John Flanagan by Ranger's Apprentice 07 - Erak's Ransom (v5)

Author:Ranger's Apprentice 07 - Erak's Ransom (v5)
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: a cognizant original v5 release october 23 2010
Published: 2010-10-23T04:00:00+00:00

27

THE BITTER COLD OF THE DESERT NIGHT WOKE HIM. HE WAS FACEDOWN, shivering violently as the heat leached from his body. It wasn’t fair, he thought. The blinding heat of the day and the near freezing temperatures of the night were combining to rob the last vestiges of strength from him. Shivering took energy and he had none to spare.

Will tried to raise his head, and failed. Then, with a massive effort, he rolled over onto his back, to find himself staring up at the brilliant stars blazing down from the clear night sky. Beautiful, he thought. But strangers to him. He wanted to crane around and look to the north, where he would see the familiar constellations of his homeland, lying low on the northern horizon. But he didn’t have the strength. He’d just have to lie here and die, watched over by strange stars who didn’t know him, didn’t care for him.

It was very sad, really.

There was a strange clarity to his thinking now, as if all the effort of the day, all the self-delusion, was gone and he could view his situation dispassionately. He knew he was going to die. If not tonight, then certainly tomorrow. He would never stand another day of that furnacelike heat. He would just dry up and blow away, carried on the desert wind.

It was very sad. He’d like to have cried about it but there was no moisture for tears. With his newfound clarity of thought, he felt a nagging sense of annoyance. He wanted to know what he had done wrong. He didn’t want to die wondering. He’d done everything correctly—or so he thought. Yet somewhere he had made a mistake—a fatal mistake. It was a pity that he had to die. It was annoying that he didn’t know how it had come to this.

He wondered briefly if the map Selethen had given him had been false and remembered that thought occurring to him during the preceding day. But he dismissed it almost immediately. Selethen was an honorable man, he thought. No, the map was accurate. The mistake had been his and now he would never know what it had been. Halt would be disappointed, he thought—and perhaps that was the worst aspect of this situation. For five years, he had tried his best for the grizzled, unsmiling Ranger who had become like a father to him. All he ever sought was Halt’s approval, no matter what anyone else in the world might think. A nod of appreciation or one of Halt’s rare smiles was the greatest accolade he could imagine. Now, at this final hurdle, he felt he had let his mentor down and he didn’t know how or why it had happened. He didn’t want to die knowing that Halt would be disappointed in him. He could bear the dying, he thought, but not the disappointment.

A large shape moved near him, blotting out a section of the sky. For a moment, his heart raced in fear, then he realized it was Arrow.

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