Chapter 25

"Can I visit Princess Cassandra?" Will asked.

"She has refused access to anyone in her chambers at the moment." One of the tall guards guarding Cassandra's chamber door answered.

"Come on, you've said that for the past 3 days I have tried to see her." Will complained. The guard shrugged as though he couldn't care less and his anger flared. He had been trying to visit the princess to explain his decision for more than three days consecutively and yet every day he heard the same answer from those stupid guards! He had had enough of this. Today he was going to see her and nothing was stopping him, not even the idiotic guards who looked as though they could tear him in half.

"Look just for 2 seconds, let me in I need to talk to her." He pleaded. The guard was unfazed by Will's desperation and firmly shook his head. The second guard now opened his mouth.

"I told you that you cannot enter, ask again and we will have to eradicate you from this building." The second guard now spoke warningly. Will knew the guards were being serious this time. He also knew that they had more important things to be guarding the princess from than a skinny seventeen year old boy, and a surge of recklessness seized him.

"I don't care. I am not leaving here until I see her." Will said in a loud carrying voice. He wanted Cassandra to hear his struggles so that she could open the door and let him in. The guards looked at each other and he could see the rising colour in their faces and they looked completely insulted. Nobody ever spoke to Royal Araluan guards that way unless they were looking for a beating. Indeed one of them looked as though he had been smacked with a very hard object in the stomach. It was almost worth getting punished to see their reactions.

"Right. This is the limit." The first guard shouted. They both advanced on him and Will, with his fast reflexes ducked under the first guard who had his arms outstretched trying to put him in a choke hold. However there were two guards and he had only just got up when the second guard tackled him roughly onto the floor. He yelled, as his head banged against the stone floor, while the two guards wrestled him still. He was putting up a fairly good fight for someone who was being outnumbered by professionals. The noise was now attracting a fair amount of attention as Will wriggled and squirmed his way out of the two guards' grips. Unfortunately more men arrived at the scene to help them, as they clearly thought Will was some sort of crazed delinquent. He was wrestled to the floor yet again by these men when there was a sudden BANG!

Immediately everyone froze where they were, which put Will in a difficult position as there were still two men on top of him. He looked over the guards shoulder to see Cassandra standing in the doorway, her figure silhouetted in the sunlight from her chambers. Once again the natural light magnified her beauty yet this time Will couldn't admire it as much. Every line in her face was contorted with rage as she looked down upon the scene before her. He realised that the bang must have been when she flung open the door since it was still swinging from its hinges roughly.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" She shouted. He flinched at the sound of her voice realising how bad he must have looked. There was a tiny amount of blood trickling from his lip, his clothes were dirty and he was caught in the middle of a fight. He looked nothing like a gentleman now, which had been his original intention. He thought he would be surprised if he didn't look like a homeless peasant. Scrambling up to his feet he opened his mouth but the other 5 guards had seized him harshly and held him in place. The first guard was so furious at Will for ducking his blow he now put him in a choke hold.

"STOP IT!" Cassandra ordered, and at once the guards leapt to obedience. The first guard jumped away from Will as though he had been stung yet the other 4 continued to hold him.

"Madam he is a menace to the society-" The first guard began.

"I'm a Ranger's apprentice." Will shouted angrily. The guard now turned to face him and was about to shout back when Cassandra intervened.

"Stop it now." Cassandra ordered once again. And again the guard followed it and closed his mouth quickly. She glared at the other guards. "You four let go of him." She said angrily. They all followed her orders however this time they were a little reluctant. Will opened his mouth to thank her when she switched her furious glare to him. His speech died away in his throat and he thought that right now she looked a lot more like a princess than she ever had before. He could never remember her giving anyone a look like that when she was Evanlyn.

"Go away." She told him fiercely and made to shut the door. Will knew this was his only time to speak.

"I'm not going to leave here until you let me speak to you." He said, hoping she would let him in.

"Then I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for a very long time." She said coldly, then slammed the door in his face. Will sighed in exhaustion and turned away to see the guards eyeing him apprehensively.

"Relax I'm leaving. I can tell when I'm not wanted." He muttered the last part.

"Well you can't just go barging through her door Will, you hurt her feelings a lot." Horace said later the same day when Will explained what had happened.

"Yes I know but she's not even letting me explain why I made my choice Horace, I mean this is hurting me too." Will said angrily.

"You just have to give her more time." Horace advised.

"I've given her 3 days! Is that not enough?" He complained.

"I don't know I'm not an expert on girls am I?" Horace asked. They were walking along a winding path leading to the base of a forest, discussing Will's predicament.

"Well I just wanted to see her again before I left tomorrow morning that was all." Will muttered sadly as he kicked a small pebble in his path. Horace looked at his smaller friend with sympathy. He knew how hard the choice must have been for Will to choose his craft over the princess. He respected him all the more for not giving in to temptation but staying true to himself.

"Look maybe there is a way you can see her again." Horace said quietly so that no one could hear. Will looked at him in astonishment.

"How I've asked the guards every day if I could see her, I've tried asking her as well-"

"Well maybe you should try seeing her without her permission." Horace suggested tentatively. He was not one for breaking rules and he would have never suggested it but he knew his friend was desperate. Will's mouth hung open at his friend's statement. It was usually him who broke the rules not Horace.

"Who are you and what have you done with Horace?" Will asked suspiciously.

"Oh shut up Will." Horace reddened slightly. "Look I am trying to help you if you don't want it-" He began.

"No, no sorry continue please." Will said. Surprised though he was at his friend's suggestion he needed an alternative way to see the Crown Princess. Even if it did run the risk of him landing in a heap load of trouble.

"We-ell" Said Horace slowly. "Why don't you do what you did when you wanted to find the scroll from Baron Arald's office?"

"What scroll? You mean the one that had Halt's message of him wanting me to be his apprentice?" Will asked confused.

"What other scrolls of Baron Arald's have you stolen?" Horace asked impatiently. His logic came to Will now.

"So…you think I should climb her window and sneak into her chamber?" Will asked slowly testing the idea.

"Climb into her window? Yes. Sneak into her chamber? Of course not! What are you, a robber?" Horace asked incredulously. Will made a pacifying gesture.

"O.K fine then I guess I'll just climb to her chamber and ask her to let me in." He said. Horace smiled at him.

"See? There you go you are already learning the ways of chivalry." He said.

"Please tell me you are joking? Because this is as far from chivalry as it gets." Will said. Horace laughed, and sometime later Will joined in as well, contemplating how ridiculously dangerous this harebrained scheme was.

A few hours before nightfall Halt had come in to check on Will.

"Will, have you packed yet?" Halt asked as he came into his apprentice's guest chamber after dinner. Will was shoving down the last item of clothing when he answered.

"Yes finished just now." Will said, placing his bag on to the floor.

"Good we leave tomorrow at first light so make sure you get a good amount of sleep" Halt said.

"I know Halt no need to mother hen me." Will said. Halt raised an eyebrow at this statement and secretly wondered if he was turning into a fretful mother.

"Well excuse me for wanting to make sure you will not fall asleep in the saddle the next day, I won't make the mistake of caring about your safety again." He said coolly.

"Sorry Halt I just have a lot on my mind right now." Will said, sighing as he mentally prepared for what he was about to do.

"I will leave you to it then." Halt said as he walked out of the room. He had been counsellor enough for one week, he thought Will could solve his problems for himself. Besides, Halt thought, if he really was in trouble he would come to him and tell him in person.

Her hair shined brightly as she brushed it slowly and carefully. She had just grown her hair long and had found it was suiting her quite well, she was going to keep it that way. Gazing into the mirror at her reflection Cassandra sighed for the umpteenth time. Her thoughts were now no longer with maintaining her hair soft and nice. They had now focused, even though she willed herself not to, on Will.

Anger rose like bile within her when she thought of him. How dare he! How dare he refuse her after all she had done for him? Had their moonlight embraces and tender kisses meant nothing to him in Skandia. Had he simply used her, to make himself feel better but now once in Araluan found that he no longer had any need for her. She was Princess Cassandra. She didn't let anyone use her in that way. Yet in her heart she knew Will would never do that, he was too nice and gentle and sweet. But how much did she really know about him?

Not once had she ever heard him talk about his childhood, or the friends he had made there. Nor had he told her what it was like in the Ward growing up-

"Psshht!" A voice whispered suddenly. She jumped at the sudden sound and turned to face her window. The sound seemed to becoming from outside. Yet that was impossible she thought, no one could climb up that high. Unless it was a thief but she dismissed the idea immediately. A thief wouldn't make their presence known if they were about to rob her. All the same she picked up her wooden hair brush as a weapon, knowing it would be totally inadequate against an armed man, and made her way to the window.

"Who's there?" She called cautiously. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster.

"It's me Will." The voice whispered, and against her will her heart rate relaxed. She hated how he managed to have that effect on her especially in light of recent events.

"What do you want?" She asked aggressively. She still hadn't forgotten her previous musings about him before he had interrupted her.

"Let me in please." He replied. She paused for a moment. She was tempted to let him stay outside but opened the window and let him in. She couldn't let him freeze there dangling in midair, he would be in too much danger.

"Get inside." She said roughly, glancing around to see if any of the guards could see the apprentice ranger climbing through her window. None of them noticed.

"Thanks." Will said, grinning at her as she shut the window. She found it hard to glare at him when he was grinning in that cheeky way of his. He looked too cute when he did that. She instead changed the topic.

"What on earth were you thinking? You could have died." She said angrily. She walked back to her mirror and set the brush down on her dresser, so that she didn't have to face him. Seeing his reflection she saw him smiling and shrugging nonchalantly.

"Oh that? I've been able to climb castle walls since I was 7 years old." He said of no great importance. The fact that he never told her that before only made her resentment towards him increase. She realised now that she knew next to nothing about him.

"Well thank you for informing me." She said coldly. She saw his smile falter at her tone and couldn't help feel slightly better.

"Look-" Will began.

"Why are you here?" She demanded suddenly, turning to face him. "If it's to talk about why you no longer care about me then I don't want to hear it." Surprisingly she saw his face drop.

"Care about you? Of course I care about you? How could you think I didn't?" He asked astonished. She felt close to throttling him.

"Let's see shall we?" She said vehemently. "I asked my dad to offer you a place in the Royal Scouts so we could be together but you refuse. What else am I supposed to think?"

"Wait what? You were the one who asked the King to offer me a place?"

"Yes! Of course it was me you idiot!" She exclaimed angrily. Then all of a sudden he started laughing, which made her if possible even madder.

"Evanlyn it's not like that, I didn't refuse the job because I stopped caring about you, I did it because I want to be a Ranger." Will explained, still chuckling at the fact that he had finally understood her rage.

"Yes but now we will never be able to be together if you become a Ranger." She cried. Will stopped chuckling and sobered immediately.

"You can't make me change my job Evanlyn." He said quietly.

"So you would choose your career over me?" She asked haughtily.

"You don't understand do you?" Will said. Anger came to his defence against her accusations now and she could see the change in his mood. "You weren't making me choose between you and a simple job, you were making me choose between you and a part of myself. You can't do that, it's not fair." He said angrily but she wasn't prepared to let it go yet.

"Yes I get it, you choose being a Ranger over me don't try to sugar coat it." She said angrily. Will walked closer so that he stood less than centimetres away from her.

"Let me put it this way." He said and his tone was clipped, she could tell he was mad. "If I asked you to quit being a crown princess and live as a peasant girl with me back in Redmont would you do it without hesitation?" He reversed the question. She wanted to come up with a retort that satisfied the question but found she couldn't make one. Would she ever leave the comforts and powers of being a princess so she could live with Will?

"But that's different Will, being a Princess is who I am, it's my identity." Cassandra said firmly. Will let out a frustrated yell so that Cassandra had to step back.

"Don't you see? That's exactly the same for me. For an orphan like myself being a rangers apprentice is the only identity I have and I can't let you take that away from me. Not when I had spent the best part of fifteen years trying to figure out who I am." He said. When he explained it like that she understood, she really did but it didn't stop her from being angry with him.

"Well why didn't you try to come up with a plan then? Why was I the only one who had to think of something? Do you not want us to be together?" The last question was delivered with such a hurt tone on her part that Will's face immediately softened.

"No of course I do but I can't talk to you anymore not when you're a princess" He bursted out.

"What do you mean? I am still the same person I always was, you're the one who's changing." She shouted. Will's face hardened.

"Maybe the reason we can't communicate to each other anymore is because we're no longer compatible." He said harshly. Regret washed over him as soon as he said it. Her face seemed to crumple before him with sadness and her eyes filled with tears.

"You're right. Maybe we aren't compatible anymore, the only reason we got along in the first place was because you didn't know my true identity." She knew this. She was used to this. Always ending up alone. She never had many real friends as a princess, there were those that wanted to know her because she was famous or rich, others who didn't care about her at all. She had never been one to make many friends at all and she found that over time they all ended up separating from her. She guessed Will wasn't any different. She saw the pain in his eyes.

"I'm sorry." His voice broke with emotion but right now she was beyond caring.

"Just leave Will, please." She said wearily. She wanted nothing to do with him anymore. "Go back to Redmont, I hope you have a good life." She said shortly. She knew she had done it. Telling him to have a good life was a signal from her that she had no intention of ever seeing him again. Stepping back he gave her one last pained look before climbing out of the window silently. Turning back she sat down on her bed and finally did what she had been threatening to do the entire day.

She broke down and cried.

The following dawn two horses rode out into the wide cobbled road, Will and Halt on their backs. From time to time Halt glanced fondly at Will knowing the tough decision he had to make. He knew his apprentice's mind was uneasy, and he also knew that the uneasiness had a lot to do with the Princess. Will kept quiet and Halt made no effort to start a conversation, he knew Will wanted to have some time to be alone with his thoughts.

Behind the two riders another two figures were watching them, standing on the terrace of the castle. Evanlyn raised her hand in farewell to Will who was riding South and Horace put his arm around her for comfort.

"He's a Ranger," Horace said sympathetically. "And people like us can never understand Rangers. There's always a part of them they keep to themselves."

She nodded slowly, showing she understood. Her eyes clouded with tears as she watched the only person she ever loved ride further and further away.

Riding in the South, Will put his hood up as he saw the light misty rain falling from the sky and stared numbly at the scenery in front of him. He knew he had messed everything up. He had missed the one chance he had to be with the Princess and now he doubted he would ever see her again. His face hardened. His jaw was set. This wasn't over he thought grimly. He would see her again and he would make things right even if it was the last thing he did. And as he rode closer and closer to the little cottage in Redmont, he let that sole thought sustain him. He would come back. And when he did, he'd come back fighting.

THE END.

Thank you for everyone who has read this story. This is it. The end of the road. Bet you didn't see that coming did you? Huh? If you didn't like the ending PM me and I can make an alternate one that ends up happier if you can't be bothered to wait for the sequel.

THE SEQUEL! That's right everyone! Of course I wasn't going to let our two favourite characters remain separated. It may be some time before the sequel is up and running but don't worry this story has not finished yet. In the sequel I'll probably write in the first person so that you get the detailed nitty gritty thoughts of the characters. I also thought that I may show what happens to Will when he gets back and how he copes with his new love interest waiting for him… Not giving any major hints yet though. Let me know what you think of my idea and whether you want a sequel or not because I didn't want to make this story too long. 25 chapters is enough I think. Anyways I would be able to focus better if I wrote a sequel. It would be a fresh start from all the other events that have happened in Will and Cassandra's life.

Let me know what you think by PM's and reviews please. Hope you weren't too disappointed!

Oakleaf Girl.