Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge

The Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge

Characters

Will- An apprentice ranger to Halt. Sent on a mission to bring Celts back as reinforcements, but the Celts are gone. Ends up burning a bridge across The Fissure.

Gilan- An older ranger sent along with Will and Horace. Ends up riding back to King Duncan's camp to report the missing Celts.

Horace- A friend of Will's currently in battleschool. He is sent with Will and Gilan and ends up defeating Morgarath using an old ranger technique Gilan taught him.

Evanlyn- Found by Will and Horace at night. Claims to be an Araluen maid, but in fact is the princess Cassandra, King Duncan's daughter, in disguise.

Halt- Will's trainer and a ranger. Commonly known as a grim character but ends up being cheered up by Alyss on a courier mission. Challenged by Morgarath but King Duncan would not allow it.

King Duncan- The overall ruler of Araluen.

Alyss- A long time friend of Will's that is training to become a diplomat.

Morgarath- A dark lord planning to take over Araluen after not being happy with his position as a Baron 15 years back. Killed by Horace in the final battle.

The Final Showdown

Cole Vohs

Morgarath saw that he had been defeated and approached the King along with the other officials of the kingdom. When King Duncan is expecting Morgarath to challenge him to a duel, he challenges Halt instead. King Duncan points out that Halt cannot be challenged. As the two are arguing, Horace gets fed up and interjects that he will challenge Morgarath. It is allowed since Morgarath didn't challenge Horace and they begin. Horace is curb-stomped at first but he uses double knife defense, a ranger skill, to eventually finish off Morgarath. Will and Evanlyn are taken away with the Skandians and Halt promises that he will find Will again.

The Diplomat

Alyss, one of Will's long time friends from the ward (orphanage) is studying to become a diplomat. When she is assigned her first job, Lady Pauline (her instructor) suggests that Halt go with her to protect her. The ranger is reluctant at first, due to not enjoying being around young folk, but Pauline convinces him and they are off. They are to go to Cobram Keep to discuss a false treaty reading that kept Cobram Keep from being allies with Castle Redmont. Alyss tries to cheer Halt up from his normal, grim ways, but fails. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Sir Montague, a snotty secretary trying to prove he is better than everyone else. Montague is very unimpressed with Alyss and points out all of her faults, without recognizing his own faults when he calls her "Sweetheart." After many times of Montague criticizing Halt and Alyss and Halt having to correct Montague for calling her "Sweetheart," Halt is fed up. He throws Montague out a window into a Moat. After this happens he quickly signs the treaty. Alyss actually thinks she did a bad job on the horse ride back, but Halt points out she did fine and that there are plenty of others like Montague. Halt, when they are finished, realizes he enjoys being around young people and is sad that his own apprentice is gone.

Pictures and Links

Castle Araluen, where King Duncan rules his kingdom

The cover, depicting Will about to burn the bridge across The Fissure.

http://rangersapprentice.wikia.com/wiki/The_Burning_Bridge

The Burning Bridge Plot

http://rangersapprentice.wikia.com/wiki/Will

Will, the main protagonist

Theme and Recommendation

A major theme of the novel is eventual triumph. Numerous times, Will fails but eventually he succeeds, or when Alyss is trying to reason with Montague, and most notably, when Horace defeats Morgarath.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who is interested in series or enjoys fiction. It is by one of my favorite authors and I know that I am going to finish the series.

War Approaching

The Fissure

When Halt and Will are out on a mission to follow the Wargals (1/2 human 1/2 bear creatures) they take notice to many groups of them coming in waves. They find Morgarath's battle plans that a Wargal dropped, but they do not know they are fake. Will, Gilan, and Horace (Will's friend from Battleschool) are sent to Celtica to ask for reinforcements. When they arrive, However, they take notice that the Wargals have destroyed nearly all the Celts.

Preparation

When Will and Horace are sitting around at night, they take notice to a lump in a clearing. They go to investigate and they find a girl name Evanlyn. Evanlyn claims to be the maid of the Araluen Court, but in reality she is the crowned princess Cassandra, King Duncan's daughter. The boys have no idea and they continue to follow a party of Wargals. After a few days of following them they arrive at the Fissure, a huge gorge. They also take notice to a nearly completed, large bridge going across it. Will thinks of the outline of the nation and realizes that when Morgarath gets his Wargal army across the Fissure, they will be able to close them in from behind. Will and the other two discuss what they could do and they decide that that night they would burn the bridge. That night when all the Wargals are down at camp, Will builds two fires on the bridge and sets them alight. After one almost failing they finally get them going but notice a few shadows rolling around behind them. The shadows capture the party and get them away from the bridge. When they are under the moonlight, Will notices that they are Skandian warriors. Horace escapes and the Skandians take Will and Evanlyn away.

When Duncan finds out they could be attacked from behind he quickly gives Halt orders. He tells Halt to take a small army and take the Wargals by surprise. Once that his done, when they think they have them cornered in the Plains of Uthal. Halt and his half army would come up behind them and the tables would turn. So Duncan sends Halt off and Duncan begins to prep his own army for the battle in the Plains. When Wargals begin to arrive, the battle begins. Just as Morgarath had planned, his army trapped the King's army up against a cliff face. King Duncan begins to worry that Halt failed, but just as all hope was lost for the King's army, Halt's small army came charging up behind the Wargals and the battle was done.