The Burning Bridge

The Burning Bridge (2005) is the second installment in John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series. Born in 1944, Australian author Flanagan drew inspiration for The Ranger’s Apprentice from stories he told his young son to encourage him to read. Best known for his middle grade fantasy books, Flanagan published the first novel in the Ranger’s Apprentice series, The Ruins of Gorlan, in 2004. The series now includes over 20 books and is divided into a main series of 12 books, which follows Will Treaty and his friends, and a spin-off and prequel series set in the same universe. The Burning Bridge follows the protagonist, Will, a young Ranger apprentice, as he discovers an enemy’s plan to invade the Kingdom of Araluen and attempts to protect his homeland from an invasion. The novel explores The Importance of Mentorship in Personal Growth, Courage as a Moral Compass, and The Journey From Youth to Independence.

This guide is based on the 2006 Kindle edition of the book.

Content Warning: The source material features scenes of graphic violence and death.

Plot Summary

Young apprentice Ranger Will Treaty and his mentor Halt are pursuing a group of Wargals—brutish, wolfish creatures enslaved to their enemy Morgarath’s will. The creatures have crossed the border between their land, the Kingdom of Araluen, and the Mountains of Rain and Night, the domain of the evil lord Morgarath. Will and Halt find the Wargals attacking a deserter from Morgarath’s camp who sought refuge in Araluen. The Wargals kill the man, and the Rangers fight them off. Will misses his shot, but Halt kills them. The deserter was carrying secret documents detailing Morgarath’s plans to attack Araluen by invading the Plains of Uthal. Unbeknownst to them, Morgarath planted fake plans with the traitor to draw the Araluen army away from his intended target: Morgarath plans on building a bridge across the cliffs that mark the border between the two countries, hoping to take King Duncan by surprise.

After Halt presents the secret documents to the king, prompting war preparations, Halt’s former apprentice Gilan visits him. Gilan is going on a diplomatic mission to the neighboring kingdom of Celtica to ask their king for reinforcements. However, Celt customs—traditional practices followed by the people of the neighboring kingdom of Celtica—dictate that envoys must be sent in groups of three, so Gilan asks Will and his friend Horace to accompany him.

As they begin their journey, Gilan teaches Will and Horace new fighting techniques and encourages them to practice. Will is an apprentice Ranger while Horace is an apprentice Knight, so they are inexperienced with the other’s fighting style. Gilan shows them, for instance, how to parry a sword attack using only the Rangers’ distinctive knives. Once they arrive in Celtica, however, Gilan, Will, and Horace are shocked that the towns they encounter appear deserted. After they capture two thieves who thought that Horace and Will were easy prey, the three companions learn that Morgarath has sent Wargals to attack Celtica and overwhelm the king’s forces. They meet a young girl—the only survivor from one of the Wargal attacks. She introduces herself as Evanlyn, but Gilan and Will think that she is hiding her true identity. Gilan rides ahead to bring the news to King Duncan and tasks Will with taking Horace and Evanlyn back to camp safely.

After Gilan leaves, Will and his companions travel alone, evading groups of Wargals and trying to go unnoticed. When they hide to watch Wargals pass by and realize that they are taking Celt prisoners with them, Will and his friends decide to investigate. They follow the Wargals and soon reach the cliffs, where Morgarath has enslaved Celt miners and engineers to build a huge wooden bridge. Will, Horace, and Evanlyn realize that Morgarath’s plans were fake. He intends on attacking the Araluen army from behind with the Wargals and the Skandians—a warrior people he has allied himself with. The bridge is almost complete, so Will decides to destroy it to delay the attack until they can reach King Duncan.

At night, Will goes to the bridge and builds fires under the giant ropes that hold the structure up. One fire successfully starts, but the other fails, and Will returns to try again. Alerted by the smoke, some of the Skandians come to investigate and find Will and Evanlyn starting fires. The two friends fight them off, but they are eventually overpowered.

Meanwhile, Gilan has brought the news of the attack to King Duncan, who orders men to find Will, Horace, and Evanlyn, who is actually his daughter, Cassandra. However, Horace returns alone and informs them that Will and Evanlyn/Cassandra are now prisoners of the Skandians. Aided by Halt, King Duncan and his men develop a new plan to thwart Morgarath’s schemes. Halt and a group of men go to intercept the Skandian forces while King Duncan remains in the Plains of Uthal, where the rest of Morgarath’s forces are gathering. This includes the group of Skandians who took Will and Evanlyn, led by a man named Erak. After Morgarath identifies Will as the young Ranger who burned down his bridge, he orders Erak to keep the boy safe for him until after the battle. However, unbeknownst to the dark lord, the Skandians are planning to desert his army, disheartened by the blow to Morgarath’s plans. As the battle begins, Erak and his men take Will and Evanlyn to the shore, where their ships are waiting, so they can use them as hostages to get across Araluen safely.

On the battlefield, Halt returns victorious from defeating the Skandian contingent, and Morgarath’s army is weakened. The Wargals, who are afraid of horses, flounder when they face the Araluen cavalry, and Morgarath bitterly realizes that he has lost the war. He decides to face his old enemy, Halt, one last time, and asks for a trial by combat. However, before anyone can object, Horace challenges Morgarath to a duel. Morgarath agrees, sure of his victory against an inexperienced young boy. However, Horace unexpectedly defeats and kills the evil lord using the technique that Gilan taught him.

After the battle is won, Halt searches for Will and Evanlyn. He finds them as they are boarding the Skandian ships, but he is unable to rescue them. The novel concludes as Halt watches the ships sail away and swears that he will find his apprentice.