"Stop right there! King's Ranger!" A loud and deep voice rung out in the dark forest. Feeling all tense from the maze-like forest cutting their escape, the short man with a bandana on his visibly bald head looked around as the shadows of night closed on him and his pack of bandits.
"H-heh, and what if we don't?" He tried to act natural, but the fear of being impaled with a large arrow at any moment could be seen from his eyes.
"I ain't scared of a sissy ginger and what, his pet bear?" The bandit laughed, but his allies were not as quickly relaxed as he was. "Laugh, ya idiots!" He yelled, forcing the others to laugh in an unenthusiastic way as well.
"Are we really doing this?" The ginger haired apprentice said with an annoyed voice as he turned his hidden face towards his mentor.
"Well, we don't have any other choice, I suppose." The long haired ranger replied calmly.
"Right. Gale, let's go!" Clyde jumped into a nearby bush and reappeared with his trusty, chestnut coated horse.
"I guess we can't handle this many of them. Let's retreat!" He said, subtly winking at the tall ranger who used his cloak to disappear from clear view in a moment.
Losing track of the other ranger, the bandits got courage from Clyde's words and chased the mounted ranger. Clyde purposefully commanded Gale to run in a steady, slow pace to let them feel like they were catching up.
Suddenly, the bandana wearing leader of the pack was hit from behind with a heavy, metallic object. The rest of the bandits panicked as soon as they noticed their leader was down and descended into chaos.
Clyde quickly took out the violent members lashing out at Bryce and himself, drawing his arrows while trying to be as calm as possible. The recurve bow shot out a few arrows, all of which hit their targets.
Coming from behind with his own steed, Bryce caught the remaining bandits who tried to run away and signaled his apprentice to come help him tie them up. With the small skirmish leading to an end, both of them sighed in relief.
"I swear, Greenfield used to be much calmer." Said Clyde as he inspected his bow out of boredom.
"You should hear the other Fiefs, Jacob and Glade should be going crazy by now." Bryce crouched to pick up his striker from the ground. As the weapon was most suitable for a person like him, it had quickly became into his most used equipment.
"Glade hasn't written to me for a while now. I wonder if that Genovesan conflict opened up again?" Clyde asked curiously.
"I doubt that, it has been a long time now. He's probably busy with work." Bryce said. "So we better get busy too. Can't let them have all the fun for themselves, right?" He added jokingly to lighten up the mood.
"Okay, let's keep on our night patrol, then!" Clyde replied, full of energy. He was now used to the more darker ends of his job, being able to spring up to his cheerful personality in daily work. It has been three years since he met his mentor, after all.
As the duo rode their horses towards the exit of the dark forest, Bryce's horse, Pfeil, suddenly warned his rider with a twitching ear.
"Hm? What is it, Pfeil?" The ranger looked around to see if anything was off, but couldn't notice a difference.
"Now it's Gale... There's probably something off about this." Clyde anxiously stated as Gale's ears started perking up as well.
Convinced, Bryce readied himself and sharply analyzed his surroundings. "Stay on guard, Cly-"
Before he could finish his words, the bushes in the dark forest rustled wildly.
Reflexively, the rangers jumped off their horses as they galloped away to a safe spot.
The rustling got louder and out came a towering, shadowy shape that stood in front of the rangers.
"Aah! Wh-what is that?" Clyde asked in terror. His face went white as a sheet. The monster in front of them was like something that came out of a folk tale. A tall body that easily towers over Bryce, a head that belongs to a dog, glued onto a humanoid torso covered with hair all over, it was hard to believe it was real.
"Hush!" Bryce silenced his apprentice. He signaled him to stay still and try to blend into the view. That way, they could examine this new entity before them. Clyde silently gazed at his mentor. Bryce was surely just as scared as he was, right? He was sure the tall ranger was trying to keep his cool as well. He took a deep breath and released it silently.
The monster looked around as it sniffed the air like a canine animal. Turning his head right and left, it locked its glaring red eyes onto Clyde. The young ranger didn't flinch and tried his best to not move a muscle. The monster got closer and closer, walking towards the boy steadily. It wasn't too long until the distance between them was barely a meter long. Just as it was about to take another step, a sharp, heavy arrow flew at the torso of the monster, knocking it down. Bryce had used the time his apprentice bought to make a decisive blow.
"Clyde, are you okay?" The ranger practically flew over to the apprentice. Clyde was breathing heavily as he was still processing what had just happened.
Suddenly, the monster rose up to throw a clawed punch at the tall ranger. Caught by surprise, Bryce got knocked off his feet.
"B-Bryce!" Clyde yelled out instantly. Seeing the humanoid looking at him with its resentful eyes, he quickly threw his throwing knife at its thigh. However, the sharp weapon could barely get through the thick fur of the monster. Clyde quickly understood why Bryce's shot didn't end up killing it. Looking beside him, he saw his mentor lying on the ground, unconscious. If he didnt do anything quickly, perhaps the creature would try to eat him? The ginger haired apprentice shuddered at the thought.
"H-hey, hairball! Over here!" He yelled in front of the monster to divert his attention. Seeing as the monster started coming running at him, the plan has worked. Unfortunately, this was as far as Clyde could think, and now he had a big, bloodthirsty monster after him.
Running as fast as he could, he went to the only other allies he had at the moment: The horses.
"Gale, Pfeil, Help!" He yelled out in fear. There was no time for elaborate ranger horse tricks, everyone's life was at stake.
The chestnut coated horse charged at the monster and kicked it hard on the torso right where the arrow was planted. The thick arrow broke inside the flesh of the humanoid, making it writhe in pain. Seeing as the smoke cream coloured horse charge at him as well, the monster ran away in fear.
Clyde sighed deeply as if to release all of is built up anxiety. "Thanks, both of you." He briefly pet the horses individually before running back towards his mentor.
"Bryce, Bryce!"
"I'm alright." Said a deep voice coming from the ground. "Just help me up, will you?"
Clyde offered him his hand as he got up, clenching his gut where he was hit.
"You need to get that treated... Let's just go to the hut!" said Clyde, feeling concerned.
"It's fine, I just need to... Oof..." Bryce couldn't finish his words as he clutched his wound tighter, panting. "We need to tell about this to everyone... Every single ranger in the Corps."
"Okay, but you come first... Come on, I'll help you up the horse." Clyde insisted. Bryce didn't have any strength to argue otherwise. The couple of rangers rode back home as the dark forest cast its shadows on the path as if the morning was never going to come.
"It was so scary, seeing a monster like that... Just what was it?" Clyde was talking to his mentor as the man laid on his bed while the apprentice searched for an appropriate medicine for his wound.
"I've never seen anything like that, either. I'm afraid we will have to investigate for its whereabouts if we fail to identify it." Bryce answered with a tired voice.
"Good thing the horses were around. I don't know why, but it ran off as soon as it got a clear view of them." Clyde went on as he decided on one of the salves, looking at the clear fluid with his focused blue eyes.
"That's one thing to report, as well. Have you sent the letters I've given you?" Bryce asked monotonously.
"Yes, you wanted them to be given to the couriers, right?" Clyde cleaned his hands with a clean cloth and approached his mentor with the salve in his hand.
"We need to have an early gathering about this. I really doubt that monster was just wandering about." Bryce tried to speak calmly.
"Um... I've found the salve. Can you take off the vest?" Clyde said as he put some of the salve on his hands. Bryce took off the ranger vest and the shirt under it to allow Clyde to apply the salve. Clyde looked a bit disturbed as he saw the large, purple bruise on the ranger's stomach.
"Are you sure you don't want to rest? I can go in your stead." Clyde offered, concerned about the man's health.
"No, no, I'll be fine. I've got a first class healer with me, after all... Oww..." He gasped as the cold salve touched his fragile, bruised skin.
"Okay, just stay like this for a while, than lay down. I'll go make breakfast, you need some energy to go on." Clyde uttered in hurry as he swiftly left the room.
"Aren't you worrying a bit too much? It's barely even morning, Clyde."
"Of course I'm worrying a bit too much, you're my father!" The boy came in carrying a wooden tray with a cup of coffee and a toasted bread with jam on it.
"Not your real dad, though." Bryce grabbed the cup of black coffee and took a sip.
"You're just as good as. Well, even better." Clyde replied as he put the tray on an empty spot on the bed.
Suddenly, the oak door of the hut was knocked on.
"I'll answer it!" Clyde left momentarily, only to return almost instantly.
"There's news from the Corps!"
"Looks like we weren't the only ones seeing these monsters around. Apparently, nearly everyone sent a letter to Gordon about this, so he says we are to gather up early, just as you said we should." Clyde summarized the papers in his hands to his mentor on the bed.
"Yes, I've guessed as much. Seems like this will be a long ride, Clyde. You ready for another gathering?" Bryce tried to pick up the spirits of the young ranger.
"Of course! I can't wait to meet everyone again, even if it's an emergency." Clyde smiled innocently.
Bryce nodded, smiling back. "Well, let's see what Merlin and the others have to say about all this." He started to get up.
"W-wait, what are you doing?" Clyde tried to stop him.
"Well, your salve worked wonders. I'm raring to go already! Let's get ourselves ready." Bryce tried to act tough, but Clyde, especially after his numerous classes with Mark the healer, could easily see that he was still wounded.
"Okay... But still, take care." He sighed deeply.
The duo was getting ready for the gathering, the third time for Clyde. Was it going to be different this time? Seems likely, thought the apprentice. Somewhere inside him, he felt somewhat anxious. Looking at the cloudy sky through the large window in the living room, he hoped for the best.
