Johnny had finally managed to rope the shaggy little horse and was about to mount the ugly thing when the door to the cabin opened. He had expected some form of retribution when he looked back to see the Rangers and the daft looking old knight on the porch, but they said nothing. Johnny took that for a good sign and proceeded to mount.
The little horse was like a rock, it looked back at him with one large brown eye as Johnny settled on his back. Johnny felt very proud of himself, it had taken too long in his opinion to catch the beast and he had anticipated the horse would not take be ridden well. Johnny sat with a stupid grin on his face for a full ten seconds before the horse went insane.
It leapt straight up, a movement Johnny had until that point believed impossible for a horse, with all four legs flying in a different direction. Once the animal was off the ground it twisted around, the head going to the left, the rear to the right and rising higher. Screaming like a girl, Johnny was launched over the horse's head, head over heels, and skidded a full three meters across the paddock into the fence.
It must have been comical, they were all laughing. Johnny sat up slowly rubbing his face carefully. It stung, not only that but he could feel bruises developing from his sword banging against him while he flew through the air and slid across the ground. On top of all that, his pride had just been trampled by a dumb, shaggy pony.
"I didn't think Tug could still do that," the old Ranger roughly hoisted Johnny to his feet by the arm. "I hope you learned something."
"Yes, your horse is stupid," Johnny glared over his shoulder at the horse, which had come to stand next to Johnny and the Ranger.
"Oh, he's not too stupid," the knight, Johnny recalled his name was Horace, smiled rubbing the horse between the ears. "Tug here is one of the smartest horses I've ever met."
It was a joke, a very big practical joke. That old Ranger had no doubt told the others about that time he had caught Johnny bulling Angie, and this was their revenge. There was no way that horse was smart, and there was no way the Ranger would be able to ride him. So the joke was on all of them, he was not falling for this.
"How smart can it be, no one can ride it?"
The horse looked offended, actually offended and snorted shaking his head. The Ranger smiled and rubbed the horse's muzzle, "don't listen to him Tug, he just doesn't know you yet." The horse snorted again.
"He just doesn't like apprentices," the woman Ranger supplied with a smile.
"Or battle school students," the old knight rubbed his back side as if remembering being thrown from the horse in a similar matter.
Another part of the joke, there was no way the same horse had thrown the old knight when he had been in battle school. Horses did not live that long. "You were watching, you saw it," he decided to call their bluff. The horse was stupid, and unable to be ridden, end of story.
Instead of responding the old Ranger just swung up on the horse's back. The animal stood like a rock once again. Johnny narrowed his eyes watching, waiting for the horse to throw the old man. It never happened.
"Well he won't throw you, it's your horse!"
"Gorlog's toes, Horace, he's right," the Ranger swung down. "Tug is my horse. Maddie, how can we prove Tug simply doesn't like apprentices?"
"Why not have someone else ride him," Maddie raised her brow looking at the old knight. "What about you?"
"I think I'll stick to my horse," the knight eyed the little horse carefully. "Tug's a bit too small for my liking."
"Come on, he hasn't thrown you in years." The bearded Ranger clapped the knight on the shoulder with a barking laugh. "Why, we were still apprentices when that happened."
"I also haven't seen him in years," the knight took a step back.
He was afraid, Johnny realized. The old knight, who had claimed the beast was a smart enough to recognize and only throw apprentices, was scared because he knew the horse would throw him like a sack of grain too. The joke was about to fall apart.
"Come on Horace, Tug won't throw you," the old Ranger smiled. Horace looked between the two Rangers and the horse and sighed.
"Fine," he swung his leg up over the horse.
Nothing happened. Johnny had been certain that the horse was going to throw the knight. Horace smiled and clicked his tongue, the little horse moved around the paddock in a small circle stopping between the Rangers.
"Let me try again," Johnny swung up on the horse again.
Rock solid for ten seconds and then a whirlwind of movement; straight up, around in a circle, hind quarters acting like a catapult. Johnny soared over the fence and rolled across the yard. The Rangers and the knight busted to laughing again, the woman holding her sides doubled over.
"Weird," Maddie commented, gasping, looking at the battle school apprentice with his rear stuck up in the air. "It seems he really doesn't like battle school apprentices."
The joke had gone far enough. They had made their point. "If this is retribution for stuff I did in the ward, it's unnecessary." Johnny pushed himself up off the ground, trying to regain some sense of dignity. "I've already learned my lesson."
The three adults crossed their arms looking down at him on the ground. They looked mad. He knew they were not buying his claim. Since joining Battle School things had been going his way, he had a new crew around him that were far more intelligent than the others had been, he was a star pupil since he was what the Battle School instructors called a natural, he had even been granted a position in advanced classes after his probationary period.
Someone must have let them in on how he acted in the battle school outside of classes.
"We think you have now," the knight was not smiling, his serious face was discerning.
"And we will be watching," the woman's face mirrored the knight's.
"Now, dust yourself off, look after your horse and then sit on the porch while we get ready to leave." The old ranger opened the gate and allowed the others to pass in front of him. "And just so you know, the other horses on this trip will all do the same thing."
Johnny looked sideways at the horses in the paddock and the two munching grass in front of the cabin. The three little beasts he could understand, but the battle horse the knight rode? Johnny could not believe that. As soon as he was alone, he was going to prove that he could ride any of these dumb horses. He was a natural after all.
The battle horse threw him, the woman's horse threw him, the other shaggy pony in the corral threw him and the original horse, Tug followed him around mockingly. After being thoroughly humiliated by a herd of dumb equestrians, Johnny gave up and dropped down on the edge of the porch to wait for the others to come out. Joke or not, he was already ready for this thing to be over with.
Angie was the first out. She had a saddle bag tossed over her shoulder and an array of weaponry at her waist. She ignored him as she skipped down the steps, patting the dog on the head as she did so. Johnny twisted around on the edge of the veranda to watch her.
The small horse with the white starburst on his face nickered happily when Angie climbed over the fence. He butted her on the shoulder as she entered the small stable attached to the back of the cabin and backed out when Angie came out with a saddle. "Here, she produced an apple from her saddle bag for the pony, "but don't tell Will, alright." The horse whinnied happily tossing his head before eating the apple.
The horse stood still while Angie tacked him, snorting occasionally and looking back at her. Angie smiled rubbing his neck with her hand, talking to him like they were carrying on a conversation. Once the horse was tacked, it followed her out into the yard. The other one followed as well, Angie smiled rubbing him between the ears.
"Tug," she said, "You know you're supposed to stay in here until Will comes out." The horse snorted, shaking his head. "I know he was already out here, but you're going to have wait a bit longer." The horse nickered, "it's not my fault."
Angie smiled closing the gate, and walked her horse around to the front of the cabin. Johnny watched her darkly.
He had not spoken to her but he could tell she was a totally different person than she had been in the ward at Redmont. The little freak was happy, and fitting in, and probably able to ride those stupid animals that had bucked him. What was more, for the first time in a long time everyone seemed to like her more than they did him.
"Stay," she made a signal with her hand and turned to climb to steps. Johnny climbed to his feet and followed her to the door, wondering if he was allowed in yet.
"We should be able to make it to the coast by the end of the week," the old Ranger was saying when Angie opened the door. "From there all we have to do is conscript a ship to sail us across the Narrow Sea."
"Where are we going," Angie stopped at the table. Johnny prepared for them to tell her off. It was not an apprentice's place to be at the war table or in the planning meeting. That was why he was told to stay outside.
Johnny had his hopes set far too high.
"We're sailing to Skandia," Maddie answered. "They're electing a new Oberjarl and Queen Cassandra wants us to make sure our treaties will still hold with the new leader."
"We're sailing to Skandia for that," Angie looked up at the three adults. "Shouldn't this be the work of the Diplomats?"
"Well, it has always been my opinion, that royals tend to be more awe inducing when making treaties," The old Ranger smiled looking up at Horace.
The knight nodded agreement, "it was only because Cassandra was in Skandia during the Temujai invasion that the treaty even exists."
"The Queen was part of an invasion," Angie asked looking around at the adults. Johnny wanted to throttle her, they had learned about that in the Ward.
Cassandra had been taken captive when Morgarath attempted to take the kingdom a second time. She had spent close to a year in Skandia with an apprentice Ranger, and was part of the Araluen group who defended the Skandian capital from the Temujai. She was also the one who actually signed the Skandian treaty, officially making them allies with Araluen.
"No," the bearded Ranger shook his head. He would say something, Johnny was sure of it; he was Angie's mentor after all. "She defended Hallasholm against an invasion."
"And besides, I can think of a few skirls and jarls who will be displeased if Will doesn't show up. They invited him special," the knight gave a goofy grin to the grim faced Ranger, who smiled in response.
"It's true," Will nodded before turning back to Angie. "And Skandia is a perfect place for you to learn about what it's all about to be on the Task Force."
"Because it's the oldest treaty the Task Force had anything to do with?"
"Because the Skandian's are easy enough to deal with," Horace responded. "Give them a drink and get them started on their wolfships, tell them how great their ship is, take them a few rounds and they'll be your friend for life."
"That or save their life," the elder Ranger offered.
"Exactly," Horace nodded.
"Is that why that smelly seawolf likes to drag you onboard Wolfwill? And calls you the general?"
"That smelly seawolf happens to be a very close friend," Horace defended looking down his nose at her, a look he had improved greatly in recent years. "He helped us retake Castle Macindaw, aided us with the Civil War in Nihon-Ja and he was at both of the weddings. He even saved the Queen's life."
"Such history," Maddie rolled her eyes looking down at Angie. "Don't worry, the Skandians aren't that scary."
"Well, now that we have a plan we can set off."
"Tug's still not saddled," Angie remarked.
The old Ranger nodded, "yes, and we still have to send word to Liam in Whitby so he knows we've gone. Maddie if you could," he never finished the sentence. The old Ranger left the cabin, side stepping Johnny and went to saddle Tug.
"His mind still gets ahead of him sometimes," Horace laughed sitting at the table. "Do we have time for coffee?"