Title: The Ranger's Child
Disclaimer: I do not own this franchise nor do I make any money of it.
Note: This was an idea I had after reading book 12 and the Yearly Years.
RA update 2017-12-20: The list of characters have been updated, so more can now be added to the stories and made searchable.
Will was on his way home after yet another round of the fief. He always altered his route going to different parts and in a different order to avoid becoming predictable. If there were troublemakers around he didn't want them able to guess when and where he might turn up.
He had set Tug at the steady canter he knew he could continue for hours while he scanned the surroundings for any sign of trouble current or recent. Tug's ears pricked up just before the distant sound reached Will's own ear, and Tug knickered gently to let Will know there were someone ahead of them.
Will patted his neck. "I heard it. Let us see wha – " Will didn't get any further before a high pitched scream pierced the air. Will kicked his heels into Tug's sides urging him into full gallop and Tug shot ahead like an arrow. Will flipped back the flap on his cloak exposing his quiver and pulled out an arrow, ready to shoot.
They rounded a corner and saw the scene 40 meters in front of them; a woman with a wooden stick in one hand was kneeling on the ground with two men looming over her. Both of the men had turned towards the sound and Will suspected it was the only reason the woman was still alive.
He didn't bother slowing Tug down, but just drew back his arrow and released it when all four of Tug's hooves were off the ground. As the first man fell to the ground the second threw himself to the side so Will couldn't put an arrow in him. He only just made it; Will's second arrow grazed his arm.
Will was now so close he brought Tug to a stop and jumped off drawing his saxe knife in one smooth motion. He could see that the woman was bleeding from her left arm and leg and that her few possessions, a satchel and a bundle, were behind her. A look of relief passed over her face as she saw him.
"Ranger..." she whispered.
A hiss sounded from the second bandit. "One more step, Ranger, and I kill the woman." He pointed his cutlass at her. Will noticed there were already fresh blood on it.
"Drop your weapon and you will live," Will said in an low, menacing voice. He was slightly crouched, ready to spring in any direction and to throw his knife. He stepped slightly to the side, hoping to draw the cutlass away from the woman. Come on, Will thought. Let your weapon follow me instead of the helpless woman; she can't harm you any more.
Will took another half step to the side and the cutlass wavered in his direction, but not fully away from the woman.
"I said I'd kill the woman! Stand still!" Though the bandit was shouting angrily, his arms were trembling slightly showing how afraid he actually were. He knew Rangers didn't make threats lightly and that he was seriously outclassed.
"One last warning," Will said. "Drop your weapon or follow your comrade."
As the bandit glanced at his dead partner, the cutlass moved away from the woman, which was what Will had been waiting for. He was ready to throw the saxe knife, but the woman beat him to it; she suddenly screamed and swung her stick at the bandit. The bandit jerked back in surprise and reflectively swung the cutlass in front of him. The woman fell back with another scream. Will felt his pulse rise angrily as he sent his knife into the other man. By Gorlog's horns! That shouldn't have happened, Will thought angrily at himself.
Without a second glance at the dead bandit he dropped down next to the woman to see how bad her injuries were. She was already incredibly pale and her lips moved without sound for a moment, before she found her voice again.
"He was going to attack you..." She grabbed his arm with surprising strength. "I had to do something..."
Will gently patted her arm, surprised at her action. He could have handled the bandit himself, but still this woman had acted to help him, to protect him. That was rare to experience for a Ranger. "Take it easy," Will told her. "I need to check your injuries."
It only took a quick glance at the wound across her belly to know she wouldn't survive this; she had already lost a fair deal of blood from the wounds to her arm and leg, but this last one was too deep and too wide. She wouldn't live for much longer.
Will pushed down his anger at his failure at saving her. He needed to stay calm. "I can give you something for the pain, so it will hurt less."
She shook her head, eyes wide. "You are a Ranger. My child, take him, take him!" She said frantically. She made a motion with her arm as if reaching for the bundle over her head, but she didn't have the strength to do so.
It was now that Will realised she hadn't just been protecting her possessions, but that the bundle he'd noticed when arriving was in fact a small child wrapped against the weather.
"Please, take him!" She was getting more and more frantic and Will quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Don't worry, I will. I'll make sure he's taken care of."
A look of relief passed over her face and she relaxed. She looked him in the eye and with surprising calm in her voice said: "His name is Ian, he's two months old. Make him a Ranger." She took one last breath and released it, her eyes staring at nothing.
Will stared at her. Make him a Ranger. Those had been her last words. He lifted his eyes to look at the small child she had dyed protecting. Make him a Ranger. Will's eyes went back to the woman; she had acted to protect both her son and him. If she hadn't moved she probably wouldn't have died; Will could have stitched up her other wounds and she could have continued to take care of her child. Will released his own breath and slumped his shoulders. You can't win every time, Halt had once told him. Just make sure it doesn't kill you when you lose. It hadn't killed him this time around either, but a woman, a mother, lay dead in front of him. He reached out a hand and gently closed her eyes. The hardest part of being a Ranger was accepting that sometimes you just couldn't save someone and to not place the blame for their death on yourself.
Will placed her hand on her stomach and sat back on his heels surveying the immediate area. One dead woman, two dead bandits, their sacks of whatever tools and stolen goods they had with them about two meters further down the side of the road and half hidden by the underbush, and behind the woman her few possessions and the small boy wrapped in his blankets.
Will stood and walked around the woman to take a closer look at the boy. The child was awake and alert, but barely made a sound as Will picked him up. A little whimper sounded.
"Don't worry. I promised to get you to safety and that is what I will do." He gently rocked the baby in his arms and his whimpering dyed down. His name is Ian. He stared at the child. He realised he had no idea who the woman was, her name or were she came from. A strange sense of deja vu passed over him as he realised how similar this was to Halt's story of how Will ended up at Redmont. Will shook his head. Similar or not, he couldn't leave this place like this. The woman deserved a burial before he left.
Will only had a small hand shovel in his saddle packs, but when he checked the contents of the bandits' sacks he wasn't surprised to find a shovel among their tools. They probably dig down their treasures, Will thought. Checking that Ian was content with Tug's company, Will set about digging a grave close by the road. He dug fast and hard, letting some of his earlier frustrations bleed out through the work. Will hated loosing someone like that. He was just happy the child had at least survived the ordeal.
He only paused in his work once, when Ian started fussing, and Will grabbed the skein of milk he had found among the woman's possessions and a clean rag and bowl so he could fed him. He was glad Halt had once taken the time to explain to him how to take care of a baby, because know he needed that knowledge. Once Ian was satisfied and changed, Will went back to his work and finished digging the grave. Will surveyed his work; it wasn't the deepest grave, but it was deep enough that the foxes and other scavengers wouldn't dig it up. Will carefully placed the woman in it, crossing her arms over the gash in her stomach, before he started filling up the hole again. He stuck the stick she had used to defend herself and her son into the ground half a meter above the edge of the grave, where it would serve as a marker. Will looked at the grave site. It wasn't much, but it would do for now.
He went back to Tug and checked on Ian though he knew Tug would let him know if there was a need for him. Right now Ian was asleep. Will looked at the bandits still lying were they had fallen. He didn't care if their remains were eaten by animals, but he didn't want them lying this close to the woman's grave and the road, so he grabbed hold of one of them and started dragging him further into the forest, and not letting go until he felt he was far enough away from the grave and the road. Then he repeated the process with the second.
He went back to the battle site and started going through the woman's belongings in earnest. He hoped he could find a clue to who she was or were she was from at least. Perhaps he would be able to track down her and the boy's family. It quickly became apparent he would have no such luck; no items had her name on them, and in general she had very little with her as she had had to carry it all. He looked towards the grave. All he knew was that she had been a young mother, who for reasons unknown had gone on a journey by herself with her young baby in tow, and who had fought valiantly when faced with danger both towards herself and her boy, but also towards a stranger.
Will shook his head. It was clear he wasn't going to learn more about her and had no name he could write by her grave. He looked at the stick and decided it wasn't much of a marker and that he needed to find something more permanent. It's not like I'm getting any further tonight anyway, Will mused. The sun was on its way down and in an hour it would be dusk.
He cast about for a suitable stone and spotted the arrow that had missed its mark. Not your fault either, Will thought as he picked it up and cleaned the arrowhead. He sighed. He just wanted to find a suitable headstone, then he would make camp and head out early in the morning. Luckily he didn't have to walk far before he found want he was looking for; a fairly large stone, flattened on two sides and rounder on the rest, about 40 cm across and 30 cm high on the largest flat surface. It would be perfect.
Will carried it back and set about inscribing a short text. Deciding Halt had got it right all those years ago he wrote the same words Halt had used for his mother: a brave mother. Will looked at it for a moment then he added a simple arrow at the bottom on a whim. Satisfied with his work he carried it and carefully set it down at the edge of the small mound just above where her head was.
Well, that's all I can do for you, brave woman. And I promise I'll make sure your son are okay, Will silently vowed.
As if on cue Tug knickered gently to catch Will's attention and Will saw the bundle that was Ian moving. Ian made small sounds of impatience as Will prepared some more milk, but quickly stopped his whimpering as Will fed him. Make him a Ranger. The words kept coming back to him, running around his mind. Will remembered her relief when she saw a Ranger had come to help and how she had thrown herself in harms way when the cutlass had moved towards him. Somehow he just couldn't shake the feeling that she had been looking for a Ranger. Why, he didn't know, but he just felt sure she had wanted to find the Rangers, that she wanted or needed their help with something, and she had calmed down, even seemed relieved and happy when Will had promised to take care of her child, as if that was all that mattered to her. And maybe in that instant it had been. She was a mother and she had wanted to know her baby was safe and taken care of.
Will looked at the baby in his arms, sucking away at the cloth. "What am I going to do with you? Your mother wants me to make you a Ranger, but we don't train babies, and I can't keep you with me either."
Ian just continued to suck at the cloth and wait every time Will took it away to dip it in the milk again not saying anything.
Tug shook his name and knickered gently. We'll take him back to Redmont, of course. Where else would you take a Ranger child?
Will looked at Tug. "He's not a Ranger child. I'm just making sure he's okay until I can find someone to take care of him."
Sure, if you say so.
"I do say so."
Right.
Will sighed. He should know better than trying to get the last word with Tug.
He looked at the sky; the sun had set and soon it would get dark. There was no point in trying to continue tonight, so he might as well find a good camp site. He knew he could make camp right here at the road if he wanted to, but Will felt better when he wasn't in full view from the road. Ian finished the last of the milk and Will changed him again, before he tucked him carefully into his blanket to protect him from the chill of the night air. Will tied the bandits' sacks together and swung them over the saddle, then added the woman's possessions on top. He would go through the bandits' sacks more carefully once he had made camp and see what he should take with him of their content and the woman's belongings.
"Come on, Tug, let us find a place to stay for the night. We'll get on the road again in the morning."
Tug just knickered and puffed his arm gently. Will patted his neck as they walked further into the forest.
#
As Will was sitting by the fire he had made he carefully turned over every object to determine whether to take it with him or leave it here. Most of bandits' stuff Will quickly decided to leave behind; the tools weren't of a great quality and heavy and burdensome to carry along anyway. In reality he didn't find much in the way of stolen goods either, but he did keep the money and jewellery he found, deciding he would take it to Gilan and then Gilan could see if the owners might be found. Will found it harder to decide about the meagre possessions of the woman; some of things he needed for the baby so those were easy to keep, but there were a few personal items that he should probably leave behind, but couldn't quite bring himself to do so.
He sighed again. He was turning over a brush with a rose carved into the backside. It wasn't anything special, but Will felt he ought to keep something for the boy for later, even if it was unnecessary extra baggage. His name is Ian. Make him a Ranger. Will turned the brush over again, then made a quick decision and stuck it in his keep pile.
Ranger Ian does have a certain ring to it, doesn't it?
"Shut up, Tug. He's not a Ranger and there's no saying he will be so either. Maybe he'll become a scribe, or a farmer, or a cook. You don't know and neither do I."
But he could become a Ranger, like his mother wished.
"Sure. It's a possibility. But unlikely; the Ranger Corps is small, so it's more likely he'll become something else entirely."
You're just saying that because you don't want to think about why she wanted to find the Rangers.
Will really wished Tug wasn't so good at reading his mind. Because that was exactly what his mind kept returning to; her reactions at seeing him, the words she had said, her relief when he promised to take care of her son. "But it doesn't make sense," Will muttered. "We don't choose or take apprentices before they are at least 14, so why would she go look for a Ranger when he's still so small?"
For once Tug didn't reply, though Will wished he would. He could really use an answer to his questions.
Once again Will shook his head. He wouldn't find any answers tonight and he needed his sleep before the ride tomorrow. He quickly finished sorting the items into a small keep pile and a larger do not keep pile, before he crawled into his tent and laid down next to the bundled up child.
Will quickly checked that he was all right then laid his head down, wrapping his cloak around himself. "Goodnight Ian. May you have pleasant dreams."