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

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE:

Annabelle and Duncan rode along Salmon River in a slow trot. They talked mainly about Sianna and what she was like.

It reached to late afternoon when Belle and Duncan reached the end of Salmon River. There, was where they would part ways. Belle turning off to The Ruins Of Gorlan. And Duncan, would carry on, straight ahead toward Araluen, where Crowley and the army will be waiting, for further instruction.

"Well, I guess this is it." Belle said, giving Duncan a sad smile. Belle could see tears forming in his eyes, and she realised that her eyes were filling with tears as well.

They both dismounted, and Duncan pulled Belle into a huge hug. "I love you." Duncan said, his voice shaky from sadness.

"I love you too." Belle replied genuinely, her voice muffled from her face resting on Duncan's shoulder.

They both just stood there hugging for several minutes, until Belle reluctantly pulled back, realising that she would have to leave now before it got too dark. Belle went to walk away and mount Beauty, but Duncan's hand stopped Belle in her tracks. Belle turned to face her father. She saw tears were running down his face,

"Before you go," he said "I want you to have this." Belle saw Duncan grabbed a sack from one of his bags that he had brought along. He unwrapped the sack to reveal a sword.

It had a black leather scabbard with a brown leather belt to hold it around your waist. The hilt was silver metal, with tribal patterns engraved on it, giving it a fancy little look. Duncan handed it to the wide-eyed Belle. Belle took it great fully and carefully unsheathed it. The sound on leather on steel echoed around Duncan and Belle. The steel of the sword was just like a broad sword and for a finishimng touch, there was some more tribal patterns engraved there as well. Belle let a wide grin spread across her face.

"I know a sword isn't the chief weapon for a ranger. But I have seen you on the battlements, and you definitely know how to use one," Duncan let out a sigh "So I thought that this sword would come in handy." Duncan gave a sad smile, not believing that he was letting his daughter go and possibly face death.

Duncan kept blinking, trying to rid his tears, but failed miserably, and the salty tears rolled down his cheeks one after the other. Belle felt her throat go dry and she was lost for words. Finally, Duncan gained the courage to say, what he had been dreading.

"Goodbye, Annabelle." he said, his voice shaky. Belle took a deep breath. Swallowing a few times, trying to gather her self back together.

"Goodbye, father." she said, her voice breaking. Before Duncan could change his mind, Belle quickly mounted Beauty and galloped off, fighting the urge to look back. No, if she looked ack, it would be more harder to leave.

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Annabelle reached the fringe of the forest that was otherwise known as The Ruins Of Gorlan at sunset. She hesitated a moment, looking into the dark forest that blocked most oof the sun's light from the thick trees. After taking a nervous swallow, Belle finally nudged Beauty to enter the forest.

It had been night time for several hours when Belle heard the screams. But, Belle realised that they weren't any normal human being screams. They were Kalkara screams. Which meant that they were close, and they were hunting.

Belle felt the hairs on the back of her neck stick up. He breathing was coming more quickly and she suddenly felt alone and scared. She froze, fear swallowing her up, not knowing what to do. Another one of the Kalkara screams came to earshot, and that's what suddenly broke Belle out of her frozen fear state. She quickly gathered her thoughts, and tied Beauty to a tree. If Belle was going to face the Kalkara, she wasn't going to put her beloved horse in danger. After she was sure Beauty was surrounding by enough grass to keep her big round belly full, she carried on, stepping with caution.