Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

Melbin

They stopped for the evening in thepine forest. Tedi got a fire going while Tanya helped Arik with thehorses. Niki helped Kalina with dinner, while Fredrik helped Garthbutcher a deer that Garth had killed. Everyone was tired from thestress of battle as much as the long day of riding.

“How come you didn’t want anyoffense magic during the battle?” Fredrik asked.

“I had hoped to kill all ofthe Dark Riders,” Garth answered. “If we had gotten them all andleft no trace of a magic battle, anyone who discovered the bodieswould attribute the scene to a bandit gang who were hiding in thecanyon. If we left blasted boulders and scorch marks that would notbe believable. Bandits generally don’t have anything to do withmagic. The fact that Klarg escaped means we will be hunted. It isunfortunate because all of you need a lot more training before westart getting into battles.”

“Do you think there will be alot of fighting?” Fredrik queried.

“There will be more than anyof us will want,” Garth sighed. “After dinner we must all train andhone our combat skills. You, Niki and Tanya will join in. Have youever used a sword?”

“No,” Fredrik admitted, “Ihave never even touched one until today. I shot a bow quite a bitwhen I was younger and I learned to throw knives. That is about theextent of my warrior skills.”

Garth examined the boy’s wiry frame anddelicate hands and nodded. “Knives may do fine,” Garth commented.“That and some hand-to-hand techniques that I can showyou.”

Garth heard laughter and turned tolook. Tedi was coming from the stream with a long pole over hisshoulders with four small buckets of water suspended on it. Arikand Tanya were laughing at Tedi, but Garth was impressed with theboy’s balance. The buckets were not discharging their contents.“And maybe the staff,” Garth added absent-mindedly.

Kalina signaled that dinner was readyso everyone washed up and gathered around the campfire and startedeating the venison and apples that Tanya had picked on the way fromthe canyon.

“How do the King of Alcea andthe descendant of the Dark One relate to each other?” Tedi asked.“I mean we have at least one of them with us and maybe both. Shouldthey be working together?”

“Absolutely,” Garth affirmed.“The Kingdom of Alcea will be devoted to bringing the end to theDark One’s reign and the descendant will be working to bring an endto the Dark One, himself. They are not necessarily the same thing.The Dark One has many followers. The Black Devils are a group ofmagicians devoted to the Dark One. There is also a group called theServants of Sarac who are not magicians, but also devoted to him.There are races from the other Universes that worshipped Alutar,the Demons, Goblins, Yaki and Ogres. They will want Sarac tosucceed because it will mean the return of Alutar. People who wishSarac to succeed may well run some of the rogue armies. Whomeverthe King of Alcea is, he will have to marshal whatever forces hecan to fight Sarac’s horde. It is imperative the King and thedescendant work together to accomplish their goals.”

“So, in effect,” Fredrikoffered, “we have just joined the Alcea Army.”

“Yes,” Garth said grimly.“More accurately, we probably are the Alcea Army.”

“Doesn’t Alcea already have anarmy?” Arik inquired.

“I don’t really know,” Garthanswered. “I have not been there in many years. At the time peoplewere still calling it Tagaret, which was its name when Targaexisted. The Collapse, the war with Sordoa that was going on at thetime, and the attacks from Sarac’s Army, all decimated the TarganArmy. After the Collapse, all that was left of Targa was the cityof Tagaret. What was left of the Army probably settled in whereverthey were.”

“What of Alexander Tork andthe Targa Rangers?” queried Tanya.

“Alex and Jenneva left toimprison Sarac in his castle,” Garth answered. “They haven’t beenseen since. The Targa Rangers were only a thousand strong at theirpeak and Captain Mitar Vidson ran them. I would assume that theyremained loyal to King Byron and rallied to him. If so, some ofthem may still exist.”

“You paint a pretty bleakpicture,” commented Niki. “It sounds like this King of Alceadoesn’t even have a country.”

“He doesn’t,” Garth sighed,“but between Kalina, me, and you children, he will, and we will seethat it grows strong.”

“You really need to stopcalling us children,” Tedi stated. “I know you mean it as CollapseChildren, but we still find it offensive.”

There was a general agreement to Tedi’sremark and Garth nodded. “You certainly proved today that you arenot children. I am proud of the way you all followed orders, butwhat shall we call you, then?”

“We should be called the AlceaRangers,” offered Tanya, “and that includes you andKalina.”

Calls of agreement went around thecampfire and Garth smiled. “Okay,” he said, “I will be proud toserve with each and every one of you in the newly formed AlceaRangers. However, as proud as I am to serve with you, I wouldrather feel safe serving with you, so I think it time to start ourtraining for this evening. Niki, you will train with Kalina thisevening. Tedi, I want you to cut another pole like the one you usedto carry water. I want you and Fredrik to start learning how tohandle a staff. Tanya, you get to prove you are as good as theother boys against Arik. Let’s go.”

Everyone started to get up and Garthturned back towards the fire. “Forgot a couple of things,” hestated. “Everyone in the Rangers will be required to be proficientin using a knife and throwing a Lanoirian Star. These are twoweapons that are easily concealed and deadly if used by someone whohas been trained. See me when you can and I will supply you withenough to start training. You should train with these two weaponswhenever you have nothing else to do. One more important thing,seeing as we have people in camp who see nothing wrong with goingthrough others’ belongings. I have a satchel that containsLanoirian Stars and myric quills. Do not go in it. Myric quills aredeadly poisonous. One touch of the tip and you will be dead beforeyou hit the ground. I will instruct you in their use when you areready.”

A few red faces appeared as the Rangersheaded to their appropriate training spots. Garth walked around andobserved or instructed as needed. Fredrik was awkward at first withthe staff, but Tedi had a fine sense of balance and handled thestick with excellent control. With a little training and a lot ofpractice, Tedi would be deadlier with the staff than he would bewith a sword.

Tanya was indeed giving Arik a contest.Of the two Lorgo boys, Arik was definitely the better swordsman.Tanya was very good with a sword and was besting Arik, but it wasobvious that she had received some good instruction. Eventually,Arik would beat her constantly because the boy was so powerful, butfor training, Tanya would prove to be an excellent sparring partnerfor him.

Raised voices from Niki and Kalina drewGarth towards them and he stopped to listen.

“It just is not possible,Niki,” Kalina was saying. “A shield never remains stable or levelsoff, it keeps getting weaker each time it is hit. That is the verybasic nature of the shield. It is probable that you just becamenumb and didn’t feel it getting weaker. Now I want you to listevery spell you know and I will start to teach you spells which areclosely related to the ones you already know.”

Tedi gave Fredrik a good hit to theankle and Garth hurried over. He knelt down and examined the ankle.“It’s okay,” Fredrik declared. “It hurts a bit, but that is my ownfault.” Fredrik limped to his feet and picked up his staff andcontinued his practice with Tedi.

For the next several weeks, the Rangerstraveled half days and spent the other half days and eveningspracticing. The results of the training were promising. Fredrik wasmodest when he said that he had played with throwing knives. He wasalready better at throwing knives than most men Garth had met, andhe took to throwing the Lanoirian Star fairly well. He still hadquite a way to go in hand-to-hand combat with a knife, but if hecould throw them quickly enough, his assailants wouldn’t getclose.