and Crowley only smirked.

"There are your cloak and weapons, Halt. Now we need to go to the inn." He packed his bucket back up as Halt slowly got to his feet and donned his cloak and put his weapons in their places, keeping one hand against the wall to stay stable.

"Half an hour walk." Crowley called cheerfully, grinning at Halt's groan as he stared at the map, before they started to walk towards the village.

It was dawn as they started to walk towards the village. They arrived at the small village of Mirkdem in fifteen minutes, walking quicker than Crowley had predicted. Crowley, seeing the swaying as Halt walked - no, stumbled - through the village, marched Halt straight to the inn and ordered him straight to bed though it was morning.

Thankfully, Halt was too weak to protest and had forgotten entirely about his nightmares as he fell into slumber. Crowley was also tired, but decided to explore the small village out of boredom and unwillingness to sleep while the sun was up. He hadn't slept much either, but that was because of the light, and not because of nightmares, lack of food and water and all the other things that had kept Halt awake. He gave the rabbits to the innkeeper along with the money, as he would get meals from the inn, and didn't need the rabbits anymore.

It turned out that Mirkdem was very small, and the inn served as the tavern, being the largest place in town. They had a blacksmith though, but it was small. The village's healer worked part time as a lumberjack and carpenter with his son, so Crowley couldn't find him to ask him to check on Halt that morning and returned to the empty inn.

The room the two had gotten was rather small, with two beds at opposite ends and a fireplace – Crowley classed it as a safety hazard but lit it anyway, checking that Halt was still breathing in his seeming catatonic state. Then he went to find some lunch.