Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[-Cynthia-]

"I probably could fly above the city and see what was going on- but that would probably attract a lot of attention which is exactly what we're trying to avoid right now. We must have faith that they can handle the situation themselves," Liam stated.

[Mercakete]

Norbert nodded at Shadrak's summary and gave a casual shrug. "It sounds good to me. But we should also intercept any fliers they send up that we can on the way, I think. Once we get as many of them out of there or into the fight as we can, I think those of us with wings should focus more completely on making sure flying bandits don't get away. Shadrak, do you think that Eva and I should head over and pick you and Angelica up for airspace control once the captives are out of trouble? I liked your idea earlier, and we can probably send someone else to block the hole you make in the wall if we have to start blasting down bandits."

[Toogee]

Jam gave a thumbs up to confirm her understanding of the plan. From the sounds of it, she was assigned a different task than Eva or Angelica. The dancer wondered who else she could team up with. But first, they had to get there.

"So, when do we set up? Surely this dragon can't be that far away, right?"

[Phoenix]

Options

"Maybe I should try again," Joanna mused aloud. It would be easier to have faith in Greta if the woman was feeling a little more confident, herself. Right now, though, she was struggling with what few options she had, and was in too confined an area to get a real view of the city. "If I can just get her to hear my voice ... then maybe I can lead her out of there without being seen."

"How are you going to lead her out?" Glen cocked an eyebrow at her, "don't you see from her perspective?"

"Not just hers," Joanna quickly clarified.

"Wait, just like you were checking in on the others," Glen suddenly realized what she was getting at. "I guess if you can look through anyone's eyes, you could see the bigger picture and guide her out of there. I think you'll have to be pretty quick though if she's being chased. By the way, who's the boy with her? You said there was someone with her but she left by herself."

"I don't know but she's trying her best to keep him away from that person, too."

Glen was beginning to think that Greta might have brought this on herself, possibly helping a pickpocket to escape capture. Maybe she wanted to set him straight but the damage had already been done. And just maybe, the person chasing them thought Greta was the one that put the boy up to it in the first place. Yeah, that was probably it.

Getting Sorted

"Yeah," Shadrak nodded, "It's going to be pretty difficult to chasing down more than one or two fliers at our current strength, so some ranged spells should definitely help. It's also helpful against fliers in particular since pegasi handle magic hits a lot better than their riders will. If they did manage to retrain some of them, then we'll be a lot less likely to kill them than their riders. It would probably be just the opposite in a physical confrontation."

"We handle all the preparation now, but we don't move in until Sonya's here and we're sure they're focused on her and not us," Doran answered Jamilla. "Hopefully that breach is made before we start coming under fire."

"Anything else anyone's confused about?" the guard captain spoke up, addressing everyone present. "If not then we need to get ourselves sorted and move a little closer to the hideout. We'll lose too much time if we wait for Sonya here."

[-Cynthia-]

Liam raised an eyebrow. So the power of the emblem pieces is allowing Joanna to see from this far away- and it's not like a vision either? I've never heard of anything like this... "Just be careful Joanna," he cautioned.

[CobyTheGoober]

Rolo patiently waited for the woman to come up with something since he was out of ideas entirely. Rolo also didn't want to ask the woman on what she had planned, since she seemed to be in deep thought.

[Phoenix]

Tourists

Greta steered Luca left, and as they round the next corner, she saw several people ahead of them. The sight immediately put her on edge, but the people didn't even react to her, Rolo, or the horse they were both riding, at first. They clearly hadn't been expecting them. She sighed in relief after they passed each of them without incident. Suddenly she heard the voice again, a bit louder this time but no less difficult to understand. She shook her head a couple of times, trying to will away the distraction. "We'll head east for now until we're well away from the market. Then maybe we can find a clear path to the southern gate. From there ... I dunno. It's not exactly the brightest idea to go out into the plains where anyone could spot us clear as day, but there's no other way outta the city ..."

Line Is Busy

She'd failed again, and each attempt had been a little more exhausting than the last. "Maybe I'm doing something wrong," she mused aloud. With no formal training in how to use an emblem piece, she couldn't help but feel that her 'technique,' if it could be called that, was off, or that perhaps she was doing something far less efficiently than she could be.

[CobyTheGoober]

Rolo held tighter to his spot and replied with; "But maybe it will be a good thing to head out to the plains. B-because I didn't see any of those weird guys with any horses or anything, so even if they spot us, they might not be able to catch up to us."

[Phoenix]

Alleys

On any other day, Greta would have been on board with that suggestion, however, the wrathites were persistent. As long as they knew where they were going, they could find a way to head them off. It still wasn't entirely certain they were dealing with the wrathites, but she'd already erred mightily on the side of caution, so there was no going back, now.

"Maybe if we could get them all turned around," she said, beginning to consider the idea from another angle. Heading straight back to the others was probably a bad idea, but getting the wrathites to follow them until they found a good place to turn around and head east could work if they could disguise their movements. The biggest issue was whether they would actually find a place outside of the city that would suffice. They were close to the mountains, those were to the east, along with one of the main roads. The other road went southwest, toward the endless plains and Urden. She knew that if the wrathites cornered them out there, they would be even worse off than they were currently.

"Never mind. Not worth the risk in an area like this," she mumbled. "We ... we've just gotta find some place to lie low for now." She couldn't say the words with much conviction, but it was what she genuinely felt they had to do until a solution presented itself.

[CobyTheGoober]

"If we keep like this, we're not gonna get anywhere..." Rolo mumbled. As the horse kept moving Rolo checked around to see if any of the pursuers where to be seen.

"Hey Woman... if they do catch us, what do we do next?" Rolo didn't know what else to ask, but he felt like it was necessary.

[Phoenix]

Out In the Open

"It's Greta, not woman," Greta said, glaring back at Rolo for a second. As she did, the boy's question swirled around uselessly in her mind. There really were only two options if their pursuers actually managed to corner them, surrender or fight. "If they pin us down, we fight," she grimaced, glancing down at her pistol. The last thing she wanted to do today was shoot someone. Thinking back on her initial encounter with Rolo, she figured it was better these guys than him, but just the same, she didn't want it to come to actual violence.

Luca slowed to a stop as they neared the end of an alleyway that led south and back out into the light of day, as well as the streets of Ursaea. Their path was blocked off by one of the cloaked individuals. "Hold it right there," he yelled at them. He was too far away to reach them before she could get Luca running the other way, but at the same time, turning around would allow the other two pursuers time to finally catch up.

Acting on Instinct, Greta whipped out her pistol and aimed it squarely at the man in the cloak. It wasn't ready to fire, but his knee jerk reaction told Greta that he was too far away to notice that very important detail. "If ya don't move, you're gonna get trampled, and if ya try to stop us, I'll shoot," Greta warned, and then used her free hand to get Luca moving again. The horse quickly broke into a gallop, forcing the cloaked man to dive out of the way as they passed. Now that they were out in the open again, there wasn't much choice but to head for the southern gate.

"I don't like just runnin' back to the others when they might follow us, but we can't hide anywhere with Luca with us, so we'll head back as fast as we can," she explained bitterly. It was ironic in a sense, as Luca was both their greatest strength and weakness in this situation. They could run quite a ways riding him, and outpace their current pursuers, but they couldn't hide or even escape notice. She would have preferred to send Luca back to the others ahead of her as a way of letting them know she was in trouble. Then she and Rolo could lay low for a while. She couldn't count on the horse knowing to head back alone, though, and abandoning him was simply out of the question.

[CobyTheGoober]

Listening to Greta, he realized that he wouldn't be heading back home anytime soon.

Not in the mood to make conversation, he just looked around himself and continued to sit tightly on the horse.

[Phoenix]

Ride On

Greta and Rolo were fortunate enough to not encounter the cloaked figures again on their way to the southern gate. That definitely made things easier; if they had been running this far, the guards would have suspected them of some wrongdoing and likely would have helped their pursuers stop them. To sell the little deception, they had to slow down and pass through the gate normally. It was then that Greta finally noticed that one of the baskets was short a few apples. "Luca ..." she hissed as they passed through the checkpoint. "How does she deal with this horse?" she wondered.

"Oh well ... there's plenty left for the group, though I was hopin' to get more than just apples," she said, frowning as she looked back toward the southern gate. "It's not too far, now-" Greta gasped. There was a pegasus flying over the gate, and it had a rider. Normally she would be surprised for a different reason, like the extremely low number of pegasus riders left in the Ursaean garrison. What really alarmed her though was this pegasus rider's heading. They were coming straight for them. There was no way Luca could outpace a pegasus. That would be the case even if he weren't currently overburdened with two passengers and the haul of apples. Regardless, Greta got Luca galloping down the main road, again, and the pegasus rider picked up speed in response. "Come on, Luca, we've gotta keep goin'!" The words felt empty even to her. They wouldn't lose the flier like this, and they were out in the open, now. Darnit ... we're gonna have to turn and fight ...

[spoiler=OoC]

It's probably about time to reclass Greta into a ranger, all things considered.

... yeah let's do that.

Sniper

Raw Stats: HP: 6 STR: 3 MAG: 0 SKL: 11 SPD: 9 LCK: 5 DEF: 1 RES: 1

Simplified Stats: HP: 18 MT: 3 Hit: 13 Evade: 14 AS: 9 Defense: 1 Resistance: 1

Snipe

Ranger

Raw Stats: HP: 7 STR: 4 MAG: 0 SKL: 11 SPD: 10 LCK: 2 DEF: 1 RES: 1

Simplified Stats: HP: 21 MT: 4(26-DB) Hit: 13 Evade: 12 AS: 10 Defense: 1 Resistance: 1

Canto

Out In the Open

Joanna gasped. "Liam," she looked to the other avian, "They're outside Ursaea, now, but they're being chased by a pegasus knight!"

"I thought Ursaea ran out of pegasus knights," Glen winced.

"We can go and help them without drawing too much attention, now." Joanna wasn't quite so firm in her tone, this time. She knew that involving themselves wouldn't do much to prevent things from devolving into violence, but Greta and her new companion might not be able to handle the pegasus rider alone. At least if she went along, even if the pegasus rider was incapacitated, she could keep her from dying before they left.

[spoiler=Power]

<"This is absolutely terrible,"> Sarunobu shook his head in disgust as he looked over the fallen scattered about. His forces had them hopelessly surrounded, and the only thing holding them back was Rai-Ryu's unmistakable threats. <"Mind control," Sarunobu nodded to himself several times, <"That must be it. This demonic enchantress has sealed away your mind and turned our mighty hero of thunder into a mere puppet, a shield to use and bargain with."> Yukari sincerely doubted a mere demon could possess the ancient dragon's mind. Even if they did have such abilities, it was hard to believe Rai-Ryu wouldn't have managed to kill any of them in the struggle, and there were no bodies to be found in this area.

<"DON'T INSULT ME, LITTLE IMP,"> Rai-Ryu's booming voice came crashing down over the brigade. <"My mind ... is my own.">

<"I would very much like to believe that, milord,"> Sarunobu soothed, <"but from our perspective ...">

Freyya grinned but tried to hide her amusement so as not to make the situation any worse. She didn't want to correct Saronobu herself, as that wouldn't be much different from stating her own limitations as a magic user, something she wasn't ready to do, just yet. One never knew when the perception of greater power could come in handy. As long as they didn't know exactly what she was capable of, they would be far more inclined toward self defense during the negotiations.

<"Let me ask the lot of you a question,"> the dragon said, holding up a single claw, <"Who was it that told you to kill the fallen ones? Which dragon told you to do this?"> There was silence around the perimeter of the circle surrounding Jirou and the fallen, but farther back, there was murmuring of all sorts. <"It was the metal dragon, was it not? Your emperor. You've spent countless lifetimes fighting them and it has shaped your culture and psyche in ways my siblings and I wouldn't have expected. This isn't the path we would have tried to guide you to, that much is for certain.">

<"With all due respect,"> Yukari carefully chimed in, <"what do you expect us to do about it, now? We can't just throw down our arms and clamber for peace while they butcher our people.">

<"Of course you can't. It's not in your nature to leave the world as it is,"> Jirou agreed with a learned nod, <"That's what Lord Wrath is for. He'll put an end to this war one way or another, and you'll get to watch if you live that long. It's all very much by the by. I simply wanted to remind you that your war with the fallen ones has nothing to do with me or my siblings ... now then, I don't expect you to get along with my new acquaintances here, but I did give them my word they would be safe during the negotiations. Don't think for a moment that I won't strike down any man who would make me a liar.">

<"I was under the impression that you had lost your power,"> Freyya mused aloud, glancing up at the towering thunder dragon. She supposed he still had his sheer size and brute strength to rely on, but that was no guarantee of anyone's safety, especially not behind closed doors.

<"Hah! My spirit spring may be gone, but those are only a formality. The Goddess' presence has finally returned. She may not have set foot here just yet, but her power radiates throughout the entire world. My life and loyalty are hers, and her power and authority are mine. Make no mistake, I am just as powerful as I was as a vasilus. Anyone who would make a liar of me will be struck down without hesitation or mercy."> He balled his claws into a scaly fist for emphasis, and golden yellow arcs seemed to encapsulate it as he did.

He still has power, even after what Obelisk did to him. This power is coming directly from the Goddess of Nature. Impressive, Freyya mused.

[-Cynthia-]

"We could get into more trouble if they end up recognizing us- but if you feel that helping Greta is the priority right now then lead on," Liam warned Joanna before preparing to take off.

[CobyTheGoober]

Rolo looked up, to only see a winged beast fly towards them, with really no intent of slowing down. As soon as Rolo saw the beast, the horse Greta and Rolo was riding on soon picked the speed and galloped down the road.

"W-what is that thing chasing us Greta?" Rolo nervously said.

[Phoenix]

Buzzing the Runners

"Don't tell me you've never seen a pegasus up close before," Greta said, genuinely surprised. After half a second of consideration, she supposed it wasn't that surprising. She herself hadn't seen a pegasus in person until her late teens. It was a matter of time and chance, she decided, and left it at that as she tried to figure out how to stall for time. The pegasus rider closed the distance and flew directly overhead, causing the flying equine's hooves to just barely miss them. "Gah, watch it," she hissed as the dust swirled around them.

"Stop and surrender at once," the woman riding the pegasus said as she brought her pegasus around for another pass. If she wasn't going to ram them or use some other tactic to force them to stop, then Greta might actually be able to stall for a little bit longer before things came to blows. "The Order of Wrath has some questions for you!"

So it was the wrathites. Greta was right to hightail it, though she still felt awful that Rolo got caught up in all of this, simply because she felt a little honesty wouldn't hurt. Boy was she mistaken on that one.

Flight Checks

"That is definitely a priority," Joanna nodded as she rose up and hopped out of the back of the wagon.

"W-wait a second," Glen said, his voice shaking once his mind finally registered what was happening, "you're not seriously going back there, are you? We'll never lose them before the others get back if someone recognizes you."

"We might actually be able to help," Joanna shook her head defiantly back at Glen, "I'm not sitting around and hoping this turns out alright. I can't do that this time. We'll be as careful as we can."

Glen smacked his forehead in resignation. "This is such a bad idea ..."

The avians weren't getting anymore argument out of him, so Joanna quickly began stretching her wings to make sure she could make the trip. After a few seconds, she turned to Liam. She was thankful she did her exercises when she had time. If not for those, her rare flights would be much more difficult, if not impossible. "I'm ready. She's heading up this same road some miles back, just near Ursaea. I'm sure we'll see them once we get close."

[spoiler=The Old Ways]

<"These ... negotiations,"> Sarunobu began carefully, <"what are they for, if I may ask?"> He was quickly put off by Freyya's approach. He wanted to hear the answer from Rai-Ryu, not the fallen enchantress.

<"I wish to speak with your emperor, or anyone with the power to authorize and oversee the exchange of property and other goods.">

<"Trade negotiations? Are you serious, demon?"> Sarunobu scoffed, <"We are at war! Your sick, twisted nation and ours! AT. WAR.">

Freyya shrugged indifferently. <"We're always at war. War is the kestrelii way of life, not a personal grievance with your empire. If defeating Kigen were really so important to us, we would send every male, female, and child onto the field and take this country in less than a year. You would probably kill off most of our population but we would still overcome you in the end, if only by sheer weight of numbers ... and that would solve a few of our problems, perhaps making these negotiations pointless. However, like my brother, I don't want to see Kigen fall. Your empire has something that I feel our people would greatly benefit from, and I'm willing to offer you several items in exchange for it. The details are best left for the emperor himself, or whomever I wind up settling the issue with.">

Sarunobu took deep breaths, trying to hold back his fury, trying not to slap the insolent demon. There was just something in the way she carried herself, the way she spoke, and the confidence she held in her own assessments, that made him want to put her down where she stood. Still, Rai-Ryu wouldn't allow that, and he couldn't exactly hide his disdain from the towering thunder dragon, either. <"He'll never agree,"> Sarunobu finally said, shrugging and smirking victoriously. <"You're simply wasting your time, demon. I'm sure a learned fiend such as yourself is aware that even speaking with a demon is normally grounds for imprisonment and interrogation. The emperor would not allow a demon into his presence, especially not in the capital, not for any reason. No emperor in the past ever has, and none ever will.">

<"I had a feeling that would be the case. Even so, I'm willing to negotiate through written letters,"> Freyya replied coolly.

Sarunobu pursed his lips, irritated again. <"You think that would be any less of an insult to our emperor? A letter written by a demon should never wind up in the same room as our emperor. That's simply-"> <"You're making your precious metal dragon out to be a paper one,"> Jirou cut in, irritated, as well. <"I'll arrange the meeting, myself.">

<"He-e'll get the wrong idea,"> Sarunobu pleaded, <"One of the four heroes speaking on behalf of the demons! Think about it! Please, milord, don't sully your own reputation for the sake of this demon and her cohorts!">

Jirou rolled his eyes, once at the start of Sarunobu's pleading, and again at the end, along with a heavy sigh. <"What on earth happened to you people?"> he asked rhetorically. <"There's little choice but to handle this myself since I can't trust you to be reasonable. I am well aware this millennias spanning war has left its mark on the hearts of the people, but things are changing, and fast. If you can't adapt to what's coming, you're all dead. The old ways won't save you this time.">

[-Cynthia-]

The human probably has the right idea, but if I don't go with her she would just go by herself regardless, Liam decided. "Stay close," he told Joanna before taking off and flying up the road towards Ursaea.

[CobyTheGoober]

"No I've never seen a pegasus before, I've been stuck in a small village my whole life. Er- anyway do you have any idea on how to get those wrathites to stop chasing us?" Rolo asked frantically. Rolo felt more excited than he ever did in his life, but at the same time he was absolutely scared of what might happen to him.

[Phoenix]

Flight of the Suspects

"Yeah," Greta answered reluctantly, "but I'd rather not have to shoot her," she clarified as she looked back at the pegasus knight.

"I said stop," the wrathite yelled. Suddenly the pegasus charged, beating back its wings and coming straight at them. "This is your last chance to surrender, and then I'll take you by force!"

"Rolo, are you armed? A knife, a rock, anything?" Greta asked, turning back to her passenger, "'cause if I can't take her down in one shot, I'm not gonna have time to reload before she tries to run us both through, and we can't outrun her."

Flight of the Avians

Joanna followed after Liam, though her takeoff wasn't as natural and smooth as his. Once she caught up, she called over to him. "Just follow the road. She was heading back this way, so we should find her soon." It was still somewhat of a trip back to Ursaea's southern gate, but nothing she wasn't used to covering in her flights between cities. In fact, the distance from where they were to Ursaea wouldn't even be worth mentioning if they weren't trying to conduct a rescue.

[spoiler=Flight of the Dragon]

<"No no no, milord, please,"> Sarunobu pleaded as Rai-Ryu began to rise up to his full height, <"The people aren't ready for this sort of ... neutrality ... not from you!"> As embarrassing as Sarunobu's pleas were, Yukari knew he was right. It would be like a group of crusaders fighting on behalf of their gods, only for one of them to show up out of nowhere and shatter all of their hopes and expectations. This was a problem of their own making, but it was still too much for the people to deal with right now, especially in the middle of a nightmarish time such as this. A new type of demon had appeared, after all, and Obelisk himself had appeared.

<"My curse has been lifted, so there's no need to be subtle, anymore,"> Jirou slowly shook his head, <"It's time you people learn to deal with uncomfortable surprises, because more are well on the way. Fallen ones. Nori. All of you climb on up. I'm taking you to the capital.">

<"Too far,"> Sarunobu squeaked, <"That's simply too far! You can't ferry them into the capital, itself!">

<"If people want to get the wrong idea, then let them. It's a failure of your teachings, not ours. Come now, the lot of you,"> he beckoned the small group. Freyya scooped up Nori and then took off, landing somewhere near the center of Rai-Ryu's back a moment later. Yukari was surprised that they were taking the child with them. What was their interest in him? While Yukari pondered that, Freyya's escorts stood right where they'd been when the argument started, reluctant to go along with this. Rai-Ryu's protection would be a bit less guaranteed in Kigen's capital, where all manner of things could happen to them. <"Come on,"> Jirou glared at the indecisive bodyguards.

<"Come or flee, but don't waste time,"> Freyya demanded. That was that then, their pride or their lives. One by one, they each decided to tag along, and one by one, they flew up onto Rai-Ryu's back. Once they were all aboard, the thunder dragon's paws began to glow and gently lift from the ground. Before long, he and his passengers were floating high above the armed forces surrounding them, and Rai-Ryu seemed to be balancing himself on nigh invisible balls of energy. None of it made sense from Yukari or Sarunobu's perspective. They knew from Rai-Ryu's legend that he was capable of flight, despite lacking a clear means of doing so, but to actually see him float above them as if it were nothing. Their earlier protests were forgotten, if only for that moment.

<"See you in the Kayoyama,"> Jirou bid them farewell, and with a smooth motion, he began to slither through the air, passing over them at high speed. All they could do was watch as he climbed higher and higher, until he and his passengers disappeared into the clouds.

[-Cynthia-]

It was only a short time before Liam saw the pegasus rider and two figures on a horse. That must be them...I'm not sure how we're going to get out of this situation without violence, but we can't do anything if we're not there, he thought to himself, accelerating towards the figures in the distance.

[Phoenix]

Bogeys Incoming

"Hold on, forget that, Rolo," Greta said, shocked to see two familiar fliers approaching from the east, far past the pegasus knight. "Hang on," she warned as she lowered herself as far as she could, and got Luca to pick up speed. She steered him left as the pegasus knight closed in on them, and they just barely missed each other, with both of Luca's passengers getting brushed by the pegasus' wings. "I don't know what they're doin' here but I'm grateful. That knight can't take us all by herself."

"I said stop," the pegasus knight shouted back, clearly frustrated. "No more warnings. This ends now!" That was when she noticed the approaching avians. She wasn't sure what to make of them at first. They could have been travelers for all she knew, but they seemed to be in an awful hurry, and they were losing altitude. Now she had some suspicions, especially about the female avian approaching them.

Bandits Incoming

Haythem had to break off once they arrived at the wooden fortress. It was simply too dangerous for Isis to travel that close until the heavy weaponry was either out of commission or pointing some other direction. Sonya meanwhile, continued her high speed approach, hoping to convince the bandits that she was the real threat they faced, today. Her roaring could be heard for several miles and she kicked up a lot of wind as she flew over the walls to try and off balance the enemy.

In the forest, the scouting party split into two groups, one consisting mostly of the guard captain, Doran, Fizza, and the rest of the patrolmen, and the second group consisting of the mercenaries and two of the guard captain's men. As the latter group moved into position to breach the outer wall during Sonya's distraction, the guard captain moved his people into position just outside the fort's entrance to the west. They were able to get into position unnoticed, but Fizza quickly pointed out that there were some more bandits outside the fortress, farther down the path leading up to the fort. She'd only noticed them now that all of the bandits were panicking and calling out to each other. It wouldn't be a major problem, but it did mean that they would be at risk of being hit from two sides simultaneously at some point. Hopefully the confusion inside would be enough to keep a pincer from overwhelming them. Either way, it was time to see what Carlos Lich and the rest of his men were really made of ...

[CobyTheGoober]

"W-wait, hu-" All of a sudden Greta steered the horse left at a quick pace. As ahe did though, Rolo saw two winged people?. Rolo didn't quite know what to think of them, but Greta seemed very glad that those two people showed up.
Must be back up Rolo thought.

Edited January 6, 2016 by CobyTheKid

[Toogee]

Jam looked up to the sky as the dragon's roar echoed around them. It brought back an uncomfortable memory, but it also meant that the battle would start soon. She walked with the group, but specifically to the two soldiers assigned to them. If she recalled Shad's plan correctly, she would be joining the two in hitting bandit runners while the others invaded the fortress and rescued the hostages. With the others preoccupied, her life would be in their hands and vice versa. The dancer wanted to at least get a good look at them.

"Hey you two," Jam said to the two soldiers. "My name's Jam. I'm joining you in catching any stragglers running from the battle. What are your names? I figured we could strategize a bit."

[-Cynthia-]

"Please stop this at once. Violence here solves nothing," Liam stated clearly once he was within speaking distance of the pegasus knight. He was dubious of how effective that would be, but the alternative of simply blasting her was unacceptable.

[Mercakete]

Blast it; I should've known this would happen! Norbert thought in frustration as Rizen whinnied and reared, shaking her head and flapping her wings in terror at the enormous roar that had just blasted above. The rider himself had had to jump from her saddle, and was now using all of his weight to try to keep her in place, leaning back heavily on her reins as she fought him to bolt. He was suddenly very glad that his passenger was used to pegasi, herself.

As per the plan, Norbert and Rizen would transport Lumi to the captive pegasi in the bandit camp while Eva went to defend the riders and Shadrak and Angelica cut an opening into the wall. Then, Jam, the two magic-users, and the two men the captain had left them would defend the breach and cut down as many bandits as possible until the pegasi and riders were secure. Then, Eva and Bert would head back, pick up Angelica and Shadrak, and help in the attack from the air. Of course, that was assuming Rizen could calm down by then. Of course, Norbert didn't think it was time to rush in just yet anyway. He wanted to make sure that the bandits were fixated on the dragon, first. Then, if all went well, they wouldn't even notice their two fliers heading over the wall. Hopefully, Rizen would get more used to the dragon in that amount of time, too. He wasn't looking forward to trying to ride a frenzied pegasus...