A/N Hey guys! When you have far too many ideas swirling in your head, it might be a good idea to just make one shots out of it. There are some one shots with the potential to be written as a whole story (so more than 2 chapters), so let me know if you want to see some oneshots being written out completely.
Also ideas for these one shots are always welcome!
A little adventure
It was dark around the castle of Redmont. Clouds had formed in front of the moon, making light scarce. Halt had found himself again at the edge of the forest close to the castle. Normally he would be in his cabin enjoying the peace and quiet that the night offered.
Eight years ago he had dropped the boy at the castle. He had chosen to put him in the ward to protect the boy from people talking. He deserved a somewhat normal childhood. However the past few years Halt had increasingly felt the need to check on the boy.
The first four years he had come to the side of the castle where the children were, only once per season. But then the small child started to show his striking character traits, he was curious and brave beyond limits.
At the age of five he had already managed to escape the castle unnoticed. Baron Arald had come to the cabin that day with an aura of shame around him. He had told the ranger the news of young Will, he was missing and no one had been able to find him. Halt had immediately packed his things and went looking.
He had to admit the boy was clever, he had mostly erased his tracks, and seemed to have chosen the path that left the least messy trail. A lot of ranger's in the corps would give their lives for such natural skills. But still, he was a child and for an experienced ranger like Halt, he was easy to follow.
Within an hour Halt saw the tiny figure high up in the tree. He decided not to show himself to the boy as it would probably frighten him, and he warned the guard who brought the kid back to the ward.
After that incident Halt had hoped the child would be discouraged to escape again. Never in his life had the grim ranger been that wrong. Young Will had only grown more determined to be able to sneak away and spend a day in the forest.
And now at the age of eight, he had unknowingly driven a certain ranger to madness. Halt was drawn to the old castle like a bee to flowers. Every night he watched the windows, making sure the boy was inside and safe. Most of the time he got the reassurance he needed and went straight back to the cabin.
This night was different. He had noticed the boy being on edge, which Halt had learned to be an indicator that the kid was planning to escape. After two years of growing grey hairs, Halt knew the boy, no Will he corrected himself, to be resourceful enough to return back to the castle.
But Halt knew something about this night that Will didn't. There was a group of bandits travelling through Redmont and Halt had not yet been able to locate and arrest them all. So this meant another sleepless night for Halt.
After a few hours waiting Halt's suspicion was confirmed. Will climbed down the castle wall like a spider, invisible to the guards at the gates. Of course no one would expect a small child climbing a huge wall and therefore no one saw him.
It was of course a small effort to just warn the guards and make sure the boy was immediately brought back to the ward. But at this time only Baron Arald and Lady Pauline knew of his unhealthy concerned behavior towards the kid. He selfishly wanted his reputation to remain, and additionally he still didn't want other children to know that Will was being watched by a ranger.
So when the boy reached the tree line, Halt followed while keeping enough distance. Although he wanted to stay as close as possible, he knew the boy deserved his privacy. The ranger stayed at such a distance that he did know where the boy was, but not what exactly he was doing.
As usual the boy walked to his favorite tree, but this time he didn't bother to climb it. He sat on the ground and just stared into the darkness, taking in every part of the forest around him.
Halt had heard the footsteps stop and shuffling that indicated someone sitting down. That was his cue to take a few steps back and wait for the boy to stand up again and walk back to the castle.
Hours went by without any movement, which Halt thought was impressive for a child to have such patience in just sitting and watching. But then a sound of movement reached the highly trained ears, not from the direction he was expecting.
Five pair of boots walking in his direction and therefore also directly towards young Will. Little did the people know they were walking towards the famous ranger, who was like a mother lion protecting his cub.
Halt didn't have to think long to come to the conclusion this was the group he had spend the afternoon looking for. He knew they had robbed men, women and children, showing no mercy and without caring how much they hurt the person. This night they were definitely at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Silent as a shadow, the ranger moved towards the group. He easily climbed the tree and took a moment to identify the men in below him. The features of two men corresponded with the information Halt had gathered in the village yesterday. A large man with an ugly scar crossing his face, and a more slender person with black hair, pointy chin and a dark cloak.
Somewhere a dark voice inside Halt's head told him to just shoot the idiots just for the sake of being on the path towards a certain boy. But he realized Crowley would not appreciate it. His friend had let him do thing beyond the rules before, but shooting people without good reason and warning was not something he could get away with.
With just a couple of meters to the place Will was hiding, Halt shot his first arrow neatly in the tree just an inch from the first bandit.
"Put your weapons on the ground." He growled with a dark voice.
The group in front of him froze from the sudden attack and the voice coming from the trees. Luckily for them, they were smart enough to listen to the voice and drop their weapons.
Halt jumped out of the tree but remained at a distance. "I believe you're just the group I've wanted to talk to." He said keeping his voice low.
"Ye have no proof old man." Said the man with the scar marring his face, immediately exposing the fact that they were indeed the bandits.
"Then you won't mind empty that huge bag of yours, do you?" Halt said politely, gesturing at the brown bag the other three were carrying.
"Stay away with ye filthy hands! Ye have no right to take it" one in the back shouted. The man with the black hair and cloak had remained silent and seemed to understand the severity of the situation. With some gestures he tried to calm down his group but was unsuccessful. They had already toyed with the temper of the ranger in front of him.
"As a King's Ranger I'm certainly in my rights to look at every piece of your belongings. So I won't ask again." He growled, very much tempted to put an arrow in the man's throat.
With some reluctance the men turned down their bag, revealing all the possessions that had been reported missing.
"Well that clears everything immediately. In the name of the King I arrest you for stealing from, and injuring people of Araluen. You'll be sentenced by the court, so if you will follow me." He said in the hopes the five idiots would just come along quietly.
But he was wrong, three out of five had already drawn their sword. Including the scar-faced man who shouted, "tha' bow won't help ye man. It's five against one!". He lifted up his sword and raced forward to the ranger. Just a meter away he felt a searing pain going through his leg, as he looked down he saw the black shafted arrow piercing through his calf.
Halt's attention had already shifted to the others raising their weapons towards him. He managed to knock one out and put an arrow in the second one. Then he saw one of the bandits running away, he had probably guessed the outcome and didn't want to take part in the fight anymore. Coward, Halt thought, the group didn't hesitate to beat up children for nothing but a fair fight was out of the question.
However he ran straight to the tree where Halt knew a certain boy was still probably sitting. He could have aimed for the leg just like the other bandits, but this one got too close. There was no time to take the risk of Will getting involved. As he let go of his arrow he knew it was a killing hit.
It was good that Halt didn't take a look whether the man actually dropped dead, because when he turned around scar-faced man had sneaked up on him and was just an inch from killing Halt with his knife.
Halt threw the knife out of his hand with the speed only years of training could accomplish. But before Halt could reach his own knifes the man punched his fist against the ranger's cheek. The ranger stumbled one step backwards but regained his balance and managed to duck before receiving another hit.
Without losing a second, Halt reached for his throwing knife and in one smooth movement the sharp knife was stuck in the chest of mister scar-face.
Halt turned around, the two he had taken down at the beginning of the fight were still on the ground, eyes big as they watched the deadly ranger in front of them. The man in black had his sword raised but with a quick glance he knew his position and dropped his belongings to the ground.
The three were tied up and Halt pushed them forwards to the castle as he noticed the sun coming up in the east. He hadn't realized he had been on guard that long.
They reached the castle and Halt threw the rope towards the guard at the gate and instructed him to lock the bastards up. After making sure the guards did their jobs, he continued to the tower of the Baron.
When he opened the door he was surprised to see Pauline standing in the room. Apparently the two had a meeting this morning and had not expected to receive a worn ranger.
Arald recovered first from his initial surprise, "Halt, by the lord, you look awful. Is there something wrong? What are you doing here this early? Lady Pauline and I were just discussing how we should do these meetings in the afternoon instead of…."
The man stopped after he saw the dangerous eyebrow raise slowly. Halt had neither the time nor the energy to listen to endless questions and tales about the Baron's morning.
"I found the bandits, they are currently in the cells, please do what you want with them. You know how much trouble they have caused. I will send you the report tomorrow."
Without much more conversation the ranger turned around and hoped he had already disappeared. Sadly for him, a voice interrupted his wishes.
"I'll walk with you Halt." Lady Pauline said, with her silk but underlying stern voice.
Halt grunted and accepted his fate. After a few moments of silence in the corridors Pauline started again, "So, are you going to tell me how you happened to be in the forest at night? I certainly seem to remember you saying that you were going to get them this morning."
"Just an evening stroll, is that forbidden?" Halt didn't mean to react this blunt, but the fatigue and worries about Will almost being ambushed by bandits got the better of him. Suddenly he remembered not even checking on the young lad after he had captured the bandits.
Pauline decided not to give to much attention to the way the ranger was talking to her, she was clever enough to see that it had been a long night and he didn't mean to talk like that. She seemed to read his mind and tilted her head slightly.
"I saw Will coming through the gates just this morning. Seems like he was on a evening stroll as well" she said innocently.
Halt knew Pauline was seeing right through him and for now he knew only one way to respond. The muscles tensed and slowly but surely his eyebrow rose up.
"Don't give me that look, I know you've been guarding him like a watchdog but this is unhealthy. He won't drop dead if you stop looking, you know."
Halt dropped his head in defeat, he knew she was right but still, he felt greatly responsible for the boy. But before he could think of an argument for his night strolls, Pauline resumed.
"Have you talked to Crowley about teaching that boy of Sir David? It will only be a year before he turns fifteen so you better hurry up."
The ranger looked at her sideways his shoulders dropping slightly, something he only allowed himself to do when he was alone with Pauline.
"I don't know, maybe I'm not mentor material. It's a great responsibility to teach a new generation of rangers, and I still have to do everything here at Redmont…" he fell silent as he noticed that he was grasping for reasons not to take young Gilan under his wing.
Pauline placed her soft hands to his bruised cheek, "I think tonight proved that you're more than capable to take care of a young one. If someone has to teach the new generation, it has to be you. I know for sure that an apprentice of yours can keep Araluen safe for the years to come."
Even if Halt had still some doubt, he couldn't say no to this wonderful woman in front of him. So he nodded and accepted the fact that he was ready to pass on his knowledge and maybe take some more distance between him and young Will for the time being.
"I'll write Crowley tonight, that he can expect an apprentice to come at next year's gathering."
