2: The woman stood in front of Altair, sword drawn.
"Lia." She spat.
"Rae." Gasped the other.
The woman called Rae said in a venomous tone, "Surprised to see me? A deserter?"
The other woman, Lia, replied "I could care less."
It was obvious to the Rangers and assassin that these two hated each other passionately. But Altair can be too curious, so he asked, "Who are you two?"
Rae turned, and Altair's eyes widened slightly. Rae was very beautiful. She was wearing a robe like Lia's, only it was green with gold on the edges.
She had dark blue eyes and light brown hair that fell past her shoulders.
Her eyes were bright and when she gave Altair a small smile, it lit up the room.
Or at least, that was what Altair thought.
Altair also noted, weapon-wise, that she handled the broadsword easily, and had a few small throwing knives in sheaths.
"I'm Rae." She said simply, and calmly.
"And that," here she paused, to glower at the other woman, "is my vile sister, Lia."
"Vile! You are the vile one, deserter!"
Lia sprang across the room at Rae, who darted aside while slashing at Lia. She grazed Lia's robe, and Lia involuntarily flinched.
Rae wheeled around and drove her sword forward.
Lia tried to dodge, but Rae was prepared, and her sword flicked to the side, exactly where Lia was.
Lia gasped and dodged again, so the process repeated, with Lia desperately trying to save herself from the flicking sword point.
Suddenly Rae plunged forward, and then both women froze. Rae's sword was a millimeter from Lia's chest. Rae gently touched the point to a spot right where Lia's heart was.
"I win."
Lia dropped her sword. It clattered on the stone.
"How did you do that?" Lia asked in shock.
Rae smiled. "And you all thought I never watched you practice. I know all your moves, whereas you have probably never even seen me hold a sword."
"But," she added, as Lia hung her head in shame, "you are dangerous and sneaky, and clever. So, in order to avoid unpleasantness… I'll do this."
And Rae brought her sword hilt down on her sister's head.
Lia slumped awkwardly, unconscious.
Rae turned to face Altair. "Sorry about that."
"That's quite fine." Altair said dreamily.
Then the three Rangers present walked out of the shadows.
"Right, so, you. Will you come with us?" Eric asked, barely hiding a smile.
"Sure, I guess." Rae said.
They went back down the blown up passage to Evanna, who had been waiting impatiently for them.
"Took your time, did you now?" Then she saw Rae. "And who is this?"
"Rae." She said calmly.
Evanna looked them all over. Altair was looking at the calm and beautiful Rae with puppy dog eyes, Peter, Tali, and Eric wore similar expressions as they had when Evanna and Peter had kissed.
Back at the cave…
"Altair? Here, Altair?" Carter was grinning as he held a bone out to Altair. "Come here dogg-Altair!"
"Not funny anymore." Altair said, knife still raised after cutting the bone in half.
Carter chuckled then looked at Rae himself. He grinned at her. "You seem to have been welcomed by these guys."
"Yes, I was." Rae agreed.
"Would you like to stay here?"
"I actually have nowhere to go, so staying here would be very helpful."
"Alright then. I'll put Tali in charge of you. She's less likely to lose it and try to kill you."
"Don't worry. I've been held at sword point before."
"We aren't quite swordsmen, but, I digress. Oh, but I have horrible manners! Not even introducing myself! Well, I'm Carter, the Ranger Commandment."
"I'm Peter." Peter said, raising a hand.
"I'm his wife, Evanna." Evanna added.
Automatically, Rae said to Peter, "Good luck."
Tali laughed. "Yeah, we all thought he was crazy. Anyway, I'm Tali. This is my husband." She gestured at Eric, who said, "My name is Eric."
Yue, who had been watching silently and disapprovingly suddenly stood and announced, "I am Yue."
Rae inclined her head. "Well met." She said.
Yue muttered something that sounded like, "You just wait…"
The next day…
Evanna guessed that the new guest would clash with someone; in fact she had suspected it would be her, but not quite as soon as the next day.
And certainly not that Rae would clash with none other than Yue.
Carter, Altair, and several senior Rangers had gone to Agra in order to get Altair permission to train as a Ranger.
All the other Rangers had been sent to their fiefs again.
So, it was only Eric, Evanna, Peter, Tali, Rae, and Yue in the meadow.
The six of them decided to kill time by training, something Rangers were practically religious about anyway.
Rae and Yue fought with swords, and the Rangers used their bows and knives.
For awhile it was peaceful, the thrum and thwack of the bows, the thump of a knife, and the clang of a sword. Few words were exchanged, and when they were, it was advice or congratulations.
Yue lost all the bouts with Rae, who had a firm hand and a good eye for technique. Rae never gloated, which seemed to make Yue even angrier.
Yue started on the attack again. She jumped and brought down both of her swords on Rae's head.
Rae sidestepped.
Yue's eyes bulged as she came down on the ground, not Rae. A small dust cloud rose. When it cleared, Yue's swords were stuck in the ground, and Rae was standing over her, her huge broadsword at Yue's throat.
A bead of blood trickled down.
Yue snapped.
She whipped around with one of her swords and her sword met Rae's. The impact jarred Yue's whole arm, and her sword accidently flicked towards its owner.
Yue's eyes rolled upward and she collapsed.
"Well," began Rae, "That wasn't quite what I expected."
The Rangers looked shocked.
"Is she okay?" Peter asked looking worried.
Tali dropped to her knees next to Yue and felt for her pulse.
"She's alive. Probably got a huge bruise on her forehead from the sword hitting her, though."
Rae shrugged. "If the sharp end had hit her, she'd be dead."
"Let's take her to the cottage." Eric suggested.
The others agreed, and soon they were in the cottage sitting in the living room.
It was comfortable room with a fireplace and little square window that had flowers sitting on the windowsill.
It had two couches situated parallel to the fireplace, and two plump armchairs facing diagonally towards the couches. Small tables with lamps, books and mugs were beside the chairs and couches.
"So Rae," Eric started, "explain your sister to us, will you?"
Rae's brows darkened. She dragged her armchair closer to the couches. "I don't like any of my sisters." She said. "But I'll tell you about them."
(A/N: Right, so, I'm an idiot. I totally forgot the disclaimer! So, here's the disclaimer for the whole story:
All rights of Rangers go to John Flanagan, he is amazing, and if he ever would like to give me control over, say, Halt, fun things could be set in motion. :) But, that's irrelevant. Please enjoy the insanity I call my story! And feel free to hit the review button. And then type nice things. It means a lot. )