Ranger Apprentice One-Shots

Tangled Memories pt 4

 Dark shadows hungrily snatched away what light was left and stretched down the castle walls, before Will left Castle Redmont and headed home. 

 Baron Arald had been unable to change his mind, protesting that the Ranger needed space. 

"Even if I have to sleep in the woods, I just want to be near; in case he needs me." Will replied simply. Something in his eyes spoke he would not yield his point, and so the Baron and Rodney gave in and watched him ride slowly away on a borrowed horse.

 Unconscious to the surroundings for once, Will only realized he was retracing the route that they had ridden in that morning, when the orphanage loomed up suddenly in the dusk. As he drew abreast, Will stopped and looked about hopefully, searching for a shadowy figure. There was no sign of his mentor.

 Restlessness seized him, now that he was away from watchful and sympathetic eyes, and he slipped off the beast, tying it to the rail. For a moment Will looked reproachfully at the horse, who was already unconcerned at the human's mood. Tug would have wanted to talk.

The orphanage was quiet, the wards all gathered in the dinning hall by now, eating their supper. He knew its routine so well; what would life have been like, without Halt? An image of a frightened boy, standing over a shadowy desk with his arm seized in a grip that would never let go, came from his memory. Replaced by another image of the same boy, brought before the Baron as a thief, listening in shock as the Ranger spoke the words that changed his life. "I will take him as my apprentice."

 Shaking his head, Will found he had circled the building and ended up in a little alley way on the side. A slight noise had pulled his thoughts back, and years of training kicked into high gear, as he assessed the direction the movement had come from. Someone was standing behind him now. Swinging about, his hand on his knife, he faced a man with a face hidden in the shadows of a cowl.

 "Halt," he said aloud in relief.

"So, we meet again, apprentice. Strange that it should be here, of all places." Will tasted disappointment, as the hope his mentor's memory had returned and Halt had sought him out, faded away. There was an awkward silence that faded away.

 Taking a step forward, he broke it. "Halt, I know you don't believe me...believe I'm Will. But I really am. Your Apprentice."  There was a dry laugh.

"And that's the second interesting thing. Because I don't have an apprentice, yet. And the boy that you claim to be, is missing from this very orphanage."

Halt took a step forward now, but his stance was making warning bells sound in Will's head. It was a challenging step. He tried again. Surely Halt could remember, if he kept trying. "Because I'm Will. Even if you don't believe, try to look at the facts first. I grew up, Halt."

 "This is impossible. Try something different next time, boy." Halt growled, shifting so that he now blocked the alley way. "I did not loose my memory. You know," he added, "you seem to know a lot about Will. A lot. And you're here again, after telling me you worked in the castle..and I find Will is gone.. who are you working for, and why do they want him?" As Halt finished, his hand dropped to his side. The warning bells were clamoring now, and as Will looked into the shadows of the cowl he realized he couldn't do it. He couldn't fight his mentor. For the first time in his life, Will ran away from Halt.

  There was a hissing sound a split second before the strikers clipped Will's head. The force of the blow spun him around, and he collapsed in a heap against the fence he had been about to vault

****

Throbbing pain. An earthy smell, close to  his face. Flicking his eyes open carefully, Will quickly took in the fact that he was lying trussed on the forest floor. A small fire burned just in front of him, the Ranger hunkered by it, waiting.