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Halt wiped the dust from the mantelpiece. Again. For the sixth time that day. He was a man of reason and always tried to stay calm to deal with things with precision. However, he thought, this was not normal.
His brow creased in a frown. Crowley was supposed to arrive two days ago. Yes, everyone can have a delay, but he knew that the perfectionist in Crowley wouldn't allow to keep Halt waiting without letting him know first. There were no massive storms lately nor bandits reported. The calm atmosphere now ruled the Redmont fief and so Halt had almost nothing to do past few weeks. His apprentice Gilan left six days ago for the castle Caraway to attend to his swordplay lessons. As much as Halt never thought he one day would, he appreciated the calm and peace. He cared for the young boy as for his own son, but he found the silence rather refreshing.
As he had been sitting on the porch and watching the sunset the day of Gilan's departure, he had suddenly remembered the monk that visited the palace in Dun Kilty years ago. He was part of the diplomatic mission sent from Indus. He had remembered the monk talking about a series of practices for achieving inner peace. As young as Halt was back then, in his mind he frowned upon such thing. He used to believe that it is but an illusion. But he had watched with a keen eye as his young sister had joined the monk in the practice.
He had risen from the armchair and sat on the soft grass basked in golden light. He had closed his eyes and had been surprised to feel his mind floating. Since that day he had been practicing the exercise every day, submerging deeper and deeper into himself.
Halt shook his head and set down the dust rag. Yes, there were rumors about a bear that wandered south from the Norgate fief, but previously he hadn't paid them much attention. He knew that bears by their nature weren't a conflict seeking. They rarely appeared on the main roads by which Crowley surely must have been traveling.
Yet something nabbed at his conscience. What if? What if Crowley came across the bear and got into trouble. Halt chewed at his lips. As much as rangers were trained hunters and assassins, when it came to that, beasts like bears were way out of their league. Yes, rangers were fast shooters, but bears were incredibly fast and agile animals when they needed it. Not to mention their thick fur supported by a thick layer of winter fat they kept for the harsh northern conditions. Beasts like bears were best left to deal with by knights with firm long spears.
He finally made his mind. "Dammit," he muttered and went to pack his things and saddle up Abelard. If everything was alright, he and Crowley could share a pleasant ride back to Halt's cabin and his worries would be shushed. If it wasn't and it was the bear, there wasn't much he nor Crowley could do, but at least the ranger commander wouldn't face the danger alone.
Halt rode for several hours, almost making it three-quarters of the way to the border. His conscience and mind were louder and louder and rang bells. The sun was slowly setting down now, making the shadows in the forest longer and longer. Abelard quietly nickered and soon Halt's nose caught up too. He sensed a faint scent of smoke in the air from the west and he put two and two together. He knew that no far from here was a nice little cozy meadow where he and Crowley spent summer solstice together two years ago. Crowley probably decided to stop there. Nonetheless, that still didn't explain why was he delayed.
Halt navigated Abelard between the trees to the meadow and froze upon a sight that welcomed him. Crowley's saddlebags were torn and what looked like, probably chewed. The fireplace was a mess and there were visible claws on the tree barks around the meadow. Abelard suddenly whinnied and threw his head wildly around. Cropper emerged from the trees, the terror clearly visible in his brown eyes and on his tensed muscles.
Halt jumped down from the saddle and, after taking a good look around, he went to calm the poor horse down.
"Now boy, calm down, alright?" he whispered into Cropper's ears and pressed his forehead against the horse's. He waited until Cropper's breathing evened and started to examine the little camp. The fire couldn't be older than a day, which meant that Crowley probably set it up the evening before and kept it up till morning to make himself breakfast. Halt could easily find its remains scattered around. The bear probably surprised Crowley which was a surprising fact for Halt. Thankfully, he didn't find any blood around which meant that the bear didn't hurt Crowley, nor he dragged him away. Further searching told Halt that Crowley escaped on his own feet. As much as it was usually really hard if not impossible to track down a ranger, he found Crowley's traces rather easily as it probably wasn't Crowley's top priority to conceal his tracks when ran for his life. That and bear's paw prints as he followed after him. Every child knew that it was suicide to run from a bear but the forest behind that part of the meadow was dense which must have proved to Crowley's advantage.
Halt was torn. Either he could follow tracks quickly and don't pay much heed to conceal the noise he would make or advance slowly and risk Crowley being in danger longer and longer. In the end, he decided on the careful approach. He didn't want to risk intercepting the bear when he could avoid it. He wouldn't have a chance and he knew it well. And if something happened to him, there wouldn't be anyone to help Crowley.
He followed the tracks for about an hour when the terrain started to slope down. He carefully made his way downwards, noticing the obvious signs as Crowley ran down there with the bear in tow. He paid attention to where he put his feet and soon after was grateful that he did. Below him suddenly opened small rift wide enough for a human to unfortunately fall into. He looked around and noticed the bear tracks circling the rift, the claws marking the rock around it as if it was trying to claw in.
Halt leaned in and hesitated for a moment as his heart clenched. "Crowley?" he called.
"Halt!" the response came, the voice tired and urgent at the same time.
"Hold on! I'll get down."
"Halt! Wait! It's not safe, would be better if you would find the entrance. I think I am in some abandoned mine."
Halt dismissively shook his head, even though he knew Crowley couldn't see him. "Not a good idea with the bear lurking around." He tried to estimate how far Crowley is but the echo was making it hard for him. "How high it is?"
"Not much. You can make it down, I think. But you have to be careful. The underground moisture makes the stones slippery. I just fell in though."
Halt carefully slipped between the rocks and made his way down. Crowley was right, the stones were slippery but the descent wasn't a right-angled. When he felt the steady ground under his feet, he let his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the cave. He spotted a body lying on the ground. That definitely wasn't good.
He approached Crowley and suppressed the urge to hug the hell out of him. He needed to check for injuries first.
"Are you alright?"
"What do you think?" Crowley groaned with false joy and gestured to his twisted ankle.
"Shit," Halt muttered.
"Yeah, exactly."
"Ribs? Hands? Hands?" he asked in a calm voice, though it took him a big amount of energy to maintain it.
"Just bruised I think."
"Can you walk?" Halt looked at him, grave concern enwrought in his eyes.
Crowley tried to grin, but soon his face turned into a painful grimace. "Well, I can certainly try. But where do you want to go?"
Halt closed his eyes in concentration. "I think I can feel a waft of fresh air from that path," he said and pointed towards one of the darkened hallways."
His partner took a deep breath. "Let's do this."
"Okay, I am gonna pick you up, alright?" Halt said and did so, a growl of pain escaping from the ginger. "Put your weight on me, okay?"
Crowley hadn't said a word but from his face and tensed muscles it was clear that he was in great pain.
Odds were in their favor and, as soon after the light from the ceiling of the cave they were in stopped to light their path, Halt almost smiled as he noticed soft shine of the glowing mushrooms littered on the stony walls. After a while, a break was needed for Crowley. Halt carefully set him down and softly caressed his fiery mane.
"So what happened? How did the bear surprise you?"
Crowley nuzzled against his partner's shoulder, drawing as much heat as he could in the chilly mine. "The evening before Cropper was tired and so was I. I did not see any sense in blindly riding through the night. So I set a camp. It was reckless of me, but I knew from your reports that there weren't any rogues or anything else in Redmont lately. I decided to sleep a bit, knowing Cropper would wake me up if anything was happening."
He stopped talking for a moment, eyes gazing into the darkness.
"It must have come off the wind. Of course, Cropper warned me, but it was too late as it was making its way between the trees." He squeezed Halt's hand. "Ohh Halt, you should've seen it. Natural killer. Old, experienced one. And very hungry one I think, when it just made its approach to human. Almost the same berserk as you were on the last Gathering when Gilan stole your arridan coffee."
"I am so sorry you went through that," Halt whispered and planted a soft kiss on ginger's forehead.
"Could've happened to anyone," Crowley shrugged and nudged Halt. "We should continue."
As if luck was truly on their side, it took them just another two hours and five breaks to reach the entrance to the mines. Both of them inwardly smiled and felt relief washing over them as they approached the light of the starry sky.
They came out and kissed deeply. Now, they only had to get to their horses.
Their joy didn't last long as powerful roar cut through the air. They snapped around to see the huge bear running towards them. Both of their hearts sank. There wasn't time, they both knew it. Halt quickly set Crowley down as near to the mine entrance as he could and frantically looked around.
He picked up something what must had been a pickaxe one and stood defensively in front of lover. It was a hopeless and desperate attempt, he knew that, but there wasn't actually much else to do.
Time slowed around him and he felt his mind floating again. His breath evened and he saw the bear in every little detail. The rage in its bloodshot eyes, the glint of stars reflecting on its sharp fangs, spittle flying of its powerful jaws and the dirt spraying away under the impact of heavily muscled legs. For a moment he thought that he also heard several men shouting his name and rumble of several horses's hooves. He braced himself more firmly against the ground, not willing to step away and reveal his partner.
A few tiny moments before the collision, the bear howled in pain and snapped around in pain, a hunter spear embedded in its flank. Time went back to normal and Halt's body moved on sheer instinct. He quickly grabbed Crowley's body in his arms and ran as far as he could into the mine before his legs gave away.
Both he and the ranger commander listened to the battle. They could distinct Arald's and Rodney's voices, shouting directions to flank the bear. They waited, bodies tensed, breath hitching in their lungs.
Seemingly it took an endless time, but the skirmish was over. They firmly pressed their foreheads against eachother's, tears flowing down on their dusted faces.
"Halt? Crowley?" Arald's concerned voice carried over to them. "You alright? You can come out now. Do you need help?"
"It's alright, we're with you in few," Halt called back and stood up to swoop Crowley up into his arms in a bridal style.
"You don't have to carry me like this, you know. I am not some damsel in distress," the ginger muttered in tired sleepy voice.
Halt shrugged. "As you wish," he said as he slung Crowley over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
"Did you just slap my ass??"
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The end. I guess. The rest is up to your imagination <3 Love, Thurs