The Fires of Esus - Ranger's Apprentice

Chapter 11: Aflame

After Will slipped away through the crowd, Alyss and Halt's eyes met across the table.

"Was he alright? He left so quickly I couldn't tell," Alyss said, her brows lowered over her eyes. She picked at her soup, glancing around nervously.

"I'm not sure," Halt muttered, searching the crowded diner with narrowed eyes, but not being able to find him. But Halt figured that would be the case - he did train him in unseen movement, emphasis on the unseen part. It would be a shame if after all these years Will still hadn't figured out how to disappear even from his master's eye, especially in something as easy as a dense crowd. "He saw something in the pot that surprised him, I'm not sure what though."

"Jenny's establishment is always too professional to have put anything strange in there. Perhaps Will wanted to be discreet about finding something that didn't belong, especially with his dear friend?"

Horace rolled his eyes at Pauline's attempt to be polite. "What, like a rat? Forgive me, Pauline, but Will would have probably said something to us if it had been that. He wouldn't have just let us eat rat. He's not that dense."

Halt shook his head, still eyeing the crowd to see if anyone gave anything away as to what was happening, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. He finally relented, lowering his eyes back to his soup bowl. He may be a retired Ranger, but his instincts hadn't dulled even the slightest, so he kept one metaphorical eye up on the crowd while the other stayed down.

He also realized that he dearly hoped there hadn't been a rat in the soup. If that really was the case, he was going to give Will a piece of his mind when he came back about warning them first next time.

They sat in comfortable light conversation as they finished up their soup and the second course arrived, some freshly baked bread to pad their waiting time, since according to their server, the main courses were nearly done but not quite. Will had been missing for only a few minutes, but it was still strange.

Then Halt noticed it. It wasn't the crowd at the restaurant that had been acting suspicious, it was the staff. Every few minutes more servers seemed to disappear from the floor, they would disappear out a side door, or claim they were getting more water, then go out the front door and never return. Even their own server, who had just brought them bread only thirty seconds ago, was nowhere to be seen.

"Alyss, do you see what I see?"

She narrowed her eyes at the crowd the same way he had, a piece of bread laying on the table under her fingers, long forgotten. "I don't... oh, the staff." She nodded at him.

Pauline also gave him a small nod, indicating without words that she sensed the same thing he had been thinking.

Horace was searching the crowd, as if he was looking for Will, but Alyss murmured something to him and he exclaimed, "Oh!" and then quickly quieted down and looked to Halt. "What's happening? Why are they all gone?"

"I don't know, but it's not right."

By this time, others in the restaurant started to notice the lack of staff too. People were looking around awkwardly, some even standing and peering back towards the kitchens. The chatter in the room decreased steadily until it was just strange whispers, and several sets of wide eyes even locked on Halt's table. They knew who he was, and they knew who all the rest of them were, too. The eerie feeling of the guests radiated at him, and he knew that they were watching him, waiting for him to do something about it. He was a Ranger, after all.

Some things never change.

Halt rose from the table and started walking slowly and calmly back towards the kitchens, softly calling out, "Jenny? Will, are you back there?"

The doors to the kitchen that swung lazily on a set of hinges opened slightly with a gentle creak as a light breeze blew between them.

The breeze smelled thickly of smoke.

The smell permeated the entire dining room, and more people stood up, noses to the air as they smelled it too. The smoke started to become visible, darkening the ceiling of the room to gray.

Halt had frozen in front of the doors to the kitchen, and it was lucky that he did. Flames as tall as him exploded to life with a loud whooooomp and licked at the doors to the kitchen. He could see then through the windows, burning even brighter and taller, meaning that the entire kitchen was on fire. And that it was spreading fast. If the doors were on fire, it was only a matter of time before the dining room went up, too

"Everyone get out, now!" Halt shouted, and a rush of people ran for the exit, some screaming, others deathly silent. It was a stampede, and he sincerely hoped no one got crushed.

I have to find Will, he must have seen this coming and that's why he ran off. He could be in danger. He tried to reach for the kitchen doors, but they were hot to the touch and he flinched back. The flames on the other side had heated the glass in the windows so hot that they cracked with a loud bang, making more people shriek as they tried to escape. He turned away from the doors, his heart in his throat as he was forced to make the decision to look after his wife, and his friends, over Will.

A few years ago, he would have barrelled headlong into the flames to find his apprentice without a second thought.

But now, he could make a choice. Try for a hair-brained rescue, or let Will do what he was trained to do?

He'll be alright, I have to trust him.

As much as Halt wanted to burst in after him, he knew he couldn't. Not because he didn't believe he was alive, but because Halt was genuinely old and it hindered him. He had been reminded of his aging body just this morning when he had struggled to finish his shooting practice session. He'd set himself the same amount of arrows he always used to shoot, but struggled with the last ten. He still had flawless aim, but his endurance was down for no apparent reason. He couldn't run as far, he couldn't sleep on the ground like he used to. His joints were stiffer, he moved with less ease now. He could already feel the smoke affecting his lungs, and if he stood there forever or tried to run in and help, he would likely suffocate quickly.

He ran through every possibility in his head before rejecting them all. He had to accept that fact, and he also had to accept that it wasn't worth it for him to rush into the flames with little hope of survival when he had a wife to return home to. So did Will of course, but Halt wasn't going to be much help if he got burned up. Then both Pauline and Alyss would both be alone, and he would never forgive himself for that, even if he was dead.

So Halt turned away from the door, crossing his fingers with every ounce of energy that he had, praying to whatever god above that Will had this under control.

He ran back towards the door, past their forgotten table, and herded the last of the diners out the door, stumbling out after them just as the smoke started to get too thick to bear. Horace gripped his arm, steadying him as he nearly fell down the steps, a question in his eyes. Where's Will?

Halt only shook his head helplessly, and saw Alyss and Pauline together in front of the crowd that had gathered to watch the restaurant burn. "Has anyone seen Jenny?" Alyss was calling.

"I didn't see her, she has to be out here somewhere," Halt said, approaching her.

She turned and seemed startled to see him. Then her eyes flashed with worry. "Where is he?"

"I couldn't find him."

Her eyes glistened with tears and her face was drawn with panic. She sucked in a huge breath, and then it was all gone. Her face was calm, even her eyes were set with a hard determination. "Can't we - "

"We can't go back in there," Halt interrupted her gently. "It's all aflame now. We'll get trapped if we try."

She swallowed hard, and her hand rested on her stomach. "He'll come."

Halt turned away from her to hide his own fear.

He'd better.