Rowan groaned and Colin shifted, uneasy. Will waited, not sure how to react to the news. He was disappointed but Sir Rockwood was still smiling so that had to mean something. “Instead, I’ve found out that the mock battle scene from the last soldier training was delayed in being disassembled. We will be working on strategy attack with that instead, and have it to ourselves.”
“You’re kidding!” said Colin his eyes wide.
“No, I’m not kidding, your ponies are out there now.”
As they walked Will asked Rowan who was gaping still. “What does he mean our ponies are out there?”
“Well, the army training grounds are a place that soldiers train on tactic, usually with their horses. They only set it up once in a while, as a refresher or if they have a lot of new blood, because it’s a lot of work for something temporary but that’s all I know,” answered Rowan, tripping over his own feet. Will caught him, shaking his head.
***
“We’re here,” said Rockwood stopping in front of a large brown gate.
They had left the castle and now were behind it, where, Will was sure, the jousting arena was normally housed. Yet tall solid fences had been put along it, making it impossible to see inside. Rockwood pulled a key from his pocket, unlocked the chain across the gate and swung it open. Will felt his mouth fall open.
The fences around the arena had been cleared away, making it a larger area, the entirety of the space behind the castle, lined on three sides by the stone wall and on the fourth, the wood fence. Half a dozen makeshift wood shacks, each with a pennant, had been set like fortresses. Each had a hitching rail, though most were blocked from sight. He could see where their ponies stood, ears back, at the nearest rail, saddled and clearly displeased with the prospect of this day’s work.
“Wow, can we go take a castle?” asked Rowan.
“Now, wait just a second you’ll need to get weapons. There’s some over there,” Rockwood pointed to an open-sided shed with an assortment of mock weapons, “and you three stay with each other, you’ll have to get your ponies too.”
“Okay,” said Rowan who was halfway to the shed. When Will caught up, Rowan was stringing a bow.
“I think I’ll take this and these,” said Rowan pointing at a pile while a small man counted and handed a padded leather helmet to Rowan. “What’s this for Vonnic?” Rowan asked the small man looking at the helmet.
“Eye covering and head protection. There’s a suit of it over there too. Find one that fits you,” said Vonnic, pointing to a pile of padded leather armor.
“Oh thanks, Vonnic,” said Rowan going to the pile and rifling through the pile. Will followed him, stunned by the amount of work that had been put into something as simple as a soldier training ground.
After they were done picking out weapons and had buckled on their sword belts, they mounted their ponies. The new weight of gear made the grey pony flick its ears back, clearly displeased. Will couldn’t blame the animal. It wasn’t hot but sweat was trickling down the back of his neck and along his brow. He never had imagined how much the armor would weigh and this was flimsy, practice style, work. Not the full chest plates and heavy helmets of a competition knight.
They chose a castle as far away from the grouchy figure of Vonnic as they could get. Will, unsure how they were supposed to practice if they were the only three, took orders from Colin as he stationed Rowan on the raised level of their fort and had Will stash their extra weapon behind the walls, where they couldn’t easily be reached by someone sneaking around the wall.
Will quickly learned that they were not the only ones in the field. As Will reached for the last of the weapons from Rowan’s pony, they were ambushed by six boys including Saget, Novin, and Loper.
Colin raised the alarm and dove forward to block the first blows from reaching them as Rowan shot one of the padded arrows into Novin’s pony’s flank, causing the animal to bolt sideways and dump his rider.
Will plunged into the fray after Colin. He had chosen to fight with a wooden battle axe and now wished he had chosen the sword instead. The weapon felt unfamiliar and cumbersome as he hefted it high. Loper engaged him immediately, his years of expert training evident in moments. There was no way the three of them, with Will’s mediocre skills, could overpower the six. Colin was locked in battle with Saget and a boy Will hadn’t met, Rowan was leaping down from his station to join them. They hadn’t been at their fort for more than twenty minutes and they were going to lose it already! He slightly berated himself as each move was to block the next, never getting a chance to attack back as Loper forced him to retreat until he was pressed against the wall.
From the corner of his eye, Will saw a flash of brown and turned his head for a moment to see Rowan urging his mount out of the fighting and away, another boy in fast pursuit.
Cold ran down his spine. Rowan was already fleeing? Where was Colin? He turned back to focus on blocking another blow from Loper and didn’t see Novin dive forward. Will felt all the air get knocked out as Novin bulled him over raising his sword.
He rolled to the side as Novin struck the ground where he had been. The axe had flown from his hands but it didn’t concern him now. Instinct was driving him to get back to his feet, to fight for survival, as his armor weighed him back to the earth.
Novin raised his weapon again with a bellow of victory and Will squeezed his eyes shut. He heard a furious shout, and his eyes shot open as Colin appeared, his wood sword parrying away the strike from Novin. He attacked, each strike harder and closer until he shoved his shoulder into Novin and dropped him to the dirt. Novin stood, clearly winded, and Colin struck again. This time, the sword flew from Novin’s numb fingers. He froze for a moment, he and Colin staring one another down before spinning on his heel and retreating.
“You okay, Will?” asked Colin, his tone cool and collected as he turned and struck aside Saget’s weapon.
“I’m fine,” Will gasped, standing up shakily.
“Where’s Rowan?”
“He rode off.”
“He did what!?” said Colin wide-eyed. They had to stop talking then because the sound of more ponies meant opposing reinforcements. Colin groaned, backing himself up to be shoulder to shoulder with Will. “We are so done for.”
Will silently agreed with Colin’s statement as he stooped to grab Novin’s discarded sword. A whoop of excitement from the lead rider made him and Colin exchange grins. Rowan pulled his pony to a stop and leapt off with a battle cry, the boys behind him following suit. The attackers scattered, Novin snatching Will’s pony and swinging on before turning to face them.
“We’ll be back!” he promised before urging the grouchy grey into a reluctant trot.
Will knew it was practice, but the dread he felt was real. It was as if they had entered a real battle, his body sweating and bruised from falling in his makeshift armor. His face must have shown his worry because Colin snorted and patted him on the shoulder.
“He’ll have a hard time if his troops are unwilling,” he glanced at the sun. “Especially as I doubt we’ll be out long enough for that,” he turned to the other boys. “Vancely, I thought you were supposed to be shadowing a raiding party today. I didn’t know that Rowan rode off to find you.”
A gangly rider had pulled off his helmet, his over-grown white-blonde hair plastered to his face with sweat as he grinned at them. “Nope, we ended up out here today. Once Rowan showed up, you know I couldn’t resist a chance to take on Novin’s little band.”
Colin turned to the other boys. “This is Will, Will, this is Leaf,” he said pointing at a black-haired, slim, boy with a slightly hooked nose who had taken off his helmet to tend to a nose bleed. “This is Delvin,” he said pointing at a boy with untidy brown hair, a spotless tunic, and bushy eyebrows. “And this is Haru,” he said gesturing to the last boy who had a split lip that looked several days old, a swollen black eye, red hair, tall, with broad shoulders. By far the oldest of them, he sat astride a full-size warhorse.
&n
bsp; “I’m here for the moral support aspect,” Haru said, noticing Will’s eyes on his horse.
“Nice to meet you all,” Will said, nodding to each. He had to stop as a pain in his head made him feel sick.
“Mind if we come in, Colin?” Vancely asked, wincing as he ran a hand over his ribs. “I think we all got a little banged up. We might as well join forces to keep both castles, anyway.”
“Oh, um, okay,” he said, glancing at the other two. Will could see his discomfort at being addressed as the leader but Rowan didn’t even seem to notice as he sat on the dirt in an unsophisticated manner and began dumping sand from his boots.
Gingerly as not to hurt his head any more than necessary, Will opened the door, letting the other squires in as he waited for Colin and Rowan. “Why did they ask me?” Colin demanded, pushing hair from his face.
“Because they demanded to know who was in charge of our fort and I told them you,” said Rowan, struggling to get his boot back on.
“I’m not the leader. Am I?” Colin asked, looking between them.
“Yeah, you fit better than us two. Will doesn’t know half the squires and I don’t like to be responsible so I doubt they’d have had much interested if I’d claimed to be,” he’d gotten his boots back on and was standing and stretching.
“Plus, you’re really good at fighting,” Will added. Colin seemed lost in thought as they entered the makeshift fort.
CHAPTER THREE
The next few weeks were uneventful in comparison to the day spent on the battle training ground. Will was astounded at how much of the work seemed useless, from Rockwood insisting he read up about weapons, that were rarely used in traditional battle, to helping Colin clean, for what felt like the millionth time, a suit of chain mail that Sir Ross never used. But on this morning, Will woke up to Rowan dropping down to sit on his legs. “Ouch. Will you cut it out?”
“You have to get up right now!” Rowan ordered, his eyes shining with excitement. “Or Sir Rockwood and Sir Ross are going to leave us behind.”
“What are you looking so happy about?” he shimmied one leg out from under Rowan. “If you moved, I could get up faster.”
“Oh! Right!” Rowan leapt to his feet. “And you’ll see!”
He then sprang back down and onto the other side of Will and onto Colin’s bed, singing a song that was clearly of his own creation. “Get up, get up, you little egg head, get up and out of bed.”
Will, who had heard Colin wake up a bit ago, grimaced. Colin liked his quiet mornings and tended to get irritated if disturbed too early. But on the contrary, he sat up quickly, causing Rowan to fall off the bed.
“That song is awful! What was it?” Colin demanded; his voice rough. Will couldn’t help but notice that the golden-haired squire’s eyes were more shadowed.
“Oh, I made it up,” said Rowan jumping off the floor and shaking a bit of dust off one sleeve. “You okay? You sound a little funny. And look terrible.”
“Well thanks,” said Colin, stifling a laugh at Rowan. “I think I’m coming down with something. But what is going on that you’re so excited about?”
“He’s not saying,” growled Will. He grabbed his new heavy brown cloak, glancing out the window. The sky was darkening, thunder rumbled; he knew they were in for a bad storm. “But he seems excited.”
“Oh, he’s not telling, aye?” mischief sparked in Colin’s green eyes as he coughed. “Well, then I’ll take my time, shall I?” it seemed to take him an eternity to reach forward for his own grey cloak.
“No, hurry up or we’ll not go at all! That’s what Ross said at least...”
His words had the desired effect. Colin seized his cloak, throwing it over his shoulders with a flourish.
Finally, they were outside. Rowan leading the way, a spring in his step. Will and Colin looked up at the same time that jagged lightning danced its way between clouds. A late fall storm seemed to be brewing, and Rowan seemed oblivious but the two others exchanged a look.
“I hope we don’t have to stay out here too long. Or we’ll get soaked.”
Just as the last word left Colin it started to rain. Huge drops of rain and hail that seemed to throw themselves at the three squires with vengeance. Will pulled his hood on and began to run after the other two who had bolted toward the barn. They barely managed to slip through the door before a screaming wind brought with it more tumultuous rain. To their surprise Ross was already there, his hair merely damp as though he had glanced out for a second.
“You three look like you’ve been drowned. Here, take a seat.”
Will was shocked; it was the most sympathetic he had ever seen Ross. He didn’t look like the normal growling, terrifying figure, instead, he seemed almost fatherly as he gestured them to clean bales of straw.
They took their seats and Sir Ross started a small fire in an old iron bellied stove sed on bricks in a cleared area in the center of the barn alley, the straw lighting quickly to his flint and steel. The small blaze slowly dried their sopping wet tunics and their cloaks. Outside the wind screamed angrily, more hail throwing itself against the walls of the barn with a deafening effect. Will looked up to see that Ross had a touch of sympathy in his dark blue eyes. Noticing Will’s gaze, the knight readjusted and looked away, becoming unreadable once more.
The knight suddenly stood and strode to Colin who, Will had just realized, was shivering harder. “Here, Colin, give that cloak to me, you can wear mine. Give me that knife, too. It needs dried.”
Colin thanked the man and handed him his dagger. Will’s stomach churned. The wet and cold from the storm had clearly had an effect on Colin’s already poor health. He was pale, his eyes almost glassy, his lips tinged with blue.
“Where is Rockwood, Sir?” asked a slightly worried looking Rowan as he fidgeted with his own dagger, trying to find a scrap of clothing to dry it. With a look of disgust, he placed it aside.
“He’ll be back in a bit; he was watching out for you three when the rain started. I think that’s him now.” Rowan turned and jumped to his feet racing over to a very battered Sir Rockwood.
“Hello Rowan, it looks like you just fell in the moat,” Rockwood’s normally wry smile was faltering as his body twitched with cold.
“Well, if I look like that then you must still be in the moat,” laughed Rowan.
“Ross, we’ll have to stay here till the whole thing blows over,” Said Rockwood, turning his head to Ross. “A damn branch off the old oak fell across the main doors. Getting around the side of the castle with this hail is about impossible as well.”
Ross’s face turned grim. “We should be fine soon.”
“Well the moat is rising fast so I’m not sure we are going anywhere for a bit, and no I was not swimming in it, Rowan, so don’t bother to ask.” He ruffled his squire’s hair as he spoke.
“We can’t stay here, we’ll have to risk it,” pointed out Ross, looking uncertainly at Colin who had started to shake more than ever.
“Don’t you think it will cause more harm to take him through the rain?” Rockwood asked. He seemed to voice Ross’s own worries.
Will felt a cold unrelated to the water run through him as he looked at his friend again. In town, people died from sickness and cold. But he’d never considered the castle having those issues. Even if they did make it back to the castle, warming a chamber enough to warm Colin again could take too long. What Will couldn’t understand was how fast Colin’s sickness had turned from a cough to something this severe.
“We’ll stay, but if the water starts to seep in, we’ll leave. Okay?” snarled Sir Ross as he drew in closer to the fire.
“Fair enough,” said Rockwood with a curt nod. He pushed his way through the door to the saddle room and out of sight.
Will stood and walked over to Colin sitting next to him. Colin started to cough and shudder more. Rockwood returned carrying a small bale of clean hay and a pile of horse blankets. He put them down and kicked the hay until it made a bed. He strode over to Colin,
picked him up like a small child and placed him in the straw before he put the horse blankets on top of the quaking boy and walked away again.
“Do you think he needs help? If so, I’ll help and if need be, I’ll go hunting,” asked Rowan.
“I’ll help too,” Will hoped that they could do something. Sitting here was filling his head with worry.
“Yes, I could do with some help,” Rockwood said, appearing with a gleaming chestnut stallion at his side. He led the horse beside Colin and murmured something to the large animal. Slowly and gently, the horse lowered himself onto the straw and draped his neck over the trembling figure like a thousand-pound dog.
Then Rockwood gestured to the boys and led away from their friend. Rockwood led them to the back section of the barn, where a few cows stood, watching them curiously. Three calves, wide-eyed, inched toward the gate as Rockwood threw it open.
Ranger of Kings (William of Alamore Series Book 1) Page 5