First Sight

Will walked through the streets, straining his ears to hear any news of what was going on with the war. He had seen some guys that where much bigger than any Araluen he had seen, curiosity gripping at him he followed the men to where ever they were going. He noticed that they had been leading very far away from Redmont; they had entered into a forest that was growing darker and darker as they got deeper in. Will kept trailing them until they stopped walking, the three burly men inspected the area and it seemed like they were waiting for something or someone. In an instant the area was covered in a heavy and dark shadow,

"I see you three are back, tell me Captain Erak did you find them?" the man asked, his semi-long raven hair glistened evilly in the little light that was provided.

The man known as Erak scratched his head and looked the man in the eyes, "Yea we found it alright, we already took them to the fissure to work on the bridge." He replied in a gruff voice. "Morgarath you better pay us and it's not Captain, its Jarl!" he hissed out and drew back away preparing to leave.

"Everything has been duly noted Captain." Morgarath said with a grin, out grinning the Cheshire cat. Erak spat on the ground and spun around leading his men away. Will watched them disappear but for some reason he noted that Morgarath hadn't moved. "Why don't you come on out boy?" the evil sinister voice of Morgarath's asked. Will surprised that he was caught did what he was asked. "So who might you be? Tell the truth because I'll know if you're lying, and I kill liars."

Will struck by awe came out and went closer the the man. "My name is Will," he replied and he had an urge to bow to the man but he tried to restrain himself.

"Well Will, why are you here and what exactly do you do?" he asked, his face relaxed not showing any emotion behind his eyes or his voice.

"I was following the three guys out of curiosity and I'm a…..Ranger's apprentice." Will said the last part bitterly; he wished that someone else had chosen to have him.

"A Ranger Hu? Well then I'll just have to take you out." Morgarath said and slid his foot to the side while putting his hand to his sword.

"Why? You haven't even heard me out!" Will cried out in alarm earning a questioning glance from Morgarath. With a nod from Morgarath Will continued, "I was looking for you-"

"Are you stupid? No one looks for me!" Morgarath exclaimed but felt a little respect for the boy know to him as Will.

"I'm not stupid, I'm just-" he stopped trailing off, not really wanting to tell him what he 'was'

"You're just what?" Morgarath snapped waiting for Will to reply.

"I want to be your eyes and ears inside of Redmont," Will said watching the shock play on Morgarath's face.

"Boy you really are stupid but I'll accept but tell me why you are doing this first!" Morgarath said with some suspicion. Will sighed, thinking back on Halt, the reason why he was here.

"You see I had wanted to be in the Battle school-"

"Don't you think you're a little too small?" Morgarath shot.

"Oi I'm not done and yes I realized that later!" Will shot back and continued, "I found out that Halt had wanted me as an apprentice and had told Baron Arald to tell the craftsmen to make sure no one had picked me." Morgarath winced at that, anyone would feel bad of no one wanted them. "So I became a Ranger's apprentice but not once has he ever helped me, praised me or anything and I'm just tired of it! I want to be praised just like the others, I want to be recognized, I don't want to live this kind of life, and please Lord Morgarath please I beg of you to let me be of use to you!" Will cried, the tears streamed down his face, he crumbled to the floor crying even more as all the other bottled up emotions came out. Morgarath did something he knew he never would do, he hugged Will telling him it was going to be alright.

"Shh, it's okay Will. Thank you for being brave and putting up with this for a while. I'm here and I'll try to help you any way I can without getting you in trouble." Morgarath whispered and had the boy look at him, "You did well Will, I'm proud of you. When we meet up again you have to show me how good you are at the bow!" Morgarath said and watched the boy wipe away his tears; the next thing he knew was that he was being embraced. Will had thrown his arms around Morgarath; this was the first time in a very very long time that he had heard those words of praise.

"Thank you, my Lord." Will said with a smile tugging at his lips, he pulled back and looked up to see that the sun was going down, "I have to leave, Halt said to be back before the sun went down, and well it's already past time." Will said and saw Morgarath nod.

"Let's meet up here again on the night of the full moon, which is in three days." Morgarath said and watched Will nod and leave. This was perfect, he had an inside source and he could with the help of Will bring the kingdom down from the inside in! "Thank you Will for coming to me, is there anything that you would like to ask?" Morgarath asked softly knowing that the boy heard him, he knew if his Wargals or the Skandians heard him they would be killed off immediately for just listening on them.

Will stopped in his tracks and turned to face Morgarath; the man who just saved him from the brink of breaking. "W-would it be okay if I thought of you as my-dad?" Will asked and heard Morgarath choke on his spit.

"Boy what-I guess, I don't see the harm in it." Morgarath sighed, inwardly cursing himself for almost yelling at the boy. If he wanted the plan to work he couldn't get mad at the boy, no it was Will! Will flashed a quick smile and he left.

.

Will travelled back to the Redmont and headed back towards the cabin he shared with Halt, no, it was just Halt's cabin. He hoped that Halt hadn't heard him walking up the steps; cautiously he pushed the door open and thanked his lucky stars that the door was made so it wouldn't creak.

"So where were you Will?" he heard the dangerously low voice of his mentor, he could hear the ground where Halt walked on creak a little bit. Everything was deathly silent except for the the small creaking of the ground, "Well? I'm waiting for an answer boy." Halt repeated, restating the question.

"I was out for a walk, I was heading back but it took me longer than I thought to get back." Will said, not really lying but also not really telling the truth.

"Really now?" Halt asked and narrowed his eyes on his apprentice who stood there not flinching or moving a muscle.

"Yes Halt." Will replied and took a step back now; he couldn't take the scrutinizing look from Halt for that long. Halt watched him not entirely convinced.

"Get to bed you have more training, I'll show you how to use your sax knife." Halt said with a voice that said there were to be no more questions. Will nodded and with a sigh he left the area and went to one of Halt's rooms that he was currently staying in. Will couldn't see anything his anymore, he wanted to give up but he would stay just for Morgarath.

.

Halt sighed and ran his hand through his aging hair; he was too old to be dealing with this. Sometimes he wondered why he had taken Will with him, he knew that he had owed Daniel but sometimes he would wonder if he had made a terrible mistake. Halt knew this was not the time to be thinking those kinds of thoughts because of Morgarath was coming closer and closer, he could feel war coming closer and closer to Redmont and this was no time to be doubting himself and Will's skills. He knew the boy needed a break but something kept stopping him from telling Will anything. Halt knew it would come back and bite him later in the butt, but he didn't want to think about that right now so he opted to go back to bed. Halt quietly slithered through the house, he was curious as to why Will had come back so late, he knew it was un-Will like for the boy to turn up after the time he instructed. Nearing Will's room, he could here stifled cries and it broke his heart having to listen to his apprentice in such trouble. He wanted to know what was wrong, that's what he was for also, not just to teach Will the ways of the Rangers but to also help him out emotionally. With a quick hitch in his breath he turned away, abandoning the boy and went back to his room and laid down on the bed, waiting for sleep to take him.

Once Halt had fallen asleep he was in a deep, guilty and heart wrenching dream,

'Why Ranger? I don't understand, I saved your life and this is how you repay me? By treating my son like this?' the pained voice of Daniel's came, blood dripping off the body of his saviour. Halt stood paralyzed watching the man.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything wrong!" Hal exclaimed, his body trembling,

"Oh really?" Halt could hear the mockery in the man's voice; it was almost the same kind of voice that he used with Will. "Have you ever said that he was doing a good job? Che for that have you ever praised him? What kind of mentor are you!" Daniel asked and made a move to get closer to Halt to jab him in the chest but he doubled over from his cuts and stabs, the blood still profusely bleeding.

With a gasp, Halt jerked awake only to see the sun starting to rise. 'What a weird dream. Looks like no more sleep for now' with that in mind Halt got up and walked to the kitchen to make himself some coffee. While he was walking to the kitchen he realized that Will wasn't in his room, Halt's heart rate picked up. "Stupid boy, where are you?" he muttered to himself and looked through the house only to realize that Will wasn't there. As he approached the back he could hear a faint thud noise which he knew all too well; the dagger hitting the post!

Please review and thank you to the people who reviewed, it was very much appreciated!

Lord Kharl out!