The Sorcerer of the North- Character Reaction

5

"Give it to me!"

"I was just about to!"

"No, you were flipping the pages instead of giving it to me!"

"I was just curious, alright?"

"Well, you can wait, then! I'm about to read it anyways!"

Halt cleared his throat, and both twins fell silent. Ulf scowled as he pushed the book towards Wulf, who gave him a smug smile.

Meanwhile, Hal sent the Ranger a grateful look, who nodded.

The following days seemed to go by in a blur as Will became familiar with his new surroundings. The welcome dinner that Ergell held for him in the castle dining room was a pleasant enough occasion. As it was an official function, Craftmasters such as the Armorer, Horsemaster and Scribemaster were all in attendance, as well as the knights attached to the castle and their ladies. The faces and names were a blur, but Will knew that over the coming weeks he would begin to remember them, and assign individual traits and characters to each person. For their part, they all seemed curious to meet the new Ranger, and Will was sufficiently pragmatic to realize that a certain reputation preceded him. Will sighed.

As the former apprentice of Halt, one of the greatest and most famous members of the Ranger Corps, Will would always have enjoyed a degree of celebrity. Gilan grinned over at Will. But he was also the one who had discovered and thwarted the secret plans of Morgarath, the evil Lord of Rain and Night, when he had attacked the kingdom little more than five years ago. Then he had served as protector to the Princess Cassandra during her captivity by the Skandian sea wolves.

Will snorted. "They need to relearn that part."

That particular interlude had been rounded off by a major battle with the Temujai, the fierce cavalry from the Eastern Steppes, and finally, the signing of a non- aggression treaty with the Skandians-a treaty which still held to this day.

Horace coughed. "Will Treaty," he said. Will raised an eyebrow.

"Thank for you enlightening us all, Horace. I never would have guessed that."

In fact, it was his part in securing the Hallasholm Treaty that had given Will the name by which he was known these days-Will Treaty. Raised as an orphan at Castle Redmont, he had known no family name in his childhood. Halt sighed.

So perhaps it was natural for people to be surprised at his apparent youth and even, in some cases, to assume that they had mistaken him for some other Ranger-someone who must be older and far bigger in stature. Everyone laughed. In the years he had spent with Halt, Will had often witnessed the disbelief evident on people's faces when they first met the small, gray-bearded man whose untidy hair looked as if it had been cut with his own saxe knife. Halt glared at the book. People expected their heroes to live up to a romantic ideal. The fact that most Rangers were on the small side, albeit wiry, agile and fast moving, seemed to go against general belief.

"Which is why we could see you, even with the cloak on," Will remarked. Horace rolled his eyes.

So Will faced an air of puzzlement and even mild disappointment—Halt raised an eyebrow—as he met his new neighbors-particularly among the ladies of the court. Alyss smirked. Seacliff was a backwater, as he had surmised, and the arrival of a celebrity-one who had been thanked personally by King Duncan for protecting his daughter-was cause for great anticipation. If the reality was not quite up to people's expectations, that was simply too bad, he thought.

"Mini-Halt," Crowley coughed.

For his part, the more he saw of Seacliff, the more his own sense of disappointment grew. "Disappointment?" Horace asked. It was a pleasant enough fief, set in a beautiful part of the kingdom. But the years of peace and safety had brought with them a sense of carelessness and neglect in the castle's garrison. And the blame for that neglect could only be sheeted home to the Baron and his Battlemaster. Duncan leaned forward. It created an awkward situation for Will, as he felt a genuine liking and respect for both men. But it was undeniable that the readiness and training among the knights and men-at-arms maintained by Ergell was way below the acceptable level.