Ranger's Apprentice; The Final Pieces

A very merry Christmas

And the cabin in the snowy mountains. He remembered the first time he had held a bow and arrow, after his awakening from his addiction to the warmweed.

As he thought of that, Will got momentarily distracted and his arrow flew wide of the target. Halt glanced up when he saw that his apprentice's arrow hadn't even landed near the target .

"Gorlog's beard, Will! What was that?!"

"Sorry, Halt. I got distracted for a moment."

Halt shook his head. "Don't do it again."

"Sorry, Halt."

Halt seemingly focused again on the documents on his lap, reading the above laying letter with great interest. In reality, his eyes kept following the arrows his apprentice shot, every one of them barely missing the target.

After Will had shot a few more arrows,  he decided to spend his afternoon working on his knife throwing skills. First, he threw his smaller knife at the target, then he got out his other knife to send it after the smaller one, but before he could do so a hand tapped on his shoulder. He jumped, and spun around with the knife, poised to throw at any potential threat. All he saw was Gilan, though, with his hands in the air.

"Gorlog's beard, Gilan!" exclaimed Will, "If you startle me like that next time, you might not be alive to do it again! I nearly skewered you!"

Gilan grinned easily. "I know. It's still funny though."

Will shook his head, Gilan grinned, and Halt, who'd of course seen it all, hid a smile. He stood up and grabbed Gilan by his arm.

"Gilan! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home, with your family?" Gilan smiled cheerfully and replied easily: "Nah. I'll get there later this month. Dad had some diner at the Castle so I decided to check up on you."

"How kind of you," Halt replied, ever so slightly sarcastic. He turned towards the small boy and nodded at the weaponry in his hands.

"Will, why don't you clean up your stuff. It's been enough for today, and I'll make us some coffee," he said. Will opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it when he saw the warning look on Halt's face. The young boy turned around and ran towards his targets. Halfway the journey he turned around and asked: "Shall I bring Blaze to the stables as well?"

"That would be kind of you, Will, thank you," Gilan replied, catching Halt's warning glare. At every other moment, he would have taken care of his horse himself, but something about the grey-bearded Ranger told him that Halt had some important matters to discuss - without Will.

He followed his former mentor inside, closed the door behind his back and asked, straight to the point: "Halt? What's up?"

The old Ranger gestured him to be quiet and said, in a soft tone: "It's Will. I'm worried about him."

Gilan looked at him in disbelief. "Will? What's the matter with him?"

Halt shook his head. "Take today as an example. It's Christmas. He has always spent it with his friends, so last time I gave him days off to visit them. This year, when Alyss sent him an invitation, he simply declined it! He has been outrunning them every since we returned. Worse, he's wearing himself out. He practices all day, from sunrise 'till sunset, only taking a break every now and then because I force him to. I simply don't know what the matter is with him."