The Slave

The Attack

description: slavery has been outlawed in Araluen; however, there are still those few that own them, and of course there are illegal slave traders. what happens when King Duncan and his group come upon a young slave that has them all falling in love with him, even the emotionless Halt? a young slave has somehow found himself to be the company of the king and some of his men, what will happen to him? and just exactly who it this slave?

warning: punishment of slave, mentions of inappropriate touching, blood, memories, beatings, and so on. ALMOST RAPE!

disclaimer: all known characters belong to author, John Flanagan! not me!

I have decided...that I will do my very best to post every weekend.

Halt's POV

I looked at the boy leaning against Horace's shoulder, and found myself trying to figure him out. he looks to be about fifteen, but is rather short. his back must be killing him, and yet he makes no comment about it, about anything really. he also had a brand on his lower back that would become infected if not watched, and a pierced nipple, which I hadn't been able to remove earlier because I was more focused on cleaning up the blood. I was surprised by the boy; he had awoken to find himself surrounded by strangers, and yet he shows no fear, and he recognized King Duncan, which few commoners do. as I have this thought, something comes to me, what if this boy isn't a commoner, but the son of a powerful man? with this thought in mind, I study the boy more closely. once he was cleaned up I could see that he had light brown hair, and I had seen that he had chocolate brown eyes. he looked familiar, and yet I couldn't place why. as I tried to find why this boy looked so familiar, I heard the distant cry of a Wargel, and then is hit me. this was the son of Daniel, the young healer who had saved my life against a group of Wargels towards the end of the war. this boy looked exactly like him, but his eyes were all his mothers. I thought for a moment that he had been kidnapped from his father, but as I looked at the boy again I noticed the old scars, that were too old to be from anytime after his seventh year, and where in the distinct shape of a belt.

"Oh Daniel, what have you done?" I spoke out loud on accident, and suddenly all eyes were on me.

"who's Daniel Halt?" Gilan asked, looking perplexed.

"Daniel is Will's father, he saved my life back in the War. I never thought he would be able to harm an innocent child, let alone his own son." I had spoken softly until now. I looked up and locked eyes with Duncan. "I don't think Will was kidnapped by the slave traders, I think he was sold to them by his father."

"Surely you are mistaken Halt?" Sir Rodney asked, hating the thought of a father that would sell his own son into a life of slavery.

"I don't think so Rodney. he has scars that couldn't have been made any later than when he was seven, and they aren't from an accident. I hate to believe it, but I think that Daniel not only sold Will into slavery, but also abused and treated him as a slave when he was with him."

I let my words sink in, and watch silently as every man around the fire look at the sleeping teen, gouging the looks in their eyes, knowing that they all currently wanted to get their hands on Wills father. King Duncan looked at him and his eyes filled with sorrow, no doubt thinking of his young daughter who was the same age as Will. Gilan looked at will and his eyes filled with a determination, letting me know that as far as he was concerned Will was now his little brother and he would protect him, Horace's eyes telling me the same. Crowley looked at Will and seemed to see a child that needed to be protected, and I know from the look in his eye that he will protect Will as fiercely as any father would (or should) protect their own son. Rodney looked at Will and saw a strong young man that had fought to survive and succeeded, and I saw that he would protect Will until the very end. Duncan's men all had the same look in their eyes, clearly saying that they would do everything to protect Will, because they all see a strong young man that deserved to be protected after always having to fend for himself.

I was about to speak again when one of the men that were standing watch ran over.

"Sir, their are a group of men around the bend, it looks like they are heading towards this meadow." the Man said, and instantly we all tensed. I quickly turned to the men around the rife. gesturing towards five.

"you five will come, stay behind me and do as your told. Crowley, go around behind them just encase there is a fight. Gilan, you'll stay here with Horace and these ten men to protect the Kind and Will." I quickly turned towards the King before he could argue. "Sire, you are injured and you know your daughter will kill us if we bring you home in worse condition than you are already, and she will most likely castrate your men if she finds that we allowed you to fight while injured. please, stay here and help protect Will."

not giving him a chance to reply, I turn on my heel and use my cloak to disappear into the woods, heading towards the bend to see our visitors. I blend into the woods easily; after all, I've had years of practice. my cloak hides me as I weave in and out of the trees, moving closer and closer towards my target. I can sense the men around me, and practically feel Crowley beside me. I stop as I take in the men coming around the bend.

there are about ten of them, and they are all on horses with a wagon being pulled in the middle of the group. the man in the front is definitely the one in charge, and it is easy to see that he believes himself untouchable, as he has no men surrounding him, and he doesn't have anyone watching to make sure they weren't followed or led into a trap, the only man that seemed to be paying attention was the hooded man than traveled beside the leader. I smirk at the mans foolishness. turning my head slightly, I see that every man is in position, and I travel my eyes behind them and just manage to pick out Crowley hiding in the trees with his bow in his hand and an arrow already on the string. nodding slightly when I catch his eye, I step forward into the parties path.

"stop, in the name of a Kings Ranger." I demanded, knowing fully well that it appears as if I just stepped out of the very tree behind me. all of the men freeze and just look at me, as if trying to find where I had come from, only the leader seemed unaffected.

"what have we done that causes this delay?" the Leader demands pompously, god I hate men like him.

"a lot of slave traders have been traveling through these parts, and so I must check you wagon, and make sure you aren't one of them." I step towards the wagon, only to see the leaders hand move towards his throwing knife. before he can even lay a finger on it, I had an arrow on my bow and had it pointed straight at him. everyone soon had their weapons drawn, and as Crowley and the knights show themselves, a fight breaks out and soon the knights, Crowley and I are fighting to capture these men. it didn't take long at all to capture these men, killing six of their ten, with only two of our own being cut, none killed. it was clear that none of these men had even known how to fight a normal man, let alone a Ranger or knight, and so it was easy to dispatch them.

we quickly rounded up our captives and bound them before taking them back to the camp. I watched as the knights pushed each man to their knees before the King, and as Duncan looked over each of them, as if trying to decide what to do with them. I gestures towards the hooded man, and a knight reaches forward and yanks the hook back. I wasn't quite able to hide my gasp of shock and surprise as I saw who was under the hood, causing all eyes to go to me once more as I walked to Duncan's side.

"do you recognize this man Halt?" King Duncan asked me, and I almost smirked as I thought about all the pain this man was going to endure for what he has done, and all the things that will most likely happen to him between now and when we reach the Castle.

"Yes Sire, this is Daniel Thorn (A/N I couldn't find his actual last name)...Will's father."