Chapter 8 Track of the Faun
About a quarter of an hour later, Cici's keen ears caught the sound of ultra-soft Rangers steps slipping quickly across the ridge line, headed toward the camp.
Her trained ears could recognize Shibu's footsteps from one hundred yards away, but the red-headed Cra Ranger was surprised in her turn to see a familiar figure rolling up the length of the ridge line even as he carried two more people on his back!
"Hay, Little Brother!" Cici called out gladly. "I thought you might just be late, but I see you've brought reinforcements!" Cici said in a quiet but happy tone of voice.
Felice, who was atop the stack, holding gently to Shibu's rounded shoulder, shot toward Cici as if the Enripsa had been rolled down a ramp before flying directly at Cici!
The Cra Ranger moved fast, and caught Felice in mid-air, spinning around with her in the space of two backward steps, to spend the extra energy of the exuberant reunion! In just a moment, Felice was snuggled around Cici as the Enripsa and the Cra sank happily and slowly to a seat on a length of log that Cici had placed across almost the entire width of their camp site!
"Missed you, Dearest!" Felice said with gentle delight as Cici held her close for just a moment more.
Watching the happy meeting a few steps distant, Dylan was all smiles as Shibu slowly stood up straight, allowing his best friend to slide gently off of his back and shoulders and stand on his own near the center of the camp site.
"Wow!" Dylan interjected. "This place is great!"
"I told you, didn't I?" Shibu answered, brimming with energy as he dropped a hand on Dylan's shoulder."Now, my friend, about all that firewood?"
Dylan suddenly swallowed, hard enough for Cici and Felice to hear across the clearing.
"Yeah" Dylan answered more slowly. "About that, Shibu my old pal." Dylan said to his best friend with a cheesy grin.
Shibu's laughter from the top of the ridge was so loud, it must have surely echoed in Emelka!
Cici glanced up from her embrace with Felice, Saw Dylan and smiled warmly. "Hay Dylan, I see you decided to join ringmaster Shibu's traveling show! Are you hurt?" Cici's tone shifted as Dylan slid off of Shibu's back, and her little brother stood upright and stretched casually, showing no sign of exertion or any extraordinary effort. Shibu slid out of his loaded pack and harness, and took a seat on the long log, next to Dylan.
"Naw, Shibu was just winning a bet. I cracked the sole of one shoe coming up the ridge." Dylan explained. "I didn't think Shibu had it in him, he bet me otherwise."
"That's My Little Brother and Your Best Friend, Dylan. You've heard me call Shibu "amazing", now you know a small part of the reason why." Cici answered with a knowing smile that almost matched Dylan's cheesy grin.
"Shibu, I just don't know what to say." Dylan stuck out his hand in admiration of Shibu.
"That's nothing, just wait till you see Cici practicing with her bow." Shibu said in a modest tone. "Anyway, that's Ranger lesson number one, All Right? Shibu asked, more seriously. "What we say, we mean, and what we say we'll do, we do."
"One hundred percent Cool!" Dylan responded. "After seeing what Shibu can do, I definitely want in!"
"In?" Cici wondered out loud.
"Yep-Yep!" Replied Shibu with his own big smile lighting up the camp site like the second sunrise of the morning. "Dylan wants to join the Rangers!"
"Well.." Replied Cici in a reserved tone "I hadn't planned on making this a working weekend, but as Shibu has probably told you already, a Ranger is always on duty."
"Sounds great!" Dylan replied. "What's the first thing you need me to do?"
"First off, Relax and have some lunch. Then the four of us need to have a long heart-to-heart talk. Cici said evenly.
"Sounds really good! Dylan replied. I worked up an appetite, as far as I walked. I can only think that Shibu must be somewhere between hungry and starving. He did most of the work coming up."
"Let me make lunch for everyone." Felice said, radiating a gentle contentment. "This place and this moment are too wonderful for anyone to go without." Shibu's mom told the group.
"Well, somebody has to gather the firewood it seems." Shibu said slyly in Dylan's direction. Shibu grinned as he watched his best friend squirm a little!
"This time, Dylan gets a break." Cici spoke up. "The fire is already laid and ready. I have all I need, for lunch, anyway."
"If I'm gonna be a Ranger, I better start putting muscle where my muzzle is. Dinner will come, sooner than later," Dylan reflected quietly as he rose from his seat next to Shibu.
"You need some help, Dylan?" Shibu asked as he stood up as well.
"Naw, Shibu, stay put and enjoy. I'll be fine." Dylan answered with a bright smile.
"Seeing as this is your first time up in the high country, maybe I better go along anyway, just to keep the Snipes away." Shibu told his best friend.
"Oh, Thanks." Dylan answered, as Shibu clapped a thick arm around Dylan's shoulder. "Say, Shibu?"
"Yeah?"
"What's a snipe, anyway?" Dylan asked as the two of them walked away from camp. Shibu stopped for just a moment, turned his head, and gave Cici a sly wink!
It was all Cici could do to stop herself from rolling backward off of the log, while she was still holding Felice!
Whatever is the matter, Cici?" Felice asked.
Cici had to pause for a moment to wipe the tears of laughter away from her green eyes. "Dylan will be a smashing Ranger." Cici confessed to Felice in a confidential whisper. "That is, if Shibu's sense of humor doesn't drive him barking mad first!" Cici whispered simply.
"I'd better get lunch started." Felice replied. "If I know those two, Dylan will be hungry from all the time he's spent chasing Shibu with a bundle of dry sticks!"
This time, Cici caved in completely, sinking to her knees in convulsions of suppressed laughter, as the slightly distant sound of two sticks tapping together echoed across the top of the ridge!
The two team mates were back in well under an hour, with Shibu leading Dylan slowly back into camp, because his Ecaflip best friend could not see where he was walking, over or around a bundle of sticks that looked more like a fascine than a collection of firewood!
Cici saw her brother leading a woodpile with Ecaflip feet back into camp, and she dashed over in the natural Ranger style to lend a hand, so Shibu could get his best friend back. Cici had set up a primitive crib for the firewood, made out of four long, thick branches,sharpened to four points, and sunk deeply into the crown of the ridge. But what Dylan dropped onto the pile, as Shibu worked to keep the stack even on top, gave the campers more wood than they could burn day and night over the whole weekend!
"We double walked the entire ridge line, Cici." Shibu announced proudly. "If there's another bit of fallen dry wood anywhere on the length of this ridge top, I'll eat it, rather than lunch."
"Great job, both of you!" Cici complemented. "This will also cut down the fire risk up here if we have a dry spring and a hot summer. Clearing brush helps the trees grow, and reduces the risk of fires."
"The work is worth it, if it keeps this place safer." Dylan remarked with satisfaction. "This is one of the nicest spots between here and Emelka. I wish I'd come up here years ago."
"Stick with the Rangers, Dylan." Shibu encouraged, as his friend helped Shibu balance the pile of new wood, and then sank to a seat on the log that bisected their encampment. "We know all the best spots, Don't we, Sis?' Shibu asked.
Cici nodded. "Yep, and just so you know, Dylan, This place and the mines inside the ridge were first mapped by Rangers when Felice and Aris were your age."
"Wow!" Dylan answered. "I never knew the Rangers did so much work!"
"Does your mom have a copy of a book at your house, bound in red leather and nearly as big as you are, Dylan?" Cici asked playfully.
Shibu giggled when he saw the look on Dylan's face change from surprise, into disbelief, and at last to a hint of fear and confusion!
"Don't tell me that Rangers can see thru walls, too!" Dylan interjected.
"Not yet, but some of us are closer then others." Cici answered back, pausing to wink playfully at Shibu.
"That red bound book I mentioned is an atlas. A book of maps, made by Rangers. After we printed it, The Cra gave a copy to every home on the edge of the forest, so no one, including kids, would wander off into the woods, and get lost."
"What a great Idea!" Dylan reacted. "It also made it really easy to set up fast and safe trade routes all over Bonta! Mom uses that book at least five or six times a day, every time we send out a shipment or arrange a delivery." Dylan told Cici.
"Right, and its also saved generations of Rangers from spending days at a tine looking for kids lost in the forest."
"Well, I'll be a flea-bitten kitten!" Dylan exclaimed. "I've handled that book almost as much as Mom has, and I never knew."
"That's the Rangers for you, Good buddy!" Shibu said offering Dylan a water bottle, which he quickly accepted, and from which he drank a deep pull. "The Rangers teach you all the things you never learned in school!"
"Which Ranger lesson is Lunch?" Dylan asked slyly. "Hauling an entire tree a branch at a time gives you a good appetite!"
"And you've earned it, by the looks of things, both of you!" A familiar voice called from close to the nearby campfire, where the pot that was the biggest part of a camp stove bubbled happily with both the sound and scent of a hardy stew!
"Come and get it, everyone!" Felice called out. "Because if you don't eat it all, I just might!" Felice called out to the group.
"Let's move fast, Dylan!' Shibu remarked. "When Mom says stuff like that, she's not joking!" Shibu warned his best friend.
"I'll follow you, Shibu!" Dylan replied with a smile. "You're the only one I know who might be fast enough to get us both some before it all goes away!"
Dylan's worry was unfounded, Because Felice already had a trio of well used but clean wooden bowls set aside from the fire to cool, each of them nearly overflowed with a rich stew packed with meat and vegetables, all native to the local forest. Each bowl was also topped with a huge slab of fresh hot cornbread, topped with honey and butter!
Felice made certain that Dylan was given his portion first, and from there, everyone helped themselves to dashes of sea salt, wild onions, and dried garlic to flavor their food to taste.
Dylan ate as if all of Ecaflip's blessings had landed right in his bowl, and, by the time everyone had a second portion of lunch, Dylan was relaxed, warm and happy, the exertion of gathering the wood forgotten in the wonderful taste of one of the best meals Dylan had ever had!
By the time everyone had finished lunch, a friendly drowsiness went around the group near the fire, and it was clear to everyone than an early afternoon nap would be the next thing on a very relaxed agenda.
"You want me to erect a stockade, Cici?" Shibu asked with an easy yawn. His question recalled another bit of camping work that any Ranger considered no more complex than stringing a longbow.
"Up so high, and with both of us here?" Cici replied "Spare yourself the work, my sweet Sea Dragon." Cici answered fast.
"Shibu?" Cici said a bit more quietly, keeping the quiet conversation between themselves.
"Yeah, Sis?"
"You did very well, Shibu. I'm very proud of you. Dylan needed something in his life, and you've helped him find it. You are truly amazing, Little brother. Thank you from the Rangers and for being such a good friend to Dylan."
Shibu blushed the cutest tone of strawberry red Cici had ever seen as she kissed Shibu on his nose, before both of them finished cleaning up the dishes, and making sure everything was ready for cooking the dinner to come.
When they were finished, Shibu and Cici decided to share a blanket for the duration of a short nap. Both Shibu and Cici slept like Rangers now,trained to a point of self-discipline where each would wake every other hour in order to alternate watches. Both of them understood that if there was to be meat for tonight's supper, their next adventure would be a late afternoon hunting trip together as Felice and Dylan slept in.
Napping with Shibu was wonderful, warm and dreamy. Two hours went by as quickly as Cici could blink. But instinct was a cruel taskmaster, and Cici snapped wide awake, and in getting up as silently as a Ranger knew how, Cici was making her best effort not to wake Shibu in the bargain.
Cici's admiration for Shibu's skills had doubled every hour they had spent together. Cra's teaching said that only two in every one thousand people not of Cra blood were born to be Rangers. Her initial elation for Shibu's skills had slowly evolved over time. Shibu was not only her little brother, but she saw him thru Cra Eyes as being one of those rare and wonderful to whom Cra also had granted the gifts of the bow. Every time Cici looked at Shibu, something rose inside her.
It was a pure and feral instinct that only a hunter could understand.
Shelter and Protect. It was exactly the same way Cici felt about Felice.
Even now, in this quiet and gentle moment, Cici used all of her Ranger skills in trying to slip silently out of their camp, so she could go hunting alone.
Cici was not vain glorying, nor selfish. But she Knew Shibu almost better than Shibu knew himself. For all his amazing skill with the bow, The hunt was the one aspect of life with a bow that Shibu had not taken up with the same gusto as everything else he was taught.
Shibu had met and exceeded every test to be an accredited hunter. It was a test that went fingers-in-glove with the other duties of being a Ranger. But Cici had both seen and felt how taking life, and the outflow of blood had bothered Shibu in a way that made the intelligent dark-haired boy shrink away, and become sullen and silent beneath a pall of regret and sorrow. Shibu was a true Pure heart, and the pain he felt in taking even the smallest of the forest creatures, even if it was to feed himself was like asking Shibu to harm a friend, or member of his own family.
But now, in this special place that Shibu felt so close to, Cici would not ask Shibu to tarnish the memory of these days with even a single drop of blood.
Let him rest, and waken to feel the pure, clean energy of this place, and add even more of it to his own life's flow. Big Sister was here, and she would tend to the hunting and the blood, to spare her unique brother the harm, the blood, and the violence that never had been a part of him. She was glad for Shibu, and proud of him in the same turn. For Cici knew the Covenant of Cra just as well as most of the Ranger Elders. Their goddess had sworn that for those of the purest heart were preserved the purest expression of life and peace with the bow.
As Cici stepped away from where her family and friends slept, warm and well beneath their soft blankets, Cici took a moment to look back at the gentle softness of the afternoon light that spilled over tree and leaf to cast dappled reflections on Shibu's sleeping continence.
In that moment, Cici envisioned Shibu as the most perfect Ranger she could imagine. If keeping Shibu from blood and sorrow would earn her little brother Cra's full blessing, Cici was ready to bear any burden in life to gain Shibu the ultimate reward for being true to his pure heart.
Cici slid along the top of the ridge like the dappled afternoon sunlight on the leaves of the trees. In the face of the danger she could sense, she brought all her skills to a fine edge. She had managed to fill her game bag in less than half an hour. It was how she did it that brought the Ranger in her to the fore.
Less than fifty yards down the line of the ridge, Cici came upon a truly terrible sight.
A small doe, and an even smaller faun, dead from arrow wounds, and half butchered in one of the most clumsy and awful effusions of blood that Cici had ever seen!
As sick at the heart and the stomach as Cici was, the find also put her on point for battle. Shibu had been over this ground two hours before. He would have seen the carnage, and smelled it. Cici thanked Cra for sparing Shibu what would have been a major trauma inflicted on her pure-hearted little brother.
But Cici had seen this type of thing since her childhood, as part of the uncompromising education as a Cra and as a Ranger.
This waste and horror came from only one source.
This was poaching. It was murder, destruction and desecration at its most terrible and wanton. It was the single crime that no Ranger anywhere could forgive, or leave unpunished.
Cici had to steel herself to search for and claim evidence from the sacrilege painted in terrible red before her shocked eyes. Under The Law of the Rangers, she could take no meat or hide, and no useful parts from the slaughtered animals. But to find those guilty of the crime, Cici could take evidence. She found a leg bone from the doe. It had been split before the animal died, by a rough flint and glass arrowhead made to inflict pain rather than swift and merciful death for game animals.
Cici wept softly as she wrapped the bone fragment studded with glass in a unique fold of leather and tied it with a thin cord, to keep it apart from the honest meat in her own bag. It took Cici another quarter of an hour to gather and bury the remains, covering them with leaf fall and rocky earth gathered from the top of the ridge. Once the labor was done, Cici knelt and opened herself to Cra, asking Peace for the slaughtered innocents, and then in a benediction apart, Cici asked the Goddess of the Hunt for the skill and strength to hunt down and bring the poachers to Cra's justice. She was especially gentle and careful to hide the pair of graves, because Cici also knew, all too well, what Shibu would do if he found them.
For just a moment, Cici was torn. Poachers on the ridge were a genuine danger to her family and friends. These criminals could and would kill people as quickly as animals if it meant keeping their awful crimes a dark secret.
But to leave these sick criminals to wander the land, vandalizing everything they touched was a thought no Ranger could stand.
Cici felt her tactical mind grab hold of her emotions and throttle them as surely as she wanted to throttle the poachers. Going after them alone was the very worst thing she could do, and she knew it.
She needed help. She needed strength. And she needed someone who could be single minded and relentless.
Cici needed Shibu.
Cici turned from the hidden graves, and after a last look back and thoughts of peace for the deer, she was up on her toes, racing with a faun's soft step, back toward her family and friends.
Cici cursed softly under her breath as she raced up the length of the ridge. She was too far away to use the Ranger's voice. More than anything, she wanted to send a warning to him.
But if the poachers were between Cici and the encampment, they would be forewarned as well.
Cici's first thought, indeed her first reflex was to reach for a signal arrow. But she stopped herself when she realized that the results might just be the same.
"Oh, Shibu, Help me!"Cici begged quietly under her breath. She closed her eyes, and for one moment she could think only about Shibu.
On the crown of the ridge, Shibu felt his own Life energy pull at him, as if someone had taken his hand and pulled insistently at his arm.
Shibu's mind was instantly clear and sharp and as his eyes opened to slits, he found himself seeing thru eyes lit with a blue color that matched the blue openings he was still learning to use.
Instantly, that same blue energy gave him to know that Cici was no longer at his side.
Thinking about her created a slight pull again, the same as he had felt a moment ago. But the sensation surrounding his vision directed first his eyes, and then gently turned his head in the same direction. Shibu understood. Where ever she was, Cici was in the direction of his enhanced blue vision.
Shibu didn't move quickly. But he allowed his trained reflexes and strong body to take over. Shibu grabbed his bow, and rather then jump to a standing position, Shibu rolled,from his side, onto his stomach, presenting as small a target as possible. Now his arm and hand could slip toward his quiver. Before the blanket he had been laying on was still again, Shibu was ready to fire.
The arrow he had knocked was one of several unique shafts in his quiver. This one was a line arrow. Shibu blinked his blue visioned eyes, and his sight narrowed and sharpened. Shibu could see another concentration of the soft blue light, standing in a gully down the ridge.
Cici!
Shibu didn't shoot at or near the blue shape. Rather his eyes flashed to the tallest tree he could see down the ridge above where Cici stood. Behind the soaring arrow trailed a fine, interwoven strand of gut, a twisted thread that Shibu had designed to hold his own weight and more.
Standing down below, trying to hide, Cici was never happier to hear an arrow cut into tree bark and then the solid wood beneath it. She dared to breathe again, and hoped for the help that might be coming in the next few seconds.
For Shibu, the rest was easy. The end of the line from his bow had a steel fishing sinker cast onto and thru the end of it. It was out of Shibu's quiver and lashed around the nearest tree almost more quickly than Shibu could tie his best slip knot.
Shibu turned his bow upside down, taking hold of the limbs of the bow, and dashing quickly downhill, shifting his weight onto his arms as he lifted his feet. In the space of two steps, he was sailing into open space, and at a quick slide, headed down the ridge!
Cici could hear the line sing as Shibu slid into view, soaring like a young eagle, coming to his sister's rescue!
Above her, Shibu was counting, when he saw two thirds of his line behind him, Shibu simply let go the line, lifting his bow off of the strand, and tucking and rolling forward and down, until he landed on the thickest branch of the tree, only a few yards above Cici!
Two blue openings appeared directly in front of Cici. In less time than it took the Cra to draw a deep breath, Shibu was Cici's shield, and it seemed to her, their mutual salvation, standing in front of her, almost in her own footprints!
"What's wrong, Sis?" Shibu asked in a Ranger's whisper so quiet that the air between the two of them barely moved. In response, Cici whispered one word. It went thru Shibu like the lightning bolt on which he had been born.
"Poachers."
Shibu turned, absolutely silent, to face his Big Sister. It was then that Cici noticed that Shibu's eyes were lit by a vivid cyan light that Cici had seen only once before. There was more power, and strength in that light than Cici had ever dared to imagine until this moment.
And the expression on Shibu's face that went with the strength flowing thru him blasted Cici's next breath out of her like a solid punch to the stomach.
Shibu's brows were closely knit above eyes filled with blue fire, but the expression on his gentle wide open face had changed.
Cici shivered as she saw Shibu's face seem to transform, taking on aspects of a feral animal, accented by his dark hair, brows and most of all by the copper skin that made Shibu so handsome in other moments. Now Cici could feel someone, or something else rise from the depths of Shibu's strength. Cici blinked at the transformation that came over Shibu, and in the split second of darkness, with her eyes closed, the blue energy outlined into a form Cici had never imagined she might see.
The shape of a large, powerful dragon seemed to impose itself on her vision of Shibu. And what was more, the life force flowing thru the dragon was as pure and as hot a lightning as Cici had ever seen, even on many muggy summer nights, when storms a million times bigger than she was fought a thunderous battle for the sky and the stars above her head.
"Shi-bu? Cici whispered to her little brother, not bothering in the least to hide her mixed onset of shock, worry and fear, mostly for Shibu, but also in part for herself.
Shibu made no reply. He did nothing, except to clasp her hand and in the same instant seem to charge her with an energy that swept away her fear, as Shibu spoke one word.
"Come." Shibu whispered. His tone was so commanding that Cici's faith in Shibu caused her to obey by reflex alone.
Almost before Cici heard the word, a blue opening appeared before both of them, They stepped thru it together, and both were gone.
Before Cici could think, and even before her heart could skip a beat, She recognized the spot at which the two of them had appeared. The base of the ridge line, about a mile out of their village, and more than five hundred feet below where any danger could be lurking on the crown of the ridge, now far above them.
For just a moment, Cici expected to be sick. That had been the previous result of being taken thru one of the mysterious blue openings. But the energy flowing between herself and Shibu snuffed out that impulse like a weak candle flame.
"Cici's only pure thought was for Felice and Dylan, and words came to her mouth in an urgent whisper as the thought itself shot across her mind and heart like an arrow sped from her own bow.
"What about Felice and Dylan?"
"Wait here." The voice was Shibu's but the tone and the power behind just these two words practically froze the Cra Ranger to the soft grass upon which she stood.
Another blue opening, and Shibu was gone from sight!
A moment later, the blue opening shifted by a yard or two away from Cici, and Shibu stepped thru once more, onto the green grass. He carried Felice's still slumbering form on his upturned palms, While Dylan was laid carefully across the shoulder of Shibu's bow arm!
Cici had never been so relieved as she was when both Shibu set both Felice and Dylan down gently onto the grass!
Then without pause, Shibu stood up again, and another blue opening was before him.
If Cici lived long enough to become the Elder of her people, she would never forget the expression on Shibu's face and in his blue-lit eyes, as he simply turned his head and looked directly at Cici before stepping back thru the blue circle of light.
"Do not follow."
And then Shibu was gone once more.
Cici felt as if she had swallowed Cra's api as she dashed toward the pair of figures sprawled in the soft grass.
A moment later, she reverently put gloved hands together and whispered a benediction to Cra in thanks for both Felice and Dylan being blissfully asleep, and completely unharmed!
But just as quickly Cici's eyes darted back toward the now distant crown of the ridge, her attention drawn there by a low, thunderous rumble that seemed to gather over the ridge top, in spite of the afternoon sky being clear and bright with the cascade of afternoon colors.
From a clear sky, Cici saw a hot yellow bolt of lightning, almost as bright as the afternoon sun strike a specific spot just below the crown of the ridge where the group had been encamped only minutes before.
Cici saw a small curl of pure white smoke rise from the spot on the treeline, but there was no dark smoke after it, nor did Cici perceive the thin red line that meant fire among the trees.
Before she could really focus on the meaning of it all, There was a blue circle only a step or two away from the group.
Shibu stepped thru it at a pace that was slow and deliberate. It took two steps for Cici to see that Shibu carried three crumpled figures, One under each arm, and a third draped over his neck like a new and grotesque collar.
Cici only managed to get to one knee before Shibu dropped all three of them like the bags of charcoal he delivered in the afternoon.
Two Iops and a Sacrier, all dressed in typical dark garb with bits of leaves and twigs jutting out at odd angles. But their crude camouflage was ragged, chewed up and smoldering at the edges, as the green leaves and sticks would not catch fire.
Free of his burden, Shibu glanced toward Cici. This time, Shibu managed to say not a word, as he fell to his knees, and then forward onto his face, passing out completely!
Cici felt her training and Ranger instincts seize her mind once again.
After she rolled Shibu over quickly, making certain he was unhurt, Cici drew a long length to stout white cord from the pouch on her belt. In less than three minutes, the strangers were all bound hand and foot. Their wrists and ankles lashed cross ways together behind and slightly above their backs, so they had no hope of moving as Cici left them lay, trussed up like wild animals , on their bellies in the grass!
"Ci-ci?" a softer voice called out as the Ranger tied the last of her best knots.
"Stay still, Shibu. Don't you dare move so much as a finger, Little Brother!" Cici told the collapsed heap that Shibu had become.
Once Cici's hands were free, her first move was for her bow, and a pair of arrows shot skyward in an arching path that reached its zenith over the village.
Shibu could hear the first of them. A piercing whistle that no one within a mile could ignore unless they were as deaf as the rocks that made up the ridge itself. The sound brought a sharp pain to Shibu's ears, but he had never been happier to hear the Ranger's universal call for help!
The second arrow was a flare, red hot and brighter by half again than the afternoon Sun. Shibu already knew enough not to look at it directly, but the flare brought an inescapable red light to his vision, even thru tightly closed eyelids!
Less than another minute passed before Shibu's blue vision allowed him to see and sense a half dozen stout figures who seemed to appear as if by magic along the tree line some fifty yards distant from where everyone lay sprawled in the grass.
Three of the six were dragging litters behind them, and the campers and the prisoners were soon being carried back toward the village at a pace that would have taxed the speed of the local deer!
Shibu rolled over suddenly, ready to vault off the bed in near panic! He was moved to the point of tears as he found Dylan laying in the bed next to him!
"Hay, Dylan, How you doing?" Shibu whispered to his best friend quietly.
"Don't fret about me, Superstar!" Dylan answered with a cheesy grin.
"I'm all right. I have no idea what the heck happened, but I figure since everyone is here, and they all look fine, I think they are more worried about us than we should be about them."
"What's the last thing you remember?" Shibu asked, even more quietly.
"Eating a mess of your mom's good cooking, and laying down for s high-county nap." Dylan replied. "Then two big guys were carrying me in here and plopping me in bed next to you. I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon, Shibu. Like bookkeeping, for instance." Dylan reflected quietly.
"As long as you're OK, Bud." Shibu replied with a smile. "Now I think I'll go find out what's going on." Shibu added.
"Hay, now, don't go doing that!" Dylan replied fast. "I tried when I woke up the first time, and almost everyone here lost it completely, before they put me back in bed."
"Everyone?" Shibu wondered quietly. "Who's that?" Shibu wondered.
"That's right, I guess you don't know, do ya?"
Shibu shook his head. "Tell me and that will make two of us."
"Everyone who's anyone from the Village is out in your living room Shibu." Dylan told him quickly. "Mom got called away to Emelka about a shipment, or She'd probably be out there too, crying rivers, most likely. Believe me, that's a sight you never, ever wanna see if you know what's good for ya." Dylan reflected soberly.
Shibu risked sitting up in bed next to his best friend. When he discovered that it didn't hurt anywhere, and that he still had clothes on, Shibu's cap was set.
"This is my house too, Bud." Shibu answered with quiet determination. "And since I don't remember doing anything wrong, I'm going to act like I live here too!"
"Hay, I'm with you Superstar." Dylan replied. "Go on, live it up. But don't say I never warned ya!"
Shibu smiled, and clapped his best friend warmly on the back. Then he peeled back the rumpled blanket, and set his feet down, firm and steady on the floor of his own room.
"Hold onto your hat, Superstar." Dylan said by way of one last word of caution.
Shibu opened the door to the living room, and simply stepped out, as he had done every morning he could remember.
"Hello Everyone!" Shibu said quietly and politely to what seemed like half of the village packed into his house!
"Shibu! You're awake, My darling Boy!" Felice said to him almost too softly to be heard over the rest of the people crowding his living room. Their communal reaction was a loud gasp that seemed to steal all the air from the room!
None of that stopped Felice. She zipped over to Shibu as fast as she could fly in the enclosed space, and hugged Shibu as if she were grabbing onto life itself. "Love you, Mom!" Shibu said to her in a soft whisper as Shibu returned the embrace in front of the entire crowd in his living room.
"Love you too, My Sweet Boy!"
Shibu wanted and needed that moment of stability, because in the next moment, he looked up at his friends and fellow villagers. Every last one of them, right down to the other players on Shibu's Boufball team seemed frozen in place where they stood. It was strange. But even more strange was the fact that all of them were looking at Shibu as if he had somehow come back from the dead!
For almost a full minute, while Shibu looked from familiar face to familiar face, nobody said anything to Shibu. The house was so quiet, Shibu could hear the air in the water pipes. Someone had primed the pump the wrong way again. Shibu thought to himself. But as he waited for someone to say something, Shibu sensed that the pump wasn't the only problem at his house today.
"What's the matter, Mom? Is someone hurt or something?" Shibu finally asked right out loud because the silence was beginning to scare him just a little.
No, Dear, not us.. It's you that we were all worried about." Felice explained calmly to her son.
"Me?" Shibu said in disbelief. "Well thanks so much, everyone but I'm just fine!" Shibu told the entire room in a slightly raised voice. One that he never had to use in the house.
But Shibu's re-assurance didn't seem to have all that much effect on any of the adults in the room.
On the other hand, Shibu's pronouncement of his own well-being brought a cheer and a headlong rush from the other members of Shibu's Boufball team, and the three of them pushed thru the crowd and gang tackled Shibu, as if to stop him from scoring another goal! Shibu was visibly delighted, and as his three teammates helped him to stand up again, Shibu caught sight once more of the adults in the room still standing still as if the people he had known all his life were nothing but carved statues.
About that time, Aris elbowed his way to the front of the crowd of people and stood next to Felice.
"I'm so glad you're not hurt, Shibu." The village elder began. "Now just take it real slow, and try to tell us what happened, my lad."
Shibu stood still for a moment, trying to puzzle things out, and not knowing where exactly to begin, or what to say.
"Here, you fellows!" Aris indicated to a group of the older miners sitting around Shibu's own breakfast table. "Give the lad a chair, and let him be comfortable."
The group of them had all known Shibu since the night he arrived. They stood up, so Shibu could sit down.
"I don't quite remember exactly what happened." Shibu began.
"Ah, the poor boy must have been hit on the head!" One of the older miners decided. "You tell me which one of those poachers laid hands on you Lad, and I'll break both his arms for him, that's a promise, by Enutrof!"
"Break all of their arms, I say!" someone else in the room said loudly. There was a general snarl of agreement before Aris held up his hand again for quiet.
"Let Shibu have his say, all of you." the village elder intoned. The room was quiet again and Shibu tried to gather his thoughts.
"We were on the top of the ridge, camping out, right near the top." Shibu began slowly.
"All Right, Shibu. You've done nothing wrong my boy." Aris told him sympathetically. "But just now, you're the only one who can tell us what happened." Aris went on.
"Mom where's Cici? She could tell this better than I could." Shibu asked glancing in his mother's direction.
"She's gone to Bonta, Dearest. To bring back a squad of Cra Rangers to take those evil poachers away. She should be back tonight, we hope." Felice answered, "Just take it slowly, Shibu and tell us what happened, one thing at a time sweetheart."
Shibu nodded, then he took a slow deep breath. "Cici woke me up. We were napping after lunch, remember Mom?" Shibu asked.
"That's right, Dear. Go on." Felice encouraged.
"Cici told me that there were poachers on the ridge. We were both worried about them finding our camp." Shibu related. "We were just trying to figure out where they might be, and how to get My Mom and Dylan down safely."
"Stout lad!" Someone in the room said. "Why isn't Shibu a full Ranger yet?"
"With what he did, he ought to be!" Said a voice Shibu could recognize, but whose owner he could not see. After a moment, the owner of the voice stepped forward. Jacob, the Ferrier was still holding his working hammers, and it made his tall, muscular figure even more imposing.
"I know Shibu very well." The blacksmith began. "And I believe he did what Cici said he did."
Shibu went dead cold, from the top of his head, to the tips of his toes.
"How would any of us react if we saw someone we know being attacked?" The blacksmith asked his fellow villagers. "Shibu did what any one would do. He fought back. All of us should be one half as brave as Shibu proved himself to be."
There was a rising murmur of agreement from among the people gathered in the room.
Shibu felt his body relax, and a warm rush replaced the awful cold feeling that had raced thru him like all the winters he had ever felt.
"Mom, is Cici all Right?" Shibu interrupted to ask urgently.
"She's fine Dearest. You saved her." Felice said directly. "Don't you remember, sweetheart?"
"Not all together, no." Shibu answered honestly.
"I see it now." Aris cut in sharply." Shibu here has been thru a lot. Maybe more than some of us could take." He began slowly. "He needs a long rest, to let him catch up with himself. We know all we need to know, for now." The Village Elder told his people.
"Those poachers should hang." Someone in the room growled ominously.
"Not to worry, my friends." Aris pronounced. "The King of Bonta is known far and wide for his dislike of poachers. By the Time King Louis is done with them, these three worthless bums will be begging to let Shibu beat them up s'more."
"Thank you, My Friends, for your concern and caring about Our Shibu." Felice said at last. "But for now, Our Boy needs his rest, and As Your Healer, and his Mother, That's what I prescribe."
"Okay, everyone. You Heard Felice." Aris said in a kindly but firm tone. "Everyone go home for now. We'll know more when Cici herself returns along with the Fletch of Rangers from the Cra City." Aris told the Villagers. "Felice and Shibu will get everything they need, All Right?"
"We'll see to that, Right Enough, Aris." The ferrier said in a self-assured voice. "They will never want for anything while I can still swing a hammer. Shibu is a fellow Smith, and we look after our own,"
"Thank you, one and all. That's the true spirit of our village!" Aris replied as everyone, including the Village Elder, made their way slowly to and thru the slightly rounded portal that was Felice's front door.
In a few minutes time, Felice was finally able to close her door, and be alone with her son again.
Shibu started to say something, but before he could make a sound, Felice put a gentle finger to her lips, as she fluttered back across her living room, and toward Shibu's bedroom door.
Quietly, she opened the door just enough to allow Shibu to catch sight of Dylan, curled up comfortably on Shibu's bed, sleeping soundly, and oblivious to all that had gone on in the last hour.
Shibu, smiled warmly at the sight, nodded to his Mother and fell silent. Shibu simply Ranger walked over to one of the overstuffed chairs he loved so much, picked up a favorite book from the shelves he knew so well,and began to read, seeming as contented and as happy as ever.
But the need to stand guard over the family secrets didn't ever stop Felice from being Shibu's mother. As Shibu turned the page in the book as big as himself, Shibu found his mom floating no more than the thickness of the book cover from his nose, a proud light in her eyes, and a loving smile on her lips. She came closer yet to Shibu, to whisper tenderly into his ear.
"You saved us all, my Darling Sea Dragon. I bless the night that you came to us, my Dearest Darling Boy." Felice told Shibu tenderly. "That's all I'll ever need to know about what happened. I love you so much, my handsome hero!"
Felice kissed Shibu playfully on his nose, and then floated into the kitchen,as proud as any Mother could be, to make her boy his favorite snack.
Cici caught her breath in the moment that the arrow of Recall brought her back home. Master Chang's eye was still keen, and his aim impeccable in spite of the Sage's advancing years. As Cici took a moment to breathe the air of home once again, she fought down the impulse to race home as fast as she could run. There was duty to do before any personal consideration. Before she could finish counting to ten,that number of Rangers appeared around her in a close circle.
"Major, take seven men, and go to the Home of the Village Elder. You will find the three prisoners locked in his root cellar. If they are not already bound and gagged, make them so, and then make a fast transit by Arrow back to Bonta Castle with the prisoners."
"At your Command, Cici!" The ranking member of the Fletch of Rangers answered smartly.
"You three, on me. Our target is my home, Battle March, now!"
"Yes, Ma'am, at your Command!" The trio of Rangers answered as they moved to surround and secure Cici in a triangle of bows and knocked arrows that swept over the grass of the Village Green as fast as Rangers could move.
The The Point Ranger in the triangle moved aside slightly, and let Cici walk ahead by a step as the group crossed from the grass onto the porch of the house. Cici opened the door, and as softly as a kitten, slid into her home as if she were made of nothing but her shadow.
Cici's first thought was of her fellow Ranger.
Cici could already sense Shibu, and she knew instantly where he was. She slid over to his bedroom door and opened it it one quick, smooth motion that was also completely silent.
"Shibu?" Cici asked in a Ranger's voice, knowing there could only be one other voice at home who would answer in the same way.
"Here, Cici, Welcome Home Sis!"
Cici turned three-quarters of the way around, at the sound of a match striking, and the room filling with a flood of light from one of the large white candles which usually lit up the Potion workroom.
Shibu's gentle expression and his clear vivid blue eyes, half illuminated in bright candle light became the most beautiful thing Cici had ever seen right up to that moment when Cici saw Shibu smile gently at her, too.
Cici vaulted straight for him, as true as a cloth yard shaft shot from her own bow. In an instant Shibu was in her arms, and for the first time in many tense hours, something inside the young Cra finally whispered that everything was all right again, and that things would stay that way!
"Hello, Shibu! Cici whispered to him after kissing his nose, cheekbones and forehead! "Is everything all secure here?"
"Yep-Yep!" Shibu said in his own soft whisper. "Mom had a long day, and had to rest. Dylan is spending the night in my bed, and I decided to take first watch, and wait for you and the Rangers."
Cici cuddle hugged Shibu before seating him back in the overstuffed chair with his favorite book, lit for him by a dark lantern.
"By your leave, Cici, the three of us will keep watch on your front and back door until the Prisoners have been transported from the Village to Bonta, via arrow of recall."
"Very Good Commander, post your men, and thank you very much, from me and My family, Personally." Cici replied.
"Always a pleasure for one of our own, Ma'am!" The ranking Cra officer replied with a confident smile. Cici was even more impressed as the Commander broke eye contact with her only long enough to look in the direction of the overstuffed chair in the corner, where Shibu and the Commander exchanged the typical Ranger greeting. The bow fingers on the right hand swept slightly forward and down and then back slightly so the other person could see them. The gesture was symbolic of an arrow being drawn by one Ranger, to insure the safety of another. Shibu warmed to it instantly, as it was the first thing Cici had ever taught Shibu about the Rangers.
Cici was so overjoyed to be home that she simply folded her legs, and dropped gently to the carpeted floor of her living room sitting cross legged and completely at ease. As her front door closed and locked from both inside and outside, Cici was so happy to be home that she wanted to cry. But, as usual, Shibu had another, better idea for this special moment for both of them.
Almost before the candle flame could flicker twice, Shibu flounced gently out of the overstuffed chair, leaving his favorite book behind gently, to rest on the thickly cushioned seat. Shibu popped thru the air like a small cork, and landed exactly in Cici's lap!
Cici enfolded Shibu in her long, svelte arms, knowing that Shibu enjoyed their shared sensation of warm and constant strength.
"Love you Sis!" Shibu whispered softly to her.
"Love you too, Shibu, My Handsome Hero." Cici almost purred as she held Shibu close to her, finding security and solace in his strength too, even as the dark lantern burned low, far into the night, and on toward the dawn.
When Shibu woke, he was still wrapped in Cici's warm, strong arms.
"Good Morning, Sweet Sea Dragon." Cici whispered to Shibu in a Ranger voice that no one else could hear.
"Cici?" Shibu whispered in surprise. "Didn't you get to sleep?" Shibu asked.
"Sure I did, Love." Cici replied. "I slept right here, with you."
"But-" Shibu said shortly.
"Don't worry, Shibu. I have one Ranger in the front, one in the back, and one watching." Cici told Shibu quietly.
"The Triangle." Shibu replied softly.
"That's right, Ranger." Cici answered.
Shibu made a good try at standing up. "I should grab my bow and help them." Shibu told Cici.
"Cici tightened her loving grasp on Shibu, lightly but insistently.
"Don't you move, and consider that a direct order, Ranger Shibu." Cici commanded. "Consider yourself a fighting reserve, posted right here."
"I still need my bow, Sis." Shibu insisted firmly.
Cici sighed softly. Shibu was right. His bow had saved both of them yesterday. And Shibu was a Ranger too. Cici instantly imagined the state she would be in if she was without her bow.
"Where's your Bow, Shibu?"
"In the corner, behind the big chair,underneath my bookshelf." Shibu replied fast.
"Don't move, Superstar, I'll get it for you." a third voice cut into the conversation.
"Hay! G'morning, Dylan!"
"You two are just too good looking together." Dylan remarked casually as he slipped into a sidestep near the overstuffed chair. In just a moment, Shibu's bow was across Dylan's shoulder, and Shibu's quiver across his opposite shoulder.
Dylan slid out from behind the chair. Dylan's appearance brought a warm and genuine smile to Shibu's face.
"Hay Big D, on you, that looks good!" Shibu said brightly.
"Ya think so, Superstar?"
"I know so!" Shibu answered as Dylan slipped Shibu's bow and quiver into the hands of a capable archer with a cheesy grin.
"I'll get mine soon enough, Superstar. Right now, You need these more than I need or want to look good." Dylan replied.
The Ecaflip's attitude brought a smile to Cici's face. "You've taught Dylan well, Shibu. Both of you are making the right sounds, and I don't mean bird calls." Cici told both friends.
"Hay, Cici, we have a tactical advantage. Both of us understand that Shibu is amazing!"
Still nestled in Cici's arms, Shibu cracked up!
"Yeah!" Cici teased lightly. "Watch how amazingly he blushes, Dylan!"
Dylan joined the fun, getting down on his knees, so he could look directly into Shibu's bronzed face, that was slowly edging with a vivid red!
"Yep, he's amazing all right." Dylan said off-handedly. "I wonder how much more amazing he would be if, just for the sake of argument, someone was, say, tickling him, for example?"
Shibu let out a slightly sharp, bird-like sound that sounded like a startled Piwi, followed by the loudest hiccup that Dylan had ever heard!
Dylan didn't hesitate. He sank both hands deep into Shibu's ribs, and tickled his best friend ferociously!
Even with Cici holding him close, Shibu made a game try at recoiling straight up, and threatening to go thru the roof of his own house!
"No escape, Shibu!" Cici cracked. "Let's see how well you stand up under "enemy torture." As Cici pinned her brother down for Dylan's benefit.
"Now I gotcha, Superstar!" Dylan said almost laughing as hard as Shibu himself!
Dylan poured it on Shibu, knowing exactly where his best friend was most ticklish, and sparing no spot he could reach with a melting, fast touch!
But even pinned down as he was, Shibu had more resistance than either Cici or Dylan expected.
Cici found herself using nearly all of the strength in her arms while trying to hold Shibu still as his body bucked and twisted, tying to avoid Dylan's touch.
My Stars, Shibu.." Cici found herself panting. "You are much stronger than I thought, and I live with you!" Cici said without bothering to hide her outright shock!
"Oh, so Superstar here is holding out on all of us, Huh?" Dylan wanted to know. "Just for that, I can get really serious!"
This time, Dylan moved in and got right on top of Shibu and went after Shibu's firm bronze tummy!
But this time, Shibu had learned. He relaxed, going almost as lip as a pot of boiled noodles! Dylan was laughing, Cici was laughing, and most of all Shibu was nearly purple with laughter! Dylan turned his tickling pounce into a deep hug, as Dylan joined Cici in just being close to Shibu!
For his part, Shibu melted like warm candle wax, taking Dylan and Cici into a hug of his own!
"I love you guys so much.." Shibu whispered to both of them in a gentle whisper.
"Right back to you, Shibu. Dylan replied. You're my brother in every way but blood, and for that, we have Boufball." Dylan told Shibu seriously.
"Dylan, our door and my heart is always unlocked. If you need to get away, for a minute, a day, or whenever, get your lucky tail right in here." Shibu told his brother.
"Now that's Our Sea Dragon!" Cici said approvingly. "If Felice was here, she'd kiss you both." Cici told both boys. "But since she's on the grand meadow,filling an order for some herbs, I'll just have to do it for her!"
Cici was as good as her word, and when it came to kissing Dylan, Cici emulated the Ecaflip mark of affection by nipping Dylan's ear playfully as she took him into her arms where Shibu had been a moment before!
"Hay, Dylan. I know your Mom is a pretty tough nut, but now, you have us, and you also have the Rangers. Don't forget, OK, and remember. Asking for help is strength, not weakness, All right?"
"Right, Commander Cici!" Dylan said brightly as he shared a Ranger salute with Cici and Shibu.
"Dylan,You there, my sweetie pie?"
Shibu had an uncomfortably close view as his best friend's face almost literally fell thru the floor. Cici winced in a sympathetic and very visual expression of regret.
"Yes, Mother." Dylan called back, his lack of enthusiasm audible in his voice.
"Come along, Dear. I need you at home." Cassandra called out from the porch.
The richest person in the village didn't bother coming into the house, but rather she stood at the very edge of the threshold, and bent at the waist, bringing her voice as close to the house, while not going inside.
"I'll be home in a while, Mother." Dylan called in reply, trying to hold his temper.
"Come ahead, Dear. I need your head for numbers. The books just won't balance themselves."
"Yes, Mother." Dylan said, in a completely defeated tone of voice.
"I'm so sorry, Shibu." Dylan whispered to his best friend. "I'd rather be here than anyplace in Bonta right now." Dylan confessed quietly and freely.
Then, Shibu glanced at Cici. Her green eyes were burning torches of the purest anger that Shibu had ever seen from his easygoing but deeply serious sister.
"Dylan is helping me move some dry stores, Cassie." I'll send him home in a few minutes, if that's all right with you." Cici lied outright.
"Very well, My Dear." Cassandra shot back, sounding tired. "As long as he is making himself useful, and not getting underfoot." Cassandra added.
"He'll be along in a moment or two, I promise." Cici called back enforcing a cheerful tone in her voice. "I'll walk him home myself."
"Very well Cici. As a favor to you and Felice."
Cici's Ranger trained ears let her hear the scuffing sound of Cassandra's slipper shod feet on the soft grass just at the edge of her own porch.
"You boys, stay here, and just please be yourselves." Cici whispered to Dylan and Shibu. "I have an arrow to send, and I want both of you here when I do." Cici told both of them in the tone of a direct order, which both Rangers obeyed by reflex.
Cici listened for a moment, to be sure Cassandra was blissfully gone.
Once Cici was certain her home was hers again, she strode out onto her porch, less than a yard from where Cassandra had stood to holler into her home.
She swept her bow from her back by pure, muscular reflex, and from her quiver came a unique arrow which only the Commander of the Rangers was permitted to carry.
Cici had only fired one other Rally Arrow in her lifetime. As soon as Cici knocked the clear shaft, the arrow seemed to take on the color of the dawn light which still lingered in the morning sky. The arrow soared away from her bow, and the sky was instantly populated by a new star, as if Cici herself had used a part of her own being to illuminate the new and lasting light in the sky.
"Shibu, Dylan, I need you!" Cici called clearly, in a firm voice that expressed itself in a commanding call that was both as tranquil as the morning, but as bright as the new star.
Both boys came out of the house at a quick Ranger walk and stood at Cici's side.
Cici smiled warmly at both of them, tipping both of them the Ranger salute.
"Boys" Cici told both of them. "Prepare to be truly impressed."
From the point in the sky where the new star sparkled, a single ray of light that shimmered like the sunrise came back from the star in the sky, to linger for a moment as a sphere of light which glistened as if it were formed of the purest crystal. The orb itself expanded like one of the blue openings that Shibu had not quite mastered, and then after the span of a single breath, the sphere expanded, but at the same moment began to fade.
When it was gone from sight, in the same place was the figure of another Archer. One whom Shibu had seen engraved on the illuminated pages of his favorite history books!
"My Stars!" Shibu whispered, completely awestruck by she who had come into their company. Shibu kept his place, and his stance, but dropped his eyes. Next to him, Dylan dropped his chin to his chest, and was still.
Shibu could remember only one other time he had seen Cici bow to anyone. As the Cra Ranger did so, Cici not only fell to one knee, but also cupped her bow hand and moved it to rest over her heart before she spoke.
"Clear skies to Cra's Child, Matilda, Queen of the Cra Nation." Cici said in a voice both gentle and strong.
"Clear Skies to Ranger Cici, Elected leader of Cra's Rangers." Matilda answered with a gentle smile. "I see I am know by another of your company, my Dear." Matilda added.
For one of the only times Shibu could remember, nothing he had ever read gave him to know what to say or to do.
Matilda smiled gently at Shibu. "Never fear, Shibu, Son of Felice, and Brother to Our Own Cici. You are well seen by the Brothers and Sisters of our serene Mother." Matilda told Shibu in a grand and gentle voice.
"Thank you, Queen Matilda." Shibu replied with respectful simplicity." May I ask something of the Grandest of all Cra's Children?" Shibu asked in the same tone.
"Raise your eyes to us, Ranger Shibu. Brother and sisters ought not be apart, and ask what you will of us." Matilda replied.
"I ask Nothing for myself, because I am Ranger, which is all I have ever wished to be." Shibu explained. "That which I ask of you is for my friend of truest heart."
"Then Raise your eyes to us Dylan Trueheart. And hear the wish of your brother Ranger." Matilda replied.
Dylan complied, tears of happiness in his eyes.
"My Brother Dylan would become a Ranger, for His heart follows my own example." Shibu Explained. "I ask your most gentle indulgence that he be inducted into our number. He seeks to work, and to train with Cici and myself." Shibu explained modestly.
"It is for this reason that We have requested Cici to allow us to meet both of you." Matilda explained.
"You wished to meet with us, Grand Lady?" Shibu asked in surprise.
"Aye, Ranger Shibu." Matilda replied. "For you are owed something, by reason of the loyalty and fidelity you have lived before the whole of the Cra people, and within the true sight of our serene Mother."
"Grand Lady, Queen Matilda." Shibu replied. " I am Ranger, in Honor of Great Cra, and by reason of the steadfast love of my Sister Cici. I seek nothing more than this, for I hold in this heart all that I desire to have." Shibu replied.
"Ah, our Shibu. You who know Cra thru your keen mind and into your own heart, you know most well that Cra repay their debts, do you not, Oh Blue Ranger?" Matilda asked.
"I do, My Grand Lady." Shibu replied with simple forthrightness.
"Then, will you and yours consent to travel a short way in our company, Please?" Matilda asked Shibu gently.
"Anywhere, and at any time. Great Lady. For in your name, I am Ranger." Shibu responded as tradition demanded.
"Very well. In the name of our Serene Mother, I make it so!" Matilda ordered.
The sphere of light returned, as clear and bright as before, in their midst, and the space around the group was transposed, along with their location.
Shibu's eyes phased into a cyan light as Queen Matilda, Cici, Dylan and himself found themselves standing in the middle of their former camp sight on the crown of the ridge!
It was then that Queen Matilda glanced at the assembled group before her.
"One of our Sisters is missing from this company," The Monarch of the Cra said with a serious tone. "We shall act to make all right and well before we proceed."
Everyone in the group watched as Matilda struck a classic archer's pose. The Bow which became solid in her hands began as a pure streak of the most beautiful purple light Shibu could ever imagine. The light was as brilliant as a perfect amethyst, and it transposed into the shape of an ancient Great Bow that seemed to be formed and shaped from entire tree limbs, bent back upon themselves into a recurve form. The bowstring shimmered gold and the bead on the string was a single pearl the size of a Piwi egg!
From the Bow of Cra, Matilda, her daughter, loosed an arrow which was formed of light, as the bow became corporeal. It was as if the Queen of the Cra Nation had plucked a sunbeam from the dawn sky, and used it as ammunition for her bow!
Matilda's arrow sped away, over the horizon as fast as light itself could go.
Before the gathered onlookers could draw a single breath, the arrow reappeared, manifesting itself on a flat spot only a yard distant among the flat rocks of the ridge.
But this time, there was a circle of bright yellow light around a passenger whom Shibu could instantly recognize while her shape was only a bright outline.
"Mom!" Shibu called out in a bright and excited voice!
In just a moment longer Felice was standing between Cici and Shibu as if the Enripsa healer had been with the group all along!
"My stars! Felice interjected. "If those arrows are not the very last word in travel, I do not know what else could be their equal! Felice observed, brushing herself off lightly, so as to prevent her spring dress from looking unkempt.
When Felice looked around, and saw Shibu and Cici, her dress became the least significant thought in her mind!
Matilda said not a word as Shibu and Cici pinned Felice between them in a loving embrace of homecoming.
"Greetings Felice Silverwood, of the Clan whose name lives forever in the mind and heart of Cra and all of her children," Matilda said once the trio stood side-by side again.
"Greetings and Clear Skies, to Queen Matilda, To Cra and all of her Sons and Daughters." Felice replied formally. "I hope you and yours are well, Matilda Dearest. We have been almost too long parted."
"Indeed, Sister Felice." Matilda replied. "We evoked your recall from your labors that you might be a part and a witness to the events brought about by your son and daughter. "Have no fear, there has been no wrong done, in fact, quite the opposite has been made true by reason of your family."
"My Family is my hope and my life, Queen Matilda." Felice answered. "I know that where ever they are, that is the place I most belong."
"Now, that is so, and all set to Right." Queen Matilda replied.
"Hear you now with joyous and alert ears what has been brought about by those you love."
So saying to the entire group, Queen Matilda's regal gaze fell with gentle light upon Shibu, The queen of The Cra Nation smiled gently at him,and then she spoke as much to the small gathering as to Shibu himself.
"It was here, Ranger Shibu, that you placed the safety of innocents above your own." Matilda pronounced. "And as a Ranger, you did prove, according to the creed written upon your heart that the way of the Ranger was your own to live, and to believe."
Standing next to Shibu, Dylan dropped a hand to Shibu's shoulder, and smiled, not able to say anything, but not needing to do so, as the tears in his eyes spoke more clearly about what was in his heart than his voice ever could.
"Ranger Shibu, to honor your fidelity, and your valiant heart, Serene Cra bears you a gift. Look, now, with your Pure Blue Sight, and see the resolution of your innermost quest."
A soft gust of wind rose off the crown of the ridge, sending a silvery whisper among the trees that carpeted the ridge. As it rolled away, toward the lea side of the rocky crest, The group saw and felt another presence join their group in the place where the campsite stood.
The White Stag, In all his majestic power, flanked by a pair of does and a faun, stood less than an arm's length from the entire group!
Shibu smiled, and then, he went gently up on his toes, and Ranger walked toward the stately stag!
Dylan gasped when he saw the stag's deep Golden Brown eyes hold Shibu in their gaze.
"Careful, Shibu!" Dylan called out to his best friend in a soft whisper.
Shibu moved only his arm, extending his slightly cupped palm, and not the flat of his hand, toward the white stag as the boy with the blue eyes dared another step forward.
The white stag exhaled gently, and a soft brush of warm air crossed the fingers of Shibu's bow hand.
One of the two white does took her own step forward, leading her faun, as the mother deer leaned gently into Shibu's legs, resting her head for a moment on Shibu's midsection.
The white stag stood up, and with one step, closed the remainder of the distance between himself and Shibu, allowing Shibu's outstretched hand to pass close to the White Stag's short, black-tipped nose,and for just an instant to touch upon and feel the solid density of the Stag's powerful neck. Then, the white stag lowered his head gently toward Shibu, bringing one small point on his massive rack of antlers to within an inch of Shibu's nose!
Shibu never stirred, nor did he show any sign of fear. Shibu withdrew his hand slowly, and with his fingertip, he touched the point of the white antlers with the same caring and gentle touch he had shared with so many of the forest creatures.
Shibu was as surprised as anyone in the group as the entire point of antler, as long as Shibu's palm, dropped easily into Shibu's hand!
Shibu looked up at the White Stag with his clear blue eyes, and quietly whispered "Thank you." to the Stag, whose golden eyes never left Shibu as the Stag's head rose again.
Shibu reached down, and gently caressed the doe close to him, and was rewarded by one of the fauns with a soft tongue lick to the back of his draw hand. Shibu smiled at both mother and faun as he took a gentle and silent half step back from the family of four.
Shibu knew better than to turn his back, so he receded by soft and silent quarter steps, backing away slowly until he stood once again at the side of Queen Matilda.
The queen's approval of Shibu's conduct radiated in the gentle smile and nod she shared with him as Shibu rejoined the group.
When Shibu looked away from the Queen, to where the White Stag was standing, Shibu saw only a soft, pure white shimmer, of the sort that came with sunlight reflected from the canopy of trees, and when the shimmer was gone, nothing remained except the natural trees and rocks that had been there since the beginning of time itself.
"The audience is ended." Queen Matilda pronounced with a solemn tone."Our Cousin and Protector finds favor in you, Ranger Shibu."
"Your Majesty?" Shibu inquired gently.
"Yes, Ranger Shibu?" Matilda answered softly.
"This belongs to The Rangers, Not to me. Please take it in trust for all of us." Shibu asked quietly.
"It does indeed belong to Our Rangers, Shibu, of the Clear Blue Eyes." Queen Matilda answered. "But I can think of no one better suited to safeguard the Talisman of the White Stag than yourself, and your family."
"We are humbled, Queen Matilda, and ever prepared to Serve, Your Highness." Cici answered at once, dropping to one knee as she spoke.
"Arise daughter mine, and know you well that your own part in this wonder shall not be forgotten nor unrewarded. For we also saw your gentle service to the fallen innocents who stood with the White Stag. Henceforth, we add to your name the Title of Cecilia Whitestag, and the Office of Warden to this High place, whereupon the White Stag walks."
"You are most gracious, My Queen." Cici replied.
"You have in your circle, two very fine and gifted Rangers-to-be, My Daughter. Lift them both up, as you have lifted your brother, who is one of the pair in your circle. Train both well, that in the fullness of time, both Rangers Shibu and Dylan may take up the Office and the Duties of Warden, in their turn."
"You are indeed Sage wise, and most farsighted, my Queen." Cici responded.
"Now that Justice has been done, and the Right be served, let us go down from this place, for We have yet one more matter to accomplish this day."
After Queen Matilda was finished, the bright sphere of light which all in the party had seen before, encompassed all of them and with the speed of that very same light, the Party stood all together once more in the living room of Shibu's home!
"Ranger Dylan, attend us, if you please." Queen Matilda told Shibu's best friend. As She spoke, Matilda extended a gloved hand to Dylan.
Dylan accepted at once, without any hint of hesitation!
"Now, conduct us to your home, please. And there, I shall share news of this event with your household, and also share words with your own Mother." Queen Matilda related to Dylan, whose only response was a very broad smile.
As the two of them left Shibu's home, Queen Matilda glanced back, over her shoulder at the remainder of the group. "We shall return presently, and before We leave your company, we shall break bread together, and have drink as well, until all here are well satisfied."
"As you desire, Your Majesty!" Cici answered as Matilda and Dylan strolled casually toward his house, as if they had not a care in the world between them!
After they were well away, Shibu turned to his sister, sporting an impish grin!
"What's up, Little Brother?" Cici inquired, her voice dropping instinctively to a Ranger Whisper.
"Queen Matilda, and Dame Cassandra." Shibu replied. "Now that's a meeting of a lifetime, One I wish I could overhear, if not see for myself!"
"Sir Shibu! You little-" But in the midst of her reprimand, Cici Whitestag felt the same idea cross her mind!
Shibu saw His Sister's green eyes light up with a bright and mischievous twinkle!
"Well" Cici reflected after a moment of silent reflection. "I am supposed to be training you." Cici replied.
"Stealth Practice?" Shibu ventured, the smile on his face not changing in the least.
"Grab your Bow, and Let's go, Little Brother!" Cici replied as she made a Ranger's stride toward the front door, with Shibu only a step behind her.