Chapter 1

A/N: This takes place near the end of Battle for Skandia/Oakleaf Bearers. It talks about what would have happened if Will had died during the battle. This has been a story that I've been wanting to write for quite a while but I've never known how exactly I wanted to write it. So I hope you enjoy this! Be sure to comment below to let me know if you like it! If you have any questions, DM me here on Wattpad or on Twitter. My handle is @wesley_thacker0. Also, I'm looking for proofreaders so if you want to become one, let me know by DM-ing me. Enjoy!

Horace turned just in time to see Will collapse to the ground, an arrow protruding out of his right thigh.

"Will!" He ran over to kneel at his friends side, dropping his sword in the process. Will was unconscious. Will's thigh was streaming with blood where the arrow had penetrated. Horace examined the wound quickly. Immediately, he noticed something was wrong. This wasn't just a normal arrow wound that would heal. Something about it was off. Horace didn't quite know. But he did know that Will needed a healer. With his shield protecting them , the tall soldier picked up the Ranger as carefully as possible so as to not cause him too much pain and headed toward the healer. The healer was over by the command post. His name was Thomas; he was a shorter man, shorter than Will. He had long, black hair that reached his shoulders, and bright green eyes that always knew what they were seeing.

Horace ran to the tent cradling Will in his arms, passing behind Halt in the process. Halt sensed somebody passing behind him, running. He turned just in time to see Horace's back disappear around the bend. Halt didn't think too much about, just passing it as Horace running to go get someone. But who? Halt thought about for a few seconds. There wasn't anyone he could possibly need. Unless someone was injured. Wait...injured! Who could be injured? Then Halt thought he had seen something about the way Horace ran. When he ran, Horace usually pumped his arms, even if it was a little jog. But he hadn't done that as he ran past a few seconds ago. Was he carrying something? He thought back, taking in all the details. As Horace had rounded the corner, there was something in his arms. No, not something. Someone. Halt determined that from weird-looking figure that Horace had carried. But who was it? Halt glanced over at the archers post. Evanlyn was there. Horace was missing but that was obvious since he was seen running past Halt five seconds ago. Halt looked again. Where was Will? Suddenly, Halt knew why Horace had run past him. And he knew the figure he was carrying.

Halt ran around the corner, in pursuit of Horace carrying his apprentice. Horace stopped for a second, looked around, and continued running, slightly left of the course he was running before. Halt knew who he was looking for.
Horace reached Thomas, Halt only two seconds in tow.

"Thomas!" Horace said, breathlessly. Thomas turned around to see the apprentice Ranger cradled in the tall warrior's arms. And the arrow protruding out of his thigh. Halt skidded to a stop behind Horace, bracing himself on the warrior's shoulder. His sense of balance was always off when he came skidding to a stop; he'd done it more than once.

"Bring him over here. Quickly!" Thomas said, briskly walking over to a series of beds laid out on the ground. He pointed to one and Horace gently laid Will down. Will let out a small groan despite being unconscious. That meant he was at least still alive. Horace let out a sigh of relief. Thomas went over to where he had his medicine. He selected three bottles, each filled with a colored substance. As he walked over to Will, Halt gave him a questioning look. Thomas got Halt's question and explained.

"This one," Thomas said, holding out one bottle filled with an orange substance. "is used so that my patients can't feel the area where I apply this. I'm not exactly sure what it is but it works so I use it. It's not harmful so don't worry about that. This next one," He held out another bottle filled with a blue substance. "I use it to clean the wound. It's a lot better than using a red-hot knife. And this last one," another bottle filled with a green substance. "It's used to help the wound heal." Halt looked at him with a look of thanks. There was a long silence as Thomas got to work, putting the orange substance on Will's leg around where the arrow was lodged. Silently, Halt slipped out of sight. Thomas looked up, noticed Halt wasn't there and said to Horace: "Looks like your friend left."

Horace looked around and said: "Yeah. I'd better go explain what happened."

Horace found Halt sitting down on a log, looking down at the ground, lightly kicking a rock around in a small circle. Horace sat down next to him, also looking down at the ground. There was a long silence between them, each of them waiting for the other to start talking.

Halt broke the silence. "Tell me what happened."

"I'm not exactly sure, but I heard a cry from Will and just as I looked, he collapsed with an arrow in his thigh. I freaked, picking him up and went running for Thomas. After Thomas had every under control, I was going to come and get you."

"It's a good thing Will has you as a friend."

"Well, I'm not that good of a friend if I let him get shot by an arrow. I should have seen it coming. I shouldn't have let him leave the protection of the shield and shoot at them." Halt could tell where this conversation was headed and he wasn't about to go down that path yet.

"Listen, there's nothing that you could have done differently that could have prevented that. I saw your positions and they were great. Will was also smart in leaving the protection of your shield to shoot off the attackers. Otherwise, all of your men would have died right then. It's a risk he knew and he still took it."

"I know Halt, but are you sure there's nothing else I could have done?"

"Yes. There wasn't anything else you could have done. But keep your spirits up. Because he didn't die so that's a good thing."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Good." The grizzled ranger paused. "Let's go finish this battle." He saw the warrior hesitate. "Don't worry about Will. He'll be okay."

Horace looked up at Halt. He saw the kindness in those eyes that solidified the message. He stood up.

"All right. Let's go." Horace said confidently.