Last chapter had a lot going on, didn't it? Well, here's what happens next. ~~

A shock wave ran through Urosia's men. The initial surprise was the worst of it. Aaron was killing their own comrades one minute, the next it seemed the boy lay limply on the lower branch that most anybody could climb up to with enough effort. Several who recovered from the surprise first and for most climbed up the few branches it took to reach the inert form of the young boy, met by others that were making there way back down to the ground. The three that met first off glanced at once another briefly.

" Alright?" one asked. One of the two who'd just climbed down nodded slowly.

" Yeah, fine." said the second, nodding too.

" Going from tree top to tree top," the one who'd only nodded murmured, half in wonder, half in complete disbelief, " this kid is really something."

" Yeah, something pretty stupid." said the first, shaking his head as he turned to look at the boy. The other two got rather upset at this.

" Excuse me for saying, mister can't get his ass off his horse, but you don't have any right to say anything. All you did was guard the tree." said the third one who'd gotten the closest to the top of the three. " The boy was working to survive, no matter how insane it may have looked from ground level."

" Yeah, the boy had guts to even attempt such a thing. Look, he made it through seven separate trees."

" And killed five of our own men, knocked two unconsious, and about nine other men with mild concussions and other injuries." snapped the first at them. This got the other two to be silent. " I'd rather not hear praise to the boy who'd caused so many deaths amongst us all."

This was true enough. All in the cavalry had some friend or at least mild acquaintance meet his end during this journey they'd taken. There was one point when they weren't even sure Urosia himself could make it through a rough illness back in Gallica. They'd been lucky that he'd pulled through it. Hardship hadn't been Aaron's alone, all of them had been dealt a degree of harshness in this pursuit.

" True." the second murmured.

" Still, there's no denying the kid had guts." the third insisted, stubbornly to them." It's hard to believe that the boy's really dead though." he whispered, crouching down carefully to gaze more at level with the still mass in the tree.

" We sure he's really dead?" asked the first, bland toned.

" The boy fell from way up there," the second pointed up into the trees at one spot in particular, " Can you imagine anybody surviving a fall like that? I dunno about you but I sure can't."

" It might be better to be dead with the pummeling he got on the way down." said the third one, agreeing with the second, beginning to climb back down with the first.

" We'll all going to be pummeled for letting the kid die." the first answered, sourly, and descended in an overly cautious way.

The second watched them go, still crouching beside the still body, then glanced over at the body. His eyes held a certain degree of respect that all who were in this band of men should have, in his opinion. The boy out smarted, out ran, out did them in so many different ways to the point he'd died. For that, this man felt he deserved the respect he felt well up in his chest as he looked at the dead form. Reaching out a hand, he patted the boy's hair.

" Nice job, boy," he said with a solemn smile, " nice job." with that he gathered Aaron up in his arms and descended with him.

Laying him down, there was a huge fuss over what to do next. Aaron was dead, and they were going to get beat for it. Then what after that? The message was almost lost to them now with the boy dead. They'd spent all this time and effort, to the point of near death situations, to try and catch the boy. Now he was gone.

WHISSHHHH!

THUMP!

All at once, they were under attack.

Men shouted, some still making their way down from the tree while others fumbled for weapons and shields at the same time. Some hurried to their horses, and the crowd became a mass of confusion. The organization was a mess now because they had thought there wouldn't be any more battle necessary. Aaron had been their focus, and with him gone there had been no apparent threat around. This had been a misconception. Arrows whipped past, most hitting into the ground or a tree trunk in these woods, like the people in question were aiming to get them all a mess.

It had worked though, and four horses stormed in, but only three with riders. Some of these cavalry tried to get something of a formation put together, but with no luck. The Ranger's arrows pushed them back, forcing them to take to the woods around them for protection from the attack.

" Get Aaron!" Halt shouted to Gilan, still sending arrows flying while Will did the same a few feet to the side of them.

Leaping down from his horse, Gilan crouched down and scooped up Aaron, then quickly headed for the stallion and his own mare. Laying Aaron down on Rurin's back, Gilan remounted Blaze. Carefully, Gilan pulled Aaron over to ride with him on Blaze.

" Let's go!" he shouted, and they began a retreat, Halt being the last to ride away. The horses ran at a cantor, the black stallion braying once before they disappeared completely from the cavalry men.

They rode for a long, hard cantor, doing their best to try and head through any streams or things that could hide their tracks. Finally satisfied, they all slowed down and finally stopped once Halt had given the word.

Carefully, Will helped Gilan get Aaron onto the ground. His eyes grew wide, seeing the blood that seemed to be drying up at this point as some large scale bruises.

Halt took over taking care of his injuries, ordering Gilan and Will to help him as he dealt with one injury after another. All throughout all of this, Aaron remained unchanged, possibly dead or so it seemed.

" Is he-?" Will began to ask, but Halt shooed him away to get more water for them to clean the wounds with. Gilan watched the transaction, then came over to Halt, a hand full of bandages in his right hand.

" Here." he handed it to Halt, who took it without looking up.

" Hold him still." Halt told him. Gilan helped get Aaron into a sitting position while Halt used the bandages Gilan at given him to wrap around Aaron's neck, making a sling of his right arm. " He busted this arm pretty bad with that stupid stunt he pulled." Just as carefully as before, the lay Aaron down and Halt frowned. He hesitated for only a moment.

Then he pushed the boy's shirt up, but only far enough that his stomach was visible. Halt gave a sigh at the large bruises and the gash across his abdomen.

" I'll go get more bandages." Gilan said, hustling up to his feet. Halt shook his head, patting Gilan on the shoulder a few times once he'd gotten to his feet as well.

" I'll get it, you stay here." he said, firmly, not that Gilan was in the mood to disagree with him. With a weary smile he knelled back down on the ground while Halt moved stiffly away.

Gilan's attention, however, was on Aaron by now. He simply looked at the paled face of the boy, then from one wound to the next, no matter if they were bandaged or not. Reaching out a hand, he brushed a tangled bit of black hair away from his face and eyes. What was it that he was feeling? Seeing the boy like this, it hurt for some reason. Gilan felt it within himself, somewhere. Poor boy was still so young too . . .

Halt returned to a scene he hadn't been expecting. True, he'd left to test out something, and had gotten a result.

It just wasn't something he'd been expecting to see.

Leaning down over the still, motionless form, Gilan pressed his forehead gently to Aaron's. He stroked the boy's hair gingerly, as if putting any sort of force on it would turn Aaron to dust or sand. He whispered, hushed words to the quiet figure.

It may seem strange, but Gilan and Aaron had become close in this short time. They spoke little of what happened in the past, it wasn't a big topic for Aaron and he grew sad when he talked of it.

Mostly they joked together. The constant teasing and pecking they said back and forth during a day's time period. Like the way Gilan constantly pointed out Aaron's lack of skill with directions. Aaron had this long standing teaser, insisting that Gilan couldn't cook for his life. Every time, Aaron would end up begging for Gilan to come cook once Gilan told him to cook himself.

" Stupid, you never did tell me what was wrong with my cooking." Gilan remarked in a murmur, then sat up again.

Halt waited a bit, pretending he hadn't seen what Gilan had been doing, then walked up to him bandages in his hands. Gilan glanced up at him.

" Sit him up again." Halt said, kneeling down,and Gilan lifted Aaron up again. " Don't die on us, kid." he told Aaron, and Gilan suddenly laughed.

" He won't die," Gilan replied," he's like you. Aaron's simply too stubborn to die."~~~~

So, basically, I've told you jack shit in this chapter. Gilan is certainly sure that Aaron is alive, though. He's so nice that way. ^^ Anyways, I appreciate all who take the time to leave a review for me, so please send them my way!!