Rise of the Ranger (Echoes of Fate: Book 1)

by Philip C. Quaintrell

  Jai Hadrok ran through the portal beside Adellum and emerged inside a large courtyard, inside West Fellion. Through his eyes, Alidyr could see the smaller courtyard beyond the stables, where the main gates used to be. What a sight that was... Asher, a single man and older than most of the Arakesh sent to West Fellion, stood defiantly between both entrances, his sword swinging all about him with incredible precision. The man’s broadsword deflected several blades at once before coming back around to cut an assassin in half.

  Every now and then the ranger would unleash a fireball or a wave of magical energy that would push the horde back. Between Paldora’s gem and the red cloth around his eyes, Asher was a force to be reckoned with. Alidyr thought about entering the fray and cutting down the ranger, leaving the ring to be taken from his dead body. But the elf looked at the hands of the human body he possessed and thought twice about it. He would be slower than if he were fighting himself. There was a good chance that Asher would best him by the looks of the bodies he was quickly piling up, and Alidyr only possessed the Arakesh so that he might better observe the battle. The elf hadn’t become Valanis’s general by wading into every battle he came across. Besides, he thought, the ranger couldn’t sustain that level of energy indefinitely. He would soon fall and Adellum would recover the gem.

  “Asher! Get out of there!” The cry came from a blonde elf standing on the inner wall, above the main gate.

  Princess Reyna Sevari.

  The elf was firing arrows into the small courtyard, thinning the masses that poured in to fight the ranger. Across from her were two Graycoats that appeared to be protecting the elf from the advancing Arakesh. Perhaps there was a little fun to be had after all. Alidyr ran for the stables and used what agility Jai Hadrok had to run up the corner pole and onto the wooden roof. Directly in front of him was a small jump up to the inner wall, where a young female Graycoat stood, ready for battle. Alidyr could see the inexperience in the girl and knew killing her would be easy. A blade into the back of the other Graycoat would leave the princess vulnerable.

  “Nathaniel!” The younger knight spotted Jai Hadrok to her right.

  “Stop him!” the older knight shouted back, as he fended off two assassins.

  The young knight screamed of inexperience, but she finally found her courage and jumped down onto the stables roof. Through Jai’s mouth, Alidyr smiled menacingly. Victory was assured and the gem would soon be his to gift to his master, freeing Valanis once and for all. The elf was in a playful mood and decided to take his time with the girl.

  The young Graycoat approached him with caution and her sword pointed out in front of her. Alidyr slowly circled her, his swords lowered, showing no signs of concern. Even with a human body he could easily best this child. The girl dashed towards him, but the elf could see the feint and simply moved aside, not bothering to raise his blades for a blow that would never come. Surprisingly, the knight tucked into a roll and slid from the edge of the roof, using her hand to hang off the lip for a second, before dropping into the stables below.

  Alidyr frowned and looked over the edge, but the girl was gone, off to cower in some hole somewhere, no doubt. The sound of Arakesh dying on the wall brought his attention around. The older knight, Nathaniel, was managing to hold back the assassins from reaching the princess. The human showed great skill for, well... a human. The Graycoat showed more than one injury and still continued to hold his own, much like the traitorous Asher.

  The body of Jai Hadrok ran along the stables and jumped onto the inner wall. First he would fell the knight, and then he would cut the princess’s throat. The Graycoat didn’t even know there was an enemy at his back, so busy was he fighting the others. Hot coals and flickering flames littered the ground between him and Nathaniel, where a fire-pit had been knocked over. Alidyr stalked behind his prey, walking over the coals, already visualising the short-sword slipping between the man’s vertebrae.

  “Hey!”

  Alidyr spun around, cursing his own arrogance. The young Graycoat had climbed back up the stables and onto the wall, flanking him. In her hand was a small pouch, tightly bound. Now she wore the menacing smile. The elf raised his swords to end the silly, little girl’s life, when the Graycoat flicked her wrist holding the pouch. The bag dropped into the flickering flames and exploded with a brilliant flash of light. Jai’s senses were exceeded beyond their limit, blinding him in every way. Flames clung to his legs and licked at his belt, as the man floundered in pain. Alidyr found the air sucked from his lungs, when the girl drove her sword through his chest, dropping him to his knees.

  Hundreds of miles away, Alidyr’s real body was flung from the circle of runes, leaving the reeling elf to clutch at his chest with the memory of the pain. He panted and wheezed in the dim glow of his chamber, thankful for the privacy. Alidyr crawled back to the enchanted circle and reached out for one of the remaining nineteen that he could possess.

  There appeared to be an unlimited supply of Arakesh charging forth from the portal. Faylen did her best to keep the Graycoats alive from the stray blades they didn’t see coming, but for the most part the elf continued to fight her way towards the portal. She parried a blow to her right, while extending her hand to the left and conjured a fireball to knock another from the wall. A quick duck and a spin on one knee brought her up beside the Arakesh, where Faylen quickly slashed across the woman’s abdomen, cutting through the armour with ease and whipping it out the other side.

  The elf used her unique agility to slide on her knees across the wet stone and pop up amid three unsuspecting Arakesh. Their extra senses allowed them to react quicker than Faylen would have liked, but it did them no good. The elf parried all three assassins with an exotic twirl of her scimitar, before spinning like a fallen leaf on the wind. Her blade slashed and hacked, as her feet kicked out to the left and right. By the time her feet touched the floor again, all three were dead at her feet. The surrounding Graycoats stared at her in astonishment and awe.

  “We have to close that portal! With me!” Her call brought the remaining knights to rally behind her.

  They ran as a single battering ram, towards the emerging assassins. At the last second, Faylen skipped and hopped along the mount of the wall, gaining height over her adversaries, and came to land behind the first line of Arakesh. Her attack distracted the front line just long enough for the Graycoats to batter through and cut them down, while she went to work on those in front of the portal. The elf took note of several cuts and bruises that continued to appear over her body, but she never stopped to check their severity.

  When at last Faylen was standing before the abyss-like portal, she fired a static burst of lightning at the Arakesh running through the barrier. The man was flung back into the field below, out of sight. The elf immediately dropped her scimitar and raised both of her hands towards the portal, calling on her innate magic to close the doorway. A Graycoat dashed to her side and plunged his sword into another assassin trying to pass through. The magic that had opened the portal was powerful, that much she could feel from her efforts.

  A final scream accompanied her desperate efforts to seal the portal. Faylen dropped to her knees with blood trickling out of her nose, exhausted. The cheers of triumph behind her were barely audible over the ringing in her ears. A man and woman helped her up and handed the scimitar back. Just from her vantage alone she could see four other portals within the keep. Dozens funnelled out of the inky abyss on the far side of the main gate. She would close that one next... if her legs would move.

  Reyna danced between flying arrows, as she continued to rain down her own on the Arakesh that charged through the main gate. Her efforts made Asher’s battle just manageable, thinning their numbers enough to keep the ranger on his feet. Never before had she been so impressed with another’s fighting ability. The princess had seen some of the best fighters her kind had to offer in Elandril, but none could stand against so many and never waver. The ranger fought as a man possessed by Krayt, the god of war himself, and all
with a blindfold over his eyes.

  Nathaniel and Elaith fought valiantly behind her, keeping the assassins at bay. But her support of Asher had gained her the attention of others on the outer wall. Six Arakesh departed from the battle and made for the bridge that connected the two walls. Reyna notched arrow after arrow and let loose with deadly accuracy. With the help of their so called, Nightseye elixir, five of the assassins were able to evade the barrage of arrows, flipping and twisting their bodies as they ran. The man at the back came out of his roll too soon and caught an arrow in the throat, halting his charge.

  Reyna strode towards them and crossed the wall, glancing at Asher below, who flew about like a wild man, jumping off the walls and diving into the fray. If he could hold so many, then an elf could certainly defeat five Arakesh. The princess kept her stride fluid and her sight fixed on the distance, never giving away her intentions.

  Her hand tightened around the grip of the bow, moments before the first of the assassins came at her with his blades. Reyna swayed her body to the left by just a few inches and avoided the slice of the blade. The elf continued to walk into the group of killers, paying no heed to the first attacker. Now she was surrounded by the five and felt that familiar calmness that filled her body in battle. Her body knew what to do; she simply had to listen to it. Reyna flipped her bow with incredible dexterity and battered aside two of her attacker’s swords, while bending her torso downwards to bring her leg out behind her. The first attacker was not only forced back but lifted from his feet when Reyna’s foot connected with his chest. The elf felt the man’s ribs cave in before he fell into the courtyard that Asher had turned into a mass grave.

  Without stopping, the princess snapped her body back and brought her powerful leg out in front of her, push-kicking another Arakesh off the other side of the wall and through the roof, into the stables. Her bow came up again and again to deflect and parry their short-swords, often following them up with a swift punch to knock them back and give her room.

  Using a technique her mother had shown her, Reyna twisted the bow allowing her to hook the string over the back of an assassin’s head. The princess pulled the bow back, bringing the man’s head with it, where she then thrust her fist into his nose. The assassin’s head snapped back and he fell into the closest fire-pit, tipping the bowl over with him. He screamed and rolled around in an attempt to douse the flames, only to accidentally roll off the wall.

  The remaining two didn’t appear deterred by her fighting prowess, and came for her still. Reyna drew her scimitar at the last moment and twirled her body between the two assassins, narrowly missing both of their attacks. Once on the other side, the elf dropped down low and span around with her sword out-stretched. The two Arakesh were helpless to stop her from cutting out their legs and forcing them to their knees, where she then jumped up and sliced one across the torso and removed the other’s head.

  The breaking of wood to the left caught her attention, as the Arakesh who had fallen through the stables clambered back out. Reyna sheathed her scimitar and reached for another arrow when the Arakesh was killed by another’s. Nathaniel stood above the main gate with his bow in hand. He cast an eye over the dead Arakesh at her feet with an impressed look. Elaith fought on behind him, making short work of the assassins with her Talo spices.

  “Don’t just stand there, keep moving!” Faylen called from the outer wall. Reyna’s mentor and a gathering of Graycoats were charging through the assassins and heading for the portal on the far side.

  “We need to help Asher!” Nathaniel looked down at the courtyard with disbelief on his face. “Elaith!” The young knight turned from her victory and followed him down the steps.

  Reyna was torn between helping them and offering her magical assistance to Faylen. She was like a mother to her, and the need to protect her mentor was natural, but Faylen’s talents with a sword were also undeniable. The elf would no doubt succeed in closing the portal as well as killing any who stood between her and it. Her friends, on the other hand, were about to face unfavourable odds, odds she could help tip with her bow.

  The princess dropped onto the stables roof and deftly flipped onto the muddy ground. At least forty dead Graycoats littered the ground where Adellum’s arrow had devastated the gates. Nathaniel and Elaith were quick to join her, only stopping briefly to bring down an Arakesh foolish enough to challenge them.

  “Don’t you ever run out of arrows?” Nathaniel glanced over her full quiver.

  “No. It’s enchanted.” Had she not been so cold and exhausted in the down pour, Reyna might have laughed at the Graycoat’s surprised expression.

  “By all the gods...” Nathaniel’s attention was wholly taken by the events inside the small courtyard.

  The number of Arakesh bodies that had piled up was becoming a hindrance to those still trying to fight the ranger. The rain water that ran between the stables was red with all the blood that poured from the courtyard. Reyna was unsure whether to help or simply stand and watch the ranger. Asher moved with implausible speed, a testament to his endurance and lifetime of training. His broadsword thrust, cut, stabbed, sliced and hacked at anything that moved within those walls.

  Through blood and rain, Asher’s blindfold was plastered to his eyes. The ranger had to be light on his feet now, to avoid tripping over the bodies that piled around him. As the fight wore on, he became more and more aware of the injuries he had sustained. A particular slash across his back had made certain manoeuvres hard to pull off and had forced him to adjust his fighting style. A cut across his left thigh had stopped him from using that leg to kick or jump.

  The key to surviving, he had found, was to ensure that every swipe of his sword killed more than one Arakesh at once. The ranger was sure his spiked pommel would be blunt by the time the fight was over. He had lost count of how many faces and bones he had broken with it. He was only partially aware of the dagger protruding from his shoulder.

  As suddenly as it started, the barrage of attacks came to an end and Asher found himself with no one trying to kill him. The surrounding Arakesh slowly backed off, as if a pack of hyenas had realised they couldn’t bring down a lion.

  “Come on!” Asher screamed, his bloodlust at its apex.

  Still the Arakesh continued to back off and part down the middle. Asher’s extra senses discovered the reason before any ordinary senses would have. Striding through the centre of the horde was Adellum Bövö and his magnificent bow. The fire from the moat cast the general in a malevolent light, as he passed into the courtyard, his golden eyes shining from within his black hood and fixed on Asher. Without warning, the elf raised a hand and let loose spell after spell of fire, ice and lightning. Every spell dissipated or deflected around Asher’s body, protected as he was by Paldora’s gem.

  “You are the ranger,” Adellum announced. The elf looked down at the stacks of bodies around them, but any expression was concealed behind his mask.

  Asher sized up the dark figure and knew he was outmatched. The fight thus far had exhausted him to a point he was only now starting to feel since he had stopped. The injuries he had sustained would only slow him down and the elf would be sure to inflict more. Of course, all that was mute if Adellum decided to use his bow. Asher had deflected arrows before with his sword, but an arrow from that bow would cut him and his sword in half.

  Asher’s heightened senses could hear the elf’s heart beating beneath his chest. It was slow and steady, and easily the loudest beating of any heart he had ever heard - the ranger likened it to thunder. The magic that surrounded and penetrated the dark elf gave off a static charge that Asher could feel against his own skin.

  The battle continued to rage across the walls and deeper within West Fellion’s keep. Only those within the courtyard had stopped to watch these two warriors collide. Asher could sense Reyna, Nathaniel and Elaith behind him, standing between the stables. More than that, he could hear the tension in all three of their bows, ready to let fly their arrows at Adellum.

&nb
sp; “Give me the gem and your death will be swift,” Adellum continued.

  “The dead have no need for trinkets...” Asher raised his sword, with a grimace to match his threat.

  “As you wish.” Adellum almost sounded entertained.

  Both man and elf made for one another, Asher with his sword raised high and Adellum with his bow kept low. The ranger predicted how the elf would attack him, but was simply too slow to do anything about it. Adellum jumped and turned in mid-air, so that his outstretched leg came out behind him and slammed into Asher’s chest.

  The ranger didn’t know at which point he dropped his sword, but by the time he had stopped rolling backwards and come to a stop, it was no longer in his hand. Through the sodden ground, his body had created a trail on his journey out of the courtyard. Somewhere along the way his red blindfold had come off his head and been left behind, along with the dagger protruding from his shoulder. Now the cold rain pelted his face, as he lay in the mud on his back.

  “Asher!” Reyna cried. The princess, along with a helping hand from Nathaniel, picked the ranger up and steadied him on his feet.

  Seeing Adellum with his human eyes only worked to make the shadowy figure appear more menacing. The dark elf strode through the entrance and stepped over his previous victims with little care. Asher could now see the ornate recurve bow up close and wasn’t thankful for it. The ends of each limb were adorned with fine silver blades, making the bow perfect for close melee, as well as a projectile weapon. While the ranger had been in mid-flight, the other three had fired their arrows at the dark elf, only to see their projectiles batted away with the wave of a hand. With that in mind, Asher left his own bow where it was, Adellum wasn’t going to be beaten by an arrow.