Ferdinand Becomes An Apprentice!

[youtube:https://youtube.com/watch?v=mwVps6av\_ww]Story Script:

Ferdinand Keet and his former protector turned…. Employer, Ranger Thawkins] met near the gates early the next morning. Ferdinand was quite early, but still, Thawkins was standing at the gate, waiting, impatiently tapping his foot on the sandstone wall. He was chewing hard on a wooden toothpick, and the young man wasn’t sure he had slept at all, or more likely, just walked down the hill from the Tavern.

“I wasn’t sure what to wear, will we be riding or walking?”

Thawkins responded with a grunt and a small head nod to the road out of town. He pushed off the wall and started walking down the small hill.

“Alright then, walking it is.”

“Kid, the road west is a different animal after we pass Monument to the Fallen. Get all your chatter out of you now, because, in a few days, I’m going to need your ears and your full attention. Let me see your sword.”

Ferdinand passed it along. It was his father’s sword and outside his training in Port Breigh, the first combat he had ever seen was when he and Thawkins were ambushed by skeletons on the journey to White Sands. He had handled himself well, well enough the veteran ranger asked him to come along.

“How much money do you have left?” Thawkins grumbled, shaking his head and handing the sword back to Ferdinand.

“Two ingots and a nugget.” It wasn’t much, but enough to eat and hopefully stay at any inns they find along the road for at least a few days. He was counting on the ranger to pay him before his money ran out.

“It’s enough, then. We’ll need to get you something better for this journey. I know a smithy at the Monument to the Fallen who owes me a favor, it seems it’s time to collect.”

“How far is it? I’ve heard it’s quite the sight to see!”

“Two weeks out from here.” Thawkins pulled off his bow, “now let’s find something for breakfast.”

“So... where are we going?” Ferdinand Keet asked for at least the 20th time since leaving White Sands.

“You’ll know it when we get there, kid, now keep your eyes open, and your mouth shut.”

The sun was close to setting and the shadows were beginning to win their day-long battle with the land. They had been on the road for 6 days, killing their food when they saw it. Ferdinand has never seen such a shot as Ranger Thawkins. The slightest move in bush and he would send an arrow through a rabbits neck before Ferdinand even had time to react.

True, on the way to White Sands, they had been “ambushed” by a small group of skeletons, and in that small battle, the boy had been able to take out one while the ranger felt with the other three. Thawkins hadn’t seen how he won his particular duel with the undead, but it wasn’t quite as graceful as he later let on. The skeleton had fallen while pursuing the boy. Ferdinand wasn’t exactly running for his life, but maybe… backpedaling for it might be more accurate. The creature had fallen and Ferdinand luckily had not lost his wits entirely and struck true with his old hand me down the sword, removing the skeleton’s head from its shoulders. By the time he climbed back up the hill, Thawkins had made quick work of the other 3.

They were rounding a large bend in the path. Thawkins slowed to a stop, crouching behind a rock formation. “Smell that?”

“No, what”

“Sulfur”

Thawkins pulled off his bow and notched an arrow, looking back at his young apprentice, “there is a Nether portal open nearby.”

Ferdinand unsheathed his sword and the two men started to move.

Ranger Thawkins has smelled a Nether portal. Thawkins and his new…. apprentice? Ferdinand Keet moved quietly through the bush near the road. Crouching behind a large tree, Thawkins whispered to the boy, “there are 3 pigmen. Keep your head down and if they come after you, run. You aren’t trained to take them on.”

Ferdinand nodded. The thought of turning and running didn’t sit well with him, but he had to admit, the older man had a point. Although Ferdinand had managed to take out a skeleton a few weeks ago, it was more beast than a well trained, soldier of the Nether.

Thawkins notched his arrow, making sure everything was ready for the attack. Spinning around the side of the tree, in a fluid motion he unleashed an arrow that sailed true, striking the nearest of the pigmen in the chest. Moving at near lightning speed, the other two drew their golden swords and rushed at him, clearing the gap faster than Ferdinand could ever have expected.

The ranger dropped his bow and pulled his broadsword just in time to deflect the opening blow by the first of the two pigmen. The other was headed for the boy.

Ferdinand turned and ran. Time seemed to slow to a stop as his legs felt like they were planted in mud. The Pigman was moving like the wind. He would overtake him soon. Ferdinand turned, swinging his sword with all his might. The attacker deflected it with such ease, he seemed to smile as he lowered his sword.

Ferdinand struck again, and again it was deflected with almost no effort at all. He struck and again and again, the pigman was savoring this kill. It was obvious, he was toying with his nearly helpless, untrained opponent. Ferdinand attacked again, this time, the pigman[ must have decided it was time to end it. With ease, he knocked the sword from the youngster's hand. Grinning, the monster lifted his sword to end it.

Just a moment before his sword fell, the grin on his face froze still, and the head of an arrow exploded through his chest. He slumped to the ground exposing a bloody, but very alive Thawkins, still holding his bow leaning against a tree. “Someday, you’ll have to tell me how you killed a skeleton with moves like those…”

The short skirmish was ended. Ferdinand[ and Ranger Thawkins managed to take out 3 zombie pigmen without taking any blows, although it was close. Had Thawkins taken any longer to come to the boy’s aid, he would have had a golden sword running through his chest. Both men picked themselves up off the blood-soaked ground and looked around. Thawkins had mentioned he smelled a Nether Portal, which was the only thing that gave the two men a chance to surprise attack the pigmen.

“The first thing about portals is, you can smell them. If that doesn’t work, you can usually hear them. There is a low hum that works its way right through the ground or walls.” grumbled the older man. “The second thing is, until you learn to fight, if you smell or hear one, you go the other way, fast.”

“I took basic lessons in Port Breigh - but no one in my class moved as fast as these monsters.”

“Not many men do.” Thawkins looked up and down the boy, maybe appraising him for the first time. “We’ll start tomorrow, the first break of light.”

“Start what?”

“Teaching you how to fight. Where we’re headed, you’ll need it. Now…. how in blazes did you manage to kill a skeleton on the way to White Sands?”

The boy looked down. He was embarrassed to admit it now. His… the omission of certain details had led a ranger to think he could fight, and the truth is, he barely even knew how to hold his father’s sword. “He fell. He was chasing me and fell. I took off his head after he hit the ground.”

Hahaha - the gruff older man chuckled. He didn’t seem to be as angry as Ferdinand had expected. He didn’t seem to be angry at all. “Life has a funny way of sorting people out. You took out the undead and fended off a very trained scout from the [[Nether] long enough for me to put an arrow through him. It was clumsy and looked ugly as sin, but you still live. Maybe you have more to you than you think. Come on, Monument to the Fallen is still days away, and we have a man we need to see.”

The road to Monument to the Fallen was noticeably less developed and traveled than was the West Road between Port Breigh and White Sands. While on the first leg of their journey, they would pass other travelers heading this way or that, sometimes a few times an hour. These last few days, they had scarcely seen one a day. Even then, it was different. These travelers would keep their eyes down, staring at the road, the only acknowledgment they didn't alone come when they slid to one side, allowing for room to pass alongside.

“Why is everyone so different here?” Ferdinand Keet asked his traveling companion.

“It’s night and day, isn’t it kid? These are hard people.” The older man was unusually chatty this morning. “Remember, White Sands isn’t the frontier. The degenerates who live there generally weren’t born in White Sands. It’s more of a collection trough for those who have nowhere else to go.”

“Yeah, but still….” Ferdinand supposed there wasn’t much else to say. Ranger Thawkins was right. There were likely as many bandits out this far from House Donao as anything, and it was a long long way between Travill and Monument to the Fallen.

“Who’s at Monument to the Fallen?” Thawkins had mentioned there was a man he needed to see, but never more.

“A Sage.”

Ferdinand audibly gasped in disbelief! A Sage?! From the Order Of Man? Although growing up in Port Breigh, near the actual birthplace of the Order, it was forbidden to visit, and no one, NO ONE would break that particular order. The stories of Rubedo and the High Humans were centuries old but still told with awe and fright. Rubedo, one of the first High Humans had single-handedly slain hundreds of Donao soldiers in hand to hand combat. The Order Of Man was essentially formed that day. People wanted… needed to know how one man could do that, and the Order set out on its quest to understand the High Humans.

“What could a Sage need with a Rangerand his student?!?” Ferdinand thought for a second…. “Are we going to find the High Humans?!?!” Even after these weeks of traveling with the ranger, walking during the day, and training mornings and evenings, Thawkins still wouldn’t talk of his quest.

“Heh heh… no, kid. But Sages collect information, and I’m hoping this one knows the location of Celaya.”

People In the Story:

* Ferdinand Keet

* Thom Thawkins

Locations are shown in Cinematics:

* thumbnail & intro section: @White Sands

The Great Fir Forest

* Sandrasku

* Artif

* Kwa'king Ocean Ice Burg Field

* Artif

* Ajury