Chapter 4

Lurtz cursed at himself for being so unobservant, he had been so caught up in thought he let his guard down, a potentially deadly mistake especially in a forest with as many deadly creatures living in it as this one. He stopped thinking and began concentrating on his breathing as he sprinted through the forest, dodging trees and making sure he didn’t lose his footing. Before long the sound of pursuing footsteps began to close in, Lurtz eyes widened as the heavy drops of panic began to trickle in, he could not be caught.

As a way of keeping the elite defenders of Aduial as sharp and skilled as possible, the leaders of Enquie kept trained hunting panthers and let them out into the forest from time to time to try and catch incompetent citizens so as to illuminate the weakest links and keep the city strong. The big cats are trained to bite off a piece of their clothing and return it to the shaman leader Rhyllyn, who would be able to tell who the clothing belonged to resulting in their dismissal.

Lurtz kept searching his brain for a plan but was drawing blanks; he was so worried about losing the opportunity to do his year out in the world that his heart almost stopped when he heard sound of his cloak ripping and the patter of footsteps running away.

Lurtz stood for a moment stunned and defeated, he filled with self loathing and depression over losing so much work and time over one small mistake. Images of life spent farming, or as a common builder or labourer filled Lurtz’ mind, ‘forget that’ he whispered out loud. Determination and adrenaline filled his body as he began to sprint faster than he ever had after the panther; he had given too much to lose everything over this.

He couldn’t kill the panther, all who lived in Aduial possessed a natural love for animals, he decided it was time he properly began using the shaman power he had been studying so long and working so hard for. Luckily for Lurtz he has an advantage not many shamans have, he is a Wood-Elf and every Wood-Elf is born with a naturally large talent for elemental magic. Lurtz ran back to his lookout tree where he had left his staff leaning lazily against the trunk.

Leaning on his staff Lurtz closed his eyes and whispered for about half a minute, then suddenly lifting his staff high in the air, Lurtz brought it down with a loud crack into the ground. At first it seemed nothing had happened, then with an enormous roar water burst from the crack throwing Lurtz into the air. Out of the crack water began flowing at top speed through the forest in the form of a wild stampede of horses, for a few seconds Lurtz found himself flailing uncontrollably in the wild water but soon caught one of the horses and climbed onto its back, riding it on its path of destruction through the forest. Trees were crashing to the ground and animals being swept up, but Lurtz wasn’t thinking of that, only of catching the panther.

Before long the panther was within sight, but so was the city! Lurtz gasped as he saw the city gates were wide open, running into the city with a wild stampede of water horses at this speed, the closest buildings to the gate would be destroyed and many trees and houses turned into splinters.

The wild stampede continued heading towards the exposed city at incredible speeds, impact would be within minutes and the damage huge. The gates began closing but not fast enough, they wouldn’t be half closed before the horses hit. Within minutes half of Enquie would be underwater, and Lurtz the sole cause.