Daughter of a Ranger

Chapter 25

The meeting with the crew had gone well, Jemma reflected. The crew seemed pleased to meet her, and they had quickly started talking, discussing skills and abilities.

Now, the morning after a long night, the crew, as well what seemed like half of Hallasholm, had come to watch her practise. Erak had been kind enough to give her a specific Ranger training area.

She had set up targets, and a ring for her to practise her various skills.

She lifted her bow, and within the next ten minutes had shot fifty arrows, all hitting the various bullseyes dotted around. She then did the same with the sling and knives.

"Hey, Thorn?" She called out as she took off her Ranger cloak and laid it to the side.

She saw the older man raise his home-made hand (created by Hal) in acknowledgement. "I've had a little practise." She said, pulling out her sword. "Mind telling me a good challenger?"

Thorn smiled good-naturedly and called out, "I'm up for a quick fight, little girl."

The Herons 'ooh'ed and turned to Jemma, who smirked. "If you think you can handle it, old man." She said casually, adopting Lydia's nickname for him. She winked at the woman.

Thorn quickly made his way over with Stig, who would monitor the bout. "You're gonna go down, little girl."

"If you can catch me on those old legs." She grinned, before making the first move.

Or so Thorn thought. Jemma's move surprised him. She didn't move forward to hit him, but instead moved to his side and spun around. He turned, to find the sun in his eyes.

"Clever girl." He muttered.

Her next move surprised him again. He had raised his sword to hit her, when she suddenly disappeared. He looked down to find her finishing her somersault through his legs and turned to look at her, when he found a sword under his chin.

His eyebrows rose. "Well done." He muttered.

The crowd was stunned as she put her sword in her sheath and reached out a hand for him to shake.

"Not so bad for a little girl." She smiled, before grabbing her cloak placing it around her shoulders.

Thorn let out a loud laugh as she mock-saluted him and left.

...

"That was amazing!" Jesper called out to the table as the group sat down for dinner. "You pulled a sneaky move!"

"I'm used to that." Jemma grinned. "As a Ranger, we not only have to expect the unexpected, but we also have to be the unexpected."

"That's a nice quote." Lydia smiled. "You should put that on a mug."

"I did." Jemma lifted her mug of coffee to her lips, causing the table to burst into laughter.

"You said you were trained by a Healer for a little while." Edvin said. "Maybe we could swap ideas sometime?"

Jemma nodded as she bit into her food.

"Your father mentioned you growing up in a castle in Gallica, as a servant." Stig inquired. "What was that like?"

Jemma pondered for a moment, before saying. "Interesting, I could say, but it was horrible. I was never allowed outside the place. It was like being in jail for the first decade of your life, just for being born. It was there that I actually learned how to sneak out of places. I also learnt how to nick food from the kitchens." She winked.

"Well," She then said, "I'm going to bed. I'm getting up early in the morning to build a replica of the obstacle course I had to do when I was training to become a Ranger. You guys could try it, if you want?"