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"Leif" Horgold called to his apprentice
"Yes master" His apprentice replied coming down the stairs
"We are leaving for a few days." Horgold said, "Prepare your travel bag. Make sure you pack your ranger cloak as well as plenty of food and water and firewood. We leave in an hour."
"Yes master" Leif said as he ran back up the stairs to his room.
The ranger captain and his apprentice were walking silently through the forest. Horgold was giving his new apprentice a lecture on the importance of vigilance.
"If you are not vigilant, your enemy will be able to outsmart you and therefore defeat you. You must always be expecting the worst, and hoping for the best." The experienced ranger told his apprentice. "Now to start your first day of training." Horgold said to Leif as they walked into a clearing with targets all around, an assortment of weapons, and other equipment that Leif did not recognize.
"What is this place?" Leif asked in amazement
"This is my training ground." Horgold said, "All my apprentices have trained here and the location is a closely guarded secret. So, are you ready to begin your training?"
"Yes sir!" Leif said excitedly, "Can I choose a bow?"
"Soon, soon, but the first thing you need to learn is to move without being seen. This is the most important skill in a ranger's arsenal. If you know how to use it, it can be much more dangerous than you sword or bow." Horgold told his disappointed apprentice. "The first thing you need to learn is how to stay still. I want you to go out into the forest area. I will turn around wait until you are in position, then I'll turn around. Your job is to stay perfectly still and try to hide from me. If you can hide from me, then I'll let you train with weapons."
"Okay, so all I have to do is go and hide over in the forest?" Leif asked
"It's not as easy as it sounds, I have sharp eyes. You may be able to hide from your friends, but I am a ranger." Horgold told him. "Now, go hide" he said as he turned around. The boy ran quietly into the forest, too quiet for normal ears to follow, but Horgold's ears were anything but normal. He had over thirty years of experience tracking people with only the sound of their footsteps. He heard the boy stop. He turned slowly around and was surprised to find himself actually looking for the young trainee. He soon spotted the boy and called him out. "Nice job" Horgold congratulated Leif "Not many can stay hidden from me for that long. Now how about we work on your breathing control; and tomorrow I think you've earned the right to train with weapons."
They continued the training session until dusk, then went into the cabin to get a good night's sleep for the training tomorrow.
At the crack of dawn Horgold awoke and went to the main room of the cabin only to find that he was not the only one that was up early.
"Why are you up so early Leif?" Horgold asked the young apprentice who was cooking at the fire
"I was so excited for this morning that I couldn't sleep well so I came down here and made breakfast because I figured you would be down here around dawn." Leif told him "Would you like some coffee?"
Horgold couldn't resist the coffee that his apprentice had made. He loved a good cup of coffee to keep him more awake and alert. He took the coffee and his food and they ate in silence. After the meal the ranger and his apprentice went out to the archery range. This particular archery range had targets that were much smaller and farther away than the normal castle archery range.
"Now Leif, the first part in choosing a bow is the proper size. As an apprentice, you will use a recurve bow until you are tall enough to handle a full-size long bow. You will probably need a bow like this." Horgold said handing him a bow "Try pulling the string back." Horgold commanded. Leif pulled hard on the string, but he couldn't budge it. "Nope, that's not it." Horgold said "Try this one." Again Leif pulled, but this time it slid back easier. "Good, now to test your skills. Do you see the blue target about fifteen yards out?" Horgold asked.
"Yes, do you want me to shoot that one?" Leif asked.
"Yes, try to hit that one if you can." Horgold said. Leif knocked an arrow, pulled back, aimed, and released the arrow.