Sick Day, Rangers apprentice by Elfpen (Fanfiction )

Chapter 6: Infirmary

Author's Note: Sorry it took so stinking long to get this chapter up. Every time I sat down to write, something came up. School. Chores. The need for sleep (or coffee). Life in general. At any rate, here's the next chappie! Enjoy!

It was a peaceful night. The moon was nearly full, and cast a calm, bluish light across the fields surrounding the castle that gave everything a serene, smooth look. The grass waved and roared in the night wind, and an owl hooted from the edge of the woods.

Inside the castle, he had been sleeping fitfully, arms wrapped around his wife with a calm breeze drifting in from the slightly open window above their bed. His eyebrows twitched in his sleep as a foreign noise broke the silence of the night. It was quiet at first, but then it grew louder. It sounded like hoof beats on flagstones. He frowned in his slumber, turned, readjusted his arms around his wife, and settled back down to sleep. The hoof beats had ended. A few moments later, however, and there were quick footsteps growing louder and louder. Next thing he knew, someone was pounding on his door loud enough for the deaf to hear. After a few confused, sleepy groans, he started awake and sat up. His wife, also roused by the ruckus, was rubbing her eyes, mumbling something or other.

He rose, hastily tucking his nightshirt into his trousers as he walked, and went over to the door. Short grey hair sticking out at odd angles from sleep, he answered the door and couldn't help but widen his eyes a little at the tall, alarmed ranger standing in his doorway.

"Aaron Fletcher?" The tall man asked, slightly out of breath.

"Yes, that's me." He said groggily after a moment. His wife and daughters had come out to see who had come knocking on their door at two in the morning.

"Healer?"

"Yes, I am a healer." At the question, Aaron immediately became more alert. He knew from experience where this conversation was heading. "What's wrong?" He asked. The general compassion that drove him to pursue a life in medical work now compelled him to be eager to help.

"It's Will," The tall man said, "The Ranger; Halt's apprentice. He's a fever fiercer than I've ever seen - burning up and it won't go down." He was jumbling his words together. "Halt told me to come get you as quickly as I could. Please help."

Aaron nodded quickly, and looked back at the twin teen girls peering out from their room across the hall.

"Rose, Lily, my things - go!"

The two tall brunettes, despite having been rudely awakened by a frantic ranger and still in their night gowns, nodded and quickly hurried off to another room. Aaron went over and spoke quickly and quietly to his wife, who hurried off after her daughters.

"How long has he had a fever?" Aaron asked as he pulled on his boots.

"He's been sick for three, four days. He's had a fever most of that time, but last night he woke up burning up. He's delusional - babbling nonsense."

Lily and Rose reappeared carrying a heavy satchel that rattled with various bottles, herbs and remedies. Their mother followed soon after with a coat for Aaron, which he donned with a clear look of gratitude towards his family.

"Thank you. Now, Ranger..."

"Gilan."

"Ranger Gilan," Aaron addressed him with the smallest hint of surprise. He recognized the name, and remembered treating the young man several times when Gilan was Halt's apprentice. He suppressed the recognition, however, and stepped towards the door. There were more important things to attend to.

"We haven't a moment to lose. Come on."

Halt was trying desperately to keep Will talking to him - anything to ensure that his apprentice didn't fall into a lapse where the fever could overtake him completely. The babbling was generally meaningless to Halt, but after a while, the words started to all correlate to one particular thing.