Warden by Kevin Hardman Read Free Book Online

feel when danger’s near, when something is out of sorts. That’s a trait that Prap lacks.”
    “ But, as you said, he wears the uniform of a Warden,” Errol said. “ Therefore, he must have some value.”
    Bander sighed. “ As I mentioned, we lowered our standards at the time, so basically it was easier to meet the qualifications of being a Warden. Even with that, Prap barely squeaked by. His saving grace is essentially the fact that he’s an excellent fighter.”
    “Really?” Errol asked, caught by surprise.
    “Oh, yes. He’s absolutely deadly. Without the right mindset, though, without the right personality, all we did in training him – and others like him – was make him dangerous.”
    “ So,” Errol said, “ you’re telling me there’s a whole generation of Wardens just like Prap.” The thought was almost enough to make Errol feel queasy.
    “ No, not really. It didn’t take us long to realize we’d made a mistake, and we redoubled our efforts at recruiting the right types of people. Before long, our numbers, in terms of proper recruits, started to come up.”
    “ But you still have people like Prap wearing the uniform.”
    “ Yes, but the problem was what to do with them. Too dangerous to simply kick out, too incompetent to trust with real responsibility, too troublesome to simply leave idle. And so, we devise busy work to keep them occupied.”
    “ Like sending two Wardens on a road trip that really only requires one.”
    Bander winked at him, grinning. “ You’re obviously a quick study when it comes to the academic side of being a Warden. Let’s see if you’re equally adept in the field.”
    With that, Bander began testing Errol in earnest. He made the younger Warden pick a campsite for the night (a comfortable-looking glade), scout the local area for potential threats, and give a detailed account of their location – as well as identify true north – using only the stars as reference points.
    In addition, the veteran tested Errol’s tracking ability. After locating a game trail near their camp, Bander made Errol identify and track certain animals that frequented the trail via their spoor – scent, paw prints, etc. He also had to provide particular details about said animals (such as size and weight), still with nothing more to go on than their tracks.
    Finally, the older man examined Errol’s thaumaturgy. Errol had already used his wand to give them light as darkness fell. Now, he was tasked with setting the wards for their camp – placing the magical symbols around the glade that would keep them safe from the monsters of the Badlands while they slept.
    In short, Bander gave Errol a fairly thorough examination with respect to being both a tracker and a wielder of Warden-magic, among other things. When they finally concluded after a few hours, Errol flopped down next to the fire of their campsite, weary but thoroughly confident that he had passed any test.
    That said, he still felt the need to go back through everything mentally. Of course, the test had practically been child’s play for Errol. From selecting a campsite to tracking denizens of the forest, the skills that were being assessed were things that he had been doing since the time he could walk. He could practically do them in his sleep.
    The only thing that caused him a slight bit of concern were the wards. Initially, Errol had crafted all of the wards surrounding their camp himself. However, after he had finished, Bander had examined the symbols and then had Errol redraw half of them – all on one side of the camp – according to the older Warden’s own specifications.
    This had worried Errol initially, and for a moment he had feared that he had made a mistake and etched the symbols incorrectly. (It was a mistake he had made in the past, much to his shame.) Then he realized that this was just another evaluation of his competence, an effort to judge whether his ability to draw protective wards was an actual skill or the