I recently finished the new RA book, Halt's Peril. It was amazing! I won't spoil it by saying anymore.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranger's Apprentice
CHAPTER 5
"We had to renew the treaty with the Skandians and check on our archers." Akeline explained, "but that's not why we came here...Halt?"
"If I wasn't retired I would have volunteered, well, actually I tried to...but Pauline said-Never mind that. Isabel we, that is the Ranger Corps..." Halt seems to be actually flustered by whatever he's trying to say.
Akeline puts a hand on Halt's shoulder, he looks at her, then she takes over, "Isabel Treaty, you could be a great Ranger." The words I've been waiting my whole life to hear. "You have all the skills, curiosity, and abilities. The Corp is offering you an apprenticeship."
I can't believe what I'm hearing. This is actually happening. This is what I've been waiting for.. "I accept! Who's my mentor?"
"Wait! Hold on. I don't want this for her!" Dad interrupts. "Halt, why didn't you talk to me beforehand?" It's not often I've heard Dad use this tone of voice with Halt.
"Will, can we talk in the kitchen?" Mum says in her diplomatic way.
"No, Alyss." My dad says, a tone of finality in his voice, "She will not be part of the Corps."
"Dad!"
"NO! It's to dangerous! No, no! NO! And that's final!" Dad looks distressed. I always thought he wanted me to be a Ranger. He's like a kid throwing a fit.
"You're-you're such a, ah...hypocrite! So you can be in the Corps and I can't. UUUhhh! That's so unfair!" God! This is what I've worked for my whole life, he will not stand in the way of that. All theses years I thought I would make him proud and become a Ranger. I stand up. I'm so angry I rush out the door and into the woods.
I run and run, sides heaving. I stop and lean against a tree, tears stream down my face. How dare he, try to ruin my dreams? All I ever tried to do was make him proud!
Out of habit on my way out the door, I had slung my quiver and bow over my shoulder. My knives were still in my room, except for the one I keep in a sheath concealed in my boot.
I decide to work off some anger, so I string my longbow. I align my body with a fallen tree; its bark looks soft and rotting. I draw back the string, using the muscles of my back. The string runs from the middle of my nose to the side of my mouth. I take aim and I fire. All of this was done in a matter of seconds, fast but not as fast as a full fledged Ranger.
I shoot the other twenty-three in quick succession after that. I walk over to the fallen tree and inspect my group. My arrows are all within a six inch radius of each other. Not my best but still good considering tears blur my vision and threaten to spill down my face. I pull the arrows out of the soft wood and replace them in my quiver. I shoot a few more ends before my rage subsides.
When the tears leave my vision and I can see clearly, I take a look at my surroundings. I am near what used to be old Bob's small shack and stable. Old Bob passed away a few years ago and his apprentice Tim took over.
I decide to go over and see if he is training any new Ranger horses. I love helping Tim with the horses.
I start trekking through the woods, and a couple minutes later I am at the edge of Tim's clearing. Two shaggy looking horses stand in the small paddock in the middle of the clearing. One is surprisingly large for a Ranger horse. The other isn't much bigger than a pony, but it is still on the taller side for a Ranger horse. The taller horse is a dark bay. The littler one is ebony with a small streak of white down its side.
I spot Tim in the rundown little stable, and I break out of the trees and approach him.
"Hey, Tim!" I call to him as I reach the stable.
He turns from his work, polishing a saddle, and has a startled look on his face. He has mouse brown hair and a lanky build. He's fairly young, only about 30.
"You're not supposed to be here." He says nervously with a small smile.
"Whose horses are in the paddock?" I ask him.
"Nobody's!" He answers too quickly; one of the horses had to belong to a Ranger.
"Ooookay. I'm gonna go give them both treats." I say, and head toward the paddock.
The two horses trot over as they see me approaching the bin of treats just outside the paddock. They nicker at me, their intelligent eyes telling me to hurry up. I grab two apples out of the bin, walk over to the fence and hold a hand out to either horse. They both quickly devour the apples in my extended palms.
The black horse reaches his head over and nudges me with his nose.
More, please. He seems to say.
"Nope, sorry. Can't have you guys getting too fat now."
The little black horse gives me the closest thing to puppy dog eyes a horse can. It is so cute and funny I laugh.
He shakes his mane indignantly, It wasn't that funny. Then he turns his butt towards me and trots away. I laugh again at how he seemed to be actually communicating with me.
I watch the little black horse, wishing that my Ranger horse could be like this spirited pony. Then I remember that Dad doesn't want me to become a Ranger. A lump starts to form in my throat again.
"I wish you were my horse. We would make a great team." I whisper to the small horses rear end.
He flicks his tail as if responding to me.
I stand there watching the two horses graze in the paddock for a few silent minutes. Then I head back over to the barn to sat goodbye to Tim. I find Tim still working on cleaning the tack.
"Tim, I think I'm gonna head out." I say.
He is startled by my sudden appearance, nearly knocking the saddle he was cleaning onto the floor of the barn.
"You Ranger's are uncanny." he says. Then, "Leaving so soon?"
"Ya, I'm kind of trying to avoid my Dad and he's bound to check around here soon." I reply, trying to keep an upbeat expression on my face.
"Well then, I guess you better get going."
I turn to leave, but before I go I have to know. I turn back and ask, "What's the black horse's name?"
The question seems to make Tim a little nervous, and I wonder why.
"Um... Shadow." He says.
"Thanks." I reply and then turn on my heel and jog silently back into the woods.
I'm exhausted by the time I reach the walls of the castle. The sun has set. I watch the guards from my concealed hiding spot on the edge of the woods. When the guard near me walks off a bit I start to move across the open ground between the woods and the castle.
When I'm halfway between the woods and the wall, the guard turns back. I freeze. His eyes dart across the lawn. They glide right over me as if I'm not even there. He turns back and keeps walking.
I dart from shadow to shadow until I am at the base of the wall. I map out my handholds, though I've climbed the wall a million times. Then I start swarm up the wall.
A few minutes later I have snuck into Castle Redmont with no trouble from the guards. I slink around the confusing corridors silently, avoiding any people I see, until I reach the door of the fifteen year old wards, who are due to be apprenticed any day now.
I push the door open, it barely makes a sound. I slip in the room and close it quietly behind me. In the room sit five kids my age all chatting with each other and looking rather nervous.
"Hey, guys." I say. They all jump, none of them having noticed my arrival.
"How do you sneak up on us like that?" says a boy with mouse brown hair.
"Nice to see you too, Ted." I say. "You all look rather nervous. What's going on?"
"Choosing Day's tomorrow!" a pretty, blonde girl named Amy says.
I had forgotten, I can't believe I forgot. "Where's Fabian?" He is the only one of the group missing.
"Oh, he's in his room already." Ted replies.
"Thanks, I'm gonna go talk to him, if you guys don't mind."
"Sure, sure, go ahead."
I walk over to a door on the far side of the room. It leads to the boys' sleeping quarters. They all share one room. I enter just as quietly as I did through the first door.
"Hey, Izzy." says a figure stretched out on one of the beds.
"Dang!" No matter how quiet I am, he always knows I'm there. I've been trying to sneak up on him for as long as I can remember, but it never works.
The corner of his mouth lifts into a halfhearted smile, not his usual grin, that makes you feel like smiling too.
"Fabian, don't be nervous, there is no way they won't accept you into battle school, especially with the moves I taught you." I try to be funny, but he still looks really nervous, which makes me feel nervous, because he is never nervous, he is always my rock, always dependable and good-humored.
I walk over to his bed and sit on the edge, we sit in silence for a few minutes. Then Fabian pulls himself into a sitting position. "What if they think I'm too scrawny or they think I'm not strong enough?" His blue eyes look scared.
I try not to laugh, because I know he really is scared about these things, but he is no where near weak or scrawny. He is tall and heavily muscled, and is already much better at hand-to-hand combat then some of the first-year battle school apprentices. I know from experience.
"Listen, I fought some of the first-years in hand-to-hand combat yesterday, and let me say, you are much better then any of them."
He runs a finger through his black hair and asks, rather baffled, "Why were you fighting battle school apprentices?"
"Gavin and his buddies were practicing, so I decided to join in."
His face suddenly becomes very concerned, "Are you okay, Izzy?"
"Glad to see you have confidence in my abilities."
"Izzy, did they hurt you?" He asks again.
"I hurt them more, I just got a bruise on my side." I say with a yawn.
"Imagine what people would think if that got around," he says, "Future King Bruises Young Girl"
I give him a playful slap on the arm, "I'm not that young, I'll be apprenticed any day now." I can feel my eyelids starting to flutter closed.
"Geez, you look tired." That's the last thing I remember before I succumbed to my exhaustion and floated into peaceful sleep.
I hope to post soon, I am currently in the middle of the next chapter.
Funny Quote, sounds like something Isabel would say:
-Anonymous