Ranger's Apprentice; An Emotional Tale

I: Snow

He could feel himself coming out of a deep sleep, one that was rare in his busy life as a Ranger. His eyelids seemed to be in slow motion as they opened and his vision was a bit blurry as he waited for his eyes to focus and his mind to function. Small parts of his dream flew through his head, but they disappeared as he tried to remember them.

Will threw back the covers and slid to the side of the bed, where he sat up to gain alertness before he stood up and stretched his stiff muscles. It was only then that he realised the cold and he turned around to smooth down the covers, so less of Alyss' body heat would escape.

Still on bare feet and with only thin trousers and loose shirt he wore during night, Will silently padded over their bedroom threshold into the main room.

It was early in the morning, with the chill of the night still hanging in the air. The room was dark, as the shutters were closed and the wood in the fireplace had been done burning a few hours ago.

Will yawned and walked towards one of the windows to open its shutters and was almost blinded when he did so. The small clearing which was surrounded by trees in front of the cabin had been turned into a beautiful winter show.

The branches of the trees bowed with the heavy load they were carrying, bending towards the ground. Everything was glistening, as if a fairy had sprinkled her dust over the entire world during the night. Colours were brighter against the pure white blanket, and the air smelled pure and fresh. Everything seemed to be quieter, almost muffled. The sound of chirping birds was barely hearable, and there were no other sounds that submerged from the forest.

Will now opened the other shutters as well, and let the fresh air fill the cabin. Wanting to go outside, to Tug's stable, he decided to put on something warmer, before he would wend himself into the white coldness called snow.

After having checked on Alyss - his wife was still asleep, not being affected by the coldness that ran through the rest of the cabin - he slid his feet in his boots, put on his jacket and hung his cloak over his shoulders. He also hang his double knife scabbard around his waist, a sharp, shining knife in each sheath.

The door creaked when he opened it, and he carefully stepped onto the porch so as not to slip and fall. Will now had a full view of the clearing and the beginning of the forest; a wintry paradise covered in snow.

With every step Will took, he left a fresh, crisp footprint in the blanket, as if he was the first person who had ever been there. It had began to snow again, and tiny ice crystals drifted peacefully down from the sky. The white, cottony powder continued to cover the branches of the trees as Will walked towards the stable. Although the soft wind was brisk and chilly, the early morning sun was bright and warm.

When he entered the stable he was greeted by both whinnying and barking at the same time.

"Morning, Tug; morning, Ebony," Will greeted. Ebony wagged her tail at him, and Will went through his knees to stroke over her black-and-white head. She looked at him in delight, one blue and one brown eye staring lazily at him.

Are you going to stroke me too? Tug sounded slightly... jealous, Will noticed amused, and he looked up and grinned.

"If you want me to," he answered. He stood up and searched something in the pockets in his jacket. "Though I had actually planned to give you this."

He got out a big, shiny apple and fed it to his horse. As Tug ate the apple satisfied, Will patted his loyal horse a few times on the neck.

"Let's hope there will no problems these days," he said. "It has snowed, and we would be damned if we had to be out for too long."

Afraid for the cold, are you?

"Of course not! I'm no coward, I don't mind the snow! I have borne a winter in Skandia, and it can hardly get worse in Araluen!"

Will's reasoning was more than logical. Araluen was the kind of country where it was cold in the winters, yet not cold enough to have snow and ice every winter. Except for the northern fiefs, of course. Norgate would be dissolved in snow every year again, yet Redmont barely knew very hard winters.

And the winters in Skandia were more than hard. Snowstorms raged over the country every few days, and the temperature would lower until unbearable. Will had been a slave when one of Skandia's hardest winters ever had hit the country, and if it wasn't for warmweed he would have been frozen to death. He might not be so proud on the fact that he had been a drug addict for a few months, he could say proudly that after he had lost that addiction, he had gotten through the winter himself. With Evanlyn, of course. He probably wouldn't have come through the winter half as well without her.

"Will?"

Alyss voice raped him from his thoughts, and he looked up.

"I got to go," he told Tug.

Can I have another apple first?

Will grinned. "You probably can," he answered. If a horse had been able to do so, Tug would have rolled his eyes at him.

Very funny.

"But you may not," Will went on, determined on finishing his joke first.

You know, you aren't as funny as you think you are, Tug told him.

Will shrugged. "Or you simply don't get the jokes," he replied. "You never got the long face joke as well."

I did, I do, and I will. You just don't get the twist I make on it.

Will sighed in desperation, then turned around to walk outside. And sucked in his breath surprised when a ball of white, wet, cold snow instantaneously hit him in the face.

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It's quite a boring chapter, I know, but the promised emotions are on their way. 

I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless; please vote and comment if you did :) If I've made any typos or other mistakes, please mark them so I can change them.

~Rose