Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Mercakete]

Norbert had only had time to nod in response to Cameron's thanks before the pegasus knight he'd identified as one of his sisters spoke up. He couldn't help but frown at it, either. He knew what his reputation was like among most of his sisters -- Cecelia and her posse had made sure to solidify it back home when they still lived there. And even now, whenever he ran into one of them, that reputation followed him, no matter how the individual sister reacted to it. So, he'd expected the suspicious looks she'd offered.

He also didn't believe for one second that this was just about catching up. Her intonation and wording made that obvious enough... He was presently just trying to place her name, though. He knew it began with a "D"... Denise? No, that was someone else... Dana? That was closer, but it didn't feel quite right... This particular sister was the same age as him, and they'd talked in the past, he knew. It was just difficult keeping track of literally hundreds of sisters. Eh, it'd come to him...maybe... For now, he'd just answer her question. The other pegasus knights could see if their mounts were around without him pointing them out, so it wasn't like his attention was required for that.

"So, you want to know everything since I left home?" he guessed with a hint of annoyance. Given how she'd asked it, that seemed to be the case. It also sounded a lot like a "what have you done this time?" "I don't have to report to you, you know. You're not my probation officer."

[Nanami Touko]

It really sounded like Sonya would be unable to stop or stall long enough for anything to happen. The guard captain wanted to stick around and defend, whatever that entailed. "What's your plan, then? What are we going to do against a group of 'Skotian wyvern knights? Look at Sasha. There's bigger than him. And as great as it is that we took out the ballista, we have nothing to stop them assaulting us, now, unless Carlos has another few stashed somewhere. At which point, I don't think we'd have time to get anything set up..." Things seemed pretty damn grim. Eva didn't come this far to die to her own people. "What do we do, captain?"

[Phoenix]

Split Up?

"Taking out the ballista themselves was a bad thing. At least for Ursaea. We needed them to make up for the two dozen or so pegasus knights we're still missing," the captain said, before changing subjects. "We don't really have much of a chance if Sonya's backing them," he glanced up at the deliberating dragon, "but I'm not going to make that kind of request. All we really need is the chance to defend ourselves if it comes to that." As useful as the ballistae would have been for this particular engagement, using them would force Sonya to intervene, whether she wanted to or not, and now that the imperials were at the door, they probably wouldn't get the chance to salvage much of anything from this place.

Sonya squinted as she eyed the approaching riders. There weren't a lot of them, nine wyverns, some with an extra passenger, but enough to make short work of the Ursaeans if they weren't prepared. She somewhat doubted they would bother with the mercenaries unless they insisted on sticking up for them, which they probably would if it meant keeping the prisoners alive. "I am thinking you are leaving and taking prisoners with you." The suggestion was aimed at Eva, not the captain. "I am ... not interfering, Captain."

The statements seemed like separate acknowledgements of two different plans, but after a moment, the captain realized what Sonya was subtly suggesting. "We stay here and they get the prisoners out while we stall out your friends, right? ... good enough, and who knows, if you're not going to fight with them, we might be able to win. If that happens, we'll leave it at that and escape from here."

Carlos wondered why this idea didn't have the mercenaries, an almost neutral party, staying behind to stall for time while the real targets, the ursaeans, escaped. He supposed it wouldn't make that much of a difference. The 'skotian commander would kill anyone he knew was playing him, bar Sonya.

Gear Up?

Darcey wasn't sure if Norbert was only throwing out an example or if he actually had a probation officer. The latter seemed a bit more likely to her, but not asking the question left her wondering in silence for a moment. Once she composed herself, she came straight out and said, "Okay answer me this, and just this, 'Bert.' Have you heard of someone called Bert the Crusher? Be honest."

Cameron meanwhile climbed up into the saddle, trying to see how everything would handle in the dress. She had to pull the dress up to about the height of her knees to finally be comfortable straddling the pegasus, but she supposed she could manage. The lack of armor was going to be an issue, though.

One of the pegasus knights traded weapons with another, a lance for a bow and quiver. Both figured the one whose pegasus was present ought to be the one using the lance, since firing that particular kind of bow from the back of a pegasus would be too difficult to warrant an attempt.

[Toogee]

Scanning the battlefield, Nadya caught Jam's waving and noticed she was dragging an unconscious Amon. She made her way down from the ballista platform towards them. "All right ya can stop now, wouldn't do any good to have ya pull somethin'" she called out to Jam before applying her healing staff to Amon. He musta blocked a weapon with his hands- there are worse places to get hit I guess. Just a little bit more... she thought to herself as she tried to focus.

Jam was more than happy to stop dragging Amon across Ursium. Yet with those wyverns on their way, Amon was practically a bullseye on a green board. She doubted he'd be OK here for long.

"Do you think he'll wake up soon? Those wyverns aren't getting any farther away."

[Mercakete]

Dara? No... Darlene? Hmm, almost, but... That was when it hit him. Darcey! Right, that was it: Darcey. She'd generally stayed out of dramas that played out back home, but she had been an observer. Part of that was probably circumstance, being in the same age group as him. Part was probably curiosity.

Speaking of curiosity, she was asking another question now, and now he understood why she probably asked what she had before. "Yeah; he's me. That's part of the reason why I came on this job: I have experience hunting bandits in this kind of environment." More as an annoyed aside, he muttered, "No one else did."

Of course, there was more to it than that -- he'd wanted to help rescue Cameron, if he could, learn her name, and thank her for her help. He also didn't mind answering his sister's other question, especially now that he'd stated the problem he'd had with how she was treating him while she'd initially asked it.

So, he did. "I became a mercenary after I moved further southwest. Some idiot blacksmith sent my maces to his weapons merchant brother, who sold them to another merchant. I was out of money, so I worked for that one until I earned them back. Wound up working as a mercenary for different merchants after that." Under his breath, he quietly grumbled, "There's always something being held over my head, isn't there?"

Edited January 26, 2016 by Mercakete

[CobyTheGoober]

Rolo stayed quiet, as he was thinking of what he was to do. The best option was to head home, but with now being associated with Greta and her pals, those Wrathites will probably not show any mercy to Rolo. Staying with Greta and the others was also an option, but he wasn't sure that a child like him would be a welcome addition to their group.

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, he won't be bleedin' out anymore, but he's not really ready for another fight and we gotta move. Time to wake up," Nadya said, slapping Amon lightly across the face a few times.

--

"So...we're just taking the boy with us indefinitely now?" Liam asked, turning to Greta while Joanna contacted the others.

[Phoenix]

Battlements

Amon tried to move his head away from the direction of each slap and groaned. Belatedly, realization struck him. I'm alive? His eyes slowly began to open. "What's going on?" he barely managed.

Stables

And so Darcey now owed one of her sisters some money. She'd learned her lesson and wouldn't be gambling again anytime soon. On the bright side, Norbert didn't seem to be the kind of mercenary to take those particularly shady jobs that would put him on the opposite side of the law. "It's probably for the best, then," she said regarding the circumstances surrounding his maces and eventual employment. "'Bert the Crusher' isn't the best legacy to leave behind."

"Better than Carlos' legacy," a pegasus knight somewhere behind her murmured.

Speaking of that bastard ... "Right, we need to take him out before we leave here. I know we're a little under armed, but we can still fight ... as long as that dragon stays out of the way."

"What happened to the rest of the pegasi?" Cameron chimed in from atop her own pegasus. She knew the missing equines were the ones that were tame enough to be ridden by more or less anyone, including the bandits who'd captured them, but she was more worried about their safety than their immediate location. If they had used against the soldiers and mercenaries outside, there was a good chance they had fallen with their riders, unless their rescuers were cautious beyond reason while fighting mounted enemies, that is.

Mountain Roads

"I wonder if movin'll make it harder for Jo to do her thing," Greta mused aloud. "Anyway, I'm not sendin'em off around here. It's too dangerous, for him and for us. He can just use the wagon for cover like I do if a fight breaks out. Also," she paused, gesturing toward the apple filled baskets precariously fastened to Luca's saddle, "there was more to get, but the Wrathites showed up."

[Nanami Touko]

"Leave? Leave!?" Eva couldn't exactly see why they would leave now, after everything. They were fighting with the Ursaeans, weren't they? Eva was sure they at least had a chance if they all fought together, but leaving those soldiers on their own... Well, it probably meant certain death. Eva grumbled to herself, starting to pace. "Are you... Are you really sure we should just up and leave you all here? I mean... Will you really be alright?" Eva stared at the captain as she finally stopped pacing. Then at Carlos. "And do we take him with us, if we do?"

[Toogee]

Battlements

Amon tried to move his head away from the direction of each slap and groaned. Belatedly, realization struck him. I'm alive? His eyes slowly began to open. "What's going on?" he barely managed.

In hindsight, Jam really wished she tried to slap Amon's face before dragging him across the battlefield. Just like that, he was up.

"Good news is that we won," Jam quickly informed Amon. "Bad news is that a squadron of wyvern knights is headed this way. We should probably move."

The dancer reached out to help Amon up, if need be.

[Snike]

"Sir, I think we should keep him behind, to use as a human shield if we can't talk with them," A helmeted guard said, as he approached the defeated bandit leader, sword in hand. He continued, clasping a his free hand on Carlos' shoulder. "Either that, or kill him outright. Get up, you."

***

"Yeah, leaving him here will let the Wrathites use him against us, or worse," Pete said, frowning. "We drop him off at Urquium. This ain't a bloody academy."

[Mercakete]

Huh. That was weird... Normally, the mistrust one of his sisters regarded him with didn't just leave. Why was it that it happened just now? Curious as that was, there were more important things to focus on right now; he could ponder that mystery later. To Cameron, Norbert answered, "I was in here trying to keep the bandits from bringing any more of the pegasi into the fight. I saw other pegasi in the battle on the way, though. Didn't bother trying to count them, so I don't know how many there were or what happened to them." It was hard enough trying to keep Rizen from flying right out of the fight entirely...

[Phoenix]

Time

"If too many of these bandits escape from here then this whole attack will have been more trouble than it was worth," the guard captain said between grit teeth, "not pointless, but if they set up somewhere else, we'll be back where we started ... so we're going to hold our ground here. Sonya agreed to stay out of it, so we'll hope that's enough for us to convince them to fall back and leave us to our victory here." He was about to tell Eva to go ahead and take Carlos, but one of his subordinates had other ideas.

"Well the human shield thing definitely won't work," Carlos muttered under his breath. He didn't have anything to say about the other suggestion. He figured he was around fifty-fifty odds of living to see tomorrow, regardless of which group had him at the end of the day. "A little help would be nice," Carlos added irritably, alluding to his restraints.

"You are running out of time," Sonya winced. The wyvern knights were close enough now that even if the mercenaries had already been on their way out, their retreat wouldn't go unnoticed. It would be long until they swooped over the wall and landed in their midst. She wasn't sure what she was going to do to convince them not to attack, but she knew she wasn't going to directly attack either side. It was a horrendous abuse of her position, but she couldn't let things completely fall apart and end in two massacres.

Fatigue

Amon felt a little silly in hindsight, having quietly murmured his farewells just before the darkness took him. Now he was alive and mostly well, and needed to get ready to run from another impending death threat. He had to wonder if the 'skotians would attack them. If they were as underhanded as Schwartz and his crowd, he could see them killing off the group simply out of spite, or for daring to work with the Ursaean guardsmen.

"Alright," Amon managed, testing his muscles as he rose into a seated position. He was more hampered by fatigue than anything else. Blood loss, maybe? He reached out, accepting Jamilla's help, feeling there was no point in just struggling the whole way. "I'm glad you didn't get hurt. I was starting to think that rushing out here wasn't really going to help very much in the end."

Hoof Count

"There were eight pegasi left before all of this started," Cameron noted.

"Carlos' men shot down or sold the others," Darcey added, her voice low and threatening.

Keepers

Greta wasn't sure about dropping Rolo off at the nearest town, especially not if there might already be Wrathites there, but she supposed that if they didn't part ways by then, he would have to accompany them all the way to Kigen. He hadn't exactly been doing well on his own, evidenced by his need to pick pocket in order to get by. Maybe there was some way they could benefit from keeping him around, a way that wouldn't weigh too heavily on anyone's conscience. For the moment, though, she couldn't think of anything realistic.

Nadya wasn't here, but at least they were back with some of the herd, Luca mused. Nothing to do now but wait.

[Nanami Touko]

"Have you not been listening?" Eva said to the soldier, with a hint of irritation. "Even I've been paying attention... Carlos has been spouting off about how they're going to kill him for failing. At least if we take him back with us, then we might be able to get something out of him. Doubtful, but it's a better chance than having him get offed for nothing." Without waiting for a response, Eva stomped over and grabbed the bound man, dragging him off towards Sasha.

"Sonya, do your best to keep these men alive..." Eva saluted the dragon, and forced Carlos up against Sasha, clearing her throat. "ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" she shouted across the base. "Dunno if you've been listening, but we HAVE TO LEAVE. NOW! I can take two other people with me on Sasha, the rest of you need to get out!" She was being loud, and she didn't really care if she was being belligerent. They needed to get out of there, and now. "Angelica, get on. I'm pretty sure Sasha flies faster than you."

[-Cynthia-]

"Well...we're not dead yet," Nadya replied to Amon. She didn't really know what was going on with the dragons and soldiers and bandits- keeping people from dying was tiring enough. "Haythem must be around here somewhere. Ya would think a bull wyvern would be easier to find," she said, scanning the sky for Isis.

--

"Dropping him off in a city sounds like the best plan. Where we are going is no place for noncombatants," Liam agreed with Pete. "Are you certain about coming with us, Greta? I am unsure if I will be able to protect you if we are in a battle," he admitted.

[Toogee]

"Heh, just lucky I guess," Jam replied to Amon. "You helped though. I didn't really want to go toe-to-toe with that swordmaster. Also, I'm glad that we don't have to call you Stubs, what with your hands and everything."

Just then, Eva was shouting at the top of her lungs, urging the group to leave now. As far as Jam was concerned, she was preaching to the choir.

"I know Eva isn't the leader or anything, but she's making a really good point. Should we start walking?"

Jam was considering leaving with Eva, but she seemed too far away. She was sure she could hitch a ride with Amon and his crew. Assuming their giant scaly chariot showed up.

[Ether]

"Sounds good to me. I've had enough fighting for today, thank you very much." Angelica replied, hopping up on Sasha's saddle. There wasn't much point in her interjecting into the conversation of their course of action, since it seemed abundantly clear that they didn't really have options.

[CobyTheGoober]

"In all honesty..." Rolo decided to speak up, for if he didn't, he would probably be dropped off in a random city, which is something he wouldn't necessarily enjoy.

"I don't think that I would feel comfortable in a city far from my home, especially with these empty pockets of mine." Rolo wasn't sure whether to continue on what he was wanting to say, but he felt like it was necessary. "Maybe I could... help around with the group? I'm not much of a soldier (and I couldn't even imagine my self stabbing someone) but I did help around my family's bakery. I'm also pretty good with a lock pi-" Rolo stopped what he was saying, as he felt like he was being incredibly stupid. He was rambling on about helping, but he's not even sure that Greta and her groupies wouldn't even need Rolo's set of "skills". They were a group of individuals who carried a piece of a godly emblem, and are also being hunted down by a very organized and dangerous organization. Rolo then drooped his head down then meekly said; "uh.. n-never mind, just dropping me off in a city will be uh... fine."

[Snike]

The guardsman sighed as he followed the Neviskotian woman over to her pet wyvern, his newly-freed hand pushing his helmet up all the while. So much for the easy way.

"It was worth a shot, anyways," he said, before completely removing the helm and throwing it towards the wyvern rider. Immediately afterwards, the newly-revealed bandit turned to Carlos and began to free him, starting by cutting the leg bindings. "Come on, we can slip out during the bloodbath."

***

"... So you're a rogue, then?" Pete asked, raising an eyebrow towards Rolo. "Even more of a reason to drop you off. We have enough on our plate without having to worry about theft in the group."

Edited January 29, 2016 by Snike

[Phoenix]

Imperial Arrival

"It's you," Carlos' eyes widened in realization. One of his more creative and, admittedly strange subordinates. He was the only one Carlos could even believe would have found the means and the time to get and change into the garb and armor of the Ursaean guardsmen. Carlos doubted the mage he'd been fighting earlier, nor the wyvern, would be so kind as to let them slip away so easily, and he also had one more man still pinned by the wyvern he was hoping to help, somehow. For now, he wasn't going to turn down help, what with Kozel's arrival being so close at hand.

With a resounding crash, Isis flew over the northern wall and hit the roof of the stables. As soon as she landed, she reared back and loosed a ridiculously loud shriek to threaten the incoming wyverns. She'd had it with other fliers hounding her today, and was tuning out any instructions Haythem didn't force on her.

The wyverns didn't break off or turn away, and at top speed, they raced over the eastern wall. One of the passengers leaped down from one of them brandishing a spear, and after a few creative twists and flips, he landed right on top of Sonya's head. His coat tails draped over the edge of Sonya's brow and covered up her left eye entirely as he sat down. As he did, the wyvern riders pulled up and began circling the perimeter. They weren't attacking yet, from the look of things. It would likely come down to a single act, or order from their commanding officer.

<"Commander Kozel,"> Sonya winced.

<"Don't give me that look,"> Kozel frowned down at her. He couldn't see her expression from his position, but he could feel the shifting muscles beneath him, and was quite familiar with the dragon's mannerisms. <"You should be happy that dragons aren't treated equally to humans in the empire, or you'd have warranted your own execution. Fortunately for you, I've decided to take up the Lieutenant on her proposal and make the best of the situation.">

"Hey," the guard captain called up to Kozel. Both Sonya and her commander looked back down at him, the former with a great deal of concern in her eyes. It was too late to run away, now anyway, so the captain decided to try to at least get the commander talking. "I'd like to have a word with you."

"You've had several already, you Ursian dog," Kozel's eyes narrowed into slits as he sized up the guardsman beneath him. Of particular interest to him was the man's armor. It looked to be half plate steel ... but probably not hardened steel. Standard attire for the guardsmen, just like the others he'd seen, he figured.

Concerns

"The ballista aren't shooting at him anymore so he'll probably come to get us soon," Amon said, concluding that there was little else keeping the sancturan from coming in close, now. Isis was all but immune to terrified bandits and their unsteady hands.

Eva's call for them to evacuate seemed urgent, but some of their number would still be stuck on foot. Isis, Sasha, and Rizen couldn't carry everyone, and the Ursaean guardsmen had no chance of moving out in time, nor would they want to before finishing up there business, here. "Can we even move fast enough?" Amon asked, wondering if they weren't already out of time. That seemed to be the case when Isis let loose a shriek that made him want to pass right back out, again. As soon as his ears stopped hurting, more wyvern riders appeared, arcing over the wall like a small flock of winged spears.

Crash Roar

"I guess we'll just have to cover each other while we find the other pegasi," Cameron said, glancing up at the hole in the ceiling. Suddenly a tremor shook the whole building as something collided with the roof. Dust trickled down from the rafters as deep beastly breaths reverberated overhead. Cameron's and the other pegasi were all but spooked, having figured out what the commotion was before the riders had. "It's okay," Cameron reassured her own pegasus, though she wasn't sure if things really were okay, outside, nor was she sure of the stables' sturdiness.

"What's up there?" Darcey asked no one in particular. She feared it was the dragon, simply because that was what the heavy breathing seemed to suggest, but she doubted the roof could support such a large dragon. Perhaps- "Ack," Darcey covered her ears as a grating and tremendously loud shriek cut through the air. It was coming from directly above them. It wasn't as deep and intimidating as a dragon's roar, but the shriek had its own unique advantages, one being that it was a much higher pitch, making it physically painful to have to endure even at a distance.

Cameron and most of the riders had to cover their ears, too, but the pegasi didn't try to flee the nearby threat. They knew it was a wyvern, which meant they were likely dealing with wyverns that also let humans ride them, their bitter rivals in the sky. They also knew that as long as they were inside, a wyvern that size wouldn't be able to reach them, anyway. They would help their true riders bring it down once they were ready.

Trust Issues

Greta supposed the cat was out of the bag concerning Rolo's survival methods. "Hey, there's no reason for'em to steal from us," she said, scowling at Pete. It was true that he'd tried to pickpocket her, earlier, but she had no intention of bringing that up if Rolo didn't. She'd hoped her own scolding, coupled with her insistence on keeping him away from the pursuing wrathites had been enough of a lesson for him.

To Liam she quickly added, "I'm stayin'. Even if I wanted to go, I don't have anywhere to go and now the wrathites probably know I'm involved in this emblem business. We've at least gotta get the heck out of Ursium before I can think about settin' up shop anywhere, again. I know how to keep my head down. You just worry about Jo."

Wyvern Eye View

Inside the wagon, Joanna had resumed her meditation. Her doubts were still weighing heavily on her, but she began focusing on the emblem once again, hoping to draw on its power and see what would otherwise remain a complete mystery to her. After a moment, a picture began to form in her mind. She felt massive, as if everyone else she could see were little dolls. A short distance away from her, there was one being who was in fact larger than her, the dragon. The fighting seemed to be over. That was a relief ... but how was she going to reach them?

Joanna heard something that sounded like wyverns in the distance. That was when she finally realized whose perspective she was currently experiencing. It was Isis. The massive wyvern was on a roof and eyeing a group of wyverns that were approaching from what Joanna could only guess was east. What she wouldn't have spotted with her own eyes, she could see clearly with the massive predator's; the wyverns all had riders, and some of them had an extra passenger. They were armed to the teeth. Isis let out a shriek that would have hurt Joanna's ears severely if she had actually been present. She flinched on the spot at the sudden aggressive behavior, and heard Haythem trying to sooth the angry wyvern from the saddle. "What are those wyvern riders doing there?" she mused aloud.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Well, the fighting was over, the Ursaean pegasus knights were organizing themselves and what mounts they had available to him, and the Crusher himself was both injured and tired. For now, he allowed himself to lean against a beam, taking some of his weight off of his feet and the arm what still gripped his poleaxe. Cameron was starting up a plan for finding the rest of the pegasi and he'd only just begun to relax, when the stables suddenly shook with impact. Norbert barely managed to catch himself from the unexpected jolt, using his polearm as a brace and pushing himself back up. There was a large creature on the roof.

The rider sent an annoyed glare up. It was one of the wyverns, he was sure. I hope Riz doesn't bolt... It was hard to tell with that pegasus. Nothing hard come in, so maybe she'd stayed in the stables... I'll rest later, I guess. That decided and making a note to talk with Cameron more later, Norbert began making his way back over towards the stables' entryway, where he'd last left his pegasus.

Though he'd made it far enough to see her, that was as far as he got before a terrible screech blasted through the air. Though the rider loosed a cry of pain and surprise as he fell to his knees, gripping his ears, he couldn't hear himself. Once it cleared and Bert got his senses about him again, his attention snapped back to where Rizen had been standing. The pegasus was nowhere to be seen. Oh no... Where's she gone? Urgh, those stupid wyvern riders... They're always causing trouble!

Ears still ringing, Norbert hefted himself back to his feet and hurried as well as he could the rest of the way to the stables' doors and out into the sunlight. It wasn't just the new level of light that made him blink, though. Sasha and Isis weren't the only wyverns out here... Several others, outfitted for combat, were flying overhead. Someone had jumped off of one of them and now it seemed the dragon, whom he'd landed on, was speaking to him. And then the Ursaean captain began trying to talk to him. The man's reply obviated his origins.

Neviskotians... Norbert tightened his jaw as he regarded them. These must be Sonya's people.

This was bad news on many levels. A quick look around made it obvious that their own people weren't ready for another fight. He knew he wasn't. There was someone tied up on Eva's wyvern. One of the guards seemed to be untying him... What had Eva done this time? Anyway, that wasn't their biggest problem right now. These were Neviskotian soldiers and they had the upper hand. Even the Neviskotian mercenaries were probably in trouble, let alone the Ursaean guardsmen and anyone else who called Ursium his or her home. And the pegasi... He wouldn't be surprised if they wound up as those wyverns' dinner.

Too many things entered the rider's mind at the same time: he had to find Rizen before she got herself killed. The pegasus knights had to be warned. Why hadn't anyone come and told them about what was going on? Were they really that caught off-guard?

Norbert refocused his mind. There was no way he could possibly chase down Rizen. If he'd been uninjured, maybe he could've brought her under control. As he was? No chance. As afraid for her as he was, he had to warn the pegasus knights, first. So, he rushed back into the stables and to the Ursaean riders and Fizza, not even bothering to use his weapon as a walking stick this time.

"Neviskotians," he urgently informed when he halted, gripping a beam that made up part of one of the stables' stalls to partially lean on. He wasn't about to yell everything, so he'd waited until now to say anything. It was better if the Neviskotians didn't know where they were, or how many were in the stables, after all. "There're wyvern knights out there."

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

Rizen was already nervous when something landed on the stables. She'd actually almost bolted then and there, but it seemed like things were safe enough for now... Or at least, it had been. When that giant, predatory shriek went up, Rizen couldn't think. She could only feel instinct and emotion to guide her actions. In this case, the emotion was fear and the instinct was to run. Once she was outside, Rizen spread her wings and flew away as quickly as she could. It meant flying over that putrid-smelling stretch of land, but she didn't care. She had had it with that place, filled with predators and violent humans... All she could think to do was flee. And so, that's exactly what she did. Maybe later it would occur to her that she'd left her rider behind...

Edited January 29, 2016 by Mercakete

[Nanami Touko]

Just fucking great, they're already-- "What the--!?" Fast on the reaction, low on the dexterity, Eva tried to get her arm up to block the incoming object, but came up just a bit short-- who expects to get a helmet thrown at them? The metal bounced off the top of her head and she quickly fell over. "Gah! A-Angelica, need your help! Captain, I don't think this one's one of your own!" Shaking off the blow, she pulled herself to her feet, sword out and ready to swing. But with the Neviskotians coming in, she didn't quite know if she had the time to be messing around with this guy and Carlos. At least he was still bound around his hands, but if his legs were free, he could still pose a problem.

And Kozel. She hadn't heard the name before, but he looked pretty imposing. If they couldn't get Carlos back under wraps quick enough, they might have to just drop him and get moving.

Luckily for Eva, Sasha had other plans. With his paw still stuck on the swordsman, he swung his tail around, trying to bash it into the new guy. With all the roaring and new wyverns, he was getting pretty agitated.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Snake Mom

[Ether]

"Damn it..." Angelica cursed under her breath, as just about everything went down at once. One of the bandits had managed to get into the armour of a Guardsman, and had lobbed his helmet at Eva, lunging to free Carlos... maybe she should have just slit his throat, earlier... Either way, his leg bindings had already been cut through, and it wouldn't be long until he was freed entirely.

Taking him out entirely could wait, Angelica firing off a point blank wind blast, hoping to knock him away for now, so they could re-secure Carlos, and re-assess.

[Snike]

Well, the combination of the flying lizard's tail swipe and the wind mage's spell was enough to knock the brown-haired bandit away from Carlos as he was almost done with the hand bindings, but not enough to put him down, in any case.

"Run!" he said to his superior, as he scrambled up to his feet. Winded as he may be, the sword wielder all the same still tried to move to intercept the wind mage. The rider was already up on her feet, though, so this didn't look too promising...

***

"I don't see a reason why he wouldn't, either. Not with those empty pockets," Pete said, before chiming in on Greta's status. "You could find passage to off-continent in Urquium, and go from there, seeing as you ain't going to be taken seriously in Kigen."

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, this ain't good. We don't got enough room on the flyin' things and we didn't bring horses. Ain't gonna outrun wyverns on foot neither..." Nadya puzzled aloud. This was usually the time where she would hop on Luca and ride away...but without him she was at a bit of a loss of what to do.

--

If Greta wishes to come along, I suppose there's little I can do to stop her short of using necessary force. "If we just leave him on his own in a city, he will likely resort to thievery again. Why don't you go back home to your family?" Liam asked the boy, looking at him.