Halt was still on the ground minutes later, staring numbly up at the sky in mute despair. The others had formed a circle around him, fending off the remaining Temujai until he could regain his feet. For that he was grateful. The Curse of Achilles rendered him nearly invulnerable, but if anyone could find his weak spot, it would be one of those cursed monsters. The back of his neck throbbed at the thought.
Finally he mustered the strength to pull himself to standing. The last Temujai disintegrated to dust before his eyes, one of Gilan's knives slitting its throat. The demigods who'd surrounded him - Horace, Gilan, and three campers he didn't know - turned to look at him. Once they saw he was up, the three who didn't know him wandered off with a nod of farewell and some frightened glances. Horace and Gilan just gazed bleakly at him.
Halt had no idea what to say to them, so he said nothing. In the sudden silence a dull ringing had beset his ears. It was the absence of battle that made you sense it most keenly: the absence of brave cries, of dying groans, of weapons clanging against each other.
Similarly, it was Will's absence that made Halt realize how much he had lost.
He turned and walked three, four, five paces to retrieve his fallen longbow. He eyed it heavily as he picked it up, wishing things had gone differently - that he'd been able to keep hold of the bow, that the Temujai hadn't tackled him in the first place, that Will hadn't used his powers like he knew he was forbidden to. But they hadn't.
He slung the bow over his shoulders and checked that he had both knives. He did. He was just about to suggest to Gilan they go and scavenge arrows from the field when he heard a cry from behind him.
"Will! Where's Will?"
It was...Alyss, Halt thought her name was. He vaguely remembered her from months ago when he'd first recruited Will as a Ranger. They had seemed to be fairly close back then. Halt thought he remembered her being one of the ones Ferris had blackmailed Will with.
When they'd ridden into Camp Half-Blood earlier, Halt had seen Will as he'd set eyes on her again. It had been an almost amusing scene even in the midst of the looming war. Will was besotted with her.
Now as he saw the fear and dread in her expression as she ran towards them, he knew the feeling must be mutual.
"Miss Alyss," he said gently, drawing her attention towards him. She saw his face and hers crumpled.
"Is he...?"
"He was taken by the Temujai. He was unharmed, and should remain that way."
Gilan's jaw tightened in Halt's periphery. Both Rangers knew the last part of that sentence was a lie. The Temujai had taken what they saw as a threat and a valuable target - better yet, once they got back to whoever was in charge of them and could recognize such things, a Ranger's apprentice. If the Temujai didn't hurt or kill him for what he'd done to them in this battle, they would certainly torture him for information. And Will, as brave as he might be, wasn't even seventeen. He stood no chance in an interrogation. And Halt, for all that he might grudge him otherwise, could not grudge him for that.
Alyss put a hand to her mouth. Her eyes watered and she blinked back tears.
"I...see," she said at last. Then she resolutely straightened, eyes hardening like flint. "Well, we must get to work then, mustn't we? We can hardly expect him to get back here by himself."
Halt gave her an appraising glance. She was a daughter of Athena, if he wasn't mistaken. Though he was used to her being soft-spoken and even-tempered, he wasn't surprised that she had a strategist's command in her as well.
"That we cannot," Gilan broke in cheerily. "He trips himself up on the way out the door in the morning! If he tries to break out..."
He trailed off, a grim looking returning to his eyes. Suddenly no one wanted to speak.
Then Alyss put in, "He'd trip over his own cell's keys, of course. We'd better be there before that happens to him, or we might never get a chance to kill the Temujai ourselves - they'll die laughing, instead."
That produced a few small chuckles - mostly Horace and a few other scattered demigods. Gilan cast a grateful look at her.
"We'd best get moving, then," Halt said, beginning to walk back to camp. "Miss Alyss, as leader of your cabin, if you wish to look after your siblings first, that would be understandable. We're going to make a report to the Ranger Commandant before informing Chiron of what happened."
There was a brief flash of hesitancy in her eyes, before she nodded. "Very well, Ranger. I'll tend to my siblings, but I want to join you in speaking to Chiron. Will is my friend, and I'm not the only one here who wants to get him back."
Halt remembered the two other campers who'd been included in Ferris's blackmail, and wondered if those were the ones Alyss mentioned. "Any assistance is welcome."
Alyss nodded again and moved to walk away, then paused. "By the way, you don't have to call me 'miss.' It's just Alyss."
"Then you can drop the 'Ranger,' as well," Halt returned, before the slightest hint of a smile flew across his face. "Call me Halt. It's what my friends do."
Alyss smiled. "I'll see you soon, Halt."
Halt and Gilan bid similar farewells to her and Horace before they departed. They headed straight towards the fountain they remembered being right outside the Big House. The spray created a perpetual rainbow that made it easy to throw in a drachma and order, "Ranger Commandant Crowley."
Crowley's image bled through the water hollowly. He looked even more tired than he had the day before. Behind him ran a moving array of marble columns and bronze braziers. He was still on Olympus; they'd apparently caught him in the middle of walking somewhere. As soon as he saw their faces, he stopped. His lips tightened as though preparing himself for bad news.
"Halt," the man greeted. "You look worse for the wear."
"I suppose I do," he responded.
Crowley sighed. He said resignedly, "I know that look on your face. What happened?"
Halt allowed his shoulders to drop fractionally. He didn't want to admit what had happened. It was never easy to talk about these things. But, as a senior Ranger, such was his duty.
"You were right in expecting the Temujai to attack Camp Half-Blood. We barely got here before they did. It was a lot more than we'd been expecting, too. I'd say it must've been over a hundred."
Crowley's face turned grimmer. "Over a hundred? How many casualties on the camp's side?"
"We haven't made a count yet, but I don't think there's more than a few dozen dead or injured. Peleus made a fair dent in them by himself. Will also..." He paused.
"Halt, did something happen to Will?"
"I'm getting there," the man snapped. It took him a moment to go on. "Will used his powers in an unprecedented way that killed two dozen of them instantly. That, and the way he organized the campers' defense, significantly lowered the casualty count. But it also made him a target for the Temujai. They're more cognizant than we'd thought - they're able to form battle-lines and change their strategy intelligently. They might also have some form of hive-mind communication. After Will killed so many of them, they began to recognize him as a threat. So they...took him. He's gone. I was too late."
He bowed his head, a heavy, empty feeling rising up inside him.
"Halt..." Crowley looked at him with all the pain and sympathy of a lifelong friend. He knew exactly how much Halt had lost and exactly how this loss weighed on him. "You did the best you could. There was nothing more you could've done."
Halt nodded. He appreciated his friend's faith in him, in being able to say that without even being there. "Once we talk to Chiron about what happened, we're going to track them down."
Crowley closed his eyes for a moment, looking like he did not want to say what he did next. "No."
A pause.
"No?"
The temperature plummeted. Halt, eyes dark and cold, met Crowley's gaze with a scowl.
But Crowley just sighed, long and tired. "We need you there, Halt. Camp Half-Blood just fended off an attack that could've devastated it, had you not been there. There's no telling when the next attack will come, and reinforcements won't arrive for another two days. If you leave, you'll be dooming hundreds of campers."
"Will killed more of them alone than Gilan and I combined did," Halt argued. "Getting him back would be the best way to ensure the camp's defense."
Crowley frowned. "You said it yourself, Will wasn't even supposed to use his powers like that in the first place. That's hardly an every day occurrence, and I don't think it's one you want him to repeat."
Halt remembered the terror in Will's eyes, the power cascading out of his control, and knew that it was not something he ever wanted to see again.
"Come on, Halt. Will's resourceful. He's been through worse than this and made it out just fine. He'll be back here in no time."
Halt opened his mouth to argue some more, to demand he be allowed to go, but reluctantly stopped. Crowley was right. Camp Half-Blood needed him. And he had never been one to put his own interests above the world's. Will was resilient, and he would no doubt either escape on his own or, failing that, be released once they put an end to the Temujai once and for all.
That didn't mean he had to be happy about it, though.
"Fine," he said irritably. "Fine, we'll stay."
Crowley nodded, looking relieved. "I'll contact you later for the full report. Do whatever you see fit for repairs; I trust you to know what's necessary."
Halt nodded tersely, jaw clenched.
Crowley moved to walk away, then stopped. "And Halt? Don't blame yourself for that. That wasn't your fault."
Rather than respond, Halt swiped a hand through the mist, ending the conversation. He stood there for a moment, restrained fury in his eyes, then turned to Gilan.
Who was just as angry as he was. But at a different person. "What the Hades, Halt? We could be tracking Will down right now! You're just going to let Crowley order you around like that? He-"
"Is the Ranger Commandant," Halt cut in, deceptively mild. "And outranks me, if you hadn't noticed."
Gilan scoffed. "When has that ever mattered to you before? This is your apprentice, Halt! He's not even seventeen and he's probably being interrogated as we speak!"
"Will can handle it," Halt said, not fully believing it himself.
"Maybe, if he were trained! Rangers aren't even taught how to handle interrogations until third year, and Will's barely into his second. Come on, Halt - at least think of all the information they could be getting!"
Halt's lips tightened. He was forced to remember a time when Will had been giving information out, only willingly. What's to say this wasn't a repeat? Then he scolded himself. Will hadn't want to do that in the first place; he would hardly want to do it now.
"He's just an apprentice, a second year like you said. There isn't much he could give them that they'd want to know."
Gilan's eyes were dark with betrayal. "Will is your apprentice, yet you're acting like you don't give a damn. Have you still not forgiven him? Was trying to give up his own life for you again not enough for you? When are you going to pull yourself together and stop grudging him for something he's tried to amend time and time again?"
"Enough," Halt snapped. "Crowley's already given his orders. What do you want me to do? I can't go against them, and Crowley would never change his mind."
"Then go to Apollo! Go to Zeus himself! I don't care, do something! Isn't Will worth that to you?"
Gilan spread his hands wide, eyes angry and pleading all at once. For a moment he saw Halt's face darken in pain and thought he'd won. But Halt just sighed.
"Will is worth a lot, Gilan. But I can't put him over the entire country. The Temujai, if unchecked, could deal untold damage to America. The Rangers need to take them down."
"We have 88 other Rangers, not even including their apprentices. You'd think that would be enough."
Halt just looked away. He could only argue so much when he wanted to do the same thing as Gilan. But he was Apollo's most trusted Ranger, and he couldn't take his duty lightly. He'd had the weight of responsibility on him for so long that he knew what would happen if he were to take it off.
It was probably fortunate that Alyss chose that moment to come into view. She had changed back into her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans. She'd cleaned off the battle grime from her skin and tied her hair back into an elegant and ornate, but still functional, braid.
As she came closer, she raised a hand in greeting and the three of them exchanged pleasantries. She scanned the two Rangers' faces carefully, almost worriedly, and Halt knew that she knew, or at least suspected, they'd been arguing. But she wisely said nothing, just walked with them into the Big House.
Chiron had fought in the battle as well so he was in his centaur form, dressed for battle with a quiver slung over his shoulders. They talked for a bit about the battle: Halt inquired about the casualty count, and Chiron told him there were two dead, three dozen injured. It was grim news that this war had already claimed the lives of two demigods, but they were all thankful it hadn't yet claimed more.
Then they got to the reason they had come. Chiron asked where Will was and Halt was forced to reply, grinding out the story once more. At its conclusion, Alyss gracefully broke in by asking permission to lead a quest to track him down and free him.
Halt had to admit he hadn't seen that coming. He exchanged a surprised look with Gilan. Knowing that there were people looking for Will - as comparably inept as they might be - would ease Halt's mind quite a bit. At least someone would be looking for his apprentice.
Chiron hesitated, then acquiesced. He didn't want to lose campers, but Alyss was surprisingly persuasive and, Halt thought dryly, would probably find her own way to help Will if Chiron didn't let her lead a quest. The centaur probably agreed with him.
"Do I need to consult the Oracle?" Alyss asked next. "It's customary before a quest, after all."
"No, my dear, that shouldn't be necessary. Gods willing, this will be quick. He should be back here in no time. It'd be ill manners to consult the Oracle on something like this, what with the Earth Mother's rising." His expression turned grim. "The Oracle has enough to worry about already; we won't give her more. So all you have left to do is select two people to go with you, and you can be off. Godspeed, my child."
Alyss smiled softly at him and pressed a kiss on his cheek. "Thanks, Chiron."
Then she turned to Gilan and Halt.
"I'd like to ask you to join me on my quest," she said formally. "I know the circumstances are odd, as you are older and higher in rank, but I'll really be leader in name only. I know how powerful Rangers are and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have aid me."
Halt's heart tightened in regret. He opened his mouth to speak, but Gilan beat him to it.
"Unfortunately we'll have to decline. Our Commandant" - here Gilan's tone took on a sharp, almost hostile edge - "has refused to let us leave the camp undefended. We have to stay here. Otherwise there's nothing that could keep us from joining you."
Alyss's eyes flashed with disappointment, but she nodded. "I understand. The camp's defense is very important, after all. There are two others I was thinking of asking. They're strong and well-trained. We'll get him back, I promise. Even if we have to go to the depths of Tartarus itself."
"I'm hoping you won't have to go that far," Halt said dryly, "But may the Fates be with you. Travel well."
She turned and was gone, and all Halt's hopes for Will's safety with her. If she couldn't free Will - if her quest failed...
Halt didn't know what he'd do.
A/N: please review! I'd love to know your thoughts on how the story's progressing ❤
