The Rogue Tribe - Ranger's Apprentice

Chapter 14: Too Late

Halt and Crowley had been trailing the Temujai for three days now. It had been one whole day since they had cut the water skins, and several hours since the Temujai had unexpectedly changed directions. Instead of going east towards Araluen, they had suddenly switched to going more northward, curving around in a big loop, but at a slower pace than before. So they've given up on Will and the others for now, Halt thought. They're coming after us. He couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. They were finally leaving Will and the other Rangers alone, who were no doubt exhausted and wounded. Halt felt a lot better knowing that Will and all the others were safe by now. He was sure they had made it to the castle, that was the only explanation as to why the Temujai would turn around. They weren't equipped to attack a large and well defended fortress like Castle Araluen, that much Halt knew from observing and watching their camps. They were travelling very lightly, and moving quickly. But now he and Crowley had to be very careful as they decided how to deal with these rogue, bloodthirsty tribesmen who wanted nothing short of their heads on a platter. Yes, Will is safe, for now. But now I have to figure out what we're going to do with these people before they catch us.

He and Crowley had been riding through the whole day at an accelerated pace in order to gain a bit of ground of the Temujai approaching from behind. They had managed to get ahead, and were now consumed with the task of leaving enough evidence of their presence that the Temujai would continue to follow them. They broke large branches every once and a while, made sure to trample large patches of grass, and stepped deep into patches of mud with their boots to leave clear prints. Halt even went so far as to leave a large piece of material from his cloak stuck in some sap on a pine tree. Crowley had scowled at him, and muttered, "If you leave clues like that, they might realize we're baiting them. That cloth is so obvious it's almost sickening."

But Halt had only shrugged silently and suddenly flashed back to when he and Will were tracking the Genovesians, before he had been shot and poisoned, and how they had left much the same clues to bait them. These Temujai are not very skilled trackers, considering how many marks they leave and how many of them there are. It would be a shame for them to lose our carefully laid trail. He had said as much to Crowley, who had only scowled deeper, and muttered something under his breath that Halt didn't catch.

They both now rode side by side down a narrow ridge along a hill top. They hadn't passed any towns in a few hours now, so Halt figured they must be nearing the river between Castles Araluen and Caraway. They had been riding all day in almost total silence, so Halt had had a long time to think. He thought about Will. He hadn't had much in the way of strange dreams since the one from the previous night, but the visions still flashed across his closed eyelids. I hope he's alright. I hope they made it. I hope... No one died.

But he knew that someone had to have died. That kind of attack... There was no chance they had gotten away without a loss. He hoped the survivors were alright, and that not too many people had died. He hoped... That Will hadn't died. Gilan, Harrison and his new apprentice, Leander, Frederick, Berrigan...

He hoped they had made it to the castle. He hoped that the King had taken care of them, and that they were all reporting to him, helping him shore up their defences just in case the Temujai did attack the castle. And most of all... I hope Will doesn't come. If he tries, he'll only get himself killed. If he's not dead already. He needs to help the King. He needs... To stay alive.

"Halt... It's getting dark."

Halt blinked hard, shaking himself out his thoughts as Crowley spoke. "Yes, I can see that," he muttered cryptically, still a bit muddled.

Crowley sighed. "Well, aren't we going to make camp? Or are we going to go attack the Temujai? What's the plan, Halt?"

Halt rubbed his eyes with his palms, stretching his skin and clicking his jaw. "Well, we can't make camp, at least, not here. If the Temujai continue to travel through the night, they'll be on us so quickly we won't have any chance." He glanced back down the roadway, as if expecting the tribesmen to pop up from behind some hill at any moment. "No, if we are going to do anything, we're going to double back around them and wait until they camp. And then we'll sneak in and hear what their plan is."