Hi, I'm sorry that this has taken me so long to do I have been on holiday and not had much free time also this chapter is a longer than my others. Anyway I will let you get on with reading the chapter. I will see you at the end of the chapter, good bye for now.
Mark sat up a tree. It was the same tree he had fallen out of a week ago. He subconsciously rubbed the cut on his leg as he thought about this. Luckily it didn't hurt anymore and he didn't limp when he walked because tomorrow was the ranger gathering. It was his first gathering and hopefully not his last. He looked down at the grass. They were setting out to the gathering today so they would get there tomorrow at about midday. Will and Mark were waiting for Halt as the three of them would travel to the gathering ground together. Will was inside with Alyss and Arianna waiting for Halt but Mark had decided he would go and sit outside. Whenever Mark needed time to think he would go and sit in this tree, but not on the low branches like a week ago. He sat high in the tree so that leaves on the branches would hide him with or without his ranger cloak.
Mark reached up to the branch above him. He pulled on it so that he was in a standing in a position. He looked out of a small gap in the leaves, he could see Castle Redmont sitting high on the hill and at the bottom was Redmont's village. Mark could see Halt riding Abelard, he was riding through the village on his way to the cabin and Mark realised that he only had a few minutes until they would be leaving for the gathering. He climbed down a few branches so that he wasn't as high in the tree. He could just hear the faint thudding as Abelard's hooves made contact with the hard mud. If you asked Mark why he did what he did next he wouldn't be able to tell you. He jumped out of the tree and let his legs collapse so that he rolled forwards when he hit the ground.
"What are you doing Mark?" Halt asked sitting on Abelard. He didn't even seem fazed that a boy had just jumped in front of him from a tree. Mark stood up and looked at Halt.
"I don't actually know" Mark said. One minute he was in the tree and the next minute he had jumped out in front Halt. Halt looked at Mark from under his cloak. He hadn't shown it but he had been a little shocked at Mark. He knew Mark was in the tree but hadn't expected him to jump from it. Halt raised his eyebrow and then rode towards the house. Mark let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding. He smiled, that was the most awkward moment he had ever been in it was also the funniest moment as well he thought. He turned round and saw that Halt was walking into the cabin. Mark followed as he had nothing to do. He went into the house, Halt and Will were sitting around the table and Alyss and Arianna were in the kitchen. Alyss seemed to be trying to teach Arianna to cook, which seemed to be failing miserably as Arianna seemed to be having a staring contest with Ebony. When Mark closed the door he turned to look at Halt and Will. Will looked at Mark with one eyebrow raised. Halt must have told him about what Mark had done outside. Mark walked over to them acting if nothing had happened.
"Why did you jump out at Halt?" Mark looked at Will and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know" he said helping himself to some coffee. "Why?"
"Just wondering, I don't know any sane person who would jump out in front of Halt." Will looked at the grey bearded ranger.
"Yes well Mark proved that he wasn't sane when he accepted being an apprentice to you" Halt said. There was an evil glint in his eyes. Will smiled at Halt but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
"That is very funny Halt. Why don't you quit being a Ranger and go become a Jongleur instead, the people would love you" Will said sarcastically.
"I would but you have already accomplished that. I think you were so bad that you had your Lute destroyed." Mark looked at Halt and Will. He had noticed that Will and Halt were always taking the mick out of each other and Mark realised that he would be a part of it in time as well. Will opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. Halt knew what he was going to say, it would have been along the lines of It's not a Lute it's a Mandola there's more strings on it than a Lute. Obviously Halt knew this after the long years of him getting it wrong and Will correcting him, but Halt found it funny when Will got so fussed over it. Will glared at Halt. Will had not wanted to go under cover as a Jongleur but Halt and Crowley had insisted.
"You know what I have noticed" Halt said almost to himself to change the subject.
"I dread to think" Will said casually wishing that Halt couldn't speak.
"I have noticed that you hardly cook any more now that you are married to Alyss."
"I do cook, don't I Mark?" Why had they got him into the argument he had nothing wrong. Halt and Will looked at him. He was probably more scared of Halt but then Will was his mentor for the next five years.
"I think they cook the same amount. I don't really keep count of who cooks when." Halt raised one eyebrow.
"And my cooking is still far better than yours." Will added trying to annoy his friend.
"Yes, that's about the only thing your good at and that also means that you are good at something that more women do than men" Halt had an evil smile on his face. This made Alyss turn around.
"I wouldn't say that it is just for women" Alyss said glaring at Mark.
"It must be if Halt cooks it." Will grunted and bent down to rub his leg. He glared and Halt and kicked him back. Halt glared at Will.
"When are we going to the gathering?" Mark asked changing the subject from cooking.
"Well if you're ready we can go now" Will said still rubbing his leg. Mark nodded his head and went and got the things he needed. He walked out into the stables and saddled up Bolt. He waited for Will and Halt to come outside and then he climbed onto Bolts back. Just as they were about to set off Arianna and Alyss came out to say good bye.
"Bye dad, Bye Mark, Bye Halt!" she shouted to them and Ebony chorused Arianna's goodbyes with a loud bark. Alyss just waved to them and smiled.
-LINE BREAK-
"Gilan is here" Halt said. "Does he know you have an apprentice Will?"
"No, I was going to tell him at the gathering." Will said.
"Who is Gilan? and how do you know he is here?" Mark looked at his mentor.
"You are just like Will asking more than one question at a time. Gilan was my apprentice before Will and you can tell he is here because if you listen you can hear his horses matching the rhythm of our horse's footsteps. Mark listened carefully. Halt was right, he could just make out another horse.
"I can only just hear them." He looked at Halt smiling.
"You said Gilan that doesn't know you had an apprentice right Will?" Will nodded. "Good, Mark jump off to the side of the road and wait until he has passed us then follow. Me and Will will act as if nothing is happening." Mark nodded and jumped of Bolt onto the grass on the side of the road. He then climbed into a tree and waited. As soon as Mark had jumped off, Bolt dug his hooves into the ground making it look like he was carrying more weight than he really was.
Mark waited up in the tree not moving. He looked around, his eyes scanned near him then further away from him but his head never moved. A horse and rider crested the small hill and Mark waited for him to pass. Mark wasn't completely sure if this was Gilan as their seemed to be another horse with him following obediently behind. Also the person had a sword at his waist which Mark knew wasn't a rangers weapon. Mark decided to follow the man, humping from tree to tree. He went from one to another keeping his eye on Gilan, when he thought he saw something out the corner of his eye. He acted as if he didn't see anything and walked through the tree then he saw it again. He turned round and came face to face with another boy in the tree he had just come from. Well he thought it was a boy but the cloak shadowed his face so that no one could tell who he was. Mark looked slightly to his left and could see that the ranger with the sword was still on his horse. The boy pulled the cowl of his cloak down and jumped into the tree Mark was in. He had jet black hair and dark blue eyes.
"Who are you?" Mark asked, his hand moved to the handle of his Saxe knife that was at his side.
"I'm Kyle, Ranger Gilan's new apprentice. Who are you?" he asked in a friendly but slightly demanding voice.
"Mark, Ranger Will's new apprentice" Mark replied in the same manor, he looked at the boy and the boy looked back. They sat in the tree for a while in complete silence studying the person opposite them. The only sounds where the blowing of the wind, which blew Mark and Kyle's hair back, and the distant clopping of the two horses Mark had just seen. The sound of the horse's hooves on the mud track were starting to fade and Mark could hardly hear them anymore them.
"Gilan never told me that Will had a new apprentice" said Kyle breaking the silence. "He wanted to distract Will and Halt so that I could jump out on them." Kyle looked in the distance. He could see that Gilan had just caught up with Will and Halt.
"I was never told that Gilan had an apprentice, they wanted me to do the same" Mark said.
"Well, then I guess we are both imposters." Kyle smiled as he said this to show he was joking. Mark smiled at what Kyle had said, he was very funny and easy to talk to. "Maybe we should go now and jump out on them acting like nothing happened" Kyle continued. There was a mischievous smile appearing on his face.
"I think that would be a great idea, we can show them that they are far too old to be playing tricks on each other." Mark had the same smile appearing on his face at the thought of being on top of his mentor. We could be friends Mark thought to himself not knowing that Kyle was thinking the same thing. Kyle pulled back the hood of his cloak over his head so that his face was in shadow and the two apprentices set of through the trees to scare their mentors. Mark grabbed Kyle's arm to stop him. Kyle turned round to look at Mark.
"I've had a better idea. You jump down in front of Gilan pretending to be me and then take your hood off" Mark said Kyle looked at him with a very confused expression on his face. Mark smiled "everyone will be expecting it to be me. Then you act as if you don't know who I am and that you haven't met anyone called Mark before and then I will jump out and hopefully scare them all." Mark looked at Kyle to see if he agreed. Kyle nodded, his mischievous grin returning to his face
"Then we will have scared all of them twice, I like that idea. You do know that they will probably figure out that there are two of us?" he said.
"Yeah" Mark rethought his plan quickly thinking about what Kyle had just pointed out "They will probably realise too late." Mark said not being able to think of anything to stop the problem of them realising. He just hoped he was right as he really wanted to trick his mentor. Mark jumped into the next tree with Kyle following behind him. They jumped into another five trees and then they stopped. Mark and Kyle crawled across a branch so that they were both above their mentors and Halt. All three of the rangers below them would have realise that there was someone in the tree above them, but all of them were expecting their apprentice to jump out on their friend, they were not expecting there to be two apprentices in the tree. Kyle got ready to jump out on his mentor. He made sure that he was comfortable and they he would land the jump right. He jumped out the tree landing on the ground in front of Gilan. Dust flew up around the small group below Mark. Mark could feel the dust getting to the back of his throat and wanted to cough but he knew that if he did then he would definitely blow his cover. That was if they didn't know that he was above them.
"Kyle you weren't meant to jump in front of me" Gilan coughed. Kyle looked at Gilan and then at Will and Halt.
"Oh that makes more sense now." Kyle thought that it was best to act stupid as he hadn't actually thought about what he was going to say to his mentor when he had jumped out of the tree. "I thought you wanted me to jump out on you to see if I could get to you without you noticing" Kyle said looking back at Gilan. Kyle heard Halt mutter something behind him about apprentices only half listening and that they needed to unblock their ears. Mark looked at Kyle from the tree, he was really good at acting.
"Kyle!" Will said "No that's Mark. Where's Mark?"
"Who's Mark?" Gilan and Kyle asked at the same time.
"He's my apprentice. Did you see anyone else up in the tree's with you?" Will asked looking at the trees in the distance.
"No, I don't know anyone called Mark. Although I did hear someone shout in front of me but I thought it was Gilan getting your attention." Kyle looked apologetically at Will. He could feel the smile trying to show its self on his face.
"Why would I call for them, I was trying to sneak up on them too" Gilan said. He turned to Will and put a reassuring arm on his friends shoulder. "Don't worry Will, he probably just fell out of a tree back up the path." Mark looked down at the three rangers. He was pretty sure that Gilan and Will had fallen for the trick and he felt kind of bad for Will, who seemed genuinely scared for him but he didn't know if Halt had fallen for their trick. I guess time will tell he thought before he jumped out the tree and landed next to Kyle. The rangers jumped at the sight of another person coming out of the tree. As Mark landed more dust flew into the air making them all cough.
"You two were in on it together weren't you?" Gilan asked as he realised what the fifteen year olds had done. "You knew that we were all expecting our own apprentice to jump out of the tree to make the others jump, so we wouldn't realise there were two of you up there." The two apprentices smiled. Their plan had worked maybe on Gilan and Will, they still were not sure if it had worked on Halt.
"I knew they were both there" Halt said as if everyone else was stupid. Gilan and Will raised one eyebrow at their former mentor.
"Well done, that was the sought of thing I was doing when I was apprenticed to Halt, but none of the plans actually worked because I needed someone else to help." Gilan said smiling at his apprentice.
"Yes it could be that but I think it was more the fact that you didn't have a big enough brain capacity to think the entire plan through" Halt said looking at Gilan. Kyle and Mark looked around at the rangers. Gilan had his eye brow raised again, Halt was as emotionless as always and Will was looking at them with the death glare. Mark couldn't help feeling slightly scared as Will carried on looking at them.
"Well look on the Brightside, at least you got Will to be quiet" Halt said patting Will on the shoulder. Will turned his death glare onto Halt who raised one eyebrow at him, he was clearly not fazed by Will glaring at him.
"You do know that I am not afraid of you and you are more afraid of me." Halt said without a trace of a smile on his face. Mark climbed onto Bolt and Kyle climbed onto his horse Sky. All five of them rode the rest of the way to the gathering together. This was Mark and Kyle's first gathering so they were both excited and nervous about it.
Halt, Gilan, Will, Mark and Kyle rode over the hill on their horses and looked at the gathering grounds at the bottom. There were small green tents everywhere and there was a larger one in the middle. They rode down the hill and got off their horses. Mark followed the others into the gathering grounds. All around him there were men in brown and green sitting around green tents. Outside every group of tents was a fire that had rangers sitting round it. Mark could smell the strong aroma of coffee every time he walked past a fire. Even after he had passed the fire he could still smell the coffee slightly. There was laughter as friends met friends and jokes were made. They found an area that was big enough for five tents and five horses, they all set up their tents and then Halt, Gilan and Will went to the commandant leaving Kyle and Mark to make a fire. Mark and Kyle collected some fire wood from the forest that surrounded the grounds. They got some dried leaves that would burn easier for kindling and built the fire. As they set it alight Mark busied himself making coffee, making sure that there was enough for the five of them. When the coffee was ready they both poured themselves a mug and put a spoonful of honey in it.
"I see Halt's habits have been passed further down in the generations." Mark and Kyle both turned round. A ranger with strawberry blonde hair was looking at them. "I am Crowley, Corps commandant" Crowley said sitting down with Kyle and Mark. Crowley gestured to the coffee that was on the fire and Mark nodded whilst Kyle gave him a mug. Crowley licked his lips as he poured himself some coffee into the mug. He took a satisfying sip and then sighed in delight at the taste.
"Does every ranger sigh when they have a sip of coffee?" Mark whispered to Kyle.
"It would seem so" Kyle said out the corner of his mouth. They didn't seem to realise that Crowley was listening in to their conversation.
"You two can make good coffee, so who is who's apprentice?" Mark being the shyer of the two let Kyle go first.
"I'm Kyle, Gilan's apprentice" he said shaking Crowley's hand.
"Mark, Wills apprentice." Mark shook Crowley's hand and smiled. Crowley had a strong grip which Mark guessed was from where Crowley was using a bow all day.
"Nice to meet you both, are you nervous about the test tomorrow?" he asked. They both nodded their heads. "Good." Crowley took another sip of the coffee and Mark heard another satisfying sigh.
"Good?" Mark asked not understanding what Crowley meant. He looked at Kyle and saw he was confused too. Good, I'm not being stupid Mark thought.
"Yes good. If you don't get nervous then that isn't to greater thing, for starters I would think you were both slightly full of your self's. It is good to be a little nervous, if you're too nervous you might mess up but a little could improve the way you act as you will be concentrating more on not messing up and would see more mistakes that you were doing." Crowley looked at the two apprentices in front of him. He could tell that they both understood. He drained the last of his coffee. "It was nice to meet you both but I better go people will probably be looking for me. Crowley got up to leave when Will, Halt and Gilan appeared.
"Your right about people looking for you" was all Halt said.
"We have been looking for you, we got to your tent and found you weren't there" Will said.
"Well I have been getting to know Mark and Kyle" Crowley said, "Come on we will go back there now." The four rangers left leaving Mark and Kyle on their own again. Mark got up and picked up his bow and arrows then walked off to the archery range calling for Kyle to come with him. The archery range was basically next to their camp, it was about ten metres away. They could still see their tents clearly whilst practising their shooting so if anyone tried to take something from there then they would see. Not that either of them expected someone too, they trusted the other rangers even though they didn't know most of them. Mark could hear the soft thud as arrows and knives went into the targets at the other end of the field. There was a hiss as Kyle pulled out his throwing knife.
"Whoever's knife gets closest to the centre pays the other three coins" Kyle said.
"Deal" Mark knew it wasn't the best idea as the throwing knife was his weakness but he wasn't going to say no. Kyle pulled back his arm and threw the knife at the target ahead of him. It wasn't in the bull's eye but it was in the ring around it. Mark sighed; this really wasn't a good idea. He pulled out his throwing knife and threw it at the target. There was a soft thud as the knife made contact. His knife hadn't hit the bull's eye either, it was about two centimetres further away than Kyle's.
"I win" Kyle said.
Mark looked at him "You're good. If I fire an arrow closer to the centre I don't have to pay you the money." Kyle nodded, he didn't mind if Mark did pay him or not it was just a bit of fun. Mark went first. He pulled back on the string of his bow and fired at the target. It hit the centre and Mark smiled, he then let Kyle have a go. Kyle hit the bull's eye too but because Marks was slightly closer to the middle of the target he didn't have to pay Kyle any money.
"Well done" Kyle said as they walked towards the target to retrieve their arrows. They practised for another hour and then took a break. They headed back to the tents and waited for the others to get back. When Will, Halt and Gilan got back they had tea, then Gilan went and practised with his bow, Halt followed him leaving Will with Mark and Kyle.
"What's it like having Will as your mentor?" asked Kyle.
"It's the same as it would be for you." Mark didn't understand why Kyle wanted to know.
"Well yeah but Will is a well known ranger isn't he. I mean like having Gilan as my mentor and if someone told me that I could change mentors I wouldn't want to, I was just wondering what it was like with Will after everything he has done." Kyle looked at Mark who was now very confused. "You don't know how well known he is do you?"
"No" Mark said honestly "I didn't grow up in Araluen"
"Oh, where are you from then?"
"Celtica, my village was attacked and Will and Halt found me and my sister." Mark said. "What is this about Will being well known?" Kyle was about to answer his friends question when they heard someone clear their throat behind them. Will was leaning against the tree behind them.
"How long have you been there?" asked Mark.
"I've been here the whole time you have been talking." They needed to work on their observational skills Will thought. They sat in silence again and then Mark asked Will what he had done as a ranger.
Will explained about the time he became a ranger and all about Morgarath and the Kalkara. Mark and Kyle sat and listened as if they were ten listening to a bed time story. Will then went on to explain about burning Morgarath's bridge and how he and Evanlyn/Cassandra were taken and sold as slaves in Skandia. Kyle had heard about Wills adventures before from villagers but he knew that they were usually far from the truth. When he heard it from Will he knew it was the truth.
"Is that why your second name is Treaty?" asked Mark.
"Yes, I got that name from Crowley when I became a ranger. No one knows my parents second name so I grew up without one." Will then carried on with what he had done up to going to Nihon-Ja to help Horace and the Emperor. Mark looked at his mentor. He didn't realise his mentor was so well known.
"You're famous" said Mark.
"Well I wouldn't say I am famous." Will felt his face redden at what the two boys were saying.
"Yeah you are. Everyone knows who you are" said Kyle backing up what his friend had said. Mark couldn't believe he didn't know any of what Will had just said. Will then spent another hour talking to Mark and Kyle about being a ranger and the sought of things you do on missions. Hearing all of this made Mark want to become a ranger even more. Halt and Gilan came back at about nine and they all went to sleep at ten.
Mark woke up and climbed out of his tent. Will, Halt and Gilan were outside already enjoying cups of coffee. Mark walked over to them and yawned. He took a mug of coffee from Will and smiled his appreciation. "Thanks" he said sitting up against a tree. Mark sat comfortably up against the tree for about half an hour before Kyle finally woke up. By that time all the coffee was gone except for a mug that Mark had kept for Kyle even though Halt strongly disagreed. "If he wanted coffee then he should have got up earlier" Halt had said.
"Yes but it would be unfair if we drank all of it and didn't leave him any. Anyway there are four of us, who would have it if we don't leave it for Kyle?" Gilan asked. Halt raised his arms as if it was obvious.
"Cause that's fair isn't it?" Will scoffed shaking his head at his former mentor.
Kyle walked over and sat between Gilan and Mark. Mark handed him the coffee, there had been many arguments over it most of them including Halt. Kyle took a sip and let out a deep sigh. Halt glared at him as Kyle took another sip. Halt carried on glaring at Kyle, Will could tell that Halt was making him uncomfortable. He elbowed Halt hard in the ribs, Halt turned his glare on Will. Now Will was starting to feel uncomfortable.
"Maybe Mark and Kyle should practise before they start of the test" Will said seeing if Gilan agreed. Gilan agreed and told them that they should probably practice the throwing knife and the bow as they were definitely going to be tested on them. Mark, Kyle, Gilan and Will got up and headed to the archery range.
"Are you going to come Halt?" Will said. Halt picked up a bucket of water and poured it over the fire and followed them to the archery range. They practised for an hour with the bow and then an hour with the knives. Will, Halt and Gilan watched their every move and corrected them whenever something was wrong. At midday a ranger walked over with two kids behind him. It was Meralon.
"It's time for the first part of their test. I am afraid you will have to go." Meralon watched as the three rangers did what they were told and walked back to their tents. "You must be Mark and Kyle this is Jake and Ben." He pointed to everyone as he said their names so that everyone knew who was who. Jake was small for his age like everyone else in the ranger corps beside Gilan. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. Ben had black hair that was slightly longer than Jakes. Ben was about average height for his age and had green eyes under his fringe which was covering them slightly. "Right you will be tested with your bow and throwing knife with me" Meralon said "Right Jake your first you fire ten arrows at the first target, you let me check them, then when I am safely out of the way you throw your knife at the target. I will then check that and then Ben you will do the same on the second target, Kyle on the third and Mark on the forth." He looked at the four nodding apprentices in front of him. "Good" he moved out of the way so that Jake could shoot. All of Jake's arrows went into the bull's eye or just outside of it and his knife was about three centimetres of. Meralon recorded what he saw on a piece of paper then let Ben go. Ben hit the bull's eye with his knife and most of the arrows were in it too. Kyle then went, his knife was better than before and hit the centre of the target. Seven of his arrows hit the bull's eye and three were very close around it.
Mark waited for Meralon to move out of the way and then fired his arrows in quick succession. He was relieved when the final one hit the target. Eight of them had hit the bull's eye and the furthest one from it was only two centimetres away. Meralon went and checked then recorded what he saw on the paper. He then moved to the side and let Mark throw the knife. Mark could feel his heart pumping. Out of everything he had been practising as an apprentice so far, he struggled with the throwing knife the most. He pulled it from its sheath and held it in front of him. He pulled his arm back and then forward releasing the knife from his hand as he did this. The knife went spinning across the field and slammed into the target with a pleasing thud. Mark smiled when he saw where it had landed. It wasn't on the bull's eye like Mark had wanted but it was very close. It was the best he had done so far and he had done it on the day he needed to the most. Meralon recorded what he saw again and then looked at the apprentices.
"Right you can collect your arrows and knife and then you can go back to your tents. At two go to that commandant tent and wait there." Meralon walked off in the direction of the commandant tent. They had all done well. He gave Crowley the paper with the notes on and told his views on the apprentices. He then left and went back to his own tent.
At two Mark and Kyle walked over to the commandant tent. Ben and Jake were already there talking about what they thought the last part of the test would be. "I think it will be fighting" Ben said.
"Maybe, it could be unseen movement though."Jake turned round and saw Mark and Kyle "Hey"
"Hi" Mark said walking over to them. "Do you know what the last bit of the test is? Do you know who will be taking it?" he asked smiling.
"I will be taking the test and it is on unseen movement" said a voice from inside the commandant tent. Mark, Ben, Jake and Kyle turned to look at the entrance to the tent. Crowley walked out in the green and browns of the ranger uniform. He had the hood of his cloak pulled over his head so you could only just see his strawberry blonde hair sticking out the sides of it. Mark along with everyone else felt his stomach not with nerves. The person that was going to decide whether they became apprentices or not was going to take the last test which meant if they made a mistake Crowley would see it firsthand. Crowley walked to the edge of the forest and gestured for them to follow him. They got to the edge of the forest, Mark saw one small flag at the edge of the forest and saw another flag about twenty metres away from the first.
"You will start at one flag and you have to get to the other flag without being seen by me or by your friends" he said. Crowley knew that he would be able to see them as they weren't even apprentices yet and he was and had been a fully fledged ranger for years, but he wanted to see how good they were with the few months training they had had. Also he had Halt hiding somewhere watching them from a different angle and he wanted to see if the apprentices saw him.
"Who would like to go first?" Crowley asked. No one volunteered which was what he expected, after all who would chose to take a test first. He waited a few more seconds but still no one came forward, he was about to speak again when Mark stepped forward. He just wanted to get it over with.
"I, I will Ranger Crowley" Mark said, stuttering because of his nerves. Mark stood there waiting to see what Crowley said.
"OK Mark and just call me Crowley" Crowley said with a smile. Mark stepped over to the flag. Like Mark's cloak it fluttered in the breeze. Mark waited for Crowley to say he could go when he got the feeling that someone was watching him. He ignored it, it was just Crowley and the others he thought to himself. He looked over at Crowley and saw that he was just sorting out some papers so he waited. Mark got the feeling that someone was watching him again. He turned round and looked into the forest. There was no one, he got a sense of 'Déjà vu' back when he had met Will in the woods back at Redmont. He went to turn round when a thought came to him. No one ever looks up. He looked up into the trees above him. He thought he saw a figure in the trees but it was hard to tell. The figure blended in with the back ground making it hard for him to make out any exact features like an arm or leg. He shrugged it off but was very cautious and listening to any sound behind him. His eyes glanced back but he made sure his head didn't move. Crowley saw this and a slight smile touched his lips. Crowley nodded his head towards the flag to signal that Mark could go when he felt ready.
Mark saw Crowley nod his head and knew that he could start. He waited for the wind to blow and then stepped into the shadows that were cast across the ground. He moved with them and got to a tree where he waited again for the shadows to move. Instead of going in front of the tree where he would be more visible he went to the back of it and moved with the shadows. He seemed to glide across the field in the shadows making him hard to see. He got to a bush and waited behind it. He could still feel a pair of eyes on him that were not meant to be watching but he resisted the need to look behind him. It took him about six minutes to get from one flag to the other, about double the time it would take him if he ran. He could have made it faster but he knew it was safer to go slow and take his time so that he didn't make any mistakes.
Mark walked over to the group and waited for Crowley who was writing notes on paper again. He looked back to the trees and could see nothing but he knew someone was there. Mark waited whilst the other three took their goes. About forty minutes later everyone was done and Crowley was writing notes again. "Good you can go now and I will let you know how you did later on at the feast." Crowley walked of back towards the commandant tent. He looked into the forests and moved his head slightly in the direction of his tent. Kyle elbowed Mark in the ribs, it wasn't meant to be hard but it was and Mark let out a groan.
"What was...that for?" Mark said between breaths. He took in a deep breath, all the air was knocked out of him as Kyle had elbowed him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard. I was going to say look at that tree." Kyle moved his eyes to the tree he was talking about. Mark followed and saw someone climb down the tree. "Crowley knew he was there, he just signalled him to come down" Kyle said. The figure pulled back the hood of his cloak.
"It's Halt." Mark and Kyle looked at Halt. "He was watching us." Halt walked past them and stopped.
"You two should be getting back to the tents. I am sure Will and Gilan will want to know how it went" Halt said walking into the distance. Mark and Kyle walked to the tents and were greeted by Will and Gilan. They discussed everything that happened. Will and Gilan were already confident with their apprentices before they came to the gathering.
-LINE BREAK-
Mark sat at the long table where all fifty rangers and the apprentices were sitting. He was sat next to Gilan and another ranger that he didn't know. Halt sat opposite him and Will and Kyle sat on either side of Halt. Every ranger had a cup of coffee and Will, Halt, Gilan, Mark and Kyle had honey in theirs. The feast was to celebrate Evan, a fifth year apprentice, becoming a full ranger. Everyone was happy for him and where congratulating him. After everyone sat back down in their seats Crowley stood up.
"Congratulations Evan well done. Right today is the last day of the gathering before we all go back to our fiefs and get on with what we are trained to do. Like usual I am going to assign people to new fiefs" Crowley shouted. He pulled out a piece of paper and read what it said. "As we all know Lewis Ranger forty has retired so if he would like to come up." Lewis got out of his seat and walked over to Crowley. He took of his silver necklace and gave it to Crowley. Crowley put it in his pocket and handed Lewis another necklace with an oak leaf on. This one was gold to show that he was a retired ranger, he also handed Lewis a scroll with the oak leaf stamped onto the wax. "Lewis will be joining me at Castle Araluen to help me with my paper work. Connor you will be taking Lewis's place at Aspien fief which means that seacliff fief has no ranger. Evan you will be taking Connor's place at Seacliff. You will have three days to say good bye to your family and then you will leave for Seacliffe." Crowley looked to Evan to see if he understood. Like everyone else Mark clapped for Evan, Lewis and Connor.
"All we have to do now is welcome our new apprentices who have all passed the test. Mark, Jake, Kyle and Ben would you come up here" Mark got up and walked over to Crowley along with the other three. They got to the top of the table and Crowley gave each of them a bronze necklace with a bronze oak leaf on. He shook their hands and congratulated them and then they all sat back down in their seats.
"Well done" Will said patting Mark on the back.
"Thanks" Mark replied. He was speechless and that was all he could think to say. Gilan and Halt came over and they both congratulated him too. Mark walked over to Kyle.
"Wow" Kyle said "I can't believe it"
"You didn't think you would pass?" Mark said purposely misunderstanding.
"No, I mean I can't believe that I am a apprentice ranger and you know that. It's something that I have wanted to be for years and my parents were always telling me that there wasn't much chance of Gilan picking me." Kyle looked up at Gilan and smiled, Gilan smiled back.
"Well my friend, you got what you wanted" Mark said with a smile on his face, he put his arm on Kyle's shoulder.
"And so have you." Kyle put his arm on Marks shoulder and they both laughed. Mark couldn't believe it he was now definitely an apprentice. He walked away from Kyle and left him with Gilan.
"Well done Mark, I knew you could do it" Will said smiling at his apprentice.
"I was a bit nervous at first but I knew that I could do it if I wanted to." Mark smiled back "Thanks."
Will looked confused "For what."
"For this, I lost everything except for my sister in my life but now it is starting to rebuild around me. If you hadn't asked me to be your apprentice then I don't know what I would be doing right now" Mark said smiling. It was because of Will that he had something to do in his life now.
Hello again. I hope you liked it, I know this chapter was longer than my others I just hope it wasn't too long. Do you think I should split it into two chapters? Also do you like Kyle? I wanted someone that Mark would be able to go on his missions for the corps with that was the same age as him. I apologise again for taking so long to upload. As always comment, criticize, fav and follow but if you do criticize please don't be to mean and tell me what is wrong and why.