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

CHAPTER FIVE

The four kids slaved on after sundown, until they settled on a sheltered tree to sleep under for the rest of the night. Logan took the first hour watch with Alex second and Devon after, then Annalise.

Belle settled down in her Skandian clothes, still feeling a little night air chill. Belle remembered how her cloak would cut out all the cold instantly once she wrapped herself in it, but she had left it at the camp. Again, the heart ache hit Belle as soon as she thought of all her loved ones, but as soon as Will entered mind, tears sprung from her eyes.

She tried to force herself to sleep and forget about Will, but his mesmerizing dark brown eyes wouldn't stop staring at her in her mind. Damn him!

Was it meant to be this hard to get over someone? Or was breaking up with Will a huge mistake...

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Will stared up at the night skies, the pale moon spread a dim light across the small campsite that held him, Horace and Gilan. They had gone on a trip to Celtica to collect rienforcements for the war. What they didn't know, was that Celtica had been taken over and practically the whole population had been kidnapped.

Will laid on his back, wrapped in his mottled cloak, staring at the stars as he wondered if Annabelle was looking at them right then. He marveled at how the stars looked so much like Belle's eyes when they lit up in happiness and joy.

Suddenly a killing pain in his leg snapped him out of his thoughts as Horace, his childhood enemy and current bestfriend kicked him in the leg in his sleep. "OW!" Will yelped from the pain awaking both Horace and Gilan. The two of them looked at Will, their hair ruffled from a restless sleep and curious and annoyed gazes sent Will's way.

"What's wrong?" Horace asked next to him, his voice slurring from tiredness. Will looked at him increduluosly as his friend stared at him like a dopey puppy.

"What's wrong?What's wrong! I'll tell you what's wrong! I'm trying to sleep while you go off and start kicking me in the leg!" Will yelled. It really wasn't that big of a deal, but Will had been holding in his anger on himself for weeks and now, it was starting to slip out. Horace jerked himself back a couple of centimetres at Will's yelling.

"Woah, woah, woah! I didn't mean to, Will! It's not like you haven't kicked me in the leg before!" Will stood up, frustrated with how Horace was not making a big deal out of this.

He hated how he hadn't seen Horace cry at all over Annabelle's disappearance, neither Gilan and he hated how they were able to close their eyes without having to think about Belle and think about how it was all his fault for everything. And now, Horace kicks him in the leg while Gilan just sits there rubbing his eyes.

Will looked at them, speechless at how relaxed they looked. "Have you got any respect for Annabelle?" Will asked after finding his voice once again. Horace and Gilan both shot up, the sudden change in the subject.

"What? Since when were we talking about Annabelle?" Gilan asked this time. Will felt blood rush to his cheeks as the anger grew bigger inside of Will.

And finally, the fury and rage that he had been hiding and keeping inside exploded out of him.

"Annabelle was your best friend!" Will yelled in Horace's face then turned to Gilan, "And she thought of you as her brother!" Will then turned to the both of them. "And all you two are doing is sleeping and going on like nothing ever happened! It's like you dont even miss her! It's like you don't even care! I thought you loved Annabelle! But I guess I was wrong!" Will said, before turning away kicking over an empty water bucket and riding off on Tug, tears pouring out of his eyes, rolling down his cheeks that had turned a rosie red from the cold.