I felt a sinking feeling as I realized that every man that charged through the trees came straight towards me. I knocked a few out while I was waiting for Nick and the others to get there. It was like a fog lifted as Nick, Andrew, Jonathan, and Peter reached me. They took down several, and moved me to where I was behind them.

It was really loud, and several men got past their guard. I killed them easily, until one particularly large man tackled me to the ground. Before I could react he had straddled me, and I had a moment of horror as he lifted his huge fist to punch me. I could see in his eyes that he wouldn't stop until I was dead. I screamed, real fear making the scream loud and piercing.

He brought the fist down, nothing could describe all the pain that pulsed through me. He punched again, and again. This was the one time I stayed completely conscious, which was also the only time I wished I would black out.

I struggled to reach my knife, (which wasn't corked, by the way) his leg was clamped around my hip, blocking my scabbard. I clawed his face, but it didn't slow him down any.

I went limp, not because I couldn't move any more, but because I hoped he would think I was dead.

It worked. Apparently he was more brawn than brain. He stood and faced the fight, just standing there… the idiot.

I jumped on his back and wrapped my arm around his thick neck in a choke hold. He started turning red, then a weird blue, before he fell forward and passed out. I sat on his back for a moment, my face hurting like heck.

I saw two guys running at me from the side, I put the first guy in a wrist lock, and stole his sword before hitting his head with the hilt of it. Then the second guy I just stabbed with the corked tip. He looked at me like I had really stabbed him. I couldn't believe how dramatic his face was. Then he flopped on the ground like a fish. I rolled my eyes.

"Rachel! Heads up!" Andrew called, I looked around to find a large wave of men coming towards me.

I killed seven, then I ran over to a huge boulder, and climbed on top of it with some trouble. I started picking off the bigger ones with my bow. It was almost comical whenever I hit their head and they fell over with a loud thump, sometimes landing on others. I tried not to do that though, I didn't want to give them a concussion.

As soon as I was finished taking out the big guys, I got down on my stomach and started shooting the ones that I could see that had bows and were retuning my fire. Then I went on to anyone that was attacking Andrew, Jonathan, Nick, and Peter. When they saw their opponent go down in pain, they would look up, see me sniping, and they would smile.

When I ran out of arrows I slid down the rock and began picking off men who ran at me.

At one point I found myself tackled on the hard ground again, but this man was smaller than the last, and he had crazed eyes. His knees were tight on my hips, making it difficult to even squirm a little. I punched him, and fought to free myself. But he suddenly reached for my neck, squeezing hard and cutting off air and blood circulation. I pulled with all my strength on his hands, they were fastened like a vise. I gasped for air, knowing I had very little time before I blacked out. My head swam.

Suddenly Andrew plowed into the side of my attacker, flinging him off of me, and landing on top of the man. As if the impact wasn't enough damage, Andrew started punching the man, anger etched into his face.

Nick appeared beside me, he took my chin and turned my face away from Andrew's violent assault. I shuddered and buried my face in the crook of Nick's neck. He held me close, we didn't move a muscle. I suddenly snapped out of the initial shock of almost dieing, I realized that everyone was just standing around, watching me with large eyes.

It was like they had suddenly remembered I was a female that needed protecting. They watched my face in horror that I had almost died… at one of their hands. I felt so young and helpless in the midst of all the worried faces.

Matthew's face was hard as he came forward out of the crowd, "Enough." He said softly to me, then he turned to the men who stood frozen. "You have seen her kill relentlessly. You've seen her teamwork and loyalty. Many a hardened soldier has been knocked down by this fragile girl today. She evaded the best of our trackers, who are now counted as dead. She showed bravery and courage that made everyone of you soldiers look like wimps. She held her ground as we emerged from that forest, and she will hold her ground when she goes into battle with you. She will risk her life to protect you and will make sure you return home to your families. Now, anyone who still does not believe in Rachel Tremont, speak now." He fell into silence, a silence that screamed loudly in my ears as no one raised their voice.

"I thought so." Matthew said when no one spoke.

"Now, I know we're all tired. Let's all go home, rest up, and we'll meet tomorrow to discuss matters." Nick said in a clear commanding voice. "Dismissed." He finished.

Everyone took one last approving look at me, then they turned and slowly made their way back through the trees. Matthew, Andrew, Jonathan, and Peter all left with them, leaving me and Nick alone in the clearing.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked, forcing me to meet his eyes.

"I will be." I said, still shook up.

His eyes were sad as he said, "Is it wrong to wish I could have been the one that beat him up?" He asked.

I smiled, "No, but I needed you right then. I think I would have gone into shock if you weren't there to calm me down."

"Matthew could have done that." He said.

"No, he couldn't have. You affect my whole entire being, Nick." I said.

"What do you mean?"

I took his hand and pressed it over my thundering heart, "Every time you're near." I whispered. His eyes widened, and he leaned forward to press his ear to my chest. He sat there for a moment, my heart didn't slow any. And Nick wasn't helping… At all.

Without warning, he pushed forward. I fell on my back, him laying with his ear still pressed over my heart. I tilted my head so I could see his face. His eyes were closed, and his face was blank. "What are you thinking?" I whispered.

"I love this sound. I could listen to it forever." He replied softly.

"Really?" I smiled, the thought making joy bubble warmly in me. I moved my hands to his back, and let my eyes fall shut. When I opened them again, I was on the couch in Matthew's living room. I was embarrassed to find I had fallen asleep, and apparently I had been out for a while, because it was already getting dark outside. My head was resting on Nick's lap. He was asleep also, his soft snores making me smile. He didn't snore unless he was dead asleep.

His head was leaning back against the wall behind him. I sat up. I quickly realized that it was cold in the room without the blanket that had been over me. I snuggled up next to Nick's warm side, even though he was asleep, his arm still curled around my waist. I covered both of us with the blanket. Soon falling back to sleep, though my stomach was growling loudly.

The next few days were long and sometimes brutal.

After sorting out all the details of who was serving under me in battle, we moved on to training every single soldier. Including me. And in retrospect, I realize that I was put through a more hardcore training than that of my men.

Each morning my schedule started with waking before dawn. Then after eating, two huge men came and took turns attacking me. Then I went on to learning how to find a man's weak spot. So much learning, and it was all crammed into such a small amount of time. Most days I was out in the field working hard until long after midnight.

The only way I had enough strength to bear the weight of all the work was the constant thought that I was doing it for my people. Winning that war was at the forefront of my mind every waking hour. I had come to a point where I knew I would lay down my life in a heartbeat if it meant freeing the world and my people from the Elder's oppression. When I told this to Nick, he laughed and said, "It's funny, the thing that's always at the forefront of my mind is the question of what I can be doing to ensure your safety."

The weeks that separated me and the coming war flew by, I often felt the need to reach over to the clock and hold the ticking arms still. The battle field loomed threateningly over our heads.

The terrible thing was, I knew I was ready for it.

(A/N)

It's done! :D

It was actually done like three weeks ago...

Anyway, I'm really glad I finally was able to update it.

It's Monday... such an evil word and such an evil day... *shudders*

I'll pretend to be super happy though... :D

I hope everyone had a great holiday break! I certainly did.

Booksnake; I hope you can forgive me again... this was probably the worst space of time between updates ever for me. I love this chapter, it was probably the funnest to write so far. :)

Pokemonchen; I doubt that this chapter was worth that long wait, but I do hope you enjoyed it. And I'm thinking that all the people who fought her in the first round would be in her army... except for the prominently stupid or jerkish guys. :P

Smiley(Guest); I'm glad you liked the chapter, it's all fun to write for me. :) I like men who are protective, it makes them seem even more gentlemanly. I like bickering also. And yeah, they pretty much hate each other... I guess it's a man thing, cause I sure don't want them to hate each other, and I'm the one who created them. Haha.

DaughterOfNoOne; I'm so glad you're back! I missed your reviews. Thank's for reviewing, twice. :) When you said you'd have to wait 'awhile' I bet you didn't guess it'd be this long... :/ My schedule was jam packed over the holidays. Anyway, I was glad to see your review.

Merry Meatloaf Monday!

Sounds so lame,

but again,

just go with it.

-Ilikemutemath,

A Classic Criminal