Author's Note: Whew! So, this took a little longer than it should have...
To Guest: To answer your question, the crew will be reacting to books 1-10. Lost Stories is a little too complicated for me to tackle (although that may change) and since The Royal Ranger hasn't taken place yet when they read it (and it's a tearjerker in the extreme) they won't be reading that one either. They do, however, have a great deal of reading in front of them.
Lady Pauline handed the book to Jenny at the young woman's cheerful insistence. Will's eyebrow crept higher and higher up his face as he looked at Gilan.
Will stared at the words on the paper in utter confusion.
"Well, this is off to a wonderful start..." Crowley snarked dryly. Will tried and failed to smother laughter. Horace didn't even both trying.
His first reaction was one of relief. He wasn't to be condemned to a lifetime of farmwork. And he wasn't to be punished for his actions in the Baron's study.
"Don't be too sure of that." Gilan and Crowley said instantly. Halt glared at both of them.
Then that initial sense of relief gave way to a sudden, nagging doubt. He knew nothing about Rangers - "How things change," King Duncan put in wryly - beyond myth and superstition. He knew nothing about Halt - apart from the fact that the grim, gray-cloaked figure had made him feel nervous whenever he was around.
"Don't scare the young'uns, Halt." Crowley said, doing his best impression of a crotchety old farmer. Halt glared at him. He got the distinct feeling that this reading was going to leave his dignity in tatters as the rest of the table burst into laughter.
Now, it seemed, he was being assigned to spend all his time with him. And he wasn't sure he liked the idea at all.
Will shot an apologetic glance at Halt, who lifted a shoulder as if to say it didn't matter.
He looked up at the two men. The Baron, he could see, was smiling expectantly. Apparently, he felt that Will should greet his decision as good news.
"This is usually a good idea when dealing with authority figures." Sir Rodney advised. Baron Arald frowned at him, and the knight shrugged apologetically.
He couldn't see Halt's face clearly. The deep cowl of his cloak left his face in shadow.
"Which is, of course, the point."Will acknowledged, his grin returning.
The Baron's smile faded slightly. He appeared a little puzzled by Will's reaction to the news - or rather, his lack of any visible reaction.
"Well, what do you say, Will?" he asked, in an encouraging tone. Will drew a deep breath.
"Never a good sign." Gilan muttered.
"Thank you, sir...my lord," he said uncertainly. What if the Baron's earlier joke about the note containing his punishment was more serious than he thought? Maybe being assigned to be Halt's apprentice was the worst punishment he could have chosen.
Halt blinked at that, not liking the direction this was taking. It was Will's turn to shrink a little and look apologetically across the table.
But the Baron certainly didn't look as if he thought so. He seemed to be very pleased with the idea, and Will knew he wasn't an unkind man. The Baron gave a little sigh of pleasure as he lowered himself into an armchair. He looked up at the Ranger and gestured toward the door.
"I am aware of where the door is located, you know." Halt pointed out. Will was once again stifling laughter, along with most everyone else in the room.
"Perhaps you might give us a few moments alone, Halt? I'd like to have a word with Will in private," he said. The Ranger bowed gravely.
"You never bow." Gilan said incredulously. "I've never heard of you bowing before. To anyone."
Halt declined to comment. Will stared at him in surprise, as did Baron Arald. He had thought it a little out of character for the grim Ranger...but he hadn't given it much thought.
Huh.
"Certainly, my lord," he said, the voice coming from deep inside the cowl. He moved, silently as ever, past Will and out through the door that led to the corridor outside. The door closed behind him with barely a sound, and Will shivered. The man was uncanny!
"Thank you, Will." Halt said, sounding mildly pleased with himself.
"Sit down, Will." The Baron gestured to one of the low armchairs facing his own. Will sat nervously on the edge of it, as if poised for flight. The Baron noted his body language and sighed.
"You don't seem very pleased with my decision," he said, sounding disappointed. The reaction puzzled Will. He wouldn't have thought a powerful figure like the Baron would care one way or another what an insignificant ward would think about his decisions.
"Clearly you didn't know the Baron very well." Sir Rodney put in, but the smile on his face took any sting out of the words. Will merely shrugged his shoulders and grinned back.
"Or he didn't have such a big head." Crowley put in, leading the table into yet more laughter.
He didn't know how to answer, so he sat in silence, until finally the Baron continued.
Will still did that now - refuse to answer and lead the other person into talking - but for very different reasons now. And usually, to very different people.
"Would you prefer to work as a farmhand?" he asked.
"God, no." Will said with feeling. Halt actually laughed aloud at that, drawing amazed looks for all around. Lady Pauline merely smiled.
He couldn't believe that a lively, energetic boy like this could possibly prefer such a dull, uneventful life, but maybe he was wrong. Will hurriedly reassured him on that score.
"No sir!" he said hastily. The Baron made a small questioning gesture with his hands.
"Well then, would you prefer that I punished you somehow for what you've done?"
"God no." Will repeated, with the exact same infliction.
Will started to speak, then realized that his answer might be insulting and stopped. The Baron gestured for him to continue.
"It's just that...I'm not sure you haven't, sir."
Will hunched his shoulders a little, partly out of embarrassment and partly out of shame. Crowley made a large mockery of being offended, but it was Halt that Will was looking to. The grizzled Ranger just nodded once, a slight smile touching the corners of his mouth, and Will relaxed.
Then, noticing the frown that creased the Baron's forehead as he said the words, he hurried on: "I...I don't know much about Rangers, sir. And people say.."
He let the words trail off. It was obvious that the Baron held Halt in some esteem and Will didn't think it was politic for him to point out that ordinary people feared Rangers and thought they were warlocks.
Gilan smothered laughter. Halt grinned a grin that would not look out of place on a hungry shark, and Crowley seemed to find this all very amusing.
He saw that the Baron was nodded, and a look of understanding had replaced the perplexed expression he had been wearing.
"Of course. People say they're black magicians, don't they?"
Halt, who had weaponized this fact on more than one occasion, found this very amusing.
...he agreed and Will nodded, not even realizing he was doing so.
Gilan sent Will an exasperated look, to which Will responded by shrugged in a 'I-was-fifteen-cut-me-some-slack' sort of way.
"Tell me, Will, do you find Halt to be a frightening person?"
"No, sir!" Will said hastily - "Lies!" the entire table chorused - then, as the Baron held his gaze, he reluctantly added, "Well...maybe a bit."
"A bit." Halt repeated, lifting an eyebrow in Will's direction.
"Maybe." Will retorted with a grin.
The Baron leaned back, steepling his fingers together. Now that he understood the reasons for the boy's reluctance, he berated himself for not foreseeing them.
Sir Rodney glanced at the Baron with a raised eyebrow.
After all, he had a better knowledge of the Rangers Corps than he could expect of a young boy just turned fifteen - Will shot Gilan a 'there you see' look - who was subject to the usual superstitious mutterings of the castle staff.
"Thank you, m'lord..." Jenny started dryly. Baron Arald gave her an apologetic smile, but both of their eyes were twinkling.
"The Rangers are a mysterious group of people," he said. "But there's nothing about them to be frightened of - unless you're an enemy of the kingdom."
Crowley had a sudden coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like "Morgarath!"
He could see that the boy was hanging on his every word, and he added, joking, "You're not an enemy of the kingdom, are you, Will?"
Lady Pauline very deliberately didn't laugh. Neither did Sir Rodney, but he was grinning when Baron Arald wasn't looking.
"No, sir!" Will said in sudden fright, and the Baron sighed again. He hated it when people didn't realize he was joking. Unfortunately, as overlord of the castle, his words were treated with great seriousness by most people.
Lady Pauline, Halt, and Baron Arald all avoided making eye contact.
"All right, all right," he said reassuringly. "I know you're not. But believe me, I thought you'd be glad of this appointment - and adventurous lad like you should take to life as a Ranger like a duck to water."
"You had no idea." Will said with a grin.
"It's a big opportunity for you, Will." He paused, studying the boy closely, seeing that he was still uncertain about the whole matter. "Very few boys are chosen to be apprentice Rangers, you know. The opportunity only comes up on rare occasions."
Halt, noticing Will seemed to be getting a little too smug, decided to poke a few holes in his ego. "And then they spend their first year making blasted fools of themselves." He put in acerbically. Will took the point immediately.
Will nodded. But he still wasn't totally convinced. He thought he owed it to his dream to have one last attempt at Battleschool.
Horace tried and failed to stifle his laughter. "God, you really were determined, weren't you?" he asked. Will laughed at himself.
"Just a bit." He agreed.
After all, the Baron did seem to be in an uncommonly good mood this evening, in spite of the fact that Will had broken into his office.
Baron Arald and Sir Rodney both had a massive coughing fit in an attempt to cover up their laughter. Will regarded them both suspiciously.
"I wanted to be a warrior, sir," he said tentatively, but the Baron shook his head immediately.
"I'm afraid your talents lie in other directions. Halt knew that when he first saw you. That's why he asked for you."
Will raised an eyebrow in Halt's direction. The older Ranger shrugged. "Or perhaps the tenth or so time. You took your time in becoming useful."
"Thanks, Halt." Will muttered.
"Oh," said Will. There wasn't much else he could say. He felt he should be reassured by all that the Baron had said and, to a certain degree, he was. But there was still so much uncertainty to it all, he thought.
"Get used to it." Gilan told him, grinning. Will gave him the 'no duh' look.
"It's just that Halt seems to be so grim all the time," he said.
Gilan, Horace, and Will, all remembering a conversation they'd had in Arridia, all burst out laughing. Halt glared at them all.
"He certainly doesn't have my sparkling sense of humor." the Baron agreed, then, as Will looked blankly at him, he muttered something under his breath.
Baron Arald scowled. That was a good joke, he thought. Why did nobody understand his jokes?
Will wasn't sure what he'd done to upset him, so he thought it best to change the subject. "But...what does a Ranger actually do, my lord?" he asked.
"He doesn't ask stupid questions, boy!" Halt and Will chorused, then Will started laughing again.
One again, the Baron shook his head.
"That for Halt to tell you himself. They're a quirky group - "Quirky? Quirky?" Crowley demanded, looking incredulous - and they don't like other people talking about them too much. Now, perhaps you should go back to your quarters and try to get some sleep. You're to report to Halt's cottage at six o'clock in the morning."
"And thus begins my life of early mornings and late nights." Will intoned solemnly. Horace snorted.
"Yes, my lord," Will said, rising from his uncomfortable perch on the edge of the chair. He wasn't sure if he was going to enjoy life a Ranger's apprentice - "Title drop!" Cassandra put in with a laugh - but it appeared he had no choice in the matter.
"You could have been a farmhand." Halt suggested. Will stared at him as thought he'd gone mad.
"That is not a choice." He said firmly.
He bowed to the Baron, who nodded briefly in return, then he turned away for the door. The Baron's voice stopped him.
"Will? This time, use the stairs."
Will actually found that funny.
"Finally." The Baron said in exasperation.
"Yes, my lord," he replied seriously, and was a little puzzled by the way the Baron rolled his eyes to the sky nd muttered to himself again. This time, he could make out a few words. It was something about "jokes," he thought.
Lady Pauline paused for a moment. Alyss hid a smile behind her hand.
He let himself out through the door. The sentries were still on duty on the landing by the stairs, but Halt was gone.
Or at least, he appeared to be. With the Ranger, you could never be quite certain.
"See, you're learning." Gilan said, with a grin.
I'm not sure if anyone noticed this, but I did throw in a few obscure references to Sir Rodney and Baron Arald's backstory - or the one in my head, at least. I may or may not write it up and post it, but that's neither here nor there - the important thing is that I actually managed to post a new chapter for you lovely people!
