Halt sighed and scratched at places he probably shouldn't be scratching. He was in commoners gear and it was scratching him to no end. His precious ranger clothes (that hadn't been precious to him until now) had gotten destroyed in a fire that he had suspected the witch had set against him.

So he had borrowed without permission or knowledge, someone else's things.

At the moment he was waiting in a bush, pretending not to exist and listening in on a conversation. It was just the villagers, who had started to get used to his presence and oddities, but they were talking about the witch.

Who was now joining in on the conversation. With Horace.

"Has the odd ranger left yet?" she asked, seemingly not realising that he was actually in the bushes.

"Not yet, I don't believe it will be long though. He has seemed to give up on the idea of finding out what 'sent' the younger ranger mad," the first villager replied.

"Are we talking about the one that has brown eyes and hair and is actually really short?" the witch said. Horace stood in the background trying his best to keep his interested look away from his face but was failing. I have to teach him how to do that properly, Halt thought. Change that, I might as well teach him the basic ranger abilities he is going to need. Poor boy married Cassandra and is now going to have to cope with being king, that and he is the oakleaf warrior.

"Quick! The head man is coming!" the second villager said and quickly shifted around until he was hidden in a bush opposite to Halt, pretty much doing the exact same thing. The difference, Halt liked to think, was that the rangers were even more skilled and weren't seen or known about.

The head man walked over and nodded towards the witch, the man beside her and the man in the bush opposite Halt. Thankfully, not Halt.

"Our crops are failing," He said suddenly, breaking the nervous silence that had been about the come to breaking point.

"That isn't my problem. It is the problem of your incompetent farmers,"she added back with a straight face without pause. The gears started to turn in Halt's head. This district was well known for its bountiful harvests and every time someone new tried to join in the harvest with a new property, they always were found two weeks later in the closest river of their home town. It was one of the things that the rangers had planned to started gathering information on soon, but they didn't want to risk anyone… change that, why had Will been here anyway?

The headman started to shift sideways nervously. He wanted to get his village richer and this was the way that he could see it happening. The richer everyone else was, the higher the taxes were, even if the percentage didn't change, the amount that they were able to contribute towards that percentage did. The money all went to him and at the moment his family were doing rather well from previous harvests.

"Is there anything more you can do?"

"Nothing that I feel as though you deserve. After all, you brought the rangers on my case."

"I promise that they will go away, we all just have to lie low for a while."

"I don't want to do that," the witch finished then walked off, head high. Horace stood there shocked. She had just forgotten about him?

"Come!" the command echoed through the trees at Horace and due to the spell on him, he was forced to obey.

Halt and the headman watched as the evil witch walked off with Horace, both thinking nearly the same thing, but not knowing the other was.

As soon as she had disappeared from sight, Halt emerged from his spot in the bushes. The headman jumped comically into the air and did a little drance of fright up there before coming back down again.

"What are you doing here? Where did you just come from? How much did you hear? Are you going to tell anyone? If so, who and what are they going to do? I swear if this goes anywhere I had no clue about anything the whole time!" he said quickly.

Well that's the incriminating evidence right there!" Halt thought to himself with a frown. "Why are you working with the witch?"

"I don't have to tell you anything!" he said panicking.

"Yes you do. I am a king's ranger. Out of uniform, yes, but one all the same," Halt snarled.

"No you're not. You don't look like one. If you are then what are you going to do to make me tell? Hah? I don't have to tell you anything. I don't believe in the magic you practice. The witch says you have to believe in the magic to see it work and happen," he said.

Halt nearly slapped him, but he was getting good, convicting evidence.

The conversation continued for a moment more, Halt getting more and more annoyed by the minute.

He wasn't the one to throw the first punch though, the headman was...

This can't be true, you say. A new chapter?

Yes, my friends. A chapter has emerged from the deep dark corners of my google drive account…

And this is the result. A short, really bad chapter not even hitting 1000 words…

But on the other hand, if you want to read something that I am seriously working on (and has four chapters already!) go and read After the second… Each chapter is over 2,000 words.

And I feel good!

:)

I have to thank everyone as well. Eyebrows, one of my first stories on here that made it to the end (one in every three does) is still one of my top 5 most popular stories.

No more reviews though….

Is anyone here doing their HSC this year? Please join me in my pain :) I have taken 5 units of history, and I am dying as we are doing the history and memory unit in English as well! TOO MUCH HISTORY!

*cough* Anyway…

Bye!

Alyss Mainwaring