The city of Hallasholm glowed in the light of the setting sun, the timber of the houses and the palisade was old and weathered giving a very rustic feel to the whole city. It was summer but Angie had a chill as the port master oversaw the unloading of the horses.
"Horses," he spat watching as Tug was hoisted from the hull of the wolfship, "why do you always feel the need to bring horses?"
"I learned a long time ago, never go anywhere without your horse," Will was waiting to consol his shaggy horse when they lowered him on the dock. "You never know what could happen."
"I'm sure," the port master sad drily. "I hope you're not intending to start anything like you did last time you were here," he gave the Araluens a baleful glance.
"We never intend for those things to happen," Horace supplied from where he was stroking his battle horse's muzzle. "We always just seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Let's avoid that then," the port master sniffed turning to look at the sea wolves unloading the horses. "I'll send word that you have horses up to the Oberjarl's Palace, they can prepare the stables."
"Thank you," Will smiled as Tug was set on the wooden planks of the dock; the horse snorted shaking his head as the harness was removed.
The port master sighed waving the thanks aside as he turned and started up the dock, Angie thought she heard the word, "Araluens," followed by some rough Skandian terms. Nils watched after him with a scowl.
"Port masters," he cursed, "they think they're so much better than everyone else."
"Bout like tax collectors," Borak snorted from the deck.
Once all the horses were unloaded, the Araluen's gear was packed into the saddles Will and Horace led the group from the docks to the Palace.
Angie had briefly seen Castle Araluen as they rode past it for the coast. It had been tall with spires and banners waving in the wind. The Oberjarl's Palace was nothing like that, it was a short building made from pine logs that stretched out as opposed to up. It had a wall separating it from the rest of the city, and Will had to talk the man at the gate into letting them enter with their horses, they exchanged something and the group was allowed to pass.
Inside the wall people were running everywhere, carrying buckets, logs, leading animals on halters and at least a dozen other tasks. Angie could see Will scowling at them as he walked for the main entrance of the Palace. Bad memories, Angie guessed and decided not to ask. At the door they were met by a stuffy little man.
He looked down his nose at them, which was a very odd expression since Angie was the same height at the man and she was the smallest of the group from Araluen. Will returned the man's cross look with a heavy sigh. If Will had been expecting this he had not let it show and if he had not expected it, he was not just going to stand aside.
Angie was impressed. Short as the man was he was still a Skandian, and they were a race of crazy fighters. It took a lot of nerve to stare one down; even more to do so in the Skandian capital at the door to the palace. She would never have done that, she was frightened while Will was facing him down.
"No one said anything about horses," the man finally broke eye contact with Will.
"I'm sure the jarls will not mind too terribly," Will returned coolly.
"I am Hilfmann, I'll say how much the senor jarls will mind," the man sniffed narrowing his eyes. "And no one said anything about horses."
"We are here at the request of the senior jarls," Horace stepped forward.
"So I've been told," the Hilfmann looked down his nose again.
"And we are a royal delegation," Maddie stepped up on Will's other side, providing her personal seal for the man.
The Hilfmann's attitude changed instantly. His face lit up in a broad smile as he stepped back from the Araluens. "I had not realized we had such revered guests," he bowed slightly. "I'll have the stables prepared right away, for all you're horses."
Will looked to the sky with a shake of his head. It was not enough that he had been invited personally to Hallasholm, it seemed he could only accomplish anything because he had a member of Araluen's royal family present. And Maddie had been quick enough to show her signal off; Will doubted the Hilfmann would leave her alone now.
But they were in the Oberjarl's Palace now, which was better than what Will had been doing. Sometimes staring an opponent down was not the best way. Will vaguely remembered he had told Halt that once, and Halt had snorted at him. It was amazing how much like his mentor he had become.
"I have rooms prepared," the Hilfmann led them down the hall of the palace. "The jarls have already begun their discussions, but I will tell them when they break for the night. I'm sure they'll insist you join them for evening meal."
"Sounds lovely," Maddie commented looking in awe at the building. She had heard tales about the splendor of Hallasholm, but nothing her parents had said had ever come close to what she was seeing. There was something about actually seeing a place that just made it better than the stories, and the descriptions her parents gave were very accurate. "How much longer will that be?"
"They should be breaking for a meal soon," the Hilfmann sounded unsure. "It is almost dark."
The jarls cared little about what the Hilfmann had to say or guess at. The Araluens waited in their rooms for two hours before the Hilfmann came to tell them the jarls had just finished for the day. Angie was sharing a room with Maddie, Will had more or less ordered that everyone would be sharing rooms so they would not overly inconvenience the jarls. She was laying on the small bed that she would be using during their stay when the Hilfmann arrived.
"Finally," Maddie muttered from her own bed after the door closed. "I thought their meeting would never end."
"Does that mean they've elected a new Oberjarl," Angie asked as they left the room. Will had talked about the process of electing a leader from the senior jarls, it was an odd concept to Angie who had pretended to listen to most of the lecture.
"I doubt it," Maddie answered. "They would have only just started the discussions. I heard someone saying the old Oberjarl had died while we crossed the Stormwhite. Skandians celebrate the passing of the Oberjarl for about a week before they even think about who the next Oberjarl will be."
"Why were we coming if the old Oberjarl was still alive?"
"They knew his end was near," Maddie shrugged. "Perhaps they just wanted us over here to see him off."
That seemed like an odd request. Why have a group sail all the way from Araluen to see a man die? Why have them over here anyway, it was not like they could do anything if the new Oberjarl decided not to honor the treaty Oberjarl Erak had signed.
"What's the real reason we sailed all the way over here?"
If the question came as a shock to Maddie, it did not show. She just kept walking, and decidedly ignoring the young apprentice Ranger. They joined Will, Horace and Johnny outside of the Big Hall. They could hear the sounds of people eating and drinking inside the hall. It was ten times louder than the crew on their wolfship.
"The jarls have already started," Johnny looked at the door like he was expecting it to combust. "Should we just go in?"
"I didn't come all the way over here to stand outside of the Big Hall while the jarls eat," Horace took hold of the handle. "And I'm not going to bed hungry."
"Good thing we're in Skandia," Will muttered with a wave of his hand, signaling Horace to go ahead and throw the door open.
The Big Hall was silent when Horace threw open the door, some of the jarls were standing, one had a large knife raised over his head like he was about to throw it, two had their tankards raised in a toast, and several had their tankards raised to their mouths. Once the jarls realized who had thrown open the doors they burst out in cheering.
"The Ranger's," one shouted, the jarl who had been about to throw a dagger. "I thought you had all gone to sleep already!"
"And missed this," Will looked carefully at the five places that had been reserved for the Task Force. None of the places were close together.
None of them were really sure how it happened, but all five of the Araluens were separated and pulled into conversations with the jarls and the few skirls that had been invited to dine in the Big Hall. Horace was challenging his group at drinking, he was faring well. Will was talking with to a few who had been young seawolves during the Battle for Hallasholm and sailed with him to fool the Temajui before the fighting started. Maddie was talking with a group of jarls who wanted to know what it was like having the general as a father, she assumed they were friends with Nils Ropehander since they called Horace the general.
Johnny and Angie sadly ended up in the same circle, neither of them were sure how it happened. But one minute Angie had been listening to a skirl talk about the great blue whale and the next Johnny was talking about his training in the battle school at Redmont. Angie was trying to be civil, Johnny however was not.
"She was always in trouble. We grew up together in at Redmont," Johnny changed subjects quickly, hoping to keep all the attention focused on him. "She snuck out and caused the Baron no end of trouble."
"I like it," one of the jarls smiled at Angie clapping her on the shoulder with his hand, nearly knocking her to the ground. If anything, that just made her feel worse. "Barons need to be tested; authority figures can't get too comfortable. Or they end up like Loki."
"Loki?"
"The Hilfmann," another of the jarls answered. "He was Oberjarl Modi's brother. Not much for fighting but very good at counting the gold," the jarls nodded at the assessment of the Hilfmann.
"So what kind of trouble did you cause," the jarls turned expectant faces on Angie.
"Well, one day I stole a couple of roast chickens from the kitchen," she offered, not sure what these Skandians were expecting from her.
"Ah, liberating chickens," one smiled dreamily. "I use to do that as a boy, from that meal house of Hal's mother."
"You liberated quite a few things from that place if I remember correctly," another goaded with a laugh. "I remember during Brotherband training you got your hands on a whole goat!"
The jarl shook his head laughing.
"What else have you done," they prompted.
So Angie told them. She listed all the times she snuck off, was caught in a mischievous deed, or started a fight. With each tale the jarls and skirl laughed a regaled in their own stories where they had done something similar. Angie was enjoying herself the more she talked to the rowdy Skadians.
Johnny, during the conversation, was growing envious. He had been talking badly about Angie so the Skandians would shun her, as it ought to be. Angie was a freak; she did not deserve their praise. His plan had back fired, she would have been ignored if he had just ignored her.
It seemed his old tactics would no longer work. If he wanted to make sure Angie was kept in her place, he would have to invoke the new methods he had learned in the Battle School from the older apprentices. But that could wait until tomorrow. The Ranger had said they would generally be allowed to do what they wanted. That would be the perfect time to set the apprentice Ranger straight.