All I could hear was the sound of the air forcing itself on me, and the sound of Tug's hooves slamming into the ground below me.
A bonfire was lit a few kilometers away from me, our enemy was located there. Araluen is in the midst of a raging war between a fairly new country, Imperi. They've seized control of Skandia's (one of our strongest allys) southern border countries, Alpina and Magyara. They were spreading into Gallica quickly, had we done nothing. They would have seized control of Gallica too. The Imperi once had control of Alpina long ago, at the time it was known as Pacem. However, the struggles of keeping the country intact were too much. The country fell apart and was conquered by Alpina.
My name is Will, I'm a young ranger that was sent thousands of kilometers away from home into Gallica. Accompanied by my master Halt, I was sent to discover information on this possible threat. Halt and I dismounted from Tug and Abelard and sneaked off into the trees and bushes. Slowly approaching the sparks and smoke in the distance. What we found was a large campsite with small wooden buildings and tents. Four watchtowers were on all corners of the camp. And four archers with crossbows that looked bored out of their minds. Halt and I went over every single detail in the plan about a thousand times during our trip over here. I snuck over to the camp, and for a brief moment. The archer looked over in my direction. I froze, not daring to make a single movement. I could hear Halt's words in my head; 'Trust the cloak.' After a few moments the archer looked away. I snuck into the camp undetected, and removed my cloak. I blended in pretty well with the people that were forced to clean around the camp.
But, all of the sudden. My attention was directed at this strange looking being. And when I noticed this being, things started to feel very wrong. I couldn't move, my heart was pounding in my chest. This being turned to me, and what I saw was horrifying. It was a completely red skinned man, with a horrific face. He wore a long thick and brown trench coat. And had a long tail behind him. The being gave me an unpleasant grin, revealing the sharp teeth hidden in his mouth. I was starting to feel really nauseous. A huge lurch of fear entered me when he started walking towards me. I was unable to move, unable to grab my saxe knife. All I could to was sit there while this being approached me. But then this being started to talk to me. It was almost like he was talking inside my head, his lips weren't moving or anything. "You're here to collect information on us." the being said. I was filled with fear and confusion with that sentence. How could he possibly know what I was doing and why I was here. The next thing I remembered was a fast movement from the creature. And a sharp pain near my heart. Everything went to blackness after that one fatal movement. I felt nothing, nothing existed. Just darkness ahead and nobody around. I was sure I died that day.
But suddenly, I awoke. My vision was slowly coming back to me, I groaned. My body was filled with pain. I looked around, I was in a very unfamiliar room. I looked at my chest, there wasn't a wound or anything. I could have sworn that creature stabbed me. I heard the doorknob being twisted and the sound of the door being opened. A boy around my age stepped into the room. "Oh good. you're up." he said to me. "Breakfast is downstairs, you'll need something to eat to get your strength up." as anyone would, I asked him the obvious question; "Wait, where am I? And who are you?" He smiled, it was a welcoming smile. "I'm Tom Ward the Chipenden spook, and you're in Chipenden. I found you a few kilometers from here, you looked half dead." Tom replied. Chipenden must have been a city or a small town in this country. I didn't know much about it, so I didn't question it. The only thing on my mind was breakfast.
I walked down the steps with Tom and saw the dining room. It was a neat and tidy looking room, a fire was lit next to the dining table. There was a girl that looked about fourteen sitting near the fireplace. "Who's that?" I asked. "That's my apprentice, Jenny." Tom said. Apprentice? He looks around my age, and I'm still in my apprenticeship. "Yeah, I know. I look a little too young to have an apprentice, my master died in a battle a few months ago. And I took over at a young age." Tom replied. That reminded me of something, I forgot to introduce myself. "Oh, my name is Will Treaty by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier." After that, we sat down at the table and started eating. "My compliments to the cook!" Tom shouted to nobody. 'I thought he was the one that cooked this.' I thought. 'Maybe there is somebody else here that cooks.' As soon as that thought crossed my mind, the table started to rumble. And a purring sound came from the walls. Confused and surprised, I looked around the room for what could have made that noise. "Oh yeah." Tom started. "Probably should have mentioned that I have a boggart that cooks and cleans." What did he just say? A boggart? Is that a pet or something? No, it can't be, what kind of pet cooks food and cleans a house? Tom must have noticed the confused look on my face because he then said, "Never heard of a boggart before?" I don't think a boggart even exists. But I just went along with it. "No, not really. I'm not from this country so I'm not sure." I said. "Boggarts live everywhere." Tom said. "What country are you from?" Boggarts live everywhere? I've never met anybody that's mentioned one or heard anything about them. And they certainly don't live in Araluen. "I come from Araluen. I said. Tom had a puzzled look on his face when I said that. "Araluen, never heard of that country." Araluen's only been around for about two-hundred years. I wouldn't be surprised if a handful of people haven't heard about it. We just all started to eat breakfast. I noticed that the girl kept glancing at me for a few moments. And whenever I looked over at her, she'd look away. It's almost like she was studying me. I tried to ignore it, but it kept bothering me. I didn't want to say anything because that'd be rude. So I just continued eating breakfast.
"By any chance did you find my weapons and cloak?" I asked. "Yes, they were pretty unique looking." Tom replied. "Two strange looking knives and a large bow." Great! So I didn't lose any of my equipment. "I'm gonna need those back before I return to my home country." I said. The girl that hasn't said anything this whole time actually said something. "You saw a haizda mage." Tom and I looked at her confused. "What?" I asked. Tom looked confused as well, but he didn't say anything. "I was trying to find out who you are, and where you came from during breakfast by the way." Wait, is that why she kept staring at me? And that doesn't make any sense, how is staring at somebody going to find out who that person is? "It's one of my gifts as a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter." Despite having no idea what she was talking about, she seemed to be pretty cheerful. Not what I expected.
There was a knock at the door. Tom said nothing, he just answered the door. A little odd I must admit. I saw the person that walked in the door. It was a woman, her face was pretty, but cruel at the same time. Her shirt had eight sheaths with blades inside them. It made me feel uneasy, there was just something about her that wasn't right. She smiled at me, a wave of fear went over me when I noticed her teeth. They were sharp, it reminded me of a wild animal. "This is Grimalkin." Tom said. Grimalkin? What a strange name. I nodded in reply. They all started talking. I didn't know what was going on, or what they were talking about. All I got from it was 'Haizdamage' and 'Information.' I didn't even know what a haizda mage was, nobody bothered to explain anything to me. I just sat there in confusion. The one thing I did remember was; "We're going to travel a long way, we're going on horseback. The journey will be at least three weeks." I didn't know if I was going on this journey or not, I'll just ask Tom if there was any way I can get home. Maybe I can buy a boat ride or something. A half hour of discussion, and Grimalkin left."