Ranger's Apprentice; The Final Pieces

One-Shot: "Show me the way to the Lost"

{Somewhere after book 12; "The Royal Ranger"}

Will is already quite some years older, and Halt and Pauline are just old. Madelyn is already a full-grown Ranger with her own fief, and Horace and Cassandra are King and Queen.

I already want to say that I'm sorry, please don't hate me...

>>>---------->

Will stumbled into the little cabin. He was suddenly feeling dizzy. He knew he had to go to Halt for report, but also knew he couldn't. Not know, with such dizziness.

"Maybe it's a good idea to first get some sleep," he mumbled. He walked clumsy to his room and fell on the bed, without putting off his cloak or weapons. Just before he fell asleep, he thought about Tug. He should actually pay attention to his companion first.

But I'm only going to take a small nap, Will thought. I'll take care of him in an hour.

That was the moment Tug and Sable knew something must be wrong.

About an hour later, in Redmont Castle, Halt entered his apartment.

"Have you seen Will?" he asked his wife. Pauline looked up from the papers she was reading. Although she had officially retired some time ago, she still helped the new head of the Diplomatic Service; one of her own fellow students. She shook her head.

"No. But he said he would come to you as soon as he had returned, right?" she answered.

Halt nodded.

"That's the thing," he said. "He sent a letter a few days ago saying he would be back by today, early noon. It is already evening now and I haven't seen him."

Pauline shrugged. "Maybe there was something on his way, which caused his return being later."

Halt nodded. That wasn't a weird idea at all. The mission Will had gone on hadn't been very simple. Genovesians were seen in Macindaw, not far from the border with Picta. That was why Gilan had asked Will to take a look, knowing he was familiar with both the area and Genovesians. The official Ranger of Norgate, Skinner, had not been able to find any new information, because the people around Macindaw and Picta knew him, and so knew he was a Ranger. Will had left some time ago, and had been sending letters about his findings.

There had been only two Genovesians, who were probably hired by some Scoti. Will had observed them and heard it was a new try to take over Macindaw, then Norgate, and then Araluen. He had been able to kill the both of them, after they had tried to kill him. He had, like Halt had said, sent a letter a few days ago, telling his former mentor he would be back that day, around early noon. He had also said he would come to Halt first, to report and stuff. But it was already evening and he still hadn't returned to the Castle itself.

Pauline smiled when she saw Halt's worry. "Come on, Halt. He is a full-grown Ranger, and a good one. You have said yourself he might be better than you are. He can take care of himself, I'd say."

Again, Halt nodded. "I know he can," he said. "But it won't harm anyone if I take a look at his cabin after dinner; if he hasn't been here by then, of course."

And so he did. After dinner, Will still hadn't returned, so Halt decided to take a look at the Ranger's cabin. Maybe the Ranger had just returned, and decided to wait after dinner before he would visit. This would save him that ride. Halt got Abelard from the Castle's stables and rode over the well-known path to the forest. When he saw the little cabin, his horse whinnied a hello. An answer came. Halt frowned, when he saw that Tug was still carrying his saddle. That must mean Will was back since less than five minutes, he would never let Tug walk with his saddle longer than absolutely necessary. It also meant Will was close by. Halt dismounted Abelard and walked towards the little cabin.