The Last Ranger

Sudden Beginnings

He slowly opened his eyes, it was going to be another long day. "The king is going to want me to go on another trip isn't he?" He said to himself, lightly grinning. As much as he would express his hatred for these trips, he quite liked being able to see sights and relax while riding his horse. "Oh yeah." He said to himself, remembering that he needed to feed his horse, Blaze. He moved to a sitting position on his bed, his body wanted to sleep but the responsibility coming into his mind woke him up. He threw his cloak on, and slowly got up. On his walk over to the door he stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a few apples, making sure to get the reddest ones out of the basket, Blaze liked those ones better. He put them all in his knapsack, and started to walk over to the door. He sat down on the chair next to the door and put his boots on, since they were ranger boots they took a while to slide on. Ranger boots are very insulated, and as a result they were hard to take on or off, and they were quite heavy. After he finally got them on, he got up and opened the door. The trees surrounding his house blocked most of the rays from the sun, but some still managed to sneak through. As a response Markus put his hand up to block the sun, letting his eyes adjust for a second. After his eyes had adjusted he started on his way to his stable. Blaze seemed to hear his masters stride and instantly got excited. "Good morning" Markus said to his horse, grinning. He started scratching the horse and smiled. Blaze was the ranger's best friend, Markus never had anyone to count on other than his horse. The horse always stayed loyal, and was confident in Markus' ability. Markus started to scratch behind Blaze's ear with one hand, which the horse always loved, while with the other opening his knapsack. He grabbed an apple from the bag and held it in front of the horse. Blaze, very carefully, started nibbling on the apple his mater had given him. "I love you, Blaze." Said Markus. The horse bowed it's head slightly and blew air out of its nose, as if it were saying he loved him too. Markus fed the horse another apple, then sat by it, eating his own. This moment was cut short by a man running towards Markus. Markus got up, and slowly approached the man. "The King wishes to see you sir!" The man said, he was a simple noble, tasked with finding Markus.
"Mhm. I'll be there shortly, I just have to finish cle-"
"It's urgent, sir." The man said, with a troubled look on his face. Markus knew he was only doing his job, and there was no need to give him a hard time.
"I see, well let's go then shall we? And how about we ride my horse there?"
"Really? If you'd be so kind."
"Of course, hop on."
Markus boarded Blaze, and helped the noble on. The noble quite obviously didn't have much experience with horses as he stumbled and struggled getting on the horse. Markus scratched behind blazes ear to calm him down while the Noble fidgeted and maneuvered himself onto the horse. "Sir, you forgot to open the gate-"
"Hold on." Said Markus, cutting the noble off mid-sentence. The horse whinnied lightly and jumped over the gate.
"Blaze is a smart horse, I only have the stable because it's the law given by the king." The horse sped up to a fast gallop.
"We'll be there in no time." Said Markus. Blaze was an Agarian-Atherian mix, which were bred specifically for rangers. They were made for they're high intelligence and fast speed, they're normally very unfaithful when upon birth, so gaining a sense of mutual trust is another challenge for a young ranger. On the way the noble became more distressed, and Markus could tell by the way he was shifting on the ride.
"Everything alright back there Mr....?"
"Stave, Mr. Stave, and yes I'm quite alright, we may just want to hurry this up." The man replied. Markus bent over and whispered into his horse's ear, within seconds the horse was going almost twice as fast. The noble held on to the ranger and used him as a shield to the wind.
"Is everything alright Mr. Stave? We're almost there."
"Yes, we just need to be there quite soon, sir."
Markus slowed Blaze to a slow gallop as they were entering the city district. As Markus entered the village the townsfolk started to whisper to eachother. It hadn't been anything Markus didn't hear already. Just the occasional "Is that Markus? Why is he here?" or "Its the ranger, be alert." These stopped affecting Markus after a few years of hearing it. Markus rode over next to the entrance of the gate, and disembarked. He looked at the guard stood by the entrance and said "Here, watch over Blaze, I'll pay you when I return." Markus put a lead on Blaze, and handed it to the man. The man silently complied with the task he had been ordered. Markus helped the noble off, he seemed to do better getting off of the giant horse than getting on. The noble led the way through the castle, and Markus silently followed. Every now and then the noble had to check behind himself to see if the ranger was still there as Markus made no noise as he walked. The noble approached the door to King Geralt's room, and lightly knocked. "Come in!" Said a man behind the door. Mr. Stave opened the door to reveal the king. Markus came to the door, and stood within the doorway. King Geralt looked up from his papers, and noticed the ranger.
"Markus! A pleasure to see you again! It's about time you showed up." Said the man with a slight chuckle.
"My lord." Replied Markus. The king noticed how irritable the ranger was, and didn't blame him. The smile left Geralts face as he looked back at his papers.
"We need to talk. Mr. Stave, close the door and lock it please." Said the king.