The Ranger Sergeant had scouted ahead just as he had done many times before. The Queen and Lieutenant depended on him and his men for their reconnaissance reports. The boat trip was a long one. The waters between Yew and the Dagger Isle were always choppy at best. But this particular storm was much different.
Hawthorne had set sail per the request of the Queen. The siege was to take place against the Red Ork Clan. The Orks had sailed to Yew and pillaged the outlying villages for the last time. The Militia was fed up. Now was the time to prepare the battle vessels and defeat the Orks on their own turf. It was the Ranger’s job to scout ahead and report back to his Lieutenant. He did so swiftly taking only a few small items: his handmade bow, a small quiver of arrows, a bit of food for the waters, and an iron skillet. After all, The Sergeant had been dropped in the middle of nowhere before with much less.
The trip to Dagger Isle had been uneventful. A quick journey for his small boat. Blake had been on the island many times before and had scouted every outpost known to the Militia. He set ashore near the Yew Outpost and high-tailed it to the safety of the fort, awaiting nightfall.
As the night air became crisp and calm, Hawthorne made his way around the southern tip of the mountains. He scaled them above the Ork guards making not a sound. Blake was a master in the ways of the shadows. Hell, he could walk through Britain at noon without one wayward soul even noticing him. He crept to the north entrance of the fort counting heads of the ugly beasts along the way. He drew a map in his head of the lay of the land. He listened to the conversations taking place through the windows. And his nose twitched every time an Ork was closing nearer.
Just an hour before dawn, Blake began to make his way back to the outpost, and the small boat he had drug ashore and covered with some dead limbs and rubbish. The morning air smelled cleaner, as if rain was following the sun in from the east. Blake set a course back to Yew. Into the eye of the storm.
