"And remember, not so close to the door that you'll be knocked over if someone comes in unexpectedly," Halt reminded him. But there was no need for the reminder.

Halt had drawn a graphic picture that afternoon of how awkward it might be if Will were suddenly knocked flat by an eager drinker shoving the door open to get in.

-Halt's Peril

"Remember to watch the door," Halt reminded his student as they approached the rather unscrupulous looking tavern. The Black Cat was definitely in the sketchier part of Redmont fief, Halt had decided. It was no surprise that they had tracked their thief to such a dubious place. Though, Halt thought wryly, if he were a criminal, the last place he would go would be to the shady tavern. Beside him, Gilan seemed to read his thoughts.

"Why would he go here?" Gilan asked, wrinkling his nose as he caught a whiff of of the sweat and stale drink from inside the building. "He's basically saying, 'I'm in trouble, so I'll go to the questionable bar that everyone assumes the bad people hang out at.' Honestly, I would probably go to the most expensive inn in the village." Gilan's brow creased as he considered it more. "Unless, of course, he's assuming that we would assume that he would go to the expensive inn and end up going to the shady tavern in an attempt to throw us off, in an attempt to double bluff us..."

Halt snorted. "Please. This level of criminal class is far from that level of complicated thinking."

Gilan nodded in agreement. Halt reviewed their plan one final time. "I'll confront the thief. You stay back and keep an eye on the door. Don't let anyone leave."

"Sounds swell."

But Halt wasn't finished. "Make sure they know you mean business," he cautioned. "You're young, and they'll try to bully you. Don't let them. Assert yourself."

Gilan nodded slowly. "Don't let them bully me," he repeated back to his mentor. "Be assertive and enigmatic."

Halt raised an eyebrow. "Show me your enigmatic face."

Gilan did so. He set his mouth in a firm line, his eyes determined as he looked down his nose. Halt nodded. "That'll do."

Gilan immediately ruined it by breaking into his trademark grin. "Oh, good."

Halt rolled his eyes at his student antics. Taking one last deep breath of clean air, the grizzled Ranger pushed the door open.

The tavern was as rundown on the inside as it was on the outside. Halt's initial cursory glance around showed him damaged furniture, several splintered floorboards, and an extremely greasy, dirty bar counter. The dishes didn't look much better. "Try not to touch anything," Halt muttered. "You might get a disease."

Gilan's forehead wrinkled again, his face disgusted as he resisted the urge to bury his nose in his cloak, his sleeve, anything that might muffle the horrid smell. "Right."

Halt gave his student one last nod, then moved toward the corner table where he had spotted their thief. Gilan moved closer to the door and unsheathed his saxe knife. Several people eyed him skeptically, but hastily returned to their drinks after receiving withering glares.

Halt drew his throwing knife and plunged it into the old, slightly rotting wood of the table. The knife settled, almost hilt deep into the wood. "Hello, Miller," the Ranger greeted him. The thief jumped as the table shook, and shrank back slightly under Halt's dark, solid gaze.

"Hey!" The angry bartender's voice came from the right. "I could charge you for damaging equipment!"

Halt let out an irritated sigh. "You'll get over it!" he snapped. "Maybe now you'll invest in some furniture that isn't half eaten by termites." After shooting a glare to the bartender, Halt turned his attention back to Miller, who was looking wildly around himself for an escape route. "You're coming with me to Castle Redmont."

Miller's voice shook, but he answered defiantly, "I ain't done nothing wrong!"

Halt raised an eyebrow. "I should take you on that horrid use of grammar alone. No, Miller, you stole a cow."

"I, I don't know what you're talking about!" He cried unconvincingly.

Halt let out a sigh of disbelief. "Do you really think I'll believe that, or is your memory really that horrid? I'm assuming you're pulling the former, though the latter wouldn't surprise me-"

Halt was cut off by the sound of the door banging open, followed by a yelp and a thud. The doorway revealed two large, ruddy men, clearly enthusiastic for their first drinks of the evening. A glance down revealed Gilan sprawled on the floor, clearly knocked flat by the abrupt opening of the solid wooden door. Gilan was tall for his sixteen years, but willowy and lightly built. Against the door and the eager drinkers, he didn't stand a chance.

In the awkward silence that followed, Miller made his move. Scrambling out of his chair, he made a desperate bee line for the door. He almost made it.

Gilan was slowly pushing himself up from his rather embarrassing knock down when Miller completely and totally tripped over him. Flailing, he landed heavily with a throaty "oomph".

"Ow!" Gilan cried as the man landed on him. Halt was on him in a second. Quickly fastening the thumb cuffs on, Halt hauled Miller to his feet.

"Let's go." Halt said as he roughly shoved the thief forward. "Get up, Gilan, and come on."

Gilan looked warily around. "Anyone else wanting to leave in a hurry before I do that?" The tavern remained silent. "All right, then." The apprentice climbed to his feet, albeit slowly. "Goodnight, gentlemen. It's been flooring - literally." And with that, the boy gingerly walked out the door, favoring his bruised torso. Slowly, conversation broke out in the building once again, the occupants already moving on from the momentary excitement.

Halt frowned as they rode back to the castle. Miller was draped over Abelard behind the saddle, still in thumb cuffs. He was now gagged as well, Halt unable to tolerate the man's awful grammar as he shouted abuse at them. "I thought I told you not to get bullied, Gil,"

Gilan tilted his head. "I thought I handled it all right," he answered, a little defensively. "When did I get bullied?"

"You got bullied by a door, Gilan." Halt replied, keeping his face completely straight.

Gilan let out a bark of laughter. "That was funny! You made a joke!"

"Who says I'm joking?"

"It was a joke. A subtle joke."

Halt grunted. A few minutes passed before he said thoughtfully. "All joking aside, however, let's not let that happen again. It makes for a rather awkward situation, even if it did stop our thief."

Gilan nodded vehemently. "Wisdom to pass on to future apprentices everywhere: don't stand too near the door unless you're willing to entertain the possibility of being knocked straight to the ground." Gilan laughed as he finished.

Halt, grim and unsmiling though he was, could rarely resist Gilan's laugh. His mouth twitched into a faint smile. "Wisdom to pass on to future apprentices everywhere, indeed."

Stuff that was in my folder begging to be finished. I thought it was oddly specific how Halt would explain to Will to watch out for the door, and thus this was created. Poor Gilan the guinea pig. It's like Halt is a parent, and he learns everything from Gilan, his first, thus learning what to watch out for with Will, his second.

Anyway, I love exploring Halt and Gilan's relationship (Obvious from my stories, right?). Even though it's not touched on a whole lot in the books like Will and Halt's is, I think that from the tidbits we do see, Halt cares for Gilan a great deal. That's why I love writing them and trying to add more depth to Gilan's character and the relationship between him and Halt.

Reviews are loved.

-TrustTheCloak