Horgold crouched in the shadows of the castle watching as the young man came nearer and nearer to the castle kitchen "This one's sneaky," he thought to himself, "He may make a fine ranger someday." Horgold was the castle's ranger captain. His job was to recruit new rangers from the adolescents training to be knights. As of right now the remaining trainees were trying to get to the castle's kitchen without him seeing. None had made it past him yet, but this was one of the best attempts he had seen in many years. He silently moved from his cover under the pine near the window of the kitchen. The boy did not see or hear him until he was right next to him.
"That was a nice sneak" Horgold whispered. The boys head whipped around to see the tall ranger standing less than three feet away.
"How did you get here? There was no one within fifty yards of here two seconds ago."
"I've been under that tree that entire time. None of you have been looking carefully enough to see me. You just assume no one's there and so your mind automatically skips over me." The man vanished and the boy gasped.
"See, you're still not paying attention" The man said from behind the boy. The boy spun around only to find that no one was there. He started creeping towards the entrance window again. He was one of the last remaining boys in the contest. It was a dream of almost every boy here to become a ranger, the protectors of the kingdom. He reached the window and was about to climb in for the prize when he heard a voice. "Ahem, I'm still here did you forget about me?" The ranger captain said. You need to be more careful. You're caught; go to the castle dungeon until the game is over."
"Sir" said the boy quietly, "how do you learn to move so quietly?"
"Well, that's something I can't tell you unless you become a ranger." The tall ranger said
"Do you think I have a chance at becoming one sir?" The boy asked timidly
"Well, you'll have to wait and see." Horgold said as he thought to himself. "This boy is good for a beginner. It's hard to believe that he isn't already an apprentice in his second year of 'll have to see if anyone else is this good."
Meanwhile nearby another ranger sat in the trees watching as the three remaining boys crashed through the brush with no more skill than a boar. "Hmmm" he thought to himself "no one worth training here, maybe Horgold is having more luck than I am. Wait, but aren't there supposed to be four boys left in this area?" He silently scanned the ground again looking for the fourth boy about whom he had momentarily forgotten. There almost to the window of the castle. "Man," he thought "Horgold is going to be mad if I let him get the pie." Then as if he were a ghost, he leapt from the tree directly in front of the two boys working together, seemingly to wake up the whole castle.
"Oh, man" said one of the boys
"We got caught" said the other
The young ranger smiled, "It would have been a miracle if I didn't catch you. Off to the dungeons with you." He laughed
"Yes sir Mr. Bardon sir." Said one of the boys dejectedly as they walked towards the castle dungeons where the recruits that had been caught went.
"Now to catch that boy" He thought as ran silently through the forest. He stopped at the edge only to see the boy about to climb through the window; he was too late. As the boy climbed up Bardon saw a hand shoot seemingly from nowhere and grab the boy. He looked where the hand had come from and smiled. Horgold was standing, hardly visible even to his trained eyes at the edge of the window waiting for the boys who were the sneakiest to come to him. Bardon listened to the lecture that Horgold gave the boy knowing that very soon he would be getting a very similar one for his carelessness in letting the boy get by him. He stood for a moment later before dashing off to catch the final boy in his area.