Tales Of Gridarnia

Why did I agree to go hunting this morning? Ray thought as he crouched in a bush overlooking the Gaza forest. The air was crisp and dew clung to the ground as the sun slowly began to peek over the horizon. There was a steady breeze and rain looked to be coming in from the west. Ray took a sip of his flask, the smell of cinnamon whisky clearing his sinuses and waking him slightly. A medium build brown haired fully bearded hazel eyed man in his early thirties, Ray wore camouflaged leathers to hide him from sight. A bow and quiver sat next to him ready for the off chance that something edible would appear. His multiple daggers and a single sword holstered to his belt.

Ray, who normally hunted from up in a tree, was crouched between two bushes overlooking the edge of the forest at a downward angle. He could see for the next two hundred yards from left to right. I should be curled up in bed right now on my only day off, but no! The town was low on meat and Mr. Tim asked him to help. He asked everyone to help actually. Everyone who could manage was positioned through different areas in their favorite hunting spot waiting. As lord of the village, Ray could not refuse. All the women and children were back at the village, preparing for them to bring in the meat. The cows, pigs and other livestock weren’t fully grown for them to start processing. It had been a rough two years of rebuilding. It helped that they had a bit of mana left, that they were able to arm themselves and fend off the goblin attacks and rebuild the village. It helped that many of the village elders had returned and Ray's Dad, Adam had agreed to be head elder. His dad also ran the school for the younglings. It helped even more that the village trusted Ray to lead them, although even he had no idea why.

There wasn’t much left after the battle. After those pesky dark mages came, killed the previous lord and began sucking the land dry. The battle to take it all back was intense. Ray still couldn’t remember all of it. He should have died. The magic he used that night should have killed him. Why didn’t it? So many questions came from that day but ultimately he was chosen by the villagers to be the new Lord. He accepted and marked his blood on the contract and now had duties and responsibilities to protect and lead the people. That included Tim and his need for meat. Every couple of months, Tim would ask and they would host a Saturday hunt. The meat would be skinned, smoked and preserved in the village stores. It would help feed everyone. If there were ever any leftovers, they could start trading with the neighboring villages again. That prospect seemed a long ways away but at least no one was starving

“Can we shoot them yet?” Collin asked, as he walked up to Ray.

He was holding Mace who of course was asleep in a blanket. The small black puppy was curled up snoring in a bundle without a single care in the world. Lucky little punk. Collin squats down next to Ray looking out onto the field. He places Mace in his special spot on Ray’s back where he continues to doze off.

“We can’t yet, I’m waiting on the bucks to come out” Ray said motioning to the tree line to the left. Out in the field were about ten doe grazing with three fauna.

“What makes you think a buck will come out?” Collin whispered.

“Because I can sense him about three hundred yards in that direction. His musk is pretty heavy” Ray replied. Collin takes his bow and notches an arrow.

“Those doe look a bit bigger than usual, what’s the deal?” Collin asked.

“That is an interesting story actually. Do you remember Old Man Willy who used to live in this area?”

“Wasn’t he the crazy hermit that got himself blown up?”

“He didn’t blow himself up. He just blew up his house that one time. Anyway, I visited him a couple weeks ago to see if he had any mana crystals. So we are talking and he starts to tell me a story about his war days. He said he was stationed on one of the islands near Patmos. He told me that the locals would always bring in these extra large fish. Like massively large fish that you and I would not be able to carry. He asked them about it and they told him. You see, these locals would store mana crystals in the ponds and near the reefs. Over time, it made the fish grow nearly double and sometimes triple the size.”

“That’s really cool but wouldn’t the fish be toxic? We can’t eat magical creatures right?” Collin asked.

“Normally so, but he said they had a way of purifying the fish. After catching them they would take empty crystals and with a bit of water mana, and salt, they would transfer the energy out, purifying and making the meat safe to eat.”

“So what does that have to do with the deer being big?”

“I’m getting there! Old man Willy told me that when he got home, he started burying mana crystals in that field out there. He said that he thought that the wildlife might consume the grass and something similar would happen. He has been burying mana crystals out here every couple of months for nearly 15 years now.”

“So has he been living off of these deer this entire time?”

“Not exactly, he said that he could catch small game such as the rabbits and squirrels but large game he wasn't ever able to kill. The hides were so tough that his arrows would just bounce off. He said that he had completely given up on them. That's fifteen years of magical deer breeding with one another.” Ray said.

“So how are we going to kill them if the arrows bounce off? Also, It is like two hundred yards from here. I can’t shoot that far!”

“We are going to shoot them with these special arrows I made.” Ray said, pulling out his quiver. “I’ve embedded the arrow shaft with wind and the heads have a bit of lightning in them. The wind magic will allow them to go farther, the lightning magic should make them go faster and apply either a piercing or a stunning effect. I hope.”

“We have seen this trick before haven’t we?” Collin asked.

“The Battle of Tree Hill” Ray said. Collin got wide eyed and grinned.

They nearly died that day. Collin and Ray were in the same glider unit that was set to invade a small fortress on top of what used to be Tree Hill before the demons invaded. The locals nearly destroyed their gliders with these large harpoons embedded with mana. It was the first time they had ever witnessed magic being used to this extent. It took twenty-five days to conquer the hill.

There was a ruffle in the trees and out marches 2 very large bucks. The one on the left had eight points and the one on the right had twelve. Nearly triple in size to what a normal deer would have been. The glow on their skin radiating in the rising sun.

“Get ready,” Ray said, pulling back on the string. “You aim for the right, I will get the left. If you can, try and get some of the doe. Leave the 3 over to the left with the fauna alone”

Collin nodded and pulled his arrow back.

“Three… Two… One… loose” Ray says, letting the arrow slide gently from his fingertips.

They both released and in quick succession drew and shot three more arrows each. From this distance, it took about five seconds for them to shoot all four arrows and by the time the last one is released, the first arrow hits. There is a set of small explosions. The doe and fauna to the left run away at the sound.

“Did we get them?” Collin breathes standing up to try and see over the brush.

“I think so,” Ray says, trying to control the adrenaline that’s pumping.

It doesn’t matter what people say, Buck fever is a thing and it makes every inch of you shake uncontrollably. The size of the horns is a direct correlation to the amount of adrenaline pumped into you also.

“ Now for the fun part” Collin motions looking back at the wagon and horses that we brought.

“Yeah, let’s get there before a goblin or wolf finds them,” Ray says, leading the way. Mace is still asleep in his hood completely unphased by what just occurred.

…

Ray and Collin managed to get the horses and carriage down to the field. The carriage is a box-like structure with no windows or opening except for the rear doors. It is made of metal and insulated to keep the temperature constant no matter how hot or cold it is on the outside. The metal is a special type of iron that was embedded with ice magic. It took a lot of haggling and 8 cases of Meade from the town's special stores in order for the dwarves to agree to allow them to borrow it. The dwarves must have taken pity on them because they threw in a couple of their horses to help pull it.

“We need to skin them before we can load them up,” Ray tells Collin, pulling out a hook and throwing it over the nearest branch on one of the oak trees.

Two bucks and six doe lay neatly in a line waiting for them to begin. Remembering the steps, Ray picks the smaller doe and starts. All hooved animals have an empty section between the muscle and the outer tendons. There’s a legend that a great hunter was able to catch an elk alive by shooting both front legs causing them to trip. The elk lost no blood and he was able to train them to be a type of pet like an overgrown guard dog with antlers.

Cutting the hide around the hind legs and skinning up, Ray was able to remove the hide from the bone and work upward to the thigh area. From there, he cut the legs at the joint and put a hook in between the 2 holes spreading the rear legs. He hoisted the doe up, removed its head, and began working on removing the hide. Ray worked down the left side and then the right separating the skin from the meat. There is a layer of fat in between here that gives as he brings the blade down. A couple cuts on the forearms and neck and Ray is able to pull down and completely remove the hide from the body. Next he empties the innards into a large canister which smells but thankfully it’s all intact and just falls in. Taking salt water and a bit of mana, He cleanses the doe and then loads it in the carriage.

“Seven more to go” Ray sighs, turning toward Collin. “Are you gonna help or sit there?”

“Yeah, yeah, I was just watching. I couldn’t remember how to start.” Collin says. He removes another hook and throws it over a branch of an adjacent tree.

“Don’t forget to imbue your knife. The hide is really thick.” Ray informs.

Collin takes his knife out and summons an air orb, He mutters an incarnation and pushes the orb into the hilt of the weapon. The blade begins to glow and a thin layer of energy wraps around the edge. Collin makes a swiping motion at a nearby branch cutting it in two. He then gets to work on the other doe.

They save everything, antlers can be used for handles, knives, and 50 other things he can’t recall. The hide can be traded to the leather smith and the innards can be used by the fishing guild for the freshwater traps. The deer are loaded into the carriage and the door is slammed shut creating a seal. Pressing on one of the many runes on the door Ray sends some of his mana causing the inside chamber to drop just below freezing.

Two hours later they are on the way back to the village. Ray and Collin were the furthest out so they were able to have one of the carriages but it means they also have to stop at certain checkpoints along the way to collect the other hunters and whatever game they managed to kill. By the time they arrived at the village they had managed fifteen doe, five buck, twenty-three pheasant, forty-five Rabbits and squirrels and six hogs. They pull into where the other three carriages parked and start unloading. Big Tim the Butcher was there steadily barking orders and telling everyone where to take what.

“Are we the last?” Ray asks as he moves to shake Tim’s hand.

“I believe so. What did you bring me?’ Tim asked, opening the box carriage.

Tim looked inside at our grab and his jaw fell to the floor. He took a look at Ray and Collin and then back at the deer. “ Where in the world did you find these monsters?”

“They just came out of nowhere sir .” Ray lied as he pulled the bag of crystals and handed them to a pledge that came running up. “Take these to my mother at the shop.”

“Yes sir” the young pledge stated and then hurried off.

From ages five to age ten, children or younglings go to school to learn the basics of reading, writing, mathematics, and history. They also spend numerous hours of the day doing some sort of physical activity. At the age of eleven, they are tested against their peers. This test, known as the beginners exam, is divided into physical, intellectual, and personality portions. The younglings are then separated into one of three groups. Basic, Intermediate, or advanced. Basic, Intermediate, or advanced scores are given different options for what they can do moving forward. The child is then considered a pledge.

A basic pledge is given five options: Farming, mining, hunting, fishing or military. If they choose farming, they would then spend five to ten years in the fields learning about crops and livestock. If they choose mining, they would be sent deep into the mountain with the dwarves where they would learn the basics of mining and transporting minerals and resources from the earth. A hunter or fisherman would be assigned to a master and would spend the next five to ten years either on a boat or in the woods learning how to catch a fish or kill a beast. Intermediate pledges have all the options of a basic and then some.

An intermediate can become an apprentice in a trade such as apothecary, leather smith, blacksmith, bladesmith, or carpentry. They would be placed with a Master who would train them for ten to fifteen years in the craft. They could also join the adventurers guild and be assigned to a team of four or five who would take jobs and travel throughout the land.

An advanced pledge has all of the options of a basic and an intermediate. They can also choose to continue their education at one of the designated academies where they would further their knowledge of the world to become either a politician, historian or even an aid to the king. Some become Architects and design cities, boats, bridges and other structures in the service of the King. They could also join the commerce guild where they would serve as an aid to the master businessmen who regulate everything.

Between the ages of eighteen to twenty-five, all pledges have the option to take a secondary exam. The scores would determine if they are able to move forward to the next level of their respective trades or to start a completely different option altogether. They would no longer be pledges but citizens of the Gridarnia. A Citizen had rights, perks, and privileges that noncitizens were not allowed to have such as marriage and childbearing.

At any time, if a youngling or pledge exhibits an aptitude for magic or the ability to control mana, they are immediately sent to one of the four academic compounds to learn how to control their power. After five years in the academy, regardless of age, the pledge is then sorted by their abilities. That pledge is then recruited by one of the many organizations. If no one wants the pledge or the pledge has no interest in any of the presented offers, they are assigned to military service. In the event of war, all pledges are sent to military service. A military bound pledge is shipped off to one of the many military outposts in the different regions where they will spend three to eight months training before graduating and being assigned orders and a unit. They are then shipped to parts unknown or to the frontlines to help defend the kingdom. After about five years of service, the pledge can request to retire. Depending on his rank and service history, the kingdom will provide them a certain amount of pay each year until their death. It’s not much and most soldiers either re-up their service or try a hand at one of the intermediate pledge options. A Pledge with five years of military service is automatically granted citizenship.

When Ray turned eleven, he took the beginning exam. He scored average when it came to the personality section but his intelligence was high and the physical exam was somewhere in the middle. He just barely squeezed by as an intermediate pledge and chose to become an adventurer and for two years he traveled the kingdom with a dwarf named Stubby, an elf named Picard and another human named Lance. Ray learned to fight, hunt, and survive in the wilderness. At thirteen, Ray manifested his first element. While trying to run away from a pack of dire wolves, he accidentally conjured a fireball and burned down half the forest. When they returned to the village six months later, Ray had somehow learned water, fire, earth, and wind manipulation. A true elementalist. He was then sent to compound Gamma for five years. The guild leader allowed him to keep his adventurers license and he was able to go on E and D ranked assignments for some spare money whenever he was home.

Collin was tested into the advanced pledge class and almost immediately manifested the ability to manipulate wind and fire magic. He later became an expert in shadow magic. Collin started in the academy a year after Ray. They immediately became best friends. At eighteen, they joined the Phoenix squadron as glider operators and a year later were sent to war. Ray and Collin were forced to retire with honors at twenty-three. He spent another two years training at the compound before returning home with Minh. At twenty-eight, Minh died and Ray became the Lord of the Goldenleaf Village.

That felt like a completely different lifetime ago. Ray thought to himself as he helped unload the game from the carriage. He was nearly thirty-one now, with three thousand people to feed and protect.

“How is Annie? Ray asked Tim. Annie was Tim’s eldest and only daughter. She would be about twenty-eight now and the last Ray had heard she had scored advanced and moved off to the capital to continue her education.

“Annie is doing wonderful now that she is away from this place” Tim remarked. “ She is working as an aid to the Master Librarian up in Manchester”

“That's good! I am glad to hear it” Ray remarked. Once upon a time, Ray and Annie were “talking” per say. It didn't last but a few months and nothing happened but long story short Tim found out and it ended. Ray still had a scar on his right shoulder from where Tim’s knife had stabbed him as he ran out of the shop and out of her life. Tim was a damn good throw and could have easily killed Ray. Tim and Ray were on good terms now. Annie moved away and Ray became lord. It may have been the fear of Annie not being a citizen that caused Tim to be so furious. No one was considered a citizen until they took the secondary exam. Citizenship brought the right to marry, buy land, and have children. It was considered an ultimate sin to have a child and not be a citizen. Punishable by death of the parents and the child being shipped away. No one knows where the children go, but it is believed that they are brought up in an orphanage and immediately thrusted into military service. They have no choice in the matter. It is perfectly understandable why Tim acted the way he did. Just then they heard someone yell from the left

“Brother!” Kono yelled, rushing over to us in a frantic mess.

Kono was Collin’s younger brother of about four years, and looked almost exactly like him except for the hair and being a few inches shorter. His hair was blonde and spiked in the front as he didn’t enjoy the curls that his brother proudly sported. Kono carried his sword across his back and had knives holstered around his ribs. A quiver and bow attached to his bag which he promptly set on the ground next to him

“Lord Ray, Theo and Dayton are missing,” Kono said, turning to Ray.

It still felt weird being referred to as Lord especially from people who knew him from before.

“Who let younglings go on a hunt?” Ray asks. “Dayton and Theo were only eight years old for goodness sake.”

“They went with one of the older hunters, Carl I think. They were supposed to help him load and track the game that he killed. Carl can’t do so much with the bad leg but he insisted on going this morning. They were hunting down near the mines. They didn’t come back with the second carriage. We sent a pledge to go investigate and he just returned. Carl was found hanging from his tree stand. He had three arrows in his chest. The younglings were not with him. There were tracks everywhere. The pledge couldn’t tell who did it but he did bring back one of the arrows. We are sending a wagon now to go collect Carl's body” Kono explains. He took a step back to catch his breath before straightening up.

“Carl was a good man.” Ray said. “ Kono please make sure someone goes and tells his wife before word gets out. Go get mom at the shop and ask her to go over there”

“Someone or something must have taken them,” Collin said looking from Kono to me. “We need to move quick before something bad happens”

Ray nodded and turned to the butcher

“Mr. Tim, I’m going to leave the meat to you. Please make sure the fur gets to the leather smith, antlers and bones go to the weapon smith, and any scrap gets shipped to the fishing guild. Kono, after you go tell mom about Carl, I want you to run to the bell tower and summon the guild to the town square. three rings ,two rings followed by three more. Okay!”

Three rings being the signal for the adventurers guild. The two rings signifying for everyone to be in the town square in two hours and the ending three to signify the urgency of the message.

Turning to Collin ``Get ready and meet me in the council room in an hour” Ray ordered

Collin gave a sarcastic salute and then walked away.

“That gives me about thirty minutes to change and get ready.” Ray said to himself heading towards the large building at the end of the village”