Hadon

Working out in his father's fields, Aiden watches in awe as the King's Rangers come home from thier duties. Aiden has always wondered what a Ranger does, What are the duties of a Ranger, and how does one become one.

Hadon, the leader of the Rangers, rode on his horse up towards Aiden who stopped his work. Aiden, at first didn't realize that the Ranger was coming towards him, so quickly he dropped the rack, fixed his hair, and brushed the hay off of his clothes jsut in time before the Ranger stopped in front of him.

"I am Hadon, what's your name my boy?" He asks not showing much emotion in both his voice and eyes. Surprised that an actual Ranger would come and greet him, Aiden nearly forgot to speak.

Bowing slightly, Aiden introduces himself and Hadon smiles a tiny bit. They talked for some time and while that the other Rangers went home. In there conversation, they were stopped by a booming voice.

"Aiden! Get back to work! Winter is coming and we don't have enough grains!" Aiden's father, Peyton yells out as a reminder to his son. Aiden yelled back, turned to the Ranger and apologizes.

"No need, I understand farm duties." He said. 'Farm duties? How would he know?' Aiden thought picking up his rake.

Sensing his doubt, Hadon told him in a whisper that eh was once a farmer and a man named Stryder, now on his death bed, transformed him into the Ranger he is now.

Awestrucked, Aiden and Hadon said their good-byes, departed, and Aiden went back to work while Hadon went back to the kingdom.

"Who was that?" Horace, Aiden's brother asks looking at the direction his brother's eyes were at. Turning his ehad around, Aiden became startled for a bit and punched his older brother. Even though he is younger, he is faster and becoming stronger. Horace is getting quite lazy so the more lazy he's becoming, the weaker he's getting.

"A Ranger. The leader, Hadon." Aiden simply explains before getting himself back to work but continues to think about Hadon, the Leader of the Rangers.

The Letter

'Finally done racking.' Aiden says to himself wiping away the sweat and goes to take a shower before he smelled even more bad than he is now. Going inside the stable, his horse, Charlie, hears his master and starts making noises. Smiling, Aiden reaches into the bucket and gives Charlie some food off of his hand. Munching on the food, Charlie then lifts his head up and looks at Aiden's eyes. Even though he is a horse, he could see that Aiden's eyes were transfixed, he nudged on his master's head and got himself a pat on the neck and head.

Heading towards inside the house, Aiden brushes his shoes so the dirt wouldn't get on the floor much and heads inside, smelling, sweating, dirty, and... just plain ol' smelly.

"You best take a shower boy otherwise your mother will be complaining." Tristen, Aiden's other older brother who is married explains as Aiden nods his head and goes to take a shower before thier mother comes home.

Still wet from head to toe, Aiden emerges from the shower with only a towel around his waist, he then goes into his room to get dressed in cleaner, nicer clothes but his hair is still a little wet so he stuck his head out the only window in his room and lets the sun dry his hair.

"Aiden, Tristin, Nathaniel I'm home!" Chryssa, thier mother, calls out as she walks arm in arm with her husband, Peyton. Even though she's older than everyone including thier father, she still striked as the most beautiful woman in thier eyes.

"Welcome home mother." Tristin greets kissing her palm like he does with all ladies. It is required for all men to kiss a lady.

"How was work?" Nathaniel asks taking hold of Chryssa's bags while smiling brightly. Her eyes sparkled and she replies to his question and said that work was about to become dull but got better.

"Are you staying for a long time mother?" Aiden asks looking both in fear and anxiously. In mere silence, Chryssa lowers her head and shakes it.

"No, the Queen has invited me to stay with her. I agreed. I am so foolish, I'm sorry boys. I know how much you want me to be home but... We need the money. I'm sorry boys." Chryssa explains crying. Aiden goes over to his mother and wipes her tears away.

He hates seeing his mother like this. Just too painful for him. Sure he's seen his old horse die, friends die form plauges, brothers get severally ill, and father going on rants which to the village was the most painful, but to him, a mother's cry is the worse of all. If it's another lady, he would feel bad but when it's his mother, it's worse.

"Don't feel bad. Your doing what's best for us." Aiden says placing a comfort hand on her shoulder. Eyes filled with tears, she hugs her boys and then kisses her husband.

At sundown, the family sat around the table to eat dinner. They heard a knock on the door. Getting up from the table, Peyton goes over to open the door.

"May I help you sirs?" He asks blocking the view so his family wouldn't see who's at the door.

"Yes, I am here to see Aiden." A man replies as Aiden gets up and walks over to his father. "Yes sir?" He asks looking at the two men. One he didn't recongize, the other, he did, Hadon.

"Hadon, what are you doing here?" Aiden asks looking at him. Looking both seriously and anxiously, the man next to him hands Aiden a letter then goes to his horse and rides away. Looking towards the horizen, until the man disappeared from sight. Then looking back at Hadon, he gestures for him to open the letter.

While opening the letter, Aiden's family then crowds around him, the wind's blowing, and the birds were chirpping.

As soon as he unfolds the letter, he reads it out loud. "Dear Aiden, I have been sending my men to watch you. No, not spying on you, just watching. They told me that you have skills but your not fit enough to be a knight, I'm sorry. Most boys would die if they couldn't become knights. Well anyways, my men told me that you are fast, silent, cunning, am excellent climber, all the stuff you're required if you want to become a Ranger-"

Ranger, as soon as Aiden read that, he stopped. He had the requirments to become a Ranger. He looked back down and read on. "If you want to become one of my Rangers, say "Yes, I would like to join the King's Rangers. Or, "No, I would like to decline the offer." Thank you and I hope to see your reply. Your's truly, King Renold.

'The King? The King sent the letter to me?' Aiden thought not looking up from the letter. Everyone, except for Hadon, looked at him as if the letter was a death threat but they heard it and it wasn't. Everyone was silent, waiting for Aiden to speak up. Finally in the mere silence, it was Hadon, who spoke up, breaking the silence.

"So would you like to join? Or do you want to decline?" Hadon asks crossing his arms. Everyone looked at him curiously and anxiously. What seemed like forever, Aiden finally answers with a bright smile.

"Yes, I would love to join The King's Rangers." Aiden replies as Nathaniel tells him what he was waiting for and Aiden rushes into his room to pack. He's finally going to learn the secrets and is going to become a Ranger.

Two day journey to the Kingdom

Finishing the last of his packing, Aiden takes one last look at his room before he transfers to a new one. On his way downstairs, Aiden sees his father talking to Hadon.

He didn’t know exactly what they were talking about, but he could see his father laughing as if he had heard a brand new joke or something.

“You ready laddy?” Peyton asks as soon as he sees his son come to the bottom of the stairs. Nodding his head, Aiden places his belongings near the door entrance and runs to give a farewell to each of his family and then friends.

Heading towards the stables with Hadon at his heels, Aiden unleashes Charlie, his horse. Seeming confused about why Aiden named it Charlie, Hadon asks why and Aiden answers, “It’s named after my little brother, he died from a plague. He was only six years old.”

After he said that, Hadon frowns, he knows what it’s like to loss a younger at such a young of age. He too named his horse after his brother, Balto.

Guiding his horse to Balto, a war-horse and Hadon’s. “Now don’t be mistaken that Balto is a male. It’s actually female and one of the finest war-horse ever. But I use her when I travel; she’s too precious to be in a war.”

Aiden had to agree, he would use any horse except for Charlie, he is still young and only good for traveling, and putting him in a war would tire him and possibly, maybe injure him severely.

“You ready to go?” Hadon asks grabbing the reins on Balto as soon as he got on. Nodding his head and smiling, Aiden got on as well and grabbed the reins. Before they left, Peyton runs over to his son and gives him a horn. “Whenever you’re in dire danger, blow on this.” Peyton whispers stepping back so the two can gallop onwards and towards the kingdom.

On there way, Hadon tells Aiden that it’ll take at least two days, a week if they run into trouble. Aiden hoped with all his heart, mind, and soul that they wouldn’t run into trouble.

At night, they made a very small fire, Hadon tells him that the fire has to be small; Rangers have to remain invisible at all costs. Except inside the kingdom, they are pretty much safe there to show there faces.

Watching the sparks fly up into the night sky, Aiden thought he heard someone or something. He told Hadon in a whisper and he responded lighting fast.

Getting a hold of his bow and arrow, he pulled it and was ready to fire whenever. It turns out that the noise was nothing but a false alarm; it was a rabbit and her children.

Lowering his bow and arrow, he then puts it back, sits back down and they watch as the rabbit and her children leave before there were any foxes on trails. The only things the two need to look after are bears and wolves.

As soon as the fire wore out, Hadon calls it a night, gets up, and goes to look out. To make sure that no one will come and try and kill them in their sleep. Before he went he said that they would have to take turns, Aiden nodded his head and tells Hadon to wake him up, harshly if he has too.

When it came Aiden’s turn, Hadon had to kick his side because Aiden was in a dead sleep. “What did you do that for?” Aiden whispers getting up slowly. Shrugging his shoulders, Hadon tells him that he can wake him up whenever and harshly if he had too. Aiden had to agree that he did say that.

Going to where Hadon was when he looked out, Aiden turns around, notices and hears that Hadon was indeed a loud sleeper. Snoring should keep Aiden fully awake and to alarm him if necessary.

At last Hadon takes over the last part of the night. Before going back to sleep, Aiden notices that Hadon is putting on his hood, to hide his face. Aiden guessed that sunrise will be coming sooner or later so Hadon has to hide his face again.

When sunrise came, Aiden didn’t have to me harshly waken or waken by someone at all. He got up himself. Once he got up and stretched a little, he walks over to Hadon who was making another fire for their breakfast.

“You like stew and coffee?” Hadon asks handing Aiden a mug of coffee. Aiden took it wanting to know what it tasted like. At first he thought it tasted bitter and wanted to give it back but he decided to give it another try. On the second try, he found out that he liked it and kept on asking for more when he runs out.

Hadon gave him four cups but no more. He said that he’ll get too energized with the coffee and so Aiden settles on some water instead. After Hadon serves some stew for the two, Aiden notices that it has: potatoes, lamb, carrots, and herbs that he didn’t know and he’s a farmer, they grow herbs as well as other stuff.

“Rosemary and Oregano.” Hadon says not looking at Aiden’s eyes when he was hesitant about the stew. Taking a sip, Aiden found the taste a little exotic than what he was used to but he was very used to the potatoes and carrots. When the plague happened that was all they had to eat, potatoes and carrots.

As soon as they were finished, they decide to go by the lake and clean up. They wouldn’t want to stink or be dirty when they go and meet the royal family.

Once Aiden and Hadon stripped their clothes, they jumped in but Aiden got out so quickly, Hadon didn’t even see until Aiden was on land with a towel around him. Shivering, Aiden calls out that the water was cold. Hadon had to laugh and tells him that if he stays in the water for a little longer, he would get used to it.

Letting the towel on the branch, Aiden goes back into the water and stays there. Bathing, Hadon gets out first then Aiden. Wrapping themselves with the towels.

After they dried off completely, they got dressed; packed the stuff they took out, put it on their horses, got on, grabbed the reins and took off.

After a long journey, Hadon points into the horizon to show Aiden the kingdom but he couldn’t see it at first. Squinting his eyes to get a better vision, they decide to ride a little further. The further they went, the better Aiden could see that kingdom.

“Now do you see it?” Hadon asks grinning a little. Aiden nodded his head and just for fun, they decide to speed up their horses. A race to see who can get there first.

Aiden won, and once Hadon caught up, he stopped to let Aiden admire the kingdom. “Welcome to the King’s kingdom. Welcome, to Erareth my boy.” Hadon says as he leads the way inside the kingdom.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 10.12.2011

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