Here's another chapter. Hope you're all still interested. ~~~

" I'm leaving the horse to you." Halt said, getting his bow ready to go, and reaching for his arrows in a very smooth, practiced manner.

" You sure?" Aaron asked, clinging onto the horse.

" What-?! Of coarse I'm sure, I'm the one with the arrows!" he snapped, as this wasn't the best time for him to be answering questions for the boy.

" You ever ridden a horse backwards before, old man?" Aaron inquired still further.

" This isn't the time to be getting into an argument, Aaron-!" Halt said, frustrated already as he needed to focus on what he was doing.

Suddenly, Aaron's arm shot out and snatched the bow right out of his hands!! Halt was caught in such surprise, that he sat there gapping for a moment while Aaron jerked an arrow from his quiver and strung it

" Steady, boy, steady!" Aaron told the stallion, and he tossed his head in reply to the command. That out of the way, carefully, Aaron brought his feet up, and pressing as gently as he could manage, got one foot up to kneel on the horse. Then he turned completely around, facing Halt.

He knocked Halt to the side slightly, took aim and fired. After that, he actually crawled over Halt, and sat back to back with the old Ranger

" Have I ever ridden a horse backwards?" Halt echoed, rather at a loss for this one. Having Aaron act so abruptly had left him rather lost for words.

The boy reached back and yanked out another arrow, stringing and firing with Halt's bow very easily. As though none of what he was doing was anything unusual or out of the ordinary.

" Well, I have. Just leave it to me. I'm tougher then you think." he insisted, sending arrows flying all the while. Halt couldn't see the pin point percision that the boy used to take down one man after another.

" You, how almost got himself mugged by a couple of street thugs, is gonna take out armored men in a cavalry?" Halt persisted, finding this a bit ironic, and Aaron let out a laugh too.

" Strange world we live in, isn't it?" he answered Halt's question with his own question. To that, Halt couldn't deny, that this was strange to him.

" Have you got a lot of arrows with you?"

" Enough that I can work with."

" I hope that's a lot." Aaron stated, plainly.

" Thirteen are left as of now." Halt gave a straight answer to him this time.

" Wow, that was a specific answer."

" Just shut your trap and shoot!" was all Halt could do to contain his anger at the sudden need for Aaron to produce small talk at a time like this. Aaron did as he was told. Rurin made a grunting noise, and Aaron glanced over his shoulder. Grabbing at a part of his clothes, he pushed a two knives into the Ranger's hand.

" Then you throw these! There's some coming from your direction!" Aaron instructed, focusing back on those who were coming at the two of them from the opposite direction. "You do know how to throw while riding, don't you?" he asked, almost mockingly of the old Ranger he rode with. To this, Halt grunted his irritation.

" Don't insult me." he replied, and Aaron actually let out a laugh at this answer to his question.

" I could say the same to you two Rangers." Now that was good timing if Halt ever heard it. It sounded so natural, but was at just the right moment. Truth be told, Halt had an inkling that Aaron might be aware of the little tests that Gilan and he had set up for him. However, this outright cofirmed what Halt had thought. Aaron was smart and observant.

Either way, Aaron was running out of arrows fast, and there was also the need to out run these cavalry men. Not to mention Halt had no idea how many more knives the boy could have hidden on his person. He'd have to ask about that later. . .

Anyways, he let his eyes flicker around, searching for some sort of escape.

" They shouldn't be able to catch us." Aaron said, almost to himself, as the knights on their horses seemed to be gaining on them. That's when Halt understood it. Why they were getting caught, why this whole situation seemed wrong.

" Get your stupid horse to listen to me!" Halt snapped at Aaron, frustrated with the horse's lack of cooperation.

" Listen, Rurin!" Aaron gave the command to the stallion, and suddenly, the stallion went jerking to the right so much that Aaron nearly fell off this time. " HEY!"

" I've been doing that all day, thanks to your damn stallion! Get over it!" Halt answered before Aaron could protest anymore then that. " Hang on!"

" That would've helped if you'd told me sooner!" he snapped, gripping tightly onto Halt's shoulder and Ranger cloak.

Aaron somehow managed to turn forwards again, and, leaning back, fired an arrow to his right. Grabbing another, he had himself ready for the next one in only seconds, firing just as smoothly as he had at the beginning of this. Rurin the horse seemed completely uneasy with this whole situation, but still did as Halt directed. He trusted Halt only because Aaron did.

" It's a trap." Halt finally told Aaron.

" A trap? How?"

" Apparently, they're very used to your way of escape on horse back. They know you well enough that they actually predicted the direction that you would go." Halt replied, quickly, hearing Aaron give a soft gasp at this. He hadn't thought of that. Well, people are creatures of habit after all, they may have mapped out a pattern as to Aaron's run.

" How would they know where I was at . . .?" it took him a moment to realize that he knew that answer as well. " The guys who mugged me were working with them? Seriously?" Halt nodded, and Aaron spent some time cussing himself and the "bastards" who had come up with this plan. " Then-"

" They don't know how I'll direct this. You've got to leave this to me." he said, simply to the boy. There was a silence for a moment, where Aaron seemed to think this over.

" You're going to do something completely stupid or at least unorthidox, aren't you?" Aaron asked, ruefully, but almost in a way that suggested that he might laugh as well. Halt felt a smirk play across his face.

" We'll have to see won't we." " I don't like the sounds of this." Aaron said, holding onto Halt's torso while Rurin sped up even more this time.~~~

Next chapter, Halt and Aaron have a plan. Well, sort of anyways. Reviews are appreciated greatly, thank you all very much!!