The Ruins of Gorlan

Chapter 8

Sometime late in the afternoon, Halt finally ran out of jobs for Will. He looked around the cabin, noting the gleaming kitchen implements, the spotless fireplace, the thoroughly swept floor and totally dust-free rug. A stack of firewood lay beside the fireplace and another stack, cut and split into shorter lengths, filled the wicker basket beside the kitchen stove.

"Hmmm. Not bad," he said. "Not bad at all."

Will felt a surge of pleasure at the sparing praise, but before he could feel too pleased with himself, Halt added, "Can you cook, boy?"

"Cook, sir?" Will asked uncertainly. Halt raised his eyes to some unseen superior being.

"Why do young people invariably answer a question with another question?" he asked. Then, receiving no reply, he continued, "Yes, cook. Prepare food so that one might eat it. Make meals. I assume you do know what food is – what meals are?"

"Ye-es," Will answered, careful to take any questioning inflection out of the word.

"Well, as I told you this morning, this is no grand castle. If we want to eat food here, we have to cook food here," Halt told him.

There was that word we again, Will thought. Every time so far that Halt had said we must, it had seemed to translate to mean you must.

"I can't cook," Will admitted, and Halt clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

"Of course you can't! Most boys can't. So I'll have to show you how. Come on."

He led the way to the kitchen and introduced Will to the mysteries of cooking: peeling and chopping onions, choosing a piece of beef from the meat safe, trimming it and cutting it into neat cubes, then chopping vegetables, searing the beef in a sizzling pan, and finally adding a generous dash of red wine and some of what Halt called his "secret ingredients" The result was a savory-smelling stew, simmering on the top of the stove.

Now, as they waited for the dinner to be ready, they sat on the verandah in the early evening and talked quietly.

"The Rangers were founded over one hundred and fifty years ago, in King Herbert's reign. Do you know anything about him?" Halt looked sideways at the boy sitting beside him, tossing the question out quickly to see his response.

Will hesitated. He vaguely remembered the name from history lessons in the Ward, but he couldn't remember any details. Still, he decided he'd try to bluff his way through it. He didn't want to look too ignorant on his first day with his new master.

"Oh… yes," he said, "King Herbert. We learned about him."

"Really?" said the Ranger expansively. "Perhaps you could tell me a little about him?" He leaned back and crossed his legs, getting himself comfortable. Will cast about desperately in his memory, trying to remember even a shred of detail about King Herbert. He'd done… something, but what?

"He was…" He hesitated, pretending to gather his thoughts. "The king." That much he was sure of, and he glanced at Halt to see if he could stop now. Halt merely smiled and made a rolling gesture with his hand that meant go on.

"He was the king… a hundred and fifty years ago," Will said, trying to sound certain of his facts. The Ranger smiled at him, gesturing for him to continue yet again.

"Ummm… well, I seem to recall that he was the one who founded the Ranger Corps," he said hopefully, and Halt raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

"Really? You recall that, do you?" he said, and Will had a horrible moment where he realized that Halt had merely said the Rangers were founded during his reign, not necessarily by him.

"Ahhh, well, when I say he founded the Rangers, I actually mean he was the king when the Ranger Corps was founded," he said.

"A hundred and fifty years ago?" Halt prompted. Will nodded emphatically. "That's right."

"Well, that's remarkable, seeing how I just told you those facts a minute or so ago," the Ranger said, his eyebrows coming down like thunderclouds over his eyes. Will thought it might be better if he had said nothing. Finally, the Ranger said, in a milder tone: "Boy, if you don't know something, don't try to bluff your way through it. Simply tell me `I don't know,' is that clear?"

"Yes, Halt," Will said, eyes downcast. There was a silence, then he said, "Halt?"

"Yes?"

"About King Herbert… I don't really know," Will admitted. The Ranger made a small snorting noise.

"Well, I never would have guessed," he said. "But I'm sure you'll remember when I tell you that he was the one who drove the northern clans back over the border into the Highlands?" And, of course, the moment he mentioned it, Will did remember. King Herbert was known as the "Father of Modern Araluen." He had banded the fifty fiefs together into a powerful union to defeat the northern clans. Will could see a way to regain a little credit in Halt's eyes now. If he mentioned the "Father of Modern Araluen" title, maybe the Ranger would…

"He's sometimes known as the Father of Modern Araluen," Halt was saying, and Will realized he'd left it too late. "He created the union between the fifty fiefs that's still our structure today."

"I sort of remember that now," Will put in. He thought the addition of "sort of" helped it sound as if he wasn't just being wise after the event. Halt looked at him, one eyebrow raised, then continued.

"At the time, King Herbert felt that to remain safe, the kingdom needed an effective intelligence force."

"An intelligent force?" said Will. "Not intelligent. Intelligence. Although it does help if your intelligence force is also intelligent. Intelligence is knowledge of what your enemies, or your potential enemies, are up to. What they're planning. What they're thinking. If you know that sort of thing in advance, you can usually come up with a plan to stop them. That's why he founded the Rangers-to keep the kingdom informed. To act as the eyes and ears of the kingdom."

"How do you do that?" Will asked, his interest aroused now. Halt noted the change in tone and a momentary gleam of approval touched his eyes.

"We keep our eyes and ears open. We patrol the kingdom – and beyond. We listen. We observe. We report back." Will nodded to himself, thinking. Then he asked: "Is that the reason why you can make yourselves invisible?"

Again, the Ranger felt that moment of approval and satisfaction. But he made sure the boy didn't notice it.

"We can't make ourselves invisible," he said. "People just think we can. What we do is make ourselves very hard to see. It takes years of learning and practice to do it properly – but you already have some of the skills required."

Will looked up, surprised. "I do?"

"When you crossed the castle yard last night, you used the shadows and the movement of the wind to conceal yourself, didn't you?" Will nodded. "Yes." He'd never met anyone before who actually understood his skill for moving without being seen. Halt continued. "We use the same principles: to blend into the background. To use it to conceal us. To become part of it."

"I see," said Will slowly.

"The trick is to make sure that nobody else does," Halt told him. For a moment, Will thought the Ranger had made a joke. But when he looked up, Halt was as grim-faced as ever.

"How many Rangers are there?" he asked. Halt and the Baron had referred more than once to the Ranger Corps, but Will had only ever seen one-and that was Halt.

"King Herbert established the Corps at fifty. One for each of the fifty fiefdoms. I'm based here. My colleagues are based at the other forty-nine castles throughout the kingdom.

"In addition to providing intelligence about potential enemies, Rangers are the law keepers," said Halt. "We patrol the fiefdom assigned to us and make sure that the laws are being obeyed."

"I thought Baron Arald did that," Will put in. Halt shook his head.

"The Baron is a judge," he said. "People bring their complaints to him so he can settle them. Rangers enforce the law. We take the law out to the people. If a crime has been committed, we look for evidence. We're particularly suited to that role since people often don't realize we're around. We investigate to see who's responsible."

"What happens then?" Will asked. Halt gave a small shrug. "Sometimes we report back to the baron of the fief and he'll have the person arrested and charged. Sometimes, if it's a matter of urgency, we just… deal with it."

"What do we do?" Will asked before he could stop himself. Halt gave him a long, considering look.

"Not too much if we've only been an apprentice for a few hours," he replied. "Those of us who've been Rangers for twenty years or more tend to know what to do without asking."

"Oh," said Will, suitably chastened. Halt continued.

"Then, in times of war, we act as special troops – guiding the armies, scouting before them, going behind enemy lines to cause the enemy grief and so on." He glanced down at the boy. "It's a bit more exciting than working on a farm." Will nodded. Perhaps life as a Ranger's apprentice was going to have its appeal after all. "What sort of enemies?" he asked, After all, Castle Redmont had been at peace for as long as he could remember.

"Enemies from within and without," Halt told him, "People like the Skandian sea raiders – or Morgarath and his Wargals."

Will shivered, recalling some of the more lurid stories about Morgarath, the Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night. Halt nodded somberly as he saw Will's reaction.

"Yes," he said, "Morgarath and his Wargals are definitely people to be worried about. That's why the Rangers keep an eye on them. We like to know if they're gathering, if they're getting ready for war."

"Still," said Will, as much to reassure himself as for any other reason, "the last time they attacked, the barons' armies made mincemeat out of them."

"That's true," Halt agreed. "But only because they'd been warned of the attack…" He paused and looked meaningfully at Will.

"By a Ranger?" the boy asked.

"Correct. It was a Ranger who brought word that Morgarath's Wargals were on their way… then led the cavalry across a secret ford so they could flank the enemy."

"It was a great victory," Will said.

"It certainly was. And all due to a Ranger's alertness and skill, and knowledge of back trails and secret paths."

"My father died in that battle," Will added in a quieter voice, and Halt cast a curious look at him.

"Is that so?" he said.

"He was a hero. A mighty knight," Will continued. The Ranger paused, almost as if he were deciding whether to say something or not. Then he simply replied:

"I wasn't aware of that."

Will was conscious of a sense of disappointment. For a moment, he'd had a feeling that Halt knew something about his father, that he could tell him the story of his heroic death. He shrugged to himself.

"That was why I was so keen to go to Battleschool," he said finally. "To follow in his footsteps."

"You have other talents," Halt told him, and Will remembered the Baron saying much the same thing to him the previous night. "Halt…" he said. The Ranger nodded for him to continue. "I was sort of wondering… the Baron said you chose me?" Halt nodded again, saying nothing.

"And both of you say I have other qualities – qualities that make me suitable to be a Ranger's apprentice…"

"That's right," Halt said.

"Well… what are they?"

The Ranger leaned back, linking his hands behind his head.

"You're agile. That's good in a Ranger," he began. "And, as we've discussed, you can move quietly. That's very important. You're fast on your feet. And you're inquisitive…"

"Inquisitive? How do you mean?" asked Will. Halt looked at him sternly.

"Always asking questions. Always wanting to know answers," he explained. "That was why I had the Baron test you with that piece of paper."

"But when did you first notice me? I mean, when did you first think of selecting me?" Will wanted to know.

"Oh," said Halt, "I suppose it was when I watched you steal those cakes from Master Chubb's kitchen."

Will's jaw dropped open with amazement.

"You watched me? But that was ages ago!" He had a sudden thought. "Where were you?"

"In the kitchen," said Halt. "You were too busy to notice me when you came in."

Will shook his head in wonder. He had been sure there was nobody in the kitchen. Then he remembered once again how Halt, wrapped in his cloak, could become virtually invisible. There was more to being a Ranger, he realized, than how to cook and clean.

"I was impressed with your skill," said Halt. "But there was one thing that impressed me far more."

"What was that?" asked Will.

"Later, when Master Chubb questioned you, I saw you hesitate. You were going to deny having stolen the cakes. Then I saw you admit it. Remember? He hit you on the head with his wooden spoon." Will grinned and rubbed his head thoughtfully. He could still hear the CRACK! made by the spoon hitting his head.

"I wondered if I shouldn't have lied," he admitted. Halt shook his head very slowly.

"Oh, no, Will. If you'd lied, you never would have become my apprentice." He stood up and stretched, turning to go indoors to the stew simmering on the stove.

"Now let's eat," he said.