Rangers Apprentice: Something Missing

Chapter 5

It had been a couple of days since Halt had been away from the life of a Ranger, and he was finding himself rather bored. James had shown him what he was doing to train young battle school cadets, which even though Halt didn't know much about sword fighting, he could at least see that they were all swinging their swords in the same pattern. And he was still taking care of the little girl. She didn't cry as much, she even started to play with a small doll one of the mades brought her. The one thing that no one could do to help her was finding out who her parents were. James took a couple of guards to the village where Halt found the girl and her dead parents and buried the bodies. They could not find out who they were, or who the girl was no matter how much they searched. They didn't even know what her name was. Now Halt sat on the floor next to the little girl with no past to go on as she played with the little doll. She can't be older than four. Halt thought to himself as he watched her play with the doll as if it was flying through the air. And she has no name, no family, no past. Halts train of thought was broken by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs towards the room he and the girl were in. As he suspected the door swung open and a messenger boy came in breathless.
"Master Ranger, sir James wishes to see you in the castle courtyard right away." The boy said as he awaited Halt's reply. Halt gave the boy a slight nod and waved him off. at first, the boy didn't move, not knowing if that was his answer. But then he decided that it wasn't wise to question a Ranger. After the boy left Halt went over and picked the girl up and started heading to the courtyard. As he stepped out into the bright sunshine he saw James standing next to four men and what looked to be a dead body. As soon as he saw the dead body he stopped not wanting the girl to see it, he cleared his throat to get James's attention. James turned around to see Halt standing there and was about to call him over when he saw the little girl in his arms he knew why Halt did not come any farther. Halt watched as James slowly walked over to where he was standing. Halt could see a bit of fear in James's eyes as he stopped in front of Halt.
"You sent for me." Halt said his eyes showing no emotion as always.
" As you can see we have a problem," James said as he rubbed his forehead from the heat and stress.
"And what caused this problem?" Halt said as calm as ever.
"Halt I can't believe I'm saying this. We are under attack by a sorcerer." As the words came out of his mouth he could hardly believe it himself, but what he had seen made him think otherwise.