A/N: I can see the traffic for these is similar to the traffic for the main stories. Y'all give Raider some love!
TheRanger'sDaughter: Reese is definitely a 'cool' older cousin for Lily :)
Disclaimer: I'm not John Flanagan. Neither is Raider.
The sun had just begun to set behind the trees, causing the leaves to cast long shadows on the path. The darkening shadows flickered as Russ rode his shaggy Ranger's horse, Neron, at an easy canter. As he rode he thought about the meeting he just had with the local Battlemaster. Matthew had sent Russ to speak with the stubborn knight about a strategy to gain new recruits for the fief. The meeting ultimately proved a waste of time. While the Battlemaster wanted new recruits, he didn't have the intelligence or resources for the idea he wanted to implement. Russ offered numerous solutions, but the Battlemaster disregarded each and every one without consideration.
"No, no," he'd said each time spoke up. "That will never work."
Russ would sigh, bottle up his annoyance, and sit through Sir Thompson's next round of fruitless babbling. The fresh faced Scribemaster finally started holding his hand up to Russ out of Sir Thompson's line of sight, shaking his head to hush Russ before he even spoke. When the meeting concluded and the staff members filed out, he pulled Russ aside.
"Don't take it personally," he'd told him. "Thompson does that to everyone he deems as 'too young.' It took him a year before he even said hello to me and I saw him every day."
"Thanks," Russ replied. The scribe patted Russ's shoulder, and continued down the hall.
Always underestimated, Russ thought to himself. His parents had raised him to expect no special treatment from his superiors despite their close connection to so many royal families. Sometimes he wondered if his father had written all the masters in Norgate to be extra-tough with him.
As Russ rounded the corner of the trail, his thoughts quickly returned to the present when he noticed a figure in the distance stumbling along the path.
Drunk already, he thought disgust. Then he remembered what Matthew taught about focusing on one point too long. He quickly glanced around his surroundings to make sure the figure wasn't a diversion. Neron quickly caught up to the figure. It didn't take long for Russ to notice how the overlarge dark coat fit over feminine curves. Russ slowed Neron to a walk.
"Excuse me, miss?" Russ asked. The girl didn't respond. She shuffled along keeping pace with Neron.
"Miss?" Russ repeated.
The girl finally looked up to the hooded figure on the horse. Russ was taken back at how pale the poor girl's face was. She flinched when she looked at him and tilted her head, trying to figure out where the mottle cloak ended and the forest began. The effort proved too much.
The girl wobbled until she collapsed to the ground in a heap. Russ immediately dismounted and moved to help her, ready to check her vitals as his mother had taught him. She quickly pulled out a knife. Her hand shook too much to truly wield it. Russ stopped.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he assured her.
He noted the fresh blood still dripping from the blade. Russ pushed back his cowl and stepped forward slowly, sinking to a knee and took the knife from her trembling hand. Whether she released it purposefully or she was too weak to hold it longer he didn't know.
"What happened?" he asked in a tone he'd use with his younger sister.
The girl shook her head. Her dark hair was matted against her sweating brow and her eyes struggled to focus.
"Thieves," she whispered gruffly. She erupted into a coughing fit. Russ turned to Neron and pulled his water skin from the saddlebag. He offered it down to the girl, but she made no effort to take it. He held the skin up to the girls lips as she sank lower on the one arm supporting her sitting position. Her other arm was nestled closely against her side. Russ almost missed the sight of blood as her coat cast a shadow over her.
"Let me see that," Russ insisted, working on the buttons of her coat.
"He tried to kill me," she whispered. "I broke his hand and took his knife, but I didn't do a very good job of it," she managed to whisper. Her eyes fluttered. Russ stooped over and lifted the girl as she dropped off into a daze.
Russ gave the command for Neron to kneel so he could mount without disturbing this young damsel. He signaled Neron to stand and together they trotted off towards the village. Neron sensed exactly where Russ wanted to go. He trotted all the way to a local healer's home, the one so popular in this fief. Mistress Mary-Ellen had been trained by Malcom himself, and was much closer than the healers cottage in Castle Norgate's Forest.
Mistress Mary-Ellen did her job well, Russ knew. She had patched him up numerous times after intense training with Matthew and one of them ended up with injuries they didn't trust the other to handle.
It wasn't much father to Mistress Mary-Ellen's cottage from Corbury road through the woods. Russ spotted the light streaming from her cottage. Chances were the family was sitting down to eat. Russ didn't want to intrude on their family time, but there was no way around it. His damsel couldn't wait much longer. Neron neighed a greeting as they came closer. As the sound was (perhaps a little too) familiar to the family, he was greeted by Mistress Mary-Ellen's husband, Roy.
Roy quickly appraised the situation and went to Russ on the horse. "Give her to me, son," he said in his usual gruff voice. Russ leaned the girl into Roy's arms. She muttered something unintelligible and stared through glassy eyes.
"Thanks," Russ grunted in reply and dismounted. He jogged to the door and opened it for Roy. Mistress Mary-Ellen noted the situation and draped a cloth over a couch at the edge of the sitting room. Roy laid the girl down gently. She let out a soft moan.
"She said she got knifed by thieves on Corbury road in the woods." Russ explained peaking over Mary-Ellen's shoulder. Mary-Ellen removed the girl's coat completely. Now that the coat and her arm were brought away from the wound, Russ could see just how long the gash in her side was. Her shirt wouldn't be worth saving between the blood and long rip down its side.
"I need to go tell Matthew," Russ said. I'll be back later tonight with payment."
Russ left the healer's home, mounted Neron, and raced back to the Ranger's cabin.
When Russ dismounted he let reins hang loose. He prepared himself for a scolding from Matthew as he was late for dinner, but Matthew only glanced up from the stack of reports a castle page dropped off earlier in the week.
"Russ?" Matthew asked as his apprentice swiftly entered the cabin and went directly his bedroom. Russ came out with a silver tin, pouring some coins into one hand.
"Do you have 20 pence I can borrow?" Russ asked as he counted out his sum again.
"Russ," Matthew snapped in that commanding tone Russ hated so much.. "What's going on?"
Russ replied in a single breath. "On my way back from Norgate there was a girl who had been knifed in to woods. I took her to Mistress Mary-Ellen, but I don't have enough. Can I borrow 20 pence?"
"It costs 20 pence to sew up a wound?" Matthew asked, knowing full well Russ's mind was far ahead.
"No. It costs ten." Russ explained. "She broke the wrist of one of the thieves and I bet they are probably holed up in one of the taverns for now. He will want some whisky before they set his wrist."
Matthew nodded. He set down the reports, stood, and grabbed his cloak off the peg by the door. "All right. Let's go."
Russ felt a bit taken back at his mentor taking him seriously so quickly. The pair rode to the healer's home, Russ went in to pay for the services, and then he promised to stop back in the morning when she woke. They then continued onto the taverns.
Matthew and Russ alternated point as they stopped in the first two. One would enter with a flourish and while the other snuck in, scoping out the room during the distraction. In the third tavern, Russ spotted the group around a table by a fire. One had a heavily bandaged wrist and several drink glasses in front of him. Matthew caught Russ's eye, who imperceptibly nodded toward them. Russ approached the table with a grin and pulled up a chair. The others looked at him with a sense of surprise, disgust, and eagerness. They were so focused on his youthful face they didn't notice his weapons. Underestimated again. It was a matter of pride for Russ, after all.