They switched rowing crews when the coast of Araluen came into view. Johnny got up from the rowing bench stretching his cramping muscles. A burly man called Haldor was his rowing partner and dropped his massive hand on Johnny's shoulder as the moved from the oars.
"Not bad for a scrawny little apprentice," Haldor boomed. Johnny smiled up at the seawolf.
The return from Skandia was much better than the voyage out. Not only was he spared hours of practice with Horace, Maddie and Will in one of the holds, but the crew was nicer to him. They joked easily and let him join in their gambling games when Borak did not have him rowing. He was enjoying the voyage and spending time with the Skandians, he was sorry to see the coast on the horizon.
"Not bad, I was pulling back to stay with you," the rowing crew laughed at the expression on Haldor's face.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," he finally managed to bluster, his face quickly falling to a scowl. "I was holding back for you!"
Johnny laughed accepting the canteen that was being passed around the crew. He took a long drink of the warm leathery water before passing it on to the next seawolf. Haldor eyed him critically. "Can't we just agree to disagree?" Johnny asked his smile spreading.
"I'm going to miss you boy," Haldor cracked a grin behind his coarse black beard, wrapping Johnny in a bear hug.
"We're not docked yet," Johnny gasped straining to escape Haldor's grip. "We'll probably be onboard until dark."
"Longer than that," the skirl commented from his position at the tiller. "Horace says we sail all the way to Castle Araluen, because of the girl."
A depression settled quickly over the gathered Skandians. They all knew how horribly things were going with the apprentice Ranger. The first day they had sailed from Hallasholm she had been attacked by pain. Some of the crew believed evil spirits had hidden in the hull and possessed her because Will would not let her up on deck.
Since the first day, and her first pain attack, Will had sent Maddie or Horace down to look after the girl. The crew had all been down to see her, saying that she was just getting worse as the voyage continued. Johnny, however had not been down to see her.
Since seeing her broken in the shipyard, and then sent away once they had her under the care of a healer…
Johnny was not sure how he felt about Angie. He felt like it was his sister that had been crushed, saving his life. But he had always hated her, they had been rivals as children and then he had bullied her. All the way up to her saving his life. He was so confused about it he could not go below deck to where Angie had made the return voyage.
"How long does it take to sail up river?" Johnny asked. They had boarded on the coast, which was two days ride from Castle Araluen.
"We go in under oars. Normally it takes about a day to reach the pier outside of the castle."
So there was one more day. Johnny looked around at the crew. He considered them all friends; he would miss them once they reached the castle.
"Johnny," Horace approached with a smile spread across his face.
"Yes?" Johnny was pulled from the thought of leaving his new friends behind to look at the knight. What could Horace need?
"Maddie could use a break, want to take over?"
Johnny felt his heart rise into his throat. He had not been down there, and they had left him alone. And this question about going down there was not actually a question. Horace was telling him to go down to sit with Angie. That was something Johnny did not want to do.
"Can't you or," he stopped short.
He had almost suggested Will go down there. But Will had suffered some form of mental break down during Angie's first attack and had not been down since. No one knew what had happened down there. Will was not talking about it and no one was making the grizzly old Ranger go back down.
"You haven't been down to see her yet. Borak said you're done on the rowing benches for the rest of the trip, so you can watch her until we reach the castle," the knight clapped Johnny on the shoulder. "Also, once we reach Araluen, you'll begin training with me at the castle."
"I won't be returning to Redmont?" Johnny looked up at the king. Redmont was the only home Johnny could remember. The thought of not returning to the red keep was terrifying.
"We can talk about that later," Horace smiled, Johnny could see he was forcing the happiness. "Right now why don't you go see Angie?"
Knowing it was more of a command than a suggestion Johnny started below deck to the hold where they had set Angie's hammock for the voyage across the Stormwhite. Angie had been given her own store room, Johnny believed that once the talk of spirits possessing her started, none of the Skandians wanted to be in the room for fear of their own safety. And he had become a little superstitious since her pain was getting worse according to the accounts of Horace, Maddie and Nils, the only Skandian crew member who would sit with Angie.
Maddie was perched on the edge of a wooden crate holding Angie's hand, a bag of the mysterious plant Angie was being given for pain at Maddie's feet. They were talking quietly while the hammock swayed with the rolling waves. Angie's face, which had regained some color before they left Hallasholm, was pale and gaunt again.
"Um," Johnny cleared his throat to draw Maddie's attention. "Horace thought you could use a break," he said awkwardly, unable to meet Maddie's green eyes.
Maddie smiled, squeezing Angie's hand as she stood up. "I'll be back soon," she promised brushing Angie's hair back from her face. Angie gave a very forced smile in response and watched Maddie cross the room.
Maddie pulled Johnny from the room by his elbow. "I gave her some of the warmweed about an hour ago. She should be okay, don't give her anymore."
"What if she's in a lot of pain?" Johnny looked over Maddie's shoulder to where Angie lay.
"The plant is addictive, I might have already given her too much," Maddie sighed running her fingers through her long blond hair. "If you think it's bad enough, come get me or Horace."
"Okay," Johnny mumbled looking down at the floorboards.
Maddie laid her hand on Johnny's shoulder, he looked up hesitantly. She was smiling at him encouragingly. "It'll be fine, I'll be back in a few hours to check on her." She pat his cheek as she turned to leave.
Johnny took a deep breath looking in the room where Angie waited. Sitting with her was the least he could do, she had saved his life. He took a bold, confidant step toward her, then another.
Angie smiled up at him when he sat on the crate Maddie had been using. Her face seemed to be stretched to tight over her bones and it was white. She looked nothing like the girl who had sailed to Skandia barely three weeks ago. Johnny smiled back at her, holding his hand out for her to hold. Her grasp was loose as she wrapped her long nimble fingers around his calloused hand.
"It's about time," she joked. "I thought you had stayed in Skandia."
"We'll you know," he shrugged trying to find some joking return comment. "That crazy skirl had me rowing, and Horace still likes to beat me to a pulp."
She attempted a wheezing laugh, "Don't make me laugh, it still hurts."
"Have they kept you in this hammock the whole time?"
Angie nodded, kicking at the canvas with her leg, the extra material wrapping around her broken left leg. "It's the most uncomfortable thing in the world," she mumbled crossly. "Look at my leg. It's at a weird angle, and no one listens when I say that."
Johnny could see what she was talking about. Her boxed up leg was unable to straighten from the hip where the canvas hammock bowed. Her arm was bound to her chest with just her fingers poking out of the white linen. It was making him sore just looking at how she had traveled across the Stormwhite. And of course the adults did not listen. They thought they knew what was best. Well Johnny was going to fix it, at least a little.
He stood up leaning over her, "you've got to sit up." Johnny freed Angie's leg from the canvas and dropped it over the edge of the hammock, then helped her sit up. Her breathing seemed to ease a little once she was sitting up. He propped her broken leg up on the crate and sat next to her on the hammock.
"Oh," she sighed, her shoulders slumping. "That feels so much better," she smiled at him.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Johnny kept expecting her to crumble with the pain the crew had talked about, but it never came. He kept waiting for her to ask for more of that warmweed stuff Maddie had told him about, but she never did. But she was fidgeting with the bandages tying her arm to her chest.
"Here," Johnny reached around Angie, pulling at the knot Will had tied in the linen. She stretched her broken arm out as soon as it was free, the smile spreading across her face. "Better?" he smiled glad that at least she was feeling better.
"So much," she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you."
"It's the least I could do," he felt his face growing warm as she embraced him. "You did save my life."
"And you saved mine," she pulled away from him, readjusting her broken leg. "Since that fight with Will, no one's been listening to why I'm in pain."
"Why were you fighting with Will?" no one was talking about it and Johnny wanted to know.
"Because he wants me to lay in bed for months," she grumbled, still stretching her arm out. "He became so crazy over protective, I couldn't stand it. And then when I couldn't breathe he wouldn't give me more of that plant they think they're hiding from me."
"Maddie said it was addictive."
"So?" Angie huffed crossing her arms. "It helps me when I hurt."
"You've been faking it haven't you?" he gave a sly grin at the girl, who grinned back.
"Sometimes," she admitted. "But sometimes it did hurt," she fingered her ribs gently. She took a breath slightly deeper than she had been. "Did Will tell you about what he told me back in Hallasholm?"
"No," what was the point in any of this? "What did he say?"
"Will, and the others, they knew my parents."
"Oh," he sighed looking down at the ground, guilt from all of his taunts sinking to the pit of his stomach.
"They were both Rangers who died on a mission in Picta. And my dad, he had a brother." She looked down at her leg, running one of her fingers along the pinewood crate encasing her leg. "Do you know if your dad had a brother?"
Johnny opened his mouth to respond. He had been four when his parents had died, he could not remember grandparents. How was he supposed to remember if his father had a brother? He was about to retort about how stupid of a question it was when he remember the stories some of the people in Wensley had told him. The Pritchard boys had always been into everything, one of them had been apprenticed to the Ranger from Whitby Fief while the other, Johnny's father had apprenticed with a smithy.
"His brother was a Ranger," Johnny heard himself respond. Angie nodded, as if she had expected it.
"Will says we're cousins."
His cousin had saved his life. And he had saved his cousin's life in return. He had also bullied her growing up. He smiled at Angie, wrapping his arm around her careful not to hurt her.
"We're more than cousins, we're siblings." Angie smiled back at him.
"Now when we get back to Redmont, we can do stuff together. Like families are supposed to."
Johnny sighed looking down at the floor. He was not going back to Redmont, his training was being moved to Castle Araluen. He would not see her except for Task Force missions, and who knew when the next one of those would be.
"I'm not going back to Redmont," he said slowly. "Horace wants to train me, since I'm taking his position on the Task Force."
"Then we won't ever see each other?"
Johnny shook his head. He had no idea, and he did not want to give her false hope. He did not want to give himself false hope.

Will hired a coach to transport Angie back to Redmont. Even if she been capable of riding Will had no intentions of letting Angie ride Starburst back to Redmont Fief. They said their goodbyes at the gates of the castle, Angie and Johnny sharing a long embrace.
"I'll come see you as soon as I can get away," Angie promised.
"Me too," Johnny smiled. "I'll probably get free first." They separated as Angie was helped into the carriage. She waved good bye to Johnny as the castle faded in the distance.