Chapter 03 of Wayward Ranger by J Scott Miles

The big cat glanced again toward the fleeing raccoon. Then, as if deciding the little creature wasn’t worth the effort of chasing when a larger, less fleet-footed meal was available, it locked its gaze back on Aidan.

Mountain lions weren’t unheard of in the forests where he’d trained under Ranger Dallen, but the sleek black beast before him was unlike any mountain lion he’d seen. Its size was similar, and it had all the feline features of a mountain lion, but its dark coloring and faint gray spots were completely different.

Fighting back fear, Aidan hefted the thicker of his spears to a ready guard and prepared for the inevitable. He really wished he’d earned at least a few skill-points in polearms. Not having a skill-point in a weapon type didn’t mean the weapon was useless. It simply meant the weapon’s proficiency would be significantly reduced.

The cat’s head dipped slowly, and its muscles rippled as it gathered itself into a tighter stance.

Aidan had seen cats hunt, and he recognized the signs of one about to attack. A heartbeat later, the huge cat exploded from its crouch. The thing moved with dizzying speed, and despite Aidan’s intention to stand his ground, he shuffled back.

His heel caught along the uneven ground, and he fell backward. The cat’s body filled his vision, but the beast had been aiming for his head and upper torso, so as he fell, most of its bulk careened over the top of him. Its hind claws still raked his chest as it went over, but his crude spear found purchase in the beast’s soft belly as well.

He and the cat both screamed as the cat’s momentum sent them rolling across the grass toward the pond.

Aidan came up sputtering. He’d released his grip on his spear during the impact, but he’d stopped his roll only a few feet from his mat of pine branches and smoldering fire, where his knife and his other thinner fishing spear lay.

Thankfully, the cat had kept rolling several feet further toward the pond. When it righted itself, it came up hissing and pawing at Aidan’s first spear, which was still lodged in its belly. After several attempts, it succeeded in shaking the spear free, and the length of sharpened wood fell to the ground. His makeshift weapon had opened a significant wound in the cat’s gut, though, and its blood flowed freely onto the ground.

Diving over to his other weapons, Aidan snatched up the much thinner fishing spear he’d made. The second spear wouldn’t be nearly as useful against the beast, but he still felt it was better for defense than his kukri blade.

The furious cat hissed and eyed him with what could only be pure hatred. It was moving more slowly than it had before, like it was in a great deal of pain. Then it tried to take a step toward the forest, as if it intended to flee, but it staggered, almost drunkenly.

Could I have been lucky enough to get a critical hit with that thrust, and damaged something vital inside it? It is losing a great deal of blood.

Aidan knew the odds of him hitting a vital organ or major blood vessel with zero polearm proficiency, especially while falling backward, were astronomically low, but he couldn’t deny that’s what appeared to have happened.

“You’ve made me break the rules again, you naughty boy, but that’s the last time.” The barmaid’s voice echoed in his ears like a whisper on the wind that he wasn’t sure he’d actually heard.

Whether the goddess who seemed to have taken an interest in him had helped him land a critical wound on the cat or not, it didn’t sound like he could expect any more help from her, and the hissing beast still wasn’t out of the fight.

He brought the woefully inadequate fishing spear up into a ready guard.

With each passing moment, the blood flowing from the cat’s wound seemed to affect it more, although it continued to slowly circle him. After a few moments, it stepped in with an exploratory swat.

Aidan stepped back and met the cat’s weak strike with his fishing spear.

The thing growled at the spear’s intrusion and continued to circle, but one of its hind legs seemed to be giving it trouble. Then the leg gave out completely and the cat’s back half slumped over onto the ground.

Aidan seized the opening, stepping forward and striking out with his fishing spear. He’d intended for the thrust to catch the cat in the neck where he knew major blood vessels and other important bits were located, but he missed and caught it low on the shoulder instead. The cat thrashed and swatted the spear with such force it tore from Aidan’s hands. Shit, now I’m all out of spears. If it presses the fight now, it’s going to be knife to claw.

Cautiously, he bent down and picked up his kukri, then came back up in a fighting stance again.

The cat seemed unable to press the attack further, though. Its hind end still slumping uselessly on the ground behind it, although its legs still twitched. More disturbingly, its roars and growls of threat and menace had morphed into screams of anguish.

Aidan’s guts clenched at the pitiful sounds. I know this thing was trying to eat me, but I can’t just let it slowly die like this.

He steeled himself and lunged in with his blade. The cat tried to swat him away, but the poor thing was so weak he was able to dodge it easily, before slipping in and plunging his knife into its neck. He didn’t have a lot of proficiency with knives, but he’d earned a handful of skill-points in short blades, and despite the kukri not being designed for stabbing, his thrust struck home.

With a final whine, the cat fell limp and lay motionless in the grass.

Aidan panted as a kill notification popped up in his mind’s eye.

Kill: Juvenile Panther, Level 11. Experience 225. Upgrade-points 6. Harvestable corpse. Loot-drop small.

“A level eleven panther?” Aidan whistled through his teeth. That thing should have torn me to shreds. I really need to thank this goddess who’s looking out for me.

The chill of the early morning and the gathering breeze brought his thoughts back around to more pressing matters. His first order of business was to cast Minor Heal, the second of his two known spells, on himself.

The gouges on his chest from where the cat’s hind claws had grazed him weren’t too bad, but they stung. His real fear was infection, and although Minor Heal wasn’t very powerful, it would stop the bleeding relatively quickly and keep infection at bay. I need to get the wounds washed out as well, though.

However, before washing his wounds, his second order of business was to retrieve his stout spear from where it dropped and then to rekindle the fire into a bonfire capable of not only keeping him warm but also hopefully keeping away any other predators lurking about.

Only after he was armed with his larger spear and the fire rekindled, did he go over to the big cat’s body and look for his loot-drop. Beneath the panther’s corpse, he found a single shiny silver coin with the tree of life stamped into it on one side and a roaring cyclops’ head on the other. Not bad. A small loot-drop from an animal like this back home might not drop more than a few coppers. And that’s if it dropped anything at all. Four out of five of the kills Ranger Dallen and I made gave us nothing.

After retrieving his loot, Aidan considered getting dressed. With all the messy work ahead of him, he didn’t see much point though, so he just launched straight into the laborious task of bleeding, skinning, and butchering the panther.

The kukri wasn’t the best knife for the work, but he’d earned a significant number of skill-points in animal harvesting over the years, and even with the kukri, he made quick work of the panther’s carcass.

Whereas skills were developed through practice and use, spells and abilities had to be purchased with upgrade-points gained from leveling up or through combat. Aidan had accumulated enough upgrade-points to purchase his first spell just after reaching level six and his second just before level ten.

His first spell, Internal Warmth, was a very common spell, but common or not, it had paid off, and he’d thanked Ranger Dallen for steering him toward it in the upgrade-market every cold night since.

His second spell, Minor Heal, was common as well, but it had turned out to be more underpowered than he’d hoped. At first, a healing spell sounded like a great idea to augment his first aid and herbalism skills, but the spell only slightly sped up the target’s natural healing. It did stop bleeding, although not much better than a good bandage. And its ability to keep infection out of a wound was only slightly better than the herb mixes he knew.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Ranger Dallen had steered him to Minor Heal as well, saying that at more advanced levels it became more than worth the cost. That thought reminded him he hadn’t checked the upgrade-market after washing ashore. Not that he had any points to spend. The death penalties from his party had wiped him out, but it was always interesting to browse in a new location. Well, I should have six upgrade-points now after the panther kill, but that won’t be nearly enough to buy anything.

No one he’d ever talked to could give him a satisfactory answer on why the upgrade-market’s offerings changed depending on location. Or why you could only access it roughly once per day. But it wasn’t just location that changed what it offered. It was also on circumstance, time of year, phase of the moon, clouds in the sky, viewers’ level, viewers’ class, viewers’ mood, viewers’ last meal, and every other seemingly unrelated and random thing. The best anyone could say was that there seemed to be some correlation between a location’s relative danger and wildness that affected the rarity, strength, and value of the upgrades offered.

In the kingdoms, where even every mountaintop and lake-bottom were settled, well-traveled, and relatively safe, the spells and abilities offered by the upgrade-market were frustratingly mundane and common. They still changed from location to location, seemingly at random, but the same offerings came up time and time again.

It was one of the main reasons adventurers came to the Untamed Lands, aside from the more valuable loot and higher-level beasts. It was said that here, the offerings were often unique and more varied than anything one could still get in the kingdoms.

Opening his status-sheet, Aidan mentally shifted it to show him the upgrade-market.

Spell: Bark Skin: (175up) Grants castor or target increased natural armor, making them harder to damage. Duration: 1 day or until destroyed.

Spell: Good Berry: (225up) Summons magical berries that provide sustenance and healing for any who consume them. Amount: 2 berries at level 1. Duration: berries never go bad, usable until consumed.

Ability: Iron Will: (120up) Grants resistance to mind-altering effects such as fear, charm, or confusion. Duration: Passive, always present.

Aidan nodded as he read. None of the offerings were amazing, but they were certainly different from what he’d seen before. Back home, he’d gotten to the point where he usually recognized all three offerings, with new ones appearing only occasionally.

With his work on the panther carcass done and the first orange glows of morning sun brightening the eastern sky, Aidan crouched bloody and tired beside his fire, eating his fill for the first time in what seemed like weeks. Panther meat isn’t half bad either. It kind of tastes like slightly tough, stringy, dry pig.

When his belly was full, almost painfully so, he walked the short distance down to the edge of the pond to wash the blood from himself and clean his wounds. As he splashed into the frigid water, he watched the crayfish and minnows scatter.

“You’re all safe,” he said to them. “At least for today, and probably tomorrow, but don’t think I’m not keeping this spot in mind the next time I get hungry.”

The warm, plentiful food and slight numbing effect of Minor Heal had drastically improved his mood and outlook. He wanted to whoop with joy despite his chattering teeth.

Smiling, he waded deeper and submerged himself fully. The cold water prickled against his skin, but he stayed under long enough to rinse his hair and scrub the blood, sweat, and dirt from his face.

Coming up gasping, he turned back toward shore and froze when his gaze lit on a very unexpected, very unwelcome sight.

Laying atop his mound of pine boughs beside his fire as if it owned them both, was a huge, shaggy gray wolf. Its wide muzzle was stained with blood from the uncooked panther haunch it held between its paws.

Aidan wanted to scream. Where in the hells did that thing come from? How long has it been there watching me, and how didn’t I hear it approach? So much for the fire keeping the gods’ damned predators away. And since when are wolves scavengers? And where are the rest of them? In my experience, wolves rarely travel by themselves.

He cursed himself for not having the forethought to bring his spear or his knife over to the water’s edge with him.

As he and the beast stared at one another, him shivering and the wolf leisurely gnawing on the haunch of meat, a bark of laughter came from somewhere in the trees outside the clearing. Then a tall golden-haired woman in ranger’s leathers strode confidently into view.

“What’d you find, Tarna?” The ranger woman laughed again as her gaze roamed over Aidan. “I thought you said you were going to hunt for breakfast. Looks to me like he’s a snack at best. A very small snack. It must be chilly in there.”

Despite the cold of the waist-deep water, Aidan felt heat rush to his cheeks and his hands instinctively went to cover his exposed manhood. The large wolf looked over its shoulder at the approaching ranger, then back at Aidan. If he didn’t know better, he would have sworn the wolf wore a toothy grin across its muzzle.

“What are you eating?” the ranger asked the wolf. “Gods, you’re so lazy, I swear. What self-respecting wolf steals its food at every opportunity instead of hunting for itself?”

Aidan stood there gaping. He recognized the slender build, slightly pointed ears, and angular features of a half-elf. She’s beautiful. Although calling a half-elf beautiful is a little redundant. Every half-elf I’ve ever seen has been stunning. How attractive must full elves be?

The woman’s leather armor looked expensive and well-tailored. Very well-tailored. It hugged her body and strategic windows of skin showed between some of the beautifully tooled leather pieces. The exposed skin of her midriff below her cuirass, and between her rerebrace and vambrace along her arms, were clear signs her armor was enchanted.

Mundane armor of any type only protected what it covered. But enchanted armor could cover a little more of its intended body part through its infused magic, depending on how well-made and powerful the enchantments. Aidan didn’t know how far that aspect of enchanted armor could be pressed, but, at least back in the kingdoms, it had become a sign of wealth, status, and style to push what was possible.

His lost armor had been decidedly mundane. It took real wealth to afford armor like the half-elf before him wore. But it sure looks good on her.

The ranger woman unslung her pack, set her bow down carefully, then knelt beside his fire.

When she picked up a strip of his panther meat from where it warmed on a rock beside the fire and popped it into her mouth, Aidan’s amazement and appreciation of her stunning figure burst like a bubble. A sudden flare of indignant anger overshadowed his embarrassment at being naked and excitement at finally having another person to converse with after so many days alone.

“Hey, that’s my kill and my meat you’re eating,” he shouted at the ranger and her wolf.

“Hardly a kill worth bragging about.” She chuckled. “This thing was little more than a baby. Although I could say the same about you. What are you doing out here with no gear, anyway?”

Aidan sloshed from the water as the ranger and her wolf watched him with wide grins. To his eye, the half-elf woman didn’t look much older than him, although half-elves aged differently from humans, and it could be hard to tell.

“I’m old enough,” he bristled.

She and the wolf laughed, giving Aidan pause. Since when do wolves laugh? That thing must be her familiar.

He’d never actually seen a real familiar before. It took a lot of upgrade-points and access to a special screen to bind a familiar, or so he’d been told. Ranger Dallen had called familiars a waste of resources and shut down any discussion about them. That’s the same thing he said about enchanted armor, though, too.

After taking another piece of his cooked meat strips from the rock, she stood and wiped her hands on her leather pants, then she reached over to stroke the panther hide which he’d slung over the stick pyramid to dry.

“Not a half-bad skinning job,” she said with a noncommittal side-to-side waggle of her head. “I mean, the pelt’s not worth much, but if you’re looking to get some coin together to buy some gear, I might be willing to take it off your hands.”

“Thanks,” Aidan replied dryly as he padded up and reached for his shirt and pants. “But I think I’ll keep it.”

Before these two had shown up, he would have been overjoyed at the prospect of meeting another person out there in the woods. As long as they didn’t mean him harm, which at this point, he was fairly certain the ranger and her wolf didn’t. If they meant to hurt me, they would have already done it and I don’t have anything to steal, except my knife, the pelt, and the coin I got from killing the panther.

Her brashness and complete lack of respect for his camp or kill made him bristle, though.

“So, what are you doing out here with nothing on but a frown?” she asked with a smile, completely ignoring his obvious annoyance.

“I was trying to get clean, and I don’t even know where here is,” he replied curtly. “Why don’t you tell me where we are?”

The half-elf shrugged. “In the middle of nowhere on the southwest coast of the Untamed Lands. Where’d you think you were?”

Aidan pushed past her glib response. “In the middle of nowhere? Does that mean there’s nowhere close to buy and sell gear? Are there any settlements around here? Can you at least point me in the right direction of one?”

The ranger laughed again and looked over at her wolf. “Whoa, it looks like itty-bitty chilly-willy here is like one of those spring-driven kid’s toys. Once you get him wound up, there’s no stopping him.”

“I am not chilly-willy,” he replied irritably. “My name is Aidan, and just who in the hells are you two?”

“You don’t know who we are?” The ranger looked playfully hurt. “What’d you do, just fall off a boat? How many gorgeous ranger-wolf pairs do you think are roaming this part of the Untamed Lands? You really don’t recognize us?”

“Yes, I did, and no, I don’t,” Aidan answered, still having difficulty reining in his irritation.

The half-elf exhaled heavily and looked at her wolf again. “Can you believe this? How come nobody ever recognizes us?”

She shook her head in disgust, but the wolf just rolled its eyes.

“They will one day, I guarantee you that,” she continued. “Once we have the dragon slayer title, everyone is going to recognize us.” She straightened, lifted her chin, and put on an imperious air. “This is Tarna. She’s a gray wolf stalker from a very distinguished pack on the upper reaches of the Green Peaks. And I am Ranger Eleaslane Emeraldbow Roundtree, third daughter of Tar Banslee Emeraldbow Roundtree, the Stag’s Bane of East Havenwood, and the fourth of his line to hold that title.”

“Wow, that’s a mouth full,” Aidan replied dryly.

“It is,” she agreed. “Which is why you may call me Elease.”