Hey, y'all! Sorry again for they delay. Aaaahh, can you believe we're at the end? And. . . There shall be a sequel.

Chapter Eleven: Foiled Plans

Gilan struggled at his bonds, Seamus was turned away. Looking through thewindow.

Seamus turned back, smiling. "Your Halt has come."

Gilan pulled at the ropes. Halt wouldn't be so foolish. Would he? He'd been acting a little distractedly lately.

Horace leaned over. "Do you have a plan?"

Gilan shook his head. Horace's shoulders sagged.

Where was Will? He wouldn't let Halt just ride up to Seamus' hut. There was something fishy about it all.

Gilan stilled. Halt– if it was him– would be enter any moment.

The door slipped open. And Halt entered. Seamus turned and drew a short sword.

Gilan looked closely. The untrained eye might've neglected to notice, but the person that had just entered was barely taller than Halt. Gilan grinned. Will.

The door clicked softly as it closed.

Will's hand shot out, there was whirring. A knife stuck in the board centimeters from Gilan.

Will let the hood fall back.

Seamus took a step back. "You. No matter."

Will grinned behind fairly convincing fake beard. "Yeah, I can beat you just as easily."

Seamus scoffed.

Gilan twisted and began working at the ropes.

Will drew his saxe, and set his bow down. Gilan hurried. Willl wasn't exactly trained in swordfighting.

The ropes fell away. Gilan hopped up and grabbed the knife. In a few seconds Horace was free. They turned to help Will.

A loud explosion sounded outside the hut.

~A~A~A~

Soldiers slunk out of the woods towards the hut. Halt picked up a bomb. He and Will had spent the whole morning making them, and Will's fake beard.

Halt stuck the fuse in the candle flame. It took a few seconds, but it lit up and began crawling down the fuse. Halt waited a moment. Then threw it.

The soldiers barely noticed, the one glanced its way. The little bomb exploded mid-shout. Halt stuck another to the candle, then threw. They'd caught on now, and ran from it. Hopefully things were going as well inside.

~A~A~A~

Gilan jumped back into action. Seamus and Will were trading parries and blows.

Gilan raised the throwing knife, and threw. At the last second, Seamus moved. The knife stuck in his shoulder.

Several soldiers busted in the door. Horace reached to his side, but found nothing. Outside a soldier cried, and fell. Horace had grabbed the chair, and was feebly blocking.

Gilan darted outside, and grabbed a dead soldier's sword. Several more soldiers swarmed him. He cut them down, some falling to Halt's arrows.

Inside, Horace swung the chair, smashing one in the head. Horace snatched his sword away.

Horace dove in, in seconds he had dispatched two. And, moments later he cut the last few down.

Seamus had hired them as distraction, Horace figured.

Cuts had blossomed all over Will. Despite his injured shoulder, Seamus pressed forward.

Horace swung at Seamus. Seamus flipped around, parrying. Will just sank in relief.

Horace and Seamus traded blow and parry.

Gilan had moved to just inside the hut, so only one or two could approach at a time.

Halt switched between throwing bombs and shooting soldiers trying to enter the hut.

A soldier pushed inside. He brought his sword up to strike Will. Will moved to parry a second too late.

With blinding speed, Horace spun around and blocked the descending blade. He pushed forward. Will turned to take care of another man trying to push in.

~A~A~A~

Seamus looked around. The four of them were swiftly destroying the small army he'd collected. Warm sticky blood trickled down his arm, his shoulder blazed with pain.

So he quietly slipped out the window, and snuck away. Completely unnoticed.

~A~A~A~

Later. . . Gilan looked around. Soldiers lay everywhere, a few tried to stumble away. He lowered his sword. Some were dead, most injured. A small army of petty swords for hire.

Halt rushed to them. "What happened to Seamus?" His scanned the room.

Horace glanced forlornly around. "I was fighting him, but, I turned. . . I don't know." Horace laid his sword down. "I guess he got away. He was wounded in the shoulder, he'll have to get medical attention."

Gilan set his sword down and leaned against the wall. "We'll track him down again."

Halt growled. "No! We'll go after him now!" He started for the door.

Will grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Will was a sight. Cuts everywhere, and most of his hastily constructed beard gone. "Halt, we're exhausted. We'll get him next time. Seamus can't go so far we can't get him." WIll thundered. "The only thing that can happen to him so we can't get him is he die! And that's what you want anyway! So, no. We're not going now." And with that Will sat down on the floor, and began cleaning his saxe knife.

The rest sat in stunned silence at his speech. Gilan piped up. "Halt, he's right."

Horace nodded.

Halt glanced between them all, then sighed. "You're right." His shoulders sagged. "Let's just take care of this. We'll catch up."

They would catch up. They would.

Thanks for reading! The sequel, Halt's Showdown, will be up soon. I will try to update it once a week at least.

What did you think? Am I evil for ending without them catching Seamus?