Mistwraith
09-14-07, 06:57 AM 09-14-07
OK, here's more chapters! Since the other thread was labled My Untitled Story (chapters 1 and 2), I thought I would make another one that way people know that all of the chapters are here. I recently finished Chapter 5, so I'll post Chapters 1 - 5 here, and when I finish other chapters, I'll post them here too!
Chapter 1
I never did like being quiet. It seemed that boring times always came with the quiet. But if there was every a better time to be quiet, it was now.
I was nervouse, sweat was pouring down my face, and I just couldn't sit still, even though my life depended on it. Thankfully, the Orcs didn't notice. "Whose idea was it for me to become a ranger anyways?", I muttered to myself. Once again, I shifted to a more comfortable position, which didn't stay comfortable for very long. "If you don't hush up and keep still, you're going to get us both killed!", my teacher said. Even though I couldn't see them, I knew there was anger in his eyes.
You see, I was a Ranger's Apprentice. I was to small and gangly to be a knight, and I wasn't good (or interested) in any of the other jobs the castle had to offer. To tell you the truth, I really didn't want to be a Ranger either, but it was all there was left.
I remember the day my Father told me that I would be a ranger's apprentice. "But Father! I want to do something exciting, something that has adventure! Being a ranger is boring, no fun! Besides, have you seen Thorst? He scares everybody, I don't want to have to live with him, what will people think?" "It's time you stop worrying about what other people think and just be yourself, James. Being a ranger has exciting adventures of it's own. Just give it a try, you never know, you may really like it.
Well, considering I'm sitting in a bush, close to orcs who want to kill me, I'm still not liking it to much. "Get out your bow", Thorst whispered. I did as I was told, as quietly as I could. It obviosley wasn't quiet enough for Thorst though. "Remind me to teach you how to QUIETLY take out your bow when we get home", he told me. I said I'd make a mental note of it, then returned to nocking an arrow. "Remember, aim for the neck, where there's no armor." "I know, I know", I mumbled.
We had gone over how to shoot an arrow a little bit, but not a whole lot. I was just hoping that I could bring down one of the three orcs, and then Thorst could take care of the other two. "Ready, Thorst", I said. "OK, go!" Zing! The arrow hit the intended target. "Yes!", I shouted as loud as I could, happy that I had succeeded in something. Thorst growled at me and instantly I knew what I'd done. "Ooops", I said real quiet. The one remaining orc turned and looked at us. Faster than I could blink, Thorst had nocked an arrow and shot the orc. It lay dead at my feet. "C'mon", Thorst said in a gruff voice.
Chapter 2
James had to practically run to keep up with Thort's long strides. "I'm sorry, Thorst! It was an accident, it will never happen again, I promise. You know how hard it is for me to keep quiet. Please, Thorst, I'm sorry." Thorst had to smile, the kid certainly knows how to apologize, he thought. "
It's alright, I know you didn't mean to. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you, so I'm sorry too. Ya know, I was just like you when I was your age. Boy, you should have seen my teacher when I would act up. She'd get this fire in her eyes..."
"She?!?!", James quickly interupted, "what are you talking about? I thought it was forbidden for girls to be rangers."
"It was, and is", Thorst replied. "Though there were a few that snuck into the organization, and they were some of the best rangers."
"Snuck into the organization? How in the world did they do that?"
"Well, the girls were smart enough to find us, so the Elders of the organization gladly took them in. The rule is, that once your apprenticed, you must stick with it. So by the time the King found out about it, it was to late."
"Wow, they must have been awfully brave!"
"Yes, yes, they sure were."
"Thorst?"
"Yes?"
"Do I still get to go home for the weekend?"
"Well....I guess, you deserve a break."
"Cool, thanks! You know, you're not as bad as everybody makes you out to be. If they would just give you a chance, I think they'd see that too!"
Thorst smiled and the two of them walked along in silence.
*~*
"You all ready to go?"
"Sure am!", James said excitedly. With all his training, James hadn't seen his faimly in over a month. He couldn't wait to tell his family all about the girl rangers. You know, maybe he was actually starting to like this.
"'K, let's go, I'll walkl you over there."
*~*
Ten minutes later James was bounding up the steps to his house. He was so glad to be inside the city walls again, but even more excited to see his family. He bounded up the steps, opened up the door and yelled, "Mother, Father, I'm home!!"
"Oh, great, the dweeb is back."
That's my older sister Carla. Girls are lucky, because they get to choose whether or not they want to work at the castle. "Hey!", I yelled as I took off after her. We were soon chasing each other around the yard. I was so busy in fact, that I almost didn't see Thorst walking towards home. "Thorst! Wait!", I yelled as I ran inside.
"Mom", I gasped, all out of breath. "Can Thorst please stay for dinner?"
"Sure, go run and ask him", my mother said.
"Thanks!"
*~*
"Mmmm, that was very good, Mrs. Davenport. Very good indeed!"
"Thank you, Thorst", my mother said. "Would you like more coffee?"
"Oh, no thank you. I really should be getting home before it gets to terribly dark. Have horses I must take care of."
"Bye, Thorst!", I said merrily.
"Bye, James."
*~*
"Time for bed", my mother called out to me. I was instantly jerked back into the real world, away from the adventures of my book. I love to stay up late reading.
"Yes, Mother", I said as I hopped into bed.
"G'night", my Mother and Father said at the same time. Then my Father added, "We're really glad you're home." As they walked out of the room, I quietly added, "so am I, so am I." I whispered a quick prayer, then fell fast asleep.
*~*
I reluctantly opened my eyes the next morning. I looked at the clock, and when I saw what time it was I was wide awake. Oh no!, I thought, Thorst is gonna kill me! Wait a minute. Oh ya, I'm home for the weekend! No wonder I smell oatmeal. "Good morning sleepy-head!", my sister said as I stumbled out of bed.
"Uuuugh... G'mornin'", I finally worked out.
"You hungry?", Mother asked me?
"Very!"
"'K, sit down at the table and I'll get you some oatmeal and milk."
"Thanks."
*~*
By the time I finished eating I was wide awake again, this was much better than the hard tack I always ate with Thorst. Thorst, I wondered what he was doing. I found that I couldn't keep my mind off him. This weekend was gonna be longer than I though.
*~*
Thorst was having a battle with himself. One side of him really wanted to go get James and bring him back, he was starting to not like the quiet very much either. On the other hand, he felt like James needed a break from all his training. He had been picking things up very quickly. Before he could decide what to do, a rider clad in green came riding up, and hastily explained himself to Thorst. Guess that answers that question, Thorst thought glumly.
*~*
"Hey Mother, do you think I could talk to you for just a minute?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"Well, it's about Thorst." James was having to chase his mother around the kitchen. "I miss being with him and causing trouble, I'm missing my training too, I guess I'm really starting to like it, though it hasn't been to adventurous yet. What should I do?" At this, Mrs. Davenport stopped. James liking his training? Now that was certainly a change in attitude.
"Well James, I think you should go back. There's no point for you to mope around because you're in a bad mood."
"Thanks, Mother!"
*~*
A few minutes later James was on his way to Thorst's house. "James!", his Mother called out, "Don't casue to much trouble for Thorst!" James pretended not to hear, making mischief was so much fun with Thorst. He could finally see Thorst's house, at the sight of it, he broke into a run. When he got to the house, he expected to see Thorst sitting on the porch, but he wasn't there. James decided to check inside the house. Thorst wasn't there either, but there was a not, it looked like it had been written in a hurry.
James,
I will be gone for the rest of the week.
There is an emergency meeting with the Elders of the organization.
Practice your archery and knife throwing.
Don't forget to take care of your horse, Acer.
Thorst
James' mind raced, what was going on?
Chapter 3
James didn't know what to do. Should he go back home and tell his parents, or just stay here? After several minutes of sitting in his thinking spot in the barn, he finally decided to just stay put. It's what Thorst would do, he kept telling himself.
Thorst didn't keep very much in the kitchen, and James was a terrible cook, so it really wouldn't have mattered anyway. Since it was nearing lunchtime, James deiced to eat. "Guess I'll just have to go back to the plain boring hard tack", he said aloud to himself.
"If you keep talking to yourself people are gonna think you crazy", a little voice said.
Upon hearing this, James nearly jumped three feet in the air. "What in the world?!? Whose there?", he said in a shaky voice.
"Just me", the little voice said again. "The names Taiga."
James looked around.
"Would ya hurry up and look down here!"
James slowly looked down, and sure enough, he found the sopurce of the little voice. It came from a rabbit, no bigger than a small baby.
"Huh? How can you talk? And how can I hear you?"
"That's not important right now", Taiga said. "What's important is that I get you to the meeting place of the Organization quickly, Thorst says it's urgent."
"What are you talking about?"
"Just come on, I'll explain everything on the way."
*~*
After only a few minutes of packing, the two strange companions were off, one riding a horse, and the other hopping along beside.
"So will you please tell me what's going on, Taiga? I'm very confused."
"Of course. There are only a few rangers that can hear us animals. You and Thorst are two of them. Besides you two, there's only one more, Thorst's teacher, Cera. Nobody really knows how this started, but it has proved beneficial to both humans, and the animals. Now if you'll just follow me, we're almost there."
*~*
Thorst and Cera were waiting outside when james and Taiga arrived.
"Thorst! What in the world is going on?"
"You mean Taiga didn't tell you?", Cera asked.
Until now, James hadn't noticed Cera standing there.
"He told me a little, but not a whole lot. It's all very confusing."
"Yes, I quite understand. Now, if you'll come with me, we'll get everything settled."
"Yes, ma'm", I said quietly.
*~*
"Stand up straight, chin up, and please don't forget your manners", Thorst whipsered to me.
"Thorst, just because I'm not your teacher anymore, doesn't mean I can't hear you", Cera said without turning around. I tried to stifle my laugh, but couldn't. It just came out louder. Cera even let out a little laugh. Thorst just slumped down and didn't talk for the rest of the trip. "Stand up straight", I reminded him, he just ignored me.
*~*
"Wow", I said when we finally got to the entrance of the meeting place.
"The dwarves carved it all", Cera explained.
"You mean we're underground? I knew we had been going downhill some, but I never imagined we'd end up underground. This is amazing!"
Cera chuckled and I blushed, I had probably sounded like a little kid. Thorst huffed. I think he was jealous that I was getting so much attening from Cera. I also think he likes her. I turned around and looked at Thorst, him and Taiga were talking. I wondered what they were talking about, There's a lot more going on here than they're telling me. "O.K.", Cera said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "When you go in, following me and Thorst, and sit down silently next to Thorst. Please don't say anything. Keep your thoughts to yourself until after we get out of the meeting." Thorst must have told her I didn't like being quiet, I thought.
*~*
We had to sit there a whole fifteen minutes before anybody arrived. It wasn't until twenty minutes after THAT did the meeting start. It was awfully hard to keep quiet that long, but I managed to do it, even with Taiga throwing questions at me. I think I tried extra hard to stay quiet this time, probably because I wanted Cera to se ehow good Thorst had been training me. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice that Taiga was gone and that there were a few more animals in the room. there was a squirell, a wolf, and a hawk. I later found out that they were all here t help us.
"We are all gathered here today...", I jumped. Wow, that was a loud voice. "...to discuss a very urgent matter. The Rangers are facing extinction." I heard several people gasp. I just started at the speaker with wide eyes. I detected a look of sadness in the animal's eyes. King Philip is using parts of his army to scout the land and send messages, therefore we're not needed for that anymore. We're also getting less people to train. Oh, speaking of apprentaces, please welcome the newest member of the Organization, James. Thorst is training him." Until now I had been sitting there with a blank expression on my face, now I felt it go red with embarressment as every eye was on me. I was relieved when the guy started talking again. He talked for about another ten minutes about things I knew nothing about. I've got to do something, I thought. Surely they're not going to give up that easily, I know I'm certainly not.
*~*
When it was finally over, Cera, Thorst and I had dinner. There was hot vegetalbe soup that tasted so good. I ate 'till I couldn't take another bit, even if you had paid me to.
After dinner Thorst took me up to my room and told me to get a good night's rest because "tomorrow is going to be a very busy day." I had brought my book along and probably read longer than I ought to have. I just hoped Thorst wouldn't find out.
Chapter 4
The next two days held intense training by the Elders, and even some by Cera herself. I thought I was going to die it was so hard! The animals constantly had a dazed look and I no longer had fun conversations with Taiga. Thorst took care of Aeris for me, I was extremly grateful for that! He never found out about my staying up late reading, and if he had, I didn't know about it and he didn't say anything.
"Thorst?", I asked on the third morning.
"Hmmm?", he replied. I could tell he was deep in thought, but about what I did not know.
"How much longer?", I asked wearily. "I'm not sure I can keep doing this for much longer and survive at the same time!"
Thorst chuckled. "This is the last day, and then you and I will be going home."
"But what about the Rangers diminishing, are we just going to sit back and do nothing?"
"No, the Elders are talking the situation over with King Philip in the morning."
"Oh, OK." I was baffled, it seemed like they were taking things so lightly. I wondered why. Sure seemed like an urgent matter to me, but maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed. I tried to keep telling myself that, but it didn't help, I was as worried as ever.
The Elders pushed me even harder today. I think they were trying to get King Philip to notice me and see how much he could use me and other rangers. Didn't seem like much of a plan to me, but I was all out of ideas.
Thorst and I left early the next morning before anybody was awake, Cera wasn't even up yet and she's an esspecially early riser. I left her a note telling her goodbye and asking her to tell Taiga bye for me as well. I had grown to like the little fellow and I hoped we would see eachother again very soon.
I slept about half the way home on Aeris. I was sound asleep having a nice dream when Aeris woke me up. He sounded afraid. I looked around for Thorst, but he was no where to be seen. He sure does have a knack for disappearing at times where I need him most, I thought. aeris whinnied again, but this time it was louder. I climbed out of the saddle, told Aeris to stay put, and quickly nocked an arrow. Wow, I'm getting pretty good at that! I moved silently through the forest looking all around for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Suddenly I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked through the trees and there, right in front of me in a little clearing was a Troll! I saw Thorst tied upside down to a tree branch and wondered how they got him and why they didn't get me too. "Dear God", I whispered, "please help."
Chapter 1
I never did like being quiet. It seemed that boring times always came with the quiet. But if there was every a better time to be quiet, it was now.
I was nervouse, sweat was pouring down my face, and I just couldn't sit still, even though my life depended on it. Thankfully, the Orcs didn't notice. "Whose idea was it for me to become a ranger anyways?", I muttered to myself. Once again, I shifted to a more comfortable position, which didn't stay comfortable for very long. "If you don't hush up and keep still, you're going to get us both killed!", my teacher said. Even though I couldn't see them, I knew there was anger in his eyes.
You see, I was a Ranger's Apprentice. I was to small and gangly to be a knight, and I wasn't good (or interested) in any of the other jobs the castle had to offer. To tell you the truth, I really didn't want to be a Ranger either, but it was all there was left.
I remember the day my Father told me that I would be a ranger's apprentice. "But Father! I want to do something exciting, something that has adventure! Being a ranger is boring, no fun! Besides, have you seen Thorst? He scares everybody, I don't want to have to live with him, what will people think?" "It's time you stop worrying about what other people think and just be yourself, James. Being a ranger has exciting adventures of it's own. Just give it a try, you never know, you may really like it.
Well, considering I'm sitting in a bush, close to orcs who want to kill me, I'm still not liking it to much. "Get out your bow", Thorst whispered. I did as I was told, as quietly as I could. It obviosley wasn't quiet enough for Thorst though. "Remind me to teach you how to QUIETLY take out your bow when we get home", he told me. I said I'd make a mental note of it, then returned to nocking an arrow. "Remember, aim for the neck, where there's no armor." "I know, I know", I mumbled.
We had gone over how to shoot an arrow a little bit, but not a whole lot. I was just hoping that I could bring down one of the three orcs, and then Thorst could take care of the other two. "Ready, Thorst", I said. "OK, go!" Zing! The arrow hit the intended target. "Yes!", I shouted as loud as I could, happy that I had succeeded in something. Thorst growled at me and instantly I knew what I'd done. "Ooops", I said real quiet. The one remaining orc turned and looked at us. Faster than I could blink, Thorst had nocked an arrow and shot the orc. It lay dead at my feet. "C'mon", Thorst said in a gruff voice.
Chapter 2
James had to practically run to keep up with Thort's long strides. "I'm sorry, Thorst! It was an accident, it will never happen again, I promise. You know how hard it is for me to keep quiet. Please, Thorst, I'm sorry." Thorst had to smile, the kid certainly knows how to apologize, he thought. "
It's alright, I know you didn't mean to. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you, so I'm sorry too. Ya know, I was just like you when I was your age. Boy, you should have seen my teacher when I would act up. She'd get this fire in her eyes..."
"She?!?!", James quickly interupted, "what are you talking about? I thought it was forbidden for girls to be rangers."
"It was, and is", Thorst replied. "Though there were a few that snuck into the organization, and they were some of the best rangers."
"Snuck into the organization? How in the world did they do that?"
"Well, the girls were smart enough to find us, so the Elders of the organization gladly took them in. The rule is, that once your apprenticed, you must stick with it. So by the time the King found out about it, it was to late."
"Wow, they must have been awfully brave!"
"Yes, yes, they sure were."
"Thorst?"
"Yes?"
"Do I still get to go home for the weekend?"
"Well....I guess, you deserve a break."
"Cool, thanks! You know, you're not as bad as everybody makes you out to be. If they would just give you a chance, I think they'd see that too!"
Thorst smiled and the two of them walked along in silence.
*~*
"You all ready to go?"
"Sure am!", James said excitedly. With all his training, James hadn't seen his faimly in over a month. He couldn't wait to tell his family all about the girl rangers. You know, maybe he was actually starting to like this.
"'K, let's go, I'll walkl you over there."
*~*
Ten minutes later James was bounding up the steps to his house. He was so glad to be inside the city walls again, but even more excited to see his family. He bounded up the steps, opened up the door and yelled, "Mother, Father, I'm home!!"
"Oh, great, the dweeb is back."
That's my older sister Carla. Girls are lucky, because they get to choose whether or not they want to work at the castle. "Hey!", I yelled as I took off after her. We were soon chasing each other around the yard. I was so busy in fact, that I almost didn't see Thorst walking towards home. "Thorst! Wait!", I yelled as I ran inside.
"Mom", I gasped, all out of breath. "Can Thorst please stay for dinner?"
"Sure, go run and ask him", my mother said.
"Thanks!"
*~*
"Mmmm, that was very good, Mrs. Davenport. Very good indeed!"
"Thank you, Thorst", my mother said. "Would you like more coffee?"
"Oh, no thank you. I really should be getting home before it gets to terribly dark. Have horses I must take care of."
"Bye, Thorst!", I said merrily.
"Bye, James."
*~*
"Time for bed", my mother called out to me. I was instantly jerked back into the real world, away from the adventures of my book. I love to stay up late reading.
"Yes, Mother", I said as I hopped into bed.
"G'night", my Mother and Father said at the same time. Then my Father added, "We're really glad you're home." As they walked out of the room, I quietly added, "so am I, so am I." I whispered a quick prayer, then fell fast asleep.
*~*
I reluctantly opened my eyes the next morning. I looked at the clock, and when I saw what time it was I was wide awake. Oh no!, I thought, Thorst is gonna kill me! Wait a minute. Oh ya, I'm home for the weekend! No wonder I smell oatmeal. "Good morning sleepy-head!", my sister said as I stumbled out of bed.
"Uuuugh... G'mornin'", I finally worked out.
"You hungry?", Mother asked me?
"Very!"
"'K, sit down at the table and I'll get you some oatmeal and milk."
"Thanks."
*~*
By the time I finished eating I was wide awake again, this was much better than the hard tack I always ate with Thorst. Thorst, I wondered what he was doing. I found that I couldn't keep my mind off him. This weekend was gonna be longer than I though.
*~*
Thorst was having a battle with himself. One side of him really wanted to go get James and bring him back, he was starting to not like the quiet very much either. On the other hand, he felt like James needed a break from all his training. He had been picking things up very quickly. Before he could decide what to do, a rider clad in green came riding up, and hastily explained himself to Thorst. Guess that answers that question, Thorst thought glumly.
*~*
"Hey Mother, do you think I could talk to you for just a minute?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"Well, it's about Thorst." James was having to chase his mother around the kitchen. "I miss being with him and causing trouble, I'm missing my training too, I guess I'm really starting to like it, though it hasn't been to adventurous yet. What should I do?" At this, Mrs. Davenport stopped. James liking his training? Now that was certainly a change in attitude.
"Well James, I think you should go back. There's no point for you to mope around because you're in a bad mood."
"Thanks, Mother!"
*~*
A few minutes later James was on his way to Thorst's house. "James!", his Mother called out, "Don't casue to much trouble for Thorst!" James pretended not to hear, making mischief was so much fun with Thorst. He could finally see Thorst's house, at the sight of it, he broke into a run. When he got to the house, he expected to see Thorst sitting on the porch, but he wasn't there. James decided to check inside the house. Thorst wasn't there either, but there was a not, it looked like it had been written in a hurry.
James,
I will be gone for the rest of the week.
There is an emergency meeting with the Elders of the organization.
Practice your archery and knife throwing.
Don't forget to take care of your horse, Acer.
Thorst
James' mind raced, what was going on?
Chapter 3
James didn't know what to do. Should he go back home and tell his parents, or just stay here? After several minutes of sitting in his thinking spot in the barn, he finally decided to just stay put. It's what Thorst would do, he kept telling himself.
Thorst didn't keep very much in the kitchen, and James was a terrible cook, so it really wouldn't have mattered anyway. Since it was nearing lunchtime, James deiced to eat. "Guess I'll just have to go back to the plain boring hard tack", he said aloud to himself.
"If you keep talking to yourself people are gonna think you crazy", a little voice said.
Upon hearing this, James nearly jumped three feet in the air. "What in the world?!? Whose there?", he said in a shaky voice.
"Just me", the little voice said again. "The names Taiga."
James looked around.
"Would ya hurry up and look down here!"
James slowly looked down, and sure enough, he found the sopurce of the little voice. It came from a rabbit, no bigger than a small baby.
"Huh? How can you talk? And how can I hear you?"
"That's not important right now", Taiga said. "What's important is that I get you to the meeting place of the Organization quickly, Thorst says it's urgent."
"What are you talking about?"
"Just come on, I'll explain everything on the way."
*~*
After only a few minutes of packing, the two strange companions were off, one riding a horse, and the other hopping along beside.
"So will you please tell me what's going on, Taiga? I'm very confused."
"Of course. There are only a few rangers that can hear us animals. You and Thorst are two of them. Besides you two, there's only one more, Thorst's teacher, Cera. Nobody really knows how this started, but it has proved beneficial to both humans, and the animals. Now if you'll just follow me, we're almost there."
*~*
Thorst and Cera were waiting outside when james and Taiga arrived.
"Thorst! What in the world is going on?"
"You mean Taiga didn't tell you?", Cera asked.
Until now, James hadn't noticed Cera standing there.
"He told me a little, but not a whole lot. It's all very confusing."
"Yes, I quite understand. Now, if you'll come with me, we'll get everything settled."
"Yes, ma'm", I said quietly.
*~*
"Stand up straight, chin up, and please don't forget your manners", Thorst whipsered to me.
"Thorst, just because I'm not your teacher anymore, doesn't mean I can't hear you", Cera said without turning around. I tried to stifle my laugh, but couldn't. It just came out louder. Cera even let out a little laugh. Thorst just slumped down and didn't talk for the rest of the trip. "Stand up straight", I reminded him, he just ignored me.
*~*
"Wow", I said when we finally got to the entrance of the meeting place.
"The dwarves carved it all", Cera explained.
"You mean we're underground? I knew we had been going downhill some, but I never imagined we'd end up underground. This is amazing!"
Cera chuckled and I blushed, I had probably sounded like a little kid. Thorst huffed. I think he was jealous that I was getting so much attening from Cera. I also think he likes her. I turned around and looked at Thorst, him and Taiga were talking. I wondered what they were talking about, There's a lot more going on here than they're telling me. "O.K.", Cera said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "When you go in, following me and Thorst, and sit down silently next to Thorst. Please don't say anything. Keep your thoughts to yourself until after we get out of the meeting." Thorst must have told her I didn't like being quiet, I thought.
*~*
We had to sit there a whole fifteen minutes before anybody arrived. It wasn't until twenty minutes after THAT did the meeting start. It was awfully hard to keep quiet that long, but I managed to do it, even with Taiga throwing questions at me. I think I tried extra hard to stay quiet this time, probably because I wanted Cera to se ehow good Thorst had been training me. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice that Taiga was gone and that there were a few more animals in the room. there was a squirell, a wolf, and a hawk. I later found out that they were all here t help us.
"We are all gathered here today...", I jumped. Wow, that was a loud voice. "...to discuss a very urgent matter. The Rangers are facing extinction." I heard several people gasp. I just started at the speaker with wide eyes. I detected a look of sadness in the animal's eyes. King Philip is using parts of his army to scout the land and send messages, therefore we're not needed for that anymore. We're also getting less people to train. Oh, speaking of apprentaces, please welcome the newest member of the Organization, James. Thorst is training him." Until now I had been sitting there with a blank expression on my face, now I felt it go red with embarressment as every eye was on me. I was relieved when the guy started talking again. He talked for about another ten minutes about things I knew nothing about. I've got to do something, I thought. Surely they're not going to give up that easily, I know I'm certainly not.
*~*
When it was finally over, Cera, Thorst and I had dinner. There was hot vegetalbe soup that tasted so good. I ate 'till I couldn't take another bit, even if you had paid me to.
After dinner Thorst took me up to my room and told me to get a good night's rest because "tomorrow is going to be a very busy day." I had brought my book along and probably read longer than I ought to have. I just hoped Thorst wouldn't find out.
Chapter 4
The next two days held intense training by the Elders, and even some by Cera herself. I thought I was going to die it was so hard! The animals constantly had a dazed look and I no longer had fun conversations with Taiga. Thorst took care of Aeris for me, I was extremly grateful for that! He never found out about my staying up late reading, and if he had, I didn't know about it and he didn't say anything.
"Thorst?", I asked on the third morning.
"Hmmm?", he replied. I could tell he was deep in thought, but about what I did not know.
"How much longer?", I asked wearily. "I'm not sure I can keep doing this for much longer and survive at the same time!"
Thorst chuckled. "This is the last day, and then you and I will be going home."
"But what about the Rangers diminishing, are we just going to sit back and do nothing?"
"No, the Elders are talking the situation over with King Philip in the morning."
"Oh, OK." I was baffled, it seemed like they were taking things so lightly. I wondered why. Sure seemed like an urgent matter to me, but maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed. I tried to keep telling myself that, but it didn't help, I was as worried as ever.
The Elders pushed me even harder today. I think they were trying to get King Philip to notice me and see how much he could use me and other rangers. Didn't seem like much of a plan to me, but I was all out of ideas.
Thorst and I left early the next morning before anybody was awake, Cera wasn't even up yet and she's an esspecially early riser. I left her a note telling her goodbye and asking her to tell Taiga bye for me as well. I had grown to like the little fellow and I hoped we would see eachother again very soon.
I slept about half the way home on Aeris. I was sound asleep having a nice dream when Aeris woke me up. He sounded afraid. I looked around for Thorst, but he was no where to be seen. He sure does have a knack for disappearing at times where I need him most, I thought. aeris whinnied again, but this time it was louder. I climbed out of the saddle, told Aeris to stay put, and quickly nocked an arrow. Wow, I'm getting pretty good at that! I moved silently through the forest looking all around for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Suddenly I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked through the trees and there, right in front of me in a little clearing was a Troll! I saw Thorst tied upside down to a tree branch and wondered how they got him and why they didn't get me too. "Dear God", I whispered, "please help."