Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or any of its characters
Gilan stood up carefully and peered over all the tents. Nobody was moving around and the fires were just red coals. He smiled and crawled into his tent to grab the papers. He got out of his tent and peered around again. When he saw the coast was clear, he started to go around to the tents and slip the papers in between the flaps. A few times he heard the inhabitants stir but nobody awoke. He went to all tents except for his and Halt's, when he got to Crowley's main tent he dropped one of the special letters in. When he got back to his tent he went to Will's tent and put a special note inside also. It was late and he was tired but he was smiling like a madman. He crawled into his tent and settled down. Soon he was asleep.
He woke to the noise of shuffling outside his tent. He opened the flaps and wiped his blurry eyes. He saw Halt pointing his bow up at the tree where Will had spent the night. Gilan crawled out of his tent and walked up beside Halt as he was searching for Will's resting place.
"The sun just rose, what are you doing up so early?" By the looks of it, Gilan suspected Halt was about to give Will a rude awakening.
"Waking Will up. Now keep your voice down," Halt said in a whisper.
Halt found Will and raised his bow. He raised it so the arrow would strike the trunk above Will's head by an inch or two. He released the arrow and automatically got another arrow. He shot this one to the right of Will's face. The arrows thudded into the wood a second apart.
Will jumped as the arrows struck and he started to fall. He caught onto some branches and managed not to fall. Down below he could hear Gilan laughing and he could sort of see Halt's shape watching him. He was in an uncomfortable position and looked like he was in a hammock of branches.
"What the heck Halt?" He shouted down. Gilan continued to laugh.
"What is a heck?" Halt shouted up. Will ignored him.
"Get me down from here!" Will felt branches poking him all over.
"That's your problem! You're the one who decided to fall off the branch!" Halt called up. Gilan was laughing his head off as Halt walked away to set up the fire.
Will managed to get into a manageable position to climb down safely after a while of fighting the branches. He climbed down and jumped the remaining two feet when he arrived at the bottom. He went over to the snorting Gilan and delivered a slap to his arm.
"What was that for?" Gilan rubbed his arm while smiling his head off.
"You could have warned me!" Will shook his head dismissing the matter. "Halt's getting pretty mad don't you think?" Will glanced at his old mentor who was getting the pot of water to make coffee.
"That's what's going to make this all the more fun! I got something planned for later. It was inspired by you so if you want I can give you a shout out when it happens." Gilan started walking towards the fire for his breakfast.
"No thanks. I'm out of it for today. You and Crowley can get him mad while he forgets what I did. Tomorrow if nobody won, I'll make a move," Will said while falling into sync with Gilan.
"You might want to get on some new clothes, you smell like a tree." Gilan sat down by the fire while Will went into his tent. Gilan watched for a moment before turning to Halt. "So how was your night?"
"The first peaceful night I've had in a day or so." Halt handed Gilan a cup of coffee and put one aside for Will. "Tonight better be the same."
"No problem. I was so tired last night after laughing myself dead. And I have stuff to do today so I'll probably turn in early." Gilan smiled and stretched out.
Will came out of his tent in new clothes and looked at Gilan. Gilan looked right back and saw Will nod his head discreetly. He had gotten the note. He settled himself down by Gilan and took his coffee while Halt gave them bowls of the left over soup. Will noticed that Halt looked at his and took small sips before he actually drank any of it. Will smiled.
When they finished their breakfast and were relaxing and finishing their coffee, the rest of the camp was waking up. Crowley walked into their area like he always did. He looked at Gilan and gave him the same discreet nod Will had. Gilan smiled and motioned for him to join them. Crowley sat down next to Will and looked at the fire before speaking.
"Halt, I need you to do the camp patrol after lunch. It's just the normal scouting and making sure nobody is in the premises." Halt nodded. Crowley glanced at Gilan when Halt went to get changed. Gilan nodded.
When Halt returned, he took one look at the quiet group and frowned. This wasn't like them. "I have to go and watch the final year apprentices today until lunch. If you even show your face around there, I swear I will chase you down and tie you to a tree until the end of the Gathering." He walked away and let the threat hang there.
When he was out of hearing range, Gilan looked at his two friends. "I take it you got the messages?" They both nodded, not trying to hide their grins anymore. "So you have your lute?"
"It's a mandola!" Will protested.
"Do you have the hollow hunk of wood with strings?" Gilan asked.
"It's a mandola and yes I do." Will crossed his arms. Calling his instrument a hunk of wood was no better than calling it a lute.
"Okay then. Do you know what your job is then?"
"I've done it before Gil," Will said.
"Good. I'll see you after lunch. I have to go get a few things planned out." Gilan walked away.
"He's losing it." Crowley shook his head. "Can I have some coffee?" Crowley looked desperately at Will.
"No. I'm still in hot water with Halt. If he finds out, I'm dead meat." Will stood and walked off to watch the first year apprentice's shooting.
Crowley sighed and followed.
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