In a valley high in the mountains, six young mountain people were hunting food for their village; all but one was sixteen summers the other seemed to be ten summers old. The older children were all experienced trackers and hunters, with the youngest being on his first hunt.
They were often sent to hunt and bring back food for the village. They were all dressed in thick furs from their toes to their head, ranging from brown to grey and black. The only part of their bodies that were exposed to the elements were their eyes. The heavy fur hats kept the biting wind from sapping the heat away from their bodies.
They were all carrying homemade bows and a mixture of short swords and long hunting daggers. They stood around the small mountain deer that Mal had just taken down with one shot at three hundred and fifty yards.
At sixteen, Mal was one of the best shots in the village. Only Mal's and Tomi's fathers were better. Both of them had told Mal that someday Mal would outperform them just as in the distant future another would become the best. It was not something to be worried about but to be celebrated.
The mountain folk taught each other any tricks to help in the hunt, and knowledge was always freely given. This was one of the reasons that the King's Emissary was at the village, speaking with the village elders about recruiting more rangers. It was also why most of the children in the village were sent off on as many errands as their parents could think of to keep them busy and out from underfoot.
Mal, Tomi, Dareon, Grego, Eir and Mal's younger brother Salmaul had headed off two days ago to hunt for some deer to have a feast at the end of the emissaries visit. While they had caught enough food to keep them from being hungry on the hunt, which consisted mostly of rabbits and the odd dove. This was the first large animal they had found and, as such, needed to be prepped and taken back to the village.
Tomi pulled a large knife from the belt at his waist and started to gut the deer. Grego went and gathered Mountain grasses and moss for Tomi to clean the insides of the deer before it was transferred back to the village. Once the deer was cleaned, they drew lots, all except Salmaul, who was too young to carry the deer. Eir lost and was designated to take the deer back to the village. Clasping hands with everyone and receiving wishes of safe travels from each person, Eir turned to Tomi and Grego, who had the deer lifted so that Eir could rest it on his shoulders for the long walk home without the deer meat interfering with his longbow or quiver.
Dareon had wrapped the heart, kidneys, and liver of the deer in large leaves that would keep them fresh until the evening meal, where they would be cooked along with the rabbit's meat that they had leftover from yesterdays hunting.
"We'll head north into the next valley and see what we can find". Said Mal pointing in the general direction of a known trail that would take them into the next valley. The trail was one of only two trails that would allow travelling to the next valley from this one so they would be able to check for tracks in the small pass that led between them. It would take seven hours to make the pass, and there was a good campsite not far from the entrance to the pass they would make camp and cook the offal and have a good meal.
As they walked, Mal spotted a mountain goat and pointed it out to Salmaul for him to try and kill.
"Now remember to hold the bow steady and breath until you want to release then and only then hold your breath. Exhale slowly as you release your arrow."
Salmaul readied his bow aiming at the mountain goat that was grazing on the side of the mountain about a hundred yards further up. If Salmaul hit the goat, it would tumble almost directly towards them.
"Bit higher, Sal," said Mal, the rest of the group standing quietly watching.
Salmaul did as he had been told and held his breath until he thought his lungs would burn. Slowly he exhaled and loosed his arrow. The arrow flew straight to the goat but landed short by two meters scaring the goat off.
Dejected, Salmaul looked on as the goat clambered up much higher on the side of the steep ravine well out of the range of their bows. With a tear starting to well up in his eye, the others slapped him on the shoulder and told him how good of a shot it was and not to worry about missing the goat.
Dareon piped up, "Onk-Nacka decreed that it was to live, and nothing you could have done would have changed that."
Wiping the tear from his eye and at last smiling weakly to the others, Mal's brother shrugged it off, and they continued towards the camp.
Eventually, they came to one of the many small clearings that dotted the mountain forest. No one knew why these areas existed in the forests, but when they did, they were almost always perfect circles. The mountain people considered them god touched areas. Grass and wildflowers were all that grew in them. Sometimes rabbits could be found eating the sweet grasses that grew in the circles.
As they approached one such circle, they crept towards the edge of the tree line and peaked out. Twelve rabbits jumped and played in the circle.
Whispering to Salmaul, "We'll take only six of these so that their numbers will survive. If we take them all, there will be none in hard times." Pointing to one rabbit sat in the middle of the playing rabbits. "That one is the Matriarch of the group. Don't kill her; see if you can hit that one over there," pointing at another.
They all readied their bows, and when Mal said, "Now!" they released in unison. Salmaul's arrow took the rabbit in the hind leg. It wasn't in pain for long as Mal's arrow took it in the chest, killing it outright.
Reaching the centre of the circle, they quickly gathered the four rabbits that they had killed. As they pulled the arrows from the rabbits, they said in unison, "Onk-Nacka god of the hunt, we thank you for this bounty."
"We'll eat well tonight," said Grego after the ritual was complete, "Even though the one I was after jumped left on me." He finished with a laugh and clasped Salmaul's shoulder, letting him know that sometimes you miss.
After the rabbits had been cleaned and skewered onto a pole which was carried between two of the older boys.
They arrived at the campsite without sighting any other animals. While Grego, Salmaul, and Tomi gathered firewood and lit the fire. Dareon skinned the rabbit meat and skewered it onto long poles that would be hung over the fire to cook. While Mal started scraping the skins clean. Once the fire was going strong, they sat around waiting for the different meats to cook.
They continued scrapping the furs clean and telling stories while sipping a mountain drink called Kuhool, Which burned like fire on the way down and helped to keep the cold at bay.
After their evening meal, they lay down on fur blankets under the stars and drifted off to sleep. Dareon took the first watch, followed by Grego and then Salmaul had the last watch with Mal to keep him company. As the morning started to break, the sky went blue, but the valley was still deep in the shade as Mal sent Salmaul to hunt for bird eggs in the woods.
Returning with a triumphant grin on his face, he showed Mal eight eggs that he had been able to find and one Mountain Hawk chick that he had found in its nest. It was the perfect age to start training, almost old enough to leave its nest.
"Wow" was all Mal could say; finding the nest of a hawk with a fledgling hawk was a wondrous thing. It was said that some Hawk Masters were able to communicate with their hawks, and if Salmaul could train it, he would be well placed in the village for the rest of his days. For the village to have a Hawk Master again would be a great thing. The last Hawk Master died before Salmaul was born, and while some boys had found a hawk nest with a chick, none had survived the captivity. It was said that the hawk would bond with a true Hawk Master and that the bond would go beyond the normal connection of man and beast.
The others woke to the smell of cooking eggs, which they scoffed down with the last meat from the night before. While Salmaul fed his chick all his breakfast trying to create a strong parental bond with the animal.
Dareon and Grego took the skin of one of the rabbits that had been skinned two days before and started cutting it up into strips. Stripping the fur of both sides of the strips with their knives, the two boys created a small temporary hood for the baby hawk chick.
Once the hood was on, the chick settled down slightly, tying a lot of thin strips of rabbit skin together; they created a leash for the Hawk so that Salmaul could give the bird a bit more freedom.
"So Salmaul, have you thought of a name for your hawk yet?" Tomi asked as Salmaul stroked the chick.
"I was thinking of something like 'El-Torral'," he replied.
"'Ghost Spirit' is a powerful name, Samuel. I think you have chosen well. If she survives the transition, you will have a fine Hawk, young Hawk Master," he replied with nods from the others.
Samuel was surprised and honoured at being called Hawk Master. He hoped beyond hope that his hawk would survive. In good spirits, the group broke camp and headed through the pass into the next valley.
Dareon led the group through the pass with Salmaul beside him and his Hawk chick chirping on his shoulder. Every once in a while, Dareon pointed out different tracks and explained which animals made what tracks to Salmaul. Just as they were leaving the pass and entering the next valley proper. Dareon stopped the group and pointed to tracks of a Mountain Stag that had come to the entrance of the pass but turned back.
"It seems our quarry knows it is being hunted," he said. "I guess it would be rude not to pay our respects," he finished with a grin.
Following the tracks, they saw that the Stag had picked up the pace as if it knew it was being tracked. After a while, the Stag had gone higher up the mountain to more stony terrain. It was Mal that spotted that it had changed direction again.
When Mal mentioned that this was the strangest Stag they had ever hunted, the rest agreed. It took most of the day to get close to seeing the Stag; the tracks were getting fresher. With the night coming down fast, they were going to have to find a camp for the night and get a fire going while they could see and find wood for the fire.
They had only killed two rabbits that day, but they cut up half of one into chunks for the chick to eat.
Salmaul obsessively cared for El-Torral, and the young chick seems to take to Salmaul well. Once finally satisfied with eating a quarter of its allotted food El-Torral settled down in the crook of Salmaul's arm for the night.
During the night, Salmaul was constantly woken by the hungry chick who begged for food, Salmaul fed the bird a single morsel each time, and El-Torral settled back for another hour.
In the morning, they all gave Salmaul time to rest while they hunted for berries and eggs for breakfast. Finding no eggs and only a meagre two handfuls of berries. It was a cold and hungry morning that accompanied them as they set off chasing the Stag's track.
Again the Stag seemed to go out of its way to go over hard ground or down streams everywhere that would make the tracks harder to find. They were impressed with the skill of the Stag that they hunted. During their time tracking the Stag, they killed some mountain moles and a few rabbits and only paused to butcher them for Salmaul to feed his Hawk.
At midday, they broke their fast with the dry trail rations that they had brought with them. While they ate, they each wondered in their own way how this Stag was keeping in front of them.
They were chasing it now towards the village, or was it leading them home. Eventually, they caught sight of the Stag. It was the biggest Stag they had ever seen, solid white in colour. Mal had a bow drawn, with an arrow pointing at the Stag's heart, a clear view and a killing shot. Mal knew the shot was certain from this distance, but looking into the eye of the beast, Mal was certain that the beast was looking back calmly, watching what Mal would do. Mal hesitated before lowering the bow. "I'll not kill that stag ever," was all Mal said.
The others nodded agreement standing mutely. They watched as the Stag seemed to bow to them, and it turned and stepped over the crest of the valley into the next one. After a minute, it was Tomi that broke the silence. "That was the most majestic, Stag that I have ever seen. Solid white, and did you see the antlers. Surely a sign from Onk-Nacka."
The others agreed wholeheartedly with Tomi's words, and since they were only three valleys away from home, they headed in that direction.
When they crested the peak of the valley and looked in, there was no sign of the white Stag at all but there drinking from a stream was a young stag. There was no hesitation this time; four arrows hit the Stag at the same time. Two pierced the heart, one from Mal and one from Tomi.
Grinning, they headed down to the Stag to retrieve their arrows. "Onk-Nacka, god of the hunt, we thank you for this bounty," they said as they pulled the arrows from the flesh of the Stag.
Grego started to clean the animal removing its stomach and intestines. It was too big for one to carry, so Tomi and Dareon headed down the hill to get a few lengths of wood to create a harness to make it easier to carry the animal back to the village.
It took all of them working together to carry the carcass back towards the village. They were close to the village but would be unable to make it tonight as the night was already approaching, and they would need to get a camp set up.
Since they were close to the village, they headed for the campsite high above the village that would offer a good nights sleep. It normally had a good supply of pre-cut wood, and some Kuhool stashed away for villages that couldn't get off the mountain before dark and would be forced to stay the night.
In the morning, it would only take a single slow hour of travel from the campsite to get to the village. The trail was extremely steep and wound back and forth down the steep incline. One slip on the steep path, and you would be in the village in moments.
Mal was sitting on an outcrop, feet dangling over the side. The drop below was almost three hundred yards into a small lake nestled beside the village. The outcrop was a single piece of granite that had sheered off the side of the mountain a millennia ago. The accompanying rockfall had pinned one end of the outcrop fast to the mountain. The other stretched out over the small lake.
Tomi's father said that once, a deer had rushed blindly over the side trying to get away from the hunters, and while the deer had hit the water, it had broken its body with the impact and died.
This was Mal's favourite location on the mountain, and Mal could often be seen sitting here on the tip of the outcrop. Looking down, Mal could see the small shapes of people going about their evening chores, getting ready for the night.
A group of men moved towards the large hall that was used for important meetings. The largest of the group was Mal's father, a rather large muscular man and the others in the group had to be the village elders.
This was the fifth night of meetings since the Emissary arrived with his request from the High King asking for support from the clans of the free folk.
Every few years, the High King recruited more rangers. Since most of the mountain people hunted from a young age, the King has sent his Emissary to meet the village elders. It has been five years since the last request, and only one boy wanted to go at that time. Darr's cousin Fran had accepted the offer. He had been home only once in all the time and had spoken warmly of his new life, and the stories had captivated the young of the village.
It was a sign of respect that when a position came up, the King would always send an emissary to the mountain people first to announce that the kingdom required new Rangers.
No one was sure if the elders would allow the request or not. It would be an adventure to be sure to travel to the city of Calpo and be tested to become rangers in the Kings' guard.
Turning away from thoughts of the possibility that they might be allowed to be tested, it was something that, for some reason, both excited and scared Mal at the same time.
Mal was the type of person that faced fears straight on, like sitting on the tip of the outcrop with feet hanging over a massive drop below. Something that Mal's friends shied away from.
It wasn't that Mal was exceptionally brave but rather that the height and wind didn't have the same effect that they seemed to have on the others. As the sun started to dip behind the mountain and both the outcrop and the valley below fell into its deep shadow, Mal got up and moved back towards the camp, Tomi and Dareon and picked off three more rabbits.
Mal overheard their idle chatter about becoming rangers for the high King. Something that they had all resisted the urge to talk about but now that they were getting close to the village thoughts of the Emissary and his offer of positions as rangers for the King.
"You want to take up the kings offer," said Mal as sitting down beside his friends.
"Well, why not Mal? Get away from village life and see a bit more of the world. Sounds exciting to me."
"I don't know, Dareon. The mountains call to me not sure if I would like the flatlands of the kingdom," replied Mal.
"They call to us to Mal, but there's more to life than the mountains, for I will be taking the kings' offer if I get the chance."
"Tomi, the Elders, haven't decided if they will allow the Emissary to put his offer forward, and I fear that my father thinks little of the offer."
Tomi threw another log on the fire and said: "Well, we've had a good hunt, and we will be back in the village on the morrow. There is no point speculating until then."
That statement was what set these friends apart from the other children of the village, While the younger adults of the village sat and waited with bated breath for every morsel of information they could scrap together.
Mal, Tomi, Dareon, Eir, and Grego were able to shrug off the apprehension and focus on what needed to be done, and since sitting doing nothing would gain them nothing. They jumped at the chance to grab their bows and go hunting for a stag for the feast.
Although each of them sat silently, all of them except for Salmaul, who was feeding his chick again, we're thinking of what would they do if given the offer take to go to the city and take the test or stay.
If they went to the city and took the test only to fail, there would be no shame as they would have tried their best and would be welcomed back to the village with open arms.
They continued to scrape the flesh from the back of the skins, preparing them for transport to the village in the morning. The buck, which had been hung in a nearby tree and had been gutted and cleaned while the skin had been left on for transport to the village.
Mal turned over some of the rabbit meat and the kidneys and liver of the Buck that slowly cooked on the stones surrounding the fire. Once the meat was cooked, they ate and sipped some Kuhool.
Throwing more logs onto the fire, they settled down for the night sipping from the Kuhool skin and drifted off to sleep. There was no need to post a guard this close to the village, and they soon drifted off into a sound sleep while the fire burnt low.
The distant sound of battle woke them at the same time. Tossing the blankets to the side, they grabbed their longbows and scanned the area in the predawn light. Nothing moved, but the sound of battle could be heard from the direction of the outcrop.
Running towards the outcrop, they got to the edge and looked over there far below the village burned, large shapes moved through the village attacking people, without thinking they moved closer to the edge of the outcrop raised their bows and in one fluid motion nocked an arrow and let loose.
Arrows slammed into the necks of the attackers, again and again, they loosed their arrows until they ran out. Then drawing their short swords and daggers, they ran for the trail that would lead them to the village.
Mal ordered Salmaul to stay with the Stag. Later Mal would proudly think back to that moment when the friends stood shoulder to shoulder with their toes inches from the precipice, a location they didn't like to be but stand they did.
Running at a ground eating speed, they sped, sliding and half falling down the mountain trail. Recklessly jumping down large sections where it was semi-safe to do so in the early morning light. Eventually, they burst into the outskirts of the village to find the burnt-out shell of most of the homes.
Large green bodies lay were the arrows, swords, and axes had felled them. The arrows that they had fired had pierced the bodies of the creatures deeply. The height of the outcrop had added extra weight to the arrows, so they had sunk three-quarters of the way into the creatures bodies.
The armour that the creatures had worn might as well have been paper. Now that they were on the flat ground of the village, they sped up, heading to the sound of fighting.
Bursting into the open area in front of the meeting hall, they were met with the sight of three elders and the four knights that had accompanied the Emissary defending most of the villagers against four of the creatures.
Shouting a war cry, they charged the nearest creatures striking the back of the neck of the nearest two creatures. The first went down quickly, followed by the second. This distraction was enough, and when the other two creatures turned to face the new attackers, the defenders took advantage and quickly slew the remaining creatures.
"Thanks be to the gods", said Mal's father embracing Mal. "When you started hitting them from above, it gave us time to get most of the old and young ones into the hall and to safety. Your actions saved a lot of lives today."
Pointing to some of the other men that had been defending the hall, he continued, "We need to search for survivors some might have hidden in the forest!"
Turning to the young folk, he beckoned them to follow and headed back to the hall entrance where the Emissary stood splattered in blood and gore, wiping his sword clean on a rag.
"Goblins, nasty bastards they are. Never seen them this far south. A small band as well, only twenty, All they want to do is kill, Captain Talbot take you men and help with the search," turning to Mal's father, he continued, "How many have you lost?"
Captain Talbot signalled his six men to spread out and help with the search.
"Five in the initial attack that we know about, four getting everyone into the hall and a further two defending the hall. Not everyone is accounted for, Your Eminence," replied Mal's father.
"Call me Turok; we've shed blood defending each other now that makes us comrades."
"Couldn't agree more. Call me Tul, Turok," replied Mal's Father. "This is Mal, Grego, Tomi, and Dareon. We have them to thank for the rain of arrows."
"Honoured to meet you, that was probably the best shooting I have seen in a long time that outcrop must be at least a five hundred yards above us and in poor light as well. I don't think you missed one shot." Looking around at the Goblin corpses that lay about, he continued, "I hope that you will take the opportunity to join the Kings' rangers. We need people like you."
They stood stunned, not sure what to say; there was a finely dressed man, a Lord no less praising all of them.
Mal decided then to take the opportunity. "Yes, sir, I would be honoured to go with you if my father allows it."
Grego, Tomi, and Dareon quickly chimed in that they, too, would take the offer if the elders allowed.
"Well, the elders have agreed that any person that wishes to go and be tested for the kings' rangers will be allowed to go, with our blessings."
"After this attack, we'll be leaving this very morn, Tul. I must get to the King and inform him of this outrage. I promise this there is a town Bearon four days from here, and I will have the local garrison here as soon as I can with supplies and help. If you can make a list of anything you need, I'll see what I can get from the towns. The high King has always considered the mountain folk an independent nation inside his borders and close friends. We of the kingdom will not forsake you or yours."
"Thanks, Turok. You'll have that list and our thanks."
Over the next few hours, it turned out that six other people had been killed in the initial attack, twelve huts, and the storage shed with the winter crops had been destroyed. Mal told a couple of men where the buck that they had killed was located and that Salmaul was with it. The two set off to retrieve it and Salmaul as well.
The dead were laid out on the floor of the meeting hall; everyone had lost someone, either a family member or a close friend. Tomi's younger sister Suzi was among the dead.
His screams of anguish had been replaced first by sobs, and now deadly calm had taken over him. Happiness had drained from his eyes.
Mal's father approached Mal later that night with a sad look in his eyes. "Tomi needs to grieve for his sister, or the bitterness will consume him. You need to be there for him and make sure he comes out the other side of this."