Van was absentmindedly watching the small river of water, his body and mind tired and wondering what he was going to do that could help his wife and loved ones.

Azra then noticed how Van wasn’t looking so well and walked by concerned. “Mreow?” she asked, as she came by and started to purr against Van’s leg, trying to show her support and help him with his worries.

“Thanks, Azra… I’m fine…” he said, picking up his cat and placing her on his lap, giving her the pets she deserved. “Sense any danger?”

“Mew…” Azra replied.

Van chuckled. He couldn’t really understand what she was saying but was at least able to get the gist of it through the special connection they shared. Her feelings and intentions making their way through to him.

“Nothing to worry about? That’s good…” Van sighed with some relief. “Really wish though you were with Luna… that would be so much better.”

“Meow! Mer… ayar…!” Azra responded as if admonishing him for saying such things.

“Ya… you make a good point…” Van admitted. “I suppose if I can't help myself first, then I can’t help Luna…”

Yesi was by the river filling up her canteen, glancing over at Van and his conversation with the shadowy cat oddly. Wondering if they really could communicate or if he was just interpreting what he wanted to hear.

Azra then meowed some more.

“Huh…” Van blinked in surprise. “I… hadn't thought about that…”

“Mreow…” Azra said, giving him a somewhat condescending look that only a cat could give.

Van blushed. “Ya… good point… sorry…” he replied, feeling bad and properly chastised.

Now Yesi was looking at them as if they both had gone mad or something. She knew people with familiars could communicate with each other, but this was the first time she has ever seen it. And she was pretty sure this was not how it was done… but then again… she was now also a little curious as to what they were talking about… and why she felt she was mentioned…

But then Van did something that really threw her for a loop, and she quickly got up and took a step back as shadows seemed to flow around him and his power began to fluctuate.

Van closed his eyes a little to feel the deep well of shadows he had slowly grown throughout the months before his departure. Soon, about a dozen shadowy wolves began to appear around him, one after another. Not only that, but taking one of Kella’s suggestions seriously, he also formed several shadowy raven-like creatures the size of eagles if not bigger. They formed around him, ready for his orders.

With a will, he scattered them in all directions to help provide better reconnaissance of the area, even sending a few on a one-way mission towards his wife and the others. Something he wished he thought of before.

“Thanks, Azra.” Van said after he was done. “You're such a good kitty!” petting her affectionately.

Azra purred happily at the attention given to her.

Yesi gave a slow blink. “What… the Hells was that!” she demanded to know. “You could have done that from the beginning!”

Van winced a little. “Ya… err… I guess because of everything that happened yesterday, and because I was so scared and worried for Luna, I wasn’t thinking straight… I was in flight mode instead of fight mode… but it should be fine now!” now looking a little more sure of himself.

He looked Yesi in the eyes. “Yesi, I know you don’t think I can take care of myself… and honestly, a part of me almost believed you… but once we get to the fort, I’m coming with you. No, if ands or buts about it. I can provide a lot more help than you realize, and I won’t have you question me about that. Even if you don’t think so, I’ll still search for her on my own if necessary. And you need me too, I can sense where my wife is, and by extension, where Yassan is… you need me…” a determined expression on his face that showed he wasn’t going to be swayed by anything she said other than agreement.

Yesi looked at that and sighed, feeling both annoyed and defeated. “Fine… but just like before, you do what I say. Understand?” making it clear she will not budge on this.

Van nodded. “Fully.”

Yesi grunted. “Good… now we will be leaving in five minutes. So you better rest up.”

Van hesitated, “can you make that ten minutes?” he asked. “I have to check something real quick.”

Yesi frowned but sighed. “Fine… ten minutes… no more…” looking like she was already regretting her decision to allow him to come with.

“Thanks,” Van said, and then closed his eyes.

Once he was back within his soul realm, he quickly looked for Anna and began to ask her questions from before she died. Though of course, he asked her if she was okay first.

“I’m fine Van, it hurts of course… but at least I won’t actually die… though it may take a few months to reform a few new bodies for me,” Anna said. “I’m actually more surprised you aren’t going to summon more of me,” she admitted.

“I thought of it, but even if I trust Yesi a bit more than before. I still don’t want to show her everything I can do just yet if I can help it.” Van said.

Anna nodded. “Alright…” She then started to think about Van’s questions about her death. “I don’t know much of what happened, death kinda messes with your memories a bit. I remember them being clad in black… but unfortunately, there wasn’t anything that stood out about them that could be used to identify who they were… I did notice a few in the back though that seemed to concentrate on the shriekers as you call them. Perhaps those are the tamers? They seemed to be carrying strange rods…” she said thoughtfully.

Anna then began to explain a few more things she noticed. But like she said before, it wasn’t much, the group that attacked them was clearly professional. At least he got a better idea of which way Luna was headed from where she fled with the others. Apparently, Anna made sure to drag Luna away at the cost of her life, Yassan and another two rangers then picked up where she left off, and Kella helped.

“Sorry I couldn’t have been more helpful,” Anna said, looking crestfallen.

“Don’t say that. You did perfectly… in fact more than that. Thank you for your sacrifice.” Van said, truly thankful for everything Anna had done.

The two shared a moment and hugged, Anna, wishing him the best, and Van getting ready to leave. Once he opened his eyes, Yesi looked ready to go and like she was ready to leave without him.

“Are you awake? Good, let’s get out of here,” she said, turning on her heel with her own look of determination on her face. No doubt thinking about rescuing her brother.

Van got up, Azra in tow, and the two followed Yesi deeper into the forest, ready for anything…

--- one day prior ---

“God’s damn you fools! You let the score flee and got several of yourselves killed! How in the several hells did you girls mess this up!” the bandit leader yelled at her subordinates after they cleaned things up and took stock of everything that had happened.

They had lost almost all of their shriekers, and eight of their own were dead with three more badly wounded. Sure the caravan was protected by a dozen rangers… but they had accounted for that…

But not for the crazed and almost fanatical defense of the goblins and harpies. Some even throwing their lives away just to bring a few of the bandits and shriekers down. It didn’t help that they were far stronger and better trained than the average goblin, completely throwing their estimates off. After all, who trains a bunch of goblins to the point of ventrancy?

“Tch! I’m going to get a lot of gruff from the boss when we return to base if she doesn’t outright kill me!.” The bandit leader muttered under her breath, shivering on that last part, and then turned to one of her lackeys. “How goes the chase? Do our scouts have them in our sights?”

“Sorry ma’am, the scouts lost track of the two that fled south, but they are still on the trail of the larger group that fled northeast. We may be able to call a few girls from base to intercept and cut them off in a pincer if we act now, though it may take a few hours…” the lackey replied.

The bandit leader grunted. “Do that, and send more people to see if they can’t pick up the trail of those that fled to the south, make sure to check the resource caches along the way as well, they could be holding up in one. The rest of you, with me! We're heading back to base to report to the boss, make sure to take anything of value, then drag the rest off the road to the burn site. I want this place to look like we were never here.”

The bandits quickly did as they were ordered, a third went to continue the search for the ones that fled south, and the rest went around dragging bodies off the road and even sweeping the dirt and cleaning the blood off the roads. Some of the more carnivorous plants they planted a few months prior coming in handy.

An hour later the road was completely clean and the bandits were gone. Almost as if nothing ever happened…

--- Luna pov - Current day ---

“Damnit!” Luna cried as she cradled the last hobgoblin left of their group that had jumped in the way of a crossbow bolt to save her mistress from danger. The bandits had attacked again about five or six hours later, from the front and the back, killing a few more of the survivors from the previous ambush.

Now it was just Luna, Kella, Isa, Gwen, Yassan, and two other rangers. The rest of their group had died.

But instead of pressing the attack, the bandits retreated after losing a few of their own. They did not expect the sheer amount of resistance that a noble brat could show, helping down two of their own, plus a couple of shriekers with the help of her friends. So instead they decided to change the game up and now slowly put pressure on the survivors to make them break and easier to deal with later.

“W-why did they leave?” Gwen asked nervously, her staff shaking as she looked around her in fear.

“Probably to attack us at a later date when it is more advantageous to them,” Kella replied, looking annoyed and watching the forest with distrustful eyes. She then gave a glance to Yassan. “So? What do we do now?” she asked, though she wasn’t sure how much help he would really be.

Yassan scanned the forest, then looked at Kella to reply, only to slowly realize that all the girls were looking at him now, even Luna and the other two rangers… putting him on the spot and making him self-conscious. He cleared his throat and tried to think of what his sister would do in this situation.

“Well… it’s clear that every time we tried to head straight for the fort, they cut us off… so I think it’s clear they know the forest as well as we do, if not better… we should also presume that any resource cache areas we come across will be watched, if not pillaged before we arrive… just like the one we tried to stay in last night… so the only place I can think of at the moment would be a… rangers recluse…” Yassan said determinedly.

“Wait… you can’t actually be thinking of taking them there right? Those places are for rangers only, not outsiders.” one of the rangers spoke up, clearly unhappy with what Yassan said.

“We don’t really have another choice though, it’s either that or die by bandits, not to mention we have a duty to our charges to see them delivered safely…” Yassan pointed out, though a little nervously since he wasn’t used to being in charge.

“But still, that doesn’t mean-” the ranger was going to argue this, but was stopped by Yassan.

“I will take full responsibility, and accept any punishments that may come with sharing this knowledge with outsiders.” He said. “Please, I just want all of us to survive this…”

The ranger looked like she still wanted to say something, but was stopped by her friend, so remained quiet. In the end, she gave her silent agreement, though she was clearly unhappy with it.

After that, Yassan turned to the others and began to explain what a ranger's recluse was. “A ranger's recluse is a special place used by rangers that we use when we want to stay for long periods of time in a forest. It is not in any map you will find, and filled with resources and lodgings, enough for a dozen people. It’s hidden under a special spell that makes it practically invisible unless you know what you're looking for and have the proper key. That is where we will head next.”

“Does this place have a pulse signaler that we can use to contact the fort?” Kella asked.

Yassan shook his head. “Sorry, but no. But I promise you it will be safe, and we can plan our actions from there on what to do.”

After a while, and some talking, the group decided that this would probably be their best bet of survival. So they followed Yassan to a few hours further from the direction of the fort, using a few special trails to hide their movement, Gwen even going so far as to chant a few spells to make them harder to notice, and ended up at what could only be described as a tree fort of sorts.

They didn’t even realize it was there until Yassan pulled some sort of pendant out that had the rangers guild insignia on it, which glowed, lifting a magical barrier of sorts that revealed the place to everyone. Once inside the barrier reappeared, meaning they were protected from anyone trying to follow them.

Later that night after settling in, Luna got a message from Van. She was so relieved, even if she technically knew he was okay thanks to the connection they shared. It was still good to hear his voice and know for a fact that he was doing okay. After speaking for a while, they ended their conversation, and she shared what she learned with everyone else. Though not with Yassan and the other rangers, even if she felt a little bad for not telling him that his sister was doing fine and was okay.

Which really seemed to be on his mind. The best she could do was tell him that she had full trust that Yesi was alive and no doubt was protecting her husband right now. Such a small act of kindness deeply touched Yassan, and he thanked her for it.

After that, they made their plans and tried to figure out a way to the fort safely, hoping that everything would work out tomorrow…

--- current day - bandit base ---

“So you're telling me… you let them get away?” the boss of the bandits asked, looking greatly displeased… “you… not only attacked a caravan protected by the rangers guild… but you let them get away… and lost several of our sisters…” her eyes grew incensed. “Do you have any idea what you have done…?” her tone getting darker and filled with malice.

The bandit leader looked nervously at the imposing woman in front of her. She wasn’t like the others in the bandit camp, she actually looked like she had fought battles and split skulls. A tall woman with shocking red and black hair and compact muscles, the way she stood was like a panther or tiger, ready to strike at a moment's notice despite looking completely relaxed…

“Weren’t like that boss, really. Things just went out of expectations from the get-go. They put out a bigger fight than expected, and the goblins literally sacrificed themselves to make sure they could escape!” the bandit said fearfully.

The bandit boss rolled her eyes. “Oh, is that all? A bunch of goblins sacrificing themselves? Oh, how silly of me, of course, a bunch of goblins would stop over two dozen shriekers and twenty well-trained bandits. Makes perfect sense to me!” now giving an even harder glare.

The bandit leader seemed to shrink. “It wasn’t just that!” she quickly tried to explain. “There was something else! Umm…” she tried to think of something when an idea popped into her head. “There… were these six girls! Right? And they all looked the same! And they also all sacrificed themselves, but then when we killed them, their bodies kinda burst into blue flames and they disappeared! That was weird, right?”

The boss quirked a brow. “Sure, that is weird, still doesn't’ explain why I shouldn't’ punish you for your failure… or for starting a fight with the DAMN RANGERS GUILD!” now looking like she had a few ideas in mind on how to relieve this migraine she suddenly had. The boss had seen a lot of weird bullshit over her lifetime, she wasn’t fazed by fucking sextuplets, even if their bodies poofed into smoke.

The bandit leader paled when thankfully she was saved by another bandit rushing over.

“Boss! Boss! We got a special message! from… you know who…” the bandit said, shouting at first, then becoming deathly quite near the end as she handed over a letter.

The bandit boss sighed and took the envelope, wondering where she went wrong in hiring such incompetents… opening it up she read the contents, her eyes slowly filling with interest as she continued to read, then widened, then she gave a thoughtful expression.

The bandit leader watched all this with great curiosity, wondering what in the world was in the letter to get so many expressions out of her boss…

Finally, the boss returned her attention to her lead subordinate. “This… caravan you attack… it wouldn’t have to happen that a woman with white hair was with the group? And a young male with black hair?”

“Uhh…” the bandit leader had to think of that, it wasn’t like white and black hair was uncommon in Alcray after all.

“The male with blue eyes and the female with pink, the male looking rapeable as fuck, and the female with very large breasts on her petite body? Maybe a house insignia or two with the house of Vran on one of the carriages?” the boss added.

The bandit leader's eyes widened and she began to nod vigorously.

The boss smiled. “And these two only escaped right? You didn’t accidentally… kill them… right?”

The bandit leader shook her head so hard it looked like it was going to fall off.

“Good… good… it seems you might still get out of your punishment just yet…” she then leaned in closely. “Capture those two alive… and I will see to it you will live in the laps of luxury for the rest of your life…” her eyes then narrowed. “Fail me… and you can forget about living entirely… Do I make myself clear?”

The bandit leader nodded even harder in fear.

“Good… now… Go!”

The bandit leader immediately began to run around shouting out commands, making sure the whole base was riled up and awake.

The boss watched this approvingly, and turned to her lodgings, setting up her own plans in motion in case things go south. She drafted a few messages of her own and had them sent off. After that, she waited, excited for what might happen next.

“Oh, I do hope they put up a good fight… I haven’t been in a good scuffle in a long time…” she then went back to read a little bit more of the letter. “Van huh? I wonder what he would be like in bed?”

She then began to laugh. “Yes… I think there is going to be a big battle ahead… Why not after all? If things go well, I may never need to work again! And I can leave that bitch for good as well! All I have to do is this one thing… and I’ll be free… hehe… haha…” The cabin was then filled with her dark chucklings.

“I better get myself ready…”