Banging filled the air as Horace and Will drew closer to the practice arena of Castle Arulean- the sound of steel and wood scraping together as knights and soldiers practiced. Some were being drilled by the castle's Battle Master, forming three perfect rows and moving in a well-practiced unison. Others practiced against wooden dummies and the rest practiced against each other.

Horace waved to a few soldiers he recognized, and a few of them started to wave back before balking at the mysterious figure walking by his side. Clearly, some of them held onto the belief that Rangers practiced some sort of sorcery.

"You're so popular," Will said lightly, used to the weird looks by now and taking them in stride.

Horace chortled and otherwise ignored his comment. "Over here." He led Will around the drilling soldiers towards the back of the dusty square where there was more open space. They passed a row of wooden torsos on sticks that men were drowning in sword cuts along with another pair of soldiers circling each other with practice swords drawn. Three men, opting out of the heavy chainmail for the time being, stood a little ways away from a line of targets, two with small bows and one with a crossbow.

Will couldn't help but snort as he approached. They stared at their hands clumsily while drawing and nocking their arrow, took another five seconds to readjust their stance and actually turn their body appropriately away from the target, and another five seconds to draw, pretend to aim, and release with the wrong timing. Somehow, the crossbowman took twice as long and still only managed to hit the middle ring from about thirty yards away.

Horace grinned, having learned to read his friend like an open book. He nodded at the offending men. "I assume you could do better."

"Please, don't insult me," Will shot back. "Even you could do better."

"You really think so?" Horace asked thoughtfully, now eyeing the targets with a completely different look.

Will shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

With only a moment's hesitation, Horace's face split into a wide smile."Excellent."

They marched over to a spare target and Horace laid down his shield by his feet. Then he jogged quickly over to the stand of spare weapons by the wall and grabbed a bow, a few arrows, and an arm guard before returning to Will who was grinning and leaning against his longbow with an eyebrow raised.

"No, no, no. I don't think so," Will teased. "A big brute like you needs a longbow."

"All right," Horace said excitedly, dropping the smaller bow unceremoniously to his feet. "Hand it over."

Will did so and handed him one of his own arrows too. He took the arrow and managed to get it nocked to the string on his third try with no help from Will other than a few hastily stifled chuckles.

"There we go!" Horace declared triumphantly and turned ninety degrees to the right so that his left side was closest to the target. He raised the bow like he had seen Will and Halt do hundreds of times before, and began to pull his right arm back. His arm quavered under the strain of holding the eighty-pound draw weight two-thirds of the way to its full draw before slowly letting the string release back down and letting out his held breath.

"Gorlog's fangs! You pull that back every time!?"

Will just grinned as his answer, but decided to take pity on his friend and finally provide a few tips.

"Use your left arm to push and your right to pull on the bow. And use your shoulders and back muscles to draw the arrow, not just your right arm," he offered.

Horace nodded and tried again, opening his chest and managing to get his upper wrist to his chin- not quite reaching his thumb to his lip like the Rangers typically did. But, he decided close enough and let the arrow loose haphazardly.

"OW!" he yelped and jumped back. The bow string slapped at his skin and thankfully, it did little damage due to the chainmail that extended to his wrist. He shook his left arm furiously and turned to Will glowering.

"You knew that would happen."

Will shrugged. "Yeah. But hey! If it makes you feel any better, when it happened to me, I didn't have any armor on."

Somehow, that did make Horace feel a little bit better. "You still don't have any armor on."

"It's kinda hard to be quiet or blend in with all of that," Will said, his index finger pointing up and down Horace's gleaming silver chainmail.

"Well I assume you have something to stop yourself from skinning your own arm off," Horace said, his voice still bitter and downcast.

"We have arm guards. They probably have one on the weapon shelf that you got the bow from."

Horace glanced down at Will's forearm and marched off, trying to maintain some dignity, in search of an arm guard. When he returned, Will wordlessly handed him another arrow and Horace took his second shot. The arrow soared in the general direction of the target and skidded along the ground, coming to a stop in the dust a little ways past the target itself.

"Not a word, Will," Horace threatened without turning towards his friend and instead, continuing to stare at his arrow dejectedly.

Will smirked and instead blindly reached into his quiver to withdraw another arrow. "Want a third try?" he asked, forcing any amusement out of his voice.

Horace grabbed it from his hand, still refusing to look at his friend, the mirth gleaming in his eye, or the grin that was surely lining his face. It took another six arrows for Horace to manage to hit the very outer edge of the target and when he finally did so, he threw up his hand victoriously.

"Did you see that!? I hit it!" he said loudly with a huge smile.

Will laughed aloud and shook his head. "Yes, I did see that. You almost made it onto the last ring."

"Shut it, I hit the target," Horace said, still pleased with himself and refusing to let Will's comments diminish his victory. Now, the other men that were practicing on the range were watching and listening to them with interest.

"That you did," Will conceded, accepting his bow back from Horace.

"But I think I'll stick to my sword and leave this bow and arrow business to you and the Rangers." Horace patted the hilt of his sword affectionately.

"Probably for the best," Will agreed with a straight face.

"Now is when I go collect the arrows, right?" Horace asked, turning back towards the target.

"That would be good, yes."

Horace returned a few moments later with Will's eight arrows in hand and he passed them over. Then, they turned and walked towards an open space further along between two other pairs of sparring guards.

"I know this is stupid of me to even ask," Horace began out of the corner of his mouth. "But you know that they were watching us, right?"

Will felt the corners of his lips twitch up and thought that yes, that really is foolish of him to ask. "Yes," Will said, drawing the word out into two syllables. "As were the two sparring guards behind us and the back corner of those being drilled."

"Really?" Horace asked incredulously, suddenly turning to the offending corner.

"Is here good?" Will asked, coming to a sudden stop.

"What? Oh, yeah. Sure," Horace mindlessly agreed. He then went off to find a decent wooden practice sword while Will wound his two knives in thick cloth to stop them from injuring Horace. Then, they each took their place facing each other, Will's cowl down so he could see everything and Horace with his helmet on. Without warning or bothering to ask if he was ready, Horace lunged out in a blinding series of attacks that Will just managed to dodge and deflect with his two knives.

The two were paired quite equally. Horace used his sword's length to his advantage, but Will used the maneuverability of his knives to quickly move around the knight and never stay in one place for too long. After a few minutes of heavy breathing and dull thuds of practice weapons slamming into each other, Will managed to push away Horace's sword and tap him in the shoulder with the tip of his saxe knife.

Horace dropped his sword arm and withdrew his helmet to swipe off the sweat built up on his forehead. "Nice one," he said.

"Thank-"

"Come on, Altman! Don't let the Ranger get the best of you!" a watching knight cheered.

Horace turned towards the two knights in casual tunics and breeches with surprise, not having noticed them approaching in the first place.

"Yeah, come on, Altman!" Will teased with a lopsided smirk.

"What do you think I'm trying to do!" Horace called back to his two friends on the sidelines, holding his palms out to the side. He put his helmet back on and nodded to the apprentice, allowing the next round to start.

The spar ended a few minutes later with Horace successfully slapping Will in the forearm with the flat side of the wooden blade, giving the two other guards something to cheer about.

"One to one," Horace said with a smile from beneath his helmet, letting his competitive streak get the best of him.

"But who's counting," Will replied, already planting his feet firmly in the dust for the next round.

Twenty rounds later and an hour in, they had both stopped counting. The other guards had grown bored and the practice arena was all but empty in the fading light. Will and Horace were both heaving deep breaths of the cool air, trying to return their racing heart rates back to normal.

"Right. Well I think that was about twenty-six for me and two for you," Horace said, still panting.

"I was about to say the opposite," Will shot back.

Horace grinned. "Shall we meet in the middle and say twenty-three for me and five for you?"

Will scoffed. "Oh, please. In your dreams."

Will's eyes widened ever so slightly as he took notice of a new addition to the arena, causing many of the soldiers to stop in the middle of what they were doing to bow or nod in her direction. Unfortunately for Horace, the Princess was walking towards them straight from behind Horace's back.

"Hey! You two!" she shouted loudly, making Horace jump out of his skin and send his adrenaline skyrocketing again.

Will snorted, but Horace ignored him and turned instead to Cassandra.

"Hey Cassie!" he said cheerfully.

"Cassie?" Will questioned the new nickname under his breath with a smirk.

"Shut it, Will," Horace growled in return.

"Are you two done beating each other up yet!?" she asked, not bothering to lower her voice even though she was just a meter away now. "We're having dinner in twenty minutes and you're both sweaty and smell absolutely terrible."

"Sorry, Cass," Horace responded with a weak smile.

"Now it's Cass?" Will asked under his breath again.

"We'll go clean up and meet you up the staircase for dinner," Horace promised, still ignoring his friend.

"Good. And don't be late!" she warned.

"We won't," they both promised automatically like chastised school-children.

The Princess nodded in satisfaction and marched off, nodding to the few soldiers who gave her a quick bow, leaving Will to gather his bow and cloak from the weapons rack where Horace had switched his wooden sword out for his steel one. They dutifully rushed out into the castle to change and douse themselves in water before hurrying to meet in the hallway just after the staircase leading to the royal suites. The sentry let the two boys up and told them which door to knock on.

A maid opened the door with a warm smile and gestured into the room where King Duncan and Cassandra were chatting away near the window. They greeted each other- Horace in a rather casual and friendly way and Will instantly knew that this was not the first time he had been invited to dinner. Smiling to himself, Will glanced around the room and felt himself sigh in relief when he saw Halt wasn't there yet. He knew it wouldn't do to be late to dinner twice in a row within the same trip. Just when he was about to comment on this to Horace, the same door flew open to reveal Halt and Crowley walking in side by side, cloaks swishing and bows in hand.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir," Crowley said as a greeting to the King.

"No worries, Crowley. Will and Horace just got here too," he said amicably. "Come, let's sit." He motioned towards the rectangular table and pulled out the large wooden chair at the head.

Horace immediately stepped forward and pulled out the chair opposite the King at the other end. Cassandra flicked a smile towards him and sat gracefully in it while Horace ignored Will's pointedly cocked eyebrow as he took the seat next to her. Will sat on her other side, letting Halt and Crowley take the two chairs nearest the King. Soon, two servants bustled around them, filling the table with drinks and food while the old friends continued to make up for lost time. The two Rangers and the King talked on one end of the table while the three teens were anxious about getting in as much conversation as they could before Will and Halt left for Redmont. Will and Horace both still flushed when the King addressed them directly, but even that inherent awkwardness eased as the night went on.

Regretfully, the night did have to come to an end and it did so with Halt shoving back from the table and leaning onto the two back legs of his chair. Clearly, he had no issue with being casual in front of the King. Crowley rolled his eyes and from across the table, kicked the chair down so it crashed back to all four legs with a thud, making the whole table snicker.

Halt sent his friend a dark look and picked up his bow, lifting it into his lap. "Right," he announced to the room at large, all of which were still staring at him. "Thank you for the lovely meal, but we should be heading to our rooms."

"Let me guess. We're leaving before dawn?" Will asked loudly.

Halt gave a small smile and replied with, "Correct."

Will sighed dramatically and followed his mentor in standing from the table. The rest of the table stood too, each offering their good-bye's and their needs to hurry to their quarters, including the King himself who still had work and paperwork to do. Crowley muttered 'likewise' darkly and they shared a glance wallowing in their own self-pity for a brief moment.

Will, Horace, and Cassandra immediately formed a small triangle to say their good-bye's now since neither of them wanted to wake up early enough to see him off. Both promised that they would visit Redmont next, even if they had to make up an excuse to do so. That certainly lifted Will's spirits, giving him a slight skip to his step as he and Halt walked back to their suite of rooms. Even the following morning, a smile was plastered to his face and he turned all the way around on Tug to watch the honey-colored castle disappear into the horizon as long as he could. His good mood also meant lots of one-sided chatter with Halt offering little more than grunts as a response. Yet even that couldn't stop Will's garrulous conversation meaning that Halt was thoroughly exhausted by the time they reached the cabin. The silence of the forest was a welcome change for Halt after the day's ride, but he noticed that for some reason, Will's constant comments grated on his nerves less and less every day.

I hope you enjoyed this short story! Please leave any thoughts you might have in the reviews, especially if there are typos or if you have any suggestions.

If you liked this story, my next Ranger's Apprentice story will be titled "A Trio of Training" so stay tuned for that!