The rider and horse were nondescript; a small, shaggy horse carrying a small, cloaked figure on its back. They plodded steadily through the forest, silent as ghosts. Face cast in shadow, his unseen eyes darted restlessly all around him, assessing every possible point for any approaching danger.
A hoarse scream rang out, shattering the stillness of the woods.
He whipped his head towards the sound, urging his horse to a gallop. Even at the increased pace, there was still barely a sound as they sped deeper and deeper into the dense growth. Branches shot past the rider's face, threatening to tear his hood from his head. He reined in his horse abruptly as he found the source of the scream.
A boy, perhaps fifteen or sixteen, lay at the bottom of a small ditch, muddy snow dirtying his coat and pants. The splintered remains of a tree branch lay next to him, leaning heavily on his arm, the sleeve shredded and slightly stained with blood. The rider nimbly leapt off his horse, crossing over to the figure lying in the snow and heaving the fallen limb off his arm.
He cowered, clutching his injured arm to his body, terrified of the imposing figure that the cloaked stranger struck. "Hey, don't be scared. I won't hurt you," the rider told him soothingly, flipping back his hood to reveal a friendly face framed with unruly brown hair, beginning to show just the faintest flecks of grey at the roots. The boy flinched as Will held out his hand. "I'm Will Treaty," he said softly.
"Will... Tree-tee," the boy repeated haltingly.
"Don't speak much Araluan, do you?" Will retracted his hand, seeing that the boy wasn't going to take it.
The boy shook his head hesitantly. "Not... good Aruland speak."
"That's okay," Will smiled warmly and turned back to his pack to pull out some provisions. A terrified look crossed the boy's face and he tensed, ready to flee at any moment. The Ranger sighed and took out the strips of meat, kneeling down and showing the boy. "Look. No weapons. Just food. Are you hungry?" Tentatively, the boy inched his hand towards the proffered food, then snatched it and immediately started gnawing at it. Will raised his eyebrows. "I'll take that as a yes."
He nodded jerkily, still attacking the meat with his teeth. Leaning back and smiling, Will watched as the boy ate ravenously. He rummaged in his bag and pulled out a freshly filled waterskin. The boy gulped greedily from it, wiping his mouth and sighing contentedly when he finished.
"Let me look at your arm."
Still with an edge of mistrust, the boy shrugged off his heavy, fur-lined coat and cautiously stretched out his arm for Will to inspect, wincing slightly as he did so. A furrow creased his brow as he gently poked and prodded it. "Well, it all seems to be fine. A few scrapes and bruises is all." He took out his medical kit and bandaged the worst of the cuts, then inspected the torn coat sleeve. "Hmm, not too bad... Might stain though... Should be fine with a bit of stitching." He stood up, handing the boy his coat.
"Okay, let's get you home."
The boy made a face, not moving from his spot on the ground. "Can't go you?"
Will puzzled over the words for a moment. "You want to go with me?"
He nodded eagerly.
"Don't you have a family?"
"Yes. But... Want fun. Adventure." The boy smiled up at him.
The smile turned to a scowl when Will shook his head. "I can't do that. The life I lead is dangerous; you'll be safer here."
He shook his head vehemently. "You leave, I run away again. I go you." Will frowned.
"Well, I still think you should tell them you're going."
Annoyance flickered across his features. "Fine," he huffed, tossing the waterskin back to Will. "Leave note."
Will sighed; it was probably the best he was going to get. "Lead on."
Sensing that Will had caved, the boy smirked, quickly standing. He had seemed much shorter sitting down; Will now saw that the boy towered a good head above him.
"Heimili. Home. I go, you follow." Grinning, he dashed off.
Sighing, Will packed up his saddlebags and remounted Tug. He looked around for the boy, but he had already disappeared.
"Will Tree-tee!" The voice floated through the trees. "Home. You follow!"
Will turned Tug in the direction of the voice, setting up a steady gait. Even though the boy was on foot, he had already seemed to gain quite some distance.
.:':. .:':. .:':.
It had taken Will a few minutes to catch up with the boy; after all, he didn't know these parts all that well whilst the boy had obviously grown up in them. Despite his size, he was as light on his feet as a deer, darting in front of Tug as they progressed along the path.
Their journey was far from quiet. The boy was determined to learn as much as he could in as little time as possible, using a practice quite familiar to Will; by asking a million questions per minute. Despite the fact that he had never learned Araluan formally, Fridrik could still understand most of what Will said.
"You... You teach me more Aruland speak?"
"I'll try."
"You here before?"
Will sighed; now he understood Halt's annoyance with his constant pestering. "No, this is the first time I've been to Sonderland. I was sent here to help with the Sonderland-Araluan treaty."
"Tree-tee."
"That's the one."
"You... Fjölskylda...Family?"
"No, I'm an orphan." Seeing the boy's puzzled expression at the unfamiliar word, he explained, "I didn't know any of my family."
He nodded, subdued for a few seconds, but only that. "Why?"
Will looked at him, surprised. "Why what?"
"Why no family?"
"They died."
"Oh." He paused for another few seconds. Will took the opportunity to ask the boy some questions.
"What's your name?"
He hesitated. "Fridrik."
"And what about your family?"
His face lit up at their mention and began talking animatedly, hardly watching where he was going and still somehow avoiding running into any trees. "I have... Systir-sisters. Two, little. Brynja, Kristjana." He tugged at a strand of choppy blonde hair. "They... Hair. Like this." He tugged his hair again. "Eyes, blue." He pointed at one of the small portions of sky visible through the thick tangle of tree branches hanging low over their heads. "Bróðir. Brother. Little too. Sindri. Hair darker. Brown." He pointed at the sky again. "Eyes, same. And then, tvíburi. Twin... sister." Will noticed another slight hesitation. Fridrik pouted, scrunching up his nose. "Fridrika."
"Your names are almost the same!" Will exclaimed in surprise.
He nodded unhappily. "Some time, say her me."
"She must be a bit stocky if people can mix you up."
Fridrik shrugged. "Look same. Her hair short... Cut like boy. Silly." Then he launched into a description of his parents.
As Fridrik prattled on, Will wondered why he was so eager to leave them when he obviously cared about them so much. Then he shrugged; it was probably like he had said. He just wanted an adventure.
.:':. .:':. .:':.
Once they had arrived at the little cottage that he called home, Fridrik felt compelled to give Will a tour.
"...This room... Fridrika. Dresses, no like. She take boy clothes. No want... Hjónaband... Marriage. Marry soon. She no like boy promised to." Will nodded wisely. He knew very little of Sonderland custom, but knew that children were 'promised' into marriage at a young age. It would be hard for Fridrik, watching his sister marry someone she didn't like.
"What about you, Fridrik? Do you like the girl you've been promised?"
He stared blankly, then hurriedly shook his head. Will smiled inwardly. Maybe that was the reason Fridrik wanted to leave with him. Trying to escape an unwanted marriage.
Fridrik quickly wrote his letter, not letting Will see it - not that he would have been able to read the Sonderland script anyway. He finished it with a flourish.
"Okay, we go."
.:':. .:':. .:':.
As soon as they left, Fridrik using a sturdy horse that they had bought from one of the townsmen, he once again started quizzing Will about everything.
"Why you have strange cloak?" he asked, pointing to the white and grey dappled cloak hanging around his shoulders.
Will fingered it fondly; he still remembered the first time he had used it, under the alias of Will Barton the jongleur. "It's a Ranger cloak."
"What Ranger?"
Will sighed. "Rangers are the peace-keepers in Araluen. Special forces, if you want. There are fifty of us - one for each fiefdom. We instil the law upon rogues, conspirators, thieves and the like. Our presence also carries a lot of weight - for example, me coming here to help with the proceedings for the Sonderland-Araluen treaty."
He looked puzzled. "Why need cloak for tree-tees?"
Will smiled faintly. "We don't use them for making treaties. The cloaks help Rangers move around without being seen. That way, we can sneak up on the bad guys without them seeing us, and we can catch them before they do anything else wrong. Also, when you're tracking someone, they'll usually be on the lookout for people following them. If they can't spot you, they can't catch you, can they?"
"No," he said thoughtfully, digesting the information. Will dared to hope he would stop the questions there. "You good tracker?" Will slumped slightly in his saddle. The boy certainly had the curiosity to rival any Ranger.
"Yes, I'm a good tracker."
Fridrik nodded, satisfied, finally lapsing into a blessed silence.
.:':. .:':. .:':.
A/N: Well, this is the first chapter. I used Icelandic for the language in Sonderland, with a free translator off the web, so sorry to anyone fluent in Icelandic that can see if I got anything wrong (which, knowing the unreliability of web translators, is likely). Because I didn't actually know what country Sonderland was based off, I did a word association, which basically when like this: Sonderland, Wonderland, Walking in a Winter Wonderland, winter, cold, snow, ice, Iceland. So, yeah, there you have it.
-pixie.