The Life of a Ranger, Ranger's Apprentice Fanfiction

Chapter 10

  Chapter ten already? Can't believe I got this far in two weeks. Of course, you might not care if you hate my book. If you are, thank you. Even if you don't vote, at least you read it. Here's the chapter. :7

   Halt is sitting on a chair, his feet on the table. "Simple. I'm helping Will teach you." Errol looks confused. "I thought you had another fief to take care of." Halt shakes his head. "No. Will sometimes does, but he's not needed for them at the moment. And Redmont is always my fief." Errol nods. "Let me guess: the water barrel needs filling, the floor needs sweeping, the rug needs beating, the dishes need washing, The wood for the fire is running low, and the table needs wiping?" Will laughs. "Spot on. Now get to it. This might take a while." Surprisingly, Errol only takes half the time Will thought he would take. "How did you do that so quickly?" "Simple. If Halt informed you properly, Gilan beat you to it." Will spins around. "Is there something you forgot to tell me?" Halt rubs his chin. "Hmmm. That's right. Errol was injured and had to spend a month at Gilan's cabin. While he was there, Gilan treated him like an apprentice." He shrugs. "Guess it slipped my mind." Will sighs. "Ok. I'll teach you how to cook our lunch now." At his nod, Errol follows Will into the kitchen. Again, it was not the best time he has with cooking. This time, the rabbit stew ends up looking and tasting like rabbit spew instead. Errol has to do it again. He succeeds after ten tries.
   It is only two o'clock in the afternoon when Errol finishes everything on the list. Giving up, Will teaches him to use weapons. "Errol, come here." Errol obeys. On the porch, Will sets out an array of weapons, tools, and other stuff. The first things Errol sees are the ranger clothes. He picks them up and looks at Will. He nods at the unasked question. "Come with me." He leads Errol to a room. "This is going to be your room. You can get changed now if you want. Just don't take long." Will leaves. Quickly, Errol changes into his clothes. He pauses as his hand brushes the mottled cloak. Is he really going to be a ranger? It is all he ever dreamed of for years. Is it too much of a privilege? Halt and Will chose me, so they must deem me worthy. He slips the cloak on, feeling at home with it on. He never wants to take it off ever.
   Errol hurries back to Will. When he gets there, Will immediately teaches him the name and purpose of each weapon and tool. "What do you want to start with?" Errol points to the recurve bow and quiver of arrows." Can I try that, please?" At Will's nod, he picks up the bow, selects an arrow, and nocks it. He hesitates, looking at Will's leather arm guard. He knows what is to come, but decides to do it anyway. He positions himself, carefully draws back aiming at tree, and releases. Involuntarily, Errol drops the bow as pain shoots up his arm. Wincing, he pulls his arm up to examine it. A large red welt, the shape of a bow string, is growing on his arm. The arrow hit its mark anyway. Patting The sore, He turns to Will and says, "Can I have an arm guard, now, please?" Shocked, Will hands him the leather guard. This time the arrow lands in the centre of the tree. Halt raises his eyebrow. "Nice. But you still need practice." He says grimly. Errol nods, still grim too. "An ordinary archer practices until he gets it right, a ranger practices until he never gets it wrong." Halt frowns. "Just how do you know so much about us?" "Where I used to live, rangers were a legend. There are quite a few stories written about you." "And where did you use to live?" Something flickers in Errol's eyes before his face hardens. "That is none of your concern." He says forcefully. "What's next?" He asks Will who watched the entire exchange. "Um, let's do the knives next." Errol practices with each rangers weapon and tactics. Before long, it's dusk and Errol is sent to cook dinner.
   Will grabs Halts arm to stop him from going inside. "What was that all about? What happened back there? Why did Errol shut down like that?" Halt clamps his hand over Wills mouth and glares his famous death stare at him. "Enough with the questions. I can only answer one at a time." He removes his hand and continues. "I would much like to know the answers as well." He puts his hand up to stop the next flood of questions. "I don't know that much about him. I would like to question him, but if we do, who knows what Errol might do. Something must have happened to him in his former home to make him like this. And, Will, be careful with him. If we're not careful, he might just kill himself."