The Ranger:

Welcome Back! Everyone depicted in this alternate universe, thousands of years in the futuristic past, are of age and have agreed to the their story being presented today. If your story is added, you will also have to agree.

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

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

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

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

Merchant Ship: Saedin, Agitha, Cassandra

"What do you think of him?" Katelyn asks, snuggling up against Kae, her team took the news of Twin Rivers coming for them as she expected. Triss and Abby wanted revenge, Jamison just nodded and went quiet and Amelia was worried that took most of Katelyn's time before getting back to the Inn.

"I trust his wife, she knew he wouldn't leave before he did," I remember the look on her face when she stood, calm and collecting her children without a doubt of the outcome. It was what finally set Severan's jaw before he nodded. The training seems to have put a little iron in their backs, even the ones that look worried have a weapon on them and are ready to respond in moments, the alternative scares you to death.

It seems Katelyn likes to make out at night and then wake up early in the morning for sex before starting her day, she says it makes the morning fly by.

______

'Kae?'

'Hmmm?'

'I miss you; I know it's weird to say it considering I'm in your head and hear more of you than I've ever heard before but, it's not the same.' Cinthia says looking down at me.

'Miss you too, is that why Gray does most of the talking to me?'

'Nah, I train while he lays about.' Cinthia is straddling my lap in the bed, looking over it's briefly Katelyn before going out of focus, Cinthia getting my attention as I can feel her straddling me.

'No different than before all this though right? You studied every moment you had free while Gray and I practiced a few hours a week.' Reaching up, I make contact with both sides of her face and pause, she leans her cheek into my palm.

'Kick ass tomorrow Kae, I can't keep you here tonight as you are going to need the little sleep you are going to get, but tomorrow night you sleep alone and expect another round as we had in Hagerstown.'

'What? That was the first time I actually feared you.' That was the least sexy night ever, I was pretty sure she was going to kill me there for a moment.'

'Oh, not that part, I was mad that you wouldn't catch on that I wanted you.' She chuckles, 'your face when I held you down, so cute.'

'Cin, you had a knife to my throat and cut me, your eyes were literally on fire.

'I thought you were intentionally teasing me, so I was going to, well, anyway, once I found out you were just stupid, everything after that got us here.' Leaning down she kisses me and vanishes.

'Alone Kae.' I hear as a whisper, yep, that is the Cin I remember.

Waking up to Katelyn riding me and feeling pretty darn good, the window showed it was still dark outside. "Hey."

"Hey, I thought you were going to miss it." Katelyn doesn't slow down as she grinds on me.

"I don't mind you waking me at the start of this?"

"Cinthia asked me not to."

"She talks to you?" I ask surprised.

"Through you, she woke me up and we chatted." Katelyn went from heavy lidded lust riding bliss to stopping and smirking down at me. "She said she has tonight? How does that work?"

"Shhh, focus, or I'm going to finish without you."

"All this time together and you know nothing about me; I'm on two now. Moving you downstairs was a great idea, keep the noise down."

"I'll try," replying back to her dryly as she is making all of the noises.

"I can't believe how much I missed waking up like this, how's the Inn's service now sir?" She leers down at me, grinding her stomach down and rubbing her clit forward.

"Once we find a secluded location, I'll show you."

"Shh, it." Katelyn puts her hand over my mouth and moaned into her second, her forehead came down to my shoulder. I mumbled a laugh at her getting it so wrong, her legs trembling. Rolling off she sighs, "your friend wasn't as scary as I thought she would be."

"She's saved my butt dozens of times."

"Whew." She sits up and leans over, taking me in.

"Unless you are hungry, I was going to save that for later, feeling pretty darn good already," she looks up at me lips wrapped around and bobbed up and down a few more times and comes off still holding it.

"Me, or someone else?" she asks. "She waggles it around."

"Beau." I reply and she looks back down at it.

"Fine." She lets go and stands up, "Don't die today."

"Same for you, your team stays back to protect the flanks if Jacob stays put. Shoot into the front ranks, and then keep an eye out for surprises.."

"No worries there, Beau and I decided to let Jamison, Anton and them do all the leg work. We're still working on hitting the target."

"Breakfast will be ready early so I can grab the team for the morning. Eggs and meat for everyone today," She pats my stomach and walks out of the room.

The Inn has more people lately, Katelyn's team popping in throughout the day just to chat with her or meet up with others and just talk there. Then Beau and Mertil meet there and everyone that likes to meet with them either from their duties or just to eavesdrop on the others doing the same. Saiden, Agitha, Heran and Anders were having breakfast together, Heran seeming like a different person than the one I spied on arriving here. She acknowledges my arrival and give Anders a side eye to show me they were all together and not hiding anything now, I give her back a tiny nod and smile in agreement.

Sabina walks out with a plate full of too much food and sets it down in front of me, I do like living at an Inn where I'm not asked for coin every day, and get free food.

'And we just finished having sex with her mother,' Gray says, 'best looking breakfast since being here.'

"Saiden you bringing more of this back?" I ask mouth full, pointing at my plate.

He nods, "Mertil asked that after she told Katelyn and the others to feed everyone this morning."

"I've felt rabbit in the woods," I say thinking about the size of the town and the amount of meat it would take. "A few buck, and several dozen doe would be the perfect size for breeding."

"You can do that?" Sabina stops behind my chair, she's been fetching for Agitha and Penelope's tables. "We trap them, or Sidaeh did before she left."

"Sure, keep them for a year or two and let them go, about a thousand babies a year, not including they can have babies at three months old, it's a matter of keeping up with them so they don't eat everything, it can get out of control quickly if not careful."

"Saiden claps his hands to his thighs and stands up. "We are leaving once everyone is gathered at the dock, bring the items we discussed for the trip to Sreport for two days."

"Tell you sister what we plan to do?" Severan hugs his wife and kids.

"Yes, dear, and do what you do best," Penelope whispers, releasing her husband and gathering their things, handing bags to the kids after they hugged Severan and they walked off with Saiden and Agitha.

"Anything I need to know ahead of time?" Severan asks while we walk over to Mertil's home, the rest were asked to stay in their homes to try the alarm.

"Heran, Sabina, Katelyn and Jacob manage a team of archers each, each one has specific targets; Jacobs team has quite a few of the guards, so if any attackers break off to go through town he'll handle them. We'll show you the setup near Mertil's house and initial thoughts."

Mertil and surprisingly Tremont met us in the field just south of their steps. "Here we go." I say and hit the pans together once, wait a moment, and do it again and set them down. A few moments later, I hear Triss curse and some shushes. Sabina whispers for Desa to get back behind her tree.

"Now." I say loudly without shouting. Most everyone came out with good timing, strings release, string release, two arrows and stop. The 16 targets we have in the middle suffer several hits each. More misses than hits, we have to practice like we fight, not going to get the same results we did the night before when everyone warmed up all day.

"Nice! If they have no ranged weapons, stay out and keep firing, if they do, duck back, nock, and come back out. Two more each, Go."

"They each have their own targets." I say to Severan as we watch them step back and forth a few times.

"They good enough already?" Severan asks looking at the targets and nodding, things are different with moving targets, but this is reassuring. "Did you really send off Bjorn and his team by yourself?"

"Yes," Mertil answers before I could. Tremont scowls, I'll have to chat with him soon.

"I'll focus on keeping them away from us four, and any ranged that are still standing." I answer. "Stop, clean up. One more time and we are done." I yell out to everyone.

"We need someone to run up to the farmhouses south of the city and give the writs, we might be able to stop this if people know what.."

"Not you." Mertil answers quickly, "Need you here." We watch their second time through and when they are picking up their arrows, Mertil calls them over. "Great work everyone, we need someone to deliver some of the writs to a few homes south of the Twin Rivers?"

"I'll do it." Anders replies with Heran nudging him sideways. "What?

"I'm fast and have gone through there plenty of times." He answers and walks up.

Mertil hands them to him. "Be safe, don't dawdle or go into town and come right back." He nods and takes off. The wolves to the south don't move up, though to be safe I reach out to them and feel them turn my way.

"I'll be back, have to make sure he is going to be fine out there." I head to the edge of the woods where they are arriving. The alpha looks at me expecting me to start.

'I show them we sent Anders to the people up north, he'll be coming back tonight.' He dismisses me, no harm to townspeople already understood was the answer. Okay, he's as grumpy as Tremont.

"What was that!?" Triss asks as I'm walking back.

"They said they wouldn't harm anyone from the village, even if about in the woods. So leave them alone also." I answer getting louder at the end.

"Druid?" Severan asks when I turn his way.

"Ranger,"I answer and his eyebrow raises, so I go on. "Same basic skillset, but less strict and ranged oriented, few other things, I can't turn into a bear and such."

At the same time it happens.

"Whoa! Everyone back to your spots, they might be coming. I feel twelve in the first boat enter my range and stand there waiting hand raised when Mertil asks how many. "The second boat was just behind them making twenty four," a few moments later the next one is right behind them with eleven more.

"Thirty five, I say when nothing came in behind them.

"Whoa, I guess they didn't like me heading this way." Severan whispers.

"We have time! Heran's team, archers and leaders and anyone that looks out of the ordinary. Sabina's and Katelyn's take out the front ranks, you know your numbers, Jacob, be ready to break off and handle the road, If nobody breaks off, once this is over go through town anyway to prevent surprises.

"The first ship stopped short and will be coming through the woods." I point to where they are at the moment, to everyone. "Going to use the pots a few times to get their attention. I'll do two times fast if they break off." The ones in the woods doing their best to stay silent. The other two arrive at the dock.

"Half a dozen broke off." Grabbing the pots and hitting the twice fast and then set them behind me. The two main groups are working their way right to us.

"Ex-commander Niles! How unsurprising to see you here." The man is walking with 18 of his men behind him. He looks around considering it is just the three of us.

"The women were shipped to Sreport, your not going to enslave your own citizens today." Severan replies back. "Knew you would do anything to get that rank, no matter how filthy it was."

"Taking back a traitor should ease the pain a bit, the women will either stay gone forever or we'll get them later." The look of anxiety on his face didn't match the words coming out of his mouth. Another dozen steps and we were going to have to start. The men in the woods need to come out with them or it could.. oh thank God, err Goddess, the man looks into the woods and nods his head at us.

"Get them ready for transport back," He looks at me, "If you want to spare some broken bones, get those hiding in town to come out."

They need to charge us to get the most benefit or the range will be too far, one way to get there here faster. Two steps to the side and I raise my bow, multishot the first pull and get two crossbowmen and one regular behind them, the second takes out the another crossbow, they are mixed in with the rest so they shout first to get the others to move. Two more down and only three left, not even a shield amongst them, they really did think this was escort duty. None in the woods had crossbows, but many rushed forward to put a stop to what I was doing.

"Kaethorn!?" Tremont hissed watching them run towards him, but some were slow to move.

"Kill them all, they don't need to go back alive." Their leader shouted and the ones in the front were at the range the teams needed.

"Now!" I yelled as loud as I could as I fired at one crossbow and had to start taking the ones closest to us to keep them from getting within melee distance. I felt the last bolt go by to my left and hoped nobody stepped into that, no time to look back though. With focus, I can get off one arrow every three counts, for the first minute and then every five if I have any left.

Arrows flew in a wave against them, with the warmup earlier they were almost as accurate against rushing targets as they were with their hay bales. Though with twice the targets the misses were hitting also, it was happening so fast, the leader hung back, and still took two arrows to his face so fast he bent over backwards with his lower body not understanding what happened.

One lone guy in the front come for us, Severan sword and shield at the ready but not moving, that guy didn't notice there wasn't anyone with him, one last arrow into him and we see seven of them pulling up, dropping their weapons and raising their hands, Severan yelled out "Cease!"

The seven took multiple arrows each as I yelled stop and started waving my arms, we never did practice any form of surrender, didn't feel it was necessary considering.

"Katelyn, back through the woods, help Jacob's team." I yell towards her team, I could only feel ten people in town so they were fighting, turning to Severan, "Take over, going with them."

He nods at me, turning to the teams advancing north, "Search for survivors, take all weapons away from them, dead or alive, half of you keep your weapons at the ready, don't let any fakers hurt you now after you've won the battle!"

Sprinting down the road towards the north hall I feel them heading up and around towards me. One side captured the other based on how they were bunched up, and it turned out all of them were fine, they captured two of the Twin River folk. Katelyn's team moved in behind them.

"Can you two get one of these longboats down and around, back to Twin Rivers?" I ask the two prisoners, they both nodded, though I would have also, even if I couldn't.

"Good, you'll be taking the rest back with you, you might want to think long and hard about enslaving your own people. You'll have to live with everyone knowing what you've done, beit Sreport, or Twin Rivers. Move it along, we have people to transport." Turning I jog back and see quite a few women in tears, many others are consoling them, Mertil was sorting them out and bringing the broken ones up to her house and setting them down, it makes sense considering this was their first time. I was surprised to see Triss was one of them, tough outer shell but still innocent on the inside.

Katelyn started helping Mertil with Beau working on the one survivor.

"Jacob, have these two carry their mates to one of the boats, strip it of everything else, they are leaving as soon as everyone is loaded."

"Too many," one of the two said and then looked away when I met his gaze.

"Balance them out, if you lied about being able to handle this, you'll be out to sea before you know it."

"Gates, Horris, you both should have known better, but I get it, you earned a second chance, don't waste it," Severan told them as they started carrying the first dead soldier. Anton and Dustin from Jacob's team brought in a cart to help move the bodies

"Everyone over to the house except Jacob and the other guards," I ask everyone around me. "Those that are handling this well, stay back just a bit to give the others room."

"First thing, proud of you all, the alternative outcome to this fight was unacceptable. You proved today that Riverside is here to stay. We still need some of you to make arrows and bows for those that would rather support than fight."

"Fuck that, I'll get over it," Triss says looking at me with red-rimmed eyes.

"That was more a general statement, some will take longer to heal." Looking over at Joan, she had her head between her legs. Walking over and taking a seat next to her.

"Joan?" I rub her back lightly and she turns her head enough to look up at me. "I'm going to push some mana into you, it's going to help just a bit." I remember Minerva doing this to me when I was a mess after my first wolf Strider died.

Pushing it into her the same as I've been doing for Evaine, "it will warm and calm you down."

It didn't appear that she heard or understood what I was saying, her eyes were sent from being bleak to startled when we began, the warmth brings a calming that can help give a breathing distance to the grief of the deaths she had caused. Speaking out loud to all of them.

"We will all think of the many things we could have done looking back at each moment, though, with the obligation the Viscount had with the Skaldians, short of splitting everyone up amongst the other cities, they were coming for you."

"It was the last few that surrendered.." Erika trailed off at the end.

"We can review that going forward, but if they surrendered, what happens? They go back to Twin Rivers and that's the end of it. If you surrendered, they sell you to the Skaldians and you become a slave for the rest of your shortened miserable lives. Surrender for either side was never an option."

"What if they send more?" Joan asks, she looks better than before. Severan answered from behind me.

"I've never seen a more one-sided victory and I've done this a long time, mere moments and it was over." Looking north he continued, "there are only 320 trained soldiers with another 80 or so city guards remaining, not counting the two that just left us. From what I've seen, they'd have to send them all to guarantee victory; and even then, what's the point if they have to kill almost all of you to win? Their goal was to gather helpless women, which is no longer achievable, nor will the city allow this to continue once the news spreads, nobody knew anything of what has happened. Even those that lost family to this atrocious act will be equally upset at the loss and the reasoning behind it."

"That's good that the people didn't know, I imagined so many things." Yesime chimed in from the corner of the porch. "Do we need to tell all of the other cities, as we did with Anders and Saiden?"

"Absolutely." Mertil replied, "everyone including the council will hear of this, it goes against our slavery laws, and since Kae is here the mage council frowns on people trying to kill their kind."