Chapter 2

As Rayne slowly rode past the testing grounds she saw Anne-Marie as she headed back inside the guild hall on the other side of the ring from where she was. She was now the new guild master, and was watching over the training of the younger guild members.

She remembered the first time she was on a battlefield under her command.

"What? They only sent twenty of you? And half of them are young girls? Are you kidding me? What kind of fool do you take us for?" asked the Commanding officer.

Rayne and her squad were there, with First Blade Anne-Marie, and they were to add their support to the army already on the battlefield.

The kingdom of Tarifeld contracted them to help defend them from a larger force that was trying to invade them and annex their kingdom as part of the Kesherr kingdom.

The main Tarifeld army wasn't doing well, and if they didn't get re-enforcements soon, they would soon be pushed back to the capital. And if that happened they would be lost.

They found that they could just afford the Sisters of the Sacred Blade. They weren't the most expensive, but they were the best for the money they could afford to spend.

"I was told you were sending the best you had. I was told by the King that your guild was very reputable and that you would send enough forces to help us push them back. Yet all I see are a woman and young girls, children really, who are waiting to die!" said the Commander.

He was convinced that this was the last stand for his troops.

"What is the situation Commander?" asked Anne-Marie matter of fact.

"Not that it matters anymore to the battle, but they have about 4,000 or 5,000 troops on the field at last estimate. They are pushing back our forces. Our mages can't even get a cast off, because they cancel our spells midfield. They are preventing us from reaching their forces with either men or spells. And they have enough mages to send volley after volley our way as they stall us," said the Commander wearily as he sank in his chair.

"Psst ... is that all? Well we can have this ended quickly for you. And we only need one child as you called her to turn this around for you" said Anne-Marie with a rueful smile.

"WHAT! Are you making fun of us? Don't you understand the situation?" roared the Commander.

"No, I'm not making fun of you, and I fully understand what is going on. Just give the order to pull your men back and watch with me from the hill. We don't want anyone caught in the crossfire," said Anne-Marie smiling sweetly.

As the Commander looked at Anne-Marie in shock as if she was crazy, she kept smiled and turned to the group.

"Rayne, front and center!" Anne-Marie barked.

"Yes Ma'am!" said fifteen season old Rayne as she stepped forward.

The Commander couldn't fail to notice the unbelievable attractive young beauty as she was dressed in the guild's styled leather vest and pants, and had a red sash around her waist, and twin swords were visible on her side. Her long red hair was in a single braid running down her back. He felt a stirring deep in his loins just by looking in her green eyes.

"You're kidding me. She will be raped and taken as spoils the moment she steps out there. She is way too pretty to be out here as a soldier. What is she going to do? Sleep her way through the army, and when they are exhausted, then we kill them?" asked the Commander suddenly with a sneer.

Anne-Marie turned and gave the Commander an extremely cold stare.

The Commander felt himself wilting.

"Fine it's your girl's funeral. At least while they are taking their pleasure with her we can regroup," said the Commander snidely as he turned to give the order for them to withdraw.

"Rayne this is for the guild. I don't want you to hold anything back. Go out there and show them what the sisters are capable of, ok?" said Anne-Marie seriously.

"YES MA'AM!" said Rayne and turned and headed for the battlefield.

"I hate to see such a pretty young thing die. Why are you forcing me to watch this? I don't believe I can watch her death or her rape," said the Commander shaking his head.

"She won't die and she won't be raped. Just watch," said Anne-Marie.

As everyone from the kingdom of Tarifeld looked on, they saw the smaller image of a lone figure that was now standing at midfield.

Suddenly a lone lighting spell flew from the ranks of the enemy army, but was cancelled halfway almost as fast as it flew at Rayne. Then another bolt, then another, and soon it looked like the Sun was on the ground as fast as the bolts flew and gathered around her.

But Rayne was canceling them all as fast as she could. Not one hit her.

"Wow, that's quite the young mage you have there. I wasn't aware the sisters had anyone that powerful," said the Commander impressed.

"Just watch, the best is yet to come," said Anne-Marie smiling.

All of a sudden Rayne raised one of her hands and said something during all the spells being fired at her, as she continued to cancel out the lighting spells with the other hand.

Suddenly a Sky Fire spell started raining fire over the enemy troops, but as soon as it started, it was cancelled out. But then another spell and then yet another went off.

Suddenly there were too many Sky Fire spells in the air to be cancelled out by the enemy mages.

While the Sky Fire spells were still raining down, several extremely large Fiery Meteor spells suddenly started going off above the enemy army simultaneously, then Sky Strikes were added, and then tornadoes and lighting spells were added to the chaos.

Suddenly there was pandemonium everywhere in the enemy camp. They couldn't keep up with all the different spells coming from the lone caster at the same time.

The Tarifeld Commander was standing speechless, with his mouth open and eyes staring in shock, as he looked on at all the destruction being caused by Rayne alone on the battlefield with-in the enemy camp.

Men were dying and screaming in leaps and bounds.

Everyone from both armies could not believe that one lone mage could cast spells that fast. She should be taking longer to cast between the larger spells. The casting time appeared to be short.

Way, way too short.

And it was causing problems because the other army's mages either couldn't get enough time to say counter spells to cancel them all fast enough, or they were too powerful to be cancelled by lower level mages.

The enemy was unable to stop all the death from raining down around them throughout the camp.

About thirty to thirty five men suddenly broke free from the savage destruction and started for Rayne's position. They probably had the intention of killing the mage causing all the death.

"OH MY GOD! She dead! She's too far out for anyone to help or save her! Where's her support? She's a mage and even you should know that she doesn't really have the skills to fight against melee fighters. Don't you care that she's about to be killed!" shouted the Commander as he asked turning to Anne-Marie.

"Get a hold of yourself man! She's not going to be killed! Just watch, I think those soldiers may want to rethink their attack," said Anne-Marie with a grim smile.

As the first soldiers ran up to Rayne, she didn't even break her attack or lose her concentration on raining down death. She started fighting using just one of her dual blades and kicks. And shortly about twenty of the men were either dead or disabled, and the others started trying to find somewhere else to be.

They couldn't run past Rayne into the opposing army. They couldn't kill Rayne to stop the attack on their army, and they couldn't go back to their side as Rayne was busy killing off their fellow troops.

A couple had tried crossbow bolts, but they were completely frozen head down in ice blocks. Rayne never gave them a chance to fire.

Suddenly the commander noticed a white flag being waved frantically. He pointed it out to Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie called Belinda to her side.

"Send up a flare to tell Rayne to stop," she said

Rayne saw the flare and she canceled her spells and backs off from her attack. Rayne then headed back up the hill to where the rest of the Sisters are waiting.

As the Tarifeld Commander stareed out over the battlefield from the hill he said "My god, nothing short of a Dragon landing here could have done that much damage so quickly. There are flaming craters in the ground! I don't believe I can see more than a couple hundred at best of their troops still alive. Just who are you people? Who was that girl?"

"Hmm, Dragon. And with her hair, and fire magic, we should go with "Red Dragon". I like that. That will be Rayne's new nickname," thought Anne-Marie as he asked his questions.

Rayne had just earned her new guild nickname but didn't know it yet.

Anne-Marie smiled savagely at him with a toothy smile.

"We are the Sisterhood of the Scared Blade, and you just witnessed only one of our guild members, The Red Dragon's attack. And as you can see we aren't a guild for anyone to trifle with. Just think what would have happened if we had fielded all of our troops? Do you still think we are a guild of powerless women and little girls?" she asked smiling.

The commander stared at Anne-Marie in shock and quickly shook his head no.

"What have we gotten ourselves into," he wondered to himself

"I wonder why Anne-Marie had you fight by yourself today?" asked a sullen Cassie later in the Sisters camp. "I'm supposed to be your squad mate. And the four of us are supposed to be a team that covers everyone back."

She was in a bad mood and frustrated.

It wasn't that she was jealous of Rayne's skill, but that Rayne had earned her a nickname today and Cassie was desperate to prove herself as worthy of one too.

"Cass she was only trying to show off to a client who only knew us by our reputation. I know that in the next fight it will be just the four of us. You know that no one can beat our team work," smiled Rayne as she put her arm around Cassie's shoulder.

"I know Ray, I know, but the Red Dragon? All the cool names will be taken by the time I get a turn," smiled back Cassie slowly.

"Don't worry we'll make sure to reserve you a good one," said Rayne smiling.

"Rayne, how are you able to cast so fast? Do you think you can show Tina and I how you did that?" asked Belinda.

"I'm not supposed to. It's a family secret that my Dad created, and I don't think he would like me letting it out," said Rayne slowly.

"Rayne we live and die for each other every day, we all have your back and keep your secrets. It's not like we will run out and tell anyone else," said Tina solemnly.

"Yea you're right. Ok, but here's the deal. Long as you only keep it in our squad and swear to never share the secret for the rest of our lives, I think with enough practice you can almost do what I do," said Rayne as she smiled at the two girls.

They both smiled back at her and swore.

"Your majesty may I introduce the Sisters of the Sacred Blade," said the armies Commander.

Only Anne-Marie, Rayne, Cassie, Tina, and Belinda were there.

Rayne said she didn't feel right without her squad being there as well with her when the Commander said that the King only requested her presence.

"We have always heard of the Sisters, but now we hear that this young lady single handedly defeated the troops there? Impressive," said the King. "Is that true young maiden?"

But before Anne-Marie could speak or stop her, Rayne spoke up.

"No your Majesty that is not entirely correct. My Commander Anne-Marie came up with a strategy, and my squad mates, Cassandra, Christina, Belinda and I practiced until I got it right. We all played a role in the battle. Though any one of us could have done what I did, I just was the one that was picked that day," said Rayne solemnly.