A/N: No long waiting this time, and a little surprise at the end note. I hope you still like the route I'm taking this story. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send them!
Caffeineinducedchild, thank you so much. I agree that malnutrition is not described often, even though we can all imagine that an addiction, harsh winter and Evanlyn's lack of hunting skills would probably have some effect on them. I'm happy that you liked the inclusion of it!
AreiaCannaid, the first step of your whishes is coming true! It is about time that Will opens up to people, right. Thank you for your lovely review, I hope you'll like this chapter just as much!
Chapter 7
Time was running out. Evanlyn had given him a few days to confess to Halt about his addiction and still he hadn't found the moment to do it.
Will had returned to bed early, he was getting restless and he knew there was only one way to get it under control. Without thinking twice he walked straight to the cupboard where he had hidden his pouch with warmweed.
It felt wrong, dead wrong, to smell the leaves and yet he needed it. After calming down, Will looked curiously at the leaves. Hadn't he imagined the effect of the leaves? They seemed so harmless here in front of him, almost calling out to him.
He couldn't help it, his fingers already touched the weed before he knew what he was doing. But touching seemed to have quite the opposite effect of smelling. The texture brought back the memories of the cold night in the shed. The kind stranger giving it to him and then the all consuming darkness.
Will jerked his hand away from the pouch as if it had burned his skin. He wanted to run away but then he heard footsteps in front of his door and he had to act quickly. With swift movements only a ranger could achieve, he hid the warmweed in the cupboard again and sat down back on his bed.
Just as he sat down, the door opened and Halt looked curiously around in the room and saw his apprentice straight up in bed.
"Did I wake you?" he asked simply.
Will shook his head, not sure whether he could trust his voice to remain steady. That was the moment Halt became suspicious and decided to take a better look at the young boy. Now he saw the heavy breathing like Will had returned from training, and the glow on his head from sweat.
"Did you have a nightmare?" he asked not bothering to hide his worry.
Again Will shook his head, and tried his voice, "No, nothing's wrong. I'll try to sleep now."
The two eyed each other for a moment. It took all of his contraint for Halt not to pry out of Will what was going on with him. It had proved no use in the past days and he knew it would be pointless today.
Sighing in defeat, Halt turned to the desk to take one more look at the map before going to bed. The Temujai were coming soon and there still had to be lots of work done.
Will was still fumbling with his sheets when he spoke, "Halt, there is something else you should know," he started and immediately wanted to knock himself to the head. He couldn't get out of it anymore, this was the moment he had been waiting for.
But then again, what would Halt do if he found out about the hidden warmweed.
Halt had already turned around, a glint of happiness for this first step clearly visible in his eyes. "you wouldn't say." The ranger said before holding himself back. For a moment he was scared he had ruined the moment by impulsively reacting to the boy, but it seemed Will didn't mind the comment.
Will took a deep breath and spoke, "A few days ago, you asked about my shoulders and uhm, I lied." He said, turning away from the whole warmweed part. Telling this first felt easier and he could see how Halt would react after this disappointment.
Much to Will's surprise Halt just nodded, "I gathered as much, you were awfully stiff and there was no way you couldn't have noticed that. So the training was too much after all? You could have just said it, Will."
Immediately Will started shaking his head, as he realized which conclusions Halt had taken, "No, no it was not the training. It's just me…" he hesitated but Halt didn't interrupt him so he went on, "In the yard they used the whip to punish slaves. And well, I wasn't the most obedient slave there, so I became well acquainted with the whip during that time."
Halt's eyes grew big, his jawline tensed. He had heard rumors of the terror slaves were put through but he had just gathered it was the harsh winter, lack of food and blankets, and the warmweed. He'd never guessed there were brutes here that would also injure young boys just for the cause of fun.
Now the stiffness during training fell into place, and even the fact that Will had refused to change clothes when people were around was now reasonable.
Halt knew enough about healing to know that malnourishment and cold were not circumstances that benefit the healing process. The scars were probably still raw and hurt his skin as he pulled his arm back to shoot.
"Can I see them?" he asked hesitantly, knowing Will wouldn't like it but mostly he wouldn't want to see the damage himself. The damage he could've prevented, he thought.
Will nodded slowly and pulled his shirt so Halt could see. The ranger stood up and walked from the desk to where Will was sitting. Intense sadness fell over him as he saw dozens of scars running from the neck to the lower back. The scars between the shoulder blades were angry red, as Will had been stretching them far too much.
Halt swallowed his anger at the Skandians and his despair for Will away and took a chair next to Will's bed. Slowly he sat down on it, as if his own fast movements could injure his boy even more.
"Why didn't you say so before? I've salves to help the healing process, it will make the scars more smooth." He simply asked as he tried to understand why Will would hide this.
"So…. So, you're not disappointed?" Will asked incredulously, he had expected Halt to burst for not being honest. A year ago at the cabin it would have served him a week sleeping in a tree. But now Halt was as calm as a pond in the summer days.
"In what exactly? You being tortured? Or your wounds not healing fast due to terrible conditions?" Halt asked in disbelief.
"Because I hid it from you! I told you I was fine, while I wasn't. How can you even trust me?" Will blurted out.
The last part made Halt think twice before giving his answer as it was clearly not the reaction he thought he would get.
"Will, I've seen you battle your traumas like a grown man for the past few days. You have every right to take your time in telling what happened and I will wait as long as you need me to. But listen to me very carefully, I would trust you with my life and I think deep down you know that. So was that question for me, or for you?"
A silence fell. Will had expected Halt to be at least mad or disappointed for not telling the truth, but now the tables had turned. Will wanted to yell at himself, he indeed couldn't trust himself anymore. He had changed since he set the bridge on fire. The issue with the warmweed was only proof that he couldn't handle his own life. He decided that it should be over with the mistrust to himself. He was going to abandon the warmweed today and after that he would tell Halt about it.
Halt realized he had made his point clear and left Will in the room to find some of the salve for the scars.
The next day Halt couldn't be more proud when Will had come up with the brilliant idea of gathering slaves and train them as archers. What was even more impressing was the way Will delivered his idea. Halt knew the nightmares were far from gone and Will still felt insecure about his position of being an apprentice again.
However in front of the big jarl in front of him, he showed no insecurity at all. He displayed the wisdom and tactical skills that Halt knew had been in him. At this point Will's physical state may not be what it ought to be for a second year ranger, but on other points he had surpassed even fully qualified rangers.
Once outside the room Halt couldn't hold back a compliment, "Good thinking of those archers, Will." He stated and immediately wanted to sew his mouth shut. This whole adventure had made him sentimental and throwing out compliments like that was just getting ridiculous.
However it was already too late to take it back, because he looked right into the smiling face of his apprentice.
"Could you say that again, Halt?" Will asked grinning to his mentor.
Halt grunted, "Enjoy it while you can. Your bright plan involves convincing slaves to fight for the people that captured them."
Immediately Will's shoulders slumped down. In his mind fighting was the better option instead of working in the yard. But when Halt put it like this, he had to agree that it would be a nasty piece of work.
A/N: Sooo I split the chapter in two parts. Therefore, the next chapter will be out tomorrow!
