The ranger-trained warriors hid among the trees, downwind from the horses. They watched the three rangers carefully, noting how the two older men continued to drift apart and how the younger was still in serious condition. They were all vulnerable and it could definitely be used to the advantage of the men in the trees. The red-head slid off into the woods and the leader of the men gestured to two of his soldiers. They nodded and disappeared into the darkness. The leader smiled grimly as the rest of the soldiers disappeared back towards camp. The plan was in motion, the rangers would never know what hit them.
***Line Break***
"Halt," Gilan's weak voice broke through Halt's thoughts, "you've been staring at that tree for five minutes now. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Halt lied, settling in next to his apprentice, "I'm just concerned about you."
"Why?" Gilan protested to Halt's mother-hening, "I'm healing just fine."
"Yes," Halt agreed, "but you won't stop asking stupid questions."
Gilan huffed in irritation, "well, excuse me but I'm not the one staring after my friend like a great oaf who doesn't know how to use his words."
Halt rolled his eyes, "Gilan, I already told you. Crowley and I are fine."
"You never told him that you have a brother," Gilan guessed, "did you?"
Halt's silence was answer enough. Gilan sighed, "you two are such babies."
"Excuse me?!" Halt growled, irritated at Gilan's words.
Gilan refused to be cowed, "you know you heard me. Or are you deaf as well as dumb?" he didn't wait for an answer before plowing ahead, "Halt, just talk to him. He probably thinks the same way you do and figures that you don't trust him. A little adversity never hurt anybody but you two have got to talk it out."
Halt stared at Gilan and opened his mouth to comment on the lack of respect to authority that he had mistakenly impressed on him, when Crowley came crashing though the undergrowth, stumbling back into camp. His left arm was bleeding heavily and he was pulling a scrap of cloth around it tightly.
"We have to move," he snapped, barely sparing a glance at Halt, "they found us."
"Crowley," Gilan cried out in alarm, "you're bleeding."
"I'm fine," Crowley assured the apprentice, "it's just a scratch."
"Let me see," Halt reached for Crowley's wound out of habit.
Crowley jerked his arm out of Halt's reach, his voice turning colder, "I said I'm fine."
Halt hesitated, a hurt look washing over his face, then he turned back towards Gilan, "let's get you up and on Abelard."
Gilan watched the exchange between the two men with pain. He knew that Crowley didn't mean to ice Halt out, but he also knew that Halt tended to allow people to push him away. he also had a tendency towards pushing them away himself. Gilan decided that as soon as they made a better camp, he would have to fix the two 'adult's situation.
Halt managed to get Gilan up onto Abelard without to much trouble and, within minutes, the three rangers were riding full pelt towards Redmont. They got within a day's ride before they finally had to stop. Gilan was too exhausted to ride any further.
"We've probably put enough distance between us and them anyways," Crowley assumed, dismounting off Cropper and setting up camp.
Halt didn't respond, clearly Crowley didn't want anything to do with him so he allowed the red-head his own space. Halt helped Gilan off Abelard and onto a bedroll that Crowley had laid out, his thoughts never straying far from his best friend.
***Line Break***
They'd been settled for about two hours before Gilan finally decided to break the icy tension between his two senior rangers. He had sat in the charged silence with the two rangers and it had become increasingly difficult to even breathe. He could have cut the tension with his saxe knife. Halt wouldn't meet Crowley's eyes and Crowley wouldn't even look at Halt. Even their horses were standing on opposite sides of the fire. Gilan sighed and sat up slowly, leaning up against a tree and glaring at his mentor and his commandant. It took a few seconds, but both men finally looked over at him, by that time Gilan was really irritated.
"Gil..?" Crowley questioned, drawing Gilan's nickname out slowly.
"Both of you are idiots!" Gilan exploded, crossing his arms and feeling very satisfied at the shocked looks on their faces.
"Gilan-" Halt tried, but the apprentice cut him off.
"Halt," he snapped, "who is your best friend?" Halt seemed nonplussed, gaping at the fiery youth, "answer me," Gilan growled.
"C-Crowley," Halt stuttered, shocked into near speechlessness by the boldness of his student.
Gilan nodded in satisfaction,"and Crowley," he snarled, "who is your best friend?"
It took Crowley a few seconds to register that there was a question being asked of him before he finally answered, "Halt."
"Then what in the name of all things good, holy and sacred are you two sniveling babies whining about?!" Gilan yelled, lowering his volume slightly as he continued, "Crowley, so Halt kept a secret from you. Big deal. He's had a rocky past that he didn't want to pile onto you. Suck it up. Halt, Crowley was a little hurt that he had to find out like this that you had a blood brother. Deal with it! Both of you try talking to each other and see how far that might take you." he glared at the two gaping rangers, "both of you screwed up, now put your big boy pants on, get the sticks out of your arses, and get over it. Use the voices the gods gave you and talk about it!" he glared back and forth between the two men, "now, you've tired me out and I'm going to sleep. If you two still haven't talked this out when I wake up, then I will no longer be held responsible for my actions. Good Night!"
Without another word, Gilan wrapped himself up in his cloak, rolled over, and shut his eyes firmly, completely blocking out the two older men. The two 'adults' were all take care of. Now, for sleep.
***Line Break***
Halt stared at Gilan for several minutes before actually processing everything that the boy had said. It seemed to take Crowley just as long. The two men faced each other sheepishly and didn't say anything for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry," Crowley said in a rush, at the same time that Halt spouted, "I should have told you."
They looked at each other and shook their heads, "we have been acting a bit ridiculous haven't we," Crowley smiled fondly at his friend, "I am sorry."
Halt shook his head, "No, I'm sorry. I should have known I could talk to you about my history," he shrugged, "I guess I just got too used to keeping it a secret."
Crowley grimaced, "in your defense, I didn't ever really ask."
Halt protested, "and I didn't ever ask about your past, but you told me anyways. I should have told you."
"And I shouldn't have iced you out," Crowley replied, "we both should have known better. We acted like children."
Halt huffed, "you know we've been acting bad when Gilan is the voice of reason."
Crowley laughed, "that, my friend, is a scary thought," he grinned at the sleeping apprentice, "a very scary thought."
"Agreed," Halt said, joining in with his friend's laughter.
"I guess he recognized that the situation was a mixed result of both of our faults," Crowley looked fondly over as Gilan yawned in his sleep and rolled over, his brown hair falling over his closed eyes.
Hal glanced down at his 'sleeping apprentice, "he really does have a good head on his shoulders, though, doesn't he?"
"He does indeed," Crowley faked a frown, "although, his respect of authorities leaves much to be desired."
Halt smirked, "now that is entirely my fault."
"I wouldn't have expected anything else," Crowley rolled his eyes at his friend, shifting and wincing slightly when the movement caused a flare of pain in his arm.
Halt hesitated then reached out for his friend's arm, "mind if I have a look-see at that arm now?"
Crowley shook his head ruefully, placing his arm in his friend's waiting grasp, "I should have let you take care of it in the beginning."
Halt shrugged philosophically, examining the gash in Crowley's arm, "well, there's not much we can do about it now except clean it out and stitch it up," he glanced up, "this might hurt a little bit."
Crowley bit his lip in anticipation, looking at his arm with some apprehension. Pain usually didn't bring good memories to the surface of the mind. Then he glanced up and could see Halt's soft brown eyes watching him, waiting for his permission. He knew Halt would pull him out of his head if he went in too deep. Halt was still his safe spot. Crowley decided he could push just a little now that they were both feeling better.
"So," he glanced at Halt, trying to distract himself as the Hibernian pulled out an antiseptic and bandages, "your brother..?"
Halt looked at him with a deadpan expression on his face, then splash antiseptic onto his friend's arm, smiling with satisfaction as Crowley clapped his mouth shut and glared at him. Things were back to normal.
Once Crowley's arm was taken care of, Halt stood and stretched himself out. He rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen up his slightly stiff joints. He spun his head around, popping it and bringing a wave of relief down his neck.
"The fire needs more wood," he informed Crowley, "you watch Gilan, I'll be right back."
Crowley nodded, "hurry back," he glanced at the trees in apprehension, "I don't like the feel of these woods. They're too quiet."
Halt waver off Crowley's paranoid fears, "relax, it looks like rain in a while so the birds have probably just found somewhere dry."
Crowley glanced around, "still, the sooner we're out of here tomorrow, the better."
Halt shook his head in exasperation and slid into the trees. He slipped from shadow to shadow through the trees, using the wind to mask his movements. He never heard the person until it was too late. A cloth slipped over his mouth and, as he struggled to pull himself free from the iron grip that held him, a sweet smell filled his nose. he felt his muscles go limp of their own accord and his mind clouded over. Chloroform, Halt though to himself as his mind went completely blank and he knew nothing else...
***Line Break***
Gilan woke up to a muffled sound from the fire and the smell of coffee. He recognized the sound as Crowley's laughter and he smiled to himself. Clearly his 'outburst' had done exactly what he'd planned. It had given them just enough kick to talk to each other. he opened his eyes and could see Halt and Crowley sitting in logs next to the blazing fire... They were being hunted. Why did those two blockheads have a fire going?! Gilan bolted upright and winced as the sudden movement caused flashes of pain throughout his whole body.
"See," Halt grinned in his apprentice's direction, "I told you that the coffee would wake him up, and that he would hurt himself trying to get to it."
"Why do you have a fire going?" Gilan demanded, ignoring Halt's classic eyebrow raise at his attitude.
"Because we're being followed," Crowley grinned, looking at him quizzically, "so why wouldn't we have a fire going?"
"Crowley," Halt rolled his eyes, "don't encourage the questions or they will never stop."
"Quite right, Halt, dear fellow," Crowley nodded, "Gilan," he snapped playfully, "shut your trap."
The two senior rangers then turned back to the fire and set about stoking the flames and boiling more coffee. Gilan stared at them nonplussed, what was the matter with them. He frowned, were they playing a joke on him? He quickly shook that thought away, Halt was many things but a prankster was not one of them. (Drop a review if you think Halt playing pranks on his apprentices would be an amazing idea for a future one-shot!) Gilan stood slowly and made his way over to the fire, lowering himself on a log next to his mentor. Something was going on that he had NOT been looped into. he stared at Halt in confusion before Crowley finally took pity on him.
"It's a tactic you learn in your fifth year," he explained, "make them think that you've relaxed and then wait until they mess up."
"Oh," was Gilan's incredibly eloquent answer, "well that is only marginally more convincing than you and Halt losing your minds."
Halt reached over and cuffed Gilan over the back of the head, "watch your manners, boy."
Gilan flinched away and stared at Halt, "umm... ye-yes sir..." he completely and utterly confused. He officially had no idea what was happening.
He left the log and went to sit with his things again, trying to sort out exactly what was going on. Halt was acting strange. He hadn't called Gilan 'boy' in years. And the word didn't bring fuzzy feelings to Gilan's chest. That was what Halt's brother had called him. Several times. Gilan's blood froze as he scrutinized 'Halt'. His suspicions were confirmed as the man bumped Crowley's shoulder with his own. Gilan frowned, that was it. Halt never initiated physical contact. It wasn't his style. He didn't always protest it, and certainly not from Crowley, but he never ever initiated it. Gilan met Crowley's eyes over Halt's brother's shoulder. He frowned and shook his head, indicating that something wasn't right. he could see that Crowley understood, and also already knew. Halt was gone.
Dundunduuuuuuun! Plot twist! What is Ferris' goal? Is it to confuse? Is it to scare? Is it to destroy? What could it possibly be? If you're confused then good! That's my goal! You'll figure it all out soon, I promise! Hope y'all enjoyed that chapter! Love y'all!
-storyspinner16