A/N: I'm not even going to do the whole apology thing again, it's been done so many times in one fic. I am, however, going to post this warning now: Summer is coming. And with summer comes long, long hiatuses. As in, Europe-for-three-weeks-followed-by-two-weeks-of-ca mp-without-internet kind of long. Now, I think it's likely I will be writing in this time period, but I'll have to type it up, and that is a major drag. So, I'm not gonna lie, it'll probably be a while. So I am very sorry, and I hope you won't give up on my story. For all you guests, it may be easier for you to get an account and follow it, so that you'll get a snazzy little email when I update. But if not, check back mid August, and I might have an update for you then.
My timeline is getting a little screwy, so sorry for confusion. If things don't seem to make sense timewise (i.e. two things are happening with the same characters at the same time) just ignore it and pretend like it makes sense, okay?
Ranger Robin: I'm sorry, but I have finals, and I had a piano testing, and all sorts of things! And also, yes, coffee is gross. The whole bit about not killing off lots of people is a Doctor Who thing, actually, so if you want to see all my rationale for that you can watch... um... all of them. Yeah, kinda an ongoing thing. Any ways, sorry if you didn't like that, but I can't really change it, it's just one of those things.
Anon: Oh yes, Halt has lots and lots of wrath. I'm glad you're enjoying, stick with me over the summer!
Farmer'sDaughter: Hey, was that you who got an account? Yeah, Malin and Justin are favorites of mine too, I thought about excluding them in this version, and then I was like "Um no I think not".
Tessi: Agh, I'm sorry, I'm trying! No worries, Halt's back, this chapter! And, like I said to Anon, lots of wrath XD. Have no fear, Malin has a good voice, if a heavily accented one.
A FEW WEEKS EARLIER.
Sarah stared bewilderedly down at the very complicated map that flopped about to the rhythm of Correr's stride. With every line indicating a different pathway the Rangers were taking to avoid the suspicion of the Scotti, crossing over each other and doubling back randomly, it was difficult for her to follow any single pathway, especially while posting without her hands on the back of a horse. "Um... I think that we should get there first?" She said, tracing the route again with her eyes, "And, ah, the rest of them should get there within a week. Ish."
Halt halfway turned around in the saddle. "Thank you for such a definitive and concrete answer."
Sarah stuck out her tongue, before turning back to her map. "Well, it's not like you guys made this very easy to understand. Jeeze, did you have to use every road, shortcut, and trail in Araluen, or was it just to make it more fun?"
Halt was about to say something in response, when Will abruptly held up a hand, signaling silence. They all halted their horses immediately, the three steeds pausing in the middle of steps. Then, just as silently, he pointed towards the trees. There, only a few meters away, they could see the stirrings of motion through the trees, before it too, halted. Tentatively, Will let out a series of whistles that could be mistaken for a bird if one wasn't familiar with the calls of the area. After a moment, a response came, almost the same but not quite, just enough of a deviation to be sure it wasn't being copied. Relieved, the three started forward again, and the motion on the other side of the trees resumed as well.
"Well, fancy seeing you here!" Came Horace's voice out of the trees.
"Horace!" Will exclaimed, kicking Tug into a quick trot to pull up next to Kicker and the several other warriors with him. "You're early!"
"We were in a hurry," Horace replied, "Scotti warriors right on our tails for a while there - I figured you wouldn't mind a bit of an early meet up."
"Scotti warriors?" Halt asked sharply, "Are you sure you lost them?"
Horace's countenance turned grave, "Seeing as we had to leave them bloody in the dust along with several of our own, I'm fairly sure."
As they began to move again, they pulled out around a corner, and a large pinnacle of stone came into view. Sarah started, looking down at the map again with surprise. "Um, guys? I think I miscalculated... That's it. The landmark that Kathryn said to look for marking their supply route... that's it."
"That's it?" Halt asked, looking back at her, "Are you sure?"
"Ahm... I'd say yes, but..." She shrugged, "I'm not."
"It' doesn't look too vulnerable... why would she say that?" Will asked, scanning the area.
Sarah looked to Halt, hoping for an answer. Instead, she got a completely apathetic look that made he think that maybe he didn't have one. And then even King Arthur started to wonder...She said in her mind, thinking of the infamous episode of Sherlock, in which the detective himself was made out to be a fake by his arch enemy, Moriarty, by planting the idea in the minds of his allies. While the Scotti clearly weren't trying to make Kathryn look like a traitor, as they (hopefully) didn't even know she was a Ranger, the general idea was the same. Even Halt was beginning to wonder...
Feeling a bit distraught, Sarah nudged Correr into a faster pace, heading for the rock spire she had seen earlier. "But Farley said her info was good..." Sarah said to no one in particular. Suddenly, Correr jerked to a halt, unbidden. "Oi!" Sarah commented, giving him a squeeze with her knees, but he wouldn't budge. "What's the matter?" She asked, looking at the spire of rock with confusion, "Scared of a little rock?" She dismounted, taking Correr's reigns in her hand. "C'mon, we've gotta take a look." Correr seemed to shake his head, and she saw him lock his knees. "Correr!" she hissed, exasperated, before starting forward on her own.
It took her only a matter of seconds to figure out why Correr had stopped. Shielded from her view by thick undergrowth and the heavy drooping foliage of the trees was a steep drop off into a deep ravine. And, insistent on continuing forward, she walked straight off the edge. She let out a little shriek as her foot plunged past where the ground should have been, and frantically twisted about, grabbing for anything. All she came across was the weakly rooted undergrowth, but with nothing else to grab she had to settle. She came to a stop with only her forearms on solid ground, and the rest of her body dangling awkwardly over the edge. Not daring to look down, but still thoroughly terrified, she scrabbled with her feet for any kind of foothold, but found nothing, not even a wall. Desperately, she tried to pull herself up with the plants, but not only was her position the one with the least leverage imaginable, but she could feel the plants' roots start pulling out, and she quickly froze. "Help!" She yelled, feeling the soil slowly loosening about her handholds. "Please, somebody!"
She felt something warm press against the back of her hands and, terrified, she let go with one hand to desperately grab at the object. She found a strap and locked her fingers around it, swinging her other hand to grab it as well. As soon as she had done so, she felt herself start to be dragged back up onto solid land. Gasping and panting, she started to help as soon as she could, before flopping to the ground when she had reached safety.
"Sarah!" She felt concerned hands pull her into a sitting position, "Sarah are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm -gasp- I'm fine - gasp- I think." she managed to get out, head still buzzing with adrenaline, "Who - gasp- who pulled-"
"Correr," Halt answered, pointing to the horse who stood nearby, looking both concerned and proud at the same time. "You're lucky he was right there, or those plants wouldn't have held for long enough."
Sarah took her to her feet shakily, with several hands to help her up. "Okay, so you were right," she said to Correr, who she could have sworn rolled his eyes as if to say, 'Ya think?' "Thanks." The horse clopped over, butting her in the side with his head affectionately. She wrapped her arms around his muzzle and pulled him close. "You could've fallen - that was really brave."
'Just doin' my job.' He replied, before gently removing his head from her grasp. She gave him one last pat, before turning back to her companions.
"But, some good did come of this." The others gave her a look, "Well, we figured out what Kathryn was talking about - there's your vulnerable but well hidden route. I was literally right on top of it, and I didn't see it until it was almost too late." She peered at her map, and then at the Ranger map. "And so well hidden you lot haven't noticed it either. Great big canyon on the border of Picta, and you never even noticed!"
"Which means..." Will trailed off as he walked to the edge of where he could see and parted the branches to peer out, "They're right there." His voice held a tinge of dread as he said the words, stepping back.
"Did anyone see us?" Horace asked, hand already reaching for his sword.
"A couple of people." Will replied, peering out again more cautiously. "But... it looks like they're leaving. Maybe they thought it was a traveler or something."
The group let out a collective breath they hadn't realized they were holding. "Alright," Halt said, "Then let's get set up. Those woods over there are just as dense as the ones hiding the gorge, so we should be able to hide fairly effectively in there."
Sarah waited until everyone else had started moving before she mounted her own horse. "Next time, I'll let you do the walking." She said to Correr, who tossed his head good naturedly in reply.
'You'd better'
"So." Justin said idly as they crouched hidden behind a rock. "Here we are."
"Here we are." Sarah agreed, finally having caught her breath. Climbing down the sheer rock face of the gorge had been one of the most nerve racking things she had done in her life, and she was still on a knife's edge. "Though I'm not going to lie, Justin, I wish I was still up there."
He chuckled, "No you don't."
"Um, yeah I do." Sarah replied, giving him a look.
"Um, no you don't" Justin mimicked, earning him another glare. "You'd miss out on all the fun."
"Fun?" Sarah asked, "You call shooting at people fun?"
"No!" Justin replied quickly, "Shooting at people is definitely not fun! But stopping the enemy in their tracks, and saving Araluen - yeah, kinda fun."
"Yeah, well. I wish I could be saving Araluen from up there," she amended, making Justin laugh quietly.
"You're fine." He ducked his head quickly around the rock, before darting back behind it.
"I beg to differ!" Sarah replied, "I almost fell like three times!"
Justin shrugged, "But you didn't fall, therefore you are fine."
"No!" Sarah insisted, briefly sticking out her tongue as Justin warned her to be quieter. "Okay, being 'fine' is not equivalent to being scared out of your mind but physically unharmed."
"Is in my book."
"Yeah, well your book needs a better editor."
A high bird call that wasn't a bird call rang through the canyon, echoing back several times as the sound waves bounced off the curving rock faces. The pair tensed, before quickly shrugging off their bows and silently nocking an arrow onto their strings. Then, as one, they peered around opposite edges of the boulder, cloaks allowing them to blend into the background.
There, in the distance, they could see the smudge far down the gorge that was presumably the latest train of supplies. Sarah squinted, "Looks kinda tiny doesn't it?" She commented softly, and Justin nodded.
"Yeah. Kinda worries me." Justin put his fingers to his lips and let out a different bird call, one that had been designated as a "What the hell?" signal. After a short pause, they got back the standard, "Everything's fine" call, and were left there. "Well, I guess that's good?" Justin said, looking back towards the puff. "But why... Oh."
"What?"
"Well..." Justin looked towards Sarah, "That's not... it's not the supply train we're seeing - we're seeing it's dust. It's still too far away to see."
"Which means..." Sarah trailed off, seeing where this was going. "Which means it's gotta be pretty big to make that big of a dust cloud."
Justin nodded. "Way bigger than expected." He let a hiss out through his teeth. "This could get interesting."
Time seemed to tick by with ever greater slowness as the supply train trudged towards their trap-possibly-turned-suicide-mission. Each second turned to an epoch as Sarah became tenser and tenser, whole body strung out with nervous anticipation. It was midday by the time the actual supply train itself was in view, and by the time they could almost make out individuals, it was well into the afternoon, gaining on sunset.
"Ready?" Justin asked, speaking for the first time since his last comment.
"As I'll ever be." Sarah replied, re-nocking the arrow she had allowed to droop loosely in her fingers. "We're the first ones, right?"
"Yup." Justin replied. "Supposedly, we just draw the enemy fire and then let the others do their work, but I get the feeling it's gonna be a bit more than that."
Sarah nodded in agreement, shifting slightly. She could make out individuals easily now, and they couldn't be more than a football field away. "Almost ready, don't you think?"
"Yup."
"Alright. Then on the count of three. One. Two." She took a deep breath, steadying her hand, before saying, "Three."
Together, the pair of them stood and fired. Then again, and again. By the time the first arrows struck home, there were several more on their way. By the time there was return fire, Sarah and Justin had both ducked back behind their rock, and the other Rangers had begun their assault.
"Well, that was exciting!" Sarah commented breathlessly, watching as a brief hail of arrows fell about their hiding spot, before being drawn elsewhere, the cries of battle rising over her words.
"And the fun's just starting," Justin agreed, slinging his bow over his shoulder to pull out his knives. "I get the feeling we'll be needing these."
Sarah nodded her agreement, copying the action. "How many do you think, couple hundred?"
"At least." Justin agreed, peering around. "Where did they get all those people?" Sarah just shook her head in response, unsure what to say.
"Sarah! Justin!" Called Will, and the pair of them listened intently over the sound of battle, "Incoming!"
They looked at each other, nodded in acknowledgement, then together stood, turning towards where they knew their enemies would be waiting. They stepped towards the oncoming rush of people, an odd assortment of experienced warriors and panicked civilians turned supply cart drivers. The first to meet them, of course, were the warriors. Sarah clashed with a swordsman, catching his overhead slice between her knives and swinging it down and around, opening up his torso for a strike. She lunged forward, lancing through his chest with her saxe. As his eyes glazed and he fell aside, Sarah felt the adrenaline burning through her veins like a wildfire, destroying any weariness she might have acquired throughout the day. As the next warrior stepped up, she found herself thanking whatever powers might be that she had been able to practice so much with Horace.
She kept going, slicing and cutting without pause, until she came to her third or fourth opponent. She knocked aside a swordsman whom she had been previously engaged with, before stopping dead in her tracks. The person she had been about to cut down was a boy, no more than ten, who was clumsily holding a makeshift club between hands that looked work worn. His clothes were tattered, his face bruised, and she could see where the edge of a brand mark peeked out from under his shirt. A slave, Sarah thought, lowering her knives, that's where they're getting all the people. And now they're making little boys fight.
Frustrated, Sarah looked around. She couldn't leave this little boy here to potentially get cut down by some slightly less wary warrior, but she was needed to fight too. Finally, she let out a noise of exasperation before kneeling before the boy and saying, "Can you understand me?" He hesitated, before nodding. As soon as she had lowered her knives, the club had dropped to the ground, inoffensive. "Okay. I need to you run, you got that? Don't fight anyone, just run," she paused to point further down the gorge, "That way, okay? I'll come get you later."
The little boy hesitated, before nodding and doing as she said. As Sarah stood, she looked around, and realized that many of these 'warriors' they were fighting were actually just slaves, dressed to look like warriors and get thrown at the Rangers, in the hopes that they might simply be beaten down by time and numbers. We've just got to get them to change sides, Sarah thought, throwing up her knives as someone changed course to attack her, Get them to see we're really on their side. Deciding to at least try, she caught the sword again and this time tried to hold it in place, make him listen. "Hey! You're not Scotti, are you?"
The man, stronger, wrenched his weapon free and slammed it at her again. This time when she caught it, she felt the blade slip a bit - it seemed she might be getting a little tired, something that could be deadly in a situation like this. And there were more than enough enemies left. "Oi! Listen, I can help you!"
Another blow followed, but this time the man paused. "No one can help me." He growled in a thick accent Sarah couldn't pinpoint, before swinging down a clumsy overhand slash.
"We can, I promise!" Sarah said after darting out of the way of the blade, instead letting it bite into the soft dirt. He began to raise it again, jerking it free, but Sarah didn't give him the chance to finish the movement. In one smooth motion she raised her saxe knife and smashed the hilt down on his fingers, making crunch audible even over the sounds of battle. The sword clattered to the ground, and Sarah held the blade tip at his throat, to keep him from coming at her with his fists. "You've just got to let us."
"My family." He rasped, "They have my family."
"They won't soon." Sarah vowed, "We're pretty damn good at what we do, and we'll get them out of there."
The man gulped, looking down the length of her blade. "What do you want?"
With a smile, Sarah dropped her blade. "There're others of you, yes? More of you than of the Scotti that are warriors. Call them off, or find whoever can. Get them to side with us, and we'll free everyone."
His eyes widened, "Everyone?"
Sarah nodded. "Every single one."
He watched her for a moment, before looking around at the battle that still continued on all sides. "How do you know they will stop killing them?"
"If they hear someone give the command, they'll expect it to be followed." She replied, knowing 'they' meant the rangers, "They'll fight alongside you, as long as you don't turn and stab us in the back."
With a final nod, the man turned away. "It is a good thing that you found me - I am the commander of their battalions." As the man started yelling something in a language Sarah couldn't identify, Sarah wondered at her good luck in just happening to engage him. Like something out of a book, she thought, before chuckling at her own wit and watching the proceedings.
Warriors all about the field were pausing mid stroke, quickly stopping their attacks and changing them to blocks, if they were directly engaging a Ranger, Scandian or Horace's men. The latter, confused, hesitated as well, looking about. Sarah realized that the slave wasn't planning on translating, and quickly yelled out, "Attack only the Scotti - the slaves aren't our enemy!" Without further explanation, she charged through the non-attackers and engaged a clearly Scotti man, with his blue face paint and curved blade. Instantly, she noticed the difference, finding herself largely on the defense, and not solely the offence anymore. She was beginning to question her choice in taking on this warrior alone, when the man froze in the middle of a step, eyes wide, and fell sideways. In his place stood a slave-warrior, eyes gleaming with a rage that couldn't be anything but revenge.
"Das ist für meine Schwester!" He snarled, and Sarah, having taken German for several years, wondered just what could have happened to his sister. The young man looked up, and gave her a quick nod, before turning and running towards the supply train. Sarah was quick on his heels.
The battle was over shortly afterwards. Sarah had only just engaged another man, when a command rang out over the battlefield, filled with panic. Almost instantly, every weapon in the hands of the Scotti dropped to the ground, and the warriors threw their hands into the air with wide eyes. Sarah only just stopped her lunge in time, dragging the blade away from the man she had been fighting's now unguarded chest. Instead, she kept the tip rested casually against his chest, a silent warning in the action.
From the center of the supply train came Halt's voice, ringing clear through the ravine. "Alright, listen up! This supply train goes no further. The supplies shall be diverted up onto the top of the ravine. The warriors are going to be bound and kept under a guard." Sarah held her breath, hoping she hadn't made any idle promises. "I think it's only fair that the slaves go free if they wish. However, we would greatly appreciate your help, if you'd be willing to stay."
She let out a huge sigh of relief. Sarah was unable to see above the mass of tall men, but she could imagine what happened. The man she had convinced earlier stepping forward from the crowd, facing Halt. "What of our families? They are captured."
"Not anymore." Will this time, "We got them out as soon as we saw them. They're all fine." A chorus of cries rang out, the sounds of husbands and wives and children seeing each other in freedom, of tears of joy being shed.
"Well?" Halt asked after a suitably long time, "What do you say? Will you stay?"
There was only a short period of talking amongst the leaders of the slaves, before the man spoke up again. "Yes, we will stay."
The Rangers, Scotti slaves, and Scandians scattered about all grinned, Sarah included. That's what happens when you oppress the majority, Sarah thought, mentally citing South Africa and India as her examples. "Excellent. Now, we need to get some people to work cuffing the warriors, and the rest to work moving everything out of this gorge. We can't have any evidence that we were here, that anything happened!" Halt suddenly appeared out of the crowd, though Sarah hadn't noticed his voice growing nearer over the shuffle of others moving. "Sarah!" He exclaimed brightly, "Why don't you get to work climbing up that gorge with some rope and setting up a lifting rig - you can bring some others with you to help."
Sarah gave him the evil eye, "Why, Halt, why?"
He grinned wickedly, "Isn't it awful to be the only girl ranger? You've just got to keep proving yourself." Then he clapped her on the shoulder, moving on.
"Somebody's coming!" The lookout called softly. Briefly everyone froze in place, before, at a sharply hissed command, all the non-cloaked ex-slaves clambered part of the way back down the concealed gorge face, and the remaining rangers quickly wrapped their cloaks about them, concealing themselves. But Sarah, as she sat in her concealment, realized how strange and suspicious the half dozen carts and other supplies would look, unattended on the side of the road. She was about to say as much to Halt, before she realized that the first of whoever was coming was already coming into view, and that there wasn't any time to wait. So, without any more delay, Sarah slipped off her cloak and skittered out from her covering bush, and reclined casually against the wheels of one of the wagons.
And just in the nick of time. Just as Sarah finished setting up her poker face, one of the people in the train looked over and let out a noise of surprise. "Fallyn! There's another train here!"
"What?" Came the angry reply, and a man stormed into view, visibly fuming. He caught sight of Sarah, and grew visibly more angry. "Hey, you!"
Sarah waved in reply, masking any nervousness she might have been feeling under a facade of nonchalance bordering on arrogance. "Hey me!" She agreed, standing up, and hoping that they wouldn't notice the distinctive double scabbard on her hip.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Fallyn asked, "This is a Chapman route, everyone knows that!"
Sarah only smiled at him, "I'm sorry, a what?"
The man's face grew red. "A Chapman trading route! We're the only ones allowed to use it for trade!"
"Is that so?" Sarah replied, wondering where these acting skills had been hiding, because he was totally buying it.
"Yes, it is so!" He snarled, coming close, "Where's the head of this train, I want to talk with him."
"Who says I'm not the head?" She asked, looking him dead in the eye.
Fallyn scoffed out a laugh. "You? I think not, little lady. Now, where is he?"
Sarah laughed right back at him, "Look mate, you're not going to find any head other than me around here."
"Women aren't the heads of trading routes, idiot," he replied condescendingly, "Now go. Get. Him."
Sarah let out a sigh. "Well, you asked for it." Then, without further comment, she socked him full on in the nose, with little thought for any repercussions. Fallyn staggered backwards, tripping over his own boots and falling to the ground with his hands clutched firmly to his nose. "I. Am. The. Head."
"Why you little-" He leaped to his feet, blood staining his lower face and hands as he did so. Then, he reached out and grabbed Sarah by her lapels and pinned her back against one of the supply train wagons. "If you'd just gotten the head of this train, I would have let you go on by, but now, I think all this is ours." He raised a fist, and Sarah readied herself for a fight, quite happy to beat the crap out of this sexist idiot, "But first..."
"Fallyn, wait!" He didn't stop, but as the fist sailed towards her, Sarah twisted out of his grasp on her lapels and dropped into a roll, letting his hand smack into the wood behind her. He cried out in rage and pain, whirling to face where she had ended up, and started towards her. "Fallyn!" A man, perhaps a year or two older than Fallyn, wrapped his muscular arm around the man's waist, stopping him in his tracks.
"Get off me Eriko!" Fallyn snarled, trying and failing to free himself. Meanwhile, Sarah grinned at him with a devilish smile.
"Fallyn, stop, and use your head. Look at what she's wearing." Fallyn paused, looking her up and down. Then, he started shaking his head, blinking his eyes as if expecting to see something different each time.
"No. No it, it can't be..." he murmured, stepping back when Eriko released him, no longer as enraged as before apparently.
"Double scabbard." Eriko said, and Sarah felt her stomach drop. "Ranger."
"Damn," Sarah said, drawing her knives and starting to retreat. "This is my fault, get out of here," she said over her shoulder to the other Rangers, suddenly recognizing the logic behind staying hidden, especially with much of their gear out of reach due to it being either emptied by the previous battle or being used in other ways at the moment, "I can hold them off, you can regroup elsewhere."
"No, wait!" Eriko said, as the other Rangers began to move, unseen to all but Sarah who knew where to look. "I don't know how many of you there are hidden in those trees, but we aren't here to attack you, or turn you in to the Scotti." He looked at Fallyn pointedly, "C'mon, give it to the lass."
The scowling, bloodied man reached into his shirt front pocket, pulling out a paper, folded over many times. "Here. From Lady Alyss Treaty."
Sarah, still suspicious, stepped forward and took the paper from his hand. After unfolding it, she looked it over, skimming the words. "Will?" She said softly, worry lacing her voice, "Can you tell if this is her handwriting?"
After a pause, the young man stepped forward out of the trees, eliciting a few gasps from the spectators. He took the paper, and before even reading it, said, "It's definitely her." Then, as he got further and further into the note, his eyes grew wider and wider. "Oh Alyss, what have you gotten yourself into?"
"That first page's just a letter, letting you know what's happened," Eriko said, "But there's more in the next pages, things she's found out from being so close to sir Thomas. Things that could let you win the war."
"And how did you get it?" Will demanded.
Eriko shrugged, having apparently taken over from Fallyn for the moment. "She couldn't very well deliver it herself, could she? Chapman trading routes are the widest spreading in the whole of Araluen, even now that those bloody Scotti have come in and restricted us. If anyone was going to find you, it was us."
Will considered a moment more, before saying, "Will you take a letter back?"
"Of course," Eriko replied, "Though I can't promise any kind of timeliness - mustn't look suspicious."
Will nodded his approval. "Alright." He passed the letter on to Sarah, who took them with a startled look. "You go ahead and read that all over, all the information she's sending. I'll see what we need to send back." He threw a pointed look into the forest, telling them to remain hidden. "Well, go on." Sarah, jerked into action, threw one last look at Fallyn, before going to sit on the back of one of the wagons, turning to the first page of information.
"That was really dumb, punching him," came a whisper from the trees, and Sarah knew instantly that it was Justin.
"Yeah, but it felt great," she replied, "Now shut up, I need to read.
A FEW WEEKS LATER.
With their increased numbers, there was no need to worry about stopping the following supply trains. The third one hadn't even put up a fight, just surrendered on sight of the army waiting for them, and belaying down the ropes behind them to complete the trap. So logically, Sarah shouldn't have had any worries about the party splitting in half.
She shouldn't have. But she did.
"But Will," Sarah tried again, "If something happens, who's going to come to your rescue?"
"We won't need rescuing - we're Rangers, remember?" Will said, dumping a bundle of supplies into her arms, "But Araluen does need rescuing, and that's your job."
"But-"
"Sarah." Will placed a hand on either shoulder, forcing her to look at him. "Everything is going to work out."
"How can you know that?" Sarah accused, "What if everything goes wrong?"
"Then being in one group isn't going to change anything." His face was deadly serious, "I'm worried too - that's my wife in there, remember? But I'm just going to have to hope that everything works out. We've got some warriors, we've got some brains, who knows? We might just win." He gave her a weak smile. "And if we don't, we probably won't have long to worry about it."
Sarah nodded after a moment, feeling an indescribable emotion somewhere between fear and relief. "Where is the group going?"
Will's smile grew closer to legitimate as he realized that Sarah was going to go without further argument, "I believe that you're going to one of their storehouses of weapons, going to try and burn it down and dispose of what's left."
Sarah nodded again, shifting her grip on the supplies in her arms. "Oh. Good. Well. I guess this is goodbye for now."
Will clapped her on the shoulder. "I suppose it is. Goodbye, Sarah, and good luck."
He had started to turn away when Sarah suddenly put in, "Wait!" He stopped, turning back. "What if... what if I mess up?"
Will laughed - actually laughed the idiot - and shook his head. "You won't." Then, without another word, he turned away and slipped into the moving mass of mobilizing warriors.
Sarah watched the space where he'd been with a blank look. "That," she said to nobody, "Was even worse of an answer than 'you'll understand when you're older.'"