Rangers magic 3, p.1
Ranger's Magic 3, page 1
Ranger’s Magic 3
DB King
Copyright © 2023 by DB King
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
v001
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Contents
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Contents
Series by DB King
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
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Free progression Fantasy Novel!
Series by DB King
Apocalypse Knights
Crafter’s Fate
Dragon Magus
Dungeon of Evolution
Elemental Mastery
Fatehaven Farm
Kensei
Mage’s Path
Night Guild
Ranger’s Magic
Shinobi Rising
Spellweaver Codex: Elder Mage Chronicles
Summoner’s Shadow
The Last Magus
War Wizard
World End
Chapter 1
“Go carefully,” Ralnor said. “We do not know how many more of them there might be down here.”
Ralnor and his small party moved carefully through the dark tunnel. The walls were wooden, carved from the living body of the great tree that had been the city of Highbough in the olden days.
The dark shadow of evil that had lain over the city for so many years had begun to clear. Ralnor and his friends, at great risk to themselves, had succeeded in closing the portal to the other world—the portal that had been reopened by the dastardly plotting of the power-hungry human sorcerer who called himself the Master.
On the higher levels of the great tree city, the dark cloak of shadow had cleared. From the outside, all looked well. There was even new growth on the wood of the tree—a beautiful green haze of new buds bursting out into little heart-shaped green leaves all over the lower levels of the enormous tree trunk.
But down here in the depths of the underworld of the deserted tree city, the evil influence had not proved so easy to clear.
Three weeks had passed since that fateful day when Ralnor and his companions had cleared the city of enemies and closed the reopened Sundering portal. In the time since that day, they had rested and planned, but eventually, the temptation to explore the deserted city in more detail had become overwhelming.
It had begun innocently enough. Farlo, the big elvish blacksmith and enchanter, had declared he was bored. Along with his new girlfriend, Sena, the human warrior who had recently rediscovered her magical abilities, he had decided that it was high time to explore the city more.
Lana, the night elf companion of the group, had protested that this was a foolish course of action. Even she, however, had seemed interested in the prospect, and it had not taken long for her to come around.
Of all the group, Akhen, the old half-elf who was a tutor to the group, was the most supportive of the idea.
“You never know what you may find,” he said. “You may come across some magical artifacts of great power.”
“We may find nothing but monsters who want to kill us,” Ralnor had said darkly. He was as keen to explore as anyone really, but he felt the need to rein in the enthusiasm of the others. He had not so easily forgotten how close they had come to violent death in the battle to free the city of monsters and close the portal.
That, of course, had been over a week ago. In the intervening time, Ralnor, Farlo, Sena, and Lana, together with various volunteers from the human army that were their new allies, had made it their business to explore the city.
In the initial days, they had not found much of interest. They had begun at the top of the city. These upper levels, which had been the closest to the sorcerer's tower that had contained the Sundering portal, were almost completely covered in rubble. There was no sign of the army of monsters that Ralnor and his friends had battled. All was silent there.
Each day, they had come back to the camp and reported their findings to Akhen. He had shown some interest, but he seemed, in his mysterious way, to be waiting for something else.
“I do believe he is hoping we will find some monsters to fight,” Ralnor said.
“I have to admit that although mapping the upper areas is interesting, I also hope we find some monsters to fight,” Farlo said.
Today, that wish had been granted.
At Farlo's urging, they had decided that they would spend the day exploring the lower levels of the city. They had begun at ground level and had looked for any stairways or passages that lead downward. It had not taken long to realize that most of the shadowy pool of darkness had sunk down into these underground basement levels.
Almost immediately, they ran across a gang of goblin-like creatures. These were grey, with stony scaly skin, and they were armed with clubs and wicked daggers. They had attacked the companions with vigor, and Farlo had taken the lead, laying about himself with his massive two-handed sword.
Ralnor had used his twin blades, and Sena had waded in with her straight sword. Lana had stayed at the rear of the group, firing deadly accurate shots into the press with her bow.
The battle had been short and sharp, and Farlo had turned to Ralnor afterward with his eyes sparkling. “Finally,” he said, “we have found some enemies to fight.”
Ralnor made a show of rolling his eyes, but he could not deny that he was happy for his friend. Farlo had begun his career at the Ranger outpost as something of a shy and awkward young fellow. He had not been able to fight, and he had been afraid of getting hurt. But in the battle of Rayne’s outpost, his knowledge of plants had allowed the Rangers to have much greater defenses than they otherwise would have done, and the hard work he’d put into training with his sword had borne fruit. Since then, he had been hailed as a hero by the other Rangers, and he had found new confidence both as a fighter and as an explorer.
After the fight, the group moved on. Ralnor’s warning to take care had not fallen on deaf ears. However eager Farlo may have been for battle, he was no fool. There could indeed be many more of these foul creatures here in these dark tunnels, and he had no desire to be killed by them any more than the others did.
“Lana, you have quick ears, can you hear anything?” Farlo asked in a low voice.
“What did you say?” Lana asked.
Everyone managed to keep their faces deadpan for a moment before bursting out laughing.
“No,” Lana said, relenting and becoming more serious. “I can’t hear anything just now.”
“That doesn’t mean there is nothing ahead,” Ralnor said. “I’ll take the lead, and you all come along carefully behind.”
Ralnor stepped forward. As he moved, he extended his magical abilities before him. He was blessed with the ability to sense the presence of life. He knew that this worked out in the forest. There, he could sense the presence of monsters, animals, and people alike.
Down here, however, he did have some doubts. He did not know what kind of things he might come up against and found himself wary. Still, he felt reassured when he sensed no presence of anything in the corridor ahead.
“I think it’s all clear,” he said quietly, “but come on slowly all the same.”
The little group moved with care around the corner and into the next section of the corridor. Here, as they had often seen before, they came upon a place where the corridor branched into three. As before, Ralnor took out the map he had been recording their progress on and noted the split. Then he put a mark on the leftmost passage on his map while Sena stepped forward to the wall and placed a cross in white chalk on the leftmost passage.
“So far, we have always been taking the left-hand passage,” she said. “It makes sense that we should do so here also.”
“I agree this is the best way to approach it,” Ralnor said. “We’ll be able to come back and do more exploration, covering the middle and right-hand turn-offs.”
“I wonder why the passages always open in threes?” Lana said. “I wonder if it’s something about the nature of how this great tree has grown over the years?”
Ralnor nodded. “It’s an interesting question. This enormous tree is so big and old that few people have any details about its history.”
“Even Akhen seems to know very little about it,” Lana said, “and it’s not like him to have no answers to a question about history.”
“I don’t know about that,” Farlo said consideringly. “When I asked him about it, he answered me rather sharply, then changed the subject. I wonder if he might know more about it than he’s letting on.”
“Well, that would be like him,” Ralnor reflected.
The great tree was indeed a marvel. It was enormous, a tree quite literally the size of a city, nearly a thousand feet tall and at least a mile in diameter at the base. Through the body of the tree, the elves of the ancient days, back in the golden age of their empire, had carved countless chambers, hallways, and passages from the living body of the tree. Rather than damaging the tree, the presence of the elves had caused it to thrive.
During the golden age of magic, before the disaster of the Sundering, the tree had been the great city of Highbough, the center of the elven empire of Galen. That was until the mage Parlax had caused the rent in reality known as the Sundering, and the world had changed forever.
All would have been dark in these underground corridors but for the torches that all the companions held. The orange light of the flickering flames held by Ralnor and Farlo illuminated the corridor admirably. Lana did not have a torch, keeping both of her hands free for her bow. The floor below their feet was flat, though it was carved from the living wood of the tree the same as the walls and ceiling. The walls were wet with damp and moss, but Ralnor noted how the floor was not slippery.
Whether this was because of some ancient magic spell or just because of the nature of the tree, Ralnor did not know. He was getting an odd feeling of familiarity as he progressed deeper underneath the old city despite the fact that he had never been here in living memory.
“Are you okay?” Sena asked.
“Yes,” Ralnor said slowly, coming out of a momentary dream-like state and realizing that he had stopped. “I feel rather strange,” he admitted after a moment. “I feel like I’ve been here before.”
“Perhaps we are getting close to the preservation chamber,” Lana suggested.
Ralnor’s eyes opened wide. “Yes, that must be it! I had never considered that. I was too young to remember anything about them consciously, but there must be some kind of residual memory in me that reminds me of being here before.”
“Do you want to continue?” Sena asked. She was clearly concerned for his wellbeing, and she came closer, looking into his eyes.
Farlo stamped his feet impatiently. “Surely we’re not going to turn back now?” he said. “If we are truly approaching the preservation chamber, it will be a great discovery if we can find it.”
“I wonder if there is anybody still in preservation there?” Lana wondered.
Sena glared at them both. “If Ralnor is not feeling well, we should go back. We cannot press on just to satisfy your sense of curiosity.”
“No, no, I’m fine,” Ralnor said. “To be truthful, I am as keen to see what might be in the preservation chamber as anybody. If indeed there are still people in preservation there, it would be a great discovery for us to make.”
“See?” Farlo said triumphantly, “Ralnor agrees.”
Sena laid a hand on Ralnor’s shoulder. “Just so long as you’re sure. It may be disturbing for you to come to the preservation chamber again, that was all I was thinking.”
“Thanks, Sena,” Ralnor said, smiling at her and putting a hand on her arm, “but I’ll be fine. Farlo’s right; we should press on.”
“I think I’ll take the lead, though,” Farlo said, looking closely at Ralnor. “Sena is right; you do seem a little off-color.”
Ralnor nodded and gestured ahead, letting Farlo take the lead. As he came along behind the big elf, Ralnor wondered what it was that was negatively affecting him.
Since the battle where he had closed the portal for the second time, Ralnor had felt good about things. He felt that he and his friends had done well and avoided a great catastrophe.
He felt good about his magic, as well. In previous times, when he had overextended himself in battle, he had paid for it afterwards with a reduction in his power. This time, he felt that he had used his powers within their limits and had not been obliged to suffer for it afterwards at all. On the contrary, since the battle, he had felt stronger than ever. He still practiced magic every day under the careful tutelage of Akhen, and he was content that his skills were as solid as they had ever been and were still improving.
But now, there was no doubt that he felt dizzy. He swayed a little, stopped, placed his hand on the wall of the tunnel, and then carried on. Sena looked at him with concern in her eyes but said nothing. Ralnor gave her a weak smile and carried on.
“Here’s a door,” Farlo called back to them.
“Can you hear anything beyond?” Ralnor asked.
Farlo leaned his ear against the door. There was a moment of silence, then he shook his head.
“I don’t think there’s anything in there,” Farlo said, “but how we’re going to get through this door, I don’t know.”
Ralnor looked and immediately understood what Farlo meant. At the end of the corridor, there was an enormous vaulted double door made of heavy wood. In the center of these doors, an ornate keyhole had been carved into the very wood. When Farlo pushed the doors, they did not budge.
“Locked,” Lana said. “And I would guess that the keys are, without doubt, in the possession of King Harald back in Suntower City in the Greenwood.”
“I wonder if there is some magic governing the lock or if we could break it?” Sena mused.
“I could try to smash it,” Farlo said a little doubtfully, looking up at the doors and hefting the weight of his sword in his hands, “but I would be afraid that there might be some magic spell on the doors that would harm me if I tried to break them open by force.”
Ralnor stepped forward, crossing the floor and placing the palms of his hands against the door. “I agree that trying to break them by force would be a bad idea. Even if there was not some magic governing them, the shock of the doors smashing open might be enough to disturb whatever magic governs the preservation chamber beyond—if that is indeed what is on the other side of this door.”
“We certainly would not want to do that,” Lana agreed. “I guess the only thing to do is to send to the Greenwood and ask the king for the key.”
“But that could take weeks!” Farlo protested. “There must be some other way.”
The others fell into a discussion on the merits of various plans. As they talked, Ralnor leaned against the door, feeling the texture of the wood under the palms of his hands. He still felt a little dizzy, but there was something about the cool wood against his skin that seemed to calm him and take the edge off the odd feeling that had assailed him as he approached the door.
The voices of his friends faded into the background as he leaned up against the wood of the great tree. The wood had been carved to make this corridor, created to form this door, the whole tree lovingly worked into the shape of a whole city by the hands of the elves. He almost fancied that he could feel the presence of those elves as strongly as he could feel his own magic.
The spirit in the air flowed into him, and he channeled it through his body as he had done a hundred times before. This was his magic. He was a conduit, a powerful channeling pathway for the spirit power in the world around him. Raw power flowed into him and then down through his body and into the floor as he grounded himself.
As the circuit was completed, Ralnor’s own magical abilities flooded into life.
Normally, his next act would be to channel that flow of magic into some spell, a blast of force, a jet of fire, or a crushing wave of freezing ice. This time, he did not channel it. He let the power move through him, enjoying the sensation of its powerful, unhindered flow, feeling its presence as it moved from the spirit, through his body, and down into the ground.
Suddenly, he felt his awareness of the tree around him surging. Its presence grew sharper in his mind. In the same way that he could feel the presence of a large animal in a nearby forest clearing, he now felt the presence of this mighty tree all around him. It had lain dormant for a long time—decades, even hundreds of years. All life force had retreated from the tree’s great outer limbs, curling up like an overwintering nut buried in the frozen earth. But now the Sundering portal had been removed from the tree, and the evil influence of that dark, unnatural magic was gone. There was no evil left in the upper reaches of the tree, and the tree’s life force had flooded out again, finding its way like an ever-increasing tide into the far reaches of the enormous structure of its body.
