"I'm going to get Horace," Maddie helped Johnny to his feet, holding his head up so he had to look at her. "Go after Will, if the Genovesans are still there, he'll need help." Johnny gasped looking her in the eyes.
"If we have any hope of saving her, we'll need help," she explained slowly.
She could see he was exhausted, he had probably engaged in some kind of fight in the ship yard and then ran for help. Not only that but he had seen what had happened to Angie first hand. That would have been enough to stop Maddie for a few hours as an apprentice. But there was no time for him to rest.
"She needs a healer," he sobbed. "She's going to die."
"You promised you'd go back," Maddie had to snap the boy out of it. She needed him to be a battle school apprentice. "You promised her you'd go back." Johnny nodded, "then go back and help. I'm going for Horace and some help."
"What am I supposed to do?" he asked as Maddie turned to leave. He had never faced anything like this before. He had never even been in actual combat. He was just a first year apprentice.
"Do what you're trained to do," she forced an encouraging smile at the apprentice knight, patting him on the cheek like her mother use to for her. "It'll all work out."
Johnny watched the Ranger run for Hallasholm, then looked down at himself. What he was trained to do? What was he trained to do?
They had gone over so much in Hallasholm, he had learned a lot of skills in the past week. No one had told him what he was supposed to do with them. He had no idea where to even begin. He had a weapon. His hand fell to the hilt of the sword he had received that night from Olin.
He had a weapon, he could fight. He was an apprentice knight from Araluen, he was chosen from among hundreds to be trained by the King himself. He had trained with the mysterious Rangers, he could do anything.
Clenching his fist around the hilt of his sword and setting his jaw, Johnny looked back to the shipyard. Will and Angie were out there and they needed his help. He started running, the exhaustion fading in his resolve.
Reentering the shipyard was harder than running back to it. He stopped at a large pile of wooden planks looking around. He was not trained for this part; he was not trained to go sneaking around. He had watched Angie practice it, the way she watched for shadows and moved with them.
"Shadows," he muttered looking around in the darkness, "got that covered." What else did she do? Had he heard Will or Maddie say anything else? Was there even anything else to moving like the Rangers?
He sighed looking around the planks. He had to do something. Sitting on the edge of the shipyard was not helping anyone. He appeared to be alone; would they expect him to return? Would Will be expecting him so soon? Would Will mistake him for a Genovesan and shoot him with that massive long bow of his?
He had to keep going. He had made a promise to Angie, he had made the same promise to Maddie, Will would need help fighting three highly trained assassins. He had to go back for Angie.
"Just go," he ordered himself.
Moving with the shadows was a lot harder than Angie had made it look. He felt completely exposed as he tip-toed the length of the various piles of timber. With every step Johnny expected some loud noise that would give away his position, or a projectile to come flying at his head.
He collapsed against another pile, one of roughly hewn poles, breathing heavily. It was stressful, why would anyone volunteer to do something like that? He drew his sword, feeling comfort from having the solid steel in his hands.
So far so good, he sighed to himself looking around for the next place to hide. How much farther until he reached Angie? He remembered where they had been but it would take a long time for him to reach it, he realized looking over the top of the timber pile.
He was about to duck down when he saw one of the Genovesans. It was like Angie had described, purple suits with a cap and a wide brimmed hat. He had a crossbow strapped to his back as he climbed up onto a pile of logs. Johnny held his breath watching, they did not know he was there.
Slowly Johnny sunk back down, slipping his sword back in the scabbard. He could sneak up on the assassin. He felt he was skilled enough to move silently across a clear yard and over take someone not expecting an attack. His only problem would be climbing up to the Genovesan and overpowering him. Johnny drummed his fingers on his leg thinking.
Will needs my help.
But if I get hurt, it'll just be another problem for him.
But if I take this one out, that will be less of a problem.
Unless that one is meeting another one, Johnny shook his head.
I can take out one of them, he told himself sternly. Will needs my help.
He nodded several times, coming to a crouch. If he went slowly he could get there unheard. He took a deep breath, taking a firm grip on his sword and started for the Genovesan. At one point he heard the Genovesan shift, Johnny froze instantly, remembering the lecture Will and Maddie had both given multiple times over the past week.
When he started to climb up behind the Genovesan Johnny was certain he would get caught. He slipped twice, his sword banging against the wood, and once he nearly shouted after getting a splinter under his fingernail. When he reached the top, Johnny peered over cautiously half expecting the Genovesan to be standing there waiting to slit his throat.
The man was stretched out on his stomach, his crossbow loaded and trained down on people in a walkway through the supplies for the wolfships. Good, Johnny thought, he's distracted. Carefully Johnny climbed up behind the Genovesan and slipped his sword out once more.
You can do this; he gulped tightening his hold on the sword. The Genovesan never saw it coming, and thankfully made no sound. Johnny's heart was racing as he cleaned his sword off on the dead man's cloak.
One less problem, a voice in the back of Johnny's mind commented with a strange calm. Johnny gulped stretching out on the logs to see what the man had been watching. Down below he could see one of the Genovesans with his crossbow aimed at two figures on the ground. He looked up for the other Genovesan.
Across the way Johnny could see the tip of the purple hat, there was a glint from the tip of a crossbow bolt reflecting from the sputtering torch Johnny had dropped when Angie had pushed him out of harm's way. How was he supposed to get over there? Could he even pull of his sneak attack twice?
No, it had been dumb luck that he had managed a sneak attack once. Johnny looked over to the dead man, an idea forming in his mind. It was probably a horrible idea, and it would most likely get him shot by Will's long bow.
Slowly Johnny reached out for the wide brimmed purple hat and slipped it on his own head. It sort of fit, he pushed it back to sit on the back of his head so he could see and started to unclasp the odd cloak from the man's shoulders. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered fastening the cloak over his own.
The crossbow felt odd in his hands. He was not trained to use it and he was not at all sure if he even could. He grunted pulling the weapon over to himself and started down the back side of the log pile.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he recalled a lesson Will had told Angie. People will see what they expect to see; hopefully the hat, cloak, and crossbow would be enough. He started around to sneak up on and hopefully shoot one of the Genovesans.
"We have been looking for you," the Genovesan standing before Will was saying. "We have not forgotten the shame your kind brought us in Hibernia."
"I was doing my duty," Will returned. "They were trying to kill us."
"Better that they had, we would not have had to agree to work for these filthy seawolves."
Had to agree? Johnny slipped behind the frame of a wolfship, listening. That made no sense; Will had said the Genovesans were assassins for hire. They could have turned the Skandians down.
"And now, signor, you will die, like the child at your feet."
If Johnny had not been watching he would not have believed what happened. The Genovesans fired, he heard the sound of both arrows whizzing through the air toward Will. Will ducked beneath both of them, drawing an arrow from his quiver as he rolled from Angie. His first shot took out the assassin hiding up above.
The remaining Genovesan lifted a second crossbow and trained it on Will, where he was kneeling on the edge of the area where Johnny had cleared to wood from Angie. Will had another arrow nocked and drawn aiming at the Genovesan's chest.
"Surrender," Will shouted. "My arrow will reach you before you can even fire."
"I have a touchy trigger," the man smiled at Will. "My aim is always true."
"As is mine," Will allowed a slight smile to touch his lips. "And I have back up."
"Oh," the Genovesan sighed, "no, the child is broken." He looked with feigned sadness to where Angie lay on the ground. "I however do have assistance. One of my comrades is behind us."
Johnny felt his body tense. They knew he was hiding behind the frame, Will was going to shoot him. The Genovesan was going to shoot him too, once he realized that he was an apprentice not his partner. His mind flew into action, thinking about how his life was so close to an end he could already feel the never ending cold creeping up his spine.
"And he will take care of the child while I deal with you."
Johnny rose to his feet, pulling the wide brimmed hat low to hide his face from view. What was he doing? He was walking to his death; that was all he was doing. He held his sword pressed to his side, the crossbow holding the cloak open. Johnny knew his ruse was about to fall apart, the tip of his sword reached past the hem of the short man's cloak, the blue tunic he wore would never pass for purple, his own cloak caused the purple cloak to hang awkwardly on his shoulders.
At least you killed one of them, his mind had an eerie calm tone.
I'm about to die, he found it easy to accept. He had killed one of the Genovesans, his death might even allow Will to finish off the last one, unless Will wasted his next shot on Johnny. He raised his head, trying to catch Will's eye, trying to signal that he was not a Genovesan assassin.
Johnny stopped standing just behind the Genovesan, releasing his sword as he raised the crossbow. His heart was hammering in his chest, he looked between Will and Angie; was she even still breathing? He looked to Will again, his mind calling out for Will to realize who he was. Their eyes locked and he saw the recognition flash through the Ranger's deep brown eyes.
"It seems we've all miscalculated," Will turned back to the assassin.
Johnny shot the crossbow into the Genovesan's back straight through his heart, "She's not dead is she?" he dropped the crossbow and pealed the hat off his head. "Tell me she's not dead."