Chapter 10

"Arnoix, here is the money I promised you, you are sure you will be able to get the ships you need to carry the men you are taking with you as well as their horses and other needs?"

"Yes Garth, I have also set some aside for contingencies so I should not have to see you until I return victorious. I have been given enough men by the King to be an overpowering force and so I will be. I will return with the head of my foe and show it to you. I thank you for the loan of the money and I will repay you as soon as I get back. Their land has been prosperous while we have struggled because of their treaties so I will have plenty of plunder from which to repay you with interest."

"I wish you success." He said then raised his mug of ale. Arnoix responded with a smile and by raising his mug in return while thinking 'Once I have the spoils you won't be able to get close to me to get your repayment.'

Garth looked into his eyes and thought 'You slime, if my king had not ordered me to deal with you I would cut your throat and leave you sprawled over this table.'

Jason stood unmoving in the yard. He had a large area beside and behind his cabin that he was going to set up as a practice area. He was going to set up a few large targets that spun. On each of them would be six numbered smaller targets, about the size of a man's palm, at random points off center so when it spun it would not be the same every time. If he could figure out a way to keep them rotating as he practiced it would make moving targets and it would be quite impressive to see. But that could be added later. For now he needed targets. He built a simple tripod shape with a hollowed out section of tree trunk tied to the top with wet rawhide. As the rawhide dried it would shrink and get tighter so the center would be solid enough to hold his rotating target. He then made target of thick pine boards so it looked like a table top with one leg in the center. He coated the 'leg' with bacon grease and slid it in to the hollowed tree trunk on the top of the tripod. He gave it a spin and it rotated fine except it slowly slid out until it hung at an awkward looking angle. "Close but not quite right. I need the log tilted back slightly." He said to himself.

He cut off the rawhide and wedged a small piece of wood under the axle boss to tilt it and retied it. He then set out to build another while the rawhide dried in the sun. When he had another tripod built and another target built he went back to the first one and put it together again. He gave it a spin and it worked well enough. "Just five more like that should be good and maybe half a dozen small targets on sticks I can move easily should do." He looked around the clearing feeling that someone was watching him. He walked back to where he had left his bow and cloak, his eyes searching everywhere he could without moving his head. He saw a branch move to his left but didn't see a bird fly away but it could have been a squirrel though now that he thought of it he wasn't hearing the chatter of squirrels or the song of birds from that direction. He reached his bow and cloak but didn't pick up either. He reached up stretching his muscle as he turned slowly to the right while lowering his arms to his side, then he bent over at the waist, his left hand reaching for his toes while keeping his right by his saxe and throwing knife. As he was bent over he looked behind him and saw a hand slide a branch to one side and a familiar face watch what he was doing. He straightened up then with both hands on his hips he swayed his torso in a circle stretching his stomach and lower back muscles. He picked up his Quiver full of arrows and set it behind his right shoulder then picked up his bow. Then in a blur of motion he sent three arrows into his targets hitting three different targets almost dead center. He shook his head thinking 'not enough practice.' Then he turned toward where the branch had moved and said "You know Dylan you get a better view from over here and you likely won't get shot by someone hungry enough to eat a squirrel raw."

He heard Dylan gasp then watched as he made his way out of the trees looking ashamed that he had been caught spying. "Sorry, I just wanted to see what you did when you were at home. I thought I'd find you sitting on the porch eating or something."

"Come on over here, you don't need to be sorry for being curious. You move very quietly you know. If it wasn't for the birds stopping their singing I may not have known you were there. That's a skill that most Rangers work for years to get that good."

"I really did that good?"

"Yup. So what's your story here, you seem to be well liked at the castle and you take responsibility very well. Lord Nicholas seems to rely on you to search for people for him as does Jacob the guard. Sir Alexander seems to respect you a lot. No one seems to doubt you have been told to get them and they obey any message you bring them. That is a lot of trust put into one so young."

"You sure do notice a lot. You've only been to the castle twice and the last time was to pick up Crash."

"It's what Rangers are trained to do. We notice things that others don't and they seem to think its magic, but most of the time it's just listening. So your story?"

"I'm a ward of the castle though sometimes I think Sir Alex thinks I'm his son. I like that, don't think I don't but I still miss my parents."

"I understand how you feel, I was a ward at castle Macindaw in Norgate fief growing up. "

"Wow, I thought Rangers were of the nobility like knights."

"No quite the opposite, most of the Rangers I've been able to talk to about their pasts have been wards of one fief or the other. There maybe a few who come from noble lineage but it's not important to us. But continue with your story"

"Well my parents and my brother died in a bad storm when a tree fell on our house. Our neighbour could see our house from his and saw what had happened the next day and came over and dug me out. That was two years ago and I'm still a little freaked out during storms. I was brought to the castle and Lord Nicholas took me in. He insists that I attend school which I don't really like but I do it. That's about it."

"So why do they trust you with the responsibilities they do?"

"I guess because I try not to let them down. Also I was taught that to lie to someone was the worst kind of disrespect you could show, and I really respect all of the people at the castle. I also think it's because I try to do everything the best that I can, the way my father did. It's my way of remembering my parents and showing others that I still love them even though they are gone." As he said this his eyes misted and he sniffled a little bit.

Jason looked at him impressed by the maturity the boy had. "So what do you want to do in the future? Have you thought about that?"

"I've thought about it but I really don't know. Blacksmithing looks really interesting, I love watching him form a pile of nothing into a tool or a sword. Personally I think tools are more useful in the long run but everything has a purpose. I also marvel at how buildings are made and would love to learn how to build things so other children won't lose their parents the way I did."

"You have very noble goals. I hope you find the path that best suits you. Staying in school even though it is not your favorite thing to do will help you in your future, especially if you want to build things safely. I hear there is a lot of math involved in that. At Macindaw, we had a choosing day in our fifteenth year, is that the same here?"

"Yeah, I have a few of years to go yet but I would like to know what I'm good at before then. And no matter what I choose to do I want to be someone who can help in a time of crisis. And I thought if I could learn to use the bow I could be. That's really why I came out here today, to ask if you could teach me how to use a bow."

"Your parents would be proud of the man you already are. I look forward to seeing the man you become. Yes I will teach you to use a bow, but you will need to practice every day in order to build the muscle you need and to keep the skills you gain. Are you prepared to do that?"

With a look of determination in his face he answered "Yes."

"Good. I'll have to make a bow for you to start with as my bow is a little too heavy for you right now. In the meantime, you could ask Alex if there is a bow at the castle you could use. They might have a one good enough then I won't have to make you one. When you ask about the bow also ask for a finger guard and an arm guard."

"I'll go ask Sir Alex now, if that's ok with you."

"The sooner we get you a proper bow to train with the better you'll be when trouble arrives. Give him my regards when you see him." With that Dylan took off down the trail to Highcliff road.

Jason sat on the edge of the porch thinking of what he would have to do to teach Dylan well and realized he better finish his targets or there would be no teaching at all. He got up and went back to where he had his pile of materials and put together four more tripods and spaced them out around his back yard. He then set about building the rotating targets. It was getting dark when he finished these so he set it all aside and went to make supper. He thought of going to the coffee shop for dinner but decided that he had better eat the food he had or it would go to waste. 'Save the coffee shop for when I don't have food here' he thought.