Mark of the Ranger

XXXIX. Landing

The boats, one after another, landed on the beach. I, after making sure that the boat was done moving, leaped down onto the dock so I could secure our new ship. I tied a slipknot around a wooden pole, and that seemed to secure it just fine. My friends and other shipmates, using a ramp that folded down from the side of the boat, followed after me. Jeff took a moment to make sure my knot was good, then we walked down the port, aiming for the city beyond.

The first thing I saw was a dog-shaped creature that was tall enough to reach my shoulders. It was covered in what looked like bone armor, and had black fur underneath. That was Marrow, whom we had left at the city when we were kidnapped by pirates. The Boneshambler tackled me as soon as he saw me, knocking the wind out of me. "Get down, you giant rascal," I told him, and he stepped off of me. I was tempted to count the broken bones he had given me, but the pain wasn't that powerful. I was fine, at least for now.

"That must be your pet," Oscar said, as if he was a normal dog that normally injured me by normally tackling me. I wiggled my eyebrows once, then looked back at my loyal friend, who was most likely starving by now. "Let's get you some food, boy," I told Marrow, but a fisherman cut me off.

"That good old beast'll be fine, trust me," he said. "He's been protecting the village since last week. He ate the carcasses of any monsters he killed, as well as whatever we gave him." That wasn't the kind of thing I expected from a village of people, and I gave the man a look that said so. "Really?" I asked.

"Sure as heaven's streets are made of gold," the fisherman responded, grabbing a cup that was sitting next to him and drinking out of it. I didn't make any further response, but instead continued on, beckoning my friends to follow. They did, and we walked into the village. I asked the nearest villager what the best place in town to eat was, and she said, "Maba L'Nori's Soup Shop," she answered. I asked a few other villagers, and they all seemed to have the same opinion. I made the decision, after taking note of my short survey, to go to the soup shop.

"Who died and made you makeshift leader?" Ko asked me, then looked at David with accusation. David raised his hands up in surrender, then gestured to me. "First of all, where are the others going to go? Certainly, not many people would be able to fit in a restaurant from a village with houses of this size." I gestured to a few diminutive houses as we walked along to prove my point. I then looked back, and saw that my friends, along with Isabel and Marrow, were the only people following me.

"I believe everyone's gone their separate ways," Karen informed me. "Where they've gone or what they're going to do, I have no idea." I thought for a moment, then continued on. After a good while of trekking through streets and asking around, we finally found Maba L'Nori's Soup Shop. It was a building almost as large as the inn, with a hand-painted wooden sign that said the title of the restaurant in carefully painted letters. It was the kid of building that would probably feel welcoming the second you stepped inside, like your own home or a good friend's home. I opened the door for my friends, then followed them inside.

The inside of the building was simple. Right in front of me, I saw about fifteen tables for people to dine at. To the far left, there was a fireplace. After the tables, there was a wooden counter with a painted sign telling the soup shop's customers about all its menu items. I strolled up to the counter and asked a friendly-looking old lady, one that had dark skin and gray hair, if there was a soup of the day.

"That's be the spicy fire shrimp soup, honey," she answered. I asked my friends what they thought about it. They shrugged, so I ordered six of the soup of the day.

The one notable thing about the soup was that it was extremely spicy. Isabel entered a coughing fit for nearly a minute. The other notable thing was that it was the best shrimp I had ever had, but that wasn't important. As we left the shop, we discussed where we should go next. "How's about we continue our original journey?" David, always the one with the good point, asked. I agreed, as that was the option that made the most sense. It was certainly better than Ko's idea, which was so ridiculous, I refused to remember what it was. We continued on our journey, after saying goodbye to Oscar and finding our bags on the ship, and found the path to the Woodlands. The thing bordering the Highlands and the Woodlands was a steep cliff. There were definitely ways to scale it, but I didn't want to be the first one.

"I elect Ko to go first," Ko told us. I agreed, seeing as I didn't want to go first, and he was completely willing. He hopped from small ledge to small ledge, scrambling back and forth across the cliff. He even yelped in pain once or twice, but he eventually reached the bottom. "You guys can come down now!" He told us. We had made a simple solution while he was climbing down, and we put it into action at this time. We leaped from the top of the cliff, and just as we were about to hit the ground, Isabel made a Prohibere Power Circle, which let us down softly. Isabel gave Ko a smug look, and Ko scowled back.

"Alright, let's go into the Woodlands, for the next neck of our journey," I told my friends. We took about three steps inside the next land before I was hit on the back of the head.