A/N: In the words of Jack Wilder "God damn, it's good to be back!"

I'm sorry it's been nearly 5 years. As I said, it's been hard to find motivation for this story, but here we are.

I would like to remind readers that this story is rated M for MATURE and involves SLASH, boy/boy. If you don't like it, don't leave me a comment telling me how gross you think it is. THIS STORY ISN'T FOR YOU.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of the Ranger's Apprentice and I am not making any money off of this.

Italics = People's Thoughts

Onwards to the story!

Will rode for the castle for all he was worth, taking every short cut he knew. Abelard followed faithfully after, when Tug tired, he was there to switch out, he didn't even allow Will to utter the code word "Permittez moi". He just restlessly pulled on Will's sleeve till he mounted up and they began the journey again.

By nightfall Will could see Dun Kitty becoming closer and the large fortress like castle looming over all. Will stopped at the outskirts of the forest before it gave way to open fields for crops. Thankfully there was a stream close by that the horses and Will could drink from.

The small boy quickly climbed a nearby tree to get a better vantage point and began to make his plans.

As Will went to move a tree branch out of his sight line, he noticed his hand was shaking horribly. He took a deep breath and tried to steady himself.

It will do Halt and Gil no good to break down now. Get ahold of yourself, Will. Now then, between here and the castle there must be at least a mile of open space, no tall grass, hardly any buildings, no place to hide.

A distant orange glow caught Will's eyes; he focused on it and saw a group of about 100 men split into 10 groups all patrolling different major roads leading into and out of the city. Will watched them for an hour to see if there was any pattern to be gleaned and it seemed as if every 20 minutes a new group would exit the city and the first group would reach the outskirts and turn around. He could feel the desperation of the situation welling up inside him.

How am I even going to get close, what would Halt do?

Even as he thought it he heard Halt's voice say sharply in his head, "If you thought about it you wouldn't have asked." A smile crossed Will's face at the familiar words that he had heard so often and often recalled when he was being unusually stupid.

He climbed down the tree and took some of the dry bread out and nibbled on it as he ran his fingers over his mottled ranger cloak, almost grinning to himself. He stayed up for the first part of the night, and then he drifted off to sleep knowing Tug and Abelard would watch over him.

In the dungeons…

Halts's eyes flew open as the sound of metal scrapping against metal reached his ears. A burly guard was unlocking the cell door and another was entering. Halt tried to scramble away, get his footing but the guards were surprisingly quick and hauled him to his feet before dragging him and Gilian out of the cell.

Halt's grey eyes tried to map where there were taking him but there was too much happening. They passed rooms where screams echoed, he heard a woman begging for mercy even as he smelled burning flesh, he saw a child in a hanging cage, a nearly skeletal hand flopped over the bar, hollow, empty eye sockets staring at nothing. The guards seemed to purposefully slow so that the screaming seeped into his soul. Halt shuddered violently refusing to let his mind replace that child with Will.

Gilian for his part was totally silent, and there were no emotions in his eyes.

The guards seemed to go on forever, going deeper into the bowels of the castle. An ugly, iron door faced them, and Halt had the unpleasant feeling that this would be his new home for a while. The door was opened and all manner of vile instruments of torture lined the walls and ceiling, there was a table full of wicked looking blades, screws, and a box that was moving as if something was trying to get out.

Near the fireplace in the room stood a lone figure, as Halt and his old apprentice were strapped to large circular tables by their wrists and ankles, the figure turned to reveal Ferris.

"Oh, my dear brother… you have no idea how long I have waited for this."

Well that's it for this chapter, like I said ideas would be great. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you next time! I'll try and keep it under a year this time.
~Nemesis121