Light Bringer flares in a flaming arc as Kane draws his sword and spurs his horse forward. Behind him are Khom-Bei on Cakilgan and Thragga, racing along beside, their weapons ready. The three close on three sentries stationed near an old stone bridge, scouts for the Reeve's search party.
It's late afternoon on a chilly late fall day, and you three have been riding in advance of the main Refuge caravan as it wends its way slowly south, out of the Hardstone Hills. You've reconnoitered the terrain, and this sturdy bridge over a fast-rushing stream seems the best way. The wains are about an hour north of you, now.
Kane leans into the charge. His blood is hot and his anger is running high. Some times action is the best therapy.
As Kane kicks his Angharan charger into a trot, and then a charge, one of the sentries, a deputy you recognize from last night's hunt, points and jostles his companions into alertness. "Hey! Hey!" he cries. He seizes up a loaded crossbow, stands from behind the fallen tree where they squatted, and aims it at Kane. The other two draw longswords and make ready for battle.
As the Hunters charge forward, Khom-bei raises a hand to the sky, "Ancestors, look on us with favor this day."
The bolt takes Kane in the thigh, but he keeps coming.
Kane charges at breakneck speed down on the sentries. He rides low in the saddle to give the archer less of a target.
Thragga shrieks a wordless battlecry at the top of his lungs. So much for stealth.
Khom-Bei follows the fighters into battle.
The deputy curses, his words indistinct at this range, but his intent clear. He reloads the crossbow, taking his time to do it right. The other sentries look to each other and steel themselves. All three Nedri are wearing boiled leather armor.
Kane rides up on the sentry carrying the crossbow and slashes at his throat with Light Bringer. The blow goes wide and catches the man in the shoulder.
Thragga sprints up to the second sentry, a young, pale-faced man, and hacks at him with a roar. The sentry doesn't even have time to cry out as Thragga strikes off his head. It spins a bloody trail through the air and disappears into the white water under the bridge. Thragga swings his axe and drives the end of the handle through the third sentry's open mouth. It emerges from the back of the man's skull, pulping his brains, and he topples.
The deputy, a dark-haired veteran, desperate, looses his bolt at Kane at point-blank range. The bolt grazes Kane's neck, opening a messy, bloody wound, but doing little damage.
Khom-Bei rides past Kane and the deputy, swinging his hammer at the man. He clips the man's ribs and the deputy falls back. The deputy seems like he knows how to handle himself in a fight. He tosses back his dark greasy hair and sizes up the odds.
Kane again strikes out at the deputy. The man sidesteps, drawing his longsword and dodging, but Light Bringer slices open his cheek. He poises for a lunge at Kane.
Thragga steps behind the man, and crushes his skull with his axe. The dead deputy drops like a stone, his sword falling to the ground with a clang.
In his rage, Kane looks around for more men to attack. When he notices all are down, he thrusts Light Bringer back in its scabbard and scowls.
The sound of the rushing water from the nearby stream is very loud now. Its banks are steep. The bridge is a sturdy stone affair, quite old, its mortised stones overgrown with moss. To the south, an old road leads out of the Hardstone Hills, the view between two ridges, giving you a glimpse of a broad valley ahead.
Thragga grins. He is covered with arterial blood from head to toe.
Kane catches his breath and says to his friend, "Thragga, today you fight like ten Urag."
Thragga says, "I told you I was a hero!"
Kane says, "And today you have proved it."
"What brings such fire in you, Kane?" the Urag asks.
Kane says, "It is hard to know where to start my friend. Surely you have seen the boy?"
Thragga holds up a hand. "Gah. Female troubles. Maybe you can talk sense to him, Northerling." He strolls away, towards the riverbank, and lowers himself down the steep bank, to rinse some of the blood and gore from his face and body.
Khom-Bei dismounts and starts to pull the dead men from the roadway so they will not be in sight of the approaching refugees, "I have no advice for this situation. It is beyond me."
Kane spurs his horse and crosses the bridge leaving his companions to cleanup.
Khom-Bei lets the first body fall into the water with a loud splash.
The white waters run briefly red with the blood Thragga rinses off. He clambers back up the bank again, shakes the water from his ears like a dog, and assists Khom-Bei with the effort.
Kane waits on the far side of the bridge for his companions to finish their work.
The road on the far side of the bridge is little used, the valley beyond crowded with trees now changing color for the fall. Once this land was rich with life, teeming with people, but in the last century, this part of Tol Nedra has become a wilderness again. A chill late afternoon wind rustles the trees as Kane looks out over the valley.
Thragga glances briefly towards Kane on the far side of the river, and shakes his head.
Khom-Bei flips the second body off the bridge and mutters under his breath, "If he's going to be like this for long, I'm going back to the northlands." The deputy's body disappears into the rushing white water below.
Thragga nods. "And I'm going with you." He tosses the last body into the stream, where it splashes and is borne away.
Thragga says, "Those men fought like Gholibins."
Khom-Bei says, "And I'm glad for it. I get tired of patching up great gashes in your hide."
Thragga frowns. He calls to Kane. "Kane! What do you see?"
Kane turns and says to his friends, "Trees."
Khom-Bei groans softly, "Make sure you pack enough food for the trip, Thragga."
This bridge is at least a day's ride south of Idris, the town where you joined the hunting party. It will take a determined group to follow you this far.
Thragga and Khom-Bei join Kane on the far side. Thragga leans close and scents the ground, then pulls his wineskin from his belt and drinks from it.
Kane says, "Shall we wait here for the others to cross?"
Khom-Bei says, "It's a natural place for us to wait for them."
Thragga passes the wineskin to Kane. "A deer pissed where you're standing, but no Reith nor Tobon have been here in days."
Kane nods, then takes a long swig from the wine skin, and hands it back to Thragga. "We'll wait here then for them to cross. Once they are over safely we can then range out again." He climbs down from his horse and lets it wander a bit to taste the grass.
Thragga says, "The boy, he's yours, isn't he?"
Khom-Bei gives Thragga a long look, "That was blunt."
Thragga blinks. Is there some other way for an Urag to be?
Kane says, "That's all right. Yes, he's mine and then he's not really."
Khom-Bei stands silent, waiting for Kane to continue.
Kane says, "He has a mother and a father. So I'm not sure where that leaves me."
Thragga rumbles, "You should duel Gareth for him and the woman!"
Kane says, "If I were Urag I would do just that, but that is not the Reith way, my friend."
Thragga narrows his eyes. "You are suggesting I duel him for you? Yes, yes...a cunning plan!"
Kane smiles, "No, Thragga there will be no duel. Gareth is a good man, we will not shed his blood."
Thragga looks off towards the rushing stream, puzzled, but silent.
Kane says, with a sigh, "If I had stayed with the Refuge many years ago, I would be in Gareth's shoes, but I made my choices and I will just have to stick to them now. I dream of what might have been, my friends, but there is no turning back for me. I have given my life to the hunt and it will never let me go."
Thragga says, "What better way to live?"
Khom-Bei says, "Kane, there is no perfect life. At sometime the boy may find his life....restrictive. When he looks to the outside world for his freedom, it would be good if there were a man waiting to show him what he seeks."
Kane looks at his friends and says, "I do not wish for any son of mine to follow in my footsteps. I guess that leaves it up to us to deal with the bloodsuckers, ah?"
Khom-Bei frowns, "Kane, we all fight so that no child ever has to live the lives we have lived."
Thragga nods. "Let us make the world free of them, so your boy can live in peace."
Kane grabs the wine skin from Thragga and says, "I'll drink to that."
The day grows chill, and it's not long before the refugees appear, led by Gareth on a white horse in front, Elianel on her gray just behind, and then a dozen wains wending carefully down the old road. Gareth rides out to meet you three, his lieutenant Bailent riding behind him. Gareth lifts a hand in greeting.
Thragga scowls back.
Khom-Bei speaks softly to Thragga, "Not many men would have done what he did. He has raised the boy as his own, how can you think ill of him?"
"Greetings, friends!" Gareth calls, a bit puzzled by the Urag. "What news?"
Thragga thinks tribally, and you and Kane are his tribe. Gareth is not. He simply shrugs to Khom-Bei, but at least he's stopped scowling.
Kane raises his hand in greeting.
Gareth asks, "Is the way clear? There's a path to the south I was counting on...looks like we can make some distance before the sun sets."
Khom-Bei says, "There was an ambush waiting here, we cleared it away and decided that we might wait for you to arrive before riding on."
Gareth nods. He doesn't see any signs of the ambush now. Elianel rides up behind him. "Kane, are you hurt?" she asks, seeing his bandaged thigh and scratched neck. She dismounts from her gray.
Kane readies his horse and says, "Well scout out ahead again and warn of any dangers." He says to Elianel over his sholder, "Just a scratch."
Thragga tells her, reassuringly, "He's had worse."
Khom-Bei turns and walks to where Cakilgan grazes, taking the ponies' bridle in hand, "That's enough for now, you'll get fat."
Gareth tells you, "Very well. We'll meet you two leagues to the south. On the far side of the valley here, there's a tall pillar of rock shaped like a warrior with a spear. You can't miss it." He points south, between the ridgelines, across the valley ahead. "Be careful."
Khom-Bei mounts up and rides slowly away to the south, followed by his two companions. Gareth and Elianel watch them ride off, slowly, and then Gareth barks out orders to the caravan.
Some hours later, having scouted the valley, you rejoin the caravan at the rendezvous point. On the hillside above, there is indeed a pillar of rock reminiscent of a warrior with a spear, visible even in the lowering sun. The valley seems clear of all dangers, and you realize it has been almost two full days since you last slept. Fatigue is evident even in Thragga's eyes. Thragga bears a string of skinned rabbits over his shoulder.
The Refuge sentries greet you as you approach. Then two boys and a full grown man race up to you, excited. "You're back!" Ronan cries.
Tyrin and Ronan's Uncle Bran are right behind him, all thrilled to see you return to the camp.