Well, I have to say, I don't have a very clear picture of where this story is going and it's making it most difficult to write...Well, I kind of know- it's just very hazy. If anyone has any ideas of 'challenges' they'd have to face in the wild, I'd love to hear them.

Chapter 8

Logically, Will knew he needed to eat, but his stomache was churning with anxiety for his mentor, and he had a raging thirst, so he didn't actually feel hungry. He did, however, have a parched throat and his tongue was gummy.

Halt too needed to drink. The wounded always needed plenty of water. So it seemed to Will that his only choice was to go to the river and bring back water, and see if he could find some food while he was at it. To do that he would have to leave Halt unattended.

"I'm thirsty," Lily whined. She was leaning against the base of a tree, eyes half closed.

"Oh, don't be such a weakling, foreigner," Sirisa snapped, her voice filtering through the walls of her shelter. Lily flushed, indignant.

"I'm not the one who ran away. And if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here in there first place! Right Will?" Tears were building up in her eyes, tears of frustration and misery. She looked to Will for support against Sirisa and found none- he was busy debating whether or not he should leave Halt and he didn't want to fight with any of his unwilling allies.

"I'll go to the river and fetch us all water," Ruch said, rising from his position on a fallen log. They all had waterskins, since the guards had seen no reason to confiscate them. Will stood up as well.

"I'll go too," he said, eyes alight with determination. The others were surprised- it was the first time he'd been willing to leave Halt's side. "I want to set up snares anyway, we need every morsal of food we can get." He steeled himself and in his mind, he could hear Halt guiding him, believe in yourself and others will believe in you too. Or was it Gilan who had said that? Probably both of them at one time or another. Now, he had to take charge and believe in his capabilities. He would not let the Oramine see his doubt; the thoughts that if Halt were well enough, things would be going so much more smoothly.

"I'll go to the river. Ruch, can you stay here and watch Halt for me?" Out of all of them, Ruch was the one Will trusted the most. He didn't think the old Oramine would abandon Halt if anything happened.

Ruch nodded immediately. "I'm happy to stay, though I myself believe it to be better if Antil stays with him."

Will frowned. He had already passed off the dispirited Antil as useless. Nonetheless, he nodded, content that Ruch would make sure nothing happened to Halt.

"Alright, Ruch and Antil stay here and guard our camp," he said. "Sirisa, Lillian, come with me."

"Why do we have to come?" Sirisa complained. Lillian shot her a glare.

"I'm happy to come Will."

Sirisa snorted, rolling her eyes. "Oh, you're happy to do anything he asks, aren't you? You spinless..."

"Stop argueing!" Will snapped, losing his patience with the both of them. "Look we have to work together..." his voice trailed off as he noticed both girls were glaring at each other and paying him no attention. He sighed, cast a lingering look at Halt, then ordered the girls to follow him.

It was tough going through the forest. Vines and branches tangled around one another, matted clumps of greenery forcing the young ranger to find another way around. It would be easy to get lost and his only navigation was his ears- he listened to the sound of running water.

As they walked, Lily plucked out strings from her jacket and left them in bushes, as was Will's instruction. By leaving a trail behind them, he would be able to find his way back to Halt. It did occur to him that the tribes people they had seen on their first night might be able to track them, but in the tangle of leaves he wasn't confident he could retrace his steps without the aid of the string.

They reached the river and Will took a moment to stare out over the wide expanse of rushing water. He could barely see the line of land on the other side, and he sighed to himself. At some stage, they would have to attempt to cross the river.

Unless...

A thought edged into his mind. There were Skandians along the Insee river, maybe the two rivers were connected. And if so, he could hope to walk along the bank until he met them.

"We could get the Skandians to pick us up," he said, voicing the thought carefully, as if it might blow away with the wind. Lillian didn't even blink.

"I studied the land," she muttered. "The Insee river, where the Skandians are, is completely different to this river, called the M'besh'd'lin, or river of no return. They don't meet at any point."

The vague hope fizzled away. "Ah," Will sighed. "Well, good thing you studied so hard, huh?"

"That's not what you thought on the boat," Lillian said stiffly. He had no reply to that, and it annoyed him at the tense air between everyone. Halt had taught him that good relationships made it a lot easier to work together.

Sirisa had moved to the waters edge and filled her water skin. She watched the river warily, as if some great sea monster would leap up at her. Her manner was starting to rub off on Will. He too could feel a prickling sensation, like something dangerous was sneaking up on them.

Lillian glanced around nervously and the young ranger kicked himself- he had to stay calm and think. He was well trained and he couldn't hear anything rustling around in the bushes. Which wasn't to say there couldn't possibly be anything there, they might be being watched by wild eyes, but there was no point in worrying about it if it wasn't certain.

He crouched down and filled his waterskin, then Ruch's, Antil's and Halt's. Lillian and Sirisa had finished and were waiting for him. He glanced back at the tense girls and flashed them a smile.

And Sirisa's eyes widened suddenly and she backed away from the river, her hands forming a sign to ward off evil.

And a splitting pain spread through Will's hand. The swear word exploded from his lips and he dropped the water skin, leaving it at the mercy of the current. The surface of the water rippled and a silver scaly back appeared, slipping back down beneath the murky depths, and dragging Will with it. He realised the creature- some kind of giant fish- had bitten down on his hand.

He choked and gurgled, clawing at the bank with his free hand, tearing dents in the soil with his hands. The water lapped around him, surrounded him, stinging his eyes. A green tendril of some weed wavered in front of his eyes. He twisted around and felt for the massive fish that held him. The splintering pain in his hand forced tears from his eyes, tears that mixed with the water.

Will felt the rough gills on the fish. His heart was pounding, and his lungs burned for air. He needed to breathe soon, he had to break free of the fish or else he might really die here.

He didn't want to die. Not with Alyss waiting for him. Alyss. He still had her ring safely tucked away in his shirt pocket. He had to get back alive to propose to her! He had to! It wasn't going to end like this!

He shoved the fish's eyes and felt the slackening of its jaw. Will pulled his arm free and swam to the surface. He didn't pause to check if the monster was following him, he wouldn't have been able to see anyway past the murky grey. And red passed his eyes too, red blood mingling with the water.

His face broke the water and he took great gulping breaths of air. He grabbed the long grass by the bank and heaved himself up, desperate to get out of the water, before the monster fish attacked him again. He had enough presence of mind through his panic to notice Sirisa and Lillian pale faced and bickering.

"You should have said something about the monster earlier!" Lillian was saying. "If you had only said something, Will wouldn't be-"

"Oh please," Sirisa scoffed. "You-"

"A little help?" Will interrupted, struggling to drag himself clear of the river with one injured hand. The girls looked over, shocked, and hurried over to pull him up. He flopped on the ground, gasping for air and clutching his injured hand.

"You're alive," Lillian breathed in relief. She gave him a quick hug and even Sirisa looked pleased.

"It's good that you're alive ranger," the Oramin said, some of her 'foreign dealing' charm returning to her, and smiling a faint smile that resembled the one she had plastered on her face upon first meeting them.

Will shook his head, beyond words. He managed to sit up and checked his wounds. His hand was covered in little holes from needle like teeth. It hurt like hell, but he thought it would heal well enough as long as it didn't get infected. He rolled onto his front and coughed up water. Lillian patted his back awkwardly.

"I'm okay," he gasped.

Sirisa gazed out over the river. "That must have been the famed river monster," she said. "We call it M'k Undane. It once killed a party of soldiers when they were sailing over the river."

"Sailing to condemn prisoners to the wild, you mean," Lillian pointed out. "They deserved to die."

Sirisa shot her a poisonous look. "Typical of a foreigner. You don't care about the prisoners, you only care now its you in trouble."

"You can't talk about not caring!" Lillian's face flushed with rage. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here!" Her voice was shrill and it was giving Will a splitting headache.

"Enough, both of you," he croaked, still grimancing with pain. His head was swimming and he was nauseas. "Just..just stop. Lillian, can you tear a bandage from my cloak and bind my hand please?"

"Ah, okay," Lillian ripped a strip of cloth, but she paused over the bleeding hand. A bead of sweat dropped down her forehead, and her mouth shifted in distaste.

"I'll do it," Sirisa muttered. She took the cloth and bound Will's hand, quite proffessionally. "You're a Jujuoan, Lillian. That's our word for weakling."

"I'm not weak," Lillian protested.

"We know you're not," Will sighed. He was getting sick to death of their argueing. "Thank you for doing my hand, Sirisa." The Oramin shrugged, waving the matter away. She was being surprisingly helpful today, Will thought. Perhaps with some more time, she could become someone to be trusted. Lillian too- he already trusted the girls heart, but her skills were another matter.

But he couldn't be too trusting. After all, Sirisa had betrayed them in the first place. He shouldn't let himself forget that.

They gathered the waterskins, minus one, and searched around the forest for found a patch of berries that Sirisa claimed were often eaten in Oramin and proved this by wolfing several down without dieing. They gathered as many of they could, and, encouraged by the find, ventured further away from the river where they found almonds.

By the time they returned to the camp, they were in a fairly good mood because of this. They showed the others their find. Ruch was delighted and Antil, for all the morbid complaining he did, helped himself to many of the berries. Will dribbled water past Halt's cracked lips and squeezed berry juice. He was intent on his task and didn't pay much attention to the squabbling that had sprung up between Sirisa and Lillian, and the whispered conversation of Ruch and Antil.

"Wake up any time," Will murmured to his mentor. "I really need your help." Halt stirred, but did not open his eyes.

"He was awake and lucid not too long ago," Ruch said. Will clenched his fists, frustrated that he hadn't been there. "He asked after you and seemed pleased when I told him you were searching for food."

Will sighed. He lit a fire and the lick of flame provided welcome comfort. He couldn't bear to look at his mentor's ill face any longer so decided to try repair some of the gaps between his allies.

"Why don't we tell each other a little about ourselves," he said, hoping this might coax them all into friendship. Will told them how he was a ranger, what he did for Araluen and how he and Halt shared the fief of Redmont. He then urged Lillian to tell the Oramine about couriers.

"You already know what I do," Sirisa said when he prompted her. "I'm appointed head of foreign dealings."

"But when there are no foreigners around, she cooks," Ruch supplied.

Sirisa scowled in his direction. "That's not any concern of a foreigner."

"What about you Ruch?" Will prompted. "What do you do?"

"I advise," Ruch shrugged. "I suppose you could say I'm a retired knight."

"And Antil?" Will smiled at the other man.

"What does it matter," the sour faced Oramin replied. "We'll-"

"All be dead. Yeah I know," Will rolled his eyes, quite sick of the man.

"It sounds to me as if you're avoiding the question, old friend," Ruch said, his eyes hardening. "In fact, enough is enough. If you won't tell them, I will."

Antil turned away, disgusted. Sirisa perked up, now looking just as curious as Will.

"What's his job?" she asked, clearly no more informed than the Araluens.

"It is of no importance," Antil said flatly. "There is no way we will survive."

Ruch stirred the coals of the fire with a stick. "Antil is a healer," he said.

Will sat up. "A healer?" Relief washed over him, laced with confusion. "You mean, you can see to Halt? That's why Ruch thought you should stay here! You can keep Halt alive! But why didn't you tell me earlier Ruch?" As he said it, a sense of hopeless realisation slammed into him, and with it, fury. He knew why, he didn't have to ask. Because Antil thought they would all die. Because Antil wasn't going to even try to heal Halt.

The healer confirmed it. "I won't check your friend's wounds, or your hand. There's no point in stretching out the inevitable."

believe in yourself and the others will believe in you too. I think Gilan said something like that in book 2.

An inconsistancy: At the start of this Will was an apprentice. Well, I've changed my mind. He's now a fully fledged ranger. Hm, let's just pretend it was always like that, yeah?