A/N: Umm… yup. Here it is. Plz review!

Will was shivering in the corner when Morgarath strode into his cell. The young apprentice immediately jumped to his feet and fell into a defensive fighting stance. Morgarath stared at the boy for a moment, then laughed. "Come on."

Two Wargals grabbed the ends of Will's chains and dragged him, kicking and struggling, into a room at the top of another tower. This room was the same size and shape, but it was richly furnished, with rugs hiding the cold stone floor, a small bed in the corner, and a small table and chair in the center of the room. There was also a large D-ring hammered into the wall opposite the door, with an ankle chain that could reach everything but the door. All the furniture in the room was bolted to the floor. The room may have been lavish, but it was still a cell.

Will's ankle was clasped in the chain, and the Wargals unlocked his wrists and shoved the boy down in the small chair and retreated to guard the door. Morgarath circled Will, shoving him back down into his seat every time he tried to rise. Eventually the exiled lord stood across the table from Will and began to speak.

"I lost the war. Decades of planning and scheming wasted, and it's all your fault. You, and Halt. But I'm not going to kill you." Morgarath roughly grabbed Will's chin and pulled his face up so the evil man's cold eyes stared into the boy' brown eyes. "Oh, no. Let me tell you a story. Years ago, a handsome, noble baron was ruled by a weak King, who held him back, wasted his potential. The weak King had an even weaker son. One day the foolish King died. There was no way the stupid young Crown Prince would be able to adequately rule the kingdom, so the clever baron took advantage of the power vacuum and tried to take his rightful place as King. He had met a skilled Ranger, who he offered a place as his right hand man, but the Ranger sneered at the noble Baron and helped put the stupid Prince on the throne and drove the Baron into the hellish mountain range nearby."

Will could keep quiet no longer. "You're a traitor! Halt is one of the best men in the world!" Morgarath looked like an angry snake, hissing angrily through his teeth.

"Maybe I am evil. I don't care. But my point is, Halt refused my offer and turned around to help King Duncan take the throne! Now his protégé has ruined my war. I promised myself I would have revenge, and what better way to get it than to turn Halt's own apprentice against him?"

Will leaned back in his chair as Morgarath's words hit him. Morgarath was going to try to turn him… Evil? "I'll never betray my country."

The dark lord smiled and turned towards the door. "You don't have a choice. I will break you until you are completely servile and obey only me. Good night, boy. We will begin tomorrow."

-What is up with me? This is like Slade and Robin, but medieval.-

Halt, Crowley, King Duncan, Lady Pauline, and the King's advisers were sitting around a table, discussing their plan of action. Crowley started out. "I know it goes against protocol, but we have to rescue Ranger Will. In a practical sense, if we don't he'll be turned into a weapon. His mentor, Halt, reports that Will is one of the best Rangers he's ever seen, and is very far ahead of the normal training. In a personal sense, Will is Halt's apprentice, and that boy has done amazing things for this country. We owe him."

The other members of the table nodded. King Duncan looked at Lady Pauline. "Pauline, you're the expert at hostage negotiations. What do you suggest, my lady?"

Lady Pauline straightened. "I believe we should send a diplomatic envoy to attempt to negotiate with-" Halt cut her off.

"Sorry, Pauline, but that won't work. It'll simply alert Morgarath that we're trying to rescue Will, putting him in even more danger. Morgarath is set on revenge, and nothing short of the kingdom is worth more to him. At this point, he probably wouldn't accept me surrendering myself as an alternative to Will. I propose we assemble a strike force of three Rangers to scout and try to rescue Will."

Everyone nodded. Crowley leaned forward. "I want to go. I've dealt with Morgarath before, and so has Halt. But who should be the third Ranger?"

Halt stood up, ready to leave. "Gilan. He feels like this is his fault, and Gilan and Will are friends. Crowley, I'm going to go tell Gilan the plan, and we'll leave first thing tomorrow." Crowley nodded and both Rangers stalked out of the room, leaving everyone else feeling like they hadn't had any say in the matter.

-Ooh, Halt's on a warpath. Get the coffee.-

Will had been left in the room with two Wargal soldiers guarding the door on the outside. He had seized the chance to sleep in an actual bed, and now that it was morning he was fruitlessly trying to get the manacle off his ankle. He stopped when Morgarath walked into the room. No words were exchanged, the Wargals unlocked Will and then chained his wrists together.

Will was marched down a hall and a staircase until they came to a small courtyard. It contained targets, as well as a recurve bow and arrows. There was also a set of Ranger knives in the corner. Will was shoved inside, and Morgarath followed him. "You will be training here until I tell you to stop. There is no point in not training, and you will train, or you will be punished. Understood?"

Will looked longingly at the bow. He wanted to practice so badly… "Fine." Morgarath smiled and walked back out the door, locking it behind him. Will was left alone in the small courtyard. He stood there a moment, then picked up the recurve bow and began firing at the targets. The repetitive motions were soothing, and Will could almost imagine he was practicing behind Halt's cabin, until he focused on the feel of the cold paving stones under his bare feet.

Morgarath was standing in his throne room. There was a large window behind his throne that he could look down and observe the boy. As he was watching Will fire arrows with rapid precision, Morgarath's right hand man, Foldar, walked up beside him.

"With all due respect, my lord, why are you so interested in the boy? Why aren't you focused on training more troops for another war?" Morgarath turned towards Foldar and smiled unnervingly.

"Foldar, this is Halt's apprentice. The greatest opportunity I have ever gotten. Just imagine Halt's face when the boy, whom he obviously cares for, shows up years later on an assassination mission to kill Halt himself! It's perfect! Besides, the Wargals don't need much direction to train. I can focus my attention on the boy." Foldar nodded, and joined Morgarath in studying the young Ranger.

-Halt needs to hurry up!-

Hours later, Will had switched to knife throwing. He had just retrieved the knife from the target when the door was thrown open and two Wargals stomped in. In an instant, Will sent the throwing knife spinning into one Wargal's neck and had his saxe knife ready to ward off the other one. As the Wargal reached for him, Will jumped back and slashed the tendons in the beast's wrist, leaving him bellowing in agony. Will dodged around the guards and began running down the corridor.

He had barely made it ten steps when Wargals flooded the passageway, trapping Will. He fought his hardest, but was eventually overwhelmed, forced into chains, and taken to the bare cell he had originally been kept in. Morgarath strode in seconds later, accompanied by another man wearing a black cloak. Morgarath looked furious. "So, you decided to try to escape. Disappointing. Expected, but disappointing. I'll have to punish you now, then you'll be returned to your room."

A Wargal stomped inside of the bare cell. In his right hand was a long rod, with a red-hot M shape on the end. Panic hit Will as he realized what was going to happen. One Wargal pulled off Will's tattered shirt and held him down while the one with the branding iron approached him. Will stopped struggling and shut his eyes as he realized that there was no escape. The hot iron came down on Will's chest, right above his heart, and burned an unmistakable M.

It was pure agony, and Will couldn't stop screaming, no matter how hard he tried. Tears ran down his cheeks, and he writhed desperately until the Wargal finally let up, the Wargal that had been holding him let him drop in a gasping heap on the ground.

Morgarath stood over the sobbing boy, staring coldly down. "And from now on, you'll call me Master." He nodded to the two Wargals, who carried the nearly unconscious Ranger back to the lavish room, where he was locked back up and left lying on the floor. The monstrous soldiers wrapped a bandage over the wound, and left. Once they were gone, Will managed to drag himself onto the bed, which he collapsed on in agony.

Will stared towards one of the windows, out over the cold wastes of the Mountains of Rain and Night. "H-halt p-please h-help m-me. P-please."

-I'm sick. And yes, I got the Master thing from Slade. The Teen Titans fans among you will get that-

Crowley, Halt, and Gilan had ridden hard until they got back to Three Step Pass, getting ready for the hardest part of their journey. They would rest for the night, then start the long, arduous trek through the Mountains of Rain and Night.

Halt faced the foreboding mountains where his apprentice was being held. "Stay alive, Will. I'm coming for you."

A/N: Yaaaaay! Another chapter! There's three, so… almost done! There was one shoutout. I'm disappointed. Shoutout:

Guest: Thanks.