Chapter Four

All right. Well. Here we are again XD! Geez, I keep starting with all right. I think I have some problems XD! But yeah hahah!(: Well, Will and the company have recently discovered a dead body and an attack. Well, now what will happen? Golly Moses, read to find out! (Yes, I said Golly Moses. My dad said it first! XD! Yes, I am a dork.)

They returned to the camp at a gallop, and immediately Halt checked to make sure Pauline was all right; she was fine. None of them slept until the wee hours of morning, and the entire time Halt was tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep, eyes shut tight, and finally Pauline shook him, thinking he was having a nightmare. But when he opened one eye to gaze at her for a moment, and then sighed, she realized she was wrong.

"Why can't you sleep?" she asked him quietly, sitting up just a little bit. Halt shrugged as much as he could; he was still lying on his side, left eye open while the right one stayed closed, seeing only darkness. He swallowed back a yawn, and Pauline told him to try and get some sleep. "We'll most likely be busy tomorrow, investigating what's been happening," she pointed out, and closed her eyes again. "You'll need your rest."

Halt, not knowing how to argue on this topic, merely gave one of his famous sighs and did as she said. Even so, it took them both a very long time to fall asleep.

The next morning dawned bright and early, and immediately Will awoke, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning. He noticed that the Horace, Gilan, and Pauline were still asleep, and, with a slight shock, that Halt was as well. That was odd; usually Halt was up at first light, not late in the morning. That was when he heard the singing, and sat up a bit more. It wasn't exactly singing. It was more of a cross between a disturbing moaning and a quiet, haunting voice.

More than a little frightened, Will crawled over to where Halt was and carefully shook him awake. Halt woke abruptly, looking very suddenly alert and somewhat alarmed. Then he saw Will and began to speak in an annoyed manner, but Will shook his head vigorously, putting a finger to his lips to call for silence. Frowning, Halt's words died in the air, and he listened hard, also hearing the strange sound. He and Will exchanged uneasy glances, and Will felt suddenly cold; it was unlike Halt to have that sort of worried expression on his face. This was serious.

A few seconds later, much to their alarm, the singing stopped. Abruptly. "Halt, what was that?" Will asked in a frightened whisper. Halt shook his head, having no answer for the boy, and then started to stand up, pulling on his boots as he did so. Will, noticing this, followed his lead, and the two grapped their weapons and Ranger cloaks, setting off silently into the tall grass, noting the thick fog that rolled over the plain like a blanket.

"Halt," Will suddenly said, in a voice that was barely audible. "What is that?"

Halt snapped to attention, and gazed at Will. "What?"

"Over there." Will pointed at a small shape on the ground. "Behind that rock. Don't you see it, Halt?"

"Of course I do." Halt began to make his way over to where the stone was. Sliding down a small, muddy hill after him, Will followed close behind, still edgy and frightened. If anybody could quell his fears, it was Halt, who had destroyed his nightmares and worries over the years as easily as breaking a twig. Will was forever grateful of that. (See? Halt has a nice side, guys XD!) Reaching the large stone, Halt bent down to study the small item on the ground, and began to frown. Will bent down to study it with him, and felt his blood run cold.

It was a sharp, blood-stained knife.

"That's it," Halt announced when they went back to camp and had woken everyone else up. "We're going to find out what's happening here, and today. No more fooling around while everybody around here is dying as we watch clouds."

Horace stared at him. "We haven't been watching clouds!" he objected. Halt shifted his gaze to the young man, one eyebrow raised. "We haven't!"

"It's a figure of speech," Will muttered to him. "Just be quiet and listen to what he has to say."

Halt, seeing that Horace was done talking and had shut up, continued what he was saying. "This morning, before anybody else was awake, Will and I heard a strange singing coming from somewhere behind the camp. When it stopped very suddenly we went to see what it was, and found this." He held up the knife, and the others stared at it, eyes wide. Halt looked grim. "We need to find out what's going on."

The others nodded in agreement; this was an alarming, concerning matter. And it was becoming increasingly dangerous to even sleep at night, since none of them except Halt could be trusted not to fall asleep on the watch; Horace had, last night, which was why they had all been asleep when Will had awoken. If one of them had been killed while all were sound asleep...

After they had quickly eaten, all of them got ready to leave for the time being, so they could go and see the tall blonde man from a few days ago. Then Halt suddenly realized that they had never been told the man's name. Brilliant; how could that have slipped his mind? Heading down to the small, bustling town, the three Rangers pulled up their hoods and let their eyes scan every person in the crowd, trying to see if they recognized anybody tall with pale blonde hair and large eyes.

They never found him, and finally gave up around noon. With mixed emotions they trekked back to camp, and met an unholy sight when they arrived there. Their camp was in ruins around them. The blankets were torn and muddy, the campfire pit was dug up, and their belongings were scattered. Tug, Abelard, Blaze, Kicker, and the gray roan Pauline had rode were all looking panicked, scuffing the ground nervously, eyes darting back and forth.

Immediately Halt went over to Abelard, stroking the horse's nose to calm it down and talking softly in it's ear. Will did the same with Tug while the others followed Halt's lead as well. Something had obviously frightened them very much, and this was very disturbing; Abelard, Tug, and Blaze usually stayed cool and collected while the other horses and ponies were in a panic, but this time the three Ranger horses had joined in with the alarmed fray.

Will turned to Halt, and found his friend and former mentor frowning in concern, thinking nobody was watching him, and looked very worried, absently fondling Abelard's soft nose, staring off into the distant plain, deep in thought.

This adventure was taking a definite turn for the worse. But when night fell they would all believe that everything beforehand had been very calm and fortunate for them. For when night fell, they would all witness an unholy sight that would haunt their souls forever.

Sorry that was so bad! And short. I can always seem to write tons when writing my own books, but when writing fanfics I seem to make it all as short as possible. Sorry. Please read and rate! Cori out XD