A/N hello again it took a little longer for me to update. Sorry for that. I write a lot now because I kind of lost my voice. Great and tomorrow again singing for a grade… that's going to be fun! Oh and I got my book back. Let's see where I was at the story. At the gathering right?

Halt: yes now please move on before they ran out of coffee.

Me: why? Do you want some? If you do you'll have to do the disclaimer for today…

Halt: fine. She doesn't own any of the ranger's apprentice. Now give me some coffee!

Chapter 11

A very short gathering.

May:

When we got to the gathering place there where ranger's everywhere running to anywhere. Halt left to see Crowley or Crony or something like that. Gilan, Will and I are looking for a camping spot.

"There's one." Will says and we dismount and walk to the spot. Immediately Gilan looks for some firewood. "Can you get the coffee May?" He asks. "Sure." I say and I start looking for the coffee. Most of the tents around ours are empty only one isn't. a thin gangly man walks towards Gilan and asks:

"any news yet?" Gilan turns around and says. "I was just about to ask the same question." He shakes his hand. "it's Merron isn't it?" the man, Merron, nods. "and you're Gilan if I remember correctly." Gilan nods and introduces Will and me. "you're Halt's apprentice right? And you're Gilan's." He says to us. "I was going to be one of your assessors." Gilan frowns. "Was going to be?" he asks. " Yes. I doubt we'll continue with the Gathering now" He hesitated, then added," You mean you haven't heard?" all three of us shake our heads. "Morgarath is up to something again." I could see Will shiver when the name fell.

"What happened?" he asks. There's no clear news so far. Only garbled reports. But it looks as if a force of Wargals broke out of Three Step Pass some days ago. They overran the sentries there and headed north. " " Was Morgarath with them?" Gilan asked. Merron shrugged in reply. " We don't know. Don't think so at this stage, but Crowley has been sending scouts out for the past two days. Could be it's just a raid. But if it's more than that, it could mean the start of another war. If so, it's a bad time to lose Lord Lorriac. "

Gilan looked up, concern in his voice. " Lorriac is dead?" he asked, and Merron nodded. A stroke apparently. Or his heart. He was found dead a few days ago, with not a mark on him. Staring straight ahead. Stone cold dead. " " But he was in his prime!" Gilan said. " I saw him only a month ago and he was as healthy as a bull."

"who's Lorriac?" I ask. Lorriac of Steden. He was the leader of the King's heavy cavalry. Probably our best cavalry commander. As Merron said, if there's war, he'll be sorely missed. "

Almost an hour later Halt came back. Seeing the senior Ranger's arrival, Merron had drifted back to join their group. He and Halt greeted each other briefly, then Merron posed the question that was on all their minds." Is it war?" he asked anxiously, and Halt shook his head." We don't know for certain. Latest reports show that Morgarath is still in the mountains." " Then why did the Wargals break out?" Will asked. "They're only a small party-perhaps fifty of them. They were intended to act as a diversion. While our guards were busy chasing the Wargals, Crowley thinks that the two Kalkara slipped out of the Mountains and are holed up somewhere on the Solitary Plain."

Gilan gave a low whistle. Merron actually took a step back in surprise.

" You mean they still exist?" Merron said. " I thought they died out years ago. " " Oh, they still exist all right," Halt said. " There are only two of them left, but that's enough to worry about. " There was a long silence between them. Then Will asked. "what are they?" Halt answered. "When Morgarath was planning his rebellion, he wanted more than an ordinary army. He knew that if he could terrify his enemies, his task would be far easier. So over the years, he made several expeditions into the Mountains of Rain and Night, searching." " Searching for what?" Will asked. "For allies he could use against the kingdom. The Mountains are an ancient, undisturbed part of the world. They've remained unchanged for centuries and there were rumors that strange beasts and ancient monsters still lived there. The rumors turned out to be all too true. "

"then he found the kalkara. And they're worse than Wargals. Much, much worse" in the time they had their talk I just stood there and listened. I know of the kalkara and I don't ever want to see them. I hope that it's just a rumor and not a true one. " There were three of them. But one was killed about eight years ago, so we know a little more about them. Think of a creature somewhere between an ape and a bear, that walks upright, and you'll have an idea of what a Kalkara looks like." " So does Morgarath control them with his mind, like the Wargals?" Will asked. Halt shook his head." No. They're more intelligent than Wargals. But they are totally obsessed with silver. They worship it and hoard it and Morgarath apparently gives it to them in large amounts so they'll do his bidding. And they do it well. They can be incredibly cunning while

they

stalk their prey. "

" Prey?" Will asked. " What sort of prey?"

They hesitate to answer. Both Gilan and Halt remain silent. Finally Halt answers. "The Kalkara are assassins. Once they've been given a specific victim, they will do anything in their power to reach that person and kill them." " Can't we stop them?" Will asked, his gaze shifting briefly to Halt's massive longbow and the bristling quiver of black arrows. " They're very difficult to kill.

They

have a thick hair covering that's matted and bonded together so that it's almost like scales. An arrow will hardly penetrate. A battle-ax or a broadsword is best against them. Or a good thrust with a heavy spear might do the job. "

I walk away from the men. I don't want to hear it anymore. I walk around and look for Hunter. When I spot him I walk to him. "hey." I say to him. He doesn't answer. Of course he won't it's a horse. And yet it seems like he does answer. "I didn't want to hear their talk about the kalkara anymore." I say to him. He knickers and it almost sounds like he agrees with me. "you don't like them either huh?" again he knickers. I keep talking to hunter, I think I might go crazy. I mean I'm talking to a Horse! Then I see Gilan walking to me.

"where were you? You where gone before I could notice it." I smile. "That's good right? And I don't like the kalkara my father used to speak about it." He nods. "it is indeed good that I didn't notice but I've got some bad news." I look into his eyes. He has beautiful eyes. I think to myself. Wait he's your mentor stop thinking. Idiot. then I realize what he was going to say. "No, no, no, no, please tell me that we're not going to seek the kalkara and try to stop them?" I say slightly panicked. Gilan nods and says. "yes. We're going to hunt for the kalkara."

A/N yeah and a very long chapter 1203 words! I know it can be longer but still! It is long, for me then. Anyway I'm going to respond to your reviews. Haven't done that yet… sorry.

AriannaTheRanger: danku danku. Met dat tijd wisselen hoor ik wel vaker. Oeps….(I did this one in Dutch so sorry if you can't read it.)

magicshadow1: Hehehe Halt still didn't find out. I wonder how he'll react because I have no idea yet.

moniquebowman: they are going to get together eventually now it's just sometimes those thoughts you can read but they'll defeniatly get together. Yes she can turn into a fox because she's a shape shifter. And why do you think I am writing this….

Alice: Yeah my grammar isn't perfect. I changed in the document on my laptop but I'm too lazy to chance it here.

Kerowyn6: thank you very much. Sometimes I'm better at English than at Dutch. It just makes more sense to me.

Catgirlz99: If you give me the title of your crossover I'll read it.

That's it for now. Review? Favorite? Follow? Find my voice and bring it back to me?