Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or its characters; John Flanagan does. I only own the plot of this fan fiction and the OCs in it.

Prologue

Tensions between the Rangers of Araluen and the Assassins of Genovesia have always run high. But then they reached a breaking point. The Rangers invaded Genovesia and killed off the assassins living there. However, their plan did not go as perfectly as planned, and a group of around fifteen of the assassins for hire escaped the slaughter in their home town, and fled into the wild forests of Celtica (A/N: I know that Celtica doesn't have huge forests in the books, but for my purposes, it will).

It was in the depths of one of these wild, untamed forests, that the refugees started building a base, one that would shelter them from the cold weather of the fast-approaching winter months. This initial base, mainly made out of lumber from the surrounding forest, served its purpose well during the cold months of winter. But, when the snow began to melt off the ground, and life slowly seeped back into the forest again, the ex-Genovesans' rage at the Ranger Corps returned. The spiteful group vowed to have revenge on the Rangers of Araluen for what they had done to their fellow city-men. To achieve their planned revenge, they agreed to build a mighty fortress in the place of their previous winter shelter to serve as their headquarters. However, the former assassins could not complete this task on their own, and required slaves to help with the construction of the fortress.

So, in the following months, people from the villages surrounding the forest disappeared from their homes in the dead of night, never to be heard of again. These people were then smuggled to the Genovesans' lair near the centre of the forbidding forest, to act as slaves for their purposes. In this manner, the Genovesan assassins acquired a large group of slaves to carry out all of their labour-heavy tasks included in the ambitious construction of this mighty fortress.

And so, slowly but surely, the once small lumber structure used as a base during their first winter, grew exponentially, until, after many seasons of hard labour by the over worked slaves, it was finished. The formidable fortress now stood looming in the shadows of the untamed forest surrounding it, like a snake lurking in the depths of a hole. It had been build from black stone, mined near the outskirts of the forest, and so had contracted a foreboding air around it, that pleased the Genovesans' tastes. They were happy with how their fortress had turned out, and so they then turned their sights on increasing their forces. The slaves wouldn't be any use in helping them have their revenge on the Rangers of Araluen. No, they needed people who shared their hatred for the Corps. They needed people who would gladly pick up weapons and fight with them to have their revenge. And most of all, they needed strong allies who knew the arts of fighting, tracking, and sneaking around.

The Genovesans sent out scouts to recruit these types of people from all over the country side. So, in the following months, criminals, thieves, and other outcasts flocked to the heart of the wild forest to join in the Genovesans' cause.

Some of their recruits were young; with a few of them being only children. One of these was an orphan girl of around five years old named Keira. She had been found in the forest and had been taken in by the Genovesans. Over the years, Keira was trained with the rest of the recruits in the skills of unseen movement, sword fighting, dagger throwing, and knowledge of poisons.

The Genovesans bided their time over these years when all the recruits were being trained. But after ten years of simmering anger and hatred for the Rangers, they finally decided to make their move. They vowed to destroy the Ranger Corps slowly and surely, leaving nothing behind.

Sorry this prologue is a little short. It is only meant to be a back story for the rest of my story.

Anyways, this fanfiction is going to center around my OC, Keira (pronounced KEE-ruh), but don't worry, the Rangers and some of John Flanagan's other characters will also be playing main roles.

Also, don't expect updates too often since I'm pretty busy with school and sports. You won't have to wait too long for my next chapter, though, since I'm already half done it. :)

Please leave a review telling me what you thought.