Warrn Whit moved through the trees in a crouch, trying his best not to be noticed while still moving with some speed. The speed that he was moving with made the care of each footfall more important. Warrn looked up to the sky through the canopy and saw the purples and indigos that told of the coming night. Soon a horn would echo through the woods, the sign the the last trial Warrn could participate in was over. All he had to do was reach the gathering place that was set up south of Oakrin to pass. If he did he would become a member of the Gray Cloaks, the elite guard of Harn.
This was the third, and final, time that Warrn was taking the trials. Every young man or woman could take the trials after their third birthday. Those that passed became a part of the Gray Cloaks. Those that failed had another attempt the next year. They could attempt this until their nineteenth birthday, and could choose when to take the trails, but could only take them once a year. Warrn had reached his eighteenth birthday two months earlier and that meant that this trial was the last that he could take. If he failed here he would have to find something else to do with his life. He looked up at the sky again, reaching up to brush a lock of brown hair out of his eyes as he leaped over a fallen log.
The landing on the other side was a little more noise than he wanted, but he couldn't waste any more time. He had been turned around and had realized it with enough time to get back going in the right direction. The trial was failed through two means. The first was not making it to the gathering point before the horn sounded. The second, and less likely to happen was getting called out by one of the adjudicators watching for them in the woods. That was how he had failed the first trial. It had all been Tabi's fault.
Tabitha Glen had grown up with Warrn. The two were always together whenever they could take the chance. At three months older than Warrn, Tabi had taken the trials first. She had passed without a problem, and had quickly made a name for herself amongst the younger members of the Gray Cloaks. Still she took the time to help Warrn train when she could. The problem had been that she was assigned to be an adjudicator for Warrn's first trail. Instead of doing what she should have done she thought it would be funny to play a trick on Warrn. She knew all about his habits while in the woods and used that to find him and disqualify him from the trials that first year. Afterward she had been sorry, and Warrn really couldn't blame her for what she had done.
The second year was about the same as this one. He had gotten all turned around during the trial and by the time he figured out what had happened he had heard the horn sounding. The failure that year had hit him harder than the failure the previous one. He had slunk off into the woods and found a place to wallow in his agony. An hour later Tabi found him and brought him back to the city. She had promised to help him work on his wood lore so that the same thing wouldn't happen again. Tabi had helped him train whenever she had a chance, and Warrn had learned a better way of getting his bearings when in the woods. He couldn't fail her this year. He had to pass.
He didn't think he was that far from the gathering spot. He picked up the pace, not worrying as much about where his feet were coming down as he made his way toward his goal. He leapt another fallen log, and felt something catch his left foot. His body pitched forward and the ground came rushing up to meet him. Warrn slammed into the ground face first, a burst of white filling his vision as the rest of his body crashed into the forest floor. He rolled over and groaned in pain. A couple blinks of the eyes and he realized that everything had gone black. He reached up with both hands and felt a little ooze at the tips of his fingers. Still that didn't explain why he couldn't see anything. He blinked his eyes again and again but nothing changed.
Then he realized that he still had to move. He rolled back over and started crawling on his hands and knees through the forest. As he moved forward he realized that his vision was slowly coming back, but everything was a blur. Still he had to make it to the gathering point. He had to pass the trials. A pain shot through his left hand as he set his weight fully on a sharp edge of a rock, he felt the rock slip into his hand and then pull out as he kept moving forward. It felt weird but something else drew his attention. He thought he heard someone snicker, then the sound of a twig snapping. He jerked his head up, and instantly felt horrible.
"Is there somebody there?" Warrn blinked his eyes, trying to relieve the pain, he felt something dripping from his nose and could only hope that it was snot. "I need help."
The only response he got was more snickering and then the sound of somebody walking away. He saw what he thought was someone moving away from him through the trees, but couldn't be sure. His head felt weird. He was having problems focusing. What was he doing out here anyway? He closed his left eye as some fluid started to run between the corner and the bridge of his nose. He reached up and rubbed at it and his hand came away feeling even more sticky than it had before. Why was he on his knees? He tried to stand and crumbled back to the ground, shooting his right hand down to slow his fall. A pain shot up his arm as it didn't seem to slow him at all. He went to try and crawl again, but his right arm screamed out in pain as he put weight on it and he collapsed to the ground with a scream. The sound of the horn echoing through the trees didn't even register with him.
______________________________
Tabitha Glen stood waiting in the gathering ground when the horn sounded. She reached up and pulled back the hood of the Gray Cloak, the item that gave the group their name, exposing her shoulder length auburn hair. Her blue eyes scanned the group that had passed and frowned when she realized that Warrn wasn't a part of it. She had been sure that Warrn would do so. She walked over to one of the barrels that marked the gathering place and had to leap up, due to her 5'5 stature, to sit on the top. She let the cloak fall away from her shoulder, exposing the gray sleeveless shirt she was wearing underneath it. She sighed as she began to wait for Warrn to show up. Hopefully he wouldn't hide like he did last year.
"No sign of Warrn?" The voice caused Tabi to turn around and look at the Captain of her squad. Patrice Kilbray stood a little over 6' and was constantly wearing clothing that showed off the natural curves of her grapefruit sized breasts and curvacious bottom. Even with the curves her body was made up of lithe muscles, worked to ensure sped in action. Tabi was faster, but her body wasn't as developed. Her breasts were the size of apples, but Tabi only cared if Warrn noticed them anyway. It was fine for Patrice to flaunt her body. Tabi would always be better at stealth and blending in than the beauty that was in charge of the squad.
"I guess he didn't pass again." Tabi looked down toward the ground. She didn't realize how depressed she actually was about it until that moment.
"Shame." Patrice responded as she set her hand on Tabi's right shoulder. "We could have really used his bow and trapping skills."
"I guess it was just not meant to be." Tabi turned back to look out into the woods. Some of the first failures were beginning to make their way out of the forest. Most of them were sixteen and this test was their first. Still Tabi could see the distress that came with not passing. She had never felt that feeling personally. Instead she had passed her first trial and had quickly shown off her skills in the following months. Now she was considered one of the best Gray Cloaks in Oakrin. Something that had drawn attention from men that she only wanted from Warrn. Now that Warrn had failed it would only get worse as other Gray Cloaks attempted to win her heart. Her heart already belonged to Warrn though, no matter if he was a Gray Cloak, or as it turned out to be was not. "He will be heartbroken though."
"Craid will be happy." Patrice gave a small smile that showed she sympathized with Tabi. "He has always said that Warrn wasn't Gray Cloak material. Now he will return his focus to the fact that a Gray Cloak should only be with another Gray Cloak."
