A/N: Hi guys back again, I hope you liked the first part. Just for some extra information, I'm not doing a rewrite chapter by chapter. Sometimes I will skip a few chapters, because the book in itself is just good as we all know, it just misses a few things. I will put the original sentences in italics at the beginning to show you where I am in the book.
Chapter 2
"You really mean Horace is some kind of hero in Gallica?" WIil asked incredulously, not totally sure that Halt and Horace weren't pulling off some kind of enormous practical joke. But the grizzled Ranger was nodding his head emphatically.
"A regular figure of respect," he said.
As the four filled their stomach, Halt noticed the silence coming from his apprentice. He had allowed Horace to begin with their story since the final confrontation with the Wargal army on the Plains of Uthal, but he had assumed Will would fill in the details about theirs as soon as possible.
It seemed like he was dreading and it was time to put an end to it.
"So what happened to you here?" Halt asked directly. Will stopped chewing his meat and hesitated, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell Halt the whole story. Maybe he would be angry, Will thought.
But the young apprentice also knew he couldn't keep it a secret, not to Halt anyway. So he started telling about how they were captured by Erak, about the rough voyage over sea, how he had humbled captain Slagor in the draughty, smoky cabin on the barren island.
But then he came to the part that haunted him at night, and suddenly it seemed his tongue wasn't his own anymore. He couldn't speak further and was saved, again, by Evanlyn who continued the story.
"When we arrived in Hallasholm they separated us. I was sent to the kitchen, but they took Will to the yard…" she looked quickly at Will, wanting the reassurance that she could tell what happened there and he gave a short nod. The brief silent conversation between the two didn't go unnoticed by the Ranger listening to the story, but he decided to remain silent for the time being.
Evanlyn continued, her tone down as she remembered the awful time, "As a slave in the kitchen I was provided with a warm place to sleep and enough food to survive. I didn't see Will that much but from the stories told by other slaves, the circumstances in the yard were horrific. No one survived more than a few years. They had to work outside with nothing to keep them warm, they were treated harsh, and didn't get much sleep due to the cold." Tears started welling in her eyes.
Halt looked at his apprentice, feeling terrible that the young boy had been put through such horrendous events. But the story was not over yet, much to Halt's displeasure.
"They had certain ways to keep people going, especially those who were less inclined to follow orders. There is this drug called warmweed, the slaves who use it don't feel the cold anymore. In fact they don't feel anything at all, they only crave the warmweed from that point. Starting with it is a death sentence." She ran her hand across her cheek wiping away the tears.
"When I saw Will again he was completely off the world, mindless working in the yard. The most terrible thing of all was that I couldn't help him right there. Jarl Erak had also seen what had become of Will and felt sympathy so he helped me escape with Will. After that we spend the rest of the winter in the cabin, while weaning him off that awful drug. It's been three weeks since Will has recovered from it." She ended, while Will huffed at that last sentence. He didn't feel like he had recovered, yes he didn't crave the warmweed anymore but he wasn't himself either.
At the other side of the fire, the older ranger was muttering curses under his breath at the people who would inflict such a substance on a young boy. But then his eyes met Will's anxious gaze across the fireplace and Will saw a deep, deep sadness there. For a moment Will wondered whether the ranger was disappointed in him for taking the warmweed but then Halt spoke.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said softly, and Will knew that somehow everything would be all right again.
After they had filled their stomachs it was time to rest for all of them, but Halt insisted on him and Horace being the only ones taking the watch that night. But before Will could get to sleep he was punished by his body for eating too much at once after months of rations.
Quickly Will ran back a few meters from the camp to throw up, he didn't want everyone to be part of the spectacle. Once everything was out Will felt the muscles in his chest cramp together. Again he blamed himself for the situation, he had eaten too much because they were starved. And all that because he couldn't refuse the stupid warmweed.
Returning to the camp he put on his happy mask, and convinced everyone he was okay before he curled up in his blanket near the fire.
A few hours later, It was dark, stars clearly visible and everyone was asleep except for one grim ranger. He had been on watch and luckily nothing interesting had happened. He was just about to switch from his hideout when he heard a moan coming from their camp.
Halt turned around quickly to see if there was any danger but only found his apprentice twisting and turning in his sleep. He walked softly towards the boy and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Will wake up, you're having a nightmare." He whispered, in the hopes of waking the boy immediately. Ranger's were trained sleepers, they rarely moved or talked while sleeping and the slightest change around them would wake them.
Even though Will had received a year training including how to sleep as restless as possible, it was clearly gone. The boy was moaning loud enough to alert an enemy if there was any nearby and the fact that he didn't wake at his mentor's touch indicated how much had changed since Halt had seen his boy last.
With a little bit more force he shook Will shoulder to rip him from his nightmare and it worked, although not in the way Halt had anticipated. In panic Will's eyes shot open pushed the intruder away from him and rolled away to make sure not getting hit by his attacker.
Halt was surprised as Will gave him a knee in the stomach and immediately an elbow to his nose while rolling away. At least he did remember some parts of his training, Halt thought bitterly as he felt blood dripping out of his nose.
His heart broke when he saw the once carefree young boy curled up in the shadows like an animal. The grizzled ranger held up his hands and crouched before Will.
"Will, calm down it's me, Halt. You were having a nightmare." He said softly and he saw the feral look washing away from the brown eyes.
"Halt?" Will whispered in disbelief. He had been rudely woken up like all those times in the shed, his instincts had told him to get away from the whip as far as possible. But now he heard that voice, and blinking away his tears he saw the man he had grown to love like a father.
Speaking of that father figure, he saw blood dripping down from his face. "Halt, your nose! I'm so sorry!" he stammered but still didn't allow himself to come closer to his mentor.
"It's nothing, I'm glad your reflexes are still on point." Halt smiled softly but he saw the boy still trembling from the fear he had just experienced.
Halt was on the verge of tears himself and wanted to take his apprentice into his arms but knew that he couldn't, not right away. "Can I touch you, Will?" he asked, not knowing whether his pupil would accept it.
To his great surprise Will suddenly stood up and threw himself into the arms of his mentor. He knew it was ridiculously childish, but he needed those strong arms around him. Halt however didn't think it was childish at all, he could only guess the horrors the boy had gone through, and he was glad to at least give some comfort.
After a while they broke apart, and Will looked up, eyes full of shame, " 'm sorry Halt." He repeated brushing his tears away.
Halt immediately cupped his hands around Will's face, "Don't you dare apologize."
Will nodded and stared into the distance, leaving an uncomfortable silence. Halt knew the pain was raw but he needed to know and now seemed like the best option, "What happened to you, Will?"
Muscles stiffened and the young ranger shrugged, "what Evanlyn told you, worked in the cold and had an addiction."
Halt sensed the bitterness, the self-blame and the lack of details and didn't know which one to tackle first. He decided to keep the next attempt as open as possible, "I know what Evanlyn told me, but I would like to hear it from you as well."
"There is nothing more to add, I don't remember much about the time in Hallasholm." Will answered with a dark undertone, which didn't go unnoticed by Halt.
"Then why did you have a nightmare and did you attack me when I tried to wake you?" Halt asked more bluntly than he wanted to.
"Maybe because I've learned to do that." Will snapped. Halt's eyebrow rose at this sudden turn of mood, but he clenched his jaw knowing that lecturing the boy would only make things worse. In fact he actually didn't know how to handle this, he had never been put in this situation before with Gilan. Normally when something traumatic happened to a ranger they were sent to Crowley or a counsellor to talk about it.
Halt took a deep breath before continuing the conversation, "You didn't learn to do that from me, so how and why did you learn it this past year?"
It was the wrong move and as he ended the sentence, Halt knew he had made a mistake. Will on the other hand didn't see the struggle his mentor went through. Deep down he felt like he had disappointed Halt by getting addicted to warmweed, and now he didn't even feel like he had his emotions under control.
The yard had broken him, let him crumble down to a mindless machine waiting to die. If he ever told Halt about it he knew for sure the man wouldn't let him continue the training as a Ranger. A Ranger didn't break down, a Ranger should be able to have escaped the yard and a Ranger especially wouldn't let himself get drugged.
The questions coming from Halt made him come very close to opening up about what had happened. It became frightening how his mentor was able to take down his walls with that ease and that was when he decided he needed to push him off.
He jumped up and tried to keep his voice down as much as he could, "stop interrogating me, Evanlyn told you everything you need to know!" he burst and was shocked to hear himself speak to Halt like that.
Will turned around trying to avoid the conversation that he feared was coming soon. But Halt did not let him go off that easily and grabbed his wrist and turned him around.
"You know I do not tolerate this behavior under any circumstances."
'I'm sorry Halt." He mumbled truthfully. Great he thought, first his mentor had come all the way to save his addicted apprentice and now he was just yelling at him.
"I know you are. Just like I know there are things that you're not telling me." Halt answered softly, in his mind already berating himself for snapping at his boy like that.
Will seemed to break down and spoke softly to the ground, "I can't, not yet."
"It might help to talk about it. If not with me then maybe with Horace."
"Maybe…."
Halt knew he wouldn't get much more this night and decided to end the conversation. "It's been a long day, why don't you try to get some sleep again," he suggested.
Again it showed how little experience the ranger had with these situations, when he was surprised by the fear in Will's eyes. Suddenly it clicked in his head as he remembered why he had woken Will in the first place.
"I'll stay here, and I promise to wake you immediately if you have a nightmare," Halt reassured him. Not able stop the comment from coming out he continued, "just try to hit your pillow instead of me when you wake, okay?"
Will's old smile cracked through and his shoulders immediately relaxed more and more. He nodded and reached for his blanket once again.
In just a few seconds Will was fast asleep under a watchful eye of a mother hen. Halt started to realize that finding the boy was just the first of his problems, never had he thought about the state he would find him.
It was still dark when Will woke again. In the cabin he was able to sleep for hours but here outside surrounded by two extra people and horses that shifted from time to time, made his mind restless. In every corner he saw a slaver ready to take him back to that awful shed.
Will walked towards the saddlebags to get something to eat as his stomach had emptied itself earlier that evening. Horace was on watch but didn't say anything when he heard Will, Halt had probably warned him already.
He opened one of the saddlebags, and one particular scent immediately took over. A scent he detested and loved at the same time. It had made him feel warm and comfortable but had also ridden him of his independency and own mind.
For what felt like hours Will stared at the bag without being able to move. He realized that Evanlyn must have packed it in case he had some relapse. He hadn't felt like taking it at all since he regained consciousness weeks ago, however at cold nights like these he couldn't help but crave for just one leaf of warmweed.
Breathing heavily he closed the bag and turned around. In a blind haze Will walked away and suddenly he found himself beside his mentor. He desperately wanted to wake Halt and talk about what he just found out, but how could he tell his mentor he still craved that awful substance, that he longed for the warmth and peace of mind it gave. He figured Halt would only be disappointed in him if he told that.
So he just laid down next to his mentor wrapping himself in his cloak and blanket. For Will the safe feeling of his mentor next to him now was just enough.
True to being a ranger for many years, Halt had woken up the moment his apprentice had walked towards the saddlebags. He saw the terror filling the small body and the mindless walk away from the bags.
When Will settled next to him he could hear the rapid breathing. Apparently Will had decided not to ask for help but showed that he needed it anyhow. Halt knew if he would ask the boy straight, he wouldn't get an answer and so he did the only thing he could for the moment. Slowly he rest his hand reassuringly on his apprentice's shoulder.
Will's eyes fluttered and a faint smile came across his lips, "thank you Halt." He whispered.
A few moments later the two exhausted rangers were fast asleep.
I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think!
See you next time, stay safe and trust your cloak!
