A/N: Wow, you guys reviewed A LOT! Thanks everyone, I love you all! :D
Halt, Gilan, and Crowley were back at the cabin, trying to figure out why Will had left. Although Gilan only seemed worried about his knife.
"He took my saxe knife! WHY?!"
"If you help us find him, then you can get it back. Whining about it isn't helping." Halt said calmly.
"But... but he took it!"
"Yes he did, and when we find him you can get your revenge by taking it back, but first we need to find him."
Gilan looked at him for a second before getting up and joining them at the table.
"Okay, what are we doing?"
"Packing. Hand me those provisions over there and go saddle up the horses, Tug too."
"Why are we bringing Tug?" He asked as he gave him the provisions.
"Because he's coming back with us one way or another and Tug might be able to help us find him."
Gilan nodded and went to go get the horses ready. He knew Tug would be happy to finally go somewhere, he hadn't been out much since Will's disappearance. When he got to the lean to he started getting Tug ready first.
Where did Will go? What happened? Tug asked, anxiously stomping his feet.
"Take it easy," Gilan laughed, "You're gonna help us find him."
Well that's good. Why'd he leave?
"I'm not sure, but we'll find him."
He finished getting Tug ready and moved on to Cropper, then Abelard, and lastly, Blaze. They were all curious as to why Will had left and it made him sad because he really didn't have the answer to that.
Why did he leave?
He sighed as Halt and Crowley came out with supplies, ready to leave. It was gonna be a long night.
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Will screamed as Tyler drove the knife into his shoulder. Blood went everywhere. The poison was still in his system, too, so everything Tyler did hurt a million times worse than it normally would. He couldn't even see straight anymore, everything was blurry. He felt warm blood run down his chest and shivered. There was darkness at the edges of his vision, but every time he got close to blacking out, Tyler would hit him hard enough to bring him back.
"You're having fun, aren't you? Because if you're not, we can take it up a few notches..." Tyler said eerily.
No! No please don't!
"I'll take your silence as a yes." He said happily.
Will cried harder at the thought of more pain. It already hurt so bad, he couldn't possibly imagine it getting worse. A few moments later, Tyler came back with something in his hand. He couldn't see what it was because he had been crying so much. He felt Tyler grab his hand and put something sharp by his nail. He tried to pull his hand away, but he was tied down and Tyler wouldn't let go. Tyler pushed the tip of the knife under his fingernail and kept going until he was at the end of his nail. Then he ripped his fingernail out, leaving bloody skin in its place. Will screamed and cried as Tyler did the same with several of his other fingernails.
The pain was unbelievable. Will's hands throbbed painfully and he could feel blood pooling around them. He just wanted it to end. Couldn't Tyler be merciful and just kill him now?
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Tug led them through the forest, following Will's scent. They soon came to a stop, at a tree. Halt recognized this as the spot where they had lost Will. Tug shook his mane and kept going. That's when Gilan saw something shiny (A/N: oh no... you know things are about to get bad when Gilan sees something shiny...). He dismounted Blaze and went over to it, immediately recognizing it as his saxe knife. He picked it up and brought it back to the group.
"I have a bad feeling something happened to him..." Gilan said, clearly worried about his friend.
"We need to hurry, let's go." Crowley said.
Gilan mounted Blaze again and they continued on for a while. He was starting to worry about Tug leading them in the right direction when they saw an abandoned shack with a horse outside... a Ranger horse, no less.
No... It couldn't be... Halt and Crowley thought as they looked at the familiar horse sitting outside.
When they'd heard about someone named Tyler, they thought it was just a strange coincidence, but it was starting to look less and less like one by the day. Many years ago, Tyler was a Ranger. He was the best in the corps. His skill with the longbow was stunning. But, one day he turned. On that day he tried to murder King Duncan. He was banished from not only Araluen, but also the Ranger corps. No one ever spoke of him again.
Halt hoped he wasn't back. If he was, that would cause a lot of trouble.
They dismounted their horses and left them by the tree line, out of sight. Silently, they approached the abandoned shack. When they made it to the door Halt kicked it in, an arrow already pulled back on the string of his longbow at full draw. He saw Tyler standing over a bloody Will tied to a table and immediately knew what was going on. He took the shot, and before Tyler even turned around to see who was there, he was dead on the floor.
They all ran over to Will and started untying the restraints. Halt slid a knife under the rope by his cheek and cut it, taking the gag out of his mouth. Gilan was trying to keep pressure on the wounds, but there were so many and blood was just everywhere. Crowley and Halt finished untying him. Crowley was trying to keep Will awake and Halt was debating on whether to take the knife in his shoulder out now or wait, but he decided he should do it now. They were gonna have to hurry back to the cabin and the ride would be rough, he didn't want Will suffering the whole way back.
"Gilan, make sure you keep pressure on those wounds. Crowley, I need you to keep him still."
They both nodded and did as they were told. Halt looked at the knife in his shoulder and found the angle it was put in at. He looked at Crowley to see if he was ready. Crowley had a hand on Will's arm and chest, making sure he stayed still. He nodded to him. Halt grabbed the handle and pulled the knife out. Will screamed as more blood flowed from the wound. He whimpered when Halt put pressure on it and tried to stop the bleeding.
"Shh, It's okay Will. We're gonna bring you back to the cabin and fix you up, it's okay."
Crowley whistled and the horses emerged from the tree line and waited outside.
"You two go, I got him." Halt told them.
They went outside and waited by their horses. Halt carefully picked Will up, trying not to hurt him worse. Will whined through his teeth and tensed when he felt someone pick him up.
"It's alright, I got you. Just relax, you're gonna be fine." Halt said, trying to convince himself more than Will.
Halt came out and walked over to Abelard. He gave Will to Crowley and mounted Abelard, then Crowley handed Will up to him. They headed for the cabin, hoping Will would survive. They were there in less than twenty minutes. When they got close to the house, they noticed someone sitting on the porch. When the person approached them, they were all extremely relieved to see that it was Malcolm. Halt had written him a letter about two weeks ago, requesting his presence to see if he could help them figure out what was wrong with Will. He also wanted him to take a look at some of Will's injuries. He was very glad he was here now, though. Maybe Will had some hope after all.
A/N: Haha... I bet you guys are mad at me for leaving you on such a cliffhanger. Lol, don't kill me, I'll be back soon. REVIEW! :D