Beneath the Shadows Chapter Two: Chasing Shades

[scorri]

Xane saw Elysia fall and had started to make his way over when Linn tried to pick her up. Chuckling slightly at the image, he stepped in and offered, "Here, let me take her." Pulling her up, he frowned as he saw the classic symptoms of magic drainage. With a quick motion, he picked her up and then frowned. "Did you guys leave my pegasus back in the village? I was going to put her on Silverwing but if he's not here..."

[eclipse]

"Oh, I don't believe this," Celine grumbled, as she watched Chandra limp off. "You're gonna end up flat on yer face if ya keep walkin' like that! You do your magic thing," she said with a grunt, as she grabbed the shaman's free arm and nearly hoisted her off the ground, "and I'll get ya to where ya need. Now, where to?"

---

Raelyn's eyes fluttered open to see. . .no one. The nearest voice sounded familiar. . .oh, right it was that odd priest who spoke in terms of vegetables. She gingerly propped herself up and found him, staring down at someone else. "And I thought I had it bad. . ." Raelyn said, a little too loudly. With nothing better to do, she picked up Alfonso's fallen weapon, and stood by, silently.

Edited December 15, 2013 by eclipse

[Ether]

"Ergh... thanks... I was hoping to keep going until... everyone was safe but... once I fell I just didn't have the strength to stand." Elysia noted, as she was picked up.

"I can't believe all of that and I didn't even hurt him..." She continued, her voice growing sombre.

[Nanami Touko]

"O-Oh, alright." She let Xane take over, and went back to helping Zeff. She was glad he'd offered to help, as she didn't think that it was best for Zeff to try carrying anything at the moment. "I'm pretty sure we did, sorry. Are you going to be alright with carrying her? She seems really weak..." I hope she'll be alright.

[scorri]

Xane frowned and started to head back the way they had come from. "I'll be fine, thanks. As for your attacks... If I had to guess, he was either using some sort of light shield or an illusion. That's the issue with fighting light or dark mages, you can never tell for sure if they're standing in front of you or are 50 feet away. That, plus he seemed to be using some sort of warp staff which... if it's what I've read about is ancient magic and would require a good deal of strength to use. You're lucky to have escaped alive." He hesitated, wanting to ask what this was all about, but decided to keep silent for now. Enough secrets will have been exposed by the end of the night. She should be allowed to keep hers.

[Ether]

"He's that far ahead of me, huh? I... I don't have time to be sitting idle and timid like this, I need... I need to get stronger..." Elysia protested, her voice growing more and more quiet as she talked. Her eyelids growing heavy as her limbs began to grow limp.

[Xinnidy]

The world had vanished in a moment, leaving only darkness and fading shapes encompassing the knights' vision. The enemies had charged them in full, and, armor pierced again and again by spears, Alfonso had fallen, overwhelmed, to the floor. Barely breathing, not an ounce concious, laying face-down on the floor as beaten rubble if not for his left feet being stuck at Rosa's saddle's stirrup. He hardly knew what hit him, they were certainly done for... or so he thought.

It was a long moment of silence, but Alfonso's conscience slowly returned, with a small plea from a familiar voice resounding his ear and waking the man. His eyes opened, to see Aeson, the friendly priest from his recent travels, using his healing magic to bring the man back up. W-we're alive? My goodness... I need to stand up and help!

With much effort and grunts, Alfonso attempted to himself to stand up, as the priest continued healing. Raising his feet out of the stirrup was the harshest part, his leg seemed like it twisted, and it furiously hurt as he moved his muscles. "Hnngraaaaaaah!!" Alfonso yelled in pain, "Ack, this is terrible. This kind of fall... I'm still alive, I'll be fine." he said, as he tried to bring him feet off the stirrup again, this time, much slower.

Succesfully doing so, and bringing himself to stand by completely shifting his weight over his right leg, Alfonso finally stood up, and held onto Rosa's saddle, panting a bit from enduring the pain. "Hah... thanks, Aeson. I... might need time to recover from this one, but I'll be fine." He looked at his surroundings, finally. "Now, what's going on? What happened to the army we were fighting?"

Standing around, holding his weapon, was a familiar face from the mercenary guild, but one he never spoke to. "Oh! Thank you for picking it up. Sorry if it's a bother." He said to the woman, he'd reach out his hand to receive it back if he could, but was more worried in standing up and guiding Rosa as his walking support for now.

------------------------------------

Erbert was returned to consciousness by some healing or another. Realizing his state, he started using the little convenient light magic knowledge he had, and did the finishing job to his own wounds. He rose slowly, but overall, he could stand on his own feet just fine, which was a wondeful achievement.

Taking a look, he saw many people going for the forests, and no standing enemies were in sight. Well! Doesn't matter how we're alive, getting the hell out of here sounds nice! I like that notion! He grinned for a moment, and carried his axe on his back as the went for the woods following the others, as if nothing had hurt him. His red-tainted clothes told another story, alright.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Xinnidy

[scorri]

Seeing her slip further away, Xane cursed. Quickly concentrating, he pulled the ambient anima energy he had been storing in his ring, and slowly, carefully, directed it into the elf girl in his arms. As he did, the color started to return to her cheeks, and her breathing grew steadier. Sighing in relief, he released the energy and continued on.

[Ether]

"Huhwha?" Elysia sputtered, as her eyes shot open, looking about her surroundings. Eventually her eyes met Xane, and then shifted to his ring, which she recalled mention of him storing energy inside of.

"Oh, I see... thanks... sorry about that." She muttered, as she leaned further into his hold, somewhat subconsciously. She was still feeling too weak to stand on her own strength. It didn't take very long for her to drift to sleep after that.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Ether

[Oersted]

Knowing that they were in a hurry, instead of waiting for Rimsky to extend his arm, Ernce met him all the way and pulled the dwarf up on his feet. Then Chandra came by and healed Rimsky meaning Ernce no longer needed to help the dwarf. Rather than chase after Chandra and asked to be healed he limped over to the woods where he found Zeke waiting. "Done already? Well hop on, you'll be way to far behind if you have to limp the entire way." Ernce complied, albeit it took him a while to get on. "Here's the potion," Ernce said as he gave it to Zeke, still surprisingly full despite how many times it'd been used.

"Alright, we're off!" Zeke said excitedly. "...Er actually not, probably not the best idea to fly up in the sky where we'd be visible right? Still, beats limping through an unknown forest any day right?" And with that Zeke guided his pegasus into the woods after the other mercs. If he would've looked behind him he would've seen Ernce occassionalt glancing at the burning fort until it was out of sight. Eventually Zeke was able to see some of the other mercs though he made no effort to call out to them at this point. Maybe once he got closer.

[eclipse]

"You worry about keepin' on your feet," Raelyn told Alfonso. "The enemies focused quite a bit on you, and I'm glad you made it out alive."

[Vestige]

He was glad that Xane had come to take Elysia off their hands--he wasn't sure he'd be able to carry her around, even with the help of Linn. But he frowned at what Xane was saying to her. He can't be talking about Vera, so that's good but...

"Hey, Linn," he whispered, "what exactly happened in the fort? Who did you guys fight?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Uhm, who did we fight?" she kept her voice low, as she didn't know if Xane wanted anyone to know yet. "Well, I can't tell you the details or Elysia'll get upset with me. But there was a powerful light mage, strong enough to beat probably any of us, save perhaps Xane or Hale. I tried to fight him but Xane stopped me," she stopped talking, remembering how he'd done so, but quickly shook that off. "I guess I'm glad he did. The mage did a number on Elysia and then left. I wish I'd... I dunno. Been able to do anything."

[Vestige]

"I see," he said, keeping his voice just as low as hers. Linn's desire to have been able to do something resonated with him. It was a feeling he'd felt before, and a guilt he still carried with him to this very day.

Speaking of Hale...he still hasn't met up with us yet.

He wouldn't have much to worry about, except for the fact that Selia had returned to the fort. She had wiped out Andre without even breaking a sweat, not to mention Adari, and Rimsky as well. Hale was strong but...he wasn't that strong. He feared what might have happened to him if he was confronted by Selia. Well, it's best if we get out of here first before worrying about other things...

[Nanami Touko]

"M...Maybe you can tell me, how did the fight go, anyway? You all seemed pretty beat, but it looked like you'd won. I didn't see any other Senians when I got out of the woods. You said the commander took out Andre, but you got her, right?" I mean... Andre's tough, but surely if they all worked together, they could've taken her back down.

[Xinnidy]

"... you're right. I'll worry about myself first." Alfonso answered the girl, as he adjusted himself, leaning on his mount, Rosa, and grasping her reins. If I need to move, I can probably rely on Rosa to move slowly, and my other leg. I do hope this sprain goes away as soon as possible.

"... Oh, I don't believe we've quite talked before? The name's Alfonso. And, thanks for the help. In this state, any is appreciated." He spoke to the girl.

[Vestige]

"Honestly, we'd all be dead if that fort hadn't caught on fire, and I mean that," he muttered. It was by some miracle that everyone had made it out in one piece, because that sure as hell didn't seem like a victory. "We didn't even scratch her..." he said. "I fought two of the commanders, Aldrick and Simon--I think his name was. They were way beyond my level, and I'm honestly surprised Simon didn't kill me."

"But that woman...she was on a whole different level compared to the both of them. Adari barely managed to scratch her, and that speaks volumes about what the rest of us would be able to do--or rather, not do," he said. "She went back into the fort with the rest of her men once the place caught on fire..." If Hale was in there....

Edited December 16, 2013 by Vestige

[Toogee]

"Oh, I don't believe this," Celine grumbled, as she watched Chandra limp off. "You're gonna end up flat on yer face if ya keep walkin' like that! You do your magic thing," she said with a grunt, as she grabbed the shaman's free arm and nearly hoisted her off the ground, "and I'll get ya to where ya need. Now, where to?"

Chandra was taken by surprise when Celine nearly lifted her off the ground. The shaman only vaguely recognized the girl as one of their own. She was definitely one of their younger members; likely close to half of Chandra's age. Despite her age, Celine was surprisingly strong. Chandra silently pointed towards two others she recognized: Bertha and Malachi.

"Thank you for this," Chandra said as they traveled to Malachi first. "I don't recall your name. I'm Chandra"

Chandra didn't have to leave Celine's shoulder to administer the healing spell, so the two could quickly move on to the next patient.

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh... W-Wait, she went back into the fort!?" Linn immediately shot a glance back at the burning wreck, starting to fear greatly. "I-If she was strong enough to take you all out, a-and Hale was still in there... You're sure she went back in? Oh no..." Don't give in now, Hale's an incredibly powerful mage. Surely, even if he couldn't take her, he'd get himself out of there. "I-I bet Hale and Iris got out before they even had to fight here. Surely. I really hope so..."

[Vestige]

"Yeah, well, I hope so too...because yes, I'm pretty sure she went back in there. As soon as the fort caught fire, she started yelling about us being the diversion and rushed her men inside," he said. "I'm just hoping she doesn't come back out, find us all gone, and then decide to chase after us."

Really don't think I'd be able to go another round of that...

[Nanami Touko]

"Y-Yeah... I'm sure they'll be fine, and we just need to get out of here." Just keep telling yourself they'll be fine and they probably will be... Optimism, right? "Hey, Xane, d'you know the quickest way through the woods? If that woman does follow after us, I don't think we'll be able to do anything about her, from the sounds of it."

[eclipse]

"My name's Celine." On cue, the pirate's stomach growled. "Ah, I remember seein' ya! You're the one doin' all the cooking! Ah, we'll have time for food talk later. Where do ya wanna go next?"

---

"It's nice to meet you. My name is Raelyn," the thief said, as she handed Alfonso is weapon. "The enemy threw everything they had at you, yet you weathered most of it. I thought it was quite impressive!"

[Xinnidy]

Now that Alfonso had his footing more certain, he gladly took the lance, and used it as some extra support for himself. "They were overwhelming in number, but I've been used to facing enemies on the frontlines before. Mounted knights usually go front and first in battle. In the Antarian military I was trained to gain stamina while dealing strong blows. My commander, however, focused on having us understand the value of absorbing punishment. The longer we lasted, the more we were useful, basically." He gave a faint smile. "Do stop me if I run out talking about my life too much. But... that was a trait that stayed with me since then. It's helped me live this far, for sure."

[eclipse]

"It's not a bother at all!" Raelyn said, while taking mental notes. "But 'lasting long'. . .that sounds like your commander thought that you were disposable." She made another note not to join a military if she could help it.

[Shin]

Aeson smiled, Alfonso was up again and making friends. With his allies healed, he used to opportunity to sit down for a little, the battle had worn him out quite significantly. Alfonso's stories of his past were truly interesting, the priest listened happily from his sitting position.