Chapter 4 Temujai

Jack pulls Halt to aside in the hall and produces the letter, the letter written from Pritchard for Halt. He watches Jack nod, and then runs down the hall, after the descending figures of Will and Maddie. He then opens the letter and begins to read them. The contents contained mostly old experiences, new ones Pritchard had faced, new ideas and last bit of farewell. On the last page he noticed it was a letter about Jack.

To my fellow apprentice, Halt.

When you're reading this, this obviously means that Jack has done what he was told. Well last said from a dead guy anyway. I told him to protect this letter with all his heart, and get this reached to you. I met him on a ship that he was rigging, a small trader. He had a child heart and cared about things I saw interesting, we were attacked by vicious bandits, but as you know I picked them off, the sailors thought I was an old man carrying a bow, not knowing after, the fact I took care of a ship anyways. The boy soon started asking many questions, yes, questions Halt. When we beached, i stayed around to tend a few things, the boy told me his name was Jack. And wanted to learn to be, well me! I let him tag along, really just testing who, and what his intentions really can be, and he shown many characteristics that exceeded my expectations. From that day on, i began to train him for a couple months, grasped the ideas really quick. I fell sick, i figured my time was up, so i told him, my things will be passed on to him for him to use, his horse Phoenix, was a trusty one had a ranger horses iron will. I heard about Araluen and how things have been, especially this Will. What i am saying is, Jack is a great boy, who needs a great teacher to teach him.

Sincerely, your mentor, Pritchard

Halt puts down the letter, folds them all up. Nods to himself and then walked back to his room. His mind was on the last words written for him from his first teacher who taught him how to be a ranger.

Ooo

The next day, Will, Maddie, Jack, Horace and Evanlyn sat on their horses at the gate. Horace gives to his advisers, commanders and masters of the castle some last orders. Then they start to head for Cresthaven. Horace grins at Will, while riding Kicker, and said "Just like the good old times right?"

Will grins back "Yeap, just you, me and Evanlyn back in the old days. Where danger is always around, gives us something to do"

Evanlyn cuts in "Well, this time we have 2 trainees, my daughter I should say, with us. At least this time it isn't Halt dragging us along, it is now us dragging them."

She looks at her daughter where Jack and Maddie idly sits there. Then she asks the unexplained question, "What is with Maddie?"

Will laughed and told his 2 friends what happened. Horace replies "Well, I remember Evanlyn more than once beating someone down. She does have your personality, dear"

Cassandra crosses her arms and pouts "Well, she has the stubbornness of you Horace"

Will laugh at the point "She got you on that one Horace."

The 3 friends continued laughing and reminding their old adventures when they were younger. And many ridiculous ideas and dangers they faced.

Behind them, Jack asks Maddie "What do you suppose those 3 are laughing about?"

Maddie glares at him, and then looks at them.

"Probably talking about their old times in the field, old people talk about olden day things"

"Oh."

"Yeah"

Jack stares ahead, and then apologizes "I'm sorry for faking my pain that morning, I shouldn't have toyed with your concern"

Madelyn looks surprised at Jack, and looked for any underlying messages, and then decides to accept the apology "Hmm…Apology accepted"

Then she adds "Sorry for getting you wet, dumping that bucket of water over you" "Although you really deserved it"

Jack laughs "Alright princess, where that pretty dress of yours is, aren't princesses supposed to wear those?"

Maddie froze and asked "Why do you think I am a princess?"

Jack shrugs "No one runs up hugging the queen and king…I mean Horace and Evanlyn"

Maddie stayed silent. Not sure what to say, she couldn't read the tone of voice he was using, was it disapproval? Envy?

"I am not the average princess, I am an apprentice ranger"

"What-ever-you-say-y" Jack sings. "I just don't want your dress in the way when I am shooting.

"ME? In a dress? You got to be kidding me"

"You never know Madelyn you never know"

Jack nudges Phoenix and paces a bit faster, going in front of Maddie. You'll pay for that Jack, Maddie seethes in fury. She realizes that he was just making a joke, but she will get him back for it. You just wait and see, Maddie staring daggers at Jack. The rest of the trip was fairly short and made very little stops. They broke for lunch and then arrived at Cresthaven near nightfall.

The town leader, William welcomes them. "Welcome to our humble town, hope you find your stay here is up to your satisfaction, the Herons will be back in a few hours enjoy the stay Ranger and Noble"

After all the official part of their arrival, they went to their rooms for the night. Maddie, Will and Jack in one room and Cassandra and Horace in another. It was practically a peaceful night. The next morning the all rose, and they went and met the Herons crew. They were basically all boys with one shabby Skandian warrior and a girl. Horace went up and greeted the warrior in thought that he was the skirl. Instead, the burly man pointed to a young boy. Horace apologized and turned his attention to him.

"Nice to meet you all, My name is Horace, that's Cassandra, Ranger Will and Maddie, and Jack" Indroducing them, Will look closely at the boat, it was a bit small, then he pointed out

"This boat would be really crowded for all of us and our horses, might I add the great sail design, I saw this rig few years ago."

The skirl, "Yep, that's right I designed it myself"

Will raises his eyebrows "I am taking you are Hal?"

The boy takes a step back and looks at the warrior named Thorn with a nervous glace,

"How would you know that?"

"Few years ago I saw a similar plan, I believe it was Svengal that mentioned your name, anyway, I hope we're not using this boat for the trip now are we?"

Hal shook is head sadly, "I built this and designed it myself, but when we heard about your need, it was simply too small for all of you and your horses, which is why we are going to use the standard Skandian wolfship, we worked on moving most of the contents to the other ship, WolfHeron, the sails, oars, fin, the Mangler…"

Will nods at the name of the vicious weapon. Gilan briefed him about the massive crossbow the young skirl had made. He also mentioned to find the difference between Wulf and Ulf, the twins who had remarkable similarity. They went aboard on Wolfheron. Horace and Thorn began an argument, something about swords and weapons, and then Horace knocks Thorn down, and puts him into a locked position.

That surprised every Heron crew members, Horace said, "I suppose the sword works better now doesn't it?" and he releases him, and then offers his hand and pulls the burly man up easily. Thorn nods a couple times and then shuffles away to the plank to call Hal aboard, who was still saying good bye to the Heron. Hal walks up the plank and looks at his friends shocked faces, a fairly muscled boy, Stig, whispered to Hal "I will tell you about it later"

Will then saw the girl, Lydia he recalled from his memory, Gilan noted her tracking abilities and expert use of the Atlatl.

Hal ordered "Set sail!"

Everyone moved and worked effectively soon they were on their way, to Toscana where they will travel on foot to the eastern steppes. Will tapped on Hal's shoulder and asked "May I see the Mangler?"

Hal beamed with pride of the invention "This is the crossbow mounted, and here are the bolts we used, Fire, metal, and Pottery."

Will frowned "Pottery? What could that be used for?"

Hal explained "When we fire one of those bolts, it will impact and the pottery will explode sending shards of pottery all over the place, hitting anyone or anything in the general area"

Will thought this through that; it would be a devastating effect he realized. And then Hal noticed the twins started bickering and went over to deal with it. He noticed that each boy had their own specialty, Jesper was a former thief, light and quick with hands along that can pick a lock, Edvin is more of the healer and cooker of the Herons, Stig was mainly a warrior also with a temper if you flared it, Ingvar who had short-sightedness, however is super loud and strong. Will later found out that, why was the crew so surprised when Thorn got knocked down and held basically at his will, he overheard Stig exclaiming to Hal about Thorn, turns out he was a Maktig, a Maktig for 3 years! Will had heard this term more than enough times around in Skandia, the mighty one, warriors expert of experts, well suddenly taken down by Horace, Will smiles at the thought, Horace never lets him down. It was a silent night, wind kept up a constant blow. Maddie was chatting with Lydia while Jack was chatting with the others. Will asked, "Horace, do they know who you are?"

Horace looked at his friend "I don't think so, why?"

Will shrugs at a thought. "I was thinking, if they knew who you are, when they fight they could fight with more, power, let's say, they are on this duty sent personally from Erak, this would be a great pride for them being sent on a mission from him, but knowing they are protecting the king of Araluen? One of Erak's friends? Surely they would be swelled with pride, that could help in battle"

Then Will adds after the thought of Horace in a battle, "Well, not that you would need much help anyways"

Horace nods in agreement thinking it would be a good idea.

Will gathered their attention, "Crew of the Herons, I thank you for your help, you are doing Erak a great service actually" some looked at each other. "I am Ranger Will, I was one of the Rangers in your country back when Temujai attacked your country." Thorn nods and said "Yes, that's right"

"Over here, is Horace and Cassandra, Horace was in charge of the shield while Cassandra was also helping me directing the archers"

The boys have heard the tales of these great Araluens in that time. Their mind turned on the fact they are actually helping someone who helped save their country!

"However, also another thing, Horace and Cassandra are King and Queen of Araluen"

The crew froze, and looked at them, Horace waves slightly. They developed a bit more respect towards them, they had no idea that they would meet the king, queen, ranger will, the historical figures of the past, and actually supporting them!

Will continued "However, please call Cassandra, Evanlyn, this is a secret mission, we are under cover most of use to not attract any attention." Will eyed everyone till he got the confirmation that they understood. He noticed Lydia making quick glances at Evanlyn.

"Any questions?"

No one spoke, then Lydia asks "Cass-I mean Evanlyn, was it possible that you were in the woods in Skandia?"

Evanlyn looks at the girl and nods "Yes, me and Will were captured by Erak, and was transported there as slaves, he saved us and let us free to go back through the woods, why?"

Lydia nods, "Is it possible you engraved you name into a bark?"

Cassandra widens her eyes a bit, it was distant in her mind, when she was taking care of Will, in hunting she engraved Evanlyn in a tree.

"Yes, you found it?"

"While hunting"

Will interrupts, "Was this done when I was…sick and drugged?"

Evanlyn looks at her friend and nods.

Will nodded back "Figures"

"Alright then guys, just figured you might want to know who we're with, we will be seeing a lot of each other for the next few months"

Every disassembled into their own discussions, Will went down to a small room and lied down on the semi soft bed. Well, it is certainly a small world he thought. And drifted off to sleep. The rest of the voyage was simple and easy, they all got to know each other. No one had sea problems…yet

Ooo

Will was woke by Maddie with a worried look on her face.

"Will! We got pirate problems"

Will groans "Can't you and Jack or Lydia take care of the problems you 2 need some practice shooting"

Maddie crosses her arms and pouts.

Will closes his eyes and turns trying to fall back to sleep. Sensing her presence, he gives in

"Alright, Alright I'll be up in a few minutes"

Will quickly got dressed and strung his bow, and went up on deck. Everyone was awake. Will asked "What is it?"

Hal pointed, "Over there, it's a blockade. Maygaran pirates"

Will raised an eyebrow at that "Hmm…Can we beat them out?"

Hal thinks it over, "Maybe, there are 4 ships, they signaled not to get any closer of they will attack."

Will looks at everyone, they were all preparing their weapons.

"How far are we out till we can land?"

"Several leagues after and then we will reach Toscana."

Will peers at the 4 ships, each boat probably carried 25 trained pirates. He noticed a flag of the Magyarans and the Temujai. "Maddie, Jack, Time to show what you've got, there's no time for us to talk it through, or getting fired at. These are allied to the Temujai"

Horace asked "Will, do you think we should actually attack?"

Will ignores the question and asks Hal "How many ships can you sink with the Mangler before we get too close in their crossbow range?"

Hal did a quick calculation, "I can hit 2 of those ships with the bolts. We can get Thorn and Stig on the 3rd one and let them take care of it, and you archer with Lydia can pick some nuisances off of those 2's backs"

"How good do you think those helmsman are?"

He thinks and looks at the 3 ships, "They seem actually pretty decent with it, which could be a problem" He adds.

"Alright then, Maddie, Jack, take aim and shoot the helmsman of those 3 ships, we will take care of the third one after wards its far enough."
Stig and Hal stutters with astonishment "Can you even fire, aim that far? You'll just alert them that we are attacking losing the element of surprise!"

Will glared at Hal, "We are the surprise"

Thorn whispered to Hal "These Rangers never ever miss, a force to be reckoned with I say"

Hal took Thorns opinion and then waited to put into his own opinions later, he took whatever Thorn said seriously, but he needs to see this for himself. He orders

"Stig, and Thorn prepare to board, Edvin take steering, Ingvar, lets load up the Mangler"

The crew watched the 3 Rangers, as if they were linked by some invisible force, the three Rangers raised their bows, drew, sighted and shot. The 3 arrows sailed away within half a second of each other. The three arrows, with Will's grey shafted arrow in the lead, arced in the sky. The crew, particularly Hal lost sight of them in the clouds. They noticed the fact that they all had another arrow nocked on their strings ready for another shot.

Jesper laughed looking that charging ships, "They missed". His amusement was short if on cue the saw the 3 helmsman on the 3 ships lost control, Will's arrow hit directly in the chest, falling on the tiller, made the ship did a wide loop, Maddie's arrow hit on the shoulder, doing the similar effect but not killing the skirl. And Jack's arrow hits the skirl on the arm forcing the ship to lose its control, all the crews scrambled to maintain current position, surprised the sudden strike of arrows. The crew of the Herons cheered in amazement, they noticed Hal and Thorn very impressed. Thorn remarked "I have heard the impressive shots of what Rangers can do, but I just witnessed it." He puts his hand on Will's shoulder, "I am glad you are on our side, not against us." The rest of them nodded.

Will points to the ships, "We're not finished yet"

The first mate on one of the pirate ship, watched in horror as his closest comrade, skirl struck down, by some invisible demon, he saw the grey shafted arrow stuck out of his chest, he screamed at the men to get back on course. He looked at the large, strange, wolf ship; you will pay for this, seething in anger.

"READY ABOUT" Edvin called out.

Hal nodded at Ingvar to load the bolts.

He shouted to Edvin "Get to the closest ship, and let Stig and Thorn board. And let's bring them down"

Horace adds "Hey don't forget me, I want some of the fun, brandishing the Nihon-Ja blade sword." Thorn shakes Horace's hand, "We'll see you on there then!"

Hal aimed and fired. The Mangler bucked back. This time it wasn't on Heron, the ship didn't move that much. Will watched the bolt punch through the waterline just slightly above the ship's hull, the effect was almost instant, the ship began to take in water soon it was done. Will instructed Maddie and Jack, "5 arrows, choose your targets carefully" There was no point in wasting arrows on things not that important. Stig, Thorn and Horace boarded the ship and the pirate's eyes widen in horror facing the rampage of these 3 expert warriors. It was an unfair fight the quickly seized the ship. There were 2 ships left, Maddie, and Lydia killed a 5 crossbowman that were taking aim at the ship. Jack took care of the 6th one. Hal's fire bolt blasted the third ship. Leaving them sinking.

Horace, Stig and Thorn got back aboard.

That was fun." Horace laughs, and mocks the terror of the pirates.

Thorn booms "I think the pirates peed his undies"

Then he adds, "Stig, impressive out there, just make sure to keep your edge up when your executing the block and hit"

Stig nods.

Will calls out "There is one more ship. And this one seems a bit more different…it's seems like...well I don't know what it's like"

Hal said "That doesn't look like a Magyaran pirate ship, must be built from the Temujai" Pointing at the flag on the mast, only emblazed with the Temujai ensign.

Will sighed and shook his head, "One thing you should know about the Temujai, they are expert archers, almost as good as us. They hate Rangers actually. And I have no doubt, those men on board, are expert archers. This is going to pose a little problem."

Evanlyn looks at Will, "A little?"

Will grins, "Okay, maybe not a little, probably a few arrows of a problem."

Heyo again readers!

How's everybody feeling about the story? Any suggestions? Reviews are appreciated!

Guest reviewer, Suggestion has been put into reality, it is currently up in Chapter 5. Thanks for the great idea! =)

I decided to put in the Heron crew, just note, I have a feeling they are going to play a fairly big part in this story!

Disclaimer again, all characters mentioned that is in the REAL Rangers Apprentice Series belong to John Flanagan and his stories.

Some are just made up by me =D

PulserRay out