John Flanagan: Erak_s ransom

'Do you feel like a Ranger at last?' Horace asked him.

Will shook his head ruefully. 'I feel absolutely overwhelmed by the whole thing,' he said. Then, after a few seconds, he confided, 'You know, a few weeks back, I didn't think I was ready for this.'

'And now?' Horace prompted.

'Now I know that if you wait till you think you are ready, you'll wait all your life.'

The young knight nodded. 'I couldn't have put it better,' he said. 'That's exactly how I felt when we came back from Skandia and Duncan knighted me. "I'm not ready", I kept wanting to say.'

'But you were,' Will said.

Horace nodded. 'Yes. Maybe our teachers do know what they're doing, after all. Halt thinks the world of you, you know. When we were in prison in Maashava, he knew you'd turn up to get us out. He must have been proud to see you graduate today. Following in his footsteps.'

'They're big footsteps to follow in,' Will said. 'I guess that's why I thought I wasn't ready. I knew I'd never be as wise or as capable or as courageous as Halt. I could never be like him. Crowley said it today: there's only one Halt.'

Horace looked at him very seriously, appraising him, thinking of all he had learned about this remarkable young man in the past five years.

'You may not ever be exactly like him,' he said. 'But there won't be a lot in it.'

Then the two friends leaned back and watched the sun rise clear of the trees.

'Best time of the day,' said Will.

'Yes,' Horace agreed. 'What's for breakfast?'