Chapter One
Disclaimer- I do not own any of the Ranger's Apprentice characters, I am only a huge fan! Plus, this is my first Fanfiction ever, so it might not be great. But if you start reading, please read the entire thing. Thanks!
"Will! Hey, Will!" The newly assigned knight called.
The Ranger's apprentice turned around. "Yeah, Horace?"
Will and Halt, Will's mentor, had recently arrived back at Halt's cottage near Castle Redmont after the grand meeting at Castle Araluen, celebrating the defeat of the Temujai and the return of Princess Cassandra.
Though Will had seen Horace earlier that day, Horace left a few hours later in pursuit of Will.
Now, the two friends were gathered in the clearing outside of Halt's cottage.
"What'd you come for, Sir Horace?" Will asked the larger teen.
"Hey, Will, just because I'm a knight of the Royal Guard now doesn't mean you have to call me 'sir'. We're still just good old buddies," the new knight responded. "I came to see if you wanted to do some training?"
"Sure, Si- I mean, sure, Horace. You can tie Kicker up next to Tug, then we can get to it," Will told his friend.
Horace lead his large battle horse over next to Will's smaller Ranger horse and secured him there.
"Fight as we are?" Will asked from somewhere behind him.
Horace turned around. "Yea- wait, where are- OOF!"
Will dropped down from above Horace and tackled him to the ground. "Hey, you said as we are. You should've responded a little later if you weren't ready," Will joked.
"Humph," Horace uttered. Will stood up, then pulled his friend up too. "This time, wait till I'm ready."
"Okay," Will agreed. Horace took his oakleaf shield off of his back and strung it over his arm. He unsheathed his sword, then stabbed its point into the ground.
"Okay, this time, we can use weapons around us if we are disarmed. Now I'm ready," Horace stated.
Will whipped out his two knives- the saxe knife and the throwing knife- and readied his position.
Horace charged toward Will, sword ready to attack. He swung it down, realizing his mistake a second too late. Will blocked the swing with his double knives, then disarmed Horace of his sword. Horace cursed in the small amount of Skandian tongue he had learned from the Skandians, then brought his shield forward.
He rammed his shield into Will, knocking the knives out of his grasp, then kicked them away as Will reached for them.
Horace's booted foot stood in the way of the knives, and Will scrambled to his feet. Will did something Horace had never seen before- without any support, Will backflipped three times, and landed on a small landing on the other side of the creek beside them, and drew his bow.
"When did you learn that?" Horace asked, stunned.
"Just a little somethin' I picked up in Skandia," Will said sarcastically.
Horace examined his surroundings, then saw a spear beside Kicker. He ran over, grabbed the spear, then ran back, and tried something he had never done, successfully, I might add, before- he used the spear and vaulted across the creek, and up onto the landing.
He swung his shield and knocked the longbow out of Will's grasp.
"Where'd you learn that?" Will asked, shocked.
"Just a little somethin' I picked up in Skandia," Horace mocked. "Looks as though you're unarmed."
"Appears that way, doesn't it?" Will said.
Horace stepped backward, near a wall on the landing. "Looks like I win!" He said cockily, shoving his shield into the dirt.
"Looks can be deceiving!" Will said, and with a flash, he grabbed his two knives and threw them towards Horace.
Horace yelped, figuring his life was over, but the two knives landed a hair away from his shoulders on both sides. The knives had pinned his shirt to the wall, with him in it.
"Well, looks like you win, Will," Horace admitted.
A laugh came from below them. "Looks as though Will bested you, Horace," Halt called up to them.
"Indeed he has," Horace muttered.
Will laughed with pleasure. "Finally, I beat Horace at something! Now, I'm gonna go celebrate away from the rage I sense Horace is about to unleash," Will said, climbing down from the landing, across the stream, while picking up his weapons, then onto Tug.
"Let Horace down when you sense he's ready, Halt. Unless you want him to get himself down?" Will asked Halt from atop Tug.
"I'll let him let himself down. I might go brew myself a mug of coffee. I haven't had some good coffee in some time," Halt reminisced while heading into his cabin.
"WILL!" Horace shouted as the smaller youth rode out of the woods.
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WillTreaty618