Burning Bridge Read Online Free PDF Page B

gaffe, and tried to recover.
    “I mean…you know. Well, most of us want to be knights, don’t we?”
    Will and Gilan exchanged glances. Gilan raised an eyebrow. Horace blundered on.
    “I mean…no offense or anything…but everyone I know wants to be a warrior.” His embarrassment lessened as he pointed a forefinger at Will. “You did yourself, Will! I remember when we were kids, you used to always say you were going to Battleschool and you’d become a famous knight!”
    Now it was Will’s turn to feel uncomfortable. “And you always sneered at me, didn’t you, and said I’d be too small?” he said.
    “Well, you were!” said Horace, with some heat.
    “Is that right?” Will replied angrily. “Well, does it occur to you that maybe Halt had already spoken to Sir Rodney and said he wanted me as an apprentice? And that’s the reason why I wasn’t selected for Battleschool? Has that ever occurred to you?”
    Gilan interrupted at this point, gently stopping the argument before it got any further out of hand.
    “I think that’s enough of childhood squabbles,” he said firmly. Both boys, each ready with another verbal barb, subsided a little awkwardly.
    “Oh…yes. Right,” mumbled Will. “Sorry.”
    Horace nodded several times, embarrassed at the petty scene that had just occurred. “Me too,” he said. Then, curiosity piqued, he added: “Is that how it happened, Will? Did Halt tell Sir Rodney not to pick you because he wanted you for a Ranger?”
    Will dropped his gaze and picked at a loose thread on his shirt.
    “Well…not exactly,” he said, then admitted, “and you’re right. I always did want to be a knight when I was a kid.” Then, turning quickly to Gilan, he added, “But I wouldn’t change now, not for anything!”
    Gilan smiled at the two of them. “I was the opposite,” he said. “Remember, I grew up in the Battleschool. I may have started my training with MacNeil when I was eleven, but I began my basic training at around nine.”
    “That must have been wonderful,” Horace said with a sigh. Surprisingly, Gilan shook his head.
    “Not to me. You know what they say about distant pastures always looking greener?”
    Both boys looked puzzled by this.
    “It means you always want what you haven’t got,” he said, and they both nodded their understanding. “Well, that’s the way I was. By the time I was twelve, I was sick to death of the discipline and drills and parades.” He glanced sidelong at Horace. “There’s a bit of that goes on in Battleschool, you know.”
    The heavyset boy sighed. “You’re telling me,” he agreed. “Still, the horsemanship and practice combats are fun.”
    “Maybe,” said Gilan. “But I was more interested in the life the Rangers led. After Hackham Heath, my father and Halt had become good friends and Halt used to come visiting. I’d see him come and go. So mysterious. So adventurous. I started to think what it might be like to come and go as you please. To live in the forests. People know so little about Rangers, it seemed like the most exciting thing in the world to me.”
    Horace looked doubtful. “I’ve always been a little scared of Halt,” he said. “I used to think he was some kind of sorcerer.”
    Will snorted in disbelief. “Halt? A sorcerer?” he said. “He’s nothing of the kind!”
    Horace looked at him, pained once again. “But you used to think the same thing!” he said.
    “Well…I suppose so. But I was only a kid then.”
    “So was I!” replied Horace, with devastating logic.
    Gilan grinned at the two of them. They were both still boys. Halt had been right, he thought. It was good for Will to be spending some time in company with someone his own age.
    Will turned to the older Ranger. “So did you ask Halt to take you as an apprentice?” he asked. Then, before receiving any answer, continued, “What did he say to that?”
    Gilan shook his head. “I didn’t ask him anything. I followed him one day when he left our