Here's chapter three! Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter Three-

Baron Arald looked up as he heard the knock that was uniquely Halt's on the door, and called, "Come in!" He knew he hadn't scheduled a meeting with Halt this morning, and that they weren't set to meet for at least another week. Also, seeing as the ranger rarely came to report to him even if it was an emergency, the baron knew that it had to be important if Halt was coming to him willingly.

Therefore, it came as a shock when he saw the tiny, brown-haired child trailing a little behind Halt as he entered, glancing around curiously. Baron Arald recognized him as Will from the ward that he had set up after the war with Morgarath. The child had been left on the ward's doorstep one night when he was only a baby; but either way, he was parentless, and the baron had seen no difference. There was plenty to go around in Redmont, they could take care of another unfortunate baby. The baron felt a slight cold feeling in his heart as he realized that whatever Halt had come for, it had something to do with Will.

Halt settled himself in a chair in front of the baron's desk, motioning for Will to come and do the same in the chair next to him. The child struggled with getting into the large chair for a moment, but then managed to pull himself onto it. Baron Arald felt a small smile twitch at his lips at Will's look of accomplishment. But, he pushed it aside after a moment. There was clearly business to attend to.

"So, Halt! This is a surprise! What offense has this little one done?" Baron Arald joked, trying to put Will at ease- not noticing Will's fearful glance at Halt.

Halt shook his head at Will for a moment, then turned to the baron. "It's not what he's done, rather, what's happened to him," Halt sighed for a moment, then jumped straight to the issue at hand, "Are you aware that the servants you put in charge of the ward are neglecting Will?"

The baron knew that Halt knew full well that Baron Arald didn't know, and that he would never stand for such a thing. However, the baron realized that Halt also knew this slight accusation would raise the baron's caution in the future. Sure enough, with a glance at Will, the baron said gravely, "Explain."

Halt nodded at the baron and started, "I arrived yesterday at the ward early in the morning, with the intention of checking on the children and leaving. However, I noticed that Will wasn't eating breakfast, while the other children were. This continued through the day with Will not getting as much lunch, and having to help the servants clean- being given the tasks a four-year-old certainly should not be doing! May I mention, it was only Will had to help." Baron Arald held up a hand and turned to Will, who looked confused as to why Halt was telling the baron all this. "Do you get to eat breakfast, Will?" Will nodded hesitantly, saying, "If I don't backtalk the day before and do all my chores right I do." The baron nodded tightly, then asked, "Your chores are helping after lunch?" Will nodded, then added, "After breakfast and dinner too, but it just depends on how the servants are feeling, I think. Sometimes I have to help after all three." Baron Arald nodded again. "Thank you, Will," he said and motioned for Halt to continue.

"Once dinner came, Will was served half as much as he had been even during lunch. Oh, and during both lunch and dinner, he was ignored while he was talking, sometimes even shushed. He wasn't yelling or talking pointlessly, simply adding to the conversation," Halt said, face darkening in remembrance. "Then," he continued, "after dinner, instead of the servants helping him pour water and wash up, they left him to do it on his own. He climbed up several unsteady shelves to fetch a towel, and the servants watched him!" The baron couldn't help but be surprised by the amount of emotion Halt was clearly feeling on behalf of the small child beside him. The baron was boiling with barely restrained anger himself, however, so he could fully understand it.

"Finally, he was left to struggle with the covers himself, and the servants simply ignored his goodnight! They just pretended like Will wasn't there at all! So I went and got him myself this morning to bring this matter to your attention." Halt finished, anger written on his face.

There was a moment of silence while Baron Arald struggled with calming himself so he wouldn't scare Will. If he had his way, he would've had them brutally punished for acting that way to a child. Who knew what else they had done to him! Unfortunately, it was not within in his power to do much more than banish them at the most. "I'll banish them from the fief- if I can, I'll imprison them and have the king banish them from Araluen," he told Halt, knowing, however, it would most likely be a losing battle. "If anything else turns up, let me know immediately," he hinted, knowing that Halt would be questioning Will and that he would understand what the baron meant. Halt nodded, and the baron glanced over at Will for a moment, who seemed worried and confused.

"I'm sorry," Will piped up, glancing between the two men anxiously. Baron Arald blinked in surprise. "Why, whatever for?" he exclaimed, looking at Halt, who seemed just as at a loss as he was. "Well, I've caused a problem for the women at the ward, haven't I? I always cause trouble," Will said a little sadly, but with a conviction that said he believed it was true. To the baron's surprise, Halt beat him to assuring the child, "Don't be silly, Will. This is absolutely not your fault at all! How could it be?" Halt gave the little boy a severe look, and Will nodded quickly. Baron Arald realized that the child already seemed to believe Halt, although they'd just met.

Baron Arald hid a grin and turned to Halt, saying, "After I throw those," he paused with a glance at Will, "erm, servants in prison, I'll appoint new servants to look after the children. I'll look into them extra carefully and make sure this will not be happening again. The children might take some time adjusting to the servants, however." Halt nodded, then said, "I'm not sure I'm quite comfortable with Will returning to the ward." Baron Arald gave him a curious and surprised look. "Halt, I understand why, but, there's not another option here," the baron said, hoping Halt wasn't going to be difficult. Halt shook his head, "Let me make myself clear," Halt paused and sighed, then stated firmly,

"I would like to adopt Will."

Ending on another cliffhanger! I'm going out of town tomorrow until Sunday and I might try to upload chapters while I'm gone, but I won't have my computer so I most likely won't be able to.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to review and tell me what you thought!