Lloyd and I waited at the totem over by the training area while Valen and Degamux had a very long conversation. Valen did most of the yelling. The clan leader, on the other hand, stood there and took it. It wasn’t until the latter part of the exchange of words did Degamux start contributing to his portion of the yelling and shouting.
“An eye for an eye!” the clan leader shouted a couple of times, before toning it down a bit. I couldn’t exactly hear what he said next, but it sounded like something about us. There were a couple of recruits he felt a little awkward being near the heated conversation.
“So, uh, you know this Valen guy?” Lloyd asked, trying to kill time while the two more experienced rangers spoke with one another.
“Yeah, you remember when I told you where I was from?” I asked, having him recall when we first met. Lloyd nodded. Earlier, I didn’t really find it necessary to tell him that I probably owed my relatively safe passage from Crossroads to the camp to Valen. But now things were different. The three of us were going to be around each other for awhile. “Valen, and two others, Howard and Carter, were escorting four us. Elena and myself. And two others, Thomas and Caroline Daunderfell.”
“Oh, I get it now,” Lloyd said once he had received his epiphany. “Howard and Carter fall during the trip, and you and Elena make it to camp here. And Valen, of course.”
“Right,” I nodded.
“But what about the other two?” Lloyd asked, bringing up a very a good question. In truth, I had no idea of what had happened to them after we left them near Mentings. All I knew that I was glad to be rid of Thomas, the rat who sold out Elena and I. “What happened to Thomas and Caroline Daunderfell.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
Just then, Valen was walking toward us, having finished his conversation with Degamux. The look on his face showed that it must have not gone well. I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to get the already cranky ranger more upset.
“Lets get a couple of things straight, runt,” Valen said, bearing his intensely angry eyes right on me. “I’m not your teacher or your tutor. This is just a babysitting assignment that our beloved clan leader Degamux stuck on me because he got tired of the bunch of you. You will not bother me for some half-remarked advice or tips just because you feel like you need them. You will do as I say, when I say it. If you fail to comply with these instructions, I swear on the Creators, I will fill your mouth with earth until you drown. Do I make myself clear, runt?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” I said. When I was younger, I stood up to Valen out of sheer stupidity. Now that I was a ranger initiate, I stood up to him still out of stupidity, but with a hint of bravery. I probably stood a better chance of going toe to toe with him now then before.
“Uh, Valen, sir,” Lloyd said a little nervously. The ranger’s bloodied eyes snapped to my fellow recruit. “I don’t mean to break any of your rules, but I have to ask... what are we going to do under your tutelage?”
Valen was silent for a moment, his face as hard as stone. It still held the same annoyed expression.
“We’re going on a babysitting assignment,” Valen answered. “Well I am, at least.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant- ” Lloyd tried to say before he was cut off by the our teacher. I was going to hate saying that.
“I’m not finished, blondie,” the ranger retorted. I tried holding a snicker. It was the first time Valen had made me laugh. “Its a bodyguard detail for an individual. His name is Ichabod Crane. We’re supposed to keep him protected while sets up a new school.”
“Where’s that supposed to be?” I asked. Technically, I wasn’t breaking any of Valen’s rules. But he didn’t look like he would agree with me. “Right, your rules. I forgot. Sorry.”
“As I was saying... ” Valen continued. “We’re supposed to pick up Mr. Crane at a tavern outside of Ravensfell. We’ll then accompany him to Sleepy Hollow. That’s where he’s establishing the school.”
“Sleepy Hollow?” I asked. I tried recalling the geography lessons Charleston gave me. “But that’s out in the middle of the marshlands! Do people even live there?”
“People or not, we are to accompany and protect him for the duration of his journey, runt,” Valen said. “The clan leaders must have been spooked from what they’ve heard from some of the townsfolk there.”
“And what did they here that got the clan leaders so spooked?” Lloyd asked. He had a point. If there was something that made the clan leaders, the most experienced of the ranger society shake in their boots, I was beginning to feel very insignificant. Just like the good old days. “I mean, just out of curiosity.”
“I don’t know, something about a headless horseman,” Valen said. My face froze when he had said that. I had a dream, which felt like a nightmare, about a headless horseman chasing me. Could they somehow be related. Of course not. People don’t dream about things they never seen before. Not in Nagesh. And I was not anyone special or important enough to change that fact.
Still, I had a very sharp urge of disparity going into this mission. My adventure was going to happen alright, but it sounded more like a haunted crusade if anything. I decided I would keep the dream to myself. I would sound crazy if I had told them anyway. Besides, it was just a coincidence, nothing more. A very well-timed coincidence.
“We’ll head out tomorrow,” Valen said. “He’s en route and will be here by later tonight anyway. If you are late you will be left behind. Now, get lost, runts.”
We left the ranger to himself while we prepared for our first official assignment. Here we go, Hage.
Here we go.
