The gathering was coming to a close. Rangers were getting ready for the last feast they were going to have that night, and everyone was preparing the bags in advance for when they all set off in their separate ways the next morning. Crowley still wasn't back.
Halt was a little worried. Even though it wasn't yet the very end of the gathering, their agreed upon time had been early that morning, so Crowley had time to do his commandant duties that he couldn't just simply abandon.
It was possible that he was running late, but Crowley had told Halt that he wasn't planning on going too far, so he would have time to come back.
Will, Gilan and Halt were all packing up their own bags in their little area of the campsite. Will noticed Halt was packing up slower than him and Gilan, and that he kept looking towards the entrance of the gathering grounds.
"Are you alright, Halt?" he asked.
Halt turned to look at him, like he had forgotten that the other two were there. "What?"
Will repeated the question. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah. It's just that Crowley should have been back by now," he voice started to trail off slightly.
"Ha!" Gilan exclaimed. "So it was part of the games!"
"Well yeah, obviously," Halt replied, "You two would have obviously figured it out but not everyone else. But that doesn't matter now. What matters is that he should have been back this morning, and he still isn't here."
"Do you actually expect us to believe that?" Gilan asked, disbelief clear in his voice.
Halt looked at him. "What?"
"Do you really expect us to believe that you apparently being worried about Crowley isn't a part of the games. It's pretty clear you're trying to trick us. Hell, he might already be here, hiding off in the bushes somewhere."
"I'm not lying about this!" Halt said angrily, glaring at Gilan, "He's hours late, and something could have actually happened to him!"
"Sure," Gilan said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Halt just glared at him harder.
Will on the other hand could tell Halt was genuinely worried, actually anxious that something could have happened to his friend. It was just like the boy who cried wolf, he thought. Crowley could be hurt, but nobody would believe Halt. They would all think it was for the games. Will believed him though.
"What if you wait until tonight," Will suggested, stepping in between Halt and Gilan's confrontation, "And if he's not back yet then you can go look for him."
"Yeah, and I'll be going with you, to make sure this isn't all a part of your plan," Gilan declared, still sceptical. Halt glared at him one more time before turning to Will.
"Fine."
Crowley slowly opened his eyes, and groaned. His head hurt, his muscles ached, and for some reason his wrists had some sort of burning pain, like something cutting into them.
He managed to open his eyes the rest of the way, and once his eyes had adjusted, took in his surroundings. He was in a different campsite now, a bigger one with more open space, and it seemed to be night. He must have been unconscious for a while. There was a large cookfire in the middle of it with logs surrounding it. He managed to count six different tents around the camp, which he estimated would be able to fit around two men in each one.
He suddenly became aware that he was tied to a tree, and glancing up at his arms raised above him, he saw a tight rope wound around his wrists. So that's what the burning pain was. Rope burn.
Looking back around the campsite, he saw Cropper was also tied to a nearby tree. He checked his horse over as well as he could from the distance and with the light, and was relieved to find that he wasn't hurt. At least not from what he could tell. Cropper moved his head and locked eyes with Crowley then let out a neigh at seeing his master awake.
A large, burly, dirty man who had been sitting around the fire looked up at the noise and moved his attention towards Crowley. Seeing him awake, he spat the piece of chicken he had been chewing onto the ground and got up, grabbed a large sword leaning on the log and started walking towards the ranger.
When he came close he towered over Crowley. Crowley said nothing, just simply glared up at the big man. The man crouched down to eye height in front of the ranger. He was quite ugly looking, Crowley thought. A messy and dirty bushy beard, big thick eyebrows low over his eyes, and dirt smeared and smudged all over his face. He didn't smell too pleasant either.
"Where is it?" the man asked. His voice was thick with an accent Crowley didn't recognise.
"Where's what?" The ranger asked.
The man snarled at him. "You and the other rangers little get together. I know it's happening, and you're gonna tell me where it is."
Crowley looked up at him defiantly. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He tried to keep his face impassive, keeping it neutral so as to not accidentally reveal he knew something.
The man brought back his hand all of a sudden and slapped Crowley in the face hard with it.
"LIAR!" he shouted, spit flying out of his mouth.
That hurt, Crowley thought. He decided to try a different tactic.
"If you're talking about the ranger gathering," he said, "it's been cancelled. We didn't have it this year. Maybe next year you can try your luck and then kidnap me again, but until then, I can't help you."
The man looked at Crowley, his face or eyes showing no emotion. "You know," he said, in a low, quiet voice, "you should really stop lying to me." Crowley barely had time to register the man's fist coming towards him.
Abelard, Tug and Blaze moved at an even pace through the forest. The gathering had pretty much come to a close, and Crowley hadn't returned. Going along with their agreement, Gilan and Will had joined Halt in finding their friend.
They tried to follow the tracks as well as they could with the light, but it was difficult. Multiple times, Halt would swing down from his saddle, and go on foot for a while to be able to see them better. Other times he would have to stop entirely and look closely at the ground to make sure they were going in the right direction. The entire process was very time consuming. It was starting to piss Halt off.
Will and Gilan stayed a couple metres, checking the sides of the road in the trees and double checking the track to make sure Halt hadn't missed anything, which was very unlikely.
They all stopped in their tracks as they heard yells and voices coming from the distance. Halt looked back at his companions and motioned to them to get off their horses. They obeyed and then followed the older ranger as he led them quietly down the track, moving closer to the voices.
Not too long after they made it to a clearing where they saw a campsite set up. The three rangers concealed themselves in the trees, in a position where they were hidden, but could still see the campsite.
Halt observed the campsite and saw a group of dirty looking brigands in a semi circle around a tree, while a large one hit what looked to be someone tied to it. The yells they heard were shouts of encouragement to the abuser. Halt watched as the big man drew back his fist again and hit their captive. The sound of flesh smacking against flesh echoed across the campsite. There was another brigand blocking Halt's view of the person, so he couldn't make out who it was.
Halt glanced back at Gilan and Will and could tell they were having trouble seeing who it was who was tied up as well. He made eye contact with Will and motioned for him and Gilan to stay where they were. Halt moved silently through the trees until he was close behind one of the brigands' tents. From his position he was to the right of the camp, and was on an angle so he could see who was tied to the tree. Or he would have been able to if yet another person wasn't in the way. Halt waited silently and impatiently for a few seconds, to see if the person would move.
It seemed like for the first time that day, luck was on his side and the grubby man moved out the way. Halt's thought of luck was instantly dashed away when he saw his best friend and commandant (and maybe a secret third thing) tied to the tree, face bloody and beaten.
Rage filled his eyes as he saw what seemed to be the leader of the group bring back his fist to hit Crowley once again. Halt almost shot an arrow right through the bastard of a man, and his hand tightened around his bow, but he stopped himself and realised it would be better to go back to Gilan and Will.
He made his way back to his companions and could tell they still couldn't see what was going on.
"They've got Crowley," Halt said shortly, voice barely above a whisper, but the anger in it was obvious.
Will and Gilan's eyes showed their immediate worry. They saw Halt put an arrow on his bow string and followed his lead. Halt motioned for the two of them to follow him and he led them to where he was positioned before. From that area, they both had a clear view of Crowley, and a clear shot of the brigand's leader.
Halt moved a little closer to the other two rangers, the arrow still on his bow, but not drawn back yet. He kept his voice low as he spoke.
"I'll get their leader," he said, "You two handle the others. Just shoot to wound. Try to aim for different people. Will, you try to aim for the ones on the right and Gilan you go left. Once their leaders are down I'm going to sneak around the back and get Crowley untied. Don't start shooting until after I do. And try not to hit me or Crowley." The last part was unnecessary, they were rangers after all, but Gilan and Will nodded their understanding.
The three of them moved closer to the edge of the trees. Halt drew back his bow and aimed it at the man hitting Crowley. Barely a second later he let the string go and the arrow hit the man in the calf. The fist that had been halfway to Crowley's face stopped and dropped down to his injured leg. His cry of pain echoed throughout the trees.
Halt quickly and quietly moved back through the trees. As soon as he moved, Will and Gilan drew back their bows, aimed and fired. The continued shooting, injuring the rest of the group. Some of the men got hit in the legs, some in the arm, and one unlucky one moved at the wrong moment, and the arrow that was aimed for his shoulder hit him in the chest instead, killing him almost instantly.
Throughout the pain and chaos nobody noticed Halt coming up behind the tree Halt was tied to. Crowley had his head hung low, barely registering anything going on around him, but he clearly looked up when he felt the ropes around his wrists coming loose. He looked around and was flooded with an immense feeling of relief to see Halt.
"Halt," Crowley managed to get out. He was in so much pain and so delirious he could barely talk.
"It's okay," he heard his friend reply, "You're okay now, we're going to get you out of here."
The rope around his wrists dropped and he rubbed them, feeling the burning and the pain of blood running back into his hands. He hadn't even noticed that the ropes had been beginning to cut off circulation. They had been some pretty good knots, it even took Halt a couple minutes to untie them.
Halt moved over next to him and helped Crowley to his feet. Crowley was feeling light headed and he noticed he had a slight double vision, an obvious sign from his beating. Halt noticed his friend was having a hard time standing straight and put Crowley's arm around his shoulder and held the other ranger by the waist, supporting him as he led him back to where they left their horses.
Halt made Crowley sit down and lean against a nearby log.
"Stay here," Halt said, before moving to run back to where Gilan and Will were. Crowley's voice stopped him.
"Cropper," he said quietly.
"I'll get him," Halt replied, "Just stay here, the horses will watch over you. They'll keep you out of trouble better than you can." Crowley snorted and Halt turned away again.
When Halt got back to the clearing he saw that Gilan and Will had already taken care of the rest of the bandits. THey were tying up and securing the last ones as Halt approached.
"What are we going to do with them?" Will asked Halt.
"We'll probably have to take them with us back to Redmont so they can be put on trial," Halt replied.
"But you're not going directly back there," Gilan pointed out, "We've gotta go back to the gathering first."
"Also," Will cut in, "we've interviewed their leader and apparently they were beating Crowley for information on where the gathering grounds were. Is it a good idea to take them there?"
"It doesn't matter," Halt said, "It's pretty much over, and we change location each year so it'll be fine. And we can always blindfold them anyway."
"True," Will agreed.
"The annoying thing will be taking them all back with us. Hostages can be a fucking nuisance sometimes." Halt said. Gilan laughed.
"Good luck dealing with that."
"You're coming back with us," Halt pointed out to Gilan.
"Only back to the gathering, not Redmont. You'll have to deal with them twice."
"Not if we get you to take them back to your fief," Halt replied.
Gilan held his hands out in surrender. "No thanks."
Will smiled at his two friends, grateful that everything was over and they could all go back to joking and teasing each other.
The three of them walked back to where Halt had left Crowley, dragging their prisoners along with them. When they got there Crowley was resting and the three of them took the opportunity to rest a bit as well, now that all the stress and worry were gone.
"Will," Gilan said from where he was sitting by Blaze, "you know you've got a cut on your cheek right?"
Will turned to him, his expression making it clear that he was ready to say something sarcastic.
"Really," he said, "I couldn't feel the pain of a knife cutting through my damn skin."
"Just pointing it out," Gilan said, grinning, "Now you match like Halt." He was referring to the scar that Halt had across his own cheek. No one knew where he got it from, but they hadn't bothered to ask. He probably just got it fighting some crooks.
"I'm thinking you two should go on ahead back to the grounds," Halt said, "I'll stay back with Crowley and when he's ready to move we'll follow."
Gilan and Will nodded, agreeing with the plan.
"I'm assuming you'll want us to take that lot with us as well," Gilan said, nodding his head towards the group of messy men. Halt nodded.
"Keep them secure when you get there," Halt told them, "although you probably already know that."
Half an hour later, Gilan and Will roped the bandits to their horses and set off back to the gathering grounds, Halt and Crowley following a couple hours later.
I was doing the finishing up things in the same room as my parents and I lied and said Friv.
Only one more chapter to go woo hoo! Hope you enjoyed it. I really have nothing else to say other than I finished this chapter while on holiday. And that I was going to proof read the entire chapter but I was too lazy and gave up and only proof read half of it and not even that well so if there are tons of mistakes and things that don't really make sense you'll know why.
-That One Enby Ranger.