“Oi, Will, where you off to?” Rowan grabbed his arm as he rose, raising an eyebrow. “We need your expert advice on the best way to battle Visra against King Kolt of Phersal.”
“I’ll discuss that in a minute…I, eh, I forgot something in the barn. I’ll be right back.”
Will pulled himself from his friend’s grasp, grimacing at the suspicious glower both Rowan and Colin were now giving him. “Promise, I’ll be right back.”
“Aw, leave him be, he’s been through enough here since becoming a squire that I think he can look out for himself some,” Novin chided, grinning. “You two don’t have to play at mother hen, you know. I think he can walk to the barn and back without a formal escort of soldiers, don’t you?”
This broke their attention from Will and, moving quickly now, he heard Rowan make clucking noises behind him. Stifling a grin, he rounded the corner of the dinner hall, stepping into the entry hall. He stopped, the smile sliding from his face. Nothing stirred. The hall was empty, filled only with lengthening shadows. A few of the torches had burnt out. Mind’s playing tricks. It was just the torches, he’s not here.
Will made to turn away when a low laugh made him start, almost tripping over his own foot in his haste to face the shadows of a doorway. A figure, shrouded in a black cloak, leaned one shoulder casually against the wall of the corridor. In the darkness he’d been invisible at first and Will felt his face heat with embarrassment as the man before him crossed his arms over his chest.
“You should be a bit more observant.” Even if he couldn’t see it, he could hear and imagine the smirk beneath the shadow of the hood.
“Are you trying to scare me to death?” Will asked, trying to sound more affronted rather than shaken.
The man chuckled and straightened, stepping into the light of the remaining torches. Sure enough, a sneering smirk curved the lips, barely visible under the hood. “Perhaps. But, more concerning than that is that you’re becoming predictable, Will,” chided the Ranger in his imperturbable, almost bored, and familiar, voice.
“Oh yeah? How so?” asked Will, still trying to calm his thumping pulse. He tried to put the same cool inflection in his voice but judging by the twitch in the Ranger’s smirk, he hadn’t managed it well.
“Getting you to step out here without the others. I just had to stand there until you finally turned, until you noticed me, and they hadn’t. Your curiosity is on the verge of a weakness. You should know by now that it’s better not to wander off alone. It’s unsafe at times. Rowan and Colin are right, you might need them as your, eh, mother hens.”
Will scowled. “I don’t need mother hens.”
The Ranger gave a low laugh. “No, probably not but regardless, I’m surprised your cohorts aren’t already out here to check on you.”
“I don’t need checked on,” Will said brazenly.
“Continue to act in predictable ways, to follow patterns, to be easy to understand and guess, and yes, you will need checked on. You will need all the help you can get if you can’t learn to keep yourself safe and watch your surroundings better than you did tonight,” the Ranger growled.
Will gritted his teeth, biting back the retort he longed to throw at the Ranger. He’s going to lecture me on staying safe when he’s been gallivanting off Alamore only knows where doing who even knows what? In the months of the man’s abcenses, he’d forgotten how much the Ranger could annoy him. Come to think of it, the Ranger seemed to have that effect on everyone, not just himself.
This brought questions to mind, and he frowned at the Ranger, crossing his own arms. “So, where exactly have you been then?”
The smirk turned into lips pressed thin in disapproval. “Have I not told you before not to ask about matters that aren’t your business?”
“But you wanted to talk to me, so must be something going on that has to do with me,” said Will.
The Ranger chuckled humorlessly. “You have a high opinion of yourself.”
The squire waited, refusing to respond, still glowering at the hooded man until the Ranger sighed, uncrossing his arms and dropping one hand to rest on the hilt of his sword.
“You know, there are times when I find that you are refreshingly intelligent for someone who wants to become a knight. Then there other times when I feel you have just mind enough to make someone aggravated enough that they might murder you to simplify their lives,” the Ranger said, his voice conversational. Will fought the urge to grin, half certain the mouth under the hood had given the ghost of a smile. “And right now, I can’t decide which way I am feeling. But yes, I did want to speak with you. I’m not here for very long, but I hear we have a guest upstairs.” He inclined his head in the direction of the stairs that Will knew from too much experience led to the healing chamber doors. “What happened when she arrived? Did she say anything?”
“She asked for the King, then passed out,” Will said, shaking his head. He hesitated, furrowing his brow. “Why are you asking me instead of just going up there and speaking to her for yourself? I thought you were on the council, so shouldn’t you be up there?”
The Ranger’s smirk returned, though this time his voice was cold when he spoke. “My presence won’t be necessary there, I am sure.”
Bewildered, Will glanced at the stairs, then back at the Ranger. “You’re the Ranger of Kings. I thought you normally bring the information. Isn’t that what you’ve been doing? Don’t you want to go report to the King and the council? Surely you just want to go talk to her yourself, don’t you?”
“I would rather speak with a snake,” the Ranger purred. Seeing Will’s dumbfounded look, the man explained. “The woman that arrived is Lady Serena of Kelkor, a knight of Queen Paranella, and…an old acquaintance of mine.”
“Oh.” Will nodded. He’d seen how others reacted to the Ranger’s presence. King Giltor of Shadow Dale had made his contempt obvious. Even some of the knights, Laster mostly, were openly hostile toward the Ranger. Still, that hadn’t stopped him from stating his mind before. Will opened his mouth, and the Ranger held a hand up to stop him.
“Once more, William, we shall practice keeping your nose and curiosity to yourself, shall we? It’s a lesson I feel I should teach you, so I don’t finally tip over that edge where I murder you to simplify my life.”
Feeling put out, Will scowled at his boots a moment. Why, exactly, had he even cared that the Ranger was gone? It should have been a relief to not have to deal with his snide remarks. If he’d missed the Ranger this much he might as well have gone to Laster and dealt with his arrogance. It would have been just like having the Ranger back then.
“Speaking of keeping things to yourself,” the Ranger muttered, ignoring Will’s annoyance. “I also wanted to know; who have you told about Marl’s true identity?”
Will looked up, his face reddened at the thought of Haru. “No one…only people who know are those who found out when I did or already knew who Marl was.”
“So not Haru?” the Ranger asked, frowning.
“Right,” Will mumbled.
“Which means he knows that your father is Marl, just not that Marl is Tollien’s brother?”
“Eh, yes, that’s the general idea of it,” Will grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I just haven’t told him yet and-”
“I suggest then that you don’t,” the Ranger cut across Will’s words before he could continue. Confused, Will stared at the hooded man, wishing he could see the face, read the expression.
“What?”
“Don’t tell Haru. Do not tell anyone in fact.” The Ranger’s voice had lowered to a warning hiss. He reached forward, gripping Will’s shoulder and lowering his face until it was nearly level with Will’s own. “I don’t want you to breathe that you even know anyone by the name of Marl, do you understand? Not in front of anyone but Rowan and Colin and especially-” he paused, inhaling deeply. “Especially not in front of our new guest.”
“The lady knight?” Will asked.
The Ranger sighed.
“No, the visiting jesters who have been juggling fire from the top of the barn for the past week… yes, of course I mean in front of the lady knight.”
The sound of a door opening above them made Will turn his head up, listening to what sounded like the feet of all the knights leaving the healing chamber. He jumped as the Ranger gripped his other shoulder, his fingers biting into Will’s skin through his tunic. “Listen to me, Will. You mustn’t tell, do you understand? There isn’t time to explain everything, and I don’t know everything myself, not yet anyway.” He spoke quickly, raising his voice slightly to cut across Will when he opened his mouth to respond. “You just have to promise me that you won’t tell a soul. There are people that will want to use you for what you are, for who you are, and they aren’t going to be stopped by walls. They will be searching for anything they can find on you, and I need you to promise you won’t talk to anyone about what you are, who you are.”
“But who-”
“Promise me!”
Will wasn’t sure he had ever heard the Ranger sound more pleading. “Fine! I promise!”
The Ranger released him, stepping back in a swish of dark cloak. The footfalls were nearer, the knights on the stairs coming down to the entry hall. “I cannot stay here, I cannot protect you now, Will. There are things happening that I have to attend to, which means I can’t stay here to keep you safe but-” He broke off, wheeling round as the first of the knights appeared, bounding down the steps.
Haru, red hair flopping over his pale forehead, paused with a bewildered expression at the sight of Will and the Ranger then bounded down the last two steps and strode toward them. He inclined his head to the Ranger in a silent greeting, which the Ranger returned stiffly. Grinning, he threw his arm over Will’s head, leaning against him as if to rest.
“This is a convenient height for me, honestly, if you don’t mind staying short, Will. Means I can take a break whenever and just lean on you.”
“Get off.” Will laughed, ducking out from under Haru’s arm. He could feel the Ranger’s icy glower on them and straightened again with a sheepish smile.
“Was he causing mayhem, Ranger?” Haru asked the hooded man, raising his brows and forcing a serious look onto his boyish face. “Perhaps opening tunnels again?”
Will shook himself free of Haru, grimacing irritably. “I don’t cause mayhem.”
The Ranger gave a derisive snort but didn’t respond.
“I might be inclined to side more with the Ranger on this one,” said Haru before turning back to the Ranger. “You missed the council; we were in the healing chamber. A knight from Kelkor arrived and…” Haru cut himself short, glancing down at Will with the guilty look of someone who had nearly said too much.
“I only arrived a little while ago myself,” the Ranger growled. “I didn’t feel it prudent to interrupt. Anyways, I thought it best I speak with the King in private before addressing a council.”
Other knights were appearing now through the entryway to the stairs, talking in low voices. Among them, Will easily spotted the dark hair and black eyes of King Revlan, his head inclined to his right to better hear the words of the handsome, if not somewhat arrogant looking, brown-haired and amber-eyed Sir Laster, speaking at his side. Laster’s eyes flitted toward where Will and the Ranger stood, and Will was unsurprised to see his lip curl into a thin sneer.
Behind the King his squire, Airagon, was listening attentively, his brown hair swept back and away from his freckled face, a hand running over his uneven stubble. Nodding to Laster, the King straightened and surveyed the entry hall, his black eyes resting on the Ranger. He raised a hand, waving for the Ranger to join him as he turned, not toward the dinner hall, but back toward the courtyard.
“Keep your squire out of trouble, if you are competent enough, knight,” the Ranger hissed under his breath. Before either of them could respond he had already wheeled round, black cloak swishing, and swept away after the King.
“Sarcastic prat,” Haru huffed, shaking his head and scowling after the hooded man. “When he says stuff like that, it gets a whole lot harder to like him.”
Will watched too, frowning. What had the Ranger been warning him about? What had happened? He wished he could sprint after him and demand answers. All he had done was prove that the uneasiness Will felt was right. There was something wrong and it seemed to have something to do with either who he was or, more likely, who Marl really was.
“What did he want anyhow?”
“What?” Will started and turned to look at Haru. His knight was waiting, a bemused expression on his face.
“I asked you what the Ranger wanted,” Haru said, not quite managing to hide his laugh at Will’s confusion. “Thornten, Will, I didn’t think that Robin knocked you in the head today. What’s got into you?”
“Oh, sorry. I’m just tired is all, long day. And the Ranger was, eh, was just seeing where everyone had got to and what was going on with the woman who arrived.”
Lady Serena, the Ranger had called her. And she was a knight of Kelkor. Colin had been right on that one. But that only stirred more questions. Like why the blazes would she care about who he really was? Marl was from Thornten, not Kelkor.
“Wouldn’t we all like to know what’s going on!” Sir Rockwood, Rowan’s mentor, was breaking away from his conversation with the sandy-haired Sir Don and moving to join them, his dark eyes shadowed with lack of sleep. Even so, they gleamed with good natured humor and there was a spring in his step that made his athletically lean build seem comical. Smiling broadly, he made a swipe to ruffle Will’s hair, which the squire evaded with practiced skill. “But I think your squire here, Haru, is sneaking for answers.”
“I wasn’t!” Will protested, moving with the two knights back in the direction of the dinner hall. “The Ranger had a question, and I just was answering it.”
“Sure you were.” Rockwood rolled his eyes. “Because you, Rowan, and Colin are never out looking for trouble. Just a bunch of misunderstood squires that happen to find it.” He winked at Will who did his best to look offended.
“Leave him be, Rockwood. You’ll give him ideas,” Haru warned.
“And my squire hasn’t already given him ideas? You’re off your rocker, Haru, if you think Rowan hasn’t corrupted him!” Rockwood made another swipe and this time managed to mess up Will’s hair, springing back with a bark of laughter when Will took a swipe at him.
“You’re worse than your squire, Rockwood,” Haru said, grinning.
“That’s why I’m his mentor, still have to teach him the ropes of causing chaos, don’t I?”
“I think he knows them well enough,” Will grumbled, flattening his hair.
“Perhaps but, either way, if I’m to continue trying to teach him, I need dinner and sleep. Come on, you two.”
They walked with the group of knights in the dinner hall. In the doorway Will glanced toward the squire table to see that several of the squires, including Rowan and Colin, had already left. His mind heavy with the Ranger’s cryptic warning, he lifted a hand to wave to the knights then turned, striding across the hall. The Ranger had said he could talk to his friends and he needed someone to try to help him make sense of all of this. Now he needed to just find them and guessed that either they would be in the squire chamber, getting ready for bed, or upstairs in the Hall of Records working on an assignment from the knights. Knowing Colin, Will decided he’d check upstairs first and sprinted through the side door that led off the dinner hall.
***
“You’ve come to save me!” Rowan cried when Will rounded the corner of shelves that hid the spot where all three of them usually studied. He rose, arms outstretched, a heavy book falling from his lap and directly onto his own foot. “Blazes of Thornten and beards of goats,” Rowan snarled, hopping up and down.
“Beards of goats?” Colin asked, half laughing and looking up from his own book. He nodded a greeting to Will. “I thought we’d try to get that assignment about the Wars of Maridia done for Rich
ard and–Will, what’s wrong?”
Will hesitated, trying to find the right words as he sank into another chair. “I…” He shook his head.
Colin took the matter from his hands, snapping his book shut and dropping it onto the end table at his side. “So,” he said, raising his eyebrows inquisitively. “What did the Ranger want?”
Rowan spluttered. “What? The Ranger? He’s here?” He sank back onto his seat, still rubbing his foot.
Will made a hushing movement, glancing round to see if he could see any movement between the shelves. Nothing stirred and, relaxing somewhat, he turned back to them and lowered his voice to a hushed whisper. Quickly, he relayed the Ranger’s warning, his insistence that Will tell no one, not even Haru, who Marl really was and what that made Will.
As he spoke, Rowan became more and more confused while Colin’s face shadowed. When he was done Will looked between them beseechingly.
“It doesn’t make any sense, does it? I mean, why not tell Haru? Surely it’s more dangerous for him–and for me for that matter–if he doesn’t have a clue. So why is he telling me not to?”
“The Ranger doesn’t make sense, mate, that’s what I’ve learned,” Rowan shrugged. “I would chalk this up to him being a half cracked admittedly good swordsman in a cloak.”
“I wouldn’t,” said Colin, shaking his head and straightening. “If he’s telling you that you need to keep that secret, then there’s something wrong and it’s got too much to do with Marl.”
“Well, we already knew there was something wrong with Marl,” Rowan grumbled, scowling. “Man’s a bloodthirsty lunatic, isn’t he? A moron in a beard?”
Colin ignored him and continued. “I think that what the Ranger’s implying means he doesn’t trust the people in Alamore.”
“Like Haru?” Will demanded defensively. “Why wouldn’t he trust Haru? He hasn’t done anything wrong, he’s my knight. I trust him and-”
It was Colin’s turn to make hushing movements. “I know you trust him. I trust him, too, but there’s something that the Ranger knows, and we don’t, but, judging by what the Ranger said, he still isn’t sure. If there’s a spy in Alamore, someone working for Thornten, or trying to help Marl, the worst thing you could do is give yourself away by telling anyone.”
The Cutthroat Prince (William of Alamore Series Book 2) Page 4