The Best One
Chapter 1
'One riot, one ranger,' so the old saying went, and Will had always thought it was the truth. Yet he had also learned that Rangers worked together sometimes. When they found it favourable, or even sometimes enjoyable to do so. So far though, he had mostly worked with Halt and Gilan, which he to a point, was doing now. He was with Gilan, but not Halt. Instead he and Gilan had been appointed to help one of the other Rangers.
Will only knew him well enough to recognize him, Harcourt, about ten years older than Gilan. Apparently Halt and Crowley knew his mentor, Egon quite well. Though Egon had retired well before Will became a Ranger. Halt had told him Egon had been well on his way to retirement before the business with Morgarath started, he had been posted to Sea Cliff Fief, the smallest and calmest fief in the entire kingdom or so Will understood it. It was usually a Ranger's first or last posting. The first as they were still learning what to do, and the last before they were given the golden oakleaf and retired. As they had been horribly short of Rangers at the time, Egon had after they overthrew Morgarath and exposed his plot, only stayed long enough to train an apprentice.
Gilan, or so Will had been told, had not been given Sea Cliff for his first Fief, because apparently Crowley had decided he could be of better use elsewhere and was skilled enough for it, and sometimes it still stung a little that he himself had been. He knew that a large part of it was that Crowley did not want to move Rangers around, and Sea Cliff had been the most readily available. Yet though he tried not to, he sometimes found it hard not to measure himself against Gilan.
Figuratively measuring himself against Gilan that was, figuratively, because if he did it physically he would come up short and he knew it. Several inches short to be truthful. Gilan was one of the tallest Rangers they had, and probably the lankiest as well, while Will was amongst the shortest ones. For some reason, most Rangers tended to be a little shorter than average, and then there were those like Gilan who was taller than average.
If Halt had been tall as well, it probably would have bothered Will a good deal, as he from time to time found himself wondering if Halt didn't care more for his first apprentice than his second. Though he knew that was not true. He just couldn't help that slight feeling of insecurity at times, in spite of the fact he really liked Gilan. The taller Ranger was like the perfect big brother. He was always ready to help Will try to get one over Halt, and he usually would take most of their mentors anger upon himself to spare Will. He always had a lot of helpful advice, and he never hesitated to point out all the times he himself had made a mistake. He was caring and generous, and he never hesitated to tease Will.
Though he did not know what a big brother was really supposed to be like, Gilan was probably the closest he could have ever pictured.
Sometimes he wondered if that was how Gilan felt, when he himself was off with Halt on one of their missions and Gilan was left tending Redmont Fief. That was Crowley's idea, a form of a Ranger task force that would be ready to go anywhere and do anything without upsetting the Fief's too much. Gilan had been assigned to Whitby, but would move into Redmont when Halt and Will were away. In meantime, one of the retired Rangers would keep an eye on Whitby during that time. Should he be needed, Gilan could quickly return, and two of the most important fiefs were covered.
This time however, Pauline had needed an escort in her duties as a courier, and naturally, Halt had been inclined to perform the duty for his wife.
When then Harcourt sent for aid, with a band of particularly vicious bandits, Crowley naturally felt Gilan was a good choice to go with Will. Harcourt had encountered a large organized crowd that sent a chill down Will's spine as he read the reports. They thought nothing of brutal murder, might burn a farm to the ground, with the family detained inside. They repeated this several times, to the point where the farmers would gather every single possession of any value they had, in the vain hope of buying them off to leave them alone.
The band would then take it all, and more, though most often then they would leave the people alive.
Such monstrous cruelty was not something Will was used to. He had read the report, and watched as Gilan stood beside him, face lightly pale and lips set in a thin line. It was so rare to see the taller Ranger not smiling, that Will felt all the worse for it. Gilan was always cheerful and optimistic, though Halt had told him Gilan could be very emotional and often took things harder than he let on.
He was a friend that Will counted on, nearly as much as he did Halt, and if he could not be with his mentor, then knowing Gilan would be along certainly made him feel better.
They had travelled quickly, at Ranger's forced pace, only stopping for brief periods to walk, allowing their horses the rest. Both Ranger ponies were bread for speed and stamina, and they did not seem at all troubled at the hard pace, though Will had to admit he felt weary.
"It's going to rain tonight," Gilan stated, a glance at the sky. "Quite heavily I think."
"It looks like it," Will agreed, which meant they would be really miserably.
"We should come to a village just about sundown, I remember it from the maps," Gilan went on. "We'll no doubt be a bit wet by then, but we have made good time. I think we might take a night at the inn. Let the horses get a good proper rest in a stable, not to mention a hot meal for ourselves."
"It sounds like a good idea," rain would slow them down no matter what they did, and Will didn't care more for being wet and cold than the next man. He would endure it anytime he had to, but he saw no reason to go out of his way to achieve it.
The clouds moved quickly, driven under a steady breeze, and so by the time they reached the village they were already thoroughly drenched. Taking their horses into the stable they rubbed them off with straw before finding some oats for them and making sure they had fresh water and hay. Will found an apple in his pack and started to hold it out to Tug when Gilan interrupted him.
"Don't give him that," the taller Ranger urged.
"I think he's earned it," Will objected. Halt always complained he gave Tug too many apples, and Tug complained he did not give him enough. Will had also noted that Halt gave Abelard quite a few apples himself.
"He has, what I meant was, please don't give him all of it. I don't have any, I were all out before I came over."
"Oh," drawing his saxe knife, Will cut the apple in half. It wouldn't be fair to give Tug the whole thing when Blaze was watching and would have to go without if he did. Tug didn't look overly impressed, but Will knew the pony did not mean it. He liked Blaze, and would not begrudge her the share. "Here you go girl," holding one half to Tug, he offered the other to the slightly larger horse. Blaze was actually a little tall for a Ranger pony, which probably was fortunate for Gilan he mused.
"We'll get more later, in the meantime, thanks for sharing," Gilan petted Tug on the neck and the pony gave a brief nod.
With the horses being tended to, the two wet Rangers dripped their way into the common room. Gilan quickly negotiated the price of a room, quarter and food for their horses and themselves.
"Will you want supper right away?" the innkeeper asked. "It's mutton broth, and the wife has made the bread fresh."
"Sounds perfect," Gilan nodded. "We'll just see if we have something dry to change into first, I'd hate to be responsible for your taproom flooding…" he glanced down at the puddle he and Will were standing in.
Looking at them, the man nodded. "I'll send one of the girls up to light the fire. It'll dry them out right quick, do you want ale with your meal?"
"Coffee if you have it," Gilan shook his head. "Something hot is what we need right now."
"I'll put a pot on, it should be just about ready when you come back down," he nodded.
"Thanks," taking their gear they made their way up the stairs to the room. A girl coming right on their heels to light the fire and they draped their soaked cloaks on chairs to dry, laying out the clothes they had been wearing. The clothes in their packs were slightly damp, but a minute or so of being held in front of the fire had them dry enough to wear and they quickly changed.
Will was immensely gratified that his boots had held up for the weather and were dry, though he noted that Gilan left damp footprints behind him on the floor once he had removed his own. "Looks like you need new boots," he grinned. "Grown out of them?"
"Worn them clean through, is more like it," Gilan held one up to inspect the sole. "I should have got new ones before, but I put it off, I thought better to get it done in Redmont, cobbler's better there. Just turned out I didn't have time before we left."
"You can probably get it done as soon as we get back," Will decided. "I don't think you taking the time for that will be a problem."
"Hopefully not," Gilan shrugged. "No help for it now, but right now, some hot food will do. I swear I can smell that mutton broth up here."
"I think you can," Will agreed. He led the way out of the small if rather cosy room, now filled with the somewhat pungent smell of drying wool. Down in the taproom they were handed a pot of coffee and two cups from the innkeeper, taking it to a table where a serving maid soon came with two steaming bowls. She also fetched a loaf of still warm bread and a crock of butter that she sat on the table between them.
The broth was quite good Will mused. Halt was an expert cook, and he had learned a lot from him, being quite an accomplished cook himself. Gilan had learned enough himself, but Will knew he wasn't quite as good as Halt and himself. The main thing to be said for his cooking being that he had learned to take his time with it. A lot of the not so good cooks in the Ranger corps tended to always try and rush it. The meat would be scorched on the outside, and still raw on the inside.
Gilan knew to let it roast slowly, but he did not have Will or Halt's instinct for spice and other smaller details. He had simply learned how to handle each recipe as Halt had taught them to him.
Grabbing two slices of the dark bread Will spread a generous amount of butter on each, and passed one to his friend. Fishing a large chunk of mutton from the broth. It was simple fare, the inn wasn't one that would make much business from offering lodgings he noted. Most of its commerce would be thirsty locals stopping by for the ale. It would have to be more simple food or they would lose money on the meals.
Simple did however not have to mean bad, and the cook, the inn keeper's wife, certainly knew how to bake good bread. Will said yes to a top-up of his bowl, though Gilan declined. The two of them using the bread to mop up the last of the broth from their bowls, splitting the last of the coffee between their two cups.
Bellies full, and having no reason to linger they thanked the serving maid as she took their empty bowls away.
"If you want breakfast tomorrow, you'll need to let me know," she told them. "It's nothing fancy, but there'll be porridge, eggs and maybe some bacon if we're lucky."
"As long as there is coffee," Gilan smiled. "That sounds excellent, we will want that."
"Any time you want then," she nodded. "We always rise early here."
"So do we," Gilan grinned at her and Will watched as she blushed as she continued her work.
Up in their small room steam was still rising from their wet cloaks, but they would be dry by morning Will knew.
"Better put your boots close to the fire, and hang your socks to dry," he mused.
"You know, I never would have thought about that," Gilan gave him a withering look as he sat on the bed to unlace and pull of his boots. It was with mild amusement that Will noted he had taken the bed closest to the door. The beds were narrow, with straw filled mattresses and pillows. The blankets seemed clean though, and so was the table that stood close to the hearth. Though the three chairs looked a bit on the worn side. It was no wonder, the inn would not be able to afford to replace them easily.
"Why do you do that?" he asked.
"Take off the boots first and socks after?" Gilan raised an eyebrow. "It's too much of a hassle the other way."
"I meant, why do you always take the bed by the door?" Will sighed, Halt was right. Sarcasm wasn't the lowest form of wit, it was not wit at all. "Halt does it to, almost every time, and you do it to. Why?"
"Because I had a look out the window before, and there is nothing there but a stable yard and a straight plain wall," Gilan shrugged as he started to remove his other boot. In addition to being too worn, he could swear the left one had shrunk.
"What does the wall matter?" Will pushed.
"Because this house is rough timber, now, you can climb that, and I can climb that, but there aren't too many others that can, at least not without using spikes or hooks," Gilan told him with an annoyingly patient tone. "That means, no one is likely to come through the window. The door however, is on the landing where there will be drunks, and opportunists, and they'll be able to get a lot closer before we notice them."
"So, you want to be closer to it so you can get out faster?" Will frowned. That wasn't very nice of him, and it seemed like a weird reason for Halt as he always tried to protect Will by placing himself between Will and any protentional danger…. "Oh…." Suddenly it struck him. Gilan took the bed closest to the door, so that if anyone came that way, they would have to deal with Gilan before they got to Will. "That's a bit different…"
Gilan only shrugged as he arranged his boots and socks so they would dry, hiding a grin from Will as he did so.
Definitely like an older brother, Will decided. Even when they were looking out for you, they were annoying…
TBC
Please review, the caffeine addicted Cricket is hungry….
