Ranger's Apprentice 12: The Royal Ranger (22 page)

So Maddie enjoyed the admiration and the friendship of the young people of Wensley. From time to time, when her busy schedule permitted, she rode to the village and spent time with them, coaching some of the boys in archery, fishing in the calm waters of the river with them and playing games of hide and seek – which she invariably won, until the others banned the use of her cloak.

Will watched these activities with a careful eye. ‘Don’t get too close to them,’ he cautioned. ‘Rangers need to maintain a certain separation from the ordinary people. It helps if they hold us in a little awe. It maintains the mystique.’

Still, he thought, it was good for her to learn to relate to the common people – as opposed to the self-important sprigs of nobility who inhabited Castle Araluen. He was pleased to see that she didn’t put on airs or graces any more. He could see she enjoyed being respected for her abilities and he saw no harm in that.

‘Better to be respected for what you can do, rather than who your parents are,’ he said to Jenny on one occasion. His friend looked at him keenly as he said it, watching the way his eyes followed Maddie as she laughed and joked with a group of local youngsters.

The lines of pain, graved in his face by Alyss’s loss, were still evident. But they had softened, and the grim expression wasn’t quite as grim as it had been. At times, she
sensed, he was on the brink of smiling. There was a fondness in his eyes as he watched his goddaughter – one that he hastily disguised when she was aware of him.

She’s doing him good, Jenny thought, smiling to herself. She had long forgiven Maddie’s bumptious remark to her. The week after she said it, the girl had appeared on the doorstep of Jenny’s cottage, a bunch of flowers in her hand and a remorseful look on her face, and apologised profusely. Jenny, warm-hearted and forgiving, accepted the apology instantly. Since then, they had become friends, with Jenny ever ready to listen to Maddie as she bemoaned her lack of talent with the bow – a totally inaccurate assessment of her ability, Jenny knew.

‘If you want practice,’ she had told Maddie, ‘I can always use fresh game in my restaurant.’

In the following weeks, she had received a steady stream of rabbits, hares and wildfowl, either shot with Maddie’s bow or brought down by her sling. It was evident that Maddie, who had spent her life having every whim catered for, was enjoying doing something for someone else.

And Jenny was more than content to be that someone else, so long as the game kept appearing on her doorstep.

It was a Friday morning. Maddie was riding back from the small dairy farm at the end of the village. A sack of warm loaves was hung across her saddle bow, the smell of fresh bread hitting her nostrils and reminding her stomach that she hadn’t yet had breakfast. Two of the local teenagers waved her down and she checked Bumper, calling a greeting to them as they stepped out into the road.

‘Morning, Gordon. Morning, Lucy,’ she said. They
were two of her favourites. Lucy was the daughter of Mistress Buttersby, Wensley’s seamstress. She was a gangly, freckled girl who was something of a tomboy. Gordon was dark-haired and had mischievous blue eyes. He was something of a rogue, although she felt there was no real harm or malice in him.

He glanced around now, making sure that nobody was listening, then spoke to her in a lowered voice.

‘What are you doing tomorrow?’

She frowned, thinking. ‘Nothing,’ she replied. She had a free Saturday for the first time in weeks. Will was going to the castle to have dinner with Halt, Pauline and Baron Arald and Lady Sandra. ‘Why?’

Lucy giggled. ‘We’re having a party,’ she said, her tone conspiratorial.

Maddie cocked her head curiously. A party was no reason for their lowered voices and constant looking around. Something was afoot, she realised.

‘Just a party?’ she asked.

Lucy giggled again and Gordon grinned. He had a very attractive grin, Maddie thought. There was all sorts of devilment in it.

‘A . . . special kind of party,’ he said. ‘Behind the stable at the inn. Lucy’s bringing game pies and lamb on skewers. And we’re going to bake potatoes in the fire.’

Lucy worked as a waitress in Jenny’s restaurant. From time to time, Jenny rewarded her with choice bits of food from the menu. At other times, Lucy surreptitiously helped herself. Maddie guessed that this was one of those times, which would account for the knowing grins both her friends wore.

‘And Martin’s got a cask!’ Lucy burst out, unable to contain herself. Then she dissolved in a fit of giggles.

‘A cask?’ Maddie asked, although she was beginning to understand what Lucy meant. ‘A cask of what?’

‘Of wine!’ Gordon said triumphantly. ‘Fine wine, it is, too. Will you join us?’

Maddie hesitated. She knew she shouldn’t. But she had been working hard for weeks now, with very few breaks and little time to herself. She didn’t know if she liked wine or not. But she knew she liked adventure and there was still a streak of the rebel in her. She deserved a chance to let her hair down, she thought. And nobody would know.

‘Why not?’ she told them.

‘
I WON’T BE TOO
late,’ Will said as he paused at the door. ‘Halt and Pauline aren’t night owls these days.’

Maddie looked up from her meal. Will had felt a little guilty, knowing that he’d be enjoying dinner from Master Chubb’s kitchen at the castle. Maddie’s cooking skills were improving, but they were still in the rudimentary phase. Accordingly, he’d arranged for a meal to be delivered from Jenny’s restaurant.

She spooned another mouthful of the savoury spiced beef stew into her mouth, and nodded as she chewed and swallowed.

‘I’ll probably be asleep,’ she told him. ‘I’m looking forward to an early night myself.’

They’d had a long day, riding far afield and practising stalking and tracking, in addition to her normal daily workouts with bow, knives and sling. She affected a yawn now.
Will took his cloak from the peg inside the door and swung it round his shoulders.

‘Sable’s here anyway, in case you need her,’ he said. ‘Keep the door bolted from the inside.’

Maddie nodded. There was a concealed release mechanism that could be used to unbolt the door from the outside, but a random visitor, or intruder, wouldn’t know about that. She made a shooing gesture with her hand, seeing that Will seemed uneasy at leaving her by herself.

‘Go along,’ she said. ‘I’ll be fine.’

He came to a decision. ‘All right then,’ he said and went out.

Maddie heard his soft footsteps along the porch as he walked to the rear of the cabin, where the horses were stabled. Tug greeted him with a soft whinny. A few minutes later, she heard the little horse’s hoofbeats as Will rode past the cabin and to the path that led to Castle Redmont. Once the hoofbeats faded away and she was certain he had gone, her feigned weariness dropped away and she began moving with greater urgency. Rising, she took the half-finished bowl of stew to the kitchen bench and scraped the contents into the scrap bucket. She was looking forward to the game pies and lamb skewers Lucy had promised and, tasty as the stew might be, she wanted to keep her appetite sharp.

She glanced into the scrap bucket and noticed that the beef stew was a little too visible, sitting on top of the other contents and making it obvious that she’d hardly eaten any of it. Taking the ladle from the pot that held the remainder of the stew, she moved the contents of the bucket around until the stew was mixed in and hidden from casual view.

She stepped back and surveyed her work, then nodded, satisfied. Going into her room, she took the saddle pack that she used to carry her camping gear, rolled it into a cylinder and placed it in her bed, pulling the blankets up around it. She tilted her head as she studied it. It looked too rigid and regular, she decided, so she pulled the blankets back, bent the pack in the middle, then rolled up a spare jacket and placed it at an angle at the bottom of the pack, so that the overall look was of a person with legs bent at the knee. Much more realistic, she decided, and pulled the blankets up again, tucking them high around the pillow to conceal the fact that there was no head resting there. If Will looked in on her when he arrived home, it would be a cursory look only, she thought. The pack and rolled jacket should pass muster.

She blew out the lantern in her room and hurried to the front door. It was second nature to her to swing her cloak around her shoulders as she went out. The simple latch lock clunked shut behind her. Without thinking, she turned towards the stable, then stopped herself. Will was riding Tug, which meant that he would put his horse back in the stable when he arrived home. If Bumper wasn’t there, it would be a dead giveaway that she had gone out. She turned back. Bumper, who had heard her footsteps stop and turn away, whinnied once, a little reproachfully.

‘Sorry, boy,’ she said under her breath. ‘You can’t come tonight.’

Sable was lying, head on her paws, on the edge of the verandah. She rose expectantly. But Maddie waved a hand at her to stay.

‘You too, girl,’ she told her. ‘Stay.’ Sable lay back down again, covering the last few inches in a kind of slithering thud as her paws slid on the floorboards, and grunting softly as she did.

Maddie took one last look around. The lantern beside the door was turned low, which was how Will left it every night. That way, it cast just enough illumination over the steps and doorway in case of an unexpected visitor. Then she turned and hurried down the dark path through the trees, heading for Wensley Village.

She stayed in the shadows on the edge of the high street as she reached the village. Jenny’s restaurant was one of the first buildings on the street. It was brightly lit and she could hear the loud babble of voices from inside. The restaurant was a popular spot in Wensley and on a Saturday night it was likely to attract patrons from the countryside around the village as well. She kept to the far side of the street as she passed, hugging the cloak around her as she moved through the shadows.

Trust the cloak
, Will had told her repeatedly. She wasn’t sure if it was intended to help her in such a devious mission as the one she was on.

So far as she could tell, nobody noticed her. That was hardly surprising. The restaurant patrons would be intent on their food and their conversation. And they were in a brightly lit room. It was highly unlikely that any of them might notice the dim figure slipping through the shadows across the street.

As she neared the village inn, the babble of voices from Jenny’s restaurant died away, to be gradually replaced by another sound. There was a travelling minstrel in the inn,
entertaining the people who had chosen to go there for the evening. As she listened, the music stopped and there was a burst of applause. Her friends had picked a good night for their party, she thought. There was plenty of activity in the village to mask any sounds they might make.

Looking at the stable situated beyond the inn, she could make out the dull glimmer of a small fire reflected from the walls. She let herself into the saddling yard. Lucy, Gordon and another friend, Martin, were sitting round a small fire in the rear of the yard, a spot that was hidden from casual observers in the street. If she hadn’t known about the fire, she probably wouldn’t have noticed the dull flicker on the walls.

But she did notice the delicious smell of grilling lamb. As she approached, her friends called a greeting to her.

‘You’re late,’ Martin said cheerfully.

She shrugged an apology. ‘I had to wait till Will left. He seemed to take forever.’

‘Well, you’ve got some catching up to do,’ Gordon told her. He took two sizzling lamb skewers from the fire, put them on a wooden platter and passed it to Lucy. Lucy added a small game pie to the platter as she handed it along. Maddie sat cross-legged by the fire and took the plate. The lamb smelled delicious and her mouth was watering already. Carefully, knowing the meat would be hot, she bit into it.

‘Mmmmm! That’s delicious, Lucy!’ she said appreciatively. Her friend glowed at the compliment.

‘They’ve been marinating for nearly eight hours,’ she said. ‘That makes them nice and tender.’

‘Here,’ Martin said, handing her a wooden mug. ‘You can wash them down with this.’

Maddie took the mug. Her heart beat a little faster as she sniffed the contents. She could choose to say no now and there would be no harm done. Sneaking out to meet her friends was a minor thing. But drinking wine was another matter altogether. This was crossing a big boundary and, if she were found out, she had no doubt that she would be in trouble.

Gordon saw her hesitate and guessed the reason. ‘He’ll never know,’ he said, grinning a challenge at her.

Abruptly, she decided, and took a deep swig of the wine. It tasted heavy and somewhat sour.

‘Mmm, that’s good stuff!’ she said, wanting to appear sophisticated and knowledgeable. In truth, she had no idea whether the wine was good. She had drunk wine before, on special occasions at Castle Araluen, when official toasts were being drunk. But that wine had been heavily watered and tasted nothing like this.

‘I only get the good stuff,’ Martin agreed cheerfully. He had no idea, either. In fact, the wine was rather poor quality. But, like Maddie, he wanted to appear as if he drank wine all the time and knew what he was talking about. ‘Here,’ he added, ‘have a top-up.’