A Ranger From Adamnar

“How’s your head?”

Alana looked up with barely open eyes from her position on the ground just inside the front gate. She couldn’t quite see who it was that was talking to her. “I feel like someone hit me with a rock when I wasn’t looking,” she answered and then winced at the sound of her own, croaky voice.

The mystery man squatted down beside her and said, “I know that feeling.”

Alana focused her bleary gaze on the man and realized he was one of her fellow fourth phase trainees, specifically the one she had hit in the forehead with her dagger hilt. He had short brown hair, light brown eyes and dimples when he smiled. “I remember you from my test,” she said. “But I don’t know your name.”

“I’m Derek,” he said. He stood up and held out his hand. “Would you like a hand up?”

“I might as well,” Alana answered, taking his hand. “Lord Retak will be here soon.” She groaned as she came to her feet. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

Derek chuckled. “I think we all did the same thing after we tested out of Waylan’s group.” He pulled a small, dull copper-colored flask out of his pocket. “Drink some of this. It tastes awful, but it will make you feel better pretty quickly.”

Alana took the flask and asked, “What is it?”

“It’s a little concoction that Priest Bruny made for us,” Derek replied. “He doesn’t exactly approve of trainees drinking all night long, but he understands that it happens.”

Alana took a swig from the flask and nearly choked. She swallowed hard and said, “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah, I know,” Derek said, “But I’ll bet your head feels better already.”

Alana paused a moment and then said, “You’re right, it does feel better. Thanks.” She put out her hand, “I’m Alana, by the way.”

Derek smiled as he took her hand again. “I know who you are. Everybody in the stronghold knows who you are.”

“Oh,” Alana said. She handed him his flask.

“Yeah, she’s so busy showing off, how can you help it?”

Derek frowned and turned in the direction of the newcomer. “Well, good morning to you too, Laren,” he said. “I see you’re feeling better.”

Laren scowled at the pair of them and went to stand on the other side of the gate. Soon the rest of the trainees arrived, all fully armed, their packs bulging with provisions for the month-long journey. Lord Retak arrived last. He stood and surveyed the group of twelve trainees until his gaze fell on Alana. He smiled broadly and asked, “Have you sufficiently recovered from last night’s festivities, trainee Nadran?” Several trainees chuckled. Laren let out a short bark of derisive laughter.

Alana’s face reddened and she answered, “Yes, Lord Retak.”

“Good,” he replied. “Now,” he went on, “I know the rest of you have been through this before, but for Alana’s benefit, I’m going to explain what we’ll be doing this month.” He focused his gaze on Alana once again. “Fourth phase is about combining all that you have learned so far in your training. We will be running south towards the more traveled parts of the forest. We will be going on patrols with different size groups depending on what I choose to cover that week. You will be expected to exercise all of your skills during these patrols. Does this all make sense to you trainee Nadran?”

“Yes, Lord Retak,” Alana answered.

“Then let’s go. We have a long day ahead of us.” With that, Lord Retak started to run out the front gate. The trainees followed, with Laren taking the lead. Alana stayed towards the rear of the line. She didn’t want to encounter Laren just now; she still felt a little unsteady, even after drinking Bruny’s potion. Derek and another trainee named Rose ran on either side of her and the three of them kept up an easy conversation until their first rest break. While she was sitting eating some dried fruit, three trainees came over to her and introduced themselves. By the time they got to their stopping point for the night, all of the other trainees had taken an opportunity to greet Alana and welcome her into the group—all except Laren of course, who stayed as far away from Alana as she could manage.

The following day they continued to run straight south. Alana began to see evidence of travelers. The sun was just setting when they halted for the night. Lord Retak gathered them together after camp was set up. “For this first assignment,” he began. “I’m going to break you up into two groups of six. Laren and Derek will be patrol leaders for this round. Starting tomorrow morning you will patrol two days out and two days back. Laren, your group will go due west. Derek you will go due east. Garen, Micah, Troy, Ataris, and Rose will be in Derek’s group. Jacob, Taraz, Orman, Sardik, and Alana will be in Laren’s group.

Alana was not at all surprised that she was assigned to Laren’s group. Some of the trainees were still talking about her fight with Laren. She heard them say they had never seen Laren fight as well as she had against Alana. She also knew that Laren was less than pleased with the assignment.

“You better not mess up, runt,” Laren muttered when Lord Retak finished giving out the assignments.

Alana didn’t bother to respond. She just looked at Laren and raised an eyebrow then walked away. She was quite tired of the sniping that had been going around since people found out she was testing out of Waylan’s group so quickly. Let Laren think what she wanted. Alana knew what her own talents were. As she walked back towards the camp, Rose said to her, “That was pretty rotten of Lord Retak to assign you to Laren’s group your first time out.”

Alana shrugged and said, “I’ll be all right. Laren doesn’t bother me anymore.”

“Well, good luck,” Rose said.

“Thanks,” Alana replied.

Alana could understand why no one liked to be around Laren. She only helped when it benefited her and nothing anyone else did was ever good enough. Laren as patrol leader was even worse. She was impatient and intolerant of mistakes or slowness. A few times Alana helped another trainee along just so they wouldn’t have to hear Laren snarl at them.

Alana began to see why Laren had not yet made her Ranger trials. She recalled what Uncle Iliard told her about being a Ranger. Laren excelled in all of the Ranger abilities, but her attitude made her almost unbearable to work with. Whatever that elusive something was, Laren had not yet gotten it.

The second day of patrolling was particularly difficult. Taraz fell and twisted his ankle badly. Laren was fit to be tied at the delay he caused. She was especially incensed when Alana refused to go on until Taraz had rested after she healed him. Laren threatened to leave both of them behind.

Alana finally lost her temper. “What in all the nine hells are you racing toward? Lord Retak said two days out and two days back. He never said get to a specific place or go a specific distance. If you want to leave us behind, go right ahead, but you’ll have a hell of a time explaining to Lord Retak why you left a new fourth phase trainee alone in the forest with only another trainee to help her.” The final straw for Laren was when the three other trainees sat down with Alana and Taraz and said they would wait until Taraz felt ready. Laren had no choice then but to sit fuming until the rest of the party was ready go.

When they made camp that night, Laren was silent the entire time. She only spoke to assign watches, of course giving Alana the worst possible time for a watch. Then she set her bedroll in a semi-circle of bushes about fifty feet away from the rest of the trainees and lay down to sleep. Alana and the other trainees stayed up and talked for a while before settling in for the night.

Alana slept fitfully. She kept waking up with a start and looking around expecting to see an enemy. She had just woken for the fifth time and had finally resigned herself to a sleepless night, when she heard Laren cry out. She got up and went over to Orman, who was on watch. He shrugged, looked over to the secluded place where Laren lay sleeping and said quietly, “Nightmares. She gets them a lot.”

Alana went over to look at Laren’s sleeping form and her stomach tightened with fear. Sitting on the ground by Laren’s head was a demon of Arnitath. Alana tried not to react openly. She knew Orman couldn’t see it. Alana walked towards Laren, pulling out her holy symbol of Asaeria as she went. She stopped at Laren’s feet, held the symbol in her hand and whispered, “Be gone foul servant of Arnitath. I command you in the name of Asaeria the champion of the weak.”

The demon focused its glowing red eyes on her and made a hissing noise that sounded like laughter. “You have no power over me, mortal,” it responded. It beckoned her with its bony, black hand and said, “Come with me to my plane. I will tear your body to pieces for an eternity.”

Alana’s heart pounded with fear. Surely there must be something she could do. Laren cried out even louder and Alana knew that the demon was torturing the older trainee just to spite her. What could she do? She took a deep breath and clutched the holy symbol tightly in her hand. She bowed her head and began to pray, “Blessed Asaeria, goddess of wisdom and champion of the weak, I humbly ask you to send one of your servants to fight this foul minion of Arnitath.”

A warrior of Asaeria appeared instantly beside her, sword drawn. The demon leapt to its feet and hissed. An evil-looking jagged edged sword that dripped with burning blood appeared in its right hand and it ran towards the seraph. Alana quickly moved out of the way, even though her rational mind knew that the battle could not touch her on this plane. She sat by Laren’s head to shield her from the fierce battle that was raging around her.

The demon attacked the seraph with insane ferocity. The seraph countered every stroke with calm confidence, which only served to enrage the demon even more. The demon screamed his fury and his sword began to glow orange-red. He rose up into the air above the seraph. The seraph followed suit, her sword blazing bright white against the night sky. This time, Alana had to cover her ears against the thunderous sound of their clashing swords. Their swords grew brighter as the pair fought furiously. Flecks of blood splattered the seraph’s robes, only to disappear soon after. Alana noticed that the robes of the seraph began to glow bright white as well. She unleashed a fierce attack on the demon that sent it tumbling down towards the ground. The demon reared up and sent out a blast of dark red fire from his sword that hit the seraph in the chest and sent her flying backwards. Alana gasped in fear and wondered what would happen to her and Laren if the demon won the battle.

The seraph, however was not so easily defeated. She flew down towards the demon, her sword now a bright white flame. She raised her sword over her head and brought it down on the demon’s neck. A huge gash opened up on the demon and flames from within it began to consume its black form. Once again Alana had to cover her hears as a piercing shriek rent the night air and the demon disappeared. The seraph came slowly back down to the ground where Alana sat. She stood up to greet her. “Thank you,” she said and bowed slightly.

The seraph bowed in return and replied, “It is an honor to serve you.” Then she too disappeared. Alana made sure Laren was still covered and then went back to the center of camp. Orman looked at her strangely and said, “Uh, is everything all right?”

Alana nodded wearily. “Yes, everything is fine now. Why don’t you go get some sleep. I’ll take the rest of your watch. I’ll probably be awake for the rest of the night anyway.”

“Uh, sure. Thanks,” Orman said. He gazed back at her several times as he made his way to his own neatly folded bedroll.

Alana was wide awake, her thoughts racing. She couldn’t imagine why a demon of Arnitath would be tormenting Laren. It didn’t make sense to her. She knew Laren was a very good fighter and her skills as a Ranger were exceptional, but would that make her a target for Arnitath? There were many things about Laren that Alana didn’t understand, but she hadn’t really concerned herself all that much with Laren’s erratic behavior before. Now it seemed the stakes were significantly higher than she realized. It was time to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Laren knelt beside a small stream washing her face. Alana knelt beside her and said quietly, “I know why you have nightmares.”

Laren stopped what she was doing and turned a baleful glare at Alana. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Laren,” Alana said firmly. “I know why you’re having nightmares.”

Laren stared at Alana and a look of fear came over her face. “Get away from me,” she said, getting up to her feet. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Alana rose and grabbed Laren’s arm. “Yes you do. Damn it, Laren, you have to listen to me. It’s important.”

Laren looked at Alana’s hand and said in a low voice, “If you don’t let go of me, I’m going to take you out.”

“Go ahead,” Alana said. “I’m going to keep coming back until you listen to me.”

Laren yanked her arm out of Alana’s grasp and shouted, “What do you want from me?!”

“I want you to hear what I have to say,” Alana said. “You need to know what’s happening so you can do something about it.”

The look of fear came back to Laren’s face. “What do you know? What did you see?” When Alana told her what happened the night before, Laren’s face grew pale and she backed away from Alana. “How do you know all this? What are you?” She backed up further, “Get away from me.”

Alana took a step towards Laren and asked, “Why are you afraid of me? I’ve never done anything to you.”

“Except cut off my hand,” Laren said harshly. Her eyes took on a wild look. “But there are other things. Every nightmare I have—you’re in them. If I’m in pain, you’re the cause. If I’m being tortured, it’s because of you.”

Alana shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand. You hardly even know me. I couldn’t be causing these things.”

“Maybe not now,” Laren retorted, “But later, you will. You’re going to be the cause of my death.”

“Wait a minute,” Alana said angrily. “You don’t know that. These are just dreams. Arnitath is a liar. He twists the truth to serve his own purposes.”

“Why would Arnitath want to have anything to do with me?” Laren asked. “I’m not important. I’m nothing.”

Alana was moved by the despair and hopelessness in Laren’s voice. She remembered something Asaeria had said to her after Arnitath had come to her room. “Laren, listen to me. You are something and you are important. I’m not going to pretend I know how or why. But Arnitath wouldn’t be sending his demons to you if there wasn’t something special for you to do in your life. Maybe it has something to do with me and maybe it doesn’t. I don’t know. But I do know this—Arnitath can only hurt you if you surrender to him.”

“What are you trying to say?” Laren asked angrily. “Are you saying I invited Arnitath’s demons to come to me?”

“No,” Alana answered with a quick shake of her head. “That’s not what I meant. Most people don’t invite Arnitath into their lives. But Arnitath feeds on fear, hatred and despair. If you allow those things to consume you, then you will be open to his power. It’s very easy to make someone who has no hope see evil everywhere. The more evil you see, the more you sink into despair until you can’t see any way out. Then Arnitath wins.”

Laren’s shoulders slumped and she looked down. “But I don’t see any way out. I’m not…good enough. I never will be. I try hard to do good things, but…everyone is so much better than me. Even you. Like yesterday. You’re so much younger than me and you know what’s right. I just can’t figure it out. I’m not going to make it to Ranger. Then I’ll be out with nowhere to go. I’ll be back on the street where I came from.” Laren turned her back on Alana and started to walk away.

Alana hurried to catch up to her and said, “Laren wait. Please listen to me.” To Alana’s surprise, Laren stopped, although she still wouldn’t look at the younger girl. Alana sighed softly and said, “I went through something like this not that long ago. I let something take over my mind until it was all I could think about. But luckily for me, I had friends who helped me get through it.”

“Yeah, lucky for you,” Laren said hoarsely. “Only I don’t have any friends. I don’t have anybody to help me.”

Alana moved so she was in front of Laren, facing her. She put her hand on Laren’s arm and said, “You do now. Let me help you.”

Laren looked down at her and didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally she looked away and said, “I need some time alone.”

Alana took her hand off Laren’s arm and said, “All right. I’ll be around when you’re ready.”

“I know,” Laren answered as she walked away.

“So, what’s in it for you?” Those were the first words Laren had spoken to Alana since their encounter at the stream that morning. It was now midday and they had stopped to rest and eat some lunch. Alana had settled herself under a large old tree and had contemplated a brief nap since she had gotten so little sleep the night before. She looked up at Laren and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Come on, you know what I mean,” Laren said in a hard voice. “Why do you want to help me? What’s the pay-off?”

“I…” Alana shook her head in bemusement. “There is no pay-off. I’m not doing it to get anything.”

“Yeah, well,” Laren said, “That’s not the way it works where I come from.”

“But that’s the point, isn’t it?” Alana replied. “This isn’t where you came from—wherever that is. This is a Ranger stronghold. Rangers do things because it’s the right thing to do, not because they’re going to get anything out of it.”

“But you’re not a Ranger,” Laren countered. “Hell, I don’t know what you are. Not too many Rangers I know can see demons. How do I know you didn’t make that whole thing up?”

“What possible reason would I have for making that up?” Alana asked angrily.

“How should I know?” Laren answered. “Everybody has an angle. Everybody lies.”

Alana got to her feet. “I don’t know where you come from,” she said, her voice rough with anger, “But I was raised by a Novadi Wielder. I do not lie.”

Laren glared down at Alana. “Well, I was raised by thieves and prostitutes. Nobody ever told me the truth.”

Alana opened her mouth to retort and then closed it again. She took a deep breath and said, “Laren I have nothing to gain from lying to you. I just want to help. I don’t even really know why. If you want my help, then I’ll help you as much as I can. If you don’t, then I’m sorry, because I think you’d make a good Ranger.”

“What makes you think you can help me?” Laren asked sharply. “What makes you think I need help anyway?”

At this point Alana was ready to just throw up her hands and walk away. She almost set her foot on the path, but something held her back. She growled in frustration and said harshly, “You’re two rotations from being asked to leave the stronghold. On top of that, you have demons who have decided to make your dreams their playground. So, if you think you’re doing fine, just keep going the way you have been. It seems to be working so far.” Alana turned away and said in a softer tone, “I’m tired. I spent most of the night trying to figure out why demons would want to attach themselves to you and what I could do to prevent it.”

Laren grabbed Alana’s shoulder and turned her back. “Damn it! Why the hell are you trying you help me?”

Exhaustion and frustration were getting the best of her, and Alana was near to tears. She pulled herself away from Laren’s grip and shouted, “Because Laren! Just because.” She took a moment to regain control of herself and said, “Everyone is worth it. I have no other answer for you.” She rubbed her temples with her fingers to ward off an impending headache. “I can’t talk about this anymore. I have to save my energy for rest of our run today.” She turned away again saying, “I’m going to go meditate for a little while. Call me when it’s time to go.”

As Laren watched Alana walk away from her, she felt an unfamiliar pain in her chest. She had to fight the urge to go after Alana…to do what? She didn’t know. Her mind was whirling in confusion. Alana was somehow managing to shatter Laren’s long held beliefs about human nature. No matter how badly Laren treated her, Alana remained steadfast in her desire to somehow help Laren become a Ranger. Could it truly be that there was someone who was willing to help her, no matter how bad she was? Laren set her jaw in grim determination. She would find out just how much Alana wanted to help her—especially after she found out the truth about Laren’s life.