Mark of the Ranger

IV. Introductions and Sharp Things

          "Well, Ko, I don't know you, David, or Elena, so why don't we start there? Let's all introduce ourselves," I said. "I'm Lionel, but please call me Lio. I'm a human, I specialize with the lance, and I would rather think than kill birds." I pointed to Karen, who had walked over to our side of the room, along with Elena. "You go next, Karen," I told her.

          "I'm Karen. I'm a mermaid, I specialize with daggers, and I enjoy long walks on the beach." She pointed to Jeff. Jeff nodded. "I'm Jeff. I'm a human, I specialize with the sledgehammer, and I'm afraid of jesters." He pointed to Ko, who was eating a marshmallow. Snow elves needed to eat a lot of sugar. Ko swallowed. "I'm Ko, as you know. I'm a snow elf, obviously, I specialize with daggers, like Karen, and I'm actually tall for my age." I had noticed he was an inch or two taller than the other snow elves.

          Ko pointed to David. "I'm David. I'm an Asmerian, I use my echo blade, of course, and I can't smell. With my nose, that is." David pointed to Elena. Elena waved shyly. "I'm Elena. I'm a wood elf, actually, I specialize with the bowedge, and I know how to cook just about anything." That was interesting. Not many Outland Rangers used the bowedge. The bowedge was a combination of a sword and a bow. The two sides could be detached, as the string disappeared if you ran your finger against it. The two ends could then be used as separate weapons.

          I looked at my group. Ko was short, as a snow elf was, just reaching the middle of my rib cage in height. He had pointed ears, snow-white hair, and a face like a child. He wore a ridiculous outfit, with red-and-white stockings and a green suit, As well as a tall, conical hat. Even though he was short and dressed like a fool, he gave off an amazingly confident aura.

          David was an Asmerian. They counted their age in decades, so if he was thirteen, he was actually one hundred thirty. His echo blade, a beautiful green crystalline weapon, hung from his belt. David himself was all dark. His coffee skin, his almost black hair, his chocolate eyes. He looked like a brave young Asmerian, but there was an edge of sadness in his eyes.

          Elena had bright blonde hair that hung halfway down her back, as was elven custom. She was going to have to cut it, however, as Ranger regulation was that it had to be shoulder-length at maximum. Like normal wood elves, Elena was tall and slender, with delicate-looking fingers and a perpetually poised stance. Wood elves were light on their feet, so they often obtained the Mark of Agility before anyone else did. Elena seemed no different.

          "Well, now that we've gotten to know each other, we should--" I started, before we heard a ringing coming from our piles of clothes. The ringing was coming from these watches, which I remembered were communicators. All new recruits report to armory, the watches read. My group and I clothed ourselves in our Ranger Gear and headed for the armory.

          Luckily for us, there were signs all over the building pointing to the armory. The building was huge--we would have gotten lost if not for the signs. Ko raced in front of us, the little speed demon, Wood elves may have been light on their feet, but snow elves were just fast. They couldn't turn well, though. I was glad again for our training. Navigating this winding tower would have taken much longer. 

          We raced inside the armory. We were the second ones there, as the other group probably had already been dressed before they were called here. We stood next to the first group. Standing in front of us were a few Outland Rangers. One had two echo blades attached to his belt. He must have killed an enemy Asmerian, I thought to myself. The only other way to get an echo blade, aside from a meticulous earning process, was to kill an Asmerian. Since he would have been terminated if he had killed an ally Asmerian, I went to that conclusion. Not all Asmerians were good.

          The other groups arrived, one by one. In total, there were ten groups of six, making sixty students that had passed this year. Last year, it was only forty-two. A slender Ranger, most likely a wood elf, spoke up first. "Now, you know why you're here," he told us. "At the armory that is. You are going to receive your weapon, the one you specialized in at the academy." The other Rangers began to walk up to the lined up recruits and ask them for their specialization. When the recruit answered, the Ranger would run to the wall of weapons opposite us, pick the weapon, then come back and give it two them.

          "All right, recruit," one of the Rangers said to me. "Specialization?"

          "Lance," I answered.

          "One or two?"

          I could have two lances? That hadn't even occurred to me. "Two, please," I asked him. He nodded, then retrieved two lances. He handed them to me. 

         The two lances came with a shoulder strap. The strap seemed to work like I put one lance on each shoulder, but I could figure that out later. The lances themselves were beautiful. A shiny silver, they were conical and sloped, very wide at the bottom, to protect my hand, and every narrow at the end, for stabbing things. The lances also came to an arrowhead tip, so I could slash if I wanted. However, I would most likely be riding horseback and stabbing things.

          I looked at my group. Karen and Ko compared daggers, Jeff swung his hammer up and down to get used to his weight, and Elena just gazed at her bowedge. I took a look at Jeff's sledgehammer again. The head itself was at least the size of my torso. One of the sides of the head was just a long spike instead of a blunt face. I made a mental note not to get on Jeff's bad side.

          The Rangers finished arming us small children and dispersed us away from the armory. "You know what we can do, now that we're Rangers?" I told my group as we ran back to our dorm. Jeff and Karen smiled. "Go to the tavern," the three of us said in unison. We changed course for the front door, ready for some taverning.