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Daxia
with the mage and his skanky wall in the glade

As the demon began melting, its lifeforce oozing out along the ground and rising nearly to the tops of her leather boots, Daxia caught the movement of the mage from the corner of her eye. Turning to parry an attack, she saw instead the rising wall... and the horror of it.

These men... THIS MAGE... was the kind of evil and chaos her Sisters faced at the end of the First Age, and again at the end of the Second Age. In no more than a heartbeat, her features changed from shock to steely determination and she began slicing away at the wall with her sword. Her goal was to reach the mage and eliminate him... and if she could put a fullhand of a fullhand or more of those silently screaming heads out of their apparent misery in the process, so much the better.

[Ooc: if you read two posts back, you sort of skipped over Stormrunner's first action: unseat the rider bearing down on Mikal. The one after Madrid was next, depending on success. When SR got flung in the broad patch, Celi began moving that way. So does that impact her positioning and time on scene?]

Dean

Dean spurs his horse forward, his sword unsheathed. There is no time to think, to consider the situation which brought the strange trio to disturb his lunch. He knows only that he must react to the plea for help. Not being one to revel in unneeded shedding of blood, he attempts to knock the man off his horse, using the broadside of his sword.

The Heartwood
Midday on the Brementown Road
Hasday, The Twelth Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Kadri, Dean and Longtooth

The quarry turned her horse into a slow curve, heading back to the Forest of Roth. It was a gentle arch, not sharp enough to allow the Easterner to simply cut her off.

"Help!"

Kadri's - the girl upon the black horse - call did garner a hero, a valiant rescuer, a knight in ... well they were all out of Knights, so hopefully a Squire would do.

To answer that call Dean spurred his own mount forward; it was sure and fast and did not seem at all perturbed to be sent in chase of another; it also ignored the rather large critter gaining on all of them. The brigand definitely didn't expect the interference in his chase, his attempt to parry the flat of the Squire's sword not arriving in time. Indeed, all it did was place his arm before the punishing strike, sending a shudder of hard pain through him. His grip was broken, his deadly blade spinning off to the side of the trail.

Dean now definitely had his attention.

The white horse reared, sudden, with nostril's flared and ears folded back. This heralded the arrival of the tawny snarkhound. The ruff worried the horse, barking, biting, nipping at the horse's hocks and upper legs. For a moment, just a moment, the rider seemed about to fall. But then, in the saddle he turned, turned with a madness in his eyes,as if even if he did die it would be to celebrate his liege's dark tastes. He launched himself at Dean, jumping from one horse to the other, ending in locked in a deadly grapple, rendering the Squire's long blade useless while he drew his own dagger.

The Heartwood
Midday on the Brementown Road
Hasday, The Twelth Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Daxia, Mikal, Darian, Cesare, Bekkah, Celi and the Girl.

Bekkah watched as the fel wall went up, as the demon cascaded down in a sudden splash of gore and ichor. Her protector abandoned her, Celi sprinting from their side of the woods towards the embattled Mikal. Her companion is no longer seen, the magics sent at the feline as strong as the ones they were drawing upon.

Darian was also on the move, at least one might be hoping as much the hunter was also nowhere to be seen. Cesare was no longer in danger; while it took all his strength to draw his dagger back the crazed look in his opponent's stunned eyes set his fate. The Rhoni's blade slashed, it cut, right above the man's blood soaked scarf and opened his throat.

With an odd smile he simply fell forward, into the brambles, face down and still.

For Mikal, his dance was coming to an end. His whisper drew forth his own Lord's strength, a black and red shimmer jumping and twisting from wound to blade. Daring, dangerous was his tactic, for to close meant opening himself up to an attack by the longer sword. Which did arrive, skilled and practiced; sure enough to evade the Jvrillian's parry. Breath and strength, however, were not behind the attack, the dark metal barely penetrating armor. Its bite was still cold but not enough to halt Mikal's response. The brigand was good, bringing his blade back to parry Mikal's blow. But so close, so hard, the strength of the Jvrillian's blade still pressed him back, arm twisting wrongly from blow, in a way no arm is ever supposed to, accompanied by a dull snap.

Now it was his turn to lose a weapon, but unlike Mikal he had only one.

He reached for his dagger.

Celi finally arrived, Mikal now having at least one more person at his side.

Faced by the horrid wall, Daxia struck at it, as if to try and shatter the deranged cobble blocks by the sheer force of her bow. She almost spun herself silly, for her blade cut through it as if it was not there. She tried again, watching her white sword slice into the barrier and then come right back out.

She stood, still, for a moment. Her expression was a tangled deadly mixture. Frustration, hate, anger, enragement ... before she threw herself over the insubstantial line.

On the other side her opponent had already made the tree line. He was running as fast as he can.

Away.

being on the other side of the wall, however, blocked her from seeing the black haired girl pop up, straight arming herself halfway up from her hole.

She turned, looking to the north, to the south, sharp blue eyes catching the slow disintegration of her pursuers. She then blinked. Once, twice and glanced upwards. Her eyes went wide, her lips silently breathed two short syllables. And then she was a sudden mad scramble, as if she needed to be somewhere else.

Actually ...

... as if she needed to be anywhere else!

Kadri again turns, moving to try to come alongside the Squire's horse - pull a dagger - and start clubbing his assailant from behind. After all.

If he disengaged enough to attack her, he would indeed be in trouble.

"Run away," Celi hissed, whirling her kukri deftly, "and live. Leave my friend, and I give you leave. "

Her mind reached out for Stormrunner, aching in his absence. She felt hollow. If the easterner tried to fight, she would have to do her best to kill him.

Daxia

Nostrils flaring, lips curling and eyes blazing with anger, Daxia watched the mage flee. There was no way to catch him; not while she was on foot, not while she was wearing armor. She yelled after him, at the top of her lungs.

"COWARD!!!"

Then she spun on her heel and retreated back to the other side of the mage's illusionary wall, to see the girl scrambling off.

"And just where do you think you're going, Girl?" Her voice was icy calm now, and her tone carried with it a suggestion that answering the Dayalan's question would be in the girl's best interest.

Bekkah

She felt herself relaxing as Dazi's foe ran away and the others nearby seemed to be taken care of. She got to her feet, no longer feeling the need to be hidden. Now was the time to aid. She hiked her skirts and ran towards Cesare and Mikal who had obviously been seriously hurt.

[ooc: Let me know who is closest. If they're still playing with the enemy, she'll go to whichever one is free.]

Darian

From somewhere near Mikal, the Hunter's voice rang out, "Dazi! Run!"

Then closer to the redhead, Darian's words came again, "We must go from this place!"

Cesare

He knows the man is dead. He feel no triumph - nor any regret - just relief that he is the one still standing. He grimaces, well just about standing. And he knows he could have maybe avoided getting hurt but he had needed to keep attention on himself rather than on Darian. Now he needs to be better prepared, especially as he is hurt.

And from the sounds around him there may still be others in trouble. He has no idea where Darain is but he hears her voice ring out and knows that she is around.

He heads further in towards the glade, his eyes looking for where the greatest threat may be and where he might help. As he moves in, he mutters to himself, adding armour protection and focusing on the stomach gash to stop the bleeding.

[OOC Likely that Bekkah will find him first so providing that opportunity before rushing in]

Mikal

He is completely focused on the opponent in front of him, so the actions of Daxia, Bekkah, and others are distant echoes to him. He does see Celi appear nearby and he shakes his head at her, warning her to stay back. He isn't averse to help, but this man is armoured beyond the point Celi can hurt him. As a distraction, though, maybe it can be useful.

And finally, after starting at a large disadvantage, he has an edge on his opponent. He uses any distraction Celi's appearance causes the man to his advantage, but he steps back slightly, now using the longer reach of his own weapon to his advantage. He blocks the mans dagger out wide and stabs at his chest with his sword. He wants to finish this quickly as in the back of his mind he thinks he heard someone saying something about leaving.

Daxia
with the girl and the invisible Darian in the glade

When she heard Darian's voice, Daxia moved with all possible haste... towards the girl. Gripping her upper arm, the Dayalan force-marched the girl along with her. When Darian spoke again, closer this time, Daxia nodded. "Yah, Dazi move quick-quick." However, once she and the girl crossed the treeline, Daxia released the girl. She stood for a few heartbeats just looking at the her, star-sparkled sword still held in one hand.

"Ok, Strawberry Girl... what's going on here?"

Dean

Shock crosses Dean's face as he realizes what his opponent has done. He is appalled at the speed in which the man moves. The hours of training he has recently completed don't allow him to pause as the dagger he draws flashes out at the man. Only at that moment does his face register the fact that the woman whom he was...er...rescuing is now attacking his attacker. Who is this woman?

The Heartwood
Midday on the Brementown Road
Hasday, The Twelfth Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Kadri, Dean and Longtooth

Even this close, even this tumbled, this tangled there are some simple truths.

A dagger has a longer reach than a fist.

Especially when one's other arm is trying to drag a Squire off his horse.

Dean's blade struck ... about the only place it could. Right there, driving upwards, into the brigand's gut. It took all his strength for the Squire to press past the armor, to bite into unhuman flesh. He could not see, but he could feel, the sudden flow af dampness, seeping all over his hand.

To add insult to injury, the Girl was back, and the girls of the wilderness, they must be very different breed from the shy farmer's daughters or dour fisher child from his home. She had brought her horse back around, very tight, very fast, and it is when her dagger found his kidney that the brigand shuddered, he convulsed once, clawing as he could no longer hold on, his eyes fading as he fell into the tall brown grass.

His white horse bolted away, in a dead run out into the wilderness.

The tawny ruff, the snarkhound, having driven the horse away had already turned around, running back towards the dark Forest of Roth.

The Heartwood
Midday on the Brementown Road
Hasday, The Twelfth Day of the Month of Crown of Ice, 2623

Daxia, Mikal, Darian, Cesare, Bekkah, Celi and the Girl.

" ... kkkhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ... "

There was no answer to Celi's call, at least none that can be seen, none that can be heard. For Bekkah, Cesare was the closest; and while hurt he would most certainly live, and between her and his magics there would be no scar. The worst had been taken care of, power had already been spent, so no new magics would help; at least not for a while. However, this is what bandages were for, the old pragmatic remedies, to make sure his hurts would not get worse and that when they did heal, it would be clean and proper. Bekkah was un-wounded, not bearing the weight of armor and pushed forward by her calling. If the Rhoni did wish to enter the glade, he would have to do get past the Priestess of Attera first.

" ... hhhhyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ... "

Pain, hurt, each movement sent waves of torment through the Jvrillian. His opponent was unarmed, yet still he charged, as if his life meant nothing, as if the fight itself was the entire world. that if blood was spilled, it didn't matter it it was Mikal's or ... his. Here in such close quarters, Mikal's shortsword proved its worth. He struck first, a hard blow square in the chest, no slice, no stroke, but point first. Blood fountained out of the brigand's mouth as he was impaled; the sword driving into flesh and sinew, past bone, until the point tented the back of the Easterner's tunic.

He slowly fell to the ground, fallen in carnage, dead. Though he did cast one final frustration upon his opponent.

For the life of him, Mikal could not pull his sword loose from the body. It was stuck.

" ... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ..."

It was not the drop of the other shoe. For there were two, and they were not shoes at all.

Almost impossible to see, the writhing and flailing forms plummeted from the sky; one was man-sized, one was about four times the size of a very big man. When they hit the ground it was with a resounding crash, crashing into the underbrush, accompanied by the sharp crackle and snap of rotted wood splintering. The fel cry came to a complete and final stop when they hit the ground.

Her arm free, the black haired girl took one scared step away from Daxia.

However she did rise to tip toes, so she could peek into the depression that she had rapidly escaped, the scene of the meteoric plummeting.

To nicely answer Daxia's question.

Eyes wide, blinking with the shadow of her hood, she offered innocently,

"Watching tracker and horse fall from sky?"

Seven down, zero to go.

Kadri to the Squire:

(As nothing in the glade can be seen at all by her)

"This way! Easterners, Demons. My friends need help. . please?"

She motions the Squire and starts moving her horse that direction again.

Bekkah

She stopped in her run to help when the thing fell from the sky. She stifled a scream, covering her mouth, only relaxing when she was certain Dazi was still safe. Then she was focused again, moving to Cesare.

With Cesare's bleeding stopped, she looked up into his eyes to make sure he was going to be okay.

"Still need to clean and bandage. We not go anywhere until I finish." she told him in a not for debate tone. Then she was running over to Mikal.

"Mikal, let me see your arm." She commanded, not caring about his sword. She looked concerned. Without concern for the blood, she touched the wound. "Lady Attera, guide my hands to heal this valiant man."

[ooc: So just to understand, did she cast anything for Cesare? Let me know how much she has left after these two. I assume she didn't use any of the divine spells.]

Daxia
with the Gang less Kadri and Longtooth plus Girl in the glade

She gave the girl a cold look before looking around... dead Easterners, something very large that had fallen from the sky, most of her people... Bekkah already taking care of Cesare and Mikal.

"Darian? You come back now, ok?"

Then her gaze turned once again upon the girl. "That did not answer my question. So I will ask more plainly. Who are you? Why were these men pursuing you?" She took another short glace across the glade. "Tracker? Looking for you, I suppose?"

Darian

"Darian be here, Dazi," Darian's voice said from very close by. "You see again soon. No more to Hunt."

There was a long pause.

"Why white hair man and white horse fall from sky?"

Daxia
with the Gang less Kadri and Longtooth plus Girl in the glade

Daxia shrugged, her focus never leaving the girl. "Dazi not know. Maybe girl tell that, too, yah?"

Celi with Cesare, Mikal, Stormrunner and Bekkah

Celi applied her healing arts to Cesare and Mikal, naming sure they were stable and on good hands with Bekkah. At any other time. She would have fussed endlessly, soothing his brow, perfecting the wound repair, removing any hint of residual pain.

But Stormrunner was hurt, unable to speak to her, suffering somehow...

She had to find him, heal him... she headed for the brambles, prepared to wade in to be at his side.

[OOC: Um. Bekkah has already done the healing thing for the guys.]