The Rogue Tribe - Ranger's Apprentice

Chapter 10: Face to Face

"Halt... They're not here."

Halt turned around and glared at Crowley. "I do believe I can see that for myself, thanks." They had come into another clearing, completely empty, without any trace that someone had been there recently. Halt and Crowley had been tracking faint paths for hours now, perhaps even half a day, and they had come up with nothing. They hadn't even managed to come across an abandoned campsite. They were running out of options.

Crowley sighed and swung down from Cropper. He paced across the grass, huffing irritably. Halt watched him from atop Abelard. Finally Crowley spoke up. "Halt... What are we going to do if we don't find them in time? If we don't locate them and track them, and start to lead them off away from the other Rangers' path... "

Halt sighed. "I know, Crowley. I'm doing what I can, but you know we haven't found a solid enough set of tracks yet to lead us to them. So far it's only been faint, old ones they probably used a few weeks ago."

Crowley had wandered off over into a thicket of bushes, collecting some dry wood to store up for later. "If we don't find tracks in the next few hours..." He glanced up, anxiety scrunching up the skin around his eyes.

Halt nodded gravely. "I know, Crowley. I'm worried, too."

Crowley nodded, wetting his lips with a dry tongue. He bent back over and started digging around inside the bushes again. Halt swung down from Abelard and took a drink from his water bottle. The water was old and leathery, as they hadn't run across a stream in some hours. He smacked his lips as the foul tasting water slid down his throat. Better than nothing, I suppose.

"Hey... Halt?" That was Crowley's uncertain voice from the other side of the thicket.

"What?" He called back.

"Speaking of tracks..."

Halt clipped his bottle back on the saddle and walked quickly over to the thicket, shoving through the dense greenery, and he came out the other side, spotting Crowley only a few meters away. "What is it? Have you found something?"

"I'd say it's a lot more than that..."

Halt stood next to him and stared at the ground. His lips parted in a silent 'O'.

It was a set of boot tracks - shaped strangely, not like any Ranger's boot tread, and extremely fresh - not even an hour old. Halt bent down and gently touched the slight imprint into the soft ground. "My God, Crowley... I do believe you just found us our tracks."

"Do you think we'll be able to find them in time?"

Halt paused. "I can't say for certain... "

"Yes, you can." Crowley rolled his eyes.

"Fine." Halt smiled slightly. "I think we might be able to help Will and the others after all."

~~~~~~~~~

Will and Berrigan had set out again after the riverbank incident, moving as quickly as they could out through the forest again, eating up the distance to Araluen. A few more hours of fast travel, and they would arrive. "We'll probably make it around late afternoon without any delays," Will said to Berrigan as they slowed to a stop in the cover of a large grove of trees. They had met up with the rest of their group some minutes before, warned them of the nearby Temujai, and then separated again. They weren't scheduled to meet until they were just a few kilometers out from Castle Araluen itself now, and Will and Berrigan were completely alone again.