𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 | 𝐆𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐒𝐎𝐍

11⋆✶⋆ The Late Night Visit

It was past midnight when the tall Ranger knocked on the door of his former master's cabin. The greybeard opened the door before the baffled man could knock.

"Gilan. What brings you here this late at night?" Halt asked without a trace of surprise in his voice.

The young Ranger laughed unbelieving at his old mentor. "How do you do it, Halt? How did you know it was me, in the middle of the night, before you had even opened the door?"

Halt raised his shoulders and motioned for Gilan to come in. He closed the door behind him carefully and walked over to the kitchen to start making coffee.

After the old Ranger had explained to him how he knew, Will came walking in with a vest sloppily worn over his night shirt and his hair messy from sleeping.

"A good evening, Gilan." He said nonchalant. "What brings you here?"

Gilan looked at them one by one and sighed. "Is there no one who is surprised to see me here, in the middle of the night?" He asked, no one in particular.

Halt, who was busy with the coffee, turned his head away to hide his grin. A few minutes earlier he had heard how his apprentice had flown to the window, when a horse arrived. He decided to tease him a bit. "It's already late, Will." He said. "It's better if you return to bed, tomorrow's a big day!"

The tall Ranger sat back in his chair and watched the scene unfold before his eyes. It was at times like these that he really missed his apprentice. He always loved to tease her, even though their relationship was very different from Will and Halt's.

"Well then, Gilan, before my apprentice explodes from curiosity: what did we do to earn your visit?" Gilan snapped out of his thoughts and looked sheepishly at Halt, while he was trying not to smile at the thought of his love.

"Well, it's about the battle plans you've found last week. The king wants, now that we know what Morgarath is planning, that the army gathers at the Uthal plain, and quick, before the new moon. Because then will Morgarath try to break out of the Three step pass."

"So Duncan plans to be ahead of him." Said Halt thinking. "That's not a bad plan. That way we have the first choice on the battle field."

Will nodded and said in an equally serious tone: "Yes, and then we can keep Morgarath's army locked up in the pass."

Gilan looked sideways and tried to supress a grin. He asked himself if he also had tried to imitate Halt, then, when he was still his apprentice. He decided that it had probably been that way. Most apprentices do that, even his own did that. Though she failed at it, especially that time when he did a cool archery move and she tried to recreate it. She just ended up hurting herself and almost blowing their cover.

"On the contrary," he said. "As soon as the army has gathered, Duncan wants it to withdraw, until he has the stronger positions which are being selected. And then he wants Morgarath to come onto the plain."

"He wants him to enter our land?" Wills' voice became two octaves higher, that's how surprised he was. "Has the king lost his mind? Why would he..." He realised that both Rangers were looking at him. Halt had raised one eyebrow, and Gilan smiled mysteriously, his mouth corners slightly up.

"I mean..." Will hesitated, afraid that questioning the sanity of the King equalled high treason. "I don't want to offend him or anything, but..."

"Oh I don't think that the King would be offended if he heard that a good-for-nothing Ranger's apprentice thought that he was crazy." said Halt. "Kings love that, those kinds of comments."