The Duel

Written by Rangerwill, based on a duel in the Ranger's Apprentice series.

Special thanks to Hollows for editing it for me.

If you're a RA fan like me and you've read book eight, you probably know where this is from.

**About the Cult**

To fully understand this story, you should read this first:

The cult in this short story are a band of thugs that go out during the middle of the night and slit the throats of alone, sleeping knights. After they do that, they ransack the camp looking for any valuables and stuff their stomachs with food. Though quite a few suspect them of their activities, there is no evidence. There are a few in the group, however, that are skilled at gunning. This is where Will and Bentley come in.

ⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥ

Will thought that it was interesting that the Cult would actually accept the challenge of a duel. He was sure they would back out.
He voiced his thought to Bentley, who answered, "They accepted because they always underestimate the power of an Alchemer."
Will said, "I didn't think of that… Most people do underestimate them. Swear to their Polarises, they do."
Bentley replied, "Still, even if they did know how powerful the Alchemers were, they'd still probably accept. They don't know how much you've worked to be able to achieve the full power of them."

ⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥⵥ

"Be careful," said Bentley, who was still worried about his friend.
"Don't worry, I'll win," replied Will as they went to the battlefield.
"The rules of trial by combat are simple. Both of you will stand 150 feet apart, and by the horn you will shoot one bullet and one bullet only. You are not permitted to move; you must stand in place. The person who is struck down first will lose the trial. Any questions?" Nobody spoke, so the referee shrugged and left the field.
They were both ready. At 75 yards or so, Will would've considered the odds 50-50. But at 150 yards, he believed he had a slight advantage. He had spent hours aiming and perfecting his shots. The Polaris required little skill and didn't take nearly as much as time to learn how to use with full effectiveness. (In this story, the Polaris' bullets are considered just as fast as Alchemer’s bullets.)
The horn blasted and Will heard something wickedly slash through the air a foot from his head. Less than half a second later, Will aimed his gun and shot. The Cult took a slight step to Will’s left at the last moment, putting Will’s bullet right into his chest. He died almost instantly, a perfect shot by Will. Somehow, Will had known that the other contestant would try to avoid the inevitable death at the last moment, so he shot just about a foot extra to the left. It had proven successful. The hundreds of people who were watching the duel were awed by this accuracy, wondering whether or not it was luck that Will had shot slightly to the left.
Bentley came to greet him with a sigh of relief, and said, "Nice shot, that will put an end to the Cult."