Ranger's Apprentice: The Tantalizing Tales

Between a Ranger and their horse

Although all Rangers had general knowledge on the care of their horses, first Crowley, and now Gilan, required that all Rangers visited Bob at least once a year for a routine checkup. Usually the results came out completely positive, but there had been a few occasions where a disease or injury had been discovered early on, which prevented serious issues later down the road.

Will and Maddie unsaddled their horses, slid a rope halter over their heads and handed them to Young Bob. They watched them walk away.

"And now?" Maddie asked, looking up to her mentor. Will shrugged.

"Whatever you want. Bob will be with Tug and Bumper for a while and I've learned it's best to let them."

His apprentice frowned when he didn't propose they continued with her training as regular.

"What are you going to do?"

Will smiled.

"I'm going to visit an old friend."

---

Maddie was growing bored. It had been hours since she'd given Bumper to Young Bob and she was running out of things to do. She sighed in frustration and decided to return to the riding field. Maybe she would find Will there, or Bob with the horses.

When she walked outside, she was once again surprised to see Will riding bareback on an old grey horse, moving at a gentle canter around the field adjoining the saddling paddock. She vaguely remembered that the first time they'd been at Bob's Will had also been riding the grey. She leaned on the fence, watching the pair. The old horse was the first to notice her and he neighed a greeting. Will looked up and waved, nudging his horse to where she was standing. Maddie waited until they were within earshot.

"So this is that old friend you were going to visit," she said, offering the grey her hand, palm up. Will nodded.

"Yep. He was my -"

"First horse," she said, as the horse sniffed at her hand, "Yeah, I remember. Bellopheron, wasn't it?" Bellopheron neighed softly and nudged her hand. She figured she was right and patted him on the nose.

"You know, I was just thinking..."

"You're an apprentice, you're not ready to think," Will remarked grinning. Maddie rolled her eyes, but continued as if the interruption had never occurred.

"When you told me that story about you and Tug racing in the desert, you said it was Tug. But my parents and you went to Arrida when you were still an apprentice. I did the maths, you couldn't have had Tug then. I'm confused." Will dismounted the grey and patted him on the neck.

"I said that because I didn't want to complicate the story. But I wasn't lying, it was Tug. And the horse that's with Bumper and Bob right now, is also Tug."

"I don't get it," Maddie said. Wil smiled.

"When I started my apprenticeship with Halt, I, like you, was assigned a Ranger horse. His name was Tug and he looked just the Tug I have now. We were together for years until, during the hunt on a wolf, Tug was attacked by the wolf. His leg was ripped open and I got him to Bob as soon as I could. By the time I did, however, it was already too late. The bite was deep and it was unlikely to recover fully. Especially since Tug and I had been together for about 15 years then and despite his remarkable health, he was growing old." He raised his hand to stop the following question from leaving Maddie's mouth.

"We decided that it was time for a new horse." He grimaced, "Or actually, Bob and Crowley did. I didn't agree, until I met my new horse. He was just like Tug, sharing the same mother and all.

"You see, our horses don't last much longer than 10, 15 years. After that, no matter how much they want to help us, they start to grow too old. Bob always tries to breed direct brothers and sisters, so that we don't have to get accustomed to a completely strange horse. Even the name and code word align."

"I see," Maddie said slowly. She looked at Bellopheron. The hairs around his nose were white, but his build was almost identical to the Tug she knew.

"So this the Tug you raced the Bedullin with?"

"The one and only."

She watched as Will fed his old friend an apple, when a thought struck her.

"So does that mean that one day, I'll have to exchange Bumper too?" she asked with a small voice. She didn't want to think about being forced to say goodbye to her barrel-bellied horse. Will laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"One day. But it won't be soon. After all, Bumper's in excellent health, isn't he, Bob?"

Maddie spun around to see Young Bob walking towards them, a horse on each side.

"It's like he never left a day under my care, Ranger Will," Bob replied brightly. He handed the rope back to Maddie and Bumper nudged her side.

I'm not going anywhere.

Maddie smiled and took the apple Will offered her. She fed it to her horse.

"I won't let you," she whispered.