They broke their fast with Fran and the other rangers that had arrived to scout out the goblin invasion force. After saying their goodbye’s they headed to the docks to catch the barge to the capital city.
The docks of Princetown were separated into the Prince’s private dock and the docks used by the merchants. When they arrived, they were taken to the royal barge that had been made ready for them.
“Lord Turok looks like we will have a good day for sailing; the wind picked up yesterday evening; we should make good time.”
“Captain Mortimer, My thanks, we are ready to go when you are.”
“That’s now then, my Lord, please retire to the lounge, and we will be on our way.” Turning to his first mate, “Get underway, Mister Gibbs.”
Mal and the others retired to the ship’s lounge area, where bread and candied fruit was available to anyone who wanted it. As the barge pulled out, Mal was sitting at the open windows looking out the back of the ship. When she spotted the River Queen coming into the harbour just as they were leaving.
“Lord Turok, Looks like the River Queen made it,” she said.
Coming over, he looked out the window. “Glad to see they made it. Well, they will be heading to the Capital after stopping here, so I’m sure we will see them again.”
“We have a lot of work to do Mal, The good news is that armies are starting to move towards Bearon already. Once we get to the King, we will persuade him that we need to Marshall all of the armies.”
“Isn’t the King marshalling all of the armies?” responded Mal, slightly concerned.
“No, only the western army has been mobilised so far. Don’t look so worried that is still a large number of men, and they are already making their way to Bearon and Carse.”
“Oh, I see. I just feel so hopeless,” replied Mal rather dejectedly, “We seem to be travelling further from my people.”
“Mal, you left your people to join the King as a ranger and to go where the King commands; that might be in the opposite direction than you want to go, but if you take the oath, then you promise to go where the King commands. I promise you that the King will not let the Spine fall to the goblins. We need your people as much as your people need us.”
Seeing that Mal was saddened by the conversation, he patted her shoulder and said, “Come, let us put these thoughts away and play a game of pebbles.”
“Yes, my Lord,” replied Mal as she sat down and started to sort the stones into two piles.
“Let’s give you five stones on the board to start; you are picking the game up fast, Mal,” said Lord Turok with a smile.
It turned out that Darr and Grego had purchased a game set each, so they played Dareon and Captain Talbot; they played four games before Mal won one,
“I guess your handicap is now four pebbles, Mal,” laughed Lord Turok.
The day passed slowly as they travelled down the river. They passed merchant caravans and people on horseback travelling along the road. By evening they had travelled half of the distance to the Capital. They moored up at a spot with other merchants and travellers.
A large fire was burning on the bank, and as they approached it, the smell of cooking wafted across to them. Dar and Grego made a beeline to the cook and soon came back with some fish stuffed in a flat type of bread. It had a bright orange sauce poured over it, and they were eating it fast.
“That looks good; how much was it?”
“It’s fantastic it was three coppers for the fish and five for the lamb,” replied Darr.
“Watch out for the sauce. It’s like eating molten fire,” said Grego with a grin, clearly enjoying it.
After purchasing food from the cook, they sat around the fire and ate their supper. Some musicians were among one of the merchant caravans travelling on the road and treated everyone to a night of songs. At the end of the night, people threw the musicians some coins in thanks. One by one, the groups retired to their boats or their wagons for the night.
Mal woke in the morning to the gentle sounds of the boat already underway. Getting up, she noticed everyone else was still asleep, quietly slipping out and going on deck so as not to wake anyone. Seeing the first mate was standing at the tiller of the barge, Mal climbed the steps to the tiller.
“Morning, we’re off a bit early today?” She asked the first mate.
“Captain wanted to get underway before the rest of the people at the encampment. There were a lot of us at the spot last night, so we’ve left an hour earlier to get ahead of them. The less likely hood of a collision this way.”
“How long until we get to the city?”
“All things going well, we might make it by late evening but probably tomorrow afternoon. Why don’t you go get some sleep, mam.”
“Na, I’m awake now; I’d probably just wake people if I tried to go back in. Can I get you anything?” Mal asked.
The first mate thought for a moment, “Well, mam, if you don’t mind, I wasn’t able to get my morning kuffa. If you ask the ships’ cook, it should be ready about now. If you go down the front steps, he should be able to give us a couple of tankards.” He said, nodding towards the steps at the bow of the ship.
“Not a problem. Let me go see if the cook’s had time to brew it yet,” she said, heading forward.
The steps led down into the crew quarters of the barge. They were very cramped and smelly. The kitchen, for a better word was a small room with the smallest pot stove that Mal had ever seen. While it was only knee-high, it held two pots and possibly a third in a pinch. The walls around it were light steel to stop any sparks igniting the dry wood of the boat. A fat, bald man worked in the already sweltering heat of the kitchen. When Mal stuck her head in the door, she was met with a sneer.
“WHAT ARE YE DOING DOWN HERE?” He snapped.
“The first mate asked if I would get him his morning kuffa and one for myself since I’m keeping him company,” replied Mal without batting an eyelid.
“All right, all right, don’t keep harp’n on about it yer ladyship,” he replied, slightly less grumpy this time.
Picking up two tankards of the shelf, he poured two steaming cups almost to the brim. He presented the two steaming cups to Mal with a smile that Mal took to mean hope you burn yourself.
Mal could play that game as well, and without even a hint of being aware of the cooks’ attempt to scald her, she took the cups up the stairs quickly without using the ropes that would typically help the assent.
Crossing the ship’s deck, Mal climbed the steps and handed the tankard to the first mate. Who took one look at the level of kuffa in each tankard and looked Mal straight in the face.
“Sorry, Karl’s a bit of a bastard first thing in the morning. Hope you didn’t spill any on yourself?”
“Nope, I wouldn’t give the bastard the satisfaction,” replied Mal.
The first mate just smiled and nodded in agreement; sipping his kuffa, he sailed the boat down the river with Mal sitting quietly. Correct in his assumption that they would require the extra day to reach the city.
Mal wasn’t concerned about the extra day. She spent a lot of time on the boat’s deck in the company of the first mate. Neither spoke very often, something that would have irritated both of them and seen the first mate banish Mal to the passenger cabins.
When the first mate was brought food, the sailors brought Mal some as well. The first mate pointed out things that he thought Mal would find interesting primarily by just pointing at it and naming the item under the scrutiny of his finger.
Mal would repeat the name and nod understanding or marvel in the new sight. That first day they had spoken very little. With Mal moving out of the way of sailors as they went about their tasks. At the end of each day, the first mate just said, “See you tomorrow,” and headed below.
Mal stood for a while, looking at the camp by the bank and headed over to see what new foods would be available. It turned to that this cook was selling a stew of lamb and some crusty bread for a few coppers. While it was nice, it wasn’t as spicy or pungent as the food the night before.
The next day Mal again took her place early beside the first mate as they headed off and watched as the most prominent city she had ever seen came into view. The walls were made of huge slabs of granite and towered fifty feet high the river ran straight into the city through a large arch with the river swirling below.
Mal saw a tavern by the water’s edge with a balcony that ran out over the river. It was built up against the outer wall. The stone walls were rough enough that Mal thought she could climb along the wall as there seemed to be enough rough handholds to do the job.
As she watched the tavern, a fight broke out between two sailors. The fight ended when one of the sailors knocked the other over the railing and into the water, much to the amusement of the onlookers. No one ran to save the man, who was slowly making his way to some steps further down the dock area. Once he climbed up onto the docks, he shook his hand towards the tavern before heading off into the crowd.
After a while, the docks gave way to luxurious houses which screamed wealth and nobility. Finally, they arrived at the Sea Docks, where the river emptied into a vast expanse of water. The Air smelt of salt and a pungent smell that she couldn’t quantify.
The boat sailed into the harbour and docked up. Guards patrolled the area, and an officious looking gentleman came up to the barge as the Captain and Lord Turok arrived on deck.
“Lord Turok, good to see you again; we received your reports several days ago. I must admit that the gossips in the court have been aflutter with the information, and of course, the Merchant Guilds have been up in arms. Pray, tell me that they were over-exaggerated and not a full invasion.”
“Wish I could Lord Matrick, Is the king about?”
“I believe that they are out hunting today and should be back tomorrow. I’ll send for a carriage for you, my lord. How many in your party?”
“Fourteen, so three carriages should suffice.”
After a few minutes, three carriages arrived to take them from the docks to the castle. When they arrived at the most extensive courtyard, Mal had ever seen. The Kings Chamberlain, a man called Master Harold, was standing there with a group of pages. He quickly sent off with different instructions. No sooner had one left than another arrived waiting on his bidding.
Most of the errands were for Accommodation, Food and Drink to be supplied. They were led to the main dining hall that reminded Mal of the dining hall in Princetown. Both in size and shape and the fact that the doors were all in the exact same locations. Mal had this feeling of Deja-Vu when she entered the room.
Food and drink were quickly served by a trio of servants. The food was a hot stew similar to the meal on the barge from the night before. As they finished their meal, a man in green and brown clothing came over.
“My Lord,” he said bowing, to Lord Turok and waiting to be acknowledged.
Taking a sip from his tankard and wiping his chin, Lord Turok raised his head and looked at the man in front of him. “Ah, Master Johana, it’s good to see you. I’ve brought you six new recruits; unfortunately, one was injured in a skirmish with some goblins and is recovering in Bearon,” he said, gesturing towards Mal and the rest of the group.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Master Johana, the Kings’ Head Ranger. He is the one you need to impress to be accepted into the Kings rangers. Follow his orders, and you will be fine.”
“If you accompany me, we’ll start your testing.”
Getting up, Mal and the lads all felt a bit of fear about not passing the test with whatever that was going to be after all they went through to get here.
Master Johana led them out towards the stable area, and Mal once again had deja-vu. She and the other lads started walking towards the doors beside the stables. When they noticed that Master Johana was still walking towards the stables, they corrected their direction and caught up with him.
As he reached the doors to the stables, a group of stable boys brought out six horses and a pack mule. While they didn’t recognise the horses, they did recognise the saddlebags and equipment that was theirs. Mounting after Master Johana, he led them out of the castle gates and the city to the countryside. They rode in almost complete silence for a couple of days until a wooded area appeared on the horizon.
Once they got closer, Master Johana dismounted quickly, followed by the mountain men who all had a quiver of arrows on their back, a sword strapped to their leg, and a deadly looking bow in their hands. Master Johana eyed Mal’s equipment that seemed drastically different from what the others carried a question for another day perhaps.
He was glad that they still hadn’t asked many questions. Most country folk or city folk they tested asked non-stop questions, while the first part of the test was judging if they could be silent for an extended period with no instructions. The second was about creating and maintaining a camp, and how they left the area in the morning said a lot about a candidate, was he tidy or did he just leave the camp as it was.
He was glad to see that the small campfire was checked that it had burnt out entirely with some water poured over the last ember of the previous night encampment. When they left, the only trace was a slightly burnt area where the fire had been.
The next test was observational skills. A ranger was quietly working through the forest to put an arrow in the tree by Master Johana’s head. This would check if they were paying attention to what was going on and how they would react if they weren’t.
Mal turned her head towards the forest, tilting it as if listening for something, then the others as one turned to look in the direction that the ranger would be approaching from. Before Master Johana could believe they were all armed with arrows notched.
“Hold!” He bellowed, making sure that the mountain folk all heard him. Master Johana was impressed as he couldn’t hear the ranger at all, and he knew exactly the route he would be taking. Jak was his best ranger, a half-elf that could creep through a forest so quietly that he was able to approach a wild stag that roamed this wooded land and almost touched its nose before it knew he was there. For Mal and the mountain, men to know he was approaching at all was impressive.
“Jak, it is safe to come out now,” he shouted.
Moments later, the half-elf moved into sight. He was a hand taller than the mountain men and walked with a graceful gait. His skin was smoother than expected, and he looked younger than Mal, but his eyes spoke of years of knowledge.
“This our best ranger; his name is Jak-keel-Iona Silverleaf or as he prefers to be called Jak,” said Master Johana introducing Jak to the young men.
The mountain men nodded at this strange-looking man.
“Master Johana,” he clasped hands warmly, with Master Johana turning to the rest of the party. “Welcome to the private hunting ground for King Charles and his family; the King is hunting boars in the North of the wood. I have a camp area for us five hundred yards that way,” replied Jak with a slight tilt of his head. “So you are our new recruits? All-mountain born?” He asked
“Yes,” they responded in unison to both questions.
“Well, as you now know my name, let’s learn yours,” he said.
They introduced themselves to Jak as they headed into the wood. The area he led them to was a small natural circle of land with no trees. A fire pit in the centre showed a well-worn campsite, probably one they used a lot for these training events.
“Well, gentlemen, get a good night sleep. We’ll be up early.”
Mal turned to the group. “Two hours watch each tonight, I’ll take first.”
Master Johana and Jak said nothing, just got their bedrolls out and lay down to sleep.
The night passed without incident, with Master Johana and Jak waking the camp just before dawn.
“Morning, hope you slept well last night, Today we’re going to hunt down a rabid bear that’s attacking and killing deer in this wood.”
Getting up, the lads broke camp and stood waiting for further instructions.
“It’s been seen in an area about five miles further south. Let’s head out”.
As they started to head off, Mal caught the sound of something approaching from the North. Saying hold in a voice that wouldn’t travel far, she signalled the lads to take cover. Their experience with the goblins is fresh in their minds. Most had bow ready, and the horse quietened. When out of the bushes to the North of the camp road, a young boy in badly torn pages clothes.
“Jasper,” Master Johana said in a voice that carried to the other side of the camp.
Jasper’s head whipped up, seeking the voice. The relief etched across his face spoke volumes. He kicked his horse to move it in the direction of the rangers.
As he approached, he spoke loudly, “We were attacked last night sir, I got separated from the group and have been chased most of the night.”
“The King man? does the King live?” Demanded Master Johana.
“I believe so, sir; he was alive the last time I saw him. But Prince Salistar and myself got separated from the group and then each other.”
“Lead us back now,” ordered Master Johana, turning to Mal and the lads, “We must find the Prince and get him to safety. Let’s see how you fare when the pressure is on.”
They led their mounts into the wood listening out for anything that would denote the presence of any potential attacker while they followed Jaspers tracks. Mal flanked to the left by two hundred yards and Dareon to the right by two hundred yards. Each keeping the party in their sights.
Eventually, they came across an area where Jasper’s tracks seemed to have diverted from another horses tracks. When they pointed out the other tracks’ direction to Jasper, he told them he last saw Prince Salistar riding that way before getting separated. Everyone gave Jak room as he examined the paths to the untrained observer. He seemed to be investigating everything but the horse tracks.
“I find it hard to believe, but those tracks are elven; four elves are following the Prince. It makes no sense,” said Jak, “Elves have been friends with the kingdom for nearly two thousand years when humans first came to this region.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it once we find the prince,” responded Master Johana.
They started after the elves with Mal and Dareon flanking as they had been. When they came to a stream, it was Dareon who spotted the direction change they took. It was quicker for the group as they could follow the tracks of the pursuers. Again and again, the pursuers seemed to lose the tracks of the Prince.
Mal thought that it showed that the young Prince had some skill in woodcraft. She was reminded of the old adage, “Might as well ask the sun to stop than to evade elves in a forest.”
As time progressed, the tracks got fresher and fresher; Mal estimated that they were no more than five minutes behind the elves, the horse tracks showed signs of tiring out, but the elves tracks were still as smooth as before.
Shortly they heard the clash of steel and wicked laughter coming from ahead. Moving forward, leaving the horses behind. The Mountain men travelled as quietly as the two kingdom men.
When they could see what was happening, at last, the Prince had dismounted from his horse. It was on its last legs. Three of the tallest thin people Mal had ever seen stood around the Prince, each with bows on their backs and short swords in their hands.
Mal thought he heard Jak whisper “Dark elves” to Master Johana, but it didn’t matter if they were dark or light as long as they died before they could kill the Prince.
“Well, my Prince,” said the lead Elf, “a merry dance you lead us, but it looks like your horse finally gave out on you. I must admit that I am impressed by how much you were able to evade us. Not an easy thing to do.”
“Why don’t you come and feel my lovely cold steel, you bastard son of a goat,” replied the Prince, hoping to enrage the elf and make him attack.
Laughing loudly, the lead elf responded, “Really, is that the best you can do? You’ll not find a rash move from us, your highness. So gloat us all you want; you’ll find that my shadow sword will suck the life from you in moments that will feel like a thousand years of pain.”
Prince Salistar faced the three elves knowing that there was no way for him to escape certain death. There was no way that he would meet his death as a coward; he expected to take at least one or two of them with him. Taking a deep breath, he raised his sword, ready to jump forward and strike at the lead elf. Noble blood would be spilled here, but it would cost them dearly. He would send them to whatever demon god they believed in.
Just as he was about to make his move, he was surprised when an arrow exploded through the elf’s skull, and as the lifeless corpse of the elf started to slowly fall, he noticed that the other elves were dropping.
Looking up, he saw men stepping out of the trees, all with bows raised except for one who still stood with an arrow notched and pointed straight at him.
In that single moment, he watched as the arrow was loosed and rushed straight at him. As the arrow sailed past the side of his face, the feathers stroked his cheek. Dear God, the man had missed well. He would have his head before the day was out. A thud and cry of pain behind him cause the Prince to spin in the direction of the sound.
An elf lay against a tree; an arrow had pierced his left shoulder and embedded itself in the tree pinning the elf securely to the tree. The force had actually lifted the elf off the ground, his feet dangling a couple inches.
“My liege, Are you unhurt?” Said Master Johana
“Just some scratches, Master Johana. How did you find me?” He asked, then noticing Jasper nodded his understanding, “Jasper, I am glad that you’re alive; when we got separated, I thought you a goner for sure.” Turning towards the elf on the tree, he continued, “Now let’s find out why these Elven bastards wanted me dead.”
Jak walked up to the elf and backhanded him across the face. “Dark elves, my lord, evil in their nature not to be mistaken for my elven brothers and sisters. “he said to Prince Salistar without taking his eyes off the Elf.
“Now you mention it, they seem paler in completion,” replied Prince Salistar.
“It’s the eyes, my lord. Dark elves have dark brown eyes almost as black as their hearts, while my brethren have blue eyes.”
“Bastard half breed,” snarled the dark elf, “You are no elf! You should have been killed once you were born.”
“Heard it all before, dark elf, I know my heritage, and I don’t give a pigs fart for yours. Now talk”
“You won’t get me to talk scum,” snarled the elf.
“He’s probably right, my prince; we should take him with us to interrogate somewhere safer or slit his throat right here.”
“We’ve got to get back to the Capital and check if my father survived,” replied the Prince.
“You’ll never get home. You think we were alone?” laughed the elf.
“Mmm,” said Master Johana, “My Lord, if this is true, we’ve got a problem. It would take almost two days, maybe three to get to the Capital with the horses this tired.”
“What option do we have then?” Responded the Prince.
“My lord,” interjected Jak; once Prince Salistar nodded to him, he continued, “The forest of my people is a day, maybe a day and a half depending on the horses in that direction. We can get a ship from there to the Capital from there.”
“That sounds like a plan, then let’s get ready to leave.” With that, Mal sent Grego and Darr to get the horses left back a bit in the woods.
“What about him?” said Mal pointing at the Elf pinned to the tree.
“My lord, I wonder if the Elven Magi can persuade him to talk, we might get something out of him. If we take him”
“Ok, bind him over the back of the mule”, ordered the Prince.
Turning to Mal, he noticed for the first time that a girl stood before him. “I owe you my life; that was a fine shot. I’ll not forget it so soon. What’s your name?”
“Mal, your highness,” said Mal getting a good look at the Prince for the first time.
“Goblins in the mountains and Dark Elves here. I’ll have to speak with my father when we get back to the Capital. First, let’s get to the safety of the Elven lands; truth be told, I’ve always wanted to see them.”
Soon they were all leading their horses with the elf bound backwards over the mule with Tomi and Grego riding either side, keeping an eye on him. When Tomi noticed him fidgeting with his bonds, he snapped, “Stop fidgeting with those bonds, bastard,” and followed that by booting him so hard in the fact that he went limp as he passed out.
Though they travelled all day and night resting the horses every half an hour, they were still several leagues from the official elven border, a natural river that ran down the side of the forest. When an arrow pierced the tree by the side of Master Johana’s head when he bent in his saddle to fix a stirrup strap.
Kicking their mounts on, they raced through the trees as best could be. Coming across an animal track that gave better access through the wood, they started to put on a bit more speed the Dark elves hard on their trail. Arrows sped past as the elves gave chase.
A cry of pain told of someone being hit, but there was no time to look back to see who had been shot. Again and again, when the terrain allowed it, they followed the meandering paths around large fallen trees hoping they weren’t leading themselves into a trap. Another scream of pain from both a rider and a horse spoke of another wound being delivered. As far as Mal could tell, none had fallen yet.
Breaking out of the light wood to a shallow gravel river bed, they could easily see the other side. The problem would be that they would be easily spotted by the dark elves once they got to this position.
Spurring their horses on, they had no choice but to charge into the shallow river. Hoping that the spray of water making the front riders near invisible to the dark elves as they reached the gravel river bed.
A scream and a splash told of someone falling from their mount. No-one stopped but continued to push the tired horses, kicking the weary beasts as they tried scrambling out of the cold water that was draining the last strength from the already tired horses.
Before a dark elf on the shore could reload, an arrow hit him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Stepping out from behind a tree right beside Mal was an elf in green armour that had made him melt into the forest. Mal hadn’t even seen him, and her shock surprise was written cleanly on her face.