Kings of Clonmel - PJO/RA crossover

THE MISSION

{EDITED}

word count: 550

"I can't believe we're going to Clonmel." Horace sat atop kicker and smiled happily to himself, enthusiasm practically radiating of of him.

It wasn't the first time he had mentioned that, really more like the eleventh time, but Will wasn't the kind of person to ruin this for him. 

Well, he would be, but as long as it annoyed Halt more than him it was something he was willing to bear. 

He sighed. 

They had only left redmont yesterday. 

Halt remained silent on Aberlard and Will was starting to worry about him. 

Halt had never been the most talkative, unless there was tyrant to bully,  but this level of silently-staring-into-the-void was concerning, even for him. Especially  since Horace had given the Ranger multiple opportunities to mock him, something Halt usually never passed up on.

Will let his gaze shift from the left, where a light-flooded birch forest hemmed the empty street, to the right, where multiple fallow fields and meadows stretched out to another forest. Behind the forest - Will knew that much from Halt - a beach full of fishermen's huts surrounded by cliffs awaited them.

Four hours before sundown they arrived in the village.

They had managed to bring the horses down to the beach by following a narrow path that was carved into the chalky ground and by the time they reached the village for good,  the message of their arrival had already spread around.

Halt greeted the village elder with a nod:"Looks like you had a good catch today" He gestured towards the wooden stakes, where fishing were drying in the afternoon sun. The village elder, a man close to eighty confirmed with a tight smile. "I have a favour to ask."

The old man, supported by a walking stick made of smooth, sun bleached wood,  gestured Halt to follow him to one of the few stone houses. They started to talk, and albeit their voices were carried away by the breeze, and thus too quiet for Will to understand, the gestures towards the boats made Halt's intent more than clear. 

They needed a boat to cross the strait and that boat needed to be a little bigger than the average fishing boat, as it needed to carry horses. There was only one boat in the entire village that had enough space on board for not one but three horses.

Will was still a bit concerned about Halts strange demeanour - on the other hand, when wasn't Halts demeanour a little strange. 

Horaces cheerful attitude had begun to rub of on Will and by the time Halt returned with a grumpy village elder, who had to admit that taking three men and their horses across the strait of Hibernia was a small price compared to the favor Halt had done the village the week before by returning the villages gold.

The strait of Hibernia was a channel that disconnected Hibernia from Araluen. To Halts joy the crossing would only take an hour or less but an hour at sea was already enough to get his sensitive stomach to turn around.

Since the horses didn't exactly like this method of transport either all of them were glad when they stepped on dry land only one hour before sundown and continued their journey towards Dun Kilty.