THERE WAS A moment of silence in the cabin, then Halt rose slowly to his feet, his eyes blazing with anger. He pointed a finger at his former apprentice. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. But it was no less intense for all that.
‘How dare you say that!’ he spat. ‘How dare you turn your back on the Corps the moment you have some personal grief in your life? I didn’t spend years training you and caring about you, and watching you grow into a man I was proud of, to see you crumble like this! You took an oath when you joined the Corps. I know it meant something to you then. Does it mean nothing to you now?’
Will made an awkward gesture. ‘No. I . . . I just . . .’
‘Will, I’m sorry Alyss is gone. I really am. I loved her, you know. We all did.’
‘Not as much as I did,’ Will said bitterly.
Halt nodded. ‘No. The hurt is deeper for you. And it will be harder to bear. But you can bear it. You must bear it. You have to move on.’
Will faced him angrily. ‘D’you expect me to just forget about her?’
‘No! I expect you to remember her always. And to cherish and honour that memory. But honouring her memory doesn’t mean eating yourself up with this obsession for revenge until there’s no room for anything else in your life. It’s destroying you, Will.’
‘Just let me find Ruhl,’ Will said, a pleading note in his voice. ‘Let me find him and bring him to trial and then I’ll be glad to get back to being a Ranger again.’
‘It doesn’t work that way,’ Gilan said angrily. ‘You’re a Ranger and you have your duties to attend to as a Ranger. We all do. You can’t put them aside to suit yourself, then take them up again when you feel like it.
‘You are one of the rare people who can make a difference to this world. You’re a leader. You’re a hero to thousands of ordinary people. They look up to you and respect you. You give them hope and something to believe in. How dare you reject that responsibility? How dare you throw their respect for you back in their faces?’
‘Maybe I don’t care about them,’ Will said, his voice low.
‘Then you’re not the person I taught about honour and duty,’ Halt threw at him and Will flushed.
‘You’re needed, Will,’ Gilan said softly, the anger dissipated now. ‘The Corps needs you and your friends need you.’
‘What friends?’ Will asked.
‘Horace and Evanlyn,’ Halt told him. ‘Your oldest friends in the world. The man you’ve fought beside countless times. And the girl who faced danger with you – who refused to abandon you when the Skandians captured you at the Rift, and when the Temujai overran your position in Skandia. They’re asking for your help. Are you going to refuse them – while you skulk in a corner feeling sorry for yourself?’
‘They need me?’ Will said uncertainly. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘It’s Maddie. Your goddaughter. She’s constantly getting into trouble. She’s running wild and driving them crazy. They’re worried about her and they can’t find a way to bring her into control. They think you might be able to.’
Will frowned. ‘Me? What can I do? If they can’t handle her, how do they expect me to do it?’
‘They want you to train her as an apprentice,’ Gilan said.
Will actually recoiled in shock at those words. ‘Maddie? A girl?’
‘Maddie. A girl,’ Halt repeated. He reached inside his jerkin and produced a linen envelope, holding it out to Will. ‘They’ve written to you, asking for your help.’
Will took the envelope distractedly. His mind was whirling at high speed. A girl apprentice? There had never been such a thing, he thought. Then he wondered, why not? All his life he had been open to new ideas, new thinking. Why not this? Evanlyn would have made a superb Ranger, he thought. She was brave and quick-witted and intelligent. And her daughter was the same. He glanced down at the envelope again, seeing Evanlyn’s seal in the red wax that fastened it.
‘I’ll give you my answer tomorrow,’ he said.
Later that night, Will slit open the envelope that held the letter from Horace and Cassandra.
There was a separate inclusion in the letter, but it was marked to be read second. As he studied the words before him, his heart went out to his friends. It was a short letter, but none the less poignant for its brevity.
Will,
Horace and I are in desperate need of your help. Madelyn has become almost uncontrollable and wilful – and, in spite of all our best efforts, we are at our wits’ end as to what to do about her.
Madelyn, as you know, will inherit the throne one day and she needs to begin learning the discipline and responsibilities that will go with that role. But she refuses to listen to either Horace or myself. She suits herself, running off into the forest at night, putting herself at risk while she does so.
In addition, of course, she puts the Kingdom at risk. If she were to be captured or kidnapped, Horace and I would be placed in an untenable position. If she were taken by enemies of the state, we would have to choose between the welfare of our daughter and our country. We have tried to explain this but she shrugs off the possibility, laughing at what she sees to be our excessive caution.
I’ve tried everything to discipline her and bring her under control, but my efforts have been in vain. She insists on defying me and Horace and, living here in Castle Araluen, she’s surrounded by people whom she can all too easily bend to her will. Some of these subordinates are in honest awe of her position. Others, we fear, could be sowing the seeds for favourable consideration in the future.
Whichever reason is the case, we’re watching our daughter turn into an undisciplined, self-indulgent rebel. She must learn that her privileged life also brings with it responsibilities and duties.
As we’ve discussed this problem, we have come to the conclusion that drastic measures are required. Maddie needs to be removed from the privileged atmosphere of life at court and made to understand the realities of this world. At the same time, she must learn the skills and self-discipline that she will need as a future ruler.
Talking about this, Horace and I have agreed that you may well be the best person to help her – and us. You love Maddie, and so do we. Just as important, she loves you and respects you. You have a special relationship with her that may well snap her out of this behaviour. People tell us it’s a phase and most teenagers go through this state of rebellion against their parents. In time, she may come through it herself. But we live in uncertain times. My father is ill, as you know, and I have taken over the responsibility of running the Kingdom in his place. If anything were to happen to me, she would have to take over and, frankly, I worry that she wouldn’t be up to the challenge.
Teach her, Will. Take her under your wing and teach her how to be strong and responsible and brave. She has the potential to be all these things but she needs guidance. For the sake of our long friendship, I ask you to provide it.
Evanlyn (Cassandra)
Beneath the words penned by Cassandra, Horace had added a brief note of his own.
Will,
Please agree to our request. Cassandra won’t admit it, but the strain of ruling the Kingdom is too heavy. She can’t cope with the extra tension of Maddie’s behaviour at the same time. I worry for her health and wellbeing, as well as that of our daughter.
I would do this if I could. But I’ve tried and failed. Perhaps when Maddie was younger, we made the mistake of overindulging her. It’s an easy trap to fall into with an only child. Now she needs an outside hand – from a person she trusts and respects. I can think of no person more suited to that task than you.
If you read the extra document we’ve included, you will realise how seriously we view this whole affair. Use it if you must. I fear you may well have to.
Over the years, you’ve stood by me more times than I can count. I beg you to do so one more time.
Horace
Will folded the letter and tapped it thoughtfully against his palm. Then he opened the second document. It was s
hort and to the point – only a few paragraphs in length. But his eyes widened in surprise. Then he re-folded it and leaned back in his chair, thinking.
Gilan had tried to stir him from his obsession with revenge against Jory Ruhl and his gang. He had used words like ‘duty’ and ‘obligation’. They were abstract terms and they paled into insignificance in the light of the heart-wrenching hurt of Alyss’s death.
But this was something far more tangible and immediate. A plea for help from the two people whom he now loved most in the world – whom he had loved for years. He wavered, then asked himself the pivotal question.
‘What would Alyss want me to do?’
He said the words aloud and, as ever, his dog Sable’s head rose and her tail thumped once. He ignored her. He knew what Alyss would say if she were here.
She might consider the fact that, by agreeing to train Madelyn, he would be serving the Kingdom and helping secure its future. But even more important would be one overlying fact. He could almost hear her voice saying two words.
‘They’re friends.’
Old friends. Best friends. Friendships that had been tested in the fires of a dozen challenges. Two people who had stood by him and saved his life more times than he could count.
There was no question as to what his answer was going to be. This was a request he simply could not refuse.
ON THE APPOINTED day, Maddie arrived at Will’s little cottage below Castle Redmont to begin her training.
She arrived on the correct day, but not at the correct hour. Will had expected her at the ninth hour of the morning. It was well after midday when she rode into the small clearing. By that stage, Will had given up waiting for her. For the first two hours, he sat expectantly on the verandah of the little cabin, staring down the narrow track among the trees where he knew she would appear.
Finally, with a muttered expression of disgust, he went back inside to read the latest sheaf of reports that had arrived that morning from Gilan. It was normal routine for all Rangers to study reports from other fiefs. But Will had an extra interest. He scanned the reports – gathered from Rangers all over the country and detailing local crimes and out-of-the-ordinary events – looking for any hint of activity that might indicate where Jory Ruhl had gone to ground.
He was engrossed in an account from Cordom Fief of a criminal ferry master who took on passengers to cross the Gadmun River, then robbed them, stripped them and forced them overboard to take their chances with the swift-running current. He set the report to one side, placing it in a leather folder that contained a thin sheaf of other reports that might relate to Jory Ruhl.
‘Could be him,’ he said to himself. ‘Sort of thing he’d do.’
Sable, lying on the floor beside him, chin on her paws, opened her eyes and looked up at him expectantly, her tail swishing heavily. He shook his head. ‘Just talking to myself,’ he told her. ‘Go back to sleep.’
Which she did, with remarkable speed.
A few minutes later, her eyes opened again and she turned her head towards the door. Shortly after she did so, Will heard Tug’s quick neigh of warning from the stable. It was pitched low – a warning to Will, not the loud greeting Tug had issued to Abelard and Blaze when Halt and Gilan had come to visit. Tug’s signal held no overtones of danger. He was merely reporting the presence of people approaching the cabin. Whether friend or foe, he had no idea.
Sable rose with a grunt, shook herself and headed for the door, head down, nose sniffing the ground before her. Will laid down the report, pushed back his chair and rose as well. He allowed Sable to slip through the door the moment the gap was wide enough. Then he stepped out onto the verandah, moving out of the shadow to stand at the edge of the boards, leaning against one of the support poles.
He was in time to see Maddie emerge from the trees and ride into the small clearing in front of the cabin. His right eyebrow went up in a question mark as he realised that she wasn’t alone. Another girl, of a similar age, was riding a few paces behind her. But where Maddie was slightly built and graceful in her movements, the other girl was a little overweight and looked uncomfortable in the saddle.
There were other differences. Maddie rode a sand-coloured Arridan gelding. It had fine lines and slender limbs, and a proud, intelligent face. It carried itself with dignity, stepping short and placing its hooves delicately with each pace. The other girl’s mount was a placid-looking mare. A little taller than Maddie’s horse, it was heavy-boned and had none of the Arridan’s grace or fluidity of movement.
Their clothes were different too. Maddie wore fine woollen breeches, with knee-high riding boots and a purple short-sleeved jacket made from fine glove-quality leather. It was cinched at the waist by a belt made of connected silver discs, and a long dagger hung at her side, in a worked leather scabbard.
She wore a waist-length cape as well, off-setting it one side and leaving her right arm and shoulder unencumbered, an affectation that had become popular among wealthy young cavalry officers in the past few years.
Her companion wore a plain green linen dress, with a serviceable, but unadorned, woollen cloak over it. She looked around her with curiosity and a little uncertainty, while Maddie carried herself with confidence and an air of familiarity.
Gorlog’s breath, Will thought to himself. She’s brought her maid with her.
And not just her maid. Trotting obediently behind the two riders was a bay pack horse. Short-legged and barrel-bodied, it was festooned with leather valises hanging from the horns of its pack saddle. It looked to be carrying more weight than either of the two saddle horses.
Will took a deep breath. His first instinct was to bellow a tirade of angry questions at Madelyn, beginning with What do you think you’re doing? then moving on through Who the blue blazes is this with you? and finishing with What have you packed for? A twelve-month grand tour round the country?
Instead, he controlled himself, waiting until Madelyn registered his presence on the verandah. She smiled winningly.
‘Hello, Uncle Will. I didn’t notice you there. You Rangers certainly can move quietly when you want to, can’t you? I’ll look forward to learning more about that in the next few weeks.’
Will noted the time frame she mentioned. She has no idea how long this is going to take, he thought. She thinks she’s going to spend a couple of weeks running round the forest and then go home.
He bit back the furious phrases that were forming in his mind.
‘You’re late,’ he said in a quiet voice.
She looked a little surprised, then shrugged. ‘Am I? I had no idea. I was told to get here today. I didn’t know there was any special time.’
‘There was. The ninth hour. It was in your orders from Gilan.’
Maddie frowned, still not showing too much remorse over her late arrival. ‘Orders?’ she said. She looked at her maid. ‘Rose-Jean, did Commandant Gilan give you any orders for me?’
The other girl looked confused, and a little worried. If Maddie hadn’t noticed Will’s irate expression, her maid definitely had. She was, after all, a servant, and accustomed to being alert for signs of displeasure from her superiors.
‘No, my lady. He –’
‘He would have given them to you, Maddie,’ Will interrupted roughly. ‘A letter. In a thick linen envelope.’
‘Oh . . . that?’ Maddie said. She laughed. ‘Yes. I got that. I thought it was just a farewell letter – a going-away card or something. I haven’t read it yet.’
‘Perhaps it might be a good idea if you did,’ Will said. His voice was dangerously low. Maddie didn’t notice, but Rose-Jean definitely did. Her worried expression became even more concerned.
‘Oh, I’ll do it later!’ Maddie said easily. ‘I’m sure you can fill me in on anything I need to know.’
‘Well, one thing you need to know is that you were due here over three hours ago. Where have you been?’
Maddie still wasn’t getting it. Her maid looked around, wishing she could shrink behind somet
hing for protection when the storm broke – as she knew it was going to. She had no idea why the grim, bearded Ranger was so furious. Her mistress had told her that they were off for a holiday in one of the provincial fiefs. But now she was sensing there was a lot more to it than that.
‘We stopped at the castle to see Arald and Sandra,’ Maddie said carelessly.
‘Baron Arald and Lady Sandra,’ Will corrected her, placing slight emphasis on the two titles.
Maddie shrugged, grinning. ‘To you, maybe. To me they’re Arald and Sandra.’
Will’s fury mounted even further. He was beginning to understand what Evanlyn and Horace had been going through with their daughter. But he controlled himself with an effort, speaking very slowly and deliberately. He didn’t want a confrontation here with Madelyn, especially in front of her maid. He knew that the servant would be embarrassed and uncomfortable if there was a scene.
‘No. To you they are Baron Arald and Lady Sandra. And you’d better get used to it,’ he said.
Maddie cocked her head at him, a puzzled smile on her face.
‘Uncle Will, I’ve always called them Arald and Sandra. You probably don’t understand that. But as princess, I outrank them.’
Will took a deep breath. He looked briefly at the servant girl and saw the tension in her posture. He let the breath out and then said in a reasonable tone: ‘Maddie, dismount, would you, and step this way?’ He indicated that he wanted her to join him on the verandah of the cabin. She nodded and dismounted smoothly, passing her bridle to the servant girl.
‘Hold on to Sundancer for me, would you, Rose-Jean?’ she said. Then she walked across the small clearing and stepped up onto the verandah. Will took her elbow and led her a few paces further away.
‘I must say, Uncle Will, you are behaving quite strangely. I’ve never seen you this way,’ Maddie said.
When they were out of the servant’s earshot, Will said quietly, ‘Maddie, there are several facts that you need to get used to. You are not here for a glorified holiday –’