This story takes place after book 11 of The Ranger's apprentice, and after book 3 of The Brotherband Chronicles. I hope you'll like it :)
Deeply bent over Tug and Abelard’s necks, the rangers Will and Halt galloped through Araluen fief. Normally, they would travel a whole lot calmer, to give their horses their well-earned rest, but they didn’t have time for that at the moment: they had to get to castle Araluen as soon as possible. The Araluan army probably couldn’t stop the Scoti for more than a few days. Will and Halt immediately had to bring their royal friends to safety. Under normal circumstances, that would be the task of the local ranger, whilst they defended Redmont, but since Redmont had fallen and all of the other rangers were busy, they had divided the task to themselves.
A few pedestrians backed away, startled, to give the passing rangers some space. Many refugees were on the road. Most of them were headed for castle Araluen as well, to hide and find the safety of the solid castle walls. Under normal circumstances, Will and Halt would help the refugees as much as they could, but sadly, these weren’t normal circumstances. There wouldn’t be refugees of course, if there had been normal circumstances.
Will noticed Halt’s tense look at the horizon. He followed his gaze and stifled the urge to gasp. A dark-grey column of smoke made its way up to the clouds, which were made of a dark shade of grey, too; it had been stormy weather for days. Will frowned. The Scoti couldn’t have reached the castle that fast, could they? Grimly, he straightened his face: the Scoti had done many more things he and the other rangers had thought of as impossible. Like capturing most of the kingdom in five days. Halt urged Abelard to run even harder and Tug adjusted his speed automatically. Do we really have to speed up like this? the small horse seemed to ask Will. Will didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he bent even deeper over Tug’s neck; he wanted to arrive at the castle as soon as possible.
Will peered at the horizon, where castle Araluen soon turned up, and hoped the smoke didn’t mean Halt and he were too late. Horace wouldn’t give up without a fight, he thought, hoping this words would give him some courage. But of course he knew Horace couldn’t stand up against the entire Scoti army. Even he wasn’t strong enough to handle that on his own. Like he had done many times before that day, he wondered why rangers weren’t really magicians. What he wouldn’t have given then to transport himself – poof! – to his friends. Will noticed the refugees turned around here: a new larger amount of people ran as fast as they could, with their children in their arms, towards the rangers.
They could here screaming in the distance and Will lost all hope: they were too late. Nevertheless he took his bow out and knocked an arrow to it. A group of Scoti on horses galloped about 150 meters away, chasing the refugees. Will aimed and shoot. One of the Scoti fell down from his horse, causing another one to trip over him. Most of the other horses tripped over the first two. It almost looked funny. Meanwhile, Halt had taken care of the rest of the group, even though they both knew one group more or less didn’t matter: there were thousands of others ready to take their place. Will got a hold of himself. Of course it mattered: they had just given the refugees a small chance. He refused to realise he had only delayed the inevitable.
They had almost reached the castle by that point. Just a quarter of a mile or so, before they would arrive. In the meantime it had occurred to Will that the smoke did come out of the castle: one of the towers was being attacked and had half broken off. The other half was on fire. Stifling his desperation, Will searched amongst the refugees for King Duncan, Horace, Cassandra and the two year old child. Will couldn’t help smiling thinking of the little girl. Horace and Cassandra had named her Evanlyn, after the maid’s name Cassandra had used in Celtica. They kept her memory alive that way.
Only 200 meters to go, 150, 100. Will’s hope dared to come back, when he saw a few brave figures defending the gateway to castle Araluen; the Scoti hadn’t gotten in yet. Will got another arrow from his quiver and saved the life of one of the defenders. Gratefully, the man looked up, which gave an attacker the chance to stab his sword between the man’s ribs. Will felt an uneasy feeling spreading through his body, but he didn’t have much time to think of his guilt, as Halt gestured for him to follow him to the side of the castle. Will opened his mouth to protest, he wanted to help the defence! But then he thought of where Halt was headed. Namely, to the secret tunnel, mounding amidst a small group of trees, about fifty meters away from them.
After twenty provokingly long seconds, they reached the exit of the tunnel. Normally, it was hidden and concealed so that nothing of it was visible. Now the hatch was fully opened. Will and Halt dismounted Tug and Abelard and helped Cassandra, who came up that moment, out of the tunnel. Someone behind her lifted Evanlyn up. After her, a young, blonde woman came out.
“Alyss? What are you doing here?” Will asked, pleasantly surprised. Alyss smiled at him for a moment.
“I’m a courier,” she answered. Then she turned around to give Pauline a hand. A likewise surprise expression was visible on Halt’s face for a moment, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. Only those who knew him the best would have been able to see it. Which would be everyone in their little group. Well, except for Evanlyn, maybe. After Pauline, King Duncan came climbing up. He turned around, looking concerned.
“What takes that boy so long?” he muttered. At that moment, Horace came climbing agile from out of the tunnel, to slam it shut afterwards. He had his sword in hand, and had obviously just used it, too.
“We have to get out of here immediately. The Scoti are right behind us,” he said tensed. Will saw his friend balanced concentrated on his feet, ready to take on any Scoti that dared to attack him. Will exchanged a solemn look with him and nodded.
“Horace is right,” he let the other know. “Let’s go.” But where could they go? The refugees were already waylaid by small groups of Scoti, like the one they had just taken care of. So they couldn’t take that route. They couldn’t go around they castle either, that’s where the advancing Scoti army came from. Staying where they were also wasn’t an option: Will could hear the Scoti shake the hatch beneath him. They were like rats in a trap.
“We can’t flee now,” Cassandra stated. Will raised an eyebrow at her, but she wasn’t finished yet. “I do know a place where we should be safe for a while.” She immediately had full attention. With a small triumphant smile, Cassandra motioned at the group of friends.
Under cover of Halt’s and Will’s arrows, (which weren’t actually necessary, because the rangers concealed the company with their cloaks, by riding their horses next to them) they left the bushes. Cassandra led them further to the forests. They reached the cover of the trees without trouble. Unfortunately, just as they were about to disappear into the woods, a Scoti commander noticed them, who immediately warned his troops. A group of about thirty Scoti came furiously running towards them. Halt and Will both frowned, knocking arrows to their bows. Horace swirled his sword around, ready for a fight. Evanlyn burst into tears, the tension coming from her parents scaring her. Cassandra pulled her into a hug to comfort her.
“Quickly,” Will hissed. He knew that if they didn’t move, the chances of them surviving would be few. The number of Scoti headed for the Araluans, had by then doubled and even more were coming. They fled into the forest, blind for their surroundings. Will noticed they didn’t proceed fast enough. The Scoti were winning terrain, quickly coming closer. He hastily dismounted Tug and gestured for Pauline to take his place. She indignantly started to protest, but Will refused to listen. He turned around, shooting one of the Scoti in the process. Pauline’s protests stopped, as she realized Will was right.
Will shot another couple of Scoti, even though he knew it wouldn’t be of much help. He turned around to follow his friends. Horrified, he saw they were standing with their back against a cliff, rising up high above. He already knew the area was hilly, but they wouldn’t be able to climb up here, with the Scoti on their heels. It was already too late to go back and take another route: the Scoti had almost reached the small clearing where the Araluans were standing. Will could hear them thrash through the undergrowth louder with the second. Filled with powerless anger, he stared at his bow, which would only be able to stop a small amount of chargers.
“Will!” Horace exclaimed. The young ranger looked up at him. “Will, you can climb up here! Just like that tower in Macindaw, when Alyss had been locked up!” Will looked at Horace in terror.
“Do you really think I’d leave you?” he protested indignantly. Unfortunately, his voice skipped, and the effect was lost.
“Will, you can go get help, don’t you realize that?” Alyss stated calmly. Will met her gaze. It went right against everything he believed in, to just leave her and the others here. But he knew they were right. He could go get help. He bit his lip, not sure what to do. Cassandra walked up to him, holding Evanlyn in her arms.
“Take Evanlyn, Will. And go! Please, take my daughter to safety!” she begged. Will couldn’t do anything else but take the little girl and send his friends one last desperate look. Horace nodded encouragingly.
“I believe in you, Will,” was all he said, before turning around to the Scoti, who had come awfully close now. Will slung his bow over his shoulder and got a better hold of Evanlyn. Then he faced the cliff.
“We’ll see each other again in Skandia!” he blurted out. He wasn’t sure whether or not his friends had heard him, but this plan renewed his courage.
Reaching the top of the cliff, he heard the vague sounds of a battle raging beneath him. With tears in his eyes he fled, without looking back. He had no idea what would happen with his friends, or if he would ever see them again. He also didn’t have a clue on how to get to Skandia. But what he did know, what that he would protect Evanlyn, no matter what would happen.