Into The World Of Ranger's Apprentice

Halt Insults My Panda-Pig

A/N Sorry for the super long wait! I honestly have no excuse for this except that I am a lazy couch potato. Anyway, on to the story!

Disclaimer: Ok, I lied. I gotta do this first. I AM NOT JOHN FLANAGAN! Hmm... I don't think the Skandians heard me--better yell louder next time. So, without further ado(ha! I just said ado), here is the next chapter!

Halt glared down at the girl sitting before him. She hadn't even seemed to care that they were taking her to the Baron--and probably the dungeons too. She was probably a spy, Halt thought. She wore strange clothes for a girl and looked oddly happy about their whole situation. He decided it was time to get some answers.

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Jill stared down at the dirt, doodling thoughtlessly with a  twig. She had a tendency to do that when she got bored. Tilting her head, the drawing looked sort of like a panda. Either that, or it was one of the three not-so-little pigs. Her thoughts were disrupted when a leather boot came down hard on her creation, making her jump.

"Get up," Halt growled, snatching her arm and pulling her away, " you can draw another horse later." Jill was offended. How dare he insult her dismal drawing skills? The doodle didn't look  like anything even remotely close to a horse! Or anything, for that matter, but still.

"For your information, it is a panda-pig," she stated, defiantly yanking her arm back. Will looked on, amused. He'd never seen anyone talk back to Halt and live.

"Oh, great," Halt replied sarcastically, "you drew some made-up creature from the land of I DONT CARE!" He actually shouted the last part, completely fed up with her already. Jill smirked. He was going to get a lot worse than that if he continued to push her around.

"Paaanda-pig," she sang out, wondering if Halt would retaliate. To her joy, he did. 

"Horse."

"Panda-pig."

"Horse."

"Panda-pig."

"Horse!"

"Panda-pig!"

"HORSE!"

"PANDA-PIG!"

Jill was thoroughly enjoying this. She'd played this game hundreds of time with her brother, and  knew just how to win.

"HORSE!" Halt shouted out again.

"HORSE!" Jill echoed, hoping this would work.

"PANDA-PIG!" He yelled back, before faltering, realizing his mistake. What Jill knew that he didn't was that when this kind of shouting match occurred, the two people got so caught up in the pattern of one thing then the other that when they heard one thing, they immediately say the other. So, all you have to do is say what the other person is saying and they'll say yours. And then, WA-LA, they've just agreed with you. 

"Finally, you get my point," she told him, smiling mischievously. Only to wince as Halt smacked her upside the head. 

"Enough!" He roared, shoving her against a tree. He then pulled out his Saxe, twirling it threateningly. But Jill knew better.

"Come on, Halt, you can put that away," she said casually, "we both know you aren't going to use it."

"And why not?" He asked, putting the tip to her throat. "Look me in the eyes and tell I'm not capable of doing any of the threats I make." She brought her eyes up to meet the dark voids of his. But again, she knew better.

"Oh, of course you're capable of doing anything. You're Halt. But you won't because I've got something you don't." Jill retorted. 

"And what might that be?" Halt asked quietly, trying to figure her out.

"Information," she said shortly. Her thought were running a mile a minute. Of course she had information they didn't, she knew almost every detail of Will's apprenticeship and all his adventures, both as an apprentice and as a full-fledged Ranger. But she couldn't tell them any of that. Which meant she needed to think up false information.

"Information about what?" Will butted in, too curious to help himself. Okay, now Jill really was in a pickle. If she didn't think of something soon she was dead meat. Where had she said she was from? Oh yeah...

"Gallica," she whispered, looking around furtively as if to spot any eavsdroppers. "They're trying to take over Araluen." 

Now there  was a good lie. There was no way the Rangers could ignore that. 

Exchanging a meaningful glance with Will, Halt turned back to Jill. "So you've betrayed your home country, spied on Rangers, and lied to us," he growled menacingly. Uh oh. This whole plan was going downhill. What now? Maybe there was a tiny chance she could bluff her way through it.

"No, I was just..." Jill started, but Halt cut her off.

"No. We'll make camp for tonight, then we're taking you to the Baron." The look in his eyes said that she was not going to like this visit.

Halt quickly set up camp, while Will turned to her.

"Hold out your hands," he told her, and when she did, he tied them together efficiently. Cautiously, Jill tested the bonds, but they were extremely well done and didn't budge. Then, Will secured a rope around her neck and attached the other end to a sturdy oak. Jill sighed. This was going to be a really uncomfortable night.

Once both Rangers were done, Halt had Will make dinner while he searched for firewood. Jill fiddled around in the dirt, drawing bows and arrows. By the time Halt returned, she'd drawn an entire army on panda-pigs shooting arrows in the direction of the camp. She smirked, satisfied. 

"Why on earth would you draw those horses shooting at us?" A quiet voice asked in her ear. She jumped so high, bringing her arm around instinctively, yet wincing as it smacked into Halt's nose. Then she felt the anger flooding in.

"Well, why on earth would you sneak up on me? And they AREN'T HORSES!" She shouted, scooting backwards to see him better, only to wish she hadn't. It was as if thunderclouds had descended over Halt's already usually grim face. He glowered at  her, then grabbed her arms and threw her against the tree Will had tied her to. Halt stalked over and loomed over her. Then Will interfered, much to Jill's surprise,  putting his hand on his former mentor's shoulder and whispering something in his ear. Halt stopped trying to kill her with a look and briskly turned away, striding back to the campfire. Jill couldn't help but wonder what Will had said. She considered asking him, but decided it might be better if she kept quiet until Halt cooled down.

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Later, as Will and Halt ate their stew, Jill felt pangs of hunger as she realized she'd had nothing to eat since that morning. Still, she didn't ask for food, knowing she'd be refused imediately. Then, Will glanced up, and seeing her desperate look, moved to his saddlebags. There, he took out a bit of dried meat and tossed it over.

The food landed in her lap, and Jill tore it apart like an animal. She looked up once to see Halt looking furious. Will said something to him that Jill couldn't quite make out. Something about not letting her starve. She didn't really care all that much. The food was gone far too quickly, but when her eyes searched the camp for Will, she only saw Halt, sitting up for his watch. Oh, yeah. The sky had grown dark and shadows appeared everywhere. Shivering, Jill curled up into a ball at the base of her tree. She pondered everything that had happened that day, and the one question that had consumed her mind for hours, why me? Finally, when the moon was high in the sky, darkness overcame her and Jill slept. 

A/N I know, sorry for the crappie chappie. True story, I actually did draw a panda-pig-thing and hung it on my door saying, "beware the ferocious panda-pig!" But anyway, tell me what you think. Am I moving too fast? Are Halt and Will too OOC? Also, for some reason, I can't edit the name of this chapter. I'll try again later, but that's why it says that. Please R&R! 

-QA