Ranger's Apprentice 1 & 2 Bindup (45 page)

On the wolfship, Erak yelled at them, diving for cover behind the solid bulwark.

‘Get down, you fools! That's a Ranger!'

He'd seen Halt's bow coming up, then saw his hands
move at incredible speed. His remaining nine arrows were arcing high in the air before the first one struck.

Within the space of two seconds, three of the Skandians lining the rail went down under the arrow storm. Two of them lay groaning in pain. The other was ominously still. The rest of the crew flung themselves flat on the deck as arrows hissed and thudded around them.

Cautiously, Erak raised his head above the bulwark, making sure that Halt was out of arrows.

‘Get under way,' he ordered, and took the steering oar. Will, temporarily forgotten, moved to the rail. It was only a few hundred metres and nobody was watching him. He could swim that far, he knew, and he began to reach for the railing. Then he hesitated, thinking of Evanlyn. He knew he couldn't abandon her. Even as he had the thought, Horak's big hand closed over the collar of his jacket and the chance was gone.

As the ship began to gather way, Will stared at the mounted figure in the surf, buffeted by the waves. Halt was so near and yet now so impossibly out of reach. His eyes stung with tears and, faintly, he heard Halt's voice.

‘Will! Stay alive! Don't give up! I'll find you wherever they take you!'

Choking on tears, the boy raised his arm in farewell to his friend and mentor.

‘Halt!' he croaked but he knew the Ranger would never hear him. He heard the voice again, carrying over the sounds of wind and sea.

‘I'll find you, Will!'

Then the wind filled the big, square sail of the wolfship
and she heeled away from the shore, moving faster and faster towards the north-east.

For a long time after she'd dropped below the horizon, the sodden figure sat there, his horse chest deep in the rolling waves, staring after the ship.

And his lips still moved, in a silent promise only he could hear.

John Flanagan's bestselling
Ranger's Apprentice
adventure series originally comprised twenty short stories, which John wrote to encourage his twelve-year-old son, Michael, to enjoy reading. The series has come a long way since then. Now sold to fourteen countries, the series has appeared on the
New York Times
Bestseller List and is regularly shortlisted for children's book awards in Australia and overseas.

 

John, a former television and advertising writer, lives with his wife, Leonie, in the Sydney beachside suburb of Manly. He is currently writing further titles in the
Ranger's Apprentice
series.

 

Visit
www.rangersapprentice.com
or
www.randomhouse.com.au/rangers
for more information.

Help can arrive from the most unexpected places …

 

Will and Evanlyn are bound for Skandia as the captives of the fearsome Skandian wolfship captain, Erak. Halt has sworn to rescue Will, and he will do anything to keep his promise – even defy his King. Expelled from the Rangers, Halt is joined by Horace as he travels through Gallica towards Skandia. On their way, they are constantly challenged by freelance knights – otherwise known as thieving thugs. But Horace knows a thing or two about combat, and he soon begins to attract the attention of knights and warlords for miles around with his uncanny skill. But will they be in time to rescue Will from a life of slavery?

 

Out now!

The wolfship was only a few hours from Cape Shelter when the massive storm hit them.

For three days, they had sailed north towards Skandia through a sea that was calm as a millpond – a fact appreciated by Will and Evanlyn.

‘This isn't too bad,' Will said, as the narrow ship cut smoothly through the waters. He had heard grim tales of people becoming violently sick on board ships at sea. But he could see nothing to worry about in this gentle rocking motion.

Evanlyn nodded, a little doubtfully. She was by no means an experienced sailor but she had been to sea before.

‘If this is as bad as it gets,' she said. She had noticed the worried looks that Erak, the ship's captain, was casting to the north, and the way he was urging
Wolfwind
's rowers on to greater speed. For his part, Erak knew that this deceptively calm weather heralded a change for the worse
– much worse. Dimly, on the northern horizon, he could see the dark storm line forming. He knew that if they couldn't round Cape Shelter and get into the lee of the land mass in time, they would take the full force of the storm. For several minutes, he assessed speeds and distances, judging their progress against that of the onrushing clouds.

‘We're not going to make it,' he said finally to Svengal. His second in command nodded agreement.

‘Looks that way,' Svengal said philosophically. Erak was glancing keenly round the ship, making sure that there was no loose gear that needed to be secured. His eye lit on the two prisoners, huddled in the bow.

‘Better tie those two to the mast,' he said. ‘And we'll rig the sweep steering oar as well.'

Will and Evanlyn watched Svengal as he made his way towards them. He had a coil of light hemp in his hand.

‘What now?' Will asked. ‘They can't think we're going to try to escape.'

But Svengal had stopped by the mast, and was beckoning urgently to them. The two Araluans rose and moved uncertainly towards him. Will noticed that the ship's motion was becoming a little more pronounced and the wind was increasing. He staggered as he made his way to Svengal. Behind him, he heard Evanlyn mutter an unladylike swearword as she stumbled and barked her shin on a bollard.

Svengal drew his saxe knife and cut two lengths of cord from the coil.

‘Tie yourselves to the mast,' he told them. ‘We're in for the mother of all storms any minute.'

‘You mean we could be blown overboard?' Evanlyn asked incredulously. Svengal noted that Will was tying himself to the mast with a neatly executed bowline knot. The girl was having some trouble, so Svengal took the rope, passed it around her waist and then secured her as well.

‘Maybe,' he replied to her question. ‘More likely washed overboard by the waves.'

He saw the boy's face go pale with fear.

‘You're telling us that the waves actually … come on board?' Will said. Svengal darted a fierce, humourless grin at him.

‘Oh yes indeed,' he said, and hurried back to assist Erak in the stern, where the captain was already rigging the massive sweep oar.

Will swallowed several times. He had assumed that a ship like this would ride over the waves like a gull. Now he was told that the waves were likely to come crashing on board. He wondered how they could possibly stay afloat if that were to happen.

‘Oh God … what is that?' Evanlyn said softly, pointing to the north. The thin dark line that Erak had seen was now a roiling black mass only a quarter of a kilometre away, sweeping down on them faster than a horse could gallop. The two of them huddled close to the base of the mast, trying to wrap their arms all the way round the rough pine pole, scrabbling for a grip with their fingernails.

Then the sun was blotted out as the storm hit them.

The sheer force of the wind took Will's breath away. Literally. This wasn't a wind like any Will had ever known. This was a savage, living, primeval force that wrapped
around him, deafening him, blinding him, punching the breath out of his lungs and preventing his taking another: smothering him as it tried to claw his grip loose. His eyes were shut tight as he struggled to breathe, holding desperately to the mast. Dimly, he heard Evanlyn scream and felt her begin to slip away from him. He grabbed blindly at her, caught her hand and dragged her back.

The first massive wave struck and the wolfship's bow canted up at a terrifying angle. They began to rise up the face of the wave, then the ship faltered and began to slide –
backwards and downwards
! Svengal and Erak screamed at the rowers. Their voices were plucked away by the wind but the crew, their backs to the storm, could see and understand their body language. They heaved on the oars, bending the oak shafts with their efforts, and the backwards slide slowly eased. The ship began to claw its way up the face of the wave, rising higher and higher, moving more and more slowly until Will was sure they must begin the terrible backwards sliding motion again.

Then the crest of the wave broke and thundered over them.

Tonnes of water crashed onto the wolfship, driving it down, rolling it far over to the right until it seemed that it would never recover. Will screamed in absolute animal terror, then had the scream cut off as freezing salt water hammered against him, breaking his grip on the mast, filling his mouth and lungs and hurling him along the deck until the fragile cord brought him to a stop, swirling this way and that until the mass of water passed over and around him. He was left flapping on the deck like a fish as
the ship righted itself. Evanlyn was beside him and together they scrambled back to the mast, clinging on with renewed desperation.

Then the bow pitched forward and they went plummeting down the back of the wave into the trough, leaving their stomachs far behind and screaming with sheer terror once more.

The bow sliced into the trough of the wave, splitting the sea and hurling it high above them. Once again, water cascaded over the deck of the ship, but this time it lacked the full force of the breaking wave and the two young people managed to hold on. The water, waist deep, surged past them. Then the slender wolfship seemed to shake itself free of the massive weight.

In the rowing benches, the relief crew were already hard at work, baling water over the side with buckets. Erak and Svengal, in the most exposed part of the ship, were also tied in place, either side of the storm sweep. This was a massive steering oar, half as big again as one of the normal oars. It was used instead of the smaller steering board at times like these. The long oar gave the helmsman greater purchase, so he could assist the rowers in dragging the head of the ship around. Today, it took the strength of both men to manage it.

Deep in the trough between waves, the wind seemed to have lost some of its force. Will dashed the salt from his eyes, coughed and vomited sea water onto the deck. He met Evanlyn's terrified gaze. Weakly, he felt he should do something to reassure her. But there was nothing he could say or do. He couldn't believe that the ship could withstand another wave like that.

Yet another was already on the way. Even bigger than the first, it marched towards them across several hundred metres of the trough, rearing and massing itself high above them, higher than the walls of Castle Redmont. Will buried his face against the mast, felt Evanlyn doing the same as the ship began that awful, slow rise again.

Up and up they went, clawing at the face of the wave, the men heaving until their hearts might burst as they tried to drag
Wolfwind
up the wave against the combined force of wind and sea. This time, before the wave broke, Will felt the ship seem to lose the last moment of the battle. He opened his eyes in horror as she began to surge backwards to certain disaster. Then the crest curled over and smashed down upon them and again, he was sent spinning and scrabbling on the deck, fetching up against the rope that secured him, feeling something slam painfully into his mouth and realising that it was Evanlyn's elbow. Water thundered over him then the bow pitched down once more, and
Wolfwind
began another sliding, careering dive down the far side, rolling upright, shedding the sea water like a duck. This time, Will was too weak to scream. He moaned softly and crawled back to the mast. He looked at Evanlyn and shook his head. There was no way they could survive this, he thought. He could see the same fear in her eyes.

 

Don't miss
Ranger's Apprentice Book Three:
The Icebound Land

Out now!