Authors Note

Hii everyone, so just little bit of introduction. This is my first fanfiction EVER. I always loved writing and last year I stumbled upon this amazing website. I read a lot (no really A LOT) of the stories here and I fell in love. So I decided it was time to upload my story. In my head the story is already finished so don't worry you will get to the end if you want to. I am not a native English speaker and I read the books in Dutch so please tell me when a name or anything is spelled wrong.

For now just enjoy, the first chapter is a slow burn but after that we will get on an amazing rollercoaster ( I hope, maybe you will all fall asleep during this story, but hey you will get a great bedtime story)

(for those wondering, I'm currently rewriting early chapters)

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Ranger's Apprentice.

Chapter 1

The rush Will felt when he and Halt neared the war camp was not like anything he ever experienced. Of course he had seen a lot already, he had been to Skandia, Arrida and even Clonmel. He knew already what war meant, but this time was different. This time it was a war for his home, this time he was not an apprentice safely guarded by the fiercest man alive.

The Scotti had invaded Araluen, Norgate and Macindaw had been run down and now they were preparing for battle. The invasion had been a quick and efficient which Norgate was not prepared for. The strategic advantage of Araluen was gone and now it was just a matter of pure battle.

Halt felt the tension building up in his former apprentice, and decided to figure out wat was wrong.

"with a little bit more tension, we could use you as bomb for the war, you look like can explode any time". Will looked at his mentor thinking it would be a joke, but Halt looked dead serious at him.

"Are you not scared Halt? Was the tension the same with Morgarath? Do know something I do not?..." Will stopped when saw Halt's brow rise dangerously high. He knew he had done it again, and he knew Halt would let him know.

"First of all when will you ever learn to ask just one question at the time", Halt began, "secondly, yes I am scared for Araluen but that won't help us win the war so we just have to stay calm. War for your homeland will never be something you get used to".

Will somehow felt reassured by those words, as long as Halt did not panic, the world would not crumble down. Maybe the situation was dire, but Halt was right, panicking would help them in the slightest.

They rode down to the main camp and set their tents with the other rangers, close to the tent of king Duncan. Luckily it was spring so it wasn't really cold in the north. They had light packings for the night and could therefore ride faster. Once they had cared for Tug and Abelard, they went for the big tent in the middle of the field. There they found king Duncan himself, commandant Crowley, Gilan, Sir Rodney, Baron Arald and a few other barons and knights from other fiefs.

"Halt, Will! How wonderful you are here," king Duncan said, sounding like the war had been won the moment the two rangers stepped in.

"Of course, my lord. Any news of the front?" Halt came immediately to the point.

There was no time to lose otherwise the war was already over. King Duncan shook his head regretfully

"no, we managed to rescue most of the people from Norgate and Macindaw but there are a lot of wounded, and not all great physicians have arrived from other parts of the country."

Will's head shot up at this, "well surely Malcolm wouldn't mind taking care of those people."

The tension in the tent grew even more strongly, and everyone stayed silent. After a few terribly silent minutes Gilan spoke up.

"We haven't been able to retrieve the people from Grimsdell forest, there was just not enough time and not enough people to help, I'm sorry Will". Halt felt immediately this was not going to fall well with his boy.

"So everyone is being rescued, but crippled people, who have no chance of defending themselves are being left alone?" Will said unable to hide the disgust from his voice.

"So what, when you are not physically perfect you are worthless according to you all here." Will knew it wasn't fair waht he said, he knew it was difficult to rescue crippled people when even the healthy ones didn't come out unharmed. But right now people he knew, and cared about were unjustly left in the middle of a war.

None of the lords had any answer to his outburst and Will felt a strong hand guiding him outside the he stood outside he saw the strong hand was attached to no other than Halt.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't have burst out like that, but you have to agree Halt, this is just terrible, leaving them there to die." Halt felt the greatest sympathy for his young kid, he too thought it was not the best situation.

"I agree with you Will, but you know as well as I that it is impossible to get them out without losing almost all of our best men. We just cannot take the risk at this point. So once we have won more ground to move, we will get them safe immediately and right now we just have to pray they won't get caught in the middle of this".

It was nothing like Will wanted to hear but he knew Halt was right, it was risky and going into that forest with a whole battalion would not end well. Halt felt the spirit of Will fade away with this message and he rest his hand on his shoulder, waiting for Will to meet his eyes.

"You just get some rest now, clear your head and in three hours come back and we will make plans to get rid of those Scotti bastards as soon as possible".

Will nodded in defeat, his mind was racing in fury, but this was not the way. If there was any chance of saving Malcolm and his people, he should take it and therefore keep his mind at peace. So he took Halt's suggestion and walked back to his tent.


Horace had been at the camp for two days already. He too had been furious about leaving his friends to defend for themselves. But he knew he could not save them all by himself, even though he would gladly try it. So when he saw Tug and Abelard at the clearing, his heart jumped out of his chest. Will would never leave Malcolm and Trobar behind, so he finally had found an ally.

It was quite a shock though, when he saw Will coming towards the tent with hanging shoulders. Horace decided he needed a more subtle approach to reach his goals.

Unfortunately Horace and subtle had never been quite the match. So when he sat down next to will he blurted out, "Soooo, what is the plan to get Malcolm and his friends?" Will stared at him with wide eyes of utter shock. Did his best friend just propose a suicide mission to save his friends?

Then at the exact same moment the two friends smiled at each other, knowing this was going to be one hell of an adventure.

A/N: Yes I mentioned suicide mission, but no it's definitely not a death fic. so don't worry (although it's won't be an easy ride for our friends).

I hope you like the start of the adventure, if you do please leave a comment (also if you don't, I love reading all of your thoughts).

Stay safe, trust the cloak and see you soon