This story takes place during Will's third year of training after the Battle for Skandia and after Will's first actual Gathering. This puts Will at around 17 or 18 years of age.
Halt and Will sat atop their horses, side by side, just before the castle drawbridge, the late morning sun limning the castle in a beautiful golden red hue. They sat unmoving for a few long moments, drawing odd looks from the two guards posted at either edge who were trying to guess what they were doing. Will was currently trying to guess the same thing.
"Ready?" Halt asked quietly, not turning his head from beneath the cowl.
"Wha-? No! You haven't said a thing!" Will said flustered.
"A training exercise," Halt said unhelpfully.
Will rolled his eyes. "Any other details for me?"
"You're going to be tracking and following me through the castle."
Will's brows furrowed and he opened his mouth once bewilderedly before shutting it mutely, ignoring the alarm bells screaming in his skull.
"I'm an enemy that you have to follow through the castle to find out where I'm going without me knowing that I'm being followed," Halt elaborated.
"But you already know that I'm following you," Will pointed out.
"Then it'll be rather difficult to stay out of my sight, won't it?" Halt smirked slightly and squeezed his knee against Abelard's flank, guiding his horse over the drawbridge and Tug immediately followed, his rider deep in thought with how he was going to pull this off.
After dropping off their horses in the stables, Halt led Will through a few hallways before coming to a seemingly random stop in an empty corridor.
"Here's good," Halt announced. "You remember the task?"
Will nodded in complete concentration, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek. Without another word or generous moment of preparation, Halt turned on his heel and disappeared around the next corner.
Will shut his eyes for the briefest moment, filling his lungs with air and letting it rush back out in a soothing whistle. He stepped forward silently and pressed his back against the corner, his cowl pulled far over his face. Straining his ears, he tried to pick out something beside the blood pulsing through his ears or the crackle of burning torches or the soft voices of servants further within the maze of castle halls. But there was nothing else. Hesitantly, Will peeked around the edge before ghosting down the hall to the next fork in the path.
His brows were pressed low against his forehead, furrowed together, and still he heard nothing and saw nothing. He peeked around the edge and his heart skipped a beat when he could see no sign of Halt down the hallway, only the empty stone corridors and the shadows dancing in the flickering light. On the balls of his feet, he raced forward and forced himself to not rush, to beat the overwhelming urge that screamed at him to run ahead blindly.
He crouched low to the floor at the edge of one hall and eased his eye around the fork, scanning from left to right. Will knew that he had to figure out which way Halt went quickly or he risked losing his trail completely. He heard a few soft voices of servants talking to the right and somehow knew that Halt would want to avoid others, so he raced to the left, making a hasty beeline for the sharp turn, but skidding to a stop just before he barrelled into the open hallway.
That's something Halt would expect him to do.
And that's how he would get caught.
Instead, he stood against the corner, squinting his eyes to focus on his other senses. He forced his breathing to slow and suddenly, he heard the soft rustle of fabric brushing against stone. Will froze every bone in his body and willed himself not to make a sound.
On the other side of the wall, Halt smiled to himself from beneath the shadow of his cloak as he sensed more than heard Will rein himself in before he rushed into the open. Staying silent as a habit rather than a conscious thought, he turned on his heel and jogged lightly around the next corner towards the first staircase.
Will forced himself to count slowly to five before following down the corridor. He froze for half a second at the next corner, relying on his senses or rather, his instincts to tell him if Halt was waiting to catch him off guard around the corner. Then he glanced down each path and looked for anything: a whisper of a cloak, a disoriented servant, or a torch flame leaning too far forward, hinting that somebody had rushed by recently with the fire dragging unnaturally in its wind.
He successfully navigated the castle through the bottom three floors in a similar pattern and now, in the center of the building, there was not a single hallway without somebody else walking purposefully past in harried steps. Now, all he had to do was follow the halls with confused and backward glancing servants to follow Halt.
With a quick peek down the next corridor, he saw a straight hall before it veered to the left with a few suits of armor standing guard on the right wall and square cavities carved into the opposite wall. A servant turned the corner with furrowed brows and a quickened pace, confirming Will was on the right track. He moved forward towards the first crevice and found himself wondering where Halt was leading them. Of course, he might not actually have a destination in mind and could very well be making it up as he goes. Actually, that did seem like a possibility, if not a probability, now that-
"I see you!" Halt's stern voice cut through his meandering thoughts and the Ranger stepped out of the last crevice, his bow held up with an arrow laying on the string.
A passing servant jumped at least a foot in the air at the noise, the sudden appearance of a Ranger, and the sharp end of an arrow pointed straight at her. She froze in fright, the color draining from her face and her eyes growing wide.
Meanwhile, Will groaned and let his head bang against the stone wall behind him. Clearly, in his brief lapse in concentration, he had failed to notice that Halt hadn't actually turned the next corner yet and was waiting for him at the last crevice, testing to see if he had grown lax in the assignment, which apparently, he had.
"S-sir? What d-did I do?" the girl stammered, a trembling hand reaching up to cover her heart.
Halt rolled his eyes unsympathetically. "Not you."
Still, the servant didn't move and Halt was sure she hadn't even blinked.
"Continue on your way," Halt urged with an inclination of his head.
She nodded a few times then with a great amount of effort, forced her feet to shuffle forward and she continued down the hall, giving Halt a wide berth as she crossed his path and quickening her pace to a jog as she turned the corner, picking up her skirt so that she could run unimpeded.
"See what you made me do? I scared that poor girl out of her wits," Halt said once she had safely sprinted down the next hallway.
"Don't blame me for that! That was all you," Will shot back with a grin. He stepped out from the crevice to face Halt, intending to walk forward but not even managing a step when he saw Halt's warning expression.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" Halt said, his eyes narrowed.
Will froze, then sighed with his shoulders slumping forward. "I got lazy and you saw me. I thought this is where the training exercise ends and you tell me all the mistakes I made."
"Well you thought wrong. You got lazy, but that doesn't mean the exercise ends. Go back to where you were."
Will complied and slid back into the crevice, his back leaning against the wall and he scratched his cheek in confusion.
"I'm an enemy that you were following through the castle and you weren't supposed to be seen. You grew carless and I, your very dangerous enemy, saw you and now your plan is in jeopardy. I now know exactly where you are and have a bow drawn at you. What are you going to do?" came Halt's voice from around the bend.
"Well… if you were an enemy-," Will began.
"I am," Halt interrupted shortly.
"Fine. Then, as an enemy, I would shoot you with my bow."
"Then do it."
Will didn't move but his eyes creased together as he concentrated. "You want me to shoot at you?"
"Yes, shoot at me, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't actually hit me- much like what I'll be trying to do to you since you're my enemy."
Will raised an eyebrow at that and straightened his shoulders. Suddenly this training exercise was much more serious. He squeezed his lips together and racked his brains for a way out of this. He heard soft and careful footsteps against the stone floor and he knew Halt was walking towards him, his bow still knocked and ready to fire in a fraction of a second. Will shrugged off his bow and placed an arrow on the string while he thought frantically for a solution.
"Hey Halt?" he asked loudly and cocked his head to the side while he waited for a response.
"Yes?" came the reply that he drew out to a few syllables. Will mentally tried to place the sound at the right distance.
"If you're an enemy, are you still a Ranger?"
"Why does that matter?" Halt asked, and he took another few careful steps towards the crevice where Will was hiding.
"Well, if you were a Ranger, I'd be a lot more scared for one thing. But if this was just some random person who barely knows how to use a bow, then I could probably take more chances."
"I'm not going to go easy on you if that's what you're hinting at," Halt said, freezing in place, but not dropping his bow arm.
Still straining his ears at the corner, the corner of his mouth twitched into a slight smile as he registered that Halt- no, his enemy- had stopped moving.
"That's not what I was hinting at in the slightest," Will replied calmly and he slowly dropped to a low crouch.
Halt rolled his eyes. "I know you haven't been in an actual stand-off before, but there's usually a lot less tal-"
Will lunged sideways from his crouch, firing off an arrow as he went, and he ducked seamlessly into a smooth roll. Barely half a second after he had shot his arrow, Halt had drawn and fired, his own arrow soaring far over where Will's head would have been if he had been standing, giving him a few feet of clearance as he rolled. Will's arrow in turn shot far to the side of Halt, skidding off the opposite wall.
Rising from his roll with a grin, Will waited for a response to his now obvious distraction tactic.
"Well, now we'd both be dead," Halt announced grimly.
Will raised an eyebrow. "But I got off a shot first."
"I still shot before your arrow would have hit me."
"But if you weren't a Ranger, then you'd never have been able to react quickly enough or accurately enough," Will said defensively.
"But I am a Ranger and I did react quickly enough and accurately enough. I even managed not to impale you with an arrow."
A wide grin spread across Will's features. "And I appreciate that."
"Right. In a stand-off situation like that, you really should have…," Halt's voice petered out and the two Rangers cocked their heads slightly to hear the sound of hurried footsteps rushing across the stone floor towards them. A moment later, Martin emerged at a brisk jog, his cheeks slightly red and out of breath.
He came to a stop just before them and said, "Rangers?"
Halt turned abruptly on his heel to face him. "Yes?"
"The Baron would like a word in his office," Martin announced, his hands clasped behind his back and chin thrust forward.
"Would he?" Halt said, raising an eyebrow.
"Immediately, sir," Martin clarified.
"Now's not the best time," said Halt.
"It's a matter of the utmost urgency, sir." Martin rolled forward onto the balls of his feet and puffed his chest out slightly.
"The utmost urgency, is it?" Halt parroted.
Martin nodded. Halt glared at Martin for a moment and the lanky secretary withered under his gaze. "Fine. But if the castle isn't currently being invaded or attacked, I blame you," said Halt.
Martin's chest deflated and his grim smile of authority drooped into a look of utmost horror. He shook his head to try and resume some of his earlier confidence and began to stride forward, clearly intent on leading the two Rangers to the Baron's office.
But, Halt beat him to it and strode forward, Will following a step behind. "We know the way," Will said curtly, leaving Martin in their wake.
"That man gets on my nerves," Halt muttered as they took the next set of stairs two at a time.
Will grinned as a response but didn't say anything as they climbed up to the Baron's study at the top of one of the towers.
Halt shoved open the door and marched into his office. Will followed behind and couldn't help but marvel at how things had turned out for the young boy who stood quavering in line in this office just a few short years ago. The office itself hadn't changed since the Choosing Ceremony: the same large window that Will had snuck through was still open, trying to tempt a nonexist breeze through the stultifying heat, and the same large oak desk took up the center of the room with the same faded circular rug on the floor.
"Where's the invasion?" Halt asked brusquely.
A flash of puzzlement flicked across the Baron's face and he shoved his chair further from the table so that he could lean back in it comfortably, his gut protruding to the table's surface.
"Good afternoon to you as well, Halt. I'm doing well, thank you for asking," the Baron said lightly, a glimmer of humor hiding behind his dark eyes.
Halt cocked an eyebrow and said dryly, "I didn't ask."
"No, but I thought it was just a lapse of memory rather than a chosen breach of common etiquette," Baron Arald bantered back, evidently enjoying this conversation much more than Halt.
"I don't much care for common etiquette."
Arald scoffed and muttered, "No kidding."
Will failed to stifle a chuckle and Halt shot him a glaring look to which Will just shrugged, only halfway apologetically.
Halt turned back to face Arald and repeated his first question. "So where's the invasion?"
"What do you mean?" he replied, confusion lining his face once more.
"That bantam rooster of yours said to come here immediately for a matter of the utmost urgency. I assumed we were being invaded or attacked."
"Who said that? Martin?"
"I don't know his name," Halt replied curtly.
"Yes, it was Martin," Will cut in from Halt's shoulder, having remembered the secretary from his years as a Ward.
The Baron sighed and brought his fingers together like a tent over his stomach. "Oh, that man… No, we are not being invaded or attacked, Halt, and I wouldn't really describe this matter as one of 'utmost urgency,' but at least it got you here promptly."
"Then what do you need?" Halt asked.
"Well, I was walking through one of the lower floors and came across a young serving girl in hysterics, a friend of hers trying to calm herself down. I went to see what was wrong and can you imagine what she said to me?" The Baron paused and looked pointedly at Halt who remained silent and leaning easily against his bow. "Well, she said that a Ranger had came out of the wall suddenly, as if by magic, and pulled a bow pointed straight at her."
"She's wrong," Halt said curtly. When it was clear Halt had no intentions of clarifying, the Baron waved his hand to force an explanation out of him.
"I did not come out of the wall, I did not use magic, and I did not point a bow straight at her."
Will snickered slightly and it soon turned to a cough to hide his amusement.
"So this account is all false and the girl is hallucinating?"
"No, she got one thing right. I did pull out my bow, but it wasn't pointed at her. It was pointed at my apprentice."
That shut the Baron up for a moment and his mouth opened and shut wordlessly a few times like a landed fish. Of course, Martin chose that moment to burst in, throwing the door open wide, heaving for breath, and his hair slightly disheveled as if he had sprinted all the way to the office.
"My lord...," he said through gasping breaths. "Ranger Halt and Will, as you requested."
"Yes, I can see that," Arald said with a slight tight-lipped smile. "That'll be all, Martin."
The scrawny secretary bowed low at the waist and shut the door behind him.
"He means well," was all the Baron said about his appearance. "But back to the matter at hand, I want to get this straight. You were actually pointing your bow at your apprentice?"
"Yes," Halt confirmed shortly. "The girl just happened to be walking in front of it."
"But… Why were you planning on shooting at your apprentice?"
"I did shoot at my apprentice," Halt said. Now it was clear that he was enjoying this conversation far more than the Baron. Arald looked flabbergasted and turned to Will for some kind of confirmation.
"Don't worry, sir. I shot at him too," Will offered as consolation.
The Baron mouthed wordlessly again and a ghost of a smile touched Halt's features.
"Why?" was all Arald managed after a few long moments of silence.
"A training exercise," Will said with a shrug.
"You shoot at each other as part of your training?"
"There's a very important word in that phrase, my lord," Halt explained carefully. "We shoot at each other, but being the halfway decent shots that we are, we don't actually hit each other."
Arald leaned forward now, resting his elbows carefully on the edge of his desk and his gaze bore into Halt's. "Fine. But why were you shooting at each other in my castle?"
Halt smiled. "A training exercise."
Will let out a snort that he simply could not contain, lifting a hand to cover his mouth a moment too late, and the Baron threw up his hands in frustration.
"Let me ask Will, then." He turned purposefully towards the apprentice. "Will, same question to you and I swear to God, if you say 'a training exercise' I will… I'll… well, I don't know what I'd do... Oh! I'll make Martin visit your cabin every morning for a week!"
Will smiled and capitulated, having more respect for authority than his particular mentor. "Well, it was part of a training exercise. In more detail, Halt wanted me to have practice trailing an enemy without being seen myself, but then he saw me, so he pointed his bow at me to simulate what an actual enemy might do."
The Baron nodded over-enthusiastically and said, "Thank you, Will, for a clear answer."
Will and Halt both grinned from beneath their cowls.
"Look, I can see how doing some sort of practice in a castle can be helpful, but you'll just have to find another castle," the Baron decided. "I don't want any more training in these walls. You'll just end up scaring more honest workers, understand?"
"We're honest workers," Halt said back slyly.
"No. You're not," the Baron said, growing rather tired of this. "Do you understand?"
"You don't want any more training in these walls," Halt parroted back.
Arald squinted suspiciously at Halt. "Or on the grounds or on the premises in general. No loopholes."
"You know him well," Will commented.
Arald smiled and waved the two of them off, shaking his head mirthfully and turning back to the paperwork cluttering his desk.
"But not well enough," Halt muttered just loud enough for Will to hear as they left the office and Will grinned.
"Back to the starting point," Halt announced and led the way, winding down to the lower levels of the castle.
"So even though the Baron just said we can't train in the castle, we're going to anyways?" Will clarified, already having a fair guess at his response.
"He never said we can't, and even if we did, Rangers are independent of Barons. But don't worry, his displeasure and desires will be heartily noted."
Will rolled his eyes and couldn't help but smile as they side-stepped around a young boy carrying a basket of laundry with his eyes glued to the ground. "Are we doing the same exercise then?"
"Yes," Halt said.
Will nodded thoughtfully and a new steely glint set in his eyes.
"And don't get lazy this time. We don't want to end up scaring another servant or go back to the Baron."
"I don't know why you're including me in that 'we.' I didn't scare anyone," Will replied.
The game began again with Will trying to keep Halt in his sight while staying out of Halt's sight himself. Though now, they also had to make an effort to stay out of servants' ways to not startle them which involved a lot of freezing in the shadows and Will thinking Trust the cloak, trust the cloak, trust the cloak, over and over again as white noise in his mind. Although, Will was relieved to realize that Halt was doing the same thing since he was never too far ahead.
There was one close call when Martin strolled by muttering to himself, cutting the corner very close and almost running straight into where Will was pressed against the corner. Will sucked in his stomach and dared himself not to breathe until Martin was safely down the hallway.
Will successfully made it to the top floor of the castle with only one snide comment from Halt where he called "Is that an angry bear stomping around back there? Maybe I should shoot at it just to be safe" and with a grimace, Will focused on treading lightly rather than speed. He followed Halt to an inconspicuous wooden door that was standing just barely ajar that Will knew led to the roof. But, before he approached the door, another idea began to form.
He knew this castle like the back of his hand. Even though wards were not technically allowed on the upper floors, he was never known as the rule-abiding orphan. Sure, he had explored these upper floors less frequently than the others, but he still wandered around when he was bored, sad, or needed a break from Horace. With a smile to himself, he jogged lightly down a few corridors and came to a second door that he pulled open as softly as he could and climbed up the stairs, pausing just as his eyes crested the roof's stone surface.
The light was fading now, making the outlines of the parapet hazy as the rich dusk set in over Redmont. A golden red glow was rebounding off the iron filled stone, glinting against the metal armor of the guards positioned around the roof. Will could make out Halt leaning against his bow at the top of the other staircase. Halt took a step forward, peering down the steps, waiting for his apprentice to appear any second now.
Will slipped out of the other staircase and forced himself not to get too excited as he walked towards his mentor, determined to surprise him. Yet of course, that wish was crushed in less than a moment.
"It seems like that angry bear is back," Halt commented without turning around.
"What gave it away?" Will asked crestfallen.
Halt turned around and shrugged, admitting, "Nothing in particular. Just an instinct. But you should always listen to your gut. A Ranger's gut is usually right."
Will nodded and looked around. "Why did you pick up here?"
"The longest distance from the stables," said Halt.
Will grunted and walked lazily forward towards the parapet. He set his bow against the railing and leaned his elbows against the warm stone. Halt slowly followed and stood next to him, breathing in the air now filled with the scent of woodfire smoke as the nearby kitchen and villagers began to cook their dinners.
"I used to come up here all the time," Will said softly.
Halt said nothing and turned his head towards the West, watching the golden sun fall over the horizon.
"As a ward, I mean," he clarified.
"Did you take the stairs?" Halt deadpanned.
Will chortled and replied, "Yes. Though I did have to keep an eye out for anyone who would recognize me since wards weren't allowed to be in the upper floors of the castle, let alone the roof."
"Why up here?" Halt asked, turning back to face forward.
"It's so calm and peaceful, especially in the mornings when all the birds were out. I tried to get the others to come up here with me a few times, but… I've always wondered if my parents liked the mornings too," Will mused to himself.
As Halt always did when Will mentioned his parents, he squirmed uncomfortably and avoided his gaze. "Where is this morning person when we're travelling?" Halt scoffed.
"I count mornings to be anytime after sunrise. You count morning as anytime after midnight. There's a difference," Will explained with a raised eyebrow.
"My definition is correct."
"Linguistically, sure- But definitely not based on the common definition," Will countered.
"Suit yourself."
The two Rangers fell silent and gazed over the town and forest laid out before them. Halt had originally intended on returning to the cabin well before darkness set in, but they stayed on the castle parapets until the sun had fully set, only making light conversation occasionally. When they did eventually head back to the stables, they happened past Martin hurrying down a staircase near the Baron's office and they nodded to him with a smile as the secretary squinted suspiciously. But, them being Rangers with a certain reputation, he said nothing except watch as the two cloaked figures disappeared past the hallway and down the next set of stairs.
I hope you enjoyed part 2 of the trilogy! Let me know what you thought and stay tuned for year 5!