Ranger's Apprentice I: Arising Danger

| Chapter IX

Will was preparing Tug for a ride. He told me it would take us an hour to walk before we would arrive at our destination. I had gone through many warming ups the last days, especially courses and long runs, so my condition was pretty good.
"Where are we going?" I asked. I whistled using my first two fingers and watched Heidi jumping off the porch before she joined my side. She would go wherever I would go, end discussion.
Will led Tug out the stable and smiled when he saw the two of us waiting. Then he joined my side and motioned me to go walking as he answered: "You'll see soon enough!"
While Will didn't ride Tug but instead, kept walking beside me, I was wondering where we were going.

After an hour we arrived at a small collection of buildings buried deep in the forest. Will led the way to the largest of the ramshackle huts, then stopped. He cleared his throat and shouted: "Hullo, Old Bob!"
Soon, after hearing some noises, I saw a bent wrinkled figure coming out of the hut. This figure had a long dirty white beard and was almost completely bald. I smelled dirty stables as the figure came closer and stepped forward towards us. But I didn't show how much this man smelled.
"Morning to you, Ranger!" Old Bob greeted. He turned to Will and cackled. "And who is the youngling you've brought?"
"This is Silver, my new Apprentice," Will said. "Silver, this is Old Bob."
"Good morning to you too, sir," I said politely.
"You hear that, Ranger?" Old Bob cackled. "He calls me sir! He'll make a fine Ranger."
"Are they ready?" Will asked.
I wondered what the two of them were talking about.
"Ready they are indeed!" Old Bob said. "Step this way and see them!" Old Bob led the way to another building which contained several stables. And to my surprise, I could see a lot of horses, more than I could count. "There they are!" Old Bob announced.
I looked up and counted the horses. Well, not quite, I noticed now. They were more like barrel-shaped shaggy animals with the head of a horse. Old Bob let me have a look at the horses. My attention was immediately drawn to a white horse with grey and black spots on his body. His manes and tail were darker and more white than his body, and his eyes were blue. The legs of this pony were short but sturdy. I noticed his manes and tail were rough and unbrushed, ragged. Although this pony looked far from beautiful, this pony was an intelligent one, I could tell you.
Then the eyes of the pony turned to me. I don't know how to describe it. It was like looking at your own reflection. As if this pony knew exactly who you were, even after never having met. He had the same aura Tug had given me when I had greeted him.
"This young boy is Shimmer," Old Bob told me. "Just as small as you, huh?" He gave me the rope bridle to me.
I was not really impressed by this small. . . pony, to be honest. "He is," I agreed with a smile. I immediately decided to like Shimmer.
"No battlehorse," Old Bob said, chuckling and looking at Will. Will chuckled back, as if they were sharing inside jokes. Then Old Bob turned to me again and said: "But he'll run any of those fine fancy-looking battlehorses into the ground! Shimmer and all our Ranger horses are strong. They keep going all day — so fast and strong are they! — long after them fancy horses have laid down and died."
I raised an eyebrow and smiled nervously. "I'd like to see that," I said. Then I turned to Shimmer and said: "Well, show me what you've got!" I smiled even more and dropped the ropes. "I count to three and then I'll chase you, okay?" I asked Shimmer.
I could have sworn Shimmer raised his eyebrows and said, We'll see. Right after I had dropped the ropes, Shimmer turned away from me and waited for me to chase him. We were standing inside a paddock which was surrounded with fences, to my relief. So, if I could drive Shimmer into a corner, I'd surely capture him.
But Shimmer had other plans. As soon as I had driven him into a corner, Shimmer just danced away from me. He raised his head and looked over his shoulder. I could imagine him sticking out his tongue. For the first time in my life, I felt pretty well embarrassed. "Shimmer!" I yelled. "Come back here, now!" I started to chase the pony again and tried to grab the ropes again. But again, I failed.
And I noticed that Shimmer found this a funny game.
"Shimmer," I said with a strict voice. "Be a good boy and come to me!"
Shimmer just walked away.
Behind me, I heard Will chuckling. I looked behind me and gave him a death stare. I turned back to Shimmer and then jumped up when I heard something barking. I was about to curse when something popped into my head. Heidi was barking. I evilly grinned and called for Heidi. She immediately greeted me and sit in front of me, straightening her floppy ears and asking me what I wanted. I pointed to the stubborn pony whom Old Bob calls Shimmer and whispered to her ear: "Go help me catch the pony, would you?"
     Heidi looked over to Shimmer, who was still prancing around like a show horse showing off his skills. Heidi then barked another time and licked my face. I pet her head and ordered: "Heidi, chase the pony!"
     Heidi raced off to Shimmer and started barking.
     "Good girl!" I called, then walked from the other side towards Shimmer. "Chase the beautiful pony! Go on! Chase!"
     There was a lot of barking. Barking, barking, and even more barking.
     As Heidi and I drove Shimmer to a corner, I saw an opportunity to grab the ropes and gratefully took it. I kneeled down in front of Heidi and smiled, then pet her. "Good girl!" Then I looked up to Shimmer and stroke his hair. "Such a show-off," I sarcastically told the pony.
     You got me there, he seemed to reply. Then he neighed.
     Then we walked back to Will and Old Bob. I raised an eyebrow to Will. See? I can do it!
Old Bob grabbed an apple from the apple barrel and handed me the fruit. I handed Shimmer the apple, who crunched it and thanked me by touching my forearm with his nose. "I like Shimmer!" I said.
"He's all yours now," Old Bob announced.
I looked up to Will. "Did you know I would get a horse?" I asked him.
Will nodded and brought his fingers to his mouth and then whistled. After a few seconds, I could see Tug, the grey pony, appearing. He had been eating grass a little fifteen meters away. Now he greeted Will and studied Shimmer. "Tug was once Old Bob's," Will explained.
Old Bob nodded and then changed subject. "Why don't you stay here for the night, Ranger?" he asked.
Will nodded. "Sure, if that's no problem for you."
"Absolutely not!" Old Bob said. "Then I'll show you tomorrow how to ride Shimmer," he said to me.
I frowned. "I know how to ride horses, sir."
"Do you?" Old Bob asked, then turned away and led the way to the main building.
"Well, if jumping onto a horse and getting away from a farm where you borrowed some food of to avoid being punished for stealing, counts as what you call riding, then yes," I not-so-seriously replied. I frowned and raised an eyebrow. Then I turned to Will. "I know how to ride horses, Will, believe me!"
"I believe you," Will said. "The trick is not mounting a Ranger's horse, but staying on it."
With this riddle in mind, I was haunted the whole day.