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A small smile played across Horace’s lips as his eyes rested on majestic castle walls and turrets bathed in the golden light of late afternoon sun. He felt the sun rays softly washing over his face as the gentle wind carried over joyful cries of children over to his ears. He gave a signal for a Kicker to stop and for a few minutes, he just sat in the saddle with his eyes closed, enjoying the light and gentle atmosphere of late spring in Redmont.
However, his horse, being bred as a battle horse wasn’t all that patient and after an impatient nicker, Horace just sighed and nudged him to walk again. Nevertheless, if Horace was honest with himself, he couldn’t wait either. It’s been almost two years since he was here last and slightly over a year since he saw Will, as he realized with a sad smile. Horace missed Will. After they returned from Skandia last spring, Will and his mentor stayed around castle Araluen only as long as needed, as they were both impatient to return to their true home, to the little cozy cabin in the woods. Horace of course, named a knight, stayed at Araluen. Of course, he still attended swordplay sessions and he focused on them as hard as he could. For he had nothing else but them. He has been spending time with Evanl-, Cassandra, yes. But that didn’t make up entirely for the lack of friends. Most of the other knights rather envied him than anything else and those few friends he had were nothing compared to life and death friendship he had with the young ranger’s apprentice. So when he had been privately summoned to king’s office to be told he was to carry some important documents to baron Arald, he couldn’t had stopped his face from splitting into a wide, ear-to-ear smile.
As he rode through the Wensley village and then castle grounds, he couldn’t help but noticed the respectful way people made a way for him, slightly bowing their heads. Horace knew it was because of his armor. As the knight of the king, he had to bear the proper attire on the official business. Not that he had anything extravagant now, just simple chainmail, basic pauldron, and cloak. But he had learned very quickly how common people reacted to anyone with even a simple sword, during his trip through Gallica with Halt. He winced as the memory of Deparniuex surged up in his mind. When Horace was a little boy who had been dreaming about becoming a knight, he was clad in shining armor and all fights were about heroic chivalry. But as his nightmares about the faces from the cages reminded him every few nights, being a knight wasn’t that at all. It was blood, death, immense weight of heavy armor and stereotypes.
He didn’t even notice his breath has picked up until Kicker’s hooves chimed on the tiles of the castle’s courtyard and he let out a deep sight of relief as he was surrounded by familiar walls. One of the stable boys hurried over and took Kicker’s reins with a deep bow as soon as he got down from the saddle, and before he could say anything, his horse was led to the stables. Horace wanted to protest but before he could call out, two familiar voices stopped him.
“Horace?”
“Is that you?”
The young knight turned around and felt a slight pressure in eyes as he tried to overcome the need to hide his tears.
“Alyss! George!”
Both hurried over and hugged him. It’s been a long time indeed. After they pulled apart, all three of them had wide smiles on their faces.
“Wow, you grew up,” George commented timidly.
Horace just flashed a grin at him. “Nah, just eating more.”
“Poor cooks on Araluen,” Alyss said with a playful spark in her eyes.
“Oh come on-”
“Ehm.”
All three former Wards turned to a young page who swayed nervously from foot to foot. “I am to escort you to baron’s office, sir Horace.”
Horace shrugged apologetically and turned back to his friends. “Guess I’ll see you later.”
Alyss smiled at him encouragingly and after that, Horace let the page guide him through the castle corridors. Not that Horace didn’t know the way. After a few minutes, they stood before the large engraved oak doors. The page knocked lightly and after baron’s call, opened the doors for Horace.
The young knight stepped in and as soon as he spotted the baron, he started to bow formally. However, before he could finish what he intended he found himself crushed in the bear hug of sir Rodney.
“Horace! My boy!” the older knight exclaimed.
“Rodney, let him go. He didn’t come all the way back here to get suffocated,” baron Arald scolded but there was clear fondness in his voice.
Horace smiled nervously, moved by the friendliness of the other men, but his knight etiquette still remembering he was in a room with two people who outranked him.
Arald invited them all to sit down in the chairs in front of a hearth and after all greetings and exchanging news, mostly two older men being interested in Horace’s time at castle Araluen, Horace remembered himself and pulled the documents out of his bag, handing them over to the baron, who skimmed briefly through them before turning back to young knight with a warm smile on his kind face.
“Horace, what do you say about dinner with me and Rodney tonight? That is unless you’re too tired from your journey.
The young knight remembered his manner and in most polite, maybe a little nervous tone answered. “Thank you for your kind invitation, however, I was hoping I could catch up with Will and others tonight, my lord.”
Horace’s breath shallowed as he saw the baron and older knight exchanging a quick look. That couldn’t mean anything good.
Arald leaned forward with an apologetic smile. “I am sorry Horace, but Will and Halt are on a mission and I don’t know when they’ll be back.”
“They should have been back yesterday,” Rodney muttered quietly, but Horace managed to catch that.
“Oh,” the young knight tried to hide his disappointment. “I see. My lord, is there a possibility I could go after them?”
The baron laughed kindly. “Well, it’s not like I would want or be able to stop you, but I would be glad if you got a proper rest tonight.” The man stood up and so did the other two. “Luke will show you to your rooms.”
As Horace was falling asleep later that evening, a content smile played on his face. This was good old Arald who remembered the names of everyone of the castle staff. This was the Redmont castle. This was the home.
Impatient for his search for the missing ranger and his apprentice, Horace got up with the first light that shone through the windows. He dressed up and packed the absolute necessities and made his way to the stables.
A while later, as he and Kicker were speeding up in the north direction, the young knight contemplated what Rodney told him before they said their goodbyes last evening. Halt and Will left for north in search of bandit group that concentrated on robbing post carriages. They were supposed to return two days ago now. That meant something probably went wrong. A chill ran through his bones. He knew Halt well enough to know that something serious must have happened if Halt let himself be delayed or late.
The day was swinging into the afternoon when Horace decided to take a break. Both him and Kicker were tired and there was no point in pointlessly tiring the horse. The young knight got down from the saddle and crouched by a small clear stream to replenish his water supplies. Suddenly, his instincts screamed at him and he quickly got up, drawing his sword and turning around.
“Whoa! Horace!” the figure in front of him backed away a few steps, arms in surrending gesture.
“Will?” Horace gasped in shock. But indeed, it was Will standing in front of him. He quickly sheathed his sword and crossed the distance between them to hug the young ranger.
“Alright, alright,” Will said after few minutes. “I missed you and all, but what are you doing here?”
“Got told to give some documents to baron, who told me that you and Halt probably landed yourself in some mess. So I went to search for you.” Horace looked around. “Where’s Halt anyway?”
His friend shifted uncomfortably. “Ehm…Landed in the mess.”
“What?”
“Well, we went after some bandits but things got ugly and they got Halt.” Will drew out. “Alive,” he added upon seeing Horace’s horrified expression.
“You want to tell me they caught Halt? The legendary Halt who can strangle bears with a single hand?”
“Sorta. It was my fault,” Will whispered quietly. “They blew my cover and Halt rushed to my help immediately. He got even more, ehm, protective, after, you know, everything. They outnumbered him immediately. I wanted to stay with him but I figured I would be even more useless like that so I got away and I am watching the camp ever since.”
Horace caught firmly his friend’s hand. “Will, listen to me. You’re not useless and we can fix this together. Just like the old times.”
Will offered him a weak smile. “Yeah.” After that, he shook his head as if clearing his thoughts and his face radiated with determination. “I’ll show you the camp, but you’ll have to be, like, really quiet. ‘Right?”
Horace tried to stay as still as he possibly could.
After Will showed him the camp, they discussed their plan. Horace could clearly see why he waited so far with any rescue attempts. The camp was well-guarded and on the top of it, they kept a constant guard on the ranger, who was tied back to a pole in almost the middle of the camp. If he was honest with himself, even though there were now two of them, Horace saw their odds rather grimly. He proposed returning to Redmont and bringing a garrison with him back but Will dismissed that. “I already thought of that. It was the first thing that came to my mind two days ago. But I didn’t want to leave him in case something happened. Now that you’re here, we have a better chance at rescuing Halt. I overheard the bandits talking about leaving in the morning, you wouldn’t be able to make it back in time in time.”
“So what? You want to say that you can’t group that big?”
“It’s not about that,” Will hesitated, pain in his face. “They don’t want Halt to go with them. They’ll dispose of him upon leaving.”
“Why did they keep him alive so far then?”
“I think it’s partially because of me. They know I am around. If they just killed him, I would go to baron as soon as I could and they know that. They keep him a hostage until they are ready to leave. Plus, they tried to interrogate him a few times. On some crown secrets, from what I’ve heard them talking about.”
“Okay so…”
“The plan is…”
Horace did his best not to move an inch and went over their plan in his head once again. The day was on brink with the night as the shadows lengthened, the sun almost gone. He waited for another half an hour and then slid down the visor of his helmet and got into the saddle.
The plan was surprisingly simple. Well, it wasn’t like they had much to begin with. He would ride through the camp, causing as much havoc as he could while Will freed Halt. If everything would go well, the distraction would draw as many guards from Halt as possible, leaving Will with minimum or hopefully none to deal with.
He spurred Kicker into speed and drew his sword. He could hear shouts of surprise as he stormed through the camp, carefully avoiding narrow passages between the tents, trying to draw the bandits in the opposite direction of Halt. He slashed with his sword wildly around, knocking men off their feet. After a few moments, he sheathed his sword as he saw an opportunity and grabbed a lantern hanging on of the tents. The maneuver nearly cost him his balance in the saddle but it was worth it as he threw the lantern on another tent, watching it blaze up.
Horace cast a quick look in the direction of Halt and his blood froze. Halt was still tied to the pole while Will was fighting one of the bandits who was unmistakably gaining an advantage on him. Quickly disregarding the original plan, the young knight guided Kicker over to Will and swung down from the saddle to attack the bandit threatening his friend.
As soon as the man’s attention shifted from him to Horace, Will immediately went over to Halt and tried to cut the ropes binding him as quickly as he could.
“Seriously?” Halt hissed. “This is your plan?”
Will winced. “Didn’t have any better.”
Before their conversation could continue, they were interrupted by Horace who managed to dispose of his opponent in the meantime. “We need to go, now.”
The bandits slowly woke from the initial shock and now they charged at two rangers and the knight with alarming speed. Will and Horace exchanged a quick glance and Will readied his bow to take some of the bandits down before they could reach them, with the intention of giving Halt enough time to get to where Abelard and Tug waited along with Halt’s own bow and weapons, while Horace quickly tried to describe the way to the older ranger.
Halt was, expectedly not very happy but he knew he was useless to young men without his weapons. He insisted on all three of them getting away, but even he could see that unless they evened the odds at least a bit, there wasn’t time for that. He quickly disappeared with a disapproving expression on his face and headed for the horses.
Meanwhile, Will already released four arrows, three of them hitting their mark. Horace watched in amazement as his friend sent arrow after arrow on its way, however, the bandits caught up with them in a short time. Both young men backed away to a denser cluster of tents, ensuring no bandit could get into their backs. They tried to leave a narrow passage between them and the bandits so their numbers wouldn’t prove as that big advantage.
Will pursed his lips in frustration and set down his bow to draw his saxe and throwing knives. Horace reached out and squeezed his shoulder in encouragement with his free hand before assuming a fighting stance.
As first handful of the bandits approached them closely, Horace tried to pick most of the fight on himself. But Will wasn’t one to be left behind and soon they found themselves in a similar situation as back in battle with the Temujai. Both young men trusted each other with their back as they lunged forward to attack or stepped back in retreat. Horace wasn’t afraid of swinging his sword in wide arcs, knowing Will would dodge when he would need to.
For a moment, it even seemed that the bandits were scared of the lethal duo consisting of the young knight and the ranger’s apprentice. Blades swirled in the air, which was soon filled with pained cries of the bandits.
Nonetheless, nor Horace nor Will could keep it up forever. After a while, they started to falter. Horace even nearly fell to the ground when he tripped over a fallen bandit. One of their opponents immediately seized the opportunity and managed to land a hit with his club on the knight’s right shoulder. The impact immobilized his entire arm and Horace could hear his sword hitting the ground as it fell out of his hand.
Horace turned to a man who hit him, trying desperately to come up with a way how to dodge the next attack. Before the man could attack though, a throwing knife landed in his throat. Horace whipped around to thank Will but instead, he cried out in warning as he saw another bandit approaching Will from a side.
Before the man could land an attack, a black-feathered arrow pierced his throat.
“So how is Cassandra anyway?” Will asked casually trying to distract Horace from the pain in his shoulder as he tried to bandage it up.
Horace, trusting as ever, didn’t realize Will’s intention. “Well, actually, she’s- AHH!” he hissed in pain and throwing a hurt look at his friend. “Could’ve warned me.”
“You would just try to flinch away,” the young apprentice shrugged apologetically and nudged the knight. “Now show me that cut on your brow.”
“Nope.”
“Nope?”
“You’re just gonna make it worse.”
“How can I make it worse?? That doesn’t make sense.”
“You don’t make sense.”
“Still no sense.”
Halt watched both young men from feet away, rolling eyes at their bickering. After Will finally managed to persuade Horace to let him tend to his face, the older ranger got up and decided to take a walk around their little camp, giving the young friends privacy. He was sure they had a lot to tell each other after they haven’t seen each other for a long time and he didn’t need to be there to make it awkward for them.
Horace noticed Halt leaving quietly as he turned his head to make it easier for Will to clean the gash on his brow. When Will was finished, he asked softly. “So how about you and Halt? Everything good after what happened since the bridge?”
Will paused for a moment as he was putting away the bandages, pursing his lips in concentration before answering. “Depends. He used to be so angry and I think he still is, deep down.”
“Wh-”
“Not at me. At things that happened. He tries to hide it from me but I know it’s there,” young ranger sighed.
“Will…”
Before Horace could continue, Will laughed. “But he didn’t let me out of sight for at least five months after we got back. Sometimes it was rather funny.” It sounded forced but Horace decided not to press the matter.
“Anyway, what about you and Evanlyn?” Will asked, changing the topic, the playful spark in his voice once again. “Have you asked her out yet?”
Horace felt the blush heating up his face rapidly. “Will!”
The young ranger smirked and cocked his face to the side.
“She’s a princess. The princess.”
Will shrugged. “So what? She may be a princess, but she’s still a girl you like so…”
The knight sighed. “It’s not that simple.”
“Ohh I think it is. You either gonna ask her out or I am doing it for you.”
Horace opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again, before deciding to change a tactic. “So what about Alyss?”
The young knight watched in satisfaction as his friend nearly choked. “W-w-what?”
Will glared at Horace for a few seconds then scoffed. “Okay, fair enough.”
They fell into a comfortable silence as they sat near the fire, leaning against a fallen log. Suddenly the young ranger rested his head on the knight’s uninjured shoulder.
“I missed you, you know?”
Horace felt a single tear on his cheek. “Yeah, I missed you too.”
“Who would ever think given our past, right?” Will chuckled.
Horace felt a lump in his throat as his heart clenched in guilt. “Will, I am so so-”
“Horace, don’t. Yes, you were an asshole sometimes, but it would be really unfair to say I’d never provoked you.”
They fell into silence once again, both watching the flames and listening to the cracking of the fire.
“Besides, it’s all behind us, Horace,” Will said with a fondness in his voice. “I consider you my brother and I would go to hell for you. Don’t you ever forget that.”
Horace nodded silently and squeezed his friend’s hand as he didn’t want to speak, afraid his voice and tears would betray him.
But he knew his brother knew that Horace wouldn’t hesitate to do anything for him either.