I Do Not Own Danny Phantom or Ranger's Apprentice

~ Chapter 3 ~

Alaruen

A young man sat on the back of a shaggy horse with his cloak pulled tight around his body, the cowl hiding his face in deep shadows at the horse trotted along the road towards their destination. A black and white dog trotted along his side, pausing every few minutes to sniff at a weed or a branch of a tree or shrub that they might happen to pass by. The young man, who went by the name of Will Treaty, let his brown eyes scan the surrounding forest and listened to every small sound that could mean impending danger.

The dog kept walking as well but you could see her nose twitching slightly, sniffing the air. Soon the dog veered off of the trail and vanished into the woods. The horse's ear twitched and turned to face to the right, letting out a soft rumble in the barrel of its chest.

"Easy, Tug." The boy whispered to the horse, reaching over to pat the horse's neck in comforting strokes. The horse gave a soft snort in response and held kept up his steady pace along the trail as if nothing had transpired in between them.

Will glanced over to where Tug's ears were pointed without turning his head and scanned shadows among the trees. When he located what had caught Tug's attention he smiled and gently dug his heels into the horses side and gave a tug on the reins, signaling the horse to come to a complete stop.

"Glad to see your could join me for our trip to the gathering," Will called out with humor. "Halt."

A man, dress similarly to Will, stepped out of the tree line and out onto the trail as well. The man pulled the hood of his cloak off of his head, the corner of his lips twitched as he looked at the boy perched on the horse. His small gray beard was slightly tangled and had a small leaf mix in with the strands.

"Glad to see you too, Will. Last week you had said you wanted to talk to me about something?" the older Ranger said with mild curiosity is his gruff voice.

Will nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell you when we get to the gathering grounds, we can discuss it there."
Halt nodded before giving out a sharp whistle that caused Tug's ears to twitch slightly.

A few seconds later, a bigger horse trudged out of the woods a little farther down the trail and carefully trotted over to Halt's side, his hooves hardly making any sound on the gravel. The dog that had been with Will and tug before was following along side of the horse, mouth hanging open in a happy grin as her tongue lulled out of her mouth, tail wagging furiously. Once the horse came to a stop, Tug started nodding his head slightly, as if in greetings to the new arrival and gave a soft snort, which was quickly returned.

Halt gave his horse a pat on his neck before pulling himself up into the saddle and grabbed the reins. He pulled the hood of his cloak back up, covering his face in shadows as he turned back to his former apprentice.

"Then let's hurry up and get to the gathering. I heard that Gilan is supposed to be trying to play the flute this time." The man remarked with amusement and distaste all at the same time.

Will nodded and gave Tug a nudge with his heel, kicking him gently into action. Soon the two Rangers and their horses were walking side by side along the winding trail as the sun slowly set behind them.

"Do you think we should try and hide Gilan's flute? And hope he forgets about it?" Will asked with mirth.

Halt snorted and shook his head. "I highly doubt Gil will forget about trying to play that stupid thing. He was driving me crazy with it last time." The man grumbled.

Will grinned at him and shrugged. "It would be worth a shot though, wouldn't it? If anything, he might not be able to find it."

Halt made a thoughtful sound as he slowly nodded his head. "Maybe. Good luck trying to get it away from him though. He rarely puts that thing down and always has it somewhere on his person."

Will grinned. "I could always sic Ebony on him and have her retrieve the flute." The dogs head lifted as her ears perked up at the sound of her name. When she realized she was not personally being addressed, she went amongst her business, sniffing everything out of curiosity.

Halt bark out a rough laugh and shook his head. "Then he would know it was you and will then be questioning you throughout the whole gathering." He told the younger Ranger.

Will sighed softly, his shoulders sagging, but his mouth remained kicked up in a smile, his plan already formulating in his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He said with a voice that was lased with mock pity and disappointment.

They grey bearded Ranger glanced at Will with a calculating expression under his hood, sensing that his former apprentice was up to something, but didn't comment on it. He was honestly curious to know what he had cooked up this time.

The two Rangers road in silence for the rest of the way, as they listened to the sounds of the forest to make sure they weren't being followed as they made their way to the Rangers secret meeting grounds. They could tell that they were getting close to it when they saw small billows of smoke rising up from among the tree tops, telling them that some fires had been started for the Rangers for warmth and to cook there food with.

Will gave a small whistle, calling Ebony back to their sides as they approached the entrance to the meeting grounds. The black and white sheltie came up in between the two horses, her tail moving a mile a minutes in her excitement.

They soon saw another cloaked figure standing in the middle of the road with his arms crossed over his chest. Will's face broke out into a wide grin at the sight of the familiar man that they had just been talking about only a few minutes ago.

"Hey, Gil!" Will called, waving at the other Ranger.

Gilan smiled and waved back at the two approaching riders and stepped off to the side of the road to let them pass and so he could walk along side of them. "Long time no see, Will." The man said as he reached out to pat the smaller figure on the shoulder. "glad you could make it to this gathering."

Will nodded slowly. "Yeah, sorry about missing the last one. I was busy with helping out the local farmer in catching the animal that had been killing all his livestock." Will told him.

Gilan waved his hand dismissively at Will's excuse. "Understandable. Did you ever catch the animal?" he asked curiously.

Will shook his head. "No. I can tall that it is something large, like a bear for a wild cat, but I keep losing its trail when it goes to cross the river." Will told him, disappointed that he has been unable to track and kill a simple animal that a rookie Ranger in training could do.

Halt shrugged. "You will catch him, Will. We have no doubt in your skill." He told the boy reassuringly.

Will nodded, but he still didn't feel all that better. If anything, it made him feel worse, knowing that his fellow Rangers expected and counted on him in catching the predator. He couldn't remember the last time he had failed to do something as simple as tracking. It was probably when he was still being trained by Halt during his first year when was still learning the ways of the Rangers.

Gilan noticed the gloomy atmosphere around Will, so he grinned and walked over to him and nudged him. "Cheer up, will yeah. Your probably the best known Ranger – besides you, Halt- and we know you will be able to catch them with little to no problems." He said in an attempt to lift the younger Rangers spirits.

Will sighed and put a smile onto his face as he looked at Gilan. "Yeah, I suppose your right. But enough of this, lets go ahead in and find us a place to set up camp." He said, and then nudged Tug with his heels, spurring him into action, putting him into a run, wanting to end that conversation one way or another, and finding this as the best possible solution.

Halt and Gilan exchanged a long look before they quickly followed suit and Halt nudged Abelard after Will and Tug, leaving Gilan to run on foot behind them.

Will slowed Tug down to a trot as soon as he got into the middle of the clearing and could now see a majority of the Rangers. He pulled Tug to a stop and jumped off his back and scratched him behind his ear. "Thanks Tug." He said to the scraggly pony as he started to undo the horse's saddle and bridle. He pulled them off and placed them down on the ground where he decided to make his tent for his stay at the meeting. Once everything was taken off of Tug, he gave the pony an affectionately pat on his side. "Alright buddy, you're good to go. Just don't get into trouble." He mock scolded the horse.

Tug looked at him as if to say Me getting into trouble? That's your job. Before he turned and started walking off a few dozen yards to graze on the fresh patches of grass.

Halt and Abelard came to a stop along side of Will and he hopped down off of the horse with a muffled thump. He looked at Will's already unpacked equipment that was lying on the ground and Tug standing not too far, munching on the grass that was growing there. "Found someplace to camp already?" Halt mocked.

Will grinned at his former mentor. "Yeah, not really in the mood to be picky-choosy about where I set up camp right now."

Halt snorted. "Rangers were trained not to be picky-choosy. I don't have to put you back into apprenticeship again, do I?" the man said with a stern voice, but Will could tell he was teasing.

Will shook his head but looked down then he felt something putting pressure on the side of his legs to see Ebony nudging him with her head, wanting attention. Will smiled and knelt down to pat her head and muss up her fur. "Hey girl." He then remembered something and grinned wickedly.

He gave a small whistle to get Ebony to look up at him. He then pointed a Gil who was only about fifteen yards away, talking to another Ranger. Gilan had his flute in his hand and showed it to the Ranger he was talking to, obviously telling him that he was planning on using it tonight.

Will pointed at the flute in Gilan hand, a smirk plastered onto his face. "Ebony, see the stick?" Ebony's head twisted around to look at Gilan, ear perked up at the word 'stick'. "See the stick?" he repeated. "Get it!"

Ebony gave a loud barked and ran at Gilan, tail wagging furiously. The said Ranger had looked up at the sound of the bark just in time for Ebony to leap up at him and snatched the flute out of his hands with her teeth. He gave a startled shout in reply and watched in shocked horror as Ebony ran off with his flute, weaving around the tents.

"Hey! Get back here with that! "Gilan yelled and ran off to follow after Ebony, intending to het his instrument back from the black sheepdog.

The whole clearing erupted into laughter as they watched Gilan try to catch the speedy and swift dog, yelling obscenities at her. Will looked up to see Halt chuckling as well, covering his mouth with his hand to try hide it.

Will chuckled. "So...what was that you were saying earlier?" Will asked mockingly.

Halt shot Will a look that had no venom to it as he shook his head. "Yes, well I think he will have to try and catch Ebony first to get that damnable instrument back." Halt said, his eyes moving over to where you could see Gilan running around in the distance, chasing after a black shadow. "Which might take a while. Want to go ahead and set up the tents while we wait?" Halt said putting on a blank face and a bored monotone, even though you could see the amusement in his eyes.

Will grinned and walked over to his equipment that he had taken off of Tug's back and pulled out the material that he was going to use to make his tent with. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Halt taking his own gear off of Abelard's back and begin putting them together.

Will looked back to his own work at hands and slides the pole into the tarp like material. "About what I had wanted to talk you earlier about." Will started slowly. He could see Halt pause for a split second at his words before he went right back to work in getting Abelard unpacked. He could tell he had his old mentor's attention so he continued to speak. "It has been bugging me for a while and I wanted to know if you think I'm ready for it yet." he said as he slid the last pole into the tarp, before he started sticking them into the ground to make the tents structure.

"Get to the point already." Halt grumbled.

Will took a deep breath as he stabbed the last pole into the dirt. "I want to take in an Apprentice of my own." there he finally said it.

Will could see Halt pause in his work again and turn his head to look at him, his eyes narrowed in surprise as he studied the young man. Will sighed and stood up straight and turned to look at the grey bearded Ranger.

"I would like to take in an apprentice to train. I think I'm ready, but I wanted to know if you think I am." Will told him, his face both determined yet hesitant at the same time, fearing that Halt might say that he wasn't ready.

Halt studied his former apprentice carefully, wondering what had brought this about in asking him if he thought he was ready or not. He remembered the first time he got his first apprentice, Gilan, and that he had been nervous on how he should progress into teaching him about the Rangers way of life, even though he would never admit that out loud to any one.

Halt could see that Will was fidgeting slightly under his gaze, and put on a scowl. "Well," he began. "if you want to take in an apprentice, the first step to mentor hood; is stop looking so unsure of yourself." he told the young Ranger. Will blinked at Halt in befuddlement for a minute before smiling when he realized what he was insinuating. But before Will's excitement could be built up too much, Halt quickly continued. "And are you absolutely sure that you want to take in an apprentice so soon? They are nothing like taking care of Ebony or Tug. They can be very stressful and hard work to train and to teach." he told him.

Will nodded sharply without hesitation. "Yes sir."

Halt rolled his eyes at Will calling him 'sir', but didn't comment on it. "Alright, if you are so sure…then yes, I think you're ready." he said, telling the boy what he honestly thought. He really did think Will was ready for taking an apprentice under his wing, knowing that whoever Will would pick, will be sure to have the best mentor possible will all of Will's skill and knowledge at hand.

Will sighed and let his shoulders sag with relief as a smile split across his lips once more. "Thank you."

Halt waved his hands dismissively. "No need to thank me, Will. You're are an extraordinary Ranger at best and even so when you are at your worst. I think you will do a great job in training an apprentice." he said as he tried to get his tent equipment untangled. "Now, come over here and give me a hand with this blasted tent before I throw it into the fire pit."

Will grinned even wider and walked over to give Halt a hand with setting up his tent. Once they had finished setting up the tent and securing it to the ground, they both took a step back to admire their work.

"I'm going to get you for that." called a voice from behind.

Will and Halt turned round to see Gilan standing there, holding a flute covering in dog saliva in his hand. Halt's mouth kicked up into a grin as Will faked a hurt expression.

"What? You don't think I did that, do you?"

Gilan huffed, his face in a half pout. "Ebony is your dog. She only listens to you, so I know it was you Will."

Will grinned at him. "And just what are you going to do about it?"

Gilan's eyes flashed mischievously as he glared at Will. "Is that a challenge I'm hearing?"

Will chuckled and crossed his arms. "Maybe."

Halt shook his head at his two former apprentices, knowing for a fact that this was going to be a long gathering.

End of Chapter 3

Well, now we all know Will wants to take in an apprentice. I'll give you three guess on who, and the first two don't count xD

Well I hope to see you all soon!

Rae

DanPhantomsApprentice