A Whole New Mystery To...

Chapter 8

I updated, Yeaaaa!!!! So I’ll cut right to it then. Here’s the next chapter!

            That night we all gathered around Gilan, wishing him luck before he slipped away and disappeared into the shadows. He was gathering everything he would need and taking only the essentials. I stayed in his tent after everyone else had left, and noticed that his bow was unstrung and resting in the corner of the tent. I gestured to it and asked,

            “Aren’t you bringing it?” before realizing he wasn’t looking at me and so wouldn’t know what I was talking about, “Your bow, I mean.”

            He glanced up at me before returning to his work,

            “No, I shouldn’t need it. I’ll have my knives for long distance and my sword for close combat. That’s all I’m bringing besides some food and my cloak.” I rolled my eyes as he finished and stood up.

            “No. I would have never guessed you would need your cloak.” I said sarcastically. He grinned as he stepped outside and I awkwardly tried to keep pace with his long strides.

            “Sarcasm, Abbey? It’s so unbecoming of you.” I looked up at the sky and just sighed exasperatedly the way I’d seen Halt do. I heard Gilan snigger and looked suspiciously at him,

            “What?” I asked just as he burst out laughing. I endured his laughter for a couple minutes longer before I asked again,

            “What is it?” He chuckled again,

            “You looked really funny trying to imitate Halt.” I huffed,

            “I wasn’t imitating him.” I mumbled. He pretended not to hear,

            “Could you repeat that? I didn’t quite catch it.” He said as he cupped his hand around his ear and leaned in. I could tell by his tone of voice that he didn’t believe my statement for a second.

            “Whatever.” I replied. He just shook his head amusingly and kept walking into the forest after I had sat down around what should be the campfire. Halt had said that we weren’t going to risk detection over a fire. I watched Gilan until he blended in with the surroundings and then turned my attention to my own thoughts and worries. One stuck out from the rest though. What if it’s a trap? This is what had been nagging at me, I realized. It just seemed weird that there was still no sign of the Kalkara and then boom! Suddenly Morgarath is building a bridge. Well Gilan should be back by morning so I can find out then. I yawned suddenly realizing just how tired I was and how late it was. I got up from the rock I was sitting on and made my way over to my tent.

        I woke up and yawned widely, stretching my arms out, sitting up and almost hitting Sophie in the face. I winced, thinking how close that was, then remembering that Gilan would be back by now. I scrabbled to my feet and rushed out of the tent. Finally we can get some answers. I was confused when only Halt was sitting there and immediately assumed the worst. Then I rationalized that Gilan would, of course, be sleeping. There was no need for him to be up this early since we weren’t going anywhere. I jogged over to Halt, who looked up when I sat down next to him. I drew a deep breath, preparing to bombard Halt with an avalanche of questions, when he held up a hand, stopping me.

            “He hasn’t come back yet.” I didn’t understand at first who he was talking about because he had decided to play the pronoun game, but then I understood. There was only one person who could come back because they were the only person to have left.

            “Gilan.” I whispered. No, nonononononono. Wait, but, you mean he’s-“ I choked out.

            “I don’t know anything for sure so let’s not jump to conclusions.” Halt said, hastily cutting me off. I sighed and closed my eyes, rubbing the heel of my hands to my temples. I opened my eyes again and looked at Halt’s face. His grim demeanor was hiding the worry I could tell he felt, and I knew he was thinking furiously over what could be done to help Gilan.

            “So, what do we do?” I asked desperately. I couldn’t stand the thought that Gilan out there somewhere, needed our help, or was, worse, beyond our capacity to help.

            “There’s not really much we can do.” Halt said exasperatedly, as though he had looked the problem over from a million different angles and had come up empty handed. I stood up angrily.

            “You can’t mean we aren’t at least going to check out the situation! He could be out there waiting for us and-“ Halt glared at me, silencing me instantly. He gestured for me to sit down and when I didn’t he spoke up.

            “I didn’t say that. I just said that I don’t know how much help we’ll be able to provide. And sit down for Gorlog’s sake!” He responded, adding the last part angrily. I hastily sat down at the tone in his voice and looked at him curiously,

            “Then what will we do?” He stared straight at me and said,

            “We are going to go up to those mountains and we are going to find Gilan.” I looked at him suspiciously,

            “And who is we?”

            “Will and I.” he said simply.

            “But that’s not fair!” I exploded, “Gilan is my friend too and I want to help search for him!”

            “And in doing so you may risk the entire mission by blowing our cover.” I looked Halt in the eye and replied stubbornly,

            “I don’t care, I’m going too and you can’t stop me.” He gave me one of his infamous death glares.

            “Abbey…” He growled warningly. I just looked at him defiantly, a questioning look on my face,

            “What?” I asked innocently, “Are you going to say that it’s a great idea for me to go on this mission? Oh, really? Thanks for the permission I didn’t need in the first place. I’ll go pack my stuff. Don’t worry, Sophie and I will be ready by nightfall. Oh, and I’ll tell Cassa- Evanlyn to get her bag ready too.” I added with a hint of sarcasm in my voice, but I meant every word of it. And, on that note I spun on my heel and walked back towards my tent, leaving a frustrated and fuming Halt behind me.

A little bit shorter than usual but I had a busy weekend and I thought about not updating till Tuesday. So, at least you guys got a chapter! I actually wrote half of this in about twenty minutes when inspiration struck so yea. And now I'm rambling. OK, so, I guess I will be seeing you all later! BYEEEEEE!!!!!!