Ok, Chapter 12 is up. I wasn't sure how to work this chapter since this is the chap. that introduces Tug. Let me know if this feels right because I am scarred to write 14 till I know if this came off right.
Ok I don't own Ranger's Apprentice if I did Alyss would still be alive and Gil and Jenny would be married.
The Ruins of Gorlan: Chapter 12
After a good breakfast and the Rangers having a good long ride. The group returned for a second day of reading. Cassandra picked up the book lying on the table and flipped to the next chapter. Everyone snagged their spots and waited patiently for her to began (well some did others were bouncing eagerly in their seats).
HALT EXAMINED THE TARGET WIILL HAD BEEN SHOTTING AT, and nodded.
"Not bad at all," he said. "Your shooting is definitely improving."
Will couldn't help grinning. That was high praise indeed fro Halt. Halt saw the expression and immediately added, "With more practice- a lot more practice-you might even achieve mediocrity."
Almost everyone glared at Halt. Crowley seemed to be enjoying this laughing hysterically. Gilan was chuckling too happy someone else was having to put up with Halt's famous sarcasm. Pauline was still giving Halt a disapproving look.
"Crowley should you really allow Halt to teach?" Arlad asked he had a soft spot for Will and like a few of the others in the room thought Halt was way too hard on him.
"Don't worry my friends Halt isn't training anyone else" Crowley said reassuringly and everyone sighed with relief.
"Thank God" Halt commented earning a jab from Pauline and a roar of laughter from the others.
Will wasn't absolutely sure what mediocrity was, Crowley smirked at this but he sensed it wasn't good. The grin faded and Halt dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand.
"That's enough shooting for now. Let's go," he said and set off, striding down a narrow path through the forest.
"Where are we going?" Will asked, half running to keep up with the Ranger's longer strides.
Halt looked up at the trees above him.
"Why does this boy ask so many questions?" he asked the trees.
Everyone was laughing hard. Halt asking questions to someone other than the person themselves was Halt's favorite way of avoiding a question and everyone knew it. Pauline of course was the one to find it less amusing then the others as she found it slightly annoying.
Naturally, they didn't answer.
They walked for an hour before they came to a small collection of buildings buried deep in the forest.
"Well bother" Halt said looking over at Crowley. Will's eyes were wide with alarm. Cassandra noticing this stopped reading. Horace had a pretty good idea of what was happening.
"What's up?" Cassandra asked.
"Will will be introduced to Tug in this chapter then it is only a matter of time before both his and my secret is revealed" Halt said gloomily.
"What do you mean?" Cassandra asked.
To Halt's surprise Horace was the one to answer, "Ranger horses have a specific phrase they are trained to respond to. If a person doesn't know said phrase then the horse will buck like a maniac till you get off" Horace replied.
"And how precisely do you know that Horace?" Halt asked. He knew Horace was part of their task force but as far as he knew Horace didn't know about the code phrase.
"When we were in Celtic, Will explained it to me in case something happened to him. It was Gil's idea" Horace said.
Halt snorted. "That makes sense I suppose. The question is what should we do about it?" Halt asked.
"We knew this was coming" Crowley said. "You and Will will not like it but we are all friends here and I seriously doubt any of us will ever need to use the phrase, but I say let's go for it" Crowley added.
Halt and Will exchanged a glance.
"Anyone gets on Abelard without my knowledge so help me I will shoot you and I mean it" Halt replied.
Will thought about this then nodded, "I guess it will be ok but no one should ride Tug without my say so." Will said then he looked over at Gil.
"You should have a say in this as well Gil. You tell me Blaze's phrase latter" Will said. Gilan bit his lip. Halt felt for him, no Ranger liked to give up their code phrase. Crowley gave the three of them a look of sympathy.
"Ok fine" Gilan said unhappily but like Will and Halt he had the sense to understand that the story wouldn't be complete without telling everything.
Will was aching to ask more questions. But he'd learned by now that Halt wasn't going to answer them, so he held his tongue and bided his time. Sooner or later, he knew, he'd learn why they'd come here.
Halt led the way up to the largest of the ramshackle huts, then stopped, signaling for Will to do likewise.
"Hullo, Old Bob!" he called.
"Who was there when you got Blaze?" Will asked.
"Just Bob, they seem to like the name don't they?" Gilan asked chuckling.
Will heard someone moving inside the hut, then a wrinkled, bent figure appeared in the doorway. His beard was long and matted and a dirty white color. He was almost completely bald. As he moved toward them, grinning and nodding a greeting to Halt, Will caught his breath. Old Bob smelled like a stable. And a none too clean one at that.
"Well duh he is around horses regularly of course he will smell like a stable. Ulf does too" Halt replied sarcastically and everyone laughed.
"Morning to you, Ranger!" said Old Bob. "Who's this you've brung to see me?"
He looked keenly at Will. The eyes were bright and very alert, despite his dirty, unkempt appearance.
"This is Will, my new apprentice," said Halt. "Will, this is Old Bob"
"Good morning, sir," said Will politely.
The old man cackled.
"Calls me sir! Hear that, Ranger, calls me sir! Make a fine Ranger, this one will!"
Will smiled at him. Dirty as he might be, there was something likable about Old Bob-perhaps it was the fact that he seemed to be in no way overawed by Halt. Will couldn't remember seeing anyone speaking to the grim-faced Ranger in quite this familiar tone before. "Oh how true" Will said and the others nodded. Halt grunted impatiently.
"Are they ready" he asked. The old man crackled again and nodded several times.
"Ready they are indeed!" he said. "Step this way and see them."
He led them to the back of the hut, where a small paddock was fenced off. At the far side, there was a lean-to shed. Just a roof and supporting posts. No walls. Old Bob let out a piercing whistle that made Will jump.
Gilan chuckled at this and Will glared at him.
"There they are, see?" he said pointing to the lean-to.
Will looked and saw two small horses trotting across the yard to greet the old man. As they came closer, he realized that one was a horse, the other was a pony. But both were small, shaggy animals, nothing like the fierce, sleek battlehorses that the Baron and his knights rode to war.
"Everyone wants a battlehorse" Halt said sarcastically, "there is more to a horse then size and looks" Halt added somewhat offended. He had seen the same reaction from Gilan too of course Gilan did have sort of a excuse battlehorses were the only horses he knew. Will on the other hand didn't know a lot about horses to begin with.
"Ranger horses are much better" Crowley said in support to Halt. Even the knights in the room had to agree with that one.
The larger of the two trotted immediately to Halt's side. He patted it's neck and handed it an apple from a bin close by the fence. "And you get onto us for feeding our horses apples" Gilan complained. "It was one apple not four or five Gil" Halt replied. The horse crunched it gratefully. Halt leaned forward and said a few words into its ear. The horse tossed its head and neighed, as if it were sharing some private joke with the Ranger.
"What joke might that be dear" Pauline asked. Halt hid a grin.
"I asked him if he thought apprentices were a pain and he said yes" Halt replied straight faced.
"Hey!" Will and Gilan cried glaring at Halt. Crowley was roaring with laughter fortunately the others were much more controlled.
The pony waited by Old Bob until he had given it an apple to crunch as well. Then it turned one large, intelligent eye on Will.
"This 'un's called Tug," said the old man. "He looks about your size, don't he?"
He passed the rope bridle to Will, who took it and looked into the horse's eyes. He was a shaggy little beast. His legs were short, but sturdy. His body was barrel shaped. His mane and tail were ragged and unbrushed. All in all, as horses went, he wasn't a very impressive sight thought Will.
Halt snorted angrily again. Duncan watched him with amusement it seemed as if Halt was taking Will's dislike of the horse as a insult to all Ranger horses Abelard included. While Rangers may find their horses annoying from time to time none of them liked to hear them insulted by someone else.
He'd always dreamt of the horse he would one day ride into battle: in those dreams, the horse was tall and majestic. It was fierce and jet black, combed and brushed until it shone like black armor.
This horse almost seemed to sense what he was thinking and butted its head gently against his shoulder.
I may not be very big,its eyes seemed to say, but I might just surprise you.
"That he has" Will said.
"Well," said Halt. "What do you think of him?" He was fondling the other horse's soft nose. They were obviously old friends. Will hesitated. He didn't want to offend anyone.
"He's sort of…small," he said finally.
"So are you," Halt pointed out. Will couldn't think of an answer to that. Old Bob wheezed with laughter.
Gilan was shaking his head. In his mind Will was the ideal height for a Ranger. While Gilan during his apprenticeship had had some issues with his own size finding it a point of some very unpleasant jokes. Halt understanding this didn't add to Gil's burden by bringing his height up any chance he got. Gilan was thankful for that. Halt caught Gil's head shake and gave a small nod in his direction.
"He ain't no battlehorse, are he, boy?" he asked.
"Well…no, he isn't" Will said awkwardly. He liked Bob and he felt any criticism of the pony might be taken personally. But old Bob simply laughed again.
"But he'll run any of those fine fancy-looking battlehorses into the ground!" he said proudly. He's a strong 'un, this 'un. He'll keep going all day, long after them fancy horses have laid down and died."
Both Alyss and Pauline were frowning at the grammar mistakes throughout the sentence. While Halt showed no outward signs of laughter he was chuckling on the inside. It was nice to have them frown at someone else's grammar instead of his for a change.
Will looked at the shaggy little animal doubtfully.
"I am sure he will," he said politely.
Halt leaned against the paddock fence.
"Why don't you see?" he suggested. "You're fast on your feet. Turn him loose and see if you can capture him again."
"Live and learn" Halt said it was a phrase both he and Crowley knew all too well as Prichard was quiet fond of it.
Will sensed the challenge in the Ranger's voice. He dropped the rope bridle. The horse, as if realizing that this was some sort of test, skipped lightly away into the center of the small enclosure. Will ducked under the fence rails and walked softly toward the pony. He held out his hand invitingly. "Come on, boy" he said. "Stand still there."
He reached out his hand for the bridle and the little horse suddenly wheeled away. It shied to one side, then the other, then sidestepped neatly around Will and danced backward out of reach.
Everyone was laughing (except Halt of course who had a eyebrow raised none the less and Gilan who remembering his own time trying to catch Blaze once gave Will a look of sympathy).
He tried again.
Again, the horse evaded him easily. Will was beginning to feel foolish. He advanced on the horse and it backed away, moving closer and closer to one of the corners. Then, just when Will thought he had it, it nimbly danced to one side and was away again.
Will lost his temper now and ran after it. The horse whinnied in amusement and roped easily out of his reach. It was enjoying this game.
"I wasn't" Will said moodily.
And so it went. Will would approach, the horse would duck and dodge and escape. Even in the close confines of the small paddock, he couldn't catch it.
He stopped. He was conscious of the fact that Halt was watching him carefully. He thought for a moment or two. There must be a way to do it. He'd never catch a horse as light on its feet and fast-moving as this one. There must be another way…
His gaze fell on the bin of apples outside the fence. Quickly, he ducked under the rail and seized an apple. Then he went back into the paddock and stood stock-still, holding the apple out.
"Come on, boy," he said.
Tug's ears shot up. He liked apples. He also thought he liked this boy-he played this game well. Tossing his head approvingly, he trotted forward and took the apple delicately. Will seized hold of the bridle and the pony crunched the apple. If a horse could be said to look blissful, this one did.
Will looked up and saw Halt nodding approval.
"Well thought out," said the Ranger. Old Bob elbowed the gray-cloaked man in the ribs.
Everyone laughed at that as Halt rubbed his ribs. While Halt liked Old Bob he really wished the man would stop doing that.
"Clever boy, that!" he cackled. "Clever and polite! That 'un'll make a good team with Tug, won't he?"
Will patted the shaggy neck and the pricked-up ears. He looked now at the old man.
"Why do you call him Tug?" he asked.
Instantly, Will's arm was nearly torn from its socket as the pony jerked its head back. Will staggered, then regained his balance. Old Bob's braying laugh rang out around the clearing.
"See if you can guess!" he said delightedly.
His laughter was infectious and Will couldn't help smiling himself. Halt glanced up at the sun, which was fast disappearing behind the trees that fringed Old Bob's clearing and the meadows beyond.
"Take him over to the lean-to and Bob can show you how to groom him and look after his tack," he said, then adding to the old man, "We'll stay with you tonight, Bob, if that's not incontinent?"
The old horse handler nodded his head in pleasure. "I'll be glad of the company, Ranger. Sometimes I spend so much time with the horses that I start to think I'm one myself." Unconsciously, he dipped a hand into the apple barrel and selected one, absentmindedly crunching into it-much as Tug had done a few minutes earlier. Halt watched him, one eyebrow raised.
"We might be just in time," he observed dryly. "Halt that was rude" Pauline told her husband. Halt merrily shrugged. "Then, tomorrow, we'll see if Will can ride Tug as well as catch him," he said guessing as he said it that his apprentice would get very little sleep that night.
He was right. Old Bob's tiny cabin had only two rooms, so after their supper, Halt stretched out on the floor by the fireplace and Will bedded down in the warm, clean straw of the barn, listening to the gentle whiffing sounds of the two horses. The moon rose and fell as he lay wide awake, wondering and worrying over what the next day might bring. Would he be able to ride Tug? He'd never ridden a horse. Would he fall of the minute he tried?
Would he be hurt? Worse still, would he embarrass himself? He liked Old Bob and he didn't want to look foolish in front of him. Nor in front of Halt, he realized, with a little surprise. He was still wondering when Halt's good opinion had come to mean so much to him when he finally fell asleep.
Halt felt touched by that thought and suspected Gilan had the same thoughts since both of his former apprentices were watching him for some sort of reaction. Halt wasn't sure what to say he didn't know if they wanted to hear he was proud of him or if they wanted him to acknowledge what was said.
He decided to go with the first, "I am proud of the two of you. You know that right?" Halt asked and both Will and Gilan flushed with pleasure. They didn't hear Halt say that often and it meant a lot to hear it from him.
"No big secret reveled yet" Cassandra said as she handed the book to Halt.
"Just wait if it's not next chapter it is the following one" Crowley said. Halt glanced at the next chapter and shook his head.
"It's the following one. This one is about Horace" Halt said.
Enjoy