Chapter 2 #2
“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 up the 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 a massive boar 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 my injuries.
“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 to the 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 casting a 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 thought you knew.”
“No. How would I know that?” I move my ankle around carefully. Feels a lot better.
“I mean, I am a ‘ranger.’”
“Okay, but I didn’t know you meant that kind 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 keeping from 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 even less of a reason to use it in the city. Other than a small amount of healing, everything I can do is related to animals and the outdoors.”
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 me a 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.”
“I didn’t think you guys had wild boars around here.” I’ve never seen one before.
“We do not.” Khazak kicks the body lightly with his foot. “This is not wild; it is feral. It likely escaped from one of the human settlements on the coast and has been surviving out here for some time. Possibly years, given its size.”
After dusting myself off, we start the walk back to camp. As always, I have a million questions about the new bit of info I just learned. “So...what else can you do?”
“What do you mean?” Khazak tilts his head.
“Your magic. What else can you do with it?” I really haven’t met that many spellcasters, and the ones I have are all wizards or some kind of priest.
“Ah, well...” He pauses to think. “I can use it to tell what the weather will be like, usually through the next day. I can manipulate a small amount of earth and water and affect the growth of certain flora. I am able to search for specific animals and plants, especially of the magical variety. And in addition to what I did to your leg, I can detect and heal certain poisons. I can also communicate with animals to some degree.”
“You can talk to animals?” That piques my interest.
“Communicate,” he clarifies. “Animals do not talk. They use body language and sometimes sounds and noises—most that we cannot even perceive. My magic makes it easier to understand one another, even pass along a message to another person. Oh, here is a useful trick.” Khazak pauses, holding his hands out to the sides and inhaling deeply.
“Shhhhhhh...” Khazak breathes out, as if shushing the woods themselves. All around us, the sounds of the forest go silent, sounds I didn’t even realize were there. The wind blowing through the trees, a bird chirping, squirrels jumping from branch to branch. Everything is quiet.
“Wow,” I try to say, but it barely comes out a whisper. Smirking, Khazak moves forward, motioning for me to follow. Once we’re a few feet away, I can hear the sounds of nature return as well as our voices.
“How did you do that?” I’m hoping for an answer that isn’t just “magic.”
“The spell controls the movement of the wind in the area, stifling any sound traveling within it.” I can tell he’s proud of that, even if I didn’t fully understand that explanation.
“Why didn’t you do that when we were hunting the deer?” Seems like it would have been useful.
Khazak chuckles. “As I said, I do not see the purpose in using magic for something relatively trivial. Besides, if I had, I might not have heard the boar as it approached.”
“How did you hear that?” If he hadn’t, we might have ended up the boar’s meal instead. “More magic?”
Khazak taps one of his large pointed green ears. “These are not just for show.”
Everyone is awake and milling about when we make it back to camp.
Khazak sits me by the fire while he talks to Wu’dag, who then comes over to take a look at my foot.
While he does that, Khazak gathers three of the other orcs, as well as what looks like a pallet you’d use to carry an injured person, to bring back breakfast. Wu’dag kneels in front of me, inspecting my ankle.
“Always getting in trouble, huh?” I roll my eyes as he places both hands on my ankle, and I can feel the warm tingle of his magic flowing into me. “There we go. Should be good as new.”
I flex and rotate my ankle, pleased to find that it doesn’t hurt at all. “Thanks.”
“That is why I am here.” The shaman stands, brushing off his robes. “Cannot wait to see what caused all the trouble.”
Twenty minutes later, the four orcs march back into camp, the body of the boar carried between them. They stop just after reaching the camp’s border, moving the body off the pallet and onto the ground near the edge.
“Damn boys.” Wu’dag whistles as he steps over, walking around the body. “This will feed us all week. Hold on.”