The Fallen Prophet (The Dark Prophecy Book 1)

by Cody Loewen

  “From what I can gather,” he says, sensing the fact that I'm waiting for him to lead. “We are still in a relatively safe part of the forest. We shouldn’t have much to fear besides the other initiates and instructors, but we need to constantly be on our guard for either one of those. We don’t know who we might face first, so we need to be prepared.

  Having been walking for the entire morning and covering mile after mile through the trees, I can feel how dry and raspy my throat is.

  “We need to find water.”

  “And food,” he replies with a nod at me. “While our more obvious enemies may be wielding weapons, hunger or thirst will get to us just as fast. If we don't keep our strength up, then we won’t be able to properly defend ourselves. “

  “How are we even going to begin to figure out where we are at in the forest and where we need to go?” I asked him. “Every tree looks exactly the same, and I feel like I could wander around for weeks without ever finding my way back to the training grounds.”

  “I've lived my entire life within these trees,” he replies matter-of-factly. “As we search for water, I hope to find some landmark that would be familiar enough for me to figure out where we are. I have other ideas that we can fall back on if that doesn't seem to be working, but let’s not worry about that now. The forest is laced with running streams, and we need to find one.”

  He draws both of his swords from their scabbards and sets off in what feels like a random direction into the trees. I draw my own blade, holding it ready before me, trying to focus on sights or sounds that would indicate that we are under attack. I know that we have only just started the test, but it would be just like the instructors to try and thin the group down from the very beginning. There is no way we will be sent home because we didn’t pay enough attention early on.

  I hear rustling off the side of us and jump in surprise, whipping my body around to try and catch sight of the enemy, my sword held in front of me. I hold my breath as I peer into the brush, waiting for a human or elf to break through in a charge, but the rustling seems to have ended. Rayfe listens for a moment, reacting to my movement, before chuckling at me.

  “Anyone posing a threat to us is going to make a lot more noise than that,” he says to me with a wide grin. Even though the pressure is on and the stakes are high out here for us, I can tell he is already enjoying himself. I wish I felt as comfortable in the trees as he does. “It had to have just been some small animal crawling around the undergrowth. But keep paying attention, next time it might not be so harmless. I would rather jump at every sound, then ignore them and be ambushed.”

  Rayfe leads us deeper into the forest, moving steadily forward, a man on a mission. I have no idea where he is taking us, but I trust him to guide us to where we need to be. I don't know how long he has been hearing the noise and leading us toward the sound, but the faint burble of running water eventually hit my ears, and somehow my throat suddenly feels even dryer than it did before. The noise from the water is subtle, and I’m not surprised I couldn’t make it out from the other sounds around us of insects, the rustling of plants in the wind, and other movement surrounding us. As we approach, though, it is unmistakable, and I know that Rayfe has successfully led us to water.

  He stops walking for a second and slides right up next to me, silently placing his finger over his lips to indicate the need for quiet.

  “Since we don't know exactly how far apart we are from the other initiates, we need to assume that they're close at all times,” he whispers. “I’m sure everyone else is just as hungry and thirsty as we are, so anywhere we find water might be a hotspot for others who are doing the same thing. Follow my lead and try to be as quiet as possible.”

  I silently nod in affirmation. Rayfe slowly sets off again, carefully placing each foot in front of the other as he moves across the forest floor. Not a stick crackles under his feet as he glides between the trees. I try to mimic his movement, but no matter how carefully I place my own feet, I make a painful amount of noise. Rayfe just shakes his head like I am a hopeless cause and drifts forward.

  My eyes scan the area to either side of us, looking for any movement that would indicate something bigger than a small animal. Nothing. Rayfe stops abruptly and signals for me to do the same. Peering over his shoulder, I make out a small creek still a ways off in front of us. The two banks of the creek stand several feet apart, with water flowing swiftly between them. From this far away, it is impossible to determine the depth of the water. The trees open up on either side to small, sandy banks, and on the far side, I catch a glimpse of the first person we have come into contact with since this test began. I'm confident that we are still far enough back in the undergrowth that we cannot be seen. The large man in front of us breaks through the last row of trees, looking cautiously from side to side before taking a water skin from his side and moving forward toward the water. I inch forward and put my lips right up against Rayfe’s ear.

  “Where is his partner?” I whisper to him as quietly as I can, not sure how well the man can hear, and not willing to blow our cover.

  “I'm not sure,” he whispers back, turning toward me. “We need to locate him before we make any moves. I don't want him to sneak up behind us and catch us off-guard. Keep your eyes peeled on the trees.”

  The man moves down to the water’s edge and dips the skin in, letting the running water flow into the vessel. Satisfied that he hasn’t spotted us, I look back to the place where he emerged from the trees, and I think I catch a hint of movement back in the brush. I nudge Rayfe with my elbow, and gesture with my eyes back up to where I'm looking. He nods and squints intently in the same area where I am focused. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement again.

  There you are.

  Rayfe gives me a nod, and I can't help but smile at the accomplishment of being the first to spot the enemy. Finally, I've contributed to the events of the day, not just blindly following my partner through the forest.

  “Think your thirst can wait long enough to knock these two out of the competition?” Rayfe asks me with a grin. I nod and give him an eager smile in return, ready to get one step closer to making it back to camp and becoming a Reaver. One step closer to killing Kromm.

  “Stay on me. Let’s find a place to cross and ambush them as they make their way away from the water.”

  We blend back into the trees and begin following parallel to the waterline, looking for a place to move to the other side of the creek. Before long, Rayfe stops once more, and I see in front of us that even though the water is as wide as before, the rock and sand at the bottom of the creek bed is clearly visible. The water is only about knee deep here. While we may be walking in wet boots for a while, I instantly decide that that discomfort is worth a quick victory over the two men.

  Rayfe scans the area around us before taking my arm and urging me forward at a quick pace. Emerging from the trees, I find I can move faster without worrying about making too much noise on the clear ground in front of us. Within mere seconds we are across the water, over the other bank and back into the cover of the forest.

  “Time for hunting,” Rayfe rasps as we move back in the direction we came. I loosen my fingers and then retighten the grip on my sword, eager for the fight that I know is fast approaching. Once again, I follow closely behind him, my partner who seems so sure of himself out here. My ears pick up the sounds of sticks and leaves crunching under the boots of the two men we are hunting. I cringe a bit, wondering if I was making that much noise earlier.

  Unlike Rayfe, these two obviously don’t have any experience in the forest and their movements are clumsy and obvious and easy to follow. Rayfe slows his pace until we are barely moving more than a crawl, and I follow suit, knowing that we must be almost on top of them. The look he shoots me says more than any words. The time has come to make our move. He raises his eyebrows in silent question. Not wanting to risk actually speaking, I nod back at him, a determined look in my eye. Rayfe’s cocky grin lights up his face as he r
aises his weapons before him and charges out of the trees.

  I charge as well, pushing my way through the brush and moving over the expanse of ground in front of us. Rayfe’s tracking job was excellent, and as we burst through the section of bushes in front of us, the other pair of fighters stands before us, clearly surprised and unprepared to meet our charge.

  The large man drops the water skin that he filled earlier and reaches for the battleax across his back, desperately trying to draw it in time defend himself. Rayfe reaches him first, though, dealing what, if this fight were real, would have been a lethal blow across his throat before he has a chance to pull the weapon free. His hands instinctively move to his neck, the pain from the attack very real, even if the actual strike was not. The few seconds longer that it takes me to reach his partner allows the other man, who appears much smaller and faster, to draw his sword, belted on his hip, and block my first strike.

  I bring my sword around again, slashing in at his chest with as much power as I can muster, and his own blade rises to meet mine again, but he must take a step backward to absorb the force of my attack, already on the defensive. I press the attack, forcing him backward through the forest, not allowing him any relief to think about a counterattack, or anything besides getting his weapon in the way of mine, and staying “alive.” I watch his eyes open wider as my assault continues, clearly seeing that his defeat is inevitable as his eyes land on his partner, already standing off to the side, defeated. I step forward with my right foot and quickly jab out at the center of his body, hoping the change in attack style from my wide, strong slashes would catch him off guard. He manages to knock my blade safely out to the side, but the concentration required to do so causes him to lose focus on his feet underneath him, and he trips over a fallen branch, landing hard on his back, and forcing all the air from his lungs. Without hesitation, I follow through with another quick thrust to his chest, ending the melee instantly.

  Looking down at the man that I defeated, I almost feel bad for knocking him out of the initiation process and away from whatever goals he may have had in the Reavers. But I also know that this is the only way that I will be able to succeed and complete the vengeance that I have vowed against Kromm. Besides, there is always the regular army, and anyone who made it this far into the training process for the Reavers would have no problem becoming a soldier, if that is still what he wants after this.

  My father must have been in this same place a long time ago. I wonder how many pairs of fighters he had to take out of the competition, and out of the Reavers, in order to earn his place among the fighting force?

  Without a word, I turn to follow Rayfe, who is already moving back the way we had come. My face is hot from the excitement of combat, and I take a couple of deep breaths to bring my adrenaline back in check and refocus my attention on my surroundings. I have no idea how many more fighting pairs are out here in the forest, so I just tell myself that until our time is up, and we headed back to the training grounds, the forest is filled with enemies.

  We make our way away from the two men we have bested in combat and back toward the edge of the creek. The instructor, who I expect was already watching, will soon appear to take the losers away from the trials. We are soon standing down on the banks, almost exactly where the huge man stood just minutes before, and Rayfe keeps watch as I cup my hands under the water and bring them up to my lips, sighing at the cool liquid as it runs down my dry throat. Unfortunately, neither of us was lucky enough to have a waterskin on our person when we were kidnapped and dragged into the forest, so storing water for later isn’t an option. I drink deeply.

  “Notice how the water is running quickly,” Rayfe says to me as I gulp several more swallows to quench my thirst. He stands close enough that even though he talks quietly, I can hear him clearly. “That means nothing can grow in the water, like moss, so it is clean enough to drink.”

  I nod at him, grateful for his teachings.

  It must be obvious that I have no idea what I am doing out here. I think to myself, suddenly self-conscious. Just how clumsy and foolish must I look to someone like Rayfe, who seems to know everything about this place?

  I push the thoughts back quickly though.

  I may not know much about the forest, but I can survive, and I can fight. I will prove to him and myself that I am good enough to be partners with him. And good enough to be a Reaver.

  I move away from the water once I am satisfied, and take Rayfe’s place on the bank, scanning the forest for movement as he, too, drinks deeply, before leading us back through the trees. The sun has begun to go down in the sky, and I know that we are going to have to figure out how we are going to get some rest tonight while still staying alert for any danger.

  “Do you think everyone else will risk sleeping?” I ask Rayfe, scared to close my eyes for fear of being ambushed.

  “I bet most of the initiates will be sleeping tonight, at least one at a time while the other stands guard. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of them decide to take advantage of the darkness and go hunting to try to thin the competition while our fellow initiates sleep. Tonight, would also be a great time for the instructors to make their move as well. We need to be prepared for anything, but we also need to sleep, or we are going to be slow and groggy tomorrow for our first full day out here.”

  “How can we possibly sleep and not feel vulnerable?” I ask him, hoping that he has some plan, like he seems to with everything else.

  “We will sleep in shifts,” he replies. “You sleep for the first half of the night, and I’ll take the second half, that way we never let our guard down. And we will use the trees for protection and cover.”

  I look around confused. I thought we already were using the tress for cover, our small forms already getting lost in the long shadows of the huge trees.

  “I’ll show you,” he answers with a grin, offering his hand to me.

  I tentatively take it, and he leads me over to a cluster of trees spaced close enough to each other for me to stand in the middle and touch each of the three trunks without moving anything but my arms.

  “We used to do this when we were kids to pass the time, but it should work great for us now as well.”

  I stare at him, still without a clue as to what he is thinking and wait for him to act. Suddenly, he jumps up and grabs a large branch over his head, easily hoisting himself up to sit on the limb.

  “Are you coming?” he asks me teasingly, offering his hand down once more to help me climb.

  Soon I am sitting beside him among the branches far above the ground. Darkness has completely fallen, and the ground has disappeared below. A fall from this height would be deadly, and I grip the branches around me, suddenly feeling very unsure of my perch high in the air. Chuckling at my obvious discomfort, Rayfe begins pulling vines off the trees and piling them on the giant branch that we sit on. I watch in amazement as he then begins to weave the vines together, working with a speed and efficiency that only comes from many hours of practice, tying them off on several large branches around us, creating a thickly woven mat large enough to hold a person lying down.

  “And done!” he declares quietly, brushing his hands off on his pants. “We will only need one, as only one of us will be sleeping at a time. Don’t worry. That will hold you plenty tight. Go ahead and try to get some rest. I’ll wake you when it’s your watch.”

  I nod gratefully to him and gingerly climb over to the makeshift bed, slowly lowering myself down into it to test the strength of the vines. They hardly budge as I fully settle in, and a wave of relief washes over me at the ingenuity of my elven partner. Even though they are strong enough to easily hold my weight, the little bit of give in the vines provides enough cushion under me to be comfortable and soft, like any bed that I would find on the ground. I keep my sword belted to my hip, ready just in case I need it, even though I’m not sure how long it would actually take me to find my way back to the forest floor to be able to engage in any sort of fight. I close
my eyes, listening to the sounds of nature all around me. It takes a while for me to push the thoughts of ambush and falling from my mind, but eventually, the long day of walking and fighting catches up to me and I drift away.

  Chapter 8

  My eyes fly open and I am immediately wide awake as Rayfe’s hands shake me from my sleep. My first thought is that we are in danger, that he is waking me up so that we can fight off whoever the enemy is, but I relax when I realize that it is just my turn to keep watch. It's still the darkest part of the night. I'm not sure exactly how long I was asleep, but I feel remarkably refreshed, so it must have been longer than I think. I gingerly work my way higher up into the branches, clinging to the trunk and trying not to look down. Unlike Rayfe, I haven’t spent most of my life in the trees; the highest I’d been up to this point was the lowest branches of the squat apple trees back home. Rayfe grins at my awkwardness before sinking down into the little hammock bed. Almost immediately, his snores, which have unfortunately by now become too familiar, drift through the air. Hopefully, the sound doesn't carry far enough to draw any unwanted attention.

  I scan the darkness all around, both up in the trees and on the ground below, looking for any sign of movement that would indicate that we are in danger. Sitting there in the dark, I let my thoughts wander just enough to pass the time, while still staying focused on my watch.

  What would father think of me now?

  He never talked too much about his own time with the Reavers. It was a part of his life that he chose to leave in the past. I wish now that I had pressed him to talk about it a little more. I thought going through the training would give me the answers I was looking for, but I have more questions now than ever.

  Wait! As a Reaver, he would have had a partner…again, something he never shared with me.

  Did I really even know my father?