World of Ranicke Bk. 02 Ch. 05

After some contemplation he decided to invite all of them to dinner that evening to let them know. It only took a few minutes to knock out some notes and he gave them to Farion to deliver and read. The girls had started some of the regular classes but they had a long way to go before they could read anything. That and they were in his tent still and probably would be for a while. Nang would need to do some expansion of her caravan before they could move in and he had a feeling that they would remain with the rest of his kids.

Once he had taken care of that he had set the other children to making sure they had everything needed. Before they left all clothing would be cleaned, carpets hung to dry as best possible and the dirt beat out of them. They were used to it but he kept a close watch on them as did his ladies.

Jim also had responsibilities as a sub-chief as well which included making notes. Most of them were on the status of the actual camp so they had a good idea of what might need doing next time they were there. That was always subject to change since to best guess they were there once every year and a third earth time. That gave the animals time to root up the stones, plant life to do the same as well as random rain storms. One thing he noted was a suggestion to consider doing a rough expansion of the camp before they added any more tribe members.

Eventually that evening rolled around and he had ordered food for the adults and Ana and Allie. The rest of the kids were sent to the food tent for dinner. From there they would be going to one of the dance tents till Jim called for them. When Dan and Nang walked in Jim looked up. "Good evening and if you would like there is some nice wine if you want. Dinner will be here soon as well."

Nang smiled at him before going to get a couple of mugs. One she handed to Dan and the other she kept. "We already know why you invited us over and so do Pam and Bear. I can't say I am really happy but the tribe has welcomed us and made us feel welcome. I don't mind this for the most part but I am concerned about the girls."

Dan nodded. "Same here. I have lived in far worse places than this and can't think of a better place to retire. I definitely don't have to worry about one of the various agencies calling me up out of the blue. If they manage to I am going to be more than surprised."

Jim snorted at that. "I am not worried about them but I am concerned about the people who actually discovered this and created it. Granted they have only been able to call me back once but with the time dilation effect heaven only knows how many years they might advance compared to here." That was another reason he wanted to talk to Dan. They needed to see if there was anything they could work up to possibly resolve the issue. That and since Nang was going to be the lead mystic she might get some sort of insight.

Dan sighed since he had been thinking much the same. "I have been contemplating the same as has Nang. So far we haven't gotten anywhere." He took a sip of the wine and Bear and Pam walked in.

"Evening both of you, have a seat and relax. We were just discussing ideas about coming and going to our world. I know I will not go back but Dan and Nang have the girls, Pam has her daughter, and you do have grand children." Jim swirled the wine and took a sip. It was good but he kept resisting the urge to make hard liquor due to all the problems his world had.

Pam bit her lip. "I will miss Trisha but other than her there simply isn't anything there for me. I haven't left the town for years and spent most of my time in my house painting." That was a sad realization but after Jeff had died she had slowly withdrawn. She felt more alive here than she had in many a year. "If I had a choice I think I would stay here with you Jim."

Bear shrugged. "As the creator's wheel turns so does life. Sometimes you know what happened to a loved one and other times you don't. I have been planning on wandering for years and my kids know it. They will assume that I have gone for a long walk and if they don't hear from me will assume I have gone back to the creator." He was enjoying life here as well and it felt good to get in touch with the world again.

Nang finally spoke. "I know it will be hard for the girls in the short run but in the long run I think it will be good for them. I will miss my family but I have family here as well and sometimes you have to make the decision which is best for you. In this case it is for the four of us and Dan and I have decided we are going to stay as well."

The girls walked in with Jim's mates and had dinner with them. Jim raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you get turned into food delivery specialists? Now if it was Pizza I could understand but..."

That got a snort and snicker from the humans and an eyeroll from Sorrel. "Be good oh worthy mate or you might end up in the kids tent again." That wasn't going to happen for a while though. It was nice to have their mate back and they had been making good use of it.

Once the food was set out everyone settled down. "Smells really good and I am going to have to do something really nice for Agnon. Maybe Thomas and I can go and find a young Ringlar buck." That was a rare treat and they were hard to find unless you were very skilled. Traditionally you had to hunt it down with a spear and knife to increase the challenge and to avoid over hunting.

Sheeha had to purr at that idea since the skin was prized as well. "I would like to go hunting with you unless I am pregnant." She had to make a face. "Which I have a feeling I am so if I am may I have the hide?"

Jim nodded. "Depending who makes the kill yes you can have the hide. I think you deserve it though I will say maybe something nice for the others like a bracelet would be nice." When tanned the right way the skin almost looked metallic and sunlight would ripple across it.

Sheeha nodded and started thinking of some of the things she could do with it. Through dinner they talked about the move and what might be needed. "I will have one or two of the kids come over and make sure you have everything. You know most of what is needed but better safe than sorry." Dan agreed and they kept eating.

~~~

It was two days later when the sun showed through the cloud cover. The rain was still coming down but nothing like it had been and within several days would be gone. Next was the fertile season though Jim tended to think of it as the steamed season since it was so humid. If it wasn't for the insects many people would have gone with just pants or a skirt. Maybe if they had an effective insecticide for the masses of insects but it simply wasn't possible.

Everything had been packed up and the last few things were being put away. "Ana, Allie stay with this caravan or the one ahead or behind. It might not look like it but we tend to move at a reasonable pace. Till you are used to it don't try to keep up. Some would be good but you will be doing important work keeping the littles occupied."

As he was talking he slung his axe, one of the rifles and a few clips. He wasn't worried but old habits die hard and being well armed was one that he would keep. Thomas met him and they walked over to the chief's caravan and after a few commands went back and they started moving. Thankfully Sorrel had finally decided to learn how to direct his caravan. That freed him up to patrol and take care of various issues.

They would be on the trail for about two and a half to three days before they met up with Nasha's pack. He was looking forward to that since he got to show off his pups to her parents and family. There would be a small ceremony as they were introduced and named. They would get their first pack necklace as well. For infants it was a simple necklace so they couldn't choke on it.

~~~

The trip wasn't to bad once the rain stopped. It didn't take it long to turn muggy though and that made the trip rather miserable and he had been there for years. The ones that were having a problem was Bear, Pam, and the girls. They had mostly lived in the northwest and that was absolutely nothing compared to this.

Thankfully they were approaching the stop and it was early afternoon and that would give them time to setup. For this the senior members of the tribe would be nearest the celebration circle. In theory it was to keep conflicts and challenges down but that didn't always hold true. With Nasha's pack there was relatively little conflict since this was the only part of their territory which met the Soran's tribal lands.

He could tell the girls were pleased to stop since they were helping to set up the tents with gusto. "Let me guess you two are looking forward to a good soak right?" He was grinning as he said that. To be honest he was too. They usually made camp near water but that just wasn't the same as the bathing pools.

Ana grumbled at him. "I just want to get clean. Bathing using buckets from the various streams is cooling but I just don't feel clean. I would rather a shower personally but baths are acceptable." Her shirt was soaked with sweat and she paused to suck down a fair amount of flavored water before she continued working.

Jim had to laugh. "I can agree with that. I have to admit that a good cool bucket of water over my head at this time of year is very nice." He had worked in some pretty humid places but this was far worse at times. "Well it won't be much longer before we are setup and then you can go get clean and change clothes.

They worked a while longer and camp was almost setup when Jim froze and looked around. The jungle had gone silent which was never a good thing. Since he was at the caravan he reached in and pulled out one of the bullet proof vests and the bag with some ammunition. The rifle was next and after making sure it was ready he gave out a piercing whistle. "Everyone into the caravan and secure the door."

That definitely got a reaction as first the kids and then his ladies scrambled for the caravan. Moments later other whistles went up and it was rather like watching the rippling of a pond. The movement of women, children, and non-combatants started towards the nearest caravan. Jim slowly moved away from the caravan so he could hopefully hear what might be causing the jungle to go silent.

When Thomas joined him Jim nodded and kept going. He was heading in the direction that Nasha's tribe should be coming from. It took a bit of time but he started hearing sounds from that direction. At first it was the sounds of running and then cries of pain. Moments later he started hearing rifle fire and the occasional grenade. "Fucking bastards." He was going to do his best to remove the problem once and for all.

"Thomas find the tribe and gather up several more warriors and lead them to the ceremonial site. Get as many as possible in the caravans and have the warriors create a protective circle. This is a fight I need to deal with since they are from my world." Jim kept moving forward and started encountering the Inu's. As he was passing them he directed them towards the Soran's camp.

The sounds of rifle fire was getting louder and he started heading in that direction. Even if he couldn't shoot anyone return fire should slow them down and possibly even draw them to him. That would improve the chances of the pack getting away and his taking out the gun men.

Jim started moving to one side so he was out of the flow of the pack members and found a good spot to look around from. It was up in a tree some and after climbing up there he started scanning the forest. Noticing the person with the rifle was blind luck for him since he appeared to be in camo. The only reason he noticed was the person moved while he was looking at him.

He raised the rifle and carefully sighted in and pulled the trigger. Jim still wasn't totally used to the rifle and had forgotten to change the selector to single shot. Since the rifle, according to Dan, had a very high cyclic rate the burst came out of the barrel at almost the same time. That and his rifle didn't have any sort of suppressor and had a distinctively different sound.

As he watched the person went down hard with a spray of blood painting the tree behind him with red. Jim slipped down out of the tree and started towards the person. In the distance he heard a rifle that sounded like his and smiled. Dan was working now and that was going to be a shock to the others. As he was moving towards the person he had shot another popped up and Jim didn't think before shooting him. This time it appeared to be a graze but the man did go down.

Jim pulled his pistol since he wanted information and not death. In the distance the sound of a grenade went off and he really hoped it was Dan firing. The pack couldn't handle to many of those before they simply scattered and that was bad. As he approached the second man he shot and had to duck as he took a pot shot at him. Jim backed off and approached from a different direction and had almost made it when the man fired. He felt that strike and a spike of pain from the impact. He grunted and fired back.

The man grunted as well and dropped his pistol since it hit him in the shoulder. Jim hurried over as the man was trying to get to his pistol with the other arm. Jim reached over and grabbed the man by the vest and pistol whipped him to stun him for a moment. He had to take a moment to catch his breath since the wound in his leg was bad and was bleeding freely. Jim took a moment to tie a makeshift tourniquet around the leg and then turned back to the man.

With a casual brutality Jim stripped him till he found a device dangling around his neck. It had a sizable yellow button with a gray case. It rather made him think of the dimensional buttons from Dr. Who. The man started to wake up and tried to grab the button. "What is this?" Jim growled out.

The man started laughing. "It is your death warrant James." He lunged at Jim and pressed the button and the hum Jim associated with dimensional travel. The man had grasped the hand Jim had around the device and held on as hard as possible to keep him from getting away. "See you in hell James..."

The world started to come apart which was somewhat different than what he had experienced before. It felt like he was being scoured by tiny burning embers as he dissolved from Ranicke. When he finally woke up he found he was in a semi-dark room and staring at a rather odd looking old man.

Maybe it was because of his exposure to the dimensional travel or all the people of Ranicke but he knew he wasn't human. His gray hair almost looked like feathers, his facial features were narrow and his eyes bulged out almost to either side. "Who the fuck are you and why are you on earth?" The only reason he was standing was because his back was pressed against a familiar metal mesh.

The man blinked at Jim and when he spoke he almost sounded like a bird. "Oh my, I finally get to meet you James. I would say it is a pleasure but you kept interfering with my plans to go back home." When Jim asked him his name he smirked. "I am pretty sure you won't recognize it but I am Zephra Slan Perskia of the Zetheron."

Jim frowned slightly since the name did sound familiar but it was the racial name that really struck a chord. "Ah, the creator of the V'Shalla disease. Aimed at killing your enemies. I am so pleased to meet you and kill you." He started to raise his rifle as the other man started laughing.

"Silly child if you kill me you will never get back to your prescious mates and babies." He gave James an evil smirk. "I will promise to leave your tribe in peace till such time as you are dead. I will even send you back to them as proof of that."

Jim snorted. "Believe the traitor and kin slayer? I don't think so and if I don't make it back my family will live though they will miss me. I can live with that." As soon as he said that he fired a shot and smiled as the person's head exploded. "I gotta love this rifle."

The moment he shot the man he stumbled and for a moment felt thin and almost transparent before he became solid again. "Not good." He glanced around the lab and it was old. The technology was early 2000's since the computers were massive. The cage didn't have the finished look of the others he had been in. This looked like it might be the first of them and if he destroyed them it was very possible that he would undo all of them.

He staggered out of the cage and was forced to take his time to get to a central location. Every step or two it felt like reality was wavering and he would have to stop. Once he was in a spot he wanted he turned the rifle towards the cage and fired a grenade at it. Before it hit he was already randomly firing the other two grenades into the room and then everything came undone.

A blast of heat hit and he felt like he was dissolving again. This time he knew there wasn't any coming back from what was happening. *I love all of you and will miss all of you. Stay strong my loves and keep going.* That was his last thought before his body dissolved into a flash of heat.

The heat was sufficient to cause the ammunition and grenades in the satchel to go off. Added to the explosion was a surge of energy from the broken connection. The building went up with a massive explosion that littered the area with bricks and stone blocks for many blocks.

***

Back at the camp the survivors of the attack were being treated by Lia and the rest of the medical staff. Dan was up to his elbows in blood as well since he was using his medical background to help. They were still looking for survivors of the attack. The body count wasn't going to be huge all things considered but for this world it was going to be heavy. Chances were good they would be there for a while as Nasha's pack was healing. Dan contemplated that as he turned the person he was working on over to an assistant to suture up.

About then the world seemed to waver for a few moments and then settle down. Right about then Sorrel screamed 'JAMES' and collapsed. His other ladies did as well and Dan knew he was gone. What had happened he didn't know but assumed it was something to do with the portal between dimensions and all he could hope was that it was now sealed.

The End

~~~ Epilogue

It was close to a year since Jim had vanished. They had kept hoping that he would appear but if he did there was no telling where he might appear. As it happened Sheeha had gotten pregnant and when she delivered a little boy she named him Jim. When they met with Chief Piquel it was going to be a sad meeting since Jim wasn't able to present the child to him.

When they arrived and set the camp up it was a quiet affair. This had been the place Jim had been presented his warrior necklace and fought Piquel. It was also very close to the time that the tribe had been attacked and where Jim had taken charge of Alon. As she was thinking about this Piquel approached.

"Sheeha, Alon, it is good to see you. Where is Jim? I came over to say hello but nobody will say anything about it." He had a good feeling that Jim had died somehow which saddened him.

Sheeha turned to him and moved over and wrapped her arms around him and started crying. "Yim is dead as far as we can tell. Nasha's pack was attacked by people from his world and in the middle of the attack they vanished. I really miss him Chief." She leaned into him for a few minutes before the baby started crying in the back sling.

"I would like to present our cub Chief. This is Jim and I am going to present him tonight. As of now Alon and I wish to stay with Chief Moran's tribe. Alon has taken responsibility for Jim's family though he had some growing to do."

Piquel sighed when she told him Jim was dead. "We will honor him tonight then. I am pleased to meet your cub and I accept your staying here with Alon." He squatted down in front of Alon and smiled. "I am proud of you son. Take care of them and if you need anything contact me."