Oathbreaker

II: The Ranger

The morning air was brisk. A hint of chill and a slight fog hung silently over a small opening in the canopy of trees. A babbling stream slithered through the clearing downhill towards its endpoint. A group of deer stepped through the tree line and made their way to the water, two bucks and three does made up their numbers. In a tree not twenty paces from spot the deer decided to stop for drink, sat a High half-elf, bow in hand with an arrow nocked. The half-elf drew in a slow breath from his nose, drew the bow string back, and aimed at the closest buck.

The string snapped forward, propelling the arrow towards its target, the front buck's heart. Before the first arrow even found its mark, another was drawn from the quiver, nocked and fired toward the second buck. Both arrows struck as they were aimed, direct hit through the bucks' hearts. The first buck dropped on the spot, beginning to spill blood into the creek he was just drinking from. The other buck, however, tried to recover from the shock and attempted to crawl from the water. The half-elf gracefully leaped from the tree, landing mere feet away from the injured animal. He drew his dagger and sunk it straight into the animal's skull, killing it instantly.

"I'm sorry, friend." The half-elf whispered to the now crumpled deer. "I will aim truer, next time. I promise."

With both deer now dead, he dragged them from the water and back into the open clearing. He plucked the arrows from their hearts, gutted them, and tied their front and back legs together. He ran a long stick through the animals' tied legs and hoisted the stick over his shoulders, one animal on either side of him.

Jerod Helas was this such High half-elf. Born to a noble High elf mother named Aelfed and a human hunter named Gerold Helas, Jerod grew up on his family's cottage, in the wilds between the human kingdom of Liria and the elven kingdom of Sevarta. His childhood was fair. He grew up hunting alongside his father, learning and developing skills in tracking, archery, and stealth. His mother was absent a lot of the time, needing to return to the Sevarta Kingdom fairly often. When Jerod did manage to spend time with Aelfed, she often taught him things more attune to her elvish ways. They practiced magic together. She taught Jerod how to read, write and speak both human and elven languages. She taught him how to cook, how to bake and she even passed along some techniques in alchemy.

Jerod was raised outside of the comforts of city living, by his parents own design. They knew that neither kingdom would be very accepting of him, being the half-elf that he was. While it had been quite some time since elves and humans began to live amongst each other with other races, cross breeding was still viewed as taboo among the general population. Jerod's parents knew that to give their son the best chance at survival in this world, they would need to give him the skills required to do so. Jerod grew up in the wilds, and while the wilds would always be his home, he knew how to be sophisticated. He learned manners, both human and elvish. He learned how to act around royalty from either side, sometimes even accompanying his mother when she would return to the Sevartan city of Avarta for work. He learned the art of how to talk to people. His father would take him to the taverns in the Kingdom of Liria, and teach him the value of a man's word. Whenever Gerold and Jerod would score a kill on a piece of game they didn't need at home, they would take it into town and sell it to the innkeepers, the butchers or even the royal stock. On his travels between cities and the cottage, Jerod took up whittling. He would find the largest stick or chunk of wood he could, and by the time they made it to their destination, Jerod would have his carving complete. His favorite things to carve were animals, specifically birds. He would often sells these carvings to shops, unless he specifically took a liking to them. Pretty soon after taking up his new hobby, Jerod stopped in at a local human fletcher's shop, and asked the man to teach him how to make arrows. He sought out elven leather workers, smiths, armorers and other craftsmen to learn their crafts. Eventually, Jerod got skilled enough in his carving, crafting and the like, he had created his own bow, arrows, quiver and even the wide brimmed hat he sported throughout his days.