Chapter
Three
First Encounters
Timeline:
This story begins a few hours after
A Day After.
Well, at least we won’t be dealing with that arse, any time soon!”, Bremorel Songsteel sneered with spite.
Bremorel was a striking young woman with a deceptively slender figure. She had dark, coarse hair running freely down either side of her beautiful face and back, and she gazed upon the world around her through deep green eyes, though her ‘pretty’ was somewhat marred with a seemingly permanent mark of petulance.
“Which arse is that?”, her cousin, Laila Wolvesbane asked amusedly.
Laila was perhaps an inch shorter than her cousin and had a decidedly supple figure that hinted at the wood elf side of her heritage, with long, dark brown hair that she’d pulled up and bunned into a ponytail. She had fair skin, though slightly tanned, and beautiful blue eyes. Unlike her cousin, however, Laila asserted or had perhaps adopted a calm and cool aura.
“That Aager-guy.”, Bremorel hissed.
“Good to know where we stand, Ranger Morel.”, growled a voice and Aager Fogstep appeared from behind the trees at the edge of Ritual Forest..
The man, Aager, was a lean, almost ‘gaunt’ figure and an edge above average. He was in his dark leathers again and he wore a low hood over his head and had a half-mask covering his face just below his black, soulless eyes.
He carried several daggers on his person and a shortsword that he’d chosen to hide under his tattered cloak. In all his tenure in Serenity Home ever since the sheriff had brought him from Drashan, no one had really seen him in anything other than his current outfit and very few had actually seen his face.
The two cousins had asked what the sinister-looking man actually looked like to the sheriff’s son, Udoorin, who had been trained by the very same man in his dark leathers. The burly young man had simply refused to make any comments on the matter and always seemed to have this haunted look on his face whenever Master Aager was mentioned.
Also, no one had ever heard him say a word without his growling voice. One might even say, if not very charitably, that the growl was his actual voice and he wasn’t going out of his way to make himself appear more intimidating, not that he needed it. Hence, when he stepped out from behind the trees, Bremorel’s face went bright red, then turned black when she came to a few, immediate conclusions..
One; he had heard what she’d thought about him.
Two; he was here, meaning he would be coming with them.
And three; she hadn’t heard nor felt his presence.. in the woods.. and she was a ranger, dammit!
“Master Aager.”, Laila said coolly and quite seamlessly. “What brings the sheriff’s right hand all the way out here? I would have assumed you’d be in the town, looking for possible clues there.”
“You should never assume what you do not know, Ranger Laila Wolvesbane”, Aager growled. “It is a bad habit to adopt and harder to lose. I am here on Sheriff Standorin’s orders. Seeing as you are here as well, I can safely say, his plan to put a team together late last night has born fruition.”
Laila stared at the growling man in the dark leathers. She tried for a moment to stare into his soulless eyes and stubbornly refuse to look elsewhere, but failed. She wondered, but for a moment, was this man truly soulless as they said he was and already dead inside? Or perhaps he was merely a corpse that didn’t know it was dead. She averted her eyes, fearing she might be pulled into the depths of his bottomless pit, fumed once, then gathered her cool around herself and breathed..
“Your orders, Master Aager?”
“What?”, exclaimed Bremorel, first gaping at her cousin, then at the man in dark leathers.
“Apparently, Sheriff Standorin was a few steps ahead of us, the mayor, and our respective ranger masters, Bree. And has appointed Master Aager as the leader of this company. Would have been polite of him the have mentioned it in the council meeting, though.”, her cousin said coolly, even though she was quite angry about the way the sheriff had totally ignored protocol and ‘man-handled’ everyone in the group.
“Well, shit!”, Bremorel spat. “I knew it was too good to be true.”
“A bit crude, but essentially accurate, Ranger Morel. Though I find it an odd assessment, calling the burning of your town and the death of your townsmen a good thing, particularly coming from a rank ranger. I suppose congratulations on your promotions are in order, here. Well earned..”, he growled.
Bremorel glared at him as her face flushed.
“Now, if you will..”, Master Aager continued. “..I would appreciate it if you two started following the tracks you found this morning. Ranger Morel, I want you to take point and as far as two hundred yards and I want Ranger Laila to be no more than half that range. Should either of you encounter anything, I want Ranger Morel to stay hidden and Ranger Laila to warn us.”
“Why am I taking lead?”, flared Bremorel.
“Why am I staying behind?”, asked Laila, though less belligerently than her cousin.
Master Aager stared at them both for a silent moment. Then spoke in his gravelly voice.
“I have been following your reports for over four years now. And thus far, both of you have adopted a certain pattern where you, Ranger Morel, prefer close combat and like to make good use of her greatblade and you, Ranger Laila, would rather use your longbow. Thus I have put both of you in a position where each one of you can best utilize your habits. Unless the reports you have been giving are false.. or maybe you would rather change your habits?”, he said.
“Why didn’t the sheriff just tell us you were coming?”, Laila asked, though more out of curiosity now than any belligerence.
The man in dark leathers paused for a moment as if considering whether he should tell or not, or perhaps decide on how much he should tell. He and the ranger girls had a history and not a very good one, though admittedly, it hadn’t been anyone’s fault, really, but merely the culmination of circumstances at the time.
Then he shrugged.
It was possible their journey would take them far, and even to unexpected places. He didn’t really care whether they liked him or not, much like didn’t feel the need to trust them, which wasn’t really saying much since he didn’t trust anyone, but they did have to learn to trust him. At least enough not to question his judgment or orders at the wrong time.
“Should you give it but a mere moment’s sentient thought, I believe you would be able to figure out as to why the sheriff did not bring up my involvement in the council, Ranger Laila.”, Master Aager said steadily.
Both the ranger girls stared at him, but it was Laila who grasped what he meant.
“The sheriff does not trust the council!”, exclaimed Laila.
“You seem surprised, Ranger Laila. Which is surprising all on its own, seeing as how your respective ranger masters do not share all the information they gather with anyone, let alone the council, or even the sheriff himself. Suffice to say, the security of a town that harbors over ten thousand souls is not on the priority list of certain people.”, Aager said in his growling voice.
“Haradin!”, spat Bremorel.
“I believe you have already filled your quota for blurting things you shouldn’t for one day, Ranger Morel. I dearly hope you are better at tracking than you are otherwise.”, Aager said coldly, as he gave her a very frosty stare, nodded curtly at them, and then stalked past them to assess the rest of the company..
I so hate that man!”, flared Bremorel as she ran past her cousin while keeping an eye on the tracks, some one hundred yards away.
“Can’t say I like him either, but he was right, you know. And apparently, very observant. We never mentioned our weapon preferences in any of our reports. Yet he’s managed to deduce the fact that you like bashing things and I prefer pinning them.”, Laila mused. “Perhaps there is a side of him we are missing?”
“I don’t bash things, I cut them!”, her cousin said hotly, then added with a nasty grimace, “And whatever side he’s got, I’d rather he just dropped dead, already!”
“Bree..”, Laila said reprovingly. “That’s not nice. Yes, he is irritating the way he is, and I did not appreciate the way Sheriff Standorin handled things either, but I understand why he did them. Whoever these people were, they had intimate knowledge of how to enter the town, who to hit, where he lived, and get out unseen.”
“I know that. I just dislike that man, that’s all. Ever since Bane-Song operation. And what’s with the growling, anyway? I mean, who talks like that?”, Bremorel fretted.
“Maybe that’s his actual voice.”, her cousin shrugged. “A bit like Missus. You know, the innkeeper’s odd cat?”
“That cat doesn’t growl, she caws like a crow!”, Bremorel objected with a snort.
“That’s what I mean. Maybe it’s something like that with Master Aager, too.”, Laila said, looking down at the tracks they both were following. “One of these guys is really dragging his feet.”
“Yeah. Maybe he’s tired.”, Bremorel said, pinching her face. “Missus dropped on a rake and had her throat punctured. Poor thing. Lucky she survived. You think that Aager-guy dropped on a rake and had his throat poked as well?”
“I don’t want to know. C’mon. Let’s pick up the pace, shall we? Take point, Ranger Bremorel Songsteel!”, she said with a grin.
“Will do, Ranger Laila Wolvesbane!”, her cousin grinned back and took off..
Uhhmm.. Master Aager?”, Udoorin stumbled when he saw the man in his dark leathers, hood, and half-mask stalk their way.
Udoorin Shieldheart was a large young man. Large in height, large in width, and large in depth! A largeness in bone and hard-packed and earned muscle, rather than mere bulk and a height to go with it. He had dark brown hair, dark brown, puppy sort of eyes that hadn’t quite seen full maturity, and for whatever reason, he was entertaining a scruffy looking patch of beard, possibly to make himself look older than his eighteen years and perhaps be taken more seriously by his elders.
Aager had never commented on the boy’s facial preferences, but had preferred to reserve his opinion on the matter even though he thought the boy looked ‘silly’ with it, a word he seldom used, possibly because he had never cared what others thought about himself. He also preferred to never get involved in other people’s private lives or their issues. And now, the boy also looked like a walking armory; a heavy chainmail showered down his bulk, all the way to his knees, two very big battleaxes were strapped on his back along with a shield, another battleaxe in one of his large fists, and his father’s longsword hung on his belt. There were at least five or six knives and daggers tucked into several other belts and a like number strapped around his legs and in his boots! He looked very much like a kid who had been given free rein at a candy store!
“Perhaps you are planning on rolling over the enemy in hopes of cutting them down to minced meat with all the sharp and pointy things you are carrying”, Aager grated amusedly.
Udoorin’s face flushed.
“I just want to be sure I have spares, Master Aager. You know, in case one of them breaks..”, the young man mumbled.
“Just how many of them are you planning on breaking?”, Aager asked.
The young man flushed some more.
“Lady Moira.”, the man in dark leathers then said, nodding at the tall, young woman in her shining plate armor.
Lady Moira Hooman was indeed a tall girl, almost matching the young man she was walking next to in height. She certainly wasn’t as packed as him, but the tight straps of her armor and the ease she showed in her step in her fifty-pound sheer steel she was carrying said she likely had some serious muscle and a lot of battle training to go with it. She wasn’t a beautiful girl in a conventional sense, but with her light green eyes, her quite generous mouth, and her long, reddish-brown hair bunned up the way she had, her beauty glowed with a sunny and honest appeal. It was clear this young woman liked smiling and laughing at silly things, rather than adopting a more somber or perhaps scowling glare at the world around her. Considering what she was, it totally ruined her high status as a paladin.
“Master Aager Fogstep.”, she said as her sunny face lightened as she returned the polite nod. “So nice to finally meet you.”
Aager paused, for he got the distinct impression that the young woman had actually told the truth, rather than made a polite or even passing comment. True, he was a Drashan and that stinking island of thieves, cutthroats, lechers of all stripes, whores, and pirates had never harbored a paladin, yet he’d heard of them. Particularly after the sheriff had brought him to Serenity Home. And one of the few things he’d heard was, that they always spoke the truth; the girl had actually meant what she’d said!
“Is it?”, he growled.
“Indeed it is, to finally meet the man skulking outside my room back in the guest house I was staying.”, she replied with another sunny smile.
Aager paused again.
For he had also come to the intimate conclusion that this young woman was not merely sunny and honest, she was sunny, honest, observant, careful, and knew how to disarm a man without using her base femininity or a sword.
And apparently, she was not some mindless knight in shining armor.
Well, she certainly was not stupid.
How had she heard him though? No one heard him coming. Not when he didn’t want them to. And the guest’s inn had carpets.
The girl grinned at him. It had a pretty grin, really.
“No mystery there, Master Aager.”, she said happily as if reading his thoughts. “We humble paladins have certain existential senses, hence we can, at times, feel when evil is abound.”
Aager’s dark eyes became even darker than they already were.
“Well, at least she knows something I do.”, he mused silently.
“I have sent the rangers, Laila and Morel, out to find the tracks of the people we suspect to be responsible for last night’s attack and to follow them. Should anything happen, I have told them to fall back and warn us. I want you and young Udoorin here, to face the enemy while the rangers do what they do best. Is that acceptable with you?”, he asked aloud though his tone gave the impression he wasn’t really asking but merely being polite.
“But of course, Master Aager. That is what we knights and paladins do best. To face the enemy head-on.”, Moira said happily. “I would, however, have it made clear; has the good sheriff assigned you as the leader of this company? Rank and status should always be made clear to avoid confusion, particularly in battle.”
“The sheriff has assigned me to make sure everyone here comes back alive and functional. I believe he gives me more credit than warranted for such a harsh endeavor, particularly with so few battle-tested, sounds unrealistic at best.”, Aager growled.
Udoorin gave him a side-long glance.
“A dour but reasonable assumption, Master Aager. I shall follow your command, then, and do my best to make sure all your townsmen return safe and sound.”, she said with another sunny smile.
“Huh.”, Aager grunted. “Will a paladin willingly follow a man she can sense coming at her in the dark?”
“I try not to judge people at their worst, Master Aager.”, Moira replied happily, then asked, “Curious though, are you perhaps related to an Aager Farstep? He was a well respected and quite a pious man.”
Aager Fogstep stared at her for a bare moment then growled.
“No.”
Then looked behind her and at the temple guardian, Lady Magella.
The she-dwarf, Lady Magella, was a blocky sort of dwarf. Although she was known for her care, back at Serenity Home, and the temple, her kind of care was not always as tender as could have been. She had a comfortable weight, and if one could get past her perpetual scowl, they might reach her kinder side. And when she spoke, her words tended to be as ‘bludgenous’ as the mace hanging at her side.
For many reasons, Aager had avoided her and her master, the Senior Temple Guardian, Demos Lightshand, even though she had accompanied him, along with the sheriff, and the two ranger masters, Davien and Moorat, on several troublesome occasions in the past. He had been strictly polite and politically correct with all the Temple Guardians, then stayed as far away from them as possible. And now he was going to be stuck with the she-dwarf for an extended period, who was even now, scowling up at him.
“Temple Guardian.”, he growled politely and nodded at her.
“Master Aager.”, she responded, almost in kind. “We never see your happy presence at the sermons.”
“As a matter of fact, I have been inside your temple, and attended to your sermons. Twice.”
Lady Magella cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Once to see what kind of security risks your temple might present.”, Aager said blandly. “The other was to actually listen to your oration. Turns out, your sermon was wasted on me.”
“Didn’t like what you heard?”, she frowned at him and even though she opted to ignore it, she had not missed the underlying reasons for his first visit.
“No, ma’am. It was about the Heavenly punishments pertaining to theft and murder. I thought I got the gist of your calling at that point.”, he replied with a grin, though it was lost under his half-mask.
Lady Magella made a huffy sort of snorting noise.
“You missed the sermon the week after.”, she said.
Aager did not nudge her to continue.
“Yes. It was about kindness, compassion, and the beauty of love shared with others.”, she scowled.
“I doubt I missed much then, Temple Guardian. I do not even know what those words entail and it is unlikely I ever shall.”, he growled at her.
“Perhaps you will, someday, Master Aager.”, Lady Magella said, squinting up at him.
“People like me deserve what the Heavens have in store for us, Lady. Suffice to say, I do not live for your standards.”, he grated from under his mask.
“You must be a wise man, Master Aager. Seen the future so thoroughly, have you?”, she said angrily.
Aager didn’t know what the Temple Guardian was getting at nor did he understand why she was suddenly angry. People seldom got angry with him. Feared him, yes. Hated him, certainly. Angry? Not so much, for the man in his dark leathers seldom left angry people alive in his wake.
He fumed a bit, then spoke.
“Lady, should we encounter anything during our journey to find the miscreants that burned Serenity Home, I would rather you stay at the back by at least fifteen yards. I would also like you to keep a base watch to your rear as well. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to be elsewhere.”, he growled and took off without waiting for her reply.
He had just been reminded why he had thus avoided the town’s temple and her guardians so thoroughly.
Psst!”, hissed someone and Ranger Laila froze, her longbow half drawn with a red and white feathered arrow cocked on the taught string.
“Psst!”, came the sound again, and Laila breathed from her nose.
“Gnine..”, she fumed as she turned around to see the little gnome hiding under some bushes. “..what are you doing here?, she fumed.
Gnine Tinkerdome was a mischievous little gnome, slightly on the stocky side. Mischievous, proactive, curious, intelligent, obsessively observant about queer and bizarre things, highly creative, yet insusceptible to his surrounding, and mostly up to no good. He wore immaculate clothes consisting of a pair of trousers tailored to his size, a somewhat flamboyant, colorful shirt, a similarly colorful vest, knee-high soft leather boots, a shoulder bag, several small pouches on his belt, a jarring cloak, and the only things he had on him for a weapon was a little knife and a wooden, hand-crafted sling. It appeared like he had gone out of his way to be spotted and become the sole focus of attention under any circumstance. All he seemed to need was a sign that read;
I AM HERE.
PLEASE SHOOT ME.
PREFERABLY SOONER
THAN LATER!
“Getting away from Master Aager.”, the gnome replied with a broad grin. “Saw him grilling you and Bree. Then he filleted that oaf, Udoorin, which was a happy thing, really. Was fun watching him squirm like a little girl.”
“Gnine..”, Laila fumed again. “It isn’t nice of you to say such things about Udoorin, considering he saved your uncle from the fire just last night. Got his hands burned for his efforts too. Had Lady Magella not worked on them, it would have taken months for him to make any good use of them.”
“I am grateful that he saved my uncle. Really..”, the gnome said honestly. Then added, “Doesn’t disqualify him from being an oaf, now, does it?”
“What is it with you and him, anyway? What’s he done to you that you would treat him like this? I mean, me and Bree fought with him once but that was years ago and he was honest and mature enough to come and apologize and decide to be our friend rather than hold a grudge, considering what we did to him after the things he’d said about me.”, Laila said a bit angrily.
The little gnome shrugged.
“He’s my outlet!”, he replied impudently.
“You could be mean sometimes, Gnine. Do you know that?”, the ranger girl frowned. “Now go back. You should be with the main group, not out here.”
The little gnome shrugged again.
“Nah.. I’ll hang around with you two. I don’t want to hear Udoorin babble all day, and I certainly do not want any preachings from Lady. Although I must admit, the paladin chick is kinda hot and she has a very pretty smile!”
Laila glared down at him.
“You have no idea what is going on or what we are doing, do you, Gnine? I’ll tell you what, you are going to turn around and go back to the group, or you are going to turn around and go back to town. It’s up to you.”, she said, still fuming down at the little gnome.
“You can’t tell me what to do.”, Gnine objected.
“I am a full ranger now, Gnine.”, she almost hissed at him.
“Yeah, so?”, the little gnome asked, sticking his chin out.
“It means, I am the law in the wilderness, Gnine. I have the legal power to command anyone short of a major, and certainly any civilian. Anyone who does not comply is subject to heavy fines and serious jail time.”, Laila said frostily, pretty much losing all her cool.
True, the little gnome and she were friends but they were not inside the safe walls of Serenity Home now and this was not a game. Last night had proven that. Apparently, Gnine’s point of view of the world around him made him somewhat impervious to certain, quite deadly realities. For him, this was, perhaps, something of a challenge, or perhaps even a dare.
“Chill, girl, it’s just a stroll through the forest. Nothing’s going to happen here—”, he said..
..but his words got cut when they heard a crash through the woods and something huge smashed its way right through a fallen tree trunk just fifty yards away!
Large, shattered splinters of half-rotten bark showered all around them. One landed merely a few feet from Laila just as she took a few smart steps to her left and behind a tree, as another, foot-long splinter clipped the little gnome on the shoulder and promptly dropped him spinning on his arse..
“How rude!”, the little gnome said angrily, holding his shoulder.
Then he looked up to see a giant of a wild boar, some five feet high hoof-to-hunch and perhaps four feet wide, its coarse fur matted, its eyes red and blind with fury, its twenty-inch tusks bloodied, and it was foaming and grunting at the muzzle as it came charging at him!
“What the—”, he spluttered, as he ogled at the beast.
“Gnine!”, barked Laila from behind the tree, but the little gnome just continued to stare at the beast with stunned and somewhat disconnected admiration as if it were some kind of a memento on display.
“BREE!”, she shrieked!
With a shrill shriek of her own, Bremorel burst out of the bushes almost on top of the wild boar and took it by total surprise. The boar squealed in recognition of the danger coming at it from its flank and tried to swirl but its massive momentum worked against it and it skidded sideways some fifteen feet before it lost its balance and tumbled over once, twice, then crashed dead, right before the little gnome!
Standing behind him was Ranger Laila, her longbow stretched taut with a second arrow cocked and ready..
And she was fuming balefully down at the little gnome.
“Good shot, cuzz.”, Bremorel said appreciatively as she dashed up to them.
“Good distraction.”, Laila nodded. “Worked like a charm.”
“Yeah. That’s me, Bree the Charming Distractor!”, her cousin smirked.
“I think I soiled my pants.”, Gnine mumbled in awe as he stared at the monstrosity that had piled right before him.
“You must be. Poor Thomas tripped and fell on his face when we were leaving the mayor’s office while ogling at you.”, Laila said with a bemused expression.
“And you just had to spoil the moment by bringing him into this, didn’t you?”, Bremorel scowled at her.
“Just saying. You do know someone else is interested in that boy, right?”, Laila said.
Bremorel’s face turned pure black.
“What? Who?”, she snarled.
“You sure you want to know?”, her cousin asked, sort of offhandedly.
“I will need to change my pants, I think.”, Gnine mumbled.
“WHO, DAMMIT!”, Bremorel hissed.
“The mayor’s eldest daughter.”
Bremorel ogled at her.
“How do you know?”, she asked, a bit freaked.
“My father..”, she said with a shrug. “She came to his workshop last week to put in an order for a new hope chest. Father offered her some tea while he started drawing some sketches and they gossiped.”
“What the bloody hell is a hope chest?”, Bremorel asked.
“It’s a chest for girls to put their dowry.”, Gnine prompted!
Both the girls stared down at him.
“Whot?”, he said. “It is! Hey, can I have one of these tusks? Looks like an awesome bit of memento.”, Gnine said eagerly, staring at the steaming boar.
And now Bremorel was really freaked.
“That.. that woman is like twice Thomas’s age!”, ‘eeped’ Bremorel.
Laila stared at her like she did when she was staring at an idiot.
“What?”, Bremorel asked, her face flushed a bit. She knew that look.
“The hope chest wasn’t for her, cousin, not to mention, not only twice his age, but she is already married. It’s for her daughter, Janith, obviously.”, Laila said.
Bremorel’s face deflated.
Quite visibly.
And her shoulders drooped.
Janith was a very pretty little girl. She was also kind and well-liked by the townsmen. Always smiling and always polite. She had silky, auburn hair, soft, baby-pink skin, and lovely brown eyes. And she was the granddaughter of no other than Mayor Arthandos Yuleman. Bremorel, on the other hand, was only a ranger and that’s all she had to offer. True, being a ranger had its privileges and was nothing to sneeze at, and she, herself, was a pretty girl with coarse black hair, beautiful pale-green eyes, fair skin slightly tanned under the sun, and a striking figure to go with them all. She was also a troubled girl and trouble. She was abrasive, she was angry all the time, she scowled at everyone, and she was sullen at her best behavior. Not to mention, she was gone most of the time due to her duties and her household skills were next to none. Her best cooking was over a campfire and somewhat charred quail, though, admittedly, she could make a mean rabbit stew! She also had the bad habit of starting a fight at the drop of a hat, which explained why she was also banned from pretty much every public place in Serenity Home other than, ironically, the temple itself, where the young, well respected, very polite, caring, and pious young man, Thomas, lived and worked as a Temple Guardian. And a match between him and Janith would very much appeal to the whole town, as opposed to her.
“Hey, can either of you girls gimme a hand with these tusks?”, Gnine asked as he tried to pry them off the beast’s snout.
Laila smacked him over the head!
“Ouch, girl! What was that for?”, he glared up at her.
“What were you thinking, Gnine, standing right in front of a charging wild boar?”, she hissed down at him with an angry frown.
“Whot? It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! When else was I going to ever see a boar this big and charging at me?”, he asked.
Laila just stared at him.
“She can have him..”, mumbled Bremorel in a barely audible, defeated voice.
“You are an idiot!”, Laila said with exasperation.
“Who? Me or her?”, Gnine asked.
“Both of you!”, she flared, glaring at both of them. “You, for standing in front of a charging boar, and you, for folding the moment you hit a snag.”
She glared down at Gnine and fumed at him.
“Did it ever occur to you that you might be trampled by an eight hundred pound animal, if not outright gored?”
Then she turned to her cousin and fumed at her as well.
“And did it occur to you that the boy just might have a say in this, much like you do? It is clear he is interested in you, much like you are interested in him. He is also very much afraid of you and you are acting like a stubborn mule and insisting that he should man up!”
“Ow, you are talking about Thomas!”, Gnine piped. “I like Thomas. He’s smart, reads books all the time, and he is excellent at debates. Horrible at hog-ball, though. He can’t seem to play without getting knocked out! But I agree with Bremorel on this matter. He really should man up and ask her out. Not the other way around.”
“There!”, Bremorel said, grinning at Laila triumphantly. “Gnine agrees with me!”
Then she smacked him over the head as well!
“Whot? I just agreed with you, girl.. What was that for?”, whined the little gnome, cowering from the ranger girl.
“That was for standing in front of a charging boar, you idiot”, she hissed.
Good kill, Laila.”, Udoorin said with a broad grin as he stared at the great beast.
“Excellent shot indeed, Ranger Laila. You do your calling justice.”, smiled Moira.
Laila’s face flushed a bit.
“Yeah. She shot it right in front of my eyes —literally!”, piped Gnine.
“That’s my cuzz, Laila Wolvesbane. She could shoot threads through needles.”, Bremorel beamed.
Lady Magella didn’t comment, though the expression on her face showed she was clearly impressed as well.
Aager did not comment either. He had knelt beside the beast and was carefully studying it. After a long moment, he rose.
“Young Udoorin. Perhaps you could help turn the beast over.”, he growled.
Udoorin walked up to the beast, stabbed his battleaxe into the ground, grabbed the boar by the hind legs, and heaved. His trunk-like arms bulged and his face turned red. It took him a full minute until the beast finally budged, turned over, and fell onto its other side..
..to reveal a thick, broken shaft of a spear sticking out of its flank!
For a moment, everyone just stared at it.
Only rangers Laila and Bremorel made any noise.
“What the..”, Bremorel exclaimed.
Laila hissed.
“How did you know?”, Udoorin asked finally.
“Didn’t. Just a hunch. As great an archer Ranger Laila is, a beast this size downed by a single arrow seemed unlikely.”, growled Aager.
“What? You think Laila can’t bring down a boar?”, flashed Bremorel.
Aager stared at her for a moment.
“I have little to no doubt about the archery skills of your cousin, Ranger Morel. A single arrow to the head, or through the neck would have brought down an average boar. But one as large as this seemed improbable. Hence it occurred to me that the animal might have been previously wounded.”, he replied calmly.
Bremorel glared at him.
Laila, however, reached down and pulled at the shaft but it didn’t budge. She tried some more, but she was unable to pull it out. She gave her cousin a look and Bremorel grabbed hold of the broken shaft, and with the use of the whole of her supple figure, she managed to wrench it out of the boar.
“This isn’t a ranger’s weapon.”, she said, looking at the broken shaft, then at the long, sharp, jagged blade of the spear. “It is too heavy to make a good throw. I don’t recognize the make of the blade either. And no ranger nor any self-respecting hunter would purchase a spear with jagged edges like this one and hunt with it. It would be good if you have a rope of some sort tied to the other end of the shaft, I suppose, but it is a cruel way to kill an animal. Not to mention, it would be a rather short throw, and should you fail, you would have a wounded beast running around and slowly dying of gangrene. Again, a cruel way to hunt. We kill for food or when an animal has gone rabid. Either way, we make sure we get the job done and swiftly.”
“Yes.”, Laila agreed, musing over the blade. “This isn’t one of ours. I do see some runes on it though.”
“It isn’t dwarf make.”, Lady Magella declared and everyone turned to look at her, probably because it was one of the rare times she had actually said anything.
“What? It isn’t. Dwarves mark their weapons to take responsibility for their craftsmanship. Those runes are not dwarven. They do seem to be a derivation of orcish, I think.”
“Orcish?”, Moira asked. “I wasn’t aware there were orcs in this region.”
“There are orcs in every region.”, Laila said sourly, avoiding looking at her cousin. “We watch them when we see them. Sometimes they merely want to pass through. Sometimes though, they want to raid. Those, we kill.”
“You let orcs live here?”, Moira asked a bit surprised.
“As much as I dislike them, Lady Moira, yes, we let them be because they have as much right to live as we do. We have many communities and races living in Ritual Forest. We even have ogres here. Hell, we have an orc in our town who works for Master Gurk Larson, the blacksmith. Came out of nowhere some fifteen or sixteen years ago and said he was tired of the blood spilling and wanted to work for his bread. Many people objected but Mayor Arthandos agreed to let him in, saying anyone who came in peace, worked and sweat for the peace was welcome in Serenity Home.”
“That is amazing.”, Moira said. “I am afraid we have no such luxuries at Durkahan.”
“So this is an orc weapon.”, Aager said quietly.
“Likely.”, Lady confirmed with a scowl. “Dwarves know orcs very well for our history is full of conflicts and confrontations with them. This spearhead, however, seems a bit too perfectly cast and sharpened for your average orc. They are not mentally equipped to care for their weapons and armor. If this did, in fact, belong to an orc and has access to similar quality weapons, we are in trouble because that thing will penetrate a shield and even plate armor.”
“You seem well educated on weapons and armors, Temple Guardian Magella.”, smiled Moira.
“Call me Lady. That is my name, not a prefix.”, Lady said.
“Oh, I apologize, Lady. I was not aware of that.”, Moira said sincerely.
“Tis alright.”, she shrugged. “My mother had strange ideas when I was born, I guess. And yes, I do have extensive knowledge of weapons and armors. After all, I wasn’t born a Temple Guardian, nor was I even consulted on the matter, which is beside the point. Suffice to say, a raiding party of orcs is a serious matter to consider. A raiding party of orcs with weapons of this quality is altogether a different proposition.”
Everyone mulled over that.
“Thank you for your insight, Lady.”, Aager growled a bit stiffly, took the broken shaft from Ranger Morel, and handed it over to Udoorin. “Put this into your pack. We might want to show it to Master Gurk’s orc apprentice when we return back to town. Now, rangers Laila and Bremorel, take point, if you will.”
Laila didn’t say anything. She nudged Bremorel, who seemed like she wanted to snarl something, possibly in way of retaliation to the man in dark leathers for ordering them around. She gritted her teeth instead and took off with her cousin.
“I so hate that man!”, she flared again, when they were several hundred yards away..
Not you, Master Gnine.”, Aager said in a low voice just as the little gnome was about to take off after the rangers.
“What? Why?”, piped Gnine innocently.
Aager Fogstep gave the little gnome a stone-cold stare, but the little gnome was a bit too hard-boiled for his own good, and he stared back at the man in dark leathers, hood, and half-mask, with the same innocent eyes.
“Master Udoorin, Lady Moira, and Lady Magella.. I would like a private word without esteemed master gnome here if you will”, he growled, not taking his eyes off the little gnome.
Udoorin grinned and didn’t bother to hide it. He pulled his big battleaxe from the ground and started after the ranger girls, followed closely by Moira.
“I want to see him in one piece.”, Lady said ominously.
“That will be up to him.”, Aager replied.
Lady Magella gave him a long, steady look, then she too started after the ranger girls.
Aager waited for the duration of perhaps a sixty count, never taking his eyes off Gnine.
Then, slowly he spoke..
“You are a distraction, Master Gnine. When Sheriff Standorin suggested we might end up looking for possible criminals who might have started the fire in your uncle’s workshop, he offered me to lead the company. He asked me who I would pick for such an extended hunt and I told him I wanted the ranger novices, Laila Wolvesbane and Morel Songsteel, but only if they were promoted to full rangers before we left. I asked for them specifically because they had proven their mettle many times before. I asked for his son, Udoorin, as well, because I thought him to be ready and that he couldn’t keep him locked in a town for the remainder of his life, and that it was time for him to see the real world. I asked him to speak with the Senior Temple Guardian, Demos Lightshand, so he would lend us Lady Magella because I believed we would need her wisdom, if not her skills. I then asked him to convince Lady Moira to come with us, because a paladin would be more useful to us than help dig through the rubble. You, however, I never asked to be burdened. Would you like to know why?”
“Uhhmm.. Is this a trick question?”, mumbled Gnine, for as hard-boiled as he was in his insolence, an extended conversation with this man was a bit too much for him.
“Do I seem like a man who does levity, Master Gnine?”, the man growled at him, still staring into his eyes and the little gnome saw, really saw the bottomless pit of his dark soul.
Gnine gulped.
“No?”, he said as he swallowed something crawling up his throat.
“I never asked for you, because you are a distraction, Master Gnine. You were a distraction to everyone around you back at Serenity Home, and you are a distraction now. You endangered the lives of both the rangers with your distraction, and we just got started. Of all the people in this company, only you are here of your own volition. That means, everyone but you, are under my protection. I am responsible for everyone here. I am not, however, responsible for you. And should you put the lives of those under my protection in danger with your distraction one more time, one of two things will happen. Either I shall tie you into a knot and leave you behind for someone to find you, if at all, or I shall kill you and tell your uncle why, then face whatever punishment I am to suffer..”, the man in dark leathers, hood, and half-mask grated.
Gnine ogled at him, his face going pale.
“You must understand, Master Gnine, this is not a game and we are not here to have fun. How you see the world and the people around you is something I care not. But everything we do has its consequences. This, you must accept even if you do not understand nor comprehend. Now, I shall share you, and perchance, learn you, something I have shared with no other..”, he growled, stressing each word.
And slowly, he pulled off his dark half-mask, then his dark hood to reveal a face to go with his soulless eyes; scarred and stitched, with short, black hair plastered on his scalp. And finally, he opened the front of his dark leathers..
“What.. what are you doing?”, yelped the little gnome.
..to present a lean, somewhat gaunt chest toned with spring coil muscles.
“I am showing you the consequences of stupidity, Master Gnine..”, he growled in disgust, for it was a chest mauled with dark, ugly whip scars.
Gnine just stared at his chest, and at his scars, for there were so many of them and they looked horrible. The little gnome turned around and dumped the content of everything he’d eaten that morning! Aager Fogstep did not smile nor did he show any signs of satisfaction at the after-effects of his lesson over the irresponsible, indifferent, and impulsive little gnome.
“If this is not to your satisfaction, Master Gnine, perhaps you would like to exhibit the other side. The best ones are there..”, he grated almost savagely.
“No, no.. I think I got the gist..”, Gnine spluttered, then hurled again, and only after gulping down many deep breaths.
“It is good that this is gist enough for you. Otherwise, I might have had to grill you.”, Aager said.
“No, no.. No grilling is necessary.”, the little gnome said hastily.
“I am happy to have lived up to your expectations, then, Master Gnine. I would hate to have to resort to the other two options.” Aager growled as he covered the crime scene of his scars, and soon enough, he was the man in dark leathers, hood, and half-mask, again.
Young Gnine Tinkerdome peter pattered after the group with Aager Fogstep silently ghosting behind him.
The little gnome held his silence for as long as he could, then inevitably blurted..
“I was tempted to say, chicks dig scars, Master Aager, but yours are a bloody landscape!”
