Chapter 2: Fishing for Food and Foldar
Halt, Will and Gilan sat around the camp fire, thinking over what they would do. It was very intriguing, the idea that Foldar and Slagor II wanted to be found. Halt and Gilan were sitting there, thoughtful and silent. Will sat impatiently, waiting for one of them to talk. Halt had made it clear that apprentices should only express their opinion when necessary. Now seemed like a good time to Will, but evidently not to Halt. But in the end, Will burst out, 'Well? What are we going to do?' Halt and Gilan's eyes turned towards him. Halt opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a thumping noise came from the forest, followed by a loud curse. The Rangers quickly put out the fire and crouched down, blending into the greenery. Will peered out, hoping he was inconspicuous. Halt recognised the intruder first.
'Quick, go get more food! We have a visitor.' he said. The rider, or rather, walker, as he was leading his horse and peering around, was Horace. His brown hair fell across his blue eyes as he looked down at the remains of the fire. Many ladies at court found this attractive, especially the Crown Princess, Cassandra herself. He was quite tall, and had seemingly endless energy, which probably came from all the food he ate. Will stood up, and Horace brought his horse, Kicker, over to his hiding place.
'Gorlog's beard! Just when we thought we'd have enough food for a decent camp, you come to eat it all!' Halt told Horace, not unkindly.
'I came on an order of King Duncan!' Horace protested.
'He ordered you to eat all our food?'
'No, but I'll do it anyway. Starting now.' Horace started pawing through the campsite, looking for his treasure. Halt groaned.
'Any chance it could wait?'
'Absolutely not. Except that the King wants Halt to go do something in the west, while Gilan, Will and I stay on this task.' Horace said, while continuing to rummage. 'AH HA!!' He pulled out some dried beef, and started chewing. 'Oh, and Lady Pauline says hello and to tell Will that she might have to send one of her couriers down soon. There's a lot of messages.'
Will blushed. Of course Lady Pauline had noticed the slightly-more-than-friendship relationship Will had with Alyss, one of her couriers.
--
Foldar and Slagor II slowly made their way to the village. They were an odd sight, the big Skandian leading his horse, refusing to ride, and the thin, almost sallow, man dressed all in black, looking remarkably like his late master, Lord Mogarath, riding a dark chestnut. Foldar muttered under his breath, annoyed at the slow pace. They could go much faster if that big, bumbling oaf would ride. What else was a horse for? Foldar rolled his eyes, thinking of the rolling deck of a ship at sea, and the gentle plodding of horses. Ridiculous.
'Something wrong?' Slagor II asked sweetly, sensing what was irritating his companion. He stared intimidatingly into Foldar's eyes. 'I'm sure I could fix it for you.' he hissed. Foldar opened his mouth, then seemed to reconsider, and shook his head. They needed to get along, if they were going to get the Rangers.
Suddenly, a menacing chuckle came from the trees, and something fell out from the branches. It was a net, and it completely covered Foldar. A man dressed in badly dyed black clothes attempted to jump out of the tree. After spending a few seconds lying stunned on the ground, the man from the tree said, 'I am Fold--' then stopped. He was one of the fake Foldars that had been causing so much trouble. Slagor II reached for his battleaxe and the fake Foldar ran.