Garth rose and looked down the canyonfor more adversaries. Seeing none, he wiped his sword clean on oneof the bodies and sheathed it. He recovered his Lanoirian Star andwiped it clean, also. He walked with his horse down the canyontowards Kalina. Kalina lowered the barrier and walked out to hughim.
“Arik,” Garth said over Kalinashoulder, “I need a count of the bodies. I want to make sure thatwe got them all.”
The two teams that had been on thecanyon rims came riding in, and Garth ordered them to retrievearrows and anything else that they could find which would beuseful. When Arik came back with a count of twenty-six, Garthfrowned. He left Kalina’s embrace and went to examine thebodies.
“Klarg is missing,” Garthsighed as he returned. “Everyone is accounted for except Klarg. Hewill organize a new troop and pursue us. Loot what you can. We moveout in half an hour.”
Chapter 15
Melbin
They stopped for the evening in thepine forest. Tedi got a fire going while Tanya helped Arik with thehorses. Niki helped Kalina with dinner, while Fredrik helped Garthbutcher a deer that Garth had killed. Everyone was tired from thestress of battle as much as the long day of riding.
“How come you didn’t want anyoffense magic during the battle?” Fredrik asked.
“I had hoped to kill all ofthe Dark Riders,” Garth answered. “If we had gotten them all andleft no trace of a magic battle, anyone who discovered the bodieswould attribute the scene to a bandit gang who were hiding in thecanyon. If we left blasted boulders and scorch marks that would notbe believable. Bandits generally don’t have anything to do withmagic. The fact that Klarg escaped means we will be hunted. It isunfortunate because all of you need a lot more training before westart getting into battles.”
“Do you think there will be alot of fighting?” Fredrik queried.
“There will be more than anyof us will want,” Garth sighed. “After dinner we must all train andhone our combat skills. You, Niki and Tanya will join in. Have youever used a sword?”
“No,” Fredrik admitted, “Ihave never even touched one until today. I shot a bow quite a bitwhen I was younger and I learned to throw knives. That is about theextent of my warrior skills.”
Garth examined the boy’s wiry frame anddelicate hands and nodded. “Knives may do fine,” Garth commented.“That and some hand-to-hand techniques that I can showyou.”
Garth heard laughter and turned tolook. Tedi was coming from the stream with a long pole over hisshoulders with four small buckets of water suspended on it. Arikand Tanya were laughing at Tedi, but Garth was impressed with theboy’s balance. The buckets were not discharging their contents.“And maybe the staff,” Garth added absent-mindedly.
Kalina signaled that dinner was readyso everyone washed up and gathered around the campfire and startedeating the venison and apples that Tanya had picked on the way fromthe canyon.
“How do the King of Alcea andthe descendant of the Dark One relate to each other?” Tedi asked.“I mean we have at least one of them with us and maybe both. Shouldthey be working together?”
“Absolutely,” Garth affirmed.“The Kingdom of Alcea will be devoted to bringing the end to theDark One’s reign and the descendant will be working to bring an endto the Dark One, himself. They are not necessarily the same thing.The Dark One has many followers. The Black Devils are a group ofmagicians devoted to the Dark One. There is also a group called theServants of Sarac who are not magicians, but also devoted to him.There are races from the other Universes that worshipped Alutar,the Demons, Goblins, Yaki and Ogres. They will want Sarac tosucceed because it will mean the return of Alutar. People who wishSarac to succeed may well run some of the rogue armies. Whomeverthe King of Alcea is, he will have to marshal whatever forces hecan to fight Sarac’s horde. It is imperative the King and thedescendant work together to accomplish their goals.”
“So, in effect,” Fredrikoffered, “we have just joined the Alcea Army.”
“Yes,” Garth said grimly.“More accurately, we probably are the Alcea Army.”
“Doesn’t Alcea already have anarmy?” Arik inquired.
“I don’t really know,” Garthanswered. “I have not been there in many years. At the time peoplewere still calling it Tagaret, which was its name when Targaexisted. The Collapse, the war with Sordoa that was going on at thetime, and the attacks from Sarac’s Army, all decimated the TarganArmy. After the Collapse, all that was left of Targa was the cityof Tagaret. What was left of the Army probably settled in whereverthey were.”
“What of Alexander Tork andthe Targa Rangers?” queried Tanya.
“Alex and Jenneva left toimprison Sarac in his castle,” Garth answered. “They haven’t beenseen since. The Targa Rangers were only a thousand strong at theirpeak and Captain Mitar Vidson ran them. I would assume that theyremained loyal to King Byron and rallied to him. If so, some ofthem may still exist.”
“You paint a pretty bleakpicture,” commented Niki. “It sounds like this King of Alceadoesn’t even have a country.”
“He doesn’t,” Garth sighed,“but between Kalina, me, and you children, he will, and we will seethat it grows strong.”
“You really need to stopcalling us children,” Tedi stated. “I know you mean it as CollapseChildren, but we still find it offensive.”
There was a general agreement to Tedi’sremark and Garth nodded. “You certainly proved today that you arenot children. I am proud of the way you all followed orders, butwhat shall we call you, then?”
“We should be called the AlceaRangers,” offered Tanya, “and that includes you andKalina.”
Calls of agreement went around thecampfire and Garth smiled. “Okay,” he said, “I will be proud toserve with each and every one of you in the newly formed AlceaRangers. However, as proud as I am to serve with you, I wouldrather feel safe serving with you, so I think it time to start ourtraining for this evening. Niki, you will train with Kalina thisevening. Tedi, I want you to cut another pole like the one you usedto carry water. I want you and Fredrik to start learning how tohandle a staff. Tanya, you get to prove you are as good as theother boys against Arik. Let’s go.”
Everyone started to get up and Garthturned back towards the fire. “Forgot a couple of things,” hestated. “Everyone in the Rangers will be required to be proficientin using a knife and throwing a Lanoirian Star. These are twoweapons that are easily concealed and deadly if used by someone whohas been trained. See me when you can and I will supply you withenough to start training. You should train with these two weaponswhenever you have nothing else to do. One more important thing,seeing as we have people in camp who see nothing wrong with goingthrough others’ belongings. I have a satchel that containsLanoirian Stars and myric quills. Do not go in it. Myric quills aredeadly poisonous. One touch of the tip and you will be dead beforeyou hit the ground. I will instruct you in their use when you areready.”
A few red faces appeared as the Rangersheaded to their appropriate training spots. Garth walked around andobserved or instructed as needed. Fredrik was awkward at first withthe staff, but Tedi had a fine sense of balance and handled thestick with excellent control. With a little training and a lot ofpractice, Tedi would be deadlier with the staff than he would bewith a sword.
Tanya was indeed giving Arik a contest.Of the two Lorgo boys, Arik was definitely the better swordsman.Tanya was very good with a sword and was besting Arik, but it wasobvious that she had received some good instruction. Eventually,Arik would beat her constantly because the boy was so powerful, butfor training, Tanya would prove to be an excellent sparring partnerfor him.
Raised voices from Niki and Kalina drewGarth towards them and he stopped to listen.
“It just is not possible,Niki,” Kalina was saying. “A shield never remains stable or levelsoff, it keeps getting weaker each time it is hit. That is the verybasic nature of the shield. It is probable that you just becamenumb and didn’t feel it getting weaker. Now I want you to listevery spell you know and I will start to teach you spells
which areclosely related to the ones you already know.”
Tedi gave Fredrik a good hit to theankle and Garth hurried over. He knelt down and examined the ankle.“It’s okay,” Fredrik declared. “It hurts a bit, but that is my ownfault.” Fredrik limped to his feet and picked up his staff andcontinued his practice with Tedi.
For the next several weeks, the Rangerstraveled half days and spent the other half days and eveningspracticing. The results of the training were promising. Fredrik wasmodest when he said that he had played with throwing knives. He wasalready better at throwing knives than most men Garth had met, andhe took to throwing the Lanoirian Star fairly well. He still hadquite a way to go in hand-to-hand combat with a knife, but if hecould throw them quickly enough, his assailants wouldn’t getclose.
The old merchant, Boris, got hismoney’s worth on the instructions that he had purchased for Tanya.She was good with knives, bow, and staff, as well as the sword. Shealso enjoyed tossing the boys around in hand-to-hand combat. Shepicked up the knack of using the Lanoirian Star very easily, aswell.
Arik was an eager and fast learner. Hismuscular body was in excellent shape and he had an amazingendurance. Tanya still beat him most of the time in swordplay, buthe was getting better. With the bow, nobody could beat him and hiskeen eyesight seemed to help him with the Lanoirian Star as well.Tedi, Fredrik, and Tanya could beat him with a staff and Arikgenerally avoided using one.
Tedi excelled with the staff, gettingbetter every day. He now took on Tanya and Fredrik at the same timeand won most of the time. He was also turning into a good tracker,better than Arik, which surprised both of them. Garth also learnedthat Tedi had an excellent set of ears, hearing many things thatGarth did not, and Garth’s hearing was excellent.
Niki was having trouble with both theknife and the Lanoirian Star, the only two weapons she was trainingwith. When Niki practiced throwing, everyone cleared out of theway. Kalina said she was progressing well with her magic, though.She was not as strong or as talented as Fredrik, but she had someunusual talents. She could smell things that no one else wascapable of smelling. Her claim had led to an interesting eveningwhen the boys volunteered to hide things in the woods and make herfind them blindfolded, and she did. She also knew some types ofmagic healing that Kalina had never heard of. She claimed to havelearned them by accident and Kalina promised to secure a book onhealing spells for her when she could.
Garth combined horseback archerylessons with hunting and food was always plentiful. Kalina combinedher lessons on edible plants with instructions on gathering plantsand minerals necessary for some magical potions. She began toaccumulate some stock to teach Fredrik and Niki how to make potionsand what they were good for. For the most part, Garth was verypleased with the progress that the Rangers were making. Already,the four warriors, Arik, Tedi, Fredrik, and Tanya, would have beenwelcome recruits to any army. Garth had plans of making them muchmore than recruit material, though.
Arik and Tanya rode into the campsitewith a large buck and were arguing about whose skill contributedmore towards the kill.
“It was my shot that took himdown,” insisted Arik.
“Only because it was yourturn,” Tanya protested. “I am the one who tracked himdown.”
“Tracked him!” laughed Arik.“He practically stood and waited for us.”
The bantering continued as the twoRangers dropped the buck for Fredrik and Tedi to prepare and tookcare of their horses. Kalina observed Garth smile and shake hishead and came over and embraced him.
“I haven’t seen you smile in along time, warrior,” she teased.
“Nor you, witch,” Garth saidsoftly as he returned her embrace. “Out here with the children, onecould almost forget the death and destruction that continues in theworld.”
“Almost,” Kalina uttered asshe broke the embrace. “We are going to have to make a trip intotown soon. Tanya told me that some of the horses need their shoestended to.”
Garth sat by the fire in a thoughtfulmood and Kalina sat down next to him. “Melbin is less than a day’sride,” he finally offered. “I will take the horses in tomorrow andget them taken care of.”
“Can I come with you?” Fredrikasked as he also sat down. “I have been making knife sheaths andmost of the knives we have are a little too large for concealment.I would like to shop for something a little smaller and a bit morebalanced.”
“The knives we have will dothe job,” Garth stated. “Where are you trying to conceal them thatthey have to be smaller?”
“You have never been a daintywoman,” Niki laughed as she sat next to Fredrik. “Would you believethat Fredrik has eight knives on his body right now? You, Garth,have created a monster. Besides, I will keep an eye on him for you.I need to do some shopping as well. Just this morning, I broke mylast comb.”
“I wouldn’t mind getting somenews on the situation in Lorgo,” added Arik. “We don’t know whathas happened since we left.”
Garth looked up at Arik, Tedi, andTanya standing across the fire. Garth turned to Kalina for help andshe smiled at him. “I did promise to try and find books for Nikiand we could use some more leather and dyes,” sheshrugged.
Garth laughed heartily. “What is thematter, Tedi?” he quipped. “Didn’t they let you in on thiscon?”
“I’m quite happy here,” Tediremarked. “Though I have no objections to helping Tanya with thehorses. You really can’t handle them all by yourself.”
Garth looked around at all the smilingand eager faces. “Okay,” he consented as he threw his hands up. “Idon’t need a mutiny on my hands, but . . .” Garth grew deadlyserious as he continued, “but we have to be very careful. There aredangers in the cities and one loose word will endanger us all.Arik, you will be in charge and you will keep everyone safe. I willneed to pick up some information while I am in the city and it willnot be safe for all of you to be around me. Kalina and I are knownby different names in Melbin. Do not use them unless you are indire trouble, but we are known as Mikal and YolindaObanik.”
“Why do you use differentnames for different places?” asked Tanya. “Are you wantedcriminals?”
“We have broken no laws,”Kalina answered, “but, still, we have many enemies. For your ownsafety, you will pretend not to know us in the city unless weapproach you and then you will use the new names Garth has justtold to you.”
Everyone nodded in agreement and theevening was filled with excited plans for the outing to Melbin. Inthe morning everyone except Garth shed their black uniform anddonned clothes that would fit the city. The entire campsite wascleaned up and the group was ready to leave at firstlight.
By midday, the walls of Melbin rose inthe distance and Arik and Tedi stared in awe. While the boys wereimpressed by the size of the city, Fredrik, Niki, and Tanya wereonly curious about what Melbin would be like.
As they rode on, Garth explained a bitabout Melbin. “The city was not always this large,” he began.“Before the Collapse it was a little larger than Lorgo because itwas a seaport for Targa. The Sordoan border was only a few milessouth of here. During the war Melbin was attacked by both sidesrepeatedly and what they didn’t destroy, the Collapse did. Afterthe Collapse, the citizens began to rebuild the city and one ofthem, Alfred Krakus, declared himself King of Melbin. He had theold garrison destroyed and a wall built around the city. Other thanthe seacoast, there are only three gates to get in and out of thecity, one on each side of the city. In the center of the city hebuilt himself a grand palace. The times were very troubled then andthe wall around Melbin attracted many immigrants. The city is nowfilled to overflowing and construction is occurring outside thewalls. The King taxes the people heavily, but they seem willing topay his tribute because crime is almost nonexistent in Melbin. Thelaws are very strict and many minor offenses result in the death ofthe violator. Do not steal or cheat a merchant during your stay inMelbin.”
Garth paused to make sure everyone hadheard his last statement. “Magic is forbidden,” Garth continued,“but like a lot of things, magic is u
sed in private with noconsequences. The Black Devils maintain a house in Melbin openlyand no one complains. I suppose that I do not have to remind you tostay clear of the Black Devils, but remember that if you use magicinside Melbin, you will draw their notice. Kalina and I are goingto use the West Gate to enter. The rest of you will use the SouthGate. There is an inn on the coastal highway called the FlutteringJib. That is where you will stay. We will be staying in the Bosun’sChair across the street.”
After they had ridden on for a mile,Garth and Kalina veered off towards the West Gate and the rest ofthe group continued on towards the South Gate. Their excitementrose as they neared the walls and approached the massive SouthGate. Streams of people were entering and exiting the city. Tedifelt uneasy passing before the stern looking guards in their orangeand black livery, but the guards paid the group no more than apassing look.
Once inside the city walls, smells andsounds assaulted the group’s senses. Arik and Tedi savored thesalty air of the seaport, while Fredrik and Niki inhaled the scentsof the merchants and food sellers. Hawkers cried out to them asthey passed, offering deals at favorite inns and restaurants, oroffering to take them on a city tour. The Rangers ignored theoffers and strode on towards the Fluttering Jib. Fredrik had topull Niki along several times as she stopped to inspect amerchant’s wares.
Even the street in front of theFluttering Jib was busy with street-side jugglers and musicians.Arik turned and looked across the street to the Bosun’s Chair asthey turned down the alley alongside the inn to the stables. Thestables were large and well cared for and Arik inquired about ablacksmith and was told that the inn had a working relationshipwith one. Arik could make his arrangements with the blacksmith andleave the horses in the stable. The blacksmith would collect thehorses as needed and have everything ready in themorning.
Satisfied, the group entered theFluttering Jib through the back door to the common room. The placewas busy, but the innkeeper saw them and came right over. Arik wasstaring at the size of the common room, so Fredrik spoke to theinnkeeper. He requested two rooms and the Rangers turned to look athim as he gave his name as Lord Wason of Cidal. The innkeeper,however, showed the proper respect due a Lord and escorted thegroup upstairs and showed them their rooms. The rooms were largeenough to be comfortable, but small enough to prohibit spending anymore time in them than necessary.
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