Chapter 08 of Wayward Ranger by J Scott Miles

The next morning, Aidan woke beside the remnants of the fire wrapped in the smelly cloak he’d taken from the green dragon’s lair. I really need to wash this thing out. Luckily, I wasn’t wearing it during the fight with the kobolds, so it didn’t get bloody or sliced up like my shirt, but why didn’t I think to wash the stink out of it last night?

He’d had another strange dream, the details of which were already fading. There had been kobolds in it and a dragon that was way bigger than the green they’d killed. But towards the end, the beautiful barmaid had made another appearance as well, although she hadn’t looked as much like a barmaid this time. She’d traded her barmaid attire for a flowing white dress that was almost sheer and promised glimpses of her plentiful womanly assets beneath. Her long raven hair framed her beautiful smiling face as she spoke to him, although he couldn’t remember a single word she’d said.

He wondered if the woman from his dreams could be Nanaya, the goddess who’d bestowed the boon on him. But as soon as that idea occurred to him, he dismissed it. I have no way of knowing what Nanaya looks like. The woman from my dream is more likely a figment of my imagination and more evidence Elease is right. I need to relieve some pent-up frustration so I can start thinking clearly again.

Getting up and stretching, he shivered at the chill and the light fog that had settled into the forest. His head ached, and he attributed that mostly to the strong wine Elease had shared with him. There were a lot of kobolds attacking us last night, but I’m sure it didn’t help that Elease and I had also been drinking.

Looking over to the other side of the fire where Tarna lay, he saw the wolf’s amber eyes were open and alert. They turned to him, and he thought he saw the skin of her muzzle curl into a smile.

“Good morning, Tarna,” he murmured. “I hope you’re feeling better.”

The wolf’s tongue came out to lazily lap her own nose. He wasn’t sure how to interpret that. The smiles and the eye-rolls he thought he understood, but not that. He hoped it meant she was feeling better. She didn’t appear to be in any pain, and that was a good sign, at least.

His small pile of coins and gems from the dragon’s hoard, along with his spear, and the bow he’d traded for, lay on the ground next to him. Picking up the spear, he padded off toward the creek, wishing again that he’d found some suitable shoes or boots in the dragon’s cave. I wouldn’t say no to a thick coat right now, either. Or a hot mug of spiced ale.

In the morning’s light, he could see the creek and its surroundings much better. The spot where Elease had fallen into the water the night before, and where she’d tried to climb out, were evident. Trampled grass along the bank also showed where their battle with the kobolds had taken place.

There was no sign of Elease, but walking slowly around the area, he found thirteen kobold bodies. As far as loot went, all he found were a few of the kobold’s weapons. Not a single coin or gym. Nasty little shits, and stingy too.

None of the weapons were worth taking, so he left them where they were, but spent some time dragging the surprisingly heavy little bodies off into the forest. The effort warmed him, but also made his lingering wounds and sore muscles ache. It was probably an unnecessary task, but he didn’t want their bodies attracting anything larger, nor did he want them contaminating the creek.

After checking to make sure Elease wasn’t around, he stripped down, cast Internal Warmth onto himself, then waded into the frigid water to bathe more thoroughly than he had the night before. It would be just my luck that Elease would come down here while I’m washing and accuse me of flashing her again.

“Women,” he said irritably as he scrubbed his cloak and clothes in the cold water. “I don’t think it matters what race they’re from, their all crazy.”

Shaking his head, he tried to think of anything other than Elease, but the only other thing that came to him was the image of the beautiful raven-haired woman from his dream. Damn it, how is it even possible that I’m getting hard while I’m standing in this creek shivering?

He seriously considered getting himself off right there, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it with the risk of being caught by Elease looming over him. I might literally die of embarrassment if that happened.

Frustrated, cold, wet, surly, and unsatisfied, Aidan finished up in the creek and plodded back to their small camp wearing only his leather pants. He debated whether he should use the rest of his available mana to cast Internal Warmth onto himself again, or Minor Heal.

There wasn’t much left of the arrow wound except an ache, though. The potion Elease had given him had done a good job of closing it up and scabbing it over. So, he settled on doing neither and just saving his mana for whatever the day might bring.

Elease was back in their camp, crouched beside the fire when he got back, and he noticed she’d stoked the flames back to life and put a small kettle on. Whatever she was brewing smelled strange, but tantalizing.

She grinned at him. “Feeling better?”

“What are you making?” he asked, ignoring her question as he walked to a relatively clean section of grass where he could lay out his thoroughly rinsed out cloak and shirt to dry. Although with this fog hanging around and all the dew on the ground, it will be midafternoon by the time my clothes even start to dry out.

“Coffee.” Elease replied.

“Never heard of it,” he said, as he stepped up to the fire and rubbed his hands together above the flames to soak in some warmth.

“Why am I not surprised?” she snorted.

“Is it a type of tea?” he asked, ignoring her snide response, although he couldn’t ignore the glance he caught her giving his bare chest.

“How’s Tarna?” He asked.

The wolf’s head perked up at his question, and her amber eyes found him.

“She’s better.” Elease replied. “She’s still sore though, and as much as I’d like to keep moving, she needs to rest for at least today.”

Tarna whined and started to get up, but Elease put her hand on the wolf’s head and shushed her with quiet words.

“That sounds good to me,” Aidan agreed. He thought he could keep up if she wanted to travel, despite his aches and pains. But he wasn’t going to complain about a day of rest, either. “When I was walking back, I saw a patch of purslane and some mushrooms worth picking. If those are around, I’m sure there’s more. I should be able to find enough to put with the panther meat for a meal or two.”

Elease nodded.

“Do you think the kobolds are gone?” He asked. “Do we need to worry about them attacking again?”

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“I don’t think so,” she replied. “I went out scouting this morning, and I’m pretty sure we got all of that raiding party. It was a larger raiding party than I would have expected them to send out, though. I’d be surprised if their chief sent more than one group out after us, and after losing that many of his warriors, I can’t imagine he’d try another attack. Even us killing his favorite dragon couldn’t be worth losing more of his clan. But even if he does, we’ll be good for at least a day, and by tomorrow, we’ll be ready to travel.”

Aidan nodded. If they were staying put, he wanted to get some practice in with the spear. Skill-points didn’t come as often from practicing forms or from practicing against inanimate training dummies as they did from actual hunting or combat, but getting familiar with his new weapon in any way was still important. Especially now that he’d bound the thing to him, and he was certain he’d be using it long term.

He chuckled to himself. I guess I’m a spear wielding ranger now. I’m surprised Elease isn’t already giving me shit about that. And if I ever make it to the guildhall to complete my quest, I’m sure I’ll be a laughingstock with the other adventurers, even if it is an epic weapon I’m wielding.

Laughingstock or not, as soon as he could, he needed to find someone who knew what they were doing with a spear to show me some actual techniques, instead of just fumbling around on his own with it.

Elease pulled the small kettle off the fire with a gloved hand and set it aside to cool. Then she dug into her pack again and came out with a folded cloth that held about a dozen fist sized biscuits.

Aidan’s eyes popped. Of course, she has other food packed away in her bag. It only makes sense that she and Tarna have provisions for this trip of theirs. But why have we been eating that panther meat by itself, with no seasoning or accompaniments for the last three meals if she has other food?

When she noticed him gazing at the baked goods, she tossed him one.

“I don’t have a lot, so don’t go scarfing it down like a hungry teenager. Make it last.”

“Thank you.” He mumbled as he took a bite of the biscuit. The thing was hard, a little under-salted, and well past its prime, but none of that mattered. It was the first baked good he’d had in days, and he missed baked goods almost as much as he missed ale.

Elease picked the steaming kettle back up, popped open its hinged lid, and blew across its open top. After a few minutes, she sipped carefully directly from the small tin kettle. Again, she noticed Aidan watching her, and she rolled her eyes, then handed the kettle across the fire to him.

“A sip or two,” she said. “This stuff is more precious than gold. Trust me, you do not want to see what happens if I run out of coffee.”

The smell coming off the kettle was strange, but again tantalizing. He put the hammered tin edge of the kettle to his lips, testing to see if it had cooled enough to be comfortable. When the hot liquid inside made it to his mouth, he slurped in a small sip, tasting the bitter, earthy brew. Strange, and unlike any tea I’ve ever had, but not bad. The best part about it is that it’s hot.

He took another small sip, then passed the kettle back.

After eating the best breakfast he’d had since before boarding the ship back in the kingdoms, Aidan took his spear and got to training. He swung and thrust, performing as many movements as he could recall from seeing other warriors or guardsmen train, feeling the enhanced movement abilities that the spear’s magical endowment granted him.

Spears and polearms were relatively popular weapons in the kingdoms, so he’d seen a fair number of men and women wield them, but he’d never paid specific attention to how they trained, so he replicated what he could remember, then made up more.

Elease’s critical eye watched him, but thankfully she didn’t hurl any of her sharp-tongued barbs or critique his form. Eventually she dozed off with her head against Tarna, and Aidan felt bad for making any noise that might disturb them, so he moved away from their camp to continue the movements.

The sun was riding high in the trees and the fog had burned off by the time he took a break. He panted and despite the cool air, sweat beaded across his cheeks and brow. Checking his status sheet, he whooped when he saw a new skill-point next to polearms.

That’s two new skill-points. I wish we received notices when skill-points were awarded. I also wish there was more rhyme or reason to how long it takes or what needs to be done between receiving them. At least with experience and levels, I can track the progress and see how close I am to reaching my next level up. With skill-points, it’s just a guessing game.

One additional point to the point he’d gotten while fighting the kobolds the previous night wouldn’t make too much of a difference in how he could handle the spear in actual combat, but both points were a sign he was improving. He also knew, as with his other skill-points, the further he progressed, the harder and longer it would take to accumulate more.

Walking down to the creek, he knelt and scooped up a handful of water to drink.

I just need to keep at it. Choosing to fight with an entirely new weapon pretty much means I’m starting all over again.

He practiced with his new spear a little longer beside the creek before spotting a patch of watercress growing in the water where the creek widened and the current slowed. Taking a break from training, he picked a few handfuls of the plump green leaves.

Abandoning his training for the moment, Aidan lost himself in the pursuit of the tasty leaves, wandering downstream from one patch to another as the creek meandered through the forest. By the time he had an armful, plenty to cook up alongside another couple slabs of panther meat, he was about to turn around and head back upstream to their camp, when he heard the telltale sound of falling water in the distance.

There must be a waterfall somewhere up ahead. A pretty decent sized one too.

Curiosity carried him around another few bends in the stream, and he found where the creek fell away over a sheer rock cliff, dropping about twenty feet into a pond about a hundred feet across.

The find made for a gorgeous view, but Aidan had seen other forest waterfalls and ponds back home. What really caught his attention was a cluster of three purple flowers growing attached to the cliff face below him in the waterfall’s spray. MAidans Mist Orchids.

Those flowers could be used to make a tea that would grant drastically enhanced stamina for a while. Or at least that’s what Ranger Dallen had used them for. His mentor had always been eager to pick them whenever they came across them growing in the wilds. Although I never got to try any of the tea he made from them.

By walking parallel to the cliff-face, Aidan eventually found a way down, then he made his way back over to the pond and the waterfall.

He thought he might have to resort to swinging to get over to where the orchids grew in the mist of the falling water, but to his surprise, there was a narrow ridge of rock along the cliff face that created a kind of broken path from one bank of the pond around to the waterfall.

If he hadn’t been looking for a way to get over to the orchids, he may never have noticed the ledge. But since he had, it looked as though it might have been an actual path at one time, before most of it crumbled away.

Setting the greens he’d already collected along with his spear, down on the pond’s bank, he held onto the cliff and began shuffling out along the very narrow ledge of rock. As he drew closer to the waterfall and the purple orchids, the rock grew slicker from the mist the falling water kicked up. At least if I fall off, the drop will only be the few feet down to the pond. And I’m glad the day is turning out to be warm, or this cold spray would be miserable on my bare skin.

When he neared the first orchid, he bent down carefully, balancing on the ledge barely half a foot wide, and reached out to pick it. As he did so, he noticed a recess in the rock behind the waterfall itself. Curiosity tugged at him as stories he’d heard where adventurers found chests of loot and hidden chambers behind waterfalls filled his head.

Stuffing the orchids into his pants pocket, he shimmied over further towards the waterfall. Amidst the thunder of crashing water, he pressed his chest against the rock cliff-face to avoid the worst of the falling water drumming down onto his head.

Soaked and sputtering for breath, he finally squeezed himself behind the waterfall and into the recess. As he’d hoped, there was a small chamber, more than a chamber in fact, a narrow passage that led several feet deeper into the cliff-face.

Excitement flooded Aidan as he stood there on the narrow ledge with the waterfall pounding at his back, peering into the passage. The sunlight filtering through the water cast strange shadows over the rock walls in muted blues and greens, giving the hidden place an eerie quality. Several feet down the stone corridor, a stout oak door blocked the way. Iron bands crisscrossed the door, which looked old but far too free of decay and rust, considering its proximity to the waterfall and the constant mist.

What in the hells did I just find?

Stepping up to the door, he placed his hand onto the fist-sized iron ring attached to the strap running across the door’s center. As soon as his fingers made contact, a notification popped into his vision.

Green Hollow. Level twelve dungeon. Do you wish to enter?

He quickly released the iron ring and sprang back a few steps, nearly slipping and falling backwards into the torrent of cascading water behind him.

By the gods, I found a dungeon.