Alone

The next morning

Halt woke Gilan and Tera before the sun rose above the treetops. "uh its to early" Tera complained. That got a chuckle out of Gilan and Halts mouth even twitched up. Tera, now fully awake, realized what see just said. "ya I have that effect on boys" she said as a cover up.

Gilan did his best to look stern but soon burst out laughing. The older ranger just crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "you to really should get going before you wake the whole forest up" he said annoyed at his two younger partners. "he's right. It would be better if we observed their movements before we find a way in" Gilan claimed becoming serious.

"ok you just tell me what to do and I'll do it" the girl said enthusiastically. "ok" Gilan shrugged. The young man turned an uncertain gaze to him mentor. Halt made a shooing motion with his hands, "just remember your training," he instructed. Gilan nodded and sighed before walking over to Tera. The young girl handed him a water skin, which he quickly drained.

"Lets go, we should stay together just in case" Gilan told Tera. The two youngsters nodded at Halt and took off on their journey.

+++ an hour of walking later

The forest. Pure green forest was surrounding them in all direction. All seemed peaceful with the birds singing a sweet morning tune. The other wild life were just awaking and making their way out of their dens.

But the young ranger knew nothing there was peaceful. He kept moving his eyes, they darted from place to place, he never left them on one spot for more than a second. Next to him, Tera kept as quiet as possible, she didn't really understand the need for silence but if the ranger was doing it, she should to.

Suddenly a twig snapped behind him. As quick as a whip could crack an arrow laid on Gilan's bow. He turned to look for who snapped the twig. His eyes lay on the dark haired girl. She smiled innocently at him and mouthed a sorry before starting to walk again. Gilan drew in a deep breath and placed the arrow back in his quiver before turning to join Tera, who was now a full meter ahead of him.

They continued walking for what seemed like hours for both of them. "pstt" Gilan heard behind him. He rolled his eyes and continued on begging in his mind for Tera to shut up. "pst" he ignored again. "pst" this time following the noise something knocked on the back of Gilans head. He pulled another arrow out and aimed it at his attacker. He was suppressed yet again to find it was Tera. "Will you shut up were getting closer you need to be quiet" he said in an almost inaudible frequency. "Are we there yet" she wined. Tera was by no means out of shape, she was just not used to the constant walking, and she had become quite bored. "yes we are almost there so shut up" hissed Gilan. He was become quite annoyed with this girl.

Tera seemed to get the message and was quickly silenced. Gilan knelt down next to a bush they had come across last time. He motioned for Tera to stay behind him. The girl however; did not listen and came to join him under the bush.

Gilan was becoming more annoyed with the girl by the second, "look if you want to stop these people we need to do this right so please do what I ask" Gilan half begged. "Ok" Tera said. Gilan turned his head back at the sound of a shout.

"Hey" someone screeched. "Well we are most definitely in the right place" Gilan said to himself. The two silently crept closer. Now Gilan could see perfectly. There was a camp of about ten men. They set their tents up in a small circle around a campfire. The tents circled together was supposed to provide a cover for the men, but to Gilan's advantage, whoever set them up did not do a good job.

The young ranger could see giant chunks in the line of tents, perfect for him to see through. He suddenly felt Tera tense. Gilan returned his gave to what she was watching and nearly jumped at what he saw. One of the men seemed to be looking at them but not seeing him. The man suddenly toppled over. Drunk Gilan thought in disgust.

The young ranger moved slightly to get a better vantage point. Halts voice suddenly popped into his mind, don't move you will give away your position and the cloak will be useless if your dead! Oh well, Gilan thought, I can't see from the other spot. He turned his head to look over at Tera.

Tera had tried to imitate Gilan with his silent movement to the next tree. Fortunately no one heard but Gilan. He gave her a look that said stop, but she seemed to not be looking at him. Tera came to a stop at the tree next to the ranger. Gilan gave Tera a glare and returned his gaze to the clearing.

By now the light was strong enough to see. The two had been walking a good portion into the day and were making even slower progress to the campsite., giving the sun time to go down.

They waited in complete silence for an hour or so, until the campsite was covered in darkness. Gilan had paid close attention to every part of the camp to find an opening to the circle. But the group was smart, something Gilan was surprised about.

They had made the circle of tents so someone couldn't enter without being heard or spotted. Darn he told himself this is going to be harder than I thought. Another thing, which disturbed him was that they had a sentry posted in the middle of the camp by the fire.

He wasn't to concerned, but this just showed how much they knew about what they were doing.

Gilan moved Tera back a few meters, much to her dislike, but she stayed quiet anyway when Gilan pointed out the problem. Now he was leaning against a tree, starring at the sentry. This was going to make things extremely harder.

He could take his chances and try to sneak in, but if he was caught the consequences weren't the best. Most of the men he noticed earlier were pretty well armed and looked like they knew how to use the swords and daggers they carried.

Gilan had only been in training a few months, but he had been in battleschool long enough to recognize a swordsmen when he saw one.

The sentry had looked at him again and Gilan fought the urge to dive behind a tree. Trust the cloak was now repeating in his brain every time the sentry seemed to look in his direction. Fortunately, the man still didn't see him.

Gilan decided against getting closer for now and made a motion for Tera to join him. "we'll wait until they change guards then we can go in" he told her. She looked at the guards and nodded her head yes. "wait wont an awake guard be more of a problem?" she asked Gilan. After all taking a man half asleep by surprise is a lot easier.

"yes but then we can take them both out and their wont be any more activity around here. And if the watch is just changes no one will come checking around here. Its also the only way we can get into the camp" he explained.

His plan was a bit risky but it would be important to accomplish the mission. Halt had said to get information on the campers, but something else was nagging him. The young ranger felt like there was more in there than he was going to expect.

A short while later the two heard the new guard stopping up to take his watch from the first. The second man swooned when he stepped up onto the rock that marked his sentry post. Still drunk Gilan thought.

He recognized the man as the guy he had witnessed earlier passing out by the fire. The band of criminals must be sure no one was after them if they put a drunk man on duty. At least it will be easier. The thought went through both of the young minds.

"Stay here" he mouthed to Tera as he drew his knife.

The two guard were still talking to each other about who knows what. After a closer inspection Gilan realized the first man was a little drunk to. Gilan cursed himself silently. He should have know. He could have just knocked the first guard out sooner.

They've hardly started the mission and had already screwed up. He told himself he better not do it again. One more mistake could get them killed. He would rather die than let Halt down.

Gilan went back to the problem at hand. How to know these two out without making a noise? He remembered something Halt had taught him a few months before. Slowly, silently he crept up to the drunk guards who were still unaware of the young rangers presence.

He was able to get just behind the first guard. Still they had not seen or heard them. The battle school side of Gilan wanted to give these two a lecture about there duties. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Fast as a whip he raised the knife and slamed the hilt to the back of the man's head.

He made no noise as he fell unconscious.

Gilan turned to his right quickly as he heard the shout of the other guard. Apparently he hadn't been drunk enough to not be able to speak. "intruder" he had yelled at the top of his lungs. NO Gilan thought! They couldn't get caught. He moved fast and managed to knock the other guard out. Who could put up on fight against Gilan.

He wondered if he had time to retreat and get him and Tera away. But that thought was crushed when two more people came into the smaller clearing. The two rushed towards Gilan and tries to stick him with a spear. The apprentice jumped backward and drew his throwing knife. He tried his best to fend off the two men, who were more skilled with their weapons than they looked.

He could not call to Tera in fear that they would get her. He just hoped that she backed away or retreated. He would have liked the latter more but he was certain that she would not abandon him. He felt a small rush of happiness as her thought about the loyalty his new friend had.

Gilan was starting to tire after defending himself for so long a time. The spears he was up against were made of dense wood and heavy metal and they shook his arms every time a blow landed. The two spear men had circled Gilan and he knew he couldn't go on much longer. A strike was coming down onto his right side and he pulled his knife up just in time.

But in his haste to defend from one person, he forgot about the other. Thick wood landed heavily on his back and brought him to his knees. This was followed by a strike to the head. Gilan's vision became blurry. "ha take that you little brat" someone had yelled at him. But his mind was to jumbled to figure out who. The last thing he heard before he slipped into darkness was a triumphant "Look who I found". He said as he pulled a struggling Tera behind him.

Ok so I have no excuse do not getting this done. But finaly its over, at least the chapter. Hope you like it!

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