A Girl Ranger

Chapter One:

Rookies can't sneak

The chill of the night air was enough to cut through the skin straight to the bones. In the lone forest terrain there was no shelter from the chill for a young girl. She wore loose fitting trousers, stained with grass and dirt and holes torn to showing her knees. The girl wore an apprentice swordsmen's uniform that was also stained and tore. The clothes told a story of a long and difficult journey for this girl.

In the distances, tall stone towers were coming into view. The girl's eyes lit up with hope. Finally her destination was within range, just a couple of miles to go. The girl estimated about 4 miles left. If she continued to walk the rest of the night she would reach the caste by dawn. But with the castle in reach the girl could finally feel the weight of lack of sleep and distance she traveled, laying heavy on her; making her feel like an anchor keeping her to that spot.

"Guess a few hours rest wouldn't hurt," the girl said to herself. She found a little overgrowth of bushes a little far off that would give some shelter from the open trail. She kneeled on the ground and took off a small tan pack from her back. Inside was stale bread; soft, melted cheese; half filled water skin; and a red blanket. The girl took out the blanket and used a pile of leaves as a pillow. Besides the lack of comfort the girl was asleep in just a matter of minutes. Little did she know that the castle that she was heading to had plenty of security all around the town and she was sleeping not even a quarter of a mile from one of those guards.

It felt like only a few minutes of sleep when the girl was awoke by a sound of someone stepping on a branch. The snap of the branch breaking was like thunder in the empty area around her. The girl unlike most people, didn't jerk awake, but instead just slowly opened her eyes scoping out of the dark for any movement. There was no more movement but the girl knew what she had heard. Her whole body, besides her hand, stayed still as she reached for a hidden knife strapped to her leg.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark she finally spotted what had made the sound. Only a few feet away was a guard they wore the caste badge on their uniform. It was the Redmont Fief badge and by the look of the girl's eyes she knew it well. The girl was on her way there and it was the castle just a few miles away. The girl still stayed hidden not wanting to get caught right now. When morning came she would be able to walk into Redmont with no problems, but at night questions would be asked.

The rest of the night the girl watched to make sure the guard wouldn't come near her hiding spot. When another guard came to switch shifts with this guard in the morning she could leave her hiding spot and head for Redmont.

The next guard came early right before the sun was about to rise to take his shift. As the two men talked for a moment it gave the girl the perfect opportunity to sneak away from the bushes and start heading away from the guards and towards Redmont.

When the sun was just peeking over the tall mountains to the east as the girl reached the Redmont gates. Two guards were posted on the town's limits, but when they saw the girl they just nodded and watched her walk past. The girl smiled back at the men and looked around at all the buildings. They were mostly one story buildings smoky coming from the chimneys, as fireplaces burned to scare away the cold from the people's homes.

The castle was the best place for the girl to start looking from what she wanted, but after she found out was going to be the hard part. She pasted women opening the windows of their homes to let the morning breeze in. Little children ran past the girl, in the middle of a game of tag. A little boy, only about six years old, accidently slammed into the girl from behind to busy playing to notice her. He looked up with a look of guilt on his face, "I am sorry miss."

The girl smiled and kneeled down, ruffling his mousy brown hair, "It is fine as long as you're having fun." The guilt on the boy's face faded and formed into a smile, then he ran off again with his group of friends. A ping of shame, and sadness hit the girl in the heart as she watched the little boy run off. She had no idea who the boy was but he looked like her little brother from home. She shoved the memory from her mind and the girl continued to castle Redmont.

The girl thought it would be harder to get inside, but since it wasn't really a castle that held a king of royalty it was open to the public easily. She walked inside looked around at the pictures hanging on the walls, statues honoring idles, and beautiful colored carpets. One of the guards near the steps was glancing at the young girl and she could sense it. The guard noticed she was around seventeen years old, maybe a little younger; her long reddish brown hair was tied back in a ponytail with a worn out old piece of string. Her clothes were torn and stained. But what got the guard's attention the most was the uniform, the badge of the warrior school it was from was missing, but it seemed odd to have a girl wearing that uniform.

The guard slowly made his way over to the girl. He was about a foot taller than the girl, but that didn't seem to intimate the girl at all. "Hello, may I ask why you are her young lady?" the guard asked her. The girl turned around and looked at the guard like she didn't notice him before. But really she had been watching him watch her the whole time.

She smiled innocently, " I was just wondering where Baron Arald?"

The guard didn't seem to be interested anymore, "He is in his office right not." The girl started to look upset. When the guard saw this he quickly added, "But let me go get him." Instantly the girl brightened up. The guard smiled at her and raced up the stairs towards where ever the Baron Arald's office was. It didn't take long for the guard to return.

"The Baron is finishing up some paper work he will be down in just a minute." The girl nodded indicating that she was willing to wait and she was. This girl was willing to wait a lifetime if that is what it took.

About ten minutes later the Baron came down the stairs. He was an older looking man with a little gray in his short brown hair. He was a tall man that had a sense of power of him, but had a sweet gentle smile. The girl could sense still that he was a strict and a man that keep control of a situation. She smiled at this, Redmont was already more than she expected, and now she knew that Redmont knew how to pick their barons.

"Who do we have here?" The Baron said as he came closer, looking at the girl's wardrobe.

The girl smiled sweetly and shifted her pack higher up on her shoulder to be able to shake the Baron's hand. "Hello, Baron Arald my name is Hana." He nodded and gestured to some chairs not far off.

"How may I help you Hana?" He said gentle, " It looks as if you have traveled very far to get to Redmont." He raised his eyebrow questioning.

Hana let out a breath of air trying to gain the courage to ask her question. "Sir, I know that I am not born from Redmont and just arrived here, but I would like to become an apprentice here."

Arald looked confused, "That is a weird request. Why here?" he asked seriously, "Why not from where you come from?" Hana shook her head softly, fighting back tears. Arald sighed softly, "I am not sure there are an apprentice spots left open right now, you would have to become an apprentice farmer if anything."

Hana quickly looked up at this, "NO!" she said a little too loudly. Arald looked shocked. "Sorry sir, but I traveled over a week to get here on almost nothing, because I heard that no one took the Ranger's apprentice spot." Arald looked truly interested now.

"I am sorry young lady, but that spot was taken, by our own resident Will." Arald tried to say the next part softly and nicely, "Plus Rangers aren't usually women… to be honest I have never heard of it." Hana looked angry, but she held it in and tried to hid it away. "I don't mean to be rude or anything just stating a fact."

Hana knew he didn't mean anything about it and the anger faded, "Sir, please can I talk to Redmont Fief Ranger Halt?"

"You know his name?" Arald looked shocked.

"Of course he is a famous historical Ranger, who doesn't know him?" She said quickly with admiration in her eyes.

Arald smiled and laughed gently. He wasn't laughing at her, he was laughing about thinking about how Halt will look when he sends this girl to him. "Alright how about this I will tell you where Halt lives and if you impress him then he might think about taking in another apprentice." Hana looked up at the Baron with hope. But Arald had something that was eating at his mind, "May I ask why you are wearing a warrior apprentice's uniform? And where is it from?"

Hana looked down at her clothing, knowing she should have changed before she left. "Sorry sir, but I don't want to talk about it, it is my business."

Arald shrugged, "Up to you, but I bet Halt will ask too. " Hana thought about this and nodded. She took out a sword that had been hidden in the sheath under her clothes. Arald stood up from his chair quickly in shock.

"Sorry to shock you sir," Hana said calmly, "But becoming a ranger isn't the only thing that a girl usually isn't, but I still did." She smiled with a sense of secrets and a past hidden deep inside of her. This strange girl that showed up randomly in Redmont interested Baron Arald. And even with sword in hand, that she held like a true knight, Arald still felt no threat from her. Not because she didn't seem like she could hold herself in a fight, but to him it seemed she didn't mean any harm to him.

The guards thought otherwise and went racing over once the sword had left the hidden sheath, thinking someone had sent a little girl to kill the Baron. When the guards went to disarm the girl, which she didn't attempt to fight back; even though Arald knew she could probably put up a good fight, the Baron gestured for them to stop. They looked confused but let her go, "Please let the guards know that this girl is to be left alone she is going to visit the ranger." He smiled at her and Hana smiled back. "He lives on the outskirts of town in the forest area. He lives in an isolated cabin hidden away." He told her how to get there and this young girl focused on every direction he gave, like she was mapping it out in her head. This was a strange girl, but Arald already liked her, and felt like she was going to change Redmont some how.

The forest was silent like the animals were all watching Hana as she left the normal trail into the maze of trees. Half way to Halt's cabin she bent down and examined a snapped branch. It was hanging limp halfway cut off from the bushes branch. She moved some leaves away from the ground under the branch, underneath the leaf was a footprint. The footprint was a little faded, maybe four days old, but she could still tell it was a deer. A few feet away from the bush Hana was standing next to was a bush full of berries. She smiled, that was where the deer had eaten and because of how many berries there were she knew the deer was still close by. If there was enough berries on the bush the deer would stay close and she knew she could track it easily, but she knew how close Halt's cabin was.

Hana continued down the maze of trees. Without Arald's directions she would never had found the cabin, there was no trail to follow, no sign of life close by. Hana was a good tracker, but a Ranger was great at covering their tracks. Soon a small hint of a smoky smell found its way into Hana's nose. There was a smell of some kind of stew, very faint but close by. She moved a tree branch covering her view and saw the cabin. There was a small fire going with stew cooking right above it, but there wasn't a sign of human life. Suddenly, a snap of a branch and Hana quickly turned around. There was nothing around, but she could sense someone watching her.

"Hello," Hana said calmly, slowly reaching for her throwing knife. "Come out I know your there." There was a small sudden movement, so sudden an average person would never have caught it. Hana was an excellent tracker and was good at catching these types of movements, but this wasn't an animal, it was a human. Hana waited in the spot she was sitting and took out her throwing knife making sure not to only look at the spot where she saw the movement through the corner of her eyes. She slowly took her hand back a slow and hidden movement she knew the person would never see. Her muscles tensed as she got ready to throw the knife in that direction hoping to hit her target.

Hana never got a chance to throw, because a hand grabbed her wrist stopping her from moving another inch. "Will come out of there," a rough, serious voice yelled out into the dark forest. The spot where Hana had been ready to throw her knife a young boy about two years younger than her came out of hiding.

"Sorry Halt I haven't gotten the hang of this hiding stuff quite yet," the young boy yelled back. Hana's eyes went wide from the boy's words. He called the man holding her wrist Halt. Suddenly her wrist was twisted painfully behind her back , but she made sure not to make a sign that it hurt. Halt grabbed her other wrist and twisted it behind her back too. He took away her knife and whipped her around to face him. He quickly, almost without Hana noticing, took her sword that was still hidden under her clothing.

"Who are you?" Halt said with anger tinting his voice. "I don't take kindly to people trying to kill my apprentices." Hana looked Halt in the face. He was wearing a dark forest green cloak Hana knew was used to hide themselves in the rough forest terrain from enemies. His hood hid his face, but she could see that he had some gray hairs in his beard, making him look older. He was a grizzly, stern looking man, there wasn't a friendly look in his face, but of course there didn't seem to be any emotion in his face.

Hana straightened herself even if it hurt from Halt holding her wrists, and hid away her fear and nervousness. "My name is Hana," she said calmly as humanly possible. "I didn't mean to harm your apprentice he just frightened me. I didn't expect you two to be hiding." Halt knowing she didn't have anymore weapons, and didn't seem to pose a threat anymore, he let go of her wrists. Hana gently rubbed her wrists and glared up at him. "I have traveled many days to Redmont to find the great Ranger Halt, which I am assuming is you."
Halt looked down at this interesting girl. Halt couldn't help but smile inwardly to himself, making sure it didn't show on the outside, at how she held herself with such pride, showing no fear even if he could tell she was afraid. "And why have you tried to find me?" Halt asked all the anger gone from his voice, now just uninterested expression showed on his face. But he was interested, because this girl seemed very determined with whatever she came to him for.

Hana summoned all her courage and annunciated with pride, "I have come to ask you permission to become your Apprentice."