Chapter 04 of Wayward Ranger by J Scott Miles

“So, you truly just fell off a boat and washed up on shore?” Elease asked. “Well, come on, don’t keep us waiting. Tell us how that happened. It must be a deliciously entertaining story.”

Grudgingly, Aidan recounted his ill-fated voyage, the Kraken attack, his days adrift, and finally his washing up on shore.

Elease listened, then, as he wrapped up his story describing his fight with the large cat, she made sure to correct his use of the word panther by itself. “It was a juvenile panther. A few years old at most. I’d still be willing to take its pelt off your hands, though.”

“I think I’d rather you just point me in the direction of the nearest town,” Aidan replied. “Or if you’re heading that way, let me travel with you until you get there.”

“Yeah, we’re not really going back toward the nearest town,” Elease replied as she gestured vaguely toward the northeast.

Tarna growled and looked over at the half-elf ranger.

“What?” Elease asked her wolf defensively. “We’re not.”

The wolf growled again, then yipped.

“Don’t start with me, Tarna,” Elease said before she turned her annoyed gaze back on Aidan. “We’re not going north, but I can give you directions to the last town we passed. The town wasn’t much, but if you can get yourself there, I’m sure you’ll be able to find work to keep you busy and eventually another group to travel with back to Redemption Bay so you can catch a ship home to the kingdoms.”

“I’m not going back to the kingdoms,” Aidan replied. “I told you I’m a ranger, and I came here to be an adventurer.”

“Yeah, I know that’s what you said, but look at you. You have no weapons, no armor, no gear, no supplies. You should really head back to the kingdoms and gain a few more levels before you try this sort of thing again.”

Tarna barked.

“What?” Elease asked her familiar as she threw up her hands. “I’m just being honest with him. He can’t be over level twelve, and if he’s a day over twenty years old, I’ll eat my extra bowstring.”

“Could you two stop talking about me like I’m not here?” Aidan growled.

“Don’t have a tantrum,” Elease said with a roll of her eyes. “All I’m saying is that down here in the lowlands along the coast, things are relatively tame, but the Untamed Lands are called untamed for a reason. And no offense, but you’re not ready for what’s out there.”

“I appreciate your concern,” Aidan replied sardonically. “But I’ll be fine. I managed with the panther, didn’t I?”

“Juvenile panther,” Elease corrected again, her hands going to her hips like a mother scolding a child. “And there are things out there far worse than that. Things that would gobble you up without even breaking stride.”

Tarna rose from where she’d been laying atop his mound of pine boughs, shook herself off, and then padded over to Aidan’s side. Standing, the wolf was even larger than he’d realized, her massive head coming up well above his waist. When she touched the underside of his hand with her muzzle once, then a second time more insistently, he tentatively stroked across the surprisingly soft fur of her head to just behind her tall, upright ears. She moved into him, clearly liking the touch, and wanting more.

“You traitorous bitch.” Elease laughed. “You’re taking his side in this?”

Tarna barked again at the half-elf.

“Fine,” Elease said as she threw up her hands. “Like I said, we’re not going back north, we still have business in this area, but we will be passing by Barlow’s Ferry further south on our way to Thorny Hills. You can travel with us until we get there. Then you’re on your own, understand?” She sighed and scrubbed her hand through her long, golden hair. “Between here and Barlow’s Ferry, there will be more dangers like that juvenile panther. Probably worse. Nothing Tarna and I can’t handle, but even so, if you’re coming with us, it would be nice if you weren’t completely useless in case we run into another threat.”

The half-elf went over to her leather pack and rummaged around inside. After a minute, she pulled out a short, recurved bow of dark wood that never should have fit inside the backpack. Aidan was familiar with enchanted bags that could carry far more in both volume and weight than their external size suggested, although he’d never been able to afford one.

“In an effort to keep us all safe, I’m willing to make you a hell of a deal,” Elease said. “I’ll trade you my spare bow and a few standard arrows for your panther pelt.”

Aidan had to admit trading his panther pelt for a bow sounded like a pretty lopsided trade in his favor. But he had a hard time believing the half-elf was offering him such a good trade purely because she wanted him armed if they ran into trouble out there.

“What’s wrong with the bow?” he asked skeptically. “Let me see it.”

“Seriously?” Elease looked incredulous. “I’m offering you a sweetheart of a deal and you want to question it instead of snapping it up?”

Despite her indignation, she handed the bow over along with a bowstring. Aidan inspected the unstrung recurved bow. It was obviously well-used. Its dark wood limbs were scarred and battered, although it looked well cared for and strong. I’d prefer a good yew longbow like the one I lost, but I’m sure I can learn to use this type quickly. How much different could it be?

Elease didn’t wait for him to accept the trade before going over to his panther pelt. She hoisted the thing up, inspecting it more closely, then she folded it neatly, and wrapped it up in a protective oiled cloth to pack away in her backpack.

“What about arrows and a quiver?” Aidan asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Keep your britches on,” she said, and after the last of the pelt had disappeared into the backpack, she pulled out five very ordinary-looking arrows. “Here are the arrows we agreed on, but I don’t have an extra quiver. So, you’ll just have to hold them.”

After stringing the bow, Aidan tested its weight and found it surprisingly stiff. Even stiffer than the longbow he’d lost. He wished he could try it, but he only had the five arrows she’d given him, and he didn’t want to risk damaging or losing any.

Tarna and Elease helped themselves to more of his panther meat, and then Elease wrapped most of what was left in some oilskins and packed it away, along with the pelt, into her backpack. It irked him some to see his kill being hauled away by someone else, but he reminded himself they were all going together, and it would still be available to him later. Besides, if she wants to carry the weight of it, why not let her?

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That made him wonder if her enchanted backpack ever got heavier from the things she put into it. He knew there was a limit to how much stuff could go into one, depending on the quality and strength of its enchantment, and he knew it reduced the weight to be carried, but he didn’t think the weight was completely eliminated.

Other than the meat and the pelt, Aidan didn’t have much of a camp to break down. He pocketed the coin, teeth, and claws he’d harvested from the panther, then he sheathed his knife, so he could have his hands free for the bow and arrows.

They left his little glade well before midday and headed south along a narrow game trail. Aidan cast Minor Heal on himself again and felt the scabbed-over scratches he’d received from the panther begin to itch.

Tarna roamed ahead as they walked. Most of the time, she was out of sight, hidden by the trees and undergrowth. Despite that, Elease seemed to always know which way to go and know right where her companion was ahead of them.

The quiet hiking didn’t bother Aidan. He and Ranger Dallen had trudged for hours most days with hardly a word spoken between them, and the view following behind Elease was far better than the view he’d gotten used to following his old master.

There were a million questions he wanted to ask Elease, but he figured there’d be plenty of time for conversation when they stopped to make camp later that evening. And besides that, he didn’t want to see her exasperated expression or listen to her tell him what an inexperienced noob he was for his ignorance. Although it’s becoming clear to me just how little I know about being an actual adventurer.

Just after midday, Elease came to an abrupt stop in front of him and held up her hand.

“What is it?” Aidan whispered. He was actually glad for the momentary respite. He wasn’t tired, but he hadn’t gone barefoot that much since he was a kid, and his feet were accumulating scratches.

Elease didn’t answer. She just shushed him with a hand motion as her eyes tracked off to their right.

Aidan followed her gaze, and he brought up his bow, which he’d been carrying with an arrow nocked loosely. He didn’t see anything worth targeting, but he wanted to be ready. I’m not even sure where Tarna is right now.

Then he heard the wolf’s angry growl from somewhere off in the direction Elease was looking, and the half-elf bolted into the forest. Aidan followed and tried to keep up with her, but she was fast. And wearing boots.

He heard her whoop with excitement and the twang of her bow before he caught up with her again. When he finally found her, he skidded to a stop, and his mouth fell open.

Tarna had a green serpentine dragon cornered against a jagged rock outcropping. It was a very small dragon to be sure, only two or three feet long with a head only slightly larger than an apple, but it was still a dragon. He was sure of it, even though he’d never seen one.

The small dragon’s snake-like body writhed, its bright green scales flashing and sparkling as if each was backlit by an internal flame. Tarna danced back and forth, keeping in sync with, but out of range of, the dragon’s angry bearded jaws.

Along the beast’s back, an iridescent yellow ridge rose like the dorsal fin of a fish, and two sets of similarly colored wings flanked the ridge. The wings appeared to be insufficient to allow the dragon flight, but even flightless, the creature maneuvered, lightning quick, on four short legs that each ended in taloned three-toed feet.

When Elease’s bow twanged again, and a second arrow sprouted from the dragon’s flank, the shaft nearly as long as the beast’s body, Aidan’s astonishment gave way to action. He raised his own bow, drew, and fired.

“Shit!” He screeched as the string slapped his unprotected left forearm. Fighting through the eye-watering sting, he saw his arrow strike the dragon low along its cylindrical belly and glanced off.

The dragon hissed and spat a thin cloud of noxious green mist toward Tarna, which the wolf deftly avoided.

Aidan nocked another arrow, readjusted his aim, and fired again. He made sure to move his elbow and wrist the way he’d been taught to keep the bowstring from slapping him again, but to no avail.

“Fuck!” He swore again as the string caught his already purpling forearm. Despite the smack, his second arrow hit the dragon dead center on its neck. Unfortunately, like his first arrow, it also glanced off the beast’s tough scales. Although it did careen up and into the thing’s dorsal ridge, tearing a gash in the leathery skin between bony spikes.

Elease put another arrow into the dragon, this one much closer to the thing’s bobbing head. How are her arrows penetrating, but mine aren’t? Her bow can’t be that much more powerful. And how is this thing still alive after taking three of her arrows? I know it’s a dragon, but it’s not much bigger than a common gopher snake.

Tarna continued to keep the thing cornered and distracted, while also keeping away from the beast’s claws, jaws, and vile breath weapon. The wolf deftly dodged another small cloud from the dragon’s mouth, although that one had gotten much closer to her. Is that breath weapon poison or acid?

“Aim for its eyes,” Elease shouted. “It’s the only place your arrows might penetrate it.”

Despite the sting from the infernal bow slapping him every time he fired it, Aidan nocked another and drew his bow. The eyes? Is she crazy? Even at this short range, with the way that thing is moving, I’m having a hard enough time hitting it anywhere.

The next time the dragon reared back and opened its mouth to strike at Tarna, Aidan loosed his arrow and it flew true. The bowstring slapped the same spot on his forearm, bringing tears to his eyes, but he watched his arrow enter the dragon’s mouth and sink deep into the tender flesh inside.

The dragon shrieked, then slumped and went still, like a candle snuffed out. The sudden lack of motion after so much frenzy was startling. Then a kill notification popped up.

Kill: Youngling Green Serpentine Dragon-spawn, Level 10. Experience 235. Upgrade-points 12. Harvestable corpse. Loot-drop small.

“Yes!” Elease shouted happily as she ran over to wrap her arms around Tarna’s shaggy neck. “You big, beautiful girl, I take back every mean thing I ever said about you. I can’t believe you found one already.”

The wolf seemed to puff and even grin under Elease’s praise.

Aidan was excited as well but left them to their celebration and pondered his notification. Despite its diminutive size, the dragon had only been a level lower than the panther he’d fought, and even though he’d had to split the kill experience with Elease and Tarna, he’d still gotten a few more experience points from it.

He knew not all creatures or beings were created equal. Even if the creatures had been the same level, a level ten panther was not necessarily the same as a level-ten dragon, in terms of strength, abilities, or difficulty to kill. Even two level-ten humans wouldn’t necessarily be the same, depending on their raw attributes, their classes, and how they’d trained. This little dragon was definitely harder to kill than that level eleven panther from last night, especially with those scales my arrows couldn’t penetrate.

Elease released Tarna and went over to the dragon-spawn corpse. Cautiously, she rolled it over with her foot, then from beneath it recovered three silver coins.

“Hey, aren’t we splitting the loot?” Aidan protested as she pocketed the coins.

“If we were in a party we would, but we’re not, so we don’t,” the half-elf replied sweetly.

“It was my arrow that took it down,” Aidan protested as he set the bow aside, took out his knife, and approached the dragon carcass. He wasn’t certain his knife would cut through the dragon’s scales, either, but harvesting what he could from the thing seemed worth the effort. I’m sure some of its parts will be worth something.

“Your arrow was just the last one to finish it off,” Elease replied. “Mine did all the damage and Tarna is the one who found it in the first place. But I’m feeling generous, so we’ll split the coins evenly, one for each of us.” She was about to toss him a coin when her brow furrowed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to harvest what I can from it. We already have all the panther we can eat in the next few days, but some of its other parts have to be valuable, right?”

Elease looked at him like he was an idiot. “Even if we didn’t have the panther’s meat, you can’t eat green dragon. They’re highly toxic. Some of its parts are valuable, and you can feel free to harvest them if you want, although unless you have the requisite skill, I’d be very careful.” She shook her head. “Gods above, Tarna. He sure is lucky we chanced upon him. He’d already be dead a dozen times over out here without us.”