Halt's Peril

Plot summary

The book begins with Halt, Horace and Will discovering that Tennyson (the priest of the Outsiders) and his followers have fled to Picta. They discover where the outsiders go from a man named Black O'Malley (a smuggler). The three follow their trail and discover that Tennyson is heading toward Araluen. Tennyson's plan is to travel to an outlying Araluen village where he has already established influence to reinvigorate his movement. Will and his companions are unaware of this however and continue to follow Tennyson through Picta, discovering and foiling some Pictan raiders en route. As the three catch up to Tennyson they engage with the remaining two Genovesans and Halt and Will successfully kill one, but the other injures Halt and escapes.

After a while, the wound is discovered to be poisoned by a hallucinogen which is slowly killing Halt. In desperation Will decides to seek Malcolm – possibly the best healer in all of Araluen – and quickly brings him to help. Malcolm however explains that the poison has two possible sources with conflicting cures. Administering the wrong cure will kill Halt. Will discovers the remaining Genovesan and forces the nature of the poison from him. The Genovesan is killed as he attempts to later escape. With Halt cured, the three along with Malcolm resume to trail Tennyson, who assumes that the three are now unimportant given that Halt is supposedly dead. Will and his companions discover Tennyson in Catacombs near a village where he is preaching to the followers of his religion. Halt successfully discredits him with Malcolm's help. However, during this attempt, Will has to use certain explosive devices developed by Malcolm which causes the cave system to collapse on top of the Outsiders (including Tennyson) and the villagers' gold. Halt, Will and Horace accompany Malcolm home where Trobar gifts to Will a puppy, Ebony. After separating from Malcolm, the three head home, with Will and Halt going to Redmont and reuniting with Pauline and Alyss while Horace heads to Castle Araluen. Pauline thanked Will for saving Halt's life, telling him about the trust she has in him and the book ends with Alyss and Will sharing a kiss.