A dull murmur of soft voices filled the room as the Rangers chatted quietly amongst themselves. Will made his way through the bunches of Rangers, and some called out more greetings to him. Berrigan rose and came over to Will. "Will, I see you finally made it. What happened?"

Will smiled wanly at him, avoiding the question. "I made it… In mostly one piece."

He raised an eyebrow. "Mostly?" Will's eyes drifted over to the form of Harrison, who was kneeling over something on the floor. Berrigan followed his eyes to where he was looking, and he sucked in a faint breath as he realized what had happened. He glanced back over at Will. "I think I'll… Come back later, alright?" He turned briskly and walked off through the people. Will watched him go. Then he stepped over a few more men, and stood next to the kneeling form of Harrison.

Trevor's body had been laid gently on the floor on top of some blankets that were stashed down in the room. His skin had gone from pink to a sickening pale color and his eyes were glazed over and cloudy. His arms and legs lay at strange, unnatural angles, and the blood around the shaft had dried and separated. Harrison just sat, silently staring at the lifeless body that was his apprentice. Will lowered his head, but couldn't hold back the dry heave that shook his whole body for a moment. But his stomach was already empty, so there was nothing to throw up. After Will's stomach had settled, he crouched next to Harrison, and gently touched Trevor's cold hand. It was clammy and dry… Not unlike the walls of the tunnel. Will snatched slightly as he frantically let go of the hand, and it dropped unceremoniously back on the blanket. He glanced nervously at Harrison, afraid he had seen him drop the hand and be offended, but he hadn't even twitched. Will waited another moment, regaining what was left of his composure, then hesitantly reached out and touched Harrison's uninjured shoulder. "Harrison? It's me, Will."

Harrison never took his eyes off Trevor, but said dully, "Hey, Will… "

Will squeezed his shoulder. "Come on, get up. You can't sit there all night."

Harrison didn't answer. He just stared at Trevor. Will waited for several minutes, and then decided enough was enough. He leaned closer to Harrison.

"Harrison… I want you to listen to me very carefully." Harrison didn't look at him, but he nodded his head slightly in Will's direction. Will pushed on. "Listen… You need to hear this."

Harrison still didn't look at him, but he mumbled, "What is it?"

Will sighed slightly. "Harrison… That's not Trevor. Do you hear me? What you're looking at… That's not the Trevor you remember." Harrison blinked a few times. "That body in front of you is not the Trevor you want to remember. That's just a body. Nothing else. True, Trevor used to be in that body, but now he's not. And staring at it isn't going to bring him back or make anything better." Harrison shifted positions. "The Trevor that you want to remember isn't in that body anymore, he's in here," and Will touched his sternum where his heart was, "and here," he said softly as he touched his temple. The haze was clearing from Harrison's eyes. "So, right now, you are going to come with me, and we are going to debrief the others, clean ourselves up, re bandage your shoulder, and get some food and water. The body will be wrapped up and put somewhere safe for now, and you are not going to sit next to it staring at it as if that's going to bring him back." Will paused and realized that the whole room had gone quiet, listening to him talk. Trying to hide his flushed face, he turned and waved his hand, gesturing for everyone to keep talking. They did, grudgingly, and the buzz of talking filled the room again.

Harrison glanced up at Will, his bloodshot eyes clear now. They were still terribly sad, but he had a new light of determination in them. "I… Alright." He took one last long glance at Trevor's body, before repeating to himself, "Alright."

He stood stiffly, and he and Will made their way silently over to a small group where Gilan and. few other Rangers was sitting. Will paused for a moment, stopping by the tunnel entrance. Harrison noticed and started to turn, but Will waved him on, saying, "It's alright, you go on."

Harrison met Will's eyes, and they both shared a sad, exhausted smile.

As Will began to turn away, Harrison spoke softly, so only he could hear. "Thank you."

Will raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"For… For saving my life." Harrison held out a hand, and Will took it and shook firmly.

"I know you would do the same for me. I just wish… I could have saved one more." Will had to fight to keep his voice from cracking.

Harrison let go of his hand and put it on his shoulder. "Will… I know you blame yourself, but I want you to know that I don't think either of us could have done anything to save him. We both did everything right… I guess it was just his time."

Will stared at him, his mouth slightly open, his face slack. "I know… I just need a minute. To think, that's all."

Harrison sighed. "Alright. Just.. Don't go thinking too hard. We need you out here, as clear headed as you can be. Because I am sure as hell not." Then he nodded, clapped Will on the back, left and sat down next to Gilan.

Will watched him go, his vision blurry and strange. He took a few uneasy steps into the mouth of the tunnel, continuing until he was shielded by shadow. Then he stopped and leaned heavily against the wall, his hands shaking violently.

What's happening to me?

His palms were sweating, his hands were shaking. His vision was blotchy and blurry, and he felt his heart pounding through every vein and artery in his body. Blood rushed across his eyes, and everything went red. He was very dizzy suddenly and he clutched the wall to keep from falling. After a long moment, the blood stopped rushing and his heartbeat slowed a little. He put his palms on his cloak to dry them, when he felt a long hard object in the pocket of his jerkin. He pulled it out with slightly shaking hands. It was the small piece of his mandola that he had picked up during the battle. It was jagged and torn on the edges, but the smooth wood polish was still there. The piece was soft and smooth, just as he remembered playing it, running his hands over the velvet wood. The mandola had been a Gilet, a beautiful and expensive instrument given to him by Lord Orman when he had saved Mackindaw from the Scotti. It had been with him through many an adventure, and he was suddenly struck by how sad he was to have completely lost all but this small piece of it. He ran his thumb across the honey colored wood and sighed. Then he noticed that he wasn't so dizzy any more. He stood warily, and seeing that he was back to normal, left the tunnel entrance, carefully stowing the small shard of wood back in his jerkin, right in his breast pocket over his heart… Right next to a letter Alyss had sent him a long, long time ago in Seacliff after the Mackindaw invasion. She didn't know that he had carried it him most every mission since they had gotten together. That letter had brought him happiness all those years ago, and every time he read it again, it made him remember her.

Will inconspicuously shook his head a few times to clear his thoughts as he made his way over to where Gilan, Harrison, and a few other Rangers were chatting quietly. They all looked up as he came and nodded in greeting, and Gilan stood up to meet him. He was gazing at Harrison's face warily, searching for any signs of emotion. But Harrison had shut down, and his face was a mask of stone. He was staring at the floor of the room in complete silence, not chatting with the others. But although he tried, he couldn't hide the deep sadness in his eyes, and Gilan glanced at Will. He seemed to analyze Will's face in the same manner, before saying, "How are you both doing?"

Will glanced at Harrison, and said, "I think.. We're both ready to do something about these blasted Temujai."

Gilan noticed that they both avoided the question, but didn't press them. "I think everyone else in this room is, too. So, I was thinking perhaps you and Harrison should fill us in on exactly what happened, and we'll all exchange a few important things to happen just to make certain we are all on the same page. Does that sound alright?"

Harrison nodded. "Sounds like a good place to start." He turned on his heel and strolled off towards another group of Rangers a few feet away. Gilan and Will made their way up to the largest corner of the room, and the room fell silent almost immediately. All eyes turned expectantly on the two young Rangers.

Gilan spoke first. "Let me first say it's a great relief to see a lot of us here unharmed. We were pretty lucky to not have more fatalities. But we don't have time for congratulations, on to the business at hand." He cleared his throat and spoke firmly now. "By now, you all have probably figured out that the Temujai attacked our Gathering just a few hours ago. First thing we're all going to do is count off by number to check who made it and who did not."

The room was silent for a long moment. Will spoke up. "Crowley and Halt aren't here. Let's just skip one and two and start with three." And so they all counted off. The counting went smoothly from three all the way until thirty. The room was silent for a moment, before one of the oldest Rangers in the Corps spoke up, Lionel. "Jonathan's thirty. He was shot in the first few seconds. Never even had a chance. Saw it myself." The room was dead silent as they all mourned his loss.

The Gilan nodded to the next Ranger, and they continued counting off, until they hit Harrison. "Thirty-nine, but my apprentice was shot. He died just an hour ago." The room was silent again as another loss was mourned.

Then they counted off the last few numbers, and Will finished off with "Fifty."

"So… Two deaths. We all miss Jonathan and Trevor, but it could have been a lot worse." The room nodded silently, their faces grave and tired. Gilan pushed on. "Now, before we move on, we need to get a count of the severely wounded. How many do we have?"

A good number raised their hands, at least five, Harrison being one of them. Some had broken bones, others sported deep gashes in various places, and still others had concussions. Gilan was another that raised his hand, and he winced as the movement made his broken ribs twinge.

"And last but not least, what about minor injuries? This included cuts, bruises, sprains and strains, that sort of thing?" Gilan asked. Now most of the rest of the room raised their hand, Will included. Most Rangers in the room sported a small cut or bruise on their face or arms. Gilan nodded as he counted everyone. "It seems we're all a little beat up, to say the least. Will, why don't you take over from here." He nodded to Will.

Will stepped forward, and began speaking. He filled them all in on where Halt and Crowley had disappeared off to, and what he had said to him. When he finished, the room was quiet as the Rangers all absorbed what he had said.

Preston, a Ranger from Merrick Fief, spoke up first. "So, let me get this straight. Halt left you before the fight even barely started… to go off on some hair-brained scheme about finding these blasted Temujai, and he left us all to clean up the mess?"

Will nodded, but said, "Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as that. He never told me explicitly, but I think he wasn't necessarily surprised when he found out it was the Temujai attacking us. He must have had some sort of inkling as to what their purpose was to showing up here, of all places."

"So after that, he told you to go back to Araluen? He wants us all to go to our nation's capital with a bloodthirsty tribe on our tail to meet up with our King?"

"In so many words… Yes, suppose that's it, in a nutshell."

Another Ranger spoke up, Henry. "And what about outside that nutshell? We have to fight this tribe off while we try to get all our wounded back across a few fiefs, and in the process be as inconspicuous as possible?"

Gilan said, "I know it sounds strange, but it's a good idea - "

"A good idea?" That was Preston again. "If anyone in any of the surrounding villages or fiefs realizes that we've all just been attacked, the robbers and murders will take advantage of our weakness. They'll practically take over the fiefs! Some of the Barons around here are hopeless without our help!"

"I know that full well, which is why I have a plan to travel in smaller groups in disguise. Then we won't be as easily recognized."

A low murmur spread across the group as the Rangers argued amongst themselves. The volume started to get louder and louder as the exhausted men's tempers flared and broke, giving way to shouting and yelling. Will's eyes widened in dismay as he realized what was happening. "Everyone… QUIET!"

All at once, the shouting stopped, and everyone turned to look at Will.

You're the only one I can trust to lead them all.

I know you can do it… Without me.

"I know the plan is unorthodox… And it certainly doesn't have a lot of hope. But it's better than every alternative. We can't stay here, but we can't go anywhere else. And we are going to need everyone here to help get all the wounded back safely. Now, if anyone has any other ideas that are better, please, say them now. Because I, and everyone else, I'm sure, would be delighted to hear another option." Will glanced around the room, his eyes narrowed, meeting every Ranger's eyes. But no one spoke up, and the room was completely silent. No one even moved.

"No one?"

Nothing. No sound, no movement. Just dead silence.

"Then I guess it's decided. Are we all clear on what we have to do now?"

Then men nodded.

"Then let's get to it."