Hullo citizens of Araluen

This was a hard chapter to write; I hope its okay. I really want to know what you think, SO REVIEW! It is a bit short; kind of filler. Thanks again to our great beta Savannah Silverstone! DID ANYONE SEE THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG TRAILER? It was amazing! I watched it five times!

Chapter 6-Grief

-Seriya Silvermist

Halt POV

I arrived at the borders of the town outside Caraway castle. The grey giant rose high above the thriving town.

At that certain day, the town gave off a gloomy atmosphere as though all the citizens were aware that the battlemaster's son was near death. Clouds closed in, and covered the ever blue sky; turning it into a dreary shade of grey.

Then the rain came, pounding like tears against the ground.

Abelard and I cantered towards the castle to bring the news to Sir David; a dear, and old friend. There was no doubt that he would be at first mad, and then unbelievably sad. Gilan was obviously the man's pride, and joy.

If he wasn't, Gilan would have never trained under McNeil; the kingdom's finest swordmaster.

When I asked for permission to have the boy as an apprentice, David had looked me in the eye, and made me promise that he would be safe.

I had promised and then I had failed.

Most probably, he would be dead in a few days. The head wound was severe and Gilan had lost a lot of blood. I dare say it. I was starting to take a liking to that irresponsible boy.

I stopped that train of thought, and focused my eyes, and brain on the falling rain. The wind was brutal; forcing the rain into my eyes, and mouth. Strangely enough some of them were salty; though I was nowhere near the sea.

I reached up to wipe some of the rain from my face. That was when I realized that it wasn't rain.

It was the first time that I had ever cried in my adult life.

Meanwhile at Harin's inn…

"Water, Mira"

Crowley snapped at the inn girl as he was preparing to stitch up the cut on Gilan's temple. The apprentice was stretched out on a dusty table in the middle of the tap room; his blood staining the table and the floor, concentrated on the area he was attacked on not too long ago

"Yes, sir" Mira muttered then weaved through the tables; heading for the kitchen of the deserted inn.

Everyone else had left when they found out about the injury to the ranger, and the two other rangers present. She walked back to him, and handed him the pitcher of water.

"I need the sharpest and skinniest needle you can find, and I'm sure you have thread in here." Crowley looked around the dingy inn.

The healer was out of town, attending to a patient in Whitby fief thus, Crowley was going to have to improvise. He was not an experienced healer, the most he had ever managed was a broken collarbone and that was nothing compared to this severe head wound. Frankly, he was worried about accidently killing the boy himself. Mira returned with a needle and thread. The needle was dull, and if Gilan was awake it would have been very painful. Luckily he wasn't.

He threaded the eye of the needle, and with a deep breath leaned over the boy and inserted the needle into his skin.

Halt POV

Abelard's hooves sounded on the wooden drawbridge. Below, the churning grey waters of the castle moat were pattered with t raindrops; creating a rhythm of sort.

I approached the guards before the iron gate. They were used to keeping people out of where they shouldn't be. One of the men was thick, and short with a red mess that Halt guessed was his beard. The other tall, unbelievably skinny, even more so than Gilan himself, had a mop of pale almost white blonde hair

"Stand, and be recognized" The thick redhead said, his voice not like what anyone would expect. It was high and nasal.

"Halt, ranger 2" I said briefly while fumbling to reach the oak leaf pendant just below the collar of my tunic. I grabbed it, and held it up to the two guards. One of them, the blonde; plucked it out of my hand, examining it, no doubt trying to look official.

I inwardly sighed. I didn't have time for this!

While Gilan was possibly dying, and David most likely leaving the castle soon, I had to get through.

"What's your business here" The skinny one sneered

"Wouldn't you like to know" I muttered under my breath. What little patience I had with people like him was wearing thin.

"What was th-" the tall, skinny, blonde guard was interrupted by me dismounting; then grabbing his waist, and proceeding to throw him into the choppy and deep moat.

I turned to the redhead. He just stared at me then mumbled something along the lines of "Go on in." Then in a smaller voice added "Please don't hurt me…sir" He smiled obviously trying to get on my good side.

I decided that I would have to report these idiot guards to David. What kind of guard would let someone walk right into a castle when they just threw someone in a moat?

That was not my problem though. It was only a temporary distraction to the inevitable. The inevitable being me telling David about Gilan.

No! I scolded myself. I was not going to think about that until it is time to.

Wait. I thought suddenly.

Gilan had a bleeding head wound. It would take a very hard punch to cause that. I had been watching the fight, and the punch didn't look like it would hurt that much. Unless…

My eyes widened with realization, I spurred Abelard, and galloped back to Harin as fast as I could.

David would have to wait.

Did anyone catch the Icebound Land reference? I couldn't help but put it in there XD. So about my problem with the Gilan should have been knocked out, I came up with a reason Of why he wasn't. You should be expecting it in the next chapter. Does anyone have a theory about why Halt was riding back to Harin?

See ya'll next chapter

-Silvermist