➶
3rd Person
Horace swung himself on Tugs back, the pony stood unmoving.
He dug his heels into Tugs sides, "Come on, doggy!"
Tug sprung into the air on all four feet, twisted violently, come down on his front legs and shot his hindquarters high in the air
Horace crashes flat on the ground metres from tug. He lay there winded and stunned.
Y/n knew this is the chance the incident might end, but she knew Will as well. She grabbed his arm and shook her head. He tugged his arm back and faced Horace.
"Maybe you'd better ask your grandmother if she'll teach you to ride," he said straightfaced.
Horace scrambled to his feat, his faces dark with rage. He looked around, saw a fallen branch in the apple tree and grabbed it, brandishing it over his head as he rushed at Tug. "I'll show you, you bloody horse!" He yelled furiously, swinging the stick wildly at Tug.
The pony danced sideways out of harms way, but before Horace could strike again, Will was on him.
He landed on Horace's back and his weight sent and the force of the leap drove them both to the ground. They rolled there, grappling eachother, each trying to gain an advantage. Y/n rolled her eyes at the two and soothed Tug, who whinnied nervously seeing his master in danger.
One of Horace's wildly flailing arms caught Will a ringing blow across the ear. Will managed to get his arm free and punch Horace right in the nose
Blood ran down the bigger boys face. Wills arms were hard and well muscled after his three months training with Halt. But Horace was being taught in a hard school too. He drove a fish into Wills stomach and he gasped as the air was driven out of him.
"Boys enough!" Y/n scolded them, but they didn't listen.
Horace scrambled to his feet but Will, in a nice that Halt had shown him, swung his legs in a wide arc, cutting Horace's feet from under him and sending him tumbling again.
Always strike first, Halt had dinned into his brain in the hours they had spent practising unarmed combat. Now, as the other boy crashed into the ground, Will dived upon him, trying to pin his arms beneath his knees.
Then Will felt an iron grip of his collar as he was being hauled into the air, like a fish upon a hook, weighing and protesting.
"What's going on here, you two hooligans?" Said a loud, angry voice in his ear.
Will twisted and realised that he was being held by Sir Rodney, the Battlemaster. And the big warrior looked extremely angry. Horace scrambled to his feet and stood at attention. Sir Rodney released Wills collar and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. Then he too came to attention.
"Two apprentices," Said Sir Rodney angrily, "brawling like hooligans s and spoiling the holiday! And, to make things worse, one of them is my own apprentice!"
The two teenage boys cast their eyes down and shuffled their feet nervously.
"Alright, Horace, what's going on here?"
Horace shuffled his feet again and went red. Sir Rodney looked at Will.
"Alright, you, the Rangers boy! What's this all about?"
Will hesitated, "Just a fight, sir." He mumbled.
"I can see that!" The Battlemaster shouted, "I am not an idiot, you know." He waited a moment, seeing if the boys had anything further to add.
"Alright," He said finally. "Fights over. Now shake hands and be done with it." He pauses and, as neither boy made a move to shake hands, roared in his parade ground voice:
"Get on with it!"
Galvanised into action, Will and Horace reluctantly shook hands. But as Will looked into Horace's eyes, he saw the matter was far from settled.
We'll finish this another time, the angry look in Horace's eyes said.
Any time you like, the apprentice Rangers eyes replied.
➶
YOU ARE READING
Rangers Apprentice
FanfictionY/n, the daughter of Halt, knows more about young Will than he does himself. But she has sworn to her father, the mysterious Ranger, that she will not give away that information until the time is right. After Will is denied of his apprenticeship for...
