Lloyd and I ran through the woods as soon as the signal for us to start was given. The first group back to finish theirs and get back got to keep theirs. Apparently, that was really important to the rangers. There was that and the possibility that there might be others who didn’t want us to succeed.
“His name is Ryke,” Lloyd panted as we got clear of the other recruits. I was looking around for something suitable to use for making my bow. Lloyd had the knife. We both thought it was better that he was the one to use it, given his experience, or lack of for me. “He’s the son of clan leader Barenstod.”
“I don’t like him very much,” I said as I found a suitable piece of wood. It was a bit longer than my height, but that didn’t really matter since I was just going to cut down on it anyway. Plus, I needed to make sure it would be big enough for me when I was older.
“Not a whole lot of others do,” Lloyd said as he was already going to work on his bow. I was impressed with his skill. I had the feeling he was going to go very far as a ranger. Me, not so much. “What did you do back in Crossroads?”
“I used to be a stablehand,” I said just as he had finished up his bow. It wasn’t exactly a bow, because he didn’t have it strung or polished, but it looked like he did the best with what he had. He handed me the knife and stood watch while I went to work. “But that was before the war... ”
“Sorry to hear about that,” Lloyd said. “I used to be work at one of the barracks up until I got relocated to Ravensfell. I’ve been here for a couple of years now.”
“Doesn’t sound like such a long story to me,” I joked. He gave a quick chuckle.
“Oh, there’s more, but I don’t think we have time for- ” he said before stopping. We both had heard it. It was the snap of a laid branch. In other words, there was something moving about nearby. Our skills as eagles weren’t as developed as say Valen’s, so we weren’t sure what was there, so we waited and listened to the sound of it.
“You sure we aren’t lost?” one of the voices asked aloud.
“Quiet, you,” another said. It sounded like he was in charge by the seriousness of his tone. “We’re not alone here.”
Lloyd motioned to get my attention. He pointed up toward a tree. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say, but as soon as we started climbing up the tree I got the message. I followed him up the bark. I wasn’t the best climber, but I made due with the little experience I was able to carry over from climbing atop horses for a living.
We waited until we saw a group of men pass through where we just were. They didn’t look like rangers or recruits, which made me really suspicious.
“Those aren’t highwaymen,” Lloyd whispered to me. We were high enough for us to keep our words to a quiet sound, but I didn’t think we should have risked being detected. “They look too professional to be that. Look at their belts.”
I followed Lloyd’s indication and acted on the eagle portion of ranger characteristics. I saw that they had the same kind of weapon that could shoot fire, the same kind that had killed Howard.
“They’re Andoans,” I said, leaning on my gut feeling. I wasn’t entirely sure if they were the soldiers from the camp, but they carried the same weapons as them. They had to be Andoans... but if they were then that meant the camp was in danger of being discovered.
“Andoans, what are they doing here?” Lloyd asked. I had a good feeling as to why they were here.
“On the way here, my group, Valen and Elena and I, we ran into General Warwick just outside of Crossroads,” I explained.
