Hey guys. I feel like I should apologize if I'm getting these out slowly, but life happens, and I'm probably putting in more effort on this story than I ever have before in points of detail and plot. So please don't think at any point I'm forsaking you.

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"Captain Brewer, Lady Kim, prepare for the road," Est called through Kim's bedroom door.

Kim slowly woke and nuzzled into Jack's neck, her hands grabbing his shoulders. "Morning, Jack," she said with a smile. "Wait... JACK!" Kim screamed, looking down into his now worried brown eyes. "Actually, we did... that wasn't a really great dream?"

Jack chuckled and put his hands in her smaller back. "Yes, we did. And in my defense, you started it." Jack leaned up and kissed her. "But did Est know I was here?"

Kim shrugged. "I didn't tell her I wanted to go all the way last night. I think she seduced Jerry, though. I saw her going into Jerry's room last night before I got to my room..."

"Est seduces Jerry and you jump my bones? I think Vakker does things to women," Jack chuckled.

"Don't pretend you didn't love it," Kim said as she ducked her head and flicked one of his nipples with her tongue.

"First off, I absolutely loved it. Secondly, as much as I would like round two, we need to get ready. Oh wait, you tore my shirt open."

Kim kissed his other nipple and descended down his torso, her lips making a trail. "It's not like you have anything to be ashamed of."

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The Company met in the great hall and ate a light breakfast. They were informed that a long road on horse back was uncomfortable on an overstuffed stomach. Edgil had done well to teach them the basics of riding during their stay in Cynerheld.

"Brave Wandering Company, to show my appreciation of your offered service and your invaluable friendship, I wish to give all of you the armor of the officers of my Wardens.

Jerry already had a kilt and a cotton shirt, but he was given the iron studded leather cuirass of a Magnon lieutenant. "Lord Jerry of Swag, I would give you a weapon worthy of your status, but Fedelmid has already."

Kim was given the red leather armor set and forest green cloak of the Rangers. "Where this with pride, Lady Kim. I know you'll wear it well," Brody smiled and winked. Kim politely smiled back but had to try to hold back a scoff. He was a king, but she had a Jack.

Milton was bestowed with the bronze armor, shield, spear and short sword of the Epineian infantry. Because he was receiving the armor of an officer, his helmet had a great black plume running longitudinally along the center.

"Jack Brewer, you already wear armor fitting of a Cyneric and carry arms crafted by Jarl and Warden Edgil Cyneric. The only gift I can give you is title. It's one you already have, Captain."

Jack's eyes got huge. "You're, you're making me a captain of Vakker?" He had to be misunderstanding.

"You are a captain in your land, and I understand you are worthy of captainship in Vakker. Captain Brewer, meet your three lieutenants," Brody said with a smile, seeing the faces on Kim, Jerry and Milton. They were thunderstruck. "You will receive fifty men suited to you. Cynerics, Rangers, Magnons, and Epineians." Brody scratched his neck. "Your company will be prepared and will meet you in Est's realm when they are ready."

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Est and the Wandering Company arrived at midday to find a quiet borderland. This made the Jack nervous to the point of dropping a hand to his sword.

Est whistled three times in a shrill, piercing call. The Ranger earlier identified as Julie dropped from a rope and landed in front of the five warriors.

"My my my, haven't we changed?" Julie said with a smile, her eyes running up and down Milton's bronze encased body.

"Julie, has anything happened as of late?" Est asked after giving a friendly hug to her second in command.

"I'm afraid so. Claire went off alone because she thought she saw someone just inside the Void. That was two days ago. Yesterday, five Rangers went to find her. No word from any of them," Julie was beside herself and close to pulling her hair out.

"Kim, Jerry, Milton, we're moving in ten," Jack declared, putting his round wooden shield painted with Edgil Cyneric's colors over his back.

"Captain Brewer, you want to go on a rescue mission into the Void with four warriors?" Est thought this to be suicide.

"What do you want from me? We're the only four I have until the rest of the Wandering Company is shipped out," Jack threw up his hands, nothing else to tell her.

Est rolled her eyes. "I understand you're the fabled Wandering Company, but Julie and I are accompanying you. I still don't know why you are even so story worthy..." They were good people and scrappy, but the legends that were sprouting were far beyond even the group's understanding.

So the six set out, Jack and Kim at the front, Est and Jerry behind Jack and Kim with Milton and Julie bringing up the rear.

Beginning at the central game trail and looking for any sign of activity seemed like the best way to go. They followed this method for about an hour until, "Jack, wait," Kim stopped. "That's a Ranger's arrow in that tree."

Sure enough, when Jack walked to the tree that the arrow had been shot into, the feather pattern was of a Ranger. "That's Claire's mark. All the officer's have a specific mark on their arrow shafts," Est explained. "Jerry and I will set a perimeter and see if she's near by. Keep going further along incase she continued on."

Jerry and Est left the team and struck out into the woods. "Stay safe, you two!" Milton called after them.

About a mile or two down, rustling caught Jack's attention, causing him to hold up his hand. The others followed the word of their friend and now in reality, captain. He took his shield from his back, and the others readied themselves as well.

The rustling intensified in volume and it seemed to be getting closer. "What is that?" Kim asked, knocking her bow instead of shrinking back. She was a lieutenant of the Wandering Company, damn it!

Julie drew her bow back and closed her eyes, increasing her focus on hearing. She heard one more twig snap and she pivoted her body towards it. She let the arrow fly and knew she hit her target when a loud grunt sounded.

"That sounded human. Was that a human?" Kim asked, focusing on the bush. To answer her question, a horn made of elk antler called, and a ruckus din arose.

"Milton by me, girls, behind us!" They didn't question Jack and followed his simple formation. Jack and Milton overlapped their shields side by side to form a two man shield wall. Kim and Julie shot arrows over their shoulders, and wherever they fired produced an agonizing sound.

"How many are there? They're not even aiming!" Milton's question answered, in a way, when they got their first look.

A line of ragged, bearded men with shaggy and wild hair burst from the line and charged the four young soldiers. A small volley shot from behind the four, and six woodsmen fell. Kim and Julie were joined by Claire and the five Ranger search party.

Jack and Milton braced for impact, but were joined by Jerry, Magnon greatsword in hand. "Let's do this, yo!" Arrows flew between their shoulders and never missed.

"Standing our ground isn't going to work," Jack commented as the tide of shoddy mailed and fur clad men approached, swords, axes, spears and shields ready for battle. "We're gonna charge... now!" Jack shouted and had just enough time to meet the swarm with their own momentum.

Jack knocked one down with a forceful shield bash and finished him with a sword thrust to the throat. One tried to catch Jack with a spear thrust, but he blocked the attempt with a roundhouse kick, allowing him to connect his own thrust.

Milton had also began with a shield bash and immediately followed up with a spear lunge to a warrior's chest. He was quick to be behind his shield again, which acted as a moving barrier that he could effectively perform jabs or side to side sweeps with. He wasn't the historian that Jack was, but he had seen videos and had done some reading. A classic nerd.

Jerry began by taking no prisoners. With one hand on the pommel* and the other holding the leather up that ran up the first third of the blade, he was able to drive through two men at once. Jerry drew back and took a high guard, allowing for heavy, sweeping strikes or blocks for any direction in front of him.*

The three men held their own until the amount of numbers caught up to them and they were pushed back and closer together. The volleys from the Rangers was helping, but it wasn't enough to take off all the pressure.

Seeing her friends and her love being suffocated, Kim had to do more. She return her bow to her back and drew her cutlass with the razor sharp twelve inch blade. She charged into the frey, jumping on a warrior's back and plunged her blade into his neck multiple times until he sank to the forest floor.

Est read the situation and knew Kim was right. "Swords!" Est called. The seven Rangers exchanged their bows for the light weight slightly curved hand and a half swords they carried at their sides.* Est ordered the charge and the Rangers swept into the fight, quickly joining the flanks of the Wandering Company.

The fight continued like this for some time, the skill and equipment of the Vakker warriors far outweighed that of the woodsmen that had the numbers advantage. The fight's final tide turned when a new horn sounded and the woodsmen turned to flee.

"The Horn of Philip!" Est breathed in relief as she took a moment to collect herself.

A brown and navy blue blur sped past them and they saw not only Epineian cavalry but a lighter cavalry as well. They wore buckskin leggings and some of them wore matching shirts, but not all. Their hair was long, midnight black and mostly braided. For weapons, they carried great lances, tomahawks, war clubs, bows and hide shields.*

King Brody himself lead the charge that broke the ranks of the woodsman, slashing all around him before he dismounted into a sizable throng. With his top weighted sword, it was beyond lethal for slashing. If swung correctly, it could cleave a man in half at the waist. With a deadly dance from years of training, ten men fell like sheep before a lion.

The tired Rangers and Wandering company gathered and caught their breath.

"Jack!" Kim shouted, seeing how a hot stream of blood trickled down his left arm, just below the shoulder.

"I'm okay, Kim. It's not that deep," Jack assured her. "I'm just happy to still have it attached to me," he chuckled, though Kim didn't find it humorous in the slightest.

Kim came up to Jack and used her fingers to spread the links apart to see the wound more clearly. "Jack..." her voice caught in her throat because the wound was nasty indeed. "You're not okay. We need to stop the bleeding. Now." Kim was the nursing student after all, not Jack. She took his good hand and lead him over to a log.

The others, including Brody and Philip had met them at the log. "Quite the gash there, Captain," Brody commented with a furrowed brow. "How did you come by that?"

Jack sighed deeply before explaining, "I blocked with my shield and got blind sided by an asshole with a sword. If it had been an axe my arm would be on the ground over there."

Kim slapped his face. "Don't you talk like that, Brewer. I don't want to even think about that," Kim said sternly. "I can put a tourniquet on your arm, but you need stitches," she said sadly. "It'll be a while before you can use your arm, Jack." Kim held back a tear because she could see the pain in his eyes but he refused to show it. What would he do without the use of his arm?

"So it would seem that Captain Jack Brewer does bleed," Brody shook his head as he took off his golden cloak. He cut it into strips himself and handed a fair length to Kim who was squeezing Jack's hand. "This should work."

Kim took the golden silk and made a tourniquet tightly around Jack's arm. She kissed his forehead when he hissed at the tug of it. "I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack chuckled and said, "you didn't do anything to me." Jack pecked her lips but kept it PG.

Philip joined the group and dismounted, a stupid grin on his face. "You must be the Wandering Companies I hear about, no?" Philip offered his hand. The four in question grasped his forearm each in turn.

"It's good to meet you, Warden Philip," Jack nodded, his hand gripping his arm like that was keeping it on. "Before we get out of here, who did we just slaughter?"

"That's a fair question. I believe these were warriors from one of the many Void tribes. They usually keep to themselves, but I think our interactions with the Thoseans are stirring them up," Brody explained in a manner that suited Milton. Badass like Jack, smart like Milton...

"Can we get Jack out of here, please?" Kim growled as she looked at his blood soaked sleeve. "We can talk back at Est's camp." Jack rolled his eyes at Kim's overprotectiveness. That was usually his job.

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"Kim, for the thousandth time, I'm good," Jack rolled his eyes yet again as Kim held out a wine skin.

"Jack, I'm a nursing student and your girlfriend. You're going to have to put up with my undying attention for a while. I didn't get to you un time to stop it from happening, but I can help you now."

"Is that what this is?" Jack said through gritted teeth as Kim pulled the needle through his flesh again. With every pass of the string through Jack's skin, Kim bit her lip and watched him with apologetic eyes.

"I'm an archer, Jack. It was my job to cover you."

"Oh come on, Kim! There were three of us on the ground and how many of them? You can't blame yourself because I got hit," Jack argued with a chuckle.

"Maybe not, but I'm still allowed to worry about you!" Kim refused to give ground. "I also hate that I have to pull a needle and thread through the arm of the man I slept with yesterday. You're not just some soldier, Jack. You're my soldier. You know that I more than like you, Jack," Kim's eyes were wild with conviction, worry and care.

Jack dropped the wine skin and leaned forward, molding his lips with Kim's as he cupped her face with his good hand. Jack pulled away and the smoldering look on his face made Kim wish he would take her here and now. "I don't know if it's the gravity of the situation or if it's really what's in my heart, but I'd be willing to bet that I love you too."

Kim smiled and pecked Jack's lips. "I'll take it."

"How's my newest captain fairing?" Brody asked as he stepped into Est's tree house where the Wandering Company was staying.

"He'll live," Kim said kissing his forehead before she cut the thread, her stitch job done. "Like I said early, he won't be able to use his left arm for a while."

"Don't worry Jack, we're only defensive right now. We have to organize, get mobile and then we'll get it done," Brody smiled and clasped a hand over Jack's shoulder. "I'm glad to have you two with us," Brody smiled and ran a finger under Kim's chin as he walked away.

Kim growled and got up to go after him. Jack caught her and pulled her down into his lap. "Easy there Kim, it's not a good time to kill the king," Jack laughed. "If he does this though, I'll kill him," Jack wrapped his good arm around her to pull her into his chest and kissed her below the ear, her hands going into his hair.

The curtain that served as the door was quickly brushed open by Jerry and Est tangled in a mess of limbs, their lips all over each other. Est slammed Jerry's back against the wall and her hands quickly undid his belt.

Jerry opened his eyes, feeling that they weren't alone. He saw Jack and Kim staring at them with raised eyebrows and Jerry let out a blood curdling scream. "Oh, h... h... hey guys," Jerry gulped awkwardly. "What it do?"

"She's about to do you, so we'll uh... the tree is yours." Kim stood up and helped Jack to his feet.

"man, they're like rabbits," Kim commented, shaking her head.

"So does that mean you don't want to..." Jack trailed off, his eyes trained on her lips.

"Jack, for all intents and purposes you only have one arm," Kim argued, fighting off a blush.

"I only need three fingers."

Kim's eyes bugged, betraying her attempt to pretend she hadn't heard that. "We'll see what tonight looks like," she smirked at her cliff hanger answer, knowing by his grown that she had him where she wanted him.

Jack and Kim made their way to the central platform of the Rangers' tree fort. Houses for the Rangers spread out like an intricate series of webs from the main fort, high above the ground. It was pretty much a wooden wall with platform walkways for defense that wrapped around and ran between the trees. The courtyard had wood plank flooring that could hold a decent garrison, but not a sizable army.

Brody, Philip, and a short blonde man in Epineian infantry armor stood together in the center of the courtyard. "Captain Brewer, Lady Kim!" Brody called them over. Brody didn't appear to be one for high manners and over courtesy. Jack and Kim were cool with it.

"Hey, it's Jack and Kim of the Wandering Company! What's up, guys!"*

"This man right here is Master Rudy, First Sword of the King. He is the greatest swordsman in Vakker, arguably all of Weite," Brody introduced the thirty year old man.

Jack and Kim pressed a fist to their hand bowed. Rudy smiled and returned their gesture of respect. "An honor, Master Rudy," Jack said humbly, respecting his title and skill.

"I like these two," Rudy told Brody with a smile. "So I talked to King Brody, and he's reluctant but cool with it..."

"With what?" Kim inquired.

"Can I join the Wandering Company? You guys are really cool, and have a knack for getting in over your heads. I could continuously advance your training, and I'm handy in a tight spot."

"Kim and I would love to have you," Jack said earnestly and Kim nodded along, her arms crossed, "but we should talk to Milton and Jerry, too."

"Milton is around here somewhere, and Jerry is... indisposed," Kim informed him.

"Okay, that's cool. I'm not in a hurry, and given Jack's arm, I don't think you guys are going anywhere soon, anyway."

Jack took hold of his shoulder and gingerly rotated it a few times. He bent at the elbow three times. "It's not great, but I can still throw down," Jack shrugged.

"Can you think of your own health before you worry about killing people, please? You're going to tear your stitches," Kim complained. "And we're not going anywhere until I clear you, got it?" she took full control of the situation.

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Night time rolled around and Est shared her tree house with the Wandering Company, given that she had by far the biggest as Warden.

"I know I don't have Epineian beds, but you should be comfortable all the same," Est said with a smile. She and Jerry shared a bed, as did Jack and Kim, while Milton had his own. This was a unanimous decision.

Milton, Est and Jerry had fallen asleep some time ago, and Kim was tossing and turning in a seemingly nightmarish state.

Kim's elbow shot back and connected with Jack's wound, causing his eyes to flash open and he had to bite his tongue to hold back a scream. He held his arm and his body shook in agony.

Kim felt Jack's convulsions and woke up, rolling over to look at him. Her eyes were full of worry and sympathy for him, though she didn't know she had done it to him. Kim's touch seemed to calm him enough for him to focus on fighting the pain, his breath coming and going heavily.

"Is there anything I can do?" Kim asked softly and Jack shook his head. He didn't have the heart to tell her she had accidentally bumped him in her sleep.

"I need some air," Jack said, rising to his feet, still holding his arm. He didn't realize Kim was following him. Her bare, tiny feet on the wooden floor allowed her to be cat quiet.

Jack exhaled deeply as he watched the forest floor far below them. The canopy made the ground almost black. Something would have to move to be seen.

Jack nearly jumped when small arms wrapped around his midsection, soft hands playing on his abdomen. "Are you okay, Kim?" Jack was usually the one that wrapped her in hugs.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She kissed his toned back and pressed her face to his hot skin. "How are you?"

Jack shrugged in her arms. "I've been better," he admitted. "Arm hurts, can't sleep. What had you tossing and turning?"

Kim sighed and kissed his shoulder blade. "Being in an overwhelming battle and seeing your boyfriend almost lose arm can mess with a girl."

Jack turned in her arms and continued to let her do the holding. He did lean down and kiss her forehead, though. "Kim, I did admit that I've been better, but I am OKAY," Jack stressed the word, peppering her forehead with kisses.

She looked into his eyes as she ran her fingers over his stitches. She kissed her own handy work and then his lips. "I know, but there's a thought you can't easily settle, Jack. What if I had lost my first love?"

Jack's eyes grew and his mouth dried up with the snap of a finger. "You, you... you love me?" Jack's voice was hushed. He looked down and saw that Kim still hadn't let go of him. "I take it that your silence means you want a response, huh?" No answer. Only giant brown doe eyes staring back at him, waiting, begging, pleading for any kind of answer.

Jack kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, her cheeks, her chin, her neck. "Do you remember the night you were drunk and I put you to bed?" Kim nodded. "After you fell asleep, I kissed your lips."

"I thought I dreamt that..." Kim whispered.

"No, maybe, but I did kiss you. I was on the fence, but something about you... intoxicated me. I had to kiss you. I'm not sorry that I did. I wasn't sorry when I kissed you in Cynerheld. I'm not sorry we made love in Epineio. I haven't regretted anything about you. When Milton, Jerry and I held the line alone, keeping them away from you was the only thought in my head. When I saw a little blonde flash and you on that guy's back... that's the moment I let my guard down and got hit."

"Jack, I am SO sorry!" Kim buried her head into his chest and he felt the hot tears. Now he wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the stinging tug of his arm.

"Don't blame yourself, Kim. I broke my focus, you did what you thought you had to do, and I won't tell you you were wrong. What I will tell you, is that even if I could find it in me to blame you, I would hold you, tell you it was okay, kiss you, and tell you I love you."

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*I'm not sure how well you guys know your sword anatomy, so for those also getting a learning experience, the pommel is the very bottom of the sword.

*Jerry's sword stance was called Guard of the Hawk by the Italians.

*Hand and a half swords are the hybrid of swords. They're light weight enough to wield one handed, but have long enough handles to use two handed for added power and reinforced parrying.

*Philip's (Yes, Filafel Phil) Hahkmaki Riders are based on the Plains Native American tribes such as the Sioux, Northern and Southern Cheyenne.

*I'm sorry, just have to write him how he is.