I.
"Damn rain"
Major Therrin Seagle, of the Sirion Ranger Patrol, drew his cloak tighter around his chest as he trudged through the woods and down a hill that lined the bank of the Testerian River. He was a strong man, with black hair and blue eyes and about the age of twenty-nine. He had been promoted early to help foster the growth of the Rangers and it had helped that he had already been a "hell of a fighter" as a squire in the Knights of Sirion. So he had taken command and was sent out six months ago to patrol the fairly unsettled border between Sirion, one of the plains kingdoms, and Mindra, that was slightly north and east of Sirion, and their bitter enemies.
Behind Therrin, one of his lieutenants slipped and fell in the downpour. "Great," Gais Gastry, the second youngest of the group, muttered with a touch of sarcasm, "Now, not only am I soaked to the bone; my cloak's a big muddy mess now, too." He pulled mud from his black hair and wiped mud out of his eyes and all two-hundred pounds of him slouched in disgust. He was fairly large but surprisingly instead of being a melee expert, he was an archer. He said it's from his days fighting off the Mindrans during the third invasion at the siege of Bastarrie. Apparently, Gais had been one of the few who could snipe off the enemy soldiers when they thought they were out of accepted accurate range. Bastarrie eventually fell, and Gais was brutally beaten to within inches of his life, so he kept himself strong to make sure it never happened again. And, to help him augment his archer skills and to show off his strength, he had crafted himself a beautiful composite longbow.
"Quit your complaining Gais, here grab on to my hand!" Corporal Maxwell Reilly, the tallest one of the Patrol, youngest, and fastest, offered his hand and pulled Gais to his feet. Maxwell had been raised in Mindran territory during the third invasion, when he was fifteen, and the Mindran soldiers had caught him and his family running to Sirion. He was the only one fast enough to make it to the borders and cross into Siriron. As such, he was the most laid back of the group, since he figured no one could complain about the situation unless they went through what he had gone through.
"We're all wet Gais, after all it's been raining for three days now," he laughed.
Another Lieutenant, Ponch Essard, withdrew the hood of his cloak, revealing a mass of wet brown hair and brown eyes and said "Has it only been that bloody long? It feels like it's been three years not days. And the nearest settlement isn't for another six miles, if those maps are still correct." Ponch was considered the practical one of the Patrol. Unlike the rest of the Rangers, he had received an education when he was younger and it showed. However, most people wondered why he ran away to join the Rangers when he had such a promising future ahead of him.
Therrin turned around and aimed a fake punch at Essard, "Of course the maps are right, you big dumb ox, and we got them two weeks ago from that logger heading back to the capitol. Not much could have changed since then." Then, crashing in the bushes caused everyone to drop to a squatting position.
"Great, more mud," Gais whispered. Ponch hit him upside the head and motioned for him to be quiet.
"Troll! A damned troll!" Sergeant Major Alexander Kiffle shouted as he crested the hill that the patrol was heading down and sprinted down to their position. "Major, beg to report sir," he saluted and the Major nodded. "Well sir, bringing up the rear, I thought I heard a little bit of crashing noise, so I stayed back a little more and decided to hide in some bushes. I stayed there for about a half an hour and-" He coughed and opened a flask of brandy and took a swig. "Sorry sir, cold and everything. Anyway I'm hiding in these bushes and all of the sudden; the troll's right on top of me! Well I sprinted away, and the thing followed me I think, but I know I gained a lot of ground on it."
Therrin clapped Kiffle on the back. "Good work Alex, but whether we're out of its way or not, we need to kill the thing so it doesn't threaten the fisherman and loggers on the bank." He stood and drew his bow. "Maxwell, you and me in one group, we'll go to the left with bows out. Gais and Kiffle, to the right, at least one with bow out and Ponch, you can take care of yourself better than any of us can in a scrap, and you've got the best eyesight out of all of us here, so head straight up the middle. If it really is following Kiffle, he should crest the hill soon, and we'll fill him full of arrows, but make sure you aren't firing on each other okay? Go now!"
They all started to run; four around the base of the hill and Ponch straight up the hill, all trying as hard as possible to be quiet. Once on top of the hill, Ponch took cover behind some trees and drew his longsword and rapier. Seeing that the rest of the patrol had similar cover he looked around trying to spot the troll. It wasn't that hard. The troll was making his way, slowly, to the base of the hill opposite Ponch. He whistled and stood up in plain view throwing stealth to the wind and rain. That served two purposes. One, it got the trolls attention and two; it signaled to the others that he found the thing.
The troll stopped and looked at the shape that had whistled. Trolls were actually hard to spot occasionally because of the greenish tint to their skin, but not when one is moving and especially when all nine foot of troll is standing straight up. But this troll, being no intelligent being failed to realize this fact, so with a roar he bared his claws and charged up the hill and Ponch.
Ponch braced for impact with the troll and when it reached him, he swung his longsword in a quick cut across the chest, but he missed slightly and the toll swung back knocking Ponch to his feet. Fortunately, he was expecting the blow and he quickly recovered in time to see Gais madly fire three arrows at the troll. One hit the troll in the shoulder causing the troll to look away from Ponch and get confused quite quickly. Ponch took advantage of this and jabbed his rapier in the troll's gut, and slashing his longsword across its chest. This only served to madden the troll and in swung madly slamming its claws into Ponch and throwing him against a tree.
Down on the right, Gais fired another three arrows, but missed all three times.
"Sar Major! You had better go help Ponch, this looks bad!" he shouted and went to draw another arrow.
Kiffle fired the shot he was trying to place the entire fight and hit the troll in the leg, distracting it, even though it was far from where he had intended the shot to hit.
"Yeah, I know," Kiffle grunted as he dropped his pack and sprinted up the hill, drawing his long and short swords. It took a while for the troll to recover from the shot in the leg and by the time he had broken it off, Kiffle was on him swinging expertly. He widened the gap in its gut and slashed its arm multiple times before an arrow fired by Maxwell impacted the troll in the eye. The troll, now fully and completely enraged, swung violently sinking its claws straight into Kiffle's chest, despite his armor. It then bit him, mixing the massive amounts of blood flowing from it with now unconscious Kiffle's many wounds and the rain.
Seeing this happen, Major Therrin cursed loudly, dropped his pack, and sprinted up the hill slipping once or twice, unlike the sure footed Kiffle. Behind him, Maxwell fired another shot striking the troll deep in the throat and in conjunction with Gais' last arrow in the pectoral muscle of the troll, caused it to fall to its knees. By this time Therrin had reached the top of the hill and with one mighty swing of his scimitar, decapitated it. He knelt next to the Sar Major and winced. The troll's claws had sunk deep into his chest. Immediately he started working Kiffle's armor off as Maxwell knelt next to Ponch and tossed the Major his healing kit and pack. Gais also had run up the hill with the Sar Major's pack.
"Alright, Gais over here, you're going to have to help me with Alexander," Therrin waved. Ponch groaned and sat up slightly as Maxwell put bandages on his head.
"Major," he whispered, "Take my dagger. If you look at the troll, he's missing a claw. It's in Kiffle and you're going to need my dagger to get it out." He threw the dagger and Therrin picked it up.
"Thanks Lieutenant. Can you walk?"
"In a minute, sir," he sighed deeply and lifted his arm so Maxwell could help him up. Maxwell threw his arm around him and helped him up, and then the two walked over to the troll to retrieve his weapons.
"Gais, grab that pouch there, the off-white one," Therrin pointed and Gais handed it to him. Therrin opened the bag and stuffed the herbs contained therein into the wound that had contained the troll's claw. Gais examined the claw.
"Oh no, Major? The reason this claw came off is because it's a metal battle claw. This troll belonged to someone," he held up the claw for Therrin to examine. The claw was long, nasty and part of a hand augmentation that appeared to have been magically grafted into the troll. It was covered in blood from when it ripped off of its hand, and from when it had plunged its pointed end into the Sergeant Major.
"We know who," Maxwell called from next to the corpse. "This thing was chained up. It broke its chains but the ID branding is still there. This is a Mindran battle troll. They only give those to their advance units. I'm actually surprised he's not better equipped with things other than those metal claws."
Gais and Therrin hoisted the Sar Major onto a field stretcher made of two long sticks and a blanket and covered him with another blanket to protect the bandages from the rain. "Well then," the Major grunted, "I'm sure the Mindrans will come looking for this thing, and when they do, they will pass over the borders into our villages. We need to get to that village, Kira, is its name. Take the Sar Major's pack Ponch, and Maxwell, help him along. This rain could really mess up our whole trip."
"Damn rain"
Major Therrin Seagle, of the Sirion Ranger Patrol, drew his cloak tighter around his chest as he trudged through the woods and down a hill that lined the bank of the Testerian River. He was a strong man, with black hair and blue eyes and about the age of twenty-nine. He had been promoted early to help foster the growth of the Rangers and it had helped that he had already been a "hell of a fighter" as a squire in the Knights of Sirion. So he had taken command and was sent out six months ago to patrol the fairly unsettled border between Sirion, one of the plains kingdoms, and Mindra, that was slightly north and east of Sirion, and their bitter enemies.
Behind Therrin, one of his lieutenants slipped and fell in the downpour. "Great," Gais Gastry, the second youngest of the group, muttered with a touch of sarcasm, "Now, not only am I soaked to the bone; my cloak's a big muddy mess now, too." He pulled mud from his black hair and wiped mud out of his eyes and all two-hundred pounds of him slouched in disgust. He was fairly large but surprisingly instead of being a melee expert, he was an archer. He said it's from his days fighting off the Mindrans during the third invasion at the siege of Bastarrie. Apparently, Gais had been one of the few who could snipe off the enemy soldiers when they thought they were out of accepted accurate range. Bastarrie eventually fell, and Gais was brutally beaten to within inches of his life, so he kept himself strong to make sure it never happened again. And, to help him augment his archer skills and to show off his strength, he had crafted himself a beautiful composite longbow.
"Quit your complaining Gais, here grab on to my hand!" Corporal Maxwell Reilly, the tallest one of the Patrol, youngest, and fastest, offered his hand and pulled Gais to his feet. Maxwell had been raised in Mindran territory during the third invasion, when he was fifteen, and the Mindran soldiers had caught him and his family running to Sirion. He was the only one fast enough to make it to the borders and cross into Siriron. As such, he was the most laid back of the group, since he figured no one could complain about the situation unless they went through what he had gone through.
"We're all wet Gais, after all it's been raining for three days now," he laughed.
Another Lieutenant, Ponch Essard, withdrew the hood of his cloak, revealing a mass of wet brown hair and brown eyes and said "Has it only been that bloody long? It feels like it's been three years not days. And the nearest settlement isn't for another six miles, if those maps are still correct." Ponch was considered the practical one of the Patrol. Unlike the rest of the Rangers, he had received an education when he was younger and it showed. However, most people wondered why he ran away to join the Rangers when he had such a promising future ahead of him.
Therrin turned around and aimed a fake punch at Essard, "Of course the maps are right, you big dumb ox, and we got them two weeks ago from that logger heading back to the capitol. Not much could have changed since then." Then, crashing in the bushes caused everyone to drop to a squatting position.
"Great, more mud," Gais whispered. Ponch hit him upside the head and motioned for him to be quiet.
"Troll! A damned troll!" Sergeant Major Alexander Kiffle shouted as he crested the hill that the patrol was heading down and sprinted down to their position. "Major, beg to report sir," he saluted and the Major nodded. "Well sir, bringing up the rear, I thought I heard a little bit of crashing noise, so I stayed back a little more and decided to hide in some bushes. I stayed there for about a half an hour and-" He coughed and opened a flask of brandy and took a swig. "Sorry sir, cold and everything. Anyway I'm hiding in these bushes and all of the sudden; the troll's right on top of me! Well I sprinted away, and the thing followed me I think, but I know I gained a lot of ground on it."
Therrin clapped Kiffle on the back. "Good work Alex, but whether we're out of its way or not, we need to kill the thing so it doesn't threaten the fisherman and loggers on the bank." He stood and drew his bow. "Maxwell, you and me in one group, we'll go to the left with bows out. Gais and Kiffle, to the right, at least one with bow out and Ponch, you can take care of yourself better than any of us can in a scrap, and you've got the best eyesight out of all of us here, so head straight up the middle. If it really is following Kiffle, he should crest the hill soon, and we'll fill him full of arrows, but make sure you aren't firing on each other okay? Go now!"
They all started to run; four around the base of the hill and Ponch straight up the hill, all trying as hard as possible to be quiet. Once on top of the hill, Ponch took cover behind some trees and drew his longsword and rapier. Seeing that the rest of the patrol had similar cover he looked around trying to spot the troll. It wasn't that hard. The troll was making his way, slowly, to the base of the hill opposite Ponch. He whistled and stood up in plain view throwing stealth to the wind and rain. That served two purposes. One, it got the trolls attention and two; it signaled to the others that he found the thing.
The troll stopped and looked at the shape that had whistled. Trolls were actually hard to spot occasionally because of the greenish tint to their skin, but not when one is moving and especially when all nine foot of troll is standing straight up. But this troll, being no intelligent being failed to realize this fact, so with a roar he bared his claws and charged up the hill and Ponch.
Ponch braced for impact with the troll and when it reached him, he swung his longsword in a quick cut across the chest, but he missed slightly and the toll swung back knocking Ponch to his feet. Fortunately, he was expecting the blow and he quickly recovered in time to see Gais madly fire three arrows at the troll. One hit the troll in the shoulder causing the troll to look away from Ponch and get confused quite quickly. Ponch took advantage of this and jabbed his rapier in the troll's gut, and slashing his longsword across its chest. This only served to madden the troll and in swung madly slamming its claws into Ponch and throwing him against a tree.
Down on the right, Gais fired another three arrows, but missed all three times.
"Sar Major! You had better go help Ponch, this looks bad!" he shouted and went to draw another arrow.
Kiffle fired the shot he was trying to place the entire fight and hit the troll in the leg, distracting it, even though it was far from where he had intended the shot to hit.
"Yeah, I know," Kiffle grunted as he dropped his pack and sprinted up the hill, drawing his long and short swords. It took a while for the troll to recover from the shot in the leg and by the time he had broken it off, Kiffle was on him swinging expertly. He widened the gap in its gut and slashed its arm multiple times before an arrow fired by Maxwell impacted the troll in the eye. The troll, now fully and completely enraged, swung violently sinking its claws straight into Kiffle's chest, despite his armor. It then bit him, mixing the massive amounts of blood flowing from it with now unconscious Kiffle's many wounds and the rain.
Seeing this happen, Major Therrin cursed loudly, dropped his pack, and sprinted up the hill slipping once or twice, unlike the sure footed Kiffle. Behind him, Maxwell fired another shot striking the troll deep in the throat and in conjunction with Gais' last arrow in the pectoral muscle of the troll, caused it to fall to its knees. By this time Therrin had reached the top of the hill and with one mighty swing of his scimitar, decapitated it. He knelt next to the Sar Major and winced. The troll's claws had sunk deep into his chest. Immediately he started working Kiffle's armor off as Maxwell knelt next to Ponch and tossed the Major his healing kit and pack. Gais also had run up the hill with the Sar Major's pack.
"Alright, Gais over here, you're going to have to help me with Alexander," Therrin waved. Ponch groaned and sat up slightly as Maxwell put bandages on his head.
"Major," he whispered, "Take my dagger. If you look at the troll, he's missing a claw. It's in Kiffle and you're going to need my dagger to get it out." He threw the dagger and Therrin picked it up.
"Thanks Lieutenant. Can you walk?"
"In a minute, sir," he sighed deeply and lifted his arm so Maxwell could help him up. Maxwell threw his arm around him and helped him up, and then the two walked over to the troll to retrieve his weapons.
"Gais, grab that pouch there, the off-white one," Therrin pointed and Gais handed it to him. Therrin opened the bag and stuffed the herbs contained therein into the wound that had contained the troll's claw. Gais examined the claw.
"Oh no, Major? The reason this claw came off is because it's a metal battle claw. This troll belonged to someone," he held up the claw for Therrin to examine. The claw was long, nasty and part of a hand augmentation that appeared to have been magically grafted into the troll. It was covered in blood from when it ripped off of its hand, and from when it had plunged its pointed end into the Sergeant Major.
"We know who," Maxwell called from next to the corpse. "This thing was chained up. It broke its chains but the ID branding is still there. This is a Mindran battle troll. They only give those to their advance units. I'm actually surprised he's not better equipped with things other than those metal claws."
Gais and Therrin hoisted the Sar Major onto a field stretcher made of two long sticks and a blanket and covered him with another blanket to protect the bandages from the rain. "Well then," the Major grunted, "I'm sure the Mindrans will come looking for this thing, and when they do, they will pass over the borders into our villages. We need to get to that village, Kira, is its name. Take the Sar Major's pack Ponch, and Maxwell, help him along. This rain could really mess up our whole trip."