Gilan heard the huge BANG, saw Halt running towards Will. Then a huge cloud of smoke suddenly billowed from the front of the courtyard and immediately enveloped Halt and Will. Gilan started running towards the cloud, but saw movement on one of the outer edges and stopped. It had definitely been a green gray cloak, and they had been moving fast. But then his heart flew up into his throat as he realized that there was also a smudge of purple running along the far end of the smoke cloud. Should I shoot? What if I hit them? Gilan slung his bow off his shoulder and grabbed an arrow from his quiver. Halt would say to shoot. Gilan aimed and released in a single smooth motion. He watched the arrow fly away into the cloud where he assumed the Genovesan was. He never saw the arrow land, and he didn't hear any grunts or yells. He stood there, peering into the thick smoke for almost a minute, trying to see something, anything. Long moments passed, the silence from the masses behind him deafening and afraid, all except for his own labored breathing. Then Halt and Will suddenly came running out of the cloud hunched over, clinging to each other, and coughing violently. Both men were stumbling slowly along as they coughed, and Gilan slung up his bow and started running towards them. He reached the outer edge of the smoke and grabbed Halt, seizing his arm firmly, coughing a little as he got a strong whiff of the smoke. Then he started pulling them farther away as quickly as he could. Halt kept his grip on Will, who was hunched over, still coughing violently, and clutching his ribs. Both men were having difficulty running, and Gilan had to drag them forcefully along behind him. They all three ran in a line, headed straight for the camp. As they ran, both Will and Halt coughed less and less violently, with more and more time between each cough as their lungs forced the smoke out.

They reached the front of the camp. Gilan looked up and saw that Rodney and the Baron had done their job. The soldiers who had been panicking before were now lined up perfectly in formations of infantry, cavalry, and archers. They all stood still and unmoving with fierce looks on their faces, ready to take back their castle. Some of them also looked up in shock as the haze of white gray clouds ghosted over them, carried by a cool wind off towards the north. Gilan pulled Halt and Will the rest of the way up to where Rodney, the Baron, Pauline, and Alyss were waiting. Alyss, who had seen them coming, had grabbed some water skins and was holding them out to Halt and Will as they came running up. Halt immediately reached for one of the skins, nodding his thanks to Alyss and drinking. But Will stayed hunched over, clutching his ribs, his breaths ragged and raw. Alyss walked over and pushed the second water skin into his free hand and helped him bring it to his lips. He stood up slowly, and allowed her to help him take a few sips. Immediately his breathing became slower and more regular, less ragged and more smooth. He took the skin from her and started chugging the water. Halt finally lowered his own skin and took a few deep breathes. "I'm - I'm alright," he said haltingly. His voice was raw, but his breathing was better. Will, who had finished the water skin, handed it back to Alyss, coughed a few times, and said, "Me too."

Gilan coughed a little as well, and Alyss handed him the remains of Halt's water, and he drank deeply. "Ugh... That smoke was awful, and I only got one lungful. What happened back there?" He turned to Halt and Will, and started shrugging off his cloak so that he could give Halt back his bow and quiver.

But Halt turned to Will, and spoke urgently. "Will, remember when we were in Araluen, raiding that Outsider's cave? You know how Malcolm made those mud balls that exploded in smoke or light with a loud sound when you threw them on the ground?"

Will nodded, puzzled. "Yes, but those only made a small cloud or a short bright flash. Not something of this size."

"Well, the Genovesan, Mario, he had one of those, but it was huge. It was at least five times the size of the ones Malcolm used to make. The Genovesan never saw me, but he knew that we would come, and he said that he had a present for you."

Will's eyes widened. "I'm assuming that present was the huge exploding mud ball. So that's what the big booming sound and flash of light was..."

Gilan spoke up. "I watched everything from far away. I saw Halt running towards Will, then the big flash of light, and then a huge cloud of smoke covered you all. I think I saw one of you running, but then I saw a Genovesan and shot at him." He held Halt's bow out to him.

Halt turned to Gilan and took the bow, raising his eyebrows. "Good job not hitting us. That would have been very unfortunate," he said wryly, giving him a pointed look.

Gilan scowled a little as he also handed over the quiver. "That's why I'd didn't hit you. I didn't know if I hit anyone anyway, but now, since I didn't hit you, it has to have been that assassin...

"Or no one," Halt muttered darkly as he slung on his bow and quiver.

Gilan glared at Halt again. "Or no one, I suppose. I've been watching ever since, and none of the Genovesans have shown themselves again. That means they have to be inside the castle or in that smoke."

Halt rubbed his beard, and glanced at Will. "Our plan isn't quite happening the way we thought it would, but I think we can make this work." Will nodded stiffly, and Halt stepped around to look Will straight in the face. He was a pale, and he was wincing in pain. Every breath he took seemed to hurt him. Halt put a hand on his shoulder, and Will glanced up at him with glazed eyes. "Are you alright?"

Will nodded again. "Yes... Just hurts." He winced again.

Alyss came over with a small bottle of clear liquid. "Drink this. I know I can't convince you to stay behind, and I suspected something like this would happen. It's intense pain medicine."

She handed the small flask to Will, who shook it slightly, squinting at the transparent substance, then glanced back at Alyss and gave her a warm smile. "Thanks... Hope it works better than the last stuff." He drank the liquid, gagging as it went down his throat. "Ugh..."

"So what's this plan of yours? You never got around to telling the rest of us," Gilan asked, hoping to stop that conversation before it even started.

Will turned to him. "We - "

"I saw them. They're in the smoke!" Halt said abruptly. Will and Gilan turned and stared into the smoke. Sure enough, a moment later another flash of purple showed on the far side of the drawbridge. The smoke was mostly dispersing now, so that there were large patches of visibility, as well as places where outlines could be seen. A purple smudge was standing near the edge of the draw bridge, looking out over countryside. Halt turned to Rodney. "Rodney, would you do the honors?"

Rodney smiled darkly. "Of course, Halt. It would be my pleasure." He turned towards the bridge, widened his stance and cupped his hands on either side of his mouth. Then he shouted, "Genovesans! You are surrounded on all sides! You have no hope of escape! Surrender now and we will spare your lives!" He pitched his voice expertly, and it travelled clearly across the space.

There was a long moment of silence, where no one moved. Then all three Genovesans came running out of the smoke, heading straight for the forest off to one side. They were all coughing loudly, and two of them were toting a small but heavy chest between them, each one clinging to a handle. "Grab them!" Halt called out, and a squad of soldiers ran out and intercepted the men, encircling them and holding spear tips to their throats. They all yelled at them to drop their weapons, and after a moment's hesitation, all three Genovesans dropped their crossbows and knives on the ground. They also carefully put the chest on the ground, being mindful not to bump it. Will and Halt glanced at each other and smiled slightly. "Bring them over here!" Halt called out again. The soldiers nudged the assassins with their spears, and herded them over to just in front of the small group. Gilan noticed with grim satisfaction that one of them had his arrow transfixed in his upper arm. It had a bandage tied around it, but it was still bleeding.

Halt and Will stepped forward to meet the group of prisoners. As soon as Mario saw Will, he glowered in hatred. Will remained emotionless.

"You thought you would try to escape..." Halt smiled. "Nice try. You are all arrested for crimes of attempted robbery, murder, and the dozens of other things you've done that are completely illegal," he continued in an infuriatingly bored tone.

He started to step forward to cuff them, but Mario spoke. "That hurts, doesn't it, Ranger Will?" He said it softly, but his voice was rough and filled with hatred.

Will looked at him with something like mocking pity. "You'd be surprised. It doesn't."

But Mario just smiled wickedly. "You're lying. Guido kicked you hard enough to break at least one rib. That hurt won't go away completely, even with adrenaline, and you're still pale as the moon herself."

Will smiled a little, but it was a cold smile, never reaching his eyes. "I'm not lying. It really doesn't hurt. See - " He took a confident step forward, showing off the fact that he wasn't limping and continued, "See, it doesn't hurt anymore, because I took medicine. But you, you can't do anything to get out of this one. No hiding or sneaking or killing this time. Just the bars of a prison cell."

Now Guido laughed. "Ah, but Ranger Will, you forget something. You may have intercepted us, and you may be arresting us. But you must remember that everything you and your lady friend went through in there" he nodded his head towards the castle, "was for nothing."

Will tilted his head in mock curiosity. "And why would that be?"

Guido licked his lips, his eyes glittering with maniacal triumph. "You failed, Ranger. You never got them." He pointed to the chest which was sitting on the ground next to the soldiers' feet. "We go to them first, and you only caught us with your huge army. You couldn't stop us."

There was a moment of silence as Will and Halt seemed to absorb this information, and Guido and Mario both smiled widely, showing their pointed teeth. Halt smiled pleasantly and turned to Will. "You know, Will, I think it's time they opened that chest, don't you think?"

Will grinned back, equally as pleasant. "I quite agree." He turned back to the Genovesans, and made a shooing motion with his hands, as if sending a child off to play. "Go on. Open the chest."

Will felt Gilan come up behind him. "Will... What are you doing?" But he just shook his head at him, and turned away. Halt gave him a pointed sidelong look, and Gilan stepped back again with no further comment.

Guido's maniacal grin faltered, but Mario's steady glare popped into a look of surprised glee. "Of course." He waited while the soldiers carried the chest over, then knelt and picked at the lock. "How do you expect us to open this lock without the key?"

Halt stepped forward, his saxe leaping from its scabbard. He brought it down hard on the lock, splitting the metal smoothly in half with a menacing thunk. "Now, do you think you can manage it?" Halt hissed, and Guido glared at him.

After Halt stepped back and sheathed his knife, Mario excitedly put aside the broken lock and undid the latch. He tipped open the lid, his eyes glinting as he saw the twelve clean cut rubies throwing off red sparkles, a beautiful bloody kaleidoscope of light...

There weren't any rubies.

Mario's grin melted off his face and his eyes bugged out of their sockets as he reached into the chest and pulled out a handful of...

Paperweights?

"What? But, we - we checked, we shook the case - " Guido muttered as he leaned over Mario.

"Yes, I knew you would. That's why we put those in there," Will said as he pointed to himself and Halt. All three Genovesans looked up at him in utter shock. Halt spoke first. "We wanted to find a way to get all three of you out of our castle. But we didn't want to have to hunt you from inside, it was just too difficult and too large a space. It also gave you too many opportunities to escape, which, of course, was the main thing to avoid. And we didn't want to have to use all these soldiers to mount a full-on attack against three men, if we could help it. So we devised a plan to get you three out of the castle on your own free will." The Genovesans all started at Halt in disbelieving shock.

Then Will spoke up again. "When you came upon me in the hallway, I had already been inside the treasury. I had replaced the rubies with those paperweights, because I knew you wouldn't be fooled if I simply took the rubies and left it empty. If that happened, you might realize that you had lost your loot, and attempt an escape. So we carefully replaced the older lock with a new, stronger lock. Then, since you couldn't open it, and since we knew you would check, we had to put something in there that would sound like rubies when you shook it. I remembered seeing that in the scribes' offices, they used little inexpensive crystals smoothed and shaped as paperweights, and I figured they would make nearly the same sound as rubies when they were shook. We replaced the rubies with the paperweights and relocked the chest. Then we set it up to look like I was just entering the treasury, and, well, you know how the rest went. You chased me out, thinking that you had caught us before we had a chance. But, in truth, you failed the minute I locked those paperweights into that box."

Mario, Guido, and the other assassin's eyes grew wider and wider as they absorbed what Will had said. There was a moment of long silence.

"Prove it," Guido spat as he stood and threw the little crystals on the ground. "I don't believe you. Show me the rubies."

Halt smiled pleasantly at him yet again. "One moment." He glanced sidelong at Will, who was already digging around in his jerkin pockets. He searched for a moment, and then pulled a medium sized velvet bag. He pulled the drawstring, opening the bag, and slowly tipped it over. Twelve blood-red glittering stones fell from the bag and hit with dull thuds on the packed dirt, like huge, rich drops of blood rain. Guido saw the jewels, and went very pale. Then he sat back resignedly, recognizing that he had lost, gazing at the treasures sprinkled in the dust. The other Genovesan hadn't said anything, and he stared almost sadly at the rubies.

Only Mario became angry. He leapt to his feet and tried to lunge for the stones, but the soldiers caught him and wrestled him to the ground, cuffing his hands behind his back. "We had them! We had the jewels! You had failed! I hate you! I hate you!" Mario ranted as the soldiers hauled him back to his feet along with his shell-shocked companions.

Halt glanced almost tiredly at the captain of the guard. "Captain, get this scum out of my sight and in the deepest, darkest, dirtiest cell. Keep a heavy guard on them at all times."

The captain nodded crisply and started to turn the prisoners away, but Will forestalled them. "Wait, wait just a moment." Halt put and hand on his shoulder and shot him a questioning look, but Will shook him off and didn't meet his eyes. He walked right up to Mario, and searched his face, squinting slightly. "I have one last question for you. Then you'll go and get comfortable in your cell. Will you answer it?"

Mario glowered at him, still fuming with fury. "Probably not... Although I might be more inclined to answer if you would allow me to ask you one as well."

Will stared him down for a moment, then finally relented. "Fine. You first."

Mario smiled a little. "When I came down the hallway just outside the audience hall, I saw that very same soldier I had just interrogated and released walking confidently away from that small office. So I went into the room, certain that you would be there. I could practically smell you. I searched everywhere, and you were no where." Mario leaned in close and whispered, "But I knew I was not alone. I could feel you in there. So tell me, where were you?"

Will raised an eyebrow at him. "You do realize... There weren't that many hiding places in that room?"

Mario glowered. "I didn't ask for your mockery. I asked for an answer."

Will flicked his eyes at Halt, who was standing behind him a few feet back. Then he shrugged, and said, "I hung under the table."

Mario stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if Will was telling him the truth or not. But as he searched Will's eyes and saw that he was serious, he began to laugh. He laughed loudly, full bellied, deep, throaty laughs that echoed through the camp. "So I looked right at you. I screamed at you. And you did not move."

Will nodded, stone-faced.

Mario chuckled a few more times, and then looked at Will in a new light, almost impressed. "Now I see why you are such a famous Ranger... You would make a good assassin. Get very rich and successful in Toscana."

Will smiled coldly again. "I'm not currently looking for another job, so I'll have to decline. Now, will you answer my question?"

Mario, still chuckling lightly, said, "Maybe, maybe not. We shall see."

Will shrugged off his answer, then leaned in close and looked straight into his eyes. "Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you to make you so set against me?"

Mario's laughter died instantly, his smile evaporated, and his face became hard to read. "You mean, you don't recognize me?" He asked in a slightly puzzled voice.

Will raised an eyebrow. "Not even slightly. Should I?"

Mario's eyes burned and sparked with terrible fury and hatred, but Will was shocked as he saw tears well up. His whole body shook and the guards holding him grabbed him tighter as he snarled softly, "Bacari was my brother."

Will speechlessly stared at Mario. Bacari... He mouthed the name silently. The Genovesan he had killed in Clonmel. He had captured him and forced him to tell Malcolm what kind of poison he had used on Halt, then killed him when he tried to escape, burying his throwing knife in his throat. Will had that same knife on his belt in his scabbard at that very moment, and suddenly it became hot and heavy on his waist, digging into his hip. Images of the blood spurting from Bacari's neck flicked across Will's eyelids.

Mario saw the understanding dawn in Will's eyes, and hissed, "He was my beloved little brother, and you killed him. You took him from me." He looked deep into Will's eyes, a single tear dripping down his cheek. Halt came up behind Will and, seeing his former apprentice standing frozen and dazed, nodded urgently to the guards. They dragged the Genovesans away, Mario smiling and crying manically at Will as long as he could until the guards dragged him around.

Halt gently touched Will's shoulder. He was standing there, staring after the retreating form of the assassins, his glazed eyes locked on Mario's back. Will jumped when he touched him, and turned abruptly. "I - uh - Halt - " His eyes blinked rapidly, not really seeing Halt, ghosts of memories and thought clouding his mind.

"Will, what did he say to you? Why does he hate you?"

Will realized that one else had heard the Genovesan's reply, except for the soldiers. He looked at Halt for a long moment, his eyes a little wide. Then he said dully, "It - it doesn't matter. He just had anger... issues." Then he turned away from Halt and kicked some dust over the jewels, which still lay scattered on the ground. Then he walked off towards the camp, holding his ribs.

Halt knew that Will hadn't told him the truth. The disturbed, sad light in his eyes had told him everything he needed to know. He debated following him, but decided against it. He probably just needs some time before he can tell me.

Alyss came up behind him, touching his shoulder. "Halt? What did the Genovesan say to Will? I tried to talk to him but he just shook me off, he looks really disturbed."

Halt smiled sadly. "I don't know, Alyss. And we might never know. If he doesn't want to tell us, we can't force him to. It might hurt him too much. The way he looked at that man, the way he reacted to what he said... I haven't seen him that upset in some time."

Alyss's face pinched up with worry. But she nodded. "Alright. But that doesn't mean I won't try to get it out of him, upset or not."

Halt nodded. "Good. But don't force it. He looked... Well, I suppose the only way to describe it is overwhelmed with memories. But not... Good ones."

Alyss sighed sadly. "I had better go find him." Halt watched her run off after Will. Then he stared at the forms of the three Genovesans as they were lead away by the soldiers. What did you tell Will? He bent down and picked up the rubies. So much hurt for such small things. He put them back in the bag and tucked them into his jerkin. Then he turned to follow Alyss back into the camp.

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So, how was it? Can you believe that that was the second to last chapter of this story? It's a pretty long section, since I knew you all would probably hate me if I split that part up. And at least this part didn't end in a cliffhanger.... So yeah. That's it. This was another difficult part to write, so hopefully you'll all vote and comment to let me know how I did! Also, if you see a typo, please comment and let me know so I can fix it. Typos always seem to sneak in to these longer sections, autocorrect and all. Thank you all so much for sticking with me for this long, and thanks for reading! Next chapter I update will be the last chapter, so I'll see you all at the finish line. ;)