Ranger of Kings (William of Alamore Series Book 1)

by C. J. R. Isely

  Ross huffed. “That head healer and I could have a few words about this…but it seems you’re not doing too badly,” he turned, as if to dismiss them, and addressed the young man, “Robin, how was that horse’s leg after you washed it?”

  Robin’s eyes flitted to Will for a moment before he straightened. “It seemed well enough. There’s no heat in the tendon. I think it’s mostly surface and muscle. I used that poultice that the Ranger brought over, so it can be checked again in the morning.”

  Ross nodded. Will felt rooted to the spot, watching the squire. Robin. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought someone had said that as he was bleeding on the cobbles. “You two better get to the castle to get something to eat,” Ross ordered, eyes flashing dangerously.

  Will had to grab Rowan’s arm and pull him as the squire opened his mouth again, looking indignant. “You should have let me give him a piece of my mind!” Rowan snapped as they stepped outside. The snow was falling harder now and the sky was heavy and dark grey.

  “What, so we had to stay out here working opposed to getting something to eat?” Will asked.

  “Might have been worth it,” Rowan grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Why is he out here? He didn’t step in and try to help us. He even came after us! I know he’s been in the knights’ council meetings, but that only goes to show that he would betray us in turn.”

  “Maybe they’ve worked out a deal, like with Airagon?” Will suggested.

  “Airagon wanted to be out here,” said Rowan, firmly. “That one, he was Tollien’s squire. He had literally nothing to gain coming to our side. I don’t trust him.”

  “No, nor do I.”

  By the time they reached the castle, they were cold, snow-covered, and Rowan’s temper had only gotten worse. He’d been pelted in the face by a massive snowball thrown by Sir Rockwood, who had been hiding around the corner. They washed and changed into their clean dry clothing. Will ran a hand lightly over the bruising on his side as he picked up his clean shirt. His skin looked raw still, ragged edges mending slowly over blue-green tinged skin. The thought of Robin was heavy on his mind. Why did Sir Ross, of all people, seem to be willing to trust him? Ross had been there, he’d seen what Marl had done, and he’d heard the truth. Perhaps that was why the knight had been avoiding him…

  “Will,” Rowan’s head appeared around the edge of the wall that divided the washbasins, his hair soaking and plastered to his forehead. “are you about ready to go eat?”

  “Yeah, one minute,” Will pulled the shirt on, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to get it to lay flat. He looked up, realizing that Rowan had stepped fully into view and was watching him quizzically, arms crossed. “What’s up?”

  “Ross is right, they shouldn’t have let you leave. I didn’t know it was that bad,” Rowan gestured toward Will’s side.

  “It’s nothing, let’s just not make a deal of it,” Will said quickly. He could hear others entering the other side of the washroom and wasn’t ready to discuss what had happened with the other squires, at least not the full truth.

  “Will, you know that they won’t hate you for who Marl is,” Rowan whispered.

  Will turned away, picking up his cold and dirty clothing with his back to Rowan. “We can talk about it later.” He hated the pleading in his voice but he could hear Colin, Treck, and Novin’s voices around the corner.

  Rowan didn’t pursue the matter. He and Will pushed through the door between the washroom and the main bathroom to find the other three squires washing the dirt off their hands. Colin looked up and grinned, his golden hair damp with snow, though he had already changed into dry clothing. “I thought you were starving, Rowan,” he mocked. “But you had time for a bath?”

  “My dear sweet knight is a master with the sword and the snowball,” Rowan growled dangerously.

  The other three laughed. “Is that who got the Ranger?” Treck asked Novin.

  Novin nodded and Will had to stifle his laughter. He could imagine that the Ranger had been less than pleased.

  “If you two wait up a minute, we can all go sit together,” Colin said.

  Will and Rowan exchanged a look. Finally, Will shrugged. If Treck was going to start training with them, they would have to learn how to at least tolerate him. Treck, drying his hands on one of the towels stacked beside the basin, seemed to sense their hesitation.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you two,” his face reddened as he apologized. “I just get a little too excited. This is the first time I’ve got to come to Alamore. It’s our most powerful ally and my father is always saying I will get to come, but I didn’t think I would this soon, or under these circumstances,” he met their eyes, his own eyes bright and eager. “I get to learn to fight with Alamore squires and be there when our knights take on Tollien’s and King Kolt’s knights!”

  Rowan shrugged. “Bygones are bygones. Don’t cross me on an empty stomach again and you may live,” he said casually. All of them laughed, the tension broken.

  ***

  Will found as they ate that Treck was, indeed, interesting and not as arrogant as he had first believed. He sat next to Airagon, asking him question after question about the tunnels, the designs and what weaknesses he thought that the tunnels might have. He told them about Shadow Dale, how the castle was built into the mountain for its main defense, and what things he’d learned from sitting on the Royal Council since he had turned twelve two years earlier.

  “It’s all fascinating, you know,” Treck was saying, handing Rowan a platter stacked with baked potatoes. He nodded toward the main table where a brown-haired young man sat next to the King. “King Giltor takes on a lot of radical thoughts and approaches that certainly make the council uncomfortable at times.”

  Rowan yelped in pain as he grabbed a potato and dropped it onto his already overflowing plate.

  “Serves you right for being greedy,” Will said, grabbing the platter before Rowan could drop it.

  “What? I said I was hungry!” Rowan said defensively.

  A hand landed on Will’s shoulder, making him turn. His heart sank again as he looked into the face of the Thornten squire. “May I have a word, Will?” he asked, his tone guarded.

  “Sure, what is it?” Rowan demanded; eyes narrowed as he glowered up at the man.

  “I said with Will,” he responded politely, never looking at Rowan.

  “And you can’t say it in front of us?” Rowan shot back.

  “It’s fine, Rowan,” Will said. His stomach felt like lead as he pushed himself off the bench and stood. He should have known he would have to face Robin at some point. If Ross had him in the barns working, then it was the first sign that he had gained some freedoms.

  Robin gestured for Will to lead the way, which he did, between the tight rows of tables. He wondered if everyone could hear his heart thundering in his chest, even over the deafening din of cutlery and talking. The two of them were silent until they stepped into the empty entry hall, out of sight of the tables.

  Will turned to face Robin, every muscle in his body on edge. “What do you want?”

  “I want to talk to you,” said Robin, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his trousers.

  “Isn’t that what we are doing?” Will asked coldly.

  Robin’s jaw tightened, his face registering annoyance before he inhaled deeply. “Ross put his neck on the line for me to get out of that cell,” he closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and continued. “And I will be damned if I will have let that be in vain. I’m trying to prove myself to this castle, I am trying to learn to ally with the people here, but I can’t do that until you and I set a few things straight.”

  Will snorted. “Ally with the people here? Seriously? That willing to turn your back on the King that you were a squire to?”

  “What would you do, in my place?” Robin demanded, voice rising. “Would you defy the only way of life you’ve known, the man who’s taught you everything you know about figh
ting and the workings of a castle because you see one poor decision his brother made? Seriously? What could I have done?” his hands were out of his pockets suddenly and Will’s hand flew toward the dagger in his belt. Robin though, was unarmed, as he waved a hand toward the double black doors of the dining hall. “Would you have risked it all in that moment?”

  “So why betray them now? Because you’re a coward?” Will snapped back.

  Robin snarled and turned a full circle, gripping his hair in frustration. “You are making this really difficult because you refuse to see how difficult this is!”

  “It wasn’t! You traded sides. You decided that Tollien wasn’t going to save you, or something, and came here!”

  “I didn’t think I would catch up with you in the forest!” Robin exploded. He released his hair, throwing his hands into the air. “I never intended to have to make that decision because I thought I made it the second I grabbed the reins to your damn bay opposed to my horse! I was going to follow your path here, bring that damn horse, and leave. That was it! Just come to Alamore and live like any other commoner, maybe become a soldier, but bring the horse as a peace offering! Then I ran into you all and I didn’t know what to do!” he glowered at Will. “You are as difficult to discuss this with as Sir Laster, you know that, right?”

  “I think I have a few more reasons than Sir Laster to have an issue with you,” Will said, his hands balling into fists. Robin’s words still made no sense. Why throw it all away when he had been the squire to a King?

  Robin laughed coldly. “You have no idea, do you? The stories of Sir Laster? Is that something else I only know about because I had the privilege of being the King’s squire?” his eyes flashed. “I left, Will, because the moment I saw how Tollien stood by and let Marl treat you, I knew for certain that Tollien wasn’t the kind of King I could serve. My father might grovel for him, throw himself at Tollien’s feet, but when I saw what I did, it was the last piece. Don’t think that what happened to you was the first time I doubted what side I was on. I told you, I am not Tollien’s lapdog.”

  “Then why were you ready to kill us or bring us back when you found us?” Will asked.

  Robin’s shoulders went slack, all of his fury seeming to fall away and he grinned slightly. “I guess your friend was right, I hadn’t experienced death. Being scared is part of being human.”

  “Well said,” they turned. Neither one had seen Sir Ross appear, leaning in the doorway between the dinner hall and the entryway. He assessed them both through unreadable, dark, eyes. “I recommend you two start getting along because I don’t intend to babysit either of you when you start training.”

  Will’s mouth fell open. “He’s going to start training? With us?”

  Ross raised his eyebrows, his expression unphased. “Have you a problem with that, William? Or do you think that we might give the man a chance to prove his metal for us? I, personally, am on the line for you, Robin, so don’t be a moron. If you do something stupid, I get the honors of killing you,” he smiled dangerously. “Now, I think you two both have dinner waiting.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Over the next following days, Will made it a point to avoid Robin. This turned out to be made easier with the extra squires and knights now taking residency in the castle. King Revlan and King Giltor had all the knights and able-bodied squires training heavily. Will, still healing, was left alone to roam the castle, read, and work on slower training under the supervision of Haru, who had been given the time to recover from his journey by Sir Richard.

  “Have you talked to Robin at all?” Will asked one day, as he watched Haru adjust his padded armor. They were practicing footwork with the weighted wooden practice swords again in an empty hallway on the second floor.

  Haru shrugged. “A little, but not enough to make a judgement call,” he straightened and picked up the wooden sword again. “Put a bit of bend in your knee or you’ll never be able to move fast,” he advised.

  Will obeyed and raised his practice weapon in two hands. “But he’s Thornten.”

  “And Airagon’s tunnel and,” Haru stepped forward while talking, aiming at Will’s right side and forcing him to block, “the Ranger is rumored to be from Thornten as well.”

  Will felt his face redden. He had considered that; the Ranger had betrayed his own family to join Alamore. “Why is Ross sticking up for him though?”

  “Because Ross isn’t an idiot. If he can find a good fighter to stand on Alamore’s side as a knight – fix your grip, your hands are too far down the hilt – he will enlist them. I mean, would you rather they kill him?”

  Will felt his stomach squirm at the thought. “No.”

  “Then what’s the issue? Can you swing overhead or does that hurt too much?” Haru asked, raising his weapon.

  Will tried the movement slowly and nodded. “I think I can.”

  “Good, we will go back through this with more speed then. Remember; you are great at blocking but the only way to win a battle with blocking is if the other person dies of old age. And I’m not that old yet.”

  They went through the patterns several times until Will was able to slide the sword up faster, moving straight from the block into an opening to attack and driving Haru back a few paces. “Very nice,” Haru grinned. “you might even get a chance to hit me with the sword someday.”

  “I can’t wait to get back into the real training,” Will said, glancing out the window behind Haru. He could see people riding along the side of the castle, between the fortress and the wall, heading toward the drawbridge.

  “I doubt it’s much longer,” Haru said, turning to look outside as well. “We are going to be in the thick of things, I don’t doubt, before we are entirely ready,” he hesitated, glancing at Will. “I know you don’t care for Robin, mate, but he’s been fairly helpful to the council from what Sir Richard’s told me.”

  “Oh yeah? How so?”

  Haru’s face darkened and Will saw his knuckles whiten on the hilt of the practice weapon. “We know they are going to lay siege to the castle soon, the outside…and from the tunnels too.”

  Will’s blood turned to ice as he gaped at Haru. He closed his mouth, shook his head, and tried to clear his mind. The castle hadn’t been sieged in years, well before he was born. Thornten was known for the occasional raid, or to go for the smaller castles, but a siege on Alamore? “When?”

  “That is above either of our clearance,” Haru said, laughing again. “I don’t think Sir Richard had planned to tell me all that he did. He just was in a furious rant when we went for a hunt yesterday and it slipped out,” he assessed Will with a questioning grey-green gaze. “Do you think you’re ready to start doing more training?”

  “I think I’m ready for something a bit more than this,” Will said, gesturing toward Haru’s padded armor with his wooden sword. “I need to get back in shape, especially if we are going to be attacked.”

  “Fair enough,” Haru began to unbuckle the training pads from his right arm and tossed his own practice weapon aside. “I’ll vouch for you and tell them I think we are both ready to be helpful. Think you can ride?”

  Will grinned. He had not wanted to admit how much he missed the power that always came with riding Visra. “I’m dying to get back in the saddle.”

  “As long as you don’t die when you do,” Haru cautioned. “Look, it’s about time that the others come in for a break anyhow so we will break now too. I need to go see with Sir Richard if we can get you started on something helpful but simple.”

  ***

  Will, Rowan, and Colin were sharing their break in the comfort of the room of records. They lounged on overstuffed chairs, Colin pouring over a map of the old boundaries of the land, Rowan nodding off in front of the fire. Will was staring into the blaze himself, lost in the thoughts of how much had changed in such a short amount of time. How had he been sitting on the stairs to his own home only months before? And now? Training to be a knight, an heir to a kingdom he hated, and training to
fight in what could well be the largest battle in a century.

  This is how Sir Richard found them as he strode in, moving stiffly and running a hand over his beard. “I’m surprised to find you three here, it’s not generally the preferred spot for the squires,” he sank into the chair beside Will with a groan. “Growing old isn’t great,” he chuckled, leaning back into the cushions. “But it sure beats the alternative,” he then turned, fixing Will with an assessing stare. “Haru says you’re ready to get back into a bit more action.”

  “What?” Rowan asked, startling out of his half-sleep.

  “Will, you’re still really bruised,” Colin said, looking up from the map, his brow furrowed.

  “I am,” Will said to Richard, ignoring his two friends.