27A/N: Hello, everyone! *ducks at thrown rotten vegetables* Yes, yes, I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I'll get around to those stories, I promise! It's just that high school is basically killing my life, and I don't have time to update as much.
That being said, I have a Halloween treat for y'all! Yes, for the first time ever, I'm writing about an incident in Gilan's apprenticeship. *shakes her finger at Dodo123* It's all your fault, Dodo! Your Gilan obsession is catching!
So then . . . without further ado . . . enjoy, and Happy (belated) Halloween! (or All Hallow's Eve . . .)
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Gilan was bored beyond belief. Halt was making him study his geography, when it was a beautiful day outside. And soon it would be winter, which would make it even harder to spend time outside. Why couldn't they spend time doing something interesting instead?
Of course, he would have never expressed this thought out loud to his mentor because he knew the reply would be something along the lines of "If you're leading a troupe of cavalry, it would be important for them to know about a stream in the middle, right?"
So for now, he was stuck inside, trying to memorize information that he considered utterly useless. At least at the moment. He knew he might thing otherwise if he ever had to put it into practice, but that moment was far from his mind right now. All he could think about was the colorful leaves falling outside, and the slight breeze blowing through the trees, making them whisper.
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Halt could tell that his apprentice's mind was wandering, and it didn't take much to guess what he was thinking about. The Ranger decided that it was time to change the subject, wondering if he was getting too sympathetic towards his apprentice.
"Gilan, that's enough of that. Let's move on to some culture and history."
Gilan gave his mentor a puzzled glance, but he was too glad to study a new topic. He sat forward, and looked at the Ranger expectantly.
"I'm going to tell you a story." Halt began "It regards an event that is happening tonight. Do you know what it is?"
"All Hallow's Eve . . . right?" Gilan answered.
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
"Uh . . . telling you. All Hallow's Eve." He tried to make his voice sound more confident.
Halt nodded. "Do you know that graveyard just outside of the castle boundaries?"
Gilan suppressed a shudder, but his body language didn't escape his mentor's eye. "Yes."
"Well, some say that it is haunted by ghosts and ghouls and things of that nature. There's even a legend that if you stand by a grave at midnight, the body will reach up and grab you, dragging you down with it."
"That's crazy! There's no such thing as ghosts."
"Really?" Halt said, raising an eyebrow at his apprentice's prompt answer. "Then would you like to go and prove it wrong?"
"Prove it? Why would I want to—I mean, is it really necessary?" Gilan didn't really like where this conversation was going, but he didn't want to seem scared. After all, if he was to be part of the Ranger Corps, protecting all of Araluen, he could hardly afford to be afraid of ghosts.
"Well, I've been noticing that you think that this studying is rather boring," one look forestalled Gilan's word of protest, "so I thought that this might be a nice way to . . . provoke more enthusiasm."
"But really, it's fine, Halt. I think we all know that there are no ghosts. There's really no reason to prove it."
At this point, Halt decided to play on his apprentice's pride a little. "You're not scared are you? Because, if you're scared, I understand totally. I'll just let Sir David know that his son is afraid of nonexistent supernatural apparitions."
As he had expected, Gilan began to panic. "Dad? No—no, you don't need to do that. I'll go. I'll go to the graveyard at midnight, and stand there, and prove that there's no ghosts in the graveyard."
"Are you sure? Because if you're scared . . ."
"No, no, I'm fine, really!"
"Very well. You'll go to the graveyard at midnight, and be standing on a grave right at that hour. You'll stab your sword into the ground when you're there, just so that I can make sure that you actually did do everything you said you would. And then, once midnight has passed, you can come back. Assuming that nothing drags you underneath, of course."
Gilan gulped, and replied in a weak voice. "Yes . . . that sounds about right."
Halt smiled inwardly. This was going to be a whole lot of fun.
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Okay, so this was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but in the interest of time, and because I don't want it to be like, November 5th or something before I'm finished, I'm just putting up the first chapter. I hope you guys liked it! Remember the blue button that says "Review this story"!