Daughter of a Ranger

Chapter 18

Jemma was in the cabin as Gilan and Jenny visited them.

She sat with her cup of coffee, nursing it. She listened to the conversation.

"We are having problems with the soliders communicating with the Rangers set to help them. They do not trust them." Gilan was saying.

"What can we do?" Will asked.

Gilan was shaking his head. "We have no idea what to do. The problem is brewing and building, though."

Jemma piped up. "I have an idea."

Will nodded approvingly and Gilan indicated for Jemma to continue.

"What if we let the apprentices stay at the Battleschool for a while? The cadets and apprentices would get used to the Rangers, they could train together and that way they would already be a team."

Will nodded. "That could work."

"That it could." Gilan said, smiling.

Jenny giggled excitedly.

...

Gilan came back a week later.

"We have the permit to start. Jemma, you will be joined by David from the fief near Redmont, and Kyle - a fourth year apprentice from nearby. They will come here, and Horace will come from Castle Araluen to take you to the Battleschool. Rodeny will teach you with the other cadets on the sword while you are there, and the others will watch you train with you weapons. You will take tactical classes with them, and do the obstacle course and morning exercises with them."

Jemma nodded excited.

She got her stuff together and waited for the other Ranger apprentices.

...

They arrived five days later.

David greeted her first.

"Hello, Jemma Treaty."

"Good morning, David Tames."

She giggled and wrapped him in a hug. "How are you feeling?" He whispered.

"Much better." She whispered. "I missed you. I also miss Holly and Mark."

"I know. Me too."

She then shook hands with Kyle. Kyle was a tall boy, and Jemma could see that he felt he was a dominant person.

"Nice to meet you, Kyle." She said firmly.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, too." He said. He stared her in the eye, trying to assert his dominance. He could see the defiance and determination in her eyes.

"I submit." He said finally.

"Welcome to the pack." Jemma giggled. The older boy smiled.

The three apprentices waited for Horace. When he finally arrived, Jemma saluted.

"At ease, Jemma." He laughed. She blew a raspberry, smirking.

"Come on then, you lot." He smiled once more.

Horace lead the three children to the Battleschool. They were greeted at the gate by two older students of the school.

Jemma pulled her hood up. She wanted to surprise the people here when they saw she was a girl. She noticed David and Kyle do the same.

The two older students introduced themselves as Samuel and Niall.

They showed the children around and where they could set up camp.

The three apprentices set up their one-man tents near the Dining Hall. Once finished, they let go of their horses' reins and left them next to their tents. The three races up to the Dining Hall, where they were greeted with Rodney.

"Welcome, apprentices. I will introduce you to the apprentices here in a moment. I ask that you remove your hoods for this."

The three nodded and stepped in line with Rodney. They marched up to the front of the hall, where Sir Karel - and even Sir Wallace, were waiting.

"Tomorrow, Jemma, Sir Wallace will be looking at how you are with the sword. Ranger Gilan was trained with him, and we understand that you have disarmed him at least twice. We would like to test you. If you do not mind, depending on how you do, we might show your skills to the boys training here."

Jemma nodded.

"Okay then. Turn around and unhood yourself when you are called."

The three apprentices turned around as Sir Rodney called out to the Battleschool students. About a hundred eyes turned to them, and Jemma knew that all three of them didn't like the attention much.

"As a new training scheme, we will have these Ranger apprentices staying at our Battleschool. They will stay for a fortnight, learning with you and training alongside you. Afterwards, five of you will have the lucky chance at watching the apprentice from this fief practice at the Ranger's cabin."

Jemma looked up in surprise. She hadn't known about that.

"I trust that you will treat them with respect."

Sir Karel then stood to introduce them.

"We first have Apprentice Kyle, a fourth-year Ranger apprentice."

Kyle stepped forward and removed his hood to polite clapping.

"We have Apprentice David, a second-year apprentice." David copied Kyle and grinned at Jemma. It felt weird for them being called second-year apprentices, instead of first-year.

"And lastly we have the apprentice for our own fief, a second-year apprentice, Jemma." Jemma felt herself step forward and remove her hood. She nodded solemnly to the audience.

She noticed the stares she was getting. A great majority of the boys were scowling at her. She noticed one pick up a tomato and throw it at her.

At the last second before it hit her she caught it, snatching it from the air.

She held it up to her mouth and took a bite. "Delicious." She smirked.

Suddenly the boy that had thrown the tomato looked down in shock as the knife Jemma had thrown landed between two of his fingers.

"You're lucky I am reasonable. And you're lucky I don't miss." Jemma scowled at the boy. "What's your name?"

"Nick."

"Well Nick, I know now who to aim for when we are doing archery practice. Remember, first impressions count."

Jemma stepped back as the rest of the boys started laughing at Nick.

Jemma walked through them and grabbed her knife, putting it back in its sheath. She stuck out her hand and she was happy to see, Nick shook it, accepting the truce.