In my hesitation to act, I drew out my bow. The Horseman answered my readying for a charge. At me. I wasn’t aiming for any particular target. If I could hit his horse, then I could possibly dismount him, giving me a better chance. If I could hit him, there was the chance I could knock him off of his horse, making things even easier. But I didn’t have the luxury of precision. I knocked loose the first arrow, which flew off past over his shoulder. The second arrow I fired hit him in the gut, but he didn’t even react.
By then, he was already within striking distance. I rolled out of the way, barely avoiding the swing of his sword. The horse neighed, voicing the rider’s frustration. He then began shooting fire, not like the Andoan weapons, in the form of balls of fire at the crowd. When one of the projectiles hit the alcohol collection, the whole thing exploded, throwing hundreds of shards of glass and timbers at the nearby crowds. A lot of people were riddled with the dozens of pieces of glass and wood timbers that had embedded themselves into their victims. I even got hit by a couple of them, and they hurt a lot.
The Horseman was completely unaffected by the carnage he had unleashed. Not even with the fires and screaming and fleeing of townspeople. The flames brought me back to some bad memories in Crossroads. I didn’t want to run, but I had to. There was no way I was going to be able to take on the evil spirit that haunted Sleepy Hollow. Luckily, I didn’t have to run too much, because the rider turned face and rode off into the forest of dead trees. The trees were leafless looked like evil hands extending from the earth. They parted for the Headless Horseman, confirming that he was the real thing.
The smoke from the fires was beginning to make me cough and gag. I decided I would do what I could to help out those who weren’t so lucky, staying behind. Unlike most the people that got hit, I was protected by my ranger’s cloak, which took most of the damage. It was much more useful than I had originally. Thank the Creators.
The people were caught completely by surprise and were devastated. It was a complete mess, which reminded me of my hometown before I was chased out of it. At least now I was able to stay and help. It was compensation for something that I wasn’t able to do for. They always say that the Creators work in mysterious ways. Maybe a little too mysterious for my liking, but I couldn’t complain. Compared to the other victims of the Headless Horseman’s attack, I was relatively unharmed. Sure, I was shaken up, but I was bleeding profusely from multiple. I ran back to the now-destroyed collection of drinks where Abraham Van Brunt had been subdued by the mysterious, yet familiar stranger. He dressed somewhat like a ranger, but there weren’t any other rangers in the area, other than Valen and Lloyd and myself. And the way he left, it was like he vanished into thin air.
Van Brunt looked in surprisingly good shape. He had suffered a couple of burns and there were at least two pieces of glass embedded into his arm, but he was responding. It was a miracle that he had been able to survive the blast. I decided I would let him be, considering he was in a much better condition than the other people who needed more urgent and immediate help. People who hadn’t attended the first night of celebrations had rushed over to help the victims. When enough help arrived, I decided I go back to my companions.
I went over to Lloyd’s position where Mr. Crane was hiding out. According to our plans, he was to be over at the floral display, which hid him quite well. If it weren’t for his furious allergies, he would’ve never been detected. Luckily, Lloyd didn’t have to subdue another one of Van Brunt’s friends, because of the Horseman attack.
“I think its safe for you to come out, Mr. Crane,” I said to him from outside the floral arrangement. I hadn’t immediately seen where he was hiding, because we had used our training in spotting human silhouettes and used it to hide him. It was Lloyd’s idea and it had done its job. “There’s been an attack.”
“I thought I had heard something,” Lloyd said. Mr. Crane emerged from his hiding spot and joined up with us. “Were you there? You look like you were... ”
“We need to go speak to Valen, immediately,” I cautioned. There were too many people, busy as they may be with tending to the victims, to be openly discussing some of the details of the attack.
“I think I will have to agree with you,” Mr. Crane said before strutting off back to the Van Tassel’s home. “Well, off we go boys!”
We hurried back to the Van Tassel’s home, where Mr. Van Tassel was peering out through the window with a sharp look of anxiety and distress in his eyes. They were bloodshot and he was muttering things about getting the militia together and dealing with the problem. He sounded nuts, but he still let us in. We didn’t even stop to talk to him, because I really needed to speak with Valen. He was still lying in bed. Katrina Van Tassel wasn’t too far away, often tending to him and brining him some food. I don’t think he’s had a drink since he was bedridden.
“Oh, Ichabod, you’re alright!” Katrina said to Mr. Crane as they embraced each other. I ignored them for the most part.
“Of course, my dear,” Mr. Crane said.
“Valen, there’s been an attack,” I said, nudging at the gravely ill veteran ranger. He didn’t look like he wanted to be bothered.
“Go away, runt,” Valen barely said before coughing.
“But Valen, its about the Headless Horseman,” I said. “He’s not dead! We didn’t kill him! He attacked the townspeople.”
“I can’t do anything about it,” the ranger said, turning over on his side to be rid of me. “The people of Sleepy Hollow will have to fend for themselves. Its not our job to do that... ”
“We can’t just leave this people to their fate!” Lloyd argued. “We have to give them a fighting chance. We need to defeat this evil once and for all.”
“Do I even look like I can do much... from here?” Valen asked rhetorically. “No, I can’t. The best they can hope for... is that the evil presence will grow tired of them and move on.”
“Then at least give us your permission to do what we have to do,” I requested. It was a bit unconventional, but these were desperate times, which called for desperate measures. “Just Lloyd and I. That’s all we’re asking.”
Valen rolled back over to face us. He thought for a moment before giving his decision.
“Fine, go and get yourselves killed,” Valen said. “Less of a burden for me. Now, go. Get out of here.”
We were heading out when Mr. Crane and Katrina Van Tassel decided to join us. They were holding hands, making things clear that they were not going to separated.
“Master rangers, we’re coming with you,” Mr. Crane announced. Katrina nodded, agreeing with him.
“Fine, but don’t lag behind,” Lloyd said. We headed out the door and went back to the scene of the attack. “We’ll have to rally the whole town if we want to deal with this menace once and for all.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Lets take on this living nightmare.”
