3: "There are seven of us. We were given the names of the musical scale. Do, Ra, Me, Fa, So, La, and Ti. I kept my name, to an extent. I spell my name differently, but it sounds the same. The others, my sisters, adopted other names. For example, Do changed her name to Lia. My sisters all use broadswords as their main weapon. We grew up together, in a castle by the coast. I was the oddball. I have light brown hair and light blue eyes. I was the smallest, and they thought I was the weakest. They are all tall and beautiful, with black hair and dark eyes. Our father raised us. He taught us to fight with our swords, and created that fateful group: Discordant Harmony. We did what he wanted. Stealing, frequently. We caused mayhem for a while, or at least, my sisters did. While they worked for my father, I learned crude throwing knife skills, because my father agreed with my sisters that I was too small to wield a sword. Finally, at fifteen, I had enough. I've been on the run for a long time. Discordant Harmony lives in my sisters now."
"Why is it called Discordant Harmony?" Peter wondered aloud.
"Well," Rae said thoughtfully, "harmony because our nicknames were the musical scale, and discordant, well, from the root discord. It means something similar to disagreeing, clashing. We are a fighting force, after all."
"That makes sense." Eric agreed.
Then, the door banged open and they heard Altair announce, "We're back!"
He came through the living room door and saw Yue. He turned to Evanna silently.
"I didn't do it!" Evanna said defensively.
Altair turned to Peter.
"It's true."
Altair turned to Eric.
"She didn't."
Altair turned to Tali.
"None of the Rangers here did it."
Altair turned to Rae.
"I did."
Altair's jaw dropped.
"Why?"
Just then, Carter and Barbara came in with the Rangers life force, coffee.
"Coffee!" All the Rangers exclaimed before vaulting over the couch and running up to receive their mugs.
Shaking his head, Carter brought two mugs for Altair and Rae, before every one pulled chairs together so that they could talk.
Rae explained what happened earlier in the fight with Yue. Altair told her Yue had always been like that. He went on to say that they had met with the king and his cabinet, but before he could say anything else, Eric broke in.
"Why did they take your weapons, Altair?"
Altair looked surprised. "How did you know that they took away my weapons?"
Eric shrugged. "Your knife belt is missing."
Everyone stared at Eric like he had just said the sky was green.
"How did you know that?" Tali finally asked him.
Eric looked confused now. "His knife belt is gone?"
Everyone looked at Altair and sure enough, the special belt was missing.
"Why did they do that Altair?" Peter asked.
Altair sighed. "Well, it sort of went along these lines."
(Flashback)
When we got to the city, I was a little hyper. "You could say that." Carter mumbled.
I was pointing and asking about everything. Even my own horse… Anyway, we met before the King and all his senators.
We went through the usual who are you, I'm great, How's the King, yadda-yadda. Then we got down to business. The king gave me the okay to start training and get the bronze oak leaf. His senators disagree. They say I need to be fully committed. And, they want me to go on a little quest, I guess you could call it. They even know what they want me to do: bring back all the Discordant Harmony sisters. Alive. With each one I bring back, I get one of my weapons back. When we capture the last one, I get a Ranger cloak, an oak leaf, and I get assigned to work with a Ranger.
(End flashback)
It was quiet while everyone thought about what Altair had just said. Suddenly, they heard a strangled cry. It came from Yue, who had woken up suddenly and launched herself at Rae.
Peter came to Rae's rescue, fending off Yue, and knocking her out. Again.
"She's going to have an awful headache tomorrow." Tali said sadly.
Peter sighed and dragged Yue into her armchair.
Meanwhile, Altair went to the cave. He had been given a small curtained off section in the cave with a cot, because the cottage didn't have any spare bedrooms. Under the cot was a small chest that he took out. It was only about a foot long, and not very heavy. He picked it up and walked back to the cottage.
Back in the living room, Eric had noticed Altair's absence.
"Hey, where's-"
Altair walked in, holding the plain wooden chest.
"Oh. Never mind then." Eric finished.
Altair smiled, then sat down on the floor and started trying to pick the lock. Tali, curious as usual, sat down next to Altair and they worked together on picking all six locks on the chest.
"What's that, Altair?" Rae asked.
Altair looked up to smile at her before he said, "Something I stole from the Assassin's Guild."
"We'll let you explain it later." Carter told him. "Right now, we need Rae to tell us more of her story."
"Oh yes, you said you wanted to know more about my sisters." Rae agreed.
"Well, I don't have much more information. You know already that our nicknames were the musical scale. Really, they were codenames. I was the only one whose name was also my codename. They have black hair, dark eyes, and listen to our father always. Do is Lia, I'm obviously Rae, Me is Hayden, Fa is Katie, So is Sara, La is Abby, and Ti is Elena."
Everyone was quiet. Then Carter asked, "What are their weapons, Rae?"
"They all use broad swords, and they have since they were ten. Elena is the best, and the leader of the group." Rae replied.
Altair sat up. "It's open!" he exclaimed happily. He bent down and took a small object out. It was an odd looking thing, with straps that looked like it should be attached to your arm. It had a sharp knife at one end, and a spring mechanism that seemed to trigger the knife to spring out.
Altair used the straps to attach the weapon to his right arm, and then brought his hand up and down, and when his hand was down, the knife wasn't visible. It retracted into a wooden gauntlet. When he flipped his hand up, the knife sprang out of the gauntlet.
"That," Tali said firmly, "is cool."
"I know!" Altair agreed happily.
Eric rolled his eyes. "Calm down, children. Now, how did you get that, Altair?"
After shooting Eric a murderous glare for the "children" comment, Altair said, "Stole it from a bunch of old geezers at the Assassin's Guild. They said I couldn't use it. Boy, did I show them!"
"Oh, you're such a rebel, Altair." Evanna told him sarcastically.
"I know." Altair agreed confidently.
Carter stood up and stretched. "Let's finish this tomorrow. I'm ready to hit the hay."
The others agreed, and everyone went to their rooms.
That night, everyone dreamed.
Carter had an odd dream: he was swimming in coffee. An ocean of coffee. With all the Rangers in the Corps.
Evanna, on the other hand, dreamed of Peter. However, in her dream, Tali and Eric always kept popping up whenever Evanna tried to kiss Peter. This annoyed the dream-Evanna so much she finally knocked both of her friends out. The rest of the dream was much nicer after that.
Peter had a nightmare. About Evanna. Evanna was chasing Peter with her trusty saxe knife, why, well… Peter had no idea. He had an impression that he'd taken Evanna's coffee, judging by the empty mug in his hand…
Meanwhile, Tali dreamed of Eric watching her working in the metal shop. She was making him a new saxe knife, because he had lost his last one.
Anyone want to guess what Eric dreamed of? Yeah, he dreamed of Tali. They were riding their horses around in the meadow. Just for fun.
Rae and Yue dreamed of the same person. Altair.
Yue tied Altair up in her dream and was threatening him with her sword. Why is another mystery.
Rae however, seemed to be dreaming of an alternate version of herself, where she was cooking pancakes and scrambled eggs. She knew that she was married in her dream to Altair.
Altair dreamed of apples. A room filled with apples: red, green, and… gold?
The next morning, Altair and Rae woke up first. In the cottage, they brewed coffee and talked about what to do that day. They had just decided to train together later, when Evanna entered the room, followed by Peter, Tali, and Eric. They all looked like zombies, with drool and blank expressions.
Altair rolled his eyes, but Rae looked startled.
"What's wrong with them?"
Before Altair could say anything, the Ranger-zombies said, "Coffee…"
Altair got up with a sigh and walked to the coffee pot while the Rangers sat. "You see, the Rangers here are obsessed with coffee, Rae. So this," he paused in pouring coffee into a mug to wave his hand at the lifeless Rangers,"is a phenomenon that I see often."
He brought six mugs over two at a time and placed them in front of Rae and the zombie-Rangers. The last cup was his and he drank it while he watched in amusement as his friends returned to normal.
Suddenly, someone in the back of the house screamed. They heard pounding footsteps and spun in their chairs to see Yue, a wild light in her eyes, crash into the room and shriek, "YOU TIED ME UP!"
Getting bored of this as they were, Altair and the Rangers still let Yue jump over the table and tackle Rae.
Eric was the rescuer this time, and Peter came to his aid. They dragged the two women apart, and Eric and Peter took a writhing Yue back to her room.
When they came back, Eric was shaking his head.
"What are we going to do about her?" he asked in exasperation.
"I don't know." Altair said, sitting down. "She's driving me crazy though."
"Why," Rae asked, rubbing the back of her head, "does she keep throwing herself at me?"
"She hates losing." Altair replied. "That could be it."
Tali had noticed Rae rubbing the back of her head. "Are you okay?"
"She tackled me pretty hard." Rae admitted.
"Need a doctor?" Tali asked.
"No. I'm fine, really. Me and Altair were going to have breakfast and then train." Rae told her.
Tali looked concerned, but didn't say anything else.
They ate eggs and bacon for breakfast and talked about odd things: Carter, food, Rangers, King Percival, horses, names, and then a disturbing comment by Altair about apples forced Rae to drag him out saying, "Enough of that talk, time to train!"
Rae and Altair walked to the training field to find the clearing empty. Since they had a practice similar to the Rangers, of constantly taking their weapons with them, no side trips were necessary. It didn't take long for them to start attacking each other.
Rae had the advantage when it came to length.
Altair had the advantage in speed, because his sword was smaller and lighter.
His sword was only as long as his arm. Meanwhile, her sword was long and heavy.
"Stand still and die, will you?" Rae said irritably, as another of her strokes hit air.
"I'd hate to die. Especially since we're allies."
Rae laughed. "I'm not going to kill you… just injure you… badly."
"Exactly." Altair agreed, diving aside from Rae's sword.
Eventually, Rae got tired (though Altair was impressed by her skill and stamina).
"Ah, you're fast!" she panted, leaning on her sword.
"Oh, this reminds me of training a long time ago, in a country far, far away."
(Flashback)
"Enter the field, Yue and Altair!" the referee called.
Bets immediately became exchanged. Most of the people in the stands (okay, so everyone) had seen Yue crush all her previous opponents. So, they had little hope for the ten year old boy facing Yue.
They were very, very wrong.
The horn sounded, signaling the start of the match.
Yue charged with her swords crossed. Altair caught her crossed swords and flipped them. Her swords tangled together and locked. The momentum of Altair's stroke sent the locked swords over Yue's shoulder. Yue desperately tried to free her swords, while Altair stood next to her tapping his sword to her neck and saying, "Dead, dead, dead, dead."
A voice in the stands, Yue's father, actually, called out, "Fist fight!"
Yue dropped her swords and ran after Altair who had dropped his sword too at the sight of a ferocious and angry Yue.
The crowd laughed at the sight of Yue chasing Altair around the field, cartoon-like.
(End flashback)
"Sweet memories, eh?" Rae said laughing.
"Yes." Altair agreed, lost in memories.
"Want to see a cool assassination trick with my hidden blade?" Altair added, shaking out of his reverie.
"Isn't your hidden blade that knife that flips out?"
"It sure is!"
Altair then proceeded to quickly climbing a tree and then hanging down by his feet.
"Warning: do not try this at home!" Altair joked.
Rae laughed again. "I won't. How do you assassinate the person?"
Altair grinned evilly. "Like this," he said.
He tensed, and then with a painful thump, he fell on his head.
"Ow." He muttered.
He stood up slowly and painfully, and then launched himself at the tree in vengeance.
He climbed up, and fell, and climbed and fell over and over, until Rae stepped in.
"Altair, you're going to kill yourself doing that!"
"Must… succeed." Altair groaned, clawing his way towards the tree.
Rae rolled her eyes then swiftly picked him up and dragged him to a sitting position. He leaned back against the tree. Rae sighed. "You're going to have an enormous bruise on your forehead."
She took out her first aid kit and leaned over Altair to tend his injuries.
At precisely the wrong moment.
Yue had been released by the Rangers, after swearing she wouldn't kill anyone, and had all her weapons confiscated. The Rangers were hoping she would burn off some of her extra energy.
She'd been taking a walk by the training area (since she hadn't known Altair and Rae would be there) and now, she stepped into the clearing just in time to see Rae leaning over Altair.
Anybody who knows anything about a girl will know they get very, dangerously, jealous.
Yue, sadly is no different. Especially since it was Altair Rae was leaning over. She thought they were kissing.
Yue's eyes had widened when she first saw the scene, because from her position, she couldn't see Rae bandaging Altair's head and rolling her eyes, nor could she see Altair's bruise, which was rapidly turning a gruesome shade of purple, yellow, and black all mixed together.
So, she went with her natural instinct: slay all before her.
One vicious battle cry later, Rae was on the ground.
Tackled for about the millionth time by none other than Yue.
"What the-", Rae exclaimed in shock, but she didn't finish her sentence because Yue, though unarmed was excellent at close quarters combat as well. Yue punched Rae hard in the stomach and her breath whooshed out.
After getting her breath back, she called Yue a rather rude name, which only infuriated Yue more.
Rae was a fighter too though, so she and Yue spent a while trying to get the upper hand.
Eventually, Altair came to his senses. After hitting his head so often he'd become a bit… dazed, to put it mildly.
"Whoa," was his first fully conscious word.
"Rae! Yue! Quit it!" he yelled.
The girls stopped fighting for a second and Rae said, "We're settling our differences, leave us alone!"
For a second all Altair could do was stare at them, stunned. "Really?" he muttered.
Absently touching his head, he winced. It was only half bandaged, because Rae had gotten tackled in the middle of helping Altair.
He realized that, with his head feeling like it had been dented in a few inches, he would be in no condition to stand between the two demons who were hissing and clawing at each other on the ground.
Sighing in anticipation of the pain that he was no doubt about to be in, he started to stand. He fell down abruptly.
"Yeah, that's not going to work." He said, wincing again.
After several more failed attempts, Altair finally managed to stand. He leaned against the tree and then stumbled to the cottage.
When he entered the kitchen, all the Rangers looked at him in surprise.
"Rae… and… Yue, fighting." Altair managed. "In the … practice field."
All four Rangers jumped up from their seats, Eric and Peter racing out the door, and Evanna and Tali grabbing Altair and taking him to the living room. They dropped him onto an armchair and told him to stay put while they bandaged his head.
Just as they were finishing, Eric and Peter walked in, two bodies dangling over their shoulders. They unceremoniously dumped the two women on the couch.
"Had to knock those two out to get them to come back here."Peter explained, jerking his thumb at Rae and Yue's limp forms.
"What a nightmare." Eric sighed, flopping down on the opposite armchair from Altair.
"How's Altair?" Peter asked, frowning.
Evanna rolled her eyes. "He'll live. What I want to know is how got this huge bruise on his head."
Altair muttered, "Stupid tree."
Tali raised her eyebrows. "I can't wait to hear the whole story when he's conscious."
"No kidding." Eric agreed.
Just then, Yue stirred.
"We need to figure out how to stop Yue from trying to kill Rae every time they see each other." Peter said.
"Definitely." Tali and Evanna said together.
After a pause Eric asked, "So. How do we do that?"
"For now, we do this." Peter said, grabbing some rope from Evanna (who for some reason kept rope on her at all times) and tying up both women.
"Any ideas on a more permanent method?" Peter asked.
And slowly, Evanna got a huge evil grin on her face, and she said mischievously, "I might have an idea."
(A/N: Ooh, cliffy. xD Anyway, sorry about my disclaimer thing. My memory is truly horrible. But, it goes for the whole story. Alright then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Happy back to school! I'll try to update at least twice a month from now on, okay?)