I woke with a start, my heart pounding a rhythm of warning in my chest. My eyes darted around the moonlit room detailing familiar shadows that once bore the shapes of monsters, their familiarity gave me some comfort, but the dread coursing through my veins did not abate. Something was deeply wrong. The forest around our small cabin was quiet, no animals scurried, no trees swayed in the wind. It was as if the entire mountain range beyond our valley held its breath.

I crept out of bed and the dread mixed with irritation as I found my massive bear pelt strewn carelessly on the floor. The pelt was a symbol of my hunting prowess, a culmination of the skills of the forest my father had taught me. I reverently placed it back on my bed thinking of the lessons that bear had forced upon me. I quickly dressed adorning my bow and the sword my father had given me when I completed the training and trials to earn it. As I buckled the leather belt of the scabbard a loud thud broke the eerie silence. I ran to the front door and stepped outside, the moon illuminating the grassy knoll and the forest beyond, its pale light cresting just above mount Celestine.

Stealthily, I edged to the side of the cabin  in the direction the sound had come from and as I turned the corner I saw a menacing figure standing over my father, poised with a club, preparing to strike once more. Without hesitation, I drew the bowstring back to my chin and released in a practiced motion. The arrow flew with unerring precision, finding its mark in the man's neck. His eyes bulged in surprise and he gurgled a silent scream, hands frantically clawing and scratching like a wild beast. By the time I reached him he was falling over, the light leaving his eyes in death. I studied the man for a few seconds, the realization that I killed another human being freezing me in place. My mouth dried and my stomach began to sour before I refocused on my unconscious father.

I rolled the dead man off of my father and began checking him for wounds, blood was everywhere and the moons light was not enough. I wrapped fingers around his ankles over his boots and began to drag him around the house. I was strong for my age but my father was a large man, getting him into the house and into his favorite chair was awkward and ten minutes passed before the task was completed. I lit a small oil lamp and used a damp cloth to wipe away the strangers blood. Memories of my mothers gentle touch and tender care flowed through me as I searched for wounds. I found a lump on the back of his head still leaking drops of blood that brought me back to the present. I bandaged the wound as best I could and layed a blanket over him. Satisfied that I had done all I could for him I set out to search the body to try and figure out what exactly was going on.

When I rounded the corner of the cabin I stopped in my tracks, my head on a swivel, and  eyes darting around the clearing to the edge of the forest. The body was gone. Could he have survived and stumbled away? No. I watched him die, I was sure of it. I readied another arrow realizing the man had an accomplice. It was the only logical explanation. I crept toward where the body fell seeing the drag marks I made with my father. Tracks could tell a story for those with the eye to see. I found where my father had tread and where his assailant had crept up behind him. There were a set of tracks coming from the forest from a similar direction as the assailants tracks. They led back into the forest in the same direction but the imprints were deeper than before, as if the man had doubled in weight. The tracks led to a trail I had frequented with my father. The trail led to one of our favorite camping spots, a small clearing with a large boulder that reflected heat from a fire perfectly.

I set off in pursuit, following the deep boot prints in the soft grass. I raised my hood and mask we used to keep cold winters breath from being seen while hunting. I stayed just off the trail  my soft soled shoes finding roots and soft patches of dirt with practiced ease. It was not long before the stillness of the night was broken by a mumbling voice deep and gruff. I had caught up to the mysterious accomplice. “One fucking job. Just one. All you had to do was kill the father and nab the kid. But now I have to carry your heavy ass back to the boss and explain how a child killed you. Selfish bastard. Gods you’re heavy.” The man grunted and rearranged his dead friend across his shoulder, almost dropping him in the process. I stayed focused on listening to the man, trying to gain information but my mind was racing. Why would anyone want to capture me? I was a nobody from a simple family. My father was a forest ranger, he was no one important. What was going on? Was this mans boss here in the forest or back in the village to the south? The mans mumblings and grunts turned to complaints once more and I refocused “he’s going to have my ass, where were you Damon, how could you have let this happen” he said in a mocking tone. “and the fucking mage, gods above she’s going to kill me”

I stopped in my tracks and allowed the man to gain some distance on the trail, my mind was reeling. The magi of the empire were spoken of with fear and reverence, they trained at the academy in the empires capitol and swore oaths directly to the emperor. Why would a mage be party to the murder of my father and my capture. I had to find out more, but I couldn’t allow this man to reach his accomplices. I quickly caught back up to the man his complaints silent, replaced by the hard breathing and grunts from carrying his burden. I unsheathed my sword and crept back onto the trail behind my target. The man wore leather armor like his accomplice and I wasn’t confident I could penetrate it with enough force to kill him. I slashed the sword across the back of both of his legs and he grunted in pain and surprise dropping his accomplice. As he turned pulling out his own sword mine was already flying towards him in a backhand slash. My sword cut through the front half of his unprotected neck and he went down in a pool of blood. I heaved an adrenaline laden breath and proceeded to drag his body off the trail and then that of his partner instead of focusing on the fact that I had now killed two men. I took a few minutes to cover the disturbance on the trail created by the kill but I didn’t have time to make it perfect. I had to find the rest of the accomplices.

I ran silently toward our hunting site staying off the trail in case more enemies were headed my way. The clearing was a short run away, less than three miles. My heart raced and I worked to keep my breath a steady rhythm as I jumped over fallen trees and weaved through brush. I began to smell smoke mingled with the familiar earthy pine of the forest. As I approached I saw the flickering orange light of a fire. I crawled on my belly sweat beading down my back in fear and adrenaline. The light of the fire revealed two men, one sitting on a log next to the fire another pacing back and forth “they should have been back by now, something went wrong.” The man pacing said. He was tall with black hair and bushy eyebrows the orange light igniting dark brown eyes that flicked around constantly searching. The man sitting on the log made no response and looked into the fire with dead eyes. He was bald and his severe face showed no expression, he poked at the fire sending embers into the air. A female voice spoke and my eyes darted to find her, she sat slightly out of the fires light legs crossed red robes flowing over her. How did I miss seeing her? Even knowing where she was my eyes seemed to slide right off of her. “Do not fear Henderson, they will complete their task and bring the boy. It has been seen by the Emperors best seers.” Henderson scoffed and halted his pacing looking toward the mage. “No one can see what fate has hidden witch” The woman hissed contorting her face underneath her cowl “Watch your tongue” she made no movements but Henderson began to float off the ground as if being pulled. His arms and legs stretched apart and he groaned in pain. “You need me witch do not forget that!” He said in between ragged breaths. He dropped to the ground in a heap  “that I do, but for how long I wonder?” She said with a chuckle. I watched the bald man discretely slide a knife back under his shirt sleeve. “The seers do not pretend to know what the fates hold, but see they can. They see eventualities and what may cause them. For example in every eventuality where I am directly involved in the child’s capture he escapes. That is the only reason I need you. But you are correct it seems, Peterson and that drunkard Damon should have been back by now. Go, see what troubles they found and remember, kill the father. No matter what.”

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The two men left the clearing and headed down the trail leaving me lying on my belly watching the mage. It became easier to focus on her the longer I stared, but my mind raced with possibilities. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t allow those men to kill my father but I knew I had roughly three quarters of an hour if they walked. I had to deal with the mage. Fear racked my body as the visual of the man floating in the air plagued me. I took a long breath in closed my eyes and focused. She had to be dealt with. I couldn’t leave her here to come find us, I had the element of surprise. Using a technique my father taught me called the box breath I regained control over myself. A four count inhale with a four count pause, then a four count exhale and another four count pause.

I rose from my belly, taking minutes to do so to ensure not a sound was made.  I readied my bow and knocked an arrow and found it harder and harder to focus on her. My eyes slid off of her like water. The more my intent was to kill her the more violently I couldn’t see her. I strained and focused but it was no use. I knew where she was, my bow had no problem facing that direction just my eyes. So I closed them. One teaching my father seemed to reiterate at every turn was to trust in oneself and one’s training. My body knew where she was, I just had to let it work. I drew back to my chin and then stopped, a gut feeling telling me I needed a more powerful shot. A shot like I used against the bear, I turned my hand around on the string and pulled all the way back to my ear and let loose. It was a beautiful shot, and I didn’t open my eyes until I heard the tell tale thud of the arrow hitting flesh. The moment my eyes opened my ears rang with a terrible scream. The arrow had taken her through the eye and half stuck out the back of her head. She flailed her arms fire spewing from her hands scorching the dirt and grass around her. I ducked as the heat grew too much to bare. My heart pounded and I didn’t know what to do, she should be dead. Fire reigned all around her as her screams grew. Minutes passed waiting for her to die but she refused. I looked up as the light and heat faded and saw she was flailing with her back toward me. Now was my chance. I ran out of the brush unsheathing my sword pierced her through the spine. I heard bones crack and she immediately went limp pulling off of my sword. I cleaned her blood off with her robes and heaved a sigh of relief. Add a woman to make three.

I ran through the woods not caring for how much noise I made knowing I would be hard pressed to beat them back to the cabin. I jumped a root misjudging its height and smashed into the ground my momentum carrying me into a jagged rock. My ribs screamed with fire and I felt blood drip from a scraped knee. I cursed my stupidity and the pain that stemmed from it, I had ran these woods a thousand times and allowed my fear to blind me. The moonlit forest was dark but that still was no excuse, I had plenty of light. I headed off once again praying to the gods that I was not too late. I reached the forests edge and watched the cabin and the trail the men would come from. I saw no movement and hope began rising to replace the dread. Then a loud crash came from the cabin and then another and I saw the front door shatter from the frames hinges my father being the instrument of its demise. He rolled onto the ground grunting in pain and spitting a mouthful of dirt onto the ground. It took everything in me not to cry out, to scream for him to run. Two men walked out of the door the man I knew to be Henderson taking the lead. His tall bald companion held an expression of pure pleasure as if my father was the tastiest meal and he a starving wretch. The look filled me with disgust. Tears began rolling down my cheeks at the helplessness I felt. If I ran out now he would surely die and I would be captured. The tall lanky man grabbed my father and then looked toward the tree line scanning while Henderson spoke “you out there little boy?” He looked at my father “has he abandoned you like the coward we know him to be.” My father began to chuckle spitting a mouthful of blood “keep hunting him in these woods and he will pick you off one by one, I can feel the weakling of a mage if you can even call her that has already been taken care of.” Henderson snapped his head back to the trail then to my father “bullshit, he may have got lucky with Samson and Damon but the welp is no match for any of us, let alone the mage.” My father laughed long and hard “I have trained my boy from the moment he could open his eyes in all forms of warfare, his will is iron and his mind nimble. You will not see the suns first light. Kill me now and cement your fates.” I was torn at feeling pride in the confidence my father had in me and fear of the look he held. It was the look of certainty, certainty of his death and of my vengeance. “You speak of fate, yet the Emperors own Seers have seen him placed into our hands.” Henderson said looking into the smiling face of my father, he continued “we will drag him from whatever hole he has hidden himself in, cowering and shaking with fear” this made my father begin to laugh hysterically and I feared they would strike him down. “No oh no, he watches now, his eyes are upon you both, and his vengeance will be swift. He is a ghost of the forest, a ghoul in the night, every sound you hear will be his coming and yet his coming will be silent. I have taught my boy in the secrets of my ancestors as my father taught me. A few more years and he will be ready, ready to find the hidden path, the path that cannot be found.” They looked at each other then, and my expression matched their own. Confusion, wonder, and a little fear, for the path that cannot be found was spoken of in only legend and myth. A Mage above Mages a Lord above lords. Did my father truly believe me capable of such feats or was he manipulating them? Henderson obviously thought the latter as he backhanded my father across the face. I inwardly groaned at seeing him in pain yet I knew he was strong. A cut revealed itself in a line of blood that slowly grew across his cheek. “Enough with the games, do you honestly think a thirteen year old boy can resist the Will of the Emperor?” My father smiled, it was filled with pride and his eyes lingered on my position. “My boy will not only resist the Will of the Emperor but break it entirely. I served the Emperor loyally for decades and how was I repaid? He imprisons my wife to let her rot and die in the dungeons because I would not divulge my families teachings on the hidden path. Our son is the culmination of both our families knowledge of the path. The empire will tremble under the name of Rowan Pierce.” Henderson stared and eventually gave a slight nod to his  companion who quickly jabbed a knife through the neck of my father. Tears ran down my face in hot rivers as my soul screamed in agony, but not a sound was uttered from my lips. My hands clenched in the dirt anger rising to a fury. So much had been said, so much had been learned and yet my father was still dead. I knew from the moment they had him it was inevitable as my father had said. I watched his blood slowly pool reflecting the light of the moon and my mind set on vengeance. For my safety neither man could leave this forest alive to tell of what happened. I watched and waited trying to calm my tumultuous emotions. Henderson looked around the tree line and to my position but could not see me. “We need to head back to the witch, if she truly is dead we can track the boy from there.” Without waiting for a response from his tall companion he turned and headed back to the trail, my fathers killer staring in eerie pleasure at his work before he to began down the trail. My hunt began, I had a feeling these two would not be as easy targets as the first three.

I looked at my hands, dirt caked between fingers that were worn above their years. I had no one left, no family to guide me, my mother had been gone now for three years and tonight I learned why. The Emperor. Had my father always known? Why did he never tell me? My family had secrets they would not share and for that she died in a dungeon? But what secrets, my life was not that out of the ordinary, it was true I did not spend my days on the farm like the boys in small village to the south. The village was nestled beyond a mountain pass only accessible in the short summer months, my father and I were planning a trip in two days time to trade pelts for food stuffs and iron tools we needed. It was true I trained in the sword, bow, and spear for as long as I could remember, read stories of war and tactics and was taught their reasonings, but that was not out of the ordinary, was it? Surely Noble children had similar education, I knew the peasantry did not spend time reading and only thought about war as something other people and places engaged in if they were lucky. So what was the secret path that I was headed toward, this path of legend that both my parents died for. One thing I knew, I would bring truth to my fathers words. The Empire would tremble under my name.