Ranger's Apprentice - Rescue

Chapter 14

As they sat in the grassy area, Will found himself dividing his attention between George, wanting to listen to the man's description of his mission as closely as he could, and Tug, wanting to be aware of any possible warnings that the little horse might try to give him. 

"I'll tell you as much as I can," George was saying with a rather knowing look on his face. Will raised an eyebrow. "But it was extremely top secret. I musn't reveal too much. You understand, of course, that this is nothing against you?"

He continued to ramble about why his mission details couldn't be shared with anyone, even a Ranger, but Will had stopped listening. He was afraid any more would cause him to slap the boy across the face. It wasn't so much that Will felt entitled to whatever information he wanted because of his title. He wasn't trying to pull rank on George. But he knew, after five years of training to be a Ranger, that it was vital to have all the information before acting.

The fact that George was retaining some information, and possibly the most important pieces at that, was frustrating to say the least.

"-want to fail my mission any more than I already have, you see," George was saying. Will, who was increasingly tiring of his friend's rambling, decided it was time to interrupt him before he went off on another legal defense argument.

"George," he said, firmly but gently. George's words died in his throat and he stared expectantly at Will. "Just start at the beginning. Tell me, as plainly as you can manage, everything that you know."

George hesitated, and Will knew which word had thrown the man off. "Plainly" was not something that George had been trained to accomplish. He was trained to speak vivaciously, with as much detail and intellect as humanly possible. But Will didn't need intellect right now. He needed cold hard facts.

"If you say so," George said slowly. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before launching into his tale. "It was my time for the fifth year solo mission. Headmaster Nigel took me to his office to brief me. He told me that he had chosen a particularly challenging mission for me. It had the least amount of information to start with, but he said he trusted me with it."

Will easily detected a small ounce of pride in the sentence, but promptly ignored it.

"He told me to travel here and contact Dursby, the head librarian. He's an old acquaintance of Nigel's, and Nigel thought he might have more information on my mission."

"George," Will interrupted as patiently as he could. "I need you to give me information about your mission, not just to keep referring to it as 'my mission.' I know it's confidential, but I need to know what we are dealing with."

George bit his lip.

"I was told not to share information with anyone besides Dursby," he argued feebly. Will's eyes became steely.

"Dursby is a suspect," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. There was no point in easing the news. "The baron and I both agree that his character is shady. You may have given information to a leak. Now tell me what you know."

The demand was admittedly rather harsh. But so far, reasoning had gotten Will nowhere with his friend, and time was of the essence. The longer they stayed in one area, the greater their chances of being caught.

"You mentioned a group called the Outsiders," Will pressed, seeing that George was on the verge of breaking. "Who are they?"

For a split second longer, George held his tongue. Then, as the light of the sun conveniently caught Will's bronze oakleaf necklace, he nodded to himself. Will was nearly a full Ranger. He could be trusted with this information.