The Battle for Skandia
Second Australian edition cover of
Battle for Skandia |
|
| Author | John Flanagan |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Series |
Ranger's Apprentice (Book no. 4) |
| Genre | Fantasy, Adventure |
| Publisher | Random House (Australia) |
|
Publication date
|
1 May 2006 (Aus) 18 March 2008 (USA) 5 June 2008 (UK) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 327 (Australian edition) |
| ISBN | (1st Australian edition); ISBN (2nd Australian edition) |
| OCLC | 86108278 |
| A823.4 | |
| Preceded by | The Icebound Land |
| Followed by | The Sorcerer in the North |
Oakleaf Bearers, or The Battle for Skandia in the United States, is the fourth novel in the Ranger's Apprentice book series, which was written by Australian author John Flanagan.
This book was a finalist for the 2006 Aurealis Award for Best Children's Novel. The book continues to track Will and includes such characters as Halt, his mentor, and Horace, his best friend.
The book continues from where the previous book left off.
In The Icebound Land, Cassandra the princess and Will the apprentice Ranger had been captured and sold as slaves. As time went on, Halt and Horace travelled across Gallica, defeating knights, and ridding Gallica of the evil warlord Deparnieux. They are now in Gallica ready to travel through a pass into Skandia to save Will and Cassandra. Meanwhile, Will has overcome his addiction to warmweed and finally regains his senses. Evanlyn, revealed to be Princess Cassandra, is out checking traps for food when she is taken hostage by a member of a Temujai scout party, or Tem'uj.
Halt and Horace, still on their rescue mission, find a border outpost of which a dozen Skandians lay dead, shot. Halt manages to recognise an arrow, shot by the Temujai and becomes instantly worried. Two decades ago, the Temujai had nearly conquered the world, but with politics and a dish of bad shellfish, the invasion was stopped. Halt and Horace, after managing to track the Temujai down, came to Will's aid and they rescue Cassandra.
Halt and the group, after being reunited, were then captured by Erak, the Skandian Jarl who had set Cassandra and Will free. Erak had been trying to track down the people who shot the Skandians at the other gate, and hastily came to a conclusion that Halt was the one who did it. Halt gave a list of reasons, which convinced the senior Jarl to listen to him. The Skandians have no chance, as they are greatly outnumbered and the Temujai have long-range archers, versus the Skandians one-on-one close combat.
Halt, Cassandra, Will, and Horace are now forced to stay in Skandia because the Temujai have blocked their only exit to their homeland. Erak came to a decision into trying to get Ragnak, the Oberjarl, to let Halt become their strategist as he had lived and fought with and against the Temujai before, thus knowing their battle plans and style of fighting. Halt and Erak also manage to find the main army of the Temujai, followed with a very narrow escape because of Erak's extreme clumsiness.
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