Return of the Emblem Chapter Six: Enemies Abound

[Zsword]

Zel was able to finish loading Shadrak easily once they got him off the ground, the mage was pretty light. He turned to Robin, flipping his snow hair out his face. "You don't look too good yourself, would you like a ride back to the Wagon miss?" He asked her, stepping back and holding his hand out to her politely.

Krystal smiled and quickly set to work on tending to John's wounds, carefully applying the vulnerary to whatever open nick or scratch she could find.

[Snowy_One]

"A ride back?" she restated, her voice sounding weak and uncertain, as if her mind was clouding over from exhaustion. She wasn't sure what type of venom had coated the lance, but it was likely designed to kill the target and she could definatly feel it working, either from outright killing her body or draining her energy as she tried to fight it off. She couldn't even remember if Zel was Skotian or not, not that it mattered. Wagon. Home. Safety. She took Zel's hand and pulled herself up, her body clearly only a few choice knocks or a harsh word away from passing out. "<Is he... going to be safe?>" she asked, unable to clear her head enough to speak common.

[ReformBlade]

The battle over, Aneda victorious and in pain, she rose up from her pegasus and surveyed the landscape. "Fuck yeah... I did this, that's... eh whatever. I helped out a bit, which is saying a lot..." She coughed a bit, still feeling a little on fire but not altogether out of it. Looking about, she spotted Onion by the wagon, and her feelings turned to one of annoyance and anger. She urged Hannah towards him, slowly so as not to go crashing into the wagon like a dumbass with a penchant for daredevilry. The pegasus moved with grace, not wanting to make her rider suffer any more pain and finally arrived at the wagon.

When she saw Onion there, on the ground, she mustered up enough strength to get off of the Pegasus and stand in front of him. "Now look here, I... Oh for fuck's... he's asleep. He's probably hurt or some crap..." Spying a pink haired Raquel and a young boy handing out [Vague healing items], Aneda took two, assuring them that she wasn't just being greedy. She used one on herself, the effects quite fast for her liking, and the other one... she began applying to Onion, forcefully down the throat, but not such that'd she'd choke the kid. "Wake up goddammit."

Turning her attention to Raquel, she put on a smile. "Ya know, we still haven't discussed any sort of payment yet. Don't worry, I'm not gonna be charging some smartass fees or anything, but compensation would be nice, ya know? Well... I suppose the vulnerary is a pretty cool thank you gift..."

[Acacia Sgt]

''Ugh...''

John stirred before slowly sitting up, with a hand over his head. <What happened...?> He thought. <Oh yes, that blast of light.> He finally opened his eyes. He looked around and saw Krystal.

''Is the battle over already?'' He asked.

[Zsword]

Zel blinked at Robin for a second... he didn't speak Skotian... well... not... okay, he didn't speak Skotian. Shadrak stirred a though. "Just.... get us, to the wagon..." he said, weakly. Zel blinked a minute, amazed the Shaman was able to regain consciousness... but understood him none the less. After quickly making sure the pair weren't going to fall off, he sent Sliep to the wagon, choosing to stand out and look for anyone else he could pick up.

Krystal nodded. "It's over, now, where does it hurt? You look pretty beat up." She told him with a giggle, sitting back on her knees to give him room to sit up if he desired.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Is it now? Well, that's good to know.'' John said. ''And I suppose so. Never had been hit with magic with such force before, and the fall didn't help either.'' <No wonder they would sent people like them after us. Such power...>

[Zsword]

"Well, where does it hurt? It's hard to treat something I don't know the location of." Krystal told John with a friendly, playful smile... she really wanted to lighten up the mood a little, he seemed kinda down about the ordeal.

[Rothene]

Ranyin felt his conciousness returning as his wounds stopped bleeding and blood filling his body again. Slowly, he opened his eyes...to see a rainbow.

Taking it as a beautiful sign by nature of peace and tranquility, Ranyin knew it meant the battle was over and they had probably won. He would have smiled happily had he not looked down and notice that the rainbow was none other than the hair of a person. Hence his next response was to choke in mid smile and then sputter out the healing liquids flowing into him.

With the healing properties of the vulnerary free from his system, his wounds were not able to recover in time and the lack of blood in him caused him to lose conciousness again...

[Phoenix]

Raquel and Gabbie

"Okay Gabbie, I need to see if Bert's alright. Can you-" "On it." Gabbie answered before Raquel even finished, knowing full well she was going to ask her to guard Callisto.

"Well I guess you are the best person for the job." she commented snidely.

"Not really ... she says one thing about duty or any of that roighteous crap, and she's gonna run outta teeth by the toime you get back."

"You're barely better than they are! Ugh!" Raquel said before addressing Aneda. "I'm sorry about all of this. I'll just give you the same pay as everyone else. It's been enough to satisfy them so far and we can go over the details after we recover from all of this. I just need to make sure Bert's still alive ... just ... just give me a minute." she tried to start and immediately wrap up the conversation before rushing over to the pegasus knight. Once she was near him, she slowed her actions so that Riz wouldn't freak out and knock something off her this time like she'd done to the wagon. Having a vulnerary on hand seemed to help things. When she found the spot where he had been poisoned she muttered "Not another one. How many of you did they do this to anyway?" Annoying but she applied the healing salve where needed and then waited for the results. "Hey, Bert, are you awake yet?" she asked when she thought she saw him stir. It was hard to tell if that was him or just Riz's slight movements jostling him.

Siv

One bodies two bodies three bodies four ... five bodies six bodies could use a couple more, there they are, there they are lying on the ground~

This thought played over and over in Siv's head while the party members healed themselves. She figured they would be on the road again soon and she would be painfully stuffed into a crate or something, but what bothered her even more was how long it was taking for them to start doing something about all the bodies. It was best to use ice magic to preserve them for later but their ice wielder was busy with healing as well. It was really starting to bother her, though she couldn't yet bring herself to say anything. Only a confused and helpless expression donned her face.

Luca

Why did humans and horses from other herds always come after them? Didn't they hear about all the foul creatures and other dumb horses that died at their hands? Or maybe they didn't ... they didn't have territory to call their own, so enemies didn't know where to steer clear of. Luca would have felt guilty if he gave a rat's ass about any of this. His focus soon shifted toward the fallen humans. He began sniffing around for the familiar scent of gold, that stuff Nadya could give away for useful things like food.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Phoenix

[Acacia Sgt]

''Hm, exactly where?'' John asked. <Although, the pain itself already is leaving. I guess having spent the time unconscious helped in easing it.> ''Don't know myself, I kinda feel fine already.'' He said standing up. <Even so, I'm probably not taking any chances here. This sure was such a beating.>

[ReformBlade]

Another coughing fit from Onion did not surprise her, so she covered his mouth enough to block the projectile fluids. "Don't start with me, this is twice you've done that, you lying little... grrrr..." Her head tilted as the kid seemed to have fallen asleep again. "No!" Instinctively she slapped him lightly on the cheek. No response. Again, and again, no response. She slapped him with the back of her hand this time, not holding back as much, easily leaving a mark on the kid. "Wake up you freak!" She decided to shove the fluids, as best as she could, back into his mouth, pouring the rest down carefully. "Come on, wake up wake up! I'm not letting this slide by, you've got a problem with me, you little jackass, and you're GOING to talk about it like a civilized goddamn human being!"

[Rothene]

Ranyin choked and sputtered even more under the persistent assaults by his 'savior'. His body unable to accept it anymore, forced itself up from the grips of the rainbow haired pegasus rider and collapsed on all four as Ranyin spat out all the regurgitated vulnerary salves. It tatsted horrible after being recycled a few times.

Rubbing his cheeks, Ranyin turned to confront Aneda...with a bow, "Thank you for waking me up. I've heard about warriors left to lie in battle bleed to death while they slept with their wounds open." Then facing Aneda's...face, he added, "But did you have to keep forcing those fluids down my throat over and over again?"

[Mercakete]

Gytha walked back over to the wagon with the arrow sticking out of her shoulder, remembering the lesson Synthia had taught her about pulling those out. That was, not to do it. So, she could only hope that someone could help her with it eventually. That and the wounds she'd gotten from the light arrows. She never had been completely healed from those.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do I...hear something...? It was somewhat faint at first, but it eventually was recognized. My name... Who's that asking for me? Norbert's eyes squinted open. At frist he didn't know where he was or why he felt so ill. Then memories began returning to him and he looked up, surprised to see Raquel standing there. He didn't feel like sitting up. "What'd I do this time?" he grumbled, remaining where he was and letting his head rest against Rizen's neck again. His over-all condition hadn't changed much but at least his wounds were closed.

[Zsword]

Krystal giggled a little and stood up as well, dusting off her knees. "Well, that's good, you should get back to the wagon and get some proper help..." She mused to John, zoning out and getting quiet as she looked over the corpse filled battle-field...

Sliep had reached the wagon, but none of the humans had noticed him and his wounded riders that probably really needed help, so he winnied and stamped the ground, hoping to get someones attention.

Zel, unable to notice anyone on his side that needed tending too, donned his helmet once more and started to walk back towards the wagon.

[ReformBlade]

"Yes. Well, no actually. Panic reaction, that was." She coughed to try and save face, "But that's not the point. The real reason I'm even talking to you is that one, you lied to me, and B, you're cutting it very close with your magic. It's powerful, destructive, and for fuck's sake, if I got caught in even one of those wind blasts, I'd have died. Do you understand what that means? I'm not trying to be condescending here, I'm just... take better aim next time, alright? If you can't get a clear shot, then don't take it. If it looks like it'll be close to hitting an ally, please for the love of the gods, at least try to weigh the options as quickly as you can. I admit...." She put a hand to her forehead in thought, "I'm no graceful rider up there in the skies. Wasn't exactly that grand in the army as well, but it's not like I'm that unpredictable either! Ugh!"

She wiped her hand off on the grass, getting it 'cleaned', "And another thing, what the heck is up with your vomiting fluids? Do I really piss you off that much or something...? If it's something I'm doing, I'll try and not do it, but I haven't had a chance to even fucking talk to you yet until now..."

[Acacia Sgt]

<Doesn't sound like a bad idea.> John thought. <I can probably figure out what's the current situation as well. But first...>

He turned and headed over to Gil. ''Well Gil, looks like we made it out of yet another one, more so you than me.'' He laughed. The wyvern grunted. ''Well, I guess we're out of danger for the time being. Just don't get too far away.''

With that, he walked over in the direction of the wagon.

[Rothene]

The speed at which Aneda spoke made it difficult for the wary mage who was suffering from blood loss to follow. All me managed to catch was something about poor aiming alongside destructive power and puking. Hence he responded exactly to those.

"Destructive power? My seniors and teachers scoffed at the potency of my magic...let alone their destructive power. Have you seen the power behind the magic of our residential shaman?" asked Ranyin pointing towards Shadrak before continuing, in a solemn tone, "Right, I admit I do have to practice on my aim. Thus far I've actually missed a lot with the spells I've casted while travelling with this group. Hitting a moving target's far harder than a stationary one, especially those that fly, like the harpies earlier and the pegasus knights."

Pausing for a while to let his words sink in, Ranyin said keeping his eye leveled to avoid any visual contact with Aneda's hair, "About me vomiting often, it seems to be a response whenever I catch sight of your hair..."

[Snowy_One]

As Slep stamped the ground, it seemed to jar Robin into enough consciousness for her to notice that she was at the wagon. Sliding off the saddle, she tried to walk to the best of her ability towards the wagon. "<Poison.>" she muttered in Skotion before her weight simply became too much for her legs and she collapsed hard onto the ground.

[Phoenix]

Triage

"You survived, which is a good thing, but this is a bit much." Raquel replied. She handed Bert a couple of vulneraries. How many of these are we going to go through anyway? I'll be down to half stock in the next five minutes at this rate. "I don't want us to have any casualties from simply not getting around to everyone fast enough, so can you get these to anyone who's still injured? Oh and take this too. One of the antidotes I had in stock." She didn't leave much time for an answer since she was immediately off herself. Robin collapsing on the ground emphasized her point and she was kneeling over the archer in moments. She called Connor over with a couple of antitoxins once she realized how much Robin's had progressed. Fortunately she would be alright.

Next was Shadrak. "This is killing me ..." she muttered before jogging over and trying to figure out how to get him off Sliep so she could see where his injuries were. The arrow was obvious, but she couldn't safely remove that while he was up there anyway. "Urgh ... I probably should have had Bert handle Shadrak since I'm not strong enough to get him down from there ..."

What The ...

A ways from the road, Atsuko had been thinking heavily on what she had discussed with Raquel. I don't get it. Shadrak's just being gullible because she's a female, but Raquel, too? She wasn't making bad points. I'll be the first to admit that most of what I do is to spite that little monster, but ... I don't know. It didn't really matter to me. Siv's probably going to be dead by the end of Weyland's weapons research, and if we didn't capture her to begin with, she would have probably grown up to be a human crushing clanner like her two sisters. She's still just a kid, but I see her that way now, a demon who's only pretending to be innocent long enough to get that magic seal off of her neck. The way things are now though ... she's completely restrained, usually hungry, being smuggled into Ursium to be used like a test dummy, stupidly thinks the future emperor of the fallen is going to come save her when even the fallen wouldn't be able to pick up our trail after that, and she's never going to be reunited with the others ever again. Maybe she's suffered enough, I guess. Raquel's right. She's as good as dead and is blindly holding onto hope. She's hardly a demon at all anymore. I need to see this mission through to the end, but that's ALL I need to do. No kindness, but ... no cruelty either. She took a deep breathe and let it out trying to relax. It went against her nature to consider something like this ...

When she turned to head back to the road, she squinted her eyes at the peculiar sight in the distance. The wagon was still where she expected it to be, the tiny dot that it was, but there were numerous people moving around, and fliers in the air, and the number was greater than that of the entire party. <"It's a battle!"> she shouted as she took off running. She'd sneaked passed enough skirmishes to recognize that kind of sight, but there was little she could do. In her time thinking she had wandered quite a distance from the road. By the time she arrived, the party members were trying to pick up the pieces. Her first stop was Raquel who was standing by Shadrak and Sliep. "I'm sorry ... I'm so sorry." she said in between pants.

"Atsuko, oh no nee to apologize, just help me out with healing. This is getting to be a bit overwhelming." Raquel replied handing Atsuko some of the supplies.

"What happened to Shadrak?"

"Shot. I need to get him down from there but ..."

"The two of us can do that, just take one end and I'll take the other. You can have the head ... I'll take the legs." Raquel agreed and the two women set down their things and carefully moved Shadrak down from Sliep. The next step was to remove the arrow and heal the wound. Atsuko had enough experience with that so offered to take care of that herself, freeing up Raquel to check on Gytha, who was suffering from the same kind of injury it seemed. Atsuko put the salve onto the wound before removing the arrow and began gently pulling it out as the liquids slipped in. The effect was slower than normal, but as she pulled out the arrow, the skin closed up, and there wasn't a drop single drop more of blood lost in the maneuver. She sighed with relief that that old trick Kai taught her had worked so well.

Raquel didn't know the same trick however. "Gytha, are you alright?" she asked trying to figure out if the light arrow wounds had been healed or not. Either way that arrow in her shoulder had to go at some point ...

[-Cynthia-]

Clean Up

The merchant seemed to have turned her attention from her, and Callisto's zeal began to fade, replaced instead by a string need to close her eyes and rest. Dying..a failure, this can't be- she thought to herself, closing her eyes and laying motionless on the ground.

Connor handed Robin an antitoxin, and had another snatched from him by Veronika, who applied it to herself as she limped towards the wagon.

Nadya was a bit sweaty, but otherwise was feeling better than justy about anything else. She decided to apply her staff to Bert, who had fallen during the battle. "Easier to get to others when you're feeling better yourself, ya? Don't worry about gettin' everyone fully healthy right now, just well enough to move. I can take care of more on thwe road, thoughI'll tucker out eventually," she said to those around.

[Mercakete]

The first thing Norbert did was to take and drink the antitoxin. It worked very well and though he was still somewhat tired, he wasn't in near as miserable a state as he was a few moments ago. When Nadya came by, Norbert waved a hand, indicating for her to not even try to help him. "I've already been taken care of. You should save your energy," he clarified, "And thanks for the advice, but since I got that antidote, I'm feeling better." With that, he began riding Rizen around, looking for people to distribute vulneraries to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A'side from that residual light damage and this'ere arrow? Aye," Gytha replied. She was tired and though she was tempted to just yank the arrow out, she kept firmly in mind what Synthia had told her, which was not to.

[Acacia Sgt]

John looked around as he walked. The corpses, the group tending to their wounds. <Just like last time, except we don't have to run for our lives.> He thought. <Hopefully this incident can go unnoticed enough for us to get out of their trail again.>

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"I'm no expert at this, but as long as we get the wound closed, it should be fine ... I think." She began gently pulling out the arrow until it was free and then immediately applied the vulnerary to the wound, healing and closing the wound. Then she moved on to the light arrow wounds. "Whew, this is amazing. We hardly ever have any casualties. Maybe someone out there likes us." I think my father would be impressed that I'm leading a platoon strength group with fewer losses than his old one. she thought to herself while smiling.

Gabbie and Siv

Gabbie eventually glanced over at Callisto who was either unconscious or dead .... Time to check which, she thought. "Oi ... are you dead yet?"

"Dead? Is she?" Siv asked using the simplest words she could think of.

"I dunno, I'm tryin' to foind out now."

"If dead, preserve her." Siv requested.

"... why?"

The fallen tilted her head. "B- ... because ... preserve. So she will not ... spoil."

"Pft, fallen. Ya know I'd almost welcome you cleanin' up this whole mess, Siv, hahahaah."

[Zsword]

Shadrak moaned a little, opening one eye to see Atsuko tending to him, he chuckled a little, coming to regret it as she had only gotten the arrow that hit his shoulder, and not the one that had lodged itself in his sternum... that was what put him out. Even then he smiled. "I didn't expect to wake up to you... heh... I guess your not a heartless mercenary after all..." he joked, still too weak to really move.

Sliep, his job done, returned to Zel, who promptly mounted and quickly returned to the wagon... once he got there though, he coughed and ripped off his helmet once more, just in time to avoid getting a rather large mixture of blood and vomit in it. He dismounted Sliep, and made his way to the side of the wagon, leaning against the corner Evidently... that poison... is worse than i thought...

Krystal took one last scan of the battlefield, confirming that anyone on their side was already tended to, and jogged to catch up with John.. she didn't say anything, he seemed prety lost in thought.

[Snowy_One]

As the anti-toxin was handed to Robin, the archer started to drink it. She didn't actually know what it was, just that it was some kind of liquid and she was feeling oddly thirsty... and thusly downed the entire thing in one gulp. Slowly the sluggishness started to fade from her mind as the poison was driven back and destroyed.

"Uggg.... Taste awful." she muttered, putting the now-empty bottle down. "Wait... Shade drake!" Robin tried to spring upright, only to over compensate for the speed of the anti-toxin and ended up vaulting herself forwards to fall down flat on her face.

"Owwwww...." she groaned as she stood up again and looked over to the shaman, who was still down and being tended to by some other person. "Hey." she said as she started to walk over. "Are you okay Shade Drake? I did my best to keep the wounds from getting worse, but it was not much."