Page 9 of Storms & Sacrifice
“I’ve never seen an animal like that before.” I think that was my first encounter with anactualmagicalcreature.
“Their antlers are a powerful magical regent, used to amplify spell effects,” Khazak continues. “It is not uncommon to see people out in the forests in late winter gathering them. In the past, we have had issues with poachers, which is one of the reasons we patrolthe area.”
“Aww, so we’re out here to protect them.” I pick up the bow and dust off my knees as we stand and exit the foliage. “So, what do we do about food?”
“Come. We will find another place to hunt, and if we still turn up empty, we can try our hands at some fishing.” Khazak grins.
“Ooo, fishing Ihavedone before.” I hand the bow back to Khazak, so he can strap it tohis back.
“We have poles and bait back at camp. We can search east of here first before we—” Khazak stops himself, his head turning to look at some bushes. “David, climb upthe tree.”
“What?” I look in the same direction he is. I don’t see—Then I hear it. Something stomping in our direction, fast.
“David, tree,now!” Khazak shouts, shoving me toward the nearest tree before starting to climb himself.
I barely have time to grab ahold of a branch before amassiveboar bursts into the clearing. I mean it’s huge—even on all fours it might be taller than Khazak. Its dark brown fur is heavily matted, and one of its tusks is broken, though it doesn’t look any less deadly. It stomps one of its hooves into the ground with a grunt as it looks around, its dark eyes stopping on me and the tree I’m dangling from. With a snort and a roar, the boar charges the trunk of the tree, slamming into it with enough force that I lose my grip and hit the ground with a thud.
“David!” Khazak calls from above as I quickly try to get to my feet, a sharp pain shooting through my right ankle when I make to stand.Fuck.I must have twisted it when I landed. I hear another bellow from the beast behind me, and I scramble to get away. It knocks into my back, sending me forward and flat on my face. I can feel where one of its tusks hit me, though it thankfully didn’t break the skin. Yet. I have my sword strapped to my back, but it’s so small that I flounder, unsure whether I should try and get up again or just curl into a ball.
Khazak makes the decision for me, whistling loudly as he drops to the ground to draw the boar’s attention. Bow in hand, Khazak fires an arrow that lands right in its flank, making the creature squeal in anger. Turn to face its new challenger, it runs at the orc as he notches another arrow. Khazak leaps out of the way as the boar passes him, firing as it turns around and landing another arrow directly in its side. It’s still moving, and now it looks angrier. Standing, Khazak notches two more arrows—at the same time—aiming steadily at his target. With a rage-filled bellow, the boar charges once more. Khazak lets the arrows fly, each landing with a wet and heavy thud, one in its snout and the other directly in its eye. With a final screech, the beast collapses mid-charge, corpse sliding along the ground toward Khazak.
Carefully, Khazak makes his way over to the boar, pulling his longsword from the scabbard on his back and driving it into the body, ensuring its demise. Then after laying the blade on the ground, Khazak moves over to me.
“Are you alright?” He kneels over my prone form, checking for myinjuries.
“I think I twisted my ankle when I fell.” I hiss at the twinge of pain that comes when I try to move it.
“Let me see.” Khazak helps to lay me flat on the forest floor, rolling up one of my pant legs to inspect my ankle. “This may hurt, but I need to check if anything is broken or needs to be set.”
I nod, whimpering when I feel his fingers pressing against the injury.Fuck, that hurts.Leg injuries are the worst. How am I going to get around? How am I going to get back to camp? Hell, how am I gonna get back tothe city?
“Definitely twisted, but I think that is all.” Khazak nods confidently. “Alright, hold still.”
He places both hands over my injury, eyes closing as he mumbles...an incantation? I feel his hands start to get warm, and then my injured ankle begins to tingle.Is he castinga spell?!
“What the hell?” I whisper as I watch Khazak heal my ankle. “You’re a spellcaster?!”
Khazak looks at me puzzled. “I can use a small amount of nature magic. I thoughtyou knew.”
“No. How would I know that?” I move my ankle around carefully. Feels a lot better.
“I mean, Iama‘ranger.’”
“Okay, but I didn’t know you meantthatkind of ranger.” Rangers are typically known for things like scouting, hunting, and protecting forests, and some of those rangers can cast small amounts of magic. Sorta like a druid-lite. Look, magic is very confusing. “Does that mean all the other rangers are spellcasters, too?”
“Fair enough. A few are, but most are not.” He frowns when I scowl at that reply. “David, I promise this is not something I was keepingfrom you.”
“Feels like it.” I can’t help but feel a little prickly. I thought we were past all the secrets and not telling each other things. “How come I’ve never seen you using it before now?”
“I did not have a reason to use it before now.” I scowl more at the lack of explanation. “David, what I just did to your ankle is about the extent of what I am capable of. I am not that powerful, and also do not generally like using magic for things I am capable of doing myself. Frankly, given the source of my magic, I have evenlessof a reason to use it in the city. Other than a small amount of healing, everything I can do is related to animals and theoutdoors.”
I guess he has a point. We haven’t exactly been outside much before this week, and it’s not like he has any pets. Though he probably could have made finding that old lady’s dog a lot easier. Or healed my scraped-up knees after that first time I ran away. When I really think about it, it’s just...not really a big deal when I consider everything else that’s happened between us. “Okay. I believe you. Sorry for overreacting.”
Khazak smiles. “Can you walk?” He stands and offers mea hand up.
“I think so.” I tentatively try putting weight on my injured ankle. “Feels maybe a little uncomfortable, but it doesn’t hurt.”
“Good. When we get back to camp, Shaman Bonespirit will be able to heal you better than I can.” Khazak turns to look at the dead boar. “We can get the rest of the patrol to help carry that back. I would say we found more than just breakfast.”
