GEACOB
   Normally, for a Ranger to find a good spot to get some rest for the night and have a good meal, they'd have to go to someplace like The T where we had a backdoor pass and were on good terms with the owner.
   But in the three weeks since Loryn and I had exited the mountain pass and started walking along Mountain Road again, we'd run into more Rangers than dargolians. Now that the sparse birch, oak and pine trees were being replaced by the white-silver of silverwood trees, indicating that we'd crossed the boarder into Averton, the Rangers were less and less frequent, but the ones we did run across informed me that Rangers no longer needed to hide. Apparently, Averton had crumbled together a small council, but still had no control over the kingdom --- no one followed a council without a king before and they never would. The Rangers, despite the best efforts of those that remained of the royal councils, were quickly taking over the land.
   So at the first town we came across with decent horses in their stables and more than one inn to choose from, we stopped.
   "What is this place?" Loryn wondered.
   "Leafinton, I think." I answered. "Remind me to get a map before we leave."
   "We're leaving?" She almost cried.
   "Not for a few days." I assured her--- truth was, I was exhausted as well.
   Winter had decided to show itself before the snow this year, becoming bitterly cold about two weeks back. With Loryn huddled in my cloak, I was left freezing. During the day it was fine because the constant movement kept my blood warm, but at night, I found myself checking fingers and toes for coldsickness even with the fire going. I had to stay up half the night, adding wood to the fire so that I would not freeze to death in my sleep so that exhausted me as well. With anyone else, we'd have shared the bedroll and used the cloak as a blanket to cover us both, but it was coming to the point that I would apparently rather freeze to death than listen to another one of her tantrums. I was less than two years older than her, yet felt as if I were babysitting an unwelcome child. No doubt her attitude was due to her upbringing, with always being doted on and told her spoiled self was perfect in every way.
   Loryn made me happy that I was not rich because if I were, someone might try and marry me off to a lady like Loryn or --- may the gods forbid it --- a princess, who would no doubt be even worse.
   No. Being a Ranger was just fine with me... even when my black cloak caused all sorts of problems, just like the one up ahead.
   "You there! Outsider! Halt!"
   I frowned at the big man. Curious as to how this was going to go. I glanced at the inn only two doors down --- so close. "I have coin and I plan on using it." I said to the man, raising both of my hands to show that I held no weapons in them.
   Face flushed, the man cleared his throat. "Ah that's... that's very good, sir." He said. Clearly he feared the Rangers. If I made a move, he'd probably start running. "Only I... see, I need to see your chest, ser."
   "I'm no knight." I reminded him.
   "I-I know that, ser, err... I know that."
   But I was only just hearing what he'd said to me. "My chest? Do you say you needed to see my chest?"
   "Yes, s.--- yes."
   I waited, and when he didn't explain I raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to tell me why?"
   "We need to see if you have the birthmark there." Said one of the two men that were now also approaching us. Great, there were more of them. These two didn't look afraid of me either, unlike the big man. In them, I saw hate and disgust. I decided these were the ones I would rather not turn my back on and turned to face them fully.
   "Why a birthmark?"
   "Show us, boy child." Said the surlier of the two. He was a big, burly fellow and he put a hand on the hilt of a sword as he demanded this of me. "If there's no mark, you have nothing to fear and we'll let you be."
   Seeing as I had no birthmark, I impatiently pulled down the collar of my wool shirt as far as I could. "Satisfied?" I asked, my irritation obvious in that single word.
   But instead of telling me to go, both their eyes narrowed and he mad a motion with his hand. Before I could think on what to do, five more men were circling me. Even the fat one looked serious now.
   "You'll have to come with us now, boy child." Said my own personal annoyance as Loryn yipped in surprise.
   "Thought you said you'd let me be on my way?" I said. "I have no mark on my chest."
   "We just need to ask you a few questions."
   Never. I knew where asking questions lead when it involved a Ranger.
   Thinking fast, I reached under my arm and pulled the dagger out of the strap there. In the same move, I grabbed Loryns arm and yanked her in front of me. She let out a sound half way between a gasp and a scream as I put the knife against her throat.
   "Whoever you're looking for," I said clearly, seeing the townspeople stopping to watch as well now, "I am not him. Give passage and leave and I will not harm the girl."
   "She was with you. She's wearing your cloak."
   "She's a whore I picked up and she was cold." I said with a shrug. "I can be charming when I wish." I said, and grinned. "But only when I wish."
   "I'm not a whore!" Loryn shouted in insult and elbowed me. By all the gods that listen, I was going to end up killing this girl one day. Did she not realize what I was trying to do?
   The burly man's eyes narrowed. "Get him!" Came the order.
   Shite.
   I pushed Loryn away and spun around just in time to dodge the sword that came down at my head.
   "Don't kill him! We need him alive you dolts!" Someone shouted and I sighed in relief, even as I actually blocked a sword from cutting into my gut. Blocked it with a throwing dagger I'd like to emphasize --- my uncle would be proud. As good a fighter as I was, it was eight on one and my sword was strapped to my back hiding beneath my bag where I had put it to make myself look less threatening. Foolish me, I should have known. No Ranger look less threatening.
   I was seriously regretting that forethought.
   They kept going for my legs now as well as my hands. I was exhausted already from lack of food and sleep so I quickly began to worry as I knew I would not be able to keep this up for long. I started to look for ways to escape and decided I'd rather not run until I caught my breath.
   I dodged a blow and elbowed the mans shoulder hard enough to make him stumble. Quick as a flint, I had the knife to the mans neck and everyone froze.
   I grinned, breathing hard. "Now you, you I will have no problem killing as you well know. Grant us safe passage or you'll be breathing out of a much wider mouth... for a moment or two at least."
   "Stop!" Someone shouted and I turned us both enough to see a large boy running toward us, hands up. "Stop, stop, stop!" His eyes widened when he looked at me with my knife and they flicked to the fat man almost nervously. "Does he have the mark? He doesn't look right. Too tall."
   "He doesn't have no mark, but he's got one of them jewelry pieces that was stoled." Said the fat man, his Averton accent thicker now that he was so out of breath.
   My necklace? "My necklace was my fathers." I said firmly. "It was never stolen."
   The boy held up his hands again and if I wasn't mistaken, there was a touch of excitement in his eyes. "You mind if I see it?"
   "So I'll let this one go and can be attacked again?" I smirked. "I'd rather not."
   "I vow it." He said and I sensed sincerity. "I vow it on Anul, the Father Sun and Luna both that I mean you no harm. I know what I'm looking for."
   "And I vow as a Ranger that if you break your vow, I'll break your neck." I said and lowered the knife, pushing the man away who stumbled in surprise at his sudden release.
   The boy looked nervous now but approached slowly, arms still raised. I pulled out the necklace, letting the talon swing from the leather cord.
   The boy let out a breath. "It's not what I'm looking for." He said.
   I nodded, already aware of this and tucked it back in. "I know. Now, if you'll just---"
   "What I'm looking for is part of a set, you see?" He continued. "I don't suppose you've seen one like it? Or like this one?" He dug in his shirt.
   I was about to push the boy away in irritation, take Loryn, and get away from this town of insanity. I had no interest in something that was stolen seeing as it had been more than likely stolen by another Ranger and I would never speak of it anyway. Then my eyes fell on the necklace around his neck which he was holding up and I nearly gasped.
   It was a necklace made up of long carved beads of silverwood bark. The exact same one as in my vision.
   I very nearly grinned at the red-haired boy but knew it would not be advisable with so many watching. Instead, I met the boys eyes. "In fact," I told him, "I believe I have."

***

   "I never expected you to be an Outsider." The boy, Ritch he name one, said cheerfully. "Otherwise, I would have thought up a different plan to find you."
   "You caused that mess out there?"
   He blushed. "Sorry."
   "How did you know we'd be coming this way?" Loryn asked him between sips of her tea. We'd gone into the inn where Ritch was staying and now say in his tiny room. The first thing I had done was had good brought up and three pictures of hot, spiced ale. Loryn had tea instead but only after she'd eaten her fill. Now she was as comfortable as I'd ever seen her and apparently as curious as I was.
   "I didn't know for sure." He admitted. "But after the shock of the castle burning down and all, I started to really think about the vision. All I knew was that I needed to go east, but east where?" He shrugged. "Seeing as I had one of the items, I assumed the other four were of people as well and each representing a kingdom. Since it didn't make any sense for all five to head east, I had to assume we were all given different directions. Having no way to tell which direction, I chose to settle in here in Leafinton because unless you really know your way around, anyone coming or going from any of the four kingdoms into Averton would have to pass through here. Plus, it's directly east of where I was when I had the vision." He shrugged again. "So there wasn't much of a way for it to go wrong."
   "Except you couldn't go around asking every single person if they had a vision, so you made up a story to help others look as well." I understood.
   He grinned. "Exactly."
   But Loryn was gaping. "You figured all that out on your own?"
   He seemed surprised. "You didn't?"
   "No! We... ran into each other." She said, looking down.
   "Loryn was captured by some fellow Rangers in Florn and taken north for ransom." I explained. "They stopped into The T where I was staying and I saw her ring. Figured everything out form there."
   "Ransomed?" He frowned at Loryn. "Why were you being ransomed? Who are you?"
   She looked up and I saw her sit straighter. "The daughter of the High Lord Barrick Rosel of Florn." She said proudly.
   Ritch's jaw dropped. "Oh." He said after he recovered. "After seeing Geacob here was an Outsider, I assumed you were poor, too." He glanced quickly at me. "No offence."
   "Other than offence toward the name Outsider, none taken."
   "Right. Ranger." He said, then frowned. "So the other two really could be anyone, from a bagger to a prince."
   "You're of the commonfolk?" Loryn asked with her nose wrinkled.
   He frowned at her wrinkled nose. "I am." A touch of irritation in his voice.
   I couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't take offense over that Ritch, young Loryn here is half her actual age and spoiled rotten. I'm desperately attempting to change that."
   "I do not act like a seven year old." Loryn said, her eyes, narrowed.
   "You're fourteen?" Ritch asked.
   "Nearly." She said with a nod. "And Geacob is fifteen. You are?"
   "Thirteen now." He answered and must have seen my surprise because he nodded. "Because of my size, everyone always assumes I'm older. Everyone here thinks me fifteen."
   The boy could have passed for seventeen even, and It wasn't only his size but also in his eyes, as if he had seen or done too much to be a child. I had seen those eyes in many Ranger children over the years. In fact, I'd had those eyes myself.
   I drank some of my ale and leaned back in the chair. "So what exactly did you tell everyone in order to find us?"
   He flushed again. "I made up a story about... well... it was to do with some people who did some terrible things to my mother and baby sister. Bad things that would get every man in town on the hunt for him. Anyway, I said I'd been knocked out, but I remember some things such as a birthmark on his chest and some mention of practicing some more before hitting the unsuspecting folk of Leafinton."
   "And the jewelry?"
   "Said it was all from my mothers that was missing and though it may not be worn by the attacker, one who wore it may remember who sold it to them and we could find a better description through them." His face was beat red by the end of this explanation. "It hadn't even crossed my mind that one of the people wearing an object was an Outsider. Ranger, sorry. If I had, I'd have assumed they would treat you roughly and would have made up something else to---"
   "Ritch." I interupted with a chuckle. "All is well between us." I vowed. "Though I am curious on what you're going to say about me now."
   He leaned back and folded the boulders that were his arms --- this kid was twelve? I thought again --- and sighed. "That depends on out next move. Are we leaving? Or will we stay and wait?"
   I thought a moment, but didn't have to think for long. "It feels wrong to stay here now. I feel like we're done with Averton for a while."
   Loryn sat up straight. "We're travelling again?" She squeaked.
   "On horse this time." I said. "And we'll rest for a few days first, so long as Ritch agrees."
   "Oi." He nodded. "I do. But where will we go?"
   Loryn stood. "I'm going to get a room and have a bath then sleep for a very long time."
   "You both are welcome to stay here. There's an extra bed and---"
   "No, no." I said quickly and handed her some coins. "You can have your own room tonight. I'll stay here."
   "Good." She said and walked briskly to the door. She stopped though and turned back a little awkwardly, her face vulnerable. "You're not going to leave without me are you?"
   "You want to come still?" I asked in surprise.
   She hesitated and hugged herself. "I don't want to be alone."
   I felt myself softening toward her, just a bit. "I won't leave without you, Loryn."
   She nodded slowly, then left quickly.
   "A bit of a handful is she?" Ritch asked with amusement.
   I snorted. "Understatement." I said firmly. "Why she had the vision, I can't even guess. I only hope the others are easier to handle than she is when we find them. Which will be where, I wonder?" Pointing the conversation back toward making plans.
   "Anyone from Nascia should have made it here by now I assume, and Tark is far away but that person would be out of Tark easily, long ago." He frowned. "Unless they're like me and they're waiting."
   "I doubt that." I said, then went silent, not knowing what else to say. It was my uncle who had made the plans of where to go next and I had simply followed.
   Ritch tapped his fingers a few times on his leg then stood silently and rummaged around in a trunk at the base of the bed a moment. He came back over with a roll of parchment and moved the empty plates out of the way to roll it out, revealing a map. He took a piece of charcoal off the string and made a like from Silverton to Leafinton. Then he put the piece on top of Garden City in Florn. "What way did Loryn's vision say to go?"
   "A touch north or north-east." I said and he drew a line up to Cove Road very Near The T. "And mine said south-east." I said before he could ask. He drew a line and put Loryn and I in roughly the same spot. We glanced at each other over the parchment.
   "Interesting." Ritch said, then frowned. "Doesn't help us find the others though, seeing as my own path could only line in with..."
   "With mine and Loryns." I nodded. "From here to The T is nearly east."
   He nodded as well, looking excited. "So these other two, the seer from Nascia and the seer from Tark, they may meet either on the Dragons Path or the White Road."
   "Not the Dragons Path." I said without thinking. "And did you call them seers?"
   "Why not? And yes, it's one Anul gifts with visions during fasting." He shrugged. "Not what happened to us exactly, or at least not to me, but it's the best name I can think of to call us."
   "Hm."
   "So... why not Dragons Path?"
   "I'm not sure." I told him honestly. "I just doubt that anyone of us wishes to go past the Lair of Dragon City right now." I shrugged. "Besides, anyone from Tark would need to pass the White Road to reach Dragons Path, but there'd be no reason for it unless going to the heart of Dargolyn intentionally."
   "The White Road it is then." Ritch said with a satisfied nod.
   But then we were both frowning as it hit us.
   "Even if we're correct, they'd have met up by now and are off in a different direction. Probably searching for us." Ritch shook his curly head as he studied the map. "They could be anywhere in Dargolyn by now; on their way here or to Florn. There's no way to know."
   "Unless..." Oh boy, this idea could turn us on our arses but I spit it out. "The Rangers could help."
   "How could they? We don't know what they look like."
   I could tell Ritch was trying to keep a very neutral mind about Rangers now that he'd met me, but if I were being honest, he had a right to be wary --- we were dangerous.
   "I could tell them that there's someone from Nascia and one from Tark traveling together. That one wears a necklace of a glass eye and one of a mermaids scale."
   "It's winter." He said slowly, thinking over his words before he spoke them. "No necklace will be visible from now on."
   I cursed quietly. He was right.
   For a long time, we were silent, so when Ritch clapped his hands together and shouted. "I got it!" I started so badly that I dropped my cup on the floor, spilling the last mouthful of my drink across the wood.
   "Oh, sorry. Had you fallen asleep?"
   "Apparently." I said, rubbing my face with my hands and standing. "You had an idea?"
   He nodded. "Spread the word around, as you said, but continue on with the story I had here. Send out word that we're searching for one who holds the necklaces so we could have some information. Even if no one finds them, they may hear it."
   I nodded. "Sounds like a plan. For the morn." I said. "I think I'll slip into bed if you don't mind."
   "Not at all." He said, but something in his tone stopped me.
   "Something wrong?"
   He bit his lip. "It's just... you seem like a nice enough fellow, Geacob, but you're not going to... to steal anything from me or... kill me in my sleep or anything are you?" He flushed so deeply as he asked this that I couldn't find it in me to be insulted.
   "One thing you need to know about Ranger, Ritch, is that there are three kinds of them."
   "Rapists, thieves, and murderers?" He guessed.
   I snorted a laugh. "No. Well, yes, but that's not what I meant."
   "Then what are the three kinds?" He seemed genuinely interested.
   "Ones who love the cloak, ones who hate the cloak, and ones who are the cloak because they have to be." I told him, ticking them off on my fingers. "It's the ones who hate it you need to fear."
   "I'd assume it would be the ones who love the cloak."
   "Believe it or not, we tame the worst of them." I said, thinking of Fat-Biddy. "The worst of us can't lead because they get caught too quickly by the kingsmen. The leaders of groups are smart and know they need to keep as low a profile as possible in order to survive, so they tame the ones who follow them, make sure they don't do anything stupid and if they do, they're outcast and usually end up messing up enough to get caught by the kingsmen because they have no one protecting their backs" I shook my head. "The ones who hate the cloak hate the authority and the loyalty. They manipulate and push boundaries most Rangers would never cross, but they don't do it enough to be outcast so they remain well protected by the rest of the Rangers." I stripped off my shirt and slipped under the rough fur on the bed, closing my weary eyes.
   "But what happens now, when there's no kingsmen to worry about?" Ritch asked quietly.
   Since the answer raised goosebumps on my arms, I didn't answer, feigning sleep.