Chapter 8

Authors Note: Sorry my last chapter was so small. Please Read and Review! You guys help me keep going! No matter at how slow a pace :)

Halt led the group, minus Horace, warily out in to the arid heat of the desert. Immediately the grizzled ranger took charge.

"Put four men on either side of Will's tent. I want it guarded at all times, nobody goes in or out without us knowing. " He directed at Selethen. Then he turned to his former apprentice quickly,

"Gilan I need you to scout a place suitable for a tradeoff, preferably one with cover within bow distance, though not close enough to tip the man off, he is not an idiot." Gilan nodded and jogged off to the stables to fetch Blaze; now that he thought about it he had yet to see her and was suddenly anxious to see how she was faring.

Barely sparing a glance at Gilan to watch him go, Halt turned back to the remaining people present in their half-moon circle they had formed about 100 meters from the tent where Will and Horace resided with a blood thirsty Tualaghi. Gathering his thoughts, the eldest ranger broke into a slower more deliberate speech as his ideas flowed smoothly into place,

"Selethen I also need you to speak to Umar and see if he can pick some of his best men and send them over here immediately. I'll explain later." Halt commanded. He vaguely wondered if it would be bad relations between their two countries if he was discovered to have bossed the Wakir around as if he would nothing more than a page boy. But Arridi native seemed to not take offence so therefore the ranger didn't dwell on it.

As Selethen left the rapidly shrinking circle Halt turned back to his remaining colleagues standing before him. Erak and Svengal had excitement in their eyes but their mouths were set in a grim line. The thrill of an ambush and possible violence was certainly right up their alley. It helped them focus and relax, instead of getting keyed up about their young ranger friend. Evanlyn on the other hand, looked anything but relaxed; however to the girls credit she hid it well, only letting it show in her eyes and the twisting and untwisting of her hands in front of her. Halt considered them both for a full thirty seconds before he opened his mouth again. It wasn't that he did think the people before him could get their respective jobs done, it was simply the fact of whether or not his small, close circle of friends could get the job done, or did they need additional help? Shaking off any doubts and uncertainties, literally, the grizzled ranger addressed the two sea wolf men.

"Erak, Svengal, I need you two to over-see the transfer of the captured Tualaghi. I want all of them gagged, again I'll explain later. Have them ready to move once Gilan finds a suitable location." He ordered.

The two pirates exchanged curious glances but headed off, burrowing through the crowds of people, heading back towards town where the prisoners were being held.

Finally Halt's gaze rested on the girl. His commanding voice slightly softened but hardly enough for one to take it as weakness.

"Evanlyn this is very important, I need you to quickly go find Will's throwing knife, better yet just bring his whole scabbard… You're going to help me and see if we can even this playing field a little." The ranger added cryptically.

Evanlyn looked slightly annoyed at first thinking that she was being sent on some milk run, and her look to Halt told her so, but when he continued she nodded eagerly and set off at a run, happy that she was on the inside of the closely knit clan for once.

Thirty precious minutes had passed. Halt had kept himself from thinking too much about what was happening inside the tent by focusing on refurbishing his plan. People wondered why rangers were so legendary, effective, and difficult opponents; other than them being scary accurate with their chosen weapons of profession, the truth was they simply planned steps ahead of everybody else. It was what gave them the uncanny ability to anticipate their enemies' next moves, almost supernaturally. So he sat underneath a tent set up by some Bedullin tribesmen with his eyes closed listening the sounds of desert life. When he finally could no longer stop Will from entering his thoughts, Halt reasoned that the boys in the "hostage tent", as it was being dubbed, could use some food, water and other supplies. However the "other supplies" were not to be seen. The already grim ranger forced himself not to worry, yet. Instead he rapidly headed off to the tent where the food was stored, the buffet long since put away.

He stumbled back to his vigil ten minutes later, he arms laden with food and over his shoulder swung two water skins. Halt was pleased to see Evanlyn waiting for him. Her royal highness's back was to him as she sat hunched over crisscross in the sand; her strawberry blond hair, lighter due to her time in the desert, fell in front of her shoulders lightly blowing in the refreshing breeze. She was apparently deep in thought due to the fact that the much need knife scabbard was discarded in the sand next to her, her hands were absentmindedly sifting through the endless sand.

Evanlyn glanced over her shoulder at the approaching crunch of sand underfoot and gave Halt a small smile taking in the mountain of food in his arms.

"Got hungry did you?"

The gray bearded ranger gifted her with a small smile as well. "Gilan made sure that I wouldn't want to eat for a whole month. No this is for those two hungry boys in that tent over there. I'm sure Horace will appreciate it, he's probably already hungry because he burned off all his food by sweating in this blasted heat. I was waiting for one special gift though before I sent it in to our friends." He said eyeing the knife meaningfully.

A wider smile than the last slowly spread across Evanlyn's tanned face. She could now see how a small part of Halt's plan falling into place. She stood up from her indent in the sand grabbing the scabbard with her while Halt placed the food down on his chair. She placed it into his out stretched palm and watched as he slid the slender throwing knife out of its sheath.

"Any problems finding it?" The ranger inquired.

"A little, I went back to the healer to search through his stuff in case he stole it or just simply placed it on the bench as he worked on Will, but when I got there he told me some Arridi and Bedullin men had come by collecting all the weapons. It took a little longer than expected to find out where they were keeping them all but after that it was easy. Apparently they organized by value and they thought those knifes were worth quite a lot. It was practically right in front of me." Evanlyn explained.

Halt nodded approval at her resourcefulness that she undoubtedly didn't go into. She made it sound way easier than it really was he knew. But he also knew she was capable.

Returning to the knife in his hand he carefully arranged the food neater on the large platter. He then slipped the knife underneath some rags sitting next to a bottle of painkillers, which was practically just a lighter form of Angel's Breath, for Will. Not to confuse Horace on whom the knife was intended for he wrote a small note,

Slip the knife to Will. Don't worry he's wake. Stay alert. 5 hours.

Evanlyn was looking over his shoulder by the time he was done. As he rolled up the parchment and slipped in along the inside of the tray's rim she glanced at him, puzzled.

"Why not give Horace the knife?"

When he looked at her with his eyebrows raised she hurriedly continued,

"I mean currently he's in better shape than Will and ab-"

Halt cut her off with a short shake of his head but explained patiently, "That's precisely why it has to be Will. Our bandit in there isn't expecting any fight from Will. For him right now his biggest threat is Horace and they both know it. He is waiting for Horace to make a move, he'll be expecting that, but he won't even suspect the wounded ranger lying in the bed. He'll be in his blind spot."

Evanlyn could see the simple beauty in the plan and nodded her understanding once again. She as clear on the plan so far she just wasn't be sure of one thing.

"How do you know Will is awake?"

"Because I saw him; and I know him."

The princess conceded the point but had one more point to bring up, "How do you even know he will have enough strength to even lift his hand much less his knife?"

Evanlyn realized she must sound like she is criticizing Will's abilities but she was just worried and hoped this would go right so she could get two of her closest friends back. Like always Halt understood. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as he replied with a simple answer that explained everything,

"Because he's Will."

AU- There you have it! Like I said I am not the best at writing the Evanlyn character but I gave it my best shot. Hopefully it was acceptable and wasn't too boring. :) I apologize for any spelling errors. Please review! You could also suggest ideas for future chapters, I always love new ideas. Thanks everybody!