Hey I hope you like this chapter it took me a really long time to do. It is slightly longer than the other chapters so I hope you like it. I'd like to say thanks to AmazingWriter123, Lorrie the Ninja Elf and Alex The Rogue for reviewing on my last chapter im glad that you liked it.

Will sat on Tug as he thought about what he would say to Crowley. He was on his way to Araluen with Alyss and Arianna. Arianna was in between him and Alyss was on her horse. Arianna had named her horse Snowflake because her coat was a beautiful, bright white. Arianna looked at her dad and smiled a big toothy grin. She was excited about going to Castle Araluen and to see her friend Luke who was Horace's and Cassandra's son. Luke was the same age as Arianna and they were both adventurous and liked to run around. This annoyed Alice and Cassandra very much as both children would always come in filthy. Alyss was looking forward to seeing Horace and Cassandra again but hid this from everyone as she didn't want to look unprofessional in front of the King and his daughter. Will smiled at his wife who had a concerned look when looking at Arianna who was almost falling out of her saddle with excitement. They hadn't been to see Horace for a year so Arianna was dying to get there and see one of her best friends.

They rounded a bend and Will looked up at the castle in amazement. He felt the same every time he saw Redmont but Castle Araluen was even more beautiful. The castle stood tall and the flags on it rippled in the wind. The sun shone on the white walls giving them a gold tint. This just added to the beauty and magnificence of the Castle. Will looked up at the soldiers who were on the battlements. At the castle gate a guard stopped them and then realised who it was.

"Ranger Will, Mrs Treaty" he said and then quickly let them pass. "I'll inform them that you have arrived." He said hurrying of into the castle. Will and his family followed the guard. Their horse's hooves clopped on the cobblestones which rang out around the courtyard. Will climbed of Tug and helped Arianna of snowflake.

"Where are they?" asked Arianna eagerly.

"I don't know, just give them a chance we have only just got here" Will said smiling at his daughters excitement. As he said this the doors to the castle opened and Horace, Cassandra and their son Luke walked out. Will and Horace smiled at each other. "It's great to see you again" Will said.

"You too. Alice you look great and Arianna how are you?" Horace and Will both tried to cover up their smiles but couldn't they were best friends and hadn't seen each other in ages.

"Im good, how are you?" she asked

"Im great" she said. They all greeted each other and they let Luke and Arianna go off and play. When they greeted Princess Cassandra both Will and Alyss bowed much to Cassandra's disapproval.

"I've told you both you don't need to bow to me" she said annoyance in her voice.

"Cassandra you are heir to the throne we have got to bow to you." Alice said. They walked up the stairs and where about to go and have something to eat when Crowley walked past.

"Hello Will, Alyss" he said. "Hello Horace and Cassandra" Crowley also bowed and Alyss could tell that Cassandra wasn't pleased.

"Hello Crowley" Will decided that it was better to ask Crowley now rather than later. "Could I ask you something" he asked. Crowley nodded his head and walked off telling Will to follow him. Will followed Crowley to his room. Will went and sat at the table and he waited for Crowley to come and sit down on the other side. Crowley came over with two cups of coffee, one with a spoonful of honey in for Will -as he knew that Halt had passed on what he thought were bad habits to both of his apprentices- and he had a cup of coffee without honey in for him. Will sat and waited for Crowley to finish his coffee before he asked the big question. Crowley drained his cup and then let out a big sigh of satisfaction.

"So Will what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Crowley asked.

"Well erm" Wills stopped to gather his thoughts and then carried on. "Well I was wondering if I could have an apprentice?" Will asked hoping that Crowley wouldn't act the same way that Halt had. Crowley unlike Halt showed his emotions and smiled at Wills question.

"Have you found someone that you think could be a good ranger?" he asked knowing that Will wouldn't have asked if he didn't have someone in mind. Will nodded. "Who are they?" Crowley asked.

"Do you remember when me and Halt went to Celtica and I found those to children in the forest" Will said. Crowley nodded. "Well I think that Mark the boy" Will said so Crowley knew who he was "would make a good ranger" Crowley smiled again. Will had been a ranger for a long time which made him think that Will was ready to have an apprentice and Will had also done a lot for the country and believed he word make a good mentor.

"And you think he would be make a good ranger?" Crowley asked. Will realised that this was going in the same direction as the conversation that he had had with Halt except Crowley seemed to like the idea a lot more.

"Yes he's fast and he's a good climber and he knows a little on unseen movement" Will said trying to convince him.

"He's a good climber, did he climb up a tower as well" Crowley asked not actually meaning for Will to answer.

"No, he climbed down one" Will said

"Oh" Crowley said shocked "Well I think you are ready to have an apprentice and if you think that Mark is going to make a good ranger then I'm fine with you having an apprentice." Will looked at Crowley and smiled.

"Thanks" he said

"We have a gathering in a couple of months. Make sure you bring him, and then me and some other rangers can test him to see if he can get his bronze oak leaf." Crowley said happy with Wills reaction.

A few days later Will, Alyss and Arianna left Castle Araluen and headed back for Redmont. When Will got back to Redmont he realised that he needed to ask Mark fast as there was only three days left until he choosing day and he was running out of time to talk with him.

-LINE BREAK-

Mark walked along the path through the village with his hands in his pockets and his head looking at the ground. He was lost in thought thinking about the choosing day. It was three days away and he still didn't know what he wanted to do. Everyone in the ward kept asking him what he wanted and every time they asked he said he wasn't sure. Each time he said that he got the same reply 'You need to hurry up the choosing days soon.' No matter how hard he tried he didn't know what he wanted with his life and no matter what people said he still couldn't decide. Even the Baron had asked him and he said he didn't know. He kicked at a stone on the ground. Why couldn't he decide? It wasn't like it was a hard decision, he just had to decide what he wanted to do he thought. Whether that was to fight in battles or work with horses or even write important documents for the king. Suddenly he felt a pain on the top of his head and heard someone else groan in pain. He looked up and realised he was staring into the grim eyes of Halt the ranger.

"Watch were you going kid" the ranger said rubbing a spot on his stomach where Mark had obviously hit him.

"Sorry I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing" Mark said realising how bad his reason sounded.

"Yes I noticed that or else we wouldn't have knocked into each other" Halt said looking at Mark.

"Sorry" Mark said again. He didn't know what to do so he waited to see if Halt had anything else to say. When Halt walked off Mark sighed in relief. He didn't realise it but he had been holding in his breath. He was relieved when the ranger went on his way. He looked back at the ranger and then rubbed his head which he realised was now really hurting. He carried on walking up to the castle and went back to thinking about the choosing day. He sighed again wishing the answer would be given to him. He stopped walking when he thought he heard someone call his name. He turned round but saw no one looking at him. Then he heard it again he looked closer and saw the ranger looking at him. When he looked closer he saw that it wasn't the grim older ranger it was the younger one called Will. He casually walked over so as not to draw attention to himself as he still didn't like the thought of people seeing him with a ranger. He didn't know why he didn't want people seeing him with a ranger but then he thought back to the times he saw people act differently around them and thought he didn't want that at the moment not whilst he was in the ward.

"Did you call my name?" Mark asked when he got over to Will. He had started to feel more comfortable around the younger ranger since he had spoken to him a lot more often than he used to.

"Yes I did" Will said looking at the curious boy in front of him. "I was wondering if you knew what craft you wanted to do when you left the ward after all the choosing day is in three days" Why was everyone reminding him of this? Mark felt as if people could see that he didn't know what to choose and were just asking him to annoy him.

"No" Mark said "I don't know what I want to do" Will looked at Mark who now looked depressed. "Why did you want to know?" asked Mark. He was starting to get curious. Why would a ranger want to know what he wanted to choose as a craft? Mark looked at Will. He was positive that he would get an answer from Will as the ranger didn't seem interested with what anyone else in the ward had chosen.

"I was just being curious" said Will looking at Mark in the same way Mark was looking at him.

"No you weren't. You haven't asked anyone else in the ward about what they have chosen" Mark said. He was surprised at where his confidence had just sprung from. He had just answered back to a ranger.

Then he got it. He realised why he couldn't choose what craft he wanted to do. It was because he wanted to be a ranger. At the back of his mind he was hoping that he would have the opportunity to become a ranger. Ever since he saw Will in the forest holding the bow up with ease he realised that's what he wanted to do with his life. He had used his dads bow in the village once when he wasn't looking and had a couple of shots with it. He had enjoyed it and used it whenever his dad wasn't looking. He wanted to be a ranger. He smiled slightly then quickly stopped. That wasn't why Will had asked. Why would Will want him to be a ranger he had done nothing to show that he could be one. Will had just been curious and that was all.

"Your right I wasn't just asking for that reason." At the sound of Wills voice Mark snapped back to reality.

"Pardon" Mark asked.

"I said your right that wasn't the only reason why I asked. I asked you because I wanted to know if you wanted to be my apprentice and train to be a ranger." Marks face dropped

"What?" he asked. Mark couldn't believe it. "You want me to be you apprentice?"

"Yes" Will said a little confused. He couldn't tell whether Mark wanted to or not. "So what do you say? Is it a yes or a no?" Will asked.

"Yes. I want to be your apprentice" Mark said as realisation dawned on him at what Will had asked him "Yes" Will smiled.

"Great. That's great" Will said also smiling. He couldn't believe why he had been so nervous about asking Mark. They stood there in silence for a few minutes as they both thought about what had happened.

Then Mark asked "What do I say on the choosing day?"

Will thought for a moment and then came to a decision. "When the Baron asks you what craft you want to choose you tell him that you want to become a ranger. I will be there so if anyone has any questions they can ask me" Will said still smiling.

"Ok" Mark said. He was also still smiling at what had just happened. He couldn't believe it he had just been asked if he wanted to be a ranger.

-LINE BREAK-

The next three days went extremely fast for Mark. He still couldn't believe that he was going to become a ranger. When he had walked into the ward after he had stopped talking to Will he had a giant smile on his face and whenever someone asked why he couldn't put what had happened into words, he had just stood there smiling. The next day he had decided to wait until the choosing day and just tell everyone then and whenever he thought about it he had smiled. He was still smiling now when he was waiting with Lucy, Sarah, Becky, Joe and Tom for the Baron to be ready and for everyone to choose their craft. Martin stood waiting for the Baron to tell him that they could go in looking at Mark with a confused face. Since he had been working as the Barons secretary everyone that had been waiting in his room for the choosing day looked scared and nervous but now there was a boy waiting with a huge grin plastered to his face. How strange he thought to himself.

He got them all in age order and then told them that they could go through to the Barons office. They walked in and Baron Arald greeted the young ward mates and they did the same back to him. They waited for a while and then Arald asked Martin if he would tell the craft masters that they could come in. Five very different people walked in. The first person that came through was Sir Rodney the battle master for Redmont, then came the head of the Diplomatic service Lady Pauline, then it was Ulf the horse master, then came Nigel the scribe master and last to come in was Chubb the Kitchen master.

"Good morning" the Baron said in his usual happy tone. He greeted each of them individually and they greeted him back. Mark looked and saw that Will hadn't come in with them. Mark started to get slightly nervous. What if he's forgotten to come? He asked himself his heart pounding in his chest. "Well shall we start?" the Baron said to everyone in the room. "Martin"

"Right what's your name? And what craft do you pick?" he asked to the person at the front of the line.

"Lucy Woods" Lucy said "I would like to become apprentice to Master Chubb" she said looking hopefully at him.

Master Chubb asked her some questions about cooking and how she would go about making something and then replied "I'll take her as an apprentice Sir" he said looking at the Baron who had a smile on his face. Martin moved onto Sarah and asked her the same question. Sarah replied that she would like to become part of the Diplomatic service. Lady Pauline the head of the Diplomats in Redmont had seen some of the things that Sarah had done and agreed to take her as an apprentice.

"What's your name? And what craft do you wish to take?" Martin asked Joe who was next in line. Joe replied confidently that he wanted to be an apprentice at battle school. Sir Rodney looked at Joe and decided.

"Sir, I will take him as my apprentice" Joe smiled. Marin asked Becky next and Master Chubb accepted her as his second apprentice. The next in the line was Tom who was accepted at Horse school after he had been asked if he had ever looked after any horses before.

"Right last in the line. What is your name? And what craft do you choose?" Mark stood there Will still hadn't come in and Mark was starting to get very nervous. Everyone was looking at him all his ward mates were looking at him none of them actually knowing what craft Mark had chosen.

"What is your name?" Martin asked his voice even louder than usual.

"Sorry. My name is Mark Fletcher" he said.

"And what craft do you want to choose?" the Baron asked Mark

Mark built up all his courage and told the Baron the answer. "I want to be a ranger's apprentice." He said. The Baron looked at Mark shocked. Mark could feel every one's eyes on him. His ward mates looked at him shocked. Sarah the smartest out of them all figured out that that was why Mark was so happy a couple of days ago.

"Mark these are the only crafts that are available." The Baron looked at Mark. He was about to say something else when someone spoke from behind him. He jumped slightly in fright and turned round to see Will leaning against the wall.

"It's ok. Me and Mark have spoken about this and Crowley and Halt agree with me." Will said to the Baron who had now recovered from his shock, but now Will had said this every ones mouths in the room dropped even further. The Baron looked at Will and then looked back at Mark.

"Well then Mark, you can be a rangers apprentice." He said smiling for the boy in front of him. "Congratulations to you all. Tonight you will have a wonderful meal cooked by Master Chubb and tomorrow you will go off to your knew lives." The Baron said looking at all the smiling faces in front of him. He let them all go and then he let the craft masters go. He watched as Mark and Will left wondering what the future would bring for the boy.

I hope you liked it. Please tell me your views on it. Review, favourite, follow whatever you do. Let me know if you have any questions on it but for now see ya.