The Spider-Knight Chronicles: The Scarlet Ranger.

The Girl In the Woods

Desdon Rorst.

That was his name.

The Rangers of the Green Wood were always referred to as recluses, best not messed with, the most trusted spies of the kingdom.. like the knights themselves, imbued with abilities that separated them from ordinary men.

Of course, though Knights were celebrated as heroes, and placed on pedestals for the kingdom of Ezrealis to glorify, especially after the years of the Great War..  Rangers on the other hand were seen as mysterious.. and best avoided due to the rumors of them being possessed by demons.

Knights fought hard and strong.. and with full frontal fairness, with chivalry on their side. But the Rangers of Greenwood used illusions, tricks, and meticulous skill in service to their kingdom.. It wasn't uncommon for Desdon to even use poison on his various missions..

But of course, Rangers payed a heavy price for fighting in their mysterious ways. They were forced to be recluse, and they weren't paid that much, which resulted in many of them taking on the jobs of mercenaries, even though they were officially employed by the kingdom.

Of course, the low end community found this useful. A government sanctioned Mercenary is a good thing when you need a job done that might require cutting through plenty of red tape.

It was a lawless way of living, and many of the Council in the Capital City of Angramaba opposed it.. calling it an excuse for Rangers to abuse their authority. But, other than hunting, the King could see no other way for Rangers to make a suitable living to survive, and as hunting was hard nowadays, the King allowed the Rangers to take odd jobs, save the jobs went through a screening process before being posted on the job boards themselves.

Desdon however, knew that this all didn't matter overall. All things considered, surviving was a chore even with all these odd jobs. Surviving was scarce nowadays with the Green Wood being vulnerable to overhunting by the elves.

The Elves of Golden Wood often regarded themselves as superior due to being of an elder race. They were definitely fairer than most, healthier, stronger, with superior magic. But this had led to an arrogant belief that they were entitled to all of the world's resources regardless of the consent of other races.

Raiding dwarf mines for valuable Mage Quartz,  hunting valuable Elk to near extinction in the Greenwood where humans depended on meat to make it through the winter instead of hunting their own Golden Stags which were numerous in the lands of the Golden Wood to the point it was an infestation. All these problems were stacking up as a result of the Golden Elves.

This resulted in more bloody conflict as well. The Nordic Elves and Greenwood humans, as well as the very angry Dwindr Dwarves were constantly fighting the Golden Elves out of fury for the reckless taking of their resources, not to mention the immensely idiotic arrogant attitude the Golden Elves took whenever among the so called "lower races".  Running around in their fancy chariots, wearing clothing of the finest cloth and silk, most of it taken recklessly from other lands and not their own.

Desdon tended to avoid the Golden Elves whenever they came into the nearby villages, seeking solace in the beer he had stored in his basement. When they weren't in town though, it was just hunting and a few grunts here and there when trading meat and jobs.

Today was no different as Desdon prepared his bow.. put on his leather boots and gloves, his dragon hide sling and leather coat.. and his hood and cloak.. sheathing his two long swords to his back.