The Ranger: Ch. 07

Welcome Back! Everyone depicted in this alternate universe, thousands of years in the futuristic past, is of age and have agreed to the their story being presented today. If you contribute ideas that come about and your story is added, you will need to pick out your background and class.

With so many people to juggle it might be nice to get them organized in your mind as well:

Team1: Heran, Evaine, Niviena, Ewlene, Yesime, Anders, Isabella

Team2: Sabina, Annalise, Desa, Abigale, Amber, Treya, Ivana, Joan

Team3: Katelyn, Beau, Erika, Alexandra, Triss, Abby, Jenna, Amelia

Team4: Jacob, Dustin, Jamison, Anton, Petra,Regina

Merchant Ship: Saedin, Agitha, Cassandra

Lounging around at home in the Inn listening to Saedin about his trip,

"The man I was talking to was a merchant, he was interested in the mint and lavender soaps but was at about half the price you stated." Saiden offers as Kae sits back.

"When we settle down with Twin Rivers, sell him some at the best price, and let them know it will go up over time as more people buy the limited amount." Mertil replies. "Having the oils and soaps, it will sell itself."

Evaine walks into the Inn, looking for me. "See, that's what I thought, look at him." Heran and the team walk in right after her. "Don't need you this morning Kae, stay here." They turn and leave as if it was practiced.

"I look bad?" I ask looking at the others.

"Tired, you look very tired, and your hair is uhh, different." Mertil smiles while looking up at my hair. The bucket in the Kitchen agreed with her. I've never let my hair get this long ever, and the beard itching and getting in the way is driving me crazy.

"Who can cut hair?"

"Sit down, I can trim them both." Mertil looks at Katelyn.

"Fine, I'll get'em." She grabs her scissors and a sheet to collect the hair.

"Hey scissors, wasn't sure you would have these, figured a straight razor of death was coming." I laugh and she did not.

"Most of our luxury stuff is back east, you don't take non-necessities into the wild to start over," Mertil says as she positions the chair on the sheet. "Not sure you should be calling us barbarians before I put a blade to your neck."

"I was doing no such thing, I don't know what you have on this world compared to mine, Like the hybrid wolves, we don't have them, we had running water? You have rogue Necromancers where we had regular thanes and lords doing the nasty stuff, sometimes Ogres and Trolls and other creatures to the far north in the ice plains."

Mertil steps between my legs until she was as far as she could go, trimming the beard from different angles, stepping over one leg or the other, I had to move my foot forward so she wasn't riding it.

"Running Water?" Beau asks.

"Yeah, imagine redirecting some of the water from the river just to the north in tubes to holding tanks here, I saw it in action once, either clay or concrete. Anyway, just some things I think of, nothing right now, but, when we have the money, hiring a few people could work.

Mertil hums a few times as she is walking around and judging what to do. "Kate, we could use a brush before trying to tame his hair." They brush the tangles out of my hair and then set to cutting it for the next few minutes, I'm not seeing very much land on the sheet. Mertil comes around and sits on my knees, her tiny body is easy to hold up.

"You comfy?" I ask as her face is tilted slightly as she trims my beard along the neck, Beau returns, though I never saw her leave, and hands a bottle to Mertil, dripped onto a cloth as it's wiped along my neck and cheeks, smells bad and apparently cleans up hair like a razor.

"That's new, how long before it grows back?" Saiden gets up and walks down the hall looking at me like it is getting awkward.

"Not long enough." Beau answers and the other two agree.

"You can just smear it all over and I'll be done." I smile at them and get shaking heads. Most of the men I've seen so far, except the Skaldians have very little hair, and no facial hair, guessing it isn't needed with year-round nice temperatures. I look like a pale, skinny Skaldian in comparison.

"Don't be bad this morning." Mertil notices the effect she is causing.

"That's not my fault, he was minding his own and then."

"Yeah, the wine club isn't the same if one isn't participating." Beau cuts in, looking between the two of us.

"Ahh, it's about the wine club?" Mertil asks wiping the stuff off my cheeks, my eyes are watering, not sure it was meant to be so close.

"Ninhersag said you are a follower of hers, Ow!" I lean back as my right eye stings from her jerking her hand up.

"Sorry! Water?" Mertil asks and Katelyn hurries into the kitchen, when she returns they have my head back and the water pouring on my eye is worse than the original sting, but I have all three of them hovering over me, I heal the burning in my eye but let them fuss over me.

"She, ugh, talked to you, about me?" Mertil asks as I hold the cloth over my eye.

"She likes your style, just like the rest of us, she is rooting for you to find happiness."

"I am happy, well, mostly, and of all the people in the world she spoke of me, I thought I wasn't, that, holy shit, I can't believe this." Mertil is fully planted in my lap and with her hands on my shoulders staring me in the eye to decide if I'm being serious.

"We can finish this another time," I stand up with Mertil in my arms and set her down on the floor as she squeaks. "Don't act so surprised, she asked me to take care of this place, she obviously knows everything you've done so far, how could she not approve of what you've accomplished?"

"Told you so." Beau says softly from the side as Mertil stands there crying. The two ladies have her in a hug as I sit back down and wonder what I should do. Katelyn is still giving me odd looks.

"Okay, I'm good for now, I'll be back after checking on Heran's team, I was also told to push them harder last night so I need to get out there to change things up. Katelyn?"

"Yes."

"Come with." I turn and walk out of the Inn, Katelyn catches up.

"What's with the faces you're making at me?"

"Sabina came down wrapped in your covers and they all saw it, need time to process the embarrassment as they all looked at me like I was supposed to be upset about it, that pushed me a bit." she pauses and pulls me around to face her. "I'm not, it was just the first time confronted and it threw me off."

"I'll never be embarrassed with any of you. Is there a better place to put me? Make it less obvious when Saiden's family is up and about?"

"Sure, I guess we can move you downstairs and Saiden and them upstairs." Her hands are holding both my arms. "Beau, Mertil, and Sabina are fine I guess in there, nobody else inside please."

"You sorted?" I asks and she nods, "Good, cuz, you belong to me now, some will be of the moment, but you are never going to get away from me."

"Shit Kae, that's a, ugh, alright;" she taps my chest and the aggressive Katelyn of old is back.

"You good?"

"We're good," she nods and looks around before giving me a fast kiss and then moves towards Mertil's home again with a swish in her step.

"Love that walk, woman," chuckling I catch back up to her. "Mertil is not currently on the table though, too much can go horribly wrong, and Tremont might be bad for her, but that's something she has to fix without me making it worse."

"Heh, keep telling yourself that Kae."

"Changing the topic, can you work with Mertil on writing up letters to Twin Rivers with copies for Saiden to every port he stops in? Simply stating what Aberdeen attempted and we formally declare separation from Twin Rivers after what they've done."

"What are they likely to do?" Katelyn whispers as we get closer to the practice.

"They can't do anything more than they've already tried," I say flatly and she nods. "Guess not."

Heran's team is good, better than most, and equal to Jacob's team where most had some prior experience.

"Start moving back ten paces after every ten shots, stop at the tree line cleanup as needed. Take your time, you don't have to keep up with the twitchy-fingered ones, same rules in place, no going to get arrows before it all stops. I know, I already said that a few times, but you are kind of important for this to work, so I'm saying it again."

Walking closer to Mertil's house when I see her pass by and talk to Katelyn, she waves me up as I pause at the bottom, "How official do the notices need to be?" Mertil continues to wave me up, "come here."

"Nothing too formal, anyone that reads it should understand in the first sentence: We declare independence and will no longer tolerate them until Aberdeen is removed, then all of the reasons." We sit and watch them practice for a while.

"I agree, it is bold and justified, we will need to be able to back this up as these are fighting words." Mertil sits back in her chair, "They take you, and then what?" I think about it for a moment and turn towards practice.

"Evaine! Come here for a moment? Hmm, all of you come here please."

"Who did I give my bow to on the boat?"

"Evaine!" Was the answer by most as she stood there.

"If anything happens to me, she is in charge of defenses. Mertil, Beau and Katelyn will obviously do the overall work, but you;" nodding at Evaine's face going between pride with the hugs and the fear when she looked up at me. "Are the pointy end of the arrow for this place, work with Jacob, and everyone will be fine."

"Back to work now, you still have to make it just past the house and the woods to the south." Waving them away, Elaine stays back. "We are writing up notices for the cities around us about what has happened, talk to Mertil and Jacob more about what's going on, and we'll talk at the end of every practice, I'd like to see if you can wield magic." She was nodding along with everything until the end.

"What!? Ugh, this is crazy," a little smile merges with her shocked expression.

"Well done Evaine." Mertil stands from her seat and gives her a motherly hug. "I remember a talk we had not long ago, right?"

"Yes, and thank you Mertil, it's just as surprising to me." She shrugs and goes back to the line.

"Magic, her?" Mertil whispers, "Everyone knows you're born with it?"

"Don't know yet, where I'm from you have to have a spark in you to take on more, you have mages here,"

'Can't hurt to try?' I ask Cinthia.

'If it's what you want to do, then do it.' she replies a bit more cryptically than her normal self. Sounds like this might be construed as extra help.'

Evaine is smooth, Mertil was watching them so I figured a quick example for her to see, "look at her pull and delivery compared to the others." We've been watching her as we talk. Many of them pull the arrow before they line up on the target, something we'll have to fix, Evaine pulls while lining up with a smooth release twice as fast, walking the line and helping others after she finishes.

"Anyone can see she's the best one out there of all the groups, the magic though, two of you, here?" Mertil looks at Evaine and then back to me again, "The council will be here soon."

"I have a good reason to be here and both of us trust the one that put me here." I look over and she nods while taking a drink.

"So many things have happened in such a short period of time Kae, other than the looters we have been sitting idle for quite a while. I give thanks every night that she thought of this tiny place when so much is going on everywhere else. "Ladies?" They are almost even with us in a line. "When you get done, come inside and help me with some writing?"

"I'll cover Sabina's and Katelyn's, go rest after last night, you can meet with Jacob's group later." Evaine volunteers and I'll take it.

"Sounds good, tell them all to be back at dusk, we are going to do a quick practice all together."

Never thought my home would be an Inn, the quiet is unexpected thinking Saiden's family or Sabina might be here, I'm the only one and feel the aches from muscles used yesterday running and swimming that I hadn't used in a while, so a nap does sound pretty good while I can get it.

Waking up, I never know when Cin or Gray are going to show up.

'You look like shit and needed the sleep, not talk.' I hear Gray and laugh out loud.

'Yeah, I've heard that a few times today.'

'How dense can you be man, she was between your legs and then sat right on you. How obvious does something have to be to get your attention, Do you remember what the Mistress asked? Can you imagine what you can do with such a tiny thing?'

'I remember, not until she sorts her life out.' Ignoring his last comment.

'Stop being a." Grayson starts and I know what he's going to say.

'Hey, hey, none of that, we'll figure it out.'

Walking back out to Mertil's she hands me one of the writs.

Viscount Aberdeen, 'City' of Twin Rivers

The Township of Riverside Declares its Independence:

Association with Twin Rivers is halted until Viscount Aberdeen is removed for the crimes attempted under his authority.

Per dealings with the Skaldian, Aberdeen abdicated his duties of payment via the treaty by offering up the Town of Riverside in lieu of payment. This arrangement would have emptied the town of all peoples via death or slavery, the agreement was rejected and ratified with Bjorn of the Skaldian to deal with Riverside directly going forward.

This is being communicated to all Coastal Cities to reflect the records.

17th day of Eleasis, 686

Tremont Judicine

Riverside Township

"Looks good to me, so it should look good to just about anyone who reads this, short and to the point." I see a stack of them on the table by her chair.

The tactics are simple: Get them into the open while all of my people have cover, lure them to what they know to be the Mayors home, and then to organize who does what in each team.

Jacobs team is working their way back in from the south woods. Team four has that area and as he has most of the guards, his team can peel off into the streets if anyone turns down from the docks, it seemed appropriate for them to guard the town. About half of the town was milling about, talking about the writs as many helped write them so the contents probably spread through town before I woke from the nap. I noticed Mertil looking at her grass.

"Muddy ground is good, if anything happens, we pull them here, the teams are along the treeline and the enemy has to run through the mud, good for us, bad for them." The lines on her face took a moment to lesson as she finally showed she understood, but still didn't like it.

"How do you keep the grass around here so nice?" I asked noticing it wasn't knee high with weeds all over.

"We cut trees to build the town, but this clearing was always here, well, until now." I don't think she understood what I was asking which answered my question. No undergrowth in the woods, no weeds in the grass, this seems like it was made up like I'm still asleep in my own world and dreaming of this place. It seems too perfect, but I'm not sure how I could test it.

'It's not Kae, this is real.' Cinthia says.

'That's exactly what my dream would say.' I reply and I can feel she rolled her eyes at me.

Beau walks out in a dress, I'm used to seeing her in high boots, men's pants tucked in, and with pockets stuffed.

"Kae!?"

"Hmm, what?" I look up at a bowl of stew and she is smiling at me, busted staring. "That is a very good look for you." Looking back down at her legs, it has been a few days.

She is beaming, "Just take the bowl," her voice lowered into a husky tone, I could hear Mertil chuckle beside us.

"No need to ask him if he likes it." Mertil's frown from earlier seemed to have vanished. "He hides nothing, does he?

"Doesn't seem like it," Beau pushed the bowl forward, "You haven't eaten today have you?"

"I don't think so, ugh, I haven't, thanks." I need to get ahold of myself, why am I gawking after seeing naked women almost daily? Reaching out I feel the material, "What is this?"

"Cotton, do you not have cotton where you are from?" Beau asks.

"Not sure really, mostly wool and linen, the richer types have the satins and silks and such."

"Cotton is lighter for the heat and airy, especially if you have nothing on underneath." Beau turns and walks over to another chair to sit. Mertil started laughing and I turn stunned staring to see if I could tell. For such a tiny thing she has a huge laugh. A few of the women in the yard started laughing just from hearing her laugh so loud and long.

Beau laughs in a much gentler tone, "Been a while since I've heard you laugh like that."

"Oh, whew, I thought you broke him for a moment." Mertil looks at me and laughs again.

"Thank you for the stew Beau," giving her an honest look and then turning on Mertil, "You too chuckles," I hold the writ up and walk down the steps while eating. "Alright everyone into your teams!" One and two to my right, three to the left and four south of them close to the edge of town." I walk to the center of where I set them to go.

"Jacob, just a bit closer. Everyone step back behind a tree so that you can step around and hit the targets."

"Now! will be the call, nock an arrow, step around and hit your target. Do you remember your number?" This got quite a few no's. "Okay, your number is one through eight starting north to south in the order you are standing now, the lead needs to be in the one spot! Hit the target that matches your number east to west!" I pause, just to be sure we should let them see it. I don't think many of the understood.

"Team 1 get ready, the rest watch! Team 1, now." Heran's team stepped out and fired at the targets from the north east closest to the house. "Good. Stay there, Team 2, now." Going team to team and then having them gather their arrows. "All teams back behind, Team four break off and work north through town, Jacob, teach them to stay covered, protect our flank, turn at the hall and head back to Mertil's.

"Now!" Three teams step out and let loose, "two more times, let lose three and step back behind. The order gets messy as they dip in and out at different times, but it works for the first time. "Okay everyone stop! Come here, get your arrows and stay. We have to wait a minute for Team four to work their way around town, could take a while at their age."

"Once we get a few more targets we can practice for real. We want Team1 will focus on archers first and then leadership. Team 2 and 3 are to work your way through the front ranks. Team 4 will help or defend your flanks." What is a good signal to wake everyone up if they show up at night? Something loud."

"Jenna screams pretty loud!" Gets a few laughs.

"Pots clanged together, we all have them." Triss says and is surprised when everyone agrees.

"Great, Get two ready by the front doors, every store, the Hall, and team leads have two with you for the next week. One clang at a time to get everyone into position, two quick clangs to call clear.

"Go from your house straight into the woods, do not follow the road up and around as I would expect anyone coming in would have a boat or two stopping short and coming through the woods to the north and the rest at the docks. If any break off and head through the town, Team 4 will start south of town, hug the homes and clear the streets working forward like you did today. We'll try the pots signal tomorrow at dusk to get everyone here. Same trees you used today. Keep the noise down until called out.

"What's the signal to break off and head through town?" Jacob asks.

"If anyone sees a group head down the road, ugh, 2quick clangs, once you hear it, don't repeat it and give away your position." Jacob nods and looks at his team and answers a question.

"If you hear four we meet where we did today." Jacob says to his team and they don't say anything back with looks that range from agreement to worry.