rallies the Araluen troops but gets knocked to the ground by a club, stunned. A sergeant takes the lead, standing over Halt and then leading the charge to win the skirmish, all while enduring multiple wounds. As the sergeant lies dying on the ground, he tells Halt that his name is Daniel and that Halt should promise to take care of his wife and baby, which he does. Waking up in a healer's tent, Halt immediately sets off to find out where Daniel lived. He learns that two cheats, Kord and Jerrel, might know where Daniel lived as they asked for people's homes before playing. Halt, undercover as a soldier named Arratay, joins the gambler's tent. After pretending to imbibe copious amounts of drink, letting slip that there might be another arduous campaign and pretending to fall asleep, Halt overhears the two planning to desert the army and pillage Daniel's home first as it was the closest. Halt follows the deserters for a day and half, finally arriving at Daniel's farm. The farm was on fire and Kord and Jerrel were terrorizing the widow and her child. Halt intervenes, stabbing Kord but upon confronting Jerrel, Kord, as a last act, trips Halt. Daniel's widow jumps on Jerrel, who was about to kill Halt, saving his life but giving up hers in the process. Halt dispatches Jerrel and promises the dying woman that he would take care of the baby, whose name she reveals to be Will. After burying the woman and leaving the thieves to the crows, Halt takes Will to the Ward, an orphanage at Redmont Fief for those whose parents died in service. Halt reveals to the now grown Will that he hadn’t told him until this point because he was afraid Will would blame him as he viewed Will's parents’ deaths as his fault but Will comforts Halt, claiming Halt gave him the chance for a new family. The Inkwell and the Dagger While Halt leaves to rescue Will and Princess Evanlyn from Skandia in The Icebound Land, Gilan returns to Castle Araluen. Ranger Commandant Crowley tasks Gilan with finding Foldar, a pitiless, thieving murderer, among all the fake Foldars who took on the notorious name to terrorize victims. Gilan narrows down suspicious cases until he finds a bloody and large-scale robbery that occurred in Highcliff Fief, which had also been missing its local Ranger. Upon arriving