The Forest of Hooves and Teeth

      "Hey 'Lia, how've you and the rangers been doing?" my father asked as he set dinner, namely eggs and fresh milk, on the simple wooden table, which I promptly dug into with gusto. After hogging down a set of eggs and one tin of milk, I wiped my mouth and answered him.

      "Good, why? Got another dispatch for me and the girls?" He smiled and I swear that I saw the gears in his head do a couple loops.

      "Yup, how did you guess?" he answered/asked. I sighed and rolled my eyes at him. "Because, dad, every time we have this talk I have a dispatch or I forgot to take the laundry off the clothesline, and I really do prefer the former to the latter."

      He gave me an innocent smile. Then he changed it to a confident grin and leaned across the table towards me. "We've located some of the Kicker Clan holed up in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony sisters, under attack from a fair amount of the undead. We were able to get some pegasi in to negotiate with them, and they said they'd be willing to think about joining us if we could stop their little siege problem."

     "I'm on it." I replied quickly. Such a mission wasn't really that out of sorts for me. In fact, me and the girls have been slowly chipping away at a horde headed for Dark City. With Surprise's bombs, we were able to take them down to a respectable size, but not too much for the Dark City militia, the Recruiters.

     I pulled a wooden hunting horn from its permanent place on my leather belt and ran my fingertips over the varnish and the darker brown carvings, depicting a scene of a peaceful forest. Then I took a deep breath and blew it. The long, clear not floated its way through the whole camp. In minutes I had all eighty hunters, not including myself, regardless of rank in front of me.

    Right now it was a good thing that I had wings. I flared them and pointed to one, saying "If you have these, line up over there." I hitched a thumb towards the spot, and they moved into position as I'd ordered.

     I pointed at Candy. "Candy. Take your best ten girls and follow me." I paused, turning to the group of pegasi. There were about twenty. "On second thought, take your best twenty girls." I amended, putting emphasis on the word twenty. Candy quickly gathered her group, while Sky and her brethren stood and waited for orders.

    "Sky." she snapped to attention as I said her name. "Take your pegasi and get in there to help the family from the inside." She looked at me quizzically. "What family?"

   "You've heard of the pegasus warrior clans, right?" I received several nods. "Well, we're going to be helping a portion of the Kicker clan escape from that ruin. Now let's move!"

    So with quivers clanking, we headed towards the town gates. The pair of Nightblades on duty gave me a nod, and their Ranger compatriots bowed, then they opened the gate together. The gates opened, creaking as their heavy wooden doors were opened. The final touch was when the iron lattice gate rose.

     Before we continue, let me explain to you what the average Ranger's armor looked like. The average Ranger has black cloth pants with or without optional black metal plates added on the legs for extra protection against bites, and thick gloves, again, optional metal could be added, to protect our hands and help pull back our bowstrings. Our tops varied. Some girls, like me, wore metal tops that covered them and left our stomach and neck open. Those girls were higher ups, and had more skill so they were safe even with that measly covering. Our boots were metal plated no matter what, and were padded on the inside. Some girls wore metal sleeves that covered the top of their arms, some had thin bands on their arms, and some just had bare arms.

    Back to the rescue mission.

   Then we were on the path proper. "Keep yours senses focused on the task. It'll be easier to get them before they get us that way," I heard one of the older members, Windy Daze, whisper to Shadow Chaser, one of the newer recruits. If we got into any fights, I'd have to keep an eye on her. It'd be her first melee fight.

   We were able to get to the end of the fenced-in area when the moans started and they started shambling towards the fence. I heard quivers clanking as arrows were pulled out and bowstrings singing as they were pulled taut, hearing my own and many more. We took careful aim, then let go. A few arrows missed their mark, but most were spot-on.

    Spoiled and blackened blood poured out of the wounds inflicted by our arrows, staining the ground and their cold, dead skin dark red. Some arrows dislocated gobs of flesh, leaving even more blood, some grey brain matter, and flesh chunks everywhere.

     It was over rather quickly, all factors considered. Ditzy and Dinky Doo, sub-lieutenants under Sky and Candy respectively, had the sharpest eyes in the group, so Ditzy and Sky held the back while Candy and Dinky flanked me in the front.

    We kept trudging through the dark forest, until we came to a last bit of heavy underbrush concealing our presence. I heard the moans and the sounds of a fight. Dropping my bow and unbuckling my quiver, I drew my hunting knives, each as long as my arm.

    I ordered my girls into position. Then we attacked. I exploded out of the bushes, the ensuing noises and flash of color marking my arrival drawing undead attention. The first three I dodged and sliced at, not really concerned about the obstacles. I was heading towards the castle, towards the hidden Kickers.

   I saw some of the undead attacking some Kicker warriors, while some other were pounding on the door. I saw on one side of the clearing a dead Kicker warrior, stripped to the bones with the red suit in tatters and the blades that most Kickers used on the ground next to the corpse.

    I darted towards the castle, slicing the undead to ribbons on the way. But even as my stomach flipped and I took to the air, I could hear the scream as an injured Kicker turned, completing the dying and coming back as the scream tapered off into a low, guttural moan as the vocal chords collapsed.

    And I knew as I flew over the wall and dove knives first at the undead Kicker, that we'd been too late.