Halt waited until they were gathered in front of the cabin before he spoke. "We're going on a little trip today," he announced.

"A trip? Where?" Holly asked before a sleepy eyed Deva could finish a yawn and ask first.

"The two of you are progressing nicely with your training. It's been a good number of weeks and we think you're ready for your horses."

"Seriously?" Deva now seemed to be wide awake.

Will chuckled. "Yes, seriously. Now, get your things together. We'll leave as soon as you're ready."

Holly grinned at her father. "Well that explains things. I thought you were going to force us on another hike."

Halt winked. "Sneaky, aren't I?"

She didn't bother with a reply. He already knew the answer. Her father could lie straight-face, looking you in the eye as he did it. He could lie to anyone. Well, everyone except his wife. Lady Pauline was the only one he couldn't seem to lie to. She read him like a book, knew every tell he had and called him on them. Holly smirked and rocked back on her heels.

"What are you grinning at?" Halt asked.

She erased the grin from her face and looked at her dad with as much innocence as she could muster. "Nothing. Just happy about getting my horse."

He narrowed his eyes on her as if trying to sniff out a lie. She held his gaze. He should know better than to try and suss out a lie, she learned to lie from the best. Him. After a moment, he frowned and turned away.

Deva came striding out of the cabin. "How are we getting to our horses?"

"We will get there after a nice brisk walk!" Will said with a grin as he came around from the back of the cabin. "Well, you'll be walking. Halt and I will be riding."

"That's not exactly fair, is it?" Holly grumbled.

"It wouldn't be fair if we had to walk on the way back while the two of you ride," Halt told her.

"No, I suppose not," she replied. It explained why her father had brought Abelard with him when they'd left the castle. She thought maybe he was bringing him for a visit with Tug. The two Ranger horses seemed to be rather good friends.

The two elder Rangers swung up into their saddles and nudged their horses into a walk, heading away from the cabin.

"How long is it going to take us to get to our horses?" Deva asked.

"However long it takes," Halt replied.

Deva scowled. "What kind of answer is that?"

"One that answered your question. Now, let's try and be quiet, shall we?"

Will chuckled quietly. Halt didn't suffer questions with good humor. He glanced back to where his daughter and Holly followed behind them. Their heads were close together and they were whispering. He shook his head with a grin. They wouldn't be asking any questions again anytime soon.

Both girls whined about the walking, but shut up after a glare from Halt. An hour or so passed and the girls remained mostly quiet with only minimal complaining.

They finally stopped before an odd little tumbledown collection of buildings. Halt led the way over to the little hut and stopped, signaling for everyone to stop.

"Hullo, Bob!" he called.

Sounds of movement issued from the little hut before the door opened and a bent, wrinkled figure emerged. The man was grinning from ear to ear behind a matted and dirty white beard. His head was completely bald.

"Hello there, Ranger Halt. Who is it you've brung with you today? Is that young Will?"

Will grinned at the old man. "Hello, Bob."

"Good to see you, Ranger Will."

"You as well."

Halt cleared his throat, regaining Bob's attention before he and Will could launch into some sort of long winded conversation. Bob's gaze swung back to Halt, his eyes alert and keen. "What is it you need today, Ranger?"

"Horses. These are our apprentices, Deva and Holly."

Bob's eyebrows bopped upward. "Seems I remember those being the names for your girls."

Halt said nothing, simply stared steadily back at the old man. After several minutes, Bob chuckled. "All right then, Ranger." He ambled off, disappearing into a nearby stable after giving both girls a long assessing stare.

After several minutes he returned leading a deep chocolate brown pony and stopped before Holly, smirking at her. "This here is Thistle."

Holly blinked at the horse. "There is no way I'm riding a horse named after a bush."

"Um, Holly, aren't you named after a bush?" Deva asked

The little horse whinnied and shook its head before turning to stare steadily at her. She swore the thing was laughing at her.

"Shut up, no one asked you," Holly snapped at Deva.

Bob chuckled and stroked the horse's nose. "She went and wandered into a bunch of thistle bushes when she was small. That's how she came by her name."

"Is that how you got your name, did you wander into a holly bush?" Deva asked with a huge grin.

"Shut up!" Holly spun and punched Deva in the arm, causing her to squeal and cradle her arm against her chest. Holly approached the little horse. "Fine, let's do this." She reached up and stroked the horse. "Who's a pretty girl?"

The horse snorted and stared her down. Right, why did she feel like the damn thing was judging her and found her severely lacking? She placed a foot into the stirrup and prepared to swing up into the saddle.

Will looked sidelong at Halt before leaning closer to him and whispering. "You don't think we should tell her, do you?"

Halt shook his head, watching as his daughter swung up into the saddle. The horse stood still for only a second before exploding into motion, her backend reared up and Holly went flying over her head. She landed in the dirt, staring up at the sky.

"What just happened?"

Halt swung down from Abelard and walked to where she lay. "No one can ride a Ranger horse without first giving the passphrase. Forgot that, didn't you?"

"You couldn't remind me before I went flying?"

Halt chuckled and held out a hand to her. She slapped his hand away and got up, moving past him to where Bob stood beside Thistle.

"What's the passphrase?" She honestly should have remembered. She'd grown up knowing no one could ride her father's horse except him and the reason why. Ranger horses were well trained.

With a grin, Bob leaned close to her and told her the words. "You're kidding?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Just whisper it into her ear and you'll be able to ride her."

Holly moved to stand beside the horse's head and whispered in her ear. "No more prickles." She then carefully climbed back up into the saddle, tense and ready to be flung to the ground again. This time she remained seated and Thistle remained calm and docile beneath her.

"Go ahead and take her for a little ride," Bob told her.

Holly set her heels to the little pony's sides, riding around the yard several times before coming back to where she'd started. The horse tossed her head, twisting her neck to look back at Holly.

Well that was fun. Do you know how to do anything besides ride in a circle?

Holly stared at the little horse. The thing just spoke to her. No, no, that was silly. Horses didn't speak.

Bob smiled happily at her. "Excellent. She seems a good fit for you. Now, it's your turn!" he told Deva before turning and disappearing back inside the stable. He returned with a light caramel colored pony and stopped before Deva.

The pony promptly raised its tail and broke wind very loudly. Deva stepped back, pinching her nose shut as the noxious odor reached her. "Oh gross!"

A chuckling Bob patted the horse. "This here is Windy."

Holly threw her head back and laughed loudly. "No kidding Windy? Perfect name! He's as full of hot air as you are, Deva!"

Deva sent her a scowl. "Don't make fun of him you'll hurt his feelings!"

"He's a horse, Deva."

The shaggy little pony snorted in Holly's direction and broke wind again. Deva pointed at the horse. "See! You upset him!"

Holly shook her head and Bob chuckled. "Go ahead." He gestured toward the horse.

She raised a foot to place it in the stirrup and froze as she remembered Holly's first attempt. She took a step away from Windy. "Um, what's the pass code?"

Bob smirked at her before leaning close and whispering, "No more beans."

She made a face before walking to the horse's head and speaking quietly to him. She then climbed into the saddle and took him around a few times before stopping in front of her father and Halt.

"Does this mean we're real Rangers now?"

Halt chuckled. "No. It means you won't be walking as much."

"Right, so where are we not walking to?" she asked.

"Back home," he answered.

"Oh wow, I don't think we can handle the excitement."

He chuckled. "If the both of you hurry we might even get in a bit of practice before dark."

Both girls groaned, but still followed their fathers as they rode away from Bob's little home, sending the old man a wave. They reached home before dark. It was one of the reasons their fathers wanted to leave so early in the morning. They put the girls through their paces until early in the afternoon before letting them have the rest of the day to themselves with the command to be back by dark.

The moment they were given their freedom, they headed for the village so they could show off their ponies to their childhood friend Jillian. She worked in Jenny's restaurant. They hurried to the restaurant and rushed inside to look for their friend.

Deva waved a hand in the air, attempting to gain her attention. When that failed she resorted to screaming across the room.

"Jilly! Hey, Jilly!"

"Do you think the two of you could possibly act like ladies while inside my restaurant?" Jenny asked as she stepped up beside Deva, hands on her hips. Jenny was another friend of Will's and the girls had grown up knowing her. She was an excellent cook and her restaurant was very popular.

"No, probably not. We want to show Jillian our horses. We got them today," Holly told her with a huge grin.

Jenny rolled her eyes. "Rangers and their horses. I'll never understand it. Fine, show her, but don't keep her too long."

"We promise, we won't!" they answered in unison as Jillian rushed over to where they stood.

"Jilly, we got our ponies today! You wanna see them?" Holly asked.

"Yes, of course!" They led her outside and introduced her to the little ponies. Both seemed rather pleased with the attention.

After several minutes spent cooing over the horses, Jilly returned inside to her work.

Deva grinned at Holly. "So, what do you want to do now?"

Holly shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we can go show them to Mitchell."

Deva frowned. "He has his stupid battlehorse, why on earth would he be impressed by our horses?"

"Good point I guess. So, what then?"

Deva shrugged. "I don't know. We could just go and watch the boys practicing."

Holly sighed heavily. "I guess for lack of anything better to do we'll go." Holly rose, dusting off her cloak with another sigh. "Why aren't there any female Battleschool students? I mean there has to be some girls out there who like whacking things with a sword. Right?"

Deva snorted. "Why are we the only female Rangers? Because females are expected to look pretty and nothing more."

Holly shrugged. "I guess, but come on we have the Couriers. There are some fabulously bright women that are Couriers."

"Our mothers included." Deva grinned at her. "Let's go then."

They mounted their horses and headed toward the Battleschool practice field. They never quite made it all the way there. They made it only so far as a small clearing some distance from the castle, stopping short inside the tree line.

Holly frowned and turned to Deva. "Any idea what that's about?"

Deva shook her head and slid from the saddle, pulling up the cowl of her cloak and grabbed her bow. "I'm gonna go find out though. No one picks on the big idiot except us."

Holly followed with a sigh and followed her around the perimeter of the clearing, remaining inside the trees, until they were close enough to overhear what was being said. They crouched inside the trees, listening to the boys who surrounded Mitchell. Taunting him.

Mitchell stood silently staring at Griffin and his cohorts. He knew it had been leading to this moment. That this confrontation was coming eventually.

It was his stupidity that allowed it to occur. He'd come out here to practice alone and in peace. Peace seemed to be something he was destined to go without. Griffin and his crew followed him out here. Now he was trying to desperately come up with some plan inside his head that would get him out of this with a minimal amount of damage.

"You gonna tell us about the castle now?" Griffin asked.

Mitchell felt the urge to groan, but refrained from doing so. Instead, he stared steadily at the boys. The only good thing about this encounter that he could see was the fact he had his sword with him.

Griffin sent a glance to his friends before looking back at Mitchell. The others were circled around him and he knew he was at a distinct disadvantage. This was not going to end well. His hand fell to rest on his sword.

"Come on, Mitchell, we're all friends here, you can tell us all about the castle. Fill us in on what goes on there. Tell us all the secrets. You seen Princess Cassandra? How about her kid, the Prince. Come on, tell us all about it."

"I told you, I don't spend much time up at the castle."

"Ah, right, you did. I'm not buying it. Why don't you start telling the truth? I bet your daddy isn't even a knight." He stepped forward and shoved at Mitchell's shoulder.

In the trees, Deva looked at Holly. "I don't like this. Why do they think Mitchell lives at the castle?"

Holly shushed her.

With a scowl, Deva rose from her crouched position, shrugging her bow off her shoulder. Things were escalating. The boy called Griffin kept poking at Mitchell. She knew that despite Mitchell's easy going nature he wasn't going to take it forever. If he attempted to take on all four boys by himself he'd lose. It didn't matter how good he was with a sword. He was severely outnumbered.

Holly placed a hand on Deva's shoulder and shook her head. "What are you going to do? This isn't our business. It's Battleschool business not Ranger business," she hissed at her friend.

"Do you think our dads would thank us if we left the Prince to fend for himself. The Prince, who by the way, is the son of their best friends," she snapped back.

Holly's hand dropped from her shoulder with a sigh. "I hate when you have the logical answer for things. I still don't want to help him."

"Come on, he's not that bad." Deva turned her gaze back to the group in the clearing and wished she hadn't. Two of the boys were now holding Mitchell's arms and Griffin was throwing punches. The bow dropped from her fingers and she pulled her smaller knife. It whipped through the air and Griffin staggered back, clutching his shoulder. The second he let out a yelp and staggered away from Mitchell the boy's holding his arms released him and began looking around for the knife throwing culprit.

Deva stepped from the trees, her sword in her hand. "Step away from him."

"Who the hell are you?" Robbie asked.

She waved her sword at him. "I believe I told you to step away. Are all Battleschool students this bad at following orders?"

With a scowl, he walked away from Mitchell several steps. "Happy?" He eyed her with a frown. "You're wearing one of those Ranger's cloaks but you're a girl. So, who are you?"

Holly stepped out of the trees and came to stand beside Deva. "Wow, I'm impressed, he can tell a girl from a boy. He does have a brain!"

Robbie's eyes went wide. "You're both girls!"

Deva flipped the cowl of her cloak back. "We are, how very clever of you to have figured it all out."

Robbie looked as if he was going to stammer out some sort of answer, instead he lunged forward, attempting to throw a punch at Mitchell. Probably in an effort to complete the beating his buddy Griffin had started.

Holly leapt forward and threw a punch of her own, her fist smashed into his nose with a satisfying crack. It sent him to the ground, his hands clutched over his now bleeding nose as he howled in pain. "I suggest you stay put right there on the ground," she ordered him.

Deva lifted her sword, pointing it at the remaining boys. "You two, have a seat on the ground. Do it now."

Rodger and Danny slowly sat on the ground, side by side, staring wide eyed at the girls.

Deva turned to stare at the groaning Griffin who sat on the ground clutching his shoulder. She looked at Holly. "What do we do with them?"

Mitchell appeared at her side. "Leave them alone! Exactly what do you two think you're doing?"

"Oh wow, you're welcome for the help," Deva snapped.

"I didn't need your help!"

"Seriously could have fooled me," she answered with a snort.

"The last thing I needed was for the two of you to come to my rescue!"

Deva sheathed her sword, stomped over and yanked her knife from Griffin's shoulder with an accompanying squeal from him. She turned back and stalked away to retrieve Windy.

Holly looked at Mitchell. "You should have someone look at your injuries." She glanced at the other boys. "You might not want to tell anyone about them." She turned and followed Deva from the clearing, leaving Mitchell to stare after the two girls.

He glowered at their retreating backs for a moment before turning away to head back to the barracks. Rodger's voice stopped him before he got very far.

"You need a couple of girls to save your butt huh?"

He sent a glare over his shoulder at the other boy. "No, I don't." He took several steps, stopped and spoke again. "You'll also take note of the fact that those weren't your ordinary girls, they were Rangers. Big difference."

He left the boys behind in the clearing. He knew this wasn't the end of the problems between them. Thanks to Deva he had the feeling it would only get worse. The boys pegged him as a target already. Deva just reinforced that fact.