Halt lost site of Belle who was now around 10 metres ahead of him keeping Beauty at a steady trot. She went around a bend and disappeared behind a jumble of rocks. Halt dug his heels in Abelard for him to go at a quicker trotting pace. He didn't ant to miss anymore of whatever happened between Will and Belle. He hated seeing Will so miserable, although he would never admit it out loud, but he really cared about Will just as much as Belle. He had been happy for Belle, seeing her happy with Horace always lightened up his day but hated seeing Will who would always seem to need to do and do errands whenever Horace might come to visit the cottage to see Belle.
I had been 20 minutes since they started heading back to the cottage and Halt knew that they weren't far from it now. Halt suddenly got last in a day dream of being in the nice warm shack, with the fireplace going. The air was freezing cold and as much as Halt, as well as all other rangers enjoyed fresh air, this was too below minus degrees to enjoy. Halt's cheeks and nose were red and goose bumps were covering his bare hands that were holding the reins tightly, hoping somehow that it would make his hands warmer. He got round the bend and saw that Will was off Tug and inspecting something in the snow. Belle was off her horse as well, but she stood on the other side of Will obviously making an effort to avoid another fight. Halt final caught up to the two kids and in one simple move, swung off his saddle and into the snow. He feet were instantly soaked and her groaned in anger at the prospect of this being ongoing for the next 3 months of winter. He knelt down in the snow, ignoring the cold snow seeping through his brown leggings and spreading cold through his whole body. He touched the snow gently understanding why Will had inspected it. They were tracks. He nodded his approval to both of his apprentices and started explaining what the tracks were. They were wild boar tracks. They mounted and went out to hunt for the boar. They turned their horses around and started following the tracks.
They hadn't been travelling when Belle saw some slight movement behind a massive, over grown bush some 30 metres ahead. They walked in a single file following the tracks and Belle was last. She looked ahead but couldn't tell if any of the other two had seen it. Her hand went instantly to her Saxe Knife. Over the last month Belle had grown a habit of putting her hand on her Saxe Knife that it's turned out to be more of a reflex now. She squinted her eyes, looking more closely at the bush and saw a chequered pattern that would be worn by a farmer. She relaxed and took her hand off her Saxe Knife. She didn't tell anyone though, since it wasn't important and it looked like the two of them were stuck in concentration. She started humming the ranger anthem 'Cabin in the trees' quietly to herself. She looked out in to the distance on her right side and admired the plains of farms and paddocks. In the corner of eye she saw Will move and turned her head to see what he was doing. He saw that he was reaching for his bow and arrows and realised that he had spotted what Belle just spotted not even a minute ago. Will was just in front of her with Halt in the lead.
"Will d-" she went to say but Will cut her off.
"Shhh!" he said turning in his saddle to face her and pointed to the bush. Belle noticed that he avoided eye contact but he still faced her. Belle nodded impatiently.
"I know what your doing!" she blurted out frustrated that she would be dumb enough not to notice. " But it's not what you think!" HAlt turned around and saw Will with his bow in his left hand and his right hand reaching in his quiver.
"I sure hope your not going to shoot that farmer right behind that bush. Will went red, feeling foolish.
"Oh, no don't worry" as Will said this the farmer popped up from behind the bush after hearing the statement Halt said. He raised his hands
"No!" he yelled. "No I'm innocent don't shoot me! Please, please don't shoot, just a farmer I say!" Belle couldn't help but giggle. He looked so scared. Halt nodded
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Halt's Ranger Apprentices- John Flanagan Ranger Apprentice fan-fiction
FanfictionA fifteen-year-old girl, meets fifteen-year-old Will. Two apprentices, one Halt. The life of this girl was out of the ordinary, secretive, very few knew that the grim, dark and cunning Halt had been raising a girl for fifteen years. There's someth...
