Grab some drinks! Get out the confetti! My tenth chapter! Thanks to everyone who's read this so far, and especially to those who have reviewed!

I'm afraid there's a bit more Halt OOCness here, but it's once again part of the story. Please read and review!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series.

I do own Pandora the sorceress, though. Oh, and the criminals mentioned in this chapter and the previous one as well. And some arrowroot biscuits!

Halt's head pounded. He could feel himself swaying slightly, constantly bumping into something broad and rough. He groaned lightly, finally opening his eyes. For a moment, his vision swam, but as soon as it cleared, he realised everything was upside down.

He'd been slung over someone's shoulder, and what he was bumping into was their bony back as they walked along.

He wondered how he'd gotten there. Then everything came back to him.

Simply out of spite, he'd been stupid enough to wander into the forest alone while Will and Gilan were out. Then, knowing his luck, he'd run into probably the only criminals in the entire forest at the moment.

He pushed himself up off the man's back so he could see where he was, but the first thing he saw was that gap-toothed man again. He swallowed as Gap-tooth grinned evilly.

"Morning sleepyhead," he said. "We were wondering when you'd wake up, but we didn't think it'd be for a while yet."

"Is he awake, Barney?" someone called from the front.

"Yeah," Gap-tooth – whose name was apparently actually Barney – replied. "Probably wondering what we're going to do with you, aren't you kid?"

Halt glared, "As a matter of fact, I was. What on earth do you hope to gain from kidnapping a common child, anyway?"

The three – Halt could only assume there were that many – men laughed.

"We know you're not just a common child, kid. You were wearing this when we found you, remember?" Barney held up Halt's little silver oak leaf by its chain.

That suddenly made the boy furious.

"Give me that!" Halt roared, lurching forward, which caused the man carrying him to accidentally let go.

Halt let out a short yelp of pain and surprise as he toppled off the man's shoulder and landed flat on his back, the impact knocking the air out of his lungs. He lay there for a moment, winded, as the three men stood above him. Barney dangled the oak leaf above his head.

"Did you want this kid?" he mocked, laughing as Halt reached to grab it and he pulled it away just in time. "Sorry, but I'm afraid it's ours now. You let it go."

"It's mine…" Halt said breathlessly, trying to scrabble to his feet, but Barney just shoved the child back on the ground.

"It hurt when Doug dropped you, didn't it kid?" the oldest of the three men asked. "And if you keep giving him trouble when he's trying to carry you, I'll make it hurt even more; understand?"

Halt just glared. He'd recovered his breath by now, and had pulled himself up to sit on the forest floor. He suddenly leapt up and attempted to grab his oak leaf off Barney again, but the man was one step ahead of him and swung his arm up until he was holding the silver chain far above his head.

"What did I tell you kid? This is ours now," he said, then cried out in pain as Halt slammed his heel into the man's foot.

Doug lunged for the boy, and managed to get his arm around him. Halt kicked and struggled uselessly in his relentless grip, then finally resorted to biting the man's arm – hard. Doug recoiled in pain, clutching his injury.

The oldest man tackled Halt to the ground and pinned him there, slamming his elbow into the back of the boy's head and earning a loud wince from him. That hit, on top of the more severe one he'd received earlier, sent his head spinning. The pounding returned, and he clutched his head, groaning. Through his dizziness, he heard the jeering of the three men as Doug slung him back over his shoulder. The change in orientation just made the boy's condition worse, and he let out a little pained whimper.

He couldn't believe he'd gotten himself into this! There was no way out of it now; he was absolutely helpless in this state.

"Don't worry kid," he heard Barney say through the pounding in his head, "I'm sure daddy will come and save you soon."

Halt sat against the tree on the edge of the clearing, his hands and feet bound tightly. He'd tried wriggling out of the rope several times already, but each time someone had come along and caused him pain in some way or another, so he'd given up.

The three men he'd first encountered had only been part of a bigger party; the band of thieves that had recently terrorised Wensley. Their leader, a burly middle-aged man, was considerably better groomed than the others; for a start, his clothes were actually clean, and his beard was neatly cropped. Everyone else was somewhat clean, but they all still easily passed as unkempt.

There must have been ten criminals all up, mostly men bar one young woman. She was horribly spoken and threw curses left, right and centre. She may have been beautiful once, but Halt guessed that 'once' was a long time ago. Her blonde hair was shaggy and unevenly cut, even worse than his own, only it was far shorter. Now she was moving towards him.

"Hullo, kid," she smiled, but it only made her more unattractive; her teeth were hideously yellow. "I hear your daddy's one of them Rangers."

Halt said nothing. He was beginning to feel a little nervous, especially now that he had spotted the dagger at the woman's hip.

"Well?" she persisted. "Is he?"

"That doesn't concern you, or anyone else in this miserable clearing for that matter," he grumbled.

"I dunno who taught you your manners, kid, but they're rotten, you know," the woman scowled.

"Yours aren't exactly brilliant either. What are doing you over here, anyway? Are you here to ask me more about my daddy?"

The woman looked indignant, "Actually, I came here to give you this," she showed him the silver oak leaf Barney had taken from him, "but if you're going to be rude about it, I'll keep it."

"No!" Halt shouted suddenly, then checked himself. "I'm sorry. Could I have it?"

The woman shrugged dismissively, then tossed the oak leaf to Halt. He caught it in his bound hands, and inspected it critically, ensuring no one had done any damage to it. Then he looked up suspiciously at the young woman, wondering why she was still here.

"Why are you being nice to me anyway?" he asked. "You could've kept this."

Then a wicked smile spread across the woman's face, and Halt realised her kindness had been an artifice.

"Because I'm about to take you to the boss, kid, and he wants to know a little more about you," she explained.

She crouched over and untied Halt's legs, then pulled him up to stand. She shoved him towards the large fire in the centre of the clearing, where most of the criminals were having a boisterous conversation. She led him to the leader of the party, the middle-aged man with the cropped beard. He smiled thinly at the boy standing before him.

"Afternoon, kid," he greeted. "How are you?"

Halt wasn't sure what it was about this situation, but his heart was suddenly racing. He felt a strange, sickening sensation in the pit of his stomach that he hadn't felt for years.

It was almost as if he was… afraid.

He wasn't even sure why. He'd been in far worse situations, with far more threatening enemies; yet right now, his throat had gone dry.

"Alright kid, about that oak leaf you were wearing," the man continued. "Forrest told me it's a Ranger's mark, so why have you got it?"

"My father found it once, near an old battlefield" Halt lied through his teeth. "Someone must have lost it during battle a few years ago or something."

The man just raised an eyebrow, "What does your father do for a living then, kid?"

"He's a farmer."

"Then why didn't he sell the oak leaf? It's silver; he could have made a fair bit out of it."

Halt cursed under his breath. That was the only flaw with his story.

"I liked it, and this year's harvest had a fair yield, so he let me keep it," Halt tried.

He swallowed. The man wasn't buying his story at all.

"I don't like liars, kid, and you're one of them. You're linked to the Rangers; I can tell."

Halt put on a false look of defeat, "Fine. My father was a Ranger. He was killed when I was only an infant and I kept the oak leaf to remember him by."

"So daddy's dead, is he kid?" the man asked.

Halt nodded. The man finally seemed to believe him.

"Very well. But the Rangers are thick as thieves, so whether your father's dead or not, one of them are going to know you, and they're going to want to save you. They'll still pay a small ransom," the man stated nonchalantly. He looked up at the woman standing behind Halt, "Make him appear a little more… hurt. That might encourage the Rangers to cooperate."

Halt's eye's widened. The woman grabbed his shoulder and tried to pull him away, but he began to struggle. One of the men came to help her, wrapping his arms around the boy and lifting him into the air. The woman managed to get a hold of Halt's feet and bind them again, then her companion carried him away from the fire and dropped him in the snow.

Halt let out cry of fear as the woman stood over him with a cudgel raised above her head, ready to bring it down on him. He tried to shield his head, bracing himself for the blow, but it didn't come.

Instead, he heard a sudden shriek of agony from the woman above him, and he looked up to see an arrow protruding from her arm, which had just then dropped the cudgel with a thud beside him. Halt's gaze darted around the clearing, until it fell upon the short cloaked figure that just stepped out of the trees.

"Will!" the boy called to the Ranger, trying harder than ever to pull free of the ropes binding his hands and feet together.

Will quickly looked at the boy, then nocked another arrow and drew his longbow, aiming for the woman's head.

"Untie him," he said simply.

The woman moved to obey Will with her one good arm, but her leader stopped her.

"Wait," he said. "What if she doesn't?"

"Then I'll have to put an arrow through her. Or, better still…" Will moved his bow until the arrow was now trained on the leader's head, "…I'll put one through you."

The man didn't move, "Well done. But if you shoot me, my men will be on you and the kid in the blink of an eye."

"Then we have ourselves an interesting problem, don't we?" Will said coolly.

"Indeed we do. Now, we're willing to leave the boy alone if you cooperate."

"And what does that involve?"

"Gold," the man said. "Give us gold and we'll give you the boy."

He nodded to Barney and within seconds the man had Halt in a headlock and a knife at his throat.

"Will!" Halt urged his apprentice.

He couldn't keep calm any longer. The uncharacteristic fear he'd been feeling had overwhelmed him suddenly, and made tears roll down his face against his will. His eyes were wide with terror and he had broken out in a cold sweat.

"Let him go or you're a dead man," Will reminded the leader.

"Shoot me and you're a dead man," the man countered. He sighed, "Look, maybe I was too forward in asking for a ransom for the boy-"

"You can say that again," Will interrupted.

The man ignored him, "-but I'm willing to amend the deal. If you let us go with the booty we'll drop the boy off at the Tarbus River on the way."

"Not good enough," Will replied. "I want what you stole as well."

"What if we left half the gold and the crops?" the man offered.

"What if I shot you right now?"

"Then the boy would be dead before you can say 'arrow.'"

Will raised an eyebrow, "Actually, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

The man frowned, but before he could speak, Barney cried out in agony, dropping Halt in the process and falling to the ground. It was then that everyone saw the arrow in the back of his shoulder. Then within several blinks of an eye, five other men were on the ground, writhing in pain with arrows sticking out of one part of their body or another. When Gilan then strode out of the trees, the rest of the criminals were speechless. With only a few of them still standing, they were no hope against the two Rangers.

"That's better," Gilan said finally, moving to untie Halt.

Will watched the remaining thieves, daring one of them to move now; wisely, none of them did. When Gilan was finally done pulling Halt free of the ropes, he nodded towards the trees.

"Run. We'll come and get you when we're finished here," he promised.

Halt didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled to his feet and sped out of the clearing. He ran as far as he saw fit, which was until he could no longer see any immediate danger, then decided to scamper up a tree. Logic told him nothing could get him up there. He was safe for now.

Still, his heart was racing and he felt that cold stone of fear in the pit of his stomach. Why was he so scared? Will and Gilan were sorting out those criminals right now; they no longer had him. That didn't explain why his hands were trembling slightly, though. He still didn't feel safe, and he wouldn't until he was no longer alone.

So he waited, plastered to the tree, too inexplicably terrified to get down.

"Halt!" Will called through the empty forest. "Halt, where are you? Come out already!"

He sighed nervously. Halt had run off over an hour ago, and while Gilan had escorted the criminals to Castle Redmont, Will had set out to find his mentor. There had so far been little signs of the boy however.

Halt thought he heard something. It sounded like… footsteps? Who could that be? he thought in alarm. Of course, it could just be Will or Gilan, but Halt had a strange premonition that it was someone with more sinister intentions. He heard the footsteps coming closer, and he swallowed, his knuckles turning white with the force he was using to grip the branch he sat upon.

"Halt!" someone called nearby. "It's me, Will! Where are you?"

Halt looked out of the tree to see his former apprentice scratching his head in confusion, only metres from the boy's hiding place.

"Will!" he cried, scrambling down from the high branch of the tree.

He ran flat out towards the Ranger and threw his arms around the young man, burying his face in his shirt. An incomprehensible string of endless words left his mouth as he began to let out little frightened sobs, overwhelmed with relief that he was finally safe from…

Halt opened his eyes. He realised he had his arms wrapped around something as if his life depended on it, and looked up to see the bewildered face of Will.

He suddenly leapt back from the Ranger as if he'd been burnt.

"Sorry Will," he stammered. "I don't know what came over me. I guess I was just a bit… shaken."

Pandora laughed as she stumbled up the stairs of the inn to her room, a young man following her with obvious amusement. She'd had a wonderful night with the boisterous visitors of the inn - laughing, chatting and drinking. But now it was time for bed, and she took the adhesion to her night time routine very seriously. She turned to the young man behind her, the two of them still laughing their heads off. She suddenly drew a dagger and held it before him threateningly.

"Beat it," she grinned.

The man looked drunkenly at the weapon, then the humorous expression on Pandora's face, and just laughed harder. She laughed with him too, as she walked to the door of her room.

"I said beat it!" she suddenly shouted angrily, holding her dagger out in front of her and chasing the man back down the hall and out of her sight.

She sighed. That was better. She wandered into her room and washed her face, preparing herself for bed.

Now that the Ranger Gilan had left his fief to help Halt, Pandora planned to travel north east to Whitby to take a few souvenirs while he was gone. The fief was presently without a Ranger, she'd heard, as Gilan had decided it had been too quiet lately to worry about finding someone to temporarily replace him. That would make her job a thousand times easier.

Then she realised that while Gilan was with Halt, they were probably trying to find her. After all, she doubted the Ranger liked his present condition. She shrugged; they probably think she's still heading south, so she should be fine. Right now, she should focus hitting Whitby.

Once again, however, she wondered how Halt was coming along. He seemed like the stoic, fearless type, so today would have been… interesting, she assumed. The poor man. The third stage of the spell wasn't pleasant for anyone, especially someone who seemed to attract trouble as much as he breathed air.

'Fear.'

And that's it for another chapter! What did you think? Please review!

I mean come on; it's been ten whole chapters, now! Surely you'd have the decency to review once? If you're going to review at all, the tenth chapter is definitely a good opportunity (unless you're saving your review for the last chapter; that's alright too).

I can't tell you how long it'll be till the next chapter, I'm afraid, because I'm going away for a week soon, and I'm pretty busy till then.

Either way, see you next chapter, and don't forget to review!