A/N: Sorry it took so long. I'm not really allowed to use this computer. It's my mom's. Thanks for coming back.

Disclamer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or Halt's Peril.

Chapter 2

The three horses galloped into the camp, spraying dirt everywhere. The two of them rushed strait to the makeshift bed where Halt was struggling to sit up. The other, a great big battle-horse just slowed down and began to nudge its master, Horace, for apples. Abelard and Tug, however, went right up to Halt. Abelard started nudging Halt, while Will swung off of Tug.

"Halt!" Will cried, hugging his old mentor. "I brought Malcolm! He came riding on Abelard, and-!" He was stopped by Halt saying,

"Malcolm rode my horse?! Is he crazy?! Abelard would just as soon throw him off than let someone ride him… oh. You told him the pass code." Halt scowled at his apprentice, and then turned away from him, staring into the distance.

"Halt! I promise you I didn't mean to make you upset, it's just because of the pois-!" Suddenly, Horace intervened.

"It's because of your arm injury, Halt!" He yelled over Will, effectively drowning him out. "It looked pretty serious, so you told him to go get Malcolm. Don't you remember?" Oh. Speaking of him, Hi Malcolm!"

The healer saw the pleading in Horace's eyes, the bewilderment in Will's, and understood what had happened.

"Halt, my name is Malcolm." He said. "I am a very accomplished healer and I promise I am not here to hurt you, tease you, or cause harm to you in any way. Here." He pulled out a beaker, and said, "I want you to drink this for me. Okay?"

Halt nodded and took the beaker from his hand. He hesitated, and then sniffed it tentatively. Surprisingly, it smelled rather pleasant. It reminded him of dark cold nights in the forest with Will, and then suddenly, Will would get up and start making a savory rabbit stew. The air would be filled with the sweetest aromas, and then Will would put a bowl in his hands. He would immediately start eating, usually strait from the bowl. He would tilt his head back, and drink, just like he was doing with the beaker that was in his hands right now. Suddenly, the empty cup fell out of his hands. His head fell back on the pillow, and he became very still.

Will watched with horrified fascination as his teacher fell into a coma. Now, he sprang into action. Will jumped forward and snatched Malcolm's arm in his own.

"What have you done to him?!" Will asked.

"I've just put him into a deep sleep so that I can look at his arm injury." Said Malcolm.

Will rounded angrily on Horace. "And what were you doing, calling it an arm injury?! Who were you kidding? Who were you lying to? Me? You know that I know about the poison!" Will stopped his tyrant to breathe.

"It wasn't you I was lying to Will. It was Halt. He'd forgotten about the poison, and I couldn't bring myself to tell him he was poisoned. I'm sorry you didn't know and that I didn't have time to tell you." Horace looked sincere, so Will let it drop, muttering,

"All right."

Malcolm shoved Will and Horace out of the way and got busy. He unwound the bandage on Halt's arm and the two boys turned away in disgust. The arm was discolored, with the flesh all different colors. There was pus too. As Malcolm took it off, the wound even started steaming. Malcolm, however, sat back on his heels and surveyed the arm critically. He had seen worse, he thought, then leaped back in surprise with a yelp.

Will and Horace, who had begun to walk away, now whirled around and came rushing back.

"What happened?" cried Will.

Malcolm turned to them and yelled, "Why didn't you tell me he was Hibernian?! And royal too by the looks of things! You blithering IDIOTS! This changes EVERYTHING! Damn!"

The boys looked at each other, and then Will said gently, "What's happened Malcolm?"

"Come and see for yourself! You'll see what's happened!" Malcolm let the boys walk passed him, only to have them stop in surprise.

Halt was glowing.

A/N: next chapter are some surprises. hope u don't mind.

-Scribe