Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or any of its characters

Halt looked up through his fluttering eyelashes to see a form standing before him. Around him things changed again. The creature disappeared but the voices persisted. Things seemed to shift around him and it felt as if worms were crawling along his skin, covering him. His heartbeat now racing, Halt jumped up with his nerves stretched as thin as parchment. Holding his saxe knife in his hand, Halt lunged at the figure. It was a clumsy move, partly because of his shaking and nervousness but also because he hadn't fought in five years. Halt felt a force shove him to the side and he landed on the hard ground. As he rolled onto his back to look at his attacker, Halt was unnerved to see the man looked almost exactly like him at an early age. Before he could take in much more of the man's appearance, said person raised his arm, a sharp dagger gripped in his hand.

The Ranger twisted on the ground and sensed more than saw the blade lodge into the ground close to him. While the other man seemed to pause for a moment, Halt managed to stand so he was facing his attacker again. The shaking persisted and so did the sweating. The voices were shouting at him with the horrible laugher ringing out over it all and it felt as if death were looming ever closer towards him. The only reason he was standing was through the sheer power of adrenaline.

The attacker advanced again and Halt held his blade in a threatening manner. At least it would have been threatening had his hand not shook so much. With one fluid move, Halt felt his saxe dislodged from his grip and was just in time to take a step back as the assailant's blade sliced his chest just under his collar bone. Still running on his adrenaline, Halt grasped his throwing knife, his last chance possibly. At the moment the two combatants were just outside the ring of light the fire cast. Halt could only see a blurred form and threw the knife randomly. The knife flew through the air virtually unseen and Halt heard a thud as the body fell to the ground.

Making his way over to where it lay, Halt found that he was shaking too bad to stand. He collapsed onto the ground, falling into another seizure.

Troy held his knife ready to stab Halt but paused. Halt seemed so…different and terrified. He was shaking all over and his pale skin was clammy. He knew something was wrong, no way was Halt ever supposed to look like this and it gave him a sort of pleasure seeing his target in such fear. Trapped up in his savoring, Troy was caught unawares as Halt jumped up with his knife. Halt lunged at him and Troy took a small step to the right. Waiting until Halt was at his most vulnerable; Troy shoved him, sending the Ranger tumbling to the ground. With the fire light illuminating the side of his face, Troy's features were visible. Halt looked up at him with the look of bewilderment. Troy raised his arm to throw the knife down at Halt now that the Ranger and without thinking twice he threw it. He couldn't allow himself to think, he had to let his instincts take over. If he thought then he would realize what he was doing and he couldn't let that happen, not now, not when his life and status for Tanor hung in the balance.

Halt rolled to the side and Troy paused a moment as he grabbed another knife from a hidden sheath in his sleeve. Leveling the blade so he could dart forward and stab Halt, Troy prepared himself. He was about to dart forward when he stopped. Halt was standing but it looked like it was taking enormous effort.

What are you doing?

The thought slipped through the barrier Troy had put up in his mind to stop his musings. Lowering the blade a little, Conlan watched with a bit of pity for Halt as he managed to finally stand. Halt was shaking and Conlan felt the need to help him but Troy quickly disregarded the thought as Halt raised his own blade in a pathetic display. Quickly, Troy swung at the knife, dislodging it from Halt's grip. In a backhand movement, Troy sliced at Halt's chest. The Ranger stepped back, causing the blade to skim across him just enough to draw blood. In just another moment, Troy felt something sharp hit him in the gut. Stumbling backwards, he grasped at the hilt of something and fell to the ground.

An hour later, with the moon almost completely gone and the sun just starting to peek over the trees, Halt's eyes opened. His heart was pounding fast and he still felt his hands shaking and his body was shuddering as well though not quite as bad. He found enough strength to stand up and he walked towards the form lying a few feet from him. Whoever it was was still breathing though a bit ruggedly. Their hands were putting pressure on the area around the knife wound, keeping it from bleeding it too terribly. As Halt came closer, the eyes opened and he froze. One eye had an eye patch over it but the other was a brilliant grey.

"No," Halt said quietly. He knelt down by the weak figure's side and fumbled with the eye patch. It took him a few tries because of his shaking hands but Halt managed to remove it. The dark brown eye looked up at him and he shook his head. "No, no, no," he muttered, his heart starting to speed up.

Troy smiled up at him, a cruel ruthless smile that would have made anybody's skin crawl. If he hadn't killed Halt and it seemed he was going to die now, it seemed reasonable in his mind to make sure Halt was as disturbed as possible.

"Oh yes," Troy said weakly.

A little frustrated, Crowley looked up at the moon that was disappearing. He was tired and stressed. He had no clue where Halt might be in the large forest. He had tried to have Cropper follow Abelard's scent but something else was covering it up and seemed to confuse the horse. Giving up on that plan, Crowley began to just wander. He was just considering stopping the seemingly hopeless search when, through half closed eyes, he saw two shapes roughly the same size as Cropper. Cropper, recognizing one of the scents of the two shapes, gave a short whinny. The shape answered back and Crowley dismounted quickly, suddenly awake. If Abelard was here, and he was sure it was Abelard, then Halt should be close.

Crowley rushed towards Abelard and quickly realized Halt wasn't there. There was no sign of him and Abelard's saddle and bags were removed. Panic gripping his insides, Crowley looked at the other shape, which he had come to realize, was another Ranger horse. Something was definitely wrong. Abelard wouldn't leave Halt's side unless Halt or somebody else the horse considered a master had told him to. The memory of what happened at the market flashed through Crowley's mind and he looked at the other horse. It looked at him with a familiar sense and Crowley snapped his attention back to Abelard. This wasn't looking good.

"Where's Halt?" he asked Abelard who stomped the ground and shook his mane before turning around.

With an arrow knocked and drawn back in his bow, Crowley followed the horse cautiously. It only took a few minutes before the trees gave way to a clearing. Crowley saw a pile of coals smoking and a form a few feet away from it bent over and shaking his head. As Crowley drew nearer, he realized it was Halt who couldn't stop shaking and had dried blood caked onto the front of him.

I couldn't find anything on how long the hallucinations last or if the person suffering from withdrawal is always shaking and everything so I did this where Halt is a bit calmer. Also, I don't know if they had any herbs or anything in medieval times that would calm somebody like Halt so I may just make something up all righty? Okay then:D Please review

Oh and if anybody notices the whole transition of name things and why I tis be happy:D