The end...? (Ranger's apprentice/ Brotherband fan-fiction)

Chapter 16

  Hal leaned back on his bench, enjoying the mild breeze blowing over him. Stig had taken over the tiller from him some time ago. Hal would have prefered to keep going, but Stig insisted that he rested for a while. Now, being able to relax, he realized how much he had actually needed it. Thorn came to sit besides him on the bench.
"Only a few more days," he said, staring at the horizon. Hal nodded. A surge of energy went through his exhausted body as he thought of home. He had the strange feeling that he had been away for ages, even though it had only been a number of weeks. They hadn't even taken the time to look around Araluen. Well, except for fighting and running for their lives, that is...
"It is going to be weird, getting back into our old routines," Hal sighed. Thorn took his time before answering.
"I'm not sure we'll ever get back into old routines," he then said. "Not with everything that's going on in Araluen." Hal frowned. Thorn might actually be right about that.
At that moment Will approached them. Hal raised his hand for a moment, greeting the ranger. Will smiled and sat down on Hal's other side.
"What is your plan, now we're approaching Skandia?" he asked immediately, in a cheerful voice. "Evanlyn and I will go straight to Erak, to ask him for help. We'll also go look for..." Thorn jumped to his feet in a furious manner. Hal looked up at him startled at this sudden outburst. Hal could not distinguish the expression on Thorn's face, as it was something he had not quite seen before. It wasn't rage, that's for sure, which was what Hal had expected. Unjustified rage, but still rage. Hal jumped up and heard Will do the same behind him.
"Thorn, what..." he started, but Thorn ignored him and turned straight to Will.
"Why do you keep poking your nose in other people's business?!" he hissed, his face only inches away from Will's. "You walk around here pretending to be the most important person in the world, as if everything is about you! It's not! You have no idea how wrong you are if you think you belong here!" Hal didn't know what to say. He could understand that Thorn did not consider the ranger his best friend - Will had embarrassed him often enough -, but now he was really overreacting.
Before he could think of something to keep the two away from each other, Will exploded as well.
"Perhaps I don't belong here, I know that!" Will exclaimed furiously. Thorn stepped forward, forcing Will to back up. "And if I could have changed the situation, I would have! I'd prefer being at home with my wife any day! But I can't! Man up, Thorn! Life moves on!" For a moment, the two of them stared at each other in anger. Then Hal was unpleasantly surprised to see something change in Thorn's eyes. What happened after went by so fast he could barely register it. Thorn shoved Will, who was already standing with his back against the railing. Slowly, as if in slow motion, Will tumbled off board. For a split second Thorn seemed to be surprised by his own actions, then the older Skandian turned around, an annoyed expression on his face, muttering something under his breath. Hal hurried to the railing and looked down at the water. Will was just getting to the surface again, coughing and spitting out water, some twenty meters away.
"Lower the sails!" Hal ordered quickly. Ulf and Wulf had never obeyed any quicker than that time.
"Willie!" a sad little voice called out behind Hal. He looked over his shoulder to see how Evanlyn was climbing on top of a bench, breaking Will's rules, to bend over the railing to try and find her big friend.
Hal's heart skipped a beat as he watched the toddler slip over the railing as well. She yelped and landed face first in the water.
"Evanlyn!" Will screamed, now over thirty five meters away from the still moving ship. Panicking, he swam over to where the little girl had disappeared into the water. Hal felt paralyzed, unable to do anything besides looking on in terror. Will dove into the deep, after Evanlyn. Nobody thought over helping them.
The Herons ran over to railing as if they had only one mind, all tense spectators to the fate of the two Araluens. Hal barely registered the sound of another splash. He got more and more panicky as the seconds turned to minutes. They shouldn't be able to stay underwater that long...
Eventually the two figures appeared on the surface, some distance away from the ship. Hal was surprised to notice a third figure swimming with them, supporting them. His mouth fell open as he recognized that third figure as Thorn. The Herons helped the three get back on board, pulling out blankets to protect them from the cold. Will, clearly weakened by his time in the water, kneeled besides Evanlyn, a worried expression on his face. The girl was lying motionless on the deck, with her eyes closed, her face pale and her lips blue.
"No, no, no," Will mumbled time and again. He hesitantly raised his hand, but apparently didn't know what to do with it, as he lowered it again, shaking. Edvin hurried over to them and started working his magic on the little girl. He seemed to know what he was doing as he pushed down on the girl's chest, startling the others, as water dribbled from her mouth.
Evanlyn took a shaky breath, blinking. Will let out a sigh of relief and wiped a strand of wet hair out of her face. The girl looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears, to which the ranger responded with a weak smile. Edvin was still busy with his medical checks, making sure Evanlyn was okay for the long term. Slowly but steadily colour returned to Evanlyn's face.
"She'll be just fine," Edvin eventually broke the silence. "She'll be feeling a bit dazed for a while, but that's perfectly normal. The best medicine right now is rest." He explained some effects that might or might not happen, just so they would be prepared for those side effects, but he did not think any permanent damage was done. Will visibly relaxed. He got to his feet, still shivering, turned around and looked up to Thorn's expressionless face.
"What the hell was that for?" he then asked coldly, his voice still a little too high from his earlier terror. Thorn seemed to be taken aback for a moment, unconsciously stepping backwards. The ranger did not give him time to answer. "What is the matter with you? What did I ever do to you for you to treat me like this? According to my memory, the only thing I did for you was saving your life! Just a few more days, then you'll be rid of me. I will get back to my family, return Evanlyn to her parents and try to make a plan to free Araluen, so I can go home. Do you you have any objections to that? What is your problem?!" Hal had never seen Will getting this angry. To be honest, the ranger was frightening him, and that was not an easy thing to do.
Thorn did not appear to have that problem. Sighing, he dropped down on the nearest bench. An expression of deep rooted sadness washed over Thorn's face, and Hal wondered what Thorn would have gone through in his younger years. He hoped the conversation wouldn't be steered towards his father's death...
"Long ago," Thorn started softly, "even before I got to know Hal's father, Mikkel, I travelled to Araluen. The country was at war, with some kind of lord who had betrayed it."
"Morgarath," Will interrupted him sourly. Thorn nodded in acknowledgement. Hal was dumbfounded. Of all possible reactions Thorn could have given, this one was the last he'd expected; Thorn never simply sat down and talked when he was mad. Especially when someone had just been yelling at him!
"Indeed, Morgarath," he continued. "I offered my services to the king to help them fight. I was young and was looking for adventure. Also, I'd built a little life for myself there, and I wanted to defend it. However, the king rejected me. His reasoning was that I was a Skandian, and Skandians are mercenaries. He claimed that I would desert the moment Araluen lost a battle and he couldn't use soldiers like that. I was angry, of course, and refused to take no for an answer. With the help of a friend I managed to get into one of the legions. I was fighting as a rearguard, but it was better than nothing.
With my help, the legion got promoted, positioning us at the front and eventually we even got a ranger leading us in battle." Thorn paused for a moment, sending Will a meaningful glance. "Araluen won the war, of which you're probably aware, Will. But right before it all ended and Morgarath's troops fled or surrendered, that ranger was attacked. The same friend that had helped me get into the legion, and who himself had managed to become a sergeant, ran to his aid. The rest of the legion was busy holding the remaining enemies at bay, making it impossible for us to help the two of them. I don't know what ever became of them. I've never seen either one of them again.
However, another ranger, apparently a friend of the first one, noticed that I was a Skandian. The only reason he came to talk to me was because my fighting skills had gotten his attention. He didn't fight with a sword or axe himself. No ranger does that, he said. He wanted to recommend me to the king, to become a general in the Araluen army, - because he could do that, as commander of the ranger corps - because I had apparently delivered excellent work. Unfortunately, the king told him that he had forbidden me from fighting. The ranger seemed to forge everything I had done for Araluen and had me banished. I had to leave behind everything I had built for myself there. I was not to return there for ten years. Of course he was right: I had defied the king's direct orders - but he didn't show the slightest hint of remorse as he sent me away. Ever since then I have had difficulty trusting rangers. They tend to betray you, even if you help them bring victory." Thorn stared off into the distance, a bitter expression on his face. Will regarded the big Skandian for a moment, as the last water dripped out of his hair.
"That sergeant did not survive. The ranger did," he eventually said in a defeated voice. Thorn looked up, a strange mix of surprise, sadness and suspicion on his face. "The second ranger was a good friend of the first one. Crowley is his name."
"You know him?" Thorn asked, frowning. Hal wondered whether or not this conversation would end up in another fight, while Will nodded in acknowledgement.
"Yes," was his short reply. "I know all three of them. The first ranger, the one that came to your friend's aid, that's Halt. He was my mentor, who taught me everything there is to know about being a ranger." Thorn was about to get back to his feet, aggression returning in his eyes, which seemed to Hal a good moment to interfere.
"Let's keep this conversation civilized!" he said in a soothing voice, raising his hands in defense as he went to stand in between the two men. "Anyone who wants to fight can wait till we reach Skandia and get off board," he added strictly. Thorn grumbled something under his breath, dropping back down on the bench. Will's face was void of any emotions as usual.
"Crowley and Halt are two of the best and most important rangers," Will continued as if nothing had happened. Thorn's frown intensified. "And the sergeant..." Will's voice failed him for a moment. "The sergeant was my father."
Will turned around and walked away from the group, leaving Evanlyn in Edvin's care. Hal watched him go with his mouth hanging open. As he looked around, he could see that most people mirrored his expression. For a while nobody moved. Thorn was the one to break the strange tension, by walking after Will. Nobody dared to stop or follow him. Hal couldn't blame them.
The following hour or so, Will and Thorn remained in their corner, talking through all of their issues. An aura of seclusion cloaked them, which kept the others from interrupting them. Hal had no idea what exactly they were talking about and he wasn't sure he wanted to know either. The fact that Thorn had known Will's father and had fought alongside him, was quite shocking to him. It reminded him of his own father, which rendered him sad. He wondered what else his old friend had gone through, without telling Hal. He decided to take over the tiller for a while, to get his thoughts sorted out. Stig sent him a curious look, and Hal realized he must have missed half the conversation between Thorn and Will.
"Alright, prepare to be dumbfounded... " Hal started. Then they went over every detail of the past events. For the first time in weeks, Hal felt fully relaxed.