They were all sitting around the fire, except for Maddie. Deron was absentmindedly rotating some meat on a rough spit over the flames. Sierra and Semal were sitting back comfortably with their coffee, avoiding eye contact with the Rangers. The Rangers were growing increasingly more irritated as they waited for the three to say something.

Will broke the silence angrily. "I thought we were in a rush. Are you going to tell us?"

Sierra glared at him. "Well, you wanted to hear the story. This isn't easy for us to discuss, you know. It hurts." She looked at the ground. "It's hard just trying to decide where to start."

Semal looked up. "Well, we're here because we are hunting a traitor. He killed everyone. All our family, all his, and everyone besides. We are from a nomad tribe, I suppose. He killed them all and now we are going to avenge them. That's all there is to it really. He's here, so we are too." He grinned cockily.

"That doesn't actually explain anything." Gilan pointed out. "Where did you learn to ride and fight and all? And why?"

"Our tribe. All youth are trained in those skills and others from ten years old." Sierra answered reluctantly.

"Why?" Gilan repeated.

"Oh, what the blazes. They'll figure it out eventually. We're saboteurs, spies, assassins, Ranger. Mercenaries who can do anything anywhere." Deron snapped. "The tribe trains us in the necessary skills from age ten. At sixteen we are assigned to someone to shadow them on their missions and at eighteen, we are sent on our first mission."

Gilan's look of shock was almost comical. Will's was not. "Assassins. So why are you really here?" He growled.

"I just said, we're chasing the other one. He betrayed us all, we survived and he will pay." Semal said, his eyes now dark and humorless.

Gilan leaned back. He didn't recognize this side of them. They usually seemed so young and fun loving. That had all vanished in an instant. Now their faces were guarded, their eyes threatening. He realized Sierra had looked like this while hanging to the cliff, preparing to loose her small blades on to the pursuers. He hadn't noticed at the time, but her eyes were just as unforgiving then as now. It unsettled him.

Will wasn't completely comfortable either. "Who is he? What did he do?" He asked more gently.

"He was one of the best. He was sent on a mission with two others, his brothers. The target was in an isolated village and according to him, it was a trap and they died." Semal told them. He rubbed his shoulder. "He claimed that in his pain, he lost control. He severely injured everyone in the village so they couldn't run and he burned it and them to the ground."

"We had three rules in our tribe, our code. Never steal from or hold out on anyone in the tribe. We would set our own prices and keep our own earnings, but it was understood that if someone was injured and unable to provide for their family or themselves, all they'd have to do is ask." Deron smiled at the memory. "And often even that wasn't necessary."

"Never force anyone to kill. Very few of us were assassins. Most did other things. Espionage, sabotage, strategic advisor, courier. Maybe one out of ten of us ever carried out an assassination." Semal explained. "And we were only about a hundred altogether."

"The first rule of them was, is never harm a child. You intentionally harm a child, that was it for you." Sierra's voice was low. "To hurt an innocent so young and helpless was the worst offence. And when we say everyone in the village, we mean everyone."

Will took a sharp breath. Gilan just stared at her. She continued. "He came back to our camp and tried to explain, but once they'd heard what he'd done, they refused to listen to his excuses. We threw him into the prison to await his sentence. Then as was custom, we had a hearing." Her voice was empty, blank.

Deron cut in. "The way we did hearings was almost definitely different from you. We involved everyone. We'd have a meal for the whole camp, everyone would come. The crime would be announced and we'd eat and discuss what to do with the person in question. Once the meal was over, a verdict would be decided. The sentence would be carried out that night by select people."

Sierra nodded. "We had agreed on the sentence. It didn't take long for that one. But everyone just started dropping and screaming. All ages, trades, just everyone in agony." Her fists clenched

"His brothers weren't dead. They had poisoned the water with an undetectable poison. We were in the desert, so you can bet everyone was drinking water. Even the infants." Semal explained bitterly. "It took twenty minutes to kill everyone, give or take and all the time they were screaming."

"We saw his brothers and some others releasing him and killing any survivors. We ran." Deron admitted. "We stood no chance. They were senior assassins. The only others were dead. It was our only option. There was nothing for us to do there even if we could have, but still."

"It hurts." Semal whispered hoarsely. "Our families, everyone dead. Everyone!" His voice suddenly furiously loud. He took a deep breath. "He killed them all and we are here to avenge them. And stop him from repeating that here."

Sierra looked carefully at the Rangers. "Do you understand now?"

"Yes." Gilan muttered. He was still a bit unnerved by their attitudes. He shook his head and repeated louder. "Yes. Just one more thing. How did you survive?"

"Oh." Semal flushed red and stared at the ground, rubbing his shoulder.

Sierra laughed slightly. "Oh yeah. That's a great point. We were banned from the meal and assigned to chore duty that day as punishment."

"What! Why?" Will asked, surprised.

Deron just shook his head. "That's really not important."

"No, we promised to tell them the whole thing, Deron." Sierra mock reprimanded him. She was grinning again, Gilan noted with relief, and Semal had that spark back in his eye. It wasn't as cheery as usual, but they were recovering from the shock. That was good. He really did not want to have to trust Araluen to some revenge obsessed assassins.

Sierra continued, ignoring the boys' objections. "We were in trouble because Semal had a crush on someone and convinced us to help him steal some desserts the day before so he could arrange a starlight picnic with her." She smirked. "We got caught and were assigned to chores around the camp. We weren't even allowed near the food so we couldn't steal any. We had two canteens of water each for the whole day. They wouldn't stop complaining." She laughed. "But I guess it did save our lives." She said more seriously.

Semal frowned. "Speaking of lives, shall we get going? I think we've wasted enough time. Will you still trust us?"

The Rangers exchanged looks. Gilan answered. "Yes, we will. Let's go."

Thank you to all readers and reviewers. Let me know what you think!