A/N: Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this! I see there's lots of you who at least read a couple of chapters, and it means a lot, so thank you. Special thanks to my first and only commenter so far, FarmersDaughter, for your kind words! I was considering taking this story back down, but your words kept me from doing it. I would have PM ed you, but I, erm, couldn't figure out how, so...yeah. Thank you, everyone, and I hope you continue to read!
We rode for hours, through the rising and setting of the moon. At my summer camp, I had thought that I could ride for hours at a time; I found out that I was very, very, wrong. As we finally stopped for the night at Halt's command, I was nearly sleeping in the saddle, and as we dismounted, I felt my knees start to buckle before I managed to catch myself. However, to my astonishment, Halt and Will look at alert and awake as ever.
"Well, go put up your tent." Halt said, gesturing at us while he turned back to Abelard to untie his own tent. I look at my horse, but seeing nothing, I look over at Sarah, silently asking her a question. She glances at her own horse, then looks back to me and shrugs. Sighing quietly, I turn to ask the others where our tent is, bracing myself for the inevitable sarcastic response, when I see Will heft something from Tug's back and start towards us, looking annoyed.
"Are you gonna take this tent from me, or are you going to sleep outside?" He asked, clearly not amused with having to wait. Taking the bundle from his arms, I vaguely wondered why Will had my ... no, our ... tent on his horse, but I was tired enough to not feel like asking. I looked over at Sarah.
"How about over there?" She gestured with her hand to an area with less debris scattered over it. I nodded agreement wearily, and we shuffled over to begin the assembly.
Turns out that the didn't have the same kinds of tents back then as we do now. Instead of those nice fit-together-able poles pieces on bungee cord, and pretty pre-shaped nylon of modern day tents, this tent had a couple of foot long pieces of wood that fit together like linkin logs except end on end, a couple big sheets of fabric, and a bit of rope. By the time we figured out how to put it all together, Halt and Will's tents had been assembled and both men were fast asleep inside. Wondering vaugely why there was no guard, but too tired to be overly concerned, Sarah and I grabbed our blankets from our horse's saddles, loosened their girths to let them be comfortable, and then staggered into our tent.
As I laid in the darkness beside Sarah, listening to the chorus of crickets in the forest beyond, I realized just how amazing this world we were residing in was, and with a growing sense of fear and horror wondered if, when we fell asleep again, we would return to the boring, if slightly more logical, world from whence we'd come. For a moment, I fought sleep, clawing my way out of it's grip, before realizing that I would have to sleep eventually, and relaxing again. There was nothing for it - I would just have to take the risk, and hope that when I awoke, I would still be in this crazy, confusing, amazing world.
Light streamed into my eyes through my eyelids, waking me from my slumber. It was a strange, distorted light, though, and in confusion, I rubbed my eyes and opened them, finding myself staring up at what appeared to be an illuminated cloth. It took me a moment to remember everything, but when I did, I jerked into a sitting position, looking wildly around. I quickly examined everything; our clothes, the tent, the blankets. To my relief and dismay, they were the same as before. Relief, because we were still here; dismay for the same reason. Last night the whole world had turned upside down and sent me crashing onto the ceiling. Even though I hadn't broken anything in the fall, and was in wonder at the sudden switch in gravity, I had a feeling that there were going to be a few good bruises that were going to come back to bite me.
Twisting around to find Sarah still determinedly curled in her blankets, I gave her a shake. "Sarah. Sarah, wake up. I need you to tell me that I'm still where I think I am."
Sarah groaned, rolled onto her other side, and covered her head with the blankeet. I brushed my blankets away and shifted from sitting to kneeling, not wanting to go outside by myself, whether it be to a bunch of laughing pranksters or to two people who shouldn't exist. I expected to wait for at least half an hour for her to deign the world with anything past moans, as I usually had to when waiting for her to rise when we'd spend the night at each other's houses. Instead, it was only a couple a moments before, with the same panicked frenzy I'd felt when I'd first woken, she threw her blankets away and jerked up into a position halfway to standing, rumpled hair emulating the semi-crazed look in her eyes. "Are we still here?" she squeaks "Was it all just a dream?" Then, she looks down at me, at her clothes, and at the tent.
"Ready to go outside?" I asked, deciding that her question didn't need answering; she could make that deduction on her own. In answer, she gained her feet, offering her hand to pull me up. I accept it, wincing slightly at the soreness I can feel in every muscle of my body. I had never been this sore before, certaintly not after riding horses. Then again, we had tripled if not quadrupled the straight time I'd ever ridden a horse for.
The clearing was beautiful in the sunlight. Though, back home, it had been the dead of winter, in the morning sulight there was no mistaking the fact that it was very much summer. The trees filtered the light in a dappled shadow pattern and it lit the leaves from behind, making them seem to glow. The grass that grew where the trees did not was longer than in front of an average house, but no longer than a handspan. It was covered in dew, and as I took a few steps, the outside of my boots were instantly soaked (luckily they were water proof.) Bird song filled the air and created a morning prelude that would lift anyone's spirit, perhaps even Halt's. As I looked around, I saw both he and Will sitting by a small fire, eating something. As Sarah climbed out behind me, I started over towards them.
" I see we forgot to set a watch." Halt said, not looking up.
"A watch...?" Sarah and I said together. We do that sometimes.
"Yes, a watch. Don't just repeat my words back to me."
Sarah and I look at each other. "I didn't know we were supposed to set a watch." Sarah said, "Are we in danger?"
"Not presently." Halt growled, "But in case you hadn't noticed, we happen to be in the middle of a forest, and there are, on occasion, robbers in forests. Or rouges. Or other criminals."
Not sure what to say, we just sat down beside them at the fire. Will handed us two bowls, with some sort of or oatmeal in them. He had a big grin on his face and was shaking his head slightly, and I guessed he was probably remembering being Halt's apprentice himself.
Will looks slightly different then I thought he would. For one thing, he's taller than I expected. The way they describe him in the books, he's supposed to be about the same height as me; five six or thereabouts. But, instead, he's more like five eight or nine. I can only imagine how tall Gillan really is. Also, his hair is much darker; darker than tree bark, whereas I had imagined it a light brown. Halt looks more or less the same; though compared to Will he seems even shorter. He's still taller than me though, as well as Sarah, and Sarah is taller than I am.
Silently, Sarah and I examine our breakfast suspiciously. It has many odd looking chunks in it, that I can't identify even after tasting it, and there isn't any flavor to speak of. It's texture is about as pleasant as its visual appeal, and it's honestly very, very, gross. Wisely, however, we say nothing.
After breakfast, we mounted our horses and continued to ride, and though this made my sore muscles groan in protest at first, they soon loosened up and allowed me to ride more fluidly and comfortably. The ride was not very adventurous, with most of the time spent in silence. That is, of course, until after darkness had fallen, and we came to a portion of the road where a river seemed to just run right across it.
"Um, is this supposed to be like this?" I ask, watching as Halt and Will begin to fiddle with their saddles.
"Yes." Halt replies casually, look back at us. "We have to wade through it. Don't worry, it's not too deep."
"Oh, seriously?" I muttered. "It is ten at night, and now we have to wade a river?!"
"Don't be such a baby." Halt said, pulling up the things the things that hung from his saddle so that they were flipped over Abelard's back, and wouldn't trail in the water.
"But the water's cold!" Sarah moaned, but none the less we both began the process of copying what Halt and Will were doing.
"We'll make camp when we get the the other side." Halt informed us, making our spirits rise just a little.
We all waded across one by one, the water coming high on the horses' flanks. When we did make it across, my pant legs were soaked, my boots were flooded, and as Sarah said, the water was indeed cold. As we put together our tents (Sarah and I doing much better this time), we were all shivering. Or at least Sarah and I were, I don't really know about Halt and Will. As we crawled into covers, sore, wet, and cold, I wondered how on earth we expected to survive in this world for a week.
A/N: Okay, so not as much Halt and Will as expected. Definitely more of them as soon as our training begins, and way WAY more of them as the actually plot starts... mwa ha ha. So please stick with me, and review to help me make it better. I love you all, thanks for reading :) Have a nice day, or night as it may be.