A/N: OLAF! It's me, IFYOUCOULDFLY!...O…M…G… NINETY REVIEWS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Okay, sorry if I freaked you out there, I'm just sooooo excited! I seriously love you guys soooo much! So…better not keep you waiting. Read on!
-Chapter Eleven: The Perfect Storm-
"Come on, come on…!" Will chanted, staring at the small wisp of smoke twirling from the base of the bridge. He clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes, silently willing for a spark to form.
"How's yours coming along?" He shouted to Evanlyn, who was working on the opposite side of the bridge. She grunted. "Not very well. I'm still worried, though. What if you can't make it across the bridge in time?"
Will frowned. That thought had crossed his mind many times. The apprentice Ranger quickly decided that the task of burning a bridge would be much simpler if the two worked on opposite sides of the structure.
Will insisted up front that he would work on the side the army would be crossing from. That way, though he never voiced this thought, if the bridge collapsed, Evanlyn could have a chance at survival.
Suddenly, he let out a cry of triumph. Below him, a small spark flashed into existence, then another, and finally a tiny flame was born. Evanlyn glanced over and let out a relieved laugh, then another joyful cry as she formed a flame of her own.
After a careful display of Halt's teachings, Will and Evanlyn's weak flames turned into small fires. Plumes of smoke began to rise into the sky, and Will's gaze followed them up. His eyes widened at what he saw.
Above them, the sky was a deep gray, and clouds churned and twirled threateningly. Off in the distance, flashes of light signaled a storm was on its way. "How could I be so stupid?" Will scolded himself. "I should have realized what was happening long ago!"
In truth, Will had just been pushed to wit's end for the past year. He'd escaped an abusive father, made a new life, been found by his old enemies, fled the people he loved most, been captured by the kingdom's greatest enemy, been tortured brutally, escaped by the skin of his teeth, and now was attempting to save the entire kingdom, and he was only fifteen. He had plenty of reasons to forget about the stupid weather.
Still, this never occurred to him. "We've got to hurry. A storm's on the way, and the Wargals could be along any minute now." Will called, and Evanlyn nodded, not bothering to dawdle. She recognized the urgency of this situation.
After a minute or two, the bridge began to provide a thick plume of smoke, and Will smiled. "Maybe fate's on my side this time." Fate, apparently, didn't think so, and decided to show it.
Thunder began to boom, the sky getting darker and darker, the lightning steadily approaching. The clouds let a few drops of rain down. Will cursed, then turned to his companion. "Keep the fires going!" He shouted, doing the same.
The rain was falling faster and faster now, and thunder boomed in the companions' ears. The fires were dying slowly, but wasn't gone yet. The bridge was so close to collapsing…just a little more.
"EVANLYN!" Will screamed, struggling to be heard over the pouring rain and thunder. "DO YOU HEAR THAT?" Evanlyn frowned. "I KNOW, I KNOW! THE THUNDER!" She yelled back, and Will shook his head rapidly. "NO! IT'S THE WARGALS!"
Sure enough, the Wargal's began to sound across the forest, and figures began to emerge from the trees. "No." Will whispered, tears threatening to fall. "So close." He thought "I was so close to victory."
At that moment, Fate must have decided that maybe it'd cut Will a little break. After all it had done to him, the poor boy deserved something. Just not everything. Maybe a nice benefit, with a major consequence. Yes, that would be about right. At least, that was the only explanation for what happened next.
Evanlyn rushed across the bridge, carefully avoiding the smoldering fires. "Will, come on!" She shouted, grabbing his hand. She was about to turn, dragging them both back across the bridge, when Fate struck. And by Fate, I mean lightning. Directly on the bridge.
The bridge was smothered by an enormous flash of light, nearly blinding the onlookers. A few moments passed in relative silence. The Wargals' chants had ceased, but thunder still boomed all around them, and rain still roared in the ears of the onlookers.
Slowly, Will pried his hand away from his eyes, and his mouth dropped. All that was left of the bridge was a heap of burnt boards on either side of the gap. The rest was either burned to a crisp or had fallen.
Evanlyn let out a small cry of joy beside him, and Will turned, beaming weakly. "We did it." She whispered, and Will nodded proudly. Suddenly, realization dawned on him. "And we've got an army behind us."
Evanlyn's eyes grew wide, and they looked each other in the eye, nodded quickly, and ran. The Wargals followed. "Get them! GET THEM, YOU IDIOTS!" A voice screeched furiously, and Will recognized it as Morgarath's.
"My life is SO messed up." Will thought, then dodged another tree. He was a fast runner, but he was injured. Badly. There was only so much he could do before he put himself in a worse state. Keeping this in mind, he made sure Evanlyn was in front of him.
"If she goes down, I can distract them. If I go down, she can keep running." He reasoned, not figuring that his new friend would have a different opinion. She did.
Will tore across the ground, giving pained cries each time his pumping arms tore at a sore spot. He weaved back and forth as he sprinted through the trees, desperate to avoid any arrows. This worked for a few minutes, but he grew weary quickly, and that's when the arrow hit home.
It wouldn't be a fatal injury, the archer made sure of that. But it would hurt. A lot. The arrow had wedged itself under the edge of Will's shoulder blade, which had been exposed as he twisted around a tree trunk.
Will cried in pain and fell to the forest floor, squeezing his eyes shut. "This is it. I'm going to die." He thought, and a darker part of his mind continued: "Finally the pain is over. I'm so tired…I'll just let them take me…then it will all be over…."
He felt a hand on his arm. But it wasn't big and rough, like he'd expected. It was a delicate hand; a girl's. "Will! Will, speak to me!" A voice cried. "No…" He thought, cringing at the touch.
"Run." He mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes. It hurt too much. "Will, I'm not leaving you!" Evanlyn cried, and Will's eyes flew open. "No! Leave! I'm done for anywa-." He never got to finish.
The rough hands he'd been expecting finally arrived, gripping his wounded arm and yanking him upwards. The jerking movement ripped the arrow through the muscle it was lodged under, and Will screamed in agony.
"You've been a naughty boy, Will." A voice, Morgarath's, growled. "Your father will not be pleased." Will felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, and realized he'd been stabbed with something. "A needle." Will thought. "And the only useful kind of needle is a drugged one." He closed his eyes, letting unconsciousness, or maybe death, come.
Pounding. The pounding in his head was back.
He could hear the thunder rumbling, the rain pouring, the Wargals chanting. But it all sounded so distant, like it was from a dream. He was faintly aware of somebody calling his name. Who was it, though? It was a girl's voice, he knew that. Was it Alyss?
Alyss. He was in love with her, or at least he thought he was. He couldn't really remember. There were others, too. Other names in his head. Horace was one of them. He remembered hating Horace, but no hatred came when he thought the name. Did that mean they were friends? He didn't know.
Pounding. The pounding in his head was growing louder.
There were so many names floating around. Jenny, George, Daniel, Gilan, Morgarath, Crowley, Duncan, Evanlyn-yes, Evanlyn was the girl's name,-Alyss, Elena, Horace…Halt. That was a big name to him. It made him warm inside, very at home, but it also provoked another feeling…longing. Why though? Who was Halt? He couldn't remember anymore.
Pounding. The pounding in his head was drowning out all other noises.
A part of him was screaming in terror, not wanting to slip away, to give into the blackness. Some part of him was telling him once he did, all was lost. But another part of him was ready to. "I'm so tired. I could just go, right now, and fade…I won't hurt anymore…"
Pounding. The pounding in his head overcame him, and Will slipped away into unconsciousness. Or death. He didn't really know. It didn't really matter.
A/N: Wow, this turned out really dark...I'm kind of freaked out by what I just wrote, but at the same time, I kinda like it ;). And…HOLY MOTHER OF HALT IT'S ELEVEN CHAPPIES ALREADY. This is officially my longest story (so far)! SOoOOOOoOOoooO Anyways…THANKS FOR EVERYTHING! Keep reading/reviewing/being awesome!-FLY