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

‘Wash house is at the back,’ he said. ‘Breakfast in ten minutes.’

She nodded again, uncertain as to how to respond. His tone and manner were not as grim as the previous night. She decided to keep her reaction neutral. She went back into her room, retrieved the towel and the gown, then headed out the door.

Will’s border shepherd was sprawled in the early morning sunshine on the verandah. She thumped her tail in greeting and Maddie stopped to scratch her ears.

‘Hello, girl,’ she said. ‘What’s your name?’

Sable, of course, didn’t reply. But she stretched her head back, eyes closed in pleasure, to allow Maddie to fondle her chin and the thick fur under her neck. Maddie gave her a final pat and rose. She looked around her, taking in the sight of the little clearing. It really was a beautiful spot, she decided. The sun was just beginning to show over the tops of the trees, and the air was fresh with the scent of early morning.

She washed under the rudimentary shower bath in the wash house, shivering as the cold water hit. Then she towelled herself briskly, donned the bathrobe and returned to the cabin. Back in her room, she hesitated, wondering
what she should wear. She had discarded her clothes on the floor the previous night but, of course, Rose-Jean wasn’t here to pick them up and fold them, and lay out fresh clothes for the day ahead. In fact, her clothes were all in the valises, which were still in the stable.

Finally, she decided she’d don the clothes she’d worn the previous day. Dressed, she went back out into the main room.

Will looked up, nodding a welcome. He was laying a plate on the table.

‘I didn’t know how you’d like your eggs,’ he said. ‘I scrambled them.’

She wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t like eggs at all.’

Will took a deep breath. ‘You don’t like eggs,’ he repeated. She shook her head. ‘How about bacon?’ He glanced towards the cooking stove, where another pan was spluttering cheerfully on the hotplate over the coals.

Again, she shook her head. It struck him that it was a fussy little gesture but he held his temper.

‘We have a special air-cured ham that’s made for us by a pork butcher at Castle Araluen,’ Maddie said. ‘It’s so light and delicate. It just melts on your tongue. But bacon?’ She shivered dramatically. ‘Yuck!’

‘Well, we don’t have any air-cured ham. Maybe later we could go shopping in Wensley Village and pick up some larks’ tongues instead?’ Will suggested, the sarcasm heavy in his tone. She shook her head, ignoring it.

‘I like fruit,’ she said.

Will heaved a small sigh of relief. ‘Fruit is good,’ he said. He selected a large, shiny apple from a bowl on the kitchen
counter and placed it on a plate in front of her. She looked at it uncertainly.

‘Apples aren’t fruit?’ Will asked.

Maddie made a small gesture. ‘Well, usually, the servants peel it and slice it for me,’ she said.

There was a long silence. They looked at each other. She could sense that, once again, she had annoyed him. Suddenly, he moved, taking the apple off the plate and setting it on the rough wood of the table top.

There was a hiss of steel on leather as his saxe knife leapt from its scabbard at his side. Then he brought it down with a resounding
clunk
, chopping the apple into two halves that oscillated gently on the table.

‘Consider it sliced,’ he told her.

Breakfast continued in a strained silence. Will, relenting somewhat, produced a fresh loaf of bread, along with butter and conserves made from raspberries. The conserve had been a gift to him from Jenny and it was his favourite. He wondered wryly why he was giving some of it to Maddie.

She ate it with relish, realising how hungry she had been. Will, for his part, ate the scrambled eggs and bacon that he had prepared earlier. As Maddie finished her bread and jam, he reached behind him to the coffee pot steaming on the stove hotplate. Coffee would set everything right, he thought. Nobody could maintain a sulk when they had a cup of hot, sweet coffee before them.

‘Coffee?’ he said, already beginning to pour some of the fragrant liquid into her cup.

‘I don’t drink coffee,’ she told him.

Will’s eyebrows arched in surprise. ‘Why not?’ he asked her. ‘Everyone drinks coffee.’

‘Not me. I don’t like the taste. I’d prefer milk if you have it . . . please,’ she added, after a pause.

He accepted that the last word was a major concession on her part. There was a jug of fresh milk cooling under a damp cloth. He fetched it and poured it for her, shaking his head as he watched the creamy white liquid filling her cup.

‘How do they expect me to make a Ranger out of you?’ he muttered.

She wasn’t sure how she should answer that. Wisely, she remained silent. But the milk
was
good, she thought.

After breakfast, Will sipped his second cup of coffee. Perhaps there was something to be said for her not drinking the beverage, he thought, if it left extra in the pot for him. Maddie finished her milk and picked up all the stray crust and bread crumbs from her plate.

‘That’s excellent bread,’ she said. ‘Did you make it too?’ She wasn’t sure how far his cooking skills stretched. But he shook his head.

‘There’s a baker in Wensley who brings it over each morning. Actually, in the future, you can go fetch it and save him a trip. That can be one of your we-don’t-have-a-maid duties.’

She sensed he was testing her and refused to rise to the bait. She simply nodded and he went on.

‘In addition, you’ll make your bed and tidy your room each morning before breakfast.’

He cast a meaningful look at her room, where the bedclothes were still tumbled and twisted.

‘Make my bed? I don’t –’

‘Yes, you do. Or did you assume the maid would be doing that for you?’

She set her jaw angrily. ‘Well, I don’t see why we should live like peasants,’ she said. ‘Rose-Jean could easily come down here each day and –’

‘Rose-Jean is gone,’ he told her.

For a moment she didn’t comprehend. ‘Gone? Gone where?’

‘Back to Castle Araluen. There was a mail courier wagon leaving earlier this morning and I arranged for her to go with it. Couldn’t have her stumbling around the countryside on her own, could we?’

‘But . . . she was my maid. You had no right to . . .’ She stopped, seeing the hard light in his eyes.

‘Maddie, please understand, I have every right. She was your maid when you were the princess. Now you’re a Ranger’s apprentice. And Rangers don’t have maids. I think I mentioned that.’

Will felt a grim twist of amusement as he recalled a similar conversation with Halt in his first few days as an apprentice.
What Ranger’s apprentices do is the housework
, he remembered Halt telling him.

‘In addition,’ he added, ‘you’ll sweep this room each day after breakfast, and clean out the fireplace and stove firebox. And every Friday, you can take the rug outside and beat the dust out of it.’

She glared at him, eyes slitted. He pretended not to notice for a few seconds, then raised his eyebrows in a question.

‘Did you have something to say?’ he asked.

She answered very deliberately. ‘May I enquire, who performed these tasks before I arrived?’

Will nodded as if the question was a good one. ‘Actually, I did,’ he told her. ‘I can see now why Halt enjoyed having apprentices. Should have taken one on long ago myself.’

She said nothing, but rose and made her way into her room, making her bed in a series of brisk, angry movements. When she was finished, she looked around the room and saw that there was only one small curtained-off area for clothes storage. It wouldn’t fit one-tenth of the clothes she’d brought with her.

‘Where am I going to keep my clothes?’ she demanded.

Will put his head round the door and gestured to the small curtained area. ‘That should do you,’ he told her.

She shook her head and gave a hollow laugh. ‘That little space will barely fit any of the clothes I brought with me.’

Will waved a hand airily.

‘Oh, don’t worry about them,’ he said. ‘They’re already on their way back to Castle Araluen with Rose-Jean.’

‘
ARE YOU SURE
you’re not being too hard on her?’ Jenny asked.

Will considered the question for a moment, then shook his head.

‘I think I have to be tough, Jen,’ he said. ‘She’s spoiled and wilful and arrogant, and I’m going to need to shake that out of her if I’m to make a go of it.’

They were sitting under an awning in the outdoor eating area at the front of Jenny’s restaurant. She gave him an appraising look, then nodded.

‘Maybe. But don’t overdo it, will you? I’m sure she’s not a bad kid at heart.’

‘Well, I’m trying to remember how Halt treated me,’ Will said, ‘and I’m being guided by that.’

‘You said at the time that he treated you horribly,’ she said with a smile. ‘And you weren’t even a princess.’

‘Neither is she now. And that’s what I have to remember. She’s my apprentice and she has no more rights or
privileges than any other apprentice. She gets no special treatment.’

‘Just make sure that while you’re not giving her any special treatment you’re not leaning too far in the other direction,’ Jenny warned him. ‘Where is she now, by the way?’

‘She’s with Mistress Buttersby, being fitted for her uniforms,’ Will said, jerking a thumb down the high street. ‘At least, Mistress Buttersby is showing her how to alter the clothes so they fit. Maddie’s going to have to do the job herself. She could be some time,’ he added wryly.

Jenny looked at him. It was the first trace of humour she’d seen from her old friend for months. But she was wise enough not to mention it. She filed the thought away. She’d share it with Gilan when next he visited Redmont Fief – something he did more than was strictly necessary. She knew how much Will was hurting over the loss of Alyss and she thought it was a stroke of genius to assign Maddie to him as an apprentice. She glanced along the high street and pointed.

‘Looks like she’s coming now.’

Maddie was trudging up the shallow hill towards them, her arms encumbered with a pile of garments. Draped awkwardly over her shoulder was a familiar item – the mottled grey and green cloak that was standard wear for all Rangers and their apprentices.

‘She looks a little overwhelmed,’ Jenny added, smiling, as Maddie managed to drop a pair of boots and a leather vest into the dust. As she bent to retrieve them, she spilled more garments. She’d received three uniforms – woollen shirts and breeches, the leather jerkin and two pairs of
boots – along with the cloak, and the mass of clothes was proving hard to manage.

‘It’s been an overwhelming day,’ Will said. But he made no attempt to rise and move to her assistance. As Maddie came closer, boots, shirts and breeches balanced precariously, Jenny took pity and stood to move quickly to her side.

‘Let me help,’ she said. Maddie looked up gratefully and relinquished half the load. She followed Jenny into the restaurant and dropped the remaining bundle on a nearby table.

‘She gave me the smallest sizes she had, but they’re all way too big,’ she said a little breathlessly.

Jenny smiled. ‘Not surprising. After all, you’re the first girl Ranger.’

‘Did she show you how to take them in?’ Will asked.

Maddie nodded. ‘It’s going to take me hours to get them all done.’

‘Well, you only need one set for starters. That shouldn’t take too long. You can get that done this evening after dinner,’ Will told her. He wasn’t sure if she’d been looking for sympathy, but if she had, she wasn’t getting any from him.

Jenny and Will had been drinking pressed fruit juice. She signed to her waiter now to bring a third glass for Maddie, who accepted it eagerly and took a deep sip.

‘Aaaah. That’s lovely. Thanks,’ Maddie said.

‘It must be all very different and confusing for you,’ Jenny said kindly. ‘I hope Will isn’t being too mean to you, Maddie. I’m Jenny, by the way.’

She held out her hand, smiling. Maddie regarded it uncertainly for a moment. She’d more or less come to
terms with the strange relationship that now existed between her and Will. After all, as he’d pointed out, he was a senior officer of the realm and technically outranked her. But Jenny was different. Jenny was a commoner. She was a cook – really with no greater status than a servant at Castle Araluen might enjoy. Maddie wasn’t sure that first-name terms were quite proper between them.