The Royal Ranger

Eleven

On the appointed day, Maddie arrived at Will’s little cottage below Castle Redmont to begin her training.

She arrived on the correct day, but not at the correct hour. Will had expected her at the ninth hour of the morning. It was well after midday when she rode into the small clearing. By that stage, Will had given up waiting for her. For the first two hours, he sat expectantly on the verandah of the little cabin, staring down the narrow track among the trees where he knew she would appear.

Finally, with a muttered expression of disgust, he went back inside to read the latest sheaf of reports that had arrived that morning from Gilan. It was normal routine for all Rangers to study reports from other fiefs. But Will had an extra interest. He scanned the reports—gathered from Rangers all over the country and detailing local crimes and out-of-the-ordinary events—looking for any hint of activity that might indicate where Jory Ruhl had gone to ground.

He was engrossed in an account from Cordom Fief of a criminal ferry master who took on passengers to cross the Gadmun River, then robbed them, stripped them and forced them overboard to take their chances with the swift-running current. He set the report to one side, placing it in a leather folder that contained a thin sheaf of other reports that might relate to Jory Ruhl.

“Could be him,” he said to himself. “Sort of thing he’d do.”

Sable, lying on the floor beside him, chin on her paws, opened her eyes and looked up at him expectantly, her tail swishing heavily. He shook his head. “Just talking to myself,” he told her. “Go back to sleep.”

Which she did, with remarkable speed.

A few minutes later, her eyes opened again and she turned her head towards the door. Shortly after she did so, Will heard Tug’s quick neigh of warning from the stable. It was pitched low—a warning to Will, not the loud greeting Tug had issued to Abelard and Blaze when Halt and Gilan had come to visit. Tug’s signal held no overtones of danger. He was merely reporting the presence of people approaching the cabin. Whether friend or foe, he had no idea.

Sable rose with a grunt, shook herself and headed for the door, head down, nose sniffing the ground before her. Will laid down the report, pushed back his chair and rose as well. He allowed Sable to slip through the door the moment the gap was wide enough. Then he stepped out onto the verandah, moving out of the shadow to stand at the edge of the boards, leaning against one of the support poles.

He was in time to see Maddie emerge from the trees and ride into the small clearing in front of the cabin. His right eyebrow went up in a question mark as he realised that she wasn’t alone. Another girl, of a similar age, was riding a few paces behind her. But where Maddie was slightly built and graceful in her movements, the other girl was a little overweight and looked uncomfortable in the saddle.

There were other differences. Maddie rode a sand-coloured Arridan gelding. It had fine lines and slender limbs, and a proud, intelligent face. It carried itself with dignity, stepping short and placing its hooves delicately with each pace. The other girl’s mount was a placid-looking mare. A little taller than Maddie’s horse, it was heavy-boned and had none of the Arridan’s grace or fluidity of movement.

Their clothes were different too. Maddie wore fine woollen breeches, with knee-high riding boots and a purple short-sleeved jacket made from fine glove-quality leather. It was cinched at the waist by a belt made of connected silver discs, and a long dagger hung at her side, in a worked leather scabbard.

She wore a waist-length cape as well, off-setting it one side and leaving her right arm and shoulder unencumbered, an affectation that had become popular among wealthy young cavalry officers in the past few years.

Her companion wore a plain green linen dress, with a serviceable, but unadorned, woollen cloak over it. She looked around her with curiosity and a little uncertainty, while Maddie carried herself with confidence and an air of familiarity.

Gorlog’s breath, Will thought to himself. She’s brought her maid with her.

And not just her maid. Trotting obediently behind the two riders was a bay pack horse. Short-legged and barrel-bodied, it was festooned with leather valises hanging from the horns of its pack saddle. It looked to be carrying more weight than either of the two saddle horses.

Will took a deep breath. His first instinct was to bellow a tirade of angry questions at Madelyn, beginning with What do you think you’re doing? then moving on through Who the blue blazes is this with you? and finishing with What have you packed for? A twelve-month grand tour round the country?

Instead, he controlled himself, waiting until Madelyn registered his presence on the verandah. She smiled winningly.

“Hello, Uncle Will. I didn’t notice you there. You Rangers certainly can move quietly when you want to, can’t you? I’ll look forward to learning more about that in the next few weeks.”

Will noted the time frame she mentioned. She has no idea how long this is going to take, he thought. She thinks she’s going to spend a couple of weeks running round the forest and then go home.

He bit back the furious phrases that were forming in his mind.

“You’re late,” he said in a quiet voice.

She looked a little surprised, then shrugged. “Am I? I had no idea. I was told to get here today. I didn’t know there was any special time.”

“There was. The ninth hour. It was in your orders from Gilan.”

Maddie frowned, still not showing too much remorse over her late arrival. “Orders?” she said. She looked at her maid. “Rose-Jean, did Commandant Gilan give you any orders for me?”

The other girl looked confused, and a little worried. If Maddie hadn’t noticed Will’s irate expression, her maid definitely had. She was, after all, a servant, and accustomed to being alert for signs of displeasure from her superiors.

“No, my lady. He—”

“He would have given them to you, Maddie,” Will interrupted roughly. “A letter. In a thick linen envelope.”

“Oh… that?” Maddie said. She laughed. “Yes. I got that. I thought it was just a farewell letter—a going-away card or something. I haven’t read it yet.”

“Perhaps it might be a good idea if you did,” Will said. His voice was dangerously low. Maddie didn’t notice, but Rose-Jean definitely did. Her worried expression became even more concerned.

“Oh, I’ll do it later!” Maddie said easily. “I’m sure you can fill me in on anything I need to know.”

“Well, one thing you need to know is that you were due here over three hours ago. Where have you been?”

Maddie still wasn’t getting it. Her maid looked around, wishing she could shrink behind something for protection when the storm broke—as she knew it was going to. She had no idea why the grim, bearded Ranger was so furious. Her mistress had told her that they were off for a holiday in one of the provincial fiefs. But now she was sensing there was a lot more to it than that.

“We stopped at the castle to see Arald and Sandra,” Maddie said carelessly.

“Baron Arald and Lady Sandra,” Will corrected her, placing slight emphasis on the two titles.

Maddie shrugged, grinning. “To you, maybe. To me they’re Arald and Sandra.”

Will’s fury mounted even further. He was beginning to understand what Evanlyn and Horace had been going through with their daughter. But he controlled himself with an effort, speaking very slowly and deliberately. He didn’t want a confrontation here with Madelyn, especially in front of her maid. He knew that the servant would be embarrassed and uncomfortable if there was a scene.

“No. To you they are Baron Arald and Lady Sandra. And you’d better get used to it,” he said.

Maddie cocked her head at him, a puzzled smile on her face.

“Uncle Will, I’ve always called them Arald and Sandra. You probably don’t understand that. But as princess, I outrank them.”

Will took a deep breath. He looked briefly at the servant girl and saw the tension in her posture. He let the breath out and then said in a reasonable tone: “Maddie, dismount, would you, and step this way?” He indicated that he wanted her to join him on the verandah of the cabin. She nodded and dismounted smoothly, passing her bridle to the servant girl.

“Hold on to Sundancer for me, would you, Rose-Jean?” she said. Then she walked across the small clearing and stepped up onto the verandah. Will took her elbow and led her a few paces further away.

“I must say, Uncle Will, you are behaving quite strangely. I’ve never seen you this way,” Maddie said.

When they were out of the servant’s earshot, Will said quietly, “Maddie, there are several facts that you need to get used to. You are not here for a glorified holiday—”

“Oh, I know that!” she interrupted, with a dismissive gesture. “Mother and Father have some crazy notion that I’m supposed to learn—”

“Be quiet!” Will snapped. As before, he kept his voice low but there was no mistaking the intensity of his tone. Madelyn actually recoiled a half pace. Nobody had ever spoken to her that way in her life. Well, perhaps her parents had, but certainly nobody of any lesser rank.

“Uncle Will—” she began haughtily, but Will made a chopping gesture with his right hand that cut her off before she could say any more.

“Forget Uncle Will. Whether you realise it or not, you are now a member of the Ranger Corps and I am your mentor. As Rangers, we refer to each other by our first names. So you will call me Will—nothing more than that. I am not your uncle. I am not your godfather. I am your mentor and your instructor. You are my pupil and my apprentice. I will call you Maddie or Madelyn. We have no special relationship other than mentor and apprentice. Do you understand?”

Now Maddie’s brows came together in a stubborn knot and she glared at the grey-bearded figure before her.

“I think you’re presuming a little here, Unc… Will,” she corrected herself. “Let’s not forget that I am the Royal Princess of Araluen.”

“And let’s not forget that I am a King’s Ranger,” Will said evenly. He saw the brief light of puzzlement in her eyes and elaborated. “I answer only to the King, or his representative. Nobody else. In this case, that’s your mother.

“Although we rarely make a point of it, technically, I outrank everyone but the King or his representative. That means barons, their wives, knights… and royal princesses.”

“That can’t be right!” Maddie protested. “I’ve never heard of such a thing!”

“As I said, we don’t often make a point of it. But you can believe that I am right. What’s more, your mother and father have given me full authority over you while you’re undergoing your training. So your rank here means nothing to me, or to anyone else.”

Maddie’s confident air began to desert her. She knew that Rangers did wield enormous, and often undefined, power and authority in the Kingdom. And while she wasn’t entirely sure that what Will had said was true, neither was she sure that it wasn’t.

“Now,” Will continued, in a more conciliatory tone, “you will be staying here with me during your training, not in the castle. But your maid will not. Rangers don’t have maids. And Rangers’ apprentices definitely don’t have them.”

He left Maddie with her jaw hanging open and stepped back down the verandah to speak to Rose-Jean.

“Rose-Jean,” he said, “Madelyn will be living here in the cabin while she trains as a Ranger. Unfortunately, as you can see, we’re rather cramped for space. Would you mind riding back to the castle and telling the Baron’s seneschal that you will need accommodation there until such time as we can have you escorted back to Castle Araluen?”

Rose-Jean looked to her mistress, not sure how to react. If she obeyed the Ranger, she knew she risked Madelyn’s anger. But she also knew that no wise person disregarded the instructions of a Ranger—especially such a senior one as the famous Will Treaty. Will sensed her dilemma and stepped forward, taking the bridle to Maddie’s horse from her unresisting hand.

“It’s all right, Rose-Jean,” he said soothingly. “Just ride up to the castle. There’s a good girl.”

“Rose-Jean—” Maddie began.

“Be quiet!” Will snapped, without turning to look at her. Then he gestured for the servant girl to leave. Coming to a decision, Rose-Jean wheeled her horse and trotted back up the path towards the castle. The pack horse watched her go, uncertain whether to follow. Then, in the absence of any definite instructions, it lowered its head and began to crop the short grass at the edge of the clearing.

Will proffered Sundancer’s bridle to a very surprised and deflated princess.

“Put your horse in the stable behind the cabin,” he said. “I’ll take care of your pack horse.”

Then, as Madelyn moved forward to take the bridle from his hand, he added, “But this will be the last time I do.”