Halt's Ranger Apprentices- John Flanagan Ranger Apprentice fan-fiction

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:

All the troops were led by Halt, Will and Belle and they followed the boar's tracks. Finally they found the boar's lair behind a clump of bushes. All the troops and everyone got in their positions that were discussed last night. Halt stood to one side of the bushes, Will was next to the Baron and Belle was forced to stand next to Rodney and Horace.

"Well this is just great" Horace said sarcastically as Belle came over

"Shut up Horace, we're here on business, we're not here for fighting" Belle said. Horace sighed

"Well it's pretty hard not to fight with you when you're always the one starting the fights" Horace said, Belle went back to all the fights on the way here and remembered clear as day that Horace had started all of them. Belle raised an eye brow

"I never started any of them, they were all you!" Belle bit back, but Horace just shook his head with a grim smile on his face.

"Maybe I did, but you're the one that ended things!" Horace yelled. While they Horace and Belle were fighting they made sure that they kept their voices low so they didn't alert the boar, but Horace had enough and burst in to anger yelling his last statement. Everyone turned around to face them, all angry expressions on their faces. Belle shook her head.

"I'm not fighting with you Horace" Belle said shaking her head while saying this and gestured for one of the second year cadet troop swap with her. The troop nodded and they swapped positions. Everyone kept looking back and forth at Belle and Horace. Belle ignored them and put all her concentration on the bush, there was no movement so hopefully the boar was stupid enough to not hear Horace yelling. Finally Halt got everyone's attention and made hand signals to them all and everyone nodded in acknowledgment. Then, Beauty gave a warning rumble to Belle. Belle hushed Beauty and the circle of troops, including Belle tightened in, slowly making their way toward the bush and, with Arald's signal, the wild dogs that Rodney insisted on bringing along were unleashed. They made their way into the bushes and in to the boar's lair.

The screeching high-pitched screaming from the boar lasted several crucial seconds before he came barging out of the bushes with blood stained on it's coat with a dog still biting and clawing at it's neck. The boar flung the dog off and started barging toward the section where Belle was. Belle took a deep nervous swallow reaching for her bow and arrows from her quiver and took aim. It took less than three seconds for Belle to do all these things. She took aim and shot. The arrow hit the boar in it's shoulder and it made the boar slow it's lightening pace down a bit, but it was still was coming at them fast. Belle reached for another arrow, when suddenly a troop next to Belle came out with his spear and went down on one knee. The youth didn't hesitate to do anything, nor did her fumble. He took aim for where the boar's heart was and let the boar run straight in to it. The boar screamed in pain and fury, and Belle couldn't help but put her hands over her ears. It was a horrible sound, it sounded like an out of tune trumpet being blown in to so hard that it sounded louder than anything you could ever hear in your life. Then, after that last screeching roar, the boar lay dead on the grass.

Belle took a deep relieved breath and felt her knees go weak. She leaned on a tree for balance, then once she was sure that she was over the shock of everything that just happened, went over and joined the crowd that was congratulating the young knight for his kill.  She patted the boy on his back and the boy nodded in acknowledgement with a wide grin on his face. Then she caught site of Horace and Will. She walked over to them. As she was making her way to them she saw Horace walking away. She started to go after him in a half run. She had realised that she hated them fighting and, although they weren't together anymore she still wanted to be friends with him, and she wanted him to know that loud and clear. She finally caught up to Horace. She put her hand on his shoulder from behind and he turned around.