Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Ether]

"You're clueless, y'know that?" Angelica replied, forcing a smirk to her face, as she stumbled along with Eva when the rider began to move. As they made it over to Nadya and Shadrak, Angelica took a moment to rest, resting herself against Eva, and as an unfortunate side effect, smearing the Skotian rider's side with blood.

"Uhn... sorry for the trouble... ballista sure as hell ain't fun... ahh, make sure she doesn't forget about her eye again and leave it as is, either..."

[CobyTheGoober]

With what the Avian said, Rolo felt a bit awkward. Rolo then looked toward the male avian and insincerely grinned and said; " I guess it isn't."

He then turned his head to face Greta, and apologetically said; "sorry for being a bit of an annoyance."

[scorri]

Hoshi was near the injured Shadrack and saw Angel and Eva come over. She hesitated before walking over. "Uhm, I've... been trying to figure out this spell. It should let me heal you using my Nosferatu spells. Just... give me a second." She took a breath before opening her nosferatu book to a further back page. She slowly formed the spell and gestured to one of the heavily wounded enemy soldiers nearby. It swarmed over him and soon the man breathed his last. The dark magic returned to Hoshi's hand. She placed her other hand over it, concentrating for a second, before separating it into two balls. With a deep breath, she thrust one ball at Eva and one ball at Angel. They both hit their mark. Hoshi held her breath, afraid for a second, before seeing both of the two's wounds start to knit.

[Snike]

"Yet we still have a few hangin' around," Pete said, coming out of the wagon. "Any chance they followed you all back?"

[Nanami Touko]

"You're damn right I am. Was too focused on keeping people safe and yelling at that damn swordsman to let something like an eye wound slow me down. I can still see through the other one, so it's fine." It wasn't fine, but she'd say it was fine to make Angelica worry less. One of the healers could probably fix it... Right? These things definitely weren't permanent. Definitely.

Angelica decided that Eva was a better post than a brace, collapsing against her entirely and slather her blood all over the rider's armor. She didn't care that much, she was already covered in her own blood, and the blood of whoever got splattered near her. And Angelica weighed next to nothing, so having her rest there wasn't an issue, either.

The only issue Eva could think of was letting Tiny Mage's dark magic heal her wounds. She'd never heard of anything like it, and she wasn't exactly sure she trusted it to fix up Angelica, but Hoshi had been trustworthy in the past and she was already doing it. "Alright... Guess it'll keep the load off of Nadya." She was still a bit skeptical, especially when the dark mass of energies began to assemble in Hoshi's hand. When it was thrown at her face, she almost jumped back, remaining still because Angelica was still leaning on her. But, it was doing its job, and after a few moments, she blinked, and could see again.

"Wow... That's potent stuff, Hoshi! Where'd you think up doing that? Should share that with Shad!"

[Toogee]

Once everyone focused on the ballista, the battle was over. Hoshi's powerful magic devoured the machines like they were made of paper, though Jam liked to think that she played some role in their victory. Her magic could never compare to that, but she could outdance the druid any day. ...Except for today. The dancer was danced out.

Jam walked off from the others to get a look at the battlefield. Though the others were gathered in one place, she knew there was one missing. The dancer eventually came across a pile of dead bandits, a familiar tuft of blond hair apparent underneath. She walked swiftly towards the scene (she was much too tired to run) and started pushing the top body onto the ground. It took some effort, but she uncovered an unconscious Amon at the bottom. Jam hovered her hand over his face; he was definitely still breathing. What was more concerning were his hands. Did he try to block a sword with them?

"Geez," Jam exclaimed, wondering if healing magic would heal those delicate tendons. First, he had to get to a healer.

Jam knelt down and moved Amon's hands over his chest. She then grabbed him under his arms and began the slow process of dragging him across the battlefield without moving his hands. The dancer recalled the time the roles were reversed back at Weyland's mansion.

"Guess this makes us even..."

Jam continued to struggle onward. With the way his feet were being dragged, he'd probably lose his boots before long. Better than his hands at least...

Edited January 23, 2016 by Toogee

[Ether]

Well, it wasn't how she had expected to be fixed up, but the rerouted nosferatu spell was doing the job, and it was a welcome reprieve from bleeding and dying, at any rate. Once her strength recovered enough to stand on her own, Angelica coughed once again, clearing her throat of any residue from her earlier bleeding. Shaking her head with a groan, she began looking herself over... the wounds were taken care of, but she looked an absolute mess... what a bother.

"Thanks, Hoshi. I didn't know you were practicing that application of the nosferatu... not that I'm not grateful, at any rate. How's your eye, Eva?"

[scorri]

Hoshi shrugged slightly as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. "It's... it's something I found the theory for a while ago. Normally a nosferatu spell simply siphons the energy back to the user but if you modify it slightly, you can instead halt it before it reaches you. From there, you can choose the target. The tricky part comes with the splitting of the energy really. That requires significant focus and manipulation of the energy. Though according to the tome I found the original idea in, once you practice it more it becomes easier. I'm still not certain I'm using it to the full potential but... Uhm. We'll see. Sorry. Didn't mean to ramble."

[Phoenix]

Standing Tall (Sitting Rather)

The ballistae were done, the bandits were hiding in any corner that wasn't already taken, and Sonya was sitting in the center of the base next to a restrained Carlos, her figure towering over everything and dominating the entire scene. The guard captain loosed a sigh of relief and directed most of his men to follow him over. A few stayed behind to mind the gate.

"Sonya," the captain greeted. His men were getting a little nervous. The ballista were gone and they were hard pressed to take on a fully trained imperial dragon before several of their number were cut down. If she wanted to, she could easily take out most of them without much difficulty. The captain kept his cool, trusting Sonya to at least give them fair warning before calling off their little truce.

"Captain," she nodded to him with a pained look on her face. The captain knew right away it was the ballista bolts that were troubling her.

"We've got Carlos and clean up shouldn't take long," he said, stepping forward and leaving his men at a comfortable distance. "Let us help you take care of that," he gestured at the bolt in her shoulder, and then at the one in her abdomen.

"Later, maybe," Sonya groaned. "First, be getting rest of bandits to surrender. No more fighting."

"We're not bandits," Carlos muttered irritably.

Retrieval

"Ah hell," Fizza scowled as she led the captives into the stables, "he left the ornery pegasus to guard the place." She glanced back at her charges and said, "weapons down, give her a wide berth and go around."

"Whose pegasus is that?" the woman asked.

"Nor-" Fizza cut herself off and spun around at a sound from just outside. It had occurred to her that some of the bandits might seek refuge in the stables, but it hadn't happened yet. Even when she heard a pegasus whinny just beyond the entrance, she didn't relax. Then, just as the legitimate pegasus knights began to realize that they had a potential fight on their hands, a man rushed inside with a lance in his hand.

"What the hell are you all doing over here?" he asked, half terrified, half furious. He couldn't take them all, not like this. There was nothing he could do. "Just ... get out of my way!" He ran straight for the back of the stables, figuring the pegasus standing in his way would move, or he could simply slip by without any problem. Fizza held out her hand to keep the women from moving against him and simply shook her head. At least while Rizen was busy with the guy, they could go back and see how Norbert was doing.

Emblem Troubles

"I couldn't just leave'em there. They locked up Jo even when she hadn't done anything, remember?" Greta said, glancing apologetically at Rolo. "I'm the one who should apologize. I figured tellin' ya what I knew about the emblem would be fine, but those blasted wrathites are all over."

"The emblem?" Joanna cocked her head slightly. She wondered exactly how much Greta had told him.

"And Pete," she spared the man a glance, "I don't think they need to even 'follow' us while we're on this road. It doesn't split off anywhere until quite a ways up ahead. I don't think we can go much farther until we decide whether we're going to Urquium or Sergio. We also can't warn the others until they get back."

"I ..." Joanna hesitated. Eventually she gave up, and sighed. She thought she might be able to reach them, to warn them about the situation, but she couldn't get through to Greta and the rest of their group was even farther away than Greta had been. That had her worried, too worried to want to bother mentioning it. She would have to practice this power before being able to use it at all effectively.

[Mercakete]

When the woman from before came back with a bunch of other women, Rizen hadn't been too on-edge. She figured they were on their side, as they didn't seem to be fighting anyone. Still, she determined she'd keep a close eye on them as they entered the stables. They at least had the sense to be mindful of her, and they didn't seem to be threatening anyone, what with their weapons being down.

Then, someone who looked and smelled more like the people she had chased off earlier came in. And he began talking to the other people a bit aggressively before running at her. Rizen narrowed her eyes at this man in a glare. Then, she did move, but it was with her head down and straight at this aggressive intruder. The bandit already had his own forward momentum. When Rizen added hers -- which was also much faster than his -- the result was a pegasus horn piercing the man's stomach all the way down to her forehead. Then, she kept running, pushing him along, until she reached the edge of the stables. Then, she swung her neck, throwing him to the side before running what little distance was between them and stepping all over him. Then, she prodded him with her horn again, encouraging him to get the heck out of there if he was still able to.

While all this was going on, Norbert was just finishing up getting the third of the four Ursaean pegasi tacked and ready to ride. It sounded like the battle outside was dying down. And, considering all the roaring, the Ursaeans were probably victorious over the bandits. That done, the urgency in getting these pegasi ready for flight had died down considerably. However, this new ruckus sounded like Fizza had brought the pegasus riders to the stables, and someone was getting attacked by Rizen.

So, still using his poleaxe as a walking stick, but not leaning on it or limping nearly as heavily as he had been, Norbert hurried out to see what was going on, hoping she wasn't attacking one of the returning riders. As it turned out, she was fighting off a bandit while Fizza seemed to lead ten or so other women. There were only four pegasi in the stables, not counting Rizen, so he was a bit surprised to see so many riders. Still, there didn't seem to be anything to be alarmed about, so Norbert stepped out of the way and told them, "I got three of them tacked, but there wasn't enough time to get the fourth one ready. Sounds like there isn't a rush anymore, though."

[Snike]

"It isn't about them needing to follow us so much as it's about us having time to get ready for a fight," Pete said, frowning as he moved back towards the wagon. "If they didn't follow us, then we have a little more time to decide. If not, we need to prepare for the worst."

[ArsTheurgia]

The people who left were back. Greta and... whoever else. Al hadn't exactly been taking the initiative in social matters. So difficult to find the right opportunity. That one looked new, or he just hadn't been paying enough attention.

Alphonse approached, but not too close. He wasn't really anyone's friend yet, and he figured he'd probably be an unwelcome interruption.

[-Cynthia-]

"Hmm, that's a neat trick," Nadya commented as Hoshi healed Eva and Angelica. I'm glad for the break and at least she's just killin' enemies...but usin' dark magic like that does seem a little...off to me somehow.

--

Liam wondered what in the world possessed Greta to talk about the emblem with random strangers, but that was not the highest priority right now. "I didn't see any signs that we were being followed, but I would still feel safer if we got off the road. Anyone following us will have a more difficult time doing so in the wilderness. Any fight right now is unlikely to go in our favor given our current numbers," he stated.

[Nanami Touko]

"My eye? It's just fine. Looks like I didn't get hit hard enough to make it permanent. Guess I got lucky," she said, smiling, scratching at her hair. Maybe she should've been taking hits to the face more seriously, but if everything was fine, then there wasn't an issue. "Really, though, that's some impressive magic, Hoshi. I have no idea how it works! But, it works. If you'd done something like that in the fight I don't think the bandits would've had a chance." Eva laughed a bit, giving Hoshi a slap on the back. "You keep it up, tiny mage. You were both doing great knocking those ballista down, too. I'm glad we've got so many competent mages. Now..." Eva stretched her arms out, groaning and then sighing. "Where'd Sasha get off to?"

She took a moment to look around, spotting the green beasty among the carnage. And what do you know? Eva smirked. "You can come along if you want, Angelica. I've got someone to gloat over." With wounds healed, she went off, sliding right up to Sasha and leaning against him. "Enjoying yourself down there?" She wanted to see how well Sonya was, but she seemed busy with the captain and whoever the bandit boss was. She could ask after.

[Phoenix]

Surprises

The swordsman gave Eva an unamused look. "Quite nice actually. The dirt has this subtle but prim color to it, and the blood speckles add a certain realism to the whole thing," he said, sounding almost genuine, "What the hell do you think?! Get your husband off of me; I didn't need anymore incentive to surrender."

"This is trouble," the guard captain began, "Unless they get real cooperative real quick, we're not going to be able to handle this many prisoners. Maybe we could hold down the fort for a while, and send word back to Ursaea to bring some reinforcements up here ... but we're already low on manpower as it is."

Carlos cocked an eyebrow. "Please tell me you at least considered what you were going to do if a rout actually happened ..."

"Hush, Carlos. You were no more prepared for this. Too much confidence in your minefield'll do that though, I suppose. Anyway, Sonya, as I said-" "Be figuring it out, captain," Sonya said bitterly, "... and quickly ..."

"Hm?" Sonya wasn't even looking at him anymore. She was looking in another direction, east. She was so much taller than he was, she could pass for a guard tower, and she seemed to be looking along a horizontal plane ... which meant whatever had her attention was either on the wall, or airborne. There was nothing on the eastern wall that he could see, which only left ... "More of our stolen pegasi?" That wasn't what he thought it was, but it was most certainly what he hoped it was.

"Wyvern knights," Sonya corrected. It was just as the guard captain feared.

"Sonya, what are wyvern knights doing here?" They weren't there just yet, but in a few minutes, they would be, and he didn't even want to know how many of them there were. The fact was, they were Sonya's people, and she'd have to fight with them if this came to blows. There could be twenty of them or just two and they would still be fighting a very uphill battle.

"The commander has been spying on me, maybe," she said, uncertain but figuring that was how these riders would know to show up here.

"What's your commander's mindset? Would he come all the way out here, or are we dealing with a subordinate? How likely is this to turn into a battle?" Sonya seemed to consider the questions, but didn't answer either right away.

"You need to pack up and leave, 'captain,'" Carlos said in a low deadly tone, "Sonya's unit, its sole purpose is to hit and destroy Ursian assets. Don't fool yourself into thinking you might be able to talk them down. They're not going to negotiate with the likes of you."

More Surprises

One of the pegasus knights had the most perplexed look on her face, and although she didn't realize it right away, she was pointing her index finger at Norbert. Another was squinting at him, not quite sure if she recognized the recovering rider or not. Fizza pretended to ignore the amusing surprise on the former's face for the moment. "Right. I think the fighting's wrapping up. All the bandits we ran into ignored us and kept on running."

"Speaking of which," one of the others spoke up, gesturing back toward the entrance, "are we just going to let that pegasus kill him?" Fizza shrugged. Since she hadn't bothered to look back, she could only hear the man screaming and scrambling to get away from the pegasus. Suddenly there was a loud crash somewhere up above, and Fizza could have sworn she saw something fall down into one of the empty stables, a trail of splinters marking its path. "What was that?!" Fizza shrugged again. If it was one of the bandits, he probably wasn't getting up anyway.

Your Princesses Are In Another Castle

The guardsmen that were with Doran before were still following him, even though he wasn't hunting down bandits, anymore. He was searching for the prisoners. Unfortunately, all he seemed to be able to find were bandits. In every other tent he checked he found at least one of them with a spear at the ready or some similar weapon with good reach, and every time, he would have to block or parry the sudden ambush before his allies rushed in and cut down the attacker.

"Dammit, where are they?" Doran cursed. They wouldn't keep the prisoners in the stables with the pegasi, so they had to be somewhere else. They probably weren't being kept in this area like he'd figured. That just left the main building, which could pass for a decent house, depending on how the interior was decorated. That was his next stop. As he headed that way, he heard something coming from overhead. Just as he looked up, he saw Isis fly straight over the tent area and throw her earlier catch down into the fort. Flailed helplessly as he flew straight into the roof of the stables and crashed through it. Doran could only imagine he'd wound up crumpled in one of the stalls or got caught on one of the dividers. He was either dead or dying, but regardless, he wasn't going to pose a problem for them.

Dilemmas

"If we're gonna move off the road, then we need to find a spot where the terrain won't get the wagon stuck or damage it," Greta mused aloud. It wasn't going to be as simple as last time, when there was little more than the open plains in most directions. Being a quarter way up the road traveling through the mountains, there was plenty of cover to use, but the terrain, for the most part, looked awful for the wagon. They could probably manage, but if they hid now instead of pushing ahead, they might find that the wrathites put up a checkpoint somewhere ahead, possibly at the fork leading to Urquium and Sergio. They would never get through that without fighting or leaving the wagon and sneaking around. Greta didn't see much point in trying to hide if they would have wind up abandoning the wagon, along with much of their supplies in the long run. "Maybe it'd be better to just push ahead and send someone else to warn the others about the wrathites. Even if we do manage to hide here, that'll just give'em time to get ahead of us and set a trap. We would need to decide which port we're goin' to before we move, though."

Once again Joanna was considering making the attempt to contact the others personally, but doubt struck her once again, not as hard as the first time, but enough to silence her. Sending someone else after the scout group would take even longer than last time. It would just be faster to contact them directly, something she knew she at least had the potential to do. She had to practice right now, she realized. It was the only way. The more time she wasted worrying about it instead of doing something, the longer it would be before the scout group was updated on the situation and could come back and meet them. "I need to try something," she said, turning toward the wagon.

"Oh right," Greta said, recalling Joanna's earlier seeing attempts. "You should definitely check in on them."

"I will," Joanna said as she climbed back into the wagon.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Phoenix

[Ether]

Eva had gone over to gloat at the swordsman whom Sasha had landed on, and Angelica had been about to follow, when something came to her ears that was... wholly unpleasant. Rushing over to Eva, and placing a firm grip on the rider's shoulder, Angelica began to speak.

"Eva, did you hear what she just said?"

[Nanami Touko]

Eva laughed hard. "I'm going to teach you a lesson in humility and leave my 'husband' on top of you, for a few minutes. Enjoy the break. Oh, and Sasha, no eating him." Sasha snorted, not enjoying the order, but listening to it anyway.

But Eva's amusement was going to be short lived. She'd caught exactly what Sonya had said to the captain, as Angelica grabbed her arm. "Yeah... Yeah, I did." Leaving Sasha to play with his new toy, Eva rushed over, waving down Sonya.

"<Hey, listen, there's gotta be something I can do here. I'm Neviskotian; I'm nearly military-- my parents work for them. I'm even using a military trained wyvern, despite him being my own. We took out the bandits in the area, so certainly we can discuss something, can't we? Give up part of spoils of the fort, or the fort entirely, for them to let us go. In exchange, we get Carlos, and some of the spoils. Wouldn't that work out? I don't think we're in much of a state to fight, but... Sonya, we've been good to you, right? Wouldn't you back us up in case something went wrong?>" Eva may have sounded a bit desperate, but she went in and rattled off everything that came to mind. If some of them went through, the Captain may not have been pleased, but she didn't care too much about him. She only cared about keeping her group safe. And with wyverns, if they decided to give chase, running now wouldn't result in getting very far.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Snake Mom

[Toogee]

"You know what would be useful now?" Jam said to the unconscious Amon, sighing as she dragged his body onward. "A mule. Mules are pretty underrated. No one ever rides to the rescue on a mule. But if you want a good pack animal, a mule's your choice. Not as mean as a donkey, but sturdier than a horse. We had a lot of them back at my village. Sure would like one right about now, cause, no offense, you're heavy as hell."

The dancer wasn't sure why she was going on about mules, much less talking at all to an unresponsive Amon. Perhaps it made him feel better that someone was around making sure . It sure would make her feel better if it was the other way around. Or maybe it was just delirium from exhaustion.

Jam was really hoping on the latter. That meant the horde of wyverns on the horizon was just an illusion and they weren't about to be all murdered.

"Hey, Amon? Whenever you decide to get up, be ready to run." The dancer increased her pace towards the ballista platform, occasionally waving to get Nadya's attention.

[Snike]

"Urquium's probably our best bet. It's closer, and Sergio's had it's hand of happenings in the the past few months. Plus there's that fort to worry about if we go further down," Pete said, stopping. "And it's probably better to take a trap at full strength than get hunted down split, so I'd say we look to move the wagon off-road. But we'll wait for the check-in, or whatever."

Emblem business. Couldn't understand it for the life of him.

[-Cynthia-]

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.

--

"You two would know the area better I suppose," Liam admitted. "We'll head for Urquium then, though if Joanna can't contact the others right now I suggest we leave immediately regardless. I understand that we may be worried about their safety, but waiting around here is too dangerous."

[Mercakete]

Rizen didn't try to do anything more to the fleeing bandit. She just snorted in satisfaction and glared at him as he left. Yeah, he knew his place. Run, human.

As he listened to Fizza's report, Norbert began to distinguish the women with her a bit more. The one pointing at him he recognized as the woman who had helped him out the last time he was in Ursaea. She had been the only Ursaean pegasus knight to survive Schwartz's attack. Most of the others he didn't recognize, but the one that was squinting at him, he knew looked familiar. He couldn't shake the sense that she was... Yeah, she was definitely one of those.

Before he could say anything, though, he heard that crash and immediately twisted around to see what it was. He didn't wait long to hurry over to see for himself just what had come through the roof, though he wasn't able to go at top speed. Despite Fizza's vulnerary, he still needed to see a healer at some point, some food, water, and a good night's rest after that. At any rate, it wasn't as though the crash had occurred very nearby, but he figured he'd rather take a look than regret it later. Given his past experiences the last few months, he didn't discount anything.

[Phoenix]

Be Prepared

Carlos had to stop himself from laughing during Eva's pleading. He couldn't stop himself from explaining just how backward the whole situation actually was, however. "Come on, Sonya, didn't you tell them that your commander was the one who got us the mines and all of these other high grade weapons?" His attention was on Eva, now. "You really think he's going to be happy you took us down when he propped us up to ruin Ursaea's defenses for him? Don't get me wrong, we're not friends or anything. I wouldn't put it past him to kill me out of spite for failing to prevent this fiasco, but he's definitely going to slaughter the ursaeans you brought. Probably my prisoners, too. Have fun with that."

"I am ... negotiating and preventing anymore violence," Sonya said, clearly torn by all of this.

"You're as good as demoted, Sonya, just save your breath and get the ursaeans running while they're still got a head start. In fact, why don't you do me a personal favor and get the prisoners out of here, too. He might kill me, but he'll kill all of them without a second thought, so it'd be nice if you at least saw to their safety. I'd appreciate it, if nothing else."

"This commander of Sonya's sounds like a real piece of work," the guard captain grimaced.

It's You

"Hey wait," the pointing pegasus knight said, finally putting her finger down and following after Norbert. "Aren't you the one that was riding that dragon? What the heck are you doing here?"

"And with another dragon, I might add," said another of the pegasus knights, clearly not too thrilled at the prospect of being freed, only to face certain death if the dragon outside came to its senses.

Good Call

"I'm thinkin' Urquium's probably our best bet, too," Greta added. Not only was it a much shorter trip, but it was also off the path leading to the encounter with Schwartz. The last thing Greta wanted to do today was go back to where she'd lost everything but her own life. That wasn't something she wanted to bring up with the others, though, since it wasn't the most legitimate reason to avoid the Sergio route. Even she could admit that.

[Mercakete]

"Yep," Norbert replied to the woman who'd been pointing at him, as he kept on towards whatever crashed into the stables. To the other pegasus knight who spoke up, he replied a bit irritably, "I hope you're not insinuating anything by that."

Then, less annoyed, he added in answer to the other pegasus knight's question, "I'm with a mercenary group that was hired to scout out this camp. We wound up helping in the fighting, too." Annoyance came back as he added, "We were going to prioritize freeing all of you and getting you to your pegasi, but..." he regained a bit of composure as he somewhat grudgingly finished, "Something must've come up in the fighting."

That was when they came to the empty stall the falling bandit had punched a skylight over. Norbert grimaced at the somewhat unexpected sight. There was what might have once been a bandit laying there...if you could call that "laying." He was a total mess, both literally and figuratively. While Norbert was used to at least some of that kind of gruesome imagery, he figured most people wouldn't really want to see that. So, he turned back and began heading the way he'd come. Of course, having been followed, he didn't get very far. To those close by, he summarized the sight: "Dead bandit."

Then, he turned his attention back to the pegasus knight who had been pointing at him earlier. "I never got to thank you for doing what you did for me last time. So, thanks. You might already know this, but my name's Norbert. What's yours?"

Edited January 24, 2016 by Mercakete

[Nanami Touko]

Eva wasn't entirely surprised by the revelation, but it still meant awful things for them. Her shoulders dropped and she put a hand on her chin, actually thinking for once. "If we're not good to just walk out of here, can you fly off and stall them long enough for us to get what we need and leave? If they choose to chase us we're not outrunning them. So if you want to negotiate and prevent more violence, you should go and get started now, while we get moving." There wasn't any point in talking in 'Skotian anymore; it made sense after the fact that Carlos could understand it.

"I'm a bit torn that this is my first experience with my kinsmen after leaving... But it was at least nice to meet you, Sonya. Never met a dragon before, and if I never do again, I don't think I'd mind. I doubt they're all as nice as you." Eva smiled a bit, before looking at the captain.

"How fast can you get everyone moving and out of here?"

Edited January 24, 2016 by Snake Mom

[Phoenix]

Tick Tock

Sonya doubted she could get the wyvern knights--much less her commander if he was here--to stop and talk mid-flight. They might circle her once or twice before seeing her delaying tactic for what it was, and that would buy them perhaps a minute at the most. It might also add a couple of more meters into the hole she was currently digging for herself. The fortress was in the middle of a clearing up in the mountains. The only safe path down from the fortress was along a very exposed road to the west. The 'skotians were already well aware of this, since they had helped in beefing up the place. The Ursaeans could escape into the trees, but they would have to navigate the mines again. "I am not buying enough time this way, no," Sonya said regrettably.

"It's just as well," the guard captain sighed, "if they really want to keep up this little game of theirs, they'll replace Carlos with one of the others."

"Yeah, probably," Carlos admitted, albeit slightly grudgingly.

"Sonya," the captain looked up to the dragon towering over the lot of them, "if I give you my word that we won't kill any of your comrades, will you stay out of this and let my men and I defend ourselves?" Running was obviously the more appealing option, but the captain couldn't stand the idea of going through all of this effort to bring down these bandits once and for all, only for the imperials to set the whole scheme up again somewhere else in the region. Ursaea could ill afford another menace like Carlos, not while the war was on. He just hoped that there was some way to keep Sonya out of this. "If we don't end this now, we'll be back where we started when your commander replaces Carlos and helps his men set up another base."

There was a noticeable delay in Sonya's answer, one long enough for Carlos to interject. "Not bandits," me muttered, "and considering that you people are the only ones that know about this place, they probably won't have to bother helping them set up another one after they kill everyone. It'll just be a whole new game with all new players. It's a shame I won't get to see it, though."

Cameron, Darcey, and Le Crusher

"Cameron," the pegasus knight answered. "Thanks for trying to help us." Just as she finished thanking him, one of the pegasi began nudging her on the shoulder. She recognized the mare as her own, smiled, and turned to stroke the hopeful equine's neck.

"So it is you," Darcey, another pegasus knight said, her voice an uncomfortable mix of confusion and irritation, "What are you doing here? Not the job you're on, I get that ... mostly," she paused, trying to rephrase the question. "I guess I'm wondering what exactly you've been doing ... and how that led you to become a merc." Really what she was hoping to confirm was something she had heard some time ago. There was an outlaw in the north known as Bert the Crusher. Her sister had always entertained the idea that it was indeed their Bert, from the orphanage, but Darcey was skeptical, if only because the Norbert she'd known had never fared very well against Cecelia. He couldn't honestly have improved enough to make a living giving ursian bandits hell, could he? She was hoping to find out without asking him flat out. She frowned at him, realizing that if he actually was Bert the Crusher, she'd lost rather hefty wager, and would owe her sister quite a lot of money.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Phoenix