Eventually Kalia was able to take refuge with the Sull. The Sull didn’t care about your past. As long as you were loyal to the Sull and followed their strict rules, you were welcome. The Sull are not a large clan compared to most, but they are one of the most feared. By Elvin standards, the Sull are strange. They follow a rituals and traditions based on the old gods, but yet they worship the new ones.
The Hunters of Sull had their sights on Baralias since he was very young. Uncannily quiet in the woods for someone so young, the hunters felt that Baralias would make a fine addition into their ranks. He passed all of their tests with flying colors and won the respect of the Huntmaster. During his welcoming ceremony, his own brother, already a hunter, had the honor of presenting to Baralias his chak’ah’nuet; the small blade that Baralias would use to give sacrifice. Giving sacrifice is the cornerstone of the Hunter’s beliefs. Any time a Hunter wants to appease the gods, or give thanks, he will cut himself and offer his own blood. Veteran Hunter’s are covered head to toe in scars of sacrifice. To accept the chak’ah’nuet, the prospective Hunter must accept the ‘first cut’ from another hunter, for you must be injured by another before you can properly give sacrifice and the Hunters would never allow an enemy to have the honor of first cut. Again, Baralias’ brother Jamihei was granted the honor. It was a fine day for the family of Kalia.
During the next couple of months of training, a teacher came forward stating that Baralias had the inner magic to be a Death Watcher, the deadliest of all Hunters and revered by all of the Sull. A Death Watcher can ‘heart kill’ any living creature with one shot. The heart becomes a beacon to the Watcher and he is able to send an arrow unerringly to its center, killing the target instantly. There had not been a new Watcher within the Hunters for over 75years and the fact that Baralias was to be the next was a great source of pride for him and his family. It was also a great source of excitement for the Sull. Maybe the instructor was wrong, or maybe something had changed in Baralias where he no longer held the magic, but after going through the Ice Gate, which is said to bring out the ability of the heart kill, Baralias felt no different. Upon picking up his bow and shooting at a fine stag, Baralias proved it. Instead of the heart, Baralias hit the Stag’s rear.
His family and friends said that it was ok and that the instructor must have made a mistake. Even the other Hunters claimed that Baralias had done nothing to be ashamed of, but ashamed he was. Many people came to Baralias to offer comfort (for he was well liked by both family and clan), but he could see the disappointment in their eyes. He had let them down. His greatest moment of glory had been shattered and he didn’t know why.
Under the protests of his family, Baralias left the clan. He could not be around his clan, especially the Hunters, when he had failed them. It didn’t matter to him that he had only just begun his training and that the others said that he would still make an excellent Hunter. All Baralias could think of was his failure. As Baralias said goodbye to his family, a guest arrived at their house to wish him off. Horaniur, the leader of the Hunters, had something wrapped in a cloth. As he opened the gift, Baralias saw his chak’ah’nuet. Tears filled his eyes as he began to give it back to his Huntmaster. Horaniur would have nothing to do with it.
“You are a Hunter. You are a son of the Sull. You may leave the Sull and you may leave the Hunters, but just as with your family, they never leave you. Take your chak’ah’nuet and always be faithful to us. No matter where you are, you are one with us. Someday, you will return and take up your rightful place. May you always shoot true young one.”
It was a year later when Baralias finally decided that he needed the company of others again. He had been able to pull together an existence in the woods, but his skills were not that of a trained Hunter. After all, he had only been in training a couple of months. So, he really was just getting by. One day he saw a large town and decided to investigate. Maybe there would be some of the people there, or maybe he could meet a Human. He had seen them from a far in the woods, but he had never actually talked to one. After a few mishaps in communication with the locals, Baralias decided that he had best move on to somewhere else. Taking a job as a caravan guard provided him the opportunity to see where his road may lead while still trying to figure out which direction that he wanted it to go.