Fletcher Raleigh

**Fletcher Raleigh**, also known as **Fletcher Wulf**, is the son of the late Edmund Raleigh and Alice Queensouth. After his ancestral home was attacked by orcs, he was spirited away to Pelt where he was raised by the blacksmith Berdon Wulf.

## Personality

Due to being raised as a commoner, Fletcher is very open minded and does not have a problem with being friends with dwarves and elves. Having been raised as an outsider, Fletcher has a strong sense of justice.

## History

### Early life

Fletcher is born in Raleighshire to Edmund and Alice Raleigh. A few weeks after he is born, the town he lives in is attacked by orcs, after the betrayal of the family's friend Zacharias Forsyth, who informed the orcs of a secret way into the town. Athena, Edmund's Gryphowl is told to deliver the infant boy to the elves, but Edmund dies, so Athena begins to fade back into the ether. With no other choice she drops Fletcher by the gates of a town named Pelt. He is found without a scrap of clothing on him, or a basket, by a blacksmith named Berdon Wulf who then raises him.

### The Novice

Fletcher is first seen hunting for an elk in Pelt's forest. After a successful hunt he arrives back at the gates of the Pelt, only to find them closed and his enemy, Didric on guard at the time. He refuses to let Fletcher in unless he gives the elk horns to him, which is one of the most expensive parts of the animal. Fletcher eventually gives in, cutting off the head of the elk, only to discover that Didric wasn't the guard. The real guard soon arrives, opening the gates for Fletcher, after an hour of bargaining for a deal. Fletcher eventually gets let in after agreeing to buy the guard a drink.

Fletcher arrives home tired, then has to wake up early the next morning, for the annual trading day in Pelt. The trading day is very important to Fletcher and Berdon, because they earn most of their money selling weapons to the soldiers passing through Pelt.

Fletcher then befriends a soldier named Rotterham (known as Rotter by his friends) who is on their way to the Elven Front. Fletcher and Rotter go to the tavern for a drink, where they are approached by Didric. Didric attempts to force Rotter to give him a summoning book that he had been selling during the day, for an unagreed on, pitiful price. This then spirals into a fistfight, where Didric attempts to stab Fletcher with a concealed knife.

The next morning Fletcher wakes up with a terrible headache, which Berdon is unsympathetic about, before realising Rotter had left Fletcher the summoning book. That night, Fletcher sneaks to the graveyard with the book, to try his hand at summoning. As he reads the scroll he found at the back of the book, his vision fills with violet light, and as he completes the final line, he hears a bang before seeing a salamander demon appear. Didric and two guards come to kill him. His demon breathes fire on Didric to allow him and Fletcher to escape. He eventually makes it to the capital of Hominum, Corcillium. He almost gets robbed and killed but an officer from Vocans Academy saves him and enrolls him in Vocans.

In the academy, Fletcher makes new friends and enemies. He learns more about demons and undergoes combat training. He also helps to stop a Dwarven rebellion. After a whole year, the first-year batch Fletcher is in participates in a tournament. Fletcher trains hard and eventually wins the tournament.

However, after the tournament Rook arrives with two Pinkertons and they arrest Fletcher, having learned of the attempted murder of Didric.

### The Inquisition

Fletcher has spent a year in jail without a trial. He is practicing spells with his demon when Didric opens the door with a mite crawling up his shoulder. Didric is now a battlemage (due to the mana in Ignatius's fire giving him the ability to absorb demonic energy.) and is training for his tournament at Vocans. Didric has now become a lord and has a partnership with the Forsyths and Favershams. Didric takes Fletcher to his trial that Didric was forced to have because Othello and his family asked King Harold who turns out to be a good man. Fletcher is accused of the attempted murder on Didric and Arcturus defends Fletcher as his lawyer. Arcturus wins the case for Fletcher only to have Rook declare Fletcher guilty of attacking several men in which Fletcher was only following Sylva who was following Othello the night Othello snuck out to argue against his twin brother. They then bring out Othello who has been chained up. Fletcher realizing that Rook, The Forsyths and the Favershams plan to do this only to make the Dwarves a bigger threat takes the blame for himself. Then Sir Caulder storms in presenting evidence that Fletcher is actually a long lost noble. The son of Edmund Raleigh best friend to King Harold who was betrayed by Zacharias Forsyth and killed by the orcs along with his wife Alice Queensouth. Edmund's gryphowl carried Fletcher to safety. Some don't believe Caulder's story and they inject Fletcher with Manticore venom because of an old story that explains how Raleighs are immune to manticore venom. if he is truly a Raleigh, he will be immune to the venom. When he survives, Fletcher is given a pardon by King Harold in honor and memory of Alice and Edmund.

Even though he is immune to the venom, it still takes a toll on his body and makes him blackout. He wakes up in the Great Forest, having been healed there and was greeted by Sylva and King Harold. As he walks to the council meeting with King Harold, the king talks to him about his parents. King Harold gives him Athena's summoning scroll. Athena is a Gryphowl that belonged to his father, Edmund Raleigh. The council holds a war council. Mason, a former orc captive, is brought to the meeting and gives information about the goblins. Mason tells the crowd that he saw a captive woman, who they speculate that she is the long lost Lady Cavendish. King Harold orders Fletcher to pull off the cloth on a container in the center of the table. Inside the vile, is a goblin. The council decides to send four teams to go to the orc's sacred temple and destroy the legions of goblin eggs.

Fletcher returns to Vocans Academy and watches the end the tournament, which is won by Cress. The four teams are announced. With Fletcher leading his best friends, Sylva and Othello. For the last member, they choose Cress. Their companion demon is Lysander the Griffin. They choose Jeffrey as their guide.

Fletcher wants to see the front lines. So Fletcher, Jeffrey, and Othello go to the front lines the next day. Fletcher watches a grounp of gremlins fight rats. Fletcher saves the winner that he calls Blue, and is caught in a huge explosion but makes it out unscaved.. They return to the Anvil Tavern where Uhtred scolds them for being there in the first place. Fletcher defends their actions and Uhtred calms down. Fletcher is worried that everyone will find out he has a gremlin hidden in his bag.

Untried teaches Fletcher how to use his new pistols. When he showned Fletcher how to load and fire each of the weapons, he handed it to Fletcher. Fletcher fired at the furniture but misses the target and Uhtred tells him to aim for the chest instead of the head.

Then Uhtred tells Fletcher and Othello to take their uniforms off because they are dirty and torn from their trip to the front lines. Uhtred tells them that they're lucky that his wife is the best seamstress around so they will have the uniforms back the next morning. Sylva and Cress burst in the cellar with their weapons drawn. They demand to know who's down there and Fletcher replies that it's just them. Uhtred chuckles and says he'll be back in the morning and tells them to get some sleep. Sylva and Cress then start laughing at them.

The next day, all four teams are standing on a wooden platform on the front lines, facing the soldiers. Fletcher felt Blue move in his pack and prayed he would go back to sleep until they got to the jungles so that he could release him. Provost Scipio addressed the soldiers. He tells them of Lady Cavendish's capture and of the goblin eggs. He brings up the attack from the night before and reminds the soldiers that it was men who did it, not dwarves or elves. Soon after, the Celestial Corps arrive and the soldiers start to applaud. Captain Lovett landed next to Fletcher on Lysander. She pulls Fletcher up behind her and Sylva got on behind him. She reassures her that everything will be fine, even though he wasn't convinced.

An Alicorn landed next to them and Fletcher admired the demon. He couldn't see who was riding it because the goggles and cap obscured his face. Othello and Cress got on behind the rider. As more and more demons landed around them, Fletcher was more and more amazed. There were so many different kinds of demons and different specimens, though no other Gryphowls which made Fletcher happy.

He looked around and saw Ophelia Faversham, Zacharias Forsyth, and Inquisitor Rook all ready to take flight. He didn't see the other sponsors' demons but then he looked up and saw the other three demons in large crates attached to other members of the Celestial Corps. He asks Lovett where Arcturus is and she points to the Alicorn next to him. Fletcher looks and recognizes the rider now. He says that the Alicorn, who he calls Bucephalus, was a gift from King Harold. Fletcher looks around and sees that everyone is now saddled up and they took off.

All three of them have a conversation about Mason, the boy who escaped the orc jungles. Lovett remarks that he is a rather brave soul for doing what he's doing. Sylva asks her what she means. Lovett tells them that Mason is the guide for Malik's team. Lovett then says that she has something for them and gives them Lysander's summoning scroll. Fletcher takes the scroll and puts it into his pack saying that he'll give it back when they return.

Fletcher points his palm to the sky and released Athena into the sky. She glides in front Lysander and Lovett remarks that Fletcher might want to move her. He's confused but then Sylva reminds him that all of Hominum was watching and that they probably didn't want to see Athena's backside. Fletcher nudges her downward with a single thought.

Blue moves around a bit but Sylva doesn't seem to notice. He asks why they're flying above the clouds if they need to see the layout of the land. Lovett explains that the cover is actually good for them because none of the orcs or gremlins would be able to see them flying overhead. As they're flying, Fletcher notices a short lance attached beneath Lysander's saddle. He asks Lovett what it is and she explains that it's a lance that the Celestial Corps use to fight the Wyverns. She then removes a smaller blade from a scabbard which Fletcher recognizes as a rondel dagger. Lovett explains that you would use one if any smaller demons dropped in.

## Skills and abilities

* Summoning Abilities
* Blacksmithing
* Archery
* Hunting
* Marksmanship
* Swordsmanship
* Immunities:
	+ Due to Fletcher's unique family history he has high tolerance to Manticore venom.
	+ Fletcher also later discovered that he was now immune to fire due to Ignatius evolving into a Drake.
* Oddly, in the first book ( "The Novice"), Fletcher is stated to be unnaturally talented at spellcraft; he accidentally Etches with ease and the way in which he obtained Ignatius is implied to be highly difficult, especially for a novice summoner. However, we later see him struggle with fine manipulation of mana and most especially with the Shield spell. This contradiction is never addressed.

## Demons

* Ignatius - Drake
* Athena - Gryphowl

## Possessions

* Basic Summoning gear, including a summoning scroll and scrying monocle.

* Tattoos of Orcish origin that grant Fletcher quick access to mobile summoning and four basic spells
* Khopesh Sword
* Bow and Quiver
* Pistols (Blaze & Gale)
* James Baker's Journal
* Berdon's coat(Novice)

## Appearances

* *The Novice* (first appearance)
* *The Inquisition*
* *The Battlemage*

## Trivia

* Fletcher's official trading card includes a portrait of him and Ignatius.