Chapter 6

As the weeks slipped by and March threatened to give way to April, the weather started warming. The meadows around the town were covered in wildflowers of all colors. This morning, Thomas and his fellow ranger recruits were excited because they were going on their first extended training exercise. Their destination was his old stomping grounds, the Wastelands.

What had him most excited was that they were to meet up with his old mentor, Roger, who would be leading them on a tour of the northern outposts. Thomas also hoped that he would get to see the Wildlings, and specifically Maeve, the young healer who had saved his life.

They were joined to break their fast by Torun, Shepherd, and Alek. The three showed up at least a couple times a week, claiming Jemma was the best cook in the castle. The feast she served of ham, eggs, and bread freshly baked that morning did not disappoint.

Torun used the meal time to catch up with Alek and Thomas concerning the progress of his pet project, the Royal Rangers. While the kingdom had a Rangers company, of which Roger was a part, Torun felt having superior archers in the King’s Royal Guard would only enhance the King’s protection.

In addition to his work with the rangers, Thomas was at times assigned to be the King’s personal guard. Torun took the King’s safety seriously and required that a guard be in the room whenever the King met with someone. While everyone assumed that Thomas would never rule, King Edward directed Torun to have Thomas stand guard during the weekly council meetings and other sensitive meetings.

King Edward rarely spoke to Thomas. However, Thomas learned during those meetings that the King was sharper than he’d initially thought. One recent example of his acuity was the deal he’d negotiated to bring the kingdom of Manito into closer ties with Abingdon. To cement the bond, it was decided that Manito’s Princess Catherine would marry one of Abingdon’s ducal heirs.

Since the princess was only fifteen, she would be fostered there in Inglewood, and Pekin would send their heir, Candor, to Manito. On Princess Catherine’s eighteenth birthday, she would marry the eldest son of one of the three dukes. In turn, that son would be named heir apparent to King Edward and eventually become the King of Abingdon.

The exchanging of children to assure the eventual marriage had been prettied up by calling it fostering. In essence, they would be hostages.

Thomas recognized that having the princess in Inglewood would have the possible heirs flocking to the capital. Since King Edward had not named an heir, the heir presumptive was Thomas’s father, Duke Charles. Bypassing him to select the eventual heir to the throne from the next generation was sure to cause even more bad blood between the two men.

Thomas told Jemma goodbye and led his men to the stables. The ham bone that Thomas had given Frost came along with her. The direwolf had grown like crazy. Thomas estimated that she was eight or nine months old, and she was no longer a long-legged goofy pup she’d been when he found her. Frost had almost reached her full size, and her shoulders were as high as Thomas’s waist.

When they reached the stables, their horses were ready for them. Thomas noticed an additional mount. Torun motioned for Thomas to follow him inside the stables for a word. Once inside, they found the man who had brought the three new Ranger recruits to Alek standing in the shadows.

“King Edward has charged you with the task of taking a message to Duke Charles,” Torun said as he pulled out a sealed envelope with the King’s mark on it.

“Does this have to do with the princess?” Thomas asked.

Torun grimaced and didn’t answer his question.

“You will be accompanied by Cullen, the King’s spymaster,” Torun said, nodding at the man. “You’ll keep that information to yourself, but you needed to know because you may have to provide him with information. Once you reach Rutland, Cullen will split off from your group to accomplish his task.”

“Am I allowed to know what that is?” Thomas asked.

“That is between the King and me,” Cullen said.

“What do I tell the other trainees?” Thomas asked.

“They’ve met Cullen; he was the one who found them. He’ll be along to observe them in the field,” Torun said.

Thomas thought for a moment, but he couldn’t see why that wouldn’t work, so he nodded.

When they walked out of the stable, the recruits were excited to see the man who had saved them from life on a farm or in a small town. Thomas saw he didn’t have to tell them anything.

Thomas mounted Fury, who didn’t even try to bite him. He suspected the warhorse was as excited to get out of town as he was. The trainees’ horses were all used to Frost coming with them, but Cullen was almost unhorsed when his mount shied away upon seeing the giant wolf.

They’d ridden hard all day because Cullen wanted to reach Saxby before nightfall. It was a quiet place—sleepy, some might say—and it had no aspirations to be anything else.

Saxby was a large village growing into a small town, known as a place of hardworking people. Cullen shared that a streak of pride ran through the population that came from rising before dawn and working past sunset. They were proud of their harvest, proud of each other, and, by and large, proud of their place in the world. The citizens elected their own village council to run the town and ensure a fair shake for any accused of wrongdoing, and they were quite pleased with that.

King Edward hadn’t interfered with that arrangement because there had been no complaints, they paid their taxes, and they answered his call when he needed recruits for his army.

As they approached the village, the boys were in high spirits.

“After a hot meal and an ale, I plan to find a woman,” Jason announced.

“I like how you’re thinking,” Griffin added.

Thomas gave them both a look of mock disapproval.

“You’re both smart enough to know that women of that sort are a bad idea,” he said.

“I fear knowledgeable peasants are as numerous as flying sheep, my lord,” Randel said to let him know they didn’t plan to follow his advice.

They had a running joke that the only reason Thomas was in charge was that he was a Duke’s son. Thomas admitted to himself that that was probably true, but he would never say so out loud. In response, he would point out that the three were dumb peasants, which he knew not to be accurate. They might not know how to read and write, but they were far from stupid.

When they reached the inn, Cullen said he had a task to attend to. He told Thomas to get him a room, and he would see them in the morning. When they walked into the common room, a large woman behind the bar spotted them.

“Oy! You can’t bring that in here,” she said, referring to Frost.

“You explain it to her,” Thomas said.

The woman gave the direwolf a stern look. When Frost lifted her lips to expose her teeth, the woman relented.

“Just make sure that animal doesn’t maul anyone.”

“If you leave her alone, she’ll be fine. Try to touch her, and you’ll get bit,” Jason warned.

“We’ll be needing rooms and food. What do you have tonight?” Thomas asked.

“I only have two rooms, so you’ll have to share. Tonight, we have rabbit stew served in a bread trencher.”

“Bring us six stews, four ales, and a bucket of water,” Thomas ordered, and then paid the innkeeper for the food and rooms.

They grabbed a table in the corner, close to the fireplace. The server brought out their drinks first. Frost drank her bucket of water dry, so the server brought another.

Thomas wasn’t the only one who noticed that the serving girl fancied him.

“Looks like our fearless leader won’t have to pay for it tonight,” Jason said.

“I should warn you, I’m kind of awkward with women,” Thomas fired back.

Jason and Griffin laughed. Randel, the shyest of the group, even smiled a bit. Thomas glanced over toward the bar and caught the serving girl staring at him. He was used to the attention of the girls who worked at the castle. The other three boys all knew that Thomas had never taken advantage of any of the offers that had been made. But that didn’t stop them from giving him a hard time.

“It would be wrong,” Thomas said.

“Some of the best things in life feel wrong ... at first,” Randel said.

The other three of them looked at him in shock and then saw his tiny smile. They burst out laughing at hearing the most reserved of the group make such a comment.

The four of them had a great time through dinner. When Frost had finished off her two servings of stew, she let Thomas know she needed a walk. He hurried up and ate. They strolled out of town, and Frost ran into the woods while Thomas looked up at the stars.

He closed his eyes and opened up his wood sense. With his inner eye, he could see Frost frolicking around, enjoying her freedom. From the direction of the town, he found someone watching him. It took him a moment to figure out it was Cullen.

“You might as well join me,” Thomas called out.

Cullen stepped out of the shadows.

“How did you...?”

“Know you were there? I’m a Royal Ranger,” Thomas said. “We’re not easy to sneak up on.”

Cullen contemplated what he’d said for a moment.

“No. There’s more to it than that.”

Thomas shrugged. Frost was back, and he could tell she was tired from running all day.

“We’re off to bed,” Thomas said, leaving Cullen to his thoughts.

When he reached the inn, the other three boys were drinking with three women. Thomas waved to let them know he was back and started up toward the stairs that led to the rooms.

“Want some company?” the serving girl asked as she came out of the kitchen.

He gave her a warm smile and shook his head ‘no.’ Frost bounded up the stairs in front of him. When they entered the room, he saw that there was only one pallet bed. Their gear was stacked in the corner.

“Looks like I get the pallet. Ah, well, better than sharing with the trainees.”

Frost jumped up onto it and sprawled out. She was no longer the pup that would curl up next to him in bed. She was too big for both of them to sleep together on the small straw-filled mattress. After he’d gotten undressed, Frost got off and found a spot on the floor at the foot of the bed.

Thomas opened his eyes and saw the sun’s first light peeking through the window. Jason and Griffin lay on the floor, snoring. There was no sign of Randel. Perhaps their shy boy had overcome his inhibitions.

Frost was wide awake, and her tail thumped when Thomas sat up.

“All right. You can wake them up,” Thomas said.

She licked Jason’s face, and he squirmed away. Poor Griffin’s mouth was open when he got licked.

“Gaw!” he croaked.

“Where is Randel?” Thomas asked.

Jason sat up, put his palms over his eyes, and moaned. “I am never drinking again.”