This is me trying to update faster!! Yay!! This is also me ignoring my homework!! Yays . . .but don't follow my example. ^^ Anyways, on with the story.~~
They all moved on as quickly as they could manage. Aaron's condition made it difficult sometimes, especially with her arm as it was in a sling.
There were a quite a few days that left the four of them stranded in one town in particular. Thunderstorms so bad, not even the bravest of souls dare leave the inside of their homes or inns. It went on for days, while Aaron's wounds healed little by little. Two weeks went by without the rain stopping for anything, except for the occasional peeks of sunlight every now and then.
The four used these times to make a quick dash to the next town over, not wanting to stay in one place for too long, but not daring to stray too far for fear of getting caught in the series of storms in the woods and forced to camp out the storm in the mud and rain.
" That's how I ended up finding this kid," Gilan pointed at Aaron, " the girl was slopping around in the mud and drenched to the bone. Like a street rat without any claws."
" Hey, don't get mad cause I could kick your ass even back then." Aaron laughed, taking up a joke. Halt cocked an eyebrow at this comment.
" Now that I would've liked to see." he said.
" I could still kick his ass now if you want." Aaron added to Halt, raising both her brows at the old Ranger and winking at him, and laughing more.
" Yeah, right." Gilan's voice slurred with sarcasm. " I'd beat you easy, you little brat."
" I'll kick both your asses if you don't shut the fuck up." Will finally joined in. There was a few moments of shocked silence. Then, Aaron and Gilan laughed hysterically, leaning over the pommels of their saddles and leaning back to laugh into the muggy air. Halt heaved a deep sigh inwardly. He'd been afraid that Will would start picking up Aaron's language if they were around each other for any length of time. Now that suspicion had been profane true, and he wouldn't hear the end of this sort of conversation anymore. Meanwhile, Aaron patted Will on the back, still laughing.
" Congratulations! And true, I don't doubt!" she howled out, holding her stomach. " But I'm sure Halt will kick all of our asses before you get the chance to prove that last statement of yours right." Giggling devilishly she added, with a smirk. " Then, once he's down that, with his final move, he'll throw out his back. We all know how old people can be, after all-" Aaron cackled to the sky, ushering Rurin to a fast cantor as Halt came chasing after her, shouting all the while.
Will and Gilan shrugged to each other and got their horses moving faster to catch both Aaron (who had a huge lead) and Halt ( who was closing the gap as quickly as possible). Laughing, Aaron wheeled Rurin around, aching to the right. Will hurried to catch her, urging Tug along, not needing to arch like Gilan and Halt did to catch up with the tall black stallion. Gilan joined Halt and pursued the two younger people, grinning ear to ear.
" You seem better." Halt commented, and Gilan glanced over at him. Then he smiled his cheerful, disarming smile, and nodded to Halt.
" I've figured things out. It's all straight in my head now." he replied, not being specific about what it was in particular. Halt nodded to him as well.
" You'll have to excuse me for hitting this tomboy over the head." Halt said, darkly. Gilan laughed, thinking that Aaron had best hope Rurin was as good a horse as she claimed or she was going to have to deal with one hell of a headache.
That was when things went wrong. The horses gave warning signs, but they came a little too late to help their riders avoid the disaster that followed. Men rode out from the woods around the group of four. Before they could regroup, cavalry men blocked Gilan and Halt's path to the younger members of their group
" NO! Dammit!!" Gilan shouted, using his sword to deflect attacks that came him way.
" Gilan, it's no use!!" Halt hollered, getting Abelard to ease back. " Head for the trees!! We can lose them there!!" Both Ranger's wheeled their horses round and headed for the forest. They worked to lose the men as quickly as possible, and did, mainly because they weren't the targets that these men were looking for. Both Ranger's knew that the army back there had been after Aaron and the message she had.
Still, it took some time to shake the last of the cavalry men. Finally, the last few turned and galloped away, leaving Gilan and Halt alone to catch their breath for a moment.
" We have to go back for them." Gilan said, almost immediately. Halt was in no mood to disagree. Will was still back there too. He'd spent a lot of time searching for his student all the way through Gallica and into Skandia. Nobody was going to make that all for nothing. Halt had even gotten himself exiled for a year to get Will back. No way was anyone getting away with this.
However . . .
" They're on their own for now, Gilan," Halt replied, clearly not happy with this situation they now found themselves in," they will have pursued Aaron because she's the one with the message they want. Will will go with her, but" he frowned greatly," they must either out run or out smart these men or be captured." Gilan gave a weary sigh to this, scratching his head.
" I suppose they're in good shape then," he said, more to himself then to Halt, "Will has proved to be clever in times of need over and over again, and I know well that, despite her teasing and language, Aaron is very smart." Blinking out of his thought Gilan turned and grinned to Halt.
Suddenly, Halt clasped Gilan's shoulder with a firm grasp of his hand. Gilan looked, confused by Halt's actions.
" Don't smile if you don't actually want to." Halt said, shortly, squeezing Gilan's shoulder with his strong hand. " A forced smile doesn't suit you." Gilan stared after Halt as he patted Gilan once on the shoulder and walked off to climb back onto Abelard's saddle.
Shaking Halt's words out of his head, Gilan mounted Blaze and the two Ranger's hurried back the way they'd come. They could only pray that Aaron and Will would be alright for right now. There was nothing they could do for the two young people in the current situation. It was all up to them. ~~~~~~~~
" Dammit!!" Aaron hollered, whirling Rurin around again to avoid some more of the cavalry men. She twisted to see behind her, then out and around for some sort of escape root. There had to be some way out of these men, even as they were closing in on her. " WILL!!" she shouted, but the apprentice Ranger had already seen her and was heading to meet her.
" This way!!" she threw her hand to the left to indicate where she was headed.
" I've already been that way," Will said over the commotion around them, Aaron giving a gasp and staring at him," besides, I can already see that there are people hidden in the trees that way." Aaron eased Rurin back to pace with Tug with a tap of her feet.
" There's got to be some way out of here." Aaron insisted, looking around, even up, as if debating on the idea of taking to the trees again like she had awhile ago.
" Aaron, we're not going up into those trees," Will persisted, seeing the idea flash in her eyes as she looked up," your arm still hasn't healed altogether from your first time trying that out. NO." he said it more firmly to get the point across to her, as she seemed to be ignoring his warnings.
" You're not going to tell me that we're just going to LET ourselves get caught." Aaron proved stubborn as ever, catching Will's eyes with an intense gaze.
" We might have no choice in the matter, Aaron. Besides, we have a better chance of getting away unharmed if we act as prisoners for the time being-" Will began, but Aaron gave a huge shake of her head and groaned to interrupt his sentence.
" They'll hold ME captive, Will, because they want the message I have in MY head. I'm perfectly safe for the time being, except for some possible torture. What about you?" Aaron asked, urgently, a look of distress in her eyes.
Truth be told, Will knew what Aaron meant. These people had no reason to hold him captive. If caught, they couldn't very well let Will go. He'd most likely be killed.
" I'll manage." Will lied. Acting like he had some sort of way to save himself would get Aaron to play it safe, and not almost kill herself. She survived one fall. There was no guarantee that she would survive another like it. Aaron wheeled Rurin around, and by now it was too late to get away.
" Don't lie, Will. You're a horrible liar." Aaron told him. Will grinned. Well, he'd attempted. The horses had stopped moving now, and both Will and Aaron got down off of their horses. Tug seemed to protest the action, and Will had to pat the horse to reassure him. Aaron's stallion stood firmly, almost to say that it didn't quite care for his master.
" Glad to see you're so concern." Aaron commented by his ear. The horse tossed his head, then stuck out his head so that his neck appeared to rest on Aaron's shoulder. Aaron let out a laugh, stretching her arm around to stroke the horse's nose.
Around them the men all closed in, a cloud of black and hinted with spots of blue in every direction. Finally one man stepped forwards, and Aaron dreaded the sight of him the instant his bay horse stepped out of the lines that surrounded them. Now, the real test started.
" Tell me the message!!" shouted Urosia, astride his brown bay horse just with in the medium sized circle around Will and Aaron. Will didn't need to see the defiant look in Aaron's eyes to know what her reply would be.
" Up yours!! UROSIA!! ASSHOLE!!" she snarled loudly out at him. Will had to admit those weren't the exact words he would've used, but that didn't mean he thought she shouldn't have used them. By all means, he found her choice of words more appropriate for the way they both felt then his own words. ~~~~
So, there you are. Hope you all enjoyed it. Review please!! I do love to read reviews!! XD Thanks so much for all of the feed back that you've all given me so far! I appreciate it!! Next chapter we'll be following Will and Aaron around more, so I hope you're all ready for this. ^^