Monsters of the Night

Chapter Four

Jemma woke to the smell of bacon. 

"Why didn't anybody wake me up to do a lookout?" Jemma scowled as she strolled over, stealing some bacon from her father's plate.

Will protested, then shrugged and took some from Halt's plate. Halt rolled his eyes and grabbed some more bacon that had just been cooked.

"We thought you would like some rest." Kyle told her as he handed out some more bacon to her. "You had a long journey from Skandia and it sounds like you haven't had much sleep since."

"I still could have taken a shift." Jemma said reasonably.

"You can take the first shift tonight." Jamie reassured her. She grinned.

Within a few moments she was wide awake with a cup of coffee. Her bacon finished, she drank quickly, urging the others to do the same.

"We need to be quick!" She told them. "Come on! On your feet!"

"She will make a great teacher someday." Will grumbled to Halt. "She'll encourage her apprentice to get up no questions asked. She can be terrifying when she wants to be."

"I said, 'COME ON!'" Jemma yelled.

"We're coming, we're coming." Will said, dropping his coffee. "Oh, nuts."

"Good luck with that Will." Halt chuckled. "You would've needed it."

...

Jemma kept the group of them at a steady Ranger pace for the entire day. They rested again that night, then were on the road again. It was like this for another two days before they reached their destination - the village near Castle Araluen.

There, they spoke with several trusted villagers to keep an eye out for a signal, if help was needed. They then continued to travel up to the castle.

Halt and Will entered through the gates, followed by Jamie, Harold and Kyle. Jemma took the younger Harold round the back to find a secret passage Maddie had informed her of a long time ago. 

It took three hours to find the opening, and once they did, they wasted no time. Jemma trusted Socks to stay hidden nearby, and with Sapphire staying to watch the twins protectively, Jemma had no need to worry.

Having taught Harold the basic steps to keep silent and move unnoticed, she trusted him to keep a steady pace with her.

They entered the castle from the cellars.

...

Jemma and Harold snuck up to the tower where Maddie's quarters were. There, they ran into her husband, Henry.

"Ssh." Jemma whispered after startling him. "It's just me, Jemma."

She beckoned him to follow her into an empty room.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed. "Why are you sneaking around?"

"Congratulations, by the way." Jemma told him, making him sit back with confusion. "I'm sorry I missed the wedding, and I'm happy for you and Maddie with the child."

Henry smiled.

"What's her name?"

"We named her Ruth." He told her.

"That's beautiful." She smiled. "But we think she's in danger."

"No." Henry shook his head. "She can't be. We've taken so many measures to make sure she's safe."

"The castle's vulnerable at the moment." Jemma told him. "You've got many Rangers travelling here for the conference, but we're not sure is some of them approve of female Rangers still. With so many people here able to sneak around with ample knowledge of the place, Ruth is easily accessible."

"We'd better start watching her closer then." Henry said gravely.

...

Leaving Henry and Harold in Ruth's bedroom, after gushing over the little girl of course, Jemma left the two to keep a lookout in a different spot of the castle. 

She spotted Will and Halt and quickly followed them. When she noticed them going into one of the castle's halls for the conference, she quickly climbed the wall outside and settled on top of one of the beams that supported the roof.

"Where's Gilan?" One Ranger asked Will and Halt. Jemma noticed Kyle, Harold and Jamie settle in seats in the general crowd of Rangers present.

"He's locating the last female Ranger out there." Halt said.

"Jemma?" Another said. "She's your daughter, isn't she Will?"

"She is." Will confirmed. "And a fine Ranger."

"Why do you need to locate her?" A third Ranger asked.

"We sent her and another female Ranger to Skandia when there were riots to protect them. Only Jemma made it there. The other was killed by rioting Rangers. Since then, Jemma left Skandia and we've been trying to track her down."

Jemma nodded at the partial truth her father was telling them, then felt sad at the mention of Holly.

"Rangers!" Someone called to attention. Jemma saw Horace and Cassandra and smiled. 

"As Gilan is away and we are still locating some Rangers that need to attend, we will just declare the conference open." Cassandra said. "I'm sure you have all sorted out sleeping arrangements and we will be looking forward to seeing you in the morning with hopefully, some updates. Thank you."

With the Rangers dismissed, Cassandra and Horace quickly left the Hall. Jemma followed them quietly along the beams until they had passed the beams, before waiting for all of the Rangers to leave. Once done, she left the Hall and followed them to Ruth's bedroom. There, she jumped down from the ceiling and landed in the middle of Cassandra, Horace, Maddie, Henry, Will and Halt.

"Geez, I didn't know you were there!" Henry shrunk back in shock.

"I did." The rest grinned.

They all turned to Horace. "How would you know?"

"I've spent enough time around Rangers to know when they're around." Horace bluffed.

"You didn't know." Cassandra and Maddie grinned.

"No." Horace grinned. "I didn't know."

"So then." Jemma spread her hands. "What's the plan?"