Ranger's Apprentice - Rescue

Chapter 25

Gilan took several seconds to consider his options. Almost instinctively, he gave Blaze the familiar hand signal that told the mare to remain silent. She flicked her tail once in recognition before going completely still.

"Ranger?" Annalise asked, but Gilan waved to her for silence. She clamped her jaws shut. Gilan stepped lightly as he made his way across the clearing, peering at the ground. Finally, he found a footprint. He sighed in relief.

"Halt, you genius," he muttered. "You thought of everything, didn't you? Thank God for you."

Halt had clearly stepped heavily on the ground for the first few meters out of the clearing to give Gilan a clear estimation of the direction he would be heading. Gilan stood, turning back to face Annalise. She was watching him closely, her mouth in a tight line of nervousness.

"Follow me," Gilan told her in a hushed whisper. "And walk slowly. We need to be as quiet as possible."

They walked on for hours. It was slow going. By himself, Gilan could have followed Halt's tracks at a relatively fast pace without making hardly any noise. But Annalise was untrained, and Gilan had to pull himself back to wait on her as she tried her best to move stealthily. Though she wasn't anywhere near a Ranger's standard, Gilan had to admit he was rather impressed. She was much quieter than he'd first guessed she might be.

And much quieter than Horace, at any rate, Gilan thought to himself with a small smile.

They continued on their way, Gilan muttering encouraging little comments to Annalise under his breath, trying his best to encourage the young girl and reassure her. Finally, just when Gilan was about to call for a midday rest, he heard something.

Annalise saw him stand up straight and cock his head to one side. She instantly froze in place, aware by Gilan's behavior that he needed her to remain completely silent while he listened for whatever it was he'd heard.

He snapped his head slightly to the left as he heard the noise again. This time, he turned a stern gaze back to Annalise and raised one finger to his lips. She nodded. 

Then Gilan crouched down further moving as stealthily as only a Ranger could. And, it must be said, not even some Rangers could match his skill. He glanced back once to make sure Annalise hadn't moved. She was still standing stock still, watching him closely as he disappeared into the underbrush. Then, she started with surprise as he simply vanished from her view.

Moving on his own, it took Gilan just a few short minutes to seek out the voices. As he drew closer, he could tell that there were only two men talking. He paused, listening closer.

"He'll be along," a familiar voice said. "Now pipe down and do as I told you to!"

Gilan stood up straight, recognizing the grizzled voice and impatient tone immediately. He turned to call back over his shoulder.

"Annalise!" he said. "It's alright, you can come on."

He waited just a second until her dark hair was visible through the trees. Then he turned and practically sprinted forward, breaking into a clearing.

Then he skidded to a stop once more. There was a lot to take in at once. First, he noticed the number of tents around, clearly more than just two men's worth of shelter. This was a camp.

Then Gilan noticed three figures near the center of the camp. One was immobile on the ground. Another, sitting close to the first and whittling on a stick, was Halt. The third figure was a thin, scrawny boy that Gilan didn't recognize.

As Gilan approached them, his eyes slid past Halt and he faltered in his steps, nearly freezing in place once again.

There was a disgusting pile of bodies, at least two and a half dozen, piled off to one corner of the camp.

"What on earth..." Gilan whispered under his breath. Halt glanced up as he saw Gilan's hesitation.

"About blasted time," he grumbled. Gilan ignored his tone.

"Halt," he asked, his voice little more than a whisper. "What happened here?"

Halt glanced once over his shoulder, then turned a careless gaze back toward his former apprentice.

"What needed to be done," he said flatly.

Had Gilan not spend five years living with Halt, he might have believed his mentor's careless behavior. But as it was, he could see the dark glint of pain and regret in Halt's eyes. He also noticed, however, the warning in them. Wisely, he chose not to press the matter any further for the time being.

"Oh my heavens," a weak voice gasped. Gilan turned quickly to see Annalise covering her mouth in shock, her eyes locked on the pile of bodies in the distance.

Mentally, he cursed himself. In his own shock, he'd forgotten to shield Annalise from the horror.

He turned back to Halt, intending to ask if there was a place that Annalise could go to get away from the sight. But for the first time, Gilan's eyes fell on the immobile figure now at Halt's feet. His voice caught in his throat.

"W-Will?" he managed to choke out. Now, Halt was full of genuine concern. He stepped over Will's prone body carefully, reaching out and placing a comforting hand on Gilan's shoulder.

"He's alright, Gil. Don't worry," he quickly reassured the younger man. With incredible difficulty, Gilan tore his eyes away from Will and met Halt's gaze.

"What happened to him?"

Halt hesitated, leaning forward a bit and lowering his voice so that it was just the two of them that could hear.

"I assume you found the blood in the field?" he asked quietly. Gilan nodded.

"Hard to miss," he said. This time, it was Halt's turn to nod.

"Yes, it was Will's. It seems he's been shot through the leg."

"What?" Gilan cried. "How serious? Will he-"

"I don't know," Halt interrupted gently, clamping a hand over Gilan's mouth to cut off his cries. "All we can do is wait. He's improving, but I won't be able to tell how permanent the damage is until he's well enough to test the leg out."

Gilan took several minutes to process the information, sighing heavily as he glanced again at his young friend.

"So... we wait?" he finally asked.

Halt pursed his lips, nodding grimly.

"Yes," he replied heavily. "We wait and we pray."