Hullo peoples! So I know we haven't written in a while but that's because... *dun dun dun* high school. We've all got so much work and its kinda taking us away from the writing, but no worries, we'll do our best to alternate who will write when. So, hopefully we'll get back on our feet and start writing more actively, anywho, here's some more of the story enjoooy.
~Kat
Chapter 8
Gilan sulked back to Blaze who was staring longingly at the top of an apple tree. Gilan's gaze flicked up to the bright apples at the top of the tree, but returned to staring at the ground. Blaze whinnied and stomped her hoof.
"I'm fine Blaze, just tired." Gilan yawned. "I came out with nothing, no one had any information on those two Rangers."
Blaze snorted, then nudged Gilan's hand.
"What?" Gilan asked rubbing the mare's head.
Blaze nudged him harder, this time nosing his pocket.
"Oh," Gilan sighed. "The apple, yeah sorry girl, I gave it to someone who needed it more."
Blaze stomped her hoof once more and shoved Gilan with her head, sending him flying into the ground. Gilan scrambled to his feet and glared at the horse but didn't engage her. That's a fight he wouldn't win. Blaze stared back at him innocently and gazed once again at the top of the tree. Gilan rolled his eyes and brushed dirt off his clothes.
"If you wanted me to get that apple for you," Gilan began, shaking out his cloak. "You shouldn't have pushed me down."
Blaze snorted and shook her head slowly as if mimicking Gilan in her head. Gilan laughed and rubbed the mare's neck. "Oh, you didn't need that apple anyway." he reassured her.
Blaze rolled her eyes jokingly, but then went stiff, she whinnied nervously and nudged Gilan softly. Gilan caught on to her warning and grabbed his bow in one hand and was ready to grab his sword with the other. He pulled his cowl over his head and melted into the shadows. Blaze backed up shook out her mane. Gilan crouched slowly when he heard quiet voices coming from the direction of the town. Blaze and her rider had practiced situations just like the one they were facing many times. Blaze would act lost and confused while Gilan hid and assessed his opponents.
The sound of footsteps grew louder and Blaze whinnied loudly and trotted around in circles.
"What's that horse doing here?" a rough voice asked.
Gilan tensed and listened intently
"Maybe it belongs to the town," another voice suggested. "Just leave it be."
Gilan poked his head around a tree and watched as three large men approached from the town. In between them was a smaller, cloaked figure. Gilan squinted his eyes to get a glimpse of who it was then clutched his bow harder. He recognized the figure as half conscious Halt and watched with confusion, why was Halt with those three men? As Gilan watched however, he grew more concerned. One of the three men shoved Halt to the ground.
"We don't like no Rangers sneaking around our part of town," the biggest of the trio snarled.
"Yeah, we don't feel safe," a second man sneered, twirling Halt's longbow in his hand. "You shouldn't either."
The third man seemed a bit smarter, he was still focused on Blaze. "I don't know guys, a horse like this belonging to the town...?" he asked. "It's also really far out..."
"Shut up John," the first man hissed.
Halt glared at the three men silently, though his attention faltered, when he saw Blaze. Gilan silent slipped through the trees, trying to get a good vantage point.
"We'd be a lot happier if the Rangers just left us alone." The biggest man spat. "Why don't we do the town a favor and get rid of this one, eh Duke?"
"I like that idea, Hans." The second man, Duke snickered and nodded, while the man they called John, stared at Blaze who galloped away fearfully. Gilan grabbed an arrow from his quiver and drew back his bow, as the biggest man, Hans, raised a large, steel sword over Halt.
Clang!
Gilan's arrow connected with the sword, ripping out of the man's hands. The three men jumped in alarm and looked around. Halt's concerned gaze shifted toward Gilan.
"There's two!" Duke cursed.
"I knew it," John hissed, narrowing his eyes.
Hans however, said nothing and sneered to himself, stretching out his wounded hand.
Gilan drifted through the trees, drawing back another arrow. He narrowed his eyes and let loose another arrow right at Hans' arm. Gilan stared in disbelief as the arrow bounced harmlessly off Hans' arm with a small clink.
"Nice aim, kid." Hans snickered pointed toward Gilan. "There go get him,"
"W-what but Hans," Duke began. "It's a Ranger-"
"Apprentice," Hans interrupted, holding up the arrow. "They use a different arrow than their mentors, now go get him."
Gilan blinked with confusion as the two men stalked forward carefully. Hans knew a lot about the Rangers, too much. Gilan drew back his bow and fired another arrow, hitting one of the approaching men in the chest, but the arrow once again bounced off. Flustered, Gilan drew his sword and held it firmly in his hands. He drifted into the shadows, evading the men carefully. Once one man approached, Gilan slipped behind them unseen, and unheard.
"Hans we-" Duke's call was cut short by a firm strike on the head with the hilt of Gilan's sword.
The man stumbled, but didn't fall. "You little brat!" he growled and whipped around, and whipped out his own sword.
He swung the sword fiercely at Gilan who blocked the vicious strike. Duke pulled his sword back and swung it, catching Gilan on the side. Gilan yelped and dove to the side, rolling onto the ground and once again blocking a fierce strike. He leapt to his feet and swung his sword at Duke's feet. The huge man jumped right as Gilan swung and landed on the sword, ripping it from Gilan's grip.
Gilan frantically scrambled away from the man and fumbled with his bow. Duke mimicked Gilan's attempt to disarm him by swinging the hilt of his sword at Gilan's feet. Gilan fell backward and hit his head on something hard on the ground. Gilan blinked as the trees began to spin. He heard loud ringing as he tried to get to his feet. John grabbed him roughly and pinned Gilan's arms behind his back and dragged him toward Hans.
"Well, well." Hans sneered. "What do we have here? Mentor and apprentice perhaps?"
Hans walked calmly to Gilan and stared at him for a moment before ripping Gilan's bow away from him. He snapped it in half, causing Gilan to flinch, then tossed the bow aside.
"You have a good aim, as I said before." Hans began. "But you'll find arrows to be quite useless against our armor."
He lifted his sleeve up a little to show shiny steel armor underneath. "Cost me a fortune, but it was worth it."
Worry flashed across Halt's eyes for just a quick moment, but he composed himself quickly. Duke glared murderously at Gilan who was swaying uneasily on his feet.
"Now I'm just curious about what you two were doing snooping around my town." Hans continued as if nothing had happened.
Gilan and Halt exchanged a quiet look but remained silent.
Hans shrugged as he turned to Halt. "Looks like I'll have to make you talk."
"I'm not talking." Halt said simply.
Hans smiled darkly and gestured to John. "Oh, I think you will." he snickered.
John pulled a long, shiny dagger out of his bag and held it against Gilan's neck.
"Especially with your apprentice's life in my hands."
Gilan elbowed John in the stomach but the large man only smirked and tightened his grip on the apprentice. Halt remained silent, but his worry grew more obvious.
"Tick tock Ranger." John snickered, pressing the knife harder against Gilan.
Halt growled with frustration and rose to his feet. "We were only doing as we were asked by our commandant," he lied. "He told us to go into town and see if there were any problems."
John shook his head skeptically and sighed dramatically. Gilan let out an involuntary whimper as blood began to appear under the knife.
"We don't like liars, Ranger." Duke sneered.
"It's not a lie." Halt insisted. "Now let him go."
Hans seemed to consider this for a moment. "Maybe you are telling the truth," he sighed. Then he shrugged and glanced at John. "Kill the apprentice."
"No!" Halt cried.
Suddenly, Blaze and a huge black horse burst from the bushes and charged at John. John cried out with alarm and shoved Gilan forward, leaping back. Gilan scrambled toward Halt who embraced his apprentice in a brief hug. Gilan glanced back at the black horse to see it had a rider.
"Go! Forget them just go!" Hans roared.
John and Duke hurried away, following Hans. The black horse and Blaze trotted toward the two Rangers. Halt stepped protectively in front of his apprentice and glared at the rider unsurely. Then without warning the rider pulled a small sphere out of their bag and threw it to the ground, engulfing the small clearing in smoke.
"Gilan!" Halt yelled when he heard his apprentice hit the ground.
Halt shook his head as dizziness slowly overcame him. The last thing he saw was the rider looming over him.
Halt's P.O.V
"Halt?" a loud voice called, and echoed in Halt's head. "Halt? Halt wake up." the voice persisted. Halt slowly opened his eyes and blinked.
"Crowley?" Halt mumbled.
"Yeah, it's me." Crowley responded. "You two didn't return yesterday, so I came to find you, but the rider took me here too."
"Rider?" Halt asked. Then he remembered.
"Gilan?" he asked. "Is Gilan alright?"
Crowley nodded nervously. "Yeah, yeah, he's just fine don't worry about him right now."
Halt eyed Crowley suspiciously and sat up.
"Where is he?" Halt asked. Crowley remained silent then spoke. "Who?"
"Gilan, you idiot!" Halt growled and got up slowly.
"Halt, I wouldn't do that if I were you, that knock-out stuff can have after effects."
Halt whipped around, almost flying off his feet. "Knock out stuff?"
Crowley nodded, "Yeah the rider likes his privacy, so he'll knock out the people he saves then brings them here and-"
"No, stop, you got me to change the subject." Halt grumbled. "Where is my apprentice?"
Crowley rocked back and forth on his boots and stared at Halt. "So he had a lot of harsh wounds, they said he was in the hospital wing."
Halt clenched his fists. "They? Who's they?" he barked. "And where are we? You know what forget it."
Halt marched toward the large wooden door and yanked, but it wouldn't move. He jiggled the handle, but the door stayed shut.
"We're locked in?!" Halt roared.
Crowley shrugged and looked out the barred window behind him. "Oh look at that, what a nice window..."
"Crowley!" Halt snapped. "We have no idea who these people are and they have Gilan!"
Crowley shook his head. "Gilan is fine trust me, I know these people they're-"
Crowley was cut short by an alarmed cry coming from what sounded like another floor.
"Halt!"
Halt froze, it was Gilan.
Gilan's P.O.V
Cold, that's all Gilan felt when he started to awaken. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced around. He was in a large room made of stone with a large wooden door to his left. Gilan shifted slightly but a sharp pain in his side stopped him. He tried to sit up to see what it was but he felt that his wrists and ankles were tied to the table he was on. He yanked on the ropes but they didn't move.
"Halt!" Gilan cried out fearfully.
A gloved hand clamped over Gilan's mouth, causing him even more alarm.
"Shut up!" a voice hissed. "Geez you're so loud, you're gonna give me a headache."
Gilan stared wide eyed at the dark cloaked figure hovering over him.
"Don't be alarmed, I'm here to help you," the figure said, pulling their hand way.
"Wha- but-" Gilan stuttered. "Where am I?"
The cloaked figure turned away. "In the home of the Rider."
"The what?" Gilan asked, glancing around the room. "Wait, if you're trying to help me, why am I tied to this table."
The cloaked figure turned back to Gilan. "To keep you here, the Rider doesn't want anyone to see his home without his permission." he explained. "You also need to rest, you and your mentor were very hurt."
Gilan stared at the figure quizzically. "Well, who are you then?" he asked.
"No one of relevance. Now I must be going."
"Wait, what! You can't just leave me here!" Gilan cried.
"Yeah, sorry but I can, and I'm going to so," The figure approached the door. "I'll be back in a few hours to see how you are doing."
With that the figure swung open the door and disappeared down the hall. The door slammed shut, leaving Gilan alone in the creepy room.
"This sucks." Gilan mumbled.
Heeeeey! We love reviews, they would be awesome sauce.
