Ranger's Apprentice - Rescue

Chapter 20

Halt stood from his kneeling position, glancing once at Abelard. The horse was standing at ease, which told halt there was no danger nearby. Not yet, that was.

Still, he felt on edge. Tug, too, was dancing nervously a short distance away. Halt knew the reason for Tug's nerves wasn't any nearby danger. Rather, he knew this was the location that he'd lost his master and he was eager to find him again.

"I'm trying my best, I promise," Halt told his apprentice's horse. He glanced around the field once again. There was something here that he was missing, he could feel it.

"Where are you, Will...?" He muttered to himself as he moved forward several paces. His eyes scanned the ground before him, trusting that Abelard and Tug would alert him of any danger from the nearby forest.

Halt frowned as he approached an area that appeared to be a dried mud pit. He knelt down to inspect the area. There hadn't been any rain for weeks. Which meant that this area of dried mud shouldn't be here at all at this point. So why...

As Halt shifted his shoulders, the sun caught on one of the blades of grass. Halt's breath caught in his throat.

His eyes flicked around, amazed at the amount of it.

"My god..."

It was blood. Lots of it. Enough to tell Halt that whoever had been injured was either dead or close to it.

And Halt had the sinking feeling that he knew whose blood this probably was. It could, of course, be an animal that was attacked. But Tug's nervous prancing and the instinctive feeling in Halt's own gut told him otherwise.

He turned a slow circle, finally finding what it was his eyes sought. The train of blood led away from the field and toward the woods. In his mind, Halt could see Will limp body, bloody and dying, being dragged away. He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the mental image aside.

"No," he muttered firmly to himself. "He's still alive."

He turned to Abelard, giving the little horse a hand signal. Abelard obediently trotted over to Halt's side and allowed the Ranger to mount up.

"If he wasn't," Halt continued firmly under his breath, "I would know it. I would."

He set Abelard off toward the woods at a slow pace, careful to make as little sound as possible. Ranger horses were trained to be light footed, but they were still heavy beasts. Eventually, Halt had to dismount and leave Tug and Abelard in a well concealed but easily findable clearing.

"I'll be back," he promised the two horses softly. "And I'll have Will with me."

After giving them the command for silence, Halt made his way through to foliage of the wood carefully. He kept his bow held loosely in his hand. For now, there was no arrow on the string. If need be, Halt could have one there and drawn in less than a second.

He traveled slowly, despite the constant desire to run at full speed. Truth be told, he had no idea which direction to run in. He was simply following what he hoped to be a man-made trail and not an animal trail. And with the sun sinking now, he didn't want to lose the trail all together.

Eventually, his efforts paid off. Ahead of him, Halt could see several flickering lights. Torches. He approached with caution, now drawing one of his arrows and squinting. He could just make out the silhouette of a guard several meters in front of him.

A slow, careful look around told him that this guard was the only one on this side of whatever settlement lay beyond. Halt resisted the urge to snort in disgust.

How very stupid of you, he thought. Then, without a shred of remorse, he let his arrow fly. The man dropped to the ground almost silently. Halt's shot had flown true, and the man hadn't even lived long enough to let out a cry of alarm.

As Halt snuck past him, he retrieved his arrow. It would do to waist a perfectly good weapon on someone like this man, Halt thought a little harshly.

Harsh, it must be said, was the only word that could describe Halt's attitude toward these men. They'd wounded and kidnapped Will. They deserved nothing more.

As the trees fell away, Halt realized exactly what he was up against. 

It was a rather small camp, which surprised Halt. Without knowing it, in his mind, he had created the image and expectancy of an unbeatable enemy that he would have to outsmart to save Will. This looked like nothing.

But looks, Halt knew all too well, could be deceiving.

There was a central gazebo-type structure that held some sort of large statue. In the dark, Halt couldn't make it out. Also near the center was a large, glamorous tent. That would be where the leader of this group was staying, Halt knew. Around that tent were several, more average looking tents pitched in a nonchalant manner around the little clearing. The lack of organization told Halt that this was no military group. 

But the fact that they'd harmed at stolen a Ranger's apprentice told him that they were not friendly, either.

"Alright Will," Halt whispered to himself as his eyes scanned the camp. "Where are they keeping you?"

He searched for at least fifteen minutes without any progress. Then, a movement caught his eye. It was a man, Halt saw. He was walking across the clearing carrying something. Food. Halt could see pieces falling from the bowl as the man stomped around, clearly not caring if he spilled its contents. Halt watched curiously as he reached a seemingly unimportant area and bend down.

"Oy!" his voice carried to Halt. "Dinner."

Then, Halt watched in shock as a hand seemed to reach up from the ground itself and take the food.

Then, Halt realized the significance of what he'd just seen. Clearly, there was a holding cell of some sort where the man had taken the food. And that was where Will would be.

"It think it's right time you all pay for taking my apprentice," Halt muttered, standing and striding out into the clearing.