The Birth of a Ranger

Chapter Fourteen

A day after her initiation Dante took the silence of the fort to sneak out in the morning. She had things to do and people to see and they knew all her hiding spots, probably keeping their eyes out for her even as she left the fort. She had trained them, made sure they knew the ways of a Ranger. She didn't bother hiding her tracks as she moved through the forest, her cloak now bearing the silver leaf of the Dunedain, a proud symbol of membership.

Her gaze dropped to the ground, seeing the footprints barely visible in the dirt of the forest, another training technique she was taught by Connor. She could stay up for days on end without rest and knew how to track almost anything through the forest. She knew Norn did as well. While he wasn't officially a Dunedain he had the skills of one without her help, he had been trained well before she came along.

Most who saw and knew her underestimated her for her age, her size and the pretty face she held under her cloak. She was almost sixteen and looked no more than nineteen. She was a pretty face, sure, but her skills almost always were underestimated and she struck down her enemies with a quick, lethal strike.

She didn't notice when Norn tackled her and pinned her against a tree, snarling in her face. She didn't back down, only looked up and smirked. He knew that look and backed up slowly.

"You Rangers and your backup." Norn said with a smile.

She only laughed and motioned him forward. She was leading him to one of her more secretive hideouts that she was sure other Rangers knew of but that didn't stop her from using it. She had everything hidden in the area around it. Weapons, dyes, tools to tattoo. You name it then she had it.

When they made it through the clearing they stood before the falls. It was pushing the limits of where she could be as Rangers couldn't go into the Whitehorn mountains but that didn't stop her from visiting the falls. There were flowers all around and instead of rock, it was covered in vibrant grass around the pond the water fell into.

She heard an intake of breath behind her then another. Then another. She knew her men had arrived just behind her and she didn't stop to look at them until she rested on a rock near the water, the mist spraying on her body. It was refreshing. Calm even. To sit just beside the waterfall and feel every trickle of water.

"Dante, it is good to see you." Niao Nakur spoke softly beside her twin brother Sonid. They looked so similar she wasn't actually sure if they were twins or siblings but the group settled with calling them twins and they never corrected.

"Indeed." Dante nodded her head to the twins in greeting.

The Nakur twins were usually quiet and careful. They didn't speak much at all unless they needed to and they kept their secrets close to themselves and Dante when it was needed to spill whatever information they had or knew. They were both elves, half-breeds if she was thinking more in depth of their heritage because of their black hair and reddish-brown eyes. They were also the only in their small startings of a guild that wielded magic with such deadly precision that even Dante feared it.

"How many?" Dante lifted her head, hoping they had made at least some progress with recruiting more assassins with similar ideals as their own. When no one spoke Dante got to her feet and glanced around. There were eleven. They had gotten three more to their numbers.

"Three but we have more who are on their way. Sixteen in total." Resley spoke softly, coming through the forest brush with a smile, with eight in tow. "Had to drag these guys from their training."

They all laughed and smiled at Resley, who she had known without being told he was kicking the new recruit's ass'. She didn't mind as she had done the same thing to her original eight when they started out, just to get a feel for their skills. They all seemed scared to say the least as they all huddled into the rather large area near the falls. Some bloodied and others panting. They had a long way to go before they would be given any sort of contract.

The eight new members all glanced at Dante, knowing almost immediately who was in charge of the Aurilia Assassins. Fear struck them plain as day and she smiled and drew her blades. She was eager for this fight. To test their forms. Yet she knew that Res had messed them up good enough that they may falter. No excuse she thought to herself. When she trained with her father day and sometimes through the night and she was aching and faltered, it was no excuse for her to stop and Connor said as much.

"Let's dance." She smirked and pointed a sharp, pointed dagger at the smallest of the group. He was a short thing. Small framed and short.

Res was quick to start snapping his fingers and everyone except for Norn took a spar partner. They were going to spar for hours and these men would feel the same struggle her original eight had experienced when she trained them, her tactics more brutal and annoying than her fathers, no doubt.

The boy she had fought, she learned was only two years older than her and he looked as if he hadn't hit his age of maturity just yet. She beat him almost every time she told the boy again. He faltered in their fight many times, thoughts running on his mind and all she had to offer was to bring him to his feet and tell him again. It was the breaking point for her original eight to hear those words over and over.

"Again!" She shouted to the boy.

By this point the sun had set and her men had all felt out their partners and some were even stopping after the first hour. She however, kept at it and the boy kept right with her until she brought him to the ground one last time. Res came up behind her, his hand going to her arm, which was pointed at the boy's neck. She understood the gesture and sheathed her blade offering her hand for him to get up.

"What is your name, boy?"

There was no emotion in Dante's words as she spoke and she knew the fear rippled through her men like a dark shroud. They tensed. The boy came to Dante's breast level forcing her to look down upon him as she spoke.

"Brel." There was a short pause as he spoke out his name. Silent as it was she heard it loud and clear. When she didn't speak up she waited for him to give her his last name as well. A test. She wanted to know his heritage, clearly. "Brel Rurnov."

Dante nodded and turned to walk away. His form wasn't perfect but after hours of training with him she knew he had potential. "I need to return to the fort before I'm missed. We will meet in a week." She continued to walk, no one speaking behind her. It was a dismissal if they had ever seen one. She was done for the day but even as she paused her movements to glance back at the sixteen she smirked. "In Arthedain."

She could feel the tense bodies behind her as she listened to them pick up talking. Good. She needed them to bond since they would be seeing a lot of each other in the coming days. The sound of rushing feet behind her that fell in step with her made her slow her pace. Res.

"Have you done your markings yet?"

She shook her head. "Soon." The markings he spoke of, all her men carried them and even she noticed the ones that framed the neck of Res' body. Around his neck. Down his sweat dripped back. His arms even. She knew it was all there even if she didn't see it outright. Her markings would be similar but be markings of mourning. For her parents. Her noble House. Lief.

"Get the new initiates tattooed. Different designs than the original eight." Dante spoke softly.

Res nodded once and that was all she needed to see out of the corner of her eyes before she quickened her pace again. She had plans to return to the falls tomorrow and start her tattoos. No one would stop her. She owed it to her unburied parents and all the death caused in the past five years. No one would stop her.