Daughter of a Ranger

Chapter 5

They arrived at the docks and Will went and spoke with the boats men. They agreed to ship them and their horses across to Gallica and Jemma practically squealed with excitement. She was going to see her mother again!

They carefully got onto the ship. Everybody stayed with their horses on the shore, but they noticed Jemma had a way with horses, and they let her lead them on. She spoke quietly and reassuringly to each of them as she walked them up the ramp.

The horses liked her and followed her, and the others were surprised. Usually, the horses were terrified out of the wits to go on the ship, but she was fine with them.

Once they were all settled, the boat set off. It was a steady ride and Jemma enjoyed the time she spent with the people around her.

...

That night, Will couldn't find Jemma. He was worried for his daughter and spoke to the others to see if they had seen her. Nobody knew where she was until they saw a small light coming from the group of horses. They walked over to see Jemma curled up, asleep, snuggled next to Tug, with Abelard, Blaze, Bumper and Kicker surrounded protectively around her.

The people looked at each other, surprised. The fact that all the Ranger horses and Kicker were trying to protect her showed that she was a special girl.

Will walked over and lay next to her. He brought her closer to him and wrapped his cloak around her. The friends each walked over and lay next to their own respective horses and the group relaxed, watching the stars.

...

The group woke early in the morning to hear a dull whacking of a pole. Gilan noticed his sword was missing, and Halt seemed to know what was going on.

They left the circle of horses to see Jemma putting Gilan's sword back in it's scabbard. She handed the sword to Gilan, not saying a word and left. Gilan inspected the pole she had been by. There were small marks showing where a sword had hit the pole. They weren't extremely noticeable, but they were deep.

Gilan looked at Halt and Will, surprised. He called Horace over and together they inspected it.

"These hits could be deadly if she chose too." Horace said grimly.

"I don't think she is letting on everything about her. I mean, suddenly a girl shows up, looks like Alyss and has Alyss' wedding ring, says that she is Alyss and Will's daughter. She has extreme skill in all the weapons we have from what we can see. But then she becomes silent and puts the sword away every time we come near." Gilan answered.

They had to speak to Will.

Gilan and Horace walked over with grim faces to Halt, Maddie and Will. They stated what they had just spoken about and the group decided to continue the discussion away from the girl.

They found a small table and Will told them about something he had found worrying the night before, "Last night I noticed faint scars on her arms. I don't know what they were about, but I spoke to her before and she said that Oracle is Deparnieux's son. She said that she has some suspicions that he is not particularly fond of us."

The others became grim at the news. They didn't care about Oracle, but they had become particularly fond of the girl and the news that she was found with scars was troubling.

They decided to leave it and trust her. But after speaking with Will, Halt had permission as 'Grandpa Halt' to try and find out what was happening.

...

That night, the last night on board the ship, Halt spoke to Jemma.

"I noticed some scars on your arms when you were training. Were they from training?" He asked. Jemma just shook her head.

"Where were they from then?" He asked again.

Jemma sighed and decided that it was time to tell someone the truth. But, she didn't know that everyone else were hanging on to every word she said.

"Not even mother knows this. Only Liam knew. The reason I started to learn Ranger skills and defence early, at seven years old was because I was being abused by Oracle. I would be the one to test the meals to see if there were poisons and after the meal when mother was washing up, I was taken into another room and when Oracle was drunk, he would come and beat me. It got worse when he started to pull out a sword and slice my arms. Liam would bandage them up and he decided to help me. He gave me his throwing knife to keep hidden in my clothes, so if Oracle ever tried to hurt me, I could defend myself." Jemma started to cry and Halt wrapped her in a hug.

She then quickly explained that nothing had happened for a few years, but because Liam noticed she was pretty good with the Ranger weapons, he carried on with her training.

Later that night, she was tucked in and kissed goodnight by her father, and the next morning she was carried off board.