The Ruins of Gorlan

With Choosing Day in the morning, young Will feels too nervous to eat dinner. The other boys chide him, since most know already which Craftmaster will choose them as apprentices. Will, small and without any special skills, has no idea which life will be selected for him.

Will is confident about where his fellow yearmates will be placed the next day. Tall and graceful Alyss, already destined for diplomatic training, kindly suggests that all of them are nervous. Horace insists he’s not afraid. Jenny giggles at this. Always cheerful and an adept cook, she’s likely to serve in the king’s kitchens. Horace—large and athletic, is certain to be sent to Battleschool. Another boy, George, comments that nervousness sometimes makes people freeze, but it also can make a person sharper and more perceptive.

Will and the other orphans’ parents died in service to Baron Arald, and they have been raised by the baron since birth. Upon turning 15, they each receive the chance to better themselves by apprenticing to the baron’s artisans. Will hopes that his strength and agility will be enough for Battleschool, but he fears, because of his small stature, that he’ll be overlooked and sent to work on a farm. Horace wastes no chance to tease him about it. Will usually wins their verbal sparring, but Horace tends to defeat Will in the resulting physical tussles.

Will’s last name isn’t known. He was a foundling left at Castle Redmont, with a note attached to his basket: “His mother died in childbirth. His father died a hero. Please care for him. His name is Will” (9). The baron assumes Will’s father died at the battle against Morgarath and takes him in.

Will makes a joke at Horace’s expense and quickly departs into the evening. He climbs a fig tree in the castle yard and settles near the topmost branches. For hours, he sits there. He imagines his father was a knight in armor who fought valiantly, killing Wargals to the last moment. Now he fears he’ll fail to live up to the man’s memory. Long after midnight, he climbs down and heads for bed.

On Choosing Day, the five wards are ushered into the baron’s huge office. Martin, the baron’s secretary, gruffly orders the orphans to arrange themselves by height, with tall Horace at one end and short Will at the other. He commands them to stand at attention.

Baron Arald arrives. A big, tall man with a deep voice, dark beard, and eyes that hint at humor, the baron doesn’t care about Martin’s attempt at pomp. He has Martin bring in the five Craftmasters who have openings for apprentices. Mustachioed Sir Rodney, head of Battleschool, walks in wearing his sword, chain mail, and surcoat emblazoned with the wolfshead crest he earned in battle against coastal raiders. Horsemaster Ulf wears a leather top-vest and tall boots.

Lady Pauline, “Slim, gray-haired and elegant” (16), arrives. She oversees the fiefdom’s diplomats. Just behind her enters Scribemaster Nigel, whose assistants prepare communiqués and legal papers. Master Chubb, the castle’s overweight, quick-tempered chef, follows. With a start, Will notices the head Ranger, Halt, suddenly standing, as if by magic, near the baron’s chair. He’s robed in the gray-and-green cloak of the Rangers.

Sir Rodney examines Horace, then pronounces him acceptable for Battleschool. Horace bows and thanks the knight, who replies, “Don’t thank me yet […] You don’t know what you’re in for” (20).

Alyss asks for appointment to the diplomatic service. Lady Pauline, who knows Alyss well, approves the request. The normally talkative George, struck by stage fright, stammers his interest in Scribeschool. Baron Arald asks if Scribemaster Nigel can make use of a boy so beset with difficulty speaking. Nigel knows George’s work and assures the baron that it’s “no problem.”

Jenny eagerly asks to study with Master Chubb. He looks her up and down. She points out that she’s a little bit “rounded,” which is to say, well fed, and Chubb takes that as a good sign. He asks her how she’d prepare a turkey and her lengthy answer impresses the chef. He accepts her.

The baron calls for Will. Nervously, he steps forward.

Will requests Battleschool, saying he’s stronger than he looks, but Sir Rodney rejects him as too small. Will then tries for Horseschool, but Ulf also believes the boy isn’t big enough.

The baron asks Will if he has any skills. He replies, “I’m a good climber, sir” (29), but immediately regrets it when Chubb describes how the boy climbed a drainpipe and stole a tray of cakes. Nigel adds that Will climbed two floors with rabbits that he released into the law room during a debate and the rabbits promptly proceeded to make babies.

None of the other Craftmasters want Will. The boy is at the point of tears. The baron admires his determination not to cry. The baron thinks about how Will’s name seems apt at that moment.

Ranger Halt steps from the shadows and hands the baron a piece of paper that, he says softly, may shed light on the issue. The baron reads the page and says he must ponder overnight. He congratulates the wards and dismisses them. Will hangs back, staring at the mysterious sheet of folded paper on the baron’s desk. He senses watching eyes and sees Halt staring him. Chilled, he hurries from the room.

While his yearmates celebrate, Will heads for the forest, where he thinks about his disastrous day. He decides he must see what’s on the paper in the baron’s office. He sneaks into the kitchen, cadges some food, then hides high in the fig tree and waits for midnight. He watches the palace guard and waits for his chance.

At the right moment, Will sneaks across the castle yard, using the shifting shadows of the moonlit tree as cover. He has climbed the other castle towers and knows how to find handholds and footholds on their surface. This tower is no different. He ascends quickly. At one point, his foot slips, and he dangles far above the yard, but he recovers and continues up to the big, open window in the baron’s office.

Will drops silently into the darkened room and heads for the paper on the desk. As he reaches for it, a hand grabs his wrist. It’s Ranger Halt. He takes the boy upstairs to Baron Arald’s quarters. The baron, reading reports, looks up and says to Halt, “So you were right” (39). Halt describes Will’s skillful moves across the yard and his bare-handed climb up the vertical walls of the tower.

Baron Arald asks Will what he should do with him. Will wants to beg or explain. Instead, he says he’s ready to accept his punishment. Halt suggests that the boy read the page he wanted to see. The baron, amused, says that might indeed be a good penalty. Halt hands the paper to Will, who reads: “The boy Will has the potential to be trained as a Ranger. I will accept him as my apprentice” (41).

Will is relieved but perturbed. He won’t be punished or relegated to farming, but he knows nothing of the mysterious Rangers and their grim leader Halt. The baron, surprised that Will isn’t delighted, dismisses Halt. The baron sits with Will, who confesses that all he knows about the Rangers are rumors that they’re warlocks. Arald understands and explains that the Rangers aren’t fearsome “unless you’re an enemy of the kingdom” (44), and that Ranger training is something Will would love. The boy tries one more time to ask for Battleschool, but the baron says simply that Will’s abilities lie elsewhere. He tells Will to report to Halt at dawn.

As the boy leaves, the baron quips, “This time, use the stairs” (46). Will nods solemnly, not getting the joke. The baron rolls his eyes, disappointed that no one appreciates his humor.

Down the hill and across the Tarbus River from Castle Redmont lies the village of Wensley. Beyond that, at the edge of the forest, is Halt’s log cabin. Will knocks and is bid entry. At the table in the main room, a neat-and-tidy living room and kitchen, sits Halt. Without his cape and cowl, the man looks older, his short hair and beard a grizzled gray. He’s small and slim, yet strong and intimidating.

Halt assigns Will to one of the two side rooms. It contains a bed, wardrobe, and a table with washbasin and jug. Will asks what Rangers do. Halt replies that a Ranger apprentice does housework. Gruffly, he assigns Will the duties of collecting water from the river—31 buckets full—chopping a pile of firewood, sweeping the house, beating the rug clean, scouring pots with river sand, and cleaning the fireplace.

While Will labors, Halt reads a large set of reports. One gives him pause and Will asks what it is. Halt says Lord Northolt has been killed by a bear. He’s puzzled because bears are uncommon in the nobleman’s region, and Northolt is too good a hunter to get caught alone in such a situation.

Late in the afternoon, Will’s chores are done. Halt asks if he can cook and Will admits that he cannot. Halt says, “Of course you can’t! Most boys can’t. So I’ll have to show you how. Come on” (56). He teaches Will how to make a savory beef stew from scratch.

As their dinner simmers, they sit on the verandah. Halt explains that the Rangers were formed 150 years earlier during the reign of King Herbert. Halt asks what Will knows of Herbert and Will vaguely remembers a history lesson about him and tries to bluff the answer. Halt tells him not to pretend, but to simply admit what he doesn’t know. Halt says Herbert united 50 castles, drove back the northern clans, and became “the ‘Father of Modern Araluen’” (57). Herbert created the Rangers as an “intelligence force” that acquires knowledge of enemy plans.

Will asks if that’s why Rangers can become invisible. Halt says they simply make themselves hard to see. Each castle has a Ranger who also serves as law enforcement, quietly watching for crimes, collecting evidence, reporting scofflaws, and occasionally meting out justice. During war, they scout, sneak behind enemy lines, and create chaos among the enemy.

The kingdom’s enemies include the Skandian sea raiders and Morgarath. Halt says the kingdom defeated Morgarath because a Ranger learned of the baron’s plans and led the counterattack. Will says his father died in that war, and Will wanted to honor him by joining Battleschool. Halt says Will’s talents lie elsewhere: He’s agile, quiet, quick, and curious.

Halt says he saw Will steal the cakes, even though Will could have sworn the kitchen was empty. Halt was impressed that Will admitted the theft: “If you’d lied, you never would have become my apprentice” (63).