A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Dear Reader,

The story you are about to read is simply built off of the series. It is not meant to replace or add to the series. The characters names created by John Flanagan will remain and a few new ones I create will be added. I will keep the personalities the same to the best of my ability.

Sincerely,

THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1

Lilly swore as she stepped on a twig. The rabbit she was hunting sprinted away, aware to the sudden danger. She ran after it as she started her routine again. Her quiet steps padded on the forest floor. Lilly held her bow in one hand, as she bent down to move a fallen branch. She lay against the ground, forgetting the fallen branch, when she sensed a stranger's gaze was upon her. Lilly then belly-crawled to the cover of a nearby tree. The tree was thick and its branches were sturdy, it still had some of its remaining leaves, because it was fall. She shinnied up the tree and nocked her bow, looking for the stranger. Her gaze swung left and right. She relied on the shadows cast from the setting sun to reveal her follower. He couldn't be seen. Still aware of the possible danger, Lilly climbed down and decided that she and Evan were going to have berries and nuts for dinner. It would be safer to abandon the rabbit hunt. Evan would be upset, but "better safe than sorry," her mother and father always told her.

Walking more quietly than usual, Lily doubled back and changed her direction several times, just as a precaution. She then decided that she would pass the near farm and see if the cows were close to the fence. The farm had been abandoned a while ago, but there were still cows grazing. Lilly and Evan didn't have milk often and when they did, it was a special occasion. Milk will definitely improve Evan's mood. Lilly grinned when she thought of her little seven year old brother. He was energetic and positive. He even did a fair share of the work.

Lilly crawled gracefully under the pasture fence. The sun was going down and she needed to hurry. Lilly knelt by the nearest cow and pulled out a bottle she kept in her bag at all times, just in case. She gently milked it and after 5 minutes she had enough milk for their dinner.

Will marveled at the skill of the young girl as she walked gently through the forest. As he followed her, he smiled at the ill attempts of a diversion path she created. The young man thought back to the small mission Crowley sent him on. The Ranger Commandant told Will that small thefts had been occurring toward the outskirts of town and smoke was seen rising up from a house or farm. Crowley sent Will to check and see if a raid had occurred. A few Skandians sometimes raided the shores of Araluen near the other countries borders. Picta was a favorite of many raiding places and sometimes the small towns near the border often were plumaged.

As Will saw the girl crawl under the fence, he saw her face light up with the excitement of milk. He decided that the girl was rather poor, for milk was often used at Castle Redmont and really wasn't thought of as a luxury. He followed the girl on foot as she continued to set decoy paths. Will left Tug by the pasture of cows, and he patted Tug gently on neck. "Stay Tug," Will smiled as the horse seemed to respond,

"And where else would I go?" Will followed the girl up to the edge of the wood.

Lilly stopped in front of the house, and knocked on a board used to hold up part of the roof. The small house was charred and burned. Half of it had collapsed in a fire, but the other half showed a living space. The house had makeshift supports, strong enough to hold the collapsing roof. The gaps in the planks showed drafty holes in which attempts had been made to plug up the holes. The planks would eventually need to be replaced, they were not weathered and would soon rot away. Lilly frowned while looking at the supports realizing the time consuming process it would take to replace them. Lilly walked around to the back of the house when she stopped suddenly sensing that the stranger's gaze was once again, upon her. Her eyes widened as she realized the danger she put Evan in. "Evan! Codeword: Sparrow! Remember what I told you!"

Will's eyes widened at the sudden turn of events. He saw a quiver pop out of one of the side windows and the girl belly-crawled to get them. Will stood and watched, the turn of events, not sure what to expect. The girl sprinted toward the edge of woods away from the clearing, drawing Will's gaze away from the house. He now noticed she had the two quivers on her back and the makeshift knapsack was gone. Undoubtedly, the bag was inside the house. Will took his strikers out of a pocket and screwed them together, the metal balls would knock out the intended victim, but not kill. He didn't want to hurt the girl, but with arrows coming at him every ten seconds, it was either this or shoot the girl. Will really didn't feel like shooting her either.

Will saw the girl dart in and out of the trees and the time she was not behind cover was minimal. He decided a different tactic. Will stepped out of the cover of trees and toward the house. He strung his longbow and fired a warning shot above the girls head into a knot of the tree of her current hiding place.

Lilly felt the shot being fired before she heard it. Her firing had gotten more intense as the man neared the house toward Evan. When the shot had been fired directly into the knot of the tree, she recognized the man was a far better archer than her, his skill was refined and the accuracy in the failing light was impeccable. She dropped her bow and her depleting quivers and walked out of the tree's, with her hands up, all the time saying, "Please take me as prisoner and leave the house alone. Leave the house alone, please."

Will realized the girl was surrendering and saw that she had left the bow and her arrows in the shade of the tall oak. As the girl was walking forward, he noticed her avoid a specific spot in the yard. Will lowered his longbow slightly and looked closer and saw two mounds with crosses on top. He realized then the girl had no parents who may be inside, to come out and help her. She was the defense, and the offense. The smoke had come from the house, Will knew it for certain now, and if there was a raid, the girl and the person inside the house were the only ones who knew it happened. They were too far from the rest of the town for any towns folk to notice, and even if they did, the people in the area were too superstitious to investigate. Crowley was in the area, but believed Will could use some extra practice, in matters such as this one, so he was sent to investigate.

Will heard the words she was muttering and she looked at Will with a morose expression. She stopped a meter away from him and for a minute or two they simply looked at each other. Will observed the girl. She had brown hair in a braid tied with a green ribbon, her eyes were brown and fierce, those of a fighter. She wore a brown tight shirt and on top she wore a tunic, dark green. Her leggings were brown and she had small brown boots on her feet.

Lilly asked Will tentatively, "Who are you? What do you want? If you are back to take what you left... there's nothing left." Will kept his face straight, but inside he was debating how he wanted to answer the girl's question. He resolved asking one of his own.

"Who are you?" Will asked.

"Why should I answer your question? I asked you first." She eyed Will's garments and saw he wore a cloak with a splotching brown and green pattern. If Lily squinted she saw it blend in the background. She noticed a silver oak leaf hanging around his neck and a large knife on his belt. He had a young face, He couldn't be more than 10 years older than her.

"Well, considering you are unarmed and I have you basically at my mercy, it might do you well to answer my question. I shall answer your questions though. I am Will Treaty, King's Ranger." Will looked to see some expression change from the girl. Her expression remained the same, cold and hard. For 10 seconds as she processed Will's words, Lilly eyed their surroundings carefully, but saw nothing that could possibly help her.

"The King? What does he want with me? I know I stole some things but you can't exactly live without food and it is nice to drink out of a cup once and a while. No one even came when the raiders burned our house. Evan and I had to bury our parents!" Her eyes darted quickly and she had started to take small steps backwards. The ground and the leaves crunched under her feet and her eyes widened as she openly gave her brother away. The man may have suspected someone in the house, but now he knew.

Lilly continued to back up. "Evan! Codeword: Weasel!" Will heard shuffling inside the house and Lilly turned to run. Will needed to question the girl further, he regretted having to stop her but there was no choice.

The air whistled as Will threw his strikers, two metal balls, well balanced, and screwed together. They hit the girl in the back of the head and she slumped to the ground, out cold.