Fallen Hero

It was a cold night with no clouds in the sky, allowing the stars to shine through, bright and cheerless. Halt was grieving, crying over the body of his dead horse. He had never considered loosing Abelard; he accompanied Halt even before Will joined them. Abelard had survived many a mission and It was Abelard who he talked to and shared his love for Pauline with before working up the courage to tell her himself. Abelard had always been there for him, but now Halt was sitting in the forest holding his horse's head, and now Halt had to accept the end had come.

Halt thought back to his horse's final battle… The ambush had been swift and deadly, Halt had been riding back to castle to see Crowley. The bandits were down wind and had rushed out with no warning. The small group wanted to avenge their fallen leader that a ranger had killed some weeks previously. The biggest and ugliest bandit saw his companions fall to Halts arrows and threw his sword. The long silver blade sliced through Abelard's underbelly with little resistance. Halt's horse went down, and Halt killed the last of the bandits before running to his horse's side. "No" Halt yelled in denial, "No."

Less than an hour later Halt's tears still hadn't stopped. "This is the end of the road for you old buddy." Halt managed to say through his tears, "this is the end, good-bye old friend." And as those words left Halt's lips, Abelard's eyes closed for the last time. Halt's tears flowed harder and he made no move to wipe them away. "You're worth a few tears old buddy, you're worth a few tears. You meant the world to me, as much as Will, Gillian or even Pauline. You were loyal and strong. Without you I am only half a ranger, farewell, " said Halt, then he got to work.

It was sunset before Halt was ready. He had moved Abelard off the trail and onto the wooden pyre. "Farewell, old friend" Halt said, his eyes dry, he was done crying, now he must keep Abelard from being food for scavengers. He would not allow those dirty birds to eat have his beloved friend. He cut out a lock of his horse's mane with his saxe knife and tucked it into his pocket. Halt lit the pyre, his hands shaking slightly before stepping back and watching his noble horse turn to ash. The moon was high in the sky, bearing silent witness to the grizzled old ranger's grief. Halt gathered a fistful of ashes and stored them in his pouch before turning away and began the long walk along the dark winding road to Castle of Araluen.

Halt nearly threatened to cut his old apprentice's tongue out. It had been two months since the ambush and Will was pestering him, again. His arguments were the same every time, apparently he needed to move on and get another horse for his mental health, something about the stages of grief and the like. Will just didn't understand, Abelard was his partner for years, he couldn't just move on and forget him. Pauline was thankfully not pressuring him, but Halt could see her disappointment at his depression and moodiness, which hurt more than Will's callous pestering.

Then one day Pauline laid her hand on his arm said, "Halt, Abelard lived a full life and he wouldn't want you to waste yours." Those simple words spoken by his wife with such emotion forced Halt to Old Bob's with tears in his eyes for a new horse.

"I'm sorry Abelard," was Halt's last words before he entered the clearing containing Old Bob's barn.

Halt walked into the barn and listened to the horses chomping on their grain. A few were eyeing the bin of apples by the door and licking their feed buckets clean. Abelard loved apples thought Halt and then it hit him, he was taking another apple loving horse. With that thought he turned to flee but a figure blocked the entrance.

"Fancy seeing you here Halt, longtime no see."

"Ishea?" Halt asked surprise in his voice before replying, "it has been a long time."

"Yeah, now come on I have just the horse for you in the corral," said Ishea briskly before turning and walking out of the barn.

Halt gulped and wondered just who had put the apprentice up to this task. Despite his feelings of a set up, he followed the cheery apprentice to see a black horse tied to a post. Halt stopped dead in shock, the horse had Abelard's face, perfect down to the crinkly eyelash above his right eye. This face though belonged to a slimmer body resembling the desert horses. "Ishea", Halt said with a semi trembling voice, "I can't take that horse."

"I picked him out just for you, his dam is one of the ponies we picked up from Arradia," said Ishea with purposeful confusion in her voice.

Halt continued on oblivious to the small smirk playing across Ishea's mouth, "But his face looks just like Abelard's, I can't take him."

"Ah", Ishea smacked her forehead in a show of forgetfulness, "I forgot to mention that. His sire is Abelard; apparently they took a fancy to each other on the journey to the Arradian coast. Phoenix here is perfect for you."

Halt just stared at the black gelding with a face so like Abelard's but this time he noticed the subtle differences, his desert blood showed in his thinner but strong legs and lithe body. Phoenix nuzzled Halt's face and Halt felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Some still remained, but Halt was happier than he had been since Abelard's death.

Ishea then openly smiled, "His code word is ash, fitting for a horse named Phoenix."

"Thank you Ishea, " Halt said his voice full of gratitude, "He is perfect."

Ishea smiled wider as Halt mounted Phoenix and rode off towards the castle. They rounded the bend and disappeared from sight into the forest. Out of sight Halt leaned forward and whispered in his horse's ear, "You are my light, don't leave me in darkness. Now lets introduce you to the lady of the house."

Halt and Phoenix cantered off to the castle and a small smile graced Halt's face for the first time since Abelard died. All was well.

finis