Chapter 2

A mounted figure in a mottled cloak, face concealed by its cowl, rode slowly on the high road that was sure to lead to the new Castle Gorlan. Ever since she arrived in the fief, her travel had been peaceful enough, no bandits or brigands had tried to stop, though it was doubtful that any criminal was suicidal enough to try robbing a Ranger. Then again, the Corps could hardly assign a green as grass Ranger to watch over one of the most dangerous fiefs out there, that job was reserved for the best Rangers. Like Will.She thought, as she rode over a small hill.

During her graduation, after much arguing and shouting, Evanlyn had finally stood down, she would allow her daughter to be assigned a fief under certain conditions. One, Maddie must be assigned a fief that is close to castle Araluen. Two, Evanlyn will assign the best young knight from that fief to protect and come to aid Maddie when necessary. Three, Maddie must come visit castle Araluen at least twice a year. Reluctantly, Maddie accepted the conditions, though after arguing that she didn't need a protector.

Gorlan had been the closest unassigned fief to castle Araluen at that time, and the crime rate in the former fief of Baron Morgarath had died down considerably since last year. So Maddie, the first female and second royal Ranger, has been assigned to Gorlan fief.

As Maddie rode over another hill, she could make out the shape of the new castle Gorlan and a far sized town near it from afar. It should be another twenty minutes of riding at the Ranger force marching pace to reach it. Or it could be only five minutes if she push Bumper to a gallop. But Maddie quickly dismissed the idea, "Mistakes are made in a rush." Will had always told her.

As she passed a large bush, she noticed that there were some scattered hoof marks and foot marks as well as wheel marks left by a caravan. Upon dismounting and closer inspection, she noticed that there was a vague imprint in the ground the shape of a short sword, and another mark that looks suspiciously like an arrow had missed and hit the road, then was retrieved. There's been a fight here. Maddie realised. Possibly a band of bandits ambushing a caravan transporting goods or money.

From behind the bush, a prone man was watching. He was one of the scout that his gang had sent to see whether their previous ambush sites had been discovered and investigated. As he watched the Ranger examining the marks on the road, he willed himself to breath with barely a sound. All commoners know that Rangers practiced black magic, that they can appear out of thin air, and they never, ever miss an arrow.

He'd seen enough now, time to report back to camp. As he rose slowly, thinking the Ranger was still busy inspecting the marks, the Ranger called out. "If I were you, I wouldn't move like a blundering elephant in the presence of a Ranger." The bandit was confused, the voice had been definitely female, and he knew that all Rangers were male. This had to be a fake Ranger! He was the best archer in his camp and he could probably dispose of this phony without breaking a sweat.

The man rose and pulled out his bow and arrow that lay concealed with him behind the bush. He ran out onto the road, nock an arrow, drew, aim and… Before he could fire, a green shafted arrow slammed into his right arm, causing him to drop to the ground, writhing in pain, holding his bleeding arm. The Ranger lowered her longbow, and pulled out her saxe knife and a medical kit from her saddle bag.

Maddie walked to the bleeding bandit, and yelled harshly. "Stop screaming and give me your arm." The bandit did as he was told, Maddie examined the wound and pulled the arrow out, she hadn't used one of her barbed arrows or the arrow would have to be pulled through the arm. She then took some bandages and wrapped it tightly around the arm.

The bandit glanced at Maddie's face, not daring to make eye contact, he'd expected this female Ranger to finish him off with another arrow, not giving him medical attention. As he was about to ask, Maddie said. "I need you alive for interrogation at the castle." Any colour on the man's face disappeared. He'd heard what Rangers can do to extract information, they would cut your fingers off, then move down to toes, then whole limbs, and they would make sure you feel every, single, second of pain.

"No! Please!" He screamed. "Not interrogation, torture, anything but that!" Maddie looked at the bandit with no sympathy, but her face was actually hiding confusion. She'd intended to use fear to get information from him once she arrives at the castle. Torture never works on the insane, and there's plenty of those people on the field of crime, she knew. Fear, however, always works.

Maddie put thumb cuffs on the bandit while he continued to scream in absolute fear. Then she tied a rope tightly around his wrists to Bumper so that he can't run away without bringing Bumper with him. "Come on, I'm binging you to castle Gorlan."

As Maddie rode into the town near new castle Gorlan, leading the captured bandit, all heads in the town looked up at the female Ranger. Most were just glances, but they were glances of awe, and sometimes fear. Bringing a captured criminal into the town on her first day, she realised, gives her extra intimidation, on that of being a Ranger. Upon the faces of the town's residents were looks of confusion as well. It was natural. She thought. After all, there's been no female Rangers before.

As the approached new castle Gorlan, she could make out finer details of the castle. It was quite a beautiful structure, obviously a reflection of the old castle Gorlan that she'd been told to in the stories by Halt and her grandfather, the late King Duncan. The shape of the castle walls was a square, as of regular with most castles, on each corner was a tower at least ten metres (33 feet) tall with white, elegant bridges connecting the highest floor of the towers. In the middle of the courtyard was the keep, where the Baron would be conducting his businesses. The keep was at least a good 6 metres (20 feet) taller than the other towers, with its roof being made of shiny marble. The entire castle was surrounded by a dry moat, with a drawbridge allowing entrance into the castle.

As Maddie rode onto the drawbridge, there were two guards and upon seeing her, they crossed their spears, barring the way. "State your name and reason!" They demanded in unison.

"I'm a Queen's Ranger." Came the short reply as Maddie took off her cowl, revealing her face. One of the guards, the older one, narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the youthful, feminine face of the female Ranger.

"Rangers aren't girls." He said. "Show us proof." When Maddie showed her silver oakleaf, the guard's eyes widened and he bowed. "Sorry for my impertinence, Ranger." He then signalled to his comrade to let Maddie pass.

As Maddie passed the gate, a stable hand ran to her, asking if he could take care of her horse. Normally, Maddie would prefer to take care of Bumper herself, but it has been a long road and the stable hand was sure to take care of Bumper better than she can at her tired state. So she agreed. Before she handed her reins over, Maddie untied the rope holding the bandit from Bumper and beckoned a man at arms over, telling him to put him away in one of their cells.

As the man at arms jogged away, holding the rope that held the bandit, a young page ran out of the keep, asking the other staff in the courtyard. "Is the Ranger here yet? Where is he?"

"I'm here." Maddie called. As the boy turned to the sound of the voice, his eyes widened in surprise as he realised the new Ranger was female.

"Oh, sorry miss, I had no idea." He bowed apologetically. "Baron Damian is expecting you." Maddie frowned as she heard the word 'miss', she was barely older than the boy, being called 'miss' made her felt ancient.

"Thank you, and you may be so kind as to lead me to his office." It was more of a statement than a question, and the boy nodded nervously. He then went back into the keep, with Maddie following him. The interior of the keep was very much organised, in the middle of the first floor was a large desk with two clerks writing down appointments and schedules. On the right hand, there was an office that has a wooden sign labelling 'Seneschal'. On the left hand side was a walled off area with a door leading in, that should be the quarters for soldiers. Behind the central desk was a stone stair spiralling upwards to the right.

"This way, miss" the page said, walking up the stairs.

"Call me Maddie."

"Wait, what?" the boy looked back at Maddie. He was obviously not used to being directly talked to by authority figures like Rangers.

"Just call me Maddie, that's my name. You made me feel like a grandma calling me miss. I'm barely older than you."

"Uh, yes, miss, I mean Ranger Maddie." Recovering from his mistake quickly, the page continued to lead Maddie up the stairs, ending up at the highest floor. Then he turned left and stopped at an oak door. "The Baron awaits you, Ranger Maddie." The page left.

Maddie contemplate whether she should knock or not when all of a sudden, the door swung inwards, revealing a young man in his early twenties. Before she could recover from shock, the young man took her hand and shook it enthusiastically. "Your highness! I have been waiting for you." He smiled ear to ear.

Maddie took in the man's appearance. He was blond and would be quite handsome to the ladies, taller than her by half a head, even though she'd grown five centimetres (two inches) since the start of her apprenticeship. His stance was confident and his posture relaxed.

"And you are…" Maddie said but was interrupted.

"Baron Damian of Gorlan fief." Maddie's eyebrows shot up in surprise, she'd expected the Baron of Gorlan fief to be a middle aged man with plenty of experience under his belt, not a youngster. Perhaps there's been a mistake, but the man had said that he was the Baron, so there could be no mistake. He also knew she was the Crown Princess, and only the Queen's inner circle knew about her being a Ranger.

"Maybe you would like to enter." Baron Damien stood back, allowing her to enter. When Maddie did, she saw that there were two knights sitting on high-backed chairs facing a mahogany desk that was sure to be the Baron's. Both of them was unnecessarily in full-armour and their visor were down so she couldn't see their faces. "Please sit down." The Baron said politely to her, showing her another high-backed chair.

Once she sat down, the Baron went to sit on his chair behind the desk. Once settle down, he gestured to the two knights. "One of them is the Battlemaster, can you guess which one he is?"

"A test?" Maddie rose an eyebrow, the classic Ranger expression.

"I always like to know the capability of the person I'm going to work with." Baron Damien smiled warmly.

"Fine then." Maddie sighed. She peered at the two knights and asked both of them to sit up. They both have the posture of a warrior, their armour were of top quality. For a normal person, the Battlemaster would be indistinguishable from the other knight. But Rangers were not normal people. Upon closer inspection, Maddie could see that the knight on the left side was fidgeting slightly, the sign of a person who's either nervous or bored. A Battlemaster would hardly do such a thing. Maddie gestured at the right-hand knight and said. "That's him."

"You clearly have good eyes." The Battlemaster lifted his visor, revealing a middle-aged man with a bushy moustache. "Battlemaster Chuck, at your service, your highness." He bowed. It seemed he had been informed of her identity as well.

"What about him?" Maddie gestured at the other knight, who still has his visor down.

"He's the knight assigned to protect you, your highness, don't you worry about his abilities, he's a natural." The Battlemaster explained.

Then Maddie's assigned protector lifted his visor, revealing a young face, younger than hers. It was a familiar one as well, one she has seen before, when she was running away from Jory Ruhl's gang in Trelleth fief, all those years ago. The young knight gave her a short bow. "Tim Stoker, at your service, Ranger."