THERE WAS A MOMENT OF SILENCE IN THE CABIN, AND THEN Halt rose slowly to his feet, his eyes blazing with anger. He pointed a finger at his former apprentice. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. But it was no less intense for all that.
“How dare you say that!” he spat. “How dare you turn your back on the Corps the moment you have some personal grief in your life? I didn’t spend years training you and caring about you, and watching you grow into a man I was proud of, to see you crumble like this! You took an oath when you joined the Corps. I know it meant something to you then. Does it mean nothing to you now?”
Will made an awkward gesture. “No. I . . . I just . . .”
“Will, I’m sorry Alyss is gone. I really am. I loved her, you know. We all did.”
“Not as much as I did,” Will said bitterly.
Halt nodded. “No. The hurt is deeper for you. And it will be harder to bear. But you can bear it. You must bear it. You have to move on.”
Will faced him angrily. “D’you expect me to just forget about her?”
“No! I expect you to remember her always. And to cherish and honor that memory. But honoring her memory doesn’t mean eating yourself up with this obsession for revenge until there’s no room for anything else in your life. It’s destroying you, Will.”
“Just let me find Ruhl,” Will said, a pleading note in his voice. “Let me find him and bring him to trial, and then I’ll be glad to get back to being a Ranger again.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Gilan said angrily. “You’re a Ranger and you have your duties to attend to as a Ranger. We all do. You can’t put them aside to suit yourself, then take them up again when you feel like it.
“You are one of the rare people who can make a difference to this world.
You’re a leader. You’re a hero to thousands of ordinary people. They look up to you and respect you. You give them hope and something to believe in.
How dare you reject that responsibility? How dare you throw their respect for you back in their faces?”
“Maybe I don’t care about them,” Will said, his voice low.
“Then you’re not the person I taught about honor and duty,” Halt threw at him, and Will flushed.
“You’re needed, Will,” Gilan said softly, the anger dissipated now. “The Corps needs you and your friends need you.”
“What friends?” Will asked.
“Horace and Evanlyn,” Halt told him. “Your oldest friends in the world.
The man you’ve fought beside countless times. And the girl who faced danger with you—who refused to abandon you when the Skandians captured you at the Rift, and when the Temujai overran your position in Skandia.
They’re asking for your help. Are you going to refuse them—while you skulk in a corner feeling sorry for yourself?”
“They need me?” Will said uncertainly. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Maddie. Your goddaughter. She’s constantly getting into trouble.
She’s running wild and driving them crazy. They’re worried about her and they can’t find a way to bring her under control. They think you might be able to.”
Will frowned. “Me? What can I do? If they can’t handle her, how do they expect me to do it?”
“They want you to train her as an apprentice,” Gilan said.
Will actually recoiled in shock at those words. “Maddie? A girl?”
“Maddie. A girl,” Halt repeated. He reached inside his jerkin and produced a linen envelope, holding it out to Will. “They’ve written to you, asking for your help.”
Will took the envelope distractedly. His mind was whirling at high speed.
A girl apprentice? There had never been such a thing, he thought. Then he wondered, why not? All his life he had been open to new ideas, new thinking.
Why not this? Evanlyn would have made a superb Ranger, he thought. She was brave and quick-witted and intelligent. And her daughter was the same.
He glanced down at the envelope again, seeing Evanlyn’s seal in the red wax that fastened it.
“I’ll give you my answer tomorrow,” he said.
• • •
Later that night, Will slit open the envelope that held the letter from Horace and Cassandra.
There was a separate inclusion in the letter, but it was marked to be read second. As he studied the words before him, his heart went out to his friends.
It was a short letter, but nonetheless poignant for its brevity.
Will,
Horace and I are in desperate need of your help. Madelyn has become almost uncontrollable and willful—and, in spite of all our best efforts, we are at our wits’ end as to what to do about her.
Madelyn, as you know, will inherit the throne one day, and she needs to begin learning the discipline and responsibilities that will go with that role. But she refuses to listen to either Horace or myself. She suits herself, running off into the forest at night, putting herself at risk while she does so.
In addition, of course, she puts the kingdom at risk. If she were to be captured or kidnapped, Horace and I would be placed in an untenable position. If she were taken by enemies of the state, we would have to choose between the welfare of our daughter and our country. We have tried to explain this, but she shrugs off the possibility, laughing at what she sees to be our excessive caution.
I’ve tried everything to discipline her and bring her under control, but my efforts have been in vain. She insists on defying me and Horace and, living here in Castle Araluen, she’s surrounded by people whom she can all too easily bend to her will. Some of these subordinates are in honest awe of her position. Others, we fear, could be sowing the seeds for favorable consideration in the future.
Whichever reason is the case, we’re watching our daughter turn into an undisciplined, self-indulgent rebel. She must learn that her privileged life also brings with it responsibilities and duties.
As we’ve discussed this problem, we have come to the conclusion that drastic measures are required. Maddie needs to be removed from the privileged atmosphere of life at court and made to understand the realities of this world. At the same time, she must learn the skills and self-discipline that she will need as a future ruler.
Talking about this, Horace and I have agreed that you may well be the best person to help her—and us. You love Maddie, and so do we. Just as important, she loves you and respects you.
You have a special relationship with her that may well snap her out of this behavior. People tell us it’s a phase and most teenagers go through this state of rebellion against their parents.
In time, she may come through it herself. But we live in uncertain times. My father is ill, as you know, and I have taken over the responsibility of running the kingdom in his place. If anything were to happen to me, she would have to take over and, frankly, I worry that she wouldn’t be up to the challenge.
Teach her, Will. Take her under your wing and teach her how to be strong and responsible and brave. She has the potential to be all these things, but she needs guidance. For the sake of our long friendship, I ask you to provide it.
Evanlyn (Cassandra)
Beneath the words penned by Cassandra, Horace had added a brief note of his own.
Will,
Please agree to our request. Cassandra won’t admit it, but the strain of ruling the kingdom is too heavy. She can’t cope with the extra tension of Maddie’s behavior at the same time. I worry for her health and well-being, as well as that of our daughter.
I would do this if I could. But I’ve tried and failed. Perhaps
when Maddie was younger, we made the mistake of overindulging her. It’s an easy trap to fall into with an only child. Now she needs an outside hand—from a person she trusts and respects. I can think of no person more suited to that task than you.
If you read the extra document we’ve included, you will realize how seriously we view this whole affair. Use it if you must. I fear you may well have to.
Over the years, you’ve stood by me more times than I can count. I beg you to do so one more time.
Horace
Will folded the letter and tapped it thoughtfully against his palm. Then he opened the second document. It was short and to the point—only a few paragraphs in length. But his eyes widened in surprise. Then he refolded it and leaned back in his chair, thinking.
Gilan had tried to stir him from his obsession with revenge against Jory Ruhl and his gang. He had used words like duty and obligation. They were abstract terms, and they paled into insignificance in the light of the heart-wrenching hurt of Alyss’s death.
But this was something far more tangible and immediate. A plea for help from the two people whom he now loved most in the world—whom he had loved for years. He wavered, then asked himself the pivotal question.
“What would Alyss want me to do?”
He said the words aloud, and as ever, his dog Sable’s head rose and her tail thumped once. He ignored her. He knew what Alyss would say if she were here.
She might consider that, by agreeing to train Madelyn, he would be serving the kingdom and helping secure its future. But even more important would be one overlying fact. He could almost hear her voice saying two words.
“They’re friends.”
Old friends. Best friends. Friendships that had been tested in the fires of a dozen challenges. Two people who had stood by him and saved his life more times than he could count.
There was no question as to what his answer was going to be. This was a request he simply could not refuse.
