Donovan and Akenji held their ground for as long as they could, taking out many of Garock’s soldiers as they helped Alayna from the sidelines. Her plan was working. The slaver’s army was not just slowed down; it had come to a grinding halt. But when they saw Alayna engage with the big Barbarian, they knew she was in serious trouble. They rapidly reorganized their men to start a counterattack and entered the fray head on. As they began working their way toward Alayna’s position, it became clear that Alayna was losing the fight.
Donovan fought savagely through a line of attackers, trying to cut his way to Alayna in time. He knew if he didn’t get to her soon, she would die. Desperation drove him to fight as he never had before, and adrenaline gave him mighty strength, but Garock’s soldiers severely outnumbered them. It was a credit to Alayna’s training that they lasted as long as they did. Thirty minutes into the fight, more the half of the human Rangers were dead. Donovan fought on; getting to Alayna was his only goal.
In the distance, Elven battle trumpets began to blow. It wasn’t long before a legion of Elven swordsmen charged into battle. As the fresh Elven forces flooded in, they quickly surrounded and engaged the Barbarian army. The fierce and bloody battle lasted for two hours and the Wood Elves spared no one in the enemy ranks.
When, at last, the final man had fallen, Donovan began searching among the bodies in the area where he had last seen Alayna. It wasn’t long before he found what he sought. Weeping openly, he unpinned his cloak and gently covered Alayna’s battered corpse. Akenji and the remaining “boys” soon joined him.
“This shouldn’t have happened to her,” moaned one of the youngest Rangers. “Not to her.”
Donovan looked up and saw that only a handful of the original thirty-two remained. “She wouldn’t have had it any other way,” he said, his voice shaking with emotion. “We would all be dead if it were not for her skill and bravery.”
“I would take her place if I could,” said Akenji, not trying to hide his tears.
“We all would,” replied Donovan as he carefully wrapped Alay-na’s body in the cloak and ordered a couple of the men to take her to their camp. He then began to search through the bodies again, this time looking for the big Barbarian who had been fighting Alayna when he last saw her. The search was futile, and Donovan grew increasingly angrier as he realized that Alayna’s killer had somehow gotten away.
“I must see the high lord,” Donovan told Akenji. “I will find that Barbarian if it’s the last thing I do in this lifetime. I will avenge her death!”
High Lord Aden was looking over the first reports of casualties and losses to his army when he noticed one of the human Rangers heading his way. He frowned, irritated to see that any of the humans were still alive.
Without raising his eyes from the reports before him, Lord Aden commanded, “State your business, Ranger. I’m very busy here.”
Donovan struggled to control his anger, and his voice was taut with emotion when he spoke. “You knew this was going to happen,” he accused the high lord.
Lord Aden continued to ignore him and Donovan forgot his rank, forgot his respectful place, and lost his temper entirely. “Don’t pretend you don’t hear me. You knew that if you sent us against so many, it would get most of us killed and now Alayna is dead because of you.”
Lord Aden raised his eyes and looked at Donovan coldly. “Tough choices had to be made. I do not regret my decision or my orders—they were necessary for the success of the mission. Alayna was a soldier. She raised you to be soldiers, despite my misgivings. The fact that you are standing here proves that she must have done a decent job, and Alayna died a hero. Her family will mourn her passing, yes, but they will have comfort in the fact that she died an honorable death, saving many of her own kind in the process.”
Donovan, somewhat calmer and remembering his station, saluted the high lord and nodded his acquiescence. “I understand, my Lord,” he said. “It is a great loss to those of us who were raised and trained by her, as well.”
Lord Aden nodded.
“I have searched throughout the battlefield, sir, for the man who killed Alayna. He was a leader—possibly their commander. I was not able to find his body. It is possible that he may have escaped.”
High Lord Aden frowned at hearing this news. He immediately called for his scouts and ordered them to seek out any tracks leading from the battlefield. Then, ordering Donovan to accompany him, he went to where the rescued Elven maidens were being inventoried and treated. He searched amongst the weary, frightened faces of the girls, hoping to spot his daughter, but she was not amongst them.
The scouts soon returned and reported having found the tracks of a small group, leading out of the forest.
“Brandela must be with them,” Lord Aden reasoned. “Gather twenty soldiers,” he ordered. “I will join the search!”
“I request to assist,” offered Donovan. “If Alayna’s murderer is with that group, I want to deal with him myself.”
“I don’t need human assistance,” retorted Lord Aden, coldly, “but come if you must. My daughter’s safe return is all that matters to me now. Let’s hope we both get what we desire.”
The men traced the small group’s tracks until they left the forest and disappeared far into the Wildlands. Lord Aden knew then that it was too late. Now it was a waiting game. The enemy would surely realize that Brandela was a princess, and he trusted that this, at least, would help to keep her safe for a time. They would come to him soon enough, seeking a ransom. Until then, there was nothing more he could do. With a troubled heart, he turned and led his men back to the forest. Donovan was equally troubled, for none of the tracks they had found were large enough to belong to the man who had killed Alayna.
Back at the battle site, high Lord Aden ordered his army to gather their dead. Half of them would head back to Alderwood with the dead and the wounded. The other half would accompany the Elven maidens back to Eldergate. Finally, he commanded the human Rangers to proceed back to their southern outpost and resume their previous duties.
Meanwhile, one lone figure moved stealthily—invisibly— through the forest, heading for the Wildlands and the men who had gone before him. Garock was furious with himself for letting those Rangers slow them down to the point where the Elven Army could catch up. He had become complacent and over-confident and had not worried when the rune crystal artifact had begun to lose its power, as he had been told it eventually would. They had come so close to leaving the forest! He clutched the artifact now in his enormous hand and cursed his grave mistake.
“How am I supposed to explain losing an entire cargo of Elven slaves?” he asked himself out loud. This whole expedition had been a waste of time and money, and he knew his suppliers would not be happy about it.
Still, he thought, if all has gone well for the men I sent ahead to the encampment, I do have one prize worth more than a thousand Elven slaves. He smiled wickedly at the thought of the princess. He had hoped to keep her for himself, but now it was possible that his suppliers would pay him even more for her than for all the other slaves he had lost. With renewed confidence, he headed south, soon picked up the trail of his men and began to follow.
As Donovan and Akenji began to prepare the other men for the journey back to the outpost, they were drawn into a conversation about their future.
“It’s going to seem strange at the outpost without Alayna,” said one young man.
“I hate the idea of going back without her,” replied another.
“I’m not sure I can stomach serving the high lord too much longer,” added Donovan, “but that’s something to think about another day. Right now, Alayna’s killer is still alive, and we need to think about how we’re going to avenge her death.”
Akenji regarded his friend seriously. “I understand your pain, my friend, but the high lord has given us a direct order. Disobeying would be treason. We can’t just go running off into the Wildlands on a hopeless mission.”
Donovan’s voice was sharp when he answered, “It’s not hopeless! I will not rest until Alayna’s killer is dead.”
“Not hopeless, then, but nearly impossible now that the slavers have made it out of the forest,” said one of the younger Rangers. “Would you put us all at risk of being killed for treason to do an impossible mission?”
Donovan’s voice was much calmer when he spoke this time. “No, I would not ask this of all of you. But if one of us was able to track the slavers back to their encampment, we would surely find Alayna’s killer amongst them. And if we also rescue the high lord’s daughter, it’s quite likely that he would pardon our actions afterward. After all, what other chance does he have of getting her back?”
Akenji grinned at Donovan as though they were discussing a childhood adventure rather than a highly risky rescue mission. “Yes,” he said, “that way we get to avenge Alayna’s death, and maybe even avoid the wrath of the high lord for once. Who knows, he might even reward us. Imagine that!”
Several of the young men laughed at that outlandish idea, but still they liked the whole plan.
Akenji added, “It’s a good plan, Commander. Which of us will you have carry it out?”
“I will,” Donovan answered.
The grin vanished from Akenji’s face. “No,” he said, perhaps a little too quickly. “Choose someone else. Any one of us would be willing.”
Donovan looked away into the forest for a moment, and then back to Akenji. He had known that this news would be hard for Akenji to accept, but this was something he had to do, even if it meant never seeing his best friend—his brother—again.
“I’m the most skilled warrior here and, alone, I would have the best chance,” he insisted.
Akenji frowned. “You’re too important to the rest of us to risk this. If we lose you, the others may lose hope. You are our commander now that Alayna is gone, after all.”
“Yes, and you are my second-in-command, and an excellent leader. This is my decision and I will do it.”
Donovan clapped Akenji on the arm and turned to the other Rangers. “You won’t lose me that easily, boys,” he promised. “I’m a skilled scout. At the first sign of trouble I’ll disappear into the wilderness. Believe me, they won’t be able find me or track me. This is our best hope of getting revenge on Alayna’s killer. I will not fail!”
The young Rangers nodded their heads in agreement and returned to the task of preparing for their homeward journey.
“We’ll leave at first light,” ordered Donovan. But that night, when all the others were enjoying the first undisturbed sleep they’d had in days, Donovan slipped away into the dark forest and set out alone for the Wildlands.