"Ranger James Davidson, Log Five, Evening of Day Five

While on Marlin supply run, noted caravan of slaves on their way to none other than Collier as it passed through town. Raided caravan successfully and rescued twelve slaves; eleven tiger kiedran and one basitin, Fraiser.

Basitin resemble a cross between felines and lapines with sideways-oriented ears, and are apparently a very militaristic race. Subject had pure-white fur and pale-pink eyes, though this appears to be albinism, as he tells me that most basitin have sandy-brown fur and yellow or blue eyes. Basitin are also apparently incapable of using mana or spells, for reasons unknown at this time.

Getting the tigers across the border a few hours.

Gave Mia a spellbook for healing, and she managed enough practice to heal her wound. Have been trying, and failing, to recreate my 'Aegisa' shield spell, but I've managed to master actually drawing mana, and can light a small fire by clicking my fingers, so it's not all bad news on the magical front. Guess I got real lucky with that first shield.

I guess we'll just stick to raiding slave caravans for now, until a greater cause rears it's head.

Mia, you want to add anything?"

"Yes, actually. Well, it's more of a 'right now' sort of thing. Do you hear that?"

"Hear what, I... gunfire! That's gunfire! I need to go investigate, immediately.

Log ends. Let's move, Mi-"

"-a, that could be one of the rangers I told you about! We need to hurry! Fraiser, stay with the tigers!" With that, I took if in the direction of the gunfire, stopping only to collect my M417, a mag of 7.62mm, and the flashlight. I heared Fraiser tell the other keidran to stay, as I heared Mia close behind me, and then ahead. With her wounded foot, I had forgotten just how fast she was. I sprinted as fast as I could after her. Jesus, I realised, I wasn't even wearing any armour; just the muscle shirt, trousers, and boots. I could now hear the gunfire about a hundred metres ahead. There, I found Mia crouched behind a tree, her rapier in hand, clothed in only the black set of skin... er... fur-tight clothing that went under her armour. Her tail was plastered to her back, and she looked genuinely frightened. I soon figured out why. Beyond her were four men in heavy plate armour, throwing various spells at a nearby tree. They stopped momentarily, and a shadowy figure swooped around from behind it, what looked like a submachine gun in hand. It fired once, twice, thrice, and one of their attackers fell to the ground. The figure was fighting Templar, I realised, if what the locals told me was correct. Knightly mages responsible for easily more than half of the slave trade in human territory. Which was why Mia, a former slave, would be afraid of them.

The enemy of thine enemy...

"Mia, stay down for this one. No way you're getting any protection from that." I ordered, clipping a mag into place for only the second time since I got here, wherever here is. I fired, the round slamming into the back of one's helmet. He crumpled, but his two remaining compatriots turned to me.

Shit.

I dived behind the nearest tree as the one I had been standing in front of splintered, it's sap flash-boiling, under a trio of thunderbolts. The figure took the opportunity to run towards the two, jamming a knife home in the neck of one of them, and dispatching the other with what looked like an MP5.

"Hang on," the figure, a woman, I realised by the voice, said after a moment, "I only know one guy that accurate..."

She turned to where the shot came from, and I heard the single greatest thing all day.

"Hey, Bishop! That you?" she asked aloud.

I had a feeling who it was, but I used the code we Rangers had just to be sure.

"Lone, Star, shine, down," I sang, "on, my, home, town..." I paused, waiting for the response.

"...fill, my, mem'ries, light, my, way!" she yelled in reply.

"Hawk? Hawk!" I yelled, running forward, Mia in close pursuit.

"Heya, Bishop. Good to see... what the fu...? Bish! Behind you!" Hawk yelled, raising what I now knew to be her MP5-SF-A2, and, to my surprise, sighting Mia.

I leapt backwards, grabbing the confused vixen and yelling "Get down!". I tackled her to the floor, collapsing on top of her, as a bullet flew where her neck had been not a second ago.

The surroundings were eerily silent for a good ten seconds, then:

"James, you're... ngh... crushing me..." Mia said through gritted teeth.

"Oh! Sorry." I replied, helping her to her feet... paws. Whatever. Hawk looked like she'd just seen an alien.

"What in God's name is that?" she asked, raising her weapon skywards.

"A keidran. Native to... wherever the hell we are. You haven't seen one yet?"

"No," she replied, "I only- wait, how long have you been here?"

"If I arrived on the morning of 'day one', for lack of a better term, then this is the evening of day five. How long have you been here?" I asked.

"Hours." Hawk replied. "How much time was there between you and me leaving?"

"Sixty to ninety seconds. The bossman went first. Then me."

"So, if it's going backwards..." she said.

"Then this 'bossman' is already here." Mia said.

"Good eye, I... wait, you can talk?" Hawk asked, eyes widening. I assumed that she had just noticed Mia's lack of clothing. The under-armour was basically what would happen if somebody tried to make a leotard out of cotton.

"Sorry if you think I'm a little underdressed," Mia said, quickly, to her credit, understanding the situation, "I was changing when I heard the gunfire. And yes, I can talk."

Hawk simply nodded.

"So... uh... where in the Hell are we?"

I took Hawk back to our camp, filing her in on everything I could think of on the way over. I played my logs, the latest one finishing, with her own gunfire in the background, just as we approached camp. She seemed rather surprised at first, but she was getting a grip on things quicker than even I myself did at first. We sat down together at the edge of clearing. A few of the keidran had been carrying food, but we'd ned to get them to a town fast to avoid a lack of supplies, as apparently tiger keidran were entirely carnivorous.

"OK," she said, "So when you arrived here, you were alone. Then you found me, but the boss left before you. So he's out there somewhere, and Mickey's gonna pop up any day now."

"Yeah. I..." an idea struck me. "Listen Hawk, I'll be right back." I stood, and walked over to Fraiser.

"Hey," I said, "Do you have a map?"

"Not before, but I do now. There was one in the cart of belongings. Don't need it though. I know where I'm going."

"Where?" I asked.

"I usually operate out of Lyn'Knoll, a large town in northern tiger territory. It's a safe haven for escaped slaves and anti-slaver humans and basitin. Those punks had told me it was an operation for a similar town, only to bundle me in with them when I realised we were going to Maine."

"OK. Right. I've just had an idea. Hawk, Mia, could you come over here a sec?" I yelled. The two of them jogged over to where we were standing.

"What is it, James?" Mia asked.

"Wait, how come she gets to call you you James?" Hawk asked.

"You know, my real name is not, in fact, Bishop, Valerie." I replied in a sarcastic tone. She simply held up her hands in self-defence.

"OK, what's this plan you mentioned, mate?" Fraiser asked.

"Ah, you must be the basitin Bishop's logs mentioned. Valerie Hawkins. It was going to be Brookes, but I doubt me fiancé are tying the knot anytime soon."

"Fraiser Neveum. Now all that's out the way, what plan?" he asked again.

"Simple. A team of two of us four , which has to contain a ranger because of the ATV, will go out and locate the Boss and Mickey. The other two, one of which must be Fraiser because he knows the way, will escort the civilian keidran to Lyn'Knoll."

"Good enough. I recommend we put one ranger in each team, because we're the ones with the firearms." Hawk said, clacking the bolt of her MP5. "By your logs, I'd say you two work together pretty well, so why don't you and Mia take the ATV, Bish?"

"Sounds good to me." Mia said.

"We're agreed then." I said, "Mia and I will locate the Boss and Mickey. Mark Lyn'Knoll and then give us the map, and we'll head back there once they've been found."

"Meanwhile Fraiser and I will escort the tigers to Lyn'Knoll ahead of you." Hawk added. "I guess we'll get rolling tomorrow morning."

"Alright." Mia said, turning to walk back to where she had set up her bedroll. I moved off to do the same, when I felt a hand on my back, and I turned to see Fraiser with a look of surprise on his face.

"Uh, Bishop? Did you give Mia a necklace, or did she have one when you met?"

"I gave it to her, before I knew what doing so meant. She realised it was a mistake. How did you know she had it?"

"She's making a good job of concealing it," he replied cryptically, "but a Basitin's eyes are sharp."

"What? What do you mean?" I asked.

"Bishop, she's wearing it." He declared.

"Meaning..." I started, possibly catching on.

"Meaning she accepted it from you." he replied, looking at me like I knew that already. And then the implications of that statement hit me.

"Oh."