Arc 1: Chapter 21: Bane
When I woke again, the light in the woods had changed. Must be near dusk, I thought. Fell asleep again. Brassard’s going to give me a lecture.
As the fog in my skull cleared, I realized in a flash where I was. The following realization — that the old ranger was long dead — was like physical pain.
I lay in damp undergrowth in the sickly woods of Caelfall, not on the borderlands of Harodell. I was in my middle years, world-worn and tired, and not an eager young man set to challenge all the tyrants and monsters of Urn with nothing but a sword in hand.
Everything ached. I guessed I had whatever the doctor had injected me with to thank for that. Bastard old man, I thought. Not that I could blame him much — he had every reason to believe I was one of Orson Falconer’s agents. Still, if he’d only let me explain…
But I hadn’t really tried to explain, had I? I’d tried intimidating them instead, and the old physik’s clever apprentice had shut me down hard. I’d underestimated them both. Even still, they’d get themselves killed if I didn’t get back to the village and stop them from trying the castle’s defenses. If I wasn’t too late already.
I started to get up, but some subtle noise in the surrounding forest stopped me. I went still. Instinctively, the fingers of my right hand searched for my axe. Cold logic told me the doctor had probably taken my weapons, so I was surprised when I found it lying at my side.
Must not have wanted to leave me defenseless, I thought. Soft heartedness seemed a foolish trait for a pair of fiend hunters. They should have killed me.
Carefully, without a sound, I shifted my muscles to readiness and tightened my grip on the axe. There was another rustle. I felt a subtle coldness, an itch along my skin. Small voices whispered through my blood.
Something of the Dark was approaching. Some beast of the woods, perhaps, or one of the Baron’s creatures sent to deal with a loose end.
It wouldn’t find an easy meal. I waited, and when my instincts told me it was near I twisted, spinning into a low and savage kick. My boot connected with something. It fell with a yelp. I was on my feet and had my axe up in a flash.
For the second time that day I froze before delivering the killing blow. Instead I lowered the axe and stepped clear, biting off a curse. “Vampire.”