As the second book in the 12 part series, this carries on from The Ruins of Gorlan, the first book. This explains the adventures of Will, Gilan, Horace and Evanlyn (or Cassandra).
Here the some of the newer characters in the series, Gilan and some backstory on Halt.
Gilan was the apprentice of Halt and, MacNeil, a legend among most swordsmen. As a child he was taught by his dad, the BattleMaster at the time. During this MacNeil heard of his father and went to see what he was doing, finding Gilan and taking him under his wing. After some years Gilan became bored with the constant formality and yearned to be a ranger. One day when Halt came to visit he followed him and when he was caught, Halt taught him to be a Ranger.
Halt is the second most senior Ranger, (only to Crowley, the Ranger head) and played a major part in the Battle of Hackham Heath, the battle which sent Morgarath to his lair. He lead the cavalry charge which killed the wargals and destroyed the rebellion of Morgarath.
This is the continuation of event from The Ruins Of Gorlan, where Will and Halt track down, and kill the Kalkara, the worst minions of Morgarath.
At midnight in Halts Ranger cabin, Gilan, one of Halts past apprentices, arrives on the door. There he says that Will, Horace and himself will go to Celtica and arrange for reinforcements to support King Duncan’s army. First, they need approval from Horace’s Craftmaster, The Battlemaster. As the Battlemaster encouraged Horace to go they leave early, at first light.
During the time it took to ride to the border, Gilan teaches Will and Horace to use their melee weapons, Horace’s sword, and Will’s saxe knives. After a couple of days, they reach the border and find the border defence post empty. While riding through they find that all the villages and mines empty.
Gilan then decided to scout a village up ahead and left the boys to set up camp. However, they’re attacked by two Bandits, Carney and Bart who Horace manages to defeat. Soon after, a girl named Evanlyn comes and tells them that the place has been raided by Wargals. Gilan then decided to leave them behind and go to the king and tell him about what had happened, leaving Horace and Evanlyn to Will.
After moving deeper into Celtica they heard the distant chants of Wargals, and Will decided to follow them. In doing so, he found out that there will be a bridge built on The Fissure, and that they will attack in 3 days. After about a day they came up with a plan, Burn the Bridge.
When they did burn the bridge, Will and Evanlyn was captured by skandians and taken to Lord Morgarath, while Horace fled to tell the King what had happened. Both army’s then assembled at The Plains of Uthal and began to fight. During this, Horace then challenged Morgarath to a 1 v 1. Horace was losing decisively, until he jumped under his horse, and drove his dagger into Morgarath. The Wargals, with no leader became docile, and played like children.
Unfortunately, The Skandians, angry about not being paid, took Will and Evanlyn to Skandia as prisoners.
Remember to always trust people who you know and not to trust strangers. Look at how Gilan trusted Will with keepin the group safe, and how Will did not trust the bandits who attacked them. So trust people who you know, and not strangers.
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