Chapter 3

With the upcoming Temujai threat, Will had been training with his weapons like there was no tomorrow. His skills with the bow as well as knives had considerably improved. He was unmatched in ranged combat, but when it came to melee combat, he knew he could not hold his ground. The thought had been worrying him for some time. He was a Ranger though, and they were not trained for a one to one fight. His thought then went to the exception, Gilan, who besides being a Ranger was a master of sword. Maybe he, himself, could also learn to be a swordsman. With that thought in mind, he started shooting at various targets.

He had just fired at the last target when he suddenly tensed. His mind had just noted the presence of another being. With his ranger's skills, he concluded the presence of the being to his right behind some trees. He knew that the person was not anyone he knows but is light footed. With a blur of a movement, he nocked an arrow and fired at the nearest tree to his right. This resulted in a high pitched scream.

" Who's there?" he shouted as a figure came out from behind a tree. The figure turned out to be girl of around his age.

"My name is Tyra. You could've hit me with that arrow." The figure replied and she sounded a bit angry.

" You should've thought about that before you came here to watch me." Will said with his bow still pointed at Tyra.

" Uhh, atleast don't point your bow at me anymore."

Will lowered his bow but still had it nocked. He was always cautious around Skandians.

"What is your purpose here? I don't think I know you."

"Well, of course you don't, we have never met before and to answer your question I came here to watch Ranger Will in action, though I never knew he was this unfriendly."

"Sorry, but it's just that, my past experience with Skandians has not been so well." he said as his stance softened.

" It's alright but you must know that not every Skandian is so cold-hearted." Tyra said with a smile.

She is beautiful, Will thought. He shook his head and said," I'll keep that in mind."

As Will took his arrows from the targets, he asked," So, how did you find me in action?"

"You were absolutely amazing. I've never seen anyone shoot like that before and you are very distractingly handsome."

Was she flirting with him, he wondered.

Evanlyn had been looking for Will for some time now and her thoughts were roaming around him as well. Whenever she thought about him or was near him, her heart started beating faster. She wondered why was that so. Was it because she liked him or was it something more than that. Well, she thought, she wouldn't be surprised if more than half of the girls around here wanted him as something more than a friend. He was quite handsome after all. But she was the one who actually knew what he really was like and that was very much opposite of what she thought he was like when they first met. Besides being cool and handsome, he was kind, caring, brave, protective, friendly, joyful and so much more. With his quick thinking and strong character, she knew he could face anything.

As she neared the place where Will trained, she could distinguish two voices, one male and the other female. When she reached the clearing, she heard a girl speaking to Will,

"... and you are very distractingly handsome."

Evanlyn suddenly felt a great pang of jealousy and anger. She ran up to Will and said with a bit of anger, "Will, come. Let's go and get something to eat."

She could see surprise in Will's eyes, but, he nonetheless replied," Sure, my dear, Evanlyn."

After Will said goodbye to the girl and started walking with her, he asked," Is there something wrong Evanlyn, you seem quite angry."

Evanlyn turned and faced him with her hands on her hips. She said," What was the girl doing with you? She was talking with you as if she was your girlfriend. She was absolutely flirting with you."

Will found himself being even more surprised. Was Evanlyn feeling jealous, he wondered. With that in mind, Will found himself laughing uncontrollably. He laughed so much that he fell to the ground and his sides started to hurt.

" What's so funny?" he heard Evanlyn say.

"Oh..ohh, Is the great.. Princess of Araluan jealous... because of a girl flirting with a nobody like me."

"Oh, shut up and don't say that you are a nobody." She said as she found herself blushing.

" Thank you for the compliment, my princess." Will said while bowing and trying to recover from his fit of laughter. He looked at his friend and saw that she was still unconvinced.

"Don't worry, I just met her and we are not even friends but she was quite pretty." He teased her.

"whaaat!" she said as she pushed him to the ground.

"Hahaha! got you, but you are way more beautiful than her, Evanlyn."

She understood that he was teasing her but knew from his eyes that the compliment was a sincere one.

"Thanks, no one has ever told me that I am beautiful." She said as she helped him get up.

"Wow, they must have been petty blind not to notice the beautiful maiden in front of them."

" Oh shut up" she said flustered as she again pushed him to the ground.

Will was planning to meet Erak and tell him about his plan to train with a sword and see if he can help him. He wanted to keep it a secret from his friends and Halt. When the time comes, he would surprise them, especially Horace, with a swordfight. He went to Erak's office and saw a guard outside.

" What do ya vant?, former slave." the guard said with hatred.

Will was taken aback by the way the guard asked but looked back into the eyes of the guard with such a gaze that the guard backed away a few metres.

"Tell your master that Ranger Will is here to meet him."

The guard ran like scared mouse and some time later Erak called him into his office.

The room was simply furnished and in front of him was sitting Erak behind a large table with a questioning look on his face.

"How may I help you, Ranger?" he asked.

"I wanted to train in melee combat and see if you can help me in that matter." Will answered.

"I thought that Rangers normally fought with their bows."

"Yes, they do only use there bows and knives but with the Temujai threat at hand, I wanted to have every advantage possible."

"Well said, Ranger. I will help you as much as is possible. So, tell me, do you have a weapon that you may use?"

" Uh, no"

" Nothing to worry about. I will tell a Skandian to take you to our blacksmith in the morning. He will help you with the matter of your weapon and he will be your trainer. He is a master of the art of sword and one of our best fighters. So, what do you say about that."

" I am very thankful for your help and don't tell anything about this to Halt and the others."

"Ok"

With that decided, Will went back to his room and sat on his bed thinking about the blacksmith he would meet in the morning and Evanlyn. He wondered what were his feelings towards her. Were they just friends or something more? Did he really like her? Did she like him? As he continued on thinking, sleep overcame him and he fell into its arms.