The Tracker: Book 1 of the King's Hand Series

by B. A. Monaghan

  Four hours later the sun was beginning to set. John had found an area with large boulders and even larger trees close to the goblin camp. The soldiers were able to camp in the area without fires but their sounds should be limited by the boulders and trees. They had a quick meeting before the sun was completely down showing the soldiers the rout they would take in the morning along with what they should expect from the goblins in their camp.

  Long before the sun came up everyone was up and preparing for the looming battle. All packs were left behind the only thing extra they were taking were the medical pouches and the canteens. John and Roland escorted the soldiers to their set positions before the assault. They would wait there till the sun started to rise. The commander would give the odor to charge. Roland and his father began their way around the goblin camp to the far side. Roland gave himself his cat camouflage. He felt more secure anyway.

  Roland and his dad set up about 30 yards from each other. Not to close but close enough that they could cover each other. This would help to prevent the goblins from escaping. They were close enough to camp that the smell was horrid. The goblins had two sentries neither one seemed to be paying much attention. The one closest to Roland even looked to be asleep. It was nippy this morning there hadn’t been any clouds that night and the stars shown bright. They settled down and waited for dawn.

  False dawn finally came. The goblin near Roland wasn’t just asleep he was snoring. Roland strung his bow and place several arrows next to him for easy reach. His father signaled for him to take the sleeping goblin out when it started. He was closer to the goblin than his father. It wasn’t like it would be a tough shot. Stationary with an open mouth as his target.

  The command to charge came but it wasn’t real loud. In fact, it didn’t even wake up the goblin in front of Roland. He loosed the arrow ending the life of the goblin before he knew he was dead. Shouts now could be heard with banging and crashing sounds. Screams cold be heard. Then his father let loose an arrow. Roland couldn’t see what he hit but he scanned the area in front of him. He saw movement to his left. He pulled sighted in on the movement and a goblin broke out of the bushes. He was headed away from Roland further to his left. The arrow hit the lungs center mass stopping the forward momentum and stopping even a scream of agony.

  The battle had only been going on just minutes when all went quiet. His father signaled him and they began their search around the area. It was their responsibility to ensure no goblins escaped. Roland took left his father took the right. They met on the far side. Nothing had escaped his direction and his father ensured nothing had escaped his direction. They went back and collected their arrows before meeting the commander in the goblins camp.

  Roland changed back into his human image before he headed into camp. His parents had emphasized to him that he should always keep his skills secret as much as was possible.

  The goblin camp was sickeningly odious. Filth was everywhere. The surprise attack had been a huge success. The soldiers had only small cuts and bruises. There was only one serious injury to a soldier’s leg. Roland put a poultice on it and bandaging it. All cuts no matter how minor were cleaned well. The filth that goblins seemed to thrive in wasn’t good for humans and any cuts taken could easily turn septic. The bodies of the goblins and wargs were piled up and burned. There wasn’t anything anyone wanted or could be salvaged.

  The soldiers packed up their packs and headed back to town. John and Roland followed along with the soldiers. When they reached town the soldiers went off to celebrate at the tavern. John and the commander went into the commander’s office where they went to write up the report that would be sent to the Duke about what had happened. John had been given silvers as his reward for the battle.

  Roland went straight way to the blacksmith. When he had any spare coins he would try to buy some iron arrowheads. They worked so much better than his obsidian arrowheads. They had better penetration and they didn’t shatter if they hit something hard like bone. The blacksmith just smiled when he saw Roland. “I thought you might be around. I saw you and your dad come into town yesterday. I made up some arrowheads just for you. I made 6 broad heads and 6 bodkins. Do I need to make up more or will this do?”

  “You know me to well Jake. Same price as last time?”

  “You take all the fun out of it Roland. Your supposed to dicker with me. If you don’t practice they will take advantage of you if you ever get to a big town or city. Every merchant will take advantage of you. Either that or they will all be mad at you for not dickering. People expect to dicker and they take pride in how well they dicker.”

  “You’re probably right Jake but it just seems a waste of time when you and I both know what the price is going to be. Here you go.” Roland handed over 48 copper. “You have a great day Jake and I’ll try to do a better job of dickering the next time.” Jake and Roland smiled shook hands and departed ways.

  His next stop would be the general store. “Charles you in here?” Roland yelled back into the store. He could hear some grunting and groaning back in the back.

  “That you Roland? If you would I’m needing some help moving some crates back here.” Roland walked back and Charles was standing by some large wooden crates. “Roland I need your help. This here is some equipment for the lumber company and I need to move this to get to my other supplies behind it. This crate here is a new iron blade for the sawmill. It weighs more than I do.” Roland grabbed on side and they half lifted half slid the box out of the way. “Thank you Roland I couldn’t have done it without you. Go up front and get a piece of Horehound Candy. Go up front and I’ll be there straight away.

  Roland walked up front and got a piece of his favorite hard candy. He would move boxes all day for a piece of candy. “So Roland what can I do for you today?”

  “I was hoping to get some thick black thread like I picked up last time. I can’t make thread that strong and thin. I think I can make better arrows using it than I can making it out of thistle strands.” Roland picked up his thread along with some salt and headed for the tavern.

  The tavern was lively that evening. With the soldier celebrating it would be a rowdy night. The tavern owner brought over a stew and some berry juice for Roland. “I knew what you wanted so I just thought I would save the trouble of you ordering. Is your father coming by soon?”

  “He is with the commander writing the report for the Duke. I’m sure he will be by soon.” No sooner than he said it then his father sat next to him.

  “So what did you get today.?”

  “I got some iron arrowheads, some black thread and some salt. We were running short of salt to cure the meat so thought I would pick some up.”

  The tavern keeper stopped by with more stew but his dad got the ale instead of berry juice. “We will be staying here tonight we will go home in the morning. The Duke will take care of our expenses for the work we did today.” They finished their meal and Roland went up to their room while his father stayed downstairs talking with the soldiers.

  With Roland being alone he pulled up his status panel. He had reached level 2. His dexterity had jumped by 2 due to his being half elf. He poured the other 5 points into wisdom. He suspected this would be the best because he did need the extra mana. He also noticed his illusion had gone up to Beginner 2. That didn’t take long. Well that and he was always using some type of illusion. His dad had promised to teach him shadow meld soon. This would be his first active tracking ability he would get. It was almost like illusion but it was for trackers. He wondered if using the camouflage along with shadow meld together if they would both be more effective. Well he would have to wait till tomorrow to find out.

  The next morning, they had a quick breakfast and headed home. This time he was carrying his items he purchased the previous day. The arrowheads and thread weren’t anything really. However, the bag of salt was really getting heavy. His father slowed some but not much. By the time they reach the cabin he was exhausted. His shoulder hurt for carry the large bag of s
alt for so long. He dropped off his supplies, cleaned up and cast his cat camouflage.

  They spent time talking with his mother. She required a complete run down on all that happened. She even asked what Roland thought might have done better. His biggest concern was the noise of the soldiers. His mother smiled. “Roland, you are unique. I said this yesterday and I will say it again. Not many people can track like you can and stay hidden. Even without illusion you are hard to see when your tracking. From now on most people and monsters will seem to make lots of noise because you are already good at stealth.”

  His father was waiting for him. Let’s go. They headed off into the woods. They had gone a ways and his father quizzed him on what tracks they had passed and what birds and animals had been in the area. He was taught to be aware of his surroundings at all times. They were near a small cliff when they stopped. It had deep shadows near its base. This must be where he was to learn shadow meld.

  His dad sat down on a rock ledge. “Well now you learn shadow meld. You will be able to use this when there are dark shadows around. It won’t help you out in the open day light. So if you are tracking out on the great grass sea this isn’t going to help. Remember as a tracker you are the one doing the hunting. This will help you to keep the tables from being turned on you. If you think whatever your tracking has found out your tracking it use shadow meld. Find a deep shadow. Find a comfortable position and cast Shadow Meld. I’m to the point where I just cast the word meld. I can also cast it where I didn’t used to be able to. The deeper the shadow the easier it gets. The less shadow the less chance of casting it successfully. Ok, so you try it.”

  Roland entered the dark shadow at the base of the cliff. He squatted down and gave the command “Shadow Meld.” He felt the mana run out of him. The world darkened around him. His father stared into the shadow. “That is good. You will be able to stay there for about an hour before you have to cast it again. You can move around a bit but if you step away from the shadow it goes away. Shadow meld will cost you 40 mana.”

  Later that evening when they were back at the cabin Roland realized that he had finally hit Experienced 1 with his tracking skill. This was the first skill to hit experienced. Everything else was beginner.

  He was finally 16 years old. For most kids this is their first time seeing their status panel. For Roland it was a weekly check. The biggest thing in life was probably his ability to “Reveal Tracks.” This new active ability when cast would show a glowing foot print of the animal or person he was tracking. If anything ran across some rock strewn area where normal tracking wouldn’t help this ability would show the tracks for about 3 minutes. Rarely had he ever had to use this cast but it came in handy at times. When he had tracked his father this training ability came in handy. His father used every trick in the book to evade him. He was quickly gaining experience.

  His parents had not only had a celebration for him but this year they gave gifts. Normally his birthday was celebrated with his favorite meal. This year gifts were handed out. His father gave him a new leather pack with runes to keep everything dry inside. His mother had provided him with a new knife. It was a knife made by elves and it had runes on it that kept it ever sharp and it wouldn’t rust. His parents must have spent a huge amount of money on his gifts. He was overwhelmed.

  His father spoke up first after the gifts were handed out. “Roland, we have pushed you hard for years because we want the best for you. You can go out on your own and you can join any guild you want. We will assist you in any way you want. We also want you to know you are welcome to stay here as long as you want. Your still young and if you want to stay here and continue to gain experience this is one of the best places in the world to be. You are probably already ahead of all your peers. I’ve never heard of anyone being level 8 when they turned 16.”

  His mother couldn’t stay quiet either. “You also need to know that because your half elf your life will be much longer than any human by a few hundred years. There is no hurry for you like there is for humans. In fact, this is the time of life for elves for them to start showing magical abilities. The abilities I’m talking about aren’t your normal casting spell abilities. One of by brothers has the ability to grow plants quickly. He can grow them in the dead of winter and they will produce fruit for him no matter what time of year it is. In fact, I would hope you stay for a while longer to see if you manifest any abilities. You still have a long way to go in herbalism and in Illusions.”

  Roland sat thinking about what they had to say. He was still growing and he didn’t feel like an adult. His bow was still small and he needed to make another one with a greater pull. He was almost as strong as high father but he had some more growth ahead of him. He could keep up with his father running, hiking, climbing and swimming. He also needed to improve his ability to set traps and to make his own bow. His fletching was OK but it needed improving too.

  The biggest question for Roland was what was he going to do in life. Staying in the forest was great but he felt like he needed to do more than stay where he was at. He thought maybe someday him might want a life with someone else and there wasn’t even a prospect in days of travel. He hadn’t spoken to more than three women in his entire life. Those instances were just embarrassing. His face always heated up and turned red. His charisma level was horrid. He was sure it was because he never spoke to anyone except his parents and the few merchants in town. He needed more experiences. He would need to leave the forest sometime. Just not any time too soon.

  “I think I’ll stay for a while. I not sure what I want to do but I think I should at least see some of the world besides Halfway. I really don’t think I want to be a forester but I’m not sure I want to join any guild at the moment. Do I have to register with the mages guild? I might need to do that soon.”

  It was his father who laughed. “No, you don’t have to register anytime soon with the mages guild. Eventually you will need to if you head into civilization. Out here the guilds really don’t have much say and they really could care less what happens Halfway to nowhere. Elves don’t have guilds. You would have to ask your mom about them. You being a Half-Elven I don’t think going to the elves would be a very good idea. Some of them would be able to see through your illusion.”

  The next day he began a new regimen of training. He worked on tracking, strength, endurance, toughness, and archery on even numbered days. On the odd number days, he would work on herbalism, illusion and archery. Every evening he would spend time meditating to renew his mana. His mana pool was getting bigger and he wanted to keep it topped off.

  His use of mana was subtler and wasn’t really offensive. It was incredibly effective. He would run down his mana every day. Either with illusions or with tracking abilities. His mother told him that invisibility would come next. He could only stay invisible for a short period of time but that would be huge. The effect lasted about three minutes. If he ever got in trouble invisibility would be the ticket for a quick escape. The biggest down side to illusion was it had to do with vision. Unfortunately, animals used their noses almost more than they used their eyes.

  That summer he had a huge growth spurt. His legs and arms grew longer and he became more gangly. He looked skinny and even though he was gaining strength no one could tell. Archery took a new turn also. He had to keep adjusting his shot because of his growth. His arms lengthened and his draw was off making his aim off. If it wasn’t one thing it was another.

  With his tracking skills and illusions John took his son on every trip that he needed a tracker. If goblins came into the area, he would let Roland go in to pick them off one and two at a time. Roland was a one-man goblin wrecker. Every kill was experience. The problem was goblin really were a big challenge. If he was going to get better experience he would have to go after higher threat beasts.

  The problem resolved itself. Saryn wasn’t happy about it but there were signs of orcs up in the pass between the Great Grass Sea and Alondale Forest. A small mountain range ran between the forest
and the plains. The orcs live and rule the great plain. When food is short or when the tribes are at war orcs will cross the pass into the forest for safer and easier hunting. Safe except for a Half-Elven who needs experience.

  Chapter 3

  To the Pass

  Orcs were a hand and a half taller than most humans. They are green skinned that is incredibly tough and they are very strong. They have tusks jutting out of their bottom jaw. Their bite alone can kill a man. That is usually used as a last resort. They are proficient with weapons. Most of them use bashing weapons like maces or clubs. Some use swords or axes but those are few. Then there are a few who use bows. They have horn bows and the distance and accuracy is poor. The biggest threat is the shaman. These magic slingers could quickly kill from distance with large area spells. Most use fire based spells but a few are known to use frost and even a few exotic spells.

  John, Saryn and Roland agreed he would hunt for solitary orcs. The possibility for problems increase exponentially when more than one orc was involved. One orc at a time would be a tough fight if he didn’t get a clean shot off. He was to aim for kill shots. Orcs had a great tolerance for pain. They might even be more dangerous wounded. If large numbers were found, he was to return home to report how many and direction of travel. No one wanted to a repeat of the raid on Halfway a decade ago.

  While he was up in the pass he would collect some obsidian for arrowheads and some Alpine Phlox for an elixir for mana regeneration. He also needed some heavy hides for boots he would need for winter. He had out grown the ones he used this last year. While coming back down he would also harvest a Black Cedar so they could use it for more arrows. Nothing was ever simple living halfway to nowhere. Everyone living this far out had to keep up the work of harvesting even if it was leather, rocks, lumber and herbs. Everyone fended for themselves out here.

  Roland packed for a 7 to 10-day trip. He might stay longer if he wanted to but he should be able to get what he wanted completed by then. He didn’t want to stay too long so his parents wouldn’t worry.