Chapter 5

Will felt slightly foggy, and it took him a couple minutes to remember that the rocking sensation he felt was a wagon, and that he was currently travelling through a dark and ominous looking forest towards the Mountains of Night and Rain. He wasn't sure how long they had been travelling for, but he didn't think that it had been longer than four or five days.

After he had been carried from Morgarath's tent, he had been thrown into the back of a wagon. Will couldn't remember any more after that for quite a while, so he assumed that he had passed out, but whether from exhaustion or terror, he didn't know.

When he finally awoke, he found that the bandage on his shoulder was fresh and clean, and from the tight, but relatively pain-free feeling under it, someone had been continuing to tend to his wound. Will assumed that General Owen had taken the order to keep him alive very seriously as he was also given regular meals.

Once Owen had discovered that Will was able to remain conscious for more than a half hour at a time, they had shackled him to a sturdy iron ring in the floor of the wagon. Will realised that the ring and wagon must have been used for transporting prisoners before, as everything was very efficient and sturdy. There was no way he would have been able to break off the shackle or any part of the chain even if he had been healthy.

As the wagon travelled through the wild and intimidating forest surrounding the Mountains that hid and protected Morgarath's black castle, Will began making plans to escape. He hid a small part of every meal in the folds of his shirt, and asked General Owen questions whenever the man was willing to answer them, mostly as he was tending to his shoulder.

The man talked about the last war sixteen years ago, and his hatred of the Wargals. He told Will that he had been in his last year of Battleschool, training to become a knight, before he had left to join Morgarath. He didn't say why he had left, but Will got the feeling that he would have stayed in Battleschool if he could have.

He wasn't stupid though, he knew that the only reason Owen was even answering his questions was because he felt sorry for him, and Will tried to avoid talking or even thinking about what was going to happen to him when they arrived at their destination. Owen seemed to avoid the topic too, appearing to pretend as he changed the dressing on Will's wound that the shackles didn't exist and that they were on the same side. Will wished that they were. He got the feeling that Owen would be a useful person to have watching his back.

Will rolled over and curled into a ball, pressing his knees into his stomach, wishing that he had his Ranger cloak instead of the mangy rags that he was currently using as a blanket. He watched the path fading away behind the wagon as he fell into a restless sleep, knowing that Halt would be tracking them, and that soon he would rescue him.

The news that a heroic Ranger apprentice had rescued the King's daughter from the hands of the enemy spread quickly through the camp. Unfortunately, so did the news that her rescuer had died in the process.

Horace was resting on a log at the outer rim of the practice fields that had been set up on the western side of the camp. He had spent all morning at the practice yard and was getting frustrated that even after a week at the camp, only some of the senior apprentices would spar with him. He couldn't understand why the boys his own age avoided him.

What Horace didn't realise was that the other apprentices found his skill intimidating and that they couldn't match him stroke for stroke like Gilan could.

Sighing, Horace picked up his practice sword, headed towards a group of young men who were standing talking off to his right, and gathered his courage to ask them to spar with him. But when he heard what they were talking about, he froze and a chill spread through his body as suddenly as if he had been thrown into a pool of ice.

"I was talking to my cousin who saw her return. He said that she was really filthy, and that the King was crying and everything. I wasn't even aware that the girl had been kidnapped, but I suppose that he was keeping it quiet."

"People are saying that there was a boy, a Ranger's apprentice who was with her when she was captured, but that he died in the escape."

"I heard that too. My dad said that he saved her life, that he was the reason that she could get away."

"I heard that he was caught as they were running away, and that they hung him from a tree."

"I heard that there was a massive fight, and that one of Morgarath's men stabbed him in the back as he tried to protect her."

"I heard that Morgarath himself caught him, and that he was tortured before they slit his throat. I bet it was really bloody. What a way to go."

"I heard that too, and that they sent his body back to Ranger Halt in a crate, because the boy was his apprentice."

Horace couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. He couldn't think. His felt as if an anvil had struck him in the chest. His entire body shook and his sword fell to the ground with a clatter. Will. They were talking about Will!

Sir Rodney had been supervising the training of the younger recruits, when he saw Horace collapse in the middle of the field. Rather startled by the seemingly random action, Rodney ran to his stricken charge and swore loudly when he saw that the boy was lying on the ground shaking and crying.

"Will." It was just one word but it was said with such stricken grief that the Battlemaster instantly realized what had happened. He had thought that Horace had known.

The King had called Rodney, Chubb, Lady Pauline, and Baron Arald to a meeting early yesterday evening and had told them what had happened to Will. Each of those present had met the smiling, laughing boy, and had watched him grow up as a ward of Redmount. Although they might not have known him very well personally, each of them grieved for his loss. He had saved the lives of Rodney and the Baron during the fiasco at the ruins of Gorlan, and Pauline in particular knew how hurt Halt would be over his death.

Rodney had presumed that someone had told Will's former ward mates about his death, but he now realized that in the shock and confusion, Will's friends had been forgotten. The news was all over the camp by now, and Rodney listened in growing horror as the same apprentices that Horace had heard continued to discuss various rumours they, each getting wilder by the minute. As Rodney gently lifted his young apprentice off the ground, he hoped that the others didn't hear a garbled version like Horace had.

Alyss was busy arranging the various maps that the King and his advisors were using in preparation for war. It was a delicate job and each map had to be gently rolled up and placed in its proper spot. She was carrying the final bundle over to a chest in the corner when her former ward mate Jenny came sprinting over and embraced her, spreading the delicately drawn maps all over the dusty ground. Jenny sobbed as if the world was collapsing around her and the plump girl clung desperately to her young friend. Alyss was stunned. She knew that Jenny would start crying over just about anything, as she had a rather large heart, but this was different, much more serious. Something had really upset the normally vibrant girl.

"Jenny? What's going on? What's the matter?" she queried, gently smoothing Jenny's honey coloured hair.

"I just heard! God, it's horrible Alyss! Will! How could this happen?" The young cook was distraught and tears were running unhindered down her cheeks. She froze however as she saw the puzzled expression on her companion's face. "Oh my gosh, don't you know? I thought you would know! Master Chubb just told me before and I thought that Lady Pauline would have told you!" Jenny looked positively terrified at having to break the news to the older girl.

Alyss took a moment to ponder the speed at which Jenny could talk and the fact that she could do it seemingly without needing to breathe, before she attempted to calm her year mate. "Jenny," she began firmly, "take a deep breath, and tell me what is going on. What exactly did you think Pauline had told me?"

"It's Will, oh, Alyss, it's horrible! How could something like that happen?" At the young courier's stern look, Jenny realized that she was still rambling and that she hadn't actually answered the question. Her sobs quieted somewhat as she took a deep breath and continued. "He's dead, Alyss. I, I just…" Jenny broke off as she started sobbing again, as if voicing the fact made it more real.

Slowly, Alyss embraced her friend once more, as she realized what Jenny had said. Tears dripped down her slender face, and she slowly lowered her friend to the ground until they were both sitting in the dirt, heedless of the carefully drawn maps that crumpled underneath them.

It was unthinkable that she would never again see Will smile, never hear him laugh or hear his joking voice. She had never realized how much Will had meant to her and now he was gone. She felt the world dissolve around her as she closed her eyes and let her grief overwhelm her.

Morgarath, Lord of Night and Rain, looked at the combination of men and Wargals in front of him and smiled, a sharp-toothed grin that caused some of his men to tremble.

His bridge may have been destroyed, but Morgarath still had no doubt about whom the victor would be. Duncan and his army were sitting neatly where he wanted them, and he would crush them between his main army and the Skandian mercenaries that were currently marching through Thorntree Forest.

Slowly, deliberately, Morgarath beckoned to his commanders. "Give the order to advance."

"CHARGE." The command echoed through the army like a wave as each of the men and Wargals took up the shout and ran forward with only bloodlust in mind.

On the other side of the battlefield, King Duncan watched as Morgarath's army charged towards them. "Get ready, here they come." There was no need for him to yell. His men could clearly hear him, waiting silently as they were. Looking grimly towards the approaching army, Duncan drew his longsword and calmly started giving orders to Sir David and his other commanders. No matter what Morgarath did, they would be ready.

A/N

Thank you to my beta, TwilightsCalling! And thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! I love hearing from you and reading what you think of my story!

Ali Ranger51