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

by B. A. Monaghan

  Well he decided he wasn’t prepared enough to go out at night. He went to the merchants square. He picked up a very expensive rope. It had runes put into the thing so that it was incredibly strong and only about a half inch thick. It resisted abrasions and cuts. He then picked up a small grappling hook from the blacksmith. That should help his climbing.

  That night instead of running around on the ground level he ran across the roof tops. Shadow ran the streets and they worked in tandem to scout ahead for each other and assist diversions. Roland picked up some pebbles and he used those for distractions. This helped get Shadow into position and then he would growl when Roland needed a distraction. The poor part of town was easy to travel across the roof tops. In the rich part of town, the houses had space between them and fences that kept Roland from racing across their roofs.

  They were near the warehouse that he had broken into the previous night when he saw movement. Someone else was on the roof too. It wasn’t much but it was movement. Whoever it was moved with incredible grace. Twice he lost them but his smell picked them back up. Shadow said he knew who the smell belonged to. That stopped Roland in his tracks. “Who?” Shadow exhaled as if irritated that Roland couldn’t figure it out. “Amelia.”

  What in the world was going on? Who were the Shatris family? They had to be a family. Amelia looked like Evelyn and Eli. She was half elven. They had to be a family. So what did they really do? Evelyn was on the Mage’s Council in the Mage’s Guild. She was an advisor to the king. Rogue was watching them and was used to transfer messages. Eli worked for the mages guild. What else did he do? He was an elf and wasn’t worried about a war with the elves and living in the capitol. Roland was missing some pieces to the puzzle. And they were important pieces. Could he spy on the family with Rogue in the air? Probably not. Dragon’s, even small ones, could probably see through illusions. Oh, what a tangled web.

  He went home and went straight to bed. He would have to worry about what was going on later. Tomorrow he would have all his gear. Would Mateo want him in the group? Did he have a choice if he was in the group or not? He didn’t know what the sides were or who were on whose side? He felt like the worm on the hook, and everyone else was waiting for the fish to bite.

  Chapter 9

  The Big Caravan

  The next day he picked up his armor. The knives fit well in the hidden sheaths. It would take practice to get used to pulling them out of their hidden spots. He went to Farrell’s and had one last practice. Farrell said that he was good enough to go up against just about anyone but an expert.

  On the way back to his house he picked up a good amount of jerky and trail bread. He picked up some herbs too. He had gone through quite a bit of his elixirs because of all the bruising and sore muscles. He put everything away in his pack. He was back to having three full quivers. He kept the stinger arrowheads in his quiver at his side.

  He showed up at the guild house an hour later. Mateo was there sitting at a table having dinner. Damari and Vena were with him too. As he was walking over to the table Imala was sitting at the desk and she said hi and gave him a wink. Was she flirting or was she acting a part. He just wasn’t old enough or knowledgeable enough to know if others were being deceptive.

  “Hey Mateo, Damari and Vena. How are you three doing?”

  Mateo always with the big smile. “We are great Roland. It’s good to see you and Shadow. That armor looks good. I was wondering what you would do with that hide? Are you going to go with us on the next mission?”

  “It looks like it if you want us. I think I’m better prepared this time. Shadow just wants to leave the city. Anything is better than living in the middle of all these people, for him.”

  “Well, we have a good mission this time. We will be going to Port Orchard with a caravan. The caravan will be taking the weapons and armor that didn’t make it last time. They have extra guards for the caravan and we will be the rear security for the caravan. We will be riding in the last wagon. You and Shadow will be to the rear flanks of the caravan. The big difference is that the mage guild is sending over a mage to go with us. We are waiting for whoever it is to show up. Let me order you a meal and it would be good to hear what all everyone did for the last three weeks.”

  The meal was what one would expect in a guild hall. Plenty of food just over cooked and bland. Vena had been working on her healing abilities while they were back. Damari had gotten a pair of matching gauntlets and worked on eating and taking it easy. The gauntlets looked to be in good shape too. Mateo had his shield worked on. He had some of the wood replaced and a few of the rivets were replaced. He let on that he has spent some time with someone special but didn’t go into the details.

  Roland was just about done with the meal when a woman in a black robe walked into the guild hall. She was definitely a mage. She had a hat on that was lopsided but looked like it was made out of some nice material. She carried a staff with a blue stone on the top of it. There was a badge on her sleeve showing the mage guild crest. She spoke with Imala who was pointing to their table. The woman shook her head and walked up to the table.

  “My name is Odelia. The mage guild sent me. My specialty is electrical attacks. I don’t pull guard and I don’t chase anyone down. If they are running from me then good for them. They might live a bit longer. Do you have any questions for me?”

  “Well Odelia,” Mateo began. “Let me introduce you to everyone. My name is Mateo, I’m the leader of this group. The mages guild was specific to the things you would and wouldn’t do. But if I tell you to do something then you do it. I am here to get everyone home alive. This here is Damari; he is a warrior. He gets a bit carried away at times and he loves to fight. Get behind he and I and we will protect you. The beautiful young priest is Vena. She is our healer and she can put a shield around us. That costs a lot of mana and so we try not to take advantage of her shields unless necessary. We prefer she keep us healed.”

  “Next you will notice, Roland our tracker and his friend Shadow the mountain wolf. Shadow is part of our group and is a guild member so please don’t attack him. They will be in the woods most of the time protecting us from attacks to our flanks. The one question I have is what is your full name?”

  “Why do you need to know my whole name?”

  “Well if you let me know what your whole name is then if there is a kill we share in the experience. It would benefit you because Roland and Shadow steal most of the kills.”

  “My full name is Odelia Caster. Yes, my family has a rich history in the mages guild and I’m sure you recognize my name.”

  Mateo added everyone to the group. Roland realized that Mateo didn’t tell her how to access the group panel. Roland hadn’t heard of hardly any famous families growing up near the ends of the earth. Maybe Vena would tell him what the Caster family had done to bring recognition to the name. They departed and agreed to meet up before dawn at the edge of town. The caravan would leave soon after sunrise.

  Roland and Shadow were up in the middle of the night. They went out and scouted the are in shadow form. They heard a bird fly overhead. It was a bit early for birds to be flying. Then they heard a bird screech. Shadow darted into the dark. Roland waited and Shadow was eating a pigeon. Roland gave him a look of “how did you do that?”

  Shadow crunched away at the bird and let Roland know. “Rogue doesn’t like pigeons. He let me have it.” Well they had a small dragon keeping the messages from getting out of the city. Maybe that would give them some advantage.

  The rest of the group showed up and Roland and Shadow ditched the illusions. The group jumped into the last wagon. They had a coachman to drive the wagon. They were to be a rear guard if they were attacked. They didn’t need to be concerned about driving a wagon. There was a bonus for fights to defend the caravan.

  As the caravan was taking off Shadow took the north side of the caravan and Roland took the south side. There were two more groups of adventurers. One was the lead element and the other took the center of the ca
ravan. Roland and Shadow were out the furthest. The other trackers were good but they weren’t that good. They didn’t have a mountain wolf and have his sense of smell hearing and sight.

  The caravan was moving well. Roland would provide the meat for the meals every night. Even Odelia came to appreciate the fresh meat. They even started getting out of the wagon to walk beside the wagon. Wagon’s are nice but riding in them for any length of time will wear on you and they needed to keep fresh. The caravan consisted of 8 wagons. Three were for the adventurers and 5 were cargo. The three where everyone was riding also carried all the provisions for the trip. At the cross roads between Waterville and Port Dickinson there would be a resupply to finish the trip.

  This part of the journey was open ground with patches of trees and rolling hills. They were making good time. The ground was dry and they were pushing up a cloud of dust, that could be seen for miles. Roland and Shadow didn’t mind the dust too much. The rest of the group was struggling with the dust. They were covered in it every day, being the back of the caravan.

  The beginning of the second week Shadow noticed that the normal amount of animals in the area were scarce. Something wasn’t quite right. Roland couldn’t find anything on the south side but kept his attention on high alert. Shadow finally found the problem. “Orcs.”

  Roland was sprinting back to the caravan. Shadow was trying to get a count. There were 5 groups and each group seemed to be a different tribe. They were closing fast on the caravan. Roland got to the caravan first. “Orcs!!! They are coming from the north 5 groups and it looks like 5 tribes.” The caravan immediately circled the wagons. They unhitched the horses and brought them into the center of the wagons. The coachmen would keep the horses from bolting.

  Roland picked up his pack and placed the two extra quivers next to him. Damari would keep the orcs off of him while he would shoot from range. Mateo was up in a wagon with the mage and Vena. They were on the 10 o’clock position if the direction of the attack was at the 12 o’clock position. Shadow would attack targets of opportunity from the ground. He was following the orcs just behind and to the side of the orcs.

  The orcs slowed down as they came over the last rise about 200 yards before they came to the road. Roland was sure they didn’t expect to have a caravan in a defensive position when they hit. They took a second and at least one of the leaders gave a command to charge. They were in a dead sprint 200 yards before they would enter the fight. Dumb orcs. They would be tired by the time the first club would be swung. By the time they were 100 yards out Roland started to lose his arrows.

  He was shooting one every two seconds. He dropped 10 before they hit the caravan. The mage wasn’t quiet she let lose lightning strike that skipped from orc to orc. The left side of the orcs were in complete disarray when they hit the wagons.

  Damari stabbed two orcs with his spear before he went to his hammer. Roland concentrated on the orcs who were going to the far left to flank the wagons. They were fodder for his bow. Two orcs finally made it into the wagon with Damari and Roland. He dropped his bow and went to work with his knives.

  It was almost like knife practice but the floor became wet. Damari was doing well but the other wagon had more orcs than was healthy. The mage was out of mana. The orcs were trying to get their revenge on her until the throwing knives hit them from the side. This worked for a bit then he had to worry about more orcs in his wagon.

  Shadow jumped up in the wagon with Mateo and his group. They were being pushed hard. The mage was just getting in the way. Vena cast shield on herself and was healing Mateo as he had been hit a few times. The fangs of Shadow kept a few of the orcs form jumping up into the wagon.

  Damari was bleeding badly from a wound to his head. He was acting wobbly. Roland helped kill the one in the wagon and jumped down on the ground. Damari didn’t need any more orcs in the wagon. They concentrated on Roland. It was stab move, slash, duck, backstab, twist, hamstring, and jump. He felt like the was dancing more than he was fighting. He would stay close in to the orcs. Twice he cast invisible on himself when he couldn’t escape with his movements. Before coming out of invisibility he would devastate the orcs. Several orcs took hits from their own trying to get to Roland.

  He almost dropped one of the daggers, when he was hit by a club in the arm. His armor had saved his life more than once during this dance. The only bad injury was a slash across his face. It stung badly. He was breathing heavy. They just seemed to keep coming. Several orcs he had stabbed multiple times. They were tough. Finally, it was finished.

  Shadow was hurt bad. Roland rushed to his side and cast heal. He did this two more times. He had taken a club to his side. He was breathing better and sleeping when he walked back to check on Damari. “Vena. Damari isn’t doing so well. He took a hit to his head.” Vena was finishing up healing Mateo. She was haggard looking. Her mace was covered in blood. She had to get in the battle today.

  He got to his pack and got his healing elixir and drank it. He washed his face. The gash went from ear to nose. A perfect horizontal cut. How his nose didn’t get cut which was amazing. He put some antiseptic herbs in the cut and then with his mirror sewed up his cut. This was going to make him look a bit older.

  Vena was done. She looked like she had given it all. He pulled out the elixir for mana regeneration. “Vena, drink this. It isn’t a potion but it is an herbal elixir. It will help you gain back your man quicker.”

  She took the elixir and drank it. “Thank you Roland. I would heal your face but I used my last two heals on Damari. Keep him awake. Head injuries are dangerous. Make him stand up if you have to.” She sat back into the wagon. She was meditating. The elixir would do more good than meditating but the two together would be even better.

  Odelia wasn’t doing really well. She wasn’t hurt but she was shaking badly. This must have been the only time in her life were she feared for her life. He fixed up another elixir for mana regeneration and then another that would put her to sleep. “Odelia. Drink this. It will help you regenerate your mana quicker.” She drank it and that seemed to calm her a bit. “Now, I would like you to drink this. It is an elixir that will help you relax. I’ll take care of everything else so relax and lay your head down.”

  Mateo was doing ok. He had been healed but he still had some small cuts and he looked exhausted. “You look like you have seen better days Roland.” He was still all smiles.

  “If it wasn’t for that permanent smile on your face I would say the same for you. Odelia will be out for a few hours. Shadow is healing and he is out too. Damari has a head injury and we are to keep him awake. Who knows how long it will take for him to heal. Vena is out of mana and is regenerating it as fast as she can. She is exhausted to. I’ve been cut but that’s about it. So I will work on getting the orcs piled up and out of the way.”

  The coachman came out to help also. They stripped the weapons and armor off the orcs. They had a mix of some good armor and some good weapons but they also had a bunch of poor quality items too. It they would have been better equipped this might have been different. The other two adventurer groups had lots of injuries too. The second group had one killed. It was their mage. Losing a heavy hitter was tough.

  He had to go out and pick up his arrows. They dragged all the orcs into a pile and they burned them later that night. Shadow was up and doing well. He took the north side of camp and he took the south side and pulled guard. Vena recovered her mana quicker than she thought possible and healed Damari again. Roland was given some healing too and she took his stiches out. She gave Shadow a once over too. It was a long night.

  They continued on the next day. The big difference was that Mateo’s group was sent to the front of the caravan. It was a consensus that Roland and Shadow provided the best chance of early notification of more trouble. Mateo and the group were happy because they were in the front and they didn’t have to eat so much dirt.

  The first night after the orcs attack Roland pulled up his status panel to see the changes. He had
gone up another level. His dexterity was over 65 now. He had 5 more points to put into his status. He felt the need to put it into Wisdom so he could gain more mana but after the fight with the orcs he thought maybe he should put it into endurance. He was very exhausted after the fight so he would put that into Endurance. He might regret that later but at the moment he needed more endurance.

  Status Panel

  Level

  18

  Age

  17

  Health

  320

  Title:

  N/A

  Mana

  565

  Heath Regen

  0.001/Second

  Stamina

  215

  Mana Regen

  0.0005/Second

  Vitality

  32

  Stamina Regen

  0.01/Second

  Strength

  25

  Race

  Half Elf

  Endurance

  40

  Bonus

  Dexterity +5 per level

  Dexterity

  68

  Wisdom:

  68

  Active Status Conditions

  Intelligence

  45

  Animal Bond

  Charisma

  9

  Available Points

  0

  Putting 5 points in the endurance would also kick his stamina up to 320. Depending on how future conflicts affected him would determine where he would put the skill points. Before this last fight he was sure he was going to place the points in Wisdom but his life experiences changed his mind. He definitely needed to keep a balance in his skills. His biggest deficiency was still Charisma. He wasn’t sure he could ever fix that. That was his least priority.