{Ranger's Apprentice} "A Mission to Skandia"

Chapter 8: Hallasholm

"Oberjarl! The duty ship's back!" A young boy, seeming to be only a teenager, ran into the hall excitedly. "And I think I've heard that they brought guests."

"Aye." Erak said with a grin, as he pulled himself up from his comfortable seat at the head of the table. "Guests from Araluen, I would guess. Come on, lad, let's go give them a warm welcome."

Once out on the port, they saw the jarl of the duty ship leaping down from the bow and fastening on a few ropes while some of his men let down ladders from the ship's midriffs. Quickly, Erak saw the familiar grey-green cloaks that signify Rangers appear on those ladders, steadily making their way down to them. Midway though, they both turned and held out their hands to help two other figures, both taller than the two Rangers, yet much slenderer. These were dressed in simple white gowns, and they seemed to have no qualms for leaning on the arms of the two men who were walking down the ladders before them.

As Erak hurried forward to greet them, he suddenly recognized one of them as Alyss, the beautiful young diplomat whom he had met before in the company of Will Treaty. The other woman, who seemed, oddly enough, very close to Halt, was obviously older, as grey hair streaked on his head, yet somehow held herself with the same grace and dignity as the younger.

"Halt! And Will!" Erak shouted and swept the two Rangers up in the traditional massive bear hug of the Skandians. They both gave a low grunt as they were crushed against him, but he stoically ignored them and only let them go many minutes later.

Relieved, Halt and Will both took a few hurried steps backward, nursing their ribs and muttering. Then, seeing him turning to look to the two women, they then quickly set themselves in front of them. "They are women, Erak. Take care what you're doing here. And go gentle, even if you only intend to shake their hands."

Erak turned a mock confused look to them before pasting a winning smile on his face and turning to the women with one hand offered. "Welcome to Skandia, fair maidens of Araluen. I am the Oberjarl, Erak. I presume that your Ranger friends here have told you about me?"

"Oh, plenty," Pauline replied in a dry tone. "In fact, I think that it would be a better idea if I don't shake your hand? No offense meant, of course."

Erak appeared put off for one second but then immediately recovered. "And none taken. Shall we go around to the hall now? Get some ale inside of you, eh? And who's this here young man? Looks more like my type, he does." The last comment was added when he saw Alaric swinging down from the ship as well.

"That would be Alaric. He's a young knight apprentice of Horace. We took him along to help us with, well, treating with you, in fact, because, true, I do believe he is kind of your kind. Hash and batter kind." Will said.

"Now, now. That's not a fair thing to say." Putting out a hand around the young knight, who looked rather startled, he said, "Is it now, Alaric, my lad?"

Grinning at the attention, Alaric nodded, seeing that by this time he knew that the Rangers wouldn't really do anything to him for agreeing with the Skandian.

"Oh yes," Erak added, a gleam in his eyes, "Where are the old horses? Are they all still alive and well? Why didn't you bring them?"

Halt turned a withering gaze on him. "Aberlard and Tug are perfectly well, thank you very much. And you should probably have realized by this time that Skandian wolf-ships are not a good form of transportation for Ranger horses."

Erak put up a hand quickly, as if in a gesture of self-defense. "Alright, alright! No offense meant!"

Halt nodded slowly. "I should hope not."

"Let's get inside and get warm, yes?"

>>>———>

"So what is the situation right now?" Halt leaned back in his chair, nursing a mug of coffee which the Skandians had prepares especially just for himself and Will. They had already finished main part of eating, and had begun slowly sitting back to discuss the position of the Skandian & Araluan Treaty.

Erak shrugged and gestured to Gundar, for him to speak.

"Well, it's basically that the Araluan archers you sent to us, the very last batch I mean, they've been sorta stirring up up in their north-eastern front. And then there's another weird thing, which I saw myself. I saw one of them Eastern Riders up there in the borders when I was up there, collecting the last taxes. And that was a really peaceful town. As close as Skandia will ever get to having a town with no conflicts. No offense, Oberjarl."

Erak shook his head mournfully. "It's alright. I know."

Almost meditatively, Halt took another long sip of coffee, while unobtrusively letting his eyes rove across the wide table to meet Will's. He was staring at him already. As their gazes met, Will raised a single eyebrow.

"Is there anything else we need to know? Another detail?" Will asked, without breaking his stare with Halt.

"There's not much else," replied Erak, apologetically, "I know it's probably not much to work on, but I'm afraid we really have nothing to offer. But feel free to ask us anything about this, and we'll try our best to answer."

Will cocked his head in a quick, almost imperceptible movement to the right. Halt nodded. Then, turning to Erak, he said, "I assume you will give us permission to explore your kingdom?"

"Not exactly a kingdom, more like a jarldom," came the reply with a grin, "And yes, you have full permission."

Halt stood up, with a slightly apologetic look towards Lady Pauline, which was reflected in the gaze that Will gave Alyss. "So with that, I think that Will and I will retire first. We might want to make a short journey to the borders this very moment."

"This very moment!?" Pauline almost leapt up. "What are you even thinking, Halt O'Carrick!"

"That we don't have any time left. We need to catch the Temuj before he returns to his leaders. That was doubtlessly a scout, and I suspect that the scouts will not stay here for long. They will return soon to report to their Shan, and then there will be no time or chance to catch them and get the information we need."

"But, tonight! I mean, we literally just got here," Pauline's voice had gone from disbelieving to incredulous. Surprisingly, Alyss had said nothing throughout. She merely locked gazes with Will and gave him a small nod.

"Lady Pauline. Let them go." She said suddenly, her voice calm. "They are the two best Rangers we have in Araluen, after all, and I would expect that they both know their own business. If they say that now is the best time to go up there and catch some riders, then who are we to stop them? And besides, how many times have we already watched them leave us to go into the thick of some dangerous business? This cannot be much different."

Pauline sat there very still for a few seconds, her eyes fixed on her husband. "You're getting old, Halt," she said softly. "You have to take care of yourself, you know that? You're not as fast and as strong as you used to be. Don't over-estimate yourself and push yourself too far, do you hear me?"

"I know." Halt said, with surprising meekness. Walking around the table, he bent down and gave Pauline a quick kiss on the head before turning and jerking his head towards the door at Will. Will came and lifted one of Alyss's hands to his lips briefly, nodded to Lady Pauline, as if promising to help take care of Halt, and walked out of the hall, following his old mentor. 

A/N: Hey, to the few rare readers I have!🤣 So I just wanted to give you a quick warning, I will probably slow down a bit for the publishing of this fanfic from now on, as I also plan to work on something else at the same time. 

Again, if you like my stories, please remember to vote and comment~~