Here is chapter 10. Sorry this took so long I don't even know what took so long other then I just haven't had the motivation to work much on anything. I hope this chapter makes up for the wait. I loved doing some research for this chapter but if anything is wrong please let me know because doctoring stuff isn't my thing. There is a Brotherband reference and some Nick Gil bonding. Also sorry if anyone is OC it has been a while since I read the books but a new one is coming out in August and I am super excited (if you are in Australia it will be out July 2nd but I am not in Austria).
Disclaimer: I am not John Flanagan so I don't own Ranger's Apprentice. I only own my OCs.
Chapter 10
The healer looked at Nick curiously he hadn't noticed the boy enter the room.
"He has a rough recovery ahead of him, but the healer is cautiously optimistic," Crowley finally managed to tell him. Halt gave the healer a warning look as if to worn him not to say anything contradicting. Neither Crowley nor Halt wanted to tell Nick the truth that Gil might die. Halt knew how devastating that would be.
"Rangers are tough," David said softly as he came in. Halt could tell how troubled his friend was.
"Who is watching our friends," Will asked.
"Miles," David said his tone indicating his displeasure that they should have even needed watching.
"Well it sounds like we are going to be here for a while. I am not leaving without Gil so I guess we will have to keep a guard on them till Gil has strength enough to travel," Halt said his tone making it clear he didn't want anyone arguing with him.
"That might be a while," the healer warned looking at Nick.
"Duncan needs to know what is going on here," Crowley muttered to himself.
"You could go ahead Crowley you will not be doing good here anyway. You could take David with you and our three brutes. Horace and Cassandra are likely going to be coming back from their thing before to long right?" Halt asked Crowley. Crowley had told him that Horace would be back before too long during the stakeout in case they needed extra help.
"Yea something like that Halt but I am worried about Gil too I don't want to leave him here alone," Crowley argued. Halt raised an eyebrow.
"He will not be alone remember I will be here," Halt reminded him dryly.
"The point is mute because I am not leaving my son here. What kind of father would I be if I did that. We can send a message to Horace and then he can drag their sorry butts back to Araluen," David said his tone brokering a end to the discussion.
It had been about a week since Gilan had been brought in and a week since word had been sent to Araluen. Gilan was fast asleep in his own private room and Halt watched from the doorway. The group had been rotating in shifts with one person keeping a eye on Gilan and another on Nick. They hadn't allowed the boy to see his mentor and it was a good thing too. Gilan was still very pale and even though the bleeding had slowed considerably it still needed constant changing. Gilan was forced to keep the leg completely still so it made sleeping difficult. None of the Rangers wanted to lie to Gilan's apprentice but they were all worried about him. Nick was still recovering from the beatings, but he also blamed himself for Gil's injury. If the boy saw how bad Gilan truly was, it was likely to tear him to pieces. The door opened.
"Any change?" Crowley asked softly as he came in to relive Halt.
"He is sleeping I think. No better or no worse," Halt said softly. Crowley sighed looking at the normally lively Ranger.
"David is devastated, Gil is his only child," Crowley said.
"He isn't going to die I will not let him," Halt said forcefully.
"Halt we have to be realistic you heard the healer. His chances aren't good. He is still really weak, the bleeding hasn't stopped, and he isn't sleeping properly," Crowley told his friend. He could almost feel the pain coming from Halt.
"I don't care what the healer says. He doesn't know Gil like I do. Gil will not die. He will fight he always fights," Halt said looking Crowley in the eye. Crowley saw the conviction there as if Halt really believed it.
"I hope you are right," Crowley said. Halt shook his head angrily and Crowley realized he was about to cry. The Ranger left the room in complete silence, but Crowley could tell from his body language that the Ranger was just barely holding himself together. "We need you Gil…all of us," Crowley said softly. Gil's consciousness was few and far between, but the healer had said to talk to him as if he was awake. To give him a reason to keep fighting.
"Halt?"
The Ranger blinked and turned around. He was sitting alone watching Nick, Maxon, and Maxon's mother, Clare, go over the courier code. It was his turn to watch the lad. Normally sneaking up on him was darn near impossible but Halt was exhausted, and his mind was spinning. Standing behind him was his beautiful wife. Pritchard was to her left.
"Pauline what are you doing here?" Halt asked her puzzled.
"We rode down with Rodney. Horace is going to take the prisoners back to Araluen for trial, but Duncan couldn't leave Cassandra at the moment because they just found out she is pregnant. So, Horace asked Rodney to come with him instead. We wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help," Pauline said. Halt sighed.
"Not much. We have been watching Nick and trying to keep him away from Gilan," Halt replied. Pauline raised an eyebrow.
"Why he is Gil's apprentice," Pauline said.
"I know but he is still hurting and if he knew how bad Gil was….I don't think Gil would want us to put him through that," Halt said. Pauline didn't say anything, but Halt got the distinct impression she disagreed with his reasoning.
"Could I see him dad?" Pritchard asked. Halt looked at his son.
"To what end?"
"To be a friend. I know I am younger then he is but I am also younger then anyone else here," Pritchard pointed out.
"Go ahead," Pauline said before Halt could object. Pritchard left Halt and headed over to where Nick was. He nodded greetings to the two other people there and then sat beside Nick.
"Pritchard," he said, and Nick looked over at him.
"Nick you live here?" Nick asked, and Pritchard shook his head.
"No, I live in Redmount. My mom came down here with Sir Rodney to pick up those three guys and I had to come with her. Now that I am here though I want to help," Pritchard said. Nick shook his head.
"I wish you could help Pritchard but all I really want is to see Gilan. The Rangers will not let me," Nick said.
"That is because they are worried about you," Pritchard said.
"All it is doing is making me more worried. If Gilan is going to be fine they should let me see him. It is like they think he is going to die," Nick argued.
"Then let's go," Pritchard said.
In three days they would go see Gil when the Rangers met up with Horace and Sir Rodney to take Alda, Bryn, and Jerome back to Araluen. No one would be watching Gil then and it would be easy to sneak in. Unfortunately for them they would come when Gil was at his worse. The day before Horace was set to head back Gil caught an infection. No one was really sure where he had gotten it from although the healer strongly suspected it was a delayed reaction from the knife. The wound on his thigh from where the knife had hit was red and inflamed with a foul odder. Gilan was hot to the touch and muttering incoherently. That was how the two found him.
"He looks awful," Nick whimpered. Pritchard didn't want to agree readily but there was no real way to dispute it. Pritchard felt sick and he realized why his dad hadn't wanted Nick to see his mentor.
"I am sure he will pull through. Gilan has to be tough to have survived five years with my dad," Pritchard said softly hoping his voice at least sounded convincing.
"I don't know. There was a knight in my home town that was injured. He caught an infection and looked like Gil. He didn't make it," Nick murmured.
"Maybe you should say hi to him," Pritchard suggested. Nick licked his lips and moved closer to his mentor. Gilan was shivering despite the beads of sweet on his forehead suggesting he was hot. Nick touched his shoulder and Gilan reacted violently. He jerked away from Nick and started shaking.
"Gil?" Nick asked fearfully hoping his mentor would hear him. Gil kept shaking and Nick had a thought. His mother would sometimes sing to him when he became scared. Maybe he could play for his mentor. "Keep watch," Nick said.
"Sure," Pritchard replied moving closer to the door. Nick pulled out his ocarina which had been returned to him and played a soft soothing song. It was an old nursery rhyme and it did the trick. Gilan seemed to relax to the song its soothing lyrics giving him some sort of safety net. Pritchard was so distracted he didn't catch his father or Will enter the room.
"Mind telling me what you two are doing here?" Halt asked softly not wanting to disturb Gilan.
"I wanted to see my mentor. I am not stupid the more you kept me away the more I realized how bad he was doing. I am not a child," Nick said looking Halt in the eye. Halt could see the anger there at being kept out of the dark. Pauline who had been looking for Pritchard gave Halt a knowing look.
"We thought we could help. He is sick dad," Pritchard added.
"He has an infection that they are trying to stop but it isn't looking so good. If they can't treat the infection he will die and he is getting worse," Will responded. He wasn't sure if Halt could get it out. The infection was slowly killing him and while Will would suffer from the loss it wouldn't hurt nearly as bad as it would for Halt.
"Is there anything they can do?" Nick asked keeping his emotions in check but only just.
"I don't know Nick the healer isn't giving us a lot of hope," Halt said and Will could pick up on the anger, the helplessness.
"Have they tried willow bark?" Pauline asked. Everyone looked at her.
"Willow bark?" Will asked puzzled.
"Yea I heard about it from an assignment I went on a few years ago. It was vague, but I did hear there was some success using it for some Skandian crew," Pauline said.
"You tried willow bark?" Halt asked the healer as he walked past.
"No, I doubt it will make any difference. The infection is killing him and there is no real proof that willow bark works," the healer responded.
"Try it anyway," Will said.
"If you want but it probably won't work," the healer said. He was greeted by glares from the Rangers and Pauline.
Two days later Halt and Nick were on watch. It was a normal day and even though Halt had his doubts about how Nick would cope with Gil's injury the boy was doing surprisingly well. He was playing his ocarina softly to the sleeping Gilan. The music was soothing not that Halt would bother to mention this to Nick. Halt did close his eyes though and took some comfort from the soft music.
"If you ain't playing at my wedding Nicky I will be sadly disappointed."
The two of them jerked up. Gilan's eyes were open and even though he was still pale his blue eyes were back to their lively self. He looked better then he had in days and more alert. The bed and pillow were wet from his sweet.
"Gil," Halt said softly as he approached him and lay a hand on his forehead. The fever was gone.
"I am going to make it Halt. You aren't getting rid of me that easily," Gilan said.
"Gil I am sorry," Nick said butting his way between Halt and Gil. The tall Ranger gave him an easy smile.
"Don't be sorry Nick. You did everything right besides if you weren't here I would never had heard that song. My mother used to play it to me it felt like she was here….thank you," Gilan said.
"I overheard Halt telling Will it sounds like I am killing a duck," Nick said, and Halt flushed embarrassed. He hadn't meant for Nick to hear that. Of course, he didn't think Will or Crowley were particularly good either, so he wasn't that good of a judge.
"Don't listen to him Nick it was beautiful and I will miss it when you are gone," Gilan said. Nick grinned.
"I will be sure to drop by to play for you but why wait," Nick said and tried some more. Gilan fell back asleep to song.
"Any change?" Crowley asked that night.
"Yes…he is going to make it," Halt replied.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Gilan is going to make it so that put some minds at ease. I don't know how many chapters I want focused on Gil's recovery but I do want the Ranger Gathering in here somewhere. Let me know.