Chapter 2

Shore to ship

" Jarl maybe you should take this deal. The girl not worth as much as the boy anyway and the witch is always wanting older slaves for her experiments. I don't want to go up against her again the last one who did, well let's just say they should not have bothered" said Svengal the jarl second in command.

"Too True" Erak thoughtfully then said "ranger we will take that deal. Leave all weapons with the horse and start to walk towards us, as soon as you are here we will release the girl. She can take the horse to where ever she wants to go after we leave"

As Halt did as Erak had told him, he heard Abelard give a soft rumble which meant another person was nearby and by the way Abelard had just rumbled that person was probably a ranger and if it was who he thought it was this would go better than what he thought. Halt knew that he and Will would be able to get way right now.

Halt neared the Skandians he kept a straight face he could not let on what he knew. As they released Evalyn and they passed by each other he whispered to her " don't worry princess. Will and I will be alright" he saw the girl's eyes widen as he continued to walk to the Skandian pirates that still held Will.

As Halt hands were being bound so he would not act on being so near to them, Halt looked down at the small apprentice that was standing by his side. Halt could see the wounds on his wrists as it was obvious that Will had tried to free his hands from the bonds. There were cuts and bruises all over his body as the signs of torture were plan to see.

"Halt I..." Will started to say before being backhanded into the boat and the skandian picked up his heavy booted foot and placed it on Will's chest and said "be quiet". Halt got into the boat too even though he wanted to take the pirate a part. All he could do was pull Will up to his feet. With a glare at the pirates the two rangers sat down. Halt circled the small boy with his arms as the skandians started to row away from the shore.

"Come on" Halt thought

Then all of a sudden a horse's hoof beats could be heard coming up from the end of the beach where the ground was rocky giving the horse greater speed than Halt's horse had. Halt smiled he was right, it was Gilan. His horse blaze was surging all the time in order to get to them. Gilan was riding without reins as he fired arrow after arrow at the group in the boat.

One of the pirate oarsman gave a noise of surprise and fell over board and did not move again as he sank into the sea. Another was hit in the arm so that pirate was out of the picture too as picking up an oar was out of the question.

The jarl Erak ordered the remaining pirates to pull like hell as it was obvious that if that ranger got too close he will kill them all in order to get the others back. And with that the skandians that were left pulled like the devil was after them with all the monsters at his command going to pull them down to hell.

"Will curl in close to me. We have to give Gilan the biggest target he can have" Halt said and as Will did what he asked Will knew that Halt was right and he knew what Gilan was thinking. Gilan was afraid of hitting them, also he knew that Gilan needed to get closer so he could pick off the oarsman one at a time before the boat got to far away.

Halt and Will watched as blaze bounded into the sea until she was shoulder height and very deep but still Gilan tried to keep firing at the boat. Will could see from his position by Halt that the boat was now out of Gilan's range. As the boat drew up by the wolfship, Will knew that, that night a few days ago was going to be repeated many times over and over again until they got where they were going and there was nothing that Halt could do about it.

Back on shore Gilan had not given up just yet even as he watched Halt and Will being hauled up to the wolfship he had told himself he would do anything to get them back. That they were his family so now he took aim at the wolfship itself. With in the space of seconds, three of the crew were dead, another two were injured.

Will chuckled a little as he watched the rest of the skandians flinging themselves flat on the deck as more arrows flashed over head. He saw Erak lift his head a little to see if the ranger was out of arrows and nearly got one between the eyebrows. Halt knew it was time for their escape that as long as Gilan kept up the pressure, he and Will could make a swim for it.

"Will now let's jump and swim for it. Gilan will kept us covered only for a little longer so we must go now" said Halt as he prepared to jump over board only to stop as he realized that Will had been grabbed before he could get to the side of the boat and Will was now not going any where.

"Halt I am sorry that I hesitated" Will said. he felt a deep shame that he had let some one he cared about so much, down. And as he looked into Halt's face he saw no disappointment there only a gentle smile and a caring look.

As Will was released, he slid to the deck of the ship. Halt again placed his arms around him. Will was horrified by the turn of events, ones that meant he and Halt would possibility be slaves forever. But he also knew he had to believe in Halt, that he would find a way to get them away from here.

Far a way a very wet ranger sat on his equally wet horse watching his family sail away. His eyes stung with the tears that would not stop falling he called to them over and over not to give up that he would move heaven and earth until they were together again.

On the ship Halt comforted a frightened boy from the looks that the pirates were giving him. The boy would most likely be a night time visitor to many of the crew before the journey was over, and his heart ached over what was going to happen to him.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

An: how was that? most of that was my older sister's work. From what I have read so far of her plans I might have to change the rating but I'll try and rein her in. oh and if you want to know what I am doing check my profile.