The Rangers Apprentice: Thunder Coming

Running with the wind.

Will felt the crushing wave of despair he felt only hours earlier fall away at last. He would be going to start a new life, not as a farmer, not at battle school and not as a mysterious ranger.

Will knew he wouldn't need much to leave with, so he brought a bed roll, one set of ward clothes along with a hope of a new start. He rushed to the kitchen, confident he wouldn't see anyone for it was just about midnight.   The door was unlocked, and Will gently pushed it open. There was a bowl of red apples, loaves of bread, cheese and dried meat, and will took as much as he could carry in his thin leather satchel and worn grain sack.

If the craft masters didn't want him, Will would find someone who would.

Will trudged out into the cold night, keeping close to his cloak as he neared the blacksmiths. He dropped his bags lightly on the ground and even with the extreme care he used to place them on the ground, they still made  a loud thudding sound. Will hoped that the old grumpy black smith and his apprentice didn't wake. Will needed a knife to survive in the countryside that Aureland had to offer. Will sucked in a deep, cool breath and stepped up onto the porch of the blacksmith. He quickly scaled the stone wall, finding easy footholds and handholds in the uneven stones. The two men where sleeping on the main floor, while all the weapons were stored on the second floor. The window was barred with spaced apart bars, and for a moment, Will thought he might not fit.
"Come on" he said. He pushed and pushed until finally, the small boy popped through and landed in the clean, organized room.
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Will knelt on the stone floor of the weapons room and looked at the neat and polished weapons gleaming. At least a dozen swords where held on the wall by two worn wooden dowels. They where a knights weapon and Wills stomach gave a lurch as he saw the weapon he wanted to use most in the world. It was his dream to be a knight, like his father, who was a hero in the war, or so the note attached to Will when he was left at the ward said.

Will was tempted to take a sword, use it and care for it like a battle school cadet, but he knew he needed to be practical.
"I will do you proud one day, father," he whispered to himself. Will took another look around and his gaze finally found only one row of knives long enough to be useful but short enough not to be a sword. They looked awfully strange, will thought for they where two kinds. One was a much shorter blade than the other, and had a leather grip and crosspiece but the blade was thin near the hilt and quickly tapered out to be a wide blade in the middle, then returning to be a sharp point at the end. The other blade was much more suitable. It had the same worn leather grip and sturdy crosspiece but was more of a standard knife. One end was razor sharp, while the other was more blunt but thicker. Will gently picked up the weapon and was extremely surprised to notice how heavy the blade actually was. The steel was strong, strong enough to break a swords blade and definitely good enough to catch dinner with. Will thought.

Nimble like a fox, Will leaped back through the bars and carefully worked his way back down. Will had chosen a scabbard for his new knife and now it was strapped to his hip, waiting to be used. As Will stepped down to the packed dirt, his mind jerked back to what the note said. He shook his head.  The note was nothing, I'm sure. He thought and picked up his bags and headed east.
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Little did Will know that the note was a test, and since he didn't try to steal it, or even look at it, Halt the legendary ranger had abandoned his hopes of having the young man as his apprentice. Will was now alone, lost as a runaway farmer.

The note read The boy Will has potential to be trained as a Ranger. I accept him as my apprentice.