The Battle for Skandia: Book Four (Ranger's Apprentice 4) by John A. Flanagan

Author:John A. Flanagan [Flanagan, John A.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2009-01-08T05:00:00+00:00

23

“HALT,” WILL SAID THOUGHTFULLY As He WALKED AWAY FROM the council with Halt and Erak. “What did you mean when you said that about archers?”

Halt looked sideways at his apprentice and sighed. “It could make a big difference to the outcome,” he said. “The Temujai are archers themselves. But they rarely have to face an enemy with any particular skill with the bow.”

Will nodded. The longbow was traditionally an Araluen weapon. Perhaps because of the island kingdom’s isolation from the countries on the eastern landmass, it had remained peculiar to Araluen. Other nationalities might use bows for hunting or even sport. But only in the armies of the Araluens would you find the massed groups of archers that could provide a devastating rain of arrows on an attacking force.

“They understand the value of the bow as a strategic weapon,” he said. “But they’ve never had to cope with facing it themselves. I got some inkling of that when Erak and I were running from them near the border. Once I’d put a few arrows close to them, they were decidedly reluctant to come dashing around any blind corners.”

The jarl laughed quietly at the memory. “That’s true enough,” he agreed. “Once you’d emptied a few saddles, they slowed down remarkably.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking . . . ,” said the boy, and hesitated. Halt grinned quietly to himself.

“Always a dangerous pastime,” he said gently.

But Will continued: “Maybe we should try to put together a force of archers. Even a hundred or so could make a difference, couldn’t they?”

Halt shook his head. “We haven’t the time, Will,” he replied. “They’ll be on us within two weeks. You can’t train archers in that short a time. After all, the Skandians have no skill with the bow to begin with. You’d have to teach them the very basics—nocking, drawing, releasing. That takes weeks, as you know.”

“There are plenty of slaves here,” Will persisted. “Some of them would know the basics. Then all we’d have to do is control their range.”

Halt looked at his apprentice again. The boy was deadly serious, he could see. A small frown creased Will’s forehead as he thought through the problem.

“And how would you do that?” the Ranger asked. The frown deepened for a few seconds as Will gathered his thoughts.

“It was something Evanlyn asked me that suggested it,” he said. “She was watching me shoot and she was asking how I knew how much elevation to give to a particular shot and I told her it was just experience. Then I thought maybe I could show her and I was thinking, if you created—say—four basic positions. . .”

He stopped walking and raised his left arm as if it were holding a bow, then moved it through four positions—beginning horizontally and ultimately raising it to a maximum forty-five degree angle. “One, two, three, four, like that,” he continued. “You could drill a group of archers to assume those positions while someone else judged the range and told them which one to go to.

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