Tragedy in the Sands - Chapter 4
Authors Note: I understand the title might be throwing people off; to be honest I didn't realize exactly what I was alluding to by using that phrase of words. But now that I think about it I could easily adjust my story so that it fits with the title. Also, I don't really write for Evanlyn very often, so because of that, her part was sparse. Anyway please read and review!
As they approached the camp, Evanlyn, who had not heard the news yet, came running up to them.
Horror was plain on her face; her eyes glistened with unshed tears, "What happened? Is he okay?"
Horace stepped out of the group to pull her aside since she was crowding Will and threatening to disturb his newly stitched wounds. Halt and Gil and the two skandians, continued on to the tent that Umar had set aside for Will.
"The tower collapsed on him. It was pretty bad. But the healer did a pretty good of patching him up."
She just stood there, shocked into silence. The thought of Will getting hurt was unfathomable. They were talking about the same Will here right? The same Will who had stood fearlessly against the wargals and Skandians at the bridge? The same one who had protected her on the rock island and during the Temujai invasion? Will always got out of dangerous situations unscathed. This couldn't be happening.
Horace gently roused her from her thoughts as he said, "Will won't be awake for a while, wanna get something to eat? I'm starving."
Despite the situation Evanlyn found herself smiling a little at that. Only Horace would be hungry at a time like this. She thought.
"Okay sure. They have a buffet table somewhere for all the Arridi and Bedullin soldiers, just don't eat the whole table, save some for the rest of the army." She joked.
Even Horace had to chuckle at that.
After Horace left the procession, the others continued on to Will and Halt's tent or more accurate, a pavilion, since it was dictated that they would share. Unlike the tents in Araluen who had thick wool walls to keep out the cold, these tents had white sheets draped as the four walls that flowed in the breeze; At night a thicker roll could be rolled down to repel the cold, fortunately it was nowhere near as stuffy as the ones from the Araluen's homeland. Halt entered the tent with his charge and surveyed the premises out of habit. When he deemed it safe and comfortable we strode over to the cot farthest from the entrance and gently laid will down, pulling the light blanket over him. The others stood back. Erak and Svengal looked awkward as if they were observing some sacred show of tenderness from the grizzly, old, ranger. Gilan look undisturbed. A few more minutes of silence passed, during which time the two north men debated on how to end the silence, and Halt and Gilan observed their young friend who In the end it was Gil who broke the silent vigil.
Addressing the Skandians, "You guys still hungry?"
The two men looked surprised. "umm yeah. I could eat, actually I could eat a whale, or whatever is the biggest animal in this god forsaken place." Svengal smirked.
Erak had yet to speak; he was still eyeing the grim ranger and his resting apprentice worriedly. Halt had not moved from his place, like he was frozen. His hand was still resting on Will's chest while it moved up and down in time with the boys shallow breathing. "Ranger you want something?
"Coffee, maybe?" Gilan commented.
That seemed to rouse Halt. "Huh? Oh ya..ummm.. coffee sounds great." He said quietly.
He did not sound like he was going to be leaving himself, but Gil just nodded, he understood. Halt was going to by Will bedside until he woke up, Gilan concluded.
"Alright, I'll be back with your coffee and honey." He said with a smile in his voice.
"Thanks Gilan" Halt said quietly.
Without another word Gilan strode out of the tent, but not before he gave Will once last sad gaze; then he was gone, only the swaying of the curtain across the door gave him away that he had been there. Erak and Svengal followed after giving Halt a gentle slap on the back in encouragement, except gentle in skandians terms was not so with people in the normal world, especially for an under average heighted ranger. Halt was still grimacing ruefully when the flap of the pavilion swung shut in their wake. He sighed and pulled a pillowed stool over to Will's bedside.
"I'm here anytime you want to wake up Will." He said softly.
He was not surprised when he did not receive an answer but for some reason he was disappointed. He had unrealistic expectations that Will was going to bounce back from this, like he did with everything else in his life. No! He yelled at the subconscious part of him that had accepted Will would never recover despite what the doctor had said. Will was going to be fine. He had never let Halt down; he had just proved that yet again as he came firing to the rescue during their execution. Halt reached over placed his hand back over Will's heart, needing the reassurance. He's going to be fine, he told himself. And he believed it.
Three days had gone by; Halt passed the time occupying the space next to Will's cot. The others were in and out quite often, Gilan and Horace more than three times a day, but nobody matched the oldest ranger's attendance record. He barely left except to go to relieve himself. Every once in a while, when he needed somebody to talk to without wanting to break his role as strong leader, he would go and check in on Abelard and the rest of the horses. There he felt safe to vent to his "vault-of-secrets" horse, not surprisingly it was mostly about Will. But most times he was in his tent with Will, still unconscious. Horace, Gilan or sometimes Evanlyn would bring him some food , otherwise he would never eat, and replenish his coffee cup. But it was on one of his visits to the stables when Will opened his eyes.
Kinda a filler chapter, oh well. Please review! Thanks for reading!