| Halt's Ranger Apprentices | This is War | Volume 2 |

CHAPTER FOUR:

*1 week beforehand*

Halt and Will sat across from each other on the dining table. The place had been so cheerless without Annabelle and they two of the rangers hardly ever smiled, their grim faces plastered permanently on their faces, their thoughts never leaving Annabelle.

"It's not your fault, Will." Halt said, eyeing Will with his grim eyes. Will looked up from his sorrowful gaze on his hands that held Belle's mottled green cloak that she left behind when she ran off. He felt a tear roll down his pale cheeks. He missed her eyes, her humour, the light of happiness she usually brought with her, the way she smiled, he missed her.

"If i hadn't of yelled at her maybe..." Will said, letting his sentence trail off as he started to sob. Halt lifted himslef off of his seat and knelt down next to Will, giving him a warm hug. Halt felt his salty tears dampen his shoulder, and hoped that Will didn't notice the silent tears that spilled out of his dark brown eyes.

He would've told Will reassuring things like 'It'll be okay' or 'everything will work out, I promise' but he honestly didn't even know if it would ever be okay ever again.

It also didn't help that there was a close call of Will getting killed by some Wargals a week ago, but on the bright side of that, they found Margarath's plan for battle which put a definite advantage on the Araluens. But, there was still no sign of where Annabelle might be.

The Skandian Scar, had not revealed any more information and was now being starved in the dungeons. So, all they knew was, Morgarath was keeping prisoners, and one of them is most likely Annabelle, but that cannot be confirmed as Scar said he didn't know her name.

After more sorrowful silence, Will announced he would go to bed, and so he did, bringing the cloak with him.

Will laid down on his bed, his head spinning. Halt didn't know, but he had kissed Alyss the night after they returned to Araluen with the heart breaking news. He had no idea what he was doing at the moment, but something about the kiss felt...Right. Now, Will felt so confused of his feelings. Just before Annabelle ran off, she announced their relationship as over. But, did her disappearance make a difference in that?

He moaned in frustration, seeing the big mess that he had created. He yelled at Belle for coming for him, so she ran away, causing her disappearance. He then kissed another girl, while Belle is probably fighting for her life somewhere or even worse, dead. Duncan is distraught by his daughter's disappearance and blames Will for it, wanting to punish him, and everything is sad and lonely because Annabelle is missing, which is because of Will.

Will sobbed for a while, snuggling his face in Belle's cloak that filled his nostrils of her beautifully sweet smell. His mind wondered where Annabelle might be and what she was doing, and he really hoped that she was safe.

"Annabelle, I'm so sorry." he whispered to the cloak.

And that's when he heard multiple footsteps thumping loudly on the wooden floorboards and to his surprise, Gilan's voice filled the silence through out the small cabin.

What was Gilan doing here?

Will thought, then once satisfied that he didn't look like a tearful mess, made his way out of the room.

*Present time*

It was impossoble to outrun the bandits, they were on horseback, and the small groups of kids were weak, running on foot, with their overly sized clothes weighing them down. Annabelle knew it was hopeless, but it was worth a try.

Soon enough, the group of bandits, that held at least 30 men, circled the kids. Devon quickly grabbed his battleaxe that sat over his shoulder ready to fight the men. Belle quickly grabbed his arm, that was about to lift up for a killing stroke at one of the men. Devon turned to look into the beautiful girl's eyes and she softly whispered, "It's no use." Devon sighed, before let the battleaxe sit over his shoulder once again.