For the first time in his life, Halt couldn't find anything to say. He just stared at his apprentice.
"Halt?" Will said cautiously, "Are you alright?" Halt snapped out of his stupor.
"Yeah, fine." Halt said, "It's just... Crowley and I took down one of those back when Gilan was still a boy. It nearly killed us. We were hurt badly enough we couldn't ride. Gilan had to go for help... I don't know how you could have..."
"We just got lucky Halt, if your shot hadn't gone haywire we would be dead..." Will said. "But luck isn't always going to be on our side... So what would you have done Halt?"
"I think you handled it well enough on your own." Halt said, "You did pretty much what I would have done. The only advantage I would have had over you in that situation is muscle and weight. You probably would have done better than me, considering the fact that your arms are shorter. You'd have greater range of motion."
"But your technique is better than mine." Will said. "You probably would have seen openings that I didn't."
"From what you've told me Will, it doesn't sound like there were many of them." Halt said. "Now stop putting me on a pedestal, and I mean it. I'm no better than the other rangers in the corps, and if you set me as your goal you'll be held back. Now that that's taken care of, go check on Horace."
Will nodded and sauntered into the tent. Horace was laying there, fast asleep.
"He's sleeping." Will reported.
"The fright must have worn him out." Halt said. "Put on a pot of coffee. I'll grab some meat. Squirrel, probably, looking at these woods. Can you get the pans ready to fry it?"
Will nodded and set to work. About 20 minutes later, Halt returned with several squirrels, all shot right in the middle of the eye. They were 'Nature's targets,' as Halt often called them. The head was the only lethal place you could shoot one without destroying the meat, and they'd die with the least pain if you shot them right in the eye. The arrow would pierce the brain, and it would be lights out for Mr. Squirrel. Permanently. Will already had the frying pan ready over the fire, so all that was left to do was to prepare the meat. Will and Halt both took out their saxe knives and took a squirrel each to skin. Within a few minutes, they moved to the next, and then the next.
"Six squirrels in 20 minutes," Halt reflected. "Not bad. I could have done better, but not bad."
"Two for each of us then." Will said. He dropped the squirrel meat in the pan, and it immediately began sizzling. Once the aroma of frying squirrel filled the air, Will and Halt heard shuffling in the tent.
"Of course, he comes around now!" Halt said. "After every bit of the work is done."
Horace peaked his head out of the tent.
"Is that squirrel?"
Will rolled his eyes and handed Horace a hardy serving of the meat.
A/N: As always, reviews are welcome! Be sure to tel me how I did! Sorry for the short chapter, but that just seemed to be a good stopping point for this one.
Anyway, Review!