by Pedro Urvi
“The Rangers are my only family now.”
Eyra nodded. “Very well said. So says the Path, and so it must be.”
“And so will it always be,” Esben added.
“And what brings you to the Command House?” Ivana asked.
“We have a meeting with Angus,” Egil said. His tone was businesslike.
“Something to do with your duties in the Camp?” Haakon asked rudely.
“It’s connected with them,” Egil replied as vaguely as he could.
Haakon’s tone became honeyed. “If you should need help in any way, you know you can count on us.”
Egil was giving nothing away. “Thank you, sir. We’ll bear that in mind.”
“I’m sure they can manage on their own,” Eyra said, looking as though she found Haakon’s implication puzzling. “If they were able to travel to the Lost Islands and come back to defeat the Frozen Specter, I think they can cope with anything Angus asks them to do in the Camp.”
“Yes, of course, I’m sure …” Haakon said. He sounded a little embarrassed by the reply. He pointed at Egil. “I only want to make sure they’re not here because of – you know – his blood …”
Ivana tensed. “It’s nothing to do with that, is it?”
Egil turned his gaze on both of them for a moment. “No, I assure you they’re not here because of my blood.”
Haakon arched an eyebrow. “Or any crazy aspirations for the crown …” It was clear that his questions were to assure himself that they were not plotting against King Thoran.
“It had better not be that,” Ivana said. Her voice was glacial as well as lethal, emphasized by a glare as cold as a winter storm. “We will not tolerate the slightest suspicion of treachery.”
“I don’t understand what all this questioning is about,” Esben put in. “They’re Rangers, and they’ll behave as such.”
“Of course they’ll behave as Rangers,” Eyra said. “They’ll defend Norghana and be faithful to the crown. I don’t doubt that in the least, and neither should you. They’re Rangers, and what’s past is past now that we’re their family. However noble or important his lineage might be, Egil’s a Ranger now, an excellent one, who does a magnificent job here at the Camp.”
“I just want to make sure our three young Rangers don’t deviate from the Path,” Haakon said. His eyes were suspicious.
“We won’t,” Egil said curtly.
“You’d better not,” Ivana assured him, “or else I’ll take it upon myself to erase the dishonor. And it’ll be with my bow.”
Nilsa and Gerd swallowed. There was nobody better in the whole North with a bow.
“There’ll be no need to erase any dishonor, because there’ll be none, not on our part,” Egil replied calmly.
“You’d better go up to see Angus,” Eyra said, bringing the discussion to an end. “Don’t be late.”
The three friends were grateful for the chance to get away. They nodded once again respectfully and went upstairs. The glares of Ivana and Haakon were fixed on them all the time.
They found Angus working at his desk. “I was waiting for you,” he said, and they waited in front of the interim leader as he finished writing something on a piece of parchment. There were two chairs by the desk, but they did not use them. Eventually Angus rolled and sealed the parchment with wax, which made them think it must be important.
“Well now,” he said straightforwardly, “I’ve been thinking about what you told me, Egil, and I’ve decided that if there’s a chance to save Dolbarar, we need to look into it.”
Egil gave a snort of relief under his breath. “Thank you, sir. Let’s hope it’s the right one.”
“Yes, I share the hope. Dolbarar’s wellbeing is very important to me, and for the Rangers as a body. Eyra and Edwina have been working wonders for him, but they haven’t succeeded, and they’re being eaten up by their efforts. I have to say that it’s laudable and inspiring, the way they’re fighting to save him. And I trust and wish that this last option you’ve found will do what they haven’t been able to, despite all their efforts.”
“So do we,” Egil said with a glance at his friends.
“As this is the last possibility left to us, I don’t want it to fail, so I’ve decided to take a couple of additional measures to guarantee its success.”
“Measures?” Egil repeated.
“Yes. First, although I’m sure that your two comrades are very capable, I’d rather be sure that they don’t fail in the final part of the mission, which is to obtain the information we need. That’s why I’ve decided that you, Egil, will go with them.”
Egil’s eyes opened very wide. “Sir? But … what about my duties here? I have a lot of things to look after …”
Angus waved his hand, making light of this. “I’ll take over your duties personally. You know I like to have everything well-managed. I’m fully aware that you do an excellent job. I’ll make sure it goes on in the same way during your absence. But I want you to be the one who gets the crucial information, so that there are no mistakes. Only you can guarantee that. Any mistake might be fatal, and we’d have no time left for a second attempt.”
“That’s true …” Egil admitted.
“It’s no slur on the two of you,” he told Nilsa and Gerd. “You’re well-regarded Rangers, heroes of the realm, but this mission requires knowledge which only Egil, Eyra and Edwina possess. Eyra is too old for this type of mission, and I can’t let Edwina go, because without her Dolbarar wouldn’t survive. For that reason, it has to be you, Egil.”
“Very well sir. I’ll do it.”
“Good. I knew I could count on you.”
Nilsa and Gerd gave Egil a doubtful glance, but were careful to let nothing show in order to avoid letting Angus suspect anything.
“Secondly, bearing in mind that the journey to Erenal will be complicated and that you’ll have to avoid danger from time to time, you’ll have a reinforcement.”
“Reinforcement, sir?” Egil asked dubiously. This did not fit in with his plans.
“I’ve chosen another Ranger to go with you. The Zangrians have been very restive lately, and you’ll have to either cross their land or come dangerously close to the fathomless forests of the Usik. I don’t advise you to set foot in them. The wild Usik are very dangerous. I think four Rangers make a group solid enough to confront any situations of conflict you might encounter. Three seems a little tight to me, considering that one of you is a thinker rather than a fighter. I trust my assessment won’t be considered offensive.”
“Not at all,” Egil said, knowing perfectly well that he himself was the one referred to.
“I’m glad my intentions are understood.”
“Thank you, sir,” Egil said. “The help of another Ranger better attuned to fighting will be very welcome.”
“Very well, then, that’s decided. When do you leave?”
“The idea was to start today, sir.”
“So be it. I’ll give orders to have everything made ready for the journey.”
“Thank you very much, sir,” Egil said. He knew that with Angus’ collaboration they would be able to leave at once with all the supplies they needed for the mission.
“I wish you the best of luck. I’m sure you won’t fail.”
“We won’t, sir,” Egil promised.
“You can rely on us, sir,” said Nilsa, and Gerd added: “We’ll come back with the cure.”
“Very well. Go and get ready to set off,” Angus told them, and dismissed them with a brief nod.
Chapter 13
The three friends exchanged knowing glances as they set off down the corridor. They had not been expecting the way events had unfolded: certainly not Nilsa and Gerd, whose faces showed surprise. But Egil was smiling faintly. Could he have been expecting the outcome? Had it been his plan all along?
Suddenly he stopped and turned to look at the far end of the corridor.
“Is everything all right? Gerd asked.
“I want to sa
y goodbye,” he said almost inaudibly.
“Oh …” Nilsa murmured. She had understood what he meant. “Come on.”
Egil signaled his friends to tread softly so that nobody downstairs could hear them. Trying not to make a sound, he opened the door of Dolbarar’s bedroom, looked inside and went in with Nilsa and Gerd behind him.
The leader of the camp was deeply asleep in a great wooden bed whose headboard was carved with floral motifs. The room was in shadow, and they could barely make anything out. Two medicinal candles on the oak bedside tables provided the only light. Their scent, with its eucalyptus base, infused the room with an atmosphere of relaxation. The leader’s entire long life was there, held within the room. Two enormous sets of shelves full of books occupied one wall. On the other were two sizeable wardrobes which must have held all his belongings. On the free wall hung several bows which looked valuable and exotic, along with Ranger medallions, trophies, knives and axes of strange design, and a couple of very strange, hooded cloaks.
Dolbarar’s head was resting on several large goose-feather pillows, with his arms on the bedspread. First Egil, then Nilsa and Gerd, looked more closely, fearful at what they might find. Egil shook his head, and Nilsa muffled a cry of horror. Gerd covered his mouth. Dolbarar looked truly terrible. The black spots which completely covered his face and hands made it clear that they must be covering the rest of his body as well. It looked as though the infection had spread throughout his body and that he was rotting from the inside.
On the bedside tables and on another table in front of the bed were a number of medicines in the form of phials of ointments, potions and extracts. Beside one of the walls a second bed had been placed for Eyra or Edwina to rest when they spent the night looking after Dolbarar, which happened more and more often as his state turned more delicate with every passing day.
“It breaks my heart to see him like this,” Nilsa moaned, trying to hold back her tears.
“He’s … dying …” Gerd stammered. He could not fully register what he was looking at, as if it were a nightmare he would soon wake up from. Seeing Dolbarar in person, the full horror of what he had only guessed at until now had become a reality too awful to be accepted. He swallowed, and his eyes moistened. He put his great fists to his eyes to hold back his tears.
“It’s very hard to see him like this, I know,” Egil said. “I wanted to say goodbye.” He turned to Dolbarar and addressed him with deep feeling in his voice. “Master Leader of the Camp, I owe you my life, and to a great extent the fact that I am who I am today. You’ve been a priceless positive influence in my development as an adult, and you’ve always helped me without expecting anything in exchange. Not only that, but you also defended me when things were against me, and for all this I would like to thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I want you to know that I’ve been fighting to save your life, tirelessly seeking a cure. I haven’t succeeded yet, but I’m not going to stop trying. There’s still time, and I’ll find the cure to your illness. I promise you that.”
Dolbarar uttered a barely audible moan, and they moved closer to hear him better. Though he moved his lips, they could not understand what he said. The sound did not even leave his mouth.
“He says he’s grateful for your concern about his wellbeing,” came a voice behind them from the door.
“We’re sorry about the intrusion, Master Ranger,” Egil apologized respectfully.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Eyra accused them, “and you know it.”
“We only wanted to see how he was,” said Gerd.
“And say goodbye before we left,” Nilsa added. “He means a lot to us.”
“To you and to a lot of people. He’s a beloved man across the whole realm.” Eyra came over to the bed and put her hand gently on Dolbarar’s blackened forehead to check his temperature.
“Do you think he knows we’re here?” Gerd asked, hoping the answer would be yes.
Eyra smiled faintly, giving them some hope. “I don’t know, but I like to think he does. Only he knows. One day he’ll tell us.”
“Yes, exactly,” Nilsa said, feeling a little better. “One day he’ll tell us everything, and this nightmare will be over.”
“I can still remember the first time I saw him when he came to the Camp, many years ago now,” Eyra said as she prepared a potion. “At that time he was very handsome.” She smiled. “I know it’ll seem strange to you, because you’ve always known him as a wise and venerable man” – she looked at him with a mischievous smile – “but many, many years ago he was a very handsome Ranger.”
Nilsa smiled and shook her head. “I don’t find that hard to believe.”
“Were you both Master Rangers then?” Gerd asked.
“No, certainly not. It was long before that. We both came to the Camp as instructors. I’d arrived a few years earlier and was already established. Then he arrived as a rookie instructor, although he came with experience and a reputation, with a lot of complicated missions behind him. That’s why Olaf Gustavson – that was the previous leader of the Camp – recruited him as an instructor. He saw a lot of potential in him.”
“And I bet he didn’t disappoint him,” said Egil.
“That’s right. He not only become an instructor, but he also soon gained Gustavson’s trust, and he was given more and more responsibility.”
“I find it hard to imagine him as just another Ranger,” Nilsa admitted.
“At that time I was just another Ranger too – younger and prettier, though,” Eyra said with a smile.
“And …?” Nilsa asked rather cheekily, guessing at a possible romance.
Eyra soon corrected her. “Don’t get it wrong, my dear.” She wagged her finger. “There was nothing romantic between us.”
“Oh … what a pity.” Nilsa’s shoulders dropped in disappointment.
“Not at all,” Eyra said, bowing her head. “We became firm friends and rivals.”
Gerd was looking intrigued. “Rivals? That’s more interesting.”
“I think so too. We competed to be Master Rangers, which is something that’s rather difficult to achieve, as you know. You need the explicit recommendation of the leader of the Camp and the approval of the leader of the Rangers. Both of which are extremely difficult to obtain.”
“We didn’t know that,” said Gerd. Egil and Nilsa also shook their heads. The inner workings of the Rangers’ promotion system were not something that was openly known.
“I’d been an instructor for longer, and I wanted to be a Master Ranger. That was one of my personal goals. Dolbarar wanted the post too, though he pretended not to care who it was given to. And this rivalry turned into something that benefited both of us, because we improved a lot. We competed to see who was best, and that made us grow and improve as Rangers.
“Healthy competition is a very good thing,” Nilsa commented. “Ingrid always used to tell me that to help me get better.”
Eyra nodded. “As time went by, and with a lot of effort, we both became Master Rangers. I from the School of Nature, a position I still hold and hope to keep for many years – if my health allows me to – and Dolbarar from the School of Wildlife.”
“Wildlife?” Gerd repeated in surprise.
“Yes. Dolbarar is exceptional with animals, and always has been. Particularly with birds, which are the hardest to deal with. In fact one of his favorite hobbies is breeding the courier birds the Rangers use: pigeons, ravens, crows, hawks, owls, and so on.”
“That’s right,” Egil commented. “Now you come to mention it, he always used to spend a lot of time with Esben in the pigeon-house.” He knew about this from helping Dolbarar with his mail. “I thought it was because he needed to send messages so constantly.”
“I think I can picture him in the School of Wildlife,” Nilsa said. “More than in Expertise or Archery, that’s for sure.”
“Well, he was a good archer as well: excellent, I’d say. But what he liked best of all was animals. Wildlife was his favorite School
. In fact his Specialty is Beast Master, which is one of the most difficult specializations because of all the knowledge it requires. He loves to study. He’s a little like you, Egil.” Eyra gave him a sweet smile.
“Well, apart from the fact that I’m not very good with a bow, or with animals …”
“But with books you are.”
Egil blushed. “Oh, that certainly.”
“What Specialty did you get, Master Ranger?” Nilsa asked, very interested.
“Don’t you know?”
“I don’t recall you ever telling us, Ma’am,” Egil said, cocking his head a little in an attempt to remember.
She gave a small nod, as though introducing herself. “Expert Herbalist is my Specialty.”
Egil nodded. “So I imagined.”
“Really? That must be because I love books too.”
Egil smiled and nodded. Eyra was always to be found among tomes and potions. It was rare to see her without one or the other.
“So what happened then?” Gerd asked. “When the two of you became Master Rangers?”
“Our rivalry grew even stronger. We began to vie for the post of Camp Leader. Gustavson’s health was delicate at the time, and he’d expressed his will to retire and rest.”
Nilsa was thrilled by the story. “You both wanted the post of leader?”
“Not really – or at least I didn’t myself. What happened was that we were so competitive that without really wanting to, we started to compete for the post. I felt that being the leader of the Camp was too much responsibility. The future of the most brilliant among us would be in my hands. I’d have to sift the weak from the strong, in every single year, teach them to follow the Path, make sure they never left it and would always follow it. It meant a lot of work, of pressure and responsibility. Too much.” She shook her head and moistened Dolbarar’s lips with the potion she had just prepared.
“Not to mention all the outside influences every year,” said Egil.
“Exactly. Invasions and civil wars included.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want to be making all the hard decisions in situations like that. Probably Dolbarar didn’t either, but on the other hand he wanted to lead the camp, to help forge the future of many young Rangers. That does him credit. It’s always been his main concern: to train the young into great Rangers and make sure they never leave the Path.”
