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

Chapter 5

Hello there again, dear readers! Let me just update quickly this time ;) You'll have to excuse me if I made any language mistakes... Enjoy! :D

Smiling, Will looked at Evanlyn, as she was running around the deck, curious to everything that met her gaze. The shores of Araluen and the Scoti had disappeared behind the horizon and with them also the tense sphere aboard the Heron. Will watched Evanlyn carefully, preventing her from climbing on top of one of the benches, for fear she might fall off and take an unwanted swim in the ocean. The Herons smiled at the little girl whenever their work allowed them to look in a different direction. She ran around them, stopping every now and then to look at what the Skandians were or were not busy with. Eventually she stopped in front of Lydia, the only girl in the Herons crew. She tilted her head to the left and stared at the older girl in awe.
“Hello there,” Lydia said friendly, a smile on her face, turning toward the little princess. Evanlyn grinned cheekily, turned around and ran back to Will as fast as her short legs could carry her. Will scooped her up, laughing.
“What’s wrong, Evanlyn?” he asked amused. “Lydia is not scary, is she?” Evanlyn turned her head away, again with the cheeky smile on her face.
“You have no idea,” Hal, who was standing next to Will, mumbled, audible across the entire ship. Lydia sent him an angry glance, before rolling her eyes.
“I would ask someone to stand guard tonight, if I were you,” Will replied, using the same mocking whisper tone. Hal laughed.
                Evanlyn started to wriggle in his arms, trying to break free, so Will put her down again. She walked over to the twins, whom Will had got to know as Ulf and Wulf. He wondered how their parents could have given them almost similar names, when they already looked the same. It didn’t quite help by telling which one was which. The twins had nothing to do at that moment, since the sails didn’t need to be readjusted. Evanlyn climbed on the bench, sitting in between the boys.
“Will you be careful, Evanlyn?” Will shouted, just to be sure. Evanlyn made herself comfortable on the hard wooden bench.
“Yes yes,” Evanlyn answered irritated, in a way only small children can. Will chuckled.
“She’s just as stubborn as her parents,” he told Hal.
                The thought of his friends ruined his good mood. Sighing, he wondered what could’ve happened to them. Would the Scoti have killed them all? Or would it be the other way around? He couldn’t tell. The Scoti were as difficult to judge as rangers and that said a lot. Hal shoved him playfully to the shoulder, trying to lift his spirits.
“Don’t look so down, mister ranger!” he ordered. “Or I’ll have you thrown overboard.” Will grinned.
“Sure you would,” he replied, noticing the amusement in the skirl’s eyes. Hal looked him in the eyes, faking suspiciousness.
“Did I hear sarcasm?” he asked, his wide grin showing he wasn’t suspicious at all.
“No, of course not. I’m not a sarcastic person at all!” Will answered sarcastically, causing Hal to burst out laughing.
“Hey, stop that!” Ulf (or was it Wulf?) exclaimed at that moment from his seat on the other side of the ship. Hal turned around, this time an irritated look on his face.
“What did I tell you about…” he started angrily, but then closed his mouth dumbfounded.
                Will followed his gaze and noticed that Evanlyn was making a game out of hitting one of the twins.
“Evanlyn!” he warned. The girl looked up at him, an innocent look in her eyes. He gestured for her to come over. She got off the bench, as reluctant as can be, and joggled over to the ranger. Will crouched in front of her.
“What did your parents teach you about hitting people?” Will asked sternly. What the little girl did then, was shocking to Will, so to say: she hit him in his face, with surprisingly much power for a two-year-old. Will was barely able to keep his balance.
“Evanlyn!” he exclaimed, after he’d recovered of the surprise of her action. The girl just shrugged and Will couldn’t help noticing how much she looked like Cassandra when doing so.
“That’s how you do it, said daddy,” Evanlyn explained. Hal couldn’t keep it in anymore, and burst down laughing. He had to hold the railing to prevent himself from falling down to the deck.
“Then I guess I have to talk to Horace about that soon,” Will mumbled darkly, while getting to his feet again.