The Life of a Ranger, Ranger's Apprentice Fanfiction

Chapter 27

Errol ducks, just barely escaping another low branch. Halt and Errol gallop through the trees, dodging among the trunks. Too many emotions and thoughts swirl around in Errol's mind to sort them out. The only thing that actually registers is what Halt told him. The kalkara are after you. The kalkara are after you. The kalkara are after you. The thought echoes again and again.
A roar resounds through the forest. It was gaining. Errol risks a quick glance back. No sign of it. Halt hasn't said anything the entire time. Errol wonders what he has in mind. Or if there was anything at all.

"Where are we going?" he shouts.

"To Redmont!" Halt shouts back.

"But Redmont is almost a kilometre away? We won't make it!"

Halt doesn't reply, he just points up at the trees above. It dawns on Errol when he remembers one of the skills a ranger is taught. You jump up into a tree and your horse continues on without you. Will uses a story of them ambushing Gilan on his first year to emphasize the use of the skill many times. Though mainly to tease Gilan when he comes around. Either way, it might just work.

Errol rises in his saddle, steadying himself to jump. A branch suddenly approaches up ahead. Just as he reaches up to grab it, a scream tears through the forest in front of them. The scream throws him off, causing his focus to slip. He looks up just in time to see the branch hit him in the face. Red and white lights flash before his eyes.

Through the pain, Errol hears Halt shouting. "Errol! Get up!"

Errol eyes crack open. The first thing he sees is Halt firing an arrow into the Kalkara's eye. Somehow, the Kalkara has circled around to ambush us. Something like that shouldn't be possible. But as the Kalkara screams in pain, Errol can't deny that it is possible.

Errol starts struggling to stand. Halt dismounts and runs to his side, roughly pulls him up from the ground. "Errol, climb the trees and try hopping across the branches. The Kalkara will be too heavy to follo-" his words are cut off as the Kalkara charges them both.

With a shout, Halt shoves him to the side and jumps aside. They made it aside enough to avoid the claws, but Halt was bowled over by its body. Errol escapes the main impact, thanks to Halt's quick reflexes. However, he is slightly skimmed by the Kalkara's leg which sends him rolling to the base of a tree. In minutes, the Kalkara has turned around, it's one eye fixes on Errol. In that one moment, time freezes around him as he peers into the eye.

The Kalkara is screaming but it sounds so far away, Errol feels like he's in a different world. Through it's eye, he can see intelligence in him. But the intelligence is muddled with anger and pain. Where did all this anger come from? Errol wonders. Such an intelligent beast should not normally let anger control them.

In his trance, he barely hears Halt shouting his name until he suddenly realizes the eye is closer. He dives aside, a claw only just catching him on the arm. Errol bolts towards the closest tree. Planting his foot on the trunk, he boosts himself up onto a low branch. The kalkara roars in anger. Fear shoots through Errol, having him scramble for the next branches above. A big crash echoes behind him as the kalkara leaps up at him and crashes into the tree.

"Aaah!" Errol let's out a yelp as he scrambles to hang on. Righting himself, he takes off nimbly across branches. Below, he can hear the Kalkara crashing through the forest. No matter how quickly he jumps through the trees, the kalkara always seems to be right underneath him. How will he escape?

As he's bouncing through the trees on the branches, he realizes that he sees solid light ahead of him. He comes to a sudden stop on a branch, right about a ravine.

Errol glanced below and sees a drop then a rushing river at the very bottom of the ravine. Immediately, he turns around to find another route, but it's too late.

The kalkara slams into the tree. The tree shakes violently and it's everything Errol can do to hold on.

"Hang in there, Errol! I'll try a fire arrow like last time!" Halt shouts out from several metres away. He quickly starts fishing through his packs for oil-soaked cloth and his flint.

Bam! The Kalkara slams into the tree again, the tree cracks loudly as it starts to give way. Errol tries to inch his way forward on the branch, but every slam into the tree almost dislodges him.

Halt finds his cloth and flint. However, as soon as he lights the cloth around the arrow, he hears a sickening crack and the tree slowly behind to fall over the ravine.

"No!!" Halt brings up his fire arrow and fires at the Kalkara. Unfortunately, the Kalkara jumps up onto the side of the tree to climb towards Errol. The arrow merely skims the Kalkara and slams into the tree. The flames licking at it did little to alter its course.

Frantically, Errol glances around for an escape. The only option he sees, is making a jump for the other side of the ravine. As he bunches his body up to make the jump, the momentum of the falling tree makes him sway and hesitate. But a scream behind him spurs him into action.

Jumping from a falling tree and the hesitation slowed him down enough that he wouldn't have made it had he waited one more second.

"Oof!" Errol's chest slams into the side of the cliff. Instinct thankfully makes him grab hold before he could fall back. As he starts scrambling to climb up, the kalkara with a scream launches itself from the tree. It lands just a few feet from where he was.

Errol quickly pulls himself up with a grunt and rolls to the side. He pulls his throwing knife during the roll; readying himself to fight the kalkara in front of him. Intelligent creature it is, it placed it's arm in front of its face to block any knife throw.

He grits his teeth. His bow is useless at this range, so all he had was his two knives. Against a kalkara, trying to use his sword was suicide. Errol was not liking this odds at all.

The monster raises its other arm to take out Errol with a single swipe, and he sees a slight opening above its arm as the kalkara turns its focus on the swing. The same moment the arm made contact with his side, Errol threw the knife. Sharp pain rips through his side, and red flashes in his eyes. Dimly, he can hear the scream of pain and fury. Through the pain, he was a little satisfied at that.

A yelp managed to tear from Errol's throat as he lands on a small ledge a few metres below. Didn't take long for the kalkara to jump down next to him. He had to throw himself backwards to avoid another swing.

Another grunt escaped from him. He had to set his feet to keep from falling off but it pulled at his shredded side. Errol assesses the situation quickly and realized that he could either be killed quickly. Or... Or he could pull the kalkara off the ledge with him into the river.

      

                

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There was nothing Halt could do. After the kalkara and Errol jumped across the ravine, there was no way he could attempt to fire another arrow without potentially harming Errol. Neither could he cross the gap. All he could do was watch the events unfold. The kid leaped at the kalkara's leg and pushed off the cliff wall.

On a big surface, his efforts would have little affect, but on a small ledge, it was enough to throw the kalkara off balance. Enough that they both went tumbling off the ledge into the river. The kalkara sunk immediately and did not surface. Errol... He bobbed above the water twice and disappeared.

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I'm back! Lots been happening and I know things are probably happening for you guys too with the covid going around. Hope you're all well and enjoy this chapter :).